sleepytimejunction | ❧ open rp

You issued the challenge.

[ It wasn’t a challenge, Trevor. He’s laughing again, shaking Adrian around a little with the force of it.

Even now, even after everything, he’s still a fucking idiot. ]

Demonstration enough for you?

[It's that genuine laughter from before, so terribly rare, and how awful that truth is but he's earned it twice now. Adrian turns his head, as if to hide his smile, not wanting to just give him any satisfaction.]

Yes, you've proven what an oaf you are. Put me down already, you're not carrying me all the way to the bridge.

Maybe I don’t want to.

[ He kind of does want to. Adrian isn’t extraordinarily heavy for a man his height, but Trevor is still tired and weakened and probably ought to be sparing his energy for things that are actually important. But this is funny, and it’s the most human contact he’s has in a decade. And-

It’s probably not appropriate even by his standards to be dragging Adrian around against his will when this all began because he’s a kidnapper. He hurriedly puts Adrian down after a moment, awkwardly. ]

Ah. Right. Sorry.

[There are conflicting thoughts to go with that. He knows that Trevor is just playing; that doesn't come into question. But he isn't sure if this is... flirting either? Is that what it is? He doesn't have much experience with it, admittedly, outside of Godbrand's lewdness really. Rest in pieces, Godbrand.

But it ends, and he's confused and assumes he's overthinking all of it anyway. Adrian rolls his shoulders back.]

It's fine. I...

[If nothing else, he says honestly:] I don't believe I've seen you actually look that happy before. I'm glad you still can be.

[ Look even Trevor isn't sure if Trevor is flirting. He scratches the side of his face, still cautious until he can be certain that he's not fucked up massively. He's an asshole, not a-

-whatever he would be if he didn't have his low, difficult to figure out standards. The kind of person who'd hurt Adrian more than he already has. ]

Didn't think I was capable of it. But- I'm out of that place, and alive, and nobody I give a shit about is going to die for it. Whatever else is happening, that's something. [ And, added after a moment- ] Makes a difference, not being in this alone.

And about how many people are even on that list? [He says it, teasing, but-- well, he is touched. Not that he wants to admit to it. It's easy to feel better after escaping Father and the court, and that much is true: this would be all the more horrifying alone.]

...I'd thought myself alone, after everything would be done. If I succeeded in stopping Father and was alive after.

You, the speakers- it's a short list, I admit.

[ He bites back a response of you may well still be, true as it is. He promised to survive, and he's not going to plan for having broken a promise. ]

You thought there'd be three of us. You expected us to kick the bucket in the process?

[ 'They might just separate, normally, without dying' apparently isn't something that's occurring to him at the moment. ]

At least you have one at all.

[Adrian has his own people he cares for, short as that list is as well.

He frowns to himself and looks away as they continue to walk.]

I expected you would both go back to your lives. And I would go back to Gresit.

Huh.

...don't know a whole lot about how excommunication works, do you?

[ It's cute that you think he's ever had a life to go back to. ]

[He sighs.] Bear in mind this was a thought I had before you woke me, Trevor. A lot of matters have changed since.

Either way, we finish our job. After that... I don't know. I could have once offered you a roof; whatever you define yourself as now does not disgust me or bother me. Both our options, should we live, are limited.

Still. Not like I'd have had a lot of other options for company. I could have stuck around a while.

[ Which- truer than ever now, isn't it? If it was hard getting people to deal with him before... ]

Well. I'll do my best. At the living thing, I mean.

I would not demand or expect it. But I would not have... refused.

[It's easy to assume the worst, isn't it? To think that no one would want to be around him. Adrian's friends are few and far in between, and Trevor is the closest thing he's ever had to a proper human friend.]

What do you suppose you would do? If we manage.

[ That's the way they both are, isn't it? Expecting and preparing for their own abandonment so completely that they become the architects of it. ]

I don't know. I didn't know before. Now- we're meant to die, if this happens. Belmonts, I mean. It's the decent thing to do. You die and put your body in the hold to be tested and looked over. But there's nobody left to do the dissection, so it seems a little pointless.

[ And he promised to live. He's taking that seriously, at least until he's somehow paid Adrian back for what he's done. He isn't going to let him down again. ]

I don't want you to die.

[He knows he's made that clear, but this time when Adrian says it, he's pleading.]

...And I shouldn't either. Not after everything.

[ He's- never heard that said before. Not in those words. And it takes him aback a little. He knows, on some level, that most people generally want other people to not die. But he tends to think of himself as an exception to that. He certainly doesn't think of himself as a specific target of it. ]

Fine, fine.

[ That's all he can manage, and even then it takes him a while. ]

You stick around to keep me company, and I'll do my best to not die.

What a pair we make, then.

[A vampire hunter not as human as he used to be and the son of Dracula who may or may not be able to dislodge a collar of enslavement from his person. The man who kidnapped him and took him away to be a prisoner with mixed intent.

But he knows the anger that Trevor has held onto. He knows it well. He knew it when he wanted to slaughter everyone at the cathedral when he watched his mother burn, he just had the luxury of hearing her last begging words. In the end, he finds that Trevor has a good heart, even if the rest of the world has worn him terribly by the edges. He has seen it himself, he thinks.

Adrian hesitantly places his hand into the crook of Trevor's elbow.]

Best not to get ahead of ourselves, mind. Getting drained, sliced into pieces and tossed into that castle's latrines is something of a family tradition.

[ He does have to go and ruin it a little. But he smiles, inclining his body toward Adrian's a little and bringing the other hand over to place it on Adrian's for a moment in approval. This is nice. Everything else aside, this is nice. Having someone here. Having a real purpose. Having so many of the things he's never had before. ]

The running water should slow the hordes, too. Once we're across the bridge we'll be safe to rest again for a little while.

Not one I'm particularly excited to carry out. It's terrible for the plumbing.

[Fortunately, despite how genuine Adrian's intent is, he is capable of playing along. That and he's content enough with Trevor's smile and his physical contact; that alone is language for him to be satisfied with.]

Agreed. Still going to carry me, then?

That's the secret. Old family strategy, getting killed and blocking off all the pipes just after Godbrand's eaten pig blood.

[ REST IN FUCKIN PIECES GODBRAND. It's comforting, to know that whatever he becomes at the end of this, he'll have a place to go. He didn't even have that when he was entirely human. ]

Depends entirely what shape you are. I don't think I can carry the wolf right now.

[Fuck, that actually makes him bark out a laugh. Dead or alive, Godbrand's always a good target for a laugh.]

And I wouldn't let you if I were a wolf.

[Adrian looks up toward the bridge, hearing the running water.]

I won't cause you to exert unnecessary effort. Bat it is.

You have to stop making it sound like a challenge, now I want to fucking try it.

[ He lets go of Adrian to allow him to transform. ]

Wouldn't mind the unnecessary effort one bit, you know. But thanks.

[That earns a roll of Adrian's eyes.]

You sound almost eager to carry me as I am.

Well. Hurry it up, then. Carry me, you idiot.

No bat after all, then?

[ He's more careful when lifting Adrian this time, since he doesn't need the element of surprise to do so to prove a point. There's no missive differences, he's still carrying him in the same way, but his weight is distributed more evenly. It's a little more comfortable, certainly easier for Trevor to maintain without stumbling. ]

Good enough?

[Far less startled this time, he slowly slides his arms around Trevor's neck and settles into his arms.]

Not when you're so damned determined.

[He chuckles softly.]

Yes. I'm fine.

[ It's a stupid waste of energy, but they can rest after they're across the river anyway. It'll slow the night creatures as surely as it would Adrian. And- it's nice, to feel this close to him. To anyone at all, really. But to him especially.

They've both been starved of any comfort at all for too long, haven't they? ]

...how much do you know about how you react to this bullshit?

[ He asks, stepping on to the bridge. ]

I don't know if you've noticed, but I do a lot of shit that hurts vampires. Best that I don't figure out what I should and shouldn't keep away from you by trial and error.

❧ open rp - adrian/alucard

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guess who missed a notif it was meeeeee

for shame

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