[A firm and serious no. Dracula doesn't want a Belmont near the house, Lisa wants to afford the young man an ounce of dignity, and Alucard's pretty sure he's still going to get in trouble at some point for all of this.]
We'll talk about those things in a few days. Resting is far better right now.
[ He just nods and falls quiet, looking out through the crack under a door at the telltale lack of sunlight poking through. It's too early, far too early. Perhaps he ought to be grateful that there's still daylight at all. ]
Thank you. [ He says after a while, letting Lisa finish her fussing. ] When you want me to leave, or to earn my keep, I will.
[It's dusk, in truth, because otherwise Dracula would not be there.
Lisa pats Trevor's knee gently before getting up to her feet.]
We don't charge patients here unless they can actually afford it. You've nothing to repay.
[What Dracula might demand is different, but that's also to be avoided for now. Lisa does finally withdraw, and almost immediately, she and Dracula launch into the next iteration of arguing about what to do with a Belmont right now. That means it's Alucard who goes to get this evening's broth (it has other supplements mixed in, like protein and vitamins), and it's Alucard who slips in while his parents are still arguing]
--They're...in the middle of a discussion right now, sorry.
I can go, if it would make things easier. It won’t make me sicker.
[ He takes the broth, the mug warm in his hands, and stares down at it. ]
How much do you know of the Belmonts?
[ How much does Dracula know is a more important question, but he’d rather put off talking to Dracula a little while longer. He’ll have to eventually. Let him know that he won, that Leon is gone and his daughters and son sold to people like the Silk Merchant. No matter Lisa’s thoughts on repayment- he’s earned that much by letting him restore himself. ]
[Alucard knows better than to sit on the bed again beside Trevor, so instead he leans on the wall close to the door, arms folded over his chest.]
That you've attempted to murder my father several times over, that you're probably a threat to myself as well because I'm my father's son, and that you specialize in hunting threats to humanity - mostly night creatures - and so my father has been deeply unhappy about this.
[ He looks up as Alucard moves, then returns his gaze to the broth when he doesn’t come closer. He wants to defend himself- tell Alucard that they tried to murder his father because of what he did, what he was continuing to do until he tired of conquest. But it’s irrelevant. ]
[It wouldn't make a difference anyway. Alucard knows what his father is. What he's capable of. What he's done before. And it was something that Alucard had grown up aware of because he read too much of his father's library and saw his darkest thoughts.
When our patron began his crusade against your father, our queen gave him the sun. What claim she has to it, at least.
[ Which would be about three hours of daylight, it seems. ]
She thought it- unfair of her, to have favoured your father’s rival for so long. And so when she sent him to hell, she didn’t take her gift back. It went with him. It was a gift, for your father and his kind. To make up for our work.
[ It was not at all intended as a gift for Dracula. It was an attempt to make Dracula Entertaining again, because he went and settled down with a nice human lady and stopped ripping out people’s throats. She thought that more hours of night would provoke change among the vampires, either forcing Dracula into action or forcing him to lose his position to an usurper who might do something cool. ]
[Yeah, guess who heard that. Dracula's head snaps up, he says something truly furious, and then simply....leaves. Because to have that information is to have to process a lot of emotions in a small space of time. Never mind his perpetual fury for Leon. That the Queen of the Fae would try to manipulate him in this way? Oh that's unforgivable and no one needs to be exposed to that anger right now.
Lisa and Alucard exchange wary glances across the window. Alucard shakes his head, and his mother departs. With that, Alucard slides down onto the floor, finally sitting.]
I'm not sure what that means, but I'm not filled with confidence about it.
[ And it’s not like not telling him would have made any of this not the case, but he still feels like kind of an asshole. Even though making Dracula mad is literally what he was born for.
He stands unsteadily, then moves across the room to sit with Alucard. ]
I’m not going to attack you. Not if you haven’t hurt anyone. We only hunt monsters.
Because that was the reaction of a man victorious.
[Alucard's got sarcasm as a defense, and right now feels like the correct time to use it. He's so very still after that, hardly noticing that Trevor's sat down beside him. He should probably react more to having an old family enemy beside him. He should suspect that Trevor's full of shit.
He doesn't.]
That doesn't matter. My father won't buy that, because he's far more worried about our safety.
He deserves to know he isn’t hunted any more, then.
[ He huffs at the sarcasm. He liked Alucard better before, back when he was stupid and thought that he’d found some kind of saviour. Now he just seems like-
-exactly like a teenager whose family has been thrown into disarray by some asshole who just barged into their lives. Right. ]
I could vow not to. You could order me not to. He could order me not to. [ A pause. ] He could kill me, if he doesn’t want to turn me loose.
I've been away from my body a long time. I don't want to distance myself from it. It's just-
[ He wants to gulp down the broth and have it gone or just leave it untouched, but he sips at it carefully. He's already queasy and weak, he doesn't need to make either worse. ]
-a lot. It's a lot. Getting four years of bullshit at once.
Had I know, I would've tried something else. Something that wouldn't put us all in such close proximity and threaten tempers. A place for you to get to grips with everything without my father's presence.
[ He seems like he's about to say something, but then falls silent. By the time he replies, he's drunk about a third of the broth and put the rest aside, resting his head against the wall behind him.
He still doesn't really know the answer to that. Alone would be best to process everything. But at the same time, processing everything is the last thing he wants to do. He needs to, at some point, but right now all he wants is to rip that final moth out of himself and go back to being happy and stupid and impossibly grateful to Alucard.
His answer, when it finally comes, comes out mumbled and not entirely clear ]
[Alucard nods. It doesn't surprise him that the response takes some time to come, and well...no. Who would want to be alone with their thoughts right now.
Very cautiously, he places his hand down on the ground beside Trevor's, in case it is to be taken again.]
[ He looks at the hand for a second, then up at Alucard. ]
As you are.
[ And that's the only warning that Alucard gets before he falls forward against him, face buried in his chest and fists clenched in the fabric of his shirt, breaths thick and ragged and only a hair short of the point where he might have to acknowledge that they're sobs. ]
[Alucard lets out a soft oof as Trevor's weight presses down against him. He wasn't prepared for this particular possibility, and yet here he is. A creature who's spent decades trying to murder his own father in cold blood is here, sobbing into his chest and managing a small amount of comfort from it.
He's not sure what to do. Where his hands should go. What any protocol is in this situation.
Eventually, Alucard's hands just. Pat the top of Trevor's head gently, unsure if that's helping but certain it can't be hurting.]
[ He calms as Alucard's hands touch his hair, like an animal being petted. His breath comes easier. The shaking of his limbs stops and his head feels heavier.
It isn't long before he falls still, breathing steady and calm, silence only broken by the occasional whimper. His hands twitch every now and then like an animal moving in its sleep. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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I can stay. [ Then, after a pause. ] I can work, if you want. To repay you.
[ Please demand something of him. He's had nothing but orders for years. ]
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[A firm and serious no. Dracula doesn't want a Belmont near the house, Lisa wants to afford the young man an ounce of dignity, and Alucard's pretty sure he's still going to get in trouble at some point for all of this.]
We'll talk about those things in a few days. Resting is far better right now.
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Thank you. [ He says after a while, letting Lisa finish her fussing. ] When you want me to leave, or to earn my keep, I will.
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Lisa pats Trevor's knee gently before getting up to her feet.]
We don't charge patients here unless they can actually afford it. You've nothing to repay.
[What Dracula might demand is different, but that's also to be avoided for now. Lisa does finally withdraw, and almost immediately, she and Dracula launch into the next iteration of arguing about what to do with a Belmont right now. That means it's Alucard who goes to get this evening's broth (it has other supplements mixed in, like protein and vitamins), and it's Alucard who slips in while his parents are still arguing]
--They're...in the middle of a discussion right now, sorry.
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[ He takes the broth, the mug warm in his hands, and stares down at it. ]
How much do you know of the Belmonts?
[ How much does Dracula know is a more important question, but he’d rather put off talking to Dracula a little while longer. He’ll have to eventually. Let him know that he won, that Leon is gone and his daughters and son sold to people like the Silk Merchant. No matter Lisa’s thoughts on repayment- he’s earned that much by letting him restore himself. ]
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[Alucard knows better than to sit on the bed again beside Trevor, so instead he leans on the wall close to the door, arms folded over his chest.]
That you've attempted to murder my father several times over, that you're probably a threat to myself as well because I'm my father's son, and that you specialize in hunting threats to humanity - mostly night creatures - and so my father has been deeply unhappy about this.
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[ He looks up as Alucard moves, then returns his gaze to the broth when he doesn’t come closer. He wants to defend himself- tell Alucard that they tried to murder his father because of what he did, what he was continuing to do until he tired of conquest. But it’s irrelevant. ]
Do you know why the days grew shorter?
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But that question...]
No. It's vexed my father since it happened.
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[ Which would be about three hours of daylight, it seems. ]
She thought it- unfair of her, to have favoured your father’s rival for so long. And so when she sent him to hell, she didn’t take her gift back. It went with him. It was a gift, for your father and his kind. To make up for our work.
[ It was not at all intended as a gift for Dracula. It was an attempt to make Dracula Entertaining again, because he went and settled down with a nice human lady and stopped ripping out people’s throats. She thought that more hours of night would provoke change among the vampires, either forcing Dracula into action or forcing him to lose his position to an usurper who might do something cool. ]
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[Yeah, guess who heard that. Dracula's head snaps up, he says something truly furious, and then simply....leaves. Because to have that information is to have to process a lot of emotions in a small space of time. Never mind his perpetual fury for Leon. That the Queen of the Fae would try to manipulate him in this way? Oh that's unforgivable and no one needs to be exposed to that anger right now.
Lisa and Alucard exchange wary glances across the window. Alucard shakes his head, and his mother departs. With that, Alucard slides down onto the floor, finally sitting.]
I'm not sure what that means, but I'm not filled with confidence about it.
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He deserved to know that he won.
[ And it’s not like not telling him would have made any of this not the case, but he still feels like kind of an asshole. Even though making Dracula mad is literally what he was born for.
He stands unsteadily, then moves across the room to sit with Alucard. ]
I’m not going to attack you. Not if you haven’t hurt anyone. We only hunt monsters.
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[Alucard's got sarcasm as a defense, and right now feels like the correct time to use it. He's so very still after that, hardly noticing that Trevor's sat down beside him. He should probably react more to having an old family enemy beside him. He should suspect that Trevor's full of shit.
He doesn't.]
That doesn't matter. My father won't buy that, because he's far more worried about our safety.
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[ He huffs at the sarcasm. He liked Alucard better before, back when he was stupid and thought that he’d found some kind of saviour. Now he just seems like-
-exactly like a teenager whose family has been thrown into disarray by some asshole who just barged into their lives. Right. ]
I could vow not to. You could order me not to. He could order me not to. [ A pause. ] He could kill me, if he doesn’t want to turn me loose.
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[Alucard can easily see any and all of those options coming true. He closes his eyes for a moment, then lets out a slow, steady, controlled breath.]
How're you feeling?
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[ And really, that could well serve as an answer to that second question. He looks at his hands, at the mug of broth cooling in them. ]
Like shit. Sore, and tired, and- shit.
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Anything that you need that my alleviate that? I...the tired part is just reliant on you resting, but painkillers and such are options.
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I've been away from my body a long time. I don't want to distance myself from it. It's just-
[ He wants to gulp down the broth and have it gone or just leave it untouched, but he sips at it carefully. He's already queasy and weak, he doesn't need to make either worse. ]
-a lot. It's a lot. Getting four years of bullshit at once.
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[Alucard trails off.]
Had I know, I would've tried something else. Something that wouldn't put us all in such close proximity and threaten tempers. A place for you to get to grips with everything without my father's presence.
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[ He shakes his head. ]
Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful. I'm just- shit.
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He still doesn't really know the answer to that. Alone would be best to process everything. But at the same time, processing everything is the last thing he wants to do. He needs to, at some point, but right now all he wants is to rip that final moth out of himself and go back to being happy and stupid and impossibly grateful to Alucard.
His answer, when it finally comes, comes out mumbled and not entirely clear ]
-ntil I sleep, again?
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Very cautiously, he places his hand down on the ground beside Trevor's, in case it is to be taken again.]
Would you prefer me as a wolf?
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As you are.
[ And that's the only warning that Alucard gets before he falls forward against him, face buried in his chest and fists clenched in the fabric of his shirt, breaths thick and ragged and only a hair short of the point where he might have to acknowledge that they're sobs. ]
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He's not sure what to do. Where his hands should go. What any protocol is in this situation.
Eventually, Alucard's hands just. Pat the top of Trevor's head gently, unsure if that's helping but certain it can't be hurting.]
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It isn't long before he falls still, breathing steady and calm, silence only broken by the occasional whimper. His hands twitch every now and then like an animal moving in its sleep. ]
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