( They're both affected on a level neither of them are particularly keen to admit — unbelievably similar and yet completely different on a hell of a lot of levels. This isn't the type of thing you can grass is always greener, you can't quantify better or worse here, but there's something especially horrifying about the association between Hell and childhood. Now that he's out, now that he can smell clean (well... cleaner) air, now that the screams have mostly faded from his ears, he can make that connection.
Kids. He went through hell as a freaking child.
That's a foundational thing, and over a hundred years old. Can't be easy having that yanked up to the forefront.
Not that it's easy for him either, but he's completely built to set aside his own emotional baggage in favor of handling someone else's. It's a coping mechanism to squash his problems by taking care of somebody — and for as difficult to read as Geralt might be, he's uniquely qualified to know.
He reaches out to settle a hand on the guy's shoulder, and gives it a firm squeeze. )
no subject
Kids. He went through hell as a freaking child.
That's a foundational thing, and over a hundred years old. Can't be easy having that yanked up to the forefront.
Not that it's easy for him either, but he's completely built to set aside his own emotional baggage in favor of handling someone else's. It's a coping mechanism to squash his problems by taking care of somebody — and for as difficult to read as Geralt might be, he's uniquely qualified to know.
He reaches out to settle a hand on the guy's shoulder, and gives it a firm squeeze. )
Hey. Deep breath.
( You're out. You're good. )