( closed; quest ) the long and winding road

[sorser]

WHO: Stephen, Thancred, & Yennefer
WHAT: Three individuals go on a quest to help perpetuate better magical monitoring of the Singularity!
WHERE: ALL OVER THORNE
WHEN: End of March into mid-April.
WARNINGS: Some eventual monster-related violence and injury! But nothing else for now; will add as needed.



(( quest info here ))

Comments

[funbreaker]

You could say that.

[ Thancred heaves out a breath from his chest, glancing up to the glass ceiling of the Crystarium and all around them. ]

This place we are now, it's not my home star. I won't bore you with the details, but myself and my companions were brought to this other world quite unexpectedly. [ Sound familiar? Thancred's abduction to Abraxas is not the first time that he's found himself in a foreign place with little-to-no warning. ]

I was here, in Norvrandt, for five years before we found a means to return home. And in that time, I took her under my wing. [ He nods to Ryne, who's finishing off her speech. "To honor these names and these memories, I will stand with all the people of this land, and strive for a better tomorrow."

Who taught her to be so eloquent, so heartfelt? Not him. It comes from within her.

They're coming up on it, on some of the last words they ever exchanged face-to-face. He watches as Urianger turns to his past self. "Thancred," Urianger prompts. "I believe the honor of responding should rightfully be thine." ]

[vixening]

[ yennefer catches the weight of the sigh more than anything, and as thancred turns his face to the ceiling, the sky through the glass. she listens, because she can tell when something is more weighted than otherwise, and for all the time she and thancred (and stephen) have spent together, this feels like something else. less light, less easy.

five years. which means this place, this process, isn't new to him. he is used to being pulled across spheres, into new worlds. and if he was truly caught in that last one for five years, this must have felt no time at all.

her attention turns to the girl again, to her speech, words important and meaningful even though she still looks so young. part of her knows that this moment means something significant to thancred, if only because why else would she be seeing it? but the heaviness of it makes her feel...uncomfortable, isn't the word exactly, because she's not uncomfortable. if anything, there is almost something about it that feels familiar.

like she has been an outsider to a similar moment, a similar bond.

still, for now, she nods. looks from the other who says thancred's name back to the thancred she is standing with. who is watching this for not the first time.

this is... when we had to bid each other farewell. ]

She's very impressive. [ yennefer means the speech, but her eyes are still on the circle in front of her. on this response thancred is about to have. ] Are we about to hear your speech as well? [ the slightest joke, a hint of a smile, yennefer tests the waters to see if this is something thancred would rather be brought out of, or if he's okay to get swept up. ]

[funbreaker]

[ It is a heavy moment, one that is both difficult to watch and also impossible for Thancred to look away from because he might see something different from this angle. Even if the details are only being filled in by his own mind, he might find the tiniest addition, a shift in Ryne's face or body language that he hadn't caught in the moment.

She is very impressive, and Thancred's chest swells with pride the moment that Yennefer says as much. He is certain Ryne would have been just as mature, just as accomplished, even without his guidance — and yet the pride is there all the same. ]

She is. She's...

[ But he doesn't need to say the words, not now. His past self strides toward Ryne, slow yet purposeful, and once he's standing before her, reaches out to rest his hand atop her head. Ryne shuts her eyes as he speaks. "I know better than most how much you've grown," he says, voice soft yet sure, "and I have every confidence you'll make your people proud."

His voice hitches for a moment as he continues. "Gods know, I'm proud of you. I always will be. You deserve all the happiness in the world and more."

As he pulls his hand back, Ryne tries and fails to hold back tears, which drip down her cheeks as she gasps out a breath. Thancred, both in the past and present, watches her with the most bittersweet of smiles. ]