eachdraidh | video ; both courts

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video ; both courts

[ 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.

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

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...

[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.

[ 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. ]

[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.

[ 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?

[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.

They seem like a very voluble people.

[ She bites her lip to suppress any hint of her own smile. Her polling pool for this is a grand total of: two elves ]

He spoke of you, I think. He called you something and said and that you're not human because of your eyes. But I've seen stranger.

[ half statement, half question. ]

[He looks mildly perplexed. It's not that Iorveth had been talking about him, but, rather, he is trying to think of what Iorveth might call him to someone else.] I guess that makes him not human because of his ears. [Which is to say, Geralt is not human because of other reasons, and he's being evasive only slightly on purpose.

But the mention of eyes at least rules out gwynbleidd.]

Witcher. Or vatt'ghern in Elder Speech.

I think. Well. From the way he described you, I was almost expecting someone at least twice as tall and three times as hideous, but the truth is a little better.

Good to know I'm less ugly than my reputation claims. [Thank a lot, Iorveth, you one-eyed bastard!!!!] I'll have to talk to Iorveth about his descriptive choice of words.

Edited (i forgot a word) 2014-12-04 22:22 (UTC)

[ she smiles at him, obviously amused ] Moderately less. I know plenty about monstrous reputations myself, so the surprise isn't total. But that's—why I had—hoped I'd know who you were without relying on description eventually.

[ that feels extremely awkward, and she says it lamely ]

[Her claiming to know about monstrous reputations garners his interest, but he'll get to that in a bit.] Iorveth is an elf, and elves enjoy some flourish. I'm not surprised his tale of me was exaggerated. Most are. [But he stands out, and typically people know him from one glance alone even by hearsay.]

Sometimes ordinary-looking people are monsters, and sometimes monstrous-looking people are ordinary.

[ It was a tale of of others' tales, mostly, but the effect was just the same. Katsa is quiet for a moment. ]

Though how to tell which from which, it's harder to know. What about a monster that doesn't want to be a monster? Is there anything in between?

I suppose there is. [He looks amused, though doesn't elaborate, like he knows a secret he isn't telling. Really it's just something personal and not anything that she had said.] A lot of monsters aren't monsters at all.

It's other people who give them that name.

Sometimes undeserved, but sometimes... a bit more so. [ she frowns. ] What about you? Where do you fall?

[ well, she's not beating around the bush, especially considering they've never really spoken before. but. more curious and effective to ask. ]

[Admittedly, he's quiet for a moment or two while he thinks about how to answer what question. Where does he fall, and, in the end, does it even matter?]

I don't think it matters. I'm a witcher, but I'm whatever people want me to be: a hunter, a kingslayer, a hired sword, a legend, a ghost. [Not that those are his professions, but stereotypes he has learned to take with a grain of salt.] I do my job. I leave.

Humans can call me what they like.

Hmm. [ katsa just stares at him as she tries to process this answer. she doesn't know how to take it, really. ] Do you ever want to be anything different?

[Boy, does he. Then again, perhaps he doesn't. He would have never met the people he has without being a witcher. He would be a nobody more than likely, even if his mother had been a sorceress.] It won't make a difference to dwell on being something different. Different could mean worse.

It's not about what you are, but who you are. Who are you to other people when you met them?

[ it's her turn to find something mysteriously funny. her mouth twitches, though her voice is dry ]

Unnatural.

[ king randa's lady killer. someone to fear, for it meant she was bringing his punishment. ]

I know what other people think of me. That's not the part I don't know how to understand.

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video ; both courts

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