abraxaslogs | january catch-all

[ Geralt's brows are furrowed the deepest they've been in a while. He's simply. Baffled. Fucking mystified. He expects chaotic bullshit in the Horizon, but something about this having a tangible cause—he can see, crystal clear, that Kyle has dug through—elevates it to a brand new level of absurdity.

The wolf looks at the talking dog with an impassive curiosity. A familiar expression Kyle might have seen once on Geralt's face.

The rubble is granted little attention. Instead, Geralt peers around Kyle. Through the tunnel. It stretches, far enough that he can't tell where it began.

Did Kyle...? No. (Did he?) One: who the fuck would even do that. For two: why.

Additionally. ]

How is this possible?

[ Geralt peers and Kahlil steps aside a bit to let him see through the opening. It really makes no sense how a single man could've dug a tunnel this size on his own, but look, it's Horizon.

The blond dog tilts her head, and then play bows at the wolf, her tail wagging furiously.

Kahlil glances at the wolf, getting deja vu for a second before flicking his gaze to Geralt, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. ]

Well, it wouldn't be the first time... ? [ Which actually gives him a grim thought that causes him to frown suddenly. This isn't a sign that the heralds are about to make a reappearance, is it? He grimaces. ]

I didn't mean to come here, anyway. I just thought... I might find something.

[ By digging a massive hole. ]

[ Kyle is receiving the rare opportunity to observe Geralt truly taken aback. He steps a little into the tunnel, uncertain. It feels real enough. Even the air's a bit stale as he goes a few feet in.

He looks back out. ]

You've been digging through the Horizon?

[ That's. Hm. Admittedly, that is not something he'd have thought to do. His assumption is that, much like how this temple is currently beneath Kaer Morhen, it's constructed as if it were not. Sunlight streaming through the windows; warm weather the complete opposite to the winter above. He doesn't expect anything to be found down here except more blank vastness for their minds to fill in.

Sure as fuck didn't expect to be able to dig right into someone else's place. Is that even what happened? Or did Kyle subconsciously...? (They are both temples. Of a sort. Except this is new. No one knows it's here except Jaskier.) ]

Edited 2023-01-17 00:45 (UTC)

I - yeah.

[ Yes. Yes he has. Because apparently Horizon is not flat ~~but a series of tubes~~.

As Geralt steps closer to the tunnel Kahlil steps aside again and forward, finally taking a moment to look at his new surroundings: the play of warm and cold light, the fresh breeze and scent of flowers. And the statue - a woman, he thinks, but he's not entirely sure. He doesn't need to ask what this place is, though he stares curiously at the faceless woman. ]

Do you come here to pray? [ He turns to look at Geralt. It's a question that is oddly innocent in a way, coming from him. A little surprised, too. There are so few amongst the Summoned that have any faith. ]

[ Well.

The obvious question to follow is Why?, but Kyle asks first. Geralt looks down at the golden dog, then over his shoulder at the statue of Melitele.

He steps back out of the tunnel. ]

No. It's— [ A pause as he bends to gather the scattered candles. ] Witchers are sent to learn Signs. Magic. I lived here for a time. As a boy. Studied under a priestess.

[ He sets the candles down, arranging them again. He doesn't pray. Doesn't believe in their goddess. But for him, it isn't the point. He absorbed the lessons from Nenneke he needed to. The matter of faith doesn't factor. ]

[ The dog gives up trying to get the wolf to play with her, and sets about sniffing all the nooks and crannies on her own.

It's not disappointment, exactly - he would've been more surprised had it been true. He nods, still looking up at the statue for a moment longer before turning to watch Geralt meticulously replacing the candles. He's quick to join him, finding one that had rolled into a corner where Rousma is inspecting.

He walks over to Geralt and hands it to him. ] Was she a good teacher?

[ The wolf lacks any concept of playing, but it does follow the dog, padding behind while she explores as though it's looking after her.

Geralt accepts the candle. He could put it right in an instant, true. Just habit to do it by hand. ]

Yes. She was. [ A little more than a teacher to him. There's a wistfulness in his voice, and he's quiet before he moves to patch the tunnelled hole in the wall. It may or may not mean Kyle needs to make the walk back down again from the other end, if he means to keep exploring, but that's. Kyle's problem and not Geralt's. He wants his wall intact. (He just built this place hardly a week ago.)

Speaking of exploring. ]

What were you looking for?

[ He could have dug his hole without a shovel. Some things make more sense to do yourself, as you would in the real world.

He wonders about the wistfulness, but he lays his imposing questions aside to answer the one posed to him. ]

I don't know. Whatever there might be to find. [ It's the same as he admitted to the others who asked, only a little more sheepish since he didn't bust up their walls. He glances at Geralt, shaking his head. ]

When the heralds arrived, my temple began to hum and the ground beneath it shook. I spoke with others, and wondered what there might be to find beneath.

[ He's glad that Lucifer's suggestion didn't turn out to be true. ]

[ Mm. That isn't much of an answer, but it's an honest one. He patches up the wall, reforming it solid, and replaces the stained glass window. As though there were not an underground tunnel behind it, sunlight streams through the blue-tinted panes, sending a scattering of colour across the warm ivory tiles.

Wait. He glances over his shoulder. Though he's not explicitly invited Kyle in, the path he's taking suggests Kyle can follow him further inside. If he wants. ] It shook?

[ That's...interesting. Though— ] Are you sure it wasn't just the Horizon fucking with everyone?

[ His own sprouted vines and was besieged by an uncontrollable blizzard, so a quake doesn't seem that out of the ordinary. Though it's evidently struck Kyle as odd enough that he dug through the entire damn Horizon. ]

[ Kahlil easily decides he likes this place, which isn't surprising, given what his own subconscious created in his domain. He follows behind Geralt and catches up with him, with Rousma at his heels, her nose still fixed to the ground as they walk. ]

I thought so at first. But there was another domain behaving the exact same way, and it was shaped like mine. Like a tower.

[ Like, in a way, the Singularity. Not nearly as tall - despite what Julie suggested he doubts the height had anything to do with it so much as the structure itself, since that's what the two domains had in common. Istredd had said that some people gave religious significance to that monolith of his. ]

[ A pause in his step. A tower? Geralt frowns. There are a few towers in the Horizon. Not many, but enough he doesn't yet place which tower Kyle means.

The wolf lurks at the edges, never quite joining any of them. Geralt pulls up a seat by one of the tables lined with more candles and small biscuits. ]

Describe it.

[ Not Tony Stark's? He'd have heard from Sam, he thinks, if that obnoxious structure of glass and chrome were affected. ]

[ Kahlil glances over the table and sits, eyeing the wolf for a moment. Rousma pads along at his side and he passes some of the biscuits on to her as he answers. ]

Tall, made of stone. It belongs to a man named Istredd. [ A beat, then he adds: ] Though he's changed the exterior, recently.

[ He hasn't asked why. ]

[ Wait. Istredd. The monolith? Geralt's noticed its disappearance, though he's thought little of it. The Horizon shifts from time to time; his presumption was Yennefer told the mage to take it the fuck down before he invokes even further questions.

That's...a concern. ]

I know him. [ From home, he doesn't add. That part's not important. What would be the connection? The monolith contains untold magical energy. Kyle's temple is just a temple. Unless it isn't?

He looks to the dog, then back at Kyle. ]

That place you created. Is it where the oracles were kept? Where they served as a gate between worlds?

[ The dog whines and Kahlil gently touches her head. ]

The place where the pink goo was - that was the inside of Umbhra'ibaye, the oracles' temple. [ He glances down at the dog, brow furrowing. ] The oracles help control the gates, but that place isn't where you travel from. The gates themselves are great stones, not... exactly like the Singularity or Istredd's monolith, but similar in other ways, it seems.

[ He shakes his head. ] My domain itself isn't a place that exists in my world. [ If that's what he meant instead. ] Only some of the designs, and the type of stone itself in some places.

[ The furrow in his brows deepen. He can't say if this truly means something or not. Two does not quite make a pattern, but it certainly isn't a coincidence. ]

We spoke before, briefly. About the monoliths. That obelisk you saw Istredd erect—it's replicated from one of many on the Continent. They link multiple spheres together. [ He pauses. ] But I don't see the connection to yours.

[ If Kyle's structure doesn't even exist, and has no association with any sort of gateway or doorway, then why would they both be affected? The way Kyle speaks of it, it isn't anything other than a temple. Which is meaningless. A monolith is not a temple. No one worships the damn things. Other than Istredd by himself, he supposes. ]

[ The dog settles again at his feet, and he frowns at Geralt. ]

When I thought it was only my domain doing it, I thought maybe it was because it's dedicated to a god from a world outside of this one. [ This was when the heralds had made themselves known. ]

Istredd mentioned the monoliths might be seen as holy to some. [ Which is why they wondered if that might be the connection. But - ] He believes your monoliths and the Singularity are connected.

[ Kahlil had thought that could explain why they were resonating, even if it didn't quite explain why his temple was doing the same thing. His frown deepens. ]

If they are, I've yet to hear. Historians believe them physical scars from the Conjunction. [ He gives a vague shrug. ] The rest of the Continent has better things to think about than a few rocks.

[ But who the fuck knows. Istredd is the one obsessed with them; perhaps he's found a hidden pocket of villagers who made an idol of the obelisks. Geralt doesn't find the notion far fetched. Folk will see a god in anything.

The monoliths certainly hold an undeniable power. And none know where they came from. Until recent.

Though admittedly—they may all just be looking too hard for a connection. Who says one had to exist? Not every tree falls under the same axe.

He gestures at the temple they sit in now. ] If it happens again—we'll see if dedicated structures to gods not of this sphere matters.

[ Physical scars, he's heard Istredd call them that as well. The difference between the way the two men talk about the monoliths is... stark. Given what he knows so far of their personalities, though, he shouldn't be too surprised.

He makes a wordless sound of agreement at that last part. More waiting. More reacting. He used to be good at waiting. Used to consider himself relatively patient. But it's been getting harder lately, as more questions than answer arise all around him. More potential danger to those whose safety he cares about.

Maybe it was easier because he had no one but himself and maybe one other to be concerned about.

He crumbles a biscuit between his fingers. ]

You don't pray, but do you believe in your gods?

[ A question, too, of if his temple means anything at all, solely because Geralt did not build it on faith nor does faith play any role in why it holds meaning to him. That it's dedicated to a goddess is incidental, not the purpose. ]

They're not my gods. [ The blunt way Geralt answers nearly everything makes it sound like a rejection, though it isn't. Not quite. He pauses. ] I don't know what I believe anymore. The world's shifted beyond what I once understood.

[ He grew up, in part, under Nenneke's guidance, but Nenneke had never impressed the goddess upon them. She must've understood, he realized later, that if they wanted to walk that road, they would find their way there themselves.

He never really had. And a year ago, his answer to Kyle would have been a firm no. But now...he isn't sure where the matter of Destiny fits into the picture. ]

[ The world's shifted beyond what I once understood. ]

That is when I realized I most needed my faith.

[ When nothing on his mind or memories added up, the only thing he was certain of was that he was the Kahlil. He shakes his head though, raising his eyebrows in a sort of wry expression. ]

I don't mean to push you, though. I'm not much of a preacher.

[ He's told a handful of people that already. He's found that sometimes when people learn you are particularly religious, they think you mean to push that belief on them too. He's never particularly cared who else believed in his own god, he has only ever cared about his own place within Parfir's will. ]

[ Geralt hums, thoughtful. ] We all seek a purpose.

[ His was with the way of a Witcher, and then Ciri. Does he believe in Destiny? Yes and no. Depends on what one means by the question. But it hasn't anything to do with the path he's carved for himself. That lies with his daughter.

He glances over. For a moment, he's silent. No. He imagines men with true conviction rarely feel the need to preach. ]

My mother believed. [ He looks away again. ] Said Destiny told her to leave her son to the Witchers.

[ And maybe she was right. He doesn't know. Mostly, he tries not to think about it. There's little that can be changed, whatever the reason. He will never find more answers from Visenna that will satisfy him. She was right about that, if nothing else. ]

[ With their handful of conversations he's learned to wait through Geralt's silences. It's not that the man is slow, far from it. Few men take as much care with there words.

Geralt had mentioned his mother last time they spoke. A witch, no - sorceress was the word he used. There are so many words for men and women who practice magic, he doesn't know whether or not they signify anything specific or if they are simply all names for the same thing.

Destiny. Another odd word to him in that context.

He nods, then ventures: ]

Do you remember her very much?

[ His mother. ]

[ Even those who don't profess to pray will believe in some force of Destiny. Perhaps the real question for him is not what he believes, but what he's decided it could mean for him, for Ciri. He hasn't got an answer yet.

He shakes his head. ] It was some time ago. Might've dreamed her once.

[ He shrugs, as if this is something that just happens. He's called it a dream, but he doesn't know. Dying makes for poor recollections of what may or may not be real. An experience he prefers not to reflect on too much. ]

I'm not sure it's worth remembering. [ He's not that boy any longer, and Visenna was never a part of the life he grew into afterwards. He thinks Kyle might understand what he means when he adds, ] Someone else's life.

[ At that last part he lets out a light huff, tipping his head slightly. He's only just had two versions of this same conversation, he realizes belatedly as Geralt explains. One with Wanda, and one with Julie - both of them around his stupid hole, to great irony.

Someone else's life. He does understand. Still, there's something that remains, whether you want it or not. ]

Blood is stronger than memory. But I'm glad you have a place like this.

[ And found it worth keeping. ]

[ Perhaps. Love and blood, as they say.

He nods. He is, too. After a beat, he gestures at the stairs which lead up and out. Kyle didn't intend to visit. He won't keep a man from expanding his...

Hole. ]

Come when you like. Just, [ his lips twitch, ] use the front door.

Edited 2023-02-14 17:16 (UTC)

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ushiri - 2023-02-16 21:06 (UTC) - Expand