[Small smokey man and the big man are good men. Flower lady makes the big man happy. She is strange. Smokey man is strange. But it's a good strange, steady strange. And now they are all together. Roach gives another little nosing to John's hand before she goes to find grass near camp. She doesn't need to be tethered if she knows they're near. It's the finding the people that's the hard part sometimes. It's a shame no one here speaks horse.
Across the fire, Yennefer looks to John. He seems even more confusing to behold than when he appeared in the room at the inn. Normal eyes. Normal skin. Peculiar clothes and a haircut.
A witcher.]
Good thing. You would have been searching all night.
[Whether or not Geralt is asleep, Yen gets pulls some sheep skins out for herself. He doesn't need to be bothered. And what would he say to her anyway?]
[ John can sense the tension in the air. He doesn't need to be a mage to do it either. Something happened while he was away, he's guessing. What it could be he's got no idea. ]
[The big man. Yennefer's piercing gaze leaves John for just one look. Sleep has this ability to make him look so very soft and innocent. It's a ridiculous concept.]
Yes. The potions and mending have prevented real injury. At the worst tomorrow he'll be sore and very hungry.
[A typical thing. For a witcher.]
It's what he's used to. Coin for slaying monsters. I'm sure your world has the same.
[ Just a turn of phrase is all. It's how he speaks. Not normal for around these parts but he's not playing along with this. He's going home as soon as he can figure out how to. ]
Glad to hear it.
[ He conjures up a blanket. It's easy to do. Easier here than back home as well. Interesting. He gives a little shrug. ]
Not really. Different kinds of monsters, I suppose. Sure, I've tangled with a few magical ones. My world's mostly the human kind. Worst of the lot if you ask me.
[Geralt is not one to pluck notions out of nothing. She pulls the woolen blanket up further on her.]
There is a growing population of humans. Humans and monsters arrived at the same time at the Conjunction of the Spheres. So many monsters that humanity needed witchers.
[ Geralt isn't. He is also familiar with very human kinds of monsters. He might agree with John and acknowledge that while far-fetched, a world like that is possible. What would humans become if there were no longer any creatures to terrorize them in the dark?
They might turn into them. ]
Magic is not as prevalent in my world. There's a few who dabble. Loads that do it cause they think it'll get them power or fame. Monsters I've run into---Invunche, that demon you had the pleasure of meeting. Even had a hell of a weekend with a siren.
I help where I can but not everyone is willing to entertain the idea of magic and monsters. They'd rather have cold hard science. Probably piss themselves if they stepped into our worlds. [ He casts a glance over at Geralt. ] He a witcher then? What exactly does a man like that do?
Magic and chaos are everywhere. We can be conduits to it's power to bend and shape it. There's a cost for it, shifting and melting means something in turn must give. Perhaps your world has forgotten the order of it?
[She can only guess. She knows next to nothing and all that John has told her is that it's different. The firelight flickers and the wind blows too.]
Witchers aren't born. They're raised, molded and educated from childhood. Fed mutagens for strength, for producing small capacities of magic and being able to endure others without significant effects. I've heard some folk say that witchers are the monsters man made for monsters to fear.
[The man beside her though? Geralt gets another look, softer.]
Geralt of Rivia is no creature. Just a man devoted to the task of curbing the wildlife. He's a conduit of order.
Just about the same in my world. Though there are different ways to go about it. I dabble in a few, not just one narrow modality. Others aren't so keen on all that. My world doesn't believe in magic and monsters. They believe in science, logic, and reason.
[ Magic doesn't fit into that. Even if the old saying about technology and such is tossed around. ]
They force that on them? [ It's what it sounds like. Did the big man over there get a choice? Not like John had a choice in the way things went in his childhood. No mum and a dad that would rather knock him around and put out cigarettes on him than look out for him. ] I can appreciate that. I'm a nasty piece of work where I'm from.
[ He catches that soft look. It's clear they've got something between them. ]
Never said he was. So what's he do? Hunt monsters for money and that's about the size of it?
[ Hey, he's right there with you on that. Even faced with the unexplained at the end of the day, people can't handle it. ]
I know, right? Still, suppose it's good for me. I can get work when I need to, even if it's just to bless a marriage or two.
[ His brow furrows at the mention of some children not surviving long enough to leave. There's something dark in his eyes that has him looking away. A chill goes through him. ]
No child deserves a life like that.
[ Speaking from his own experience and the things he's seen happen to other children. ]
Guess we're just peas on a pod then. Only thing I have to worry about is what I'm going to do with the rest of my days after I've sent every last bastard demon back to hell where it belongs.
[ If he gets that far. Chances are he won't. He's damned either way. ]
How do you mean?
[ May as well play a little daft about it. He doesn't really want the spotlight on him like this. Or to think about what she gleaned from the touch earlier. ]
[Gods what a world he describes. The more she learns the less she likes. Better for him to be here than there. Though who is she to say? The world has never been tender nor sweet. There's always a bitterness. A price.]
Take heart. Those that live are the last. Kaer Morhen was sacked and the elixirs and potions used for the Trial of the Grasses has become a lost art. Or so they say. Man must solve the problem on their own. Or cry to the likes of you and I.
[Both battling. Though right now all she can think of is how miraculous Geralt's existence is, how somehow his bloodline will thrive.]
When we touched you felt a transference. If what I saw was parts of you, you then must have seen parts of me.
[ Might end up helping him in the end. Maybe he could find a way to save his soul in the end. Does that kind of hell even exist in this place? Doesn't matter, the First of the Fallen would collect his due no matter what worlds stood in his way. ]
Don't know if that's something to be glad of either. I've got enough troubles of my own without people banging on at my door.
[ He says it but he doesn't mean it. He likes being able to help no matter how he whinges on. ]
I saw some things, yes. Didn't figure it was good form to bring it up is all.
Glad or regret, it's too late now. What's done is done. It was before my time or awareness. I don't even know if there was anything that anyone could do. The choice of man.
[And that is not at all said with any respect or reverence.]
Your services in exchange for coin.
[To her understanding. That is what a witcher does with or without the cat eyes, though John doesn't have swords either. Just magic.]
...that was not my intention. Nor was it want of mine to share.
None of us can escape our fates. All we can do is muddle through the rest of this muck. Do the best we can. Hoping for a gentler world is for those who don't know anything about it.
[ Least that's the world John knows. The one he's always known. ]
Once in a while, yeah. Man's got to eat.
[ Magic and his own wits. That's what he's got. He clears his throat. ]
Didn't figure it was. It was a long time ago at any rate.
[ It doesn't make it any easier to bear. That's for what you did to your mum, killer. ]
[Ah yes, cynicism is reliable and fits on her as well as her clothes. She shifts to curl up, still seated.]
Yes. Time dulls the pain. It also sculpts who we are. I don't enjoy that truth.
[She was hardly even twenty and wanted to be beautiful, powerful and adored. Of course there was no telling of how she would feel close to seventy years after the fact.]
[ There's a bite in the air but it's no worse than cold winters back home. Then again, it's been an age since he spent a winter back there. He wonders, briefly, if his nan is still well. ]
I don't think anybody does, pet. Why I don't bother with mirrors most days.
[ He can't stand himself on his best day. He's not going to stare himself in the mirror every morning. At least not until he's had a drink first. ]
[Her tone is almost pitying. But is it to John or herself? Or that delicate shred of hope inside of her that somehow endures.]
...you said you did not get any physical enchantments.
[It's an idle, distracting tease. Though she knows just what he means. The reflection of what you were not able to do, of who you let down or who you hurt.]
Your people, your kin, are they like you?
[A roundabout way to prod at Geralt's assessment.]
Those are what need the most protecting. No price is too high to protect the innocent.
[ There's a lot of room for morally grey and questionable in his life. That is one thing he is firm about. One thing he will not waver on. ]
Hah. [ He huffs in amusement at the tease, ducking his head down as he reaches to fiddle with a bit of bark fallen near to him. ] That I did.
My family? No. Well, only magic my old man ever did was making a pint disappear. Sister---well, she ran off cause she couldn't stomach our dad treating me like he did. Never knew my mum.
[The innocent, well, yes. That is without question. Fragile things like hope and faith. They are not what she would typically put much stock into. Principle, anger and duty have a large sway. She pretends as though there are no soft edges to her spirit and motivations.
She doesn't say more on the matter, only sighs and her eyes move to the fire. Her ears are open listening to him.]
Do you know if your skills were something you were born with? Perhaps an elder above them?
[This is a lot to ask in the name of curiosity. John's words make her brow furrow.]
My--father, my true father was half elf. He was slain. I never knew him. There's a natural propensity for magics in fae so they say.
[ There are fragile things in his life he has failed to protect. Partly due to his inexperience, mostly his own arrogance is to blame though. Faith? He doesn't have that. Least not in any traditional sense. ]
I've---always been able to see things others couldn't. Took to magic like a duck to water. [ He looks over with something of a helpless shrug. ] Nothing so far as I know. My mum died giving birth to me.
[ If it came from anywhere, it might've been her family. He wouldn't know. ]
Sorry to hear. Never easy growing up with the idea of someone. You're the first elf I've met. Well, part elf. Still. It's just stories where I'm from.
Did you have a conduit moment? A sudden appearance of magic?
[It's what would happen with mages. A duck needs to be exposed to water so that it could swim.
A dead mother for him, a dead...everyone for her now. That is the way of things in all reality? No family, no happiness to be had?]
True elves would never think me as one of their own. I'm only a quarter. It's enough for humans to believe I'm inhuman, as though the sorcery isn't enough.
[Yennefer shrugs.]
They are very real. And very angry. My father was killed in The Great Cleansing. That was supposed to be the end, man killing off as much elder blood as possible, the survivors living in exile or fear. Perhaps that is why they are only stories for you.
Nothing I can remember if I did. I've always seen things. Creatures. Spirits.
[ He's got more ghosts than just his mum. Just none he cares to admit to her at that moment. ]
Well, they all sound like a bunch of sorry bastards if you ask me.
[ He looks down, absently flicking at some dirt on his hand. ]
Could be. Lots of old things like that are just stories now. Fairy stories told to scare little kids and the like. Keep the bulk of humanity hiding near the firelight and out of the darkness.
[How is that even right? Her brow furrows, trying to process what this could mean. And how can he possibly have Witcher traits without the Trials? There are so many tangled threads of thought.]
I don't hide. And I believe that many a dark creature looks in fear of humans. They are a monster too, hmm?
[Silly concept when they are literally huddled around a campfire. She could leave in the night and search for answers on her own. Geralt would hate that. She had promised to not dash away before morning. They were going to stay the whole cycle of the moon together. It's all gone so much differently than planned.]
[Just trying to get the story straight. John is a smart man, he likely can pluck out when a person is trying to scrutinize him whether or not Yennefer is trying to be cunning.]
Yet we try and do better by them and live among them.
[We, though deep in her heart she means Geralt who ever pretends to be indifferent and is constantly wounded. He sleeps deeply. Supposedly that is because he is near her. Yennefer doesn't believe that for the case of this night. It's the potions and the fight.]
And how are they? Balancing a personal life and the duties befitting magic users?
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Across the fire, Yennefer looks to John. He seems even more confusing to behold than when he appeared in the room at the inn. Normal eyes. Normal skin. Peculiar clothes and a haircut.
A witcher.]
Good thing. You would have been searching all night.
[Whether or not Geralt is asleep, Yen gets pulls some sheep skins out for herself. He doesn't need to be bothered. And what would he say to her anyway?]
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The big man over there, he going to be all right?
[ As good a subject as any to bring up. ]
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Yes. The potions and mending have prevented real injury. At the worst tomorrow he'll be sore and very hungry.
[A typical thing. For a witcher.]
It's what he's used to. Coin for slaying monsters. I'm sure your world has the same.
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Glad to hear it.
[ He conjures up a blanket. It's easy to do. Easier here than back home as well. Interesting. He gives a little shrug. ]
Not really. Different kinds of monsters, I suppose. Sure, I've tangled with a few magical ones. My world's mostly the human kind. Worst of the lot if you ask me.
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Not really?
[Geralt is not one to pluck notions out of nothing. She pulls the woolen blanket up further on her.]
There is a growing population of humans. Humans and monsters arrived at the same time at the Conjunction of the Spheres. So many monsters that humanity needed witchers.
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They might turn into them. ]
Magic is not as prevalent in my world. There's a few who dabble. Loads that do it cause they think it'll get them power or fame. Monsters I've run into---Invunche, that demon you had the pleasure of meeting. Even had a hell of a weekend with a siren.
I help where I can but not everyone is willing to entertain the idea of magic and monsters. They'd rather have cold hard science. Probably piss themselves if they stepped into our worlds. [ He casts a glance over at Geralt. ] He a witcher then? What exactly does a man like that do?
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[She can only guess. She knows next to nothing and all that John has told her is that it's different. The firelight flickers and the wind blows too.]
Witchers aren't born. They're raised, molded and educated from childhood. Fed mutagens for strength, for producing small capacities of magic and being able to endure others without significant effects. I've heard some folk say that witchers are the monsters man made for monsters to fear.
[The man beside her though? Geralt gets another look, softer.]
Geralt of Rivia is no creature. Just a man devoted to the task of curbing the wildlife. He's a conduit of order.
no subject
[ Magic doesn't fit into that. Even if the old saying about technology and such is tossed around. ]
They force that on them? [ It's what it sounds like. Did the big man over there get a choice? Not like John had a choice in the way things went in his childhood. No mum and a dad that would rather knock him around and put out cigarettes on him than look out for him. ] I can appreciate that. I'm a nasty piece of work where I'm from.
[ He catches that soft look. It's clear they've got something between them. ]
Never said he was. So what's he do? Hunt monsters for money and that's about the size of it?
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As if science, logic and reason were not related to magic. Foolishness.
[She can't imagine a place like that. Yennefer looks back to the fire.]
Yes. Some call it destiny. Not every child to pass through the gates of Kaer Morhen survive long enough to leave.
[John and his own bundled up form draw her attention.]
Choices that are made for us are the most bitter and cruel. [Speaking for herself and for Geralt.] Yes. Slaying for coin until he is slain.
[Though he is among the most successful. How many other witchers have songs about them?]
You said you didn't undergo any change to be the sorcerer you are. Is that internal as well as external?
[The things she had seen... the power she felt....]
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I know, right? Still, suppose it's good for me. I can get work when I need to, even if it's just to bless a marriage or two.
[ His brow furrows at the mention of some children not surviving long enough to leave. There's something dark in his eyes that has him looking away. A chill goes through him. ]
No child deserves a life like that.
[ Speaking from his own experience and the things he's seen happen to other children. ]
Guess we're just peas on a pod then. Only thing I have to worry about is what I'm going to do with the rest of my days after I've sent every last bastard demon back to hell where it belongs.
[ If he gets that far. Chances are he won't. He's damned either way. ]
How do you mean?
[ May as well play a little daft about it. He doesn't really want the spotlight on him like this. Or to think about what she gleaned from the touch earlier. ]
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Take heart. Those that live are the last. Kaer Morhen was sacked and the elixirs and potions used for the Trial of the Grasses has become a lost art. Or so they say. Man must solve the problem on their own. Or cry to the likes of you and I.
[Both battling. Though right now all she can think of is how miraculous Geralt's existence is, how somehow his bloodline will thrive.]
When we touched you felt a transference. If what I saw was parts of you, you then must have seen parts of me.
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Don't know if that's something to be glad of either. I've got enough troubles of my own without people banging on at my door.
[ He says it but he doesn't mean it. He likes being able to help no matter how he whinges on. ]
I saw some things, yes. Didn't figure it was good form to bring it up is all.
[ Like the parts she saw of him. ]
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[And that is not at all said with any respect or reverence.]
Your services in exchange for coin.
[To her understanding. That is what a witcher does with or without the cat eyes, though John doesn't have swords either. Just magic.]
...that was not my intention. Nor was it want of mine to share.
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[ Least that's the world John knows. The one he's always known. ]
Once in a while, yeah. Man's got to eat.
[ Magic and his own wits. That's what he's got. He clears his throat. ]
Didn't figure it was. It was a long time ago at any rate.
[ It doesn't make it any easier to bear. That's for what you did to your mum, killer. ]
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[Ah yes, cynicism is reliable and fits on her as well as her clothes. She shifts to curl up, still seated.]
Yes. Time dulls the pain. It also sculpts who we are. I don't enjoy that truth.
[She was hardly even twenty and wanted to be beautiful, powerful and adored. Of course there was no telling of how she would feel close to seventy years after the fact.]
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[ There's a bite in the air but it's no worse than cold winters back home. Then again, it's been an age since he spent a winter back there. He wonders, briefly, if his nan is still well. ]
I don't think anybody does, pet. Why I don't bother with mirrors most days.
[ He can't stand himself on his best day. He's not going to stare himself in the mirror every morning. At least not until he's had a drink first. ]
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[Her tone is almost pitying. But is it to John or herself? Or that delicate shred of hope inside of her that somehow endures.]
...you said you did not get any physical enchantments.
[It's an idle, distracting tease. Though she knows just what he means. The reflection of what you were not able to do, of who you let down or who you hurt.]
Your people, your kin, are they like you?
[A roundabout way to prod at Geralt's assessment.]
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[ There's a lot of room for morally grey and questionable in his life. That is one thing he is firm about. One thing he will not waver on. ]
Hah. [ He huffs in amusement at the tease, ducking his head down as he reaches to fiddle with a bit of bark fallen near to him. ] That I did.
My family? No. Well, only magic my old man ever did was making a pint disappear. Sister---well, she ran off cause she couldn't stomach our dad treating me like he did. Never knew my mum.
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She doesn't say more on the matter, only sighs and her eyes move to the fire. Her ears are open listening to him.]
Do you know if your skills were something you were born with? Perhaps an elder above them?
[This is a lot to ask in the name of curiosity. John's words make her brow furrow.]
My--father, my true father was half elf. He was slain. I never knew him. There's a natural propensity for magics in fae so they say.
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I've---always been able to see things others couldn't. Took to magic like a duck to water. [ He looks over with something of a helpless shrug. ] Nothing so far as I know. My mum died giving birth to me.
[ If it came from anywhere, it might've been her family. He wouldn't know. ]
Sorry to hear. Never easy growing up with the idea of someone. You're the first elf I've met. Well, part elf. Still. It's just stories where I'm from.
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[It's what would happen with mages. A duck needs to be exposed to water so that it could swim.
A dead mother for him, a dead...everyone for her now. That is the way of things in all reality? No family, no happiness to be had?]
True elves would never think me as one of their own. I'm only a quarter. It's enough for humans to believe I'm inhuman, as though the sorcery isn't enough.
[Yennefer shrugs.]
They are very real. And very angry. My father was killed in The Great Cleansing. That was supposed to be the end, man killing off as much elder blood as possible, the survivors living in exile or fear. Perhaps that is why they are only stories for you.
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[ He's got more ghosts than just his mum. Just none he cares to admit to her at that moment. ]
Well, they all sound like a bunch of sorry bastards if you ask me.
[ He looks down, absently flicking at some dirt on his hand. ]
Could be. Lots of old things like that are just stories now. Fairy stories told to scare little kids and the like. Keep the bulk of humanity hiding near the firelight and out of the darkness.
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[How is that even right? Her brow furrows, trying to process what this could mean. And how can he possibly have Witcher traits without the Trials? There are so many tangled threads of thought.]
I don't hide. And I believe that many a dark creature looks in fear of humans. They are a monster too, hmm?
[Silly concept when they are literally huddled around a campfire. She could leave in the night and search for answers on her own. Geralt would hate that. She had promised to not dash away before morning. They were going to stay the whole cycle of the moon together. It's all gone so much differently than planned.]
Do you know of sorceresses in your realm?
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[ A bit of a shrug. He's never really considered it all that much. ]
Humans are the worst of them all if you ask me.
[ He shifts a little closer to the fire as the chill of the night threatens to creep in. ]
I've known a few. None of them keen on me.
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[Just trying to get the story straight. John is a smart man, he likely can pluck out when a person is trying to scrutinize him whether or not Yennefer is trying to be cunning.]
Yet we try and do better by them and live among them.
[We, though deep in her heart she means Geralt who ever pretends to be indifferent and is constantly wounded. He sleeps deeply. Supposedly that is because he is near her. Yennefer doesn't believe that for the case of this night. It's the potions and the fight.]
And how are they? Balancing a personal life and the duties befitting magic users?
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wrap this one?
sounds good <3