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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If it was a question you wanted an answer to, then yes, I would hope you would outright ask.

[She pauses a minute, before continuing in a slightly softer tone.]

What I wanted was to surprise you, and to cheer you up. To try to make you smile if I could. Because it's as you said — you haven't, in several days. Smiled.

[She's quiet again.]

What I mean is, I wasn't thinking of myself. It was not my intent to try to make myself happy. The fact that it did was...a pleasant side effect.

I thinkI already have the answer.

[He's not sure how he feels about the answer, but there's a warmth to that knowledge. (He's assigning the side effect, he must be. That's the logical explanation, is it not?

Sypha keeps talking though. He's so quiet, and there's such a soft look on his face when she's done. The knowledge that whatever's happening is mutual is...that feels like as much a blessing as her words are every time they have parted ways so far.]

Sometimes intentions are not known until the thing is done.

[He's thoughtful about too much of this.]

And I'm glad that this won't be the last I see of you.

You have only seen me twice.

[...Wait.]

Well, three — no, four.

[In the forest, then that next morning, then earlier today, and now here. Four. Hmm; that's more often than she'd actually thought it had been. Strange.]

Is there someplace to go for dessert that will not mind serving us? Both of us?

You're the only one counting.

[Strange as it is, she's the person he's seen the most of lately, outside of his father.

That's absolutely a thought for later though. For now, dessert.]

Mm. There's a small ice cream place down the street that doesn't close for another few hours.

[And speaking of counting, this will be the third time this evening that Alucard has been treated to this particular expression on Sypha's face — the same flash of sudden, eager interest she'd worn when playing with his end table drawer, and when he'd introduced her to his microwave.]

Really?

[Evidently, he's picked a winner.]

...Can we go like this?

We can go right now if you'd like.

[That face is...it's something. It's alight with curiosity and eagerness, and it looks so right on her. That's not a commentary about magic or intent, just a gut feeling.

He wonders how many times he can be the cause of it in a single evening.]

No, I meant —

[She lifts their hands a little, bringing his up with hers, fingers still entwined as she shows the way that they're still linked to him.]

Like this. Because if not, then we will have a conundrum of who is going to let go first.

...Oh.

[Oh.]

I just need to get my wallet.

[And so it goes, and so they go.

They stay holding hands, as predicted, down to the ice cream shop and all the way up to the point when two hands become necessary to eat with, and then they simply stay close to each other as the evening winds its way into nighttime properly.

When they make it back to the steps of the townhouse, she doesn't ask him to walk her back to the Speaker camp, even though she wants to. He's still injured, and needs to rest, and so she leaves him at the door and makes her way back on her own.

He'd asked for two days, and that suits her just fine; she continues going to work, and earns her keep, and he'd been so generous with the supplies and the food that she doesn't feel altogether too guilty about separating out a few coins for herself from the income she brings back to the Speakers, and knows exactly where she intends to spend it that afternoon in town.

When their agreed-upon evening comes, she turns up right on schedule at the townhouse, with a bag tucked under one arm as she trots up and rings the bell.]

[No one Alucard knows (or would know of Alucard, in truth) crosses their path that evening. That thought doesn't occur to him until the next afternoon, when Alucard stirs and realizes he really ought to do the grocery shopping. His bandages are changed (a little better now), but before he sees to shopping, he drives himself to the library. There is research to do, and for food, it must be done at the library rather than the castle. It isn't a collecting area of his father's.

Finding the right recipe takes a little time, but he does find it. Copies it down. Then researches Italian grocers, and that is where he goes to do the week's shopping instead. A new world of smells and cured meats greet him when Alucard enters, and he emerges with the right supplies, plus bread, plus olives, plus polenta (which is grits? apparently?) plus fruit and veg.

When he opens the door for Sypha, the smell of a sauce that has been simmering all day greets her, all tomatoes and herbs and well, garlic, promising that whatever's next is going to be as close to what she saw as it could ever possibly be.

The bag under her arm gets a quiet lift of the eyebrows, but not much else.]

Come in, please.

[He's dressed as simply as possible. Black trousers and a grey button up shirt, because right now trying to pull anything over his head is terrible.]

Good evening!

[Oh, no, black and gray looks really good on him. She squeezes her bag a little tighter and heads in when he bids her to, idling in the front hall and closing her eyes to inhale the delicious aroma of cooking in the air.]

Oh — it's just like what I remember!

[Delighted, she bounces a little on the balls of her feet.]

May I borrow your — um. Is there somewhere I can freshen up?

Bathroom?

He closes the door behind her, then indicates a space just across from the stairs.]

On your right, about halfway to the kitchen.

Thank you!

[And off she goes, closing the door behind her and rustling around a little bit inside, and when she comes back the sound of her footsteps has changed from shuffling to soft clicking.

Not very surprising, given that she's changed clothes.

It's not a perfect fit; the tailoring is a little off in places, where she's a little thinner and less curvy than the garment's previous owner. It's also a sort of boring shade of taupe, which probably explains how it ended up in the secondhand store where she'd found it in the first place. But it's a skirt that ends at her knees and a drop waist just past her hips, and closed-toe shoes with real heels, and a little sailor collar tie around her neck for an accessory, and she tried.

She doesn't say anything about it when she enters the kitchen, just stands quietly and watches him at whatever he's doing, and waits for the inevitable reaction.]

[As it turns out, Alucard is dumping the pasta out of the water and into the strainer, so there's a cloud of steam around him at first. He hears Sypha come in, but he has to shake off the excess water first, get the pasta back into the pot, then start ladeling sauce in to make sure that the spaghetti is evenly coated.

The table's already set, because of course it is, and there's bread set in a basket too, all sliced precisely on the bias. Alucard turns to reach for the actual ladel and...

...oh.

He's staring. Because it's hard not to, and because shit, did she go out of her way to buy that?]

That's...incredibly flattering on you.

[Better than YOU CLOTHES NICE which was the first thought he had.]

I look like a girl, you mean. Instead of just another Speaker.

[She people-watches when she's out, of course. She knows plenty of what's in fashion and what isn't, what people from all walks of life wear at what times and on what occasions. She'd known what she was looking for when she'd gone looking; the options had been few and far between, for various reasons, but she'd picked the best of the available selection.

The shorter skirt feels strange, hitting against the backs of her knees. It makes her turn in a slow circle, causing it to flare out just a little as she completes a revolution.]

I'm not sure if I like it, exactly. But I feel...different. I like that much, at least.

Admittedly, the blue brings your eyes to the forefront more.

[He's going to focus on finishing dinner. Which means actually getting the sauce into the pot and stirring it carefully. No oversaucing. Satisfied with that, Alucard reaches for the first of two plates sat beside the stove, and he piles one with the pasta. Then the next.

He's rather sad that he can't cook and watch Sypha at the same time, but he promised dinner, didn't he? There's two meatballs per plate by the time he's done, and then both plates are down on the table.]

The movement of the skirt suits you. It's more expressive than robes allow for.

You of all people should know how difficult it is to find something in Speaker blue.

[She's utterly engrossed in watching him, however, and that look of delight is slowly creeping back into her expression as he manages to set out a spread that looks almost exactly like the one in her memories that she'd envisioned when she'd made her request.]

You really did all this in two days?

True, but there are other complimentary shades I can think of.

[The food's on the table, which means he can sit down properly. There's less hesitation as he does so too, which speaks to something else much more important.]

Yes. Library and grocery shopping yesterday, and then I cooked today. The hardest part was finding the recipe.

Well, it looks and smells wonderful.

[Also wonderful is the way he's moving, she observes — much better than he was even two days ago. His healing really is quick, it seems, and effective, too.

And thus, they both get seated.]

And...um. Here we are. It was kind of you to do this for me.

None of that will mean anything if it tastes awful.

[There's still a chance he could fail. Alucard followed every instruction of the recipe to the letter. That doesn't mean that failure isn't an option, especially if it's a bad recipe. He settles in, his seat next to Sypha rather than directly across. Closer to the stove in case there's a demand for more.]

Think nothing of it. I enjoyed the challenge.

[He loved the distraction.]

...Well, there's one way to find out. I'm going to have a bite.

[She casts a quick glance at him, just briefly checking for approval, before wasting no time in picking up her fork and bringing a few loops of noodles to her mouth and starting to chew.

She'd had a very vivid picture in her mind, when she'd thought of this dinner — a big plate of pasta, and long, long noodles that seemed to go on forever, covered in sauce and herbs and nestled around big, rich meatballs. So it's no wonder, maybe, that her delight grows as the noodles prove far longer than expected, and she has to keep chewing and chewing in search of the noodle end that seems to be nowhere in sight.

Also, it tastes fantastic, which helps a lot.]

Mm — !

[Alucard doesn't start eating right away. Instead he watches Sypha's investigation of the dish, not bother to hiding the fact he's waiting for her reaction. No pressure, but also, he really does want to know.

So when it meets approval, not just in taste it seems but in exactly how long it takes to spin the noodles onto her fork, there's a little glow of pride he didn't know he cared about that much.]

I didn't go too hard on the garlic?

[A reasonable concern. Which he then goes about investigating himself, starting to get some spaghetti onto his own fork.]

Mm-mmm! No, it's just right, and the sauce is nice and warm, and —

[And that's about when it hits her, and all of a sudden she looks mortified, as she sets down her fork and slaps her hands over her mouth instead.]

I asked you to make a dinner full of garlic! Why didn't you say something?

[Sorry, Sypha. That reaction is too much, and he can only laugh at it. Not at her, just at the tone.]

Because it isn't a problem for me. Mild allergy for full vampires, and even then that's hit or miss.

[Plus, and if Alucard's being honest with himself, even if the garlic was a problem, he would have made the meal anyway.]

[Oh. He's laughing. He's laughing, and admittedly her first thought is that she hopes he doesn't laugh too hard and burst his stitches, but her second thought is just —

He's laughing.]

You're sure you're not just saying that to make me feel better about being rude?

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