[ CLOSED ] just look across and see

[gynvael]

Who: Geralt + Various
When: September
Where: Cadens, Nocwich, Horizon
What: September catch-all
Warnings: Standard Witcher canon; season 3 spoilers. nsfw marked.


(( starters below. plot with me discontinued. ))

Comments

[cryptsleeper]

I think Geralt will have more space than I will, admittedly. I still sleep in a cactus.

[Alucard had plenty of options in regards to where he could rest his head, up to and including the office he shares with Jaskier. There's even a dog bed for his wolf form under his drafting table. But the cactus in the graveyard affords an extra level of quiet that he will always crave, and it is nice to have it to return to.

Plus the novelty of seeing people react to the fact it exists has yet to wear off.

Just like poking fun at the parts of Kaer Morhen that are acceptable to joke about.]

Oats and rye do store better, but that doesn'-- ah. Shit at baking is different. And I'm sure your baking oven situation was not ideal.

[The hotter the oven the better, and Alucard can't see the desire to waste fuel on an oven when it could be used for heating other rooms. It checks out, at any rate.]

I know there are others that use bread as a plate. Trenchers, I believe, although for all the obvious reasons that wasn't done in my home growing up.

[aquaveiled]

[ Hold on. ]

In a cactus?

[ She's no expert on cacti, but the few she's encountered have either been big and pointy and little and pointy. None look like they would be very comfortable to sleep on, but...mayhaps inside? Assuming they don't wiggle around too much.

But Alucard has a point--you can do wonders with even limited amount of ingredients. She's even made little cookies out of rye and cakes out of oat. But lacking the tools and mayhaps the ingenuity is a different story. He truly does have the soul of a Culinarian, doesn't he?

She gives Geralt a look as she takes a noisy slurp of her soup. ]

No, not really. I didn't have bread until I left home, so I wasn't sure if that's what it was for. But it's a very versatile food, isn't it?

[ No wheat under the waves, as it were. Or rye. Or, oat. Or, you know, bread-like things. Mostly. ]

We usually had it with rice, if anything.

[ Which was lovingly traded from the Kojin. ]

Have you had rice cakes before?

[ She'd pounded her fair share. ]

Well you certainly bake a delicate pastry for someone else who may not have grown up with it.

[gynvael]

Jaskier grew it. [ This probably raises more questions, none of which Geralt takes initiative to answer.

Generous of Alucard to believe their rooms were heated, though. They had the braziers and the cooking fire in the main hall. That was all. Witchers don't much feel the cold, and before the Trials, well. Nobody gave a fuck about keeping them warm then when they barely gave a thought to feeding them.

His glance at Alucard carries a note of amusement. Of course the dhamipr did not have trenchers in his home. ] No. That would be uncivilized.

[ There are also many parts of Alucard's upbringing that Geralt feels compelled to poke fun at. (He has not forgotten Alucard installing a damn water basin with running water in his domain long ago.) Himeka's, however, remains more of a curiosity to him, and his habit of not asking is likely responsible for the fact that Geralt has the impression that rice, for some unfathomable reason, grows on the ocean floor on her sphere.

He's never seen a rice field in his life. Or rice, for that matter, beyond what she's brought him. ]

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard shrugs lightly.] As Geralt can confirm, I was not at my best after I arrived here. I found it easier to take to my wolf form rather than be person shaped, and because I was not used to city life, found comfort in one of the graveyards in Cadens. Jaskier decided to use his plant magic to grow a cactus that I could bed down in while in that form, and I still find it a useful place to reside in. Cities are exhausting.

[It all makes perfect sense, thank you.]

Rice is mostly new to me. The Ottomans were only just starting to bring it into Wallachia, but I appreciate a versatile grain.

[Geralt gets a little snort for that glance. He's earned it, Alucard knows his entire upbringing was ridiculous.]

What goes into a rice cake? Because I think we're both equally ignorant on that matter.

please picture their entire adventure animated in crayon

[aquaveiled]

[ Jaskier grew it?

He grows cacti big enough for people to live in? That's amazing! Weird, but amazing--

--then Alucard's explanation lends a little more context to the whole thing and is only marginally less weird due to the fact that she had seen Alucard turn into a bat once, back on that island. ]

I didn't realize you could become a dog.

[ Yeah, like. Truthfully. He might as well, right?? She's certainly not someone who can judge anyone for so casually explaining that. Geralt is certainly in the right company for that, it seems.

She can picture Geralt turning into a dog as well, actually. Mayhaps not unlike his wolf companion in the Horizon. Now the thought of Geralt and Alucard running about the desert in their matching dog forms to avoid the pressures of city life...stopping as they come upon some rare creature that makes the finest of meats! And then they have to hunt it down in their dog forms else some wandering bandits learn their secret and drag their prize all the way back to the cactus several malms away. A hard fought meal, but a delicious one.

Yes, that's probably how it goes. ]

It's fairly simple! You steam some sticky rise and then pound it repeatedly with a mallet and fold it in between hits. When it gets really sticky you put it in hot water and then flip it around until it gets to the right texture. Then you can leave it as is or mold it around tasty fillings to fit the season. I'll have to bring some next time.

[ She's been mostly working on perfecting Solvunn cuisine, but it would be fun to share more of her hometown recipes, even if it's only through the Horizon.

Taking another slurp, she grins. ]

Geralt and his wolf seemed to enjoy the ramen I brought, didn't you?

[gynvael]

[ Himeka should absolutely commit that fantasy to page. Perhaps with the help of Nero and his paints.

He makes a vague noise of agreement with cities are exhausting. The largest city he visited on the Continent was Novigrad—populous, but not near as populous as Cadens. It isn't exactly the people for him, though that's part of it. It's the constant noise, the constant smells, the constant everything. He's learned to tune out much where his senses are concerned, but.

Often, the empty desert is more pleasant. ]

Your noodles? [ Geralt gives a shrug. He did, yes. His visible enthusiasm is just permanently muted. ] Mm. Are you planning on bringing another?

[ He knows there are things she cannot make in this world. Geralt supposes he's lucky the ingredients in Abraxas are not much different than what he can scour back home. There's more available, in fact. Like a variety of citruses and coffee. ]