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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Is that how far the sensation of the iron reached?

[Alucard moves to take the hand, not to hold it, but to examine it. He stops himself, and this is another reminder of how much he loathes their current situation. There's a curse on his lips, and Alucard moves to sit on both of his hands for it.]

You can't sew, and I can't touch you at all. Sypha's managed to sew me up but she was also burning my flesh...

No.

[ It's flat. He's not budging on that point. ]

I'd take the burning flesh, honestly. But I'd sooner not contaminate her. It's-

[ -an emotional thing. At the end of the day, Alucard needs physical contact more than he does. He needs to be able to touch at least one of them. This isn't emergency enough to justify taking that from him. ]

-the fucking car. It wasn't happy just having me in the back seat. Imagine the fuss it'd make if she were trying to drive it with this stuff on her hands.

While it's good to know the car is a reasonable detector of danger levels from your defenses, that doesn't leave us with a solution of how to fix this situation.

[He sounds stressed. That's because he is, and there is no hiding it from Trevor.]

Fuck.

Shitty situation.

[ He smiles in sympathy. It's not been that long since the situations were reversed. The wounds were just internal back then, and the lack of touching enforced only by words and not by pain. ]

It'll be fine. We can leave it for tonight, I can just keep changing the dressing, and you can ask one of the babas to come here in the morning. They want to talk to you anyway, about all this Carmilla business.

Yes, let's leave you with a gaping side wound so you can turn in your sleep and make it bleed worse in the night.

[He's sinking into angry sass, which says everything about the situation. Alucard's hands are grabbing at his own shirt sleeves now, pulling much too tightly. Anger's easy right now, and it means Alucard misses that smile.]

And yes, Agatha called to make sure you got home, mentioned it then but...

[Alucard snaps his fingers suddenly.]

Stay where you are.

[He's...nyooming. At vampire speed.]

[ He just sighs, starting work on undoing the bandages. The dressing will need changing no matter what, and he can ask Alucard to bring him a fresh one once he's done with- whatever he's doing. Dramatic fucking vampire.

The cut is messy and jagged. It should have been cleaner, but he was reaching around his body using his wrong hand to try to fish out an arrowhead because fucking vampires using fucking bows and fucking arrows in the twentieth fucking century. The skin around it is a furious red from the scrubbing and the salt, and the cut itself is closed by dry blood, but opening to weep a little with any movement more dramatic than lying back on the bed. ]

Half of me is actually paralyzed right now. I think 'stay where you are' goes without saying.

[ ...he says that, but he was still going about a vampire's house while half paralyzed. ]

[Alucard returns with several things. The first is a bucket of water, steaming hot. It is for sterilization. With him on his belt is a kit of bandages and gauze, and hovering over his shoulder is a tiny needle already threaded. His stupid experiment worked. Which means he can at least fix this stupid problem without touching Trevor.

He kneels at Trevor's side, motions for him to inch closer. The bucket is placed down on the floor, Alucard grabs the jar of yew ash just in case.

From where he sits, he can at least assess the wound better than before. It's worse than he expected, and it looked pretty bad earlier. Salting a wound will do that, and so will iron.]

I cannot articulate how much I hate this right now.

[The needle is dipped into the bucket to sterilize it properly.]

I'm going to make a paste of the yew ash and ask you to apply it first, understood?

You've been articulating how you can't articulate it for a while, now.

[ He shuffles closer as best he can, until he's as close to the edge of the bed as he dares to get when he can't stop himself from falling off and Alucard will almost certainly burn himself trying to catch him. ]

Understood.

I suppose I have, haven't I? [He says it softly, with a twinge of embarrassment. It's a sign of how stressed he is, repeating himself like a broken record.

Alucard moves on from that, reaching for the ashes. He then realizes he needs something to mix them in, and he leaves the room for just a few minutes more. He returns with a small, shallow dish, and he dumps the ashes into it first. Then adds just a little of the sterile water, and takes off the glove of his non-burnt hand. Mixes it all carefully, then holds it out near Trevor's hands.]

Smear this on both the skin around the wound and into it first.

[ He takes the dish, taking care not to let his skin get too close to Alucard's. The paste is similar to ones Enid used to mix for them (blackthorn ash and holy water, to be smeared in a thick layer over injuries from a vampire's claws and allowed to dry before being peeled away and buried in a churchyard). It's- all of this is familiar, in truth. Comforting in the stupidest way possible.

Less comforting is the task of working the paste into the cut. It's a highly unpleasant process, made moreso by the fact that he needs to use the most distant hand for it. He gasps and swears, but finally succeeds. ]

Fuck. Done, I think.

[Alucard watches Trevor's hand carefully. He has to sit on his own so he doesn't try to help. There are moments when his arms twitch, compulsion to help. Because this is forcing more pain onto Trevor, and he shouldn't be doing this.

But here they are. Trevor doused in annoited oil, Alucard repelled, and injury making the matter too complicated.

Once Trevor's done, Alucard gets as close as he can. Observes the work, then nods.]

Okay. I'm going to start sewing. You need to stay still, because this is all mental for me. I can't hold you steady.

[The needle floats up out of the sterlized water. It dangles over where the work must begin.]

Ready?

[ With some difficulty, in the case of his right arm, he brings his arms upward and grabs on to whatever is convenient. The corner of the mattress, for his left. For his right, he just tries to latch his fingers behind the nightstand. To hold himself in place. He doesn't trust himself not to thrash about, not now the adrenaline has faded. The instruction will help, but it's best not to take chances. ]

Ready.

[Alucard concentrates on the needle. On moving it through Trevor's flesh for the first time, and he already hates this method. To do this properly, he needs to be able to touch the skin. To understand how deep something is, to have that tactile sense in order to make adjustments. His eyes are on Trevor's wound, yes, but that makes none of this easier

The rest of him is perfectly still, guiding the needle all the way through. Pulling the thread tight. Making sure it all holds. His gloved hands grip the bed frame, and now the needle begins it's second stitch.

He can't look at Trevor. He can't. It'll break his concentration, it'll hurt them both, they can't be like this for months on end.]

[ The needle is, at least, very sharp. Not so sharp that he can't feel it going in, but this could be a lot worse. Has been a lot worse. He doesn't thrash or try to move away from it, and he manages not to sound too distressed. He really doesn't want to distract Alucard right now. He clenches harder at the bed, and he's probably going to pull the sheet free and need to remake it, but that's hardly a great problem. ]

You're doing fine. Just keep holding like this.

[He says it with more of a doctor voice than an incredibly worried boyfriend voice. The first one is the priority right now, and it takes Alucard more time than he'd like to finish it all up. Takes time because he can't touch Trevor and it's as much a professional pain as a personal one, it seems.

When it's all done, Alucard recalls the needle to himself. Returns it to the water bucket (it isn't hot enough to sterilize anymore, but that's fine), and breathes out tiredly.]

Can you bandage it on your own?

[ He watches the needle float away with a snort and a slight smile. He's been smiling a lot, throughout this shit. Makes it easier. Makes it feel like he's at least trying to do something to make the whole situation less shit for Sypha and Alucard. ]

Clever.

[ And slowly he begins the process of untangling his arms from where he moved them to. It's slow and uncomfortable, but not half as much of either as the bandaging is going to be. With some effort, he pushes himself into a sitting position. The stitches hold. Good. ]

Yeah, should be able to. You have clean bandages there?

Hn. Lucky.

[A needle is just a very small sword, after all. That the skill transfers at all is a miracle, one that Alucard is grateful for even as he hates that he had to figure it out in the first place.

As Trevor sits up, Alucard reaches down to the pile of bandages in sterile little wrappings that he grabbed. When Trevor asks for them, they're piled right next to the Belmont, all neat and ready to be used.]

Yes. Let me see your hand before you proceed.

A little of both.

[ He holds out the hand. Right now, there's no change. The discolouration is still about where it was earlier. Even the yew is not an instant solution, though it's one that can be applied quicker than the salt in future to prevent the damage from spreading this far. ]

About sixteen hours for it to move down to the first knuckle with the salt. I'll measure how well the yew does when I wake up.

[This time, Alucard knows better than to take the hand. Knows better and still fights instinct because Trevor is injured and it's his job to fix that. If he can't protect, he has to heal, and now even that capacity is limited.

He hisses, unhappy.]

That'll have to do.

[He. Hates. It.]

Adrian.

[ He turns his arm over, setting about bandaging himself. It's difficult, but he manages it. And then- he can't touch Alucard himself, but he can reach up very carefully to brush his fingers against his hair without touching his skin. ]

Thanks. For taking care of me.

[Alucard's face nearly shatters for that comment. They're all making such efforts to reinforce the fact that the other two are the most important things right now, even as hell sits on their doorstep. The little callbacks, they're worth everything.

He doesn't care about the burns. He grabs Trevor's wrist for just a moment, a terrible and painful one, squeezes carefully, then lets go.]

It's all I can do.

[A fact that devastates him in this moment.]

[ It's like the blood keeps Alucard from him and Sypha, except the danger is more clear. He can feel the blisters forming on Alucard's skin when they touch. And it's hard to smile, knowing that he's hurting him like this, that Alucard is allowing himself to be hurt for his sake.

But he does, and he lies back down. ]

You don't need to do more. This is- just what succeeding looks like sometimes.

Looks like hell.

[His hand withdraws. Sypha's going to yell at him for doing something so stupid. Alucard can't bring himself to care. He can do as much as grab blankets and try to drape them over Trevor as carefully as he can. They're light ones, good for the city's warm winters. In truth, it's more about the act than any required warmth.

He has to let them go at Trevor's chest. Fuck.]

Feels like it too.

Sure does.

[ He pulls the blankets up the rest of the way. And it is awful. He wants to just let Alucard and Sypha take care of him - he's only just started to accept that doing so isn't some horrible burden, just as it became impossible. But right now it won't work. And in all honesty, in the absence of comfort he just wants to sleep. Recover quicker.

And he wishes he could be more help, but he doesn't know how to make it better. This kind of bittersweet victory is just the best that one can hope for in his family. ]

Go have Sypha ice the burns. I'll be back with you in a few days.

I'll leave dinner for whenever you're up.

[He has to eat. And that's an excuse to check on how things are healing. It'll have to be enough. He'll train himself to accept this for now, just as Alucard's done for so many other shitty parts of this job.][He withdraws slowly. Gathers everything up, and lingers at the door to make sure that Trevor at least closes his eyes.]

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