Catch All

[cryptsleeper]

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[miraclewhip]

[ He nods, sitting down on the bed. ]

Is there anything that you want to- be out there? There's nothing there right now.

[ It doesn't occur to him that that might actually be what Alucard wants, to see past the walls of this place. ]

I can put a garden there. You could do your reading out there.

[ ...he's almost more excited about the possibility of making something new for Alucard than he is about the kiss. He's enjoying playing house like this. ]

[cryptsleeper]

No. Show me what's actually there.

[This place can't exist as an island in a sea of nothingness. He is genuinely curious, and...

...that's worth the price of a kiss.]

Please.

[miraclewhip]

[ A nice garden. With roses climbing over everything and a little patch of thick, soft grass. Maybe a tree- Alucard would never eat fruit from it but it could have flowers. He could sit under it with the grass and earth cool against his burned feet and read more of those books. If Enid lets them, they can have one of her dogs playing there. And-

-oh. No garden.

He leans in, and the kiss is as light and quick as he promised. His lips are warm and a little cracked and the skin is just slightly dusty, like a butterfly's wing. His smile is wide and bright when he pulls back. ]

I'll take the chair out there first, so you can sit and look around without me carrying you.

[ Look! He's learning! He's trying to minimise touching when it's not been asked for or earned. ]

[cryptsleeper]

[It is a very brief kiss. Alucard's own lips are so dry and cracked, like kindling, and that'll be a thing that he carries for the rest of his life. It may be like this for a while yet, and that is a liveable thing.

That Trevor picks up on how discomforting he finds touch is a surprise. It shows on his face.]

I...thank you. I appreciate that.

[And he does.]

Trevor?

[miraclewhip]

[ A kiss. A tiny, quick kiss. But a kiss still. He's still grinning as he stands to pick up the chair, then puts it down for a moment to pay attention to alucard instead. ]

What is it?

[cryptsleeper]

Thank you for noticing certain things.

[There. That's acknowledging effort. That's all he can articulate, but it's very, very much worthwhile to comment on.]

[miraclewhip]

Just- let me know if I fuck up.

[ He's been nothing but earnest until now, but this feels like a lot even for him. He busies himself with moving the chair as he speaks. It's- maybe a little embarrassing, even for him. ]

This is all new for me. But I want you to be happy.

[cryptsleeper]

[I want you to be happy.

Alucard sighs, wanting to curl up on himself. What does happy look like? He genuinely doesn't know.]

Thank you.

[He mumbles it.]

[miraclewhip]

[ It doesn't take long to take the chair outside. And he doesn't like outside. It's ugly and unfinished. But promises are promises. He heads back toward the bed, crouching by it. ]

Ready?

[ Probably best to make sure that Alucard is warned before he lifts him. ]

[cryptsleeper]

Yes.

[Alucard doesn't know if he'll see a mirror. Or just the world across. Or something. But he's steady enough for Trevor to lift him.]

[miraclewhip]

[ He lifts Alucard, holding him against his chest. there are probably more impersonal ways to hold him, but an injured person is not the ideal test subject for figuring them out.

He tries to make it quick, at least, lowering Alucard into a chair suspended in nothing.

There is a bright sky and very little else. Not even the whole of the outside of the house exists, only the area around the door and the window. ]

I was in a hurry. [ He says, almost apologetically. ] I never had a husband before, so never made a place for humans to be. I just- made the parts you'd need.

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard stiffens when Trevor lifts him. He's still, because he needs to be. And then--

--nothing?

Of all the things Alucard was expecting, this wasn't one. He blinks, wanting to adjust but then a word gets said and:]

Husband?

[It's soft. It's scared.]

[miraclewhip]

[ He’d expected a negative reaction to the outside. It’s ugly, a mess of nothing. But that’s not what Alucard dislikes, is it? ]

Was that- wrong? I thought-

[ They had to undress Alucard to treat his injuries, when they first brought him here. He’s not gone out of his way to look, but he’d assumed- ]

-Wife, then? Is that better?

[cryptsleeper]

No I--

[Oh fuck. Oh fuckfuckfuck.]

A rescue is not marriage.

[miraclewhip]

That’s usually how it works. [ It’s a statement, not an argument. He accepts that Alucard is probably the expert on who Alucard is married to. But he’s confused. Confused and maybe a little hurt. ]

A... guest?

[ He doesn’t like that one. It sounds so impersonal, like they barely know each other at all. Never mind that that is, in fact, the case. ]

[cryptsleeper]

....It is?

[Well now he's confused. Good. Great!!! This is fine!!]

[miraclewhip]

People who come here don’t usually want to go home again. All of my sister’s wives went to her library from the fires. And they’re- all her wives.

[ That’s because Enid has GAME, Trevor. Game and dogs and a wide selection of rare books. ]

[cryptsleeper]

....Other witches.

[Alucard wants to cry. Not because of terror but because there's so many others who've had to suffer the same. No wonder they knew how to treat all those burns.]

I don't know if I want to go back. But it isn't fair to you if I can barely respond to your needs as would be expected in a marriage.

[He does try to curl up on the chair now.]

[miraclewhip]

You don’t have to. You don’t have to do anything.

[ There’s a slight pleading tone to it, but he can’t bring himself to do more than that. He crouches, holding a hand out. ]

Guest, then. An honoured guest. For the month, and for as long as you want to stay afterward.

[cryptsleeper]

[Is that a part of why the Belmont interfered? Because his siblings have done so in the past? Is there another sibling who saves real warlocks?

Alucard tries to move more but no. He's exhausted himself too much.

But Trevor's words? Those at least get through to him.]

Why are you being this nice?

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaand right out again.]

[miraclewhip]

...can we talk back inside?

[ It’s a stupid question, isn’t this how people are meant to be? But he’s willing to pause and examine his motives long enough to answer. Just not on the fairy equivalent of a construction site. ]

[cryptsleeper]

...Very well.

[Alucard considers how to get up and--]

Can you use magic to float the whole chair inside or?

[miraclewhip]

I don’t really do magic.

[ Who ever heard of making things float? Sounds fake. He might have been able to make a floating chair in the first place, but he didn’t. This is a normal chair.

But he can lift the chair, so he’s moving Alucard without touching him. ]

How is this?

[cryptsleeper]

[Well. Okay that's. That's gonna be thing that happens. Alucard nods.]

Let's go inside then.

[What is this even.]

[miraclewhip]

[ He brings the chair in. There’s no real way to move Alucard from it to the bed to without touching him, so for now he’s just. There. Trevor sits on the bed, facing him. ]

I think- I think my father wanted me to interfere. He never told me to. But he sent me to Targoviste, and he sent me alone. It’s the first time he’s had me ride alone for the hunt. It’s... less bad, for me to be the one to break the deal. I’m not the one who made it.

But I did it wrong. I wasn’t meant to be so direct about it.

[ He huffs. ]

I thought that I could salvage it. If I just kept you, like my sister keeps her wives, maybe it would seem better somehow. He wouldn’t like it, but I wouldn’t have failed. Just done what I wanted instead. But that doesn’t work either.

This is the first thing he’s really trusted me with. The first thing that matters. I think he’s testing me. And I think I’m failing.

So I’m not being nice. I’m choosing who I want him to see me being. [ A sigh. ] And if it’s between being graceful in failure or cruel in failure, I want to choose grace.