( Alucard takes each step carefully, reluctant to set his hand on the banister should it be a piece to a trigger, but not more reluctant than to find out one of these steps is on a pressure plate. the heels of his boots aren't even audible as he sets them down on the wooden steps while he climbs.
his focus is on his movements, on the sounds around him, every creak, every shift, his senses melding with Tatso's to gauge any telling little detail that might be the prelude to a mechanical betrayal. which means...he captures everything that Johnny says, even as he makes it to the top landing, an achievement as much as it is still a continuation of the ensuing journey. he shouldn't let himself get distracted, he knows that, and can sense Tatsuo thinking it, but it's an unconscious move when he turns to look over the railing at Johnny, attention caught on him. )
Your youkai should be able to read them. ( spoken softly as possible while still being audible, before he turns away again to assess the area upstairs. ) Whether they're willing to translate for you is another—
( Alucard stops when he notices a rug blanketed over the floor, and he thinks he's caught a possible set-up. it's cliche, but tried and true, and refusing to walk over it blindly, he reaches down and grabs the corner of it, peeling it back intending to reveal some sort of a pit trap underneath.
as he draws the rug up off of the floor, he feels — the slightest tug under his pull. instantly, he drops the woven thing, hand going free and rug going limp into a pile on the floor. he can't see what it was, but then he hears a click. )
Shit—( short and sharp, tense between his teeth; Alucard pivots and bolts, realizing the rug was attached to something. ) Johnny, stop, we have to—
( something shifts underfoot, and it upends his balance. a panel in the floor slides open so quick, he can only try to regain his footing — which the opening is relying on. his other foot goes to plant onto the floor, but it's only a small void now, and when his foot hits the bottom, about one foot deep into the floor, he lands on a trigger.
instantaneously, a maw of metal snaps shut around his calf. Alucard groans in alarm from the pain, but only for the swiftest moment; his arm goes up, and his own teeth sink in around the layers of cloth wrapping around his limb, silencing him as he reels. )
[ Johnny is quiet for one long moment, staring into the back of the cabinet and halfway through sweeping up the dust with his forefinger to gauge how long it's been since anyone touched it. ] They can read these characters?! [ Appalled fury is a quick wash, adrenaline useless in an instant but still dousing Johnny in its ire.
That dirty goddamn thing living in his brain never wants to tell him anything useful—
Johnny turns around so quickly he nearly loses his hat, stuffing that paper into his pocket to free his other hand and wheel himself in a tight half-circle and face the stairs. He approaches them just as Alucard's warning is cut off into a clear groan of pain, a sound that also ends in a strangled noise. ]
What happened?! [ Johnny's voice is raised, shouting immediately to be heard, and the shock of another loud sound after so much quiet only encourages his already increased heart rate to climb up faster.
He ends up wheeling back from the bottom of the stairs to their side, trying and failing to lean in a way so that he can make out what's happened up the stairs, but the staircase is narrow and he can't see, dammit. Alarm for not just himself, but real concern for the other man, hits him with a spike of adrenaline. He's antsy as he waits and it makes his tone sound more aggravated. ] What's going on, Alucard?!
( Tatsuo is like an alarm in his head, all of her basic instincts lighting up as flares in his thoughts, seeking anything that she can recognize as a threat, or a solution. it's overwhelming with the pain of a simple man-made trap, but Alucard is far from immune to pain, and what's more, he's known for weeks since arriving here that he isn't everything of the dhampir he was back home.
he gasps, releasing his arm from his mouth, fang marks staining two points at the top of his forearm, the sleeve of his garment slowly building blood. his mouth comes away clean. )
Shh.( it's almost difficult to tell if Alucard is shushing Johnny, or hissing in pain, but clarification soon comes on a harsh, sharp whisper. )Keep your— voice down...
( shock is setting in, at least, and Alucard looks down to confirm what he already knows, and sees the sets of metal teeth enclosed on his leg, which is still in tact. he thinks, grimly, that the device isn't meant to sever his leg completely; it's more effective to keep him in tact, and therefore, trapped.
he swallows hard, breathing unevenly. instead of whispering, he takes the reigns of his body and navigates through a low murmur, making himself as audible as he can. ) I fell — into a trap. My leg's caught in the floor. ( from here, he looks for something, anything that looks out of place in the decor, the interior build. there has to be a way of releasing the trap... )
[ For the first time since they arrived, Johnny's youkai does something other than sullenly hide in the very back of his mind, as unreachable as it's ever been. There's a spark of curiosity laced with malice and fear - Johnny can't tell if it's happy Alucard is stuck, or afraid for him.
Or just afraid it's next.
Johnny's quiet by chance more than acquiescing to Alucard's command, trying to get his bearings once more in his own mind. He swallows and scans the ceiling above him, wheeling away from the stairs, looking for anything that looks like a way out. There doesn't seem to be any clear hole meant to collapse in the ceiling, no obvious spot for a person to be dropped right through the floor to crash below... ]
Like a bear trap sort of trap? Or more like a rabbit snare? Did it hurt you or are you just stuck?
[ Johnny's voice is audibly panicked, but here is the first time he shows his true colors in peril - he's demanding and upset, yes, but he's analytical and already clawing around for clues to the solution.
He sighs in frustration. His own voice is barely undergoing an attempt to stay quiet, but at least he's not quite shouting anymore... ] I don't see anything down here that looks like a switch or something meant to let you fall all the way through the ceiling...
Actually — yes. It's quite like a bear trap. Hopefully that answers your other question.
( Alucard doubles over, sitting on his free leg folded onto the floor, and lowers his hands in carefully to test the trap, trying to pull at the jaws and see if they might loosen... they begin to ease apart under his baseline strength, no benefits left to him from his father's blood, left only with what his own two hands can do.
but there's a tension cog at the base where the jaws are hinged, and pushing the jaws open shifts the cog. Alucard hears the click and the jaws snap a few degrees tighter, jumping out of his hold and crunching deeper into his calf. he barks a surprised and especially pained sound, clipping the sound in his own throat as much as he can. well — that didn't work.
breathe through the pain; he can feel the assault lighting through his nervous system, skin breaking into a sweat, skin tingling as if embers from a fire were brushing onto him, but overall, Alucard knows he's fine for now, and will have to continue to be for long enough to figure out how to get out of here. )
No, I'm meant to be trapped. I imagine— that must be the beauty of its design. Disarming it must be out of my reach from here. ( almost sounds like it would be useful if he had that sword on him right about now... except, from where he's sitting right now, Alucard isn't seeing anything extremely out of the ordinary...
until he remembers the trigger. Alucard turns and looks back at the now displaced rug, still half-laid out where it had been set. when he had dropped it and turned, he hadn't peeled it fully away. from how he's situated now, he'll have to bend over his right leg, currently sitting in the teeth of the trap, if he wants to try to reach for the rug and peel it the rest of the way from where the trigger had been laid...
but it's still all out of reach of his wingspan; if Alucard were to bother trying, he would never reach it anyway.
in his mind, spinning with tactical planning, he's up here because he's the only one of them that could make it up here. Johnny isn't even on his mind as an option to call on to bring upstairs to inspect the trigger point under the rug. instead, Alucard's trying to think of what else to do. ) I — moved something that set the trap off. Naturally, I can't reach it now. Even if the trigger doesn't double as a way to disarm it, it should give us a clue... ( it's a grim consideration, but Alucard might just have to muster up his strength and just bear with the most logical, and most unpleasant, idea that he can think of. one that he's still trying to put words to — he might just have to tell Johnny to go back into the city for help, and leave him here to wait. )
How injured? Are you gonna be able to walk when we— [ Johnny cuts himself off at the noise, however strangled, Alucard makes upstairs. He feels adrenaline beating through to his very fingertips, heart rate climbing even though nothing's endangering him.
He looks around; no clear switches or anything on the ceiling or walls. But then as he listens to the rest of what Alucard says, through the haze of panic and wanting to have someone else answer all his questions and figure this out, Johnny is still noticing the way some of this stacks up. ]
If it's meant for youkai, or friends of them... Maybe they would want you alive to torture you for a while. Get information or some sort of desperate barter out of you... But this is a house. People lived here. There's gotta be a release switch. They wouldn't let someone rot in their upstairs....
[ Johnny is fretfully going back and forth downstairs, looking for hints and coming up empty-handed. The idea of leaving to find help doesn't even enter his head.
He comes back to the stairs and looks up them. Maybe twenty steps. It has a banister, wooden and old, but it seems sturdy. He reaches out and touches it, and then tugs with purpose. It creaks but doesn't budge visibly. ]
I'll look at it. [ He declares, determined. He sighs and then reaches out with both hands for the banister and, gradually while he waits for his body weight to shift with his movement, stretches out from his chair.
He can still engage his core just fine — honestly if anything he's even more in tune with it now than after years of horseback riding — and there's only the light thud of his numb, limp legs slamming into the stairs as he ends up hanging from the banister. He's gripping it like he's on monkey bars, and begins sliding one hand and then the other further up along the banister, tugging himself along...
Of course, dragging his lower half with him makes for quite an odd series of bumps as he goes, ignoring it since it doesn't hurt him except to upset his balance as he drags his knees off the floor and onto their first step. ]
Bold to assume this place used to be a home to people. ( something about it... perhaps it really used to be a residence, maybe there was a time when people used to live here, imprinting their day to day moments into the space, laughing and ruminating and existing. logically, arguably, it's possible...
but Alucard looks over the space and can't shake the feeling that it is, instead, more satirical than that, designed to blend in and disarm someone of their healthy caution. perhaps repurposed from what it used to be, reassigned, stolen away just as they all had been to become this dumping ground for undesirable youkai. Tatsuo can't build an impression on any of it beyond her displeasure at being here.
especially now that they're trapped here within it. Tatsuo knows her flame can do nothing against metal while preserving the safety of the host...at least, not comfortably, anyway. but she also knows he's been stripped of his ability to fully survive something like an unconventionally brutal escape; such is the exchange of being given a vehicle to survive. there has to be something else...
but then, there's a sound that cuts through Alucard's thoughts, creaking, thudding, that's been rolling rhythmically through the air for what he realizes has been some short amount of time. he looks up from the trap, brow furrowed and temple gleaming, to the direction of the stairs— )
—Johnny? ( Alucard straightens his back, craning his neck for a view that still won't be granted to him, adrenaline ringing in his ears. what's happening? what could be climbing the stairs, and how did Johnny not alert him to it? )
[ What, does Alucard seriously think this entire house, maybe even multiple of the houses - hell, most of the town - might be some sort of front? That's a pretty wild guess, although it's also one that's letting Johnny's imagination run wild with theories about how it could or couldn't be plausible...
...All of which is stuff he'd totally be commenting on, if he wasn't concentrating on carrying himself up the stairs with just his arms. This would actually be easier if he was hanging directly from a beam or something to cross a river. Instead, each time he has to drag his lower body up a step, his own body offers up some level of resistance to the idea. He's making progress, and it's pretty fast considering the fact that he's not just hopping up the stairs two at a time, but twenty stairs' worth of space is still taking him a little bit to ninja warrior his way past. ]
Yeah, [ he grinds out when Alucard calls his name. Alucard sounds...paranoid. Maybe he's more injured that he's letting on? Johnny can't imagine a bear trap is being kind to a human leg. ] 'm coming.
[ And he is. Johnny's hands will appear in view first, one reaching left, his weight switching arms, then the other reaching left, moving maybe half a foot at a time, having to hold himself parallel to the banister with sheer strength one-handed while he shifts each hand.
He's breathing a bit heavier, now, but Johnny doesn't complain as he finally has his head in sight of Alucard. He glances over and - yeah, the other guy sure is kneeling on the floor, one leg at an impossible angle that Johnny hopes means it's just disappearing into a false floor and not broken at that point.
As he clears the last bit, Johnny lets go with his forward hand and instead places his palm on the second story floor, leans towards it, and then finally lets go with his far hand and catches himself in a loud heap before he face-plants the floor. ]
...Fuck, [ softly, but with feeling. His legs are still on the stairs. He'll drag himself the rest of the way in a second.
God, he's going to have so many bruises to discover on his legs next time he bathes... ]
( for the disconcerting lack of logic that's going on right now, Johnny's response is curt and nearly nonchalant. shortly, Johnny's hand step into view on the banister of the stairs, one by one, slowly unveiling arms dragging their body of ownership along, which in turn reveals-- )
Johnny!( if you were hoping for Alucard to sound heartfelt and excited, well...he's unfortunately not. ) Are you insane? The banister could be compromised; do you want to end up like me? ( Alucard's heart is now racing to attempt an escape of its own, right out of his body; for being his knight in shining armor, he suddenly feels as if he's in more danger than before. ) You need to traverse as if every inch of this place is designed against you, lest you wish for the both of us to become permanent fixtures to it.
( Alucard sounds nearly panicked, yet something behind his eyes shines differently; it's a good thing that he has Tatsuo as the backdrop to his thoughts these days, fiercely intelligent as he is, he's still so young of mind. his alarm boils up to anger, but the wolf has thoughts of her own, seeing the selfless valiance of a man refusing to sit idly behind a lack of ability. in fact...Alucard might not be thinking of that display so forwardly, the knowledge of it definitely settles in the pit of his chest. Johnny should have gone out to find someone to help them both; instead, the ridiculous man has thrown himself right into the fray...and for what? to help him?)
[ Johnny can't say he was expecting Alucard's endless gratitude - this is not his one and only friend from back home, after all, and even Gyro would probably have something negative to say about a rescue this haphazard - but this is not a decision Johnny makes entirely lightly. It is dangerous and he should leave, except for all that little factors that added up together into him staying put.
He's curious about this place too. His youkai, for all its faults, emboldens him about what he could theoretically dig himself out of. And perhaps just the smallest shred of humanity, stretched out to a man that's shared a few clever insights with Johnny even if they've never really gotten along--
And then Johnny gives an attempt and that attempt is marked as falling dreadfully short, and what little scarred tissue that makes up his self-esteem takes the brunt of that disappointment. ] Because being careful really kept you safe, [ he snarls, although it comes a half-beat after his expression is openly stricken and hurt. He's already shoving it aside in favor of aggravation.
Johnny's still catching his breath, but he presses himself up enough to drag himself forward and then turn around to sit on his ass, facing the stairs, so he can pull his legs up off the steps with his hands. ] Besides. In theory, I can fly. But the jackass in my head only wants to help if my body is in danger.
So I need to be the one to help you, but if I got caught, I'd just put on my mask and let that demon-thing give me enough power to break out. [ He says this like it really was his plan from moment one and like it makes perfect sense, as he flips over to look over Alucard and the rest of the room at large, one initial scope for clues. ]
Exactly. If I still managed to fall into a dreadfully mundane trap such as this, then I don't want something to happen to— ( Alucard trips on his unprecedented words, just as Johnny argues his heroic logic. part of him expected Johnny hadn't thought this through, but that idea doesn't settle entirely well; he's impulsive as hell, dangerously so, but he isn't...stupid. Alucard knows that.
but what truly snaps his voice out of his throat is what he realizes he nearly says. it isn't 'I don't think you're capable,' because even if he didn't think so, Tatsuo would never allow him to say it. what it is...
I don't want something to happen to you.
and that sits strangely in the pit of his cold stomach, and he can't understand why the concept matters so much. it's...natural to feel that way about someone you're partnered with for safety. is it his pride? because Alucard only came here to make sure Johnny wouldn't hand himself in danger, and only wound up doing that for himself?
Alucard is made to surface from a submersion he didn't realize he'd slipped into, eyes awake and hard as he blinks into the present, looking at Johnny. sweat has his hair sticking to his temples, pain wandering through his body in waves. self-aware remorse bends his expression, but they don't have time for him to try to walk his own ass through unprepared apologies. )
—Yes. ( they need to focus on this first. Alucard swallows and looks back over to the half-crumpled rug. ) I attempted to move it to check for any trap, but it seems it was a trigger to another.
Not my brightest idea. ( but what else could he have done? if anything, it might have triggered either way, and wouldn't it have been worse not to bother checking an obvious detail? ) I didn't notice anything obvious under the rug; I'm not entirely sure the mechanism is hidden there with it.
[ 'I don't want something to happen to--' and it rings between them, awkward and obvious and hard to avoid looking at. Johnny just stares, eyes wide and not able to hide how hard it's hitting him to read the rest of the implied sentence. Offense at being offered help when he doesn't need it is so easy to feel and so familiar by now, but it doesn't cover the full extent of his emotions about being offered anything. And this isn't help, but a brief hint that Alucard cares--
Johnny swallows, hard, and sits up taller, shoulders back entirely because his body urges him to give in to how tired he now feels. ] Okay. So leave the rug alone.
Whatever releases it, it would be wherever the people controlling it would want to be standing, or reach for. So they wouldn't need to turn their backs to get to it, but it would be far enough away that something the size of any random youkai couldn't reach it...
Or. [ Johnny looks back over at Alucard. And damn, he doesn't look great, sweating and breathing heavier, but he doesn't look like he's about to pass out and Johnny can't do anything about it until they get the trap to release anyway, right? So... ] Or maybe it's not a...physical release?
Wouldn't exorcist humans have magic, in a place like this?
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his focus is on his movements, on the sounds around him, every creak, every shift, his senses melding with Tatso's to gauge any telling little detail that might be the prelude to a mechanical betrayal. which means...he captures everything that Johnny says, even as he makes it to the top landing, an achievement as much as it is still a continuation of the ensuing journey. he shouldn't let himself get distracted, he knows that, and can sense Tatsuo thinking it, but it's an unconscious move when he turns to look over the railing at Johnny, attention caught on him. )
Your youkai should be able to read them. ( spoken softly as possible while still being audible, before he turns away again to assess the area upstairs. ) Whether they're willing to translate for you is another—
( Alucard stops when he notices a rug blanketed over the floor, and he thinks he's caught a possible set-up. it's cliche, but tried and true, and refusing to walk over it blindly, he reaches down and grabs the corner of it, peeling it back intending to reveal some sort of a pit trap underneath.
as he draws the rug up off of the floor, he feels — the slightest tug under his pull. instantly, he drops the woven thing, hand going free and rug going limp into a pile on the floor. he can't see what it was, but then he hears a click. )
Shit— ( short and sharp, tense between his teeth; Alucard pivots and bolts, realizing the rug was attached to something. ) Johnny, stop, we have to—
( something shifts underfoot, and it upends his balance. a panel in the floor slides open so quick, he can only try to regain his footing — which the opening is relying on. his other foot goes to plant onto the floor, but it's only a small void now, and when his foot hits the bottom, about one foot deep into the floor, he lands on a trigger.
instantaneously, a maw of metal snaps shut around his calf. Alucard groans in alarm from the pain, but only for the swiftest moment; his arm goes up, and his own teeth sink in around the layers of cloth wrapping around his limb, silencing him as he reels. )
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That dirty goddamn thing living in his brain never wants to tell him anything useful—
Johnny turns around so quickly he nearly loses his hat, stuffing that paper into his pocket to free his other hand and wheel himself in a tight half-circle and face the stairs. He approaches them just as Alucard's warning is cut off into a clear groan of pain, a sound that also ends in a strangled noise. ]
What happened?! [ Johnny's voice is raised, shouting immediately to be heard, and the shock of another loud sound after so much quiet only encourages his already increased heart rate to climb up faster.
He ends up wheeling back from the bottom of the stairs to their side, trying and failing to lean in a way so that he can make out what's happened up the stairs, but the staircase is narrow and he can't see, dammit. Alarm for not just himself, but real concern for the other man, hits him with a spike of adrenaline. He's antsy as he waits and it makes his tone sound more aggravated. ] What's going on, Alucard?!
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he gasps, releasing his arm from his mouth, fang marks staining two points at the top of his forearm, the sleeve of his garment slowly building blood. his mouth comes away clean. )
Shh. ( it's almost difficult to tell if Alucard is shushing Johnny, or hissing in pain, but clarification soon comes on a harsh, sharp whisper. ) Keep your— voice down...
( shock is setting in, at least, and Alucard looks down to confirm what he already knows, and sees the sets of metal teeth enclosed on his leg, which is still in tact. he thinks, grimly, that the device isn't meant to sever his leg completely; it's more effective to keep him in tact, and therefore, trapped.
he swallows hard, breathing unevenly. instead of whispering, he takes the reigns of his body and navigates through a low murmur, making himself as audible as he can. ) I fell — into a trap. My leg's caught in the floor. ( from here, he looks for something, anything that looks out of place in the decor, the interior build. there has to be a way of releasing the trap... )
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Or just afraid it's next.
Johnny's quiet by chance more than acquiescing to Alucard's command, trying to get his bearings once more in his own mind. He swallows and scans the ceiling above him, wheeling away from the stairs, looking for anything that looks like a way out. There doesn't seem to be any clear hole meant to collapse in the ceiling, no obvious spot for a person to be dropped right through the floor to crash below... ]
Like a bear trap sort of trap? Or more like a rabbit snare? Did it hurt you or are you just stuck?
[ Johnny's voice is audibly panicked, but here is the first time he shows his true colors in peril - he's demanding and upset, yes, but he's analytical and already clawing around for clues to the solution.
He sighs in frustration. His own voice is barely undergoing an attempt to stay quiet, but at least he's not quite shouting anymore... ] I don't see anything down here that looks like a switch or something meant to let you fall all the way through the ceiling...
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( Alucard doubles over, sitting on his free leg folded onto the floor, and lowers his hands in carefully to test the trap, trying to pull at the jaws and see if they might loosen... they begin to ease apart under his baseline strength, no benefits left to him from his father's blood, left only with what his own two hands can do.
but there's a tension cog at the base where the jaws are hinged, and pushing the jaws open shifts the cog. Alucard hears the click and the jaws snap a few degrees tighter, jumping out of his hold and crunching deeper into his calf. he barks a surprised and especially pained sound, clipping the sound in his own throat as much as he can. well — that didn't work.
breathe through the pain; he can feel the assault lighting through his nervous system, skin breaking into a sweat, skin tingling as if embers from a fire were brushing onto him, but overall, Alucard knows he's fine for now, and will have to continue to be for long enough to figure out how to get out of here. )
No, I'm meant to be trapped. I imagine— that must be the beauty of its design. Disarming it must be out of my reach from here. ( almost sounds like it would be useful if he had that sword on him right about now... except, from where he's sitting right now, Alucard isn't seeing anything extremely out of the ordinary...
until he remembers the trigger. Alucard turns and looks back at the now displaced rug, still half-laid out where it had been set. when he had dropped it and turned, he hadn't peeled it fully away. from how he's situated now, he'll have to bend over his right leg, currently sitting in the teeth of the trap, if he wants to try to reach for the rug and peel it the rest of the way from where the trigger had been laid...
but it's still all out of reach of his wingspan; if Alucard were to bother trying, he would never reach it anyway.
in his mind, spinning with tactical planning, he's up here because he's the only one of them that could make it up here. Johnny isn't even on his mind as an option to call on to bring upstairs to inspect the trigger point under the rug. instead, Alucard's trying to think of what else to do. ) I — moved something that set the trap off. Naturally, I can't reach it now. Even if the trigger doesn't double as a way to disarm it, it should give us a clue... ( it's a grim consideration, but Alucard might just have to muster up his strength and just bear with the most logical, and most unpleasant, idea that he can think of. one that he's still trying to put words to — he might just have to tell Johnny to go back into the city for help, and leave him here to wait. )
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How injured? Are you gonna be able to walk when we— [ Johnny cuts himself off at the noise, however strangled, Alucard makes upstairs. He feels adrenaline beating through to his very fingertips, heart rate climbing even though nothing's endangering him.
He looks around; no clear switches or anything on the ceiling or walls. But then as he listens to the rest of what Alucard says, through the haze of panic and wanting to have someone else answer all his questions and figure this out, Johnny is still noticing the way some of this stacks up. ]
If it's meant for youkai, or friends of them... Maybe they would want you alive to torture you for a while. Get information or some sort of desperate barter out of you... But this is a house. People lived here. There's gotta be a release switch. They wouldn't let someone rot in their upstairs....
[ Johnny is fretfully going back and forth downstairs, looking for hints and coming up empty-handed. The idea of leaving to find help doesn't even enter his head.
He comes back to the stairs and looks up them. Maybe twenty steps. It has a banister, wooden and old, but it seems sturdy. He reaches out and touches it, and then tugs with purpose. It creaks but doesn't budge visibly. ]
I'll look at it. [ He declares, determined. He sighs and then reaches out with both hands for the banister and, gradually while he waits for his body weight to shift with his movement, stretches out from his chair.
He can still engage his core just fine — honestly if anything he's even more in tune with it now than after years of horseback riding — and there's only the light thud of his numb, limp legs slamming into the stairs as he ends up hanging from the banister. He's gripping it like he's on monkey bars, and begins sliding one hand and then the other further up along the banister, tugging himself along...
Of course, dragging his lower half with him makes for quite an odd series of bumps as he goes, ignoring it since it doesn't hurt him except to upset his balance as he drags his knees off the floor and onto their first step. ]
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but Alucard looks over the space and can't shake the feeling that it is, instead, more satirical than that, designed to blend in and disarm someone of their healthy caution. perhaps repurposed from what it used to be, reassigned, stolen away just as they all had been to become this dumping ground for undesirable youkai. Tatsuo can't build an impression on any of it beyond her displeasure at being here.
especially now that they're trapped here within it. Tatsuo knows her flame can do nothing against metal while preserving the safety of the host...at least, not comfortably, anyway. but she also knows he's been stripped of his ability to fully survive something like an unconventionally brutal escape; such is the exchange of being given a vehicle to survive. there has to be something else...
but then, there's a sound that cuts through Alucard's thoughts, creaking, thudding, that's been rolling rhythmically through the air for what he realizes has been some short amount of time. he looks up from the trap, brow furrowed and temple gleaming, to the direction of the stairs— )
—Johnny? ( Alucard straightens his back, craning his neck for a view that still won't be granted to him, adrenaline ringing in his ears. what's happening? what could be climbing the stairs, and how did Johnny not alert him to it? )
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...All of which is stuff he'd totally be commenting on, if he wasn't concentrating on carrying himself up the stairs with just his arms. This would actually be easier if he was hanging directly from a beam or something to cross a river. Instead, each time he has to drag his lower body up a step, his own body offers up some level of resistance to the idea. He's making progress, and it's pretty fast considering the fact that he's not just hopping up the stairs two at a time, but twenty stairs' worth of space is still taking him a little bit to ninja warrior his way past. ]
Yeah, [ he grinds out when Alucard calls his name. Alucard sounds...paranoid. Maybe he's more injured that he's letting on? Johnny can't imagine a bear trap is being kind to a human leg. ] 'm coming.
[ And he is. Johnny's hands will appear in view first, one reaching left, his weight switching arms, then the other reaching left, moving maybe half a foot at a time, having to hold himself parallel to the banister with sheer strength one-handed while he shifts each hand.
He's breathing a bit heavier, now, but Johnny doesn't complain as he finally has his head in sight of Alucard. He glances over and - yeah, the other guy sure is kneeling on the floor, one leg at an impossible angle that Johnny hopes means it's just disappearing into a false floor and not broken at that point.
As he clears the last bit, Johnny lets go with his forward hand and instead places his palm on the second story floor, leans towards it, and then finally lets go with his far hand and catches himself in a loud heap before he face-plants the floor. ]
...Fuck, [ softly, but with feeling. His legs are still on the stairs. He'll drag himself the rest of the way in a second.
God, he's going to have so many bruises to discover on his legs next time he bathes... ]
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Johnny! ( if you were hoping for Alucard to sound heartfelt and excited, well...he's unfortunately not. ) Are you insane? The banister could be compromised; do you want to end up like me? ( Alucard's heart is now racing to attempt an escape of its own, right out of his body; for being his knight in shining armor, he suddenly feels as if he's in more danger than before. ) You need to traverse as if every inch of this place is designed against you, lest you wish for the both of us to become permanent fixtures to it.
( Alucard sounds nearly panicked, yet something behind his eyes shines differently; it's a good thing that he has Tatsuo as the backdrop to his thoughts these days, fiercely intelligent as he is, he's still so young of mind. his alarm boils up to anger, but the wolf has thoughts of her own, seeing the selfless valiance of a man refusing to sit idly behind a lack of ability. in fact...Alucard might not be thinking of that display so forwardly, the knowledge of it definitely settles in the pit of his chest. Johnny should have gone out to find someone to help them both; instead, the ridiculous man has thrown himself right into the fray...and for what? to help him? )
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He's curious about this place too. His youkai, for all its faults, emboldens him about what he could theoretically dig himself out of. And perhaps just the smallest shred of humanity, stretched out to a man that's shared a few clever insights with Johnny even if they've never really gotten along--
And then Johnny gives an attempt and that attempt is marked as falling dreadfully short, and what little scarred tissue that makes up his self-esteem takes the brunt of that disappointment. ] Because being careful really kept you safe, [ he snarls, although it comes a half-beat after his expression is openly stricken and hurt. He's already shoving it aside in favor of aggravation.
Johnny's still catching his breath, but he presses himself up enough to drag himself forward and then turn around to sit on his ass, facing the stairs, so he can pull his legs up off the steps with his hands. ] Besides. In theory, I can fly. But the jackass in my head only wants to help if my body is in danger.
So I need to be the one to help you, but if I got caught, I'd just put on my mask and let that demon-thing give me enough power to break out. [ He says this like it really was his plan from moment one and like it makes perfect sense, as he flips over to look over Alucard and the rest of the room at large, one initial scope for clues. ]
...Was the trigger under that rug?
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but what truly snaps his voice out of his throat is what he realizes he nearly says. it isn't 'I don't think you're capable,' because even if he didn't think so, Tatsuo would never allow him to say it. what it is...
I don't want something to happen to you.
and that sits strangely in the pit of his cold stomach, and he can't understand why the concept matters so much. it's...natural to feel that way about someone you're partnered with for safety. is it his pride? because Alucard only came here to make sure Johnny wouldn't hand himself in danger, and only wound up doing that for himself?
Alucard is made to surface from a submersion he didn't realize he'd slipped into, eyes awake and hard as he blinks into the present, looking at Johnny. sweat has his hair sticking to his temples, pain wandering through his body in waves. self-aware remorse bends his expression, but they don't have time for him to try to walk his own ass through unprepared apologies. )
—Yes. ( they need to focus on this first. Alucard swallows and looks back over to the half-crumpled rug. ) I attempted to move it to check for any trap, but it seems it was a trigger to another.
Not my brightest idea. ( but what else could he have done? if anything, it might have triggered either way, and wouldn't it have been worse not to bother checking an obvious detail? ) I didn't notice anything obvious under the rug; I'm not entirely sure the mechanism is hidden there with it.
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Johnny swallows, hard, and sits up taller, shoulders back entirely because his body urges him to give in to how tired he now feels. ] Okay. So leave the rug alone.
Whatever releases it, it would be wherever the people controlling it would want to be standing, or reach for. So they wouldn't need to turn their backs to get to it, but it would be far enough away that something the size of any random youkai couldn't reach it...
Or. [ Johnny looks back over at Alucard. And damn, he doesn't look great, sweating and breathing heavier, but he doesn't look like he's about to pass out and Johnny can't do anything about it until they get the trap to release anyway, right? So... ] Or maybe it's not a...physical release?
Wouldn't exorcist humans have magic, in a place like this?