cryptsleeper | 20s AU Post

20s AU Post

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.

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I'll try not to destroy them too fast.

[He will. He will because control and Alucard are not exactly good friends right now. It means he's more than slightly concerned when Trevor laces their fingers together, but he doesn't protest. His hands are warm and there and very much not covered in poison, and that's all he can demand right now.

At the mention of Sypha, he does squeeze Trevor's hand. It's another fear reaction though, coupled with an awful deflating noise.]

What are we going to tell her?

[What he really means is how are we going to make sure she doesn't panic like we've been doing?]

She needs to know what’s going on. I don’t think she’s in danger, but I didn’t think that you were in danger either.

[ fuck. He doesn’t like how those words feel coming out of his mouth. ]

We tell her that you were attacked, that it made you sick and that you’ll need a few days to recover. And she’ll ask questions, and we answer them properly. She’s too fucking clever for her own good, she’ll know if anything’s kept from her. And knowing that’ll scare her worse than any of this would.

[None of them can know yet how severely the vampire will react when Sypha actually is in danger. There's a hint of it now, as even with all the pain, there's a sudden flash of alarm in the vampire's eye that nearly goes to impulsive.

He's grounded though. Trevor's grounding him, all practicality and planning.]

That'll...that'll be best. [She's going to be scared. Alucard's not sure why he isn't terrified yet, but that's probably just pain and exhaustion right now.]

Can you cook for the next few days?

[They have to eat. He won't be in any shape to do it.]

Yeah, no problem. You're probably going to need to be on easy foods for a couple days, though. We can have the forbidden fish another time.

[ It's only for a second, but Alucard's grip is almost painful when he implies that Sypha might be in danger. But it fades. And even if it didn't, it's not like he'd mind that much. ]

I'll do the telling. You do the- being comforting and demonstrating how not dead you are. s' probably the best way to go about it. She deserves-

[ -She deserves for her boyfriend not to be the bearer of bad news. Not if he doesn't have to be. He should just be a source of comfort for her. ]

-that's the best way.

Wrap it up in foil and put in the freezer then. It'll keep longer. [It's too warm for soup, and even just lightly roasting it would result in food that's too difficult for the vampire to eat right now.

He'll trust Trevor's food decisions. They'll be miles better than Sypha's, that much is a well known fact. There's another unhappy noise as they have to discuss how to tell her what happened, but Trevor is right about demonstrating how he is't dead is the most important part.]

You'll probably be needed for a bit after anyway. She'll be worried about you too.

[Because of course she will be. There's no person with a bigger heart.]

Yeah. I should- [ He should stand up and get the fish before it starts to go bad in the late September heat. He doesn't particularly want to. ] -in a little while. I-

[ And it hits him. It's been hitting him for a while, but he's good at ignoring being hit. But shit, shit. Alucard and Sypha are more important to him than anything. And he almost died. If he hadn't run out of yarn on the exact right day. If he'd cycled to the shop rather than accepting the ride. If there weren't human enough in Alucard to let him survive a while with silver in his airway. If there weren't vampire enough in him to survive the horrible cure. If werewolves weren't close enough to being dogs to prompt Enid's interest. If Alucard had been less generous with helping him gather Belmont Things- If any one of thousands of little things hadn't happened, Alucard would be dead in an alleyway and none of them would know until he didn't return home. They might not even know then. Maybe they'd assume that some business had kept him away from the castle until the next morning. Maybe the papers would find out first, and Sypha would have woken to an empty bed and come downstairs to a story ended on paper, the way her people never wished a story to end. ]

-fuck. [ And everything is gone from his voice when he speaks. There's no terror. No distress. Barely even exhaustion. ] Thank fuck that worked.

[Alucard knows he's missed something. It's in how Trevor trails off, it's the tone of voice that completes the sentence. He doesn't know what he's missed, and in truth, Alucard isn't happy about it. (There are other things to be unhappy about. This one is small, so it's easier to focus on.) Trevor's train of thought, he and Sypha have both learned, can be a thing that makes the man harder to live with and harder to talk to, prompting them both to worry.

They worry about him a lot more these days, it feels.

The vampire tries to sit up straight, and he actually manages to do so without too much agony.]

You're the only person who would've come up with such an antidote.

[And isn't that the truth? Only the Belmonts, with eight centuries of knowledge to pass down, would be able to come up with ways to remove silver from a half-vampire's lungs in a minimally invasive way. There could be other things they come up with in time, but for now...

...Trevor's right. Fuck. Damien forcing his hand was the best thing that ever happened.]

This home needs you.

...yeah.

[ He'll start to doubt it again later. But right now, it's hard to argue against. This needed a Belmont. Needed the only living Belmont. So he agrees. For once in his fucking life he agrees that he's important. Needed.

The problem is that a Belmont being needed is always bad fucking news. ]

I'll- the fish. Do you need a blanket or anything, while I do? And- water. I'll get some water. And- thank fuck. The other way would have involved lung stigmata so- shit, I'm glad the werewolf way worked.

[ He feels too cold all of a sudden, even though logically he knows it's just as unbearably hot as it's ever been. And he's babbling again. ]

Thank your God.

[There's probably a correct term for house guardians back east that Alucard can't think of. Domovoi are Slavic, if he recalls correctly, but he's in no frame of mind to think of technicalities right now. He'll just take the luck or blessing or whatever it is and call it all a win for the time being.]

I'm fine. [There's a blanket slung over the back of the armchair anyway.] Although for the future, I feel as if you need to explain lung stigmata when you come back.

[ Putting away the groceries and the fish is good, mindless work. Lets him get his bearings. Planning what to cook is a quick enough task- he doesn't get anywhere near as creative as Alucard does. He splashes water on his face (it doesn't really help, just brings everything into sharper focus) and fills a glass, bringing it back and setting it down on a coaster.

He has his coat on, when he returns. The long blue one. It's far, far too warm for it, but he still feels cold. ]

So, you still want to know about lung stigmata? Because I would have thought that the name was pretty obvious.

[Alucard's curled up on his end of the sofa by the time Trevor's back, having snagged the blanket from off of the armchair and someone managing to cover all of himself with it. It's the sort of thing where if transformation wasn't likely to cause more problems, he'd probably just be a wolf for a few days. It's much easier in that form. Thought isn't as complex. Things are simpler.

Because right now? None of this situation is easy to understand. Trevor's been important to this house for months now but not like this. Not in Sypha ways, and that's...he really has no idea how to deal with it. If he can even mention it to Sypha.

He doesn't pick his head up and off the arm of the sofa when Trevor returns, but he remains focused on Trevor all the same. The coat has a questioned look, but...no matter.]

Proceed, because it'll be helpful to know specifics. A name like that can invite theories.

[ He sits on the floor next to the sofa, leaning against it and reaching up to offer a hand to Alucard again. It's a useless gesture, but it's the one that seems like it'd be closest to being welcome of all the ones he can think of.

(He wants to do more. He wants to pull both of them into his arms, hold them against him and keep them safe. That would not be welcome.) ]

It's- old Belmont business. If someone's at risk of turning, you put transubstantiated communion wine into them. Then the bad blood comes out. And it makes nail holes to do it. Nail holes and thorn holes and spear holes. But it works the other way around, too. Profaned sacrament is pretty fucking potent stuff, if you're treating a vampire. But- you know. Coughing up the silver's better than it coming out through rusty nail-holes in your lungs. Probably.

[ It's easy to talk about this stuff. Belmont things. Things he's memorised. Things that are comfortable, that feel like family and home. Even if they do involve lung stigmata. ]

[Why he's on the floor, Alucard has no idea. The sofa is much more comfortable, and by virtue of trying to fit himself under the blanket, he's taking up only a fraction of the space. All the same, he takes Trevor's hand, and he rests it down on the sofa so that it too is covered by the blanket.

It's fine. Alucard's a thing of touch, this is about all he can handle right now. It'll temper things when Sypha comes home, negate the need for him to utterly collapse on her yet again. He demands too much of her.]

But it would be an option if the silver had been in the system for far too long. Probably quicker and more direct, although it would also require breaking ribs and needing to be careful of the depth of the nails, as to not go all the way through or pierce the heart.

[What fun, light conversations they have.]

Better to have it in the arsenal than live ignorant of options.

[ He’s sitting on the floor because it’s closer. Closer feels helpful. ]

Right. It’s- cells, I think? That’s what Enid called it. The bloody stuff you coughed up. You use the aconite to kill the cells that the silver touched, then your healing puts them back. But if it’s been in your system too long and touched damn near everything, then killing that much of a body at once is- bad, probably.

[ ...okay so he might be out of his depth trying to explain Belmont medicine to an Actual Medical Student. ]

So you use the sacrament for if it’s been too long, or if you think that healing might be compromised. Or for humans, since we don’t do the healing thing.

Interesting. [And he means it.] The process tries to parallel cauterizing a wound, but without literally filling one's lungs on fire. It can only work on things that have a regenerative property.

[The part about length and killing damn near everything gets only a soft noise. Trevor's right, and....well that's terrifying. This cannot ever happen again. Ever.]

The sacrament's harder to make sense of, but I suspect that as a matter of faith, it'd be folly of myself to try.

[ He shrugs. ]

It just works. Always has. Couldn't tell you why, nobody ever explained it to me.

[ Maybe he'd have found out, eventually, if he hadn't gone off to war halfway through his training. As it is, he just squeezes Alucard's hand at that noise. ]

Sorry. Maybe not the best subject to be discussing right now. Point is that we didn't have to do that, and that's- you know- always good. [ It's an awkward attempt at making the situation seem brighter. A genuine one, but an awkward and terribly unsuccessful one. ] I'm guessing puny human painkillers don't do shit for you, since you're not demanding them?

Would it be worth writing everything down?

[It's a genuine question, and the reason for it has been made abundantly clear right now. If something happens to Trevor, his weird supernatural medical knowledge will go with him, and the consequences are too great. Even the squeeze of Trevor's hand doesn't help to temper that realization.]

I asked, didn't I? That would be on my head. [The question about painkillers though that gets the vampire to pause and actually consider because...]

I can't say I know. I've never had occasion to use them.

[ He tenses. The question about writing all of this down sends him silent for a moment, because his instinct is to snap 'no' and he- should probably examine why. ]

It already got written down. [ He says, after a moment. ] Couldn't do it justice.

[ And that's the problem, isn't it? Whatever he could share, it'd be only a shadow of what was there before. And there's something almost blasphemous about that, about replacing what was there before with something so inferior.

The problem is Not At All that he's still mourning. It's that nothing he could make would be good enough. ]

Fuck, I sound like a speaker. [ And he shakes his head, turning the topic back to Alucard. ] There's asprin in the medicine cupboard, I think, if you think it'll do anything. I'd offer you Belmont solutions, but I'm guessing you've had enough of those. They'd all fuck with your head.

[This house could use a copy.

The words don't get said, because Trevor's response was just a second too slow. Alucard's brushed up against something personal here, far more than he ever intended. So he doesn't press, doesn't even laugh weakly at the Speaker comparison. He can't, not when they both know the best Speaker of them all, and not when Trevor's about to get lost in his own head.

That's the main reason he responds with:]

It can't hurt to try the aspirin. I...with respect, my head has enough problems right now, and I don't need them compounded.

Probably for the best. I’m stuck with explaining this shit to her myself if you’re out of it.

[ That’s part of it. The other part is- about what Alucard said, honestly. They’re measures meant primarily to pacify vampires, to rob them of senses in some cases. Not the kind of thing one ought to be giving to someone after their first assassination attempt. He pushes himself to his feet again. ]

Anything else? I can make myself scarce, if you like. Let you rest.

Mm, having her come home to me completely absent would be the worst possible way to even begin explaining this.

[They're on the same page about making Sypha panic as minimally as possible. It's...reassuring to have something outside of the city that they can focus energies on.

Under his blanket, the vampire shifts just a little bit, tucking his feet underneath himself more.]

I suspect that being left alone is not a wise idea right now, should something still go wrong.

[Lingering silver, someone bold enough to assault the house.]

I’ll stay, then, once I’m back.

[ It’s a relief that he’s not unwelcome. Because he wants to stay here. Wants to do more. Wants to take this burden from Alucard as best he can. ]

It isn’t fair, if that’s what you need to hear. [ It’s not something he says often. In fact, it’s almost the opposite of the ‘princeling’ shit. ] It isn’t right that this gets forced onto you, that this shit happens. I’ll try not to let it happen again, but in the meantime- I guess just- remember that it isn’t fair.

Thank you.

[Alucard can hear that his throat's starting to feel raw again - not from silver, but just for talking. Rest is best, likely for his throat and the whole of himself, but there is a quiet fear in that if he does even try to nap, something will go wrong.

He's quietly baffled by Trevor's words though, mostly because they seem so far opposed to how he treats Alucard's position most days. It's soft and the Belmont version of reassuring which is....

Yeah, he has no idea how to react to that.]

You stopped it. That's all that matters.

[He'll never know about this will happen again. But it will.]

Course I did. That's why you keep me around.

[ Both things can be true, as far as Trevor is concerned. This isn't fair. It's not fair at all, to force all of this upon any single person. But also there's not usually much sense in complaining, or in doing anything but fucking dealing with it.

And if there was anything that could be done to fucking deal with it right now, he'd be suggesting that. But there isn't. There's just it being unfair. For once, it doesn't hurt to acknowledge that.

Alucard's voice is starting to sound rougher, and he has time to consider that as he leaves to get the asprin. Maybe talking isn't for the best right now. So when he returns, with the tin of pills and another blanket, he doesn't immediately sit down. ]

Want the radio on?

[There's a pained noise that might be a laugh in other circumstances. They keep him around for so many reasons, but now there may be another to add to that list. Secretly, of course.

When Trevor leaves, the vampire shifts again in his seat, head rested on a pillow of his own arms that rest on the arm of the sofa itself. He's so quiet in the moment, eyes feeling heavy now that the full of the adrenaline has worn off. The worries of how he shall appear in public and all of that threaten at the edge of his mind, but weariness is winning out.

He barely lifts his head when Trevor comes in.]

I think that for now, I just want quiet.

[Better to listen for Sypha. Better to listen for oncoming threats.]

20s AU Post

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