#☓ cimetier ( ask 001 )

[rxwords]

@cimetier​​ sent a missive : ❛ no offense, but you look terrible. ❜ from keira to eskel

❛ meme ⋆ keira  status ┆ accepting ! 

&. 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬.

       WORDS USUALLY BRACKETED BY ‘no offence’ were certain to hold offence , but years upon the path where politeness or courtesies were seldom extended to witchers & having been warned away from disillusionment by vesemir during the years spent in training had eskel unphased by such verbiage. as well he was under no false impressions nor held any egotistical delusions of his appearance , although he severely doubted his facial scars had been what the sorceress had been referring to. 

       JUST AS HE HELD no misconception about his mien on an everyday occurrence , he was acutely aware of how he must look in this very moment. 

       NOT WHEN HE HAD caught the glimpse of the expression from a young woman who had spied him as she went to close her shutters after he had dropped the trophy from a leshen at the alderman’s place, nor the startled & cautiousness that had came off a pair of brothers with their father when they had came up from the riverbank from securing their boat. the skittish way they had walked by him , the furthest distance they could place between themselves & him on the muddy trail this small town called a road. the long stares, holding trepidation & the unsubtle reek of fear beneath the initial shock that had widened their eyes & dropped their jaws. 

       EVER WARY WERE TOWNSFOLK at the sight of witchers, if not outrightly mistrustful or hateful. even when there is not a speck of blood nor trails of sinew about their clothes , swords sheathed & no further desire than to just find a spot to eat & rest in a proper bed for a night , even or when , as in this moment , said witcher is plainly hindered by injury. still , quickly had each pair of eyes skirted away from him , whether he had caught their gaze with his own or not. 

       PERHAPS IF HAD BEEN a welling of shame born from their choice not to offer aid, but not so that it pricked their conscience enough to change. all he had crossed had hurried on about with their tasks. willfully ignoring his presence as he passed them by. not that he truly wished for aid nor even sympathy , this was the way of it when it came to other reacting to his kind. it was expected more so than it was not , & there was a comfort in that familiarity. they weren't hostile thus he counted that a kindness in & of itself. 

       && TO GIVE SOME CREDIT to their behaviour , he knew he looked a frightfully more inhuman than usual. despite being unable to see it for himself, he could feel the effects of too many potions flowing through his system. his skin was undoubtedly pale beyond measure, discoloured with dark veins & purple , bruise-like marks to compliment the dark contrast of his eyes that had yet to fade completely , seeming to cast them in an ethereal shadow. 

       ADD TO THE FACT HIS posture was hunched a slight & his gait was a tad lumbering , taken up to cover a heavy limp along with easing the strain of standing fully upright would place on his ribs & there muscles along his torso , he truly wasn't helping his appearance of something but some feral & dangerous. regardless of feeling like even lifting one of his swords from its sheath would be a feat at presence. 

       THUS IN SPITE OF such things & unexpectedness of the other’s arrival , he couldn't help the slight upturn to his lips at her words. his mind , addled by numerous potions & blood loss , thinking that lambert would likely quip back with ‘you should see the creature i took down. left it's head still dripping blood on the alderman’s desk’ with a smirk to rival any state of his person. instead eskel dispelled with the mirth that had sprung forth at that fleeting thought , to offer her a greeting smile , uncaring how it twisted the scars along his face & may have only added to his ghoulish appearance , & replied , unboastfully.

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                                       ❝ Would you believe me if I said I’ve had worse ?                         It may look bad , but it's nothing that won't fade & heal. ❞