#Dracula is a noble abuser who happens to be a vampire

[immediatebreakfast]

Dracula sees to it that Jonathan is psychologically destroyed. He wasn't content to simply take his envelopes and paper, which were his methods of sending letters home once more. Dracula, for example, knows that Jonathan is unable to escape the castle, but he nevertheless says, "Even if you miraculously made it out of the house and the mountains and the wolves, you will never be able to go far from here," after stealing his documents, his identity, and his letter of credit (money). "Everything that may have brought you home has been taken away by me. You are a stranger and destitute, so no one will help you. Give up, you can't go home."

It's truly wild isn't it?

It's the powerful image of abuse portrayed from a single journal, a purposeful attempt at breaking the human psyche. What kind of paper trail would lead anyone to Dracula's castle? The locals are terrified of him, the romani are under his control at claw point, and the castle seems to exist in a liminal standing between reality, and hallucination so what does it serve to make Jonathan a ghost in living paper? To make Jonathan spiral more inside those stone walls with doors that won't open.

Dracula is a vampire who is so human that it is scary. Who cares about the lizard climbing when he keeps invanding Jonathan's personal space, who cares about the lack of servants when the Count forces Jonathan to believe how he just fell asleep, how his sleep schedule is suited for the night, how his duty is not finished unless Dracula says it's finished. Why does any vampirism matter when the Count's greatest weapon is his understanding on human rules.

Unlike Draula, the Weird Sisters are what is the mythical notion of "monster". They are the dreamy stalkers that roam the night hunting humans, they are the strigoi, they are the shadows of the moon, what Dracula has an addition in the supernatural, the Sisters embody it entirely. They don't feel different from Dracula, the Count is the different one, how come the ones that came from the original seem to be far more merciful in their monstrousness. Why does he insist in games? Why does he let the prey stay alive one more day?

This is why he is so despicable, why he is the villain, and not a simple antagonist. Dracula is not an inhumane monster drinking blood to survive, he is a humane abuser that loves breaking down a younger and powerless being emotionally. None of his mental games are necessary to survive, or to keep Jonathan captive, he does it because he just wants to. Dracula enjoys the suffering, he enjoys those looks of despair in Jonathan's eyes as he burns the letter just like how an abusive husband enjoys breaking his wife's precious belongings. It's a power play, it's social conventions, it's economic imbalance, it's gothic gender roles breathing down on Jonathan's neck as he must smile while Dracula puts his hand on his shoulder, overly familiar and so degrading my good friend.

One could literally take the vampirism off the Count, and he still would be a terrifying person. He is a wealthy noble man in a land where his fortune, and social standing gives him free reign to terrorize anyone unlucky enough to catch his attention. Dracula is not an inhumane monster, Dracula is the most human right here in the castle as he dares Jonathan to break their challenged standing with a movement of his eyebrows, but in a way that satifies him without Jonathan actually making an attempt of breaking their new status quo, he is just a puny human, he should know his place.

[sophiamcdougall]

So I just posted about how funny and unexpected it is that instead of being terrorised by Hellhound!Dracula the people of Whitby just want to cuddle him and call him a good boy, and I noted that even though it's hilarious (how fucking embarrassed would you be if you were Dracula? They called the fucking RSPCA. Absolutely WWDITS scenes.) it also supports the motif of people always caring more than Dracula expects, something that will ultimately undo him. And you know another thing I had never noticed until Re:Dracula?

Despite Alasdair Stuart's superb performance ... the Captain of the Demeter isn't English. (Or Protestant.) His log has been translated by "a clerk of the Russian consul" so the Correspondent can publish it for an English audience. When he mentions that the crew, unlike the Mate, are Russian, he's possibly identifying them as compatriots, at least people with whom he shares a language. Of course, why would the captain of a "Russian schooner from Varna" be English? But this feels like something that should be incorporated more into critical readings of Dracula. Nothing can take away the the racism/xenophobia in the treatment of the Rom and some of the other locals. But the Captain's nationality ought to add least add nuance to the interpretation of Dracula as a tale of good, valiant WASPs standing up to sinister, ~Eastern~ ~forces. After Jonathan, and before Lucy, the next character to tell their own story of victimisation is a Russian-speaker who presumably hails from further east than Dracula does. This complicates the "Anglos are rational (but wrong about vampires)/ Eastern Europeans are emotional and superstitious (but correct about vampires)" dichotomy. Throughout his short narrative, the Captain behaves very much like Jonathan in similar circumstances. Interestingly, both are forced or tricked into "complicity" with Dracula's arrival in England, but in both cases the narrative makes it obvious that it is not their fault. Like Jonathan with the locals on the way to Castle Dracula, the Captain is warned early on by one of the men that something supernatural is going on, and dismisses it as 'superstitious fear'. In fact, he takes much longer to internalise that he's being preyed on by something unearthly than Jonathan does (not his fault -- he doesn't get the up-close-and-personal 'no reflection' encounter with Dracula that Jonathan gets on Day 2). Nevertheless, he investigates as best he can, and then, when he fully realises he's at Dracula's mercy he refuses to surrender. He does the only thing he can to at least deny Dracula his final prize and die "as a man". Those aren't, then, being treated by the text as British reactions. They're human reactions -- and I think, specifically modern human reactions. Jonathan, comes from a world of advancing technology, the Captain from a globalised world of international trade. Their modernity does not prepare them for the ancient evil that Dracula represents. But modernity (train schedules, shorthand, phonographs records) will eventually, after heavy losses, allow the Crew of Light to fight back.

And, foreshadowing what will happen with Lucy, even though the Captain couldn't defeat Dracula, even though he dies, the narrative treats his struggle as noble and important. It matters that the suitors and Van Helsing fought so hard to save Lucy. It matters that the Captain died at his post, still human and defiant. And -- the people of Whitby, (who Stoker really must have decided were predominately total sweethearts) take a break from searching for the spectral hellhound so they can pet it and give it treats to declare him a hero. Is anyone putting him in the frame for Dracula's crimes? (Another way his abuse parallels Jonathan's). Fuck you! The people of Whitby have his back. The first non-American foreigner to be encountered on English shores by English characters isn't Dracula. And even in death, he is welcomed and cared for and defended, and this is right.

[beevean]

Top 10 favorite CV characters!

I remember when you sent me this ask a year ago! I was in the middle of playing CoD and I still had other games to go lol. Well...

10) Julia. She deserves more than for being remembered for an awkward romance plot :( I like her coy attitude towards Hector, and I'm intrigued by the implications that she's repressing her pain for the Isaac situation, for the sake of assisting the man who wants to kill her brother.

9) Walter. Honestly for a guy just meant to be Beta Dracula, the dude is very fun! He's like a Dracula if he didn't even pretend to have a shred of decency or justification :P dude just wants to play with his food because he's bored, and he's entertainingly cruel about it, from deliberately turning the women he kidnaps for shit and giggles to subjecting Joachim to a fate worse than death. Proof that villains don't always need a tragic backstory, as long as they have style.

8) Joachim. I warmed up to the guy! He reeks of "cut from development", because his concept is very fascinating and he's so wasted as a random boss. He's antagonistic to Leon because he's a haughty vampire who clearly thinks he deserves at least his castle lol, but also to Walter because holy shit the dude really punished him in an exemplary manner. That art of him looking out of his mind says a lot. Also he has very cool powers that make him a joy to use in Joachim Mode.

7) Leon. A pure, noble-hearted knight, so honest that he won't even take a sword that didn't belong to him, who only wished the wellbeing of his fiancée and his best friend... and oh. Oh how he paid for it :) Leon's story is utterly miserable, made even worse by how he ends his game with the most depressing canonical ending imaginable. My man has immense mental fortitude, and I love the scene where he angrily rejects Mathias' offer of immortality because he'd rather honor Sara's dying wish, unlike a certain vampire we know... but he didn't know that, by swearing revenge on the newly-turned Mathias, he'd doom his own lineage to a lifetime of terrible pressure...

6) Rosaly. girl <3 I once again have to thank Ayami Kojima and Kou Sasakura for breathing life into this character, especially the latter. She's just an aggressively kind girl who will love you to death. Even if others think she's too nice or too trusting, she stubbornly helps people because she likes to do so. And I find it a very interesting detail that she seems absolutely unconcerned with Hector's past: she only sees the good in him, without the baggage. I find her endearing :)

5) Trevor. He's the Sonic of Castlevania. He's shaped like a friend <3 I like what personality we can glean from CV3: that despite being shunned by people for his powers (now where did I hear that before) he was ready to accept the quest of slaying Dracula - he didn't even do it for the Legacy, he's just that much of a brave guy! - and he was able to easily befriend and lead all sorts of people, hinting at his charisma and at his good heart. And of course in CoD he's just sass central :P I forgive his weird hostility against Hector because, despite his cockiness and ferocity, I like how he still takes the time to give credit to his friends for their victory <3

4) Dracula. The bastard himself :) I really like how, by being the most recurring character in the series, he ended up being quite fleshed out. His tragic story does little to justify how much of a hypocritical asshole he is. He loves so intensely, yet so selfishly. He wants his son by his side, but only after cutting his human heritage. He takes two abused boys under his wing, but only to raise them as his loyal knights and forgerers of armies. And overall, you can see the degradation of his morals and even his personality through the centuries, as he loses a piece of his humanity with every resurrection... not that he was a saint as a human, either.

3) Shanoa. Things Shanoa deserved: the world. Things Shanoa did not deserve: all the shit that happened to her :) it's hard to make an interesting character out of an amnesiac without emotions, yet Shanoa is intriguing. This girl who was taken in by Ecclesia as a young child, raised to become a weapon to vanquish all evil yet constantly protected by Albus... even when she loses everything, even when she learns that her entire life is a lie and for her beloved mentor she was nothing more than a lamb to the slaughter, she still wants to fight, she still chooses to sacrifice herself. And by the end, she finds a place to live in Wygol Village, after rescuing and befriending all the villagers. also she kitty :3

2) Isaac. A pathetic wet cat of a man <3 just terrible in every way <3 miserable and bitter and ready to make it everyone else's problem <3 genuinely tragic backstory of terrible loss that makes you pity him but never to the point of excusing his terrible actions <3 how much he strives to be nothing but a tool and dying as one (and a defective one too) <3 absolute banger of a theme too <3

Hector. I just think he's neat.

:P

I talked enough about the guy. I know that he's basically a smoothie of Alucard and Guts. But something about his journey of self affirmation, how he chose to serve Dracula out of a need to belong somewhere then chose to put his principles above his trauma but still paid the consequences for his past alliance and betrayal, the parallels with Isaac and Dracula showing that yes you can fall into evil but you can rise again as many times as you want, his development thanks to Rosaly, his struggle with his own humanity and powers... It just speaks to me, what can I say.

[eclipsecrowned]

Vamps + Feeding Habits

DANIEL. as outlined by a book in later canon, daniel has become a perfect hunter of the evildoer, preferring to wait and make a proper selection than kill simply to feed. this gives me the impression that he’s something of a ‘picky eater’, and probably still sticks to his morals in undeath. i imagine he takes time to carefully assess his prey and, once sure of their impact on the world around them being negative, strikes quickly and efficiently. he doesn’t play with his victims, though on the odd occasion that a first strike is not lethal, he might let them know why this is happening, what they did to earn his inhuman ire. his feeding habits are as much a part of his moral crusade as his continued work as a reporter or his donations to certain factions. it’s all about making the world he wants to see, and making sure those who hurt others do not prosper. his ‘type’ is the malicious minded man, the abuser, the murderer, the monster still in human skin.

DRACULA. it's all performance to him from what we see in the novel. he's gotten good at it, too. the eternal heretic, it's about power, yes, but also profanity. he's not such a snob that he'll turn his nose up at what survival will drive him too, not so discerning that he'd stifle his palate, but he has clear desires and preferences at work when he goes hunting of his own accord. he's also less a hunter rand more a manipulator, an endurance predator stalking his prey til at last they collapse and he can descend. there's a clear underscoring of his narration that points to the pleasure he takes in destroying his targets and a framework that points to an altogether different violation that i'd prefer not to expand upon, only to say that his feedings go far beyond sustaining the body and also fuel his ego and need for cruelty. his 'type' is the virgin and the wide-eyed boy for himself, the suckling babe for his bride and descendants.

GABRIELLE. by contrast, gabrielle is far less discerning in their tastes. one might go so far as to call them arbitrary, going for whatever is available and the least hassle. the college kid walking home drunk, the geezer asleep in their armchair with the door unlocked, the late night worker who missed their bus. they exist to say you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, a sort of anti-karma.  ever the noble snob, they care little for the loss of life of ‘ordinary, simple people,’ and make sure their dalliances with the mortals are duly distanced from gabrielle themself. i do not doubt they have been pinned as a serial killer whenever they have cause to settle for an extended period, though impossible to trace. gabrielle is a tried and true bogeyman when they hunt, without remorse or serious concern for what they do to survive. their ‘type’ is the haughty, arrogant man with an attitude problem, no doubt a proxy for their late husband the marquis.

JOSETTE. thus far, she has only ever been turned by ax's lestat, and that has left its mark on her habits. almost instantaneously ousted from coven acceptance due to the nature of her turning -- defying the long ago agreed upon terms that no more fledglings should b made -- she's been largely left to her own devices with regards to her immortality. to that end, she's had to develop her own methodology and morality towards feeding. brought into the blood post-qotd, she does feel indebted to her sire, and also to the queen that made him so strong. she's interrupted many a domestic scene and stalked many a cruel husband through the night, seeking to rid the world of predators far fouler than she is. hunting men is her preference, striking something of a balance between the other two chronicled vampires mentioned so far. her 'type' is the kind of secure, belligerent man that will grovel most fearfully when she turns the tide on him.

LESTAT. to coin a descriptor from the show... non-discriminating. he drinks deeply and merrily from whoever catches his eye, without regard for gender, class, anything so trifling. opportunistic and charming, he's made a grand game of it to ignore how easy drawing in a victim is for him. by word or by force, he always gets his way. it makes no difference to him either way, as this is his nature, and this is the way it must be. his mood largely defines how things will go down, whether he's gentle death admiring the final fleeting moments of a mortal, or the brat come to lord his power and status over the chattel like the spoiled marquis' son he never got to be, or more or less a child pulling the wings off of an insect as he observes the struggle with awe and filthy delight. his 'type,' regardless, is the young man, pale-eyed, long dark hair, a ghost of something he lost, that two hearts can beat in time again once they connect in a final, fatal embrace.

VELLIOTH. which is more vital to his character: that he was a baneite before donella became his god, or that he has always been a soldier? trick question. one hand feeds the other. obedience is scripture and career to him, dominance and submission not simply reserved for the sport his mistress makes of him. he tries to be efficient about it, little drinks from trusted commanders or those who understand the truth of the crooked house szarr. however, he will drain dry any fool that crosses him that has no worth to him or his mistress, and when afield is known for either sending insubordinate underlings 'home' overnight or displaying traitors in bloodless pieces as a warning. he struggles more when a master vampire, having to play games he was ill-prepared for and performing for alliances, having to refine his style of hunting for the spotlight thrust upon him. his 'type' is his lesser, the insignificant mortal who he finds wanting and who requires the firm discipline of the black hand.

YALIZAVETA. repulsed by her own nature, vieta prefers to avoid the hunt altogether. if the opportunity presents itself, she takes her chances as merciful death, haunting the dying as she finds them. if she can help even one mortal find their peace, then perhaps she can forgive this predatory existence. this being vieta, however, that moral crusader of our time who thinks herself the authority, means she is not always right. regardless, she approaches her need to feed with endless tenderness, easing her victims into their final moments, whether through conversation or a tender hand. she gets close to them, pulls them into the swoon, drinking deep and fast so they are gone into that final euphoria in a matter of moments. she might even take a moment to tuck them back into bed, treating the husk with respect for their sacrifice. her ‘type’ is the grievously ill, those already knocking at heaven’s door that, she reasons, might look to her as salvation.

ZOLTAN. frankly, the most normal out of these listed. despite being the oldest vampire here by a landslide, he still has the trappings of humanity. his preference is not to kill, but to survive by what some settings would call 'the little drink,' taking from willing conspirators and friends across the night and supplementing his diet as needed with what can be found ethically -- would you really notice if the dude buying an extra bloody steak at the market was a little too pale under the fluorescent lights? he's a traveler by nature, not having to defend territory, and so is comfortable not living up to his 'full potential,' as some might call it. as far as he knows, he's one of the oldest vampires of a more modern era, which counts for a lot despite his uncommon diet. his 'type' is the enthusiastic goth, the kind who are thrilled to meet him and want to make polite conversation both before and after he's had a taste of them, who make him still feel valued somehow.

[veilder]

Castlevania Season 3 was insane and in this essay I will--

Okay, I’ve never made a post on this website before, but here I go cuz Castlevania Season 3 has me just that fucked up. (Everything here is my own opinion, fyi.)

***SPOILER WARNING FROM HERE ON!!***

Okay, so yeah, that was a wild fuckin ride, wasn’t it? First off, while I did very much enjoy this season and I still love the show as a whole very much, this whole thing felt a lot like a setup season. It was a lot of maneuvering the characters into certain places and roles and it was a lot more focused on their emotional development (or regression, yikes!) than it was on a central plot like the first two seasons were. In those, all three mains had a singular goal: destroy Dracula. But now? Well, we’re left in the aftermath. I feel like this season was certainly necessary for where the show seems to want to take things, but yeah, I think I didn’t love it quite as much as the first two. And I think a lot of that stems from just how fractured the main party is. And I’m not just talking about Trevor, Sypha and Alucard, either, even though I consider them the main focal point. Because, building up off of season 2, I would absolutely consider both Hector and Isaac as main characters in this show as well. But after the final confrontation of last season, all of them (save Trevor and Sypha) are scattered. And while they certainly still seem to impact each other somewhat, they never actually... y’know, meet in this season. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore Trevor and Sypha’s dynamic and I think they are #RelationshipGoals, but you can certainly feel the absence of Alucard in their scenes. Hell, Trevor remarks on that himself at one point, about how they just... left him behind. About how lonely he must be, shut up all alone in his father’s mausoleum, taking on the duty to protect it because he’s the only one who can... There was a scene in one of the middle episodes (forgive me, I did not mark down which) where Trevor encounters a fox in the forest. And there is a prominent cut to the creature’s golden eyes. And Trevor smiles at it. It just makes me think that he, at least, has been thinking about their wayward companion in his downtime. I’m glad that the showrunners took the time to make sure we all could see that consideration, even in small moments like this, because it really didn’t sit well with me, how they left him all alone at the end of season 2. It’s nice to know that at least Trevor is thinking about him and it makes me hope that we will actually get these three back together in season 4. And along those lines, I think it was very interesting, how ultimately, Isaac’s whole goal in this season was to reach Hector. Literally, that’s all he is doing for all 10 episodes, just travelling across continents to find the man who betrayed Dracula... and to make him pay. But damn if I didn’t absolutely love all of his scenes, too? Isaac has really risen to prominence for me with this season. I could never quite get behind him in season 2, but here? I daresay that he might’ve been my favorite part of this season. All of his interactions, with the old collector man, with the Captain, with the FlysEyes, with Miranda, they were all so varied and philosophical. I really loved how the show delved into such heavy topics with him and fleshed out his personality a bit more. Special shoutout to the Captain who was, imo, absolutely amazing. I honestly hope they meet again, I loved their dynamic so much. But even so, he’s always still focused on Hector. Always moving towards Hector. I like that their story continues to play out from where it left off in season 2, with their fates interwoven like this. I do hope that we’ll get to see a confrontation between them eventually, but God, it would be very unsatisfying right now with Hector’s current situation. Which... Jesus, he is in dire straights, isn’t he? I honestly felt so bad for him throughout this entire season. He has been abused and manipulated so horribly through this whole thing. And yes, maybe he came across as a little naive and, well... dumb for trusting Lenore, but... Honestly, with the way he’s been suffering? Clinging onto those few scraps of kindness she throws him is really his only salvation. He has nothing, literally nothing, not even clothes, when the season begins. He’s been travelling with Carmilla for a month and then is immediately thrown in prison when they finally reach Styria. And God, despite all of that, he still has the gumption to try and attack Lenore at first. To try and trick her into a vulnerable position when vulnerability is his new MO. I was proud of him for trying, for keeping that spirit alive within himself despite his horrible circumstances. And watching as Lenore manipulated him further and further was just... so horrible. Honestly, she probably didn’t even need the slave ring at the end. Hector was so desperate for any sort of love and validation that he almost certainly would’ve happily crafted their legions just to make her happy. He has such a soft soul and it’s always being taken advantage of. His story arc was so fuckin sad and I really need better things for him going forward. And speaking of characters who deserve better... Omg, what did they do to Alucard? Seriously, his entire story arc this season was just... highlighting how devastatingly lonely he is and how he’s not coping very well at all with the aftermath of season 2. And I understand, everything that went down last season and everything he was forced to do, it broke him so completely. He hasn’t really... moved on at all from where we last saw him, weeping his heart out for the family he lost. So what does this show do for him? It lets us think he might be able to find a new family, to find happiness... and then it yanks that away from us in the absolutely worst way. Sumi and Taka had a lot of promise. Their backstories, as slaves for an ancient, powerful Japanese vampire, that was very cool. Their quest to find a mentor, someone to teach them the skills they needed to help liberate their home from the hold these vampires have over them, that is a noble goal. And Alucard sees that in them. He sees their potential to do good. I think he honestly sees a little bit of Trevor and Sypha in them, in the way they want to help, to fight against evil, to better the world. And I think they also... give him someone to cling to. Just someone at all to speak with, to share his day with, to be around? He is so lonely, so hurt, grieving and empty and wishing he wasn’t. They offered him a small glimpse of what happiness could look like. And he took it with both hands. He wanted them there and he wanted to help them and God, even when they have him at their mercy and are trying to kill him, he never condemns them. He still sees the good inside of them. And I wonder if he ignores the brokenness inside of them, too, because it’s a mirror to his own? Either way, the whole story arc was absolutely heartbreaking and it kills me to see Alucard so absolutely crushed by the events of his life. He does not deserve this. And I... really need Trevor and Sypha to come back for him. I think he really needs them, now more than ever. The characters are really who I wanted to talk about, y’know? Yes, I love all the plot setup happening; the Cult of Dracula was unsettling and terrifying; Saint Germain and the Infinite Corridor were honestly spectacular? How did they pull that off so convincingly?; Carmilla, Striga, Morana and Lenore were strangely entertaining for me, even though I very much despised the way Carmilla and Lenore in particular treated Hector. They were a weirdly amusing, kickass lady squad and I wouldn’t mind seeing more of them. (Which I most certainly will); Isaac and his growing horde coming for Styria is bound to be amazing!; I’m assuming that Trevor and Sypha will continue learning more about the Cult as the next season goes and will (hopefully!) get Alucard back with them at some point! (God, he needs his friends so much. >_<) I just... There was so much packed into this season and I overall enjoyed it very much. Special shoutout to the absolutely amazing artwork because holy shit! Some of those still were breathtaking! And while some of the fight scenes I thought were a tad... worse than in previous seasons, some of them were real standouts, too! So yeah, I had a lot of thoughts about this! And I really needed to share them! Looking forward to what comes next! ~Veil P.S. Y’all don’t even know how desperately I want “The Pirate of the Roads” to be Grant Danasty. XD (Will he ever show up? Fingers crossed!)

[sinceritygem]

Reasons Trevor and Alucard’s Friendship Matters to Me

Watching this series, Trevor and Alucard’s friendship hit me really hard, not in the least because I realized it’s the dynamic I have with my partner and one of my best friends (I’m Alucard, if anyone is wondering).

The reason that this dynamic resonated so deeply with me is that the series really captures the way that, despite being so different on the surface, these characters are dealing with very similar traumatic experiences. They are able to find companionship specifically because they both have outside status, and that friendship is presented as thoroughly beneficial and healthy inside a show that’s full of darkness:

1. They Get to be Their Full, Flawed Selves

Alucard is a half-vampire with the weight of stopping his dangerous father from destroying the world on his (very young) shoulders. 

Trevor is the only heir to a family of vampire hunters who were both legendary and hunted to extinction, who also feels responsible for stopping Dracula. But everyone hates him. He’s also quite young. 

Both of these men have impossible burdens, and are ostracized by other people who have no real understanding of their experiences. We literally meet Trevor in a bar with other patrons talking about how they want his whole family dead, and we know humans (and his own fucking father) want to kill Alucard.

These two are set up to be diametrically opposed enemies: Alucard is all class and coldness where Trevor is crass fiery chaos. Alucard is an upper crust noble where Trevor is a working knight. They’re literally the Vampire and the Vampire Hunter.  But we never really go there. They are aware of their differences, but when they’re together, they get to be young men. They give each other shit for the way they talk or stupid things they do -- not actual distaste for one another. Their badgering happens because they are safe to be flawed, and safe enough to let the other see who they are. Other than Sypha, neither character lets anyone else in the show remotely this close to them.  When Trevor and Alucard meet, Alucard coldly and aloofly asks if they’re searching for a savior, the larger-than-life role he’s constantly forced into. In return, Trevor shrugs and says he fell down a hole. He doesn’t have this expectation of Alucard, and Alucard is free to meet him as a peer, which he pretty quickly does.  There’s a great follow-up exchange in Season 2: Sypha: Try not to kill each other while I’m gone.  Alucard: Oh, please. We're not children. Trevor: [Pointing at Alucard] Eat shit and die. Alucard: Yes, fuck you.[They both chuckle.] This is the bullshit of friends, not mortal enemies. It’s also the bullshit of late teens or early adults, not two men who have the entire weight of the world on them. Because of their friendship, they get to actually be people. 

2. They Can (Finally) Rely on Someone

Alucard and Trevor have both spent a lot of time alone, and have both been abandoned by family members, emotionally and/or through death. Alucard literally left home and slept for a year, and Trevor roams around getting drunk and starting fights. These are people who expect to be abandoned and disappointed.

But they trust each other. Pretty immediately.

This exchange starts partially out of need. Alucard says, “I need a hunter and a scholar. I need their help to save Wallachia, perhaps the world, and defeat my father.” But it does matter it’s Sypha and Trevor. He appreciates their honesty, and their bluntness. He very quickly appreciates their humor. And it’s mutual. Trevor respects Alucard’s wit, humor, and commitment to his goal.

3. Their Suffering is Understood, But Not Dwelled On

Part of the reason for above is because they have an understanding of shared experience, even if they’ve handled it differently. 

More importantly, they both get what trauma does, and have a respect for each other for having gone through it. Alucard has a line right at the end of Season 1, when the gang is assembling, where Trevor asks why Alucard wants to team up and kill Dracula. Alucard says, “Because it is what my mother would have wanted. And we are all, in the end, slaves to our family's wishes.” This is a huge connection for Trevor, who can see both the humanity (taking a kind action for a loved one) as well as relate to the burden of our family’s wishes, which in his case is passing on the vampire hunter manner. But it’s also more personal than that. There’s a line late in Season 2 where Alucard says, “I’m disturbed to find I had more of a childhood than you did.” Alucard is not coy about how fraught his childhood was, but that also gives him the empathy to actually understand that Trevor had it rough. He isn’t belittling Trevor; he’s actually seeing him. 

These men who have had almost no one support them suddenly have a person who values them as they are and can deeply see what they are experiencing. That’s huge. 

4. They Don’t Have to Worry About the Other One Being Afraid of Them

Alucard and Trevor could both kill each other. They establish that the first time they meet and remind each other of it constantly.

This is actually a trauma response. They’re so used to people leaving, that they’re pushing to see if the other will leave.

This is crucial to their friendship, because the other one doesn’t leave. He’s not even really phased. He just makes a joke and keeps going. This is how they build trust, and it mirrors Lisa’s relationship with Vlad -- one of the clearly healthy dynamics in the show.

We can contrast this with Trevor’s interactions with the Priest and various tavern-goers, who all hate him genuinely and immediately. His pushing away tactics “work” in these cases and get him hated.

Alucard is similarly disliked by the vampire community and we can assume general humans. Worst of all, his own father has actively rejected him. Alucard thus decides to be cold and distant, similarly pushing others away. But in their friendship, they are equals, and they are kept around, even with all their flaws and monstrous ability. They even start to exchange some traits. Trevor thinks things through a little more and isa little more genuine, and Alucard relaxes a little more and engages in some asshole tomfoolery. They begin to let down their defenses. 

5. This Dynamic is Healing Oriented 

The reason this dynamic gets my heart strings going is that IT MATTERS SO DEEPLY. These are two damaged souls fighting an impossible fight, and THEY FOUND SOMEONE WHO RESPECTS THEM AND SEES THEM. Alucard and Trevor don’t ask each other to be different than they are; they use their skills and approaches to try to solve an impossible task, while validating that they want the other one around. They also accept and support that the other person has experienced trauma. 

These are the friendships we deeply need when we’re carrying the weight of things like PTSD, abandonment, neglect, abuse, and other mental health worries. I love Alucard and Trevor because they are such GOOD, HEALTH FRIENDS, even when their own shit is still messy. I absolutely relate to Alucard Tepes, and this show gave me a renewed appreciation for the Trevors in my life. I’m here and as healthy and strong as I am because they saw me and they loved me.

A follow up to “Reasons Alucard Tepes Matters to Me” Here [X]

[lantur]

Castlevania: “The Journey,” Part One

Summary: The story of Trevor and Sypha, post season two. [Part one: Trevor and Sypha reunite with Alucard, Sypha and Alucard have a confidential talk, and Sypha helps Trevor with an issue that's keeping him up at night.]

-

Sypha is the one to kill the last vampire in Braila.

It isn’t her most elegant spell. She simply lights him on fire. When it is over, she sinks to her knees where she stands, in the middle of the dark alley. This hadn’t been a fight on the scale of defeating Dracula’s generals, but her exhaustion is cumulative. That had been one explosive fight. This has been close to a week of combat night after night, flushing out every last vampire in the town.

Trevor comes to her side. He eases her to her feet, supporting her with one hand on her back, and the other on her arm. His hands are gentle and warm. She leans against him, weary to the bone. Maybe it’s just her exhaustion getting the better of her, but she wishes he would never let go. “Hey,” he says. “Are you all right?”

Sypha closes her eyes. “I’m tired,” she says, and she means it, from the bottom of her heart. Not just from the past several nights in Braila, but from the three months before this, of ceaseless travel and combat and tension. “I need to rest.”

“We’re done here,” Trevor replies, eyeing the piles of ash in the alley. “We’ll get you to bed. It’s going to be okay. I’m sure you’ll feel better in the morning.”

“Thanks,” she says.

“Actually,” Trevor adds, as they slowly make their way out of the alley. He’s limping a little, and she resolves to check on the injury later. “You are going to feel better in the morning. You know why?”

Sypha winces, placing a hand to her side. One of the vampires had thrown her hard against a the side of a building, and she’s worried that the rib might be fractured. She’s too worn out to banter with him as they usually do. “Why?”

“Because we are going on a vacation.”

Sypha brightens. “We’re going to see Alucard?”

 “I was thinking more along the lines of those hot springs in Craiova, or that beer festival in Iasi we heard about when we were traveling through last month…” Trevor looks down at her and smiles. “But sure, we can go and see Alucard.”  

She squeezes his arm. “You always know what to say to make me feel better.”

They’re moving slowly, nursing their various injuries, and it takes them more than forty painful minutes to reach their inn, on the outskirts of Braila. They’re both similar degrees of filthy, dusty, and bloody, but they collapse into the narrow bed fully clothed, shoes still on, curled toward each other, and fall asleep within moments.

-

It takes a week of travel from sunrise to sunset to make their way back to the Belmont Hold and Dracula’s castle. For the first time since setting out on their journey after Dracula’s defeat, they travel at a leisurely pace and don’t go seeking trouble. No demons or monsters to vanquish from towns and cities, just the open road.

It is the break Sypha needed. It is nice to have a brief spell of peace and quiet, a respite from bloodshed and injury. Besides, as naturally as magic comes to her, it does drain her energy and physical reserves. This is the first opportunity she has had to recover fully in a long time.

There is just one reason she misses the thrill of the fight. For months - ever since they met, actually - combat against the monstrous night hordes have been a distraction from her travel companion.

Not that Trevor is so insufferable and obnoxious that she needs to be distracted from him. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Sypha has never been prone to crushes. Ever since she was a teenager, she could acknowledge a handsome man with one look, and a brief, clinical observation in her mind that yes, he was attractive. And then she would move on, her mind already occupied with more pressing matters, like a new spell she was studying or creating, or how to modify an old one she had mastered, or her Speaker duties.

She’d only had one real, significant experience with attraction, before. He was a physician in the town of Szolnok. Soft-spoken, kind, passionate about helping the townspeople, and so very intelligent. She had hung onto every word out of his mouth. But she was sixteen, and he was twice her age. When she found out he was engaged to be married, she had cried for the rest of the night and avoided him until the Speakers moved on to their next town. For two months after leaving Szolnok, she had thrown herself into her studies with zealous passion, redirecting every bit of longing she had felt for him into the study of magic.

For four years, Sypha lived in peace, until Trevor Belmont rescued her from a cyclops under the city of Gresit.

It was all downhill from there. She had developed feelings for him, completely by accident, and they had hit her with astonishing force and suddenness. By the time they had spent their first night in the Belmont library, she was already too far gone.

Monsters, demons, and vampires distract her from Trevor’s presence. They distract her from her frustrating, involuntary, ridiculous intrusive thoughts about how he’s feeling today, his voice, his face, his hands, when he smiles, how incredibly brave and determined he is, how smart he can be when he actually makes an effort, how stupidly happy she is just to talk with him and have his company as they travel. Whether they’re trading insults at one another or at the Church, or speculating about what they will encounter in the next village they happen upon and how they can help the people there, or sharing memories and stories of their pasts, or discussing something deeper.

Without the monsters, demons, and vampires, it is just the two of them. Trevor seems relaxed and unbothered. He sleeps more soundly at night than she has ever seen him sleep before, one arm thrown over his face, snoring lightly. Sypha lies awake beside him for a good portion of each night and wonders at the perversity of it all, at how she can be so happy and so filled with hopeless, melancholy longing at the same time.

-

They arrive at Dracula’s castle - Alucard’s castle, now - late on the eighth afternoon of their journey. Trevor and Sypha make their way up the steps of the castle, and Sypha raises her hand to knock politely. Trevor just pulls a knife from a pocket of his cloak and bangs on the door with the handle until Alucard pulls it open.

“I see that Sypha still hasn’t taught you manners,” he says dryly, but the effect is somewhat spoiled by the fact that he is smiling like Sypha has never seen him smile before.

She leaps forward and gives Alucard a hug, and even Trevor manages a companionable pat on his shoulder.

The three of them start talking almost at once and they continue for hours, lingering over a dinner of an enormous roasted chicken, sliced strawberries covered in sugared almonds for dessert, and then drinks. One glass of warm mulled wine for Sypha, a couple of tankards of ale for Alucard, and more than a couple of tankards of beer for Trevor.

She has countless fond memories of nights around the fire with her Speaker caravan. Dinners with Trevor, either huddled around a campfire or shared at some disreputable tavern or another, are more of a treasured part of her daily routine than she would ever admit. But this is comfortable, truly, classically comfortable, in a way that those nights haven’t been. Each of them has a velvet armchair to settle in, not a spot on the ground or a narrow, splintering bench. (Alucard sits upright, like a perfect noble gentleman. Sypha curls her knees to her chest and settles against the back of the chair. Trevor sprawls and slouches in a way that can’t be comfortable, although he looks as content as a cat who has gotten into the cream.) A large fire roars in the hearth, warming her cheeks and hands, and there is no need to retreat into a cloak or blanket for shelter.

“I can’t believe it,” Alucard says, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t believe it if Sypha hadn’t corroborated your story.”

“Your distrust wounds me,” Trevor deadpans, taking a long draft of his beer. “I’m a reliable source all on my own. When have you ever known me to falsify or exaggerate a tale?”

Sypha deliberately looks at the ornate grandfather clock in the corner of the room. “Oh, about fifteen minutes ago. Our prison guards were little more than pimply teenagers. Hardly as menacing as you painted them.”

Alucard laughs, and Trevor halfheartedly tosses a throw pillow at her. “Quiet, you. One of them certainly looked like he had some troll blood in him.”

“Seriously, though,” Alucard says. “I’m surprised that a human acted with such depravity. Dismembering ten townspeople and scattering their limbs about the village. I would have believed it was a werewolf or a demon from the night hordes, as everyone suspected.”

“We thought so at first too. That it would be a simple matter of finding and destroying the creature. It was only after Trevor and I were framed and arrested that we realized that of course a demon or any of the creatures from the night hordes wouldn’t have the ability to do such a thing.” Sypha shrugs. “And then he slipped up. He made a kill outside of the full moon. It was clear we were looking at a human suspect then.”

Trevor does a mock bow. “Another mystery solved by Belmont and Belnades.”

“Belnades and Belmont,” Sypha corrects, and then plunges ahead before Trevor can whine about it. “Tell me everything that you know about werewolves, Alucard. Trevor didn’t remember anything about them being written in the Belmont library. It wasn’t a werewolf this time, but if we ever encounter another situation where we suspect werewolf involvement, we need to know what to do.”

“Trevor doesn’t remember anything about werewolves in the Belmont library due to memory loss from years of gratuitous alcohol abuse,” Alucard replies, straight-faced. “There are three whole volumes on werewolves in the Sara Wing. Bound in werewolf hide, no less. It’s pretty disgusting. At least your ancestors managed to get the wet dog smell out, Belmont.”

“I have had it with the verbal abuse,” Trevor declares, before draining his tankard to the last drop and standing a bit unsteadily. “And the last thing I want to do is talk werewolves before bed. It may give me nightmares. Should we save this for breakfast?”

Sypha is starting to grow tired, after the long day and the heavy meal. It’s been so nice to catch up with Alucard, though, and she isn’t ready to end the night yet. “I’ll stay down here for a while,” she says, looking up at Trevor. “Good night.”

“Night,” he says, turning away and lifting a hand. “Also, fuck you.”

This last is directed to Alucard. Sypha sighs, and Alucard cheerfully gives Trevor’s back the finger. “Don’t get lost,” he calls.

They hear his slow movement out of the sitting room and up the stairs, and then his footsteps fade from earshot. Alucard glances at her. “Does he really get nightmares?” he asks, lowering his voice. “I couldn’t tell whether he was just being Trevor, or being serious.”

“Yes,” Sypha admits, after a moment. “I think we all do. But I think that Trevor’s pre-date ours.”

Alucard’s face settles into the familiar lines of sadness. “Yes,” he says softly. “That makes sense.”

Sypha reaches over and takes his hand. “How have you been?” she asks. “I’ve thought of you every day. Both of us have, really. Neither of us wanted to leave you alone here. I can’t imagine how hard it must be.”

Alucard looks away, but he doesn’t pull back. “It’s been difficult,” he says, after a long while. The light from the fire casts flickering shadows on his face. “I would like to tell you it’s easier every day, but it’s not quite. Some days, some weeks, it is easier every day. Then the next day, I’ll wake up and I’ll see something that triggers a memory of before, and it’ll be four steps back.”

“I’m so sorry,” Sypha whispers, squeezing his hand. She hates feeling so useless, so powerless to help. If there was only a spell she could cast; but this is something even beyond the powers of magic. “Is there anything I can do to help you? If you want to talk, about anything, I will listen.”

Alucard looks back at her, and with effort, he gives her a small smile. “That’s a kind offer,” he says sincerely. But…” he sighs. “I spend enough time with my own thoughts, in my own head. I don’t want to dwell on any of that while I’m in your company…and Trevor’s. I’d rather hear about what’s going on with you.”

He fixes her with a rather perceptive look, then, and Sypha fidgets. “You’ve heard the good stories,” she says. “Although, now that you mention it, I forgot to tell you about this time that Trevor had to pose as a baker in Sebes.”

Alucard raises an eyebrow. “As intriguing as this sounds, that’s not what I was getting at, and you know it.”

Sypha unwittingly channels Trevor and slouches in the armchair guiltily. “I don’t,” she says unconvincingly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Ah, you’re going to make me get embarrassingly specific. What’s going on with you and Belmont?” Alucard asks. “Are you f--”

“No!” Sypha snaps, feeling her face growing hot. “Absolutely not!”

“Okay,” Alucard replies, unfazed. “But you want to be.”

“No!” she protests, and it takes an effort to keep her voice low. The last thing she needs is for Trevor to overhear this conversation. “Not at all! It isn’t like that!”

Alucard rolls his eyes. “Please, Sypha. Don’t insult me by denying it. I’m not blind, or deaf. I see how you two are together. I saw it back when we first found the Belmont library, and you two have been off by yourselves for months now.”

She grabs the pillow that Trevor had tossed at her earlier and squeezes it hard. “Ugh! You’re just as bad as he is!”

Alucard laughs. Sypha groans, burying her face in the pillow and wondering if she could smother herself with it. “Don’t laugh,” she says, muffled by the pillow. “This is embarrassing enough without you rubbing it in.”

“It’s Trevor Belmont you’ve got your eye on. You should be embarrassed.”

Sypha slumps deeper into the pillow. Alucard laughs again, before reaching over and patting her on the shoulder. “I’m just teasing you.”

“I know,” Sypha mumbles, sitting up. She still feels flushed. “There really is nothing going on between us, though. Trevor and I are just friends. As you and I are.”

Alucard looks unconvinced, but he humors her. “You could change that, you know.”

“I think I’ve made my feelings quite clear!” Sypha crosses her arms. “I haven’t been shy or coy about how I feel for him. I haven’t danced around it. I suggested that we travel together, months ago. We walk arm-in-arm, we rest against each other while traveling, we sleep together, literally. And yet--” She bites her lip, fighting a sudden ache in her chest. “Nothing more than that.”

“That’s because Belmont is an idiot. A stone-cold moron. I know you say you haven’t been shy or coy about your feelings, and most normal men would have taken the hint months ago, but again. Belmont is an idiot. You’d probably have to kiss him before he got it.” Alucard rolls his eyes again.”It’s good that that wouldn’t be a problem for a woman as brave as you.”

“I don’t know,” Sypha says quietly, looking into the fire. “I’d be lying to you if I said I hadn’t thought of it. Or been tempted. But - I don’t know.”

Alucard looks at her curiously. “Are you nervous?”

She hears the rest of his sentence, the You’ve fought and defeated the generals of Dracula’s army, and curls into herself defensively. “This - the way I feel for Trevor, the things I feel - it is all very new to me,” she says, making a terse gesture with her hands. “I know that many women my age are mothers. But I have always been more occupied with my studies and with my duties as a Speaker than with boys. Or men.”

 Alucard takes it in. “Ah,” he says, finally understanding. He reaches over and takes her hand in his cool one, and Sypha reluctantly meets his gaze.

“You have nothing to be nervous about,” he says simply. “You remind me of my mother, you know. You’re smart, fearless, determined, passionate, kind, and gifted. And beautiful. That’s clear to anybody who’s spent any time with you, let alone anyone who knows you as Trevor and I do. And Trevor - he’s an idiot, yes. But he knows you, and to know you is to love you. I wouldn’t worry.”

Sypha just looks at him, stunned. Before he can move back, she throws her arms around his shoulders. “Thank you, Alucard,” she whispers.

Alucard pats her on the back. “You can repay me by naming your firstborn after me, no matter how he protests.”

She pulls back, and can’t help but giggle. “We will see.”

Alucard glances at the clock in the corner of the room and winces. “I’ve kept you up way too late,” he says. “I forget that humans need to sleep more than I do. I’m sorry. It’s almost one. Do you want me to walk you back to your room, or do you remember where it is?”

“I remember.” Sypha stands, gathering her blue Speaker cloak from the armchair. She reaches down, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Good night.”

“See you in the morning.”

Sypha makes her way up the grand staircase, shaking out her cloak and wrapping it around her. There’s a chill in the air away from the fire, and her heart aches to think of Alucard wandering this great castle all alone. If she could just find a spell to conceal this place from others’ eyes, and lock the studies and the laboratories and the libraries away from plunderers, then he could travel with her and Trevor. It will be much better for him to have their company all the time, instead of once every few months. Besides, It had been nice to confide in Alucard, to speak her mind openly.

She had loved her Speakers as members of her family, but that being said, there had been no one her age that she had been able to bond with like she had with Trevor and Alucard. It’s a strange thing, to love people but still not quite be able to call them friends, she reflects. Before Trevor and Alucard, the only person she had ever truly confided in, sharing her feelings honestly, was her grandfather.

There’s a light on in the small library in the guest suite, down the hall from her room and Trevor’s. Sypha glances in as she passes, expecting that Alucard must have left it on earlier in the day. She stops dead when she sees Trevor, slouched in an armchair near the lamp, absorbed in a book.

He must have noticed her, because he stops reading and looks over at the entrance. “Hey,” he says.

“Hey yourself,” Sypha replies nonchalantly, masking a moment of inward panic. There is no way that he could have heard her conversation with Alucard, right? They had kept their voices down. “I thought you were tired?”

“I was. Am.” He carefully marks his page with the black satin bookmark. “Bedroom’s weird, though. I couldn’t get comfortable. I checked out yours, too, to see if I’d have better luck there. Same thing.”  

Sypha frowns. That seems hard to believe. “I’ve seen you sleep like a baby while sharing a stall with livestock in barns,” she says. “What’s wrong with the rooms?”

“See for yourself,” Trevor says. He stands and yawns, before tucking the book under his arm and proceeding out of the library.

Sypha follows, after extinguishing the lamp. “For the record, I resent that you thought of stealing my room.”

“Turnabout is fair play, and all that.” He looks back at her and smirks. “I don’t complain when you steal the blankets at night.”

“I do no such thing!”

Trevor had left the door to his guest room ajar, and he pushes it open, leading her in. The only illumination comes from the fire in the hearth, but that is enough. He gestures expansively at their surroundings. “Yours is the same.”

Sypha takes it in, wide-eyed. It’s a little surreal. The bed is simply massive, covered with not one or two blankets but three, in varying shades of dark blue and gray, and to call them simply blankets would be a disservice. Blankets as she knows them are rough, plain, homespun. She slips her boots off and pads across the room, her feet sinking into the impossibly thick, plush rug that covers the stone floor. She reaches out and brushes her palm across the top blanket. It is incredibly soft and sleek, but heavy at the same time. Just one of them would be more than enough to warm her, and she can’t help but think back to all the nights outside where she’s shivered under three thin blankets.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” she says wonderingly. This is even softer than rabbit’s fur. “I’ve heard of it, though. Is this velvet?”

“Yeah, it is.” Trevor comes to stand beside her. He’s very close, and he leans down and presses his palm into the blanket, next to hers. His hand dwarfs hers. “Sit down. Or lie down.”

Sypha settles onto the bed, feeling rather conscious of his presence, but even that can’t distract her from the next shock. “Oh!” she exclaims, startled. It’s like she’s sinking. “It’s like what I thought a cloud would feel like, when I was little.”

Trevor sits beside her. “That’s a good way to put it.”

Sypha stretches her arms out, still feeling a little bemused by the way the bed seems to contour to her body. It’s so soft, so pliant. “What don’t you like about this?” she asks. “It’s very comfortable. It’s more than comfortable, really. This is the definition of luxury.”

“It’s too comfortable.” He grimaces. “It’s too much.”

She sits up. “Explain?”

Trevor shrugs one shoulder. “I’m not used to this,” he says shortly. “I’m used to the ground, sleeping underneath my cloak. Or on a hard bed in some inn. That’s been my life for the past ten years.” He looks at her out of the corner of his eye. “Remember how on edge you were, the first time we slept in an inn? You said you missed looking up to see the moon and the stars. You felt trapped.”

Sypha nods. “I remember.”

He opens his mouth as if to say something, and then falls into a brooding silence. Sypha nudges him. “Hey,” she says. “Is there something else that’s bothering you?”

Trevor sighs, running a hand through his already-disheveled hair. “The last time I slept in a room like this was the night before the mob came for my family,” he says, finally, and she notices the pronounced dark circles under his eyes. “My room, when I was a kid - it looked kind of like this. It felt like this. With the blue velvet blankets and everything. I lay down tonight and I tried to sleep and I just…I couldn’t.”

She embraces him without hesitation. “I’m so sorry, Trevor.”

He rests his chin on the top of her head, and places a hand on her back. “That last night, I think I fell asleep excited about some hunting trip my dad was going to take me on the next day,” he says. He sounds so far away. “I had no idea. No fucking idea.”

Sypha pulls back and looks at him, before resting a gentle hand against his cheek. “There’s nothing worse than thinking about the moment before everything changed,” she says. “ And remembering the person who you were before that moment. In that last night when everything was still normal.”

“Isn’t that the fucking truth,” Trevor replies bitterly. To her surprise, he takes her hand, resting it between both of his own. “What was that moment for you? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Sypha swallows over the lump in her throat. “It’s all right,” she says. “I remember the last real conversation I had with my parents, before they sickened with the plague. We argued because they felt I was studying magics that were too advanced for me. They were dead within the week.”

He puts an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close. “Fuck God,” he says, with his usual succinctness. “That’s awful. I’m sorry.”

Sypha wipes at the corner of her eyes discreetly. “I agree. Though…”

“What is it?”

“You know that I am not religious,” she says, looking up at him. “But one could argue that the God who so cruelly orphaned you and I, and Alucard, is the same one who led the three of us to find one another.”

“You’re such an optimist,” Trevor grumbles. “Such a ray of sunshine. It’s a little obnoxious.”

She can’t help but smile at hearing him sound more like his usual self. She rises, grabbing a pillow from the head of the bed. “Yes, well, now that I think of it, I have a solution for your little bedroom problem.”

Trevor coughs. “Can you not call it that?”

“If the shoe fits…” Sypha tugs at the top blanket until he moves, and pulls it off the bed. It’s incredibly heavy in her arms, and trails against the ground. “Don’t just stand there and stare. Make yourself useful and take the other pillow.”

“I’m not even going to ask.” Trevor does as she says, and follows her as she makes her way out of the room.

She leads him back to the library, and unceremoniously deposits the pillow and blanket on the large rug in front of the bookshelf. She kneels, straightening the arrangement. “Give me the other pillow.”

He hands it to her, and Sypha looks at her handiwork, pleased. “There you go,” she says. “Now you have a hard floor to sleep on. I brought the blanket because there’s no fireplace in here, but I figured that you can use your cloak as your primary blanket so it feels more familiar.”

Trevor looks at her with an unreadable expression, which is a little unusual. Normally he’s clearly either disgruntled, determined, content, hungry, or troubled, with the occasional contemplative or thoughtful look sprinkled in. “Thank you,” he says.

Sypha wills herself to keep from blushing. “I just wanted you to sleep well. You snipe at poor Alucard so much more when you’re tired.”

Trevor snorts. “Poor Alucard, my ass.” He settles down on the floor, stretching out with a sigh and looking much more comfortable. He closes his eyes, and then cracks one open to look at her. “Well, are you coming to sleep or not? You snipe at poor me so much more when you’re tired.”

“Oh, I--” Sypha starts, flustered. They sleep together outside to stay warm, and they share a bed when they stay at inns because they can only ever afford one room and neither of them is going to sleep on the floor. But she has a perfectly serviceable room here, but now that she thinks about it, maybe it would feel strange to sleep away from Trevor after months of sleeping beside him. She’s surprised he even asked, and he’s looking at her expectantly.

“I thought you didn’t like how I supposedly steal blankets,” she manages to recover, settling down beside him as casually as she can. Trevor offers her a portion of his cloak, and she pulls the velvet blanket over both of them.  

“I don’t. But the way you talk in your sleep kind of helps me fall asleep. Distracts me from the internal monologue of the grim business of saving Wallachia from the forces of evil, and all that.”

“Happy to be of service.”

They rest in companionable silence for a while. Trevor’s presence is as warm, solid, and reassuring at her side as it always is, and Sypha is on the verge of falling asleep when he speaks.

“You always are,” he says. “I don’t tell you this enough, Sypha, but you’re a great friend. The best I’ve ever had.”

Maybe not quite the words she dreams of hearing, but they warm her heart nevertheless. She turns her head to the side, resting it against his shoulder. “So are you, Trevor.”

Trevor places his hand on hers, another surprise, and she drifts off to sleep with a small smile on her face.

-

to be continued

-

[atundratoadstool]

atundratoadstool’s 10-point Rating Scale for How Dangerous Your Old Timey Fictional Science Is

1 - John Watson (Sherlock Holmes stories): You are 110% sane, nice, and not doing anything awful. You might even be reining in the awfulness of your douchey roommate now and again; maybe he'll chill out now that he's off the coke.

2 - Jack Seward (Dracula): You sometimes sort of want to do some really unethical human experiments involving feeding live kittens to people, but then vampires happen and you drop that idea.

3 - Giacomo Rappaccini (“Rappaccini’s Daughter”): Hey. You know what's a great idea? Making people poisonous... like plants! Now you can just make a poisonous-plant-daughter and not have to worry about her dating. Wait. No. That's dumb. Your bad.

4 - Victor Frankenstein (Frankenstein): You dropped out of college your freshman year to build a 7' ugly corpsebaby. Your intentions weren't malevolent, but you were woefully unprepared for fatherhood and your complete lack of parental responsibility had some serious consequences.

5 - Griffin (The Invisible Man): You're kind of a dick. Actually, you're really a dick. An invisible dick. If you were only a competent invisible dick, you might be able to enact your plans for terroristic, murderous world domination. As it stands, however, your propensity for murder is limited by how hungry, cold, naked, and unable to afford rent you are.

6 - Henry Jekyll (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde): You're like the guy who is a great person most of the time but becomes an abusive psychopath when he's had too many beers. This wouldn't be so bad if you hadn't made and continually imbibed the ultimate "too many beers" potion.

7 - Herbert West (Herbert West: Re-Animator): You think there was a noble motive in all this somewhere, but it seems to have gotten somewhat distorted over all the years of you and your boyfriend digging up corpses and letting them turn into rampaging crazy murder zombies.

8 - Sidney Atherton (The Beetle): You're just a guy, trying to get a girl's attention, making an unstoppable death gas to further the murderous colonial mission of the British Empire in your spare time. Nobody seems to actually notice that you are a looming danger to all mankind because they're too worried about suspicious foreigners.

9 - Dr. Moreau (The Island of Dr. Moreau): You cut up animals until they're people and then make them participate in weird people-animal cultic indoctrination as you megalomaniacally reign over them like a God. Maybe if you could actually make some people-people friends, this wouldn't have happened.

10 - Dr. Raymond (The Great God Pan): Orphans you raise belong to you, and it's chill to use them as subjects for neurological experiments to break the veil between our world and that of the unspeakable gods of the deep.

[mekkababble]

The Castlevania Season 2 drinking game!

Designed to get you good and drunk, unless you're playing with soda/juice then it's designed to get you good and fat. Note: This game goes best with a heavy red wine resembling blood.

I. Trevor, Sypha, Alucard

1. There's sexual tension between Trevor and Sypha

Bonus sips if:

      - Alucard comments about it

      -There's implied angry sex 

      -Angry sex happens in a room of sleeping Speakers 

2. Someone abuses an animal, Sypha rescues it

3. Sypha is accused of being a prostitue for traveling with two men

4. Alucard criticizes Trevor for drinking too much

Bonus sips if:

        - Alucard then saves Trevor from a bar fight

        - Trevor is ungrateful 

        - Trevor keeps drinking anyways

5. Trevor saves Alucard from a mob of villagers who see he's a vampire 

Bonus sips if:

        - Alucard is ungrateful 

6. Sypha complains about traveling with two puerile companions 

7. Alucard turns into a wolf

8. Sypha learns to use lightning 

Bonus sips if:

        - Sypha uses her magic to set Trevor’s whip on fire. Then they fight demons with a fire whip and it’s awesome.

9. Either Trevor, Sypha, or Alucard gets emo about his/her past. (Warning: keep your sips small for this one).

10. Someone cries (Including you)

11. Alucard is the doctor of the group. 

Bonus sips if:

         - He never uses that knowledge on himself

         - He is healed by drinking blood

Finish your drink if:

         - Trevor references Leon Belmont as an ancestor

II. On the Road

1. The trio travels through a haunted forest.

2. The trio passes through Lupu

Bonus sips if:

       - They meet someone related to Lisa

       - They recognize Alucard

3. They cross a river/lake

Bonus sips if:

        - Alucard can’t swim

        - Unless he’s a wolf

4. Dracula’s castle is right over the site of Lisa’s death.

5. The goat keeper Bosha makes a guest appearance. 

Finish your drink if:

       - They meet Bosha’s goat

Squeeze lemon juice in your eyes if:

       - They meet the guy fucking Bosha’s goat

Enter: Castle Dracula

1. Wall chicken  

Bonus sips if:

         - It's literally a chicken sitting on a wall and is referred to as ‘a wall chicken’

         - Trevor doesn't question it and eats. The others question Trevor's judgement

         - It’s raw meat that Sypha cooks for everyone to eat

2. Something falls out of a candle

Bonus sips if:

         - Trevor gets excited 

         - Trevor explains ‘'this is normal”

3. Vampire Killer upgrade!

Bonus sips if:

         - The Vampire Killer upgrade is from a candle 

4. Spikes nearly kill one of the trio

5. Bottomless pit. Enough said. 

6. The castle has a cathedral

Bonus sips if:

         - It’s overseen by the Bishop

7. Alucard finds a familiar

8. Subweapon appearance! 

Bonus sips if:

        - The cross is useless

Finish your drink if:

        - Dracula changes form at any point

Dracula Minions (see also: Give me Grant or give me Death)

1. Possessed Grant

Bonus sips if:

         - Grant joins the Dracula hunting trifecta for at least an episode

         - He then leaves to clean up Wallachia

         - He’s a merchant instead of a pirate

         - He complains in some way that the Ottomans make his job hard/impossible

         - Turns out Grant is of noble lineage

2. Succubus

3. Olrox

4. Frankenstein

5. Medusa Heads

Bonus sips if:

          - Trevor complains that Medusa Heads are the most obnoxious enemy he’s ever fought

6. DEATH

7. Skeletons

8. A crow

9. Bats

10. Mermen

11. A nude woman in any form

12. A minion sympathetic to the heroes

Doesn’t count if:

         - That monster is Grant

Finish your drink:

         - THE BISHOP IS THE DARK PRIEST SHAFT

What did I miss?

@castlevania-gallery @textsfromcastlevania @frederator-studios @warrenellis @samueldeats

[inkognito97]

What happens next in the Dracula with tahl and quigon's dinner? With quigon and tahl both ending up drunk from the wine and ending up in bed?

Dinner was a very tense affair. The honey skinned human female kept sending her host distrustful look and every attempt to start a conversation on his part, were quickly squashed to nothingness. It was clear that the female wanted nothing more than to return, probably home or preferably as far away from the estate and Qui-Gon as possible.

But Qui-Gon would not be Qui-Gon, if he did not have a few ideas up his sleeve. Sadly, the plan to get her drunk enough that she would open up and would perhaps even let herself talk into throwing away her bracelet, was for naught. The female outright refused the expensive wine. Qui-Gon suspected it was not the thought of getting drunk, but the fear that it might actually be blood. He scoffed at the thought. He may be a vampire, but he was no monster. 

“I hope everything was to your appetite, my Lady,” he wore his most charming smile, the one that could easily break a ton of hearts.

“Yes,” she nodded stiffly, “my compliments to the kitchen.” She folded her hands before her.

Qui-Gon hummed, his eyes resting on the female longer than was strictly necessary. “I am glad to hear it.” 

“Well my Lord, I adhered to my part of the… agreement,” he did notice the hesitation at the word ‘agreement’ and the male vampire had to hide a smile, “and I am sure that you are a very busy man, which is why I should probably take my leave.”

“Ah, but the even is still young, my dear and surely you would not want to leave without having seen the rest of my humble home.”

“Humble is hardly the word I would use to describe it,” from the shock that appeared on her features for the briefest of seconds, it was clear that she had not intended to say that out loud.

Qui-Gon threw his head back and laughed. “No, perhaps not. Though if you were to ask my father, he would have a hundred and one arguments against you.” He stood up and the chair he had previously sat upon, screeched over the floor. “Allow me the honor to show you the garden at least, my lady.”

Tahl had noticed that the male vampire had been about to hold out his hand, no doubt to help her stand and to guide her at his arm. But he had pulled it back. Also, she remembered his reaction upon actually touching her and the honey skinned female was glad for her fellow villagers. The charms were working, the question remained, for how long.

Tahl followed her host, walking to his left with at least two steps between them at all times. She knew that the charms were working and causing him pain, whenever he touched her, but she feared what he might do to break the spells. Surely he knew of ways to kill her and get what he wanted one way or the other. And what else could he want, but her blood.

The female winced inwardly. She had heard tails and storied that vampires were drawn to the scent of virgin blood, like a moth to the light, but she had not wanted to believe such stories. Now, she regretted that she had not listened. She had wanted to safe herself for her husband, but she may never have one, if her fears were correct and the vampire beside her, truly wanted her.

“You are afraid,” the deep baritone voice startled Tahl out of her thoughts. With wide eyes, she looked at the tall male, whose head was tilted slightly askew, while he was observing her.

“I am most certainly not,” she protested.

“There is no shame in admitting that you are,” he turned his gaze forward again, his eyes growing distant. “Every being has fears, some more, some less.”

“I can hardly believe that a vampire has to fear anything,” she snapped.

“I wish that were so,” he quickly glanced her way. “I am afraid of a lot of things. I am afraid that my father will die and leave me alone, I am afraid that one day, I will be homeless and without a family again… and I am afraid of cockroaches… nasty little beasts.” He shuddered at the memory that arose.

Tahl looked in wonder at the vampire. She did not know many men that were willingly and openly telling someone about their fears. The men she knew, all pretended to be fearless and brave. She knew better.

With a sigh, the female with the gold-green striped eyes, came to a halt. Qui-Gon took two more steps, before turning around, raising one of his elegant eyebrows. “I don’t understand what you want from me. Is it something I have done, have I angered you?”

Surprise was visible on his bearded features. “What would make you think that.”

“A mere village maiden as a guest in the count’s house?” she shook her head.

There was something in his deep midnight blue eyes that she could not place. “What are you implying?”

Was he just pretending to not know. “My Lord, I do not know, what I did to offend you. I just beg of you to leave my family in peace. If it is my blood that you seek, at least be so kind to take it quickly and to spare me the pain and the torture of ignorance.” She stood proudly, with her chin raised high.

A moment passed in silence. The vampire’s face was rid of all emotions, but then he closed his eyes and scoffed. It was a sound without any humor in it. When Qui-Gon opened his eyes again, there were blood red.

“Despite the village’s believes, I am no monster. I won’t deny that my father committed terrible crimes in the past, but be assured that I had nothing to do with them.” He was getting closer and Tahl found herself unable to move. “If it was your blood that I had wanted, I would have drained you in front of the people, why wait?”

“I…” she stuttered, but the tall male was standing right in front of her now, towering over her.

He grabbed her wrist, the one with the enchanted bracelet. “I have shown you my hospitality and this,” he gestured with her arm, “is how you repay me, with hurting me, with covering yourself in incense, fully knowing that I cannot stand the stench of it. Now tell me, my Lady, who of us is torturing who?”

He let go of her and his eyes slowly returned to their normal color. Tahl caught a brief glance at the palm of his hand that looked as if he had burned himself. She knew that those marks had not been there previously, not before he had touched her. 

A shiver ran down her spine. She was the one in the wrong. “Forgive me,” she bowed her head. “It was not my intention.”

Qui-Gon did not reply immediately. When he did, he had moved away, his voice was cold and rid of all the previous charm and warmness. “It is getting late. You might want to return to your village, before the monsters come out of their hiding places.” His footsteps grew more distant.

In alarm, did the honey skinned female look out of the nearest window. The sun was almost completely gone behind the horizon, it wouldn’t be long till it was completely dark. She would never make it home in time. The night was dangerous, murdered, thieves, rapists, vampires, werewolves and other creatures of the dark awakened then. Something told her that she would not make it home unscathed or alive.

“Please, my Lord,” she ran in her uncomfortable shoes to catch up with the noble man. “Please, do not send me out in the dark. I beg of you.”

He looked down at her. “You would prefer to spend the night here, where my father and I reside, instead of travelling home?” he asked. 

“My Lord,” her voice trembled, panic had gripped her heart. She remembered what had happend to her best friend, who had ignored curfew. They had found her abused and gutted the next morning. “Please.”

She wanted to reach out, but he evaded her touch. Affter hat seemed to the distressed female like an eternity, he finally answered, “Very well. I will lead you to your room.”

“My Lord, I don’t know how I can ever repay you,” she did not even notice her bad choice of words until it was too late.

But the vampire surprised her once more. “Wash yourself and clean that stench off of your skin,” he replied.

“I will,” she vowed. Seemingly satisfied with the answer, the vampire turned to walk along the corridor again and Tahl was left to wonder, what the hell was going on exactly.