[ He's quick to put Alucard down, taking him by the hand again instead. ]
Yeah, you- need to be specific with that shit. Even Sypha struggles with it sometimes.
[ They probably have failed at the aim of not being interesting, but he leads Alucard away from the structure, as far as he can without looping back closer to the queen. ]
I'll try and improve. Forgive me if there's a steep learning curve.
[The tent is almost silver. That feels like mockery too.
With each step towards it though, there's a visible shift in Alucard's demeanor A stiffness, a posture that borders on looming, shoulders back, eyes dead ahead, body temperature even lower than normal. Be boring. Be predictable. Be every inch Dracula's son, and something willing, that will be the end of it.
There is no one else in the tent, which does not put the vampire at ease. Oh, there are soft furnishings everywhere, beautiful rugs that would put the Persians to shame, the golden thread flickering from the light that comes in on the other side, and tapestries of great feasts and hunts line every wall. There is no dais in the center, but ringed around the space are low cushions, the kind that the Turks lounge on in their own opulent palaces.
Alucard's gaze, now a cold and hardened thing, moves to Trevor. In that look there is a single question is this safe?]
[ Oh course they find themselves back at the tent. He enters first, turning his head about to feel at the air for the thick, syrupy sensation of magic. And it's here, but no more than it ought to be. Nothing that should alter anyone's behaviour. He lets go of Alucard's hand, sighing. ]
Nothing that'd make anyone act- different. [ Horny. ] And- something blocking surveillance. That part could change, if she wanted it to, but it's-
[ -exactly what Alucard claimed to have wanted, which means there must be some catch. For example, the minor catch that Dracula might find his son untraceable by any magical means and be upset about this. ]
[Which is, in fact, what is happening now in the outside world. Word has been passed along down the line, and deep in his crypt (Dracula stays there during the longest day of the year as a matter of course, as much as he loathes to be out of his bed), there is a rage that even gives Lisa pause.
The rabbit wouldn't have even made it to a stick.
At Trevor's analysis, Alucard sighs, but he does not let his guard down. The most he does is take a seat to the left side of the tent, ramrod straight and eyes lingering towards the door.]
If you exit, are we returned to the same place we were moments ago?
...that seems like testing it would be an easy way to separate us.
[ But he can spare a finger's worth of moths, at least. He sends them out of the doors of the spidersilk structure. Sure enough, they can't return. Not immediately. Maybe they'll be back once they find where the structure's left them and moved to. ]
It'll move us somewhere else, if we leave. To- [ He freezes as he tries to look through the eyes of his missing moths. ] -to her side. Of course.
[That's the other shoe dropped then, if Alucard had to hazard a guess. He's wrong, but he doesn't know that yet.]
Then we're trapped here until circumstances change.
[There's a curious lack of any emotion in the vampire's voice, whereas not moments ago he had been all fear and raw vulnerability. Golden eyes blink, and Alucard then carefully removes the sun glasses and wide brimmed hat he had been using as armor earlier. They don't have a place with channeling his father.]
I think that if that is the case, I'd feel safer with you next to me.
[ It's something he already knows is true - this is a dangerous place and he and his family have proven themselves allies of sorts to Alucard. It doesn't mean anything special, that Alucard feels safer with him than without. His heart still swells to hear it. He smiles despite everything, sitting one seat away from Alucard. Not directly next to him, but close enough to reach over the empty space between them to touch if he needs.
It's fond, the way he looks at Alucard in the absence of immediate danger. Even now. The same impossibly fond way he looks at Sypha, as if whatever part of him is moths is transfixed by light. He's precious, even if he's too precious for Trevor to have. ]
You'll return home whole at the end of this. I swear it.
[Alucard understands that oaths with fae carry weight. He imagines in spaces such as the one they are in now, those oaths must be even more weighted. There's a moment when he closes his eyes, centering all of himself for whatever is bound to come through that door. This seems more about humiliation than anything else, and that means treating it as an endurance run.
When his eyes flick open again, he catches Trevor's expression out of the corner of his eye. In any other time or place, he'd be deeply concerned about it, that Trevor might try something again.
Now though, it just feels like extra insurance.]
This still doesn't feel like the whole of what this place is meant to do to me.
[ It's grim, but he can't keep the contentment out of his voice. Alucard feels safer with him here. Alucard wants him here, even if just for now. People don't usually want him around. It's nice, if he can put out of his mind the danger and the knowledge that it's only because the alternative is worse.
Even if it won't last, and even if it's all it'll ever be, he's wanted, and that's more than he could ever ask for. Guilt twists into the back of this throat like a corkscrew - this is the worst thing Alucard could experience, and he's glad for it - but even that can't keep him from the warm feeling. ]
Nor would I expect you to. This matter is complicated on your end, I'm sure.
[Because how many complications already exist between the two of them thanks to Trevor's old impulses? Dracula's protective and possessive nature brought consequence into sharp relief, and now...
...well, now this. Trevor's loyalties have to be put between queen and keeping a more important peace, and that cannot be an easy thing.
There's quiet from Alucard after that statement, and then there is movement beyond the tent's door. The flap opens, and Alucard braces himself.
Softly, he looks to Trevor for a beat, then back to the tent.]
[ His hand, minus a finger, moves to Alucard's to grasp it. ]
I claimed him. He will stay with me.
[ He can only say so much, because a lot of the things that those statements imply are untrue. He has to trust that the statements themselves will serve to drive off suitors or attackers alike.
Alucard receives guests. Some are genuine suitors, and Trevor waits for Alucard's permission to dismiss them. Others come to mock. One comes to offer to put a good word in with the queen in return for Alucard's hair. Most just come to gawk at the queen's newest interest, especially after one of them tears at the wall of the tent to allow sunlight to fall directly onto Alucard's face. Trevor holds Alucard's hand throughout, speaking only when prompted, trying to follow Alucard's lead and show no response. To be boring. Eventually - and it might have been whole days - they lose interest. The crowd thins to nothing, and they are left alone. ]
[They're true enough words, no lie. Trevor did do as he said, but the validity of the claim is where the debate lies. But for now, it's a comfort, and Alucard squeezes Trevor's hand once to show that he understands what those words mean in this context.
So the nonsense begins.
Time does not work properly, so Alucard does not attempt to track hours wasted on the parade that passes before him, each participant with their own intent. He sits tall and stately, always looming by power of how he carries himself and no other magic. Those with romantic intentions are stared down with no response - if Trevor has claimed him, then it is better Trevor replies. Those that mock are met with a quiet, judgemental stare of gold eyes that threaten to flick red, but no verbal response. He waits those out, letting words slide off of him like water from a duck's back. They grate, (tainted blood is used more than once, oh yes) but that is the only thing they're allowed to do.
The gawking is still met with the stately stare, but it transgresses into betraying how boring ths is, or occassionally, how weary the process has made Alucard. He catches it quickly each time, corrects it, and so they make it through.
(That one who tries to shower the vampire in sunlight only gets a And....? in response, dripping with complete dismissal. They move on.)
Then there are none. Alucard looks to the tent once, and certain that they're home free, sighs and rearranges himself on the sofa so that he is lying down.]
I don't smell any. [ A long pause, and then he tilts his head, feeling at the air. ] Juliet returned not long ago, so Sypha must at least be on her way. And- they're paying attention to her, for some reason.
[ It's a story, they'll learn eventually. Sypha gave her a story, one of the few that the speakers had aimed to frustrate the fae by keeping secret. It's a heavy price to pay, but avoiding the sort of carnage that might follow this is worth it.
Good. That's...Sypha'll have some clever plan that explains the attention.
[Because that's what Sypha is best for, isn't it? Being so, so, so clever. Alucard always smiled when it happened, a flash of absolute brilliance that he could only sit and admire because what else does one do around Sypha?
She's such a good match for Trevor. And he'll be there for her, because Alucard won't be.
Safe for now. Alucard closes his eyes.]
Are we still returned to the Queen's side if we leave this place?
No. It leads back into the woods. Her highness has something new to entertain her for now.
[ He watches as Alucard closes his eyes. He can't blame the man for being tired. It's been exhausting even from the side. But he's concerned, because exhaustion isn't the only problem. ]
[ He moves closer, sitting by Alucard. Not hungry. Thank fuck. But he sighs anyway, tired and still adoring but now in a painful way. It’s a little sad, to talk so much of something that won’t ever be. ]
You’ll be leaving us after this, won’t you? She’ll- she’ll miss you. She always does. I’m sorry you had to leave us this way.
[ Easier to focus on Sypha than himself. Easier, a little, to think of how things might have been between the two of them without a Belmont ruining everything. ]
She wanted to be closer to you. But- I ruined that for her. I don’t blame you for being so distant from her, but- she isn’t like me. She wouldn’t have hurt you or scared you or anything. I’m sorry. For all of that.
Mm, I imagine that I won't be allowed out of the castle for a year, if not more than that. [That's a frank assessment, one that doesn't have any emotional weight to it. All Alucard is doing at the moment is stating the painfully obvious.] Although I don't think you're the threat in his eyes anymore. Not in any important way.
[Dracula will keep cursing the Belmont name, of course he will. But the Belmonts are not so bothersome as the Queen, and she has already tried to fight Dracula for power over one of the two things he values most in the world.
His hand takes Trevor's gently.]
She might have wanted that, but she has you. You're far better suited for each other than I could ever hope to strive to be. She brings out the best in you, and vice versa. You're already happy together.
[It's unclear who he's referring to there, Sypha or Trevor.
But then there's something internally that strikes within Alucard, and he breathes out a soft swear.]
[ Alucard you’re the only one here in a position to see a monogamous relationship as the norm. Unfortunately, he can’t continue than line of thought. Shit. And here he thought they’d escaped that problem. ]
[ He asks it with a tilt of his head, but then drops the topic. This is more important. No matter how much he wants Sypha to be happy, this has to be more important. ]
We can't offer blood to you, and you can't harm us to take it. There has to be room for a technicality there. [ He bites down on this inside of his lip in thought, frowning. ] I could bring a human or animal here, they wouldn't be bound by the rules. But I would have to leave and I don't know how much time would pass here before I returned. It could be as much as she wanted.
[Alucard opens his mouth to respond to the first question, but Trevor has already moved on.
He considers the options as Trevor speaks of them, wholly aware that everything he says is correct. Their best bet is some kind of a loop hole, yes, but there's one thing Alucard needs to make clear.]
I would rather you don't leave.
[It seems like an invitation for time to move too slowly.]
Are you known to sometimes drop a knife and try to catch it as it falls, only to cut yourself by accident?
I could try, but if I'm doing it knowingly, she could still say that it's you taking what's offered-
[ He returns to worrying at his lip, and then there's a spark of pain and the taste of copper, and- it's perfect. He works the tiny cut open further. As long as he doesn't tell Alucard that there's blood in his mouth- ]
-I want to kiss you. Just once. Before things get any worse. [ It's an awkward change of topic, carefully crafted to not contain any lies the way 'I claimed him' was. ] Please.
[Alucard's nose perks. He knows what blood smells like, and it is now heavy in the air. It takes real effort to not sit up and go for the sources and...
...Alucard nods once. He understands the plan in truth.]
I owe you a debt of gratitude for enduring this all alongside me anyway.
[ It isn't what he wanted, but it's close. It's very much like the queen, to grant wishes but soil them slightly. Just enough to make them not real. He tears at the cut a little more, until it's as open as it can be without green blood dribbling from the sides of his mouth, and then presses his lips against Alucard's. Lightly at first, and then he opens his mouth a little, letting the blood flow into Alucard's. ]
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no subject
Yeah, you- need to be specific with that shit. Even Sypha struggles with it sometimes.
[ They probably have failed at the aim of not being interesting, but he leads Alucard away from the structure, as far as he can without looping back closer to the queen. ]
no subject
[The tent is almost silver. That feels like mockery too.
With each step towards it though, there's a visible shift in Alucard's demeanor A stiffness, a posture that borders on looming, shoulders back, eyes dead ahead, body temperature even lower than normal. Be boring. Be predictable. Be every inch Dracula's son, and something willing, that will be the end of it.
There is no one else in the tent, which does not put the vampire at ease. Oh, there are soft furnishings everywhere, beautiful rugs that would put the Persians to shame, the golden thread flickering from the light that comes in on the other side, and tapestries of great feasts and hunts line every wall. There is no dais in the center, but ringed around the space are low cushions, the kind that the Turks lounge on in their own opulent palaces.
Alucard's gaze, now a cold and hardened thing, moves to Trevor. In that look there is a single question is this safe?]
no subject
Nothing that'd make anyone act- different. [ Horny. ] And- something blocking surveillance. That part could change, if she wanted it to, but it's-
[ -exactly what Alucard claimed to have wanted, which means there must be some catch. For example, the minor catch that Dracula might find his son untraceable by any magical means and be upset about this. ]
no subject
The rabbit wouldn't have even made it to a stick.
At Trevor's analysis, Alucard sighs, but he does not let his guard down. The most he does is take a seat to the left side of the tent, ramrod straight and eyes lingering towards the door.]
If you exit, are we returned to the same place we were moments ago?
no subject
[ But he can spare a finger's worth of moths, at least. He sends them out of the doors of the spidersilk structure. Sure enough, they can't return. Not immediately. Maybe they'll be back once they find where the structure's left them and moved to. ]
It'll move us somewhere else, if we leave. To- [ He freezes as he tries to look through the eyes of his missing moths. ] -to her side. Of course.
no subject
[That's the other shoe dropped then, if Alucard had to hazard a guess. He's wrong, but he doesn't know that yet.]
Then we're trapped here until circumstances change.
[There's a curious lack of any emotion in the vampire's voice, whereas not moments ago he had been all fear and raw vulnerability. Golden eyes blink, and Alucard then carefully removes the sun glasses and wide brimmed hat he had been using as armor earlier. They don't have a place with channeling his father.]
I think that if that is the case, I'd feel safer with you next to me.
no subject
It's fond, the way he looks at Alucard in the absence of immediate danger. Even now. The same impossibly fond way he looks at Sypha, as if whatever part of him is moths is transfixed by light. He's precious, even if he's too precious for Trevor to have. ]
You'll return home whole at the end of this. I swear it.
no subject
[Alucard understands that oaths with fae carry weight. He imagines in spaces such as the one they are in now, those oaths must be even more weighted. There's a moment when he closes his eyes, centering all of himself for whatever is bound to come through that door. This seems more about humiliation than anything else, and that means treating it as an endurance run.
When his eyes flick open again, he catches Trevor's expression out of the corner of his eye. In any other time or place, he'd be deeply concerned about it, that Trevor might try something again.
Now though, it just feels like extra insurance.]
This still doesn't feel like the whole of what this place is meant to do to me.
no subject
[ It's grim, but he can't keep the contentment out of his voice. Alucard feels safer with him here. Alucard wants him here, even if just for now. People don't usually want him around. It's nice, if he can put out of his mind the danger and the knowledge that it's only because the alternative is worse.
Even if it won't last, and even if it's all it'll ever be, he's wanted, and that's more than he could ever ask for. Guilt twists into the back of this throat like a corkscrew - this is the worst thing Alucard could experience, and he's glad for it - but even that can't keep him from the warm feeling. ]
I can't tell you more. I'm sorry.
no subject
[Because how many complications already exist between the two of them thanks to Trevor's old impulses? Dracula's protective and possessive nature brought consequence into sharp relief, and now...
...well, now this. Trevor's loyalties have to be put between queen and keeping a more important peace, and that cannot be an easy thing.
There's quiet from Alucard after that statement, and then there is movement beyond the tent's door. The flap opens, and Alucard braces himself.
Softly, he looks to Trevor for a beat, then back to the tent.]
Belmont.
no subject
I claimed him. He will stay with me.
[ He can only say so much, because a lot of the things that those statements imply are untrue. He has to trust that the statements themselves will serve to drive off suitors or attackers alike.
Alucard receives guests. Some are genuine suitors, and Trevor waits for Alucard's permission to dismiss them. Others come to mock. One comes to offer to put a good word in with the queen in return for Alucard's hair. Most just come to gawk at the queen's newest interest, especially after one of them tears at the wall of the tent to allow sunlight to fall directly onto Alucard's face. Trevor holds Alucard's hand throughout, speaking only when prompted, trying to follow Alucard's lead and show no response. To be boring. Eventually - and it might have been whole days - they lose interest. The crowd thins to nothing, and they are left alone. ]
no subject
So the nonsense begins.
Time does not work properly, so Alucard does not attempt to track hours wasted on the parade that passes before him, each participant with their own intent. He sits tall and stately, always looming by power of how he carries himself and no other magic. Those with romantic intentions are stared down with no response - if Trevor has claimed him, then it is better Trevor replies. Those that mock are met with a quiet, judgemental stare of gold eyes that threaten to flick red, but no verbal response. He waits those out, letting words slide off of him like water from a duck's back. They grate, (tainted blood is used more than once, oh yes) but that is the only thing they're allowed to do.
The gawking is still met with the stately stare, but it transgresses into betraying how boring ths is, or occassionally, how weary the process has made Alucard. He catches it quickly each time, corrects it, and so they make it through.
(That one who tries to shower the vampire in sunlight only gets a And....? in response, dripping with complete dismissal. They move on.)
Then there are none. Alucard looks to the tent once, and certain that they're home free, sighs and rearranges himself on the sofa so that he is lying down.]
Is there any sign of another approaching?
no subject
[ It's a story, they'll learn eventually. Sypha gave her a story, one of the few that the speakers had aimed to frustrate the fae by keeping secret. It's a heavy price to pay, but avoiding the sort of carnage that might follow this is worth it.
He slumps forward a little. ]
Safe for now.
no subject
[Because that's what Sypha is best for, isn't it? Being so, so, so clever. Alucard always smiled when it happened, a flash of absolute brilliance that he could only sit and admire because what else does one do around Sypha?
She's such a good match for Trevor. And he'll be there for her, because Alucard won't be.
Safe for now. Alucard closes his eyes.]
Are we still returned to the Queen's side if we leave this place?
no subject
No. It leads back into the woods. Her highness has something new to entertain her for now.
[ He watches as Alucard closes his eyes. He can't blame the man for being tired. It's been exhausting even from the side. But he's concerned, because exhaustion isn't the only problem. ]
How do you feel?
no subject
Tired. Anything else is secondary.
(Tired means not hungry which is good.)
You can sit here, if you want. It might look better.
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You’ll be leaving us after this, won’t you? She’ll- she’ll miss you. She always does. I’m sorry you had to leave us this way.
[ Easier to focus on Sypha than himself. Easier, a little, to think of how things might have been between the two of them without a Belmont ruining everything. ]
She wanted to be closer to you. But- I ruined that for her. I don’t blame you for being so distant from her, but- she isn’t like me. She wouldn’t have hurt you or scared you or anything. I’m sorry. For all of that.
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[Dracula will keep cursing the Belmont name, of course he will. But the Belmonts are not so bothersome as the Queen, and she has already tried to fight Dracula for power over one of the two things he values most in the world.
His hand takes Trevor's gently.]
She might have wanted that, but she has you. You're far better suited for each other than I could ever hope to strive to be. She brings out the best in you, and vice versa. You're already happy together.
[It's unclear who he's referring to there, Sypha or Trevor.
But then there's something internally that strikes within Alucard, and he breathes out a soft swear.]
...Tired has a companion. Of course it does.
[It isn't only hunger, but That Hunger.]
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[ Alucard you’re the only one here in a position to see a monogamous relationship as the norm. Unfortunately, he can’t continue than line of thought. Shit. And here he thought they’d escaped that problem. ]
How long do you think you can manage?
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[Duh????]
Without a solid sense of how time works here, I can't say.
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[ He asks it with a tilt of his head, but then drops the topic. This is more important. No matter how much he wants Sypha to be happy, this has to be more important. ]
We can't offer blood to you, and you can't harm us to take it. There has to be room for a technicality there. [ He bites down on this inside of his lip in thought, frowning. ] I could bring a human or animal here, they wouldn't be bound by the rules. But I would have to leave and I don't know how much time would pass here before I returned. It could be as much as she wanted.
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He considers the options as Trevor speaks of them, wholly aware that everything he says is correct. Their best bet is some kind of a loop hole, yes, but there's one thing Alucard needs to make clear.]
I would rather you don't leave.
[It seems like an invitation for time to move too slowly.]
Are you known to sometimes drop a knife and try to catch it as it falls, only to cut yourself by accident?
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[ He returns to worrying at his lip, and then there's a spark of pain and the taste of copper, and- it's perfect. He works the tiny cut open further. As long as he doesn't tell Alucard that there's blood in his mouth- ]
-I want to kiss you. Just once. Before things get any worse. [ It's an awkward change of topic, carefully crafted to not contain any lies the way 'I claimed him' was. ] Please.
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...Alucard nods once. He understands the plan in truth.]
I owe you a debt of gratitude for enduring this all alongside me anyway.
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