If I may be so blunt, perhaps now is the time to be working on a plan based in reality down to the detail - especially if said plan also involves being within the castle?
[Alucard understands that magic works. That blood is magic in and of itself, but the particulars have never been a strong suit. So he can be sympathetic to exactly how much trust Trevor seems to place in this plan being successful.
What that doesn't mean is that he'll allow for something half baked to go as planned without some kind of damn back up.]
I’d meant to poison him, but from what we’ve overheard he isn’t taking blood. Which means he’s weaker than he ought to be, but- fuck, that still isn’t saying much.
If this doesn’t work, you take her to safety. She and her people can help people to leave Wallachia. They bring bodies to the forgemasters every two days. I stay and hide among them, then kill them when I’m brought to the forges. If he doesn’t have his army, there’s time for people to evacuate. He’ll have to dirty his own hands. There’ll be chances to catch him in sunlight.
[He isn't taking blood. Alucard puts a lot of effort into not reacting to that statement. His father's revenge quest is going exactly as anticipated - unsatisfying and only prolonging the misery of this far too long suicide note. But it hurts all the same.]
That plan will fail.
[Alucard says it with a very cold determination, hardly caring how it comes off.]
And even if you remove him, then what? His generals will fight for this place as a seat of power, and continue to destroy Wallachia. They all need to be destroyed in one fell swoop.
You two need to leave and rethink your entire approach.
They won’t continue. Dracula has the influence to keep the his subjects from acting up about the idea of having no humans to feed from. Nobody else does. Whoever succeeds him will - it’ll be shit, but it’ll be the kind of shit people are alive to be miserable about.
[ He narrows his eyes at the suggestion that they leave, then shakes his head. ]
I’m not going anywhere. Not before we’ve tried the shit with the engine.
We’re a possibly concussed speaker, an asshole with an inconvenient family name and an overdressed fuck who can’t vampire his way out of a coffin. We’re not going to be able to do this cleanly. There’s going to be survivors and fallout, and nothing I assume or don’t assume will change that.
[ irritation is starting to slip into his voice. He swallows it back. ]
A soldier. She says there’s a soldier here that we need to find and rescue. It sounds like shit to me. More than the engine. If there’s anyone else here, they’re probably already dead. Dracula’s not feeding, which means he has no use for prisoners.
All the more reason to retreat, regroup, and come in with a two fold plan that can build out of failure in the engine room. Having something flow seamlessly increases the likelihood of success.
[Alucard folds his arms over his chest, hating Trevor's shitty ideas the more he talks about them. But the rest...yes. That's familiar.]
He'll recover the engines, rearrange them, and render all your work and effort moot anyway. The three of us leave and fight another day with a better plan.
Or I go back in the box and you're out her prophecy.
You don't get to threaten to go back in the box. You're the one who gets threatened with the box.
[ He's tired. This is hard. He doesn't need this shit. He pushes himself back to his feet, checking the whip at his waist. He doesn't know that Sypha's going to be able to keep going once she wakes. This asshole's just trying to run away.
Fine. He'll do this alone. ]
Go back to sleep, then. Point me in the direction of the engines first, if you're feeling charitable. If I find this soldier on the way, maybe they'll be some use.
She said we were looking for a- [ a person. He doesn’t finish that sentence, because it’s an asshole thing to say even for him. He ends the sentence weakly instead, gesturing at Alucard.. ] -soldier.
You want me to leave, leave and let him continue to kill people when I might at least be able to slow him down, because she turned out to be right that there was a prisoner here?
[Alucard's slow eyebrow raise responds to looking for, almost daring Trevor to finish that thought. He doesn't, and that's good enough for Alucard. At least for that.]
I want you to leave so that there is a plan in place that has a greater chance of success than the nonsense you have just described. If the prophecy has any accuracy? It won't matter and there will be a victory in my father's death all the same.
And if it doesn't, then this might be the only shot we get. It was a miracle that we managed to get to the castle without it noticing us and moving this time. We're not going to get lucky twice.
[ He has a time limit now. Once Sypha wakes, he knows, she'll be eager to see their trapped saviour. And she'll take his side, because for the entire time he's known her she's always been eager to take any side that is 'not trevor'. If he wants to stay here, he has to go now. ]
If the prophecy is right, you can leave me here to do my work and I'll be hale and hearty when you come back.
⁹[This is stupid. This is so stupid, and Alucard absolutely hates it. Trevor's point about luck in finding the castle and going unnoticed is true. But...
it's still too risky.]
You don't move away from anyone else in this place, not when it's in defense mode. You'll die.
[That part is a frank assessment.]
If you do what you intend to do now, you rob the world of a third person in the attempt to stop my father's hand. I am also not above knocking you out and carrying you both over my shoulders if I must.
Probably. Your dad doesn't seem to have any need for prisoners anymore.
[ You know what? He's going to call Alucard's bluff. He didn't go back into the box when he threatened to, after all. He probably won't knock him out. Probably. He stretches (god, he's tired), and faces back in the direction he was initially heading. ]
This is fucking stupid. I'm going to go bleed on a machine. Keep her safe and on the offchance that this works, have her seal everyone inside and then throw the castle into the ocean.
[Alucard sighs. He doesn't want to do this, but here. Trevor's forced his hand, and finally, his sword is withdrawn from it's place at his side.]
You're correct. This is stupid.
[It's so easy to bar Trevor's escape. Alucard uses his sword to block off the full of the hallway, daring Trevor to either limbo under the sword or actually fight.]
[ He does not, thankfully, walk into the sword. He looks from it to Alucard, then bends to crawl underneath the sword. You know what? He's done taking this vampire seriously. He tried that, it didn't help. Time to just be a shit about it. ]
If you wanted me on my knees, you could have just asked. You're pretty enough.
[ He should run. If he can get away, if he can ditch his companions and get to the engines and disable them- that's the most he'd ever be able to achieve here. He's under no illusion that he can make any difference whatsoever in a fair fight against Dracula, and Dracula's own refusal to take care of his own wellbeing cuts off all paths he has to make the fight unfair.
He doesn't. It makes him a shitty Belmont, means he's probably turning his back on the only chance he'll get to end this, but he turns and pushes past Alucard, returning to the room. ]
Easy. Shit, stop trying to get up.
[ Sypha's already halfway out of the bed when he gets in there, and he guides her back down. ]
I found this asshole. He's decided he's in charge.
[Alucard's honestly relieved when Sypha wakes, and thus pulls Trevor out of Bad Decision Station. He's slower to follow after the Belmont, mostly because he does not wish to intrude upon a more personal moment that this doubtlessly is.
He's proven right, of course, not just the way he pushes past Alucard but how he speaks to Sypha. That's...familiar. But he doesn't flinch, and that's an progress.]
[ Sypha tries to get up again at that, and eventually and silently reaches a compromise of sorts with Trevor sitting up and supporting herself against him. She blinks slowly a few times before her eyes focus on Alucard. ]
[This is not the time to be bickering but Alucard doesn't care. He'll bicker if he wants to. He'll leave his box behind. But.
Alucard's far more keen on speaking to Sypha now, and when he does walk over, it is very slowly. If Trevor wants him a certain distance, he'll respect that.]
My name is Adrian Tepes, known to the Wallachians as Alucard. Your...associate...here stumbled upon my crypt in an attempt to find the castle's engine room.
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[Alucard understands that magic works. That blood is magic in and of itself, but the particulars have never been a strong suit. So he can be sympathetic to exactly how much trust Trevor seems to place in this plan being successful.
What that doesn't mean is that he'll allow for something half baked to go as planned without some kind of damn back up.]
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I’d meant to poison him, but from what we’ve overheard he isn’t taking blood. Which means he’s weaker than he ought to be, but- fuck, that still isn’t saying much.
If this doesn’t work, you take her to safety. She and her people can help people to leave Wallachia. They bring bodies to the forgemasters every two days. I stay and hide among them, then kill them when I’m brought to the forges. If he doesn’t have his army, there’s time for people to evacuate. He’ll have to dirty his own hands. There’ll be chances to catch him in sunlight.
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That plan will fail.
[Alucard says it with a very cold determination, hardly caring how it comes off.]
And even if you remove him, then what? His generals will fight for this place as a seat of power, and continue to destroy Wallachia. They all need to be destroyed in one fell swoop.
You two need to leave and rethink your entire approach.
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[ He narrows his eyes at the suggestion that they leave, then shakes his head. ]
I’m not going anywhere. Not before we’ve tried the shit with the engine.
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[Alucard shakes his head.]
Has she spoken of past prophecies?
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[ irritation is starting to slip into his voice. He swallows it back. ]
A soldier. She says there’s a soldier here that we need to find and rescue. It sounds like shit to me. More than the engine. If there’s anyone else here, they’re probably already dead. Dracula’s not feeding, which means he has no use for prisoners.
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[Alucard folds his arms over his chest, hating Trevor's shitty ideas the more he talks about them. But the rest...yes. That's familiar.]
Rescue usually implies escape, does it not?
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[ He leans back, hitting the back of his head against the wall a few times with a quiet snort of air each time. ]
Fine. Help her find this soldier and get them out of here, if you believe in that shit. I’m staying.
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Or I go back in the box and you're out her prophecy.
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[ He's tired. This is hard. He doesn't need this shit. He pushes himself back to his feet, checking the whip at his waist. He doesn't know that Sypha's going to be able to keep going once she wakes. This asshole's just trying to run away.
Fine. He'll do this alone. ]
Go back to sleep, then. Point me in the direction of the engines first, if you're feeling charitable. If I find this soldier on the way, maybe they'll be some use.
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I am almost certain that if your friend wakes, she'd point to myself as aforementioned subject of said prophecy, Belmont.
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She said we were looking for a- [ a person. He doesn’t finish that sentence, because it’s an asshole thing to say even for him. He ends the sentence weakly instead, gesturing at Alucard.. ] -soldier.
You want me to leave, leave and let him continue to kill people when I might at least be able to slow him down, because she turned out to be right that there was a prisoner here?
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I want you to leave so that there is a plan in place that has a greater chance of success than the nonsense you have just described. If the prophecy has any accuracy? It won't matter and there will be a victory in my father's death all the same.
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[ He has a time limit now. Once Sypha wakes, he knows, she'll be eager to see their trapped saviour. And she'll take his side, because for the entire time he's known her she's always been eager to take any side that is 'not trevor'. If he wants to stay here, he has to go now. ]
If the prophecy is right, you can leave me here to do my work and I'll be hale and hearty when you come back.
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it's still too risky.]
You don't move away from anyone else in this place, not when it's in defense mode. You'll die.
[That part is a frank assessment.]
If you do what you intend to do now, you rob the world of a third person in the attempt to stop my father's hand. I am also not above knocking you out and carrying you both over my shoulders if I must.
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[ You know what? He's going to call Alucard's bluff. He didn't go back into the box when he threatened to, after all. He probably won't knock him out. Probably. He stretches (god, he's tired), and faces back in the direction he was initially heading. ]
This is fucking stupid. I'm going to go bleed on a machine. Keep her safe and on the offchance that this works, have her seal everyone inside and then throw the castle into the ocean.
[ He sets off with a halfhearted wave. ]
Have a good life, asshole.
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You're correct. This is stupid.
[It's so easy to bar Trevor's escape. Alucard uses his sword to block off the full of the hallway, daring Trevor to either limbo under the sword or actually fight.]
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[ He does not, thankfully, walk into the sword. He looks from it to Alucard, then bends to crawl underneath the sword. You know what? He's done taking this vampire seriously. He tried that, it didn't help. Time to just be a shit about it. ]
If you wanted me on my knees, you could have just asked. You're pretty enough.
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Wait, what now?
[He's not offended, just...confused.]
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[ He gets up and continues walking. ]
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But, good news. There's a soft noise from the bedroom, followed by a very pained ugh. Alucard's expression remains glaring and unimpressed.]
Good, you can be in the room with me.
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He doesn't. It makes him a shitty Belmont, means he's probably turning his back on the only chance he'll get to end this, but he turns and pushes past Alucard, returning to the room. ]
Easy. Shit, stop trying to get up.
[ Sypha's already halfway out of the bed when he gets in there, and he guides her back down. ]
I found this asshole. He's decided he's in charge.
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He's proven right, of course, not just the way he pushes past Alucard but how he speaks to Sypha. That's...familiar. But he doesn't flinch, and that's an progress.]
I leveled critique at a plan. That's all.
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[ Sypha tries to get up again at that, and eventually and silently reaches a compromise of sorts with Trevor sitting up and supporting herself against him. She blinks slowly a few times before her eyes focus on Alucard. ]
You found-?
-This asshole, right.
[ That earns him an elbow in the ribs. ]
The soldier, Trevor. The soldier!
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[This is not the time to be bickering but Alucard doesn't care. He'll bicker if he wants to. He'll leave his box behind. But.
Alucard's far more keen on speaking to Sypha now, and when he does walk over, it is very slowly. If Trevor wants him a certain distance, he'll respect that.]
My name is Adrian Tepes, known to the Wallachians as Alucard. Your...associate...here stumbled upon my crypt in an attempt to find the castle's engine room.
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