ℭ𝔦𝔯𝔦𝔩𝔩𝔞 𝔬𝔣 ℭ𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔯𝔞 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wiedzminka) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
abraxaslogs2021-11-16 08:45 pm
wiedzminka) wrote in abraxaslogs2021-11-16 08:45 pm
[ CLOSED ] tell them that the villains on my list
Who: Ciri, Jaskier, and others
What: Geralt has gone missing. Ciri and Jaskier are on the case.
Where: Around Cadens, the desert outside it, perhaps the other Free Cities; possibly Horizon and Network
When: Mid-November
Warnings: violence, gore, dismemberment
If you'd like to plot out a thread, please PM Ciri or Jaskier's journals, or catch us on Plurk at![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
belleteyn and scathefire respectively!
What: Geralt has gone missing. Ciri and Jaskier are on the case.
Where: Around Cadens, the desert outside it, perhaps the other Free Cities; possibly Horizon and Network
When: Mid-November
Warnings: violence, gore, dismemberment
If you'd like to plot out a thread, please PM Ciri or Jaskier's journals, or catch us on Plurk at
no subject
She looks over at Jaskier. Blinks. ]
...well? Go on, then. Have you forgotten how to speak?
no subject
The question comes to his tongue and forces him to acknowledge how close he was to certain death. And after all this time, he liked to think he was very good at avoiding certain death. He did not head into the thick of things. Like a good, smart bard, he stayed on the sidelines and let the Witchers do all the work.
He doesn't want to acknowledge it. Dying is terribly inconvenient.
He's nearly famous again, after all.]
We both know I was about to die. [And there it is. Look. He got it out! Without crying! This is character development.] Without question. You were not close enough to -- to do that. What you did. With the sword. [The word escapes him, his hands gripping his reins tighter. Ah. Remember your stupid lessons with Geralt.] Parry. That's it. Before you parried him.
[Okay, so he failed to put it in question form.]
no subject
It's a good question (or rather, the implication of a question, but that doesn't matter). How had she done that?
Unlike Jaskier, Ciri knows what happened. She just doesn't know how. Or how to... explain it to him. ]
You're right.
[ She wasn't close enough. He'd been about to die. All of it, what he'd said -- all true. Terrifyingly true. Too close a call. By far. ]
I knew I would not get to you in time. No matter how fast I ran.
But I knew, also, that I- I could not lose you too, Jaskier... I just couldn't.
[ It's her voice that trembles now, tight and thin, edged with desperation even at the ghost of the memory. ]
And when I thought that, with all my heart, I simply--
Did it.
no subject
Immediately he reaches across the space between them to touch her arm.]
Oh, my dear. I'm sorry. I didn't think. [Possibly he should not be surprised she cares about him so, but sometimes it... it can be a lot. And he is fairly used to his friends' concerns for him being, how do you say, nonexistent.
Gods. His eyes prickle, but he swallows it down. Not now. She doesn't need that on top of everything else.] That's all I need to know. You saved my life, Ciri. And for that, I cannot thank you enough.
[He can accept it. She can... do that. He's not even sure what it was. It wasn't inhuman speed, he thinks; he's seen that in Geralt plenty. It was like... like a blink. Between one blink and the next, she had crossed the entire camp. Like a portal. Had she made a portal? One so fast that none of them had seen it?
It was only one more display of her power. And she'd done it to save him. That was enough.] I'm not going anywhere, I promise. We'll keep going, all right? Together.
[To find him. It didn't need to be spoken.]
no subject
What a foolish, ridiculous man.
Ciri smiles, very faint and tired, but not forced this time. ]
Together. [ She promises. Jaskier had been so worried she might run off without him before, had made her promise to wait until they could gather supplies and set off together, but the truth is, Ciri prefers it this way. It might be selfish, putting him in danger. (Too much danger, he'd nearly died--) But his company is a balm, soothing loneliness and anger, providing some much-needed levity. He doesn't even have to be his usual cheerful self; it's enough.
Ciri takes a breath. Jaskier isn't going to ask any more, and yet she offers it. ]
I promised not to keep such things from you anymore. This isn't the first time I have achieved such a feat.
But I thought the Singularity had blocked me from my abilities. I cannot open portals even within this realm, let alone to others. I tried, you see. When we first arrived in Cadens, I spent days attempting to summon any of the powers granted by this accursed Elder Blood in the hopes that it could be of use, but nothing came of it.
...until now.
I call it Blink. It's an ability I've been developing, a sort of immediate portalling from one place to another, but instead of thinking of somewhere far away, I focus on something I can see.
It was hardly perfect, even when I had better control of my abilities outside this sphere. Here, with the Singularity's influence--
I am glad it worked. And nearly as astounded as you are.
no subject
[Considering he'd been there to witness it. Yet he quiets down and lets her explain, her voice the only thing really out here among the dunes. Not even the calls of far-off birds.
His brows raise. Wait. She could always do this?
His head hurts. It's not necessarily her fault; there is far too much happening still. And now they go home empty-handed, and his new charge (since apparently that's what he has become, according to Geralt, in his absence) can seemingly break the impossible barriers between planes and move between them. Or move through one with impossible speed.
He rubs his temples. And then, the smallest smile.]
Blink. [As he'd thought, too.] It suits. [He drops his hand again.] It was brilliant. I'll be happy to paint him a picture of how well you fought, once he's returned. In any other circumstances... it would have been quite a sight.
no subject
I'm just glad you're all right.
[ She keeps putting him in danger. This time, it had been those desert rogues, but if she hadn't dashed off ahead, if she'd at least stopped enough to tell him to stay back, if she hadn't lost her temper and gone after the men holding Geralt's sword without even properly looking around at anything else--
A lot of ifs, and all of them pointless.
This is just what she does. She puts the people she loves in harm's way, one way or another. ]
I will not lose anyone else. [ It's a quiet resolution, a mantra she's clung to before, with questionable efficacy. Geralt's absence is felt keenly, like a gut wound, impossible to ignore. ]
We're going to find him.
You know I refuse to give up just because he tells me to.
no subject
Worry not. I'm quite adept at getting into trouble myself. I always come out all right.
[Perhaps it could have gone better... but even after having witnessed what could only be called a slaughter, he did not blame her. Seeing Geralt's things gathered about without regard, like... like trash, almost. As if the items held no meaning to anyone.
They had them now. (Dimly, he thinks, that if they were not to find him, they would not even have a medallion to bury.)
No. He shoves the thought away immediately.]
We will lose no one. [He agrees, repeating it only to emphasize it. The horses wicker gently in the night, and despite the violence before, the blood on his hand sticky and cold, the desert night becomes almost peaceful now.]
I know. [He turns his head to watch ahead of them, though there's a dwindling amount to take in.] Though I don't think he means for us to give up. Only to not throw ourselves on the proverbial pike for a chance to find him. We'll keep looking. There's not a chance I will allow you to do it alone.