abraxaslogs | [ CLOSED ] death is no man, death is no wraith

Entry tags:

[ CLOSED ] death is no man, death is no wraith

Who: Geralt + Various
When: October, pre-event
Where: Cadens
What: October catch-all
Warnings: Standard Witcher canon

(( starters below. plot with me

discontinued. ))

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[ Is that what Steve calls it? The large field full of vehicles that he'd ridden through? ]

Mm-hm. [ Geralt eyes the rows of colourful buckets. Why the fuck not. ] Surprise me.

[ He wouldn't know where to start if Steve made him choose a flavour. Whichever kind Steve hands him, Geralt takes the cup and dips a spoon in, squinting briefly. (It's near impossible for him to identify artificial flavours.) He leans back against the wall, feet crossed at the ankles. ]

I wanted to see how you were.

[ He'd looked in on Steve after their safe return, but since then there's been, what. An execution? More shit spawning out of Solvunn's shrines? Two dozen monsters crashing across the continent? They haven't spoken much in-depth—Geralt recognizes Steve has those he's closer to in Solvunn, Nero included—but even so. After all their time together, he feels responsible for more than just teaching him how to swing a sword. ]

[ steve likes to think himself well-versed in geralt's noises of agreement. or at least familiar with them. he says surprise me and steve is already nodding, reaching over and grabbing two bowls and heading back behind the counter to scoop some up.

he decides to go for something more traditional - a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of vanilla and then a third, strawberry, before making an honestly disgusting combination for himself and grabbing them both spoons. geralt makes himself comfortable, and steve - true to his own form - just sort of starts talking as he scoops their . ] I used to work here back home, before it uh...well it kind of exploded thanks to that huge monster thing you saw last time you were here. But I met my best friend here, which I'm guessing is why it's one of my like- domain things? I don't know. I don't really understand how this place works.

[ and just as steve likes to think himself well-versed in geralt's lack of long-winded conversations, geralt is probably...very used to steve's mini rants.

steve slides into the seat across from him, pushing geralt's bowl of scoops across the table to him and digging into his own monstrosity. he's actually mid-bite when geralt says i wanted to see how you were and steve sort of pauses at the question. ] You...did? [ it's a complicated combination that's tripping steve up; first, he and geralt's relationship was never one that involved a lot of talking. stories here and there, sure. and one of the first times they really spent any time together was a nice invasive tour through their memories, sharing things steve is pretty sure neither of them would have offered up otherwise.

talking about how someone's doing, though, is another thing. something that steve just wasn't really prepared to broach. he's also...he's not sure. touched? in a way? that geralt cares? steve also has to think about it, and remember everything that's happened since they last really saw each other that wasn't for a lesson - a place that steve generally goes to not to chat about feelings, but to specifically avoid them, to work them out in sparring practice, and then to move on. he shrugs. ]

Um. I mean- I'm okay. [ his eyes go down to the ice cream and he takes another bite, thinking back on all that's happened since. there was the execution, there were the creatures, the vision that had henry there which had caused a lot of panic on steve's part and they've never actually talked about since, and-

well. his whole conversation with eddie. but steve doesn't really know how to broach that. ] As okay as any of us, which is...a shitty thing to say, but man. I don't know.

[ Similarly, Geralt has grown accustomed to Steve's penchant to offer winding details. It isn't a problem; he's content to listen to anything Steve wishes to tell him, whether that's how he spent his weekend at Nocwich or, mm.

That a monster destroyed the shop he worked at. His eyebrow lifts. He'd thought Steve made his domain deliberately. These places sprung up from his subconscious? That's telling. The shop, the drive-through. The winding road. Had Steve built none of it of his own volition? Did he create anything here by choice?

Geralt's had his own struggles with the Horizon. At the start, in particular. Sometimes he forgets he isn't the only one to do so. ]

I know. [ He understands. It isn't easy for any of them. He isn't one to articulate much, either, but he can tell Steve isn't sure where he's coming from, and he finds himself wanting to explain. ] A few weeks ago, I woke up with...a year of memories. Feels like I've not seen some of you in a long time.

[ It's strange to have memories where the people most important to him aren't there. Not quite like he forgot them, but it's—difficult to describe. Maybe it reminds him of how much he isn't ready to lose them, how much he needs them to be safe. With Steve on the other side of the world, it's especially hard to make sure he's okay. The boy is the only one who isn't with him in Cadens. ]

[ truth is...no. none of this was made by choice. and beyond costumes for julie's parties or the music he plays in his bmw, there's really nothing about steve's interactions with the horizon that is by his making. instead, it's a lot of steve just dealing with everything that's thrown at him, and he's gotten really good at that. it's part of why he's still somewhat sane, after all.

geralt's eyebrow does lift and steve watches it, waiting for him to ask the question. or at least, making an attempt to wait, but he also doesn't expect geralt to answer so in only a second or two steve answers. ] The monster's not normally here, just. For the record. Usually this place and the drive in and everything is normal. Boring. Well- except for the torture basement but Eddie helped me board that up so it's fine now. [ steve gestures back to the door he came through before he goes back to his ice cream, suddenly very aware how easily he dumped that piece of information on geralt without even second guessing if he wanted to bring it up. he knows that's a childish thing to even worry about - he'd seen the memories of geralt, of the children and the beds and the dark stone walls. anything steve's lived through pales in comparison.

thankfully, geralt doesn't wait for steve to ask, just goes on to explain, and steve stills at the explanation of it. a year of memories? without warning? how...? ]

But you didn't go anywhere. [ he knows this place is insane. he knows it. but every now and then he hears something that can happen, that has happened to people he cares about, and it feels like his axis tilts a little further off-kilter. ] Did you?

[ Steve is, Geralt has learned, exceptionally good at dropping alarming details in casual conversation. Often, he discovers more about Steve by asking what he last had for supper than touching on any topic directly.

Point in case. ]

I had one of those, too. [ All right, maybe Geralt's not too different. He moves on from that information as soon as it leaves his mouth, scooping up more ice cream. The buzzing from the lights and the machinery is more distracting than he expects, and he finds himself looking up every so often when the humming changes pitch. ]

No. They're only visions. [ With scars left behind, but that's neither here nor there. Steve doesn't need to know about that. ] I'm not entirely sure what triggers it.

[ He'd thought it was Ciri at the start. It's more than clear now the Singularity is the true catalyst, But he doesn't understand why it's touched him twice now while others not at all. Including those who have been in Abraxas from the very beginning. ]

[ perhaps that's part of the reason they get along as seamlessly as they do. geralt says i had one of those too and for a brief moment steve sort of looks at him - piecing that new fact in his understanding of geralt - and then simply nods once.

because while in some ways it's alarming, it changes how he's seen things and understands things and what picture he'd been building. but it also isn't. it's just something that's happened to geralt some time in the past, and that's about it.

but there is one part of it that catches steve's attention, a sort of belated pause where he considers if it's worth asking and finally gives in, glancing over to geralt with a...it's not a hesitant expression, exactly, but there is a small part of steve that feels like he's pressing his fingers into a still healing wound. ]

What happened to yours? Did you get rid of it?

[ because steve doesn't want that there. he doesn't want to ever have to look at it, or acknowledge it, or explain why he can't forget about the feeling of being convinced he was going to die and coming to terms with it. it still curls uncomfortably under his skin thinking about it now.

when geralt starts talking about the visions, steve takes another large bite of his ice cream - talking with a mouth half full when he continues. ] How'd you know they're real? And that they're not- [ he swallows, clearing his mouth of his bite. ] Like the Singularity playing around with your brain?

[ Sensing the tentative unease, Geralt answers the simpler question first. ] They match the memories of somebody I know. Somebody from several years forward.

[ No greater confirmation than Ciri telling him the visions are true. That she remembers all that he was forced to witness within the night. Like Steve, he'd have questioned it otherwise. It's too easy for the Singularity to fuck with their heads, to play its tricks, but this. This, he knows is real.

He sets aside the bowl, elbows elbows on the counter. The cellar is a more complicated matter. He only spoke of it to Jaskier. The others—they stumbled upon it by mistake. ]

I tore it down. Physically. [ Taking it apart with his hands made it permanent in a way that trying to undo it with his mind could not. ] I've kept the sledgehammer, if you need one.

[ The offer lurks somewhere in there: he'll come help if Steve asks. ]

[ oh. steve blinks, realizing for a moment that he'd never considered that possible. that someone else could be here from his home but years in the future. oh fuck, does that mean there's a chance he might see dustin when he's like? 18? the thought kind of terrifies him, and also kind of reminds him of back to the future, and he's not really sure what to think of either of those reactions.

still, another moment later and steve just shakes his head. goes for another bite of ice cream. there's nothing he can really do with that information, so he'll just tuck it away to come haunt him in the middle of the night when he can't sleep and go from there.

it's just unfortunate that the going from there involves talking about the russian base, and geralt's own torture basement. i tore it down. physically. and that has steve's attention again, looking up to see that geralt has pushed away the bowl of ice cream entirely. i've kept the sledgehammer, if you need one he says, and steve - whether he realizes it or not - does pick up on the offer. the suggestion. ]

Oh. [ he says without really meaning to, his eyes going from geralt to the door behind the ice cream counter. is it really that easy? could it be? steve doesn't know how well solid metal walls will take to a sledgehammer, but at the same time, isn't he the one who makes this place? shouldn't he be able to tear it down too?

the bite of ice cream he hasn't quite taken starts to melt and slide off the spoon as steve sort of just stares at the door, taking geralt's words to heart. and it does come down to the physicality of it. the fact that steve's not sure he'd even be able to understand how to do it just with his mind, but the concept of tearing it down... that he can get behind. ] You know, I might. [ another beat, before he's glancing back to geralt, feeling...well. feeling like he somehow got control over this again. like there is something in his hands he can grip. it feels steadying, in a way that steve doesn't really ever feel when he's in the horizon, and his eyes are clear. ] If that's cool.

[ A long pause passes as Steve gets that look on his face Geralt's learned is the boy processing brand new information. When no additional questions follow, Geralt leaves it be.

Solid metal walls may require sturdier tools. It simply has not occurred to Geralt that an entire building or room could be built of solid steel and iron. Should Steve mention it, Geralt will know just the person to ask—something he may or may not come to regret, depending on the answer, but such is the nature of conversations with Dean.

For now, the important part is Steve has a notion of what he can do. Something more than just. Putting up with the horrors that lurk behind walls and does doors. He's done that himself for over a year, and looking back, he should not have ignored it for so long.

The Horizon has a way of reminding him how he remains...

Tethered. To all of his old memories. To the pieces of his past he believed long buried. ]

Find me any time.

[ For anything, he means—though he leaves that part unspoken. ]

[ find me at any time and were it another time, steve might have recognized the impact that he just. believes him. that geralt offers the help and steve doesn't question if there is anything else to it. there's no disappointed agreement, knowing he wouldn't show up. there's no uncertainty of if he'll ask for something else in return. geralt says find me and steve nods. ]

Yeah.

[ and that is that.

he knows there will be more to it, that the actual tearing down of room and the memories it'll probably bring up will be a whole different short of shit-show. but maybe that's just one more part of this that steve may or may not realize, how much he doesn't even think about what it means that geralt will be there. i mean, he had a torture basement of his own, didn't he? so maybe it isn't something steve has to feel weird of shameful or whatever about in the first place.

they're going to tear it down. no more awkward conversations about what's behind the door. no more avoiding conversations after he completely breaks down on someone else. it'll be gone ripped out and torn apart, and-

oh, that reminds him. he points his spoon at geralt. ] We might need...more than a sledgehammer. Just by the way. Unless those can take down steel walls? [ and then the spoon goes back in steve's mouth as he considers this, if it's even possible, and then he shrugs because he decides it's not really something they have to solve tonight.

he notices that geralt's all but given up on his ice cream, so he has to ask: ]

Did you want more?

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[ CLOSED ] death is no man, death is no wraith

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