#*writer's cap*

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Hellsing Volume Four: Elevator Action 6

First of all, that’s an interesting laundry list of vampire weaknesses. Some are run of the mill, but not being able to simply listen to scripture is new to me at least. Also there’s the differentiation between being able to look at the sun vs simply going out when it’s daylight.

Second, I love that cut from “Vampires are intelligent blood sucking fiends...” to Alucard looking so damn smug on that title page.

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Random integra headcanons?

Sure! Here’s a few off the top of my head:

She had a rebellious teen phase that was made more awkward and exacerbated by the fact that technically she had no one to rebel against.

It felt curiously like abandonment, knowing that she could do exactly whatever she wanted from the age of twelve. Eventually, she learned to value duty above all else.

The anime dub team decided she‘s a Freemason and that’s really fucking random and hilarious; headcanon accepted.

Ofc she had the formative crush on Alucard, which he thought was adorable but never indulged. The roles reversed pretty drastically once she grew up, and he found himself the one desperately in love with her.

There was also a short lived infatuation with a soldier, that in her mind went poorly, but it isn’t as if she ever actually betrayed her interest.

She started smoking because that’s what the Adults did, but then realized she did actually like it.

I am convinced she has anxiety, she just seems like the type.

In an effort to differentiate work and personal time, she wears suits when she’s on the job. She’s always working.

It definitely didn’t help the abandonment issues when Alucard disappeared. The one person she assumed was a constant up and left for thirty years.

She didn’t learn to drive until she was twenty. She never felt the need until Walter finally convinced her.

She has hardly any artistic sense, but sometimes dabbled in watercolors to make herself relax during the timeskip. It’s all Seras’ idea ofc.

Speaking of the timeskip, I think she spent most of it in a loose relationship with Seras and Pip. It grew organically. She can’t really put her finger on when things changed, but they gradually did. For the most part, they were happy.

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Alucard playing with Integra's hair during a rare moment where they're both just relaxing. Please.

Thank you for the drabble request! Here’s some quick seasonal fluff:

***

Winter nights were usually quiet. Perhaps something about the cold made vampires sluggish. Or perhaps even the dead didn’t feel like braving the sleet unless they had to. There were still the usual jobs of course, but they were easy pickings. Integra hadn’t had to send Alucard out for several weeks now.

It was too cold even for her, so she’d sequestered herself in her room. She was lying on her side, half heartedly trying to read a book with what light the dying fire provided. She was not at all surprised when the shadows in the room suddenly darkened.

“Feeling restless?” she asked, though she did not turn to look at him. The bed listed beside her. She sighed contentedly at the feeling of fingers running through her hair. The gloves masked the usual chill that clung to his skin. Between the heavy coat and the bed sheets he almost seemed warm to her.

“Not at all, Master.”

Shadow tendrils pulled the book from her hands. “Craving attention?” she asked, voice dry.

“Maybe,” he replied, still toying with her hair.

Integra glanced at him over her shoulder, his eyes glowing red, and she laughed. There was something absurd about having the most powerful vampire curled up in her bed, pestering her for cuddles.

She shifted to rest her head on his arm. “Sometimes, I swear you’re like a needy cat.”

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for the character meme: pip bernadotte

How I feel about this character

Pip is a fantastic asshole and I love him. He’s definitely under appreciated by the fans imo. He’s pretty much an action movie hero somehow transplanted into a gothic horror. He’s only overshadowed because everyone else in the main cast are just that much more melodramatic.

Pretty much every line of dialogue out of his mouth is solid gold. And I do appreciate him even more because of his general motif of bringing the human toll of war into perspective.

He really grounds the story, especially later in the game where things are exceptionally ridiculous and over the top. It’s also cool that he brings a mature outsider’s perspective to Hellsing— which is somewhat also what Seras does but she’s younger and more enmeshed in the awe of it.

Romantic ships

Obvs Seras. I also ship him with Integra during the timeskip and Alucard just in general.

Non romantic OTP

I think he’d get along extremely well with Alucard. They can be trolls together.

Unpopular opinion

I don’t think him turning into a familiar is a larger scale happy ending. I don’t dislike it, and it’s likely the best anyone could hope for.

But still, the implied lack of autonomy grates on me. My general soapbox with this fandom specifically is that just because a character is a good person or whatever, it doesn’t make it cool when they have complete control over another character.

Something I wish had happened

I wish he had gotten more screen time before his death. I can appreciate why Seras needed his death for her magical girl power up (even though the justification for why they ended up in that situation at all seems contrived to me) but in general I would’ve liked more content in between.

[blood-and-cigars]

Discord Highlights: Walter’s Origins

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You knew this would happen Vi. Give me a character: Alucard

How I feel about this character:

He’s fascinating! I love the dichotomy of him being simultaneously the most and least powerful. The fact that Dracula was somehow brought to the point of willing servitude is very interesting to me. Just the sheer hellish situation he’d have to be in to break in that specific way.

I appreciate that canon gets into his (past, present, continuing) trauma without making that the only thing the story focuses on or even his only characteristic.

The first time I read the manga I was absolutely delighted by the moral ambiguity and unflinching depiction of his bloodthirstiness (no pun intended). It was refreshing seeing that Hirano really fucking went there with the Rio sequence, and even later with the blackbird sequence. All of Alucard’s combat scenes before that had mostly just been for the sake of Cool. The sudden tonal shift, played straight for horror, was absolutely fantastic.

Romantic ships:

I ship him with... pretty much everyone. Integra, Anderson, Walter, and Seras to name a few. Listed in descending order of how interesting I find each dynamic lol.

Non romantic OTP:

Don’t really have one tbh. I guess Seras?

Unpopular opinion:

LOL my long standing Alucard soapbox is that just because we like Integra and she means well, doesn’t mean his relationship with her is at all healthy.

I def think while he respects her and would likely grow to like her if meeting her under different circumstances, he absolutely puts her on a pedestal because of her bloodline. He is perpetually in love with any Hellsing who he currently calls Master. It doesn’t really matter who it is specifically— even if his relationship with each Master has been very different over the years. And even though he cares for Integra for her own merits as well.

Something I wish had happened:

nO TiMeSkiP

Okay but several things:

1. I think Hirano stranding him on a ship for half the manga was a cop out. I wish we had gotten to see a way for the plot to progress without him being conveniently off screen in order to maintain any sense of stakes.

2. Given that his strength has always been bloodshed, I wish we’d seen him in a situation he couldn’t just fight his way out of.

3. More girlycard

4. That he’d found out Mina was the source of all these artificial vampires. I would’ve liked to see his reaction. Would he have cared at all?

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Do you think Alucard is one to pine? There is that age old trope of Integra marrying to continue the Hellsing line. While we know that isn’t canon, how do you think he would react if something like that happened?

Interesting question! I think it depends on when this happens and what their relationship is like before that.

This might be a surprise because I tend to write a more obviously involved alutegra? But my interpretation of their canon dynamic is more like... contentedly at arm’s length. Sex or even explicitly stated romance do not have to enter the equation. All of that is (of course) there in the undercurrent, exchanged glances, innuendo etc, but I think he’s just fine if it never progresses beyond that.

So in that respect, I don’t consider him much of a piner. I think he’s happy with the relationship they have and is remarkably secure in it.

As for jealousy, he is her lifelong servant, and a bond as strong as theirs is difficult for anyone else to surpass. There’s also the fact that in the Dawn we see that Arthur clearly got around (in addition to whoever Integra’s mother was lol), and Van Helsing must’ve had kids with someone. So Alucard likely takes for granted that there will be a similar situation with Integra eventually, and has already come to terms with it.

However, given Integra’s rather lonely lifestyle he’s also accustomed to always being first in her affections. So IMO he wouldn’t care about the symbolic significance of her having a lover or even getting married, but if she begins spending less time with him as a result then that’s when the jealousy actually takes root.

Integra could romance whoever she wanted and it wouldn’t matter to him at all as long as it didn’t impact their own relationship in any way. He might actually be more inclined to resent close friends.

So at first, he might say he doesn’t care. But if she’s ignoring him because it’s date night? Unacceptable. Suddenly, he cares very very much.

I don’t think he’d ever own up to being jealous though. He’d likely just sulk about it, and keep trying to make up excuses to get her to spend more time with him.

All that being said, I think things would change drastically if Integra were to get married post time skip. Mostly because he’d be more possessive of her time, having spent so long apart from her. But that’s a pretty unlikely outcome anyway.

FWIW I HC that she spends the timeskip in a loose relationship with Seras and Pip. And upon his return, Alucard’s plenty jealous of them both.

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Seras Victoria (I wonder if it'd be too much if you can do both the Gonzo version and the OVA version) 👏👏👏

Ooh fun! I have very different opinions of her characterizations between the two so I’m up for that.

Gonzo Seras

How I feel about this character:

She’s a fun character, definitely presented as more of The Protagonist in Gonzo than in the manga/ova. She’s a bit too passive though imo, not exactly in her plot choices rather than her actual, in the moment reactions to events. She often seems vaguely dazed? Which honestly I would be too if I were suddenly thrown into a vampire hunting organization, but it can get a bit grating.

I really like how she grapples with her new situation in a more multi faceted way though. She seems more realistically conflicted than OVA seras who takes all the sudden changes in stride and/or responds for purely comedic effect.

She provides a good every man perspective for the strangeness that is Hellsing, and I enjoy the fact that they actually get into her having a life before it. She still has a flat. She wears her own freaking clothes. In general she just seems more real.

Romantic ships:

In Gonzo I def ship her with Alucard

Non romantic OTP:

Hmm she has a good dynamic with Walter I suppose. I liked the mentor relationship she had with Ferguson but I wouldn’t call it OTP level.

Unpopular opinion:

Hm. I’m out of touch with what’s actually popular atm. I did like the love triangle thing they teased after Red Rose Vertigo?

Something I wish had happened:

I wish we saw her and Integra eventually warming up to each other. I think this might also be an unpopular opinion but I actually liked how cold they are at first, it makes sense to me. But I would’ve preferred if in the nonexistent continuance of the series they slowly became friends.

OVA Seras

How I feel about this character:

I like her character concept but the comic relief and fan service gets annoying. That being said it’s hilarious how Done she is with all the melodramatic extra shit going on.

She’s an incredibly strong character though, and I think fanon seems to characterize her as a fluffy waif which isn’t really true. The fact that she’s so chipper and deliberately positive in the face of so much is strength.

Romantic ships:

I ship her with (either or both) Pip and Integra. Alucard only if it’s like a one off Bad Decision and she immediately regrets it.

Non romantic OTP:

Yeah that’s Alucard, maybe post time skip Heinkel

Unpopular opinion:

Did... she really have to wait until everyone dies to drink any blood? WTF girl.

Generally just not a fan of episode seven. It has Feels but they seem manufactured to me given the blood thing. (And the fact that Hirano had to have Alucard sent out in the middle of the ocean to justify any threat on that scale happening)

Something I wish had happened:

I wish we could’ve seen her come to terms with the fact that Alucard, given all his goddamn OP abilities, didn’t really need to turn her into a vampire. But he chose to do so anyway.

I also would’ve liked to see her reaction to his disappearance.