Alucard \\ Adrian F. Ţepeş (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cryptsleeper) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
abraxaslogs2022-02-27 06:04 pm
cryptsleeper) wrote in abraxaslogs2022-02-27 06:04 pm
Entry tags:
[closed] | One evening in the spring
Who: Alucard and Gideon
When: End of the month following the summit
What: Cheesecake and bs'ing
Where: A small public speaking hall, Cadens
Warnings: None!
Made cheesecake from the goat cheese I got at the summit. Meet me here if you want any.
[There's directions that follow, and the lead to a small public speaking hall in a part of Cadens that is fairly central, all things considered. There are certainly more buildings here than the places Alucard usually lurks besides his little graveyard home.
The building looks just about as out of place. Whereas so much of Cadens is new, new, new, gleaming and bright or else not so clean but clearly recently built. This place isn't quite the same. There's too many elements of Thorne in the façade. Even the script that reads SPEAKING HALL is too old fashioned.
Inside is no different. The ceiling is vaulted, with a second floor gallery along with a first floor and a dais where a podium stands. There's stained glass that has clearly been replaced - colored windows with plain ones, designs difficult to make sense of now. Still, light comes in, and at the front besides the dais are stacks of books along with a few large sheets of paper. Alucard's standing looking down at one, arms over his chest as he reviews what's there.
When the door opens, he looks up and offers a bright:] Ah, hello.
[The sound travels. He might as well be next to the door with that level of clarity.]
When: End of the month following the summit
What: Cheesecake and bs'ing
Where: A small public speaking hall, Cadens
Warnings: None!
Made cheesecake from the goat cheese I got at the summit. Meet me here if you want any.
[There's directions that follow, and the lead to a small public speaking hall in a part of Cadens that is fairly central, all things considered. There are certainly more buildings here than the places Alucard usually lurks besides his little graveyard home.
The building looks just about as out of place. Whereas so much of Cadens is new, new, new, gleaming and bright or else not so clean but clearly recently built. This place isn't quite the same. There's too many elements of Thorne in the façade. Even the script that reads SPEAKING HALL is too old fashioned.
Inside is no different. The ceiling is vaulted, with a second floor gallery along with a first floor and a dais where a podium stands. There's stained glass that has clearly been replaced - colored windows with plain ones, designs difficult to make sense of now. Still, light comes in, and at the front besides the dais are stacks of books along with a few large sheets of paper. Alucard's standing looking down at one, arms over his chest as he reviews what's there.
When the door opens, he looks up and offers a bright:] Ah, hello.
[The sound travels. He might as well be next to the door with that level of clarity.]
definitely a bad time :(
You can blame her abysmal upbringing for that.
Nonetheless, she's waving his concern away with a casual roll of a shoulder, the shake of her head. The choice had been hers. She'd do it again and again, in a hot heartbeat, if meant Harrow got to live.]
What the fuck is about right. Harrow and ol' Sex Pal-- [That's Palamedes Sextus, Master Warden of the Library, Heir to the Sixth House to anyone less purile] --worked it out, I think, near the end. But we were all pretty fucked the moment we arrived on that mausoleum of a planet because of the ancient asswipe who sneaked in with us, so it didn't matter that neither of them would have gone through with it. And you know, I think they actually could have cracked it. How to complete the Lyctoral process without anyone having to die, perfected the megatheorum whatsit, or whatever. There's no way in Hell Palamedes would ever have cannibalised Cam, and Harrow...alright, so we were at each other's throats for our entire lives, but she absolutely did not want me dead. We were backed into a really tight spot though, and wouldn't it be better if some of us made it out of there alive, rather than none of us?
[It's the way she'd seen it, anyway. Someone needed to be left standing to beat that skanky old hag's ass. It takes a Lyctor to beat a Lyctor. She shrugs again, and takes another swig of wine.]
Sorry, I'm just spewing words at you now. It probably doesn't make a lot of sense. But it's better to think about the here and now anyway, right? Like, what is this place, and why did you invite me here specifically?
[It isn’t a subtle attempt to change the subject, but perhaps she just wants to see his expression brighten again.]
he's pretty sure he's shank a bitch for gideon at this point
one of twobest friend at this point in his life, he cares So Much?But at least he gets a laugh at the continuing theme of Gideon giving absolutely terrible nicknames to everyone (he's gotten off so light in that department.) The whole thing may be convoluted, but he can't really comment or question that part of things. He knows how it goes, he has his own set of complex, bullshit circumstances that are absolutely terrible. They're just terrible in a way that doesn't involve denying someone their entire humanity and being absorbed by someone else.
he's gonna have one hell of a time later with the shitty plan to ressurect his dad and his mom and force them into one sewn together body.It boils down to a terrible calculus, doesn't it? One that makes Alucard sigh more out of empathy for being forced into such a corner rather than at the decisions made and all of that.]
I can follow the arc of it, although what I can't quite put my finger on is why any of this evolved to a point of nessecity in the first place. But I'm hardly one to talk, especially if I'm this sober. [There's the finishing of his glass, but that's really for effect.]
Second one first: so you know where to find me if I'm not at the graveyard. As for the first, it's public hall, and a rare architectural survival from the early days of the city. There's still flourishes of Thorne's influence here, both with the magic - as you've already experienced - and the style of construction. It needs some work, and I need a project.
[Because if he keeps his mind and hands busy at all times then he can avoid falling into the worst parts of depression.]
she'd be so touched ;;
[He'd asked it of them after all, knowing what it meant. Knowing what they'd have to do. She's not entirely sure he's deserving of the Kindly Prince moniker after all, and if one really stops to think about it...is a God who deals so explicitly in necromancy really a great guy? But this are tricky, convoluted thoughts, thoughts that are only now occurring her after the happenings at Canaan House and the revelation that other planets in other systems aren't quite so steeped in a culture of death and bones.
She drains the rest of her glass in tandem with him, before shovelling another hefty forkful of cake into her mouth. These are heavy matters, but cake makes everything better. On to more current, hopefully cheerier, things--]
Huh. Kiiinda ties in with what you said about hidden mysticism, in a way. Like, what made the Free Cities branch off in such a divergent direction if it used to be big on magic, too? I hadn't really thought about it much before.
[She holds her wine glass out hopefully, already craving more.]
And this place is definitely a more cheerful hangout than the cemetery. Are you gonna use it for something when you're done? Other than hanging out and drinking wine with me, which to be fair is a top reason for doing it.
Look he's bad at friends and has learned not to take them for granted
[Prophechies are a mixed matter, but God and/or the devil? Easier to accept that things are just That Bad and then to deal with all attendent feelings later. Alucard's....well, mostly processed the family part of everything going badly. Or at least that's the lie he likes to tell himself.]
I think that one isn't too big a mystery. The place started out under Thorne's control, and so magic was in place. Making one's own identity can mean rebelling against foundations - in this case magic - and sometimes that rebellion can become insisting on being the opposite just out of spite. Or at least that is the theory I've been working with and seems to make sense. [Alucard pauses, generously refilling the glass before continuing.] It's a shame too. My father's house had technology on par with what's here, but he was still an immensely skilled mage as well. Hard to raise entire armies from Hell if you aren't.
[He shrugs, refilling his glass after Gideon's.] Not for me to decide. I was just asked by a small group of citizens to do the restoration work. Jaskier seems to think it'd be a good concert hall, and I can't disagree with him.
And he's one of the first friends she's ever made!
But she's here now, eating cake and drinking wine with someone who evidently wants to spend time with her, so it's easy enough to push the horrors of Canaan House into the background of her thoughts. It's the way of things maybe, when one is so accustomed to the otherwise objectively horrible-- you make room for it, you learn to accommodate it within yourself.
So she ditches the dramatics and focuses on the hear and now-- him and her, the cool press of the glass in her hand, the slowly dimming light outside that falls over them in soft shafts through the large and ornate windows. The conversation.]
Jaskier, the bard guy? He promised me my own theme song.
[She says, glancing about the partially derelict hall.]
This seems like as good a place as any to sing all about my incredible exploits and the sheer magnitude of my biceps.
[She flashes him a grin.]
And you're probably right. Having been brought up by a bunch of shitty old nuns and hating every moment of it, I'd say I'm about as far away from pious as it's possible to get. I try my best anyway. And the tech here is...weird. Like most of it is light years behind the tech we have back home, but it also feels more widespread? In Cadens, anyway. Not everyone has access to space shuttles and stuff, and Drearburh was always on the verge of running out of the things we needed. We didn't have access to stuff like baby vats and the like, which made things trickier...but then, we were a weird reclusive colony of shadow cultists living on the fringe of the Dominicus system--
[She shakes her head-- an irrelevant tangent.]
But yeah, I guess what I'm saying is, why not both? Why one over the other?
i genuinely love that it's just he befriends the brash, gideon is a beacon to the goth kids
[He's only met the creature once, but it is...well, very unique to anything Alucard's seen so far.] Well, after a concert I imagine you might get a few people interested in your biceps.
[His grin is thinner but no less there. Jaskier would probably be an excellent wingman too, if he was to consider it any further.]
Never had to worry about pious. When a good portion of your countrymen think your father is the devil incarnate - and in a way they're not wrong - things are simpler. They end worse, but you know where you stand. [Dracula had always earned his reputation, in Alucard's view. It was impossible for him not to, having pulled nonsense like murdering every man in a village that had offended him, but leaving the women and children be while the whole place burned.]
Equity is the right word, I think. No shortages, things are considered standard. Only my father's people have this kind of stuff back ho- did you just say baby vats??
[HE WAS ABOUT TO MAKE A POINT, BUT.]
it's gotta be all the skulls
But soon he's asking his startled question, and there's no more time for daydreaming. Sad times.]
Yeah...is that weird? Hardly anyone does it the vintage way anymore. And honestly, why the fuck would you want to? Man, I've heard some horror stories about biological childbirth, no fucking thank you. Most places just grow 'em in an incubator, you know? Safer and waaay less gory. Not Drearburh though. We don't have access to that kinda tech.
that checks out
and look if he was the right gender he would be damn willing to help get things started if he wouldn't be dealing with a slight crush, probablyWherever her head is at though, it seems a good time.A shame to anchor it. But one doesn't get to throw out the words baby vat and not explain.]
While I can confirm that childbirth is a risky proposition at best, based on my own peoples' current time and place, I'm. I'm fascinated by the science but also now have questions about what happens if a pregnancy happens by accident? And...am realizing I am perhaps much happier in ignorance, since you mentioned extremely ancient nuns.
Re: that checks out
She would be deeply flattered, regardless, but he mentions ancient nuns and it has her making a revolted face, accompanied by exaggerated gagging noises.]Ugh. Ewww. I did not need that idea put into my head. Totally gross and bad.
[She sticks out her tongue and mimes vomiting at the mere suggestion of it.]
But luckily I don't have an answer for that. Harrow was the last kid born in the Ninth House, and that was eighteen years ago.
[But she's edging too close to a dark, sick truth that isn't entirely hers to tell, even if she is caught up in it. Time to change track--]
That's enough about babies, though. I imagine they're really fucking boring. If you wanted to know more about the science, I expect Harrow would know. She's the brains of this two woman show. I'm the beauty, which goes without saying.
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it'd be a tale of two great tiddies]Unfortunately, that is what it is. And that's before you're a mystery hybrid baby whose parents don't know if you can even go into sunlight.
[It was not a fun time with baby Adrian, even if he was objectively cute as shit.]
Hmmmm, something says that I haven't quite met the required levels of talking with her to gain that information. Which is fair. [He shrugs, as Alucard is the exact same way with his trauma.] And obviously. Here I thought my two former associates and myself were an odd pairing - and we had the excuse of prophecy.
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and if she was from a later canon point they'd have so much to talk about, but really, the less babies the better and so she just makes a rude sound, rolls her eyes expansively in response to the Harrow comment.]The Locked Tomb is all about dark, shady and secretive. I've known the Midnight Haggette for our entire fucking lives and there's shit I'm only just learning about. So yeah, on second thoughts, maybe don't bother.
[And really, there are more interesting things they could be discussing. Like swords. Swords are good.]
But you should see us when shit hits the fan. We fight together like a fucking dream.
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[
well shitright fine no more baby talk. But look how cute he was]That is a vampire name if I ever heard one, and a terrible vampire name at that. Haggette? Does she at leave have a swamp to live in, or is your home entirely just bone, no swamps for atmosphere?
[He'll leave it be, but he has to at least get one dig in about names here. Thankfully, sword time is now you goblin.]Oh, well, that sounds like it is time to compare apples. Tell me about what you two do. I bet you a second bottle of wine I can top it.
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I mean, it's not one of my best, but even I have off days, you know? No swamp. Just bones, and creepy-ass catacombs, and monastic cells, and a shitty old library full of boring old books and dust that I'm technically banned from entering, but I sneaked in one time anyway only to find it wasn't a place I had any interest in frequenting, so there.
[What can you really learn from books that you can't learn from, you know, actually doing shit with your body anyway? Although she supposes she has to admit her stash of dirty mags have been very enlightening, on occasion.]
Yes to more wine, though. And it's kinda hard to tell it, it's more something you've gotta see. Obviously I'm a hot badass with a sword, and Harrow is the best damned necro the Ninth House has ever produced. She's all about scale and accuracy and amount of constructs, you know? Like, she can raise a whole army just from chips of bone. But together it's like...I dunno. I guess because we fought with and around each other our entire lives. Like I know what she's gonna try before she tries it, I know where her openings are gonna be, where to move without her having to say jack shit. I'd have laughed in your face if you'd said it to me even a year before now, but it's like we were meant to be necro and cav all along.
[There's an odd feeling in her chest when she says it, an unaccustomed tightness, something bright and hot and sharp. Because perhaps there was a time when she had genuinely hated Harrow, but even their rivalry had meant gaining her undivided attention. She clears her throat, shuffles one foot against the floorboards.]
So yeah. No turning into bats or anything. We just...fit together, I guess.
[And to cover for any embarrassment she feels in talking so honestly about this shit, she waggles her eyebrows lasciviously and makes jerk-off gestures with the hand not holding her glass.]
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[Look you can learn a lot from books! Ask Alucard, he's a sad nerd who uses them all the time.
More wine first though. The refill comes within seconds, and y'know, he's going to just top off his own glass while he's at it. Sip casually while listening, and--]
I get it. [Except for the jerk off gestures, that gets an eye roll.] Sometimes it all just fits together, and you just don't question it. You just know it's something you can rely on, even if on paper it shouldn't work.
[Forgive him while he chugs half the glass. He's allowed.] It was like that with the other two. The Belmont's family was dedicated to hunting my father for 400 years. The other one, the mage, is remarkable in her own way. I watched her create a pane of ice, then [He pauses, mimicking the gesture that made this happen. Hands clasped together upright, then moving 90 degrees forward.] Bisected a vampire in half before moving on in the fight. A perfectly functioning machine.
[Also it was kind of very hot.]
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Defaced the sacred property of the Ninth House with crude and profane imagery.
[She says it in a nasty, stuffy, rasping voice, a perfect parody of Marshall Crux, though of course this is slightly wasted on someone who has never had the misfortune to meet that ossified monstrosity of a man.]
What can I say? I'm an artist.
[There may have been a few diagrams of a wraith-like figure being decapitated, stabbed through the heart by a sword and the like, with the words 'this is you' scrawled above them, specifically for Harrow to find (along with the drawings of boobs). But she isn't giving away the details.
She takes a longer, slower sip of wine and watches him over the rim of her glass as he begins to discuss his betrayers-- and whilst this may be kiiiinda a sensitive subject for him, she can't help the way her eyes widen in evident glee as his description unfolds.]
Fucking hot.
[Don't worry, she's got you covered-- she'll say the quiet part out loud.]
Man, I would kill to see that.
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Skilled in the art of truly annoying authority, perhaps. I can't say I've seen your work to properly judge the rest.
[He'd love to, but that's neither here nor there for now. She's not spilling details. Maybe they can move onto drunk doodling later. Alucard wouldn't put it past either of them.
The strange part of what is and isn't easy to talk about is the part with his father's death? Far easier. Simpler in a way. It was a thing that had to be done, nothing more or less. It is after the other two depart that all becomes a nightmare.
Fucking hot. Of course.]
I seem to have a habit of befriending redheaded powerhouses. [Since Sypha's a redhead too.]
But if you saw that, you'd probably be dead. [There's a statement of confidence if he's ever made one.] But my point is that when you have alchemy like that, you don't question it. Just accept it for what it is and for however long it lasts.
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What can I say? Redheads do it better.
[There's the quick hike of her eyebrow, and she sticks out her tongue.]
And hey, some deaths are worth it. But yeah, that kind of chemistry-- how often do you get to be part of something like that? Maybe we're both pretty damn lucky.
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What, annoy authority and manage to look suspiciously attractive while wrecking everything in sight?
[He's not falling for your innuendo Gideon!]
Oh, you might be. I'd say fortune wouldn't consider me one of her favorites the past few years. [Which is absolutely a step towards some depressing discussion if Alucard lets it.] But at least here is better than home.
[Which...does bring something up. Alucard's eyes go to his wine glass as he huffs out a sigh.] I've realized I don't want to head back to Wallachia, even if the opportunity presented itself.
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[Her laughter comes loose around the edges now, and she drains the rest of her glass before eyeing up a second quatre of cake. It's looking more and more tempting with every moment that passes, and she's busy weighing up the likelihood of wine + half a cake ending in a stomach ache and whether it would be worth it regardless when the conversation dips toward something darker. Something pensive.
He has a point, although like hell does she say it. No one from the outside would look at her flaming trash can of a short life and call it lucky-- but here they both are. When he comes out with his small revelation she nods, and her expression turns serious.]
Yeah? Me too. I mean, here's as good as anywhere isn't it? Sure there's a shit-ton of political intrigue going on, and every option is as shady as the last. But it's like that everywhere, right? At least here we've got good company.
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[He won't deny she's wrong, and this is the first time Alucard's ever been able to make even the slightest bit light about everything that happened. It is a wonderful little step, and it really could only happen with Gideon. He's accepted that her presence does a lot of good in trusting people again.]
--Just take the cake.
[Because some thoughts are not subtle at all, and it is very good cake.]
As good as any, and we're just two people in a city of thousands. As subtle as neither of us are, it's easier to blend in the background. Ignore the political intrigue to a certain degree. Couldn't do that home. Or in Thorne, in so far as I can tell. [He'll nod slightly, the last part important.] There is also that. Everyone I've remotely gotten along with seems to have settled here.
[He did make this serious. Time to correct that.] Did Harrow ever see the goats?
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What can I say? When you're born this attractive you have to be ready to share your body with the world.
[She has more to say on the topic of their current circumstances, on the decision they've both arrived at. How she gets it, that there's enough going on here that she can become just another face in the crowd when it suits, that there's people here, and depth and life. Not just doddering old nuns who despised her anyway, and an overabundance of skeletons. It'd be better for him too, by the sounds of things. What's the use in going back to a place haunted by crappy memories--
--but if he wants to change the subject, she'll let him. For the moment. And so she looks from him to the bottle of wine before offering another shrug.]
I dunno, she didn't mention them. But she'd have been waaaay more excited to see them if they were long dead, so they were probably wasted on her anyway.
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And why you have to have someone to keep your ego in check. Helped by the fact that they're no slouch in the appearance department, I suppose.
[It is hard to be a bisexual disaster without at least slightly acknowledging that you look pretty damn good.
The dhampir isn't going to push back if Gideon wants to circle back to circumstance as a topic. His goal was provide an out if it was needed, more than anything else.]
--It only occurs to me now that the concept of vampirism might offend her on a conceptual level. Dead but still walking around, all the flesh still attached to the skeleton and so on.
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[And Coronabeth Tridentarius truly was a sight to behold. The one true highlight of that whole fateful catastrophe at Canaan House. It's not a thought she lingers on - tempting as it is - because what he's saying is pretty fucking funny, and she laughs around her mouthful of cake.]
I bet she fucking hates it. Those beautiful bones, forever out of reach!! Seriously though, don't go telling her that you're dead. It's bad enough that you hang around a graveyard and wanna lie in a coffin. She's already got the hots for one corpse, my poor fragile heart couldn't take it if she blew me off for another one.
[And the circling back will come, but she figures there's always time for corpse jokes first.]
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[But no matter. They've hit upon something genuinely delightful.]
In my defense, I am only half dead on my father's side. All of his people though-- [Alucard snorts softly.] You'd face some stiff competition, I'm afraid. There's a tendency for my level to be the norm on his side. And there's always coffins.
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[The sound she makes is one of exaggerated hurt, a tragic defeat.]
She can never know about this. Harrow wants the D, and the D in this instance stands for dead. Just knowing there's a whole like, race of hot dead people out there just waiting to be discovered is enough to make a girl give up and roll over, you know?
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