abraxaslogs | [ CLOSED ] just look across and see

[ Ciri's approaching footsteps interrupts Geralt before he can answer. For a second, he is silent. She's there—and he has to remember all over again that she grown now, older than the girl his memories last held.

He can't help himself. He strides towards her and folds her into his arms. He missed her. His chest aches with unresolved grief. It feels like he hasn't seen her in fucking years.

Always found, he thinks, and it's true, isn't it? How many times have they found each other? And yet—

He'd still lost her. When did he get her back? How long? (What happened?) The questions are overwhelming. He buries them for now, squeezing Ciri tight. ]

[There's an expression he's heard here recently that has danced in his head of how true it can be. Speak of the devil, and there he appears. It seems shockingly perfect for the moment.

But Jaskier does not speak yet. He doesn't interrupt the silence of Geralt wrapping his arms tightly around his daughter.

The daughter who is so much older than the girl he'd once watched over as she slept. The one he sang lullabies to -- who would not mock him for them (much). Who he would catch sometimes humming them to herself. The one who completely understood how fun it was to make fun of Geralt. Constantly.

It shocks him now. How he never really questioned her scar, and now it feels glaring to him. She did not choose to be a queen in the end. Did she?]

I'm afraid we both woke up from a rather complicated dream. [He smiles to see it, though.] And this feels like coming home again.

[ Ciri, with sleep still clinging to her eyelids, startled and confused, only hugs him back. Tight as Geralt hugs her, arms squeezing around his shoulders as long as he needs. She feels his uneven breath at the side of her neck, the grip around her almost too firm, desperate in a way that feels so out of place for an everyday evening here, days removed from things like monsters and rifts.

She soothes him, palm against his shoulder blade, while Jaskier starts to clarify. ]

What did you see?

[ She asks, softly, raising her eyes to Jaskier behind Geralt. She waits for him to release her first. ]

[ What did he see. Too much, he wants to say. Too much and not enough. There are still years missing between them. Jaskier isn't wrong, though. It does feel like coming home. A reminder that this place is where they belong. That this is truly home because it's where they can be together.

Carefully, he releases her. Where does he begin? In the end, there's only one burning question on his mind. ]

I thought I lost you. [ He studies her, forehead creasing. ] Did I—did we ever find you?

[ Or had she been running ever since, fleeing Nilfgaard, the Wild Hunt, and fuck knows what else? There are too many blanks to fill. Too many gaps for the pieces to fall into place. He remembers when they met here, how she ran to him as if she'd not seen him in years. (The devastating look on her face when he didn't recognize her.) This sphere could not have been the first time they were reunited. Could it? ]

[Too much.

Jaskier gives her what he hopes is a reassuring smile. There is more bad than good, if he's honest. But there is still good. When he looks at Ciri, seeing her having survived her childhood, surviving beyond the time he knows her, all he sees is good.

And Geralt won't give her a proper answer, anyway.]

A pocket-sized princess singing lullabies. [That sticks to him more than anything. Though he shared many things with Ciri, he never expected her to learn his songs. And now, here, she plays a lute -- like him, when she remembers to practice. That is the good.] And one who cheats at cards.

[He's only saying.

He adds context, because Geralt does not:]

The last I heard of you, Ciri, you were in a carriage on the way to Nilfgaard. And we were... coming to find you.

[ Once Geralt lets her go, Ciri reaches out for Jaskier. He won't escape a hug either, or at least a squeeze of his hand while he explains. The memories for her are far away, but just as sweet. Memories she's clung to for years like a small flame in the distance, through all the cold and lonely nights spent far apart.

Geralt's question is-- too much. Too difficult.

Jaskier's clarification doesn't really elucidate much at all.

Her brow furrows, as she looks between the two of them slowly, hesitant to reveal anything beyond what they know. These bouts of sudden memories through dreams worry her; she's never received any of her own, and she's not sure what causes it or why, what it means. Each time, it leaves them all unnerved, but at the same time helped bring her family a little closer.

No answers will come from elsewhere, about these dreams or what they show. None except what few she can provide. They look at her, waiting.

Ciri bites her lip. ]

...it wasn't me, Jaskier. Whoever you heard of in that carriage, that wasn't me.

[ She stands between them, holding out her hands, with a faint smile and tired eyes. ]

We did find each other. It took a little while, but we did.

We'll always find each other. All of us.

[ It wasn't me. Confusion wars with relief. Eventually, the latter wins over. He is hesitant to say a lot, too. If they were separated, he isn't sure what he ever told her about what happened to him. If he knows himself, it would not be much—not to hide it, but because it doesn't matter. Nothing matters except that they're together.

And they are.

He takes her hands. She's real. Solid beneath his grip. He can sense the question in her eyes, and he finally grants a real answer. ]

I remember leaving Brokilon. Nothing else.

[ Did she ever meet Milva? How many of their paths crossed? The way she says a little while tells him it was...a long time. Longer than he should ever want them separated.

He remembers early in, thinking about how much she reminded him of himself. All those sharp edges and that deep mistrust. The more of her he recalls, the clearer it becomes: that these things were never born from her time with him. It grew from their time apart. The understanding leaves an ache between his ribs.

It's not anything. She is still Ciri in all the ways that matter. He just. Wishes he could've protected her from more. Perhaps that was never in Destiny's cards. ]

It wasn't? [True surprise spills over his face. Once he heard the rumors, and the devastation of the villages betwixt the path to the empire's core... he had not thought of disbelieving the rumors. Who didn't know what the Lionness of Cintra looked like? Who she was? Everyone on the bloody Continent had been after her, apparently.

Jaskier does not hesitate to take the offering, regardless. He embraces her tightly, as if he hasn't seen her in ages -- and it has not been that long, but gods, doesn't it feel like years?

He has plenty of memories with her here. He loves and adores her because of who she was in Abraxas. But those memories truly do built up, like extra planted seeds, like rocks on a path that was somewhat fraught before.

Yes. All of us. It's... it's a strangely comforting sentiment, as if told from the future.]

I do recall teaching you a few songs... I didn't realize my lessons with poetry would have stuck so long. [He releases her too, but his hand stags on hers, and his other pats Geralt's shoulder with a squeeze.] I think we would be better suited to leave most of our questions alone. For the moment.

[ Geralt's right; Ciri doesn't know the details, but it's just enough context to give her a sense of the timing, vague as it might be for her. She nods. Gives both their hands a squeeze.

The smile directed at Jaskier this time is a bit brighter (and a touch relieved). ]

I remember those lessons fondly. I'm glad you do too.

[ Maybe later, she can tell him how his songs were a comfort when no others could be found. How his lullabies in her head could almost let her drift home at least in her memories when home was worlds away.

Maybe she'll tell Geralt how he'd never left her, never given up even when she had. And Yennefer-- ]

...have either of you heard from Yennefer?

[ Despite the shadow behind his thoughts, a fond smile graces his lips. It's good to see her face again. And it's good to know she survived, just as he taught her to.

He shakes his head. Yennefer, as always, is a complicated topic. He was never without good memories of her, but they were darkened by her choices. Now it suddenly...he isn't sure. Different. He isn't seeking to confront her. He wants to talk to her. He just needs a little time to prepare for the possibility that she may not remember as they have.

Or that her memories will not come with her magic restored. ]

I'll talk to her when I can.

[ It is enough to know that Ciri remembers them all coming together again—Yennefer included. ]

[Fondly. He never would have thought --

Jaskier shakes his head, slowly.] No. We've only just woken up. [But he has a mind to check. Could it possibly have extended to her, as well? Would it even be... the same? He has no idea. And between then and now, he's not sure where they all stand.

Together, is what his mind supplies immediately.]

I can check on her. But regardless, I know she has her people in Thorne. That will be there when she wakes.

Right. [ Ciri nods, and she doesn't say anything yet, but wonders if she should reach out to Yennefer. If she should wait. Last time the three of them had memories come to them in dreams, they hadn't quite... matched up. Even though it had happened around the same time, as far as Ciri knows. (And she has to wonder why it never happens to her, what it means-- but that way lies a path too full of many questions she doesn't really want the answers to, so she doesn't linger on it long.)

Ciri releases their hands with a soft exhale. After a moment, she smiles again. ]

All that matters is we're together.

[ It feels right that they're together. He remembers doubting Destiny, what it really meant, but he understands now it is not about what fate has decided for them. It's about believing in what they can have.

And that's this. A family. No matter where they end up.

He cups her face between his hands. Just knowing she's safe makes it all worth it. ]

We're not going anywhere. I promise.

[ CLOSED ] just look across and see

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wrap here maybe? ❤️