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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It's nothing to just...put you a block or two away....

[The words die on his lips. Alucard's certain that he's committed some terrible breech in protocol, done something unacceptable, and oh...

...he looks utterly broken at the tears on her face. His fault. His stupid fault.]

[She looks at him a minute, still feeling wrung-out and awful, despairing of the broken expression on his face and the fast-brimming wave of new tears welling up in her eyes, and before she can think better of it, before she can even think to begin with, she whispers: ]

Either touch me or don't, Adrian.

[Unfiltered. Reckless, maybe. Dictated by emotion, rather than rational thought.]

[Good news: that statement surprises him enough to wipe any sadness off his stupid pale face. It's replaced with a dumbfounded look, because wait. What? He hasn't moved his hand and...

...oh god the rest of him's moving without permission. Because sure this is an appropriate time to dare and attempt a kiss. Exactly dead bang on perfection.]

[She's ready and waiting for him, when he moves. She doesn't have the time or the opportunity to wonder if perhaps she knows what she's doing when it comes to this better than he does; what matters is that he angles in toward her, and she already knows what angle to tilt her chin at to meet him properly, and thus, there it is, a kiss.

It's a kiss that aches, laced through with warring emotion — with fear, with sadness, with the rawness that accompanies futility. It's filled with need; it's sharp with desire. She wants to be kissed, wants to be wanted, and the intensity of that aspect of it frightens her a little, because of how powerfully it hits her. This is hers, just hers, and there are so few things in the world that are, but it is and she doesn't want to lose it.

That's why, maybe, she doesn't waste time before pushing on him, guiding him to sit back far enough that she can climb over him and sit straddling his lap facing him. It makes it easier for her to kiss him, facing him head-on instead of having to twist to the side; it makes it safer for his stitches, because this way she can partially protect them as she leans into him. It makes it easier for him to hold on to her.

And it makes it impossible for him to get rid of her, because her weight is pinning him to the couch, and she doesn't want to go.]

When I told you I should go — why didn't you ask me to stay?

[There's a hint of desperation in her tone that she doesn't intend to be there, and yet there it is.]

Don't you want me to?

[Alucard is now certain that he shouldn't have done that, because does he need to have even more emotions to deal with on top of everything else? He's greiving twice over, for his mother and for his father's departure, he's living in fear for what the city might do as it is too finely balanced right now, he's well and truly alone for the first time in his life, and here he is kissing (and being kissed back) by someone who he knows will be leaving in just a few days.

It's a hurricane (he's familiar enough with those), and in the eye of it is the tiniest bit of normalacy, of happiness that the past few hours have provided. It's why when Sypha's emotions are all caught up in her response and how she moves on top of Alucard in full, he can only respond. Let instinct try and take over (he's dated before) with his hands resting on her hips.

Moreoevr, he tries to match her intensity once it's on full display. The need, the need is what he picks up on the most, and fuck if that's not an undercurrent to his emotional state as well.

He's pinned in more than one way.]

...How can I demand anyone give up their family?

[His response is soft and measured. What response did she expect?]

[It's only half the answer she'd asked for — the why of the puzzle. He doesn't address the more important of the two, the don't you want me to, and she's not sure if his lack of an answer isn't really an answer all in itself.]

I meant tonight. When I said that I should go back to our camp.

[It makes her shiver, though, to see where his mind had gone to instinctively. He's not thinking of her leaving or staying in terms of tonight; he's thinking of it in terms of forever.]

You look at me like you think I'm beautiful. But you can't say that you want me...?

I...do not want to force too many of my emotions onto you.

{That's...that is what it is, isn't it? Alucard's terrified of forcing all of his recovery and rebuilding to the hands of another. Someone he's just met. That's unfair, too much to demand of anyone. There's such a look of apology on his face.]

And I am afraid that I have already asked you to shoulder too much.

Stop being noble and just answer me!

[Her hands tighten slightly on his shoulders, as much to steady herself as to grip him in her flash of fleeting protest.]

Answer me or I'll leave. I'll go right now and I won't let you come with me...

Miss Belnades....

[He says her name very quietly. A little shocked by the threat (and her grip), but is he being noble? He thought he was being honest.]

No. I'd...I enjoy your company. I'd rather you not leave, even if I'm afraid I'd get you in trouble if I insisted you did so.

You are an idiot.

[A statement that may seem at odds, at first, with the fact that she's kissing him again, but then again — she's kissing him, so.]

You talk as though wanting things and having them given to you are one and the same. You won't admit you want things if you think you shouldn't have them. You — oooh!

[Again, she kisses him, and this time she bites him softly, teeth pressing against his lower lip with just a hint of an edge.]

[He is being yelled at and kissed at the same time. That...well. This is an experience to say the very least. As is the change in how he is being kissed, as teeth are new to the matter. He tries to kiss back, heat in his cheeks (if Sypha looks carefully, the color is there), but the sterness of Sypha's words make him wonder if he ought to stop.

It has been a strange night.]

What would you like me to do then?

[His question is genuine.]

...Just...

[She draws back a little, enough to breathe, but not enough to get very far away. Her breath is warm, like the rest of her; her hands shift from gripping his shoulders to tracing slow circles against them, dipping up to cradle the base of his neck every so often.]

Don't decide what is best for me without at least asking me. Does that make sense?

Yes.

[The stupid little curl that's always in Aluacrd's way is a terrible flyaway at the moment. It adds to the flushed look on his face, even if the real redness that ought to be there isn't.

Sypha's hands are wonderful where they are. As warm as he remembers them being, and when they reach his neck, he nearly melts under them.]

I...my mind goes to many places at once these days. Safety above all.

You're afraid.

[She's watching his face, his expression. It reminds her of when he'd looked so sad a time before this, and she'd held his hand to make him laugh and cheer up. Touching him seems to have that effect on him, and so she sweeps her fingertips up and down the column of his neck, experimenting a little before absently recalling that, being a vampire or at least half of one, he's probably attached to attention to his neck for precisely that reason.

Funny how often she forgets that he's half-vampire. She'd been just barely able to sense the fangs in his mouth when she'd kissed him; thinking of them at greater length makes her shiver again, and not altogether with fear of her own. She has enough tact not to ask about it, certainly not at a time like this. But she's naturally curious, and so of course getting attached to a vampire like this is inherently going to yield...questions.]

If you don't tell me your thoughts, I can't help make the decisions that would address them. You leave me in the dark and wandering, with no light.

[But then something gradually occurs to her, and her brow furrows a little, as she tentatively plays out the idea.]

But...you are not very good with words, are you? Not when it comes to your feelings.

[Afraid.

That's a rather accurate word, all things considered. The world is wide and terrifying right now for all manner of reasons. He is alone in a city that destroyed his mother. He is alone in a city that relies upon the unwritten laws on his father to function, and now that man is departed. He has no other protection than himself, and few of his father's kind that would be so willing to extend hospitality to him if he asked. Alucard grew up away from so much of that world. Oh, he's known in it, but hardly a part of that society's fabric. He didn't have to be. The weight of the name Dracul was all that was ever needed.

Sypha's hands keep him from sinking too far into that sea of swirling, churning, nightmare thoughts. His eyes are on her, uncertain and unsure and he's still not clear on what any of this is beyond a wild emotional ride.

But she hits upon something that he can respond to without needing to stop and parse everything in his head.]

I am not, no. [He doesn't quite laugh, but there's a little hint of it.] Not on most days, and not when everything is happening at once.

I don't know how to speak your language yet.

[She says it softly, fingers skimming over his skin, tracking the pathways of vessels and veins from his neck to his shoulders to his collarbones.]

You try, I think. To say how you are feeling. But you don't do it in words. You do it in other ways.

[One hand comes up, brushing over his cheek, tracing the soft semicircle of skin beneath his eye.]

In looks. Movements. I am not fluent in you, not yet.

[It is a wonder how he goes so still as Sypha's fingers move along his body. There's a gentle warmth to them, which is not surprising given who Sypha is and where her skills lie. What is surprising is how calming it all feels for no reason at all. (In time, he'll figure out that it is because it is Sypha.)

The words not yet feel are hard to hear. Not yet suggests that there might be time in the future, but they both know that isn't the case. In a few days, she will leave, and then where shall either of them be?

It is that thought that drives the sigh that coincides with Sypha's hand moving to stroke under his eyes. There are bags there, small ones, ones that suggest that for all the sleep he's getting, it still isn't enough.]

If you had more opportunity to....

[His voice is a whisper. Asking the question alone is a scary act, for she could say no.]

If it were safe here, and we could stay...

[Quietly encouraged by the way he goes still under her hands, like he's trying to soak in the tactile attention she's showing him, she reaches up to take his face in both her hands, using her thumbs to apply just the barest hint of soothing pressure on the dark circles beneath his eyes.]

If it were up to me, I would come to you every day. I like being with you. You...make me feel things in ways I have never felt them before.

[His eyes flutter closed as there is more pressure applied just below them. The hands that rest on either side of Sypha's hips relax as well, nearly sliding off except for Alucard remembering that he wants them there. If there's any greater sign of trust he can give right now, Alucard dosn't know what it is.

He's committed to memorizing this moment. Where her hands go next as well.]

Then that much is mutual.

How long have you wanted to kiss me?

[This is taking advantage of him a little bit, maybe. He's unwinding, coming apart beneath her fingers, and she's encouraging it a little more with every passing second. Perhaps it's cheating to coax him for answers when they're both so raw and so vulnerable in the way they've let their guards down, but she wants to know.

And who knows how long they have left, before she's not able to seek out these answers at all.]

When did you know?

[It is a very unfair question. She's just said it herself, he's terrible with words, and yet here she is asking one of the most invasive questions that she could ask.

He does have an answer though, although as Alucard says it he fears it's the wrong response.]

When you tricked me into holding hands. [His voice is soft. Not entirely warm, but nearish to it.] Stupidest thing, but the fact I was glad you did it...

I thought you were going to. When you turned it back around on me — but then you didn't.

[Her hands still on his face as she leans down, pressing her forehead lightly to his.]

I went home without a kiss that night. I was very disappointed.

I didn't want to be untowards or to rush ahead.

[But now they're doing nothing but rushing, are they?

His head is so cool against hers. It's a warm and welcome weight and...oh. He can take a hint.

Alucard's eyes flutter open, finally, and there's still fear in them. This is a terrible and finite thing now, and they're both aware of it. Any grand gesture or overture is going to be ephemeral.

But when he kisses her this time, it's not for that. It's to make up for that disappointment instead, and he tries to make it clear what his intent would have been that night instead of this one. Nervous and uncertain but wanting to do this so very badly because she's made him happy, and she should know that.]

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20s AU Post

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