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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Well then that is my response to you.

[It isn't as if Sypha has that much on in the first place. When they had returned home, it was easiest to rely on a nightgown rather than one of the scrappier pair of PJ bottoms. Less to fuss with. Easier to check if they have to.

So Alucard kneels and works the fabric up Sypha's legs first. His hands are careful, borderline reverent for what he's being allowed to do right now.]

You'll need to stand up in a moment.

[She doesn't take her eyes off of him, while he works. She can't, and it might just be the first time since the ordeal with the necromancer that every last thought of it leaves her, just for a second, because of how utterly preoccupied she is with the sight of him.

The skin is still purple-yellow with bruising around her ankle, where the manacle had sat for a week. She presses her hands against the edge of the tub, wishing it were easier to grip, and keeps her eyes on Alucard instead of on the sight of her own body.]

Tell me when.

Now, please.

[Alucard's careful to note where the bruises are at the their worst. He needs to get some ice to that, most likely, and check his mother's notes for what other comforts can be used.

With that, there's nothing left to do but to tug up the rest of the garment, fingers gathering up more and more fabric. Knuckles brushing against her sides, and Alucard smiles for that contact. It's precious, so precious right now.]

Arms, please?

[She gets up slowly, more from trying to take it easy on her injuries than out of any attempt at being sultry, and doesn't even realize that she's begun to hold her breath as she continues to watch him.]

I don't know if I can.

[It hurts to lift them, a little. Still, she tries, slowly easing them up and over her head and trying not to let the motion make her feel vulnerable.]

Then hold them parallel to me.

[It's much easier that way. He can lift the fabric of the nightgown over her head first, then pull the rest of the nightgown from her arms. Alucard can see the moments of pain, he won't force any of it.]

[He's right, that is better. And just like that, the gown is off, and the air feels just a touch more brisk and chill now than it did before, but she lowers her arms and looks at him, just as softly and intently as before.

She's a mess, really. Not just from the bandages on her arms and the bruises on her ankle, but from the other bruises and scrapes she'd picked up over the course of the week. He'd forced her to use her magic, sometimes, so that he could siphon it away; sometimes she didn't want to, and the marks of her punishment for her reluctance are littered all over her skin.

She knows how bad it looks. But she doesn't curl up in shame, and she doesn't look away. She keeps her eyes on Adrian — golden, perfect, beautiful Adrian — and waits.]

[Alucard knows that if he focuses too hard on the damage, all the tenderness of the past waking hours together will disappear in another snarl of rage. They don't need that right now, now is about Sypha and seeing to her needs.

He sheds his own clothes quickly. They're pitched in the general direction of the hamper (which is overflowing, because guess who does the laundry and guess who totally hasn't done it for a week). It is an embarrassment how messy the house is, how chores have gone undone, and that is that.

There's too much of a contrast between his own form and what Sypha has suffered. (Suffered, and he hates it. A week of damage. They don't know what the scars shall be on her body, and when they heal, they'll be kissed over every time.)

So he pulls her back to him so that neither of them can dwell on the contrast. Sure, one hand reaches past her in order to turn the faucet on for the tub but...multitasking. The vampire is good at that.]

...This is what happened when the wall grabbed you.

[Quietly, she reaches forward, tracing her fingers lightly over his chest, following the old scar with soft familiarity and never quite treading too close to the newer one.]

When you told me to make it stop. This is what it was doing to you...?

[Because she couldn't hold them all, seems to be the implication. Because she was so tired, and couldn't get them all in time to prevent it.]

Yes.

[He won't obscure what happened. It's a thin scar in comparison to the other, just a jagged white line that lies on the opposite angle and axis of the one dealt by his father. Alucard is still, letting Sypha's fingers go where they may.]

I knew you could snap it.

[His mind is not on failure to grasp all the horrible things and hold them fast. It is on the sheer force of intent that followed, beautiful and terrifying and Sypha asserting herself over the horrors that bound her.]

I didn't.

[The admission is very soft, and thin, and weak. But she hasn't sought to stop touching him, and she hasn't averted her eyes in shame.]

It hurt so much...

[There's a very soft hum of acknowledgement to that admission. They can talk about it later, excise any guilt, but for now? It is too early to address it.]

Your absence hurt much worse.

[With that, Alucard steps backwards, climbing over the bathtub. He hasn't actually put the stopper down, but the water is warm enough and then some. Lying in baths like this, it tends to make him run warmer. Alucard can't imagine something better right now.

There arms around her move, move up to her shoulders, and then down her arms until he is holding only her hands. The lightest of tugs follows.]

[She nods slowly, letting him get in first, and once he's better situated she follows carefully, joining him.]

I kept telling myself you would find me. That you were looking for me, even if I couldn't find a way to reach you myself. I tried to just...trust you.

[There's a moment of fussing to put the stopper down. Another to add a few drops of soap to ensure bubbles. (Ones scented with sweeter floral smells of summer at it's best.) Then there is Sypha again, and Alucard waits for her to find where she is most comfortable.

There's a soft, rueful laugh though.]

Trevor did the hardest part of it all. I...you can imagine my ability to function, I'm sure.

Yes. I can imagine.

[The fact that she can imagine is why she's careful about the way she fits her words together, even as she's sinking down against him, cuddled up close with her arms resting atop his like parallel lines.]

This time, at least, you had no stitches to tear out by mistake.

There is that much of a saving grace, I suppose.

[She'll learn of how bad it was eventually. For now, Alucard takes the arms that rest over top of his, and he brings both sets in so that his hands (and hers) are resting on her middle. Then he sinks deeper into the water, making it so his chin can rest on Sypha's shoulder.

The bath, warm as anything, means that for once Alucard is running warm as well. It is the only time it happens.]

Comfy?

Edited 2019-02-07 23:08 (UTC)

Very.

[She says, softly, and closes her eyes as she tips her head a little to one side, giving him room to rest his head on her shoulder, close to her neck. It's all she's done for days, is cling to them and lean on them and soak in the attention they've shown her, but they haven't stopped her yet and she's going to keep doing it until they do.]

What are you going to tell everyone, when they start to wonder where I am? When they start to ask why I am not being seen with you.

Good.

[There's a moment when the tub reaches the maximum fill and bubble level, and Alucard shifts juuust enough to shut the faucet off with his foot. It's nothing but quiet now, punctuated with one or either of them speaking. As it should be, he thinks.]

Visiting your people in California is the easiest lie.

Mmmmmmmm.

[A much longer "mmm" than her usual. The warm bathwater sloshes and makes bubbles above the water gone rainbowed with the added oils, and she squeezes Alucard's hands lightly beneath hers before moving them a little, guiding his fingertips to stroke light circles against her abdomen.]

Let me rephrase that. What are you going to tell Theodora when she wonders where I am.

...I have no idea.

[The words tumble out, all stupid and inelegant because of how Sypha has directed his hands to move. There's smooth skin here, thank God, and he only once brushes over something that might be a cut that he and Trevor missed in the madness of just trying to patch up everything.]

Planning didn't extend very far.

She'll ask.

[She frowns a little, lifting one leg out of the water from the knee to the toes, letting the bathwater still clinging to it cascade down the length of her calf as she examines the ring of bruising around her ankle.]

I won't be wearing pretty shoes or dancing for a while, either.

I know she will.

[It's the attacks Damien orchestrated all over again, but worse. They have to focus on finding him, putting him out of his misery before anyone else learns about what has happened.

This isn't a conversation they should be having in this moment. (Except it needs to happen.)]

Trevor's ideas will be better than mine, I suspect.

You could tell her it is a month-long hangover.

[It's not actually funny, as jokes go, but she wasn't exactly trying very hard to make it so, either.]

There is...something. That I want to tell you, But. I want you to hear it, but I don't know if you will want to.

It feels like a month long hang over already.

[It isn't funny. Just true.

Then Sypha changes the subject entirely, and Alucard can only nod. His chin rubs against her shoulder, just a little.]

What is it?

I've seen what a monster looks like, now.

[She says it very softly, guiding his hands to still on her stomach, more just holding them in her own than enjoying the benefits of their movement.]

I know you hide things from me, because you don't want me to see them. I understand that. I understand why. The things you must do, that you hate, because people expect them, or the city will collapse.

[She's quiet a minute.]

But there is nothing, ever, that you could do, that would make you a monster. Because now I know what a monster looks like. And nothing you've done, even the very worst thing you've done, even comes close to it.

[It takes such will not to tense up as Sypha begins. Even more will not to clamp on tightly around her, because the way they have settled is so very, very perfect. Serene. Soothing. (Alucard, as he and Trevor have learned, is nothing if not a fountain of endless will when the appropriate situation arises.)

More than that, he listens. Truly and with all his heart, because those words are worth their weight in the most expensive luxuries of the world. Gold and saffron and diamonds, and none of them are Sypha.

There is the question of how to respond though. Words don't seem right, not really. He could laugh softly, murmur something about how it is a very good thing they have a Belmont to help fight monsters, but it isn't the right tone. He could say thank you because they are words that mean so much, but that isn't right either. It makes it about him, when this is still about Sypha.

He settles for leaning forward, kissing her neck, then where her jawline begins, then what he can reach of her cheek. Words still do not come.]

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