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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[As blazing, agonizingly painful as it is, Alucard is impressed as well. Not just with how she's managed to find a way to deal with the problem of his blood, but at the terribly fine control of the flame. It's rare for any mage to have that level of skill, he's never witnessed it.

Then there's the deftness of her hands. She's a steady worker. Acts like she's done this before even though that's not the truth of the matter. There's no room for other thoughts though, not until everything is done.

How long it takes to finish isn't something Alucard even remotely thinks about. All he knows is that it has been some time, and that if he did not feel the bone deep exhaustion of this all before, he feels it now. His limbs are heavy. His mind aches for all the concentration he has just exerted. And he is so very, very far from home.

She's probably missed among her people, isn't she?]

[Eventually, things draw to a close; the last knot is tied, the smell of charred flesh finally allowed to taper off and dissipate for the final time. She's tired, but she can't possibly be as bad off as the vampire is, so she makes herself rally and reaches for her bag again, bringing out a bandage and pad large enough to cover the stitches and protect them from the open air.

But then, at the last, she finds a clean rag and coats half of it with ice before lighting fire in her fingers, melting it away until the cloth is damp, and she can reach for his face to gently freshen him up.

This much, at least, has nothing to do with medicine. It's simply an idle kindness — the comfort of having a clean face, instead of a dirty, grimy one.]

[Alucard's stopped registering the smell of burnt flesh. It is a required immunity for this moment and for a painfully long time to come. He...he remembers what it smelled like. He remembers the body. He remembers every horrifying second of it, and to be immune to the scent means that the memory has less power than it might otherwise. Now...now he registers the lack of it. How strange it is to smell the air again, the traces of fire now on the wind.

There are other smells now. Swampy ones from the bayous mostly, mixed with cooler air. Dampness on the ground. Winters are't cold here, but there is morning dew and it must be periously close to morning now.

He remains still as the last of the work is done. Bandages and things between them meant to absorb blood and fight infection. The practical things and...

...and the smaller kindnesses. He reacts not from the water but from the gesture itself. There's only a whispered:]

Thank you.

[It carries the weight of the world.]

[There's all manner of filth coming away as she washes his face — dirt, blood, sweat, ash. She goes slow, and takes care not to miss a spot, making sure to work all the way up to just slightly past the hairline to try to combat as much of the scummy, grubby feeling as she can.]

It will be light soon. And we have done a great deal of work, to have it go to waste if you are struck by a sunbeam.

[She sighs, considering.]

I don't think I can sneak you back into the camp and hide you there for a whole day. I could cut my robes and try to make you a canopy of some kind, to hide in. But I will be missed if I am not back soon, and tomorrow all day I have to be in town. We've been relying on the money that I and a few others can make.

[And she'll have to replace the supplies she's used on him, she thinks grimly, but doesn't mention it; no sense in making an already wounded person feel like a burden.]

[The quiet gives Alucard just a few moments to figure out how to get home. (If home is still an option.) There's a few places in the area he can rest in undisturbed. Let sleep claim him for a few hours, regain some strength so he can walk himself back to the castle. He closes his eyes as he thinks, unaware of how bad it all is until his eyes flutter open and he catches sight of the rag.

Fuck.

But her first concern is the easiest thing to lay to rest.]

Sunlight doesn't do me harm, Speaker. You needn't worry about that.

[He's taken enough of her kindness. From here he shall manage, or he shall be undone. Between the two, Alucard trusts himself to pick the first one. Chain himself to it and drags himself up along that chain if his legs fail him.]

There are places here that are hidden from the road. With a few hours of rest, I can manage.

Take the robes, then. You will have a pillow, if nothing else.

[She sets the rag aside, and starts putting together the things she can salvage and take back with her into one pile, and the ones that he's said will need to be destroyed into another.]

...But I do not like the thought of leaving you alone.

[She chews her lip, anxious but thoughtful.]

Tell me where you intend to hide. I can...stop and check on you, on my way from the camp into town.

[There's a look on Alucard's face when she says take the robes. It's baffled. Because that's the number one weird thing going on right now, being given the robes of a Speaker. A symbol of identity that to take feels so wrong, even if it is offered. Extremely so.]

I...no. You'll need them more than I.

[This'll start an argument. He's sure of it. Still, some things in this world are sacred. This feels like one of them.]

Three hundred yards up on the right fork here there is a small clearing, hidden by brush and with no foot traffic. It'll do.

They are covered in dirt, hair, and possibly your blood. Or whoever's blood was on you. By your own rule, I must get rid of them regardless, so take them.

[She's telling off the son of Dracula again. Okay. This is fine. That's fine.]

Take them, and go. Now.

[She starts cramming the "keep" pile back into her bag, making haste to get it all done as rapidly as possible.]

I will check on you at midmorning. ...I promise.

...Whatever the cost of new fabric is....

[It will be paid. But right now he's being told off, and she needs to go. So there's no time left to linger or to try and fight. There is only the pained noise he clamps down on as he rises to his feet. Everything hurts, everything is a brilliant shade of pain. Some are blue. Dull. Long lasting. Others are white hot, searing, stabbing. All of them are terrible, and he doesn't let them show.

She's packing. He's taken too much of her time. What's the proper farewell after a situation like this? There isn't one, so Alucard settles on a very weak:]

Until then, Speaker.

[She never gave her name. His is already known among her people.]

...Go safely. Be well.

[It's almost laughable, those well-wishes, when he's turned up half-dead and in desperate need of medical attention. But still, there's a softness to them that echoes the gentle touches she'd used to cleanse his face, and as she pulls her bag onto her shoulder she watches him silently, hesitating to depart until he's at least on his feet.]

Until I return, friend.

[And off she goes.]

[There's no time to linger. No time to say thank you yet again. There is only forcing himself down the road, one step after the other after the next, until Alucard does reach the spot he had in mind. The brush is thicker than he remembers it being, but that's good. No prying eyes.

At some point after he's laid down in all of the dead grass, used the Speaker's robe as a blanket instead of a pillow, Alucard does fall asleep. He must've gathered dead leaves to put under his head at some point, probably, because when Sypha finds him, that's what his head rests on. A gross pile of dead leaves. His limbs are sprawled in all directions, hardly a thing of elegance as so many recall vampires being in the stories from both Europe and the Americas.

The leaves don't help his hair at all. The paleness of his skin seems to be less so, if only by a fraction, and there's no signs of another having come this way. For all the world he simply looks like one of those who travel the roads and railways of the States, huddled away with nothing to his name and trying to catch up on much needed sleep.]

[In contrast, Sypha doesn't get much sleep that night. First she has to sneak back to the camp and into her tent without being seen, when it's already so close to morning. Then she has to clean herself up and actually go to sleep, scratching out what meager hours she can until the sun is up and it's time to get to work. No one has noticed the medical supplies that went missing, which is good; so much the better. She'll find a way to replace them while she's in the town today. Maybe someone will sell to her, against their better judgment, even if they know she is a Speaker.

But first, the matter of Dracula's son. When she's finished cleaning up and taking care of the morning's chores, she shoulders her pack and begins following the path into town, pausing only momentarily at the fork to hum before darting to the right and following it to look for the clearing.

She finds it, eventually; he was right about it being well-hidden. She also finds him, and — well, that looks disgusting and uncomfortable and possibly full of bugs. Hopefully there are no bugs because that would be Too Much.]

...Wake up, friend.

[Hopefully he'll wake to the sound of her voice, and she won't have to nudge him or toss water on him to accomplish it.]

[Sleep is not restful. It comes in starts and fits, never lasting for more than an hour at any given point. Even if Alucard has his eyes closed, the closest he ever manages to rest is just dozing. It doesn't do much good really, but he can feel parts of his skin startin to stitch together again. The process hurts much more than it ought to, and that scares him. Why this has happened is...it's beyond him to understand. Healing has always been instant.

His inability to truly sleep means that Sypha's return means she doesn't need to rouse him at all. There's just the rustle of leaves, and the long, slow act of sitting up as to not disturb the Speaker's handiwork.

(She has a name. He should ask it. It is unkind to only know her as Speaker.)]

I trust this meets your requirements?

My requirements?

[HE WAS SLEEPING IN LEAVES this is the worst thing she has ever seen.]

Which requirements are those?

Safe.

[Look Sypha, not everyone grew up on the road and knows how to deal with these situations HE WAS IMPROVISING!]

You are still here and breathing, I suppose. If covered again in dirt, and this time with the addition of leaves.

[This is the prince of vampires. This guy. This is the dauphin of the supernatural realm, heir of the moon and the stars, beloved by his father who casts his long shadow across all that the light touches by day and the darkness covers by night, royal in blood and noble in fang, His Royal Highness Monseigneur le Dauphin Adrian Tepes, first of his name.

He has leaves in his hair and dirt on his cheek, this disaster.]

Can you walk?

Better to use the robe over my chest to avoid infection. My hair will be fine.

[This disaster has had a very, very bad night thank you. Alucard pushes himself up off the ground, wincing slightly but otherwise showing no sign of injury. There's a few tentative steps taken in Sypha's direction. He nods.]

I'll have enough energy to see myself home.

[Which is still some ways away, but it'll do.]

Again, thank you. I know you've taken a risk.

You were having a very bad time of it. Anyone could see that.

[She sighs, and angles toward the way back to the main path; evidently she's going to wait for him to fall in at her side next to her, and perhaps walk together a while.]

Our elder was right to be cautious, I think. But I also think it was right that I helped you, myself.

[She shrugs a little.]

Still. My business will take me into town. I do not know how far you need to go, but I can walk with you until we need to part ways.

[A very bad time of it. An understatement that earns a thin, grim smile from Alucard. He looked like death was about to claim him. He was bleeding everywhere. It's a miracle he's walking now, and he could just be heading into death again.]

It will be towards the west, in the end. Away from the city and prying eyes.

[The castle's hidden. Those who aren't a part of the city's night things are to never know of it's location. Speakers are...they are liminal people. They pass through. So where he must go precisely cannot be shared.]

But I cannot refuse additional kindness. Nor can I continue along this path without your name.

...Mm. Then, to be fair, I will not go another step either without yours.

[And she doesn't. She pauses, right then and there, and turns to face him directly.]

My name is Sypha. Sypha Belnades.

[...Hmmm.]

I am a girl, if that was not clear from the name.

Adrian Tepes.

[She probably knew that already. But it's nice to be asked it all the same, even if saying his surname right now feels...family has too much emotion right now.]

Safer to travel with ambiguity. [He gets it. And there's something much more important while they both stand here, unmoving.]

It is not an exaggeration to say that I owe you my life, Miss Belnades. I do not know how to repay that debt.

Do you prefer to be called Adrian? I think many people call you something different.

[And some of them don't even bother to use his name at all. There's no need to, when his patriarch and his bloodline are more than enough to speak for themselves.]

...I did not do what I did because I was expecting to be repaid, Adrian.

Please. That other name is...complicated. But you'd know that already.

[Even in that camp, he was Son of Dracula.]

All the same, my gratitude is overwhelming.

Complicated and very long. It was deemed important to your story that we remember and preserve your many titles.

[...]

Even the ones that I am pretty sure someone just made up to sound good.

[But regardless, moving on.]

If your honor demands that you do something in recompense, then you could help my people. It is hard for us to get the things we need in cities like yours, where few people tolerate us, and fewer still will sell us the things we need, even when we have coin to pay for them.

So, all of them.

[He's just saying.

He's slow as he walks. Careful for twinges of pain, not just to be aware of sore spots, but to be sure Sypha doesn't catch on.]

I can tell you where to go when you'll be treated as tourists and thus no one will think twice of service. Offering supplies personally may be an option in the next day or so. This is less about honor and more...fairness.

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