Catch All

[cryptsleeper]

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[miraclewhip]

But there are other speakers. There aren't other plague ladies.

[ He looks up at Alucard, then at the chair. And then moves to sit there in a flurry of moths. He can follow instructions! Look how good he is at following instructions!

Is that what he means? He doesn't really know. ]

I think- I think that's what I mean. You touched me before. All on your own. It was- nice.

[cryptsleeper]

[Oh...okay. Sure, that seems a little dramatic when one could just sit up off the floor but you do you, you funky moth man.]

The culture here is a little more touchy in general. I've had to adjust, but your sister's dog and yourself made it a lot easier to manage.

[miraclewhip]

[ He made it easier. He made it easier. He perks up, not at all unlike a dog that’s been told it’s doing well. ]

I’ll tell Eight she did well when I next see her.

[ Talking to the dogs is just a Trevor being weird thing, not a fairy thing. He doesn’t reach out to touch Alucard, he still knows better, but his smile could melt ice. ]

You got so handsome, too.

[cryptsleeper]

If your sister allows her dogs to travel, I'd like to thank Eight in person. She....would not enjoy the weather here for very long, admittedly.

[He really misses Eight sometimes, okay? She was a Good Dog and--

--oh.

It's pretty much impossible to hide the scarlet color on Alucard's face at that.]

I...thank you?

[miraclewhip]

[ He shakes his head. ]

Eight is- my sister brought her to her library because she was hurt. And she didn’t get better, she just lost the parts of her that hurt. She’s fine there, but she wouldn’t be able to survive in the human world. Dogs need all their inside bits out here, not just some of them.

[ Sometimes dogs don’t have enough organs and it’s sad. Sad enough that he won’t hit on Alucard in the same tag as discussing it. Instead, he thinks. ]

But I owe you for looking after plague lady, so- I’ll see what I can do.

[ He can’t bring Eight to Alucard. But maybe a way to make her presence known. To make it feel like she’s there. ]

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard considers. Then:]

When the Speaker is better, perhaps we can take an hour or so back to where we were?

[miraclewhip]

You would go back?

[ Only for an hour. Only for an hour but still an hour. Another hour sat by the little pond with Alucard, while Eight clambers on top of him, all fluff and happiness and big pink tongue. Like before. ]

I'll take you. And I'll bring you back, I promise, the second you ask.

[cryptsleeper]

There are nights I do miss it. The quietness, mostly.

[And Eight. Because you can't cuddle a dog like that in this place.]

As you've already noticed, this city doesn't do quiet nights.

[miraclewhip]

I like it. It makes it hard to hunt, but it's nice. Humans are good at making light and noises.

[ He would like it. So many candles to flit around, people to observe as they engage in people-business every hour they can. He's not sure if it's something he could deal with for a long time, but in the moment it's exciting. ]

May I touch you? Just for a moment?

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard's gotten used to it. For a very long time he slept poorly, until he was sure the little space he ecked out in the city for himself was safe.

And it's been safe for years now. Wonderful and not entirely without peril, but far better than Wallachia could ever be.

To the question, the alchemist nods.]

You may.

[miraclewhip]

[ Slowly and very cautiously, he reaches out.

To carefully touch at Alucard's beard. He tilts his head and then laughs, withdrawing his hand. ]

Never been able to manage that, myself. I'm jealous.

[ Always stubble, never beard. ]

[cryptsleeper]

[Of all the things for Trevor to touch, Alucard didn't expect that. But it's wonderful and so very...Trevor. So it gets a laugh.]

It makes me look a little older. Helps people take my medical advice seriously.

[miraclewhip]

It’s lovely. You’re lovely.

[ He knows that this is pushing it a little far. But he’s never made a secret of his fondness for the-man-who-is-not-his-husband. And this is all familiar in a wonderful way. The domesticity of it, of sitting opposite Alucard while he eats and just talking. Of weaving while he grinds herbs for medicine, both focussed on work too much to speak but quietly acknowledging the others’ presence.

He loves Alucard. He has for a long time. And his presence is so soft and calming that it barely hurts at all that it isn’t reciprocated. It’s enough just to love him and be allowed in his presence. ]

I’m glad you didn’t stay. You wouldn’t have grown it, if you had. You wouldn’t be helping people.

[cryptsleeper]

[He can take the compliments, at least. The grandmothers in the neighborhood have said so very many similar things to him over the years, combined with soft tutting about how he's still alone.

It is nice, when there's patient's families around. Quiet presences who want to help because they have to occupy their time. And those are all the visitors Alucard really has most nights. Friends are still something he doesn't do, born of fear of how it might end. He is, by and large, still alone.]

But I did need it. I know that much now, with the power of retrospect.

[miraclewhip]

I’m glad I could give it to you, then.

[ He thinks he understands. He needed a time of stillness. A winter. To recover and rest before growing again. ]

Let me take you upstairs, when you’re done? I can carry the chair like before, so I don’t need to touch you.

[cryptsleeper]

Thank you.

[He needed to be dragged out of his own head, at the end of the day.]

--The stairs are too narrow for the chair, so it'll have to be the old way. Would it be too demanding to ask that you help me up, and the bring some water up so I can soak my feet?

[miraclewhip]

Not at all.

[ Nothing could be too much to ask, really. What Alucard's asking is the easiest thing in the world, compared to what he's doing for Sypha. ]

Should I put it over the fire to get warm while you finish your food?

[cryptsleeper]

--The bucket keeps it at the correct temperature, actually.

[His smile is a little fragile. It comes with an equally unsure laugh.]

If one is to carry that accusation, I suppose they should deserve it just a little.

[miraclewhip]

Oh. He chuckles. Clever.

[ He knows that this must be difficult, so he reaches out his hand. Not far enough to touch, just far enough to offer it. Back in the cottage he could just bring books or a dog or furs when he wanted to offer comfort. Here he's not quite sure how to go about it. ]

Are you happy to deserve it, just a little? [ Because if so, he has IDEAS!!! ] Any more little secrets I should know about?

[cryptsleeper]

I sometimes see to my own comforts.

[There's still that hesitation for taking the hand. But Trevor's earned trust in the right ways, so Alucard takes it all the same.]

There are still moments it gives me pause. But then my feet remind me that there is a reason for it, and the moment passes. [They don't burn witches here. But heretics? The Ottomans still deal with heretics.]

None in particular. It's the only indulgence I rely on.

[miraclewhip]

Good. You ought to.

[ He closes his fingers around Alucard's, smiling. Not even at the contact, glad as he is for it. At the thought that this gives him so many more ways to help. ]

Would you take offense to other indulgences?

[cryptsleeper]

Hm?

[That comes with a head tilt.]

You had something in mind?

[miraclewhip]

I might. If discreet magic isn't a problem.

[ He places Alucard's hand back down on the table, brushing his fingers softly over the knuckles of it, then lets go. ]

I still owe you payment for her treatment, after all. And- I'm sure it won't surprise you that I don't really deal in coins.

[cryptsleeper]

Often times I end up bartering. I'm listening, Trevor.

[Alucard withdraws both of his hands, folding them neatly in his lap.]

[miraclewhip]

I weave.

[ It's the simplest thing, but there's not much else he can offer. ]

Simple things, with little spells. Things that won't draw suspicion.