[ video ]

[ananym]

[ there's a pretty vampire, looking into the camera curiously before speaking. ]

I have been meaning to ask. Is there anything that you have learned here that has changed your lives?

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[sinistral]

That's a polite way of looking at what amounts to kidnapping.

[There is a hint of a smile at the corners of Bucky's lips though; they are kidnapped, technically, but there's no sense in dwelling morosely on the negatives of it. At least, not unless it leads to constructive conversation.]

What kind of change were you hoping for?

[ananym]

[ alucard can be unfailingly polite. at times. but he smiles in turn, soft. ]

I'm not sure. Something that allows me to grow instead of stagnation.

[ he recognizes that he's a bit . . . stiff. alucard has a backbone of steel and he doesn't bend very easily. ]

[sinistral]

[It's an interesting idea. An understandable concern, he supposes, though not one he's experienced himself — at least not thus far.]

Is this place so similar to your previous existence that stagnation is a concern?

[ananym]

No.

[ definitely not. alucard's reply comes out in his soft, delicate cadence. ]

It is that this place enforces us to be here, unable to fulfill our goals or continue to grow in our own worlds. So I wondered if there is anything here I could carry with me.

[sinistral]

[Hey, you never know until you ask!]

I wouldn't think that not being in your home would change that, not if you don't want it to. Of course none of us can pursue anything that's tied to a specific location, or to a person or thing that's not here, but that doesn't make stagnation the only other option.

[ananym]

. . . Perhaps not.

[ but he's not convinced. alucard isn't sure he could move on until his father's been defeated.

even if he doesn't know what he'll do with himself afterwards. ]

[sinistral]

Which begs the question of what you'd want to learn here.

[A question that might not be so easily answered, of course.]

[ananym]

What can we learn here? What can be gained?

There must be something.

[sinistral]

In the short time I've been here, I've already learned there are aliens and androids. There are worlds apart from my own. There's more technology, different technology, places with no technology at all. Even time apparently isn't as straightforward as I'd believed.

I should think any one of those things would count as something, and that's hardly scratching the surface.

[ananym]

[ that's fair. but alucard does not think that has changed him. it's nice to know the world is big. he's pensive, long hair falling over his shoulders. ]

I will not discount it. But does it change us, to know the world is vast? Does it change the way we approach people? Does it impact on our truths?

Are you changed in any way after coming here? That is what I'm looking for. A form of growth.

[sinistral]

Absolutely. Finding out that the world is a hell of a lot bigger than it was even a few weeks ago? I would think that would make anyone reevaluate his idea of his place in it.

What to do with that knowledge? It's up to each of us to decide that, I think.

[ananym]

[ alucard absorbs this thoughtfully. ]

I have one last mission. After that, I do not know what will happen to me.