video ; both courts

[survivra]

[ Katsa’s thrown herself down on the ground somewhere, hay sticking out of her short-cut hair as she scowls at the locket dangling in front of her face. ]

What’s the use of gifts if it can still be even that people are taken out of their own beds at night—where out of anywhere they should have protection? Is it meant to be a distraction to keep us from noticing all the other wrong?

[ are the boons all just a big conspiracy theory?? will time ever tell ]

[ PRIVATE TO PO ]

[ she rubs a hand over her face ]

Po, will you fight me now? I think I need—I can't sit still or think straight. There's so much that's happened, that I'm not sure I understand. I think it'll help.

Comments

not here

[playmakings]

[ kelsi is in the woods atm but katsa what did you do ]

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[gwynbleidd]

[Lesson 1:] Don't rely on gifts given by monarchs.

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[survivra]

It's not needed—

[ A large black horse's face appears on the locket and shoves against Katsa as she tries to argue that she's not relying on anything but herself. She reaches up to push it away. ]

—though they're useful still. Their power, their gifts, make them easy to trust, but...

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[gwynbleidd]

[Horses are amazing creatures, are they not?]

But only if they think you're beneficial. [Lesson 2. There's a hint of a smile, perhaps in his yellow eyes.] Maybe ask for carrots next time.

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[survivra]

[ Especially the ones with wings. That's taking some getting used to. ]

I'll try to remember that. With luck, it'll be a magical carrot that will let me ride however long without stopping—but gives any horse who eats it the ability to talk, and it'll talk right over any news on the lockets that monsters are crawling all over our shores.

[ Her tone is more dry than acerbic, and she sighs, blinking her own off-colored eyes at him. ]

We've met before.

[ To Troichean Beinn the month before, though she doesn't remember his name. ]

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[gwynbleidd]

[A horse that never tires and a horse that talks. Geralt wouldn't even be surprised anymore if that happened to be the case. He just.... "Smh" is about the equivalent of what he'd think about that.] We have. Going to Troichean Beinn.

I'm Geralt of Rivia.

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[survivra]

[ for all she's being somewhat sarcastic about it, katsa wouldn't be shocked, either. in fact, she half expects it really to happen. ]

Yes. I'm Katsa of the Middluns. I didn't speak much with anyone along the way, so I suppose I should say it's a pleasure to meet you this time, though later... [ she squints at her locket and his eyes ] Are you friends with an elf, a rude one?

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[gwynbleidd]

[Friends with an elf tells him absolutely nothing, but friends with an elf, a rude one, tells him everything. The faintest hints of a smile bends the corner of his lips.] I know a few arrogant elves.

But I assume you mean Iorveth. [Whether or not he is a friend of Iorveth's depends on what exactly Iorveth did to Katsa to be considered rude (other than, you know, be himself).] I know him.

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[astrapi]

Good question. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised.

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[survivra]

I'd rather know that girl is safe than anything else. I should be doing something more.

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[astrapi]

I know, but I'm sure you're doing all that you can.

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[survivra]

I don't know if I am, though. Surely there's something—I just don't know what it is or how to do it. [ she rubs her eyes ]

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[gracedprince]

[First things first:] Are you sure you're alright?

[He stands by what he said back in the Seven Kingdoms, he won't fight with her when either of them are angry.]

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[survivra]

I'm not sure of a number of things. [ she sighs and does her best to lose her scowl. ] But I've not lost control of myself. Of that I'm sure, Po.

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[gracedprince]

Alright. [He trusts her to know that she has a clear enough head for this.]

Where do you want to go?

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[survivra]

As long as it's flat ground so we don't have to risk fighting with our boots on, anywhere. I'll come back to you quickly—we haven't had a proper fight in a while.

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[gracedprince]

We haven't. And you wanted to try fighting me as a wolf, if I remember?

Where are you now?

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[survivra]

I'm somewhere south, in the woods. I ran for the stables first to try to clear my mind.

[ somewhere off to the side the cleg snorts loudly. katsa almost looks sheepish, if she were capable of it. ]

And I still want to try it. I'm excited to see what new tricks we've yet to discover from it, especially with the need to fight all manner of things here. [ she absentmindedly rubs a hand over her shoulder, along the scars on her collarbone ] A new challenge for both of us.

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[gracedprince]

Would you like me to wait at Caer Scima or come find you?

[He could try tracking like a wolf.]

And we'd be fools not to learn a few new tricks while we're here. It might even gain us favor from the monarchs. [That's always useful.]

[wild_goose]

In a battle between sides there is no place that you really have protection. You should always be ready to put your boots on at any time, the gifts are just a way of coping with the ugly reality of how things are.

[survivra]

A reward, you mean, for looking the other way. You can find safety or others can help you make it. If those with power won't do it, shouldn't the rest of us?

[wild_goose]

We are dogs of war, is there really anything more that we can expect than a small reward for putting our lives on the line for those that brought us here? If you're looking for safety I'm afraid that you've been brought to the wrong place mon chéri.

[survivra]

No! I'll not be anyone's dog, no matter how a queen might think to shape me. I did not ask to come here—I will fight only when I wish to, and I'll need no reward for that. But you can make yourself a dog if you wish, and bend yourself to be savage for others for the promise of a possible gift. What about the safety of children and people who can't fight?

[wild_goose]

Protecting those too young to be exposed to the horrors of combat, the same goes for women and those unable to lift a finger to defend themselves, it's part of what the dog does. It's part of the reason why I do not mind being a mangy mutt. People like that, those that are innocent and not stained with blood, they have no place in a fight like this.

No matter which side, you have to keep in mind that the person that you kill, the person trying to kill you, they are fighting for a reason. So if you want to fight for yourself whenever you see fit that is just fine, but do not get angry at those of us who wish to receive something more than the satisfaction of pretending not to be murderers.

[survivra]

I've done enough killing and death to know what it is. A dog jumps at orders and bites when its master tells it: it believes when it's told it has no choice. You're right. You are a dog. But I'll not be one, and I'll not think those who don't belong aren't drawn in anyway, and that those with the most power choose to distribute presents rather than to protect them.