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[atowncalledtreffy]

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[draculabutbackwards]

"The kittens are an idea. Keep them a bit busy." Adrian was never indulged with a pet, unless you count the bats. He doesn't quite get how they work, charming as he finds Lucy in appropriate doses. But. He has no idea what to do with children. Kittens is an idea.

[atowncalledtreffy]

He raises his eyebrows, a question burning in him;

"Have you turned into a wolf in front of them yet?"

[draculabutbackwards]

Adrian frowns and, after a moment, shrugs. "There were a lot of little attacks between what was left of the village and the castle. Maybe?" Shapeshifting is a normal reflex. He doesn't remember it any better than every particular sword swing.

[atowncalledtreffy]

He chuckles, deeply amused.

"So you're a father figure and a family pet all in one. No wonder they're fucking attached to you."

[draculabutbackwards]

"If it'll keep them busy I'll just stay on four legs a while." As far as he's concerned, these are completely serious child-handling tips.

[atowncalledtreffy]

"What are you so obsessed with keeping them busy for?" He chuckles. "What, afraid they'll go so far in your castle that they'll fall off the railings?"

[draculabutbackwards]

"Because... they're... children? They need supervision, not to mention education and amusement and some level of ethical instruction?" So speaks the only child of two very involved parents.

[atowncalledtreffy]

A pause for confusion, before Trevor shrugs a little, belying his lack of a secondary education.

"They're kids. They make their own entertainment. Just tell them how to stay alive and they'll figure out the rest."

[draculabutbackwards]

"They're human children, Belmont. They're about the least equipped to stay alive of anything on earth." He may intend to get rid of the fucking night creatures. That still leaves disease, physics, and boredom as deadly enemies.

[atowncalledtreffy]

He blinks, and realization dawns as a sly smile comes over his face;

"Oh my god. You're being paternal."

[draculabutbackwards]

"I absolutely fucking am not. That suggests a degree of... reasonable competence." He has no earthly idea what he's doing. Obviously that's disqualifying.

[atowncalledtreffy]

“Having met a country’s worth of fathers, I think you could do far worse.” He’s laughing. Imagining Papa Alucard.

“Look, you big fuck-off soft-heart: nobody is born knowing how to be a dad. They learn. You’ll learn too.”

[draculabutbackwards]

That... doesn't sound right, but he can't easily put his finger on why. He's beginning to flag again. Still worried, but he has an intact if not particularly happy Trevor at his shoulder, and the adrenaline isn't flowing anymore. "You fuck off." That doesn't even make sense. "And what sort of meetings were these, incidentally? Did you stop and ask about their kids before every barfight?" Yeah, sleepy Alucard is running a little low on material.

[atowncalledtreffy]

He snorts, and gets up to make the couch up for the two of them. Alucard sleeps here tonight.

“No, but I did have every curious kid under ten wondering why the fuck a stranger was in their remote village come up to pester me with questions.” He points out, and throws a few pillows onto the pull-out bed.

“And some of them had bruises on their faces or arms in the shape of handprints. You’re not going to hit them: you’re already a better father to a lot of them, I bet. When the world goes to shit, people need to feel they have control over some small part of their lives so they don’t end up going insane from helplessness. More often than not, they hit their kids. Or worse.”

He says it matter of factly.

“Here.” He throws a blanket over Adrian’s legs.

[draculabutbackwards]

It's not exactly news. His mother was a doctor. He heard things, from her and sometimes from the patients themselves, if they didn't care about being overheard by the doctor's odd, silent child. He was as much one of his mother's tools as anything in her black bag, a pair of steady hands and a useful prop that kept her from being too odd.

But Belmont certainly puts it differently than his mother would have. Already tired and drained, he discards several replies that feel simply inadequate and winds up just focusing on the blanket. Not the first time he's frozen in the face of a difficult discussion. "There enough of these? I mean, I thermoregulate a lot better than you." He bends down to begin the rather laborious process of unlacing his boots.

[atowncalledtreffy]

“I don’t know what the fuck that word means.” He says cheerfully, and kicks off his boots. “But if you’re worried about freezing, this ship on its coldest nights has been warmer than the wagon on its warmest. I wake up thinking I’m in the desert some nights.”

He drops into bed beside Adrian and turns the conversation back to what they were talking about.

“Anyway. If you’re worried about scarring then for life, don’t be. Kids are insanely resilient little shits. Show them that famed hospitality your parents are known for.”

[draculabutbackwards]

He probably can't scar them worse than waves of night creatures already have, but that doesn't strike quite the right note. Adrian pulls the blanket up around his shoulders and folds his knees to his chest, the general pointiness of his lanky frame making the motion more like stowing a pocket knife than anything that could be considered curling. "I've put them in the big bedroom and turned it into sort of an encampment. Stocked it with what survived of my own at that age. And then I came here, so when I get back with no time having passed in theory, I'll hopefully have... some kind of actual plan."

[atowncalledtreffy]

A snort.

“You think this place is going to teach you proper parenting?” He asks, and then backtracks.

“Shit, it might. Your dad’s here.”

[draculabutbackwards]

"Ah... touchy subject." Since they still haven't quite gotten over the way Adrian stuck his foot in his mouth saying Dracula didn't belong anywhere near that village. It's still true, but he knows it wasn't exactly a diplomatic delivery. And even the way things hang between them, forgiven but not forgotten... "I was thinking more about time than consulting expertise." He settles his chin on his knees, fighting a yawn.

[atowncalledtreffy]

“Oh. Sorry.” He won’t go into that, out of respect for Adrian.

Trevor drops down on the other side of the bed, flat on his back and arms propped up under his head.

“What’re you worried about time for?”

[draculabutbackwards]

Adrian manages a wan smile in his direction. He wouldn't exactly mind talking about it with anyone else, but as much as he admires the fragile peace Trevor and his father have built, he can't ask a fucking Belmont to listen to him whine about preserving Dracula's feelings.

"More... aware of it. Things were a bit of a mess when I left. The opportunity to close the door on night creatures and the promise that I'd be able to come back without losing any were too good to pass up, but the castle's a shambles, the bodies we have are hardly in the ground..." Sypha's a wreck, but saying that seems cruel. Belatedly, Adrian gingerly lowers himself to the bed, looking painfully aware of every motion.

[atowncalledtreffy]

He nods a little. Sympathetic. It feels like a lot: must feel like too much for Adrian to handle.

“Well. Uh. If I were there, I’d just. I don’t know if you’d have time to bury them before they start to rot so you might want to focus on cutting down some trees to make a pyre. Or dig a plague pit, you probably don’t have the manpower for that number of bodies. Plus, it’s no longer winter, isn’t it? Better get them taken care of first, unless the castle looks like one faint breath would knock it over.”

Fuck, it might. He didn’t get a chance to see what his big fight with Death did to the castle.

[draculabutbackwards]

"It's not that bad, and there's plenty of living space that's quite structurally sound as long as one isn't picky." He shakes his head. "Shelter and supplies are our only solid assets. And we'll do what we can for the dead. It's the living I'm more worried about." Excepting, of course, the dead man next to him, who he will drag back kicking and screaming if he has to, even if at the moment Adrian has his arms sort of awkwardly wrapped around himself because he's not terribly good at knowing how to share space.

[atowncalledtreffy]

“Shelter and supplies are amazing assets. You’ve also got you. What’s so scary about the living?”

He’s curious and nonjudgmental. Trevor is going to fight Adrian like a demon possessed if he tries forcing him to come back, but for now he doesn’t mind acting like a consultant.

And for the love of god, Adrian. Trevor grunts, rolling over to eye him.

“Are you going to sleep like that all night?”

[draculabutbackwards]

"I'm probably not really going to sleep," he says honestly. He doesn't, much. It's a struggle to get there and a long road back, leaving aside the relative weirdness of not knowing where to put his hands. Rest is as close as he gets. And that part is a bit nicer with company than with the walls of a stone coffin on either side.