[ OPEN ] hide your love, don't be shy

[godshattering]

Who: Claude and you!
When: all throughout August and September
Where: Cadens (pre-Nocwich), the Horizon (any time), and Libertas (post-Nocwich)
What: Catch all for both months
Warnings: For anything referencing Libertas: death, violence, and war


( Open and closed starters in the comments! Also good with prose or brackets and if you'd like to plot something more specific, you can find me at indech, arboria#1862, or by PM at any time. )

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[gynvael]

[ If Claude were to ever say, he'd get it. The pointlessness of it all, how it doesn't ever affect him as someone who never belongs anywhere in the first place, at any given moment. No nation, no people except the Witchers who are practically myth, dying out. What would he care about war other than to avoid it?

It's a little different here. Here, he's no longer certain of where he stands.

He glances up as Claude invites himself over. He doesn't mind. Just expected Claude to wish to continue on his way picking herbs.

A pause before he accepts the offering. ]

Mm-hmm. [ Yeah. Magic. He doesn't see it as distinct from the magic of this world. Those in Abraxas simply harness it using another technique, but the source is the same chaos. ] Witchers are taught simple Signs for utility.

[godshattering]

[ When the offering's accepted, a smile ghosts its way across his face before Claude sets down the packet between them. Might as well share while they're here passing time, or until Geralt wants his solitude back. In the meantime he takes a bite of the jerky before inspecting it like that'll tell him whatever the seasonings on it are. Either way, he'll have to tell Petra her recommendation at the market was a good one.

He pauses when Geralt explains the fire before resuming chewing thoughtfully as though it'll help him parse through that statement. Those are all words he recognizes, yes, if not in their current alignment. Well, save one which feels like the most important part. ]

A witcher.

[ His first thought conjured by that unknown term is of priests and mages, of healers using non-Faith based medicine and the unkind whispers about witchcraft which would pervade even if their cures would more often than not work. But look where assuming got him last time. ]

Is that an occupation in your world?

[ He's trying to not repeat his cube blunder, really. But curiosity wins out in the end, as it always does. ]

[gynvael]

[ Claude may have realized by now Geralt's habit of speaking with almost no context given until asked. He doesn't appear to mind the questions, though. More a sense that sees no need to volunteer details where they may not be needed or wanted. ]

Sort of. [ He tears a piece of the jerky and pops it into his mouth. (It's not bad. Actually seasoned.) ] We're our own kind. We kill monsters for coin. Not many of us these days.

[ He'd left it as hunter the last time they spoke, so. This is an added piece of information, however small. He's a little more than a typical monster hunter, a little more than a typical mercenary. ]

And you? You're a soldier? [ Something of the kind, the way Claude's spoken. Someone who's experienced his share of battles at least. ]

[godshattering]

[ Sort of. He considers this and the explanation following while taking another bite. It feels like something slots into place, even if he's not sure what, exactly; the mention of few witchers (something Claude still doesn't quite hear as a proper noun) left and being their own kind feels like something. He thinks back to their last conversation and of being on the outside and how they'd each left their own gaps in that.

That, however, is decidedly not the sort of thing one asks casually. He hums thoughtfully in response with his gaze on the fire, content to let that go, and Geralt reverses that question back his way. ]

Also sort of. [ A rueful smile since that qualification feels rather apt. Claude picks up a twig from the tree nearby and tosses it into the fire, which consumes it immediately. ] I suppose I could've been considered one as a teenager through the academy I attended though they were quick to remind us we were students whenever possible while still using us as soldiers-adjacent. When the war began, I became a commander. A high-ranking one through a title I had, but all of that's past tense now in more ways than one.

Others have told me it's pointless to speculate on why it is we've been brought here. And yet I do it anyway since because of all of that - arriving into the barracks made a certain amount of sense I wish it didn't, unfortunately.

[gynvael]

[ Close enough to a soldier in his eyes. But he understands what Claude means. To many, Geralt could be considered close enough to a sellsword. For him, the distinction is important: both professionally and on a personal level.

His expression turns thoughtful. This. This is something that's little known, if only because the man he uncovered the information is long gone. Vanished months ago. Geralt had not seen him since they escaped the dungeons; they'd spoken once or twice. He'd been wary of him, for one. Someone who saw so fucking much—a power to this day he doesn't fully grasp—he had not wanted to be around it given Ciri.

Still. He glances back towards the fire. ] It isn't. [ Pointless, that is. ] Thorne appears to have known who they wanted to summon, but their spell was not...as accurate as they would have liked. Not at the time. Those they dragged forth by mistake—we wound up in the dungeons.

[ If Thorne has that ability, that book, then the Free Cities, Solvunn, they must as well. Or are they summoning blind? He isn't sure to this day. Without access to where the spell takes place, it's impossible to say. ]

[godshattering]

[ That wondering aloud that's not quite an existential crisis but close enough to it: Claude's not really expecting an answer. Or rather, the answer he expects to get is another variation of what he'd mentioned of why wonder at all? There's logic in that, he's sure, but he has always loved a puzzle more than anything else.

Luckily, that's just what Geralt presents him with. Another twig destined for the fire is in his hand but he rests it against the ground as the other man speaks. A frown flits over his face at yet another reminder of Thorne's wrongs. ]

I've heard about Thorne's questionable hospitality towards those they chose to bring here. [ It's slightly a politician's answer, some old habits called forth with that fleeting thought of titles, but. The level of disdain in his voice likely makes his actual (far more negative) thoughts on that clear enough. 'We' didn't escape his notice either. ] Not that I think the Free Cities are particularly benevolent. I also heard about how some who were in Thorne were able to flee to here or Solvunn before summoning began everywhere.

[ Which - wait a minute. Claude sits up straighter as what he sees as potential implications sink in. ]

Surely doing this over and over means they're fine-tuning the steps as they go. And that would mean based on there once being supposed 'mistakes' that they do know of some reason or reasons for why they want that particular person to begin with. And that they know of the worlds we're from, somehow.

[gynvael]

[ It is a politician's answer, one to which Geralt simply lifts a hand: the imprisonment is not his point. He may have mentioned it before, Claude likely has heard it elsewhere if not, but what is the purpose behind his statement is what Claude concludes some moments later: that these nations know. They have always known. Thorne at the very least.

That Claude is a soldier of a kind? That he is not the only Summoned with experience in war and battle drawn through the Singularity in Cadens? That is not necessarily a coincidence. Claude is not wrong to read a pattern into it. ]

Mm-hm. [ Exactly. ] I doubt they know the particulars. But I imagine they know more than any of us would prefer.

[ If they did have particulars, they would not have left Ciri alone all this time. Especially not Thorne. No. There remain pieces these nations don't have access to. And what they do know is not entirely clear. It must have something to do with the Arcana signs, though. ]

[godshattering]

[ That brief frown turns into a proper brow furrow now after Geralt confirms those suspicions, that what he'd connected together is likely true. It's directed at the fire, at least, but the fire doesn't provide him any answers. ]

I have to say that's even less comforting than finding out you and Ciri also have some kind of time shift but it's not the same as mine. [ Dryly, since - it's a joke, half-heartedly, and it's not much of one considering the reality of what those statements mean. There's a difference between suspecting something and having it all but confirmed, and Claude's remembering that now. Still, he'll force a believable (and short) laugh for the sake of not being entirely bleak. ] It did seem like far too much of a coincidence that most everyone I've met in Cadens either has some kind of military experience or has seen battle. My friends who were summoned, they both have fighting backgrounds as well and in more than war alone. I'm sure that was a mark in all of our favors if they're looking for people to recruit. Or conscript.

[ Now the twig gets tossed into the fire. The gesture doesn't wipe his mind of thoughts, unfortunately, though it would've been nice if it did. They know - that much is clear. Does that also mean they know what's hidden, even if he's the only one hiding something? That's equally disconcerting. ]

What I wouldn't give to see the records I'm certain they're keeping on all of us, both before and after arrival.

[gynvael]

[ That's the other point Geralt does not yet mention: that Claude has met only friends from his sphere. Friends, enemies, acquaintances. Loosely linked, perhaps, in some cases, but still linked. This holds true for nearly everyone. He isn't certain if it's deliberate in that sense—but it's possible whatever spell the nations are doing, its reach draws from certain...connections.

Or maybe it's just more Destiny at work. Who the fuck knows? ]

Well. [ He leans his head back against the tree. The fire crackles as the sun sinks, dimming the sky. ] I've nothing to hide either way.

[ Not about himself. They can dig all they want into what he is, where he came from, what he's done. Half of that shit's been immortalized into Jaskier's songs as it is. And no. He doesn't mean only on the Continent. Jaskier's written new ones here, too. ]

[godshattering]

[ There's too many loose ends here, and while that's not normally something he minds - it's more troublesome when he doesn't know which to begin with chasing down first. Is it worth wondering why what he knows and what Sylvain's said aligns more closely than Petra's reality where none of that came to pass? Or why it is he remembers Teach differently than they do, but Teach still plays an important part to each of them? Or that if the Abraxan nations know why they were called here, will it really change anything about what the future may bring?

Claude gives Geralt an appraising look after the other says he's nothing to hide, and considers his own response. And then realizes, rather abruptly, that there's not a convenient way for him to answer that in turn - not in any way that wouldn't give away his thoughts, or that he doesn't share a lack of things to keep concealed. Maybe if he wasn't busy dwelling on everything they've spoken about so far in an attempt to forge more connections with what he already knew he could find a way to spin right out of that one. It's his preferred method for dodging anything and tends to not fail, especially if whoever's hearing it isn't the type to press for more answers.

But in the end, Claude for once says nothing at all and potentially confirms what goes on unsaid on his end regardless as they sit in quiet by the fire. By the time night approaches and it's time to head back, he's no closer to any resolutions as he bids Geralt a farewell with a nod at the city gates. He'll be thinking about all of this for a while to come yet. ]