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

[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.

[willpowerful]

You don't need to light it on my account. You don't...have to go to such lengths, just for me.

[Her attention is immediately drawn to the stuffed animals, though, just because their presence is somehow so incongruous with the rest of the room — the furnishings stylish and fashionable, yet littered with things that speak of youth and innocence. If she were a little braver, she'd go over and pick the wolf up, give it a soft squeeze to her chest.

She's not, so she stays where she is, and nudges Alucard lightly toward the bed.]

Go lie back down. You really should not be up; I'll help you get settled in again.

[cryptsleeper]

Sypha, you just said you couldn't sleep.

[It's important, as far as the vampire's concerned. She's staying here, she needs to be as comfortable as possible.

For once, he doesn't let himself be nudged back to resting. He stays there, eyes resting on Sypha worriedly.]

Fussing isn't a one-way street.

[willpowerful]

It's not the lack of a fire that's keeping me from sleeping.

[Which sounds ungrateful, a little, but. Now, finally, she does go over to the couch and sit down on it, only hesitating a moment before pulling her heels up onto the edge of the cushion and hugging her knees for the sake of having something to hug.]

I think...I miss my family, perhaps.

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard closes the door behind them both, then follows Sypha to the sofa. He doesn't like the sound of her voice being distressed, and when she reveals the reason, Alucard aches. When he sits, it's right beside her (carefully moving the wolf onto the arm of the sofa.)

He's still not at a good angle for this, but it is easier now to wrap both of his arms around Sypha and pull her closer, making sure that her head rests on his good shoulder.]

That's understandable. Besides this house is...hardly welcoming to most.

[willpowerful]

There's nothing wrong with it.

[On this, she will insist. She's not ungrateful, not turning up her nose at the kindness of having a house to stay in at all.

But there's something about the move to the castle that really sinks home that the Speakers are gone. Maybe it's because at the townhouse it was easy to pretend that the camp was still there, just waiting for her, and she was the one choosing not to go back to it yet. But this? This is lonesome, and different, and there are no Speakers, because there's no one. There's only her, and her Alucard.]

But...could I stay here, tonight, even so?

[cryptsleeper]

[It's Dracula's demon castle, yes, there are many problems with it.]

Of course.

[He'll take the sofa. It isn't the first or the last time he's slept on it, and it's strange being in his own bed with everything that has changed. He doesn't like it, and Sypha's concerns are a welcome way to ignore his own.]

I should have simply offered you that option to begin with.

[willpowerful]

You're too much of a gentleman for that.

[More like he gets too tongue-tied around her to even come close to suggesting it, but gentleman works, too. She knows him well enough to know that casual innuendo isn't something he does well (or at all), but overthinking is something that happens all too easily.]

There are pillows enough, and I don't need the fire lit to appreciate it.

[...She is, evidently, figuring on sleeping on the floor.]

[cryptsleeper]

Take my bed.

[Which is hardly the problem, but it really does prove the gentleman point.]

I can sleep on the sofa without any issue, and if it's truly too much then I'll join you.

[It's also a chance for Sypha to veto the waiting period. Alucard's real concern is not only gentlemanly, but born of the fear of aggravating the wound. There's so much left to heal, and the vampire suspects that they'll cuddle up just a little too hard.]

[willpowerful]

You can't sleep on a sofa with your stitches still delicate.

[Are they going to bicker about this? MAYBE.]

I don't need to take your bed from you. I just don't want to be alone in a strange place, for the night.

[cryptsleeper]

In this form, no.

[NO YOUR BOYFRIEND IS JUST GOING TO MAKE IT WEIRD.

Alucard's slow to stand, but that's because once he's on his feet, he's no longer a person. Where Alucard was is instead a white wolf, one that carefully turns around and sinks it's head into Sypha's lap.]

[willpowerful]

[Things she was expecting to find in her boyfriend's bedroom tonight:

NOT HIS FURSONA, THAT'S FOR SURE.

Suffice to say, she goes very, very still when he rests his chin on her lap, because her nightgown is thin and he is large and furred and boyfriend or not, one does not grow up living the Speaker life and not have instincts that make one immediately wary of very large, very close wolves.]

...What?

[No, seriously. What.]

You —

...What?

[cryptsleeper]

[There's a very gentle tailwag from the wolf, before it backs up a few paces and transforms again. Alucard's there, looking no worse for wear. There's a few stray white hairs clinging to his bathrobe, but that's normal enough.]

I would have told you earlier, but it's far easier to do that than it is to explain it verbally. Transforming earlier would have distressed the stitches.

[Alucard continues like THIS IS FUCKING NORMAL.]

Resting in that form is sometimes easier anyway.

[willpowerful]

You can change. Into a wolf.

[...]

But you are still yourself, as a wolf? You still know it's me?

[cryptsleeper]

I retain all my human attributes and thoughts. I am simply furrier and do not have human vocal chords.

[willpowerful]

...Will you do it again? Please?

[She says, clearly intrigued, for perhaps more reasons than just one.]

For longer, this time?

[cryptsleeper]

Of course.

[And he does oblige. Except this time the wolf is careful as it climbs onto the sofa (there are no scars on the wolf. Not any obvious ones, at least.) Once there, that big head is in Sypha's lap again, backpaws dangling off the sofa just by a hair.

He is absolutely warmer like this, and fluffier as promised.]

[willpowerful]

[His fur is so thick and so deep — deep enough that she can bury her whole hand in to the wrist, and she absolutely does precisely that, once he's settled in. He's so warm, and so soft, and maybe that's a little bizarre to cling to when objectively she knows that this is also her lover, but there's something inherently soothing about it anyway and so she reaches carefully for his ears, scratching behind them and running her fingertips over the velvet of each point, toying with him in the sweetest of ways.]

This is...very strange.

[Not that she's complaining, because she isn't.]

Is it all right? Does it feel good?

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard's posture makes him the most relaxed wolf in the history of man, and that's only with Sypha burying her hands into all of that fluff. When she starts to scratch behind his ears, there's a little huff. Happy, almost.

It is strange, admittedly. He's never really had anyone shower this form with affection.

His tail wags behind him, slowly. This? This is so good.[

[willpowerful]

Mm. It's lucky that I am used to knowing what you are saying, even without words.

[What a pretty, pretty wolf he is. Her hands continue working, as much because she's just delighting in how soft and floofy he is as anything else.]

I had no idea you could do this. How very beautiful you are...

[cryptsleeper]

[There is a point where the wolf lifts his head just enough so that there is a cold nose against Sypha's cheek. If she's going to be petting him, then he'll simply nuzzle back, careful not to disturb her hands but making it clear: this is great.

But more than that, there are two paws in her lap, and his head soon sinks down again to rest atop them. His eyes close, just for a moment, and there's a wolfy attempt at snoring noises before those eyes open again to focus on her.

I can sleep like this if it will help you.]

[willpowerful]

You want to go to sleep?

[Wolf charades are not quite as easy as one might think, but she'll get it in a minute. She's watching him carefully enough, still petting him and delighting on the contented look he carries when she does.]

Or — no. You want me to go to sleep, yes? You are still worrying.

[cryptsleeper]

[There are two nods of Alucard's head, which means yes to both. Moreover, his eyes go to the bed, and then the spot in front of the fireplace, making it clear that both are good options.

Of course Alucard also isn't moving so getting to points A or B with a lap full of woof is a tricky thing to manage.]

[willpowerful]

You want us both to go to sleep. ...Together?

[She runs her hands over his ears, down the sides of his face, along his muzzle, before shifting back and scratching at the patch of fur between his eyes.]

...Like this, or as a man?

[cryptsleeper]

[The wolf whines once in response to the question. Like this. He'll explain the logic come morning, but for now, it'll do.

Said wolf is also still refusing to move. Instead he flicks his ears back, and the paws on Sypha's leg just stay where they are. He's content like this, and there's a low rumble from him to make that much clear.]