Catch All

[cryptsleeper]

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[miraclewhip]

I-

[ He falls silent for a moment, busying himself with the speaker's shawl. His voice is low when he speaks. Names are difficult. ]

-I am the Belmont Curse.

[ It's spoken with a level of drama that probably isn't appropriate for someone who recently said 'excuse me' for moving a statue and failed at making a bed. ]

[cryptsleeper]

I am absolutely not calling you that.

[Alucard looks unimpressed. He grew up with Actual Drama Queen Dracula as a dad. Try again Trevor.]

Bearmont will be a viable option if you don't give me something more concise.

[miraclewhip]

[ Wow rude. ]

I don't remember-

[ That starts off as a growl, builds into a roar, and then- you know what? Fine. Belmont is fine. He brings his arms in, twisting his head to the side and huffing. ]

Very well.

[cryptsleeper]

[I don't remember.

That's important. Alucard doesn't say more, but he can note that for the future.

For now, he simply nods. Walks over to Sypha the statue and helps with the shawl.]

Bearmont and Sypha it shall be.

[miraclewhip]

[ He lets go of the shawl, letting Alucard take over and watching. It's- good. This is good. He'll do. However one is meant to demonstrate true love to someone who can't return it, he just has to trust that the vampire will find a way.

This is fine. ]

Do you have any other questions?

[cryptsleeper]

For now? No. Nothing besides what is to be done about dinner.

[miraclewhip]

I can bring food for you.

[ He drops onto all fours, walking out of the room. ] You will need to prepare it yourself I haven't cooked in some time.

[cryptsleeper]

I can cook.

[Alucard follows after the bear though.]

I'll get the doors for you.

[miraclewhip]

Mm.

[ It would probably be a thanks, if bears had manners. He pauses, letting Alucard go first so he can get to doors. ]

Go where you please, so long as you remain on the grounds and return to her every night before you sleep.

[cryptsleeper]

Are there boundary markers for the grounds?

[Alucard does move ahead first. He's a little slow, not having the layout down at all, but he's managing well enough.]

[miraclewhip]

Where the roses stop growing.

[ He lets Alucard lead, in no particular hurry. ]

You'll know if you go too far. If you return quickly, nothing ill should come of it.

[cryptsleeper]

I'll walk the grounds in full tomorrow so I know where all the lines are.

[They reach the last door, and at it, Alucard pauses.]

...Thank you. I understand you did this for your own gain, but my mother wouldn't live otherwise. I am grateful.

[miraclewhip]

You'd be the only one in Wallachia capable of gratitude, then.

[ That would be a rude bear way of saying you're welcome. He leaves with a growl, leaving Alucard alone with Sypha. A deer corpse appears by the kitchen door a few hours later, along with a basket of winter vegetables.

The source of the vegetables, as it turns out, is the estate's gardens. They're vast and, if not beautiful then certainly functional and more carefully maintained than anything inside the house. All vegetables, barely any of the roses at all.

The bear makes itself scarce when Alucard moves around the grounds. As he said, the roses are dotted around as far as the belmont grounds stretch. Where they stop, Alucard's hands and feet grow colder and heavier.

There are two rabbits at the kitchen door when he returns, and the basket has been filled with vegetables again. ]

[cryptsleeper]

[So it goes.

Alucard spends the first week learning the estate grounds. The boundary lines are the most important, because they're the ones that will leave nothing but stone behind. Then he learns his wing of the estate proper, and then explores everything else. It's a careful, methodical thing that he breaks up with doing as he is asked: talking to Sypha as if she is still flesh. Reading out loud whatever book he selects, although for now most of them seem to be on architecture. Simply being present.

With all of that is the bear's delivery of food. The venison, the rabbit, even the vegetables. They're taken care of with deep care. The furs are set aside to try and treat if they are able. Their blood is taken. Things are cooked.

He leaves some of the meat outside of the doors. For the bear. Because Alucard is sure that he must eat as well.

By the end of the week, Alucard has gotten the pattern of life down. The next part, the next part is where struggles begin. The first of which involves finding the bear late one morning in the garden.]

Bearmont?

[Alucard's tone is polite and cautious.]

[miraclewhip]

[ He likes his garden. What started out as something necessary to maintain some shred of humanity has long become something of a hobby. It makes winter a miserable time, but spring will be coming in a month or so, and there's work to be done to prepare.

He stops digging (with his paws, of course, rather than a shovel) and looks up, ears twitching as he tilts his head. ]

Is there something you need?

[cryptsleeper]

Well.

[Alucard has a book in his arms. But his focus is on the bear. There's no attempt to step forward, as Alucard knows he's about to ask something delicate.]

I would like to start to work on my half of our agreement. About curse breaking. But that requires me to ask painful questions.

[miraclewhip]

I didn’t ask this of you.

[ It’s dismissive. He shakes mud from his paws. ]

You just need to stay here, nothing more. The curse will attend to itself.

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard frowns.]

That doesn't sound right.

[The dismissive tone means he's hit a nerve. That he needs to press carefully.]

Let me try? I need something to occupy my mind while I reside here.

[miraclewhip]

Very well.

[ He huffs. He doesn’t like this. He has his own strategy for this fucking curse, and he doesn’t know that Alucard already ruined it by finding a way to tell his father the truth. ]

What did you need to know?

[cryptsleeper]

The first thing I have to know is if I break your curse, is Sypha's also undone?

[miraclewhip]

I don't know.

[ He finally moves out of the patch of what will hopefully be radishes come springtime, getting closer to Alucard and looking him over. ]

She's like this because she fucked up and broke her word, not because of this curse. Just stay, treat her decently, and she'll be fine.

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard wants to press just a hair more. Clarify if him keeping his oath frees her. But no. Bad idea.

So he focuses on the Bearmont instead.]

This curse then. You said you don't remember things?

[miraclewhip]

This isn’t necessary.

[ He huffs again. This is foolish. Dangerous. Completely unnecessary. He’ll fuck up, like the speaker did. ]

I don’t know if there is anything to remember. I am the curse, I don’t know if I was anything before that.

[cryptsleeper]

It is. I'm more likely to try and escape before our terms end if I don't have something that can consume my thoughts.

[Then he'll be like the Speaker, he doesn't say.]

May I ask if you were fully grown or a cub when you found yourself here?

[miraclewhip]

I’ve always been-

[ Wait. Escape? NOPE. In an instant he’s on two legs instead of four, towering over Alucard and snarling. ]

You do not leave.