goneforawalk: (don't you know every little thing)
alucard. ([personal profile] goneforawalk) wrote2019-01-18 05:49 pm

duplicity inbox.



AUDIO→VIDEO→TEXT→ACTION
saintguillotine: (This is why I am going to shake the heav)

[personal profile] saintguillotine 2019-07-26 01:07 am (UTC)(link)
I'm still going to advise against touching it. Everyone's coffin may not function the same.

[He expects it's a very full coffin. Merely touching it might be enough to compel whatever is inside to crawl out.

Despite it making little difference to what he can see, he brings the screen closer at the gunshot. Whatever Alucard just shot, it sounded- feral, which is about what you'd expect, in this altered Duplicity.]


You can leave a notice there as well, if you've some paper on hand. Though I suspect it'd just make the curiosity greater for some.

Once you're done there, we can meet at-

[He falls abruptly silent, glancing off screen.]

...Hang on, I think- someones calling me.

[If Alucard listens close enough, he might be able to make out a muffled plea for help, so faint as to almost be inaudible. But Anderson seems to hear it well enough: Father! Father! Help me! He walks blindly toward it, passing trees and seemingly empty, frozen-over lakes.]
saintguillotine: (Wounding strokes are good medicine)

[personal profile] saintguillotine 2019-07-26 03:23 am (UTC)(link)
I'm...

[There's a distracted quality to the glance he gives his surroundings. The landscape has changed enough that it's difficult to pinpoint an exact location.]

Well, I know I'm in the Up, and I know I'm among the Solace trees, but I couldn't tell you where among them I am- I'm coming. Where are you?

[He's not addressing Alucard, clearly. The voice steadily grows in volume, but it's no less muffled, and it has a wet, garbling quality that makes Anderson fall still, his eyes dropping to the edge of a pool.]

There's people under the ice.

[He states this a-matter-of-factly, drawing out a bayonet. It's far from the worst thing he's seen today.

New voices rise up from beneath the ice, and muffled as they are, it's hard to apply an identity to any of them, but he knows they're familiar. He leans close and strains to listen, and he can just about make out the original among the mass of pleas:

"Father! Father! Help me! Don't let me die here!"

He takes a sharp breath.]


Maxwell?
saintguillotine: (My hope of safety vanishes like a cloud)

[personal profile] saintguillotine 2019-07-26 04:41 am (UTC)(link)
[He knows, logically, it probably is a trick; they are in some sort of hell, after all, and it seems to play on ones weaknesses, but he can't help but hesitate at the sound of Maxwell.]

Integra's here. There's no reason Maxwell couldn't have been among the new arrivals as well.

[It's a fair possibility, isn't it? He didn't notice Integra during orientation, so perhaps he passed over Maxwell as well.

He doesn't get any closer to the ice, but he stares at it, transfixed, trying to make out the bodies that periodically thump against the surface. There's a spiderweb of cracks developing under their hands. He can see nails scraping at the ice, cracking against it, bleeding.]


He'll die if it isn't a trick, Alucard, and I don't know if we come back this time, in this place. [Maxwell's already paid the price for his sins. If he's here, then Anderson wants to help him.] It's some sort of- perdition, I'd rather be certain-

[He's wrong, of course, because the moment his attention is diverted from the pool, a hand snakes out of the ice and snaps around his ankle. That would have been easy enough to kick off on its own, except there's more, hundreds of hands rising from the ice and groping at him, seeking to drag him down into the water. The device slips free of his fingers as he wrenches himself back, raising his bayonet above his head with the intent of slicing himself free. But cold, clammy hands curl around his face and the shock of who they belong to, of Maxwell's snarling, pallid face coming into view, renders him momentarily still.

"We're the earthly agents of divine punishment. You taught us that, Father, to kill the heathens, kill the heretics, kill the monsters; I only ever did what you taught me, and you killed me for it."

A small, feminine hand curls around the handle of his bayonet, and he finds himself struggling to bring it down as Yumie climbs onto him and wraps her arms around him, holding him close.

"You left us. You left me." Her fingers gradually manage to wrench the weapon away, throwing it out of reach. "You weren't there to save me when the butler came. It's cold, Father, in limbo. It's so cold and I miss Heinkel."

The hands claw into his clothes, into his skin, and by the time his mind has kicked back into gear he's already being dragged steadily toward the water. He turns and attempts to wrench himself free, but there's too many of them, much too many to be able to untangle himself. His groping fingers simply catch uselessly on air and ice. He recognises the faces and voices, now: his students, and they whisper cold, damning things in his ear.

He's going to die here, he thinks.

And he deserves it.]
saintguillotine: (You are less than nothingness)

[personal profile] saintguillotine 2019-07-26 05:45 am (UTC)(link)
[The chill of the water pervades his entire body the moment he touches it. He feels it right down to his bones, like there's ice developing in his marrow. And the further he descends, the harder it get to struggle, and every breath comes rasping out of a throat rubbed raw by the frost. Alucard's hand is warm, comparatively, when it wraps around his, and he digs his fingers into as hard as he can as he's hauled back toward the earth.

"No, don't take him! Not again!" Yumie shouts, and she pulls and buries herself against him, but it doesn't do her any good: once the arms come out, it's all over for the beings dwelling in the pool. He's heaved beyond the point they can cross and when they recognise their failure, they descend back into the water, their voices shrill and angry.

It's not quiet when he collapses against Alucard, shivering violently, but his voice is still audible over the noise.]


Sorry, I'm sorry.

[As he presses his forehead against Alucard's chest, there isn't a hint of warmth to be felt. His heartbeat is slow, sluggish, and his breaths are chilled enough that they aren't misting the air. He thoughtlessly burrows against him, seeking the warmth of his dry clothes.]

Cold.

[So cold, and it's getting harder and harder to focus beyond it.]
saintguillotine: (Unleash the fury of your wrath)

[personal profile] saintguillotine 2019-07-26 06:17 am (UTC)(link)
[His limbs are stiff and numb, difficult to manoeuvre, but he's nothing if not resilient: he manages hobble along despite his condition. It's slow going, though, so when Alucard starts to haul him through the trees, he doesn't protest the manhandling.]

Not that easy to kill.

[When he speaks, his voice is slurred and his tongue feels big and heavy in his mouth. He might have a little too much confidence, considering.

The air rapidly starts to warm once they're beyond the trees, but he continues to shiver with the same intensity. Ideally, he could curl under some blankets until the chill subsides, but since they don't have that luxury here, they'll just have to make do with the more unconventional offerings of the city.]


Beach.

[It shouldn't be hard to warm up there, considering the entire ocean is magma.]
saintguillotine: (Thus heaven and earth were completed)

[personal profile] saintguillotine 2019-07-26 07:23 am (UTC)(link)
[Anderson's head is drooping by the time they reach the beach. He's arrived the tired stage of hypothermia, but he forces his eyes open, keeps himself alert, because he knows the last thing you want to do when suffering hypothermia is go to sleep.

The hot sand is pleasant, so he slowly descends to it- perhaps not entirely deliberately, since his legs are numb and weak right now.

His wet clothes aren't helping matters. They're just keeping the cold insulated. He manages to shrug off the cassock easy enough, but the rest proves difficult for his stiff-fingers, and he ends up having to make a vague gesture for assistance.]


Livid, as far down as where shame appears, were the... disconsolate shades within the ice... [His voice is a listless mumble.] Setting their teeth unto the note of storks. [He blinks blearily at Alucard.] The level in which Judas Iscariot resides.

[Seems appropriate, doesn't it?]
saintguillotine: (Do not let your anger lead you into sin)

[personal profile] saintguillotine 2019-07-26 08:02 am (UTC)(link)
I don't think anyone is... quite on the same level as Judas.

[That isn't him saying he doesn't belong in Treachery, though. Perhaps he does for his divergence from God's word, and for Maxwell, and for Yumie- Yumie, who brings a grimace to his face when he thinks of her.

He tugs Alucard's coat tight around him, and he feels strangely small, sitting there half-naked in the sand, his knees pulled up to his chest.]


I've seen some creatures running amok. I'd assumed they were just... just part of the landscape, rather than escapees.

[Which is a reasonable conclusion to come to.] Surprised they went after you. There's not enough meat on you to make a worthwhile meal. [It's an attempt at humour, but it falls rather flat under his listless speech, and it isn't helped by him continuing on with:] Was it lying? About Yumie. Yumiko.

[This is perhaps not the best time, but he has to ask. He has to know. He won't be able to think of anything else if he doesn't have an answer.]
saintguillotine: (my heart is ready; my heart is ready God)

[personal profile] saintguillotine 2019-07-27 01:41 am (UTC)(link)
[He falls silent and very still as Alucard answers. It isn't easy to hear, but it is something he should hear. He thinks so, anyway; maybe he's just trying to punish himself for his failings, because the apparitions were right- Yumie and Maxwell would be alive if he had been better, and Heinkel's alone because he wasn't good enough. Even with God's power, he wasn't good enough. He drained himself for nothing.

He'd spent the last several months trying not to acknowledge all that was lost in London. But it's weighing on him, now, impossible to ignore.]


You were right. But I appreciate you telling me now, all the same.

[He leans his face into his knees, quiet for a long moment. The shaking steadily subsides. He's warming up.]

God himself will lead you; he will be with you; he will not fail you or desert you. Have no fear, do not be alarmed. [He mumbles, as though trying to reassure himself.] Put your hope in God, be strong, let your heart be bold, put your hope in God. [After another pause, he raises his eyes to Alucard.] I have never asked anything of God, not even mercy. But I feel empty, and alone.

[This all had to come to a head, eventually. He couldn't deny what he'd lost forever.]
Edited 2019-07-27 01:47 (UTC)
saintguillotine: (Do not let your anger lead you into sin)

[personal profile] saintguillotine 2019-07-27 02:32 am (UTC)(link)
[He nods slowly to Alucard's words, his chin brushing his knees. He's at perhaps his lowest point, but he won't abandon his beliefs. In the end, it's his own failings that led to his defeat, to his losses, not God's; he's simply... struggling, right now, to feel the presence of God with him, and it's hard for a man who has felt it so strongly throughout his life.]

No, I... I won't run. It's not His failings that brought me here- it's mine, and as alone and empty as I feel, I can't blame Him for them. Draining myself dry in His name would mean even less, if I ran now.

[He runs his fingers under his glasses, startling at finding moisture there. It's been a long time since he's cried, really cried, rather than simply becoming misty-eyed, or shedding tears in a moment of profound pleasure. The tears that do come are gentle, absent of any trembling or a tightening throat.

Slipping the glasses off, he catches the tears on a palm.]


I'll press on. I'll find a way to.

[He always does, even under the worst of circumstances.]
saintguillotine: (Stealing the light from evil-doers)

[personal profile] saintguillotine 2019-07-27 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
[What Alucard says is exactly what he needed to hear. He's quiet for a moment, thinking, leaning absentmindedly into the hand on his neck.]

I suppose six hundred years of life have given you some wisdom.

[It wasn't enough that he still had people dependent on him, last time. He'd run. In the opposite direction Alucard had when Alucard had been given the choice of discarding his humanity, but he'd run all the same, sought to turn himself into something that couldn't feel and couldn't hurt. This time, when he says he won't run, he means it: he won't destroy himself, he won't abandon those who need him.

He nods to Alucard's words. Before leaving Duplicity, he'll make sure those who rely on him have what they need. That'll be his reason for going on.

And Alucard- Alucard, too, will be part of that reason.]


That is something of a feat.

[He smiles a little, at that, moving to curl his fingers over the ones splayed across his neck.

There's a little more colour to his face. Some pink around his nose and along his cheekbones, courtesy of the tears. And they still come, but they're slower, now.]


When you were lost, I... [There's a beat of silence while he collects his thoughts.] Wish there had been someone there for you, as you are here for me, right now. But I suppose it'll have to be one of those 'better late than never' situations.
saintguillotine: (Set me like a seal on your heart)

[personal profile] saintguillotine 2019-07-27 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
[Perhaps he should be opposed to having a being who has the potential to burn when on consecrated grounds enter his church, but he isn't. He's just grateful.]

Well, I'm eager to find out, for one.

[It's a light, playful comment. The despondency has eased some, and when Alucard continues, his words make Anderson's throat tighten and his breaths come hitching for an altogether different reason.

He would have gladly been that person. He would have been happy, to be the reason Alucard - Vlad - persisted as a human, perhaps even met peacefully with death. He would have been content, to be such a profound presence in his life.

Maybe he can't give Alucard that now, but, God, he wants to try for something close.

It's thoughtless, when he leans forward and kisses him. Gently, fondly, and perhaps a little wet, but warm, now that the hypothermia has receded.]


We're both estranged from people, at large, but this- it's enough that you haven't turned me away, upon seeing this, and know that I would have been that for you, and that I would be that now. [He speaks against his lips, voice barely audible.] I'm glad it's you.

[And he finds that he's entirely sincere. He can't imagine it being anyone else.]
saintguillotine: (Sombre I go yet no one comforts me)

[personal profile] saintguillotine 2019-07-27 06:17 am (UTC)(link)
[One of his hands slips to Alucard's waist when Alucard clutches at him, holding him gently and easily while they indulge in each other. It would be so easy to succumb to his own fervent, aching need; it fills him so completely that he could drown in it, but he recognises the depths of it and-

Is it really Alucard who needs to make a confession?]


The state of affairs are unusual enough that I think I can give the delay a pass.

[He leans his face into Alucard's neck. His mind is a-whirr with thoughts, but he still takes the time to listen.

It's a slow, clawing realisation, what exactly this desperate need signifies, why Alucard's words mean so much to him, why he's enough to soothe the ache of loss and failure, and why he's so discontent with Integra's presence. He wants Alucard in a way he shouldn't, in a way Alucard can't reciprocate. In a way Integra already has already earned, occupying a space Anderson will never have access to. He isn't Alucard's grounding force, in the end.

He presses himself close to Alucard.]


You're going to need to perform a lot of penance for that, I'm afraid. Conveniently, we seem to be in hell, so killing a few of those tomb-dwellers should suffice as a start.

[The weight of everything drops against his shoulders again, but he pushes back, this time, and drags his lips on Alucard's throat. He doesn't want to let go yet. It might be the last time he lets himself do this.]

But we can spare a few moments more, before that. Tell me everything you wish to say. You have my ear.

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