cryptsleeper | With matercula

With matercula

Continued from here!

[The way back to the castle brought no surprises. No mobs. Nothing. There was only the road and there was only silence. For most of, Alucard slept, stirring only when there was a change in terrain or something felt off. His sleep wasn't deep. It was just enough to take the reins from his mother if he absolutely had to.

That never came to pass, and in the foothills of the Carpathians, familiar spires rose above the treeline. For any other travelers, the word to describe the spires would be loom. Alucard considered them welcoming. They were home, the horrors far, far behind them and any church hounds were equally distant.

Alucard sleeps for a solid week, having not bothered to eat before collapsing on his bed and only taking a cursory five minutes to try and remove all the blood from his person. (The tattered remains of his shirt and trousers were exchanged for sleep clothes, at least.) It's longer than he expected, the expanse of energy hadn't felt that intense at the time. But it was, and his body decided that those same abilities that had propelled Alucard ever forward needed that much time to reset.

When he wakes, there's an uncertainty that everything before wasn't a dream. It's only when he walks over to the mirror to look at himself, enough blood still there (his hair's a matted mess, it's not a good look) to remind him: yes. Everything transpired as you remember it.

The next part is routine. Cleaning all the blood off. Finding clean clothes. Changing the sheets on his bed not because of the few spots of dried blood, but because the stink of it is alarming at best. It helps keep his mind away from the next wave of emotion that he knows has to hit sooner or later. The emotional one, the one that's going to take more time to get through. Guilt, grief, anger, relief, all of it, a churning mess that will interact with two others and make those same feelings flare like wildfires. He ought to eat first.

But he doesn't. Alucard walks the halls of the castle instead. His parents should know he's awake.]

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[It's unsurprising, perhaps, that Lisa is all but delighted at the prospect of seeing Alucard in particular exposed to life in a city. That's not to say that she doesn't find it daunting herself, to step out of the doors and find that veritable sea of people waiting for her instead of the more sparse populations in the towns of Wallachia, but the exposure to the culture is in some ways the best of both worlds: the benefits of traveling to see the wonders humanity has to offer, but without the physical act of traveling, so that they can stay together.

Still, there are little things to get used to. Waking up to find her son a wolf instead of a young man, for example. Hearing Vlad slip out at night and hoping they won't wake up to rumors of missing citizens come the morning. More often than not, she awakes to find a still-warm loaf of bread waiting on the table instead, which goes a long way toward softening her apprehensions down into relieved fondness.

But this afternoon, they're working at getting the interior of her future clinic in order, and while she's mostly focusing on the big-picture concerns like the arrangement of tables and treating implements, Alucard is focusing more on the aesthetics and optics. They make a good team that way, really, and she smiles when she hears him come in.]

Wonderful. How many shelves is that filled, now?

It should take up the last empty shelf on the book case and leave several additional texts to scatter around as required.

[The wooden crate that they're in is set down on the ground beside the bookcase in question, and Alucard sinks down with it. The actual binding is simple, as again, none of this can match watch the castle has. Plain brown leather. Simple marks. So much Latin and nothing else, because the heavens forefend anything not written in Latin.

There's a practiced care in putting each book back though. Alucard knows better than to damage books, even ones meant to just serve as backgrounds to what is actually a pretty long con, if he thinks about it. Set up as a simple doctor with only the contemporary knowledge, end up providing the best possible care anyone can have because of being married to a vampire who has a massive library.]

What else is left?

To wash your face, perhaps.

[She laughs softly as she looks at him, rubbing lightly at her own face in indication of the places where he's wound up with ink smudged on his. It's actually a rather nice look for him, owing mostly to his ethereal brand of beauty; her son has the sort of features that can carry some imperfections and not just still look good, but to actually make the imperfections seem attractive just by virtue of being a part of his face.

Certainly it won't be long before the eligible daughters of the town start turning out at her door, she muses with a hint of suppressed mirth. A whole flock of them, with all manner of made-up ailments, designed not to seek medical treatment but rather just a glimpse of the young man always hanging about the clinic.]

And I've yet to find a good place to hide the phlebotomy apparatus. It likely needs to be hidden, doesn't it? Or do you think it could sit out without arousing too much suspicion? I'm of two minds about it, at present.

I know. The press got stuck and they needed an extra pair of hands.

[Alucard looks embarrassed enough at the thought of the mess. To know his mother's thoughts about anyone's interest in him, that would just be sheer mortification. There's a version of all of this, the paths gone elsewhere, where the question of romance is not a thing of teenager-esque embarrassment, but she is also not there to witness it. (~~And one of them is rude besides.~~)

His mother's question comes with a considered silence, punctuated by the books on the shelf trying to fall over every so often.]

Hide it for now. When there's more of an established opinion, you can bring it out and claim it a new device you've just bought, and give it a made up backstory. How often do you use it anyway?

[Lisa Ţepeş is alive and well and enjoying every last bit of being a mother, including but not limited to thriving on her child's awkward suffering. What could possibly be a better sampling of the human experience than having to deal with parrying the affections of amorous young women who can't take a hint.]

Not very often. At least, not when it comes to treating patients. Occasionally it finds...other uses.

[Bloodletting equipment in a family of vampires. Hmmm.]

Another for the pile heading back upstairs, then. Do you suppose I ought to have a shelf of jars with strange powders and leafy weeds inside them, just for the sake of appearances?

[There is none, and it is made all the better for Alucard's knowledge of knowing what this is, trying not to give into it, and failing every time.]

...Ah, that explains a few things.

[Really how didn't he put two and two together?]

As for the jars, perhaps. The herbals that have been published recently haven't been incorrect about certain uses, so the material described within would at least have an air of practicality, even if most of it will be for appearance's sake.

And how many have they gotten completely wrong, I wonder? Recommending hemlock as a cure for a sore neck, or something equally absurd. That'll cure the soreness, all right, but by spoiling everything else.

[She picks up the aforementioned phlebotomy equipment, making certain not to tangle the tubes as she arranges it into a reasonably neat pile for carrying and brings it over to what must be her designated "not down here" space.]

Like curing a toothache by beating someone upside the head with a stick.

Less than usual, not enough to meet your exacting standards.

[Alucard picks his head up from shelving the books, looking at his mother with both fondness and some exasperation.]

It's not going to be instant understanding, you know that.

Yes, of course, my standards of not feeding people grave soil and foot shavings as a universal remedy.

[She winds up smiling a little ruefully, though, shoulders dropping as she absorbs that look of exasperation with a little good-natured sheepishness in response.]

I forget sometimes, I suppose. I don't feel very exceptional or even out of the ordinary, but I've had a lot of benefits that even most doctors don't.

Apparently according to some gossip, feet are a thing so perhaps neither of us can judge that fact.

[Medieval Prague is kinky, apparently. Or the university students are getting very, very creative in slandering professors. Either way, Alucard has information he never wanted.]

We both have. But they're catching up, just a little.

[Always they. Never we.]

Is that why you let yourself be caught up in doing so many favors and errands around town, hmm? You've been listening to the local gossip?

[She's clearly teasing. She's also heading over to watch him shelve books for a little while, not because she's done with her own work or because he needs the help, but just for the sake of being a little nearer to him.]

And certainly listening to some interesting discussions, to have learnt so much about feet and people's opinions on them.

It isn't on purpose, I can assure you. On these topics, I would be content in ignorance.

[So much ignorance about the foot thing.

There's a few books left in the crate, and Alucard grabs the next one. It doesn't go on the shelf though, this one he offers to his mother.]

This wasn't in the order. It caught my eye as I walked in.

[The binding isn't flashy either, and within is no medical glory. Instead it speaks of only the skies, of stars, and what patterns live in them. None of it is new information. What is new, why it caught her son's eye in the first place are the woodcuts. They're rendered lovingly, but more than that is the deft hand of a colorist who has taken great care to give a sense of depth to each image.]

Oh?

[Curious, she takes the book from him, nestling it carefully in the crook of one arm as she opens the cover with the other, and as soon as she does, she understands instantly why her son was drawn to this one. The stars, the night sky — they'd always given these things to him, even from the time when he was only an infant, painting the decorations in his room with constellations and rewarding him with glimpses through his father's telescope after moments of triumph and success.

It's a beautiful book. The illustrations are delicate and finely crafted, with that fragile and minimalist sort of look that art of its nature always seems to carry. And page by page, she traces the very tips of her fingers over the images, wondering at their delicate beauty.]

...Oh. It's beautiful...

[No wonder it caught your eye, is the implication between the lines.]

[Alucard can't help but stay where he is, looking up at his mother goig through all the pages of the book. Astronomy was as much a part of growing up as all the other sciences, but the art of depicting the sky, that's something that seems to always be a skill, the knowledge of how it all works be damned.

He remembers the books at home. The illuminated manuscripts (he always wondered how his father acquired them from monasteries), the rarer things on papyrus. This is just a continuation.]

You could keep it open on one of the spare tables. It might spark some interest.

Or make a fine litmus test for deciding which of my patients we like and which ones we like?

[She turns the page again, lips parting slightly in a silent, pleased intake of breath at the next page.]

Look at this one — an aurora. It looks like the glow of a fire below the horizon.

It can serve two purposes.

[The description of the next page is enough to actually prompt Alucard to his feet. It was something read about once or twice, but there had never been any particular images so far as he could remember. Within a moment he is standing besides his mother eyes looking down at the page.

It is remarkable. And he can't help but grin.]

Remarkable. I can't believe the patron that originally requested it decided to leave this behind.

Their loss was your gain, it seems.

[It makes it easy to share the pages, the fact that he's taller than her. She fits in easily just a little bit in front of him, so that he can look over her shoulder without difficulty while they both examine the pages.]

We came close to naming you Sirius, you know. It didn't stick in the end, but it was a favorite for a while.

Yours, actually.

[It's an important clarification. It's also nothing compared to all the books that Alucard got to grow up with, but it's a tiny little start.]

I...hm. [He stands there for a moment, considering the weight of this name versus his own, then shakes his head.] The flow of it doesn't work at all. Whose suggestion was that?

Ours.

[It's a little bit like his earlier they — keeping the important components together. We, us, our. Togetherness. Family. It's also wholly unconscious, and because of it, it takes her a moment before it occurs to her why he'd made that particular clarification in the first place.

The fire took so much of what was hers, didn't it. And the things she has now, many of them are shared — which isn't a bad thing by any means. But this...this is hers, he says, and means for her, just her, without needing to be shared. Just hers, to make her happy.

She pretends like she's shifting to nudge him playfully, but lingers and turns it into an affectionate lean.]

Oh, but the name — that was one of your father's attempts. I recall it was when we were painting your room, and he started to look more and more lost in thought, and was painting less and less. I could tell he was utterly preoccupied with something, so I let him ponder it until he finally offered it up.

[She shrugs a little.]

I only ever heard him admit to it once, but he said under his breath that it would be fitting for you to be the brightest of stars. The name itself didn't stick, of course, but the sentiment lingered.

[He's about to correct, insist yours, but Alucard doesn't have to. His mother figures it out, and to not have to repeat the word again is a mercy. All of the events that lead them here still loom, and it's why the castle has seen less of the three of them since they've moved. There's still the underlying terror that stepping away for even a moment will invite fate to pick up where it let off.

The nudge is met with a gentle hand on his mother's shoulder, all the warmth of the gesture contrasted against Alucard's colder temperature.]

That is...very him.

[It's also very embarrassing, because when his parents want they can really be the schmoopiest people. And because they're still like this, Alucard smiles through the total embarrassment.]

The way he came about it and the sentiment.

It was easier for him, I think, when you were young. He was more at a loss of what to do with you in other ways back then, but it was simpler for him to make you happy. All it took was to pick you up or hand you a toy, and you would smile at him. He liked to make you smile; you might have been too young to remember that, but I do.

[And perhaps work on the clinic is going to stall out for the time being, thanks to this reminiscing, but there will be plenty of time to get the downstairs in order. Right now, the reminiscing adds warmth to the way she's still idly leafing through the pages of the book, glancing over the woodcut images as though taking stock of which pages she wants to peruse more thoroughly later.]

I know it's harder for him now. The sentiment is still there, but he can't simply win you over with a toy or a pat on the head anymore.

Adults are much more complicated.

[He's much more complicated, and adrift in life in the way all 20 somethings are. Before the fire, before everything, Alucard was unsure of what he might do. Travel as his father did, perhaps. But beyond that? A professional life, or something quieter? He was never quite sure.]

And I think that he forgets that for all the parts of himself reflected in me, they've been shaped by very difference forces.

[That had been one of the quieter takeaways from the argument that was not. The way they saw the world, it was both impacted by Lisa. Alucard had come by it naturally, his father had not.]

Yes. He sees me in you, but you aren't me. And he sees himself in you, but you aren't him. But I think, more often than not, he's glad when you take after me more than you do him.

[Which is not always apparent, perhaps, on the surface. But Vlad is, after all, a difficult man to crack, and his true intentions are often challenging to read even among the people who know him best.]

He'll never say as much, of course. And when he shows his affection, he always wants to show it through protectiveness. But you don't need his protection anymore, not the way you used to. So he harbors his feelings without knowing a different way to show them.

I compared it to light refracting to a prism once. I think it still holds, in many ways.

[The gladness of taking after his mother more often is something Alucard doesn't quite believe. The disapproval after everything is not a good way of judging it, of course, but it sticks hardest.

That protective trait, using it to show affection, that's been so very inherited. Having a large wolf at the front door is proof enough.]

...You know he does still pat me on the head if I'm by the door in the mornings.

Which you are, often.

[Seeing Alucard take on his different forms is always a little — well, it's taken some getting used to, and she's still getting used to it. Most of his abilities she takes fairly well in stride, but there's always something a little jarring about seeing a bat or a wolf and knowing that it's simply her son in an adopted form.]

I always feel a little bad to find you've been sleeping on the floor. But I know why you do it.

[And a small part of her, one that she's always a little ashamed of, feels reassured for it.]

With matercula

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that was the cutest fucking tag i can't deal

awkward dad vlad is trying his best

he's doing great we're proud of him

at this precise moment in the thread he is probably haggling with a baba over the price of carrots

vlad is a very skilled haggler and it's a problem for the economy

somehow they ended up paying him for taking the carrots and everyone is a little confused