gynvael: (005)
Geralt z Rivii ([personal profile] gynvael) wrote in [community profile] abraxaslogs2021-12-07 11:20 am

[ OPEN / CLOSED ] i think i found a way to kill the sun

Who: Geralt + Various
When: December
Where: Cadens, Horizon
What: Some catching up now that he's home
Warnings: Discussion of trauma; nsfw marked



(( placing starters in the comments below. find me at [plurk.com profile] discontinued or at Noa#1979 to plot stuff! ))
wiedzminka: (fifteen.)

[personal profile] wiedzminka 2021-12-21 09:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[ So he doesn't know. Not for sure. But he must suspect that Yennefer had something to do with his escape -- or so Ciri thinks from what he's said thus far. He at least is certain she hadn't known what the queen was planning, and hadn't been inclined to help her; even if her reaching into Geralt's mind might be construed as assistance, she'd done it to protect Ciri. Hurt him to protect her.

It doesn't really make Ciri feel any better.

Geralt's hand covers hers, reassuring. Ciri's eyes fall on the lingering mark around his wrist. ]


It's a hell of a demonstration just to see how Yennefer would react. For a few moments seen together before you came here, when so many of the other Summoned were doing the same.

What the fuck is she doing in Thorne?

[ To make her loyalty so necessary to test. To push her like that. Because if it wasn't that they suspected Geralt of something important he himself could provide, then that's the only reason Ciri can think of. The queen is planning to rely on Yennefer, and making sure Yennefer can be trusted not to put someone she supposedly cares about from her own world over whatever that plan is.

The question is: what is Yennefer getting in return? ]
wiedzminka: (four.)

[personal profile] wiedzminka 2021-12-22 05:16 am (UTC)(link)
[ For a moment, Ciri is quiet. She pulls her hand away, but slowly, as if to make sure Geralt doesn't think it's him she's recoiling from, and picks up her cup to take a drink just for something to fill the silence.

When she sets it down again and meets Geralt's eyes, she looks... unsure. ]


The queen was testing Yennefer's loyalty. I can't help but wonder if there is a specific reason. If she is planning to ask Yennefer for something, or if Yennefer has asked her for something.

Why go to such lengths to make certain she won't defect to protect someone from her home? Paranoia, for one. I understand that. But there is some amount if risk involved for Thorne as well, snatching you up from enemy territory. What makes her loyalty worth that risk?
wiedzminka: (ninety-five.)

[personal profile] wiedzminka 2021-12-22 09:19 am (UTC)(link)
That's not what I mean, Geralt.

[ Ciri interjects quietly, shaking her head. Her gaze softens. Gentle. Tired. A little sad. ]

I'm not asking you to find me answers. Nor am I expecting you to come up with solutions. I'm only sharing my thoughts. I know reaching out is hardly feasible or safe for any of us right now.

Whatever Yennefer's embroiled with, we will have to trust her.

[ Trust that she will make the right decisions. Even though Ciri knows she has no memories of a time when Ciri trusts her, yet-- will it really make a difference? She'd thought not. She wants to hold to that conviction.

It helps, that Geralt trusts her too. ]


How did you come by your medallion?

[ She changes the subject, though only slightly. Again, Ciri expects she already knows the answer. Though how is another matter entirely. ]
wiedzminka: (thirty-eight.)

[personal profile] wiedzminka 2021-12-23 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
It looks-- It feels... Real.

[ Only one person in Thorne could know that, but... Make it? Ciri's not sure. Whatever Yennefer means by it, and whatever Geralt means by signal, what matters is that he'd accepted it.

Geralt's question takes Ciri off guard. She blinks, then shrugs faintly. ]


Rinwell? She's all right. Making herself a nuisance reminding us to eat. But she's been helpful, keeping things tidy and going to market. Roach likes her.
wiedzminka: (sixty-four.)

[personal profile] wiedzminka 2021-12-26 02:05 am (UTC)(link)
[ Ciri nods. The truth is, she has many more questions, but Geralt has told her what he can. She doesn't want to keep pushing, not right now. Especially since it seems he has few answers in the first place, and still too much rawness.

She reaches for the bread again too, mechanically. Something to do with her hands, something to fill the silence. ]


I expected as much. Considering.

[ He needs room and quiet to rest. There is quiet here -- and extra room too. Ciri looks down at the bread in her hands, digging her nails into it, picking it apart in smaller and smaller pieces that don't end up in her mouth. In truth, the place is a little crowded for her too, right now. She still feels on edge, nerves frayed; Geralt is back, but the information he's returned with and the questions he has (and hasn't) been able to answer leave Ciri frustrated and unsteady. She's going to be looking for work. Escort missions, if she can find them. Plenty of merchant wagons like to hire a guard.

Unlike Geralt, she doesn't want to be here, either. ]


...Alina left. [ Ciri says finally, with a pile of bite-sized shreds of bread in her plate, like she's about to go feed a flock of pigeons outside. ]

For Thorne.
wiedzminka: (ninety-one.)

[personal profile] wiedzminka 2021-12-26 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Not before she left. Just a note to say she was leaving. [ And... Some other stuff. She doesn't say that part. ]

Didn't say where until I contacted her the next day. She told me about Mal, but didn't seem certain. No plan. Just ran off.

[ Ciri sighs, shoving her plate aside and reaching for the ale instead. ]

I understand. They'll take care of each other.
wiedzminka: (one hundred & fifteen.)

[personal profile] wiedzminka 2021-12-27 01:30 am (UTC)(link)
[ She does understand, but it doesn't help very much. Still doesn't make it any easier that Alina hadn't trusted her enough to tell her, either.

Ciri looks back up at Geralt's offer, hesitating. ]


I'd thought the same. [ To ask someone (Yennefer) and to tell Alina who she could trust. Except then she'd been... unsure. ]

But I don't know anyone there except...

[ He knows. ]

If you could, I'd rest easier.
wiedzminka: (one hundred & fourteen.)

[personal profile] wiedzminka 2021-12-29 07:58 am (UTC)(link)
...thank you. That is a relief.

[ She's already told Alina to put herself in their good graces as much as she can, just to keep herself (and Mal) safe if she has to. Considering she'd been imprisoned the first time, it's good to hear she's got a chance without being immediately thrown into a dungeon or worse. Ciri is too tired to ask Geralt where he heard that; she assumes that, if he's telling her under such serious circumstances, the information is good.

Ciri bites her lip, glancing away again as she considers what else she wants to say. She'll have to tell him. He'll notice. ]


There's something else.

The city guard's put a tail on me. I expect it's just for show, and they'll leave me alone soon enough. Pretend you don't notice.
wiedzminka: (thirty-one.)

[personal profile] wiedzminka 2021-12-29 09:06 am (UTC)(link)
[ Ciri sighs, leaning an elbow on the table as she deflates a bit. Luckily, she doesn't look upset or scared -- merely annoyed, and perhaps a tiny bit sheepish. Or maybe just frustrated. ]

When Jaskier and I went out looking for you, I followed your trail. We found your camp. But...

[ The frustration solidifies into anger, quiet, already mostly spent. The memory of it is enough to make her lip curl, disgust more than rage now. ]

We were not the first to have discovered it. A group of those wandering brigands -- you know, the ones that roam the desert attacking merchant caravans. They were already there, picking through your belongings. They'd taken your sword.

[ Her voice is flat, unflinching. ]

I took it back.
wiedzminka: (ninety-seven.)

[personal profile] wiedzminka 2021-12-29 09:55 am (UTC)(link)
Mm. [ Her lips quirk, shoulders loosening. She appreciates that Geralt doesn't even bother asking further questions. That he understands. (Of course he would; she was counting on it, wasn't she?)

Ciri shrugs. ]


I'll keep that in mind. [ Not that she's hoping for any sort of next time.

The mood having, oddly, lifted a little, Ciri reaches for her ale again. This time, her sigh is more of a grumble. ]


You know, the guards practically thanked me. Desert's safer without the rogues, after all. But they apparently had to make a show of some sort of consequence.

[ She doesn't mention the part where she was also in a cell for a night. It's not important. The point here is that the men following her are just doing their jobs, which are stupid, but at least they can all acknowledge it's stupid and there's no reason for Geralt to worry. The last thing she wants is for him to notice someone tailing her and end up with consequences of his own for her carelessness. There's enough on all their plates without that. ]