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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[ New Orleans kind of looks like a really, really mangled, ugly dog. From above, that is. It makes it easy enough to draw a map, even with his left hand - his right is mostly recovered now, if somewhat lumpier than it was before, but too weak still to reliably be trusted for writing - because Belmonts have an affinity for all things dog-shaped.

He's mostly been silent and content to remain in his room and convalesce outside of mealtimes, and more prone to listen to the other two speak at those times than to speak up himself. Except when he feels the need to inform everyone that something is stupid. He's requested things rather than going looking for them himself. Books, at first, for something to fucking do while he waits to recover. Then a roll of paper, something to write upon it and a jar of sand, given only after a period of relatively good behavior and only with his word not to use them to break any of the castle's enchantments.

(He did not agree not to use them to find out what all of the castle's enchantments are, nor to make a preliminary map of the place and its grounds. Belmonts are as close as a human can become to the creatures of fairytales, and exact words are important with them.)

Today, they're being used to find all of the city's vampires. He can't map allegiances, who has sired who, influence, not without more specific components. But he can get a decent idea of where they are and how much of a threat they pose. He tosses the sand over his ugly-dog map, letting the glyphs drawn around it do their work. Slowly, the sand pulls itself into a series of piles. Some small, some large. There's one just a little beyond the confines of the map of the city itself where a concerning amount of sand has gathered (their Theodora, more than likely). A few smaller piles within the city. One of several medium-sized piles he instinctively recognizes as Damian. A concerning temperamental pile that keeps gaining and losing sand like a weird heartbeat. There are more individual grains (humans in danger of turning) than he would like. A great deal of smaller piles dotted through the city. Younger vampires, likely here for protection.

He'd expected vampires here to be more spread out - the Americas have a lot of fucking space. Instead they're clustered together in a way they rarely were in Europe. And that makes a sick kind of sense, because all the people - the food sources - are clustered together as well. With no Belmonts, there's no motivation to stay out of the cities that make big, easy hunting grounds. There'll likely be vampires outside the city limits, spread out and each with a large amount of empty territory, more similar to the way things were back home, but they aren't the concern. The only place this lousy with them would have been London in the years of Spring-Heeled Jack. ]

Shit. Lot of fucking vampires.

[Furniture had been returned to Trevor's room the first evening. The next day had seen a week's worth of shirts, undergarments, and trousers be placed on the dresser, along with the first of many books. Basic city histories (bearing not an ex libris of the castle but stamps from the public library system) were among them to begin with. Then newspapers for the past several months, to bring Trevor up to speed on those matters. Then the local supernatural newspaper, because those matters also needed to be understood.

Most days, when Trevor wasn't physically around, it was easy to ignore him. Accepted bitter truths meant slowly starting to talk to the other vampires, building the right supports, and then coming back to the castle and being too quiet for a few hours. (He cooked then, generally. Let Sypha explain any questions the Belmont had about research particulars, because there was a low level hatred for the Belmont's presence. Not because of past grudges, but because of now forced hands.)

It is around noon that Alucard walks into Trevor's room, lunch tray with him. (If nothing else, he's made effort to get Trevor's clothing to fit properly again.) His eyes go from Trevor, to the map, then back to Trevor again.]

Look again. Every area you've outlined has at least three churches within it.

[The clusters balance.]

The wards here all have a group to counterbalance residents. No one is a stranger to the other. A few are more notorious, of course, like the babas associated the Eastern Orthodox church.

At least a few of those aren't churches for Belmont purposes.

[ He smudges away one of the glyphs (it's sticks of charcoal that he was given in the end to write with. less liable to be used as a makeshift stake than a pencil or pen.) replacing it with a different one. The sand shifts into regularly placed piles, some with empty centres. The Church Ladies' church is the largest of the circles, entirely full. The one where Lisa's murderer preached is a thin, empty ring. ]

It's all about what the church is being used for. [ Intent. ] If it's being used to help people, it can provide sanctuary. Vampires can't enter it. If it's being used to manipulate people, or to gain power over them, or to make money-

[ He points to one of the empty circles. The church where Damian poses as a priest, where he was captured. ]

Then it's not worth shit. Anything can come and go from it as they please, and any vampire hunter that comes from it won't last long.

All the same, the wards balance out.

[There's something missing from the map, and that's the official delineations. Alucard reaches for the charcol, and on the map he adds in the city's wards and numbers each in turn. The ward, it seems, dictates how many grain piles there are that have real meaning. Smaller wards have one, the biggest have 3 to 5, depending.]

Much like the government of the country, the cities run on checks and balances. Yes, there are even more churches that have no meaning in the wards, but the ratios do equal out.

[But there's a grander point here.]

The concentration is not an accident, but it isn't for the reason that you think. When all the night things began to pass here, the things of this land made it clear that their territory would not be encroached upon. As such, anything from beyond must cluster in the city, or be destroyed. Those treaties were in place even before my father arrived. Why else would that man live in a city?

[The question is rhetorical.]

New York and Los Angeles have more mages. The country's capital has the most secret societies and conspiracies, as is fitting. Chicago is where everything mixes the most freely. The northwest is for werecreatures, New Orleans is for vampires. Almost every region has a speciality, save the states between New York and Canada. The witch trials cast too long a shadow, and the so-called vampire panic ensured that no one would go into the territory. [Then quickly, to clarify:] No one in the area comprehended what tuberculois was.

[ He bristles at the words ‘vampire panic’, but then calms quickly. That, at least, is familiar ground. ]

Opposite happened, in London. Spring-Heel using the cholera to hide his work. Always a big fucking mess when this shit gets confused.

[ That’s. Probably an attempt at making conversation. He doesn’t have a lot of good conversation topics, really. ]

What rules did your father enforce here? In Europe it was no turning children, humane treatment of livestock, and quick deaths. Imagine keeping up shit like this takes more than just that.

[HOW DOES DISEASE WORK apparently no one knows!!!]

Those same checks help to avoid confusion. We're confined to a smaller space, so we know each other. If there's someone acting a fool, everyone knows it, everyone responds. It isn't quite self-regulating, but it means most problems are put out by peers and the knowledge that because we're in a small space and if the others we live in found out, well...

[He needn't say more.]

The first one is consistent. The second is no livestock, period. People notice these things, and we're highly concentrated. You don't feed from the same person more than once a month, you only take a pint otherwise too much will be caught onto. There are regular arrangement with hospital bloodbanks, which some of us prefer in full.

[He uses the charcol to mark those spots as well.]

Turnings are highly limited. Once per vampire per decade. The population balance is essential for everyone.

Beyond that, the city's nightfolk tend to see each other more often. It is the spirit of this age that large parties are common, and there's no exceptions here. Social gatherings reinforce the rules as much as simply being present. It gives everyone the chance to play at pettier politics, and that keeps everyone very occupied indeed.

If humans found out, you’d have to kill the humans. And then there’d be no food.

[ He’s not stupid enough to think that the immediate danger to the vampires is anything other than starvation, maybe inter-vampire conflict. That’s always been the only advantage that anyone really had to leverage against them - that vampires would always need humans to sustain them. ]

There must have been immigrants, since the start of the Great War. How did the influx of people who wouldn’t be missed affect your father’s rules? They’re usually the first to be targetted.

[ Damian had had feeding cells. Ones that were to his knowledge empty but for him. But feeding cells nonetheless. ]

Every city lives on it's own knifepoint. Los Angeles has...found an outlet, through film making, and it seems to have settled the nicest of all.

[But yes, the influx. Alucard nods quietly.]

Feeding rule was still the same, and everything else relied on his name as currency. It still does, and the interim has seen a few of the others who would have taken his role attend to this same problem.

It- [ And he cannot believe he is going to fucking say this. ] -under those rules, if they’re enforced. It’s not ideal, but-

[ But it’s a hell of a lot better than Europe was, even ignoring the war. Figures that the thing that would force vampires into line would just be something bigger and scarier than them. ]

-how much of this stands to change, with the wrong person in power?

Limits on feeding would be the issue at hand. As you've said, the city has enough people that those poorest would not be noticed as missing until very, very late.

[Alucard doesn't like this discussion. At all.]

Someone who's the wrong person and too clever would rely on natural disasters to enable this sort of thing. Hurricanes do happen, from time to time.

[ Sorry Alucard this is literally the only thing he knows how to talk about unless you want to go back to the topic of 'salt is great' or 'this curtain pole is my new best friend'. ]

The next big storm, then. That's when we'll know if everyone intends to follow the rules.

[ He sighs. This is where he needs to be. This is there the vampires are. But in truth, while this place is properly managed, there's not a lot he can do. Demand turnings stop altogether, that all blood is given willingly. There's nothing else any Belmont could ask for. ]

You still want rid of me, don't you?

It'll be some time. Those don't begin until September.

[Alucard nods at Trevor's other question. No denying it, but it's also a turn to a topic they really, really do need to discuss.]

You come to my door demanding death and shaming me with truths while I'm in mourning. [He's saying it to make that clear. Trevor's timing is fucking garbage.] Yes. Horribly and desperately.

We need to determine how to play your existence within this city's political landscape. You...complicate matters.

The entire fucking world is in mourning. Your pain isn't special.

[ Harsher than he meant to be. Very harsh, considering this was meant to be a peace offering. He exhales. ]

September, then. If you've found no use for me, if you can maintain control during the first big storm. I'll leave then.

[There's a very tense moment where Alucard seizes up, and there's something very strangled in his throat. It dies, inch by inch.]

Unfortunately the way that you have ended up under this roof makes you bound to this house for far longer than a few months, Belmont.

[ If he notices (he notices.), he pretends not to. ]

You can lose me in the storm. I'll find a corpse for you to produce.

I'll consider the offer. But we must address your presence in the meantime. If I haven't made a spectacle of your death, there is an understood assumption you live and are expected to be treated as a trophy.

[The look on Alucard's face says it all. It disgusts him to even have to say those words.]

I do not imagine that you are a skilled actor.

If I found the idea of tricking people at all appealing, I wouldn't have knocked on the front door with a stake. So no.

[ Has anyone in his entire family ever had the capacity for subtlety? Probably not. ]

I can keep my mouth shut and follow orders. Will that do?

It will have to for now. As it is, we'll be another two months in holding before anything is made well and truly official.

[Some of it is down to planning. Some of it is down to mourning. The rest of it is down to indulging in eight more weeks of relative freedom for himself and Sypha, because if this is what is demanded of him, then he shall take something for himself before hand.]

I don't intend to force you into that spotlight immediately either. Power moves are important. [And what is possibly a bigger power move than a Belmont playing nice because the vampire demands it?]

I do need to introduce you to the babas though, they'll be happy to have someone from the old country around. With a modern vocabulary as well, apparently mine is archaic.

The old country. That could be- awkward.

[ Wounds between Romania and its neighbors are still fresh, after all. Romania's new claim of Transylvania, the dissolution of empires- The 'old country' is 'old countries', and they were all on different sides. ]

It may not be a good idea.

I suspect you will be pleasantly surprised.

[Geopolitics be damned. Agatha claimed to have grown up in a town not far from Belmont lands, which is as good a way as any to force Trevor to deal with his own grief.]

If only because you need to imagine this pack of grandmothers running down two vampires, and enjoy the image for a long time.

Believe it or not, I've seen it.

[ The last major vampire in Europe was Jack the Ripper. Every woman in the Belmont family was armed to the teeth at all times. Literally. ]

My grandmother had half her teeth replaced with silver, just so that she could bite vampires and werewolves.

Oh, you're going to love them.

[He's. Oh god he's serious.

Also your family's fucked up Belmont.]

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