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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Let me take care of the mess.

[Because — there's something important in that, too. That this isn't the rushed, frenzied passion of yesterday and the day before. That there is time to go slower, to do things properly. That in this new ordering of things, what needs must be done can come first. That there is no need to disrupt the natural order for the sake of seizing every moment they can, because there will be time for all of those moments and still the work that needs to be done.]

And now that all of this is finally done...

[She tips her chin up to look at him, expression soft, eyes unguarded.]

...I came back. I found the letter.

[There's no protesting from Alucard. It's one of the things he has realized just happens when she's around. He doesn't second guess. He'll try to argue something, but that never goes anywhere. It is more likely that he'll let whatever Sypha's decided be the law of the land and...that's okay. She's gained his trust so quickly, and all of that is for her willingness to help when he needed it most.

Anyone's trust is fragile right now. Alucard knows the world that belonged to his father can't be given any part of his trust, for there will be Politics soon and harm unto him. Sypha's human. She doesn't care about that world, she barely knows of it. Everything done is because she has wished it so, and because of the part of him that is so very human.

She's terribly soft right now. Alucard's own eyes reflect uncertainty, not for the fact she came back but...well, writing a letter to a master of language is a little intimidating.]

I didn't want it to be too hard to find.

It wasn't.

[She doesn't take her hands off him, doesn't stop moving them. Her fingers are exploring his chest and shoulders like she's relearning something familiar but forgotten, needing the sight of his reactions to her as much as she needs any other means of survival.]

But still, you didn't think I would come. You thought I would find it, and read it, but still go.

Can you blame me for that thought?

[He asks it with a little hesitance, because he doesn't want to elaborate. He said it in the note, he's asked her to give up so much. They both know it, and yet here she is. Here. In the city. In the house. Her fingers moving wherever they please.

On his face is relief at this point. Relief that she's here, but also relief that he's not bleeding everywhere. Relief that she hasn't judged the bathroom too harshly, because of course that's a vampire priority.]

I don't know what else to say. Everything I had in me, you've already read.

I don't blame you for it. I bring it up only because I need you to understand.

[Because she's seen the bathroom. Because she's seen the torn stitches. Because she's seen the mess he still is, the red eyes, the blotchy face, the mess of his hair. Because she's heard the disbelief and the rattle of almost-hysteria in his laughter. Because she knows there is still such a deep wellspring of sadness inside of him, even now.

She lets her hands drift up, taking his face in both of them, cupping his jawline on either side in her palms.]

I am here. I picked you. I was as good as gone, and came back, because I wanted to be with you.

[Idly, she traces the pad of her thumb over the swell of his lower lip.]

You must remember. Promise me, that you will remember how loved you are.

[He understands. No need to say it, because as she's said, he's better with actions. When her hands rest on either side of his face, his own move down to wrap around her waist and draw her close. (The chair's in the way. So be it.) When her thumb traces over his lip, he angles his head just a little to put the softest of kisses to it.

There's also so many things he's undertaken in this moment that she doesn't know about. She's here which means that should anything supernatural find it's way to the door, he will prioritize her life over his. Anyone who'd think of looking at a Speaker as easy for any number of reasons will be met with himself and all the anger that's simmering away deep in his stomach. The rules of the city's night things, he'll have to show her how to navigate that world, because by picking him, she has taken that on as well.

She still needs to hear words.]

I promise. Give me something and I shall swear upon it.

[She smiles at him, softly, and releases his face just long enough to run her hand down the length of his arm, easing it away from her hip and bringing his fingertips up to rest over her own mouth instead.]

If you must swear, then swear on my voice. My lips. My tongue.

[Lightly, she kisses his fingertip, the same way he'd done to her thumb just a moment before.]

May I never speak another word, if ever you forget.

[Alucard lets Sypha guide his hand where she wants it, and there's a low glow inside of him as she kisses that finger tip. Like an ember in a fireplace just starting to come back to life.]

I swear it. Every inch of it, and under my own name of Adrien Tepes.

[What else can he do but seal that? Gently move his hand away from her mouth, mirroring the way her other hand is still holding his other cheek. Lean in and kiss her again, making it clear that he takes those words as a vow.]

[They're never going to make it to the living room, at this rate. But that's all right, really, because there will be time for that. There will be time for everything — there's nothing but time, now. No train schedules. No endings. Just the two of them, now, one day at a time.

It is a slight shame that she probably oughtn't just climb on top of him right there in his chair when he'd so recently torn his stitches, but there'll be time for that, too.]

Good.

[She sighs, almost dreamy, and closes her eyes as she shifts to pillow her cheek on his thigh, letting exhaustion from the run and the stress of her flight from the train finally start to catch up with her.]

[Alucard's pretty sure Sypha just stopped having bones. She's shifted and is resting in such a way that suggests it, and there are no more bandages to fuss with. She shouldn't be in such an uncomfortable spot.

His hand didn't move from her cheek. Now it moves to stroke her hair, long fingers finding knots from all of her running. He'll undo each of those in turn.]

There are more comfortable positions than the one you're in.

[No, he doesn't catch that.]

What makes you think I am not comfortable?

[She could genuinely fall asleep like this. Yes, like this, crouching and leaning and gnarled up like a little redheaded pretzel. Why not?]

But if you have another idea, I am listening.

You know that there's sofas in the living room.

[His hand escapes from her hair, catching in some of the tangles. (Short hair isn't supposed to get this tangled, is it?) It moves along her jaw line, gently tilts Sypha's head up when it reaches her chin.

Because if she looks up, she'll see him, smiling and mildly worried at once. Looking for permission to stand up, because he won't disturb her if she really, really does want to sleep right here.]

Mmmm. That might be for the best. You should rest.

[Of course she's thinking about him and not her. He needs to rest, after all. They'll both be more comfortable if they move.]

I didn't even move my things out of the front hall.

[With a yawn, she eases herself up and gets back to her feet, freeing him to rise as he pleases.]

[Alucard puts a hand on the kitchen table, using it to take the full of his weight. He flinches from the freshness of the wound, but he'll say nothing of it. Sypha's presence also means he won't be sleeping for another four days straight.

(He can't. He has someone else in the house. She doesn't know the particulars of the kitchen.)

Once on his feet, there's a moment of consideration.]

Am I right in presuming you may need more clothes than what you have with you?

I don't think so. I brought everything I have with me. So I have this and my other robe, and things to sleep in.

[Which is...apparently...everything...]

Oh — and that dress I wore to dinner, of course. The one you liked.

...We'll go shopping tomorrow.

[We. Because letting Sypha pick out her things is the greatest idea Alucard's ever come up with. Almost as good as moving to the living room, which when they reach it, he's a little too quick to lie down on the sofa.]

Hmmm.

[She watches him a minute, gauging the way he's moving and how relatively well he seems to be holding up, and when her assessment completes, she hops up onto the couch and swings a leg over him so that she's comfortably straddling his waist, low enough on his hips that she's not aggravating his chest wound.

Comfortably, she reaches for his hands and picks them up in hers, fitting their palms together and twining their fingers together so that she can play with his hands while she sits on him.]

You were right. This is much better.

[Absolutely better. This is also very much not resting. This is Sypha using him as a....well, not furniture, she's not laying on him, but whatever it is, there's no sleeping involved.

What there is instead is Alucard looking up at her. Noting how all the light coming in from the windows catches on her hair, making it seem to glow just a little. Watching how natural this all is to her, taking his hands in hers and letting whim decide what she'll do with them.

There's a pillow at the back of Alucard's head. He ought to rest, but that would require he close his eyes. Look away from Sypha. Sypha who is already at home in a vampire's lair.*

*Town house in a very nice part of the city.]

Far better from where I am too.

[Some revelations are small ones, like the fact Alucard really does enjoy looking up at Sypha.]

Have I told you recently how handsome you are?

[What she's doing with his hands, apparently, is moving them around in little circles in the air, just enjoying the feeling of holding them and being joined with him at the palms.]

I don't think I have. I always focus on the other things instead.

I don't think you've mentioned it before.

[She hasn't. Not that he recalls, and Alucard realizes in this moment that he has a terrible tendency to hang on her every word. Hang onto her as well, if all of their past embraces are any indicator.

He's moved too fast in that department, perhaps.]

You glow.

I glow?

[That's not the tone of a girl incredulous; no, that's the tone of a girl who senses a compliment lingering in the underpinnings of a remark, and has decided to devote herself to drawing it out.]

You are very nice to look at, yourself. But tell me more of this glow.

[Alucard shifts a little. There's a pillow at a terrible angle, or at least it was, and now it is much better. He brings their hands down, rests their wrists on Sypha's thighs. The position she has chosen allows for that and it is terribly lovely to have his hands there.]

I admit, uses of fireplaces here are very uncommon, we do not get cold that easy. The castle has them though, and every so often they're used. You doubtlessly know the behavior of fire better than I do, but those moments of warm embers, it's like that. That and then there's something new added, and everything jumps to life again...

[Is he getting better with words yet?]

You really did miss me.

[Her voice, in that moment, proves precisely his point — it comes out rich and low like a glowing coal, warm like firelight, soft like radiant heat. She's pleased, and every bit of her reflects it, from the look in her eyes to the smile on her lips to the relaxed ease in her stance as she gazes down at him.]

You learned to talk like I do, while I was gone.

Of course I did. Even when I knew I'd see you the next evening.

[His own voice is soft. There's no embarrassment in admitting the thing he just said, but it feels like the kind of truth best whispered. His hands are still holding onto hers, and she's still looking down at him, all warmth and loveliness and sun in her hair.

In the future, Alucard will realize that this is the moment he realized he could lay in this spot forever, looking up, and be content for lifetimes.]

...I am still learning. The curve is steep, and I have not had a lifetime of practice.

There will be time. You will have all the time you need, now.

[So she says, softly, with a squeeze to his hands — and if there's a touch of bittersweet mixed in with the pleasure, she doesn't seem to mind it much, either.]

And I will be here to help you, of course.

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