Catch All

[cryptsleeper]

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[miraclewhip]

Yeah, 'course.

[ He loses mass as half of him flies away to keep Sypha company, but the other half remains long enough to pick up the cane and bring it to Alucard. Then it's gone, and he's down in the quarantine area. Not as a man but as many many moths, crawling over her.

She understands it's supposed to be comforting, at least. ]

[cryptsleeper]

Thank you.

[It's weird, being used to a swam of moths. It's weirder walking into the quarrentine room and seeing them all over Sypha. Anyone else would panic, and it is still instinct to want to swat.

But it's Trevor. So Alucard goes about the next round of check ups for Sypha (she's regaining muscle now) and then makes her promise she'll be awake to eat when he's done cooking.

Cooking is just meat and a little bit of grain, along with bone broth and an apple chopped into bite sized pieces. It isn't fancy. It's absolutely recovery food. But Alucard makes sure that it is all plated and looks good, then asks Trevor to bring it in. Easier to carry a tray when you're not using a cane.

He stays with her a while after that. Until she sleeps again, full of food and better hydrated. She'll need another week or two, but after that she should be able to rejoin her caravan.

They have to find out how to reach them. But Alucard suspects Sypha will be the best person to figure that out, and so he'll wait to ask her about it when next she wakes.

In the mean time, Alucard retreats back to the main room of his clinic that serves as his own living room. There's a long, low cushion with a low back there, and he settles there. Pulls his feet off the floor, tucking them under himself. Looking over his shoulder for Trevor.]

[miraclewhip]

[ It's much harder to tell her stories while she's awake, because she points out the parts that make no sense. How did the monster have four legs but eighteen feet, exactly? Everything else about her being awake, though? Is wonderful. She's pretty and clever and full of questions about the various treatments she's been given and how each one of them serves to help, doing her best to learn to to be able to better help others in future. She asks Trevor about her caravan and sighs with relief when he tells her that he couldn't find the plague among them.

It's almost a shame when she falls asleep again. He leaves a few moths with her to watch over her and the rest of him follows Alucard. ]

She's getting so much better.

[cryptsleeper]

She is.

[She's a good patient too. She asks good questions, absorbs the information, and she cares. She cares so much, and she should get back to her people as soon as she's able.

Alucard doesn't look disappointed by it. Trevor'll end up escorting her if her people are truly far away, and then it will be quiet for a time. A new patient will arrive. The healing process will begin anew.]

Tomorrow, I'll ask her how to contact her people.

[miraclewhip]

If she can narrow down the area they're likely to be in, I can track them down. I just need it to be a little more specific than 'somewhere in eastern europe'.

[ A long pause. He's so glad that she's well, but that comes with different work. Work elsewhere. ]

Thank you, for all of this.

[cryptsleeper]

I assume they have their means of tracking their own people. She's has been terribly out of it until just recently.

[It's an unwelcome shift in topic. But needed. They both know that.]

It's been nice having you here.

[miraclewhip]

I'll still be here a little while. You said she'd need another week?

[ He sits down next to Alucard. ]

[cryptsleeper]

One or two. It'll depend on her.

[Alucard doesn't quite inch closer. But he places his hand in the gap between them, making it clear that Trevor can take that hand if he so wishes.]

[miraclewhip]

[ He takes it. ]

I'll come back, to bring you to see Eight. She'll be happy to see you again.

[cryptsleeper]

[That's all well and good. But there's a thinner, fragile smile on the alchemist's face now.]

I think I got used to you being here a little too quickly.

[miraclewhip]

Oh.

[ He leans forward, taking Alucard's hand in both of his now. It's cautious. ]

Did I do something wrong?

[cryptsleeper]

No. Not at all.

[He can have both hands. But he can also have a slightly awkward alchemist who's really not sure what he's feeling at the moment.]

I knew this would be temporary and settled into the routine regardless.

[miraclewhip]

Oh.

[ He just holds Alucard's hand. It's nice. Would be nice, if he weren't sad. ]

I can come back, if you need help.

[cryptsleeper]

Can. But are you willing to?

[He understands semantics. And more importantly:]

You won't be in trouble?

[miraclewhip]

You can’t double-break a deal. It’s either broken or it’s not.

[ He squeezes Alucard’s hand. ]

And you’re the injured party. You’d get a say in the consequences. And I trust you.

[cryptsleeper]

If that's the case, then I'll stop worrying about it.

[He squeezes back. Just a little.]

I'll have to go out and get more food tomorrow.

[miraclewhip]

Whatever's going to happen, it hasn't happened yet. I think since you're the one who was hurt by the deal being broken, it's only your intervention that'll set off the consequences. Nobody else other than the queen can do that.

[ This is nice. Just sitting with Alucard, touching him, talking. ]

Can I go with you? I'll look human.

[cryptsleeper]

I also presume the rest of your family has rather ceased to care, all things considered. [Something Alucard does as well, which comes with a laugh.] They might even approve.

[As for going with him? Alucard nods.]

Just leave one moth with Sypha? And follow my lead, ways here are different than your own courts and codes. Though no less complex, I expect.

[miraclewhip]

I will.

[ IT'S KIND OF A DATE. A DATE TO GET GROCERIES. HE'S KIND OF CONVINCED ALUCARD TO TAKE HIM ON A DATE. THIS IS SO GOOD. And they havn't let go of each other's hands yet. He could burst with happiness. ]

I'll be good. I promise.

[cryptsleeper]

[It really is a date Alucard just hasn't realized it yet.]

Show me what you're going to wear out?

[miraclewhip]

[ He has to let go of Alucard's hand for that. He does, only a little reluctantly.

He stands and moves in front of Alucard, hiding first his antlers and then his wings, then the collar of fur around his shoulders. He looks human enough. Unfortunately he's still dressed in a thin sleeveless shirt, mostly open at the back to accommodate his wings, and a long skirt. Because 'what you're going to wear' apparently refers only to body parts, not to actually changing clothes. ]

Is this human enough?

[cryptsleeper]

[Watching the glamor go to work is an interesting thing. It's also nerve wracking, having magic used in the house so freely. He's still scared of the stuff, mostly because he doesn't want his new life to be ruined by echoes of old.

But he nods when Trevor's done.]

The clothes need a little work, I'm afraid. The rest is fine.

[miraclewhip]

I can make clothes. I've watched people. Seen what they wear.

[ He sits back down next to Alucard, almost mostly human this time. The brightness of his eyes will be harder to detect by daylight. ]

I'll do it tonight. You can tell me if I've done it right in the morning.

[cryptsleeper]

That'll do.

[Alucard pauses.

And then he closes the gap between them, sitting right next to Trevor.]

You'll be okay working all night?

[miraclewhip]

I can't do much while you're seeing patients in the day anyway. I'll sleep when we're back.

[ He reaches out his hand. He liked that. The hands. ]

And working will make the waiting go faster.