Catch All

[cryptsleeper]

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[miraclewhip]

Please, I've been trying to get drunk off that stuff for the last week now. Doesn't work.

[ He sighs. ]

If we could choose, I think she'd want to be here with you. She can watch her family from the mirror in the hold. We can go to them if things change. But you're- you're her family too.

[cryptsleeper]

No, your alcohol tolerance is just too high. There's an important difference.

[He's just gonna take a long siiiiiiiiiip while oh. A new layer of guilt sets in.

Along with a particular realization.]

She doesn't know you're doing any of this right now, does she?

[miraclewhip]

[ Oh. Called the fuck out.

He waves a hand dismissively, but his shoulders sink. He shouldn't be doing this without Sypha, but she wouldn't leave if she knew. He's been letting her decide what's best for a long time now, and in the end it's hurt her badly. ]

Had to make a second me out of pillows and blankets to keep her from waking up.

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard just sighs. Pours himself a second glass of wine, and this time gets it all the way to the very top. Fuck letting it breathe.]

Of course you did.

[He breathes out.]

What else do you want to know, Belmont?

[miraclewhip]

I want to know how to make things right. If you can't tell me that, then I'll just make shit up as I go along and we can all accept the results.

[ He just stares at the overfull wine glass. So that's what this bullshit looks like from the outside. Just kind of sad. ]

If there's something other than that that I should know, I'll listen. But I'm not trying to torment you for information here.

[cryptsleeper]

Very well.

[Another sip. Until the glass is normally full. The second part is actually far more important to Alucard.]

Thank you. That's...

[He just sighs.]

If she was in the right state of mind, she'd be proud of you.

[miraclewhip]

She’s proud of me most of the time, these days. I think she’s being a little condescending about it. ‘Look who managed to figure out soap!’ That kind of thing.

[ He’s cautious when he continues. ]

Is there anything else that you want me to know? Or that you want us to tell you?

[cryptsleeper]

It adds up though, Belmont. Rather nicely.

[It's a compliment. Or at least an attempt at one. One of us doesn't look like a disaster anymore.

He appreciates the caution. But it comes with quiet.]

Were there any elements you needed clarification on from my side of things?

[miraclewhip]

You know, you're supposed to figure out what you're trying to get out of me before you butter me up with compliments.

[ And he shakes his head. ]

Nothing that I think you're in a state to answer right now. I think- look. If we stay, we need to figure out how it'll work. Rules.

We don't touch you, for a start. That sound about right?

[cryptsleeper]

[Rules. Vampires and rules go together at all times, don't they?]

Yes. And if I tell you not to go into a certain part of the castle, you don't.

[miraclewhip]

Fair enough.

In turn, you sit for meals with us. You can be gone the rest of the time, if you need. And you don't have to talk to us, if you don't want to. Just- you know. Exist.

[cryptsleeper]

....That'll do.

[It's a place to start. Alucard doesn't know if it'll work. He doubts it. But at least he can try.]

[miraclewhip]

Right then. If you don't have any other rules to suggest, I'm going back to sleep before I'm missed.

[ There isn't a whole lot left in the bottle, between the medicine and Alucard's overfull glass. But he grabs it, draining the rest. ]

We'll see you at breakfast.

[cryptsleeper]

[THAT'S HIS WINE GET YOUR OWN BOTTLE.]

--Good night.

[So it goes.

He makes the meals and sits for them, although he barely eats when the other two are around. Just enough so that they don't worry. Alucard does the clean up only after they go, and then he eats the rest of the food.


Most of his time is still outside. Sometimes as a wolf. Sometimes as a man. Always alone, until dinner. After that, he goes to one of the siderooms with a glass of wine and stares into the fire until it's embers or until he falls into a light sleep.

Trevor's been in that side room more lately. Alucard doesn't know what to make of it, but Trevor allows Alucard to be closer to the door. That's all he can ask.

He's here again tonight. Alucard's brought a whole bottle of wine and two glasses.]

Wine?

[miraclewhip]

[ Meals are quiet, but things are easier than they were. Sypha's still having a difficult time of things, but she uses the distance mirror to watch her caravan. They're as well as could be hoped for, in the circumstances. Parked up in another town to help with rebuilding after Dracula's attacks, even working in mostly friendly cooperation with the town's church. That cooperation offers them a little protection, and she's relieved for it.

Aside from that, they try not to spend too much time in the hold. He's told her about- some of it. Told her that they might need her to bring the earth down on it. She's more resistant to the idea than he is. Killing ideas is against her nature. ]

God, please.

[ He's trying. He doesn't know what to do, other than to just do as he asked of Alucard. Exist in the same place. Stare into a dying fire together and pretend that it isn't an intensely depressing way to burn time. He pulls one of the blankets from around himself, tossing it to the side of the sofa closest to the door. Usually he takes the chair, but it's an invitation. ]

[cryptsleeper]

[He pours the wine. It's a white, sweet and floral in smell in contrast to the seasoned wood in the fireplace. Places it down on the coffee table in front of the fireplace, that way he doesn't have to risk touching Trevor.

His own glass is then filled. Then he sits at the very end of the sofa, but not before taking the blanket. It's draped over his shoulders after a moment, pulling it close.]

I hope white is acceptable. How are her people faring today?

[miraclewhip]

Well enough. Someone's been trying to start shit, but the bishop of Braila has put them under his protection.

[ He sips at the wine. There's a good few feet of space between them, but it's the closest they've been in a while. Hard to say if it's progress. But they're trying. They're all trying so hard. ]

Only because he needs the help to keep his faithful well, I'm sure. Not out of the goodness of his heart. But it's good to see people acting in their own self-interest for once, instead of fucking themselves over out of spite.

[cryptsleeper]

[Braila. He sighs at the name, and then takes a long sip of the wine. Alucard's been working at cutting back, but it's been a day. This is happening now too.]

That feels like a minor miracle, in truth.

[Because everything else? Everything else is falling apart.]

Good for all of them that they're rebuilding as they are.

[miraclewhip]

You know how it goes. Sometimes a little genocide brings out the best in people. Or at least the most pragmatic.

[ The wine isn't nearly enough to get him even close to drunk, but it'll be enough to help him sleep.

He pauses for a long, long time. ]

There's- there's shit I can't tell you yet. And it's not because we want to keep secrets from you. I just- cant. [ The fire crackles, and he squints his eyes at it. ] But have you heard of a place called Lindenfeld?

[cryptsleeper]

It's only ever the pragmatic.

[He's feeling far more cynical about humanity these days. Uses that pause to drain the rest of his wine and pour himself a second glass.]

No. That sounds closer to Germanic though rather than Wallachian.

[miraclewhip]

Close to the Serbian border. Or- you know. Was.

[ Was. ]

We fucked up.

[cryptsleeper]

Did you? Or did circumstances simply get worse?

[miraclewhip]

Does the difference matter?

[ It doesn't feel like it does. ]

They got worse and we could have stopped them. Should have. We should have just gone in, slit up everyone who was fucking things up and the head man for good measure, and left. But we did things right. Her way. With investigating, and trying to find out the truth. The slow way.

[ He takes a gulp of the wine. ]

I'm meant to protect her from shit like this. I know better. This shit doesn't get to me anymore. But I got caught up in her thinking that we were big fucking heroes who could do everything the good way, and I let it backfire on her. On a lot of people.

[cryptsleeper]

[He's quiet. But he listens, and then? Then the guilt grows. The details aren't exacting, but he can understand where things ended. Too many deaths, and someone in charge related to the reason why some of that was a problem.

And Trevor lays the blame at his own feet. Because things were going well.

Eventually, he manages:]

I would have taken the slow way too. Because it was safer and would have seemingly gotten fewer people hurt.

[miraclewhip]

We could have torched the place ourselves, in the end, and it would have ended better. At least the ones that didn't get off on murdering all the little children would have gone somewhere better.

[ He drains the glass. It's not enough. The entire fucking wine cellar wouldn't be enough. ]

I shouldn't be putting this on you. I shouldn't need to put it on anyone. But she's hurt. She's hurt, and I let it happen because I turned into an idiot the second a pretty girl grabbed my hand and said that things didn't have to be shit.