[ CLOSED ] hands like skeleton bones

[gynvael]

Who: Geralt + the Queen, Yennefer, Various
When: After Nov. 12
Where: Castle Thorne, Nott, Cadens
What: Geralt goes on an Adventure and has a great time
Warnings: Blood, violence, trauma



(( placing starters in the comments below. find me at discontinued or at Noa#1979 to plot stuff! ))

THORNE: the queen + yennefer | kylo | mal | jolene
NOTT: julie | nadine | lloyd
CADENS: jaskier + sam | sam | ciri | jaskier

Comments

[princessvegas]

I mean, as far as we know, merpeople don't exist, but then we've only mapped like ten percent of the oceans, so there's probably a ton of shit we don't know about down there. But I know that what old-timey sailors called mermaids were definitely manatees. Sea cows. They basically look like big gray potatoes with eyes and fins. [ So, like she said, judgment passed on men.

There's a sympathetic noise, for dragons, and when he shrugs, she straightens the bandage around his back, where it's loosened from movement and getting wet. ] Yeah, we got plenty of animals that people have killed off for parts, or gotten close to it. People eatin' weird shit because some asshole decided it would make 'em strong or wise or their dick work better. Usually that last one. Now we have laws to protect animals like that, especially the smart ones. Elephants and whales and apes. There's people who spend their whole lives just workin' to save animals from goin' extinct.

[ She ties the bandage back off and presses gently on his shoulders with her fingertips. Explaining basic animal conservation for the second time in only a few weeks has reminded her that she promised Jaskier she'd make Geralt rest. ] C'mon, back to bed.

[gynvael]

[ His lips quirk. He hasn't got a single clue what this animal she's referring to is, but he's been to Skellige, has seen them feast, and has absolutely witnessed how they drink both on land and at sea. He does not doubt her claim that a great variety of sea creatures have been mistaken for beautiful women. Besides, it's hardly always necessary to believe a creature to be a woman, or a man for that matter, to—

Anyway. Let's just say he's encountered many reasons for one to be found dead to some monster or other, over the years. ]

Hadn't considered you have your own version of alchemy. [ Even without magic and monsters. Was that simply something people did, no matter where they were? Find parts and herbs and make a potion out of it? Appears so.

He slides gingerly off the stool, taking her help if she offers it. His clothes, he leaves where they are. He's not keen on struggling with that for no reason. Nadine's already looked him all over while she tended to him; he really cannot care what Lloyd gets an eyeful of. He follows Julie back to the room and eases himself back onto the bed. She needn't tell him twice. He wants to be back on his feet sooner rather than later, and he knows he won't get there by refusing to rest. ]

[princessvegas]

[ Look, the problem is not monsterfucking, Julie would like to be very clear on that. Fucking monsters is perfectly fine as long as the monsters are into it, and as long as they do not look like big, conscious rocks with tails. Or, if they do, they have to be smart enough to not get repeatedly hit by boats.

These are official rules and Geralt is free to take them back to Kaer Morhen to be written in monster guides or whatever. ]

I don't know if I'd call it alchemy. Ain't alchemy when you turn stuff into gold? With people eatin' animals they shouldn't, I guess we'd say it's traditional or folk medicine. Stuff that hasn't been proven to actually work. Like I said, it's mostly shit people are doin' to fuck better, or more or whatever.

[ She helps him up and through the door before she turns back to throw his clothes in with all the other bloody linens (she does not know where she's going to find more clothes in his size, so she's just trying as hard as she can to get the blood out), then grabs the mead and follows him back out to set it on the bedside table. ] Now, I'm not Nadine, so I'm not gonna tell you what you can and can't do while you're laid up, but I did promise Jaskier that I'd knock you clean out if you don't get enough rest.

[gynvael]

[ Converting what into gold? ] In legend, perhaps. Practically speaking, the substances make other substances.

[ Nothing so valuable as gold. It's chemistry, really, mixed with magic and herbal medicine, but Geralt doesn't know that to make the comparison. Occasionally also used to make people fuck better, to varying degrees of effectiveness.

The mead winds up back in his hands soon enough. His head has not stopped throbbing since he left the cells. It's the one aspect Nadine's medicine doesn't appear to do much for, probably because having his mind magically torn apart is a different sort of injury altogether. Presumably. Who the hell knows? He's never had it happen before and he'd rather not test it a second time. Either way, alcohol will help ease it or it'll put him to sleep. Both are acceptable solutions.

Right. Point taken. She'll find no argument from him. He's already sitting back, in his best attempt to find a position that will not jostle one thing or another. ] You're certainly more capable of that than he is.

[princessvegas]

I mean, turnin' stuff into other stuff is just science. I only ever heard of alchemy as takin' cheap stuff like iron and lead, then turnin' it into gold. It ain't real, though, not back home. You can't turn one element into another, you'd have to be able to add electrons or somethin' like that. We got a whole table of all the different elements and how many particles are in each one.

[ Welcome to high school chemistry with Julie. She can remember certain vocabulary words, but don't ask her to define them. She's honestly not even sure about that electron thing, but it sounds good. Next lesson, papier-mâché volcanoes.

Without much thought, she pulls the blanket back over him once he's in bed, then sits in a chair to swap her shoes into sturdier boots. ] Right, so don't make me take you down, boy.

Okay, I gotta go back downstairs, put dinner on the fire, then I have to brush the horses, 'specially that one you came on, he's a mess. I'll be back up to put more of Nadine's salve on your back later, I'll bring supper then. Need anythin' else?

[gynvael]

[ Julie has clearly maxed out his capacity to follow along; he's been doing fairly well for a bit with the dinosaurs, but being upright for this long is starting to wear on him and half of what she's saying no longer makes any sense. She gets a vague grunt of acknowledgement for her attempt to explain, one that says he'll just take her at her word.

Right. The horse. He nearly tells Julie the horse is hers to keep, that he'll be worth selling or renting out—Thorne keeps good horses at the castle, or at least this one is—but Geralt decides it doesn't need to be said; she's likely gathered that already. Where else is the horse going to go? It's not a matter of owing her—after everything she's done for him, what she's said, he knows better than to try to repay her in any material way, that that's not what any of this is about—but the horse is already here and coin is coin. Always worth having, if you can. Not like he can take the animal with him, where he's going.

He shakes his head. Getting on the bed seems to have abruptly reminded his body that it needs more sleep, and his eyes are already half-shut. ] I'll be fine.