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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[ Halloween was always a private sort of time for Trevor (most times have always been private sorts of times for Trevor, but that is beside the point). The opposite is apparently true for this whole fucking city, human and vampire alike.

He doesn't join in the festivities. He doesn't know how this will happen, if it happens tonight. He's read the stories, of course. Maybe a beautiful lady will lead him away from the crowds and he'll be too drunk to see the black hooves under her skirts. Maybe it'll be a pillar of flame consumes him and burns out and leaves nothing. Maybe everything will just steadily grow quieter until he realizes that the world is still and everyone's faces are wrong. Whatever happens, it's not the best thing to throw at a city where the slightest thing could throw off the balance. He'd rather not innocent people witness fairies. He'd really rather vampires not witness them.

He remains at the castle, and he knits, and before Alucard and Sypha set out he slips a letter into each of their pockets. ]

Open should you find your number one less after midnight.

[ Sypha's envelope is thicker, stuffed with runes scribbled on scraps of paper and an infuriating lack of instructions for what to do with them. Enough to use to track her people for a year, if she only does so once a month. Alucard's only has the letter. ]

Adrian,

I was not instructed to write this. I am doing so, and that means that this is within my nature. I did not believe it was. I do not think that it was, back in winter. This is inconvenient and I am not certain that I like it, because I now have to account for the fact that fondness for the two of you is part of who I am. It is much easier to account for my own nature when my own nature is simply 'an unpleasant person', and not 'an unpleasant person to whom these two people mean the world'.

I don't like it, and I would ask you to stop changing my basic nature without my say-so. And you would not listen, because you rarely do when anyone demands unkindness of either of you. It is infuriating.

Perhaps, given more time, you would have shaped me (kicking and screaming, I would add) into the person you both deserve me to be. I am certain that you will shape this city (probably also kicking and screaming, unfortunately) into that it deserves to be. No doubt you will do it in the same way, with more kindness and understanding than it has ever earned.

I have never been afraid. I am still not afraid. Please do not think that I was afraid when I left. But I think I may regret leaving you so soon. I think I would have liked to remain long enough to see what you made of me.

You are both dear to me, and I have every faith that you will find in each other everything that you deserve. But I still wish that I could have given it to you both myself.

Thank you.

ps. Sypha gets the dog photographs.

[ But midnight passes, and he's safe for another year. Sypha returns home from the festivities first, mumbles something about Alucard driving out again to attend to one last thing and promptly flings herself into the cushions of the couch (it's all he can do to move his knitting needles out of her path) and disappears into slumber. It's easy enough to take the letter back from her and toss it into the fire. It won't be needed for another year. And maybe by then he'll hate them both again.

He stays up, knitting. Alucard should be home eventually, and he can take the letter back while he inevitably busies himself with carrying Sypha to bed. ]

[Halloween comes in two waves. The first is as the 30th becomes the 31st. On that wave are the smaller revels, the ones the younger vampires and their ilk throw because they much put in appearances at the grander parties. These are wild things, closer to the nightclubs and bars in the human world, and Alucard attends those because there is a blessed lack of formality to them. Him being there is more than enough, and while it is not easy, it is easier than what comes after it. When daylight hits, all the night things run off to get their rest and to prepare for tomorrow, tomorrow is when all the important parties begin.

(What they don't tell Trevor is that the night of Halloween, until dawn on the 1st of November, means that some spirits do return to their graves. Spirits to sit and talk with the living. Alucard only mentioned it to Sypha once a few days ago, because he needed to be clear why he needed them to take separate cars. He was going to at least place flowers on his mother's grave. If she was there waiting, so much the better.)

Wave two is the important one. The one where all the celebrations compete, the one where the hunters work harder because drunken supernatural things are not uncommon on this night. Mardis Gras is still the city's biggest holiday, mortal or immortal, but Halloween reaches that very same atmosphere. There's no costumes on those that attend the parties, but rather the finest clothes. The best. The most outlandish. The drama is indulged in, and there is wild abandon.

(Sometimes Theodora mutters about the old wild hunts, but then she smiles a little too wickedly for comfort.)

He leaves the last party at 2 in the morning. A respectable time, and then to the graveyard. Until the graveyard proves to be a horrible, terrible idea, and Alucard speeds himself home in the car with a white face and a horrible wrench in his stomach that makes him want to collapse.

When he walks into the castle (from the garage), he shuffles in, closest to looking dead as he's ever pulled off in his lifetime. Drags himself past wherever the other two are, bed the only destination in mind.]

[ It's not exhaustion from the social events. He knows by now what that looks like even from the worst of them. He still doesn't attend too often, but he's got into the habit of waiting up for the two of them to return ever since the 'coronation'. He needs to be on hand, if they don't come back by down.

It's not even the exhaustion from when Damien dragged him here. It's something new, terrible, and he's already stood and put a hand on Alucard's shoulder before he can double check that he isn't actually injured. ]

You look like shit.

[ He's the most comforting presence in the city, clearly. ]

Yes I...doubtlessly.

[Hand. There's a hand on his shoulder. Trevor's. He's home, things are fine. He's only gotten a bad scare. That's all this is and he's acting like a child.]

Nothing's injured.

[Because that's the first and only practical thing he can manage.]

The fuck kind of party were you at that you need to clarify that?

[ Does he even want to know? That sounds like strategy shit, and Alucard doesn't like strategy shit at the best of times. ]

Don't answer that. Just- sit down a little while. I'll get you some water, else you'll still feel awful when you wake up.

Not a party. Graveyard.

[He's too tired to keep secrets. Or listen to Trevor, because he's ignored the instruction not to answer. Moving to sit requires Trevor letting go, and he doesn't want to break the connection.]

Oh.

[ That's enough answer in itself, really. He sighs, removing his hand. He doesn't really need to ask what happened, does he? Graveyard is answer enough. It's a little much to have affected him this deeply, but- well. He dealt with his own grief by going halfway across the world to kill dracula. What right does he have to judge how Alucard deals with his. ]

Kitchen. There's a few of Bunicuta's pastries left. We can talk.

[He can't elaborate. It'll just sound like ghosts have to be dealt with, and...Alucard is certain Trevor's grandmas must have explained this to him at some point. Maybe? Probably. Dealing with just making a timetable for all the night's festivities meant that he was overwhelmed with his own problems.

(Which was asinine. Not when he knew what the possibility of the evening could hold for Trevor.)]

Not hungry.

[His stomach is trying to escape through his throat at the moment. The most Alucard can think to do is shuffle roughly towards where the sofa is. The other one, not the one Sypha's asleep on.]

Fine, fine. Give me a moment, then.

[ He goes to the kitchen, at least. And returns with a glass of water and a bottle of asprin. Which is his own post-festivities ritual, rather than Alucard's. He's pretty sure Alucard doesn't actually need to ward off hangovers. But he has to do something. He sets both down on a table near Alucard's side of the sofa and sits next to him, awkwardly offering a hand. ]

m'here.

[He's sitting, so that's progress. He's also taken off the suit jacket he's been in all night and put it over the back of the sofa, so there's just enough sense in him to still be fussy.

The rest though. He barely reacts to Trevor coming into the room. (Alucard's senses means that he always looks up when one of the two enter. Always.) It's a delayed reaction for him to take the offered hand, but when he does, Alucard nearly forgets his own strength. (Trevor's hand gets so abused.)

In this, the worst part reveals itself. He's terrified of explaining because of why Trevor showed up on this castle's doorstep to begin with. Like he might run off and pursue his original death wish.]

[ There is, thankfully, no crack, though it feels like there might be some bruising there tomorrow. Which is fine. He squeezes Alucard's hand softly, trying to communicate a little gentler without actually voicing it. ]

Drink the fucking water, and then- I'll be here still.

[ For another year, at least. ]

There's. A letter. In the inside pocket of your jacket.

[ He's not yet decided what to do with it, but- it's a start. ]

[Oh. Oh, fuck. Alucard's grip decreases, back to normal pressure. He still doesn't move. Not for the letter, not for anything. He owes an explanation, he knows this is unnerving to witness.]

Did...did your grandmothers explain the other part of this day?

[ He shakes his head. ]

Not been to see them in a week or so. They- Bunicuta left for America before the first tithe happened. They don't know it's part of the deal.

The spirits of our dead come back, sometimes. I had...there were thoughts I had. I was not the only person in my family to share those thoughts.

[He should respond to that. God, they're going to have to explain that little part of Trevor's nature to all of them, so that'll be fun. That will also be for in a few days, because fuck. Fuck.]

Oh.

[ Oh. He starts to speak, to tell Alucard that he needs to order him not to go fight Dracula and that he needs to do it now. But- he doesn't need to be told that. Alucard is in pain, and that's more important than dying at Dracula's hands.

(Fuck, his basic nature really has changed. It's terrifying that that's possible, because that means acknowledging how much everything else must have shaped it as well.) ]

But you're unhurt.

[ His voice isn't entirely steady, but he's not standing. ]

I...I left. Before anything could happen or be considered or...

[Trevor's not moving. That's...okay, it's going to be a surprise once he's sat down and processed literally everything about this, but in the moment it's just good to have a warmer hand under his cold one.

There's no point in voicing the Stay. Please. He doesn't need to.]

[ He's afraid. He's afraid of his own father. And Trevor has always hated Dracula. Was born to hate Dracula. And suddenly he hates Dracula for new and exciting reasons.

There's nothing really that he can say. He can't say that they're here, because if Dracula chooses to come here there isn't shit that they could do. He just takes the jacket from the back of the sofa and pulls the envelope out from its pocket, placing it in Alucard's lap. ]

You should- you should read it. Ignore the dramatic shit.

[The matter's too raw. Alucard's had time to grieve for his mother, but everything in relation to his father has been a mess of...well, anger, mostly. The fear is new, although perhaps it is better said that the fear is newly articulated. It was there for a long time, since that scar was fresh on Alucard's chest, lurking beneath all the anger.

He opens the letter with one of his nails. Takes it out, then reads every word of it. Really reads, because the opening line makes it too terribly important to take lightly. Alucard is still as he devours every word on the paper, and soon enough, the hand that is in Trevor's squeezes again. Gently this time.]

Over my dead body the fae are laying claim to you.

[With Alucard, that's a promise. And because there's too many emotions, because it has been a very long two days even without the emotional exhaustion, and because he and Sypha have been trying to hint at things for a while with Trevor being dense, he leans over just enough to kiss Trevor. Firmly. Chastely. Easy to shove Alucard off if the gesture's unwanted.]

That's. Exact words, remember. But- thanks.

[ And- no, he wasn't expecting that. Wasn't even hoping for it, not really, not in any way that would have implied that he considered it a possibility. He returns the kiss, and it is chaste. Careful. Nothing more. Nothing more without Sypha's say so.

But this does mean that- it probably isn't too improper to pull his hand away from Adrian's so that he can wrap his arms around him instead. And that was the point of giving him the letter, even now it's unneeded. Because now he probably has leave to pull Alucard tightly against him, and that's seemed like the correct course of action for a while now. ]

You're safe here. We love you, we'll make sure of it.

[Alucard accepts the correction but he doesn't react to it. He'll let himself clarify later, but...but there's arms around him. Different ones than the ones he has relied on for what seems like years already. (It's only been months. Alucard's not sure that he'll ever celebrate that anniversary because it's too fraught with other emotions.) They're warm in a different way, closer to how the heated floors work in the castle rather than being embraced by a fireplace.

He stays there, quiet. Wraps his arms around Trevor in turn, because if this is finally happening then by God he's making sure this is finally happening in the proper way. Alucard's forehead rests on Trevor's shoulder. This is...good. There's color back in his face.]

Those statements apply to you as well.

I know.

[ And he does. Most of it, he's known for a while. All of it, maybe, if he weren't so willfully dense.

It was maybe selfish and stupid, to throw this at Alucard as well, on top of everything else. But he's a selfish, stupid person. The second Dracula was mentioned, it was either going to be this or going to hunt him down. One selfish thing or another. This one- this one was probably the better choice. He leans back into the sofa, pulling Alucard back with him so that he's rested against his chest. ]

I can make sure he's left the city, or I can stay here. Your choice.

[There's a soft word Alucard breathes out at that "I know." Assumes it'll be heard, because Trevor's good at hearing everything in this castle it feels like.]

Ours.

[No royal we shit, just his and Sypha's. Them as private individuals, not the things the rest of the city sees when the matter of Office is far more important.

Alucard lets himself just be dragged along. As he is, there's a soft shift in his grip. Something probably recognizes, that faint hint of possessiveness that's always there when he and Sypha are arranged together in whatever way they've decided to be at a given moment. It's always there. With Sypha, that fear of loss is more generalized. Abstract. A reaction to internal terrors. With Trevor, it's very real. Avoided for the year, but oh, it's going to be there and far too strong.

Into Trevor's chest there's a muffled response.]

No point in leaving.

[Which means stay. But he doesn't want to command.]

[ He just nods, and brings a hand up to stroke Alucard's hair. It's all still- intimate but chaste, something that could in theory still be just comforting. It can't be anything more than that without Sypha's leave. But ours is a good indication that this may well be fine. Also a good indication that they've talked about this - about him - in the past. And he'll process that later.

For now, Alucard's grip on him has shifted. It's no tighter, but it's stronger. As if he thinks that he might be swept away at any moment. There's only one possible response to that. ]

I'll stay.

[ It's said with a weight that means more than just staying on the sofa with him until he's ready to wake Sypha and go to bed with her. It's a promise that he can't really keep, and he doesn't qualify it with 'for another year' or 'for as long as I can', but he'll try. ]

Mmmm.

[The noise is a soft rumble of acknowledgement, both of Trevor's words and the gesture of a hand through his hair. It's selfish, this moment. Childish. Alucard's seen his father for all of just a minute, and here Trevor has had a solid 24 hours of uncertainty if this year would be the year he's dragged to hell.

Yet it's offered without hesitation. Probably better for Trevor not to be thinking about another year of surviving. He's doubtlessly built up the right rituals for himself, ways to wait out the vigil.

The sofa may be all they see. This moment is safe enough. He has no desire to disturb it.]

[ Somewhere along the line, he falls asleep.

Light is flooding in through the windows by the time he wakes up, and the sun is high enough that it's not visible from his place on the sofa. Alucard's a little heavier than he remembers. And also has redder hair.

Oh.

Somehow, Sypha's found her way between them. Her head is near his, filling half his vision with red curls, and Alucard's is on his chest. Alucard's arms are still around him, and his are at Alucard's shoulders now, but Sypha's made her way between both sets of arms. She's also apparently drunk the glass of water and taken the asprin he left out. So at least one of them did that.

Sleepily, he strokes Alucard's hair to wake him and then points to Sypha, mouthing a very confused 'how?'. ]

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