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)
abraxaslogs2021-06-25 06:58 pm
cryptsleeper) wrote in abraxaslogs2021-06-25 06:58 pm
Entry tags:
[closed] that's rough buddy
Who: Alucard and Geralt
WHAT:Aftermath of tunnel sharing and noticing certain comings and goings
WHERE: Dungeon cell
WHEN: The dead middle of the night
NOTES: Some mild CW for canon typical gore and grossness on Alucard's end.
--Ugh.
[The complaint is a whisper as Alucard wakes yet again from a new and shitty nightmare. He's added onto the usual rotation since the time spent in the fucking tunnels, hallucinating the worst things from his brain and that of others. There aren't just impaled corpses, rotting bodies looming over him in their final moments, and those he trusted taking his life and destroying his home. There's all of that plus small children running after their mother (thank you Geralt), upsetting badger shaped mascots (Kay, because that has been sticking with him for a while now), and too many other things for him to process.
All of it has made sleep even more unpleasant. Worse for sharing a small space with two others and not wanting to draw attention to himself.
So far as Alucard can tell though, both of his cellmates are asleep. No reason he can't sit up and at least take a few deep breaths. Not a soul is going to notice.]
WHAT:Aftermath of tunnel sharing and noticing certain comings and goings
WHERE: Dungeon cell
WHEN: The dead middle of the night
NOTES: Some mild CW for canon typical gore and grossness on Alucard's end.
--Ugh.
[The complaint is a whisper as Alucard wakes yet again from a new and shitty nightmare. He's added onto the usual rotation since the time spent in the fucking tunnels, hallucinating the worst things from his brain and that of others. There aren't just impaled corpses, rotting bodies looming over him in their final moments, and those he trusted taking his life and destroying his home. There's all of that plus small children running after their mother (thank you Geralt), upsetting badger shaped mascots (Kay, because that has been sticking with him for a while now), and too many other things for him to process.
All of it has made sleep even more unpleasant. Worse for sharing a small space with two others and not wanting to draw attention to himself.
So far as Alucard can tell though, both of his cellmates are asleep. No reason he can't sit up and at least take a few deep breaths. Not a soul is going to notice.]
no subject
There's a split second where his eyes are a little wild, and a little too bright -- but whether Alucard shoves him off or not, he almost immediately lets the vampire go. His gaze darts left towards the guards, uncertain if they'll interfere, before turning back. The first emotion that rises in him is annoyance (at himself, at Alucard for startling him awake), and then. ]
Fuck. [ He squints. ] Sorry.
no subject
The furious hiss that happens would have always been one of the results though. Alucard's free hand is defensive, quick to shove at Geralt's chest and if he scratches anything in the attempt, there will be no regrets on Alucard's side of the equation. This is what fair play looks like.
Geralt at least stops before things escalate. For a moment longer, Alucard allows his fangs to remain retracted (it isn't a power if it's a part of your bone structure!) before he straightens up. Eyes ahead, the guards banging on the bars of the cell next door.]
Are you, hunter?
no subject
Geralt's eyes narrow further. He'd clearly been out of it when he struck. He's apologized. And he has a sharp scratch over his collarbone in retaliation. As far as he's concerned, the incident ends there. Alucard trying to provoke him further goes wholly unappreciated. If there's one thing he has no time for (and the list of things he has no time for is extremely long), it's people prodding him for the sake of a reaction. ]
I don't suggest you change my mind.
[ Where he might've offered to take a look at Alucard's hand, he now says nothing of it. If the vampire needs it wrapped, he can sort that out on his own. ]
no subject
'Looks like they took to beating the shit out of each other for us. That seems unfair,' says the one who takes special delight in waking up those who aren't already.
'Ah, well, we got a few deep sleepers here,' comes the response from the guard working with the first, eyes casting further down the corridor.
Alucard keeps himself quiet until they're out of view, then shakes out his left hand. It hurts but nothing's broken. That'll have to be enough for now.
There's not enough room to flop dramatically down onto his awful little bed, so he resumes his spot in the far corner, as away from everyone as he can manage.]
Go back to sleep then. They're good at heralding their approach.
no subject
Really, it's not his intention to pick a fight with Alucard because that's not what he does. Pick fights, that is. He either has a target or he doesn't, and Alucard simply isn't one. Not here and now, at least. But he also knows Alucard is wary of him, if not outright mistrustful, and occasionally has the temperament of an eighteen year old despite his usual demeanor.
Going back to sleep's not happening. He sits on the bed instead, head tipped back against the wall. His flash of irritation earlier aside, he does...feel bad. Mostly because he knows exactly why Alucard went to wake him in the first place. ]
Nothing broke?
no subject
[The response is short, but the there's more a touch of clinical to it than anything else. Alucard's mother was who she was, and the dhampir may not be a medical expert, but he knows a few things beyond the basics.]
Better that neither of us have our natural abilities at the moment.
no subject
He gives a quiet snort. ] If I truly meant to kill you, it'd not be from my sleep.
[ It bothers him, that he'd been so easily startled. It's not like he hasn't slept with company before, nor been woken abruptly -- Jaskier sure as hell isn't polite when it comes to getting the Witcher up in the middle of the night for whatever he's deemed an incoming threat -- but the sheer tension that comes from this place, the constant presence of the guards, his cellmates, it makes it hard for him to relax. ]
no subject
Alucard lets his shoulders slack just a hair. A small part of him, the one not caught up in paranoia and stupidity knows that if an actual vampire hunter meant to have his head, it'd have happened already. There's more art to the hunt in those kinds of families. They'd not stoop to dirty tricks and promises of false friendship like what happened back in the castle, matters would be more so straight forward.
So he gives an inch.]
I had a close call with hunters prior to being here. Concerns for my safety have a tendency to run away with me at the moment. It's...[He breathes out. Nothing personal isn't the right word.] I'd think less of you professionally if you plucked such low hanging fruit.
no subject
You weren't concerned about us before?
[ It's easier to say us; to Alucard, he knows, the difference between his hunters and a Witcher is negligible. They were all created to kill his kind.
He's not apologizing for what he is. Not really here to explain himself, either. But he won't begrudge Alucard his suspicions. ]
no subject
[Before, Geralt was just another person to generally be cautious about and with. Knowing the profession added a new scope of danger, because even if the his world's vampires are different from Alucard's, a hunter that specializes in monsters is still a hunter that specializes in monsters. He'd sooner fight Trevor again with the Belmont furious about what was done in his and Sypha's absence. Trevor he can predict.
So there. Vulnerability and honesty accomplished, for whatever it is worth.]
And at least you don't hide it.
[The implications running deep there, Alucard refusing to touch them.]
no subject
It's only here that he's gotten to know the vampire. He can acknowledge he doesn't dislike what's there. Alucard's flair for drama aside (and isn't Geralt long used to that), he seems largely interested in keeping to himself.
Besides. Geralt does owe him, somewhat, for the tunnels. ]
I'm not asking you to trust me. And I have no promises of reassurance I care to make. But I can tell you I have better concerns than a vampire whose largest act of menace has been chronic pacing.
no subject
--fuck.
For the very first time, Alucard laughs. It is low and weak, seeming to forget what the noise even sounds like, but it is there. Chronic pacing indeed.]
Meditation hasn't exactly helped, but it has offered a temporary stop. [They all have bigger concerns, don't they?]
Let me know when you're expected to haul books for another. [Some concerns are shared.]
no subject
You mean the bard? [ He hums. Jaskier's been doing his own research, which Geralt's left him to. Given Jaskier rarely invites scrutiny -- the type of attention he garners is not the sort that labels him a threat -- he's assumed more can be done without his presence.
But if there's something Alucard wants, he can ask. There are few here he's been willing to share details with. Desperate situations lead people to make alliances with their captors more often than not. He senses that's not the case from Alucard, though. ] What do you want to know?
no subject
[But if Geralt's not concerned on that front, Alucard is hardly going to push it. There is a shrug, small and a little bit more at east for the whole outburst, all things considered.]
But I suppose the only question that matters is if you trust him or not.
no subject
[ He's acknowledged that much to Alucard once, and it hasn't changed. He's more curious about Hector: the man who keeps coming by, day after day, and yet Alucard has explicitly expressed suspicions about despite going along with him nonetheless.
Whatever's between them, he knows better than to lean on a single man's word no matter how much he's...acquainted with Alucard. Worth keeping in mind, though. Not a lot of friends to make in a place like this. ]
no subject
[And Alucard has more to think on. There's no doubt in his mind that to break out of this place, one will need allies, and quite frankly, it's going to take more than Hector.
He doesn't like having to put faith in others these days. All the same, he offers the name of a book, and then:]
It has a red leather spine with silver lettering. I'll leave a reading list within it that's proven useful so far, for when either you or he have the next opportunity to go through the library.