[ He doesn’t have to like Alucard overmuch to understand a little of what he’s been through. Wallachia isn’t a kind place, certainly not to people who stand out. ]
Looks worse than it is. [ The worst of the cuts does, indeed look worse than it is. The gouge is deep but the cut is clean, and her claws scraped over his collarbone rather than his throat. It could have been worlds worse. ] As for poison, there’s no way to know until it takes effect. You’ll have taken more of it than me, if she was using it.
No. I would have tasted it, and your blood was normal enough.
[It's not a normal thing to say at all, but the vampire doesn't care.]
She usually used small doses of things that would otherwise be fast agents. Took pleasure in seeing someone ration out just how much they could stomach before they'd put themselves at real risk of death.
[He tries to be matter of fact about this. Being home it’s...he’s not more open. Just calmer. More willing to try and respond to what kindness has been shown, because at least here, home, he’s safe as he’s ever been.
It doesn’t stop the lump in his throat.]
After...everything [you deprived me of my father], I was out in the wilderness. Couldn’t find the castle. So she found me instead, and I kicked and screamed and bit all the way back to Styria. Held me long enough to declare her a guardian, then wanted my death to be slow so she could say it was grief. Or illness. The poor constitution of a half-breed.
[Alucard spits the last word out.]
I was ten. I sat there calculating how much I could manage as I was wasting away. Escaped in the daylight by good fortune and found myself a river. Floated down it, covered my wolf-form in mud, and tried to at least get away from her.
[ He cuts himself off. That’s a pointless line of thought. If they’d know, they would have done a lot of things differently. ]
I’m sorry.
[ God, he’d thought Alucard was some ancient vampire. They’re practically the same age. That... puts a lot of things into perspective. He wants to offer Alucard a hand. That’s what seems natural to him. But he can’t, and so instead he pulls the white cape up around his shoulders instead, touching only by proxy. ] If you need to hear it - you didn’t deserve this bullshit.
[There’s a lot of responses he could give. You would have what? This is your fault. I’d be dead too and at least be less miserable. Alucard doesn’t reply with any of them.]
My life was the greatest secret my father kept from humanity. If you were doing something differently, he would have sense he failed.
[He doesn’t say more. Alucard falls silent instead, hardly reacting to the fabric or it’s warmth. The silence lingers, and he shakes his head slowly, like that might prompt more words from him.
It doesn’t. There’s a soft noise of...it’s ambiguous what it means. A softer rumble comes from the castle itself.]
[ This is his fault. It's his fault, and he's painfully aware of it. But there's nothing he can do to make it right. ]
There's a scrape on your scalp I couldn't get to through the hair. [ Is all he says after a while, soft and distracted. ] I don't think it's anything worrisome, but you should take advantage of this place's magic water while we're here and get it cleaned up. You'll be more comfortable, if nothing else.
[Alucard can't recount the last time he bathed. Hot, warm water? Oh, he can only dream of it. But there is something more important that he needs to do first, and that requires standing.
There's a groan of effort as Alucard rises to his feet, trying not to bump against the Belmont.]
I need a stick or something to steady myself against. There should be something here that will speed my recovery.
[ He hauls himself to his feet. The movement is easier than it seems to be to Alucard, but it's still a struggle. Just until Dracula's gone. His body only needs to hold itself together for that long. ]
Can you lean against me?
[ It's a genuine question - he doesn't know if Alucard'll panic as much as he does when touched if it's him who is touching someone else. ]
If not- shit, I don't know. There's a curtain pole up there, but I don't know how you'd feel about me tearing parts off your house.
[This'll be taken the wrong way. So Alcard clarifies, forcing his eyes to meet Trevor's.]
Even in his madness, I do not believe my father would forgive me for leading anyone to his coffin at the heart of this castle. It's one of his few remaining secrets, and I would like to honor that.
...yeah. I understand. Trust me, I'm more than happy to not see any more of his secrets than I already have.
[ The ceilings here are far, far too high, and the curtain pole is a good three times his height away from the ground. He takes a second to judge the distance and then sends the whip flying up there to coil around one of the wall fastenings, pulling it until it snaps and curtains and pole come crashing down in a torrent of heavy velvet. Moonlight floods into the room through the window, and he digs through the layers of curtain to find the pole and offers it over. ]
If you found where the bathroom is, then you’ve found….the kitchen’s a few doors down. [Where we lived. Home.] Stay in that area, you’ll be fine.
[And so the vampire departs, but not before carefully folding Trevor’s cloak and handing it back. Better that that not be exposed to Dracula’s coffin.
It’s such slow going, moving down corridors with the curtain rod as a staff. It takes an hour to reach it, the heart of the castle, his father’s crypt. Gears turn and churn overhead. The castle tells him it’s okay, and exhaustion shorts any other more emotional reaction. The dark obsidian gleams in the electric light, and Alucard climbs in to rest.
He is gone a day and a half. It is a day and a half of deep sleep, the enchantments and great glass vials of blood working their magic. That and the familiar, much missed scent of Dracula. It’s hard to say what it is that restores the vampire, but he is restored. The wounds healed as best as they can be, and when he walks into the library, he moves as if he has never been injured at all.
His hair and the rest of Alucard is also clean. Shining almost, all dirt from his skin gone, his hair combed and neat. Healthy isn’t the right word, but recovering is.]
Is my cloak dry yet?
[The castle told him one of the humans was here. It didn’t say which.]
[ The cloak is actually spread over his lap at present, as he works on patching a sizable hole in it. Sypha's spare robes are folded neatly next to him - with her doing all the actual work, he's taken on more menial tasks. The laundry, keeping her fed, and now darning clothes damaged by battle and travel.
And then he looks up, and for a moment he doesn't speak. ]
-it was just- just about dry this morning. I'll be done soon.
[ Shit. Shit. Shit, he should not be staring at the vampire like this. ]
[Alucard blinks once, and tilts his head at the Belmont. He doesn't know why he's being looked at like that. He's never seen a gaze like that before, and so his eyes move to the cloak and what it is Trevor's doing with it.]
I....oh. Thank you, you didn't need to do that.
[He's safe in this house. He doesn't have to leap to defend himself for once.]
[ A lock of hair escapes from behind Alucard's ear when he tilts his head and falls forward, and Trevor's eyes follow it more closely than they've ever followed a night creature. His mouth hangs open just slightly, as if he was about to say something but thought better of it. There's a needle in the fleshy part of his thumb and it takes him a good three seconds to notice.
Shit.
He looks away from Alucard when he speaks, because that's the only way his thoughts are going to be at all coherent, cheeks rapidly flushing the way they do when he has to ask Sypha to please change clothes in the wagon where people can't see. ]
-don't like leaving things broken. Feels wrong not to try to make them right.
[Alucard's nostrils flare. Blood. He knows the scent, and moreover, he knows Trevor's scent. He's consumed it enough, after all.
But he isn't hungry. He can't remember a time when that wasn't the case, and in that is a terrible, wonderful luxury. Being home. Resting. Oh, everything's still shit, but slightly less shit. It feels worlds better.]
I see.
[That sounds suspiciously like a metaphor. It is also the moment that Alucard realizes that some of his hair has escaped, and he pauses to tuck it back behind his ear.]
[ WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT SOUNDS LIKE A METAPHOR HE'S JUST TALKING ABOUT WANTING TO FIX CLOAKS GOSH. ]
Just about. Sypha says that once the castle moves she can make sure that the magic around the hold doesn't tear it apart, which sounds- better than the alternative.
[ That was the main difficulty here. Alucard can move the castle, with nobody trying to stop him. But none of them knew what putting the castle into Dracula's magical barrier would do. They still don't, but Sypha's at least confident that she can make sure that it's 'not destroy the castle, them, and possibly that entire part of Wallachia'.
I see. [Alucard has a thought, but he doesn't articulate it. Not yet. Not until he's sure.] I'll check in with her soon then. The castle might have thoughts, although it's...it's unhappy. Why we're here. What we mean to do.
[It's furious. It's weeping. Alucard knows because it reflects every feeling inside of him right now too.]
[ That, he's not hurt by. It makes sense. this castle's fought off generations of Belmonts - no doubt it wants him out. ] No to worry. Just a little longer, and you'll be free of me.
[ He does look up at Alucard again after a moment, trying not to stare like he did before. It's hard. He's- fuck. If he weren't well aware of what compulsion feels like, he'd suspect it. He's so impossibly beautiful. ]
It only ever welcomed two other people besides my father. It tried everything it could to get Carmilla out.
[Poor thing failed, and it bears that shame.]
Both. [He sits down opposite of Trevor, folding his hands and resting them on his own lap.] We...spoke, such as it was, for a very long time. It knows you two are here to help me. It won't try and cause harm, unless my father asserts full control of it. Even then, it'll try and give you some kind of notice.
Appreciate it. [ And then, addressing the walls- ] Thanks for the cooperation, castle.
[ He finally, finally brings his hand up to his mouth, licking the tiny puncture from the needle to clean it, then hands over the cloak. It's absorbed a fair amount of heat from being over his lap, and it radiates warmth in a way that it probably doesn't while Alucard wears it. ]
Hope I didn't fuck it up too badly. You look- [ beautiful. ] -more comfortable like this. I'm glad.
[There's a moment where a soft vibration responds, localized to only Trevor's feet. It's a soft thing, one with no ill intent. Alucard expects Trevor does not require interpretation for that, and so he takes the cloak instead.
It's cleaned. It smells clean, although it carries his own scent of earth and bone. Carefully, he wraps it around his shoulders again and pulls it tight. Oh, it's warm in the castle now, but that may not last forever.]
You did fine.
[As for the other thing, Alucard lets out a soft snort.]
First time I've had a proper bath since....everything.
[ You smelled really bad, is what he’s saying. Not that he had any room to complain when they first found him. ]
I- have bad news. I think.
[ He’s still receiving visions from Dracula, a side effect of being used to seal him away for so long. Or maybe Dracula just trying to fuck with his head. It’s hard to say if they can be used for strategy, not knowing if Dracula is sending them deliberately or not. But if Dracula has a human serving him, one who can use the tools of the hold-
-Alucard fears the Belmonts. He needs to know that there’s a chance their weapons could be turned against him. ]
There’s a forgemaster. I think. Or he wants me to believe there’s a forgemaster. At least one. I thought he’d just been gathering the natural night creatures, but-
[Alucard's already to respond to Trevor's smart remark, but then the mood becomes painfully somber instead. The dhampir goes still, the hand that has tugged his cloak around him now reaching up to bury itself in the cloak's fur collar.]
How do you know any of this?
[He isn't demanding, thankfully. Just cautious and worried.]
[ He says it like it’s normal. Like it was just a pleasant conversation and not Dracula filling his and his siblings heads with visions of what he planned to do to them, with the deaths of every one of their ancestors. ]
He has less control over it now. Probably didn’t want us to know that he had an ally.
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[ He doesn’t have to like Alucard overmuch to understand a little of what he’s been through. Wallachia isn’t a kind place, certainly not to people who stand out. ]
Looks worse than it is. [ The worst of the cuts does, indeed look worse than it is. The gouge is deep but the cut is clean, and her claws scraped over his collarbone rather than his throat. It could have been worlds worse. ] As for poison, there’s no way to know until it takes effect. You’ll have taken more of it than me, if she was using it.
[ A pause. ]
So I’ll worry about that if you get sick.
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[It's not a normal thing to say at all, but the vampire doesn't care.]
She usually used small doses of things that would otherwise be fast agents. Took pleasure in seeing someone ration out just how much they could stomach before they'd put themselves at real risk of death.
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[ He listens, and- ] Stomach.
[ That implies poison in food, not on a weapon. That implies- ]
You knew her before we came here. [ Its slightly more thoughtful than ‘you were her prisoner, but that’s the picture he’s getting. ]
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[He tries to be matter of fact about this. Being home it’s...he’s not more open. Just calmer. More willing to try and respond to what kindness has been shown, because at least here, home, he’s safe as he’s ever been.
It doesn’t stop the lump in his throat.]
After...everything [you deprived me of my father], I was out in the wilderness. Couldn’t find the castle. So she found me instead, and I kicked and screamed and bit all the way back to Styria. Held me long enough to declare her a guardian, then wanted my death to be slow so she could say it was grief. Or illness. The poor constitution of a half-breed.
[Alucard spits the last word out.]
I was ten. I sat there calculating how much I could manage as I was wasting away. Escaped in the daylight by good fortune and found myself a river. Floated down it, covered my wolf-form in mud, and tried to at least get away from her.
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[ He cuts himself off. That’s a pointless line of thought. If they’d know, they would have done a lot of things differently. ]
I’m sorry.
[ God, he’d thought Alucard was some ancient vampire. They’re practically the same age. That... puts a lot of things into perspective. He wants to offer Alucard a hand. That’s what seems natural to him. But he can’t, and so instead he pulls the white cape up around his shoulders instead, touching only by proxy. ] If you need to hear it - you didn’t deserve this bullshit.
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My life was the greatest secret my father kept from humanity. If you were doing something differently, he would have sense he failed.
[He doesn’t say more. Alucard falls silent instead, hardly reacting to the fabric or it’s warmth. The silence lingers, and he shakes his head slowly, like that might prompt more words from him.
It doesn’t. There’s a soft noise of...it’s ambiguous what it means. A softer rumble comes from the castle itself.]
It’s happened. That’s all there is in the end.
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[ This is his fault. It's his fault, and he's painfully aware of it. But there's nothing he can do to make it right. ]
There's a scrape on your scalp I couldn't get to through the hair. [ Is all he says after a while, soft and distracted. ] I don't think it's anything worrisome, but you should take advantage of this place's magic water while we're here and get it cleaned up. You'll be more comfortable, if nothing else.
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[Alucard can't recount the last time he bathed. Hot, warm water? Oh, he can only dream of it. But there is something more important that he needs to do first, and that requires standing.
There's a groan of effort as Alucard rises to his feet, trying not to bump against the Belmont.]
I need a stick or something to steady myself against. There should be something here that will speed my recovery.
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Can you lean against me?
[ It's a genuine question - he doesn't know if Alucard'll panic as much as he does when touched if it's him who is touching someone else. ]
If not- shit, I don't know. There's a curtain pole up there, but I don't know how you'd feel about me tearing parts off your house.
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[This'll be taken the wrong way. So Alcard clarifies, forcing his eyes to meet Trevor's.]
Even in his madness, I do not believe my father would forgive me for leading anyone to his coffin at the heart of this castle. It's one of his few remaining secrets, and I would like to honor that.
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[ The ceilings here are far, far too high, and the curtain pole is a good three times his height away from the ground. He takes a second to judge the distance and then sends the whip flying up there to coil around one of the wall fastenings, pulling it until it snaps and curtains and pole come crashing down in a torrent of heavy velvet. Moonlight floods into the room through the window, and he digs through the layers of curtain to find the pole and offers it over. ]
Don't push yourself too hard.
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[And so the vampire departs, but not before carefully folding Trevor’s cloak and handing it back. Better that that not be exposed to Dracula’s coffin.
It’s such slow going, moving down corridors with the curtain rod as a staff. It takes an hour to reach it, the heart of the castle, his father’s crypt. Gears turn and churn overhead. The castle tells him it’s okay, and exhaustion shorts any other more emotional reaction. The dark obsidian gleams in the electric light, and Alucard climbs in to rest.
He is gone a day and a half. It is a day and a half of deep sleep, the enchantments and great glass vials of blood working their magic. That and the familiar, much missed scent of Dracula. It’s hard to say what it is that restores the vampire, but he is restored. The wounds healed as best as they can be, and when he walks into the library, he moves as if he has never been injured at all.
His hair and the rest of Alucard is also clean. Shining almost, all dirt from his skin gone, his hair combed and neat. Healthy isn’t the right word, but recovering is.]
Is my cloak dry yet?
[The castle told him one of the humans was here. It didn’t say which.]
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[ The cloak is actually spread over his lap at present, as he works on patching a sizable hole in it. Sypha's spare robes are folded neatly next to him - with her doing all the actual work, he's taken on more menial tasks. The laundry, keeping her fed, and now darning clothes damaged by battle and travel.
And then he looks up, and for a moment he doesn't speak. ]
-it was just- just about dry this morning. I'll be done soon.
[ Shit. Shit. Shit, he should not be staring at the vampire like this. ]
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I....oh. Thank you, you didn't need to do that.
[He's safe in this house. He doesn't have to leap to defend himself for once.]
Why are you doing that?
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[ A lock of hair escapes from behind Alucard's ear when he tilts his head and falls forward, and Trevor's eyes follow it more closely than they've ever followed a night creature. His mouth hangs open just slightly, as if he was about to say something but thought better of it. There's a needle in the fleshy part of his thumb and it takes him a good three seconds to notice.
Shit.
He looks away from Alucard when he speaks, because that's the only way his thoughts are going to be at all coherent, cheeks rapidly flushing the way they do when he has to ask Sypha to please change clothes in the wagon where people can't see. ]
-don't like leaving things broken. Feels wrong not to try to make them right.
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But he isn't hungry. He can't remember a time when that wasn't the case, and in that is a terrible, wonderful luxury. Being home. Resting. Oh, everything's still shit, but slightly less shit. It feels worlds better.]
I see.
[That sounds suspiciously like a metaphor. It is also the moment that Alucard realizes that some of his hair has escaped, and he pauses to tuck it back behind his ear.]
You've found everything else you've needed?
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Just about. Sypha says that once the castle moves she can make sure that the magic around the hold doesn't tear it apart, which sounds- better than the alternative.
[ That was the main difficulty here. Alucard can move the castle, with nobody trying to stop him. But none of them knew what putting the castle into Dracula's magical barrier would do. They still don't, but Sypha's at least confident that she can make sure that it's 'not destroy the castle, them, and possibly that entire part of Wallachia'.
He still isn't looking at Alucard. ]
If you need a little more time-
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I see. [Alucard has a thought, but he doesn't articulate it. Not yet. Not until he's sure.] I'll check in with her soon then. The castle might have thoughts, although it's...it's unhappy. Why we're here. What we mean to do.
[It's furious. It's weeping. Alucard knows because it reflects every feeling inside of him right now too.]
I'll rest there again tonight. It has helped.
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[ That, he's not hurt by. It makes sense. this castle's fought off generations of Belmonts - no doubt it wants him out. ] No to worry. Just a little longer, and you'll be free of me.
[ He does look up at Alucard again after a moment, trying not to stare like he did before. It's hard. He's- fuck. If he weren't well aware of what compulsion feels like, he'd suspect it. He's so impossibly beautiful. ]
Helped you, or helped the castle?
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[Poor thing failed, and it bears that shame.]
Both. [He sits down opposite of Trevor, folding his hands and resting them on his own lap.] We...spoke, such as it was, for a very long time. It knows you two are here to help me. It won't try and cause harm, unless my father asserts full control of it. Even then, it'll try and give you some kind of notice.
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[ He finally, finally brings his hand up to his mouth, licking the tiny puncture from the needle to clean it, then hands over the cloak. It's absorbed a fair amount of heat from being over his lap, and it radiates warmth in a way that it probably doesn't while Alucard wears it. ]
Hope I didn't fuck it up too badly. You look- [ beautiful. ] -more comfortable like this. I'm glad.
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It's cleaned. It smells clean, although it carries his own scent of earth and bone. Carefully, he wraps it around his shoulders again and pulls it tight. Oh, it's warm in the castle now, but that may not last forever.]
You did fine.
[As for the other thing, Alucard lets out a soft snort.]
First time I've had a proper bath since....everything.
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[ You smelled really bad, is what he’s saying. Not that he had any room to complain when they first found him. ]
I- have bad news. I think.
[ He’s still receiving visions from Dracula, a side effect of being used to seal him away for so long. Or maybe Dracula just trying to fuck with his head. It’s hard to say if they can be used for strategy, not knowing if Dracula is sending them deliberately or not. But if Dracula has a human serving him, one who can use the tools of the hold-
-Alucard fears the Belmonts. He needs to know that there’s a chance their weapons could be turned against him. ]
There’s a forgemaster. I think. Or he wants me to believe there’s a forgemaster. At least one. I thought he’d just been gathering the natural night creatures, but-
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How do you know any of this?
[He isn't demanding, thankfully. Just cautious and worried.]
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[ He says it like it’s normal. Like it was just a pleasant conversation and not Dracula filling his and his siblings heads with visions of what he planned to do to them, with the deaths of every one of their ancestors. ]
He has less control over it now. Probably didn’t want us to know that he had an ally.
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time for some EXTREME MOOD WHIPLASH
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