[Cesar and the hare will rule side by side and none shall resist their combined demands for petting.]
Their only flaw, perhaps- they are fond of me. [They're the best things left in his life, and the only thing he can really think to do is to try to come as close to deserving that as he can.
He looks out over the water, away from Deino and Alucard.]
Thank you. [That is the main difference that Hector has seen between Adrian and his father. Dracula, for all the echoes of good Hector had seen in him, was cruel. Adrian is not.]
[That gets a very soft laugh from Alucard. It's not at Hector's expense, just from his words.]
They know the best parts of you, I think. [And that's as much a compliment as Alucard can ever pay. Wherever it is that his mind is, Alucard doesn't follow. His eyes remain on the hare.]
We don't know what to do. I think it's in part because you don't know either, but we...[Alucard pauses, his hand stilling from pets.] Our feelings are complicated, but we don't want to take lives when we don't have to. All of us have seen too much death in our lives, Hector.
[His pets are, at least, the reason Hector hasn’t given up completely now that his revenge has been had.]
There’s always going to be death. It’s a part of life. [Death is the medium for his work, and he intimately knows its inevitability.] But to your point, we need not hasten it.
[He understands that Adrian and his hunters serve humanity, and cannot suffer a threat to it. Theirs is the side Rosaly supported.]
I’ll submit to whatever judgment you settle on. If you need me to pledge to never again take a life, or live under house arrest, or allow you to scry to monitor my actions, so be it.
[Alucard wouldn't call whatever it is that they're trying to balance mercy. It certaintly isn't justice. Closer to grace, maybe, and it probably doesn't matter what they term it. Making it happen is far more important, no matter what term ends up being used.
But judgement. That word hangs heavy in the air, and Alucard's shoulders slump just a little from that weight. Who are the two of them to pass it? A heretic and a patricide, that's who.]
I...feel as if the last one is the easiest. Pledges mean little, even if we found a way to made it binding, and it would be against many personal mandates to force house arrest.
[Hector shrugs. He trusts Adrian's judgment above his own in this matter. He is the dumbass that trusted vampires. Alucard and his friends were the ones who stood up to oppose the slaughter whenever everyone else has resigned themselves to it.]
Then that shall be our course of action. Do you need anything to locate me? I may travel, and you said before that it was easier if you knew where to look.
I think that's a question Sypha's better equipped to answer than I am. Typically it requires some sort of personal connection, as I understand it, with locks of hair being quite common.
[Alucard still doesn't like it, having to act as a perpetual eye over a single man. But it's for a much greater good and preservation of life, so he can't argue it. Not really.]
I hope that traveling helps, honestly. Staying still is likely to let things fester right now.
[All of it sits ill. No one has come to judge Alucard for what he's done, and to be in judgement and execution thereof smacks of hypocracy to the most extreme degree. He begins petting the hare again in the vain hope that it might distract him just a little.]
A small one, I think. If you have to have more than one horse, that means more feed to carry, then more supplies and -- [Alucard waves his free hand vaguely.]
I hope the path brings some kind of resolution for you. One that at least allows for easier living than what you've had of late.
[Well, unless Adrian proposes something different, that is what Hector will go with.]
I'll get by. [The people of Wallachia manage travel by wagon. He's sure he can figure out a way. If nothing else, a zombie horse that has no need to eat, though that would make it harder to travel unnoticed.]
I... [He knows he owes Adrian a great deal. He would never have defeated Isaac on his own, and Adrian has given him the opportunity to try to rebuild his life twice. He should ask for no more, but...]...I will be fine. Even with the wagon, though, some of my pets might not be suited for a life on the road.
[Deino, for one. He brought her with him because she would not have survived otherwise. She deserves somewhere she can rest until time undoes Hector's work.]
Some of them need a more stable home than I can provide. [He looks to Adrian, Deino settled happily in his lap.]
You'd know more about life on the road than I do. I'll take your word for it.
[There's no jealously in the tone. Just a statement of fact. Everyone in Alucard's life knows more about living on the road than the dhampir does.
Alucard's about to say something else, but then he realizes the gravity of Hector's words. The trust that's embedded in them, and with that, Alucard's eyes meet Hector's. There's gratitude in there, well aware that they've managed some level of trust. That's a lot, given the situation.]
[Hector breaks eye contact first. He doesn't want to leave any of his pets with someone else, but their needs outweigh his. The dogs will be able to handle travel- they find their stability in their master, not in their surroundings, but Deino needs peace, and his cat and hawk are both territorial creatures, better served to settle into a home rather than constantly roaming.]
It's only logical. There are very few people who would even accept them, and of those, less who even could see to their needs.
[And Hector knows Adrian will take care of them. He can turn into a wolf and tear a man to death, but to the little reanimated creatures, he'd be nothing but a stalwart protector.]
I assume you've room enough for a few strays in that castle of yours?
[He needs to respond to Hector's actual question. Alucard knows that. But the gratitude comes out first, voiced in a hushed tone of genuine surprise and contentment. He's never told anyone how the left behind creatures were the first that he voiced all the fall out of his father's death to, but...they were there all the same. They were friends and confidants, and they never judged.]
Yes. More than enough for whoever you wish to entrust to my care.
[Hector nods. He can't say 'you're welcome' for something like this.]
I'll leave you notes on their care. You did admirably well the first time around, but...this will ensure nothing will come up that you aren't prepared for.
[It won't stop Hector from worrying for them, but it make the worry unfounded.]
That will be very welcome. [There's a look of actual embarrassment that crosses Alucard's face, and he breaks his gaze from Hector to just off too the side.]
It'll be nice to not fly blindly. I think that they were judging me at certain points for being that foolish in my failures.
[Ah, that effort would have been lead by the cat. She, ironically enough, has a resting bitch face. He chuckles.]
They're ruthless, and they probably sensed they'd get extra attention if they acted needy. You did fine. It's a testament to your instinct to magical matters that you figured out as much as you did.
[It's easy to lean back against the ship's rail and focus on the past, rather than the future. They'll sleep soon. Tomorrow, their journey by water, and Hector's short stint as captain, ends.]
[He's nearly embarrassed by that fact, and it would be far more clear if there wasn't a faint laugh somewhere in Alucard's words. They're followed by a much more sobering sigh, and Alucard's fingers return to petting the hare that is now, for all intents and purposes, his charge.]
I know they weren't left on purpose, but I am glad they were there all the same.
[That's gratitude enough. And maybe that's the best place for all of this to end. Quiet gratitude, and the rare check in to ensure that no more mistakes of the past are repeated. ]
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Their only flaw, perhaps- they are fond of me. [They're the best things left in his life, and the only thing he can really think to do is to try to come as close to deserving that as he can.
He looks out over the water, away from Deino and Alucard.]
Thank you. [That is the main difference that Hector has seen between Adrian and his father. Dracula, for all the echoes of good Hector had seen in him, was cruel. Adrian is not.]
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They know the best parts of you, I think. [And that's as much a compliment as Alucard can ever pay. Wherever it is that his mind is, Alucard doesn't follow. His eyes remain on the hare.]
We don't know what to do. I think it's in part because you don't know either, but we...[Alucard pauses, his hand stilling from pets.] Our feelings are complicated, but we don't want to take lives when we don't have to. All of us have seen too much death in our lives, Hector.
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There’s always going to be death. It’s a part of life. [Death is the medium for his work, and he intimately knows its inevitability.] But to your point, we need not hasten it.
[He understands that Adrian and his hunters serve humanity, and cannot suffer a threat to it. Theirs is the side Rosaly supported.]
I’ll submit to whatever judgment you settle on. If you need me to pledge to never again take a life, or live under house arrest, or allow you to scry to monitor my actions, so be it.
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But judgement. That word hangs heavy in the air, and Alucard's shoulders slump just a little from that weight. Who are the two of them to pass it? A heretic and a patricide, that's who.]
I...feel as if the last one is the easiest. Pledges mean little, even if we found a way to made it binding, and it would be against many personal mandates to force house arrest.
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Then that shall be our course of action. Do you need anything to locate me? I may travel, and you said before that it was easier if you knew where to look.
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[Alucard still doesn't like it, having to act as a perpetual eye over a single man. But it's for a much greater good and preservation of life, so he can't argue it. Not really.]
I hope that traveling helps, honestly. Staying still is likely to let things fester right now.
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Would you prefer parole? [If he's traveling, he supposes he could come by at times and check in, if that would be more palatable.]
Traveling can't make it worse. So long as my pets can make the journey. I may have to invest in a wagon to make it easier on them.
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[All of it sits ill. No one has come to judge Alucard for what he's done, and to be in judgement and execution thereof smacks of hypocracy to the most extreme degree. He begins petting the hare again in the vain hope that it might distract him just a little.]
A small one, I think. If you have to have more than one horse, that means more feed to carry, then more supplies and -- [Alucard waves his free hand vaguely.]
I hope the path brings some kind of resolution for you. One that at least allows for easier living than what you've had of late.
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I'll get by. [The people of Wallachia manage travel by wagon. He's sure he can figure out a way. If nothing else, a zombie horse that has no need to eat, though that would make it harder to travel unnoticed.]
I... [He knows he owes Adrian a great deal. He would never have defeated Isaac on his own, and Adrian has given him the opportunity to try to rebuild his life twice. He should ask for no more, but...]...I will be fine. Even with the wagon, though, some of my pets might not be suited for a life on the road.
[Deino, for one. He brought her with him because she would not have survived otherwise. She deserves somewhere she can rest until time undoes Hector's work.]
Some of them need a more stable home than I can provide. [He looks to Adrian, Deino settled happily in his lap.]
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[There's no jealously in the tone. Just a statement of fact. Everyone in Alucard's life knows more about living on the road than the dhampir does.
Alucard's about to say something else, but then he realizes the gravity of Hector's words. The trust that's embedded in them, and with that, Alucard's eyes meet Hector's. There's gratitude in there, well aware that they've managed some level of trust. That's a lot, given the situation.]
You're sure?
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It's only logical. There are very few people who would even accept them, and of those, less who even could see to their needs.
[And Hector knows Adrian will take care of them. He can turn into a wolf and tear a man to death, but to the little reanimated creatures, he'd be nothing but a stalwart protector.]
I assume you've room enough for a few strays in that castle of yours?
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[He needs to respond to Hector's actual question. Alucard knows that. But the gratitude comes out first, voiced in a hushed tone of genuine surprise and contentment. He's never told anyone how the left behind creatures were the first that he voiced all the fall out of his father's death to, but...they were there all the same. They were friends and confidants, and they never judged.]
Yes. More than enough for whoever you wish to entrust to my care.
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I'll leave you notes on their care. You did admirably well the first time around, but...this will ensure nothing will come up that you aren't prepared for.
[It won't stop Hector from worrying for them, but it make the worry unfounded.]
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It'll be nice to not fly blindly. I think that they were judging me at certain points for being that foolish in my failures.
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They're ruthless, and they probably sensed they'd get extra attention if they acted needy. You did fine. It's a testament to your instinct to magical matters that you figured out as much as you did.
[It's easy to lean back against the ship's rail and focus on the past, rather than the future. They'll sleep soon. Tomorrow, their journey by water, and Hector's short stint as captain, ends.]
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[He's nearly embarrassed by that fact, and it would be far more clear if there wasn't a faint laugh somewhere in Alucard's words. They're followed by a much more sobering sigh, and Alucard's fingers return to petting the hare that is now, for all intents and purposes, his charge.]
I know they weren't left on purpose, but I am glad they were there all the same.
[That's gratitude enough. And maybe that's the best place for all of this to end. Quiet gratitude, and the rare check in to ensure that no more mistakes of the past are repeated. ]