[The wolf doesn't lift his head when the scent of Sypha fills the room. It is a familiar thing, yes, a mix of old tomes, well bound leather, and that perpetual scent of green that comes from traveling the road for a lifetime. He stays still, curled up where he is and appreciating how wonderful it is to just suck up all the warm air.
But then Sypha approaches. Hell, just gets comfy, and the wolf can only just snort in quiet acknowledgement that she's there and has decided that this is where she's going to do her research. None of Alucard is surprised, admittedly, but it does take a little out of his plan to be fluffy and alone.
He lifts his head from being a curled up tight little fluff ball and rearranges himself. Now, his head rests on his paws and gold eyes look up at her.
There's a nod. Yes, he did. And there are bookmarks sticking out of the journals.]
[Let it be noted that Sypha does not reach over and immediately run her fingers through that plush-looking fur. In fact, she's due retroactive credit for keeping her hands to herself these past few days.
But where it's easy to respect humanoid-Alucard's icy demeanor now and then, it's much harder not to smile down at the wolf with its tail flipped over its nose. Impossible not to giggle when it nods, even though she's well acquainted with the intelligence behind those eyes.]
Excellent work, Inspector Lupus.
[She settles in to read, flipping from marked section to marked section with avid curiosity. Oh. This one's in Enochian, which immediately sets her pulse racing - the older a source, the more likely to be a root version which others mirror.
The Corridors, it posits, connect not just time, but also space. And yes, possibilities, a near infinite variety of them. The power needed to bring the Corridor to bear on a single version of Vlad Tepes found at the end of this particular branch of probability was...more than she can get her head around, bigger even than the massacre at Lindenfeld. That Night Creature must have had an earlier reservoir of power, or else the Corridor itself was dormant and sluggish in some sense. Sypha frowns and hunches forward, so intent on the words her nose nearly brushes the pages.]
Well, that at least gets the wolf to pick up his head and offer the Speaker a disapproving glare at the new nickname. Not a fan, Sypha. Not. A. Fan.
But the moment passes. Alucard settles back down into his tight little fluff ball, the only thing moving being his eyes. He can track which books Sypha has gone through with ease, and it seems like he's found a few good ones if her nose on the page itself is any indication.
He can be proud enough with that. But the day progresses, and Alucard eventually needs to stretch. The great lumbering wolf uncurls itself and lets out a looooooooooong whine as muscles adjust to a new position.
More than that though, one stretched the wolf walks right over to Sypha. Tilts it's head, because surely she must have found something in all of that.]
[tic tic tic go claws on the varnished floorboards. Sypha lowers her book and squints against a sudden headache - or perhaps it's been there a while and she just hadn't noticed - surprised to find Alucard standing right in front of her.]
The Corridors only anchor temporarily. Although, 'temporarily' may be measured in geological terms here, rather than human comprehension. Any map we dig up has no guarantee of being accurate, and Saint Germaine's not around to explain how to construct a detection device. Oh, and attuning a Corridor takes a truly mindboggling amount of power. Enough that your father didn't consider them a potential option to save your mother, or, or find a version of her from a reality just a little to the left of our own.
[She pauses for breath to rake her hair from her face, but leaps right back into infodumping.] The unwilling sacrifice of all the souls in Lindenfeld would have done part of it, but I think the unwilling reinvestment of souls by the Forgemasters may have played another roll. It works both ways, you see? Feeding one into the other would have created a kind of...of perpetual motion machine!
[Theory stacked upon theory stacked upon theory. Sypha slumps back against the wall, hands in her hair.] There will be more Lindenfelds until they achieve their goal. Unless we stop them. We have to stop them, we have--
[Inspector Lupus, brilliant and fluffy as he is, cannot reply. So, alas, Inspector Lupus must take a moment away from the case. Enter Inspector Sad Vampire.
Who has clearly been listening, and whose eyes are on the research material spread across Sypha's work area. A pale hand rests on top of one of the maps, like that'll help him absorb the information. It won't, obviously, but the thought of it is rather nice.]
I'm not sure that the perpetual motion concept holds water. They may only be better attuned to locating these Corridors because of some natural ability or calling, and hence they can seek out the locations with greater precision. So what that means is we're served by seeing where large flocks of these things go. Your people and their information pathways might be the best chance of dealing with the matter.
[It's all bullshit, but Alucard likes to think it sounds plausible.]
To me the problem is getting there in a reasonable amount of time. Horses and humans can only move so many miles in a day.
[How can a change so monumental be so silent? The air shifts, displaces, but there's no snapping of bone or creaking of muscle. One minute, wolf, the next, Alucard leaning over the map. Sypha's chained so tightly to her thoughts, she doubletakes. Her neck pops.]
I...yes, that could account for the observed evidence. [She brushes her fingers over the splayed papers, back and forth in nervous arcs.] Track the creatures, or track the cultists, who the creatures use to collect the energy? The Night Creatures are easier to keep tabs on, but the cultists display specific behaviors and are rooted in place. Search for overlaps.
[Activating the Speaker network is an excellent idea, though Sypha knows from her brief reunion with the caravan that her people took heavy losses during Dracula's war. The flood of darkness rerouted their long established information channels; linking them back will be the work of decades. Still it's better than nothing.
But the response time...] When you say it's 'impossible' to repair the Castle, how literal are you being?
Overlaps. Or high concentrations of say, night creature activity that anyone might consider out of place.
[Alucard knows it's easier said than done. His own eyes scan over the papers, and the thought of high scatter points rings in his ears. Transportation, swift transportation is the real enemy. Defeat one group and it could take a month to get to the next one.
At the query about the castle though? Alucard stops.]
I'm not sure. From the outset, I can say it's a tall order that would demand a truly monumental amount of work though. To begin, we'd have to recast or make anew so many pieces since they were melted.
So much for that brilliant idea. [Sypha slumps over her knees, cheek smushed against her kneecap. Her arms hang at her sides, hands palm-up on the floor.] If it were just a question of the enchantments, it might be doable, but none of us are blacksmiths. And that's supposing the broken parts could be re-used.
[It's the timing that's the biggest issue. It could take months to get as far as Livonia, while the Infinite Corridors could just as easily pop up in the Orient. How can they outpace night creatures while simultaneously monitoring them?
A possible solution strikes like lightning, jerking Sypha from her state of collapse. She slams her hands down on the books and rocks forward with a manic, fevered expression.] The mirror! There are shards all over the study! If we could reactivate that enchantment--!
--But you can control fire. [Alucard looks aside at Sypha, considering that very simple face.] There's no reason you couldn't get those flames hot enough to successfully manipulate metal.
[He's about to say something else but--nope. Sypha's mind has seized upon something much more important, although it gives Alucard a moment's pause.]
But that would only get you to a location. What about the return trip?
[Sypha looks down at her palms, a thoughtful moue to her mouth. Metal, hm? She's sliced through it before, with wind and ice, but never attempted to mold it. Perhaps, with enough time...]
You're right. Someone would need to stay behind to operate the mirror, or we'd need to know the location of another, yes? [There are bound to be more magic mirrors in the world than Infinite Nexii, but she's never heard of a listing or a map or anything of the sort. Which leaves them with the operator option.] If...if you were truly intent on staying behind...
[Her voice wavers, breaks. She smacks her hands against the table once more, this time with a frustrated shake of her head.] I don't like that. I want--I'd rather you were with us. I think so much clearer when you poke holes in my theories. If you'd been in Lindenfeld, I'm sure I...we would have seen the truth of the plot in time.
We both know it can't be Trevor. [Their Belmont is a great many things, but a magician has never been one of them. Alucard is skilled enough, even if he pales beside Sypha.] By default, it is always me.
[That's how it'll always be, won't it? Trevor and Alucard can't be trusted together. Trevor can't be left alone lest he turn terribly self destructive. Alucard can, until recently at least, be trusted to function like a relatively normal human being.
There's a miserable noise that leaves him, and it happens just as Sypha smacks her hands on the table.]
[Yes, that configuration does make the most sense, creates the best odds of success. But Alucard drips resigned misery, so Sypha grinds her teeth and thinks to hell with the odds anyway.]
It can absolutely be me, if you'll help me figure out how to reconstruct the enchantment. [The ebb and flow of power comes naturally to Sypha, it's true, but she lacks Alucard's academic grasp of theory. Without his help, it could take her weeks or even months to acquire the knowledge necessary to rebuild a sending mirror. There's a reason they're relatively rare, after all. After her experience with the limited version in the Belmont trove, she dares say she could operate even a much larger and complex one without a hitch.
And maybe, in the meantime, try to repair some of the other magical mechanisms within the Castle...] That is, if it's what you want?
[Sypha's fine with theory, once she has the access to the information. He can pull those books and sit down to walk her through whatever is needed. But he doesn't know if this is a good idea.
He and Trevor work better with her there. It's a fact of life at this point, one that really hasn't been disproved by time. Worse, the thought of going out into the world makes the dhampir sick. He can't trust himself not to overreact right now, it's just--
Honesty. Sypha respects that.]
I don't know what I want right now, Sypha. Or what is safe.
You're always safe with us. [She slides her hands across the worksurface until her fingertips bump his elbow. Careful, careful.] But I understand if you feel safer here, right now.
[It feels like a retreat, but if Lindenfeld taught her anything, it's that few situations can be made better all at once. Even if she'd caught on to the runes and the night creatures' plan sooner, even if the sacrifice had been averted, she still would have walked away ignorant to the Judge's true nature. Only by slowing down and stepping back can she hope to understand the scope of the problem.]
If you'd rather operate the mirror, that's good, too. What matters is we're a team again.
[Safer here. Yes, that's right, isn't it? So long as no one is allowed into the building, he's safe.
Alucard barely notices the fingertips against his elbow. He doesn't startle, which is doubtlessly a good thing. One never gets far by acting like a skittish horse.]
I'd have to think about it, if there's any time to allow for it.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
But then Sypha approaches. Hell, just gets comfy, and the wolf can only just snort in quiet acknowledgement that she's there and has decided that this is where she's going to do her research. None of Alucard is surprised, admittedly, but it does take a little out of his plan to be fluffy and alone.
He lifts his head from being a curled up tight little fluff ball and rearranges himself. Now, his head rests on his paws and gold eyes look up at her.
There's a nod. Yes, he did. And there are bookmarks sticking out of the journals.]
no subject
But where it's easy to respect humanoid-Alucard's icy demeanor now and then, it's much harder not to smile down at the wolf with its tail flipped over its nose. Impossible not to giggle when it nods, even though she's well acquainted with the intelligence behind those eyes.]
Excellent work, Inspector Lupus.
[She settles in to read, flipping from marked section to marked section with avid curiosity. Oh. This one's in Enochian, which immediately sets her pulse racing - the older a source, the more likely to be a root version which others mirror.
The Corridors, it posits, connect not just time, but also space. And yes, possibilities, a near infinite variety of them. The power needed to bring the Corridor to bear on a single version of Vlad Tepes found at the end of this particular branch of probability was...more than she can get her head around, bigger even than the massacre at Lindenfeld. That Night Creature must have had an earlier reservoir of power, or else the Corridor itself was dormant and sluggish in some sense. Sypha frowns and hunches forward, so intent on the words her nose nearly brushes the pages.]
no subject
Well, that at least gets the wolf to pick up his head and offer the Speaker a disapproving glare at the new nickname. Not a fan, Sypha. Not. A. Fan.
But the moment passes. Alucard settles back down into his tight little fluff ball, the only thing moving being his eyes. He can track which books Sypha has gone through with ease, and it seems like he's found a few good ones if her nose on the page itself is any indication.
He can be proud enough with that. But the day progresses, and Alucard eventually needs to stretch. The great lumbering wolf uncurls itself and lets out a looooooooooong whine as muscles adjust to a new position.
More than that though, one stretched the wolf walks right over to Sypha. Tilts it's head, because surely she must have found something in all of that.]
no subject
The Corridors only anchor temporarily. Although, 'temporarily' may be measured in geological terms here, rather than human comprehension. Any map we dig up has no guarantee of being accurate, and Saint Germaine's not around to explain how to construct a detection device. Oh, and attuning a Corridor takes a truly mindboggling amount of power. Enough that your father didn't consider them a potential option to save your mother, or, or find a version of her from a reality just a little to the left of our own.
[She pauses for breath to rake her hair from her face, but leaps right back into infodumping.] The unwilling sacrifice of all the souls in Lindenfeld would have done part of it, but I think the unwilling reinvestment of souls by the Forgemasters may have played another roll. It works both ways, you see? Feeding one into the other would have created a kind of...of perpetual motion machine!
[Theory stacked upon theory stacked upon theory. Sypha slumps back against the wall, hands in her hair.] There will be more Lindenfelds until they achieve their goal. Unless we stop them. We have to stop them, we have--
no subject
Who has clearly been listening, and whose eyes are on the research material spread across Sypha's work area. A pale hand rests on top of one of the maps, like that'll help him absorb the information. It won't, obviously, but the thought of it is rather nice.]
I'm not sure that the perpetual motion concept holds water. They may only be better attuned to locating these Corridors because of some natural ability or calling, and hence they can seek out the locations with greater precision. So what that means is we're served by seeing where large flocks of these things go. Your people and their information pathways might be the best chance of dealing with the matter.
[It's all bullshit, but Alucard likes to think it sounds plausible.]
To me the problem is getting there in a reasonable amount of time. Horses and humans can only move so many miles in a day.
no subject
I...yes, that could account for the observed evidence. [She brushes her fingers over the splayed papers, back and forth in nervous arcs.] Track the creatures, or track the cultists, who the creatures use to collect the energy? The Night Creatures are easier to keep tabs on, but the cultists display specific behaviors and are rooted in place. Search for overlaps.
[Activating the Speaker network is an excellent idea, though Sypha knows from her brief reunion with the caravan that her people took heavy losses during Dracula's war. The flood of darkness rerouted their long established information channels; linking them back will be the work of decades. Still it's better than nothing.
But the response time...] When you say it's 'impossible' to repair the Castle, how literal are you being?
no subject
[Alucard knows it's easier said than done. His own eyes scan over the papers, and the thought of high scatter points rings in his ears. Transportation, swift transportation is the real enemy. Defeat one group and it could take a month to get to the next one.
At the query about the castle though? Alucard stops.]
I'm not sure. From the outset, I can say it's a tall order that would demand a truly monumental amount of work though. To begin, we'd have to recast or make anew so many pieces since they were melted.
no subject
[It's the timing that's the biggest issue. It could take months to get as far as Livonia, while the Infinite Corridors could just as easily pop up in the Orient. How can they outpace night creatures while simultaneously monitoring them?
A possible solution strikes like lightning, jerking Sypha from her state of collapse. She slams her hands down on the books and rocks forward with a manic, fevered expression.] The mirror! There are shards all over the study! If we could reactivate that enchantment--!
no subject
[He's about to say something else but--nope. Sypha's mind has seized upon something much more important, although it gives Alucard a moment's pause.]
But that would only get you to a location. What about the return trip?
no subject
You're right. Someone would need to stay behind to operate the mirror, or we'd need to know the location of another, yes? [There are bound to be more magic mirrors in the world than Infinite Nexii, but she's never heard of a listing or a map or anything of the sort. Which leaves them with the operator option.] If...if you were truly intent on staying behind...
[Her voice wavers, breaks. She smacks her hands against the table once more, this time with a frustrated shake of her head.] I don't like that. I want--I'd rather you were with us. I think so much clearer when you poke holes in my theories. If you'd been in Lindenfeld, I'm sure I...we would have seen the truth of the plot in time.
no subject
[That's how it'll always be, won't it? Trevor and Alucard can't be trusted together. Trevor can't be left alone lest he turn terribly self destructive. Alucard can, until recently at least, be trusted to function like a relatively normal human being.
There's a miserable noise that leaves him, and it happens just as Sypha smacks her hands on the table.]
When have any of us ever gotten what we wanted?
no subject
It can absolutely be me, if you'll help me figure out how to reconstruct the enchantment. [The ebb and flow of power comes naturally to Sypha, it's true, but she lacks Alucard's academic grasp of theory. Without his help, it could take her weeks or even months to acquire the knowledge necessary to rebuild a sending mirror. There's a reason they're relatively rare, after all. After her experience with the limited version in the Belmont trove, she dares say she could operate even a much larger and complex one without a hitch.
And maybe, in the meantime, try to repair some of the other magical mechanisms within the Castle...] That is, if it's what you want?
no subject
[Sypha's fine with theory, once she has the access to the information. He can pull those books and sit down to walk her through whatever is needed. But he doesn't know if this is a good idea.
He and Trevor work better with her there. It's a fact of life at this point, one that really hasn't been disproved by time. Worse, the thought of going out into the world makes the dhampir sick. He can't trust himself not to overreact right now, it's just--
Honesty. Sypha respects that.]
I don't know what I want right now, Sypha. Or what is safe.
no subject
[It feels like a retreat, but if Lindenfeld taught her anything, it's that few situations can be made better all at once. Even if she'd caught on to the runes and the night creatures' plan sooner, even if the sacrifice had been averted, she still would have walked away ignorant to the Judge's true nature. Only by slowing down and stepping back can she hope to understand the scope of the problem.]
If you'd rather operate the mirror, that's good, too. What matters is we're a team again.
no subject
Alucard barely notices the fingertips against his elbow. He doesn't startle, which is doubtlessly a good thing. One never gets far by acting like a skittish horse.]
I'd have to think about it, if there's any time to allow for it.