5584/Invasion of the Sweeper

Invasion of the Sweeper
Date of Scene:	23 November 2017
Location:	Castlevania World
Synopsis:	Eithne feels responsible for the near-destruction of Alucard's "bed" (his stone sarcophagus), so she travels to his sanctum to help sweep up the bits. Alucard finds her there and the two discuss what happened, and the definition of "family".
Cast of Characters:	1128, Eithne Sullivan

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Alucard Tepes (1128) has posed:
    Alucard has not been seen at his sanctuary of late. Maria has had a devil of a time recovering her strength following the curse Magnus placed upon her. And since Alucard felt personally responsible for her condition -- which really isn't anything new; he feels responsible for everything bad that happens to anyone if it involves his world -- he's stayed there at the Belmont estate to care for her.

    Now though, since Maria has all but fully recovered, Alucard turns his sights on another task -- replacing his sarcophagus. This will, thankfully, be easier than getting the damn thing down here the first time was, since the rest of the Multiverse has technologies that he can use to make the work easier. For the time being, though, he's taking a smaller option. A wooden coffin.

    He has this coffin with him, on a flat trolley of sorts, as he enters the Shrine aboveground. But the statue. He pauses, looks at the statue that normally hides the entrance to the underground area. It's been pushed aside already. Alucard narrows his eyes, opens his senses -- a human. There is a human here. But not just human. Something of blood and death. Not a combination that bodes well for whatever may be down there.

    Leaving the trolley with the coffin on it behind for now, Alucard changes to bat form and flies down into the underground area, following his nose. Where to? The coffin room, of course. The place he sleeps. Alu-bat alights on one of the unlit candelabras to take in the scene. What's going on, and who is this strange person in his sanctum?

Eithne Sullivan has posed:
    A human, perhaps. There were faint hoofmarks in the damp moss aboveground, but no horse to be seen. A faint scratching noise can be heard as he flies closer - pebbels and something else against stone.

    There, in the sanctum, a place that should be safe from invasion...!

    ...There's a human girl, sweeping up little chunks of marble into neat piles. The larger bits have already been stacked in one of the corners. A crow is napping next to one of the currently-unlit sconces, beak tucked under its feathers. And Eithne Sullivan takes a break to wipe a smear of dust from her forehead and look up at the newest 'intruder' to Alucard's bedroom.

    "Hullo there!" she waves cheerily, and goes back to sweeping up the dust of the battle from a couple of weeks ago. "Sorry, I'll get out've here in a minute. I suppose yer lookin' fer that pale fella, aren't yeh." Apparently, she thinks he's a regular bat?

Alucard Tepes (1128) has posed:
    Alucard looks around the space, catching sight of the crow first, since he's managed to alight not too far from the crow. Hopefully Alucard's aura of darkness doesn't spook the bird. That would be all he needed, to give away his unnatural nature to the crow.

    The girl's words draw his attention, and the bat's head swivels to regard Eithne. He lets out a squeak, though it's unclear whether he's responding to her words or not.

    Does Eithne know her bats? Because that black bat is clearly a vampire bat, ribbed ears and a smushed-looking nose. But... aren't vampire bats supposed to be smaller than the hand? That bat is almost as large as that crow...

Eithne Sullivan has posed:
    Eithne does not, in fact, know all that much about bats. Just that different species eat different foods, they have cute faces, and they aren't actually blind. The crow, for its part, doesn't seem to care at all about Alucard - it just makes a quiet noise before settling more securely into its impromptu napping spot.

    She seems to take the squeak as some kind of acquiescence. "Well, I haven't seen him around yet, but I suppose he's got to come back eventually, right?" Eithne pushes a tangly lock of black hair behind one of her ears and starts sweeping again. "With luck, he won't come back before I'm done here. Wouldn't it be nice if he came back, expectin' to have to clean all this mess up by himself, but it was already done?"

    Eithne glances back at the sarcophagus, frowning briefly. "Not much I can do about the lid. But at least it'll be clean, an' he can do whatever he likes afterward!" She seems very pleased with herself, brooming a small pile of dust and pebbles across the stone floor. "It's my fault anyway," she continues, as if a random enormous bat must find her chattering fascinating. "I mean, I'm the one what broke it."

Alucard Tepes (1128) has posed:
    Perhaps 'a random bat' DOES find her chatter interesting. Because it releases another squeak, this one kind of... ascending. Upward-lilting, as if asking a question. Then again, if it was a random bat, would it be there in the first place?

    Though that's about to be a non-issue. The bat takes off from the candelabra. But as it flies up from where it dropped to catch air, it seems to freeze in place in the air. And its shape changes, wavering and growing larger. Before long, Alucard stands there!

    Busted?

Eithne Sullivan has posed:
    Who knows what lurks in the hearts of random bats? Eithne isn't bat-aligned!

    She watches the bat take off, a mild sort of curiosity passing across her face... which slowly turns into surprise, and from there into embarrassment. The taller and more Alucard-shaped he gets, the pinker her face becomes until she's standing there, mouth drawn back into a 'whoops' expression, broom held loosely in her hands.

    And with that, Sheela suddenly untucks his head, glances around, and squawks to alert his mistress that there's danger afoot. 'KRAAAAA!' Duty fulfilled, he flutters down from the sconce and alights on the edge of the sarcophagus, peering into one of the big cracks Eithne left in it.

    Eithne stares silently at the gentleman vampire for a moment before saying the first thing that comes to mind.

    "...Welcome home?"

Alucard Tepes (1128) has posed:
    Alucard's attention is first drawn by the loud cawing of the crow, and then he watches it alight on the sarcophagus. He peers at it a moment, to make certain that it's not about to attack him. He's noticed the cracks, yes. But he did arrive towards the end of that fight. Besides, it was a fight, he couldn't expect things to not get damaged.

    Though, as he realizes the bird is not about to attack him, he turns to look at Eithne. Then at the pile of broken stone she's swept to the side. His expression is difficult to read, since he's so stoic. But then he dips his head politely.

    "Thank you," he offers quietly.

Eithne Sullivan has posed:
    Now that he's unfolded himself, Sheela is revealed to be a young crow - probably a teenager in bird years and utterly uninterested in doing anything besides 'being kind of a jerk'. He prods at one of the cracks with his beak, testing it for anything tasty hiding inside.

    Well, Eithne thinks optimistically, the worst that he's likely to do is be disappointed or something. She didn't see him much, only at the end of the battle in this very crypt, but she remembers that Alucard hadn't seemed very upset about the collateral damage. He'd been worried about his manservant's health.

    "...Yer welcome," she replied, smiling a little - though the pink's not so fast to leave her face. "How's yer servant doin'? What's his name, uh... Lyudmill?" Lyudmill, Ludwig... she's not too sure anymore. It's been a while!

Alucard Tepes (1128) has posed:
    There might be a nice, juicy beetle in one of the cracks of that sarcophagus. While most normal animals tend to flee from the site of a vampire's lair, a number of them still make their homes in that area -- bugs, worms, snakes, rats, wolves, bats, and the like. Things that people generally avoid.

    "Lyudmil?" Alucard supplies. "He is well. I have left him at the estate of a friend of mine. He will act as a servant for the family, as he once served me."

Eithne Sullivan has posed:
    Though Sheela looks like a normal enough crow, he is about as normal as his mistress. Just a liiiiiittle bit strange. It seems that vampires, tall and gothic or red-headed and haggard, don't frighten him. Spying something moving in the crevice, he makes a birdy grumbling noise and starts picking for it harder.

    "Lyudmil," she nods, correcting her pronunciation just a hair. "I'm glad. Poor fella..." Eithne turns to watch Sheela dig. "Yeh gotta take care of people who depend on yeh, I suppose. Sure he won't miss yeh, though?" It's kind of weird to think of...

    A thought occurs to her, and she lifts an eyebrow at Alucard, resting the bristles of her broom on the crypt floor. "Yeh left him? He didn't stay on his own accord?" Now it's Eithne who is the suspicious one! And she's eyeballing him like she's gearing up to be Disappointed.

Alucard Tepes (1128) has posed:
    Alucard's expression seems to waver a bit at the 'poor fella'; a frisson of something akin to pain flickers over his face for a split second. He doesn't elaborate on why, but it's definitely there, however briefly. "I will need to return every so often to bring him food. Lyudmil is fully a vampire, and will need to consume blood to survive. So I will see him again." Good, he hasn't just dropped the poor guy off and thought to disappear.

    The second question gets a quiet sigh. "I would not foist him onto Mr. Rizzo indefinitely. And I have done enough to him already. If he were to accompany me, he would only find more pain." Oh geez. The emo sort. Oh well, all vampires have that phase, right?

Eithne Sullivan has posed:
    Did he just abandon his friend at someone else's house? Even a fancy manor would be lonely if your (possible) best friend just dropped you off there. Is Alucard the kind of man to just ditch a friend, even if he thinks it's for the friend's sake?

    It mollifies her a bit to hear that Alucard will at least visit his friend, and that he will go back for Lyudmil. But her demeanor changes completely when he says the detective's name. "Oh, he's roomin' with John? He'll be fine, then!" And just like that, it seems she's forgiven some slight against him. "Can he not hunt on his own?" Eithne frowns. He'd seemed a bit fancy... is he really cut out to be a vampire, after all?

    "I take blood to John's place sometimes. He won't drink human, but animal is okay. How about the two've yeh?" she asks, tilting her head at him.

Alucard Tepes (1128) has posed:
    "He was." This to the mention of Lyudmil rooming with Rizzo. "I did not wish to expect Mr. Rizzo to take care of him. Lyudmil is my responsibility. It was I who... made him," he admits. "I will not expect another to care for him."

    As for whether he can hunt on his own? "...Perhaps he can. It was, after all, him who attacked the women in Windknight's Lot, though it was while under another's control. That he left them alive enough to be found speaks for his control, even while ensorcelled by Magnus. However, he has... never truly needed to. While in Father's castle, his... 'meals' were humans held captive in the Coliseum. Lyudmil told me later that Magnus brought him humans. So I do not know."

    But there's also another concern. "He has always been brought humans to feed upon. I do not know if the transition to inhuman blood will be difficult for him," Alucard replies. "I survive on the blood of evil creatures. Targoviste is a breeding ground for evil creatures. But those creatures will not merely offer themselves to be fed upon." So... Lyudmil may need to learn to become a monster hunter to survive...

Eithne Sullivan has posed:
    She doesn't seem to be overly put out by the very idea that's probably the source of a lot of Alucard's worry. Everybody is born somehow! The fact that Lyudmil was clearly already born as a human doesn't seem to bother her at all. "If he can adapt then it'll be good! Even if John always acts like drinkin' animal blood is worse than chewin' nettles." She makes a wry face at the very thought!

    "But if he's only ever had human, it'll probably be tough to change over. John told me it was like... uh, all the drugs an' sex an' a birthday party all at once. So that's why he doesn't." Eithne doesn't really understand why anybody would avoid it at all times, because those all sound pretty great, but he must have his reasons. Probably good old-fashioned Catholic guilt.

    To think of having to fight every time you want to eat...! "Suppose I'll never take the fridge fer granted again. But really," she frowns, and crosses her arms over her chest. "Has nobody ever heard of just buyin' the stuff? Is there some kind've big vampire rule that yeh have to do everythin' the absolute hardest way possible?" She taps her foot once, then unfolds her arms and leans the broom against the wall. "It's not like there aren't people who'll help!"

Alucard Tepes (1128) has posed:
    "There are those who cannot adapt to what they must do as a vampire," Alucard replies. "For some, the thought that they must drain life is more than they can bear. They fear becoming inured to committing atrocities -- beginning with animals and moving to their own people, becoming something of a predator of their own kind. So I do not hold having a displeasure for the need to drink blood against Mr. Rizzo."

    Alucard nods to the assessment of human blood. "It is in our nature to prey on humans. Perversely, it is the greatest -- and darkest -- of delights to vampire-kind," he confirms. "Please, think no ill of Mr. Rizzo for his dislike of what he must do. He likely fears escalation, as I mentioned... escalating from feeding upon animals, to feeding upon humans."

    There is the ghost of a smile on Alucard's face as she mentions buying blood. "There are butchers in the rest of the Multiverse that cater to this sort of clientele," Alucard replies. "I have utilized them before. Though the blood drained from a dead animal has less of the... 'spark', if you will, of a living creature. Indeed, a human could survive on bread and water, but it would be a diet that would leave them malnourished after a time. I do not know how other worlds' vampires work, but in this world, that 'spark' feeds a vampire as well."

Eithne Sullivan has posed:
    Eithne is young yet, despite the ancient blood in her veins. She's a teenager, and doesn't really give a lot of thought to things like 'actions that can't be undone' or 'clinging desperately to one's sense of self'. But she listens to him, because while she may be stubborn, she truly /wants/ to understand things. "..."

    It must be tough. Maybe it's harder than she'll ever understand, trying to hold on to your humanity. Could she hold out if she were in their shoes? "I guess yer right," Eithne admits after a few moments of quiet. "It makes sense. It wouldn't be just like... like birthday cake. It'd be addictive, wouldn't it?" Realization dawns in her eyes. "It wouldn't just be somethin' yeh could do once and give up."

    She crosses the room to where her bird is munching on a hard-earned grub and picks him up, ignoring Sheela's squawk of protest to hold him in her arms. "Can't believe I didn't understand it. Don't I feel a right git!" She chuckles with a bit of chagrin - because of /course/ she's still learning, of /course/ she can't ever know everything - but maybe now she'll be able to understand some people a little better.

    "...THe first time we ever met in person he'd come over to my apartment to tell me about stuff fer a history paper. I knew he was a vampire so I'd fixed him a cup of blood to drink - it's custom to offer tea an' such, I'd never had a vampire over before. I didn't understand 'till now why he was so upset when I said it was mine!"

Alucard Tepes (1128) has posed:
    Alucard nods. "Indeed. It is poisoned honey," He confirms. Oh but it gets worse. "Worse yet, the vampire is generally aware of its poisonous, addictive nature. It forces one to acknowledge this, to acknowledge that a part of one knows it is addictive, yet that taking it can mean another's death. It forces one to choose between delight and humanity, and heavily 'stacks the deck', as it were, for one to reject one's humanity."

    When Eithne says she feels 'like a right git', Alucard shakes his head. "Do not think ill of yourself, either," he reassures. "It is difficult for those who do not struggle with this to understand. Particularly because it is not as simple as 'avoid it'. On the one hand, a vampire will generally die without blood. On the other, obtaining it can be traumatic for the vampire in question.

    "Mr. Rizzo is one of the most peaceful vampires that I have ever met. It makes sense that he would dislike the thought of drinking another being's blood," Alucard replies further, his voice quiet. "Would that I could aspire to his peaceful nature. If he wishes, I can make available the address of the butchers I have patronized. They collect blood from animals they intend to prepare for humans to consume. The animal would not be killed by his hands, and would be going to feed human beings. Perhaps that would ease his conscience."

Eithne Sullivan has posed:
    Heh. To think, all this time she'd just been looking at it wrong.

    Sheela has calmed down by now, merely squirming a little when Eithne hugs him. "He's really great, isn't he?" she beams up at Alucard. She's missing a tooth on the left side. "And a cool detective like in those old movies, too."

    "Yeh know, I think he'd appreciate it. I'm sure he's probably already got his own supply an' all but it's great to have backups!" She's taken bottles of it to him sometimes when there were leftovers from slaughtering animals in Dun Realtai. It's important to let people know you care, and Eithne has always tried to do that by feeding them.

    Sheela finally has had enough and nips her fingers until she lets him go. "Fine! Fine, brat, go on then." She takes the broom up again as Sheela flies out of her reach (inspecting Alucard as he passes by - what a tall human!) and a dustpan. "Thanks fer explainin' it to me, yeh know," Eithne tells him, glancing over at him. "I don't always understand people, an' I don't always know how to ask about it. If I understand the two of yeh and Lyudmil better now, that's a real good thing." She'll go back to sweeping up the dust, depositing it into a pair of ten gallon buckets in the corner.

Alucard Tepes (1128) has posed:
    Alucard nods at the mention of Rizzo being a great guy. "I have not often seen vampires who could channel holy power," he remarks. "It normally has deleterious effects on a vampire, whether the exposure is on the inside or outside. That he can speaks highly for him." To the words of the butchers' places? "Indeed. You need only have him get in touch with me. He knows where to find me as well." Since they're, uh. Like right there, where he can be found!

    He raises a brow at the crow as it flies away. Strange, he thinks, that a familiar would backtalk his mistress so. He probably doesn't quite get the relationship there. But Eithne's words of understanding draw his attention back. And he nods. "Understanding is... something that is rare in this world. Have you see the ruined city near here?" 'Near' is a little subjective, because it's not within walking distance. But it's... sort of near. Car-ride near. "That city once was large and full of people. A lack of understanding led to its current state."

Eithne Sullivan has posed:
    If only Eithne's familiar were half as well-behaved as Alucard's! If she knew, she would be /so/ jealous of him.

    "I first saw him use it on another vampire. The other guy was feedin' on women, an' John followed him to try an' tell him to stop and there was a fight. Serves 'im right, threatening to use me as a bargainin' chip! He didn't even have a hand on me yet!" Eithne observes her handiwork in the crypt with a smile. Nice and tidy! "So John punched 'is lights out. I didn't even get to punch him once." She... sounds quite disappointed.

    Eithne picks up the buckets of stone and dirt, stepping around Alucard as she heads for the stairs. "Oof. Up here, right?" she asks after him, hauling the last remnants of the fight upstairs. "What happened to it?" 'A lack of understanding' is awfully vague! "Was there a war?"

Alucard Tepes (1128) has posed:
    "There are some vampires who cannot adapt... and some who adapt to the life of a predator of humans all too well," Alucard replies. Though unsaid goes that turning into a monster could also be considered 'not adapting well'. But it doesn't need to be said.

    Alucard follows her up the stairs, though, because... well, he left that coffin up there. It'll probably still be there, on the flat cart/trolley he brought it here on. Unless someone's taken it. Which would be dumb, because there's no body in it, so it doesn't really have any usefulness.

    Though Alucard is willing to answer her question. "...In a matter of speaking. My father was responsible. But just as Magnus merely wanted to 'go home', Father wished to return the pain that the people of Targoviste had dealt him. And it began the cycle of death that now consumes this world."

Eithne Sullivan has posed:
    It makes sense, she supposes. Not everybody can handle everything life throws at them, after all. Not everybody can be strong all the time. ...She's quiet for a moment.

    "Ah. Yer da was Dracula, right?" she asks, humming a pleased note when she sees the cart with the coffin inside. If there's no place around here to dump the rubble, she can borrow the cart to take it somwhere else. She loves forests a lot, but it's sure a pain trying to find places to throw stuff away!

    "Targoviste, Targoviste..." The name should be familiar, shouldn't it? But it's not. "What was so bad that yer da went ape about it?"

    Setting the buckets down for the moment, Eithne jumps into the cart to walk a circle around the coffin, admiring the polish. "Pretty! Not as solid as marble, but surely easier to move." As if she wants to test the theory, the girl hefts one end of the casket out of the cart, eyeballing the shape of it. "Wanna get the other end?" she offers.

Alucard Tepes (1128) has posed:
    "He is," Alucard replies. Notably he uses the present tense... as if Dracula is still around. As for what was so bad? "My mother was born there. She was burned for heresy," he answers. The connection might not be immediately picked up. Or it maybe it will. If the death of Alucard's mother affected Dracula deeply enough that he wanted to ERASE A CITY, he must have loved her very much.

    The mention of the coffin gets a nod. "It is a temporary solution, until the stone coffin can be repaired." He doesn't answer whether he'll grab the other end, he just does exactly that, picking up the end that Eithne isn't holding. Presumably she's heading back down into the sanctum with it, and he'll follow.

Eithne Sullivan has posed:
    "Is," she repeats easily. ...Wait, wasn't Dracula's death the entire reason that Magnus wanted Alucard to take the throne? She frowns. Well, Alucard would know better than anyone, she supposes, if his father was truly dead. Wouldn't he?

    She carries her end of the coffin easily. "...I'm sorry about yer ma," Eithne offers after a few moments. Could it've been because he loved her? Surely even Dracula wouldn't destroy a city over a simple insult. No, it only makes sense if she thinks about it like this. What would her father have done, if there had been anybody to blame her mother's disappearance on?

    "Were yeh close to her? Were yeh a family? ...What was it like?" She looks at him over her shoulder as they descend the stairs. She's a little crude, but Eithne is still curious - how do you get from 'a man and a woman love each other very much' to 'razing a town' to 'your dad is dead for now but his spooky castle is still waiting for a new dark lord'?

Alucard Tepes (1128) has posed:
    "Thank you," Alucard offering quietly, in response to the condolences. "Though it was centuries ago." Once they're down the stairs, Alucard suggests, "We should place this coffin next to the stone one." Orders are a bridge too far, it seems.

    The question asked about his family gets... silence for a moment. He places his hand upon the closed coffin, and turns his gaze to it, as if the contrast between his pale skin and the dark wood of the coffin were fascinating. But before Eithne can worry she's been too nosy, Alucard answers.

    "We were... as much of a family as we could be," Alucard says quietly. His tone is dull, as if he's trying not to sound too affected by it all. "Mother often left for Targoviste, to heal those who were sick. She was a healer. But it was soon after I accompanied her to the city that she was captured. I am certain the people realized who was my father, and arrested my mother for 'consorting with devils'."

Eithne Sullivan has posed:
    She doesn't really know much about 'families'. Not the nuclear kind, with two parents. Just secondhand experiences, shared memories that belong to other people. She can't help but be curious, even if she should know to leave well enough alone.

    They get the coffin settled down on the stone floor, arranged nicely. It'll be good enough, she supposes, until he can have the stone one repaired or replaced. Her eyes travel up his arm to his half-turned-away face. "..."

    A mother and a father. A vampire lord and a healer. And the last vestiges of her earlier blush slowly drains from Eithne's face as she listens to Alucard. "...Devils," she frowns, and leans back against the wall. She's starting to see the picture form and she doesn't like it.

Alucard Tepes (1128) has posed:
    Alucard nods. "They were afraid," he says quietly, finally looking to Eithne. "They were frightened of my father. They still are. And they saw a woman who, to their eyes, had willingly consorted with the thing that had already caused them no end of pain. A woman who had lain with such a thing, allowed it to violate her. And who bore the child of that horrible thing. To their eyes, the only way to cleanse her was to burn the taint away."

    A pause, and then he offered, "Lyudmil tried to save her, but he was discovered and forced to flee for his life. He came to the castle, and it was only through him that I learned of it. After she died, he pledged himself to serve me. He said, if he could not save my mother, he would then serve her son." So that explains the connection between Alucard and Lyudmil.

Eithne Sullivan has posed:
    She keeps looking at the ground. Even though she knew it wasn't going to be a happy tale, she didn't realize it was like that. "...Sorry," she offers when he's done. "I'm sorry about yer ma." So, no wonder his father had gone to the town and laid ruin to it.

    Eithne can't even blame him. She would've felt the same.

    "No wonder he's so attached to yeh then," she sighs. Guilt's a hell of a monster, one worse than any vampire or ghoul. So is anger, she supposes. Even just thinking about it, even /she/ wants to... Eithne breathes deeply and lets it out. The town is destroyed already. There's nothing left to do. They already got what was coming to them and more.

    "I asked 'cause I grew up with just my dad and we moved around a lot." Eithne shrugs apologetically.

Alucard Tepes (1128) has posed:
    "Worry not. As I said, it happened centuries ago," Alucard offers. "I thought that I owed you an explanation, since Mr. Rizzo seems an associate of yours, and he spared Lyudmil's life. It would have been easy to simply eliminate him, thinking he was myself who had lost to my darker urges. He continued to believe that there was something to save, even if everything pointed to the opposite."

    Though at the mention of Eithne's father? "'Family' is not always the same for everyone. For some it is a mother, a father, and siblings. For others it is a group that are no more related by blood than you and I. Blood may be thicker than water, but it is not the strongest bond in the world. The strongest bonds are those of love, for those bonds rarely break. They may be changed into something else, but they do not break."

Eithne Sullivan has posed:
    At his reassurance, Eithne does relax a bit, enough to smile when he repeats the proverb about family. "I always like hearin' that one because nobody ever knows the rest of it. 'The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.' It means the exact opposite of what people always use it fer."

    "So blood is thicker than water, and that's /why/ family isn't always made of people who share yer DNA." Tucking her hands into the pockets of her skirt, Eithne glances at the new coffin. "My da's a good man most've the time. Maybe in his own way, so is yers." She shrugs right after, though. "Wouldn't expect anyone to agree with me there, John least of all--"

    She's interrupted by a loud KRAAAAA that echoes down from above the crypt, followed by a wet whinny that echoes strangely. "RIGHT, RIGHT, I KNOW! I'M COMIN'!" she yells up the stairs, with no regard for any poor dhampirs that are stuck in a tiny echo chamber with her. Apologetically, Eithne smiles at him. "Fer what it's worth... most've us believed in yeh, even the ones who'd never met yeh. Yer record spoke fer itself." Eithne gathers up her broom and the dustpan and walks toward the stairs. "That's my own little retinue callin'," she smiles wryly. "Lyudmil's a lot more agreeable!"

Alucard Tepes (1128) has posed:
    Alucard also seems to offer a smile, though a very small one. "Words in general are often misused, wielded as weapons to justify much pain against those undeserving of it," he observed. The caw, and then the yell, forces a bit of a wince, but he covers it well. Despite the clear call for Eithne to leave, he does offer, "He was never 'nice'. But he was... less evil once. Mother had quite the effect on him, both in life and in death."

    He shakes his head, amused. "Agreeable, perhaps. But I am fairly certain you would not trade your 'retinue' for all the world." He pause, and he dips his head. "Thank you for the assistance. Both for this, and with Magnus. Take care."

Eithne Sullivan has posed:
    "Less evil's worth a lot when the alternative's, well, Dracula," she counters, halfway up the stairs. "So's the love of a good partner, or so I'm told!" After all, her father still gets misty-eyed when he talks about her mother, and they were barely together a year. "And even if they're brats, I'm fond of 'em... so yer right there, too." She turns back long enough to wave. "Same to yeh, Alucard. Sleep well!"

    She doesn't push the statue of the contemplative woman back over the entrance to his sanctuary when she leaves, reasoning that he may want to return the cart to wherever he got it. Out in the dim light of the clearing, a dull-colored horse waits for her. Eithne takes off in a light run, leaping up onto the horse's bare back and tangling her fingers into its limp, weed-strung mane.

    The kelpie paws at the ground and snorts; Sheela wheels through the air above them before alighting on her head. "Brat," she huffs at him, transferring him to her shoulder. "C'mon then, we've got to make a stop at the fabric store before we're home..." Nudging the horse on with her knees, the Scion holds on tight as it breaks into a gallop for the village.