yennefer (yenn) wrote in crownplazaic, @ 2021-09-02 17:29:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log/thread, ciri, yennefer |
Yennefer had meant to bring Ciri out to the greenhouse for a heart to heart, hoping that Neville and Ivy weren’t hovering around. Well, hoping no one was hovering around, honestly. She didn’t know if the latter woman would be there, but she and Geralt had spent a lot of time around each other when she was last here. Being at the hotel made it easy to start anew. It was a little too easy at times. She’d acclimated to the idea of Geralt deciding to separate himself and moved on to other things and other people. One of those people had come back without any memory of her and she hadn’t bothered to reach out to see if she could make him remember. Was there a point if he could just disappear and forget her again? The idea of repeating the process felt tedious. It did not mean she didn’t miss him. Was Ciri thinking that Geralt could return the same way? Maybe she was worried the man would come back from even further in her past and not even know her. Either way, she was his destiny. The way they had all fit together was inevitable, if only because of his stupid wish coupled with the law of surprise. She didn’t doubt he’d be back. She didn’t doubt it for a moment. He’d bound them all close together. For now, she stood on the boat docks, leaning against the pole, and waited for the young woman to arrive. Part of Ciri's worries came from her own desire to get out of the hotel, but not in a sent home forget everything way but the ability to go back and forth. She couldn't be a real Witcher here. She made some amazing friends from other worlds and Ciri desired to both visit their strange worlds and be able to take them to her own. The other side and reason for the drunkenness was that she knew their futures. There would be good times, of course, but there was also very harsh times ahead for both of them. She worried about Geralt the most because the last thing she knew was leaving him amnesiac on the banks after saving him from the Wild Hunt. There was a lot to worry about the place in time she did not know what happened next. Drink had saturated her system long before her network discussion with Yenn. It was an honest surprise that she was capable of such a written dialogue without mistakes, but then, she'd always been a mostly functional drunk. Not than Geralt or the other Witchers. Her first attempt to portal to the docks had landed her in Geralt and Jaskier's old room. The second attempt had her unconscious back in her room because her emotions were steering the ship back to her world- which the hotel did not like. It wasn't until she tried for a third time that she managed to make it to the docks where Yenn waited. The swirl of energy and fire making the portal far more impressive than she felt. "So why the docks?" She sighed, leaning against the railing across from Yenn. Yennefer was about to leave when she felt the shift in the air and heard the portal burn itself into existence. The sound of the woman making it onto the dock didn't sound nearly as clean as the spell itself. Seeing Ciri there, reeking of alcohol, she clapped the girl’s back twice. Then her gloved hand came under her leg and upended her into the water. There'd been no greeting nor warning, just a nice sharp crash of the smaller body hitting the cold surface before it gave way. Even if Ciri had been stone sober, she would not have seen the action of Yennefer coming. Foot over head, she tumbled backward into the chilled ocean water. A large splash came up to dock height as she dipped under the water surface in a swirl of bubbles and silver. Not entirely realizing what was going on until she hit the sandy bottom below the docks, she pushed up from the ground back up to the surface. “Geas Muire!” Ciri yelled as soon as she broke the surface. Swimming back up to the beach, she rang out her loose hair and clothes. “I’m glad I wasn’t wearing my leathers. What the Gvaern Ichaer did you do that for?” "Still drunk?" The question was posed with a mixture of amusement and annoyance. The sorceress stood there, arms crossed and quite dry. There were a lot of similarities between herself and Ciri. They both didn't react well to having their control limited, but she knew how to adapt, manipulate, and more importantly survive. If she had raised this woman to adulthood as she so claimed; she knew that she did as well. "I meant to give you this talk over by the greenhouse, but you seemed more eager to fight than to listen. Have you gotten that out of your system yet?" “No longer in a fun way,” Ciri answered sarcastically. She had learned the survival side long before Yennefer but the no nonsense of the lessons she learned with her adoptive mother had set her on a better path once the Wild Hunt had caught wind of her. When Ciri was younger she did not appreciate the shrew nature of Yenn quite as much. Removing her boots, she poured the water out onto the dock. “I was eager to destroy something, not fight someone.” She held up her hands though as if prepared for Yen to send her over the railing once more. “But yes, it’s out of my system.” “Good, because you know Geralt would hate to see you like this.” He’d be thoroughly amused at the drown rat state of her, she was sure, but not what had led up to it. “You know we’re never apart for long. We’re his destiny. Both of his own foolish making. No need to get over dramatic when he decides to take a reprieve.” It might have sounded like she believed he had a choice in the matter, but she knew better. “This place is like any other and we’ll do as we do in any other,” she said, reaching out and placing a hand on Ciri’s soaked shoulder. “Survive.” Ignoring the dampness of the other woman, she pulled her in for a side hug. “Together, for now.” Geralt was the reason she was like this. He had promised her that he wouldn’t leave her here. That while he was getting antsy, he liked the life he was creating with them. Ciri knew very well that she was being stupid and selfish and ignoring the fact that people were sent home all the time never to return, but she had not lost anyone very closer to her until the hotel ripped away two of those closest. Every friend that would be sent home would be sad, but this was her family. “He didn’t decide this though,” she said quietly into Yen’s shoulder during the hug. Her grasp tightened around the other woman like a child grabbing their more after a nightmare. “I know we’re not always together… and that we’re not likely part of the same thread of our world, but I lose you all so often and I’m set off alone to run that you all being here-” She swallowed down her emotions. “-I thought we had finally made it to a spot where we can breathe and be a real family.” Ciri sighed. “I don’t even have Roach to take for walks anymore,” she tried to lighten her feelings- always covering what she was really feeling while also wearing her emotions rather openly for anyone paying attention. If she knew that Geralt had made such a foolish promise, she would have slapped him. You didn't make promises you could not keep. "He did not," she agreed easily. "I don't know what things are like in the future, but I'm not going to worry about it since I won't remember any of this when I return anyway." The sorceress shrugged and squeezed the girl. "We'll all get sent back eventually. And I'll be together with you there as we are here. You don't know what the future past the point you arrived will hold. Being here could be prolonging what you seek." While Yennefer herself had desired to be a mother, she was unable to bear one. Apparently, Geralt's stupid wish coupled with the Law of Surprise gifted her a daughter. While she was happy to know she had her now... "I'd like to actually experience all those stories you've told me one day," she confessed. "Then they'd be our memories instead of just yours." Ciri slumped slightly. “I’ve only spoken about the better times, really. Or, I guess the times you were there with me.” Not all had been the good times or adventurous times. She had told Yenn about the coup at Thanedd and Aretuza. The fall of the school essentially and the people at the conference trying to kidnap her during the coup. Ciri knew better to keep some large events from Yenn as the woman would not have believed her if she told her only the good parts. A strand of wet silvery hair slid into her face as she looked to the ground. “I would like you to experience it all too,” she said quietly. “It is the point in which I left you and Geralt last that I am worried about. Geralt had been captured by the Wild Hunt and-” She paused. “I left him in the forest by Kaer Morhen. He had no memories of us or anything really. I don’t want to find out that he died because I could not stay by his side. Because I had to run.” "I was at the battle of Sodden. I thought I was going to die and ended up here with you telling me I not only lived but gained a family that actually cared about me." Tissaia had cared for her in her own way, but the woman had been so difficult to not only read but to love. And so she didn't. There was eventually some form of respect for her in the end. "Geralt is too stubborn to get killed. I'd be surprised if we don't have more close calls to talk about after." There was another thing. She'd only known this woman for a few months, but she knew that if she did have a child, she would have done as she did for that noble infant. Anything she could to try to protect her. "Even so, we don't know if he'll arrive from before or after, or even with his memories." He was gone for more than four hours after all. A small smile pulled at the sides of her mouth at Yenn calling them a family. They did not say it often at home but it could be called nothing else. Here, Ciri respected that Yenn did not have the connection they had made over her lifetime of interactions and lessons. It was nice hearing it come from her lips though. “If he comes back at all.” She pushed her toe into the wood of the dock. And what of Jaskier? The man had finally found a love he would not have had in such a way. Jaskier the self-proclaimed count from the stories he once told her back home. They were a lovely couple in their dichotomy and Ciri always felt at ease sharing with him over getting looks from Geralt or Yenn about the dumb, silly things in her life. Ciri was silent, her gaze turned to the waves of the water on the beach she had just walked out of. “All I wanted was for everyone to find their peace they had longed for for so long. It really felt like it would happen here. Geralt with Jaskier and you with that very lovely lady. I thought if you guys could have peace I could try it. I hid for longer in a world called Camelot than I have been here.” She gave a sharp laugh at the knightly world that had just as much treachery and sorcery as her own. The sorceress petted the woman's wet hair. "This place is a reprieve, but I would not call it peace, Ciri." The mention of Xian should not have shocked her, considering the woman had announced that she was her wife to the entire hotel. "Despite all the hardships I have experienced, I do actually miss our home. And this is all fleeting. The disappearance of Geralt and Jaskier proves that." They were some hard truths, but they were ones she had learned to understand in her time at the hotel. "Enjoy the time you have here for what it is. We're all going to return home eventually and without the memories and emotions of this place." At least, that's what she had come to believe from those who had gone and come back. Ciri leaned into Yenn’s hand and nodded. “I miss our home too,” she whispered. A sly smile finally pulled at her lips. “Do you think I could just kidnap Wes, Fox and Daphne somehow to take them home with me?” She had to find some humour. Yenn was right, but that didn’t make it all hurt any less. She did have to take this place as she had the other worlds she had jumped to on her own. This was not her home and destiny had other plans for all of them. This would be a nice dream somewhere out in the universe when she awoke back in whatever world she ended up in after leaving Geralt in the forest. "If you want pets, I think you should look to something more manageable, like Roach." While she had been a horse, she'd been a dog here. A very big, affectionate, slobbery dog. Yen was not about to admit that she was going to miss her regardless. Not yet. When they returned she was going to be a horse again, which was good in one way but sad in another. "Now. Let's get you back inside before you catch your death." Gathering up the other woman, she opened up a portal to their room. |