[ CLOSED ] when I'm like this, you're the one I trust

[cointosser]

Who: Jaskier, Ciri, Geralt, eventually Sam?
When: First week of October
Where: The desert outskirts of Cadens
What: Jaskier attempts to help Ciri learn magic with disastrous results.
Warnings: Bodily injury, may move to mild body horror depending.



[With the climate they found themselves in, it only made sense for them to really embrace their new... eccentric talents. At least, that was what Jaskier tells himself, and when he tells himself it -- regarding Ciri, in particular -- it all makes sense, of course. If they are all gifted with magic, then it only makes sense to make use of it.

After all, it's free. And they need skills to make a living off of. As far as he understands, Ciri is, er, well. Like Geralt. A hunter.

Magic, hunting. It all fits together.

Okay, fine. He's terribly bored also. And he's tired of being the only one with magic around here. (He's still avoiding the whole plant thing. He prefers not to think about it, actually.]

All right, my dear. I -- well, I don't claim to know many, er, spells, but we can start on what I started on. Simply a little bird. [He, of course, adds a completely unnecessary flourish to his movements, and a bit of sparks, holding out his hand with a dove sitting on his palm.]

It's a bit hard to describe. I sort of... imitated watching it, I suppose.

[He sort of definitely wants to see Ciri try to imitate his flourish.]

Comments

[falcony]

[ no, sam doesn’t see it necessary to push her just yet. he’s not even sure he’s going to push her on it at all. geralt had asked him to look after her, and that’s what he planned to do. at the moment, that means going with her to get a small table in a tavern he knows well, to order a few drinks and some food she says she doesn’t want to eat.

and now, it also means that they are here - at this table, in this crowded tavern - and honestly? sam could also go for a drink. when the barmaid finally steps away with their orders and ciri turns to him with her question, he nods. ]

And Alina. [ because he needed another set of eyes and ears, of capable hands, in the apartment before he could actually leave. ] Jaskier was awake, too. Geralt was… [ passed out sounds a little too intense. so sam takes a breath. ] He’s sleeping. Kind of felt like he needed it. But they’re both okay, and worse comes to worse, I sent Red back to watch them. [ sam points out the small window, to the street. ciri may or may not have noticed, but as soon as sam had caught up with her, red disappeared again. he was getting his work in today too. ] And we’re not far- I can run back pretty quickly.

[ the barmaid sets two mugs of ale down on the table, and sam gives her an easy smile - a thanks, with some recognition, before he slides one in front of ciri and takes a large drink himself. ]

You know- a drink was a great idea.

[wiedzminka]

[ She was nodding at Alina's name, another person to keep an eye on Jaskier, though she was momentarily distracted thinking about how to explain all this to her and on top of Mal's disappearance-- and then Ciri is putting both hands flat on the table and leaning suddenly toward Sam, eyes like cold sharp emeralds. She doesn't even reach for the ale. ]

He's sleeping?

[ She says it like the concept of sleep is utter bullshit a child wouldn't believe. ]

There's something you're not telling me. Spit it out.

[falcony]

[ it says a lot to sam's overall training that even as ciri's hands slam to the tabletop, he doesn't jump. or at least, he doesn't jump visibly, instead feeling a kind of immediate tension shooting through him. a kind of leftover physical reaction to any sudden, loud noises.

ciri is angry, and it's not all that surprising. and while part of him rises up to meet the sharp tone to her words, he forces himself to take a second. to keep that reaction from taking over. ]

Yeah- sleeping. [ she looks at him with those sharp eyes, and her tone makes it pretty obvious she thinks he's placating her. sam doesn't back down from the look, but also doesn't look guilty. he's not lying, and he's not mincing words, either. ]

Whatever he had us do that steadied Jaskier took a lot out of him. He called it channeling, I don't know. He's on my couch right now if you don't believe me. Listen, Ciri- [ sam lets out a breath, leaning forward as if to try and catch the brunt of whatever look she wants to give him. ] You, and Geralt, and Jaskier come from a place where you know magic, or at least are familiar with the concept. Me? Not nearly as much. [ he could say more here - about how up until just a couple of years ago, magic has been for card games and children's parties. sure, he's officially met enough wizards and super powered beings to know that magic exists, had spent enough time with wanda to know what it could be capable of, but beyond that sam is still, and probably always will be in some ways, at a loss. ]

Geralt told me to help and I helped, and now he's snoring on my couch, and I have no idea what actually happened. [ there's a little tension, around the words. not because he, in any way, regrets the decision - given the same situation and same request, he'd rise to meet it. he just wishes he didn't feel so behind. ] But it worked. Jaskier is better, awake, more himself. Geralt is stable but out cold, and I saw the look you had when you bolted, so I wanted to make sure everything was okay.

[ another beat, and sam leans back in his seat. ] I don't know if I have any more answers for you than that, but I can try.

[wiedzminka]

[ The explanation is not comforting, but... it is an explanation, and it helps. Ciri lets out a slow breath and sits back again, reaching for her ale and downing nearly half of it before she comes up for air again. Though she still looks tense and on edge, her eyes have lost the manic glint, and she no longer seems on the verge of bolting right out of her chair; it's a move in the right direction.

Ciri settles with her elbows on the table, fingers curled around her mug of ale -- loosely now, not white-knuckled with the overflowing anxious energy she'd been keeping at bay a moment ago. ]

I appreciate the answers you do have.

[ She's glad Sam is straightforward. If he'd tried to hide this from her...

But even if he is straightforward, he doesn't understand what he's talking about, and Geralt clearly hadn't explained. Ciri can glean some things. Geralt, exhausted enough to fall asleep on Sam's daybed instead of staying up to watch over Jaskier or coming after her himself. And Jaskier, stable and awake. The transfer of energy is clear there, though the word channeling is vague and she doesn't really understand how Geralt did it. Through Sam?

Geralt told me to help and I helped.

Ciri lets her head drop onto one of her hands, rubbing her forehead like she's trying to stave off a headache. The exhaustion she feels has nothing to do with her physical state. She's, unfortunately, doing better than any of them in that respect, even if it was an accident. If she'd been able to do that for Jaskier instead of Geralt--

But she couldn't. And she can't. It's too risky. She can only hope that Sam's magic and Geralt's contribution have broken whatever parasitic curse she'd inadvertently set on Jaskier, if he's doing so much better now. ]

I'm relieved to hear they're both all right. Jaskier... did he say anything? How improved is his condition?

[falcony]

[ sam is just nearly at the edge of his seat while he waits to see how ciri will react - he'd told her all he really could about what happened, at least to the extent that he understood it, but logic and reality hold very little power over panic and stress. even less over guilt, which is what sam is here to try and figure out.

there's a kind of break of tension when she downs half her ale, and sam feels his own shoulders relax marginally. and when she does finally answer, appreciative, sam nods once. ]

I'm never going to try and lie or hide anything from you, at least not intentionally. [ again, the honesty in his words is apparent. open. he's not here to hide or lie, especially not with how stressed ciri is about the whole thing. especially not where it concerns what they man to each other.

he continues to watch her, though, his own curiosity peaking - the look she'd had in his doorway, the panic she'd had on the horse with jaskier strewn across her lap, the fact she looks...completely unharmed in any fashion. more than that, she looks better. more than better. ]

Improved, but still weak. His body's been through a lot in the last couple of days, I imagine he's going to need a few more days just to sleep. But he looks good- much better. [ sam snorts once, cradling his own mug. ] He was making jokes too, and I got him to drink some broth too, so he can hold down food, but- [ sam cuts himself off, realizing he's going a bit too far into the whole medical diagnosis of it, and shakes his head. ] He asked about Geralt and you and then told me that you two make a habit of getting into mortal peril and that I should probably watch my back now that I'm mixed up with y'all. [ truly, jaskier had told him that he probably regretted getting mixed up in all of this, but sam doesn't agree with that in the least, so he just leaves that small phrase out. instead, he simply shrugs, takes another drink of his mug. ] He was awake when I left, and Red's watching him, so if anything changes he can come find me.

[ and then, in the few moments following, sam's lighter expression drops a bit - his eyes back on ciri, on the way she's rubbing at her face. he has to know, he knows that, but he juggles with the best way to ask.

its another couple of seconds before sam exhales. ]

Ciri- can I ask you something?

[wiedzminka]

[ Ciri watches him with a lingering, tired wariness -- not actively suspicious or upset, not at him, but with a distance in her eyes and a complete lack of reaction to his promises that says she doesn't believe him. She might believe he thinks that, but she doesn't believe that's a promise he can make. A promise he thinks is an easy one to put between them. Like it means something.

If Sam expects any sort of reciprocation, any obligation from Ciri in return, he's going to be disappointed.

Ciri's lips quirk, a hint of a rueful smile, before she buries it in her ale mug. ]

He's right. You should listen to him.

[ Why does he say it that way? Mixed up with. It makes discomfort crawl under her skin, makes her wary and unsure, gives weight to interactions that she'd never meant to have any.

Sam cares too much. About too many people. ]

Sure. Ask.

[ Withdrawn and wary, the words bitten off straight to the point. She sounds more like Geralt, like this. But she nods, and looks up expectantly. ]

[falcony]

[ he knows she doesn't believe him, and he doesn't blame her for it, either. can tell there are years and years of walls and protection built up around who she is, and he has done this enough to know he's not going to just slip through those defenses. so he doesn't expect anything at all, hopes that maybe she won't just stand up and bolt, and takes another sip of his ale. ]

Maybe. [ he says, with a thoughtful noise. ] But Geralt asked me to come find you before he passed out. So I'll be around for a little bit longer, at least.

[ it's not fondness that sam says those words so much as a kind of easy comfort. like a joke he's told before, with a practiced sort of put out tilt.

but the tone of it fades pretty easily, especially when he notices the familiar way she speaks. he can see more geralt in her than he can't, and it settles him into something a bit more serious, himself. a look that is equal parts curiosity as concern and patience, all rolled into one. ]

What happened out there? With Jaskier. [ a beat, and then sam's hands go up - preemptively defensive. ] You don't have to tell me everything, or anything at all, if you really don't want to. I'm just still trying to figure things out.

[wiedzminka]

[ Geralt asked him. Of course he did. Ciri lifts her cup again, realizing belatedly that it's already empty. She sighs, letting it fall with a thud to the tabletop. ]

I couldn't tell you everything if I wanted to, Sam. [ And something in her tone sounds defensive, but it's hard to tell if that's just because Sam is asking in the first place, or the guilt. ]

We were practicing magic. It went wrong. That sort of thing... it can be unpredictable. The magic reacted more violently than expected.

[ Neutral framing. Leaving it unclear whose magic went wild. Who is to blame.

The way she'd bolted out the door, Sam can probably put it together well enough. ]

[falcony]

[ catching the way her eyes go to the empty mug, sam tries to catch the eyes of one of the bartenders. he's not quite able to manage it, or at least isn't totally sure they understood why he was trying to get their eyes, when ciri continues, tone defensive.

sam doesn't think she's lying to him, but he gets a sense that maybe she does know more than she's telling him, but then again. there's not much he can do if she doesn't want to talk about it.

instead, he just nods. takes it in. tries to place what she says there with what he saw on that horseback, riding into the city gates. the look he saw in her eyes when she left. he can piece together enough, from that, that the nod seems more firm than not. like he actually does get a full enough story. ]

Makes sense - hell, I don't know the first thing about magic, but I do know that a lot of things that take practice generally can be dangerous, too. [ which is true. weapons, fighting, and apparently magic too.

and then, as if timed, their food and another ale for ciri arrives and is set - unceremoniously, on the table between them. sam thanks the two who had come with the bowls and turns back to ciri, gestureing. ] Go ahead, eat.

[wiedzminka]

[ The food is well-timed. Ciri reaches for it, out of necessity more than anything else, and before the server can leave, curtly requests more ale. ]

It was an accident.

[ She says suddenly, a few very slow bites in, after the fresh round of ale has come and she's had enough of it to make her head feel a little more cottony, her thoughts more manageable, easier to slip through instead of getting stuck like barbs in her brain.

She's not sure why she says it. If she thinks Sam doesn't believe her. Or that Jaskier will blame her, when he's properly awake and understands how badly he was hurt. Maybe it's more to convince herself than anyone else. ]

[falcony]

[ sam was comfortable enough to let them fall into easy enough silence, the food and general chatter of the tavern to fill the space. he’s not really expecting ciri to be the one to break it, either, which is why when she speaks, suddenly, it causes him pause. just for a second, that he glances over to meet her eyes.

he softens, feeling a bit like he might know the general state of what that might feel like. after another pause, sam nods. ]

I know. [ or maybe i figured would be more accurate.

then sam turns back to his food, taking another bite. ]