Some h/c makes the world go round...

[storebror]

A helping hand is all I need
a gen hurt&comfort meme

▸ when posting, say if you'd prefer your partner to be be the one who's hurt, the one who comforts, or if you're good with both roles. Add any details that seem useful re: how good are they at this? ◂
▸ state if you're fine with crosscanon, assumed CR, au... ◂
▸ ... and also state any other preferences ◂
▸ when responding, rng for relationship, setting, type of hurt and when it happened... or not. It's up to you! ◂
▸ tag around ◂

Relationship

1. Strangers.
2. Friends.
3. Colleagues.
4. Enemies.
5. Family.
6. Wildcard

Setting

1. An everyday street or park in a city.
2. A disaster zone.
3. A social event.
4. The middle of nowhere, far away from all civilization.
5. At home.
6. Wildcard

Type of hurt

1. Minor physical injury.
2. Betrayal, rejection, or another emotional hurt.
3. Mental trauma.
4. Major physical injury.
5. Grief.
6. Wildcard

When?

1. The cause of the hurt is still ongoing as the scene starts.
2. The hurt just occurred.
3. It's an old wound, but something tore it open once again.
4. It's been festering for hours, or days, or years...
5. Wildcard

Comments

[herotales]

[How about some post S3 mutual hurt/comfort? I'm happy to write the starter, just wanted to check your preferences on the particulars!]

[ananym]

( yes!! sounds perfect ♥ )

[herotales]

[Maybe it's understandable, the way Sypha starts second-guessing herself after Lindenfeld.

It's not that she thinks that Trevor is always right, or that she is always wrong. She knows better than that, just like how she knows better than to doubt her own intuitions. She's not stupid. She's not careless. She's not gullible or naive. And yet, in the days that follow after their wagon leaves behind the charred remains of that tragic little town in the countryside, she catches herself — hesitating.

It's a crisis of confidence, she knows. But it's hard not to feel responsible, on some level, for the deaths of those people (I didn't notice). It's hard not to feel guilty for putting her faith in a man like the Judge (I didn't see it). It's hard not to think that, if she'd only been something more (smarter, faster, wiser, cleverer, more canny, more skeptical), then maybe things would have been different.

But the catastrophe at Lindenfeld rattled her, badly, and soon second-guessing her actions there turns to a reexamination of all of her decisions, stretching further back even into the past. Maybe she shouldn't have been so quick to abandon the Speakers. Maybe they should have stayed at the castle longer, with Alucard.

It's that latter thought that ultimately has her encouraging Trevor to turn their wagon toward the site of the Belmont Hold. And of course he scoffs and rolls his eyes at the notion, but when she gazes past his brusque facade she can see that he misses Alucard, too.

So they go. It takes some time getting back, but soon enough they're pulling down the now-familiar path through the forest and Trevor's old tree, and there in the distance is the castle, just the way they'd left it, albeit with some new shapes and shadows on the lawn.

Hmm. It's too far away, still, to make out what it is, but it's a cheering thought to think that Alucard has been tending to the place in their absence — and redecorating.]

( season three spoilers )

[ananym]

[ she'll be in for a surprise.

the anger has ebbed away, inch for inch, like the tide retreating into the ocean. still he does not take down the bodies, grotesque scarecrows that they've become. perhaps it is pettiness. bitterness. perhaps it is the slow churn of his father's anger combined with the grief of losing his mother. his mother who died for mankind, hoping they'd be spared. and alucard, carrying out her wishes.

it is not meaningless, but as he looks at his hands, at the steps of the castle, it feels meaningless. emptied out.

the burns on his arms flare up in memory.

then alucard's senses pick up a caravan nearby. he rises to his feet, wary. until he notices — them.

and that sickly sense of anger quickly turns to a sickly sense of fear. ]

[herotales]

[She and Trevor part ways a short distance before they reach the castle; Trevor claims he wants to go see what "that fucking vampire has done with his family's Hold", but in truth Sypha suspects that he really just wants to double back and spend some quality time with his childhood friend the tree. She doesn't begrudge him that, though. Maybe it's not even about the tree, but about wanting to spend some time alone to collect his thoughts. Either way, that's fine.

So Trevor hops out of the wagon and sets off on foot, while she takes up the reins and guides the wagon the last distance up the path to the castle. As she draws nearer, she catches a flash of golden hair reflecting the sun, and a swelling of excitement and anticipation bubbles up in her chest —

And then she sees the corpses, scavenger-picked and rotting, and that enthusiasm plummets into cold horror.]

Alucard — ?

[What could this mean? Who could have done this? The impulse, of course, is to assume Dracula, but the king of vampires is dead, so who —

And maybe it shows just how little she's learned of cynicism and despair, that even in that moment, it doesn't occur to her that the only logical suspect is the one standing right in front of her.]

[ananym]

[ his stomach turns at her expression. any bravado he mustered up quickly falls apart. ]

You came back.

[ you should not have done that was on the tip of his tongue, but he cannot speak it. ]

[herotales]

[He doesn't seem — well, like he's in danger. If there is fear in him, it's not because of whatever lifted those corpses up onto spikes. Which...

Which suggests a terribly ugly conclusion. One that, perhaps, Trevor would have made instantly. Maybe she should, too, but — she can't. Not after she was wrong about the Judge. Not after everything. Not Alucard, her friend, too.]

Yes...

[She hops down from the wagon, light on her feet as she tries to choose a path that will bring her to him while keeping the maximum possible distance from either of the pikes.]

I did. I wanted to come back. To see you, Alucard.

[THERE ARE IMPALED CORPSES ON HIS FRONT LAWN and she — she can't, she can't ask, she doesn't want to know, she can't.]

[ananym]

Why?

[ because it is easier to ask, easier to deflect. the burns on his arms and chest seem to sting under her gaze. it was cruel what he did to sumi and taka, but alucard finds himself digging his heels in.

he is not above cruelty. ]

[herotales]

[She's looking him over, taken aback by the frigid reception and the unanswered questions hanging in the air between them, and it's as her eyes track over him once more that something catches her attention and won't let go.]

Your wrist — what happened? You're hurt...

[And that's...strange. She's seen Trevor's whip strike Alucard's body before, but he'd healed those marks easily, without a trace. Why should he still be carrying ones like these?]

[ananym]

[ alucard snatches his wrist to his chest, rubbing over the wound. his expression flickers before he lets it go with a sigh. ]

I was attacked in the castle. This is what is left of the intruders.

[herotales]

You did this?

[Of course he did. Of course she knew he did. And yet — again, she hadn't wanted to believe it. Again, it drains the fight out of her, making her shoulders slump.]

You're not healing. Let me see.

[And she moves, unthinking, wanting to draw near to him, hands already extended like she expects him to show her his wounds.]

[ananym]

[ a part of him wants to hold back, afraid of getting hurt again. afraid of having someone close to carve him up. he couldn't do it again, he wouldn't. but, despite what he thinks, his hands drop, letting sypha see the wounds properly.

silver wounds. bright red and scarred. ]

[herotales]

[Trevor would know, instantly, what caused this. Trevor, with his cynicism and his years upon years of Belmont knowledge. But Sypha knows enough, at least, to extrapolate; these marks look reasonably close to the one on his chest, and that was a grievous injury from a powerful vampire.

Those two on the pikes don't seem to be vampires, though. They've been put out in the sun and they've not turned to dust. So, then, what other conclusion must follow? These are vampire-specific injuries. That means the intruders came prepared.

They came prepared to kill a vampire.]

Alucard...

[She reaches for his hand, unthinking.]

We've only been gone a little over a month...

[ananym]

Has it only been a month?

[ it felt longer. the loneliness, the solitude eating away at his time. sumi and taka's arrival felt like a spark of new life, a drive to fulfill more than sitting away in an empty room.

oh, how it unraveled so quickly. ]

It felt much longer.

[herotales]

Perhaps a week or two more. We've been traveling from town to town and...something terrible happened.

[She catches him by the hand, wrapping just her fingers around his so as not to put pressure on the reddened wounds. She casts her eyes low, not quite looking at him, because she doesn't want to look at him while she asks this.]

If you had blood to drink, would you heal more quickly?

[ananym]

It . . . is possible.

[ a pause as he lowers his head. ]

I'm not sure I care to try.

[herotales]

If you are worried about Trevor, I will make sure he keeps his opinions to himself.

[area vampire hunter completely whipped by partner, pun intended]

You should not have to be in pain, my friend. If I can help, you know I will.

[ananym]

[ alucard smiles faintly, squeezing her fingers. ]

I can weather a little physical pain. It is not what aches in me.

[herotales]

[There. At long last, a flash of a smile; the sight of it makes her feel a little better, even as the thought of the corpses continues to turn her stomach.]

Take me inside. I want to sit on something more comfortable than a wagon seat while you tell me about it.

[ananym]

As you wish.

Though I must warn you. The castle is still a mess.

[herotales]

If this is your way of getting smug, again, about how I dragged it here and the condition it was in when it arrived —

[read: when she broke it]

— then I will thank you to keep it to yourself. Because I did not do anything. Still! That fact has not changed.

[ananym]

I will feign complete ignorance then.

[ but he'll be thinking it. ]

[herotales]

Oh, be quiet and let's go in. Terrible.

[As she nudges him toward the doors, she shifts from holding his hand by the fingers to loosely wrapping her arm around his, the way she remembers doing a month ago, before they left.]

[ananym]

[ it feels comfortable in the face of the atrocity he committed at the front. no apology was demanded, though alucard can tell she was uncomfortable with it. he could be better. he has been better.

but it is hard to summon up better in the face of pain. ]

The kitchen should be clean at least.

[herotales]

Good. Trevor can catch up when he is done playing with his tree or whatever it is he thinks is so important.

[Not that she's sorry to have a little time alone with Alucard, regardless. Tempers have a tendency to flare when those two are mixed together, and she still has a bad feeling about the things Alucard has been through in the time they've been gone.]

I did not realize you would have much use for a kitchen, actually...