Live well then, son of Dracula, that we may meet again under happier circumstances.
[ He bows deeply and then turns to the wall. ]
My deepest thanks for your patience, good Castle. [ Yes, he is literally talking to a wall. ] I know it must have been difficult. Guide me out to the sunlight, that I might trouble you no further.
[Alucard has to stare for a moment, because the man he just watched murder his own kin is talking to the castle like this. To call it a contrast would be a great and horrible understatement, and the castle itself is very quick to separate the two now.
Leon is indeed lead down the spire, along corridor after corridor (all have windows), and to the entrance where the doors are already open and ready to kick him out. Dracula isn't sleeping, not until Leon is gone, and there's a thick air of tension along Leon's path.
For his own part, Alucard brings the water into Sypha's room, then collapses onto the floor in his wolf form. That was a conversation he never wanted to have ever, and he doesn't want to be near the man again. The two extremes are worse than his father's, frankly. (They aren't. He's just grown up with precious little illusion about what his father is, and his mother has always been present to temper it all.)
Easiest to be a wolf right now. Better to pick the floor, as to not be untowards to Sypha who will doubtlessly have too much to deal with emotionally when she wakes.]
[ When Sypha leaves the castle the rabbit is there, a tiny creature sitting soft and vulnerable in the grass. Daring birds of prey to fall upon it. None take the bait. She bows low to both of them and manages to refrain from making any comments about whether Sypha was worth this. Glad for her health, she says, they all are.
She smiles, but it's anemic.
Be patient with our brother, when he returns. It is an incomplete rebirth, but even those are difficult. She says as she delicately ties the box's leather cord at the back of her neck. She does not elaborate, and Sypha is not so devastated by events that she refrains from commenting on how much patience Trevor requires normally.
Sypha opens the box once, as she travels with Alucard. Inside, the moth is perfectly still. If the two of them weren't so sensitive to magic, he'd have seemed dead, rather than in hibernation.
It's four months before Trevor begins to return to them, and Sypha wakes up one morning with five moths crawling on her robes. She accidentally crushes one and spends the next few days in paranoia about having hurt him until it becomes clear that the swarm of them is expanding. Once there are enough for a small cloud, he tries to take a humanoid form and- nobody wants him to do that again until he has enough moths at least for all the necessary internal organs. Nobody was happy about the half-skeletal thing making strange noises because it had a windpipe but no lungs.
Sypha is asleep for his next attempt. Alucard is- probably asleep (no, he's not). He probably won't scare anyone if he gets it wrong. And so a little thought (it's hard, when his mind is spread between so many bodies, and) - there he is.
Mostly, anyway. He's a little more complete than he was after the he was caught in the wards. And he is very, very naked. He draws his knees up to his chest, staring into the fire's dying embers. ]
[Alucard travels with Sypha, but there are a great number of particulars he takes care of as he does so. First and most important is finding a way to balance between her and not leaving his mother alone during daylight hours. The speakers are good allies to have, as taking care to note the spread of witch trials is impossible without them. Alucard is terrified of such accusations reaching their doorstep, and so is his father. To travel with Sypha almost feels like a betrayal, but there is a schedule and there is Lisa's demand that if her husband is to take a break from traveling, then her son should do so instead.
Then there is the question of shape. As a wolf, Alucard is imposing, but he might look more akin to a witch's familiar than a large dog, so the form is used carefully. At best, he's a wolf by night when on watch, capable of sussing out real threats and taking most of them down in that shape. In daylight, he is always a man, just an oddly matched one for traveling with a Speaker.
The wolf form is easier. There is no need to fill in the hours with discussion as human form demands, and for a while it is awkward. Alucard wants to be distant, because the moment that Trevor returns is the moment he must be gone. Every time he opens his mouth around Sypha, every actual conversation he has with her, he can feel the growth of emotions towards her, and that is wrong on every level. She has a love and it is the mark of a lowlife to even accidentally move in when Trevor is absent but not.
And isn't that the real problem? Sypha's infinitely warm. So easy to love. They talk magic theory into the night, and then about her travels by day, and it goes on and on and it hurts to think of leaving it behind. Even if it's for everyone's best.
Trevor's attempts at reformation have been fascinating, albeit gross in turn. He did sort of want the weird skeleton to stick around for a little, mostly because Lisa Tepes would be fascinated.
Alucard is very much not asleep when Trevor reforms again. He only has his eyes closed. It means that the minute Trevor is there, Alucard snaps upright from his reclined position in front of the fire, and--
--oh fuck him, he's eye level with Trevor's cock. Of course he is.]
[ It’s a genuine question. And also, probably not one that Alucard can conclusively answer (it’s probably not his name). He considers it and then opens and closes a two-fingered hand. ]
[There's. Too much. Dick. In Alucard's line of view. So he does the only thing he can do at this moment, which is fling one of the fur blankets over at Trevor and groan.]
[Alucard shakes his head, and there's a sigh of relief once Trevor has the blanket over his lap. The vampire isn't moving either, but this is...both better and worse, isn't it?]
How much longer until it is done then, do you suppose?
Another two sennights, if enough of them want to join me.
[ Not all moths want to become part of something bigger than themselves, feel the calling to follow Sypha and that little jewelled box she wears around. Maybe just under half. Even by fairy understanding it’s a lot to ask for them to give up themselves as individuals to be part of a larger whole, especially when that larger whole is still forming. They get a life longer than a month or so, the ability to do and comprehend things that they could never have done alone. But they lose themselves. ]
Then I’ll wake up, and I’ll be able to tell me what I am. I’m- excited for that, I think.
[ He’s still a lot of combined moth brains trying to put things together based on an understanding of the world mostly gleaned from overhearing snippets of Alucard and Sypha’s conversations. He isn’t entirely sure what ‘excited’ is, but it sounds right. ]
[It isn't for Alucard's emotions, but that's the least important part of all of this. Sypha misses Trevor. Alucard misses being home. They all have other things they need to do, and it all rests on Trevor regaining all of himself.
There's a sigh, and Alucard rests his chin atop his knees.]
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[ He bows deeply and then turns to the wall. ]
My deepest thanks for your patience, good Castle. [ Yes, he is literally talking to a wall. ] I know it must have been difficult. Guide me out to the sunlight, that I might trouble you no further.
no subject
Leon is indeed lead down the spire, along corridor after corridor (all have windows), and to the entrance where the doors are already open and ready to kick him out. Dracula isn't sleeping, not until Leon is gone, and there's a thick air of tension along Leon's path.
For his own part, Alucard brings the water into Sypha's room, then collapses onto the floor in his wolf form. That was a conversation he never wanted to have ever, and he doesn't want to be near the man again. The two extremes are worse than his father's, frankly. (They aren't. He's just grown up with precious little illusion about what his father is, and his mother has always been present to temper it all.)
Easiest to be a wolf right now. Better to pick the floor, as to not be untowards to Sypha who will doubtlessly have too much to deal with emotionally when she wakes.]
no subject
She smiles, but it's anemic.
Be patient with our brother, when he returns. It is an incomplete rebirth, but even those are difficult. She says as she delicately ties the box's leather cord at the back of her neck. She does not elaborate, and Sypha is not so devastated by events that she refrains from commenting on how much patience Trevor requires normally.
Sypha opens the box once, as she travels with Alucard. Inside, the moth is perfectly still. If the two of them weren't so sensitive to magic, he'd have seemed dead, rather than in hibernation.
It's four months before Trevor begins to return to them, and Sypha wakes up one morning with five moths crawling on her robes. She accidentally crushes one and spends the next few days in paranoia about having hurt him until it becomes clear that the swarm of them is expanding. Once there are enough for a small cloud, he tries to take a humanoid form and- nobody wants him to do that again until he has enough moths at least for all the necessary internal organs. Nobody was happy about the half-skeletal thing making strange noises because it had a windpipe but no lungs.
Sypha is asleep for his next attempt. Alucard is- probably asleep (no, he's not). He probably won't scare anyone if he gets it wrong. And so a little thought (it's hard, when his mind is spread between so many bodies, and) - there he is.
Mostly, anyway. He's a little more complete than he was after the he was caught in the wards. And he is very, very naked. He draws his knees up to his chest, staring into the fire's dying embers. ]
Good. Soon.
no subject
Then there is the question of shape. As a wolf, Alucard is imposing, but he might look more akin to a witch's familiar than a large dog, so the form is used carefully. At best, he's a wolf by night when on watch, capable of sussing out real threats and taking most of them down in that shape. In daylight, he is always a man, just an oddly matched one for traveling with a Speaker.
The wolf form is easier. There is no need to fill in the hours with discussion as human form demands, and for a while it is awkward. Alucard wants to be distant, because the moment that Trevor returns is the moment he must be gone. Every time he opens his mouth around Sypha, every actual conversation he has with her, he can feel the growth of emotions towards her, and that is wrong on every level. She has a love and it is the mark of a lowlife to even accidentally move in when Trevor is absent but not.
And isn't that the real problem? Sypha's infinitely warm. So easy to love. They talk magic theory into the night, and then about her travels by day, and it goes on and on and it hurts to think of leaving it behind. Even if it's for everyone's best.
Trevor's attempts at reformation have been fascinating, albeit gross in turn. He did sort of want the weird skeleton to stick around for a little, mostly because Lisa Tepes would be fascinated.
Alucard is very much not asleep when Trevor reforms again. He only has his eyes closed. It means that the minute Trevor is there, Alucard snaps upright from his reclined position in front of the fire, and--
--oh fuck him, he's eye level with Trevor's cock. Of course he is.]
Trousers!
[He hisses as not to wake Sypha, but still.]
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[ It’s a genuine question. And also, probably not one that Alucard can conclusively answer (it’s probably not his name). He considers it and then opens and closes a two-fingered hand. ]
I have nearly all of my body, now.
[ YES. ALUCARD CAN SEE THAT. ]
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[There's. Too much. Dick. In Alucard's line of view. So he does the only thing he can do at this moment, which is fling one of the fur blankets over at Trevor and groan.]
Wrap this around your groin. Now.
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[ He picks up the blanket, holding it in front of him for a moment. ]
My dick isn’t cold.
[ But he does, at least, rest the blanket over his lap. ]
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[Alucard shakes his head, and there's a sigh of relief once Trevor has the blanket over his lap. The vampire isn't moving either, but this is...both better and worse, isn't it?]
How much longer until it is done then, do you suppose?
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[ Not all moths want to become part of something bigger than themselves, feel the calling to follow Sypha and that little jewelled box she wears around. Maybe just under half. Even by fairy understanding it’s a lot to ask for them to give up themselves as individuals to be part of a larger whole, especially when that larger whole is still forming. They get a life longer than a month or so, the ability to do and comprehend things that they could never have done alone. But they lose themselves. ]
Then I’ll wake up, and I’ll be able to tell me what I am. I’m- excited for that, I think.
[ He’s still a lot of combined moth brains trying to put things together based on an understanding of the world mostly gleaned from overhearing snippets of Alucard and Sypha’s conversations. He isn’t entirely sure what ‘excited’ is, but it sounds right. ]
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[It isn't for Alucard's emotions, but that's the least important part of all of this. Sypha misses Trevor. Alucard misses being home. They all have other things they need to do, and it all rests on Trevor regaining all of himself.
There's a sigh, and Alucard rests his chin atop his knees.]
She'll be overjoyed.