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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In fairness, I am ignorant of how long Speakers stay in a given place.

[He's...surprised at the quickness, but glad for it as well. Alucard closes the door behind them both, and lingers there as Sypha heads down the small hallway. The stairs are before her, living room to the right, kitchen in back. The space is compact, but it's much cozier for it.

Home decorating for this one had been his mother's domain. The only nods to greater wealth and his father's age are the pieces of art that hang on the walls. Impressionist sketches, and Alucard's still not sure how his father obtained them.]

You assume correctly. This one's...easier, right now.

In fairness, we try to make sure most people are. We go where we are needed, as needed.

[She glances around, taking it all in, before returning to Alucard's side and motioning toward the front of his shirt with an idle wave of one hand.]

You were walking better today. How is it feeling?

It is amazingly painful. Which is a great improvement from before.

[Alucard shuffles to the living room. It's a warm, well lit place. Bookshelves everywhere, a ceiling fan to fight the heat when it becomes unbearable. An eye out to the street. He's slow as he sits down.]

There have been new layers of skin falling into place. Resting for more than 24 hours seems to speed it along.

So something about the wound you received slowed down your fast healing, but did not do away with it altogether.

[She follows him, letting out a little cry of delight at the pleasant sight and furnishings of the living room, and casts around a minute before finding her own chair. There's an end table with a drawer in it near the armrest of her chair, and she can't help but open the drawer a crack and push it closed again, delighted.]

That is at least optimistic, I think. You're healing. Have you been changing the bandages regularly?

Exactly so.

[Probably just because of who it was thata attacked him in the first place.

A horrible thought that Alucard is quick to shove aside, slightly baffled by how Sypha's entertained by...a drawer?

(She's a Speaker, she doesn't have furniture. Duh.)]

I...slept for three days straight, so I didn't attend to the matter until today.

You...slept. For three days.

[Is this just a vampire thing or is it an Alucard thing or is it a something else entirely thing? The world may never know.]

Well. So long as they had not gone bad-smelling and disgusting you are probably all right. Or maybe you will be all right anyway, because things affect you differently. I've never been a medic to...ah, someone like you before.

Nothing had gone off, of that I assure you.

[But at the words someone like you, there's a noise that in better times might be a laugh. As it stands, it's probably the closest to a happy noise that Alucard's made since this all began.]

In fairness, no one else has either. My situation is...complicated, and often matters like healing are anyone's best guess.

[No one ever really tried to hurt Alucard in his youth though, given who his father was. Any injury was from simply being a child. Crashing a bike or slamming into something too hard, too many swats taken from fencing.

There is then a realization on Alucard's face. An embarrassed one.]

I'm sorry, you've been in this house for more than a few minutes and I've failed to ask if you want anything to eat or drink.

If it makes you feel better, I thought about doing the same when you came to our camp, but I didn't know if you would find the offer rude.

[She folds her hands over her knees, sitting a little forward toward him with undisguised interest.]

Do you really keep human food in this house? I didn't know if...

I wouldn't offer otherwise.

[Alucard frowns. That's a hell of a lean, but he'll respect it for now.]

Would it help if I told you I also know how to cook?

So you do eat like that. Well, now I feel bad, I'd brought some with me the other night when I patched you up but I didn't know if you could eat it. I would've given it to you if I'd known, but it's not as though anybody ever talks about those things where you're concerned.

[Nobody gossips about Dracula's son — at least, not to strangers. Maybe they do it behind closed doors to trusted ears, but everyone keeps their lips tightly sealed in public, and probably for very good reason.]

I...would not refuse something small to eat. I skipped dinner to come here instead, and by the time I get back, it will be long since over.

[That gossip is about to change in the coming weeks. For now, Alucard is grateful for the silence. He rises slowly to his feet, bracing against the arms of the chair he is in, then motions for Sypha to follow him.]

The other night did not truly permit clear thinking. There's no need to feel anything about the matter, and I doubt I had the stomach for food regardless.

[Nothing would have stayed down, he suspects.]

The kitchen is this way. I've hardly restocked, but I can improvise.

[...Oh. Right, he has to get up to do that. He should be resting and she just made him get up to wait on her — damn.]

Are you sure you're up to it? You don't have to cook. Actually — I'm sure I would be fine, if you don't want to...

You are a guest.

[He has also done nothing but be miserable for what feels like an eternity now. Alucard shuffles down the hallway, aware that he'll be followed.

The kitchen, while small, is brightly lit by the evening's sunset. Within it are inventions that are yet to be, all stainless steel and imposing. The microwave sits perched on one of the counters, the refrigerator has the freezer on the bottom rather than the top, and all along the window sills are herbs. Alucard goes to the fridge first, careful as he opens it.]

What is that...

[The refrigerator and freezer are rarities for her, but she's at least seen them in passing enough to be aware of them. The microwave on the counter, on the other hand, is an unheard-of thing and she's immediately drawn to it, nosy as she bends to peer at it and try to work out what its purpose could possibly be.]

You keep a safe in your kitchen? It's not very useful, with a window in the front so that you can see whether it's empty or not.

[It's not such a bad guess, really. There's a door and numbers, and not much else to go on.]

Open it.

[Alucard can't gesture at the handle, his hands are full of a carton of eggs and milk. There's no protein or anything that hasn't gone off, and these two things are about to. There are enough staples to make passable pancakes, so that is what he shall do.

He places everything down on the counter.]

...Like this?

[It doesn't seem like there's a button or switch, so she just experimentally tugs on the handle and — oh. That opened pretty easily, actually.

SHOULD SHE STICK HER HEAD INSIDE]

Mm. It's used for applying heat to food. So...

[Alucard reaches for a small dish, then a knife. A small pad of butter goes into the dish, and then he simply microwaves it.]

It's lit, so keep an eye on it.

[She's watching...watching...and at first she almost thinks he's making fun of her, because nothing is really happening and she's standing here staring at a bit of butter in a dish in a box in a kitchen in a townhouse in a city that isn't her own —

And then it starts going soft around the edges and losing that firm, chilled look to it, and she lets out a startled squeak of surprise without really meaning to.]

It's melting!

[Suspicious, she holds her hand up to the box.]

...But there's no heat coming out of it...

[WITCHCRAFT]

The heat is all contained within the box. It's matters of the natural world that help get whatever is within to heat up. In the case of butter, the shape will also change, but if I say, put milk in it, it would only get warmer.

[Alucard can't help but watch now. Sypha's face is something he's never seen in reaction to something his father has done (save for himself or his mother.) It's delighted, fascinated. Curious.]

The technology will be figured out by everyone else at some point, I'm sure.

[That's a fine and perfectly valid explanation. It's also not enough to stop her from looking all over the box from every angle, like she's determined to find the hidden candle flame or miniature fire if she only looks hard enough.]

And you say it does this to anything you put inside the box?

Yes. Although there's some things you shouldn't put in, like metal. That just makes it explode.

[He flinches a little as Sypha's inspection begins in earnest.]

Could you take the butter out first?

Mmhmm! Is it done — oh, it's done.

[Where once there was a nice firm pat of butter, there is now a lovely melty puddle of butter. She opens the door without hesitation, reaching for the dish, and proceeds to burn her fingers.]

Ouch!

[Well. She really should've seen that one coming, shouldn't she. Luckily, they're not really burned, per se, just a little red from the unexpected heat, so she sticks them into her mouth and sucks on them a bit while she looks around for a dishtowel to use to bring the dish out.]

That really is hot.

[But she still manages to get the dish out and brought over to him one-handed, with minimal difficulty.]

Hm, I probably put it in there for too long.

[Alucard takes the butter, and for now, it's been put aside. The next few minutes are dedicates to getting all the other ingredients, and throwing it all together into a decent pancake batter. Breakfast for dinner isn't really his favorite thing, but there is little else in the house, and it's probably better for Speakers to have more long term fuel in their bellies.

It also means Sypha has more time to inspect the microwave. And the rest of the kitchen for that matter, because it's plenty big enough and Alucard's involved with actual cooking now.]

[Risking a glance at Alucard to make sure that he's preoccupied before she starts being right on the verge of Impermissably Snoopy, she sneaks over and filches a dish of exactly the same type as the one he'd used from the same cupboard he'd taken it from — sleight of hand works wonders, and if one type of dish is okay, then others of the same type theoretically must be — then sidles to the freezer and does the same for a single ice cube.

Granted, she's never tried to outmaneuver vampire hearing, so she's not taking that into consideration in terms of being detected, but it's genuinely impressive how good she is at raiding his kitchen for little things in fast and unobtrusive ways.

This all comes to a head, naturally, when she returns to the microwave and puts her ice cube in, turning it on and watching intently as, just like the butter, the cube slowly goes melty and starts to liquefy.]

[Alucard is not going to stop a woman from exploring Science. If anything, he's going to stay quiet and concentrate on cooking, only looking up on occasion to make sure that nothing is going to explode.

It's...nice. This is nice. This is the first meal he's cooked for himself in some time, and it isn't one he has to have alone.

He's aware that this will be a fleeting thing. But he will put the offer on the table as he flips a pancake.]

You're welcome here tomorrow as well, if you'd like.

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