#I don't want to sound like I'm being mean to Triss but that was the best way I could think of to put it

[angst-fairygodmother]

Sing Once Again With Me: Madame Giry’s Tale (The Witcher; A Phantom of the Opera AU)

A/N: Alternate title: Yennefer explains. This was a hard chapter for me, and a turning point in the story, because I had to decide if we were dealing with a man or a monster. Word Count: 1370 Content Warning: None; Exposition heavy Taglist: @ficsandcatsandficsandcats​ @joz-stankovich​ @sennextheassasinkingoflight​ Previous Chapter: Masquerade/Why So Silent Cross-posted to AO3: here

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Yennefer stared the guard down with a look somewhere between wry and the kind of bored where people start disappearing without a trace. He appeared to be reading the papers she brought with her for the fourth time.

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” she snapped. “Are you going to let me see the prisoner or not?”

“You know, we don’t allow…conjugal visits until the person has been condemned.”

“You know,” she mocked his tone near perfectly. “I could make your death incredibly painful.”

The guard swallowed nervously and rushed to stand and lead her back into the heart of the prison. Geralt sat, head bowed over his knees, on the rough straw pallet in the darkest, dankest cell in the building. He was still in his party clothes, though the doublet was unbuttoned, his hair unbraided, and in general he looked worse for wear. In fact, as she inspected the witcher, Yennefer guessed that he had been subjected to torture, or at least a harsh beating, more than once in the days since his arrest.

“There is to be a trial,” she told him without preamble. “Jaskier’s spent a year’s worth of earnings to find you a defense.”

Geralt looked up, startled by her voice as it echoed against the stone, briefly considering that she was just an illusion. Only the nonsense she spoke told him she might, might be real.

“Whose earnings?” he asked, voice cracking with disuse. “I know well enough that he doesn’t save money.”

“He took an advance. He indebted himself to the music hall for you. So you had better not screw it up.”

Shame made Geralt drop his head once more, staring at the hands he saw stained with blood even if no one else did, before turning back to the sorceress.

“Tell me what’s going on here Yennefer.”

“There haven’t been any new sightings or events since the masquerade…everyone is rehearsing the Phantom’s show because they’re too frightened not to. Most people don’t believe that you’re him, but there’s still enough people pushing the narrative that they won’t just release you.”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it. The creature, spirit, whatever. Tell me about it.”

“What makes you think…” she was cut off by Geralt’s snarl.

“Your wife implied that you know more than you’re letting on Yennefer. And when she wasn’t busy vaguely threatening me with piscine nicknames, she also told me how much you’ve come to care about Jaskier. I can’t protect him, or Y/N, or anyone else, if I don’t have answers. Please Yen?”

She sighed. “Very well. I hate it when you’re right.” She rubbed one hand against her temple in frustration. “I don’t know Valdo Marx, though I spent enough time in courts to be familiar with him by reputation. And of course, from listening to Jaskier’s stories.”

Geralt raised an eyebrow expectantly.

“He used to perform at the music hall; he was their lead for years. Until a few years ago when the city was sacked…”

“Nilfgaard,” Geralt growled, unsurprised that the empire was the root of yet another problem in his life.

“By Cintra.” Yennefer corrected pointedly. “And the music hall was all but destroyed. Valdo Marx was listed dead after everything was over, but they never actually found his body.”

“So you think that the thing beneath the music hall could actually be Valdo Marx?”

“Well no. Not just him…”

Geralt sighed in frustration. Even after all this time, with everything at stake, she was still holding out on him.

“I think, and I could be wrong, I haven’t been able to find proof, that Valdo Marx merged with something much eviler, or was taken over by it. I might even know the creature that is…inhabiting him.” She turned away from Geralt’s piercing gaze, wrapping one arm across her chest to grip the folded elbow of the other. “I brought it here when I was younger and…stupider.”

Geralt sighed, knowing that she was referring to the years of her desperate, reckless quest to undo her sterilization by Aretuza.

“I came here chasing a rumor, and because it wasn’t a city considered important enough for the Brotherhood to bother with. There was supposedly a creature here, a spirit older than the city, maybe even older than humanity. It was said to be made of pure chaos, to be dark and powerful, to hold sway over the fabric of reality, to play with life and death like one might light matches just to let them burn out. I thought…if I could bind the creature to a single place for a while, I could bargain with it.”

“Yennefer…” the tone of Geralt’s voice bored a little too close to pity for her taste and she shot him a glare.

“It worked. I was able to bind the spirit, to a point in the catacombs that is now long buried under the basement of the music hall. When I left, I didn’t bother to consider the spirit; I had no more use for it, and didn’t care what happened. That is part of why I took the position here, to make up for that. But when I went down, it was gone, and it left behind no violent sign of escape. I thought it must have been freed. So I waited. And now all of this happening, I can’t buy as a coincidence.”

She began to pace, the swishing of her skirt highlighting her agitation.

“I didn’t bind the spirit alone though. I had help. It would have been too powerful otherwise, overwhelmed me. And after the djinn…well I did learn. There were three other mages who helped me do it, but I don’t think we can turn to any of them to help undo it. Sabrina is dealing with something of her own; Istredd’s lost behind Nilfgaardian lines. And Triss …is soft. I think she would view the creature as a something to save instead of destroy. We have to do this ourselves.”

She stopped, facing Geralt head on and meeting his gilded eyes in all their anger.

“I don’t know how or why it merged with Valdo Marx. He may have been trying to escape or survive the attack and accidentally released or he may have done it intentionally. But it is some shadow of his memories that is why the creature has fixated as it has. Having human vessel is making it more dangerous and unpredictable than it would have been alone.”

“If something happens to Jaskier…” the threat did not need to be finished, his tone said enough.

She laughed, harsh and mirthless. “I am less afraid of your wrath than I am of my own self-hatred, should anyone else come to harm from this.” She met his sharp gaze with one of her own, burning equal parts rage and fear. “I’ve no love or loyalty left to the spirit Geralt. And if you seek to destroy it, I’ll help you. But if at any point it comes to a choice between you or her, I will not lose Y/N.”

“I understand Yennefer. I would never ask…” his shoulders slumped, knowing that he was probably lying even as he spoke.

She reached through the bars to give his hand a gentle squeeze before turning sharply on her heel and returning to the prison office.

“You have a single piece of easily planted evidence,” she accused the guard captain before she was even through the door completely. “The rest of your case is based on conjecture and prejudice.”

“Excuse me?” the guard captain snapped, standing from his desk and blustering, fat walrus-like mustache wobbling. “How dare you barge in here?!”

She looked him up and down and narrowed her eyes. “Do you really want it getting around that you arrested and held a man for murder based on a single word from the lyrics of a ballad?”

“The trial hasn’t taken place yet. What would you have me do, Mistress…?” he waved his hand as if waiting for her name.

“Yennefer of Vengerberg.” She smiled somewhat smugly as he paled. “Release the witcher…into my watchful custody. I’ll ensure he shows up for the trial, and we can put him to use in the meantime.”

[wanderingwolfwitcher]

I'm still not over the eskel thing. I cant even comprehend it, you know? Like they could have made him look incredible and then the juxtaposition of his personality! (Don't judge a book by its cover opportunity!) And I've seen things of "omg it's book accurate" ...in what book? He was my favourite character, and I feel like they really missed the mark. (I'm not hating the actor, I hope he gives a great performance ) I'm hoping that the cool demeanor is like a fake out so he will show his calm and kind side

It’s not book accurate in the slightest, just sounds like people trying to rationalize/justify the showrunners incompetence, or they just want a pretty boy Eskel so bad to drool over that they won’t acknowledge he’s clearly not based on his source material or game versions. Eskel above all should look scary and sound intimidating on his first meeting with Ciri and Geralt at Kaer Morhen. Standing alone in the dark recesses of run down Kaer Morhen to greet them, emerging near a torch illuminating his mutilated visage, his voice sounding harsh and metallic, growly, menacing. The book describes him as looking like a monster wearing human clothes, so even the good side of his face is probably a bit beastly, not a good looking or pretty man even before the scars, or likely even when he was young. If he were good looking or pretty apart from the scars it would have almost certainly been noted in the material by Ciri or Triss, and it wasn't. He is described as disfigured, not with a little scar drawn on his face. From Ciri’s perspective I personally imagine him looking something physically closer to Sandor Clegane from A Song Of Ice And Fire when I read his first appearance in the narrative. He's supposed to be intimidating, nearly making Ciri scream... until he opens his mouth and Ciri actually listens to his friendly words, and realizes that he is smiling at her. And there forward he goes from a frightening, monstrous stranger to her and the reader, to the kindest, most reasonable and socially adept and mature Wolf Witcher at Kaer Morhen, now that she and we and later Triss actually get to know him better.

A lot of people are making a big deal about his scars, but as lame and lazy as they are (likely they didn’t want to waste time or effort on him because he won’t be around long), it's not just the scars, that’s not the worst of it. Eskel is a rugged, nearly hundred year old veteran Witcher by that point, he's seen and done it all, like Geralt. He’s been through it. He is not a teenager wearing Witcher clothing, like he seems to be in the show, looking more like a pre Trials student than a grown ass Witcher. He's just too damn young, nothing grizzled about him, has a soft, normal voice and looks show Ciri's age. Wouldn't surprise me if the idiot showrunners went for a romantic angle there before he gets killed off, or some teasing of one. I seriously believe they have made Showskel a combination of Book and Game Lambert, the youngest Witcher who isn’t as close to Geralt, more mean and abrasive, and Leo from the first Witcher game, a young redshirt Witcher who is killed off to inspire angst in the others, and especially Geralt, complete with a funeral ceremony (burned on a pyre in Leo’s case, as it should be, instead of being like an edgy cult and feeding him to wolves xD). 

Meanwhile they’ve aged up Lambert, made him more overtly rugged and manly like Geralt, a veteran Witcher, and are clearly priming him to be the ‘brother’ Geralt grew up with, the same age, a friendly disposition, and getting huggy with Geralt, which they most certainly didn’t do in the books. Only Eskel got the brotherly hug, from a man who doesn’t like to show his emotions much, which says a lot. When Geralt thought of Eskel it was always with fondness. Showskel is almost certainly Wolf Chow either way from all the signs, I definitely believe those leaks, the trailer and behind the scenes stuff is corroborating them (along with the show Witchers absurdly and irresponsibly inviting a band of strangers, prostitutes to secretive, professional Kaer Morhen for the winter and Vesemir the old school no nonsense Witcher leader is somehow allowing it instead of kicking them clear out of Kaer Morhen Valley. Also why are there so many Witchers at Kaer Morhen? There are only four Wolf Witchers left in the world, plus Coën the Griffin visiting, too many extras, more redshirt Witchers?) 

I wonder if Eskel’s original actor really dropped out over scheduling issues, or because he saw the disrespect Eskel would get, that it was a walk on role to be killed off, discarded. Or if it really was scheduling issues, was Eskel rewritten entirely when he was recast younger, merged with Lambert and traded spots with him, and Lambert given his role in the original script instead? We may never know, but it’s something to think about.

But I digress. Those are my thoughts on the matter. Give me a break, showrunners.

I’ll be hate watching the trainwreck show like I did with the later seasons of Game Of Thrones though, narrating and nitpicking the hell out of it with a bunch of posts. That'll be fun, at least, it was for Game Of Thrones. I’m a glutton for trainwrecks that way.

[morganlegaye]

Is The Witcher 3 (PS4) good? I know a lot of people love it, but what do you think? I already tried it two times but I stopped both times shortly after starting the game... I don't even know why exactly. I mean I'm not the biggest fan of playing a man and not being able to choose my own (female) character (like in Dragon Age)... maybe that's my problem. But you seem to like this game a lot so it has to be good?! And would you recommend the novels?

I actually got recommended TW3 in like … 2016 I think, and although I know many people only ever played TW3, I wasn’t like that and started with TW1 because I wanted to know and experience the entire story. That was important for me. However, TW1 is slow, the travel is shit, and the combat sucks. I now recommend people just read about it and move on to TW2 before doing 3. I feel like you’re missing out on a lot if you just play 3, and maybe that’s why you can’t get into it either: you don’t really understand what’s going on.

I do understand the whole ugh I have to play a guy thing. That was a hugeeeeeeeeeeee thing for me when I started playing the series. Also I remember complaining about Geralt’s VA in the beginning lmao. He sounded so monotonic. Now I can’t picture Geralt as any other voice. Shit grew on me I guess, haha. Anyway, about the guy thing, I ended up really liking Geralt so I stopped minding so much. Also I may just be super biased but once you get to Yen in TW3 like……. i’m just happy I can romance that idc if I need to be a guy to do it cause jesus she is absolute perfection lmao 

actually tbh i saw a screenshot of her when i was looking up stuff about the series before i started playing TW1 and i was like oh my god look at that beautiful fucking woman i can’t wait to romance her and like even going into TW3 i had no idea who she really was or what her personality was like but she ended up being my fave character anyway so yay

ANYWAY. Please give it another shot. The story and that characters are so, so good. Read about 1. Play 2 and then 3. Do NOT read the books until after you’ve finished the games because I really enjoyed the games but lmao after starting to read these I see why TW1 was such shit ahaha. They fucked up so much (triss was way too involved, yennefer was no where to be found despite being an extremely predominant part of geralts life, alvin was like another weird version of ciri, etc). They did try to fix a lot between TW2 and TW3 though. But I also don’t blame sapko just taking a lump sum of money for selling the rights to that loosely based game. like. there’s no way he could have known the series would have ended up becoming as huge as it did after just seeing that lmao (i did hear he’s trying to demand more money from the company though lol)

I, do, however, highly recommend reading the books once you’re done. I haven’t been able to put them down.