shovels and dirt
Dec. 10th, 2018 11:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
opensummerI have examined the evidence and come to the horrifying conclusion that Trevor is the most competent adult in the OT3.
opensummeropensummer
Profile
opensummer
Page Summary
Style Credit
- Style: Able Constructs for Practicality by timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2018-12-28 05:21 am (UTC)Seriously, how?!somebody please stop me
Date: 2018-12-28 08:54 pm (UTC)Disclaimer: I’m talking competency at Adulting, not emotional maturity because Sypha wins that one hands down.
fun facts: the timeline starts in 1455, cuts to Lise’s burning in 1475, and then skips one more year to bring us to 1476. That’s 21 years total, minus ten months for pregnancy. Alucard is, at the oldest, 20 years old. That’s assuming Lise got straight into bed with Dracula and got knocked up like within the first two months. At the youngest, I would guess fifteen (as he told Sypha he grew up very quickly), but since I’m shipping him with characters who are adults, his minimum age is eighteen for my comfort.
I also think that eighteen-nineteen also makes sense time wise. Gives Lise and Dracula, a year and a bit to get to know each other and fall in luvvvv, get married, and start trying? for kids.
(I have no idea if Alucard was planned or not. I don’t think it really matters in this case.)
And don’t get me wrong there are 18 year olds who are Actual Adults but one who came from privilege, had two living doting parents, and grew up in a castle probably isn’t one of them. As a noble in this era he wouldn’t even come of age until 21 and that’s assuming vampires follow human standards, which y’know probably not. So to Dracula, he’s probably still a tiny baby infant who must be protected at all costs.
Additionally he’s noble. I’m certain that he grew up with servants, because you can’t run a castle that size without them. He grew up in his mother’s and father’s lab and he probably know more chemistry than the rest of the world but that doesn’t mean he knows how to cook. Or do laundry. Or housework. Sypha and Trevor probably had to teach him how to do the dishes.
We can guess those things from his background. Let’s examine the evidence in show- he, idealistically, attempts to persuade his father to back down from the whole genocide thing and is hit by his father for the first time in his life. In response, he goes and… takes a nap. (Which is the most teenagery thing to do ever.)
He then starts a fight with the people who wake him, melodramatically monologues to himself, and then tests the people he’s asked to help him constantly. He gets sharp when questioned, and attacks others when he feels uncomfortable. (Sypha and Alucard in the library.)
In summary: Alucard is a sulky, overeducated 18-19 year old, with a big fat crush he doesn’t know how to deal with, and underdeveloped adulting skills.
Sypha, I think, I would put between the two of them in age, so I’m going to spilt the difference and say 21. Sypha grew up a nomad. She’s probably fantastic in a marketplace, is an incredible haggler, an excellent cook, she likely speaks and reads more languages than Trevor’s ever heard of. But her entire life she’s been surrounded by a community, always had people who cared. She’s never had to take care of just herself. That does not make a good decision making set of skills.
This is Sypha, Miss I’m going to run off with no backup and get psychically eaten by a stone cyclops. So she’s got functional life skills, amazing emotional intelligence, and makes terrible life decisions.
Trevor is canonically 23 in the first game he appears in. I like that, so I’m keeping it. He’s been on his own since he was thirteen, maybe twelve. That’s a decade where he’s kept himself alive and relatively healthy. He has all of his fingers and toes, all of his teeth, and only one visible scar. Considering how he’s introduced- getting beat up in a bar while drunk that’s a fucking fantastic track record.
The Belmont’s would have been working nobility, too close to their servants to not know how to take care of themselves alone. Plus bringing untrained servants on a hunting expedition for vampires is probably a good way to get all of you killed. With that and likely lifespan of a Belmont, hint: it’s not long, I suspect Trevor was learning hunting and fighting from about five on. He would have done his laundry with the staff, learned camp cooking at the minimum and how to keep himself alive. That’s eight years to build a foundation.
I think 12-13 year old Trevor shifted through the ashes of his childhood home, took a sword and a whip and signed up with the first outfit that would take him. I think he spent 7-9 years of those missing ten and fought in every conflict he could find and few more on the side and made himself good at it. I think he got promoted, has experience, because you don’t go from dead drunk in a bar to barking orders in the space of a day and a half.
I think eventually he made himself a bit of money and a name and hoped he could come home and turn that into something. I think he got turned down flat, by the church, by the people he wanted to protect and then he asked himself whats the fucking point, and when he could come up with a good answer he tried finding one at the bottom of a beer. I think Trevor cares and that he's good at it.
He just need a reason to show it.
Incidentally in the College AU of this show, Trevor is a fifth year senior who drinks too much and aggressively Does. Not. Care. Sypha is sophomore studying linguistics, the fearless daughter of diplomats. And Alucard is a freshman, from like stupidly wealthy parents. There’s a rumor he’s a prince back home and no one can prove it, but no one can disprove it either. Together, they fight crime. Or the forces of darkness. Whatever.
More accurately Sypha and Alucard fight crime, Trevor tries to keep them from dying while insisting he Does. Not. Care.
Bold of you to assume I would ever stop you
Date: 2018-12-29 09:12 am (UTC)"Sulky, overeducated 18-19 year old, with a big fat crush" is EXACTLY what Alucard is and you should say it. He's trying so hard to come off as older than he is but we all know better. I also don't think he had much chance to socialize with people his own age due to his unique position.
Sypha probably did every reckless thing there was to do and some other harried member of her caravan always hastily tried to back her up or pull her down before she gets them all killed, or worse, expelled. The stone cyclops thing might have been the first time she undertook something alone.
I also like your idea about Trevor in the army(?) and achieving battlefield and command experience there. He always surveys a town first and then when needed gives very clear, very precise orders. The kind that even panicking people could follow. Someone who has been alone since he was a child and lacking socialization would have trouble doing that. Also it makes sense that a child would go looking for the first bit of protection they could find?
Trevor cares so much and I'm *clenches fist* love that. Also what College AU are we talking about here? Is it something going to be posted to the comm?? Speaking about the comm, have you considered crossposting your meta there too?
Re: Bold of you to assume I would ever stop you
Date: 2018-12-29 09:58 pm (UTC)Sypha absolutely did every idiotic reckless thing you can think of growing up and after a while the rest of the caravan was like ok, you’ve got magic, you’re a legal adult this is fine, it’s all fucking fine, you do you.
So in this time period standing armies were a little weird. They were mostly run by nobles and usually require you to be citizen of the country, able to pay your own way. Him joining a mercenary band seems much more likely. In war time they’d hire on with whatever noble could hire them, in peace they’d “protect” towns and villages for a fee. I imagine that he got promoted real quick, because part of his training as a Belmont would be been to teaching people how to protect themselves. I think it also fits his attitude towards the world. He’s seen some shit and has gotten burned for caring in the past.
College AU is the ugly result of hyperfocus and a anxiety spiral interacting. I got like 800 words into it was look nopenopenope Do Not Want. I still have to finish a holidays prompt and write more of history’s longest suicide note. I’ll revisit it in a couple weeks and see how I feel about it then. Cause it’s probably only 5kish in total, and I. Have. Feels.
But I want to pad my lead on history first.
So I’m still trying to figure out dw’s etiquette. I was on lj when I was a wee!bab in fandom but I joined like two weeks before strikethrough happened and was mostly there to lurk. When I did post it the com it was just xposts of fanfic. Is that where meta belongs? Cause I’m all for building the comm with meta if that’s a thing
no subject
Date: 2019-01-01 07:56 am (UTC)Sypha has magic, Sypha is also brutally efficient with her magic. The way the show choreographs her battles? Unf! I've seen it mentioned on youtube in the fighting clips but Sypha is always depicted with the most and the bloodiest kills. Her caravan probably just shakes their heads when she curb-stomps another monster.
Mercenary band is definitely easier for promotion and all this headcanon? Accepted. It makes too much darn sense.
Ahhh, the feel when too many creative ideas. Take your time really. They'll come.
Fighting crime has me all intrigued.I have even less clues about dw or lj etiquette. I only got on lj when google or a rec list led me to a fic there. The comm profile says only fanworks though, so I don't have a clue. But it's so dead, we need moar content! I'll even post a rec list if they allow it. That production article. Anything.
no subject
Date: 2019-01-01 07:24 pm (UTC)probably the forces of darkness, 'cause then i can blend in magic and that the kind of nonsense that makes me really happyI shot the mod an message asking about that and I'll let you know when they get back to me. I'd love to see your rec list even if they say no.
no subject
Date: 2019-01-01 07:54 pm (UTC)So sounds like it's all good to them! I'll have to organize our like, six different convos into something readable but i'll get it up there in the next few days.
no subject
Date: 2019-01-02 11:12 am (UTC)I want to see her go toe-to-toe with Carmilla.You know, even if you used the exact premise of of the show it would still work in a modern setting. Alucard and harem vs Dear ole' dad, Round Who-Even-Knows-Anymore.
And good to know about the mod's stance! Time to get compiling then. Should I start with the goatf***ing interview from 2007?
no subject
Date: 2019-01-03 04:45 pm (UTC)Sypha is absolutely going to reck Carmilla sometime next season and I am Living for it!You absolutely should start with the goatf**king interview
no subject
Date: 2019-01-04 05:33 am (UTC)Two ruthless women going toe-to-toe, the results will surprise you!
Or notAhahhaha, let me organize things a bit. How do we share articles here? Do I post a link? Do I copy+paste the article?
no subject
Date: 2019-01-04 06:02 pm (UTC)Or Not.I'd post a link with like an article summary and maybe a bit of commentary? That way the reader would have access to the full thing and aren't just seeing a big block of text and it gives the OP credit too.
no subject
Date: 2019-01-04 06:36 pm (UTC)Too late, I gave commentary and a link. Because I'm the kind of idiot who thinks everything is necessary.
no subject
Date: 2019-01-04 06:46 pm (UTC)Nice! I'm working on reading it in between these convos