[ CLOSED ] the feeling never dies in your eyes

[gynvael]

Who: Geralt + Various
When: September
Where: Cadens; Horizon; Libertas
What: thisisfine.jpg
Warnings: Blanket for Witcher canon, destruction/war imagery and related topics, etc., references to child death, NSFW marked



(( starters in the comments below. find me at discontinued or at Noa#1979 to plot stuff! ))

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[gynvael]

[ He hasn't got any expectations for what answer might come. What little he knows of Steve is superficial; they've yet to exchange past a scant few words until now. It's why he asked, why his eyes are fixed on Steve.

He isn't sure what he's searching for out of the boy. But he'll know when he hears it.

Another stretch of silence passes as he considers. It is not an uncommon sentiment—the death of a loved one being a driving force—but there's no anger or bitterness underneath it, just a genuine want to keep something important safe. And that's rare, he thinks, in someone so young. He doesn't ask who it is or what happened. That's not for him to know.

There's a shift where Geralt seems to come to a decision. He stands, taking his sword with him. ] Come with me.

[ The training yard lies outside the doors, closer than it'd have been in the real Kaer Morhen. His is a little less sprawling, the mountains tighter together and easier to navigate. ]

You'll need to find one in Solvunn to train with outside this place. What you learn in here is only memory. [ He skips the wood swords on the rack, hands over one of the blunted steel blades. Steve can handle the weight of it. ] What've you wielded before?

[hairington]

[ truth be told, steve starts freaking out a small bit when geralt lets his answer linger. when geralt follows that all with silence - part of him starts to think he gave the wrong answer, but then another reminds him that it’s the truth. whether it’s right or wrong isn’t really important. if geralt tells him to fuck off, he will, but it won’t stop him from trying.

thankfully, it seems to be enough - geralt comes to a decision, stands, grabs his sword, and steve’s eyes go a bit wide. oh, okay, okay they’re doing this. geralt says come with me and that is exactly what steve does, setting the mug of ale down and following in close behind as they head back outside again.

when geralt hands steve the blade, he does consider the weight. heavier than a bat (without the nails), but not that different from his (with them). it doesn’t look sharp, or really anything dangerous. ] There’s someone in Solvunn who offered to help, so I can do that too.

[ the question, though, has steve’s easy curiosity shifting to something more…not embarrassed, exactly, but it does feel like all this experience he thinks he has isn’t really anything impressive at all - not when he’s outside an actual castle, holding an actual (blunted) sword.

he shrugs. ] A- uh- baseball bat, mostly. With nails in it. And fireworks and molotov cocktails, but I don’t know if that counts.

wrapping!

[gynvael]

[ They're doing this. Geralt stands back to watch, letting Steve handle—or mishandle—the blade as he will. He isn't expecting much out of someone who's never held a sword before, makes no effort to correct anything yet. They can work on that later when they get started with a genuine lesson.

For now, he just wants to see where they're starting from. ]

Everything counts. [ He's certainly sizing Steve up. Handling a sword is only a small part of it. The rest is reflex and coordination, something which he can tell Steve is not lacking. So. They are not quite starting from the bottom. Near it, though. ]

There's a man in Solvunn. He'll be a good sparring partner. [ How easy is it to get a sword in Solvunn? Geralt hasn't any idea, but that's Steve's problem to sort out. ] You'll want a bastard sword. Find one with a weight you like. Return in two weeks' time. Then we begin.