[ CLOSED ] tell them that the villains on my list

[wiedzminka]

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 belleteyn and scathefire respectively!

Comments

[wiedzminka]

[ When his fingers brush her arm, Ciri finally turns to look at Jaskier. He'd been the one to almost die (again) and here he is comforting her instead (again).

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.

[cointosser]

I mean, this wasn't exactly hiding --

[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.

[wiedzminka]

[ Ciri tries to offer a smile, or something close to it. The attempt is genuine, but the result half-hearted at best. ]

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.

[cointosser]

[Jaskier doesn't mind. It's enough to settle some of his nerves.]

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.