[ CLOSED ] on the ice i'm afraid

[gynvael]

Who: Geralt + Various
When: November
Where: Cadens; Horizon; Nocwich
What: after the old gods, life goes on.
Warnings: Blanket for Witcher canon and general fuckery; nsfw marked



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

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[gynvael]

[ He's perfectly nice to the damn animal. He's built it a bed.

There's a grunt when the gryphon curls on his pillow, just above his head. Geralt quirks an eyebrow, though he makes no comment as Jaskier begins to sing. Hardly the first time he's been serenaded with one of Jaskier's drafted compositions. He's heard every iteration of a song, lyrics and melody evolving as the bard works.

Poetic. Of course Jaskier would make the werewolves the subject of his next song. A natural sort of romance to them. ]

Had a feeling you were working on something. [ He can always tell when Jaskier's been especially inspired. As promised, he offers no commentary on the song itself.

Geralt lifts onto an elbow, watching Jaskier for a moment. The notes fade into the air. He turns over what's been on his mind—something he's meant to tell Jaskier. ]

Do you remember the cellar you found beneath Kaer Morhen? From last winter?

[cointosser]

After I met with werewolves? The sort that aren't trying to kill everyone they meet? Of course I must write about them!

[But regardless of the order he's given Geralt, he looks satisfied with his response. Of course, there is no criticism of Geralt's he would take to heart anyway -- the man does not have a mind for music, which perfectly suits him considering his career.

It feels good, though. To have sung it in full for the first time. When he turns to see Mog already curled up on top of Geralt's head, sitting on a bunch of his hair, Jaskier can sense he chose the correct first audience to test it on.

Mog falling asleep to his music has always been a good sign. (Ignoring he always falls asleep on top of Geralt if he can... which is what the Witcher gets for spoiling him with the bed.)

Jaskier turns to him. Well. Not exactly the image he wanted his song to invoke. Oh, does he remember the torture-cellar he stumbled into with a gigantic man who sort of went momentarily insane, then apologized to him for it? The one with the stains and smell of blood? That cellar?

It is a good thing Jaskier has been freed from his curse.]

Of course I remember. It's a bit difficult to forget.

[gynvael]

[ Mm. Yeah. Fairly sure Mog would fall asleep to the dulcet tones of a Witcher's snore. What does that creature do except sleep and eat?

Despite himself, Geralt reaches up and gives Mog an absent scratch between the ears. The song lingers in the air. He will not admit that he has missed hearing Jaskier sing. There was a time some months back he worried Jaskier had lost whatever muse drove his music. A bard without song is like a Witcher without his swords.

He didn't bring up the cellar to dwell on shitty memories. No, it's— ]

I tore it down. With Dean. [ He looks over at Jaskier. ] I need something in its place. I thought...

[ You could help. ]

[cointosser]

You what?

[His gaze snaps onto Geralt's face, turning so he can stare him down. He was not sure why Geralt brought it up in the first place, but that was far, far from the first thing he may have guessed the point would be.

It's true that he has not gone to Geralt's domain in some time. For one thing, they live together, and for another... Jaskier does not have any good memories of Kaer Morhen, unfortunately. He recognizes it is home to Ciri and Geralt, but it is rather frightful to him. A memory of the things he was there to witness. The slaughter.

And he took Dean there? Geralt trusted Dean enough to show him that cellar?

Huh.]

Something much more fun, I imagine. [In the basement of Kaer Morhen. Far be it from Jaskier to make judgements on what is in another man's domain. When he received those... memories.. even his own was a terrible place.

But this is big. He recognizes that. That something has shifted in Geralt.] I think you need a place you feel safe. [Jaskier releases him from his gaze, laying down beside Geralt on his side.] I know you're a big strong Witcher, and Kaer Morhen is your home, but wasn't there any other place you felt that? True safety?

[gynvael]

[ It's been there for a long while, hasn't it? That room. He turns on his side, fingers curling into his palm. It isn't like him, to ignore something of that nature for all this time. He just kept pushing it aside. Telling himself he'll take care of it later. ]

Mm. Happenstance. The Horizon—you know.

[ Portalled people into places they shouldn't be. That cellar amongst them. A dungeon, really. Dark and cold and windowless, bolted shut. But it's true he trusted Dean enough to let him help break it apart. It isn't gone, only in pieces. Geralt knows he wants to keep something of it, that—as he admitted at the time—it doesn't feel right to erase its existence entirely. He just isn't sure what. Maybe it'll come to him.

In the meantime. Where else if not the walls of Kaer Morhen? He considers. The woods? His swords by his side? He wants to argue that it isn't as though he felt unsafe in his Horizon. The memories haunting him are...ghosts. Nothing more. But that isn't true, and Jaskier knows it.

His answer comes after a stretch of silence. ] The temple in Ellander. I was sent to it as a boy. There was a priestess, Nenneke. She looked after us.

[ Jaskier must know her. That temple is one of the most prominent. Nenneke has tended to it and its students for decades. Though the last time he set foot in the temple, he left it bloodstained. Seems to be the case lately, where he goes. Still. Of his childhood memories, his time at the temple ranks some of the calmest. ]

[cointosser]

Happenstance.

[No, no, he understands. But it is quite a rare thing he would ever describe Geralt as finding himself into happenstances.

However, Jaskier feels the question he offers is important, and Geralt will take the answer seriously, so he is quiet while he waits. Mog is already purring in his favorite spot, ears flicking where Geralt's hair tickles the tips. He's trained Mog well. He knows not to interrupt very important things.

All he does is sleep and eat. He is a perfect companion.]

Oh, yes! I've heard of it. I've even had a rare chance to visit. Quite some time ago. [But not so long ago he cannot recall the long halls, the dim stone. A stone that somehow managed to be warm -- a bit more than Kaer Morhen, if you ask him.]

Then we make that. [Jaskier smiles, flicking a bit of Geralt's hair out of the Witcher's face.] And yes, I will be honored to help you, my friend. You needn't even ask.

[Technically, he hadn't yet.]

[gynvael]

[ Make it. Build a temple, beneath Kaer Morhen? Geralt hums. Is it foolish the idea never crossed his mind? To simply create a different structure altogether within another? He's seen what other people have made: creations that defy logic and rules. He's just...always stuck to what he knows. What he remembers.

He rolls his eyes, but there's no exasperation behind the gesture. His fingers curl around Jaskier's wrist. He rests his thumb over the pulse for a second. ]

It'd be warmer. [ That isn't the reason Jaskier has avoided stepping into Kaer Morhen. They aren't talking about the real reasons. They don't need to. ] You could visit without the winter.

[ Is he inviting? Asking? He isn't sure. He blames Jaskier not at all for feeling unsure around his domain. For not wanting to be in it. But...he has not forgotten their time at the beginning, when they didn't remember each other and yet had been friends for a lifetime, anyhow. When Jaskier would come riding along up the snowy path to his cabin, and the ice would melt, flowers peeking through.

Funny, to hold nostalgia for a time that wasn't quite real. That lasted hardly three fucking weeks. And yet—even now, he looks back on those days. ]

[cointosser]

[If it were any other topic, Jaskier knows he would absolutely hassle Geralt about this. About this... what is it but nothing less than an offering? Laid out for him like an unrolled carpet? Geralt may be undefinable to others, but Jaskier can see what, exactly, the Witcher is attempting to say between all these vague observations.

He smiles.]

I don't know. A part of me misses it sometimes.

[The reference does bring it to mind, too. He had not recognized it in those moments, so full of... of youthful vigor, and that desire for adventure. He feels like he's bloody aged a decade since then, since his first foray into the Horizon, where everything felt so bright and wonderful, even the sad bits.

He did not recognize that when he would visit the man he knew but didn't, that winter would melt into spring. The snow would melt as he made his way towards the cabin, and the caravan never stuck in mud nor did the horses slow.]

Though I do believe spring suits me much better now. [He flutters his fingers, and a small puff of camomile petals float onto Geralt's face.] We'll start it as soon as you're ready.

[gynvael]

[ It is the sort of remark Geralt only makes when the afterglow of sex is heavy. Leaves him saying shit he might usually think twice about.

His nose wrinkles as the petals shower him. He blows them off. A few land in his hair. ]

Spring's always suited you, Jaskier.

[ Hence the flowers. The magic that chose the bard. It need not be said how different it is to the magic that's chosen Geralt. Or manifested within him, as it were. He closes his eyes, releasing a contented breath. ]

Go to sleep before you suffocate me in your flowers.