[He's useless, that much is clear. Just here. Sitting in a ruin. Making the other two fix everything. Alucard sighs, walking over to the door Trevor's just headed out of.]
Area's a little too built up to hunt in, but the city proper is maybe an hour's walk. Don't know how many merchants'll be willing to take lira, but worst case there'll be people who need work done. If we need to stay a while, we'll be able to manage. Bigger concern is there's no abbey to keep people from going in here. We're going to need to defend it.
[ He walks out of the door, then turns back. ]
Hey castle, don't let me in for a moment. I want to see the place you've landed in.
[ And he passes through the door again, this time entering the cottage for real. ]
[Alucard lingers at the door, allowing Sypha to explore what she can of the castle's hall. He's sure that built up is nothing to be concerned about, but the city proper? That's what worries him more, and so Alucard waits.
And says to hell with it, walking out of the door to try and understand their surroundings.]
Hm.
[It's strange. Maybe that's a defense already.]
I wonder if this place has some kind of reputation already.
[ Outside the cottage - and it is a cottage now, and not a castle or an abbey, it’s rather underwhelming. A few chicken coops, empty. A post where horses might have been tied once. A few minutes walk through what winter’s left of the wildflowers to the next house down the road. A mile marker indicating that following that road will bring one into a city called Leeds sooner or later. ]
Ah, castle picked a hell of a place to drop itself.
[ Through the doors of the house, if entered normally, is a workshop of sorts. It doesn’t look like it’s seen use in decades, given the amount of dust, but it’s somehow gone unlooted this whole time. Bottles line shelves along the walls. Bones cover a table. Some are human-sized. ]
Doesn’t look like the owner’s been home in a long time.
[The empty coops make sense. Probably long raided by local foxes. Alucard walks over to the post, and he runs his fingers over it. There's a sense of something here, but he's not quite sure what. It's old though. A thread of magic, thin oh yes but still there.
It'll do. And Alucard's about to say as much to Trevor, but then the bones catch his eye.]
The owner probably didn't have three legs either.
[He's drawn to the bones because of course he is.]
The dust is hardly disturbed here too. That's good for our purposes.
[ He turns bottles around. Most are unlabelled, and those that are are labelled with people’s names instead of the contents of the bottle. He’s not going to sniff at the contents to try to guess. ]
Guessing this is a witch’s house. Means we’ll be undisturbed, but means we really, really shouldn’t be seen going in or out. Just because the law and the church won’t do shit about it these days doesn’t mean an angry mob won’t.
[There's a visible flinch at the word witch. A soft mutter of something, because of course. The castle would've chose somewhere else if it could have, Alucard also knows that, so this means they're stuck.
He sighs, running a hand over the fall and patting it.]
I'm fine with avoiding humans. [He says it with too much darkness in his voice.]
[ He doesn’t know the details of Lisa’s death. Sypha probably does, but his own understanding is only that Dracula’s wife was murdered, restarting his crusade against humanity after generations of an uneasy peace. He can tell when a subject is uncomfortable, he just doesn’t have the first clue about why. ]
We’ll still need food. The speaker and I can take care of it, we’ll be careful.
[ There’s no response from the castle other than a slight change in the way the air feels. ]
Maybe it’s easier for it if we leave and go back in. Less of it having to drag us around.
[So Alucard walks out, and again he's greeted by their strange surroundings. England is...he doesn't know what to make of it. It's so damn green, and he's used to dense woods that are almost impossible to navigate.]
I suppose hunting as a wolf will draw too much attention?
Out here? You'll stick out, but as long as we keep an ear to the ground for people complaining about a funny-looking wolf and stay away from people it ought to be safe.
[ He walks out, then immediately turns around to re-enter the building. Sure enough, the door leads into the castle this time. ]
So now- three things. The business with Dracula, the business with London, and defending the castle. [ He looks to Alucard for a moment as if for guidance before coming up with the answer himself. He's still not used to having two-way conversations with the coffin guy. ] We stay here. Anyone aiming to do Dracula Bullshit will be watching for the castle moving. They'll know. We wait for them and see if we can lure them out while it recovers.
Could be. We have barely anything on Spring Heel. He could want Dracula back, to use- I don't know. Use his legacy somehow.
The good news is- right, shit. [ The vampire was asleep when newspapers started happening. ] So- while you were asleep, people started writing down what happens and sharing it about. We wont be able to keep an eye on London ourselves from here, but we'll know if anything big enough for people to notice happens within a day.
Not sure. Don't know how easy you get overwhelmed, and I've never been there myself. But-
[ He looks Alucard over, trying to work out what he'd get overwhelmed by. Th smell? Major danger in London, if what he's heard is true. The weather? unlikely. Noise? Probably not. But people... ]
-I'm guessing it'll be. People-y, if that's a problem.
[Alucard knows that every time he talks, he makes the situation much harder to deal with.]
I'm...I'm barely awake, Belmont. I grew up in near isolation, and the only crowd I experienced murdered my mother. Cities are required for this, but I can't account for how easily I will be able to function in them as a man.
[ He sighs. He wants to say something along the lines of Well Too Bad, This Needs To Be Dealt With, but he can't. Instead he just nods. ]
We'll stay here for now, watch the city through the papers. Try to draw out anyone who feels like coming to us to attack. And we'll figure out how the castle chooses which buildings it can move into and- I don't know. See if any in the city match its needs. It'll be easier, right? If you have the castle to return to?
[ It's a plan, at least. Sypha can get the castle healthy again and the two of them can help however she needs it in between their other tasks. Alucard can hunt, he can go into the city and do odd jobs for food money and newspapers. ]
Can it talk back to you? If it can tell us what it needs, that'd help. Otherwise, I guess I should try to work out that makes the abbey similar to some creepy house with too many coops.
[ He shrugs. He's not great at making people feel better about themselves, so he's not going to try.
The next few days are- weird, but bearable. With a massive effort and against Sypha's advice, the castle manifests a corner of a soldiers' dormitory for them to sleep in. Trevor treks into town, finds work at the houses along the road and returns with supplies and a newspaper each day. It's not really enough, but they can supplement it with whatever Alucard manages to hunt. Spring Heeled Jack, the Jumping Devil, any of his other names - they show up in the newspapers regularly, but not concerning anything dramatic enough to warrant action. No matter how much it grates at Trevor to see the lists of London's missing and do nothing.
Eventually, though, Trevor doesn't return at his usual time. It's probably past midnight when he knocks at the cottage door. ]
[The big white wolf manages to drag in a deer early on, and so that's food for days. Sypha's ability to manipulate ice is an absolute blessing in this case, and so it goes that Alucard can at least prove himself by making the group's meals. It isn't fancy, but it works.
He reads the papers though. All of them. It's a struggle, getting up to speed with the world, and so for the rest he relies on Sypha and the wisdom of the Speakers. She doesn't mind, but some days her throat goes raw and Alucard apologizes profusely and lets her rest.
They don't worry much when one or the other comes in late. They can't, this is night work. So when Trevor approaches at midnight, the most the castle does is grumble in greeting.]
[ He enters, sighing and dropping the bag. Its contents are a little mud-splattered but the bread still seems edible and the paper still legible. Sypha's already asleep by now, but Alucard's usually still awake. ]
Someone's been following me. Took me a couple hours to lose them. [ A couple of hours and a lot of trekking, if the mud and the way he immediately sits on the ground in exhaustion is any indication. ] If they're human, I think I've lost them. If they're a vampire, I may not have.
[ But that's the ideal. They want to lure vampires here. They absolutely do not want humans seeing them enter this house. ]
[Alucard is still awake, sat up in bed while Sypha dozes. He doesn't sleep unless they're all home right now, if only for safety's sake.
He's spent today talking with the castle. Learning about what it has done in the centuries, and murmuring apologies all the while. He should have insisted the Belmonts bury him here. Not the Hold.]
More talkative today. [He says that and only that before seizing upon Trevor's words.]
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[He's useless, that much is clear. Just here. Sitting in a ruin. Making the other two fix everything. Alucard sighs, walking over to the door Trevor's just headed out of.]
Any good food resources?
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[ He walks out of the door, then turns back. ]
Hey castle, don't let me in for a moment. I want to see the place you've landed in.
[ And he passes through the door again, this time entering the cottage for real. ]
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And says to hell with it, walking out of the door to try and understand their surroundings.]
Hm.
[It's strange. Maybe that's a defense already.]
I wonder if this place has some kind of reputation already.
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Ah, castle picked a hell of a place to drop itself.
[ Through the doors of the house, if entered normally, is a workshop of sorts. It doesn’t look like it’s seen use in decades, given the amount of dust, but it’s somehow gone unlooted this whole time. Bottles line shelves along the walls. Bones cover a table. Some are human-sized. ]
Doesn’t look like the owner’s been home in a long time.
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It'll do. And Alucard's about to say as much to Trevor, but then the bones catch his eye.]
The owner probably didn't have three legs either.
[He's drawn to the bones because of course he is.]
The dust is hardly disturbed here too. That's good for our purposes.
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[ He turns bottles around. Most are unlabelled, and those that are are labelled with people’s names instead of the contents of the bottle. He’s not going to sniff at the contents to try to guess. ]
Guessing this is a witch’s house. Means we’ll be undisturbed, but means we really, really shouldn’t be seen going in or out. Just because the law and the church won’t do shit about it these days doesn’t mean an angry mob won’t.
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He sighs, running a hand over the fall and patting it.]
I'm fine with avoiding humans. [He says it with too much darkness in his voice.]
Castle, let us back in please?
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We’ll still need food. The speaker and I can take care of it, we’ll be careful.
[ There’s no response from the castle other than a slight change in the way the air feels. ]
Maybe it’s easier for it if we leave and go back in. Less of it having to drag us around.
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[So Alucard walks out, and again he's greeted by their strange surroundings. England is...he doesn't know what to make of it. It's so damn green, and he's used to dense woods that are almost impossible to navigate.]
I suppose hunting as a wolf will draw too much attention?
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[ He walks out, then immediately turns around to re-enter the building. Sure enough, the door leads into the castle this time. ]
So now- three things. The business with Dracula, the business with London, and defending the castle. [ He looks to Alucard for a moment as if for guidance before coming up with the answer himself. He's still not used to having two-way conversations with the coffin guy. ] We stay here. Anyone aiming to do Dracula Bullshit will be watching for the castle moving. They'll know. We wait for them and see if we can lure them out while it recovers.
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[A white wolf in the full brightness of the moon is how bad things happen.]
Belmont? Do you think that the first two could be interconnected by some means?
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The good news is- right, shit. [ The vampire was asleep when newspapers started happening. ] So- while you were asleep, people started writing down what happens and sharing it about. We wont be able to keep an eye on London ourselves from here, but we'll know if anything big enough for people to notice happens within a day.
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[Spring Heel. Alucard shakes his head.]
I see. The printing press was brand new in my lifetime, I assume that this is a natural outgrowth of the press?
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[ Isn't that right, mister dad's name backward? ]
From what I've heard, he- jumps really high. [ He's not doing a good job of selling this genuinely terrifying vampire, is he? ] So- Spring Heel.
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I...well, I follow the logic, even if it's an objectively awful name.
[But, and this part's important:]
How likely am I to be overwhelmed by the city?
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[ He looks Alucard over, trying to work out what he'd get overwhelmed by. Th smell? Major danger in London, if what he's heard is true. The weather? unlikely. Noise? Probably not. But people... ]
-I'm guessing it'll be. People-y, if that's a problem.
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[Alucard knows that every time he talks, he makes the situation much harder to deal with.]
I'm...I'm barely awake, Belmont. I grew up in near isolation, and the only crowd I experienced murdered my mother. Cities are required for this, but I can't account for how easily I will be able to function in them as a man.
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[ He sighs. He wants to say something along the lines of Well Too Bad, This Needs To Be Dealt With, but he can't. Instead he just nods. ]
We'll stay here for now, watch the city through the papers. Try to draw out anyone who feels like coming to us to attack. And we'll figure out how the castle chooses which buildings it can move into and- I don't know. See if any in the city match its needs. It'll be easier, right? If you have the castle to return to?
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[The first of so many apologies.]
But yes, that'll...I can ask it to start to search that city. See if it can find somewhere appropriate before we even have to move. Will that be okay?
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[ It's a plan, at least. Sypha can get the castle healthy again and the two of them can help however she needs it in between their other tasks. Alucard can hunt, he can go into the city and do odd jobs for food money and newspapers. ]
Can it talk back to you? If it can tell us what it needs, that'd help. Otherwise, I guess I should try to work out that makes the abbey similar to some creepy house with too many coops.
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[Alucard knows he's useless. He's been useless for centuries, and now? All he wants to do is go back to sleep.]
In it's way, yes. And I'll work to develop that communication. That much I can accomplish.
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The next few days are- weird, but bearable. With a massive effort and against Sypha's advice, the castle manifests a corner of a soldiers' dormitory for them to sleep in. Trevor treks into town, finds work at the houses along the road and returns with supplies and a newspaper each day. It's not really enough, but they can supplement it with whatever Alucard manages to hunt. Spring Heeled Jack, the Jumping Devil, any of his other names - they show up in the newspapers regularly, but not concerning anything dramatic enough to warrant action. No matter how much it grates at Trevor to see the lists of London's missing and do nothing.
Eventually, though, Trevor doesn't return at his usual time. It's probably past midnight when he knocks at the cottage door. ]
Castle? It's the Belmont.
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He reads the papers though. All of them. It's a struggle, getting up to speed with the world, and so for the rest he relies on Sypha and the wisdom of the Speakers. She doesn't mind, but some days her throat goes raw and Alucard apologizes profusely and lets her rest.
They don't worry much when one or the other comes in late. They can't, this is night work. So when Trevor approaches at midnight, the most the castle does is grumble in greeting.]
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Someone's been following me. Took me a couple hours to lose them. [ A couple of hours and a lot of trekking, if the mud and the way he immediately sits on the ground in exhaustion is any indication. ] If they're human, I think I've lost them. If they're a vampire, I may not have.
[ But that's the ideal. They want to lure vampires here. They absolutely do not want humans seeing them enter this house. ]
How has the castle been?
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He's spent today talking with the castle. Learning about what it has done in the centuries, and murmuring apologies all the while. He should have insisted the Belmonts bury him here. Not the Hold.]
More talkative today. [He says that and only that before seizing upon Trevor's words.]
Did they begin to follow only after sunset?
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WAIT SHIT THIS ONE SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRST
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