I'll be honest. I thought that we were going to die and someone else would get to deal with everything that came afterward.
[ He'd rather be sitting on the floor. On the rug by the fireplace. But things mean things, here. Putting himself below Alucard means something. Appearances matter, no matter how little he cares for it, and he sits in another chair. He's here as another party to these talks, as representative of his family and not as Alucard's guest. Nobody is under any sort of impression that he's neutral here, but it's still proper to look the part.
In truth, the more practical speeches impressed him. The general and strategist both, for their parts, spoke frankly and intelligently about the hows of all of this. About their alliances, about their resources and how they would use them. There are parts that he isn't certain about, that he'll need to investigate for himself to see that they weren't giving false numbers, but it all seems sound. Reasonable, even, so far as minimising upheaval in the aftermath of Dracula's death goes. Like it truly would minimise harm, and like they have the ability to carry out their plans. The leader of their group, though, she puts him on edge. And then there's the fourth. The waifish one in lace, who didn't speak. ]
We had a plan for this, I think, but everything I've read on it in the hold- needs more than one person. [ A pause. Because he might be the only Belmont here but that doesn't mean he's working alone. ] More than three, too.
In many ways, I think that might have been a mercy to the three of us.
[Alucard's aware that the room is warm, even without the coat on him. But all he can think of is being cold and wanting to pile on blanket after blanket, the weight of something curled around him without having to crave another's touch. He can't deal with that now, and yet it is all he wants.
They're both aware of how precarious a space they're in. How scant resources are in Wallachia, how an all out fight will only destroy the country more. Carmilla is only moving in for that reason, after all. There's chaos and no protection. Just scared humans dealing with the supernatural and with a more traditional invasion from the east.]
No. It was probably written when you were still boyars and had not only resources, but allies in the right places. Other boyars, the Church, all of the things that keep the things of the night away and in a sort of peace.
[He shrinks, just a little.]
I don't think that it'd work even if we had enough people. The Ottomans have changed too much, and we'd need to make allies of them in this fight too. That demands so much time just to build trust.
Really, if it were just the strategist and general- I wouldn't like it, but this'd be the best of the terrible options we have. I just don't like the- Carmilla, wasn't it?
The way she's talking about this- I don't like it. [ She's talking about it the way he would talk about it if he thought that he was dealing with a room full of selfish, overambitious pricks. He knows his way around appealing to people's worst impulses to manipulate them. Carmilla's just guessed at theirs wrong. They don't have a scrap of ambition between the two of them. ]
I don't know what the alternative is, but I don't like her.
It's the personification of some darker intention at the heart of all of this. Bad of them to bring her along, as it means showing off some real intent.
[Alucard breathes out, then stands. He can't sit still with this conversation. His boots are quiet when he starts to pace. A curtain of hair obscures his face, not that one really has to guess at the expression. It's thin and tight and worried.]
They want a fight though. It'll come to that, I'm confident of it.
I can trust three out of four of them to put self-preservation before ambition, not to shit where they eat, but not her.
[ He sighs. ]
As myself? I'm willing to let them have the damn place. Saves us a lot of trouble. Probably ends in less death than a struggle over territory would, even if they do mean ill. Means you don't have to be any of this.
But I'm not here as myself. I'm here as a Belmont. And as a Belmont, I fucking hate all of this. I don't- they wouldn't want a new vampire warlord swooping in and taking Dracula's lands for god knows what purpose.
No. I think that's her driving factor, and she'll farm the work out. Wallachia won't be the only place they'll pursue. It's just the first and the most symbolic.
[Alucard's eyes meet Trevor's when he says he'd let them take it. Even for a moment. That's not the Belmont he knows, and God. They're all so tired and worn thin, aren't they?]
If there wasn't to be more fall out, it'd be tempting to just repeat what happened at the castle. [They destroyed how many vampires of Carmilla's level in just a few short minutes? True, Sypha was there, but that's the point. It took three of them to destroy so many. But--
--Carmilla won't be the only one who will try and do something. It pains Alucard to admit that the other two - their names died with them - had a point. That Cho might be dead but others will move into her place.]
It would have saved us all so much if he had only murdered the bishop.
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no subject
[ He'd rather be sitting on the floor. On the rug by the fireplace. But things mean things, here. Putting himself below Alucard means something. Appearances matter, no matter how little he cares for it, and he sits in another chair. He's here as another party to these talks, as representative of his family and not as Alucard's guest. Nobody is under any sort of impression that he's neutral here, but it's still proper to look the part.
In truth, the more practical speeches impressed him. The general and strategist both, for their parts, spoke frankly and intelligently about the hows of all of this. About their alliances, about their resources and how they would use them. There are parts that he isn't certain about, that he'll need to investigate for himself to see that they weren't giving false numbers, but it all seems sound. Reasonable, even, so far as minimising upheaval in the aftermath of Dracula's death goes. Like it truly would minimise harm, and like they have the ability to carry out their plans. The leader of their group, though, she puts him on edge. And then there's the fourth. The waifish one in lace, who didn't speak. ]
We had a plan for this, I think, but everything I've read on it in the hold- needs more than one person. [ A pause. Because he might be the only Belmont here but that doesn't mean he's working alone. ] More than three, too.
no subject
[Alucard's aware that the room is warm, even without the coat on him. But all he can think of is being cold and wanting to pile on blanket after blanket, the weight of something curled around him without having to crave another's touch. He can't deal with that now, and yet it is all he wants.
They're both aware of how precarious a space they're in. How scant resources are in Wallachia, how an all out fight will only destroy the country more. Carmilla is only moving in for that reason, after all. There's chaos and no protection. Just scared humans dealing with the supernatural and with a more traditional invasion from the east.]
No. It was probably written when you were still boyars and had not only resources, but allies in the right places. Other boyars, the Church, all of the things that keep the things of the night away and in a sort of peace.
[He shrinks, just a little.]
I don't think that it'd work even if we had enough people. The Ottomans have changed too much, and we'd need to make allies of them in this fight too. That demands so much time just to build trust.
no subject
The way she's talking about this- I don't like it. [ She's talking about it the way he would talk about it if he thought that he was dealing with a room full of selfish, overambitious pricks. He knows his way around appealing to people's worst impulses to manipulate them. Carmilla's just guessed at theirs wrong. They don't have a scrap of ambition between the two of them. ]
I don't know what the alternative is, but I don't like her.
no subject
[Alucard breathes out, then stands. He can't sit still with this conversation. His boots are quiet when he starts to pace. A curtain of hair obscures his face, not that one really has to guess at the expression. It's thin and tight and worried.]
They want a fight though. It'll come to that, I'm confident of it.
no subject
[ He sighs. ]
As myself? I'm willing to let them have the damn place. Saves us a lot of trouble. Probably ends in less death than a struggle over territory would, even if they do mean ill. Means you don't have to be any of this.
But I'm not here as myself. I'm here as a Belmont. And as a Belmont, I fucking hate all of this. I don't- they wouldn't want a new vampire warlord swooping in and taking Dracula's lands for god knows what purpose.
no subject
[Alucard's eyes meet Trevor's when he says he'd let them take it. Even for a moment. That's not the Belmont he knows, and God. They're all so tired and worn thin, aren't they?]
If there wasn't to be more fall out, it'd be tempting to just repeat what happened at the castle. [They destroyed how many vampires of Carmilla's level in just a few short minutes? True, Sypha was there, but that's the point. It took three of them to destroy so many. But--
--Carmilla won't be the only one who will try and do something. It pains Alucard to admit that the other two - their names died with them - had a point. That Cho might be dead but others will move into her place.]
It would have saved us all so much if he had only murdered the bishop.