abraxaslogs | INTRO LOG #2

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INTRO LOG #2

Intro Log #2

It has been two months now since the initial group of summonings first took place. Castle Thorne, or at least the part above ground, is buzzing with a vibrant air of hope following the 'success' at the Singularity. Eager smiles and excited chattering are to be found in nearly every corner of the castle and surrounding town. The honored guests may find grateful looks turned their way more often than not. A new and brighter day seems to be dawning on the kingdom.

In the dungeons it's a different story entirely. The mood is somber and uneasy. The prisoner taken for trial has yet to return, and no word has come regarding her or her fate. There has been no mention of any further trials as of yet and guards seem to have little patience for unruly behavior or even conversation. Some seem to not even look at or acknowledge the prisoners at all.

[ Feel free to continue threads from the TDM here or start your own! As cell and room assignments will be short-lived due to this month's event, you're free to assume whichever cellmates and roommates you like instead of officially signing up as long as there are ICly no more than four people in a cell or room at once. ]

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[Hector forces his smarting ego to shut up. Alucard, for once, is making an attempt.

Hector taps a finger on the Magician emblem on his shirt.]

Look, Ambrose made some piss poor decisions, but he got this one right. My craft, I’m very good at. Everything else, social interaction, not so much. So we can at least say we’re both shit at it.

[That’s as close as he’s going to get to an apology for that ‘fuck you’.]

[He CAN try, Hector!]

We are, and circumstances don't help.

[So, agreed. Alucard then finally does something, and sits himself on the sofa.]

I intend to do little more than find a crypt for myself and sleep, if you need to know my plans after we are rid of this place.

[The animals interpret Alucard's sitting on their couch as an invitation to hop up and join him.

Hector mulls it over, and finally nods.]

That sounds reasonable. I can agree to help with that. We'll see you freed, then you can find somewhere nice to entomb yourself in peace.

[And 'leaving Alucard alone in his crypt' is a Dracula-approved course of action, too, so a winning plan all around.]

[Alucard can't say he's shocked by the sudden influx of fluff, but it says everything about his mood that he makes no particular attempt to lavish affection on any of them. He only sits with his hands quietly folded in his lap.

There's relief in Hector's not pushing back on the plan. He nods once.]

The original plan, such as it ever was.

[Return to being the sleeping soldier. Not guard treasure and monster killing equipment. Not wake and deal with the aftermath of his father's death. Sleep and be left in peace.]

[There is some irony, Hector thinks, in Alucard escaping imprisonment so that he can imprison himself, but he's going to let that sleeping dog lie. He can't really judge- when he'd been left to his own devices in the past, he'd become a hermit.]

You're an odd one. Do you dream when you sleep like that?

[The drawback of working with Hector- he will help, and not ask for payment, but he does get curious about the strangest things.]

[It's his choice, Hector, that's the point. And he can defend himself if needed. Here, he gets none of that.]

In fits and starts, but not really.

[That's the other advantage. Everything can be left to the waking world. No trauma. Just sleep.]

I don't even think I'd be able to reach this place.

[All that work to get himself free, only to squander it in death-like sleep. Hector doesn't know why Alucard is so determined to stay alive if he's not going to live.

But Hector's long since learned about the stubbornness of vampires. No taking them out of an idea once they've got it in their heads.]

Whatever will I do without your charming company here? [The dogs might look for Alucard for a while. Their memory for treat-bearing people ran long. ~~Just ignore that these dogs are extensions of Hector's self-conscious. It means nothing.~~]

Will you want your crypt away from civilization? Just so I can plan for how long a trip it will be to see you to your destination.

[Because he's SUPER DEPRESSED! :D]

You seem to be doing well enough. [The dogs are not a metaphor. Not a metaphor at all.

Alucard sighs, offering Hector a sidelong glance at that last part.]

I haven't decided yet. And you needn't shepherded me there.

I am. Surprisingly well, actually. [There must be no such thing as karma or divine retribution, because Hector is doing just fine here in Abraxas.]

I know I needn't, but... I want to. I know you don't trust me, but no one else will know where you lie, and I could provide you with guards, if you need them.

[Hector can't make amends the way he's planned in Styria, so this is the only avenue left to him. But any mention of his guilt only makes Alucard pricklier, so he avoids saying so.]

All the more reason not to hedge any bets with me.

[He offers Hector an out at every opportunity, and yet. Alucard sighs, weary and hating how this feels like walking down a well trodden road. He asks for space and Hector presses against it out of some sense of duty or...whatevever...and they bristle that the other won't give in to their perspective.

Alucard closes his eyes, tipping his head back slightly.] I'll send a note when I've figured it out and am on construction. Will that satisfy you?

[Trying to make headway with Alucard is like sail upstream with a spoon as a paddle. But...

...but Alucard's stubbornness runs in the family. Hector has seen one Tepes left unchecked. He's not keen to stand by and watch a second. Much better to see the young prince safely laid to rest.]

Yes, that will do.

Good.

[There's no argument. Thank goodness, as the dhampir has little desire for the next iteration of the nonsense.

With his eyes closed and head tilted back, he looks a little better. Some tension's gone with their agreement, and the dhampir idly extends a hand in the general direction of the dogs.]

[The dogs scoot in closer, hungry for any affection they can get from a stranger. Hector gives his head a little shake at them. Looking at them, you'd think he didn't lavish attention on them on a daily basis.]

So, how the wolf transformation work. I've always wondered. Never got to see your... any other vampires do it.

[Dracula, he means. Hector knows he was capable of it, and it gave him more than one sleepless night back in Rhodes wondering how it worked.]

[Alucard's eyes may be closed, but he knows exactly what constitutes a good pet. Under the chin. Then behind the ears. Repeat.]

It...just does? [There's a lazy shrug.] You think about doing it and it is done. I'm not quite sure how to describe it - it simply is. Like how your body knows how to regulate it's heartbeat and breathing.

Come on, there's got to be more to it than that.

[Hector needs to see it, just like the dogs need more ear rubs.]

Show us. The dogs will love it.

[The dogs can get ear rubs. Hector, however, gets one open eye and a very irritated noise.]

I don't do this on command, you know.

What if I'm not commanding? What if I'm just asking?

[They aren't friends, but by this time, they've spent a good amount of time together. Surely that counts for something. Alucard gives away so little about himself, at least in front of Hector, and Hector is so. fucking. curious.]

Follow the spirit of the words, not the letter, Hector.

[He's not doing it! That's that!]

I suppose you never went into that part of his library, did you?

[Hector looks away. The dogs whine and snuffle on the couch. Hector keeps letting himself forget that Alucard bares him none of the regard his father did. Had their positions been reversed, Hector imprisoned and Alucard honored, Alucard wouldn't have spared him a second thought.

He shakes his head.]

No, he let me browse the sections that were relevant to my studies. I was too busy to explore the rest the way I'd have liked to.

[Alucard closes his one open eye. Breathes out slowly. This is starting to stir memories. He doesn't like that, but between that or feeling like a performing animal, well.

This it is.]

He studied his own kind. Everything was heavily coded and guarded of course, threats coming to the door of the castle being what the are. [...shit.] Were. But he probably had notes on that. I'd be truly shocked if he didn't.

I'm not surprised. He studied a little bit of everything. That's how he found me, during his travels.

[Hector's voice is soft. Sad, tinged with fond. He'd been so proud of that moment, because sought out by Dracula himself, though time and circumstance have colored the memory.]

Suppose it doesn't matter now. Whatever treasures that library holds, they are far beyond my reach. Your secrets are safe from me.

[His travels. Alucard feels himself flinch. The root cause of all of this. No one was home. So much could have been avoided if not for that fact.

This is too much. He knows that. The dhampir's hand still lazily petting at one of the dogs goes still.]

It doesn't. And maybe it's all been looted and burnt by now with the castle left alone.

[That isn't the point, hardly the concern, but Alucard just can't at this point. He stands suddenly.]

I believe that we're done.

[Hector stills too. The weight of that loss, of all of that knowledge in the castle libraries, is crushing. Hector knows he fucked up, leaving Dracula vulnerable to Carmilla's schemes, but the thought that those actions would ripple out to a new dark age hits him much harder than the faceless horde of Wallachians dead by his forged army.]

Right. You can see yourself out.

[Hector's whole domain has gone a little colder and a little darker, a spring day given way to a gloomy winter evening. Still not so bad as Alucard's hut, but dreary nonetheless.]

[Ah, so his misery is contagious. Good to know.

Alucard makes his way to the door, pausing at the threshold for a moment. Part of him wants to apologize for darkening the mood or...

no.

Not worth it, and he isn't sure how sorry he genuinely is.

So the dhampir leaves without another word, closing the door behind him. In a flash, a white wolf darts through Hector's domain, chased by some invisible thing that spurs him on.]

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INTRO LOG #2

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