Take the bedroll. [He'll let them decide between themselves how and if they separate the blankets out. He's not sure what conditions they are used to when they camp.] There's an old bed through that door, but I doubt you'd want to fight the squirrels for it.
[He's thankful for the Speaker's intervention, and he really does wish he had more to offer her by way of hospitality.
...But maybe he does.]
I have something I can send with you tomorrow, to help you find your way. [Of all of his spirit-conjured creatures, the fairy is the only one whose body is still intact. She is better than a compass, and since he's taken her from the castle to the island, she should know at least the general way back. That is, if Hector doesn't end up press ganged into coming with them.]
Are you certain? Taking just the floor isn't a hardship.
[Sypha's a Speaker and can manage just about anything. Alucard knows that in wolf form, comfort isn't as important. Neither of them exchange looks this time, but there is a certain wavelength they both exist on.
Hector's absolutely getting press ganged tomorrow. But for now, the matter can be handled with more subtly and grace by Sypha.]
We'll focus on that tomorrow. It's been a long day, and right now we all need to rest. You too, Hector.
Just take it. [He wouldn't have offered it if he wasn't sure. Once his guests are asleep, Hector can pop outside and see if any of his old reanimated pets want to sleep beside him. They work just as well as a blanket for someone who doesn't mind the smell of animals and slight necrosis.
He wants to walk the length of the island until he's tired enough to collapse, but that's not a possibility with these two here. They won't trust him on his own while they rest.
He settles into the opposite corner of the room and sits, propped against the wall. He doesn't expect sleep to come, but within a few minutes of sitting, it does.]
[While Sypha and Alucard do take the bedroll, neither of them falls asleep immediately. Alucard is simply a wolf, curled up and quiet beside Sypha. There are gentle fingers that card through all of his fluff, although it's Sypha that falls asleep first.
The night wears on. At some point, Alucard nudges Sypha awake and they trade shifts. It's easier to do this with three, but it's fine. It means that when morning does come, Alucard is no longer a wolf but a person again. The bucket remains where it was left last night, but he's managed to forage a few pieces of fruit that are sat beside the bucket.
Nothing else has been touched. Alucard's cutting up the one apple he managed to find with a knife that's been laying around (and very much cleaned up), his hair pulled back and looking almost comedically domestic after the events of yesterday.]
[Hector wakes and blinks the sleep out of his eyes. He sees Adrian assuming the role of domestic goddess in the middle of his ruined cabin, thinks about commenting on it, and decides it is too absurd to even hazard a remark. How he looks so refined and noble after spending the night on a floor, Hector can't say.
He unfolds himself from his corner and stretches stiff limbs. His shoulders give a satisfying pop. Taking a quick glance out of the broken window, he sees a clear sky.]
It looks like decent weather to start your journey home.
[Really, there's nothing to it. The other two travel more. He looks after the house. His diet is more specialized, and so cooking in a way that balances human and vampire needs has always been a priority for Alucard. It's as normal as any other part of himself, and that's all there is to it.
Alucard moves onto the two pears he found, hardly missing a beat as Hector speaks.]
Tell me, Hector, when you lived here before, how easy was foraging and looking after your diet? I've noticed a lot of overgrowth, but precious few resources.
[Hector is baffled. Why is this the conversation they are having?]
I got by. The fishing's not bad, and I kept a little garden for tea leaves. [He wasn't willing to devote more time to a larger garden, so he'd prioritized the substance that would help keep him awake so he could keep working longer.]
I'd go inland for supplies before the winter. I never starved.
[The answer he's skirting around is, 'It's a miracle I survived on my own, and your father was positively exasperated by it.']
I see. [Alucard's tone makes it clear that he finds the response to be troubling, at the very least. He finishes cutting up the fruit, and he offers some of the pear over to Hector.]
I'm worried that things might have changed in your absence.
[Yeah. Alucard'll just betray the hand that they ain't letting Hector stay here either. The argument has to start at some point.]
Eat. I doubt you've done much of that since arriving here.
[....yeah, dad had the right of it on that front.]
[Hector is immediately on guard. He takes the pear warily. The island has little to offer other than wild creatures and isolation. That is precisely why he was able to settle here; if it had been a rich, fertile land, not even his reputation as a necromancer would have kept the locals at bay.]
I have not had much of an appetite. I will be fine until I am ready to leave. You needn't worry.
[The pear is hard when he bites down on the slice, at the very first stages of ripeness. Fruit like this is a rarity on the island, and Hector's surprised Adrian was able to find one of the few fruit-bearing trees around.]
[They're words that are a little too frank. Alucard knows it, but he really doesn't care. Grief makes people do stupid things like not eat or drink, among the many options that the both of them know exist.]
You...do know we're not letting you stay here, yes?
[It's inevitable. Might as well get the fight started.]
It's none of your concern. [He's not going to repeat Dracula's mistakes, and he's not hurting anyone else. Adrian has seen that much for himself. He crosses his arms and sets his jaw.]
I'm not planning on staying here forever. I'll return for my pets. [He's being deliberately obtuse about Adrian's meaning. Hector's freedom is the only thing he has left. If Adrian wants to take it from him, he's going to make him own up to it.]
It is. [Alucard's voice is measured and calm. And here, this moment, it requires vulnerability. Because yes, he and Sypha and Trevor are worried. Hector's proven to be a hard element to predict, and in the future he could very well become a problem again.
But there's no good way to say that. Not one that doesn't become an immediate threat. So honesty is the only way forward.]
You...after these things, it's not easy. It requires a solid foundation to rebuild. I don't want you to be without that.
[Hector knows that Adrian speaks from experience. The dhampir lost a family that had presumably loved him dearly before Lisa’s execution. He knows it, he just...he wants to be alone, in the way wild things run off into the forest to die.]
I’m going to be without it whether I’m here or anywhere else. My only foundation is ash now.
[It hurts to even think of speaking her name right now.]
It’s...good of you to care, but you needn’t bother.
[That is, if this is concern for his well-being and not fear of his relapse into forging. He’s too tired to try to judge the inscrutable Adrian’s intentions.]
[It's concern. It's fear of relapse. It can absolutely be both at once, combined with a weird sense of responsibility and respect for what his father might want out of this situation.
Alucard lets out a long, weary sigh at Hector's response.]
Yes. Ash is the way of these things. I could extend the metaphor about mixing ash into mortar, but that's maudlin even for myself. [He's overdramatic and this isn't about Alucard's sense of drama for once.]
[Blue eyes seek out Adrian's gold ones, lost. Hector has understood why everyone else in his life has 'bothered' with him. Dracula had valued first his innovation, then his brute skill at crafting. Carmilla had taken him for power. Even Rosaly, he could understand. She'd loved him, because bafflingly enough, she'd seen in him something she thought she could redeem.
Hector can't think of a reason that Adrian would care.]
[Hector drops his gaze to the cottage floor and turns away. Honesty. That's something. He isn't sure what he expected. Adrian's admission of his unspoken suspicion lends credence to his answer.
Hector never met Lisa of Lupu, but the memory of Vlad Ţepeş carries weight for him still. The man...the vampire...the traveling scholar...the lord of the castle. He'd borne more affection and pride for Hector than Hector's own father had.]
...fine.
[For his former lord's sake, he won't fight Adrian on this any more.]
I'm going to go wash up before I surrender myself to your custody. [It's harsher than he needs to be, but he wants to at least be allowed a little time alone before he leaves. To walk the island one last time, to catch sight of his early experiments through the trees, to say his farewell to this place knowing he'll never return to it.
He steps toward the door, not looking at Adrian as he moves past him.]
I...don't expect to leave much before mid-morning. If that effects anything.
[They can't take all the time Hector may need. But Alucard knows that this is still tearing a man from his home. It's cruel, even if it is to try and provide improvement and make it harder to return to old ways. The weight of it hurts his shoulders, just as the weight of parental expectations do.
There's no standing in the way of Hector. Alucard instead goes to rouse Sypha from slumber and to manage all preparations to depart. They'll probably burn the remaining zombie bits, and maybe that will spread to the rest of the island.
Another part of someone's life up in smoke. That's what it always comes back to, isn't it? Fire and destruction and being forced to emerge from it again and again and again.]
[Hector pauses at the well when he exits the house, scrubbing his face and hands clean with the chilly water. So he hasn't lied about what he's doing. Once he's done, he wanders his old haunts, steering clear of the dock. Adrian and Sypha would likely not be happy to find him where they left his weapon and the discarded zombie pieces.
The little footpaths he'd worn in these woods years ago have since grown over, but he knows his way without them. He's got no particular destination in mind. It just feels...not good, but less tiresome...to be alone with his thoughts.
He's not saying goodbye to a place so much as a time, and he tries to keep it brief. If he's being compelled to sail with Adrian and his speaker, they might as well get started so they can reach a safe stopping place before dark.
...he is still himself, though, so when he finally returns to the ruins of the house, he has a small bundle of fur tucked into the crook of his elbow. A hare, mottled brown with eyes that glow a faint, milky blue. She has no visible pieces missing, but when she peeks out to look around, her neck is able to turn at an unnatural angle. Hector had suspected an aborted attack from a bird of prey, when he'd revived her years ago.]
I'm bringing her. She's gone blind. She won't survive on her own. [He says, maybe unnecessarily defensive as he reemerges. If the fire from the zombies spread, the other creatures can flee; this one would not be so lucky. He thinks he needs to save this one helpless creature.
Adrian said he needed a foundation. Maybe this is the first stone.]
[As Hector walks the island, Alucard goes about rousing Sypha and trying to make sure that they have all they need. It's Sypha that goes and inspects the boat to ensure that it's seaworthy, just as it's Alucard who packs up whatever rations he can find. (So like, two tiny things of dried meat and an additional water skin that gets filled up.)
The two then deal with the zombie parts. They're piled into one space, and Sypha's flame does it's work with the same efficiency as before. The wind is blowing off the island entirely, and so the smoke is sent in that direction. A small mercy. The blaze is left to take care of the bones and render them into ashes, but it is with rocks around it to keep the thing at bay. (In theory.)
Through all the work, they quietly debate what to do next. How to keep an eye on Hector without making him feel a prisoner. Where he might go, and what the two of them can do to help. Trevor's still of his own strong opinions, but they're best left ignored right now.
Sypha's the one who stands when Hector walks in. The bundle has her attention, and when it's revealed to be a hare well. It's still cute, reanimated and all.
[Hector's arms tighten protectively around the animal, and his jaw takes on a stubborn set.]
No. [He has no idea. He's hoping not. The species bounds around without an issue, so he's hoping the motion of the ship won't bother this particular specimen.]
She won't be any trouble. I will see to her. [While Adrian and Sypha have seen to the supplies to satisfy their human(ish) needs, Hector has tucked away little bundles of grass and bark into his tunic to feed to the this fourth passenger.
As long as she isn't turned away, Hector will do as Adrian wishes on their journey.]
[Alucard and Sypha aren't going to talk Hector out of it, and if the most they need to get Hector out of here is a cute, if reforged, bunny then that's the price of it.]
If there's nothing else you need out of here, then we best get going.
[Hector shakes his head again. He's said his goodbyes. There's no more reason to linger.
During the major journeys he's taken, he's booked passage on a vessel and left the sailing up to the professionals. He's picked up enough to lend a hand, though, and his familiarity with the area will surely come in handy. With only the three of them on this ship, he doesn't have the luxury of sitting back and twiddling his thumbs.]
Unless you two are more experienced sailors than I, we should keep near to the coast. It'll add a little time, but it's the safer option. [If they end up running into trouble, Hector could reconstruct the bodies of his de-materialized devils, but he's keeping that in his back-most pocket for now.]
[At least Aucard has the grace to look embarrassed about that fact. And it is a sad and embarrassing thing, how for all his father traveled and saw the world, he's barely left Wallachia. Oh there are good reasons for it, but none of those reasons make it better, just as none of those reasons are ones Lisa would approve of.]
My people have some skill, but it's mostly navigation rather than the practical. I can help manipulate the water in our favor, but you're the one who knows the area best.
[Congrats, Captain Hector is what that all really means.]
The responsibility is a blessing that doesn’t consciously register to Hector. It keeps his hands and his thoughts occupied. There is too much to do to dwell on the bleak shape of his future.
Hector calls on his fairy to act as compass, and keeps the shore in sight whenever possible. He knows which ports won’t ask questions and which to steer clear of to avoid unnecessary complications. When he’s not manning the steering of the ship, he fishes off the side of the boat and tends to the hare. She is old and snoozes for long stretches of the day.
Hector isn’t good with normal conversation, so he’s mostly quiet during their travels. He points out interesting birds and fish when he spots them and gives his acerbic commentary on some of port town taverns they pass by. So if nothing else, Adrian will get to experience that on his rare trip beyond Wallachia’s borders.]
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[He's thankful for the Speaker's intervention, and he really does wish he had more to offer her by way of hospitality.
...But maybe he does.]
I have something I can send with you tomorrow, to help you find your way. [Of all of his spirit-conjured creatures, the fairy is the only one whose body is still intact. She is better than a compass, and since he's taken her from the castle to the island, she should know at least the general way back. That is, if Hector doesn't end up press ganged into coming with them.]
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[Sypha's a Speaker and can manage just about anything. Alucard knows that in wolf form, comfort isn't as important. Neither of them exchange looks this time, but there is a certain wavelength they both exist on.
Hector's absolutely getting press ganged tomorrow. But for now, the matter can be handled with more subtly and grace by Sypha.]
We'll focus on that tomorrow. It's been a long day, and right now we all need to rest. You too, Hector.
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He wants to walk the length of the island until he's tired enough to collapse, but that's not a possibility with these two here. They won't trust him on his own while they rest.
He settles into the opposite corner of the room and sits, propped against the wall. He doesn't expect sleep to come, but within a few minutes of sitting, it does.]
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The night wears on. At some point, Alucard nudges Sypha awake and they trade shifts. It's easier to do this with three, but it's fine. It means that when morning does come, Alucard is no longer a wolf but a person again. The bucket remains where it was left last night, but he's managed to forage a few pieces of fruit that are sat beside the bucket.
Nothing else has been touched. Alucard's cutting up the one apple he managed to find with a knife that's been laying around (and very much cleaned up), his hair pulled back and looking almost comedically domestic after the events of yesterday.]
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He unfolds himself from his corner and stretches stiff limbs. His shoulders give a satisfying pop. Taking a quick glance out of the broken window, he sees a clear sky.]
It looks like decent weather to start your journey home.
[A stunning conversation starter.]
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Alucard moves onto the two pears he found, hardly missing a beat as Hector speaks.]
Tell me, Hector, when you lived here before, how easy was foraging and looking after your diet? I've noticed a lot of overgrowth, but precious few resources.
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I got by. The fishing's not bad, and I kept a little garden for tea leaves. [He wasn't willing to devote more time to a larger garden, so he'd prioritized the substance that would help keep him awake so he could keep working longer.]
I'd go inland for supplies before the winter. I never starved.
[The answer he's skirting around is, 'It's a miracle I survived on my own, and your father was positively exasperated by it.']
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I'm worried that things might have changed in your absence.
[Yeah. Alucard'll just betray the hand that they ain't letting Hector stay here either. The argument has to start at some point.]
Eat. I doubt you've done much of that since arriving here.
[....yeah, dad had the right of it on that front.]
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I have not had much of an appetite. I will be fine until I am ready to leave. You needn't worry.
[The pear is hard when he bites down on the slice, at the very first stages of ripeness. Fruit like this is a rarity on the island, and Hector's surprised Adrian was able to find one of the few fruit-bearing trees around.]
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[They're words that are a little too frank. Alucard knows it, but he really doesn't care. Grief makes people do stupid things like not eat or drink, among the many options that the both of them know exist.]
You...do know we're not letting you stay here, yes?
[It's inevitable. Might as well get the fight started.]
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I'm not planning on staying here forever. I'll return for my pets. [He's being deliberately obtuse about Adrian's meaning. Hector's freedom is the only thing he has left. If Adrian wants to take it from him, he's going to make him own up to it.]
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But there's no good way to say that. Not one that doesn't become an immediate threat. So honesty is the only way forward.]
You...after these things, it's not easy. It requires a solid foundation to rebuild. I don't want you to be without that.
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I’m going to be without it whether I’m here or anywhere else. My only foundation is ash now.
[It hurts to even think of speaking her name right now.]
It’s...good of you to care, but you needn’t bother.
[That is, if this is concern for his well-being and not fear of his relapse into forging. He’s too tired to try to judge the inscrutable Adrian’s intentions.]
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Alucard lets out a long, weary sigh at Hector's response.]
Yes. Ash is the way of these things. I could extend the metaphor about mixing ash into mortar, but that's maudlin even for myself. [He's overdramatic and this isn't about Alucard's sense of drama for once.]
I'm bothering all the same, Hector.
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[Blue eyes seek out Adrian's gold ones, lost. Hector has understood why everyone else in his life has 'bothered' with him. Dracula had valued first his innovation, then his brute skill at crafting. Carmilla had taken him for power. Even Rosaly, he could understand. She'd loved him, because bafflingly enough, she'd seen in him something she thought she could redeem.
Hector can't think of a reason that Adrian would care.]
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[There's not warmth in Alucard's eyes, not exactly, but there's...concern? Worry? Something. Alucard lets out a soft sigh.]
Anything else is something I'd rather not give voice to.
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Hector never met Lisa of Lupu, but the memory of Vlad Ţepeş carries weight for him still. The man...the vampire...the traveling scholar...the lord of the castle. He'd borne more affection and pride for Hector than Hector's own father had.]
...fine.
[For his former lord's sake, he won't fight Adrian on this any more.]
I'm going to go wash up before I surrender myself to your custody. [It's harsher than he needs to be, but he wants to at least be allowed a little time alone before he leaves. To walk the island one last time, to catch sight of his early experiments through the trees, to say his farewell to this place knowing he'll never return to it.
He steps toward the door, not looking at Adrian as he moves past him.]
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[They can't take all the time Hector may need. But Alucard knows that this is still tearing a man from his home. It's cruel, even if it is to try and provide improvement and make it harder to return to old ways. The weight of it hurts his shoulders, just as the weight of parental expectations do.
There's no standing in the way of Hector. Alucard instead goes to rouse Sypha from slumber and to manage all preparations to depart. They'll probably burn the remaining zombie bits, and maybe that will spread to the rest of the island.
Another part of someone's life up in smoke. That's what it always comes back to, isn't it? Fire and destruction and being forced to emerge from it again and again and again.]
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The little footpaths he'd worn in these woods years ago have since grown over, but he knows his way without them. He's got no particular destination in mind. It just feels...not good, but less tiresome...to be alone with his thoughts.
He's not saying goodbye to a place so much as a time, and he tries to keep it brief. If he's being compelled to sail with Adrian and his speaker, they might as well get started so they can reach a safe stopping place before dark.
...he is still himself, though, so when he finally returns to the ruins of the house, he has a small bundle of fur tucked into the crook of his elbow. A hare, mottled brown with eyes that glow a faint, milky blue. She has no visible pieces missing, but when she peeks out to look around, her neck is able to turn at an unnatural angle. Hector had suspected an aborted attack from a bird of prey, when he'd revived her years ago.]
I'm bringing her. She's gone blind. She won't survive on her own. [He says, maybe unnecessarily defensive as he reemerges. If the fire from the zombies spread, the other creatures can flee; this one would not be so lucky. He thinks he needs to save this one helpless creature.
Adrian said he needed a foundation. Maybe this is the first stone.]
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The two then deal with the zombie parts. They're piled into one space, and Sypha's flame does it's work with the same efficiency as before. The wind is blowing off the island entirely, and so the smoke is sent in that direction. A small mercy. The blaze is left to take care of the bones and render them into ashes, but it is with rocks around it to keep the thing at bay. (In theory.)
Through all the work, they quietly debate what to do next. How to keep an eye on Hector without making him feel a prisoner. Where he might go, and what the two of them can do to help. Trevor's still of his own strong opinions, but they're best left ignored right now.
Sypha's the one who stands when Hector walks in. The bundle has her attention, and when it's revealed to be a hare well. It's still cute, reanimated and all.
Alucard's not going to argue this one.]
She won't be seasick, will she?
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No. [He has no idea. He's hoping not. The species bounds around without an issue, so he's hoping the motion of the ship won't bother this particular specimen.]
She won't be any trouble. I will see to her. [While Adrian and Sypha have seen to the supplies to satisfy their human(ish) needs, Hector has tucked away little bundles of grass and bark into his tunic to feed to the this fourth passenger.
As long as she isn't turned away, Hector will do as Adrian wishes on their journey.]
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[Alucard and Sypha aren't going to talk Hector out of it, and if the most they need to get Hector out of here is a cute, if reforged, bunny then that's the price of it.]
If there's nothing else you need out of here, then we best get going.
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During the major journeys he's taken, he's booked passage on a vessel and left the sailing up to the professionals. He's picked up enough to lend a hand, though, and his familiarity with the area will surely come in handy. With only the three of them on this ship, he doesn't have the luxury of sitting back and twiddling his thumbs.]
Unless you two are more experienced sailors than I, we should keep near to the coast. It'll add a little time, but it's the safer option. [If they end up running into trouble, Hector could reconstruct the bodies of his de-materialized devils, but he's keeping that in his back-most pocket for now.]
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[At least Aucard has the grace to look embarrassed about that fact. And it is a sad and embarrassing thing, how for all his father traveled and saw the world, he's barely left Wallachia. Oh there are good reasons for it, but none of those reasons make it better, just as none of those reasons are ones Lisa would approve of.]
My people have some skill, but it's mostly navigation rather than the practical. I can help manipulate the water in our favor, but you're the one who knows the area best.
[Congrats, Captain Hector is what that all really means.]
I'm fine with safer but longer. Lead on.
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Captain Hector. God save their souls.The responsibility is a blessing that doesn’t consciously register to Hector. It keeps his hands and his thoughts occupied. There is too much to do to dwell on the bleak shape of his future.
Hector calls on his fairy to act as compass, and keeps the shore in sight whenever possible. He knows which ports won’t ask questions and which to steer clear of to avoid unnecessary complications. When he’s not manning the steering of the ship, he fishes off the side of the boat and tends to the hare. She is old and snoozes for long stretches of the day.
Hector isn’t good with normal conversation, so he’s mostly quiet during their travels. He points out interesting birds and fish when he spots them and gives his acerbic commentary on some of port town taverns they pass by. So if nothing else, Adrian will get to experience that on his rare trip beyond Wallachia’s borders.]
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