20s AU Post

[cryptsleeper]

"Land of the Dead" (Watch on YouTube)

Current Carmilla plot outline
--Post-fire, Carmilla and Mr. Peanut team up mostly to use each other. Carmilla's spent the past several months (since November, it is now February 1925) networking, and it's clear to her that Alucard's not suited for the position and that the other two are the obvious weakness. Mr Peanut needs something back, so this is perfect on her end. Mr Peanut can only imagine the joys of vampire blood in his work, and he'd like an army of vampires for his own ends.
--Shit stirring from Mr Peanut (all of March?)
--Mr Peanut also begins to sell mis Miracle Serum, which has vampire blood in it.
--Gang is very much trying to murder Mr Peanut during this.
--Start of April, vampire gets a call from one of the blood bank contacts that 3 patients have come in and are displaying some bizarre signs. Investigation yields the fact that they're in process of turning, and they've all taken the same serum.
--Additional investigation reveals O FUCK IT MR PEANUT
--Meanwhile Carmilla's been made aware of a familiar she didn't sire, so she knows something's up. Big fight with Mr. Peanut and thus Mr. Peanut is left depowered
--Gang commits a murder
--Carmilla's well sured up on her contacts now, and it's time for open rebellion (mid-April)
--In a more subtle attempt to let Alucard just step aside, she cuts the breaks on demon car and shows up to gloat/suggest he not pull a dad and go to deal with his grief quietly while she runs the city. The how he wants to do it is up to him (black widow joke goes here.) Treffy and Sypha walk in.
--1 week of straight up rebellion; feedings, no help from allies, need to do damage control instead of fight carmilla, every dracula rule is
--MEANWHILE IN GRAVITY FALLS, triangle shows Vlad what's up to try and psyche him out, somehow this finalyl snaps Vlad out of his depression and he heads home
--Just in time for Alucard and Carmilla to be tearing each other to bits in one of the bayous, it's not going well
--Vlad coming in means the king of vampires is accosted by a belmont with a pair of blessed knitting needles and a speaker with a fucking gun and he's just like what the shit happened to the world while i was gone
--Wards around the fight means that only demon car can break the wards, everyone has to pile in.
--Carmilla gets her ass kicked AND SENT TO THE JUSTICE DIMENSION

THEN THERE WERE FAERIES.
--Prior to all of this the vampire and Sypha have done a shit ton of research on how to get their Belmont back
--Sypha has also been practicing debating with dad, which leaves everyone Very Tired.
--When Trevor is actually snatched up (1 year after marriage, it takes fae effort. Taking Arn's shape fails, so it's a lot more kidnapping by force), Sypha and Alucard go into Faerie
--But they're playing this as politics, not as heroes rescuing their damsel, so that means the faeries are just "wait what now excuse u?"
--There are 3 gates and 3 trials (the particulars we're still bullshitting.) Each is asked to sacrifice 3 things. (Alucard: voice, his titles as bestowed upon by his father and his people, i forget the third; Sypha: her human form (she's a birb), fuck what were the other two)
--They enter the court at the end of the third trial. After LITERALLY ALL THE TITLES Sypha declares she Speaks for Trevor Belmont
--Claim debate over Trevor, turns out that the rules are in Sypha's favor.
--But that means debating to leave Fae without giving up what they've chosen.
--Sypha lawyers it all out, Alucard is a safety deposit and hangs out with Fae!Trevor
--In the end, safe passage out of Faerie consists of Sypha giving up her memory of the necromancer (billed as a great mage she studied under), the vampire gives up his immortality, and Trevor is replaced with Carmilla (dad was aware of this option and OK with it), but Trevor has his ability to swear taken. He now soundslike a rubber ducky when he tries
--Everyone gets home okay, except for the AU of this AU where the gang fails, but Trevor's on their doorstep like a bat out of Hell because time doesn't work right and he's been in Hell for a WHILE.

Comments

[willpowerful]

I...

[She hesitates, then ducks her head, a little ashamed.]

...I sit by the campfire. And look up at the stars.

[Because that's where she's used to being, when she sleeps. Outside, under the open sky. Free to pass back and forth, in and out of shelter, at her whim. Surrounded by her family, who have all gone on to the west, and she hasn't.]

[cryptsleeper]

[...Oh.

Shit.]

My room has a fireplace.

[willpowerful]

It also has a bed, for you, that you should be in.

[With her free hand, she reaches to lightly touch her fingertips against the fabric of his robe, gently against his chest where she knows his bandages sit a few layers beneath.]

You need your rest.

[cryptsleeper]

I need to know you'll be able to sleep first.

[He can nap at the drop of a pin these days. He has been, wherever he can find a comfortable enough space and a few hours of silence. There's memories that go with it though, of being angry enough over some slight in childhood that he simply put himself to bed but...

...those aren't memories for right now.

Carefully, because Sypha's hand is still where it is, Alucard starts to corral them both in the direction he came from.]

It's this way. I'm sorry I didn't think to draw a map to my room, at least.

[willpowerful]

I'm sorry you had to get up. How did you know I was up and about?

[She hadn't...thought she was making that much noise, but...]

[cryptsleeper]

I just had a feeling that wouldn't go away.

[He isn't even sure what's going on with the castle, so like hell he's going to explain.]

I see I was right.

[willpowerful]

A feeling that wouldn't go away.

[She's quiet a minute, following along with him, and then a slow and almost sly smile starts to creep across her lips.]

So you were thinking about me.

[cryptsleeper]

Of course. Why wouldn't I when I know it's your first night here?

[Far more focused on what's ahead, Alucard misses that look on Sypha's face. She's close, he can hear her, and there's still a few more doors to go.]

Wait. [He the turns and looks, catching that...Sypha...] What did you think I was thinking about you for...

[willpowerful]

Oh, I don't know. Alone in your room, after whisking me away to your castle, having a feeling that would not go away...

[Know what else is not going away? That little smile.]

Thinking of me so much that you had to come looking for me...

[cryptsleeper]

[Oh he is never telling her about the castle now.]

Now that sounds like something out of a film. [Never mind bad romance novels, that's for later.]

How does that story end?

[willpowerful]

Badly for your thoughts, with that injury of yours getting in the way.

[Still, she's perking up a little, which is a good thing. It's not doing much for the prospect of her getting to sleep, but at least she's not anxious anymore, either.]

I suppose your thoughts will simply have to stay that way, until you're healed.

[cryptsleeper]

[There's a soft laugh, but that's more to Sypha's manner than how the story ends.]

We've managed so far, haven't we?

[Just barely, at certain times, but the point remains. Alucard's head tilts to the right as they approach another door, one that's ajar.]

Through here.

[miraclewhip]

[ Carrying the others about the castle is usually a joy. Feels like a physical reminder that he's able to protect them, that he's needed. This sort of necessity takes away from it (if he could really protect them, they wouldn't need hauling from place to place due to injury), but there's a special sort of joy in this particular journey. He's been waiting to be able to do this for a week now.

The familiar closing narration to Sypha's radio show echoes down the halls, and it's both a relief and a pity that they havn't run into Dracula. A relief because thank fuck, and a pity because it would honestly be kind of funny to see his reaction to his son being bundled up in a Belmont's arms. ]

Solved your mystery! [ He yells when he enters the room. ] The victim was this fucker right here, the murderer was you, and I'm pretty sure the weapon was- I don't know. Kissing? This felt like it made more sense when I started talking, honestly.

[ But it doesn't really matter what he says, does it? Because he's approaching with their vampire in his arms, coming close to lay him down on the couch with his head in Sypha's lap. That's all that's really important. ]

[miraclewhip]

[ The cut from before, on the fleshy part of his left hand, has just about stopped bleeding, but he doesn't need a lot. Once he's finished writing the spell, he squeezes at it enough to get a little more from it and then smears it on the door. Good enough.

It would have been enough to break the castle, this should be nothing in comparison.

And it works. The door opens into the near-dawn, the the empty street and the car. ]

Would you please go back inside, where he will be safe? [ A voice rumbles, frustrated, as if they were supposed to somehow divine good intentions from being locked in a murder house. ] I can hardly keep him under my protection by daylight, after sunrise.

[miraclewhip]

I'll be fine. Fairy dreams are the good ones, except for the forgetting.

[ ...oops, he didn't think through the implications of that. ]

All's well, then. Sorry for getting my magic in your head.

[cryptsleeper]

...Trevor.

[It isn't a chiding tone. Just a worried one, and the worst of it all is that Alucard can make sense of what that statement really means. The other dreams are family. The war. All the other awful things that make Trevor Trevor.

They're important parts of him. It doesn't make the comment any less distressing.]

You've put worse in my head before. You will do so again.

[willpowerful]

...I truly cannot tell if you're making overtures at me or not.

[Luckily, they're at the door, so the point may wind up being moot in light of the fact that they've reached their destination.]

This is your room? Just...this door?

[willpowerful]

[It's a good thing the show just ended, because if Trevor had shouted over the spine-tingling suspense-thrilling last thirty seconds of the cliffhanger and made her miss it, she would've been irritable for a whole week. As it is, she's just winding down when the boys appear, and then suddenly there's the familiar weight of Alucard's head in her lap and her hands go automatically to thread through his hair, brushing and soothing as she tips her chin down to smile at him.]

Hello.

[One hand stays in his hair; the other strokes down along the side of his face, following the curve of his cheek to his chin, reverent and never settling still. Beautiful, their Adrian. Radiant. And now, finally, free.]

Came for a visit, did you?

[miraclewhip]

Oh, almost certainly.

[ A squeeze of his hand. ]

I'll try to keep it to bad ideas from now on.

[ That isn't going to happen. They still need to find the necromancer, after all. But it's a nice thought, and he's a little too tired and taken aback by things not being metaphors to remember that right now. ]

[cryptsleeper]

Well, fair is fair on that front.

[Alucard opens the door for her, although he sneaks in first to turn on the light.

Alucard's room is clearly in one of the castle's turrets, made clear by the part of left the room that seems to be a part of a hexagon. That part has a few chairs and a sofa, all upholstered in dark, rich reds. There are no visible pieces of wood framework there, and the curtains are currently drawn. On either side there is a set of bookshelves, and those do have elaborate cabinet work. The house's carpets have long seemed ahead of their time with their style, but now, now they're essentially Art Deco and so is much of the furniture.

The right actually has his bed, and the woodwork there (bird's eye maple) is much the same. Beyond it is a door for the closet, and opposite that door is the dresser itself with an overly large mirror. There's another door near the dresser that leads to the bathroom, and right opposite of the doorway into the room is the aforementioned fireplace. There's only one armchair in front of it, and it seems the least used.

There's a few old things of childhood placed in the sitting corner, because things are hard to say farewell to entirely. A plush wolf is given the entire sofa, and a few other friends sit on one of the chairs. Framed on one wall is a painting from his father's collection - an impressionist's view of a river at twilight. There's a map near one of the bookcases, but the mantle is kept very bare.

It's a mercy that there's firewood in the fireplace.]

The wood might be a bit old. I think it's been there since I moved into this room.

[cryptsleeper]

[The vampire has never quite admitted how much he enjoys being carted around in Trevor's arms. It is ridiculous and spoiled, but also delightful to just be swept up and hauled about, content in knowing that wherever they end up, he'll be safe.

And what safer place is there to be than Sypha's lap? Her hands are just as familiar as Trevor's, and there's nothing else he can do but let himself melt into the affection. It has been weeks since they've been able to do any of this, and that it took yet another damn trial and near-loss to make it so is upsetting.

There's no value in complaining about the world though, there's only letting out a noise that sounds happier than he's been in a while.]

Since I'm allowed to leave my bed, I can't think of anywhere else to be.

[He's still a little too bundled up in the blanket to have free arms to gesture for Trevor, but his eyes try to find exactly where the Belmont is so he can stare and ask that they both be wrapped up in those arms.]

[cryptsleeper]

Don't sound proud.

[Some of those things do get to him. Every moment spoiled fucking princeling gets said, for example. That eats because it's been a long fear, that he's been too protected from the world to be able to wholly function in it. Or that he's demanding the impossible because he was given every comfort growing up. Or he's just doing a shitty job at keeping things together.

He wishes it was just bad strategy. Or things to do in bed. Or...

...Fuck he could make a list into eternity. The hand is enough for now, or at least it will need to be.]

Lean over for a moment?

[miraclewhip]

[ He's trying to figure out the logistics of exactly that, but with the positions of both of them it seems a little difficult. He settles for sitting on the floor by Sypha's legs, one arm over Alucard's chest and the hand of the other resting on Sypha's knee. ]

Allowed is a strong word. I didn't exactly get the Terrible Fucking Demon King's permission for this.

[ Guess how much respect he's been showing Dracula since he came back. Go on, guess. He looks up at Sypha, trying to work out what he needs to catch her up on before they can just go back to warmth and affection. ]

I'll be taking him back to our room tonight, and out here or back to the recuperation room during the day, in case Dracula needs to look at him.

[ Added bonus to this: Forcing Dracula to adopt a diurnal sleep schedule. ]

[willpowerful]

[Oh, it's Dracula. So that's Dracula, locking them into the murder house on the premise of keeping his son safe. That's nice. That's really kind of him, actually, and so charming.

Ugh.]

And so what, then. He stays here, locked in this house until the next nightfall?

[If Sypha sounds irritated, it's only because she is. Reminiscing about the day she met Alucard in the basement just reminded her of why she'd met Alucard to begin with. The pallor in his face back then is so akin to the one that sits beneath his skin now. The stitches are the same. The blood is the same.

The fact that this is all Dracula's fault, fundamentally, is the damn same.]

He's hurt, and badly — he needs a doctor, not a musty old couch in the middle of some grotesque house!

[willpowerful]

You're getting quite the workout, carting him around here and there. How lucky we are, that you are so strong.

[Guess who's getting babied right now, everyone is getting babied right now. The hand that was on Alucard's cheek drifts to card through Trevor's hair, appreciative and sweet before returning to settle lightly over Alucard's heart.

Protective, the both of them. Arms across Alucard's chest, shielding him, holding him together. Their vampire, safe and sound, wrapped up between his sword and his shield.]

How is your leg feeling, my love?