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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[Alucard stops at that word. He's tired. He hates the world. But sincerity cuts through him, and he doesn't have the desire to fight back.

Miserably, he sits up. Doesn't look at Trevor, but he's extracted himself from the sofa.]

Okay.

[His voice is soft and small and so very unlike himself.]

[ He doesn't touch him. It's difficult. ]

One of the spare rooms, if you want to be somewhere out of the way. Or you can use my room. Or the library, if you have to. Just not here.

[The library isn't an option. The library is the liminal space between castle and home, the one place where everything can be mixed up without anyone feeling as if they are doing a wrong thing. Trevor's room likewise is too personal.

Want and need are not things Alucard is thinking about at the moment, not in a meaningful way. Being alone simply feels like the right thing at the moment. He can't parse that this is all horror at himself for what he's jut done (he had to, it was the right thing in the eyes of so many). All he can think of is every time Trevor spat the word princeling in the first month or two that he lived in the castle, and what it really meant. Spoiled, sheltered, not raised with ways to cope with dealing the hard but right thing, especially when death was involved.

There are a few spare rooms in the wing of the castle where Alucard's office is. Two of them have mattresses, and he shuffles past Trevor to go to the nearest one. It's six doors down after taking a sudden left. Alucard shuffles his way there. He knows he looks like death itself.

He was Death itself the other night. The look is right.]

[ He follows Alucard. He doesn't touch him, because orders are orders. Instead he goes into the same room. There's a chair in one corner. A few books, not bearing the marks of the castle's library. Probably things forgotten by whoever it was last stayed in this room. They don't seem particularly interesting, but he picks one up anyway.

He doesn't say anything, puts his empty mug down with an appropriate amount of finality and sits down in the chair. They don't have to talk, but he's not going to be leaving unless instructed. Alucard's already had his time alone. ]

[He flops bonelessly down onto the bed. The thing has no smell to it, which is good. There's a thin blanket, which will do fine. There's no real chill in here, and it's just for appearances anyway. If he's still enough, then he'll be left alone to sleep, at least.

In theory. Alucard suspects that in practice, he won't be let alone unless he says the right words. He's too tired to think about that, and so he settles in. Draws the thin blanket close and closes his eyes.

Sleep does come. Faster than he expects, but it isn't like he's slept much in the past week and change. He has been running around from place to place, managing stress, managing everything.

He really hopes that watching the sleeping vampire isn't the sole duty of the Belmont for the day.]

[ Unfortunately, it is. At least until Sypha wakes up, who isn't bound by instructions not to touch the vampire and wouldn't obey them if she was. He goes through the book slowly, more for something to do other than stare at a sleeping vampire at first, eventually getting a little more (a lot more.) interested in what turns out to be a pulp novel about a ghost detective kissing apparently the entire population of a city while fighting crime.

He's at the point where the ghost detective is fighting his werewolf serial killer bother on a rooftop in the rain when Alucard's sleep becomes more fitful and the telltale signs of a bad night start to show themselves. ]

Adrian. [ He says it calmly, steadily, not not too loudly. If he's sleeping normally, it shouldn't wake him. If not, it might be enough to. ]

[Wherever that novel came from is a mystery. As is what it is doing in this room, but perhaps some mysteries are best left unsolved. So long as it's distraction enough. Or stupid enough to make the hours go by.

(On better days in the future, the only solution of what to do with such a book is to read select passages and determine how plausible any of them are.

Alucard's fits are tiny and controlled at first. A little bit more movement in the legs. Shifting under the blanket, trying to pull it closer. No words, just unhappiness somehow starting to show on his face while asleep.

Ignoring his name.]

[ He puts the book down, watching as Alucard twitches and moves and tugs the blanket tighter. This would be so much easier without the order not to touch him. That's what they do when this happens, one of them reaches out to stroke his face, or pulls him close, or kisses his forehead. It helps.

But orders are orders. And- he can ignore them, but he doesn't want to. ]

Adrian. [ Louder, this time. The tone is more authoritative. ]

[Alucard shifts in his sleep. Buries his face into the pillow, and for a time, that seems to fix everything. He goes still, relaxes a little. It isn't entirely restful, not with the twitches, but it is much better than before.

Until nothing is, and he wakes with a jolt. Doesn't sit up, he just stays there, looking into the pillow, the horrible feeling that's been in his stomach since last week gnawing yet again.

Trevor's still there. Alucard can smell him.]

How many hours...?

[He really, really needs the sleep.]

Three.

[ He's sat down again, since Alucard settled. No book, though, only watching him to try to be sure that the worst is over. And it does seem to be, until suddenly it isn't. He doesn't stand again yet, just watching him. He's good at watching vampires, examining every detail. It's usually comfortable territory.

It isn't anymore. ]

May I touch you?

[There's a groan that says it all. Not enough. Not nearly enough, he wants to be out for two days at least. No one's stupid enough to pull shit after something like an execution, he can sleep for 48 hours.

He's looking at the wall opposite Trevor. Not at him.]

I don't want either of you touching me at the moment.

Would it help, if we don't?

[ It's a genuine question. Because maybe it would. He has more than enough fucked up coping mechanisms not to question those of others too much. He has times where company hurts more than it helps. But his distress is heat and gunfire, the kind that warmth and sound can compound and become too much. Alucard's is ice and silence, the kind that reaches out to pull warmth into it even when he himself does not.

It might be true, that Alucard does just need to be left alone. It might also be that this is self-sacrificial bullshit, or some weird kind of punishment for himself, or some ridiculous attempt to not worry them. ]

If it would, I'll leave. And I'll keep her away. [ Easier said than done, but he'll try. ]

[Two thirds of Trevor's suspicions are correct. Alucard is horrified at himself. Everything his mother expected of him is undone. How he copes at the start, he cannot bear for the other two to see. They are already dealing with this burden, he does not need to increase it further.

(He's still doing that by refusing to be around them. But better that than whatever this is.)

Maybe he'll sleep better if he asks Trevor to leave. Maybe he won't. And instead of responding to anything Trevor's asked, Alucard asks something else instead.]

How did you find peace after the first time you...

[You fulfilled family duty.]

Trained for it. Both times.

[ There were two first times, after all. First vampire (eleven, only meant to observe his sister's work rather than doing his own). First human (looked like a plane, couldn't see the person inside it). ]

From birth, for the vampire. For a couple of months, for the humans. It was easy, by the time I had to.

[ That last part- is only partially a lie. The killing part is always easy. Enough to be fucking scary if you think about it too hard. ]

Sister carried me home, after the first vampire. Checked me for bites or other open wounds that might get blood in them, helped me wash myself when I couldn't manage it, sat me by the fireplace with the dogs. After the first human- [ His tone turns bitter. A little humourous, in that way Alucard can't stand. ] -cognac, if I remember correctly.

Hm.

[Training. That must make it just a little easier both times. Knowing, being able to prepare, doing it for weeks or a lifetime. Being a Belmont helps, they're meant to do this. And then there is mention of dogs and...

...and maybe that's the right way forward. Alucard stretches out just a little, and his movement gives him enough time to transform. Humanity is hard right now. Being a wolf may not be. Silly to be a wolf under an entire blanket, but that's the situation right now.

He huffs out. It already feels better like this.]

Not quite how it went back then.

[ The laugh is very, very fake. But it's warm instead of the cynical chuckle from a moment ago. ]

Also, this is unfair. You're going to be a dog when I'm not allowed to pet you.

[He doesn't like that fake laugh. Or anything. But at least he rolls over so that there's a big dog face looking at Trevor. It's not great at disguising misery, but at least he's on a wolf's face, not Alucard's person face.

There's a snuffle of apology.

Then he curls back up again to try and sleep.

Fine, fine.

[ He takes the book, kind of invested in the horrible plot of it now, and brushes the edge of that against Alucard's face. ]

But you didn't answer my fucking question, so I'm not going to keep her out.

[ And he doesn't. He explains, and so she refrains from just curling up with Alucard in the bed and holding him the whole time. But she does spend a while each day stroking Alucard's fur and talking quietly to him.

When Alucard wakes, there's a glass of water by the bed. One of Agatha's tins of pastries. A collection of short notes from Sypha, keeping Alucard up to date on where she is (the latest one says she's gone driving, which isn't particularly helpful and could mean she's just about anywhere). There's the sound of the castle doors openning and closing. It's a Sunday, and Trevor is just back from church. ]

[It's two days of needed rest.

He sleeps soundly in wolf form. Not peacefully, there's twitching. Growling. His paws keep trying to run. But it is two days of quiet that he very much needed.

When he wakes, he realizes that he can't have that water or the pastries without being a person again. He grumbles about it, damn opposable thumbs, but he transforms. Takes the water, then opens the pastry tin. He's in wolf form to devour it all, because fuck it, and then he maintains that form as he finally leaves the room.

The kitchen. The only other place that feels right at the moment. Alucard is quiet as he sits on the floor for a while, debating if he should cook or just hold onto this form a little longer.

His stomach answers for him. He's barely eaten, and then he slept for two days. Food is more important.

So that means that when Trevor walks in, there's a normal sight greeting him. Alucard is standing over the stove, cooking.]

Normal-shaped again, I see.

[ He didn't stay long after church today, though he still has his knitting bag with him when he comes into the kitchen, setting it down next to one of the chairs and sitting down. ]

You still look like shit.

I haven't washed in...a few days. That is natural.

[He also still feels like shit.

He takes the bacon out of the cast iron pan, then reaches for the eggs.]

How do you want yours cooked?

You really ought to. It'll help.

[ He pulls out his knitting. It's probably easier to talk when both of them have something to look at other than each other. It's another potatobrand. The most recent ones have a whole lot of wooly hair and pompoms for eyebrows. ]

Scrambled sounds best. [ It's the one that involves beating the eggs up, which seems like it might help. ]

I'll do it after breakfast.

[Hunger is more important than smell. Which, his probably rank at this point.

One egg goes in. Then just the entire dozen because the vampire is extremely hungry and pretty much going to snarf whatever Trevor doesn't.]

How many Potatobrands can you spare for destruction?

Let me join you?

[ It'd probably be difficult if the no touching rule still stands, but he may as well offer anyway. It seems like the kind of thing that might help. ]

I think I have three that just need finishing, but you'll owe me new yarn.

Destroying Potatobrands? Gladly.

[He's aware of the other option, and he's ignoring it. Entirely.]

I think there's a new yarn store open anyway. May as well go assess it if your grandmothers haven't already rendered their verdict.

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