Catch All

[cryptsleeper]

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[cryptsleeper]

Trevor, you're only helping her case for being a noise box.

[Alucard sighs, at least petting the back of the wolf cub's back which, on occassion, seems to mute the howling. At least for .5 seconds.]

We'll stay down here then, so at least one of us can sleep.

[Sypha's the only one really working right now - Alucard's requested two weeks of vacation time for looking after Elisabeta, and it has ended up being perfectly timed.]

I'm so close to calling my father for advice on the matter now.

[miraclewhip]

Do it.

[ That's not the usual response to any suggestions that they call in Dracula. He boops the little dog's nose again, getting an excited yip instead of a howl this time and letting her chew at his hand. That keeps her quiet for a while, at least, and it'll be a few minutes before she gets rough enough to risk drawing blood. ]

That sounds like a recipe for embarrassing stories about how they dealt with this when you did it.

[cryptsleeper]

See? All the more reason not to call.

[That yip is an absolute blessing to hear, and Alucard keeps petting her to encourage the yips and the gentle chewing of Trevor's hand.]

How's your headache?

[miraclewhip]

My headache’s doing just fine. Seems to be having the time of her life.

[ He does try to take his hand out of her mouth to pet her, but the little excited yips threaten to become awoos once more. Nope, she gets to keep that hand. He leans his head against Alucard’s thigh, sighing fondly. ]

Probably should have listened to a few more of those stories before we got ourselves into this, hmm?

[cryptsleeper]

She's having a little too good a time.

[Oh thank god, she doesn't revert to the awooos. Alucard ruffles under her chin, soft and caring.]

No amount of stories could predict everything though. [Alucard bounces her gently on his leg, using his other hand to stroke through Trevor's hair.]

Okay. I'll go call him.

[miraclewhip]

Woah. No. Don’t actually do it.

[ How dare you call his bluff like this when he’s trying to bully you. ]

We’re just encouraging her, you know. She’s going to figure out that doing this makes us fuss over her.

[cryptsleeper]

Trevor, if he says exactly what you do, then please feel free to hold it over me forever. But until then, you need to take this howling monster off of my lap.

[miraclewhip]

You’re really going to call him. Adrian, it’s two in the morning.

[ Because Dracula is known for his fondness for keeping reasonable daytime hours. He does scoop Elisabeta up with his free hand, though, letting her continue to mouth at his other. ]

C’mere, Lisbet. Papa’s going to call grandpa. You can howl at him, if you want. Maybe he’ll know what the f-

...what the first thing we should try is.

[ Nailed it. ]

[cryptsleeper]

It's four in the morning there and there's plenty of night left.

[It's December. Lots of long hours. Alucard rises up, and then snorts when Trevor manages to not drop a f-bomb.]

Nice save.

[And off a very tired son goes to call his dad over the viewing mirrors.]

[miraclewhip]

Hey, it’s hard keeping a clean mouth on no hours of sleep.

[ He lets the kid amuse herself by chewing on him a little longer while Alucard makes the call, up until-. ]

Okay, okay. You’re going to draw blood if you keep going and papa gets weird about that. Give my hand back, you can have a toy-

[ THE AWOOING BEGINS ONCE MORE, MORE POWERFUL. ]

[cryptsleeper]

[And the moment the awooing begins anew is the moment that Dracula picks up the damn viewing mirror, only to be faced with a version of his son that has clearly not been sleeping, definitely looks like a tired parent, and might like to maybe do a murder.]

I presume that racket is why you're calling closer towards daylight?

[Alucard nods, miserable.]

Every time we hope her vocal chords might get her to stop, they heal and the cycle begins anew.

[miraclewhip]

Frankly, I'm surprised she can fit this much air inside her.

[ He tries pets, rocking her gently, that sort of thing. Usually he's a little more willing to play rougher - he has enough experience dealing with pups to know how far he can go without risking hurting or scaring her - but not while he's this tired. And certainly not when her grandfather can see. Eventually he just sighs, offering her the other hand. ]

There, the right one has better calluses. Take you a little longer to get through the skin.

[ The howling does, at least, stop again. If only because she has something in her mouth. ]

[cryptsleeper]

Oh?

She's chewing on Trevor.

And that isn't a valid long term solution?

[Alucard's groan and glare has been perfected thanks to Dracula's parenting advice.]

I'm sure you have gardening gloves of hide somewhere?

[miraclewhip]

[ Right. Of course that's Dracula's solution. It doesn't really hurt, no more than any pup playing rough would, but still. He rolls his eyes. ]

I've just been using my hunting gloves for the garden, Do we want her chewing on night creature leather?

[ Genuine question there. ]

[cryptsleeper]

Are you implying that you haven't already warded and cleaned that leather so that it can be worn and be child safe?

[Alucard lets out a noise that's a little wolfish in and of itself, and so that?  That seems to sober Dracula somewhat.  As enjoyable as making the Belmont miserable is, there's a more important matter to attend to.]

Has she been only around the three of you since she discovered her ability to howl?

[miraclewhip]

Safe for her to touch and safe for her to ingest probably aren’t the same thing, Mr. Tepes.

[ He half considers just taking his hand out of the kid’s mouth and letting her deal with this conversation. But no. Playing nice with the father in law. ]

No. We let her go to playdates like this of course she’s not seen anyone but us.

[cryptsleeper]

Perhaps you should enable those playdates.

[Alucard coughs.]

I know you're not joking but, father are you serious?

[Dracula's just going to look at his son and son-in-law like the idiots they are. So much so.]

With other dogs. So that her calls are responded to and she can be socialized in that form. It worked with Adrian.

[miraclewhip]

You’re saying we need to take her to the dog park. That we need to take your granddaughter, put her in the car, and take her to the dog park to be a dog.

[ Sounds stupid to him, except for- ]

And he’s saying that they had to do this with you. Well sh- sure. Sure is great to know.

[ Nailed it once again ]

[cryptsleeper]

Yes, Belmont, that is precisely what I am saying. There are photographs of Adrian going through this process.

Father!

[The vampire would like to die now k thnx. He looks absolutely mortified all things considered, but then? Then he sighs.]

But I understand the logic behind it. If it doesn't work?

She chews on the Belmont. If that fails, you may contact me then.

[miraclewhip]

Well. Wonder how one would go about finding those photographs.

[ He stands as the mirror goes dark, bringing Elisabeta over to Alucard. She’s still trying to howl, her mouth is just full. ]

Doubt any other dogs will be there at this hour.

[cryptsleeper]

[There's a considering hm from Dracula, but nothing more. Perhaps Trevor will get an envelope in the mail soon....]

Probably not. But if we can let her chew the normal hide gloves, then we can probably manage until morning.

[miraclewhip]

They won’t hold up as well as the monster hide ones, but better safe.

[ He lifts their puppy daughter up to Alucard’s face. ]

Kiss papa goodnight, okay? He’s going to get the gloves for us and then go to bed.

[ Because there’s no reason for both of them to suffer. He takes his hand out of her mouth and she licks at Alucard’s face a few times before starting to howl again. Trevor gives her back his hand. ]

[cryptsleeper]

[All of this is done right in front of Dracula. Who, if one looks very, very carefully, seems endeared for a single passing moment. The viewing mirror clicks off before Alucard can say anymore - even a thank you and there they are.]

Papa will be right back.

[And papa is. At vampire speed, he finds the thickest hide gloves they have, and he runs back so Trevor's hands can be properly covered.]

You sure you're okay with taking her for the remainder of the night?

[She gets a kiss to the top of her fluffy little head after the question.]

[miraclewhip]

[ She yips happily at that, and Trevor uses the opportunity to hand her over for a moment so he can put the gloves on. ]

Taking her to the dog park means driving, so one of us needs to be rested. Unless we want the demon driving her. Or Sypha.

[ WHICH IS WORSE? WHO KNOWS. And there. Gloves on. Protected from her tiny little needle teeths. ]

I'll head to bed while you take her to the park in the morning. Hopefully that'll wear her out enough that she can join us when you need to sleep.

[cryptsleeper]

[If yips are the response to kisses, then Alucard can only keep putting little kisses to her head.]

The demon isn't allowed to drive her now or ever.

[With that, time to hand the pup back over to Trevor.]

Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow. [And a kiss for Trevor too, because of course. It's fleeting, but only because Alucard is so damned tired. He then leans down, ruffling behind Elisabeta's ears.]

Be good to dad for the rest of the night, okay? We'll go out on an adventure tomorrow.