#hdm recaps
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spotify wrapped time! send me a "🎁" and i'll write a starter using lyrics from a random song in my top 100 playlist!
"In a cycle, its a violent kind of spin. Burned the high road now I'm riding off of grip. I was idle, now I start a lot of shit... look at what I did."
Good enemy - Pvris
#Answered#verse: hdm au#aercnaut#oh look she's just recapping her adventures since they last met#In other words she's let her temper get the best of her and poked the bear#she probably got someone she cared about killed by accident
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okay so this st voyager/hdm au
i think about it but i do nothing about it, you know how it is
BUT i'll make a recap post on it, don't know when but i will o7
#daemons in space is an amazing concept and it's clouding my mind#especially with voyager since they end up stranded#imagine people with daemons leaning more into planetary missions who end up stuck in a spaceship#so many thoughts to consider#hdm au
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... the recap of hdm makes as much sense to me as the first two series of the show did, which is to say very fucking little
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HDM Episode 1x06 recap
Recap of His Dark Materials Episode 1x6: The Daemon Cages
So we start off with Lyra getting introduced to life in prison Bolvagar
Establishing shot to remind us that we’re in the north
so lyra decides to sit by herself so as not to let the gobblers/bolvangar guards know that her and roger are friends
of course they decide this via a not-at-all obvious tete a tete between their respective daemons
a girl comes to sit at Lyra’s table and anyone with the slightest sense of narrative framing should already know where this is going
Of course their dinner is interrupted by the Bolvangar doctor, accompanied by handmaid# 2, who asks for lyra’s table buddy to come with her
then we get a 10 second creepy shot of handmaid# 3 staring right at us, for no real reason, until she's interrupted by the doctor
which segues into the intro music
up next, we get another doctor, who tells lyra that he needs to take some kind of "measurements" from her
lyra figures out that he’s taking pictures of the dust around her through the special camera
which prompts the doctor to ask where she found out about dust
the doctor buys it, of course
then lyra, truly the child of lord "gives no fucks" asriel and marissa "gives negative fucks" coulter, straight up calls him out on cutting children from their daemons, which the doctor of course denies
then they get interrupted by the fire alarm, and handmaiden #4 (or just #3 again? I'm losing count) gives directions to go to the nearest fire exit in the most robotic voice ever
we then cut to a very prison-like locker room where all the children are getting into their jackets, while being watched over my more handmaids
more handmaids are taking roll call outside
surprise snowball fight started by lyra and roger, because this show is really determined to drive that schoolyard/recess allegory in with an anvil
lyra and roger escape while the snowball fight is happening
they run in a direction which roger thinks is the way out and i have Questions as to why he would ever think that
another dead-eyed handmaid is coming around the bend (seriously do they order them from handmaid-costco or something?) so lyra and roger have to hide
they realize that they're in the room where the children's severed daemons are kept, neatly filed away by name
but cage containing billy costa's daemon is empty, of course
then they find the room in which all the children who have undergone intercision are kept
lyra and roger rejoin the other children as they go back in, resolving to escape before lyra is chosen for intercision next
meanwhile, bolvangar has an avian visitor
then we get a way-too-creepily-normal breakroom scene with the two bolvangar doctors
doctor# 2 seems to be exhibiting signs of having an actual conscience
then we cut to "our" world, where will is listening to an interview of his father's on his laptop, and then tucks his mother into bed
of course they're being watched by Lord Boreal's goons
STAY AWAY FROM THEM! GET A JOB!!
meanwhile back in Lyra's world, She is here, and the children all know it as soon as they wake up
lyra has a talk with the other girls and they agree to hide her from mrs. coulter
the girls tell lyra to hide under the bed, and the rest of them pretend nothing is out of place when marisa comes in to inspect them
meanwhile, we check in with the Gyptians who are trying to break into Bolvangar and save the kidnapped children (seriously, how is this show managing to juggle so many locations and characters in 50 minutes??)
back in bolvangar, lyra is organizing the girls to break out
doctor# 1 is back, and asking for Lizzie Lyra this time
lyra says goodbye to her newfound friends
lyra tries to make a break for it, but is stopped when doctor# 2 catches her daemon
dr. conscience locks pan up in a cage
of course lyra raises hell trying to get him out
LYRA YOU’RE DOING AMAZING SWEETIE
but she’s eventually subdued
doctor# 1 primes the intercision machine
pay not attention to the incredibly sharp giant blade
as a last resort, lyra screams out for mrs. coulter and well, speak of the devil
then, marisa sees who's in the cage
of course she stops the “experiment” and saves lyra
we cut to lyra recuperating in what are presumably marisa’s quarters in bolvangar
we finally get a chance for lyra and marisa to talk, and for some things to be explained
and it just kinda goes downhill from there, guys
lyra asks her mother why she is intercising children and marisa gives her the same half-gospel half-pseudo-science spiel that we've seen everyone else give
Lyra of course calls her out by asking the obvious question here... if intercision is such a positive thing, then why was Marisa so afraid of Lyra undergoing it?
marisa promises not to hurt lyra's friends and of course lyra claps back because billy is already dead
marisa then explains to lyra that this experiment is her calling in life, and she's not about to be stopped by petty things like a conscience
marisa asks for the alehtiometer, and lyra hands over the box that it's presumably in
lyra escapes while marisa and her daemon are busy fighting off the metal-insect-spider-tracking thingy
synchronized screaming... loving these mother daughter bonding sessions the show is giving us!
lyra pulls the fire alarm, and tells the other kids to get out while she keeps the bolvangar guards distracted
in a truly horrifying intermission scene, we learn that the dead-eyed handmaids have in fact had their daemons intercised from them
roger finds the intercised children and tries to get them to leave with him, while lyra blows up the intercision machine
the children try to escape but are waylaid by Dr. Conscience and his bolvangar goons
who are then waylaid by the Gyptians coming to the rescue
because prison break-in is a family fun activity, the whole gang is here
meanwhile, the Gyptians are obviously outnumbered by the Bolvangar guards
why, perhaps a witch by the name of Serafina Pekkala?
I didn’t have to take this many screenshots of Serafina taking out the trash. I CHOSE to take this many screenshots of Serafina taking out the trash.
then she peaces back out as quickly as she came
look who's still alive
we don’t even have time to breathe after the battle, before lyra says goodbye to the Gyptians and the freed children, and continues with roger, scoresby and iorek to free lord asriel
serafina pekkala shows up on the balloon out of nowhere but i'm not complaining because i'm always happy to see madame pekkala on my screen
lee and serafina have a very Important and Foreshadowing talk about lyra
cut to cute scene of Lyra cuddling to sleep with Iorek
LEE ADMITS HE LOVES LYRA THE ADOPTION PAPERS ARE GOING THROUGH IMMEDIATELY
then serafina bounces, and we should have the nice, peaceful, hopeful ending THAT WE ALL DESERVE, but of course we don’t, because lee gets woken up in the middle of the night by some noises
between all the chaos of fighting off the cliff ghasts, lyra tumbles out of the balloon
the return of synchronized screaming, the only true Lyra Family Bonding Experience
and that’s what you missed on Glee
#his dark materials#hdm#the daemon cages#lyra belacqua#lee scoresby#marisa coulter#iorek byrnison#serafina pekkala#ma costa#john faa#farder coram#bolvangar#pantalaimon#mrs. coulter#hdm recaps
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me: I wonder if we’ll see lyra use the alethiometer already, more focus on her would be nice, more of her and pan...
show: so, here’s john parry’s entire backstory, mrs coulter being lyra’s mom, ma costa recalling the events before and after la belle sauvage, an entire extended arc with boreal, made up scenes we didn’t have AND here’s a photo of will
me:
#what are you doing thorne#what are you even doing#his dark materials#hdm bbc#his dark materials spoilers#hdm spoilers#can this be my rundown of ep 3? because I'm upset#I'm trying my best not to voice my opinions on the writing until the end#but I feel like I need to make recaps like with les mis#and that's not a good sign
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#askhdm twitter recap
jane tranter supports the idea of hdm merch
and says that the series teaches us to “listen to the young without shouting over them” and “goodness over greatness”
said gay rights
jack thorne confirmed it was intentional to present the master and the librarian as an old married couple this is canon
dafne spat chamomile tea in ruth’s face when filming episode 6
THEY’RE ABOUT TO START DEVELOPING SCRIPTS FOR SERIES 3 THE AMBER SPYGLASS
jane also says the mulefa are an essential part of the amber spyglass
jack thorne is just like us in that he worships ruth wilson
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Alright I just watched the first episode of HDM and omg the recap-
If that woman....
Lays a hand!!!!!!!
All of yall who read the books better STAY AWAY FROM ME THE NEXT SEVERAL WEEKS!!!
#my rambles and rants#hbo his dark materials#his dark materials#istg#he looked so sad in the recap#the poor guy just wants some peace and love
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@abluescarfonwaston as I said I got like 4 stars for this meme and no specific requests, so I’m just going to talk at length about the fic I have the most to say about, which is sandstorms and hazy dawns
hooray!!
She comes to him in the night, breath hot against his ear, and says, “can we keep them?”
This opening scene takes place between the 2nd and 3rd scenes of the story... this is probably needlessly confusing as the rest of the story is in chronological order but, this is where I wanted to start & I can do what I want.
“No,” he says.
He feels her weight shift as she lies down beside him. “Why not?”
“You know why.”
She noses at his neck, at the side of his head, nuzzling him. He feels the beginnings of a purr down in her chest, feels it in her and inside himself. “I like them.”
He touches her head, burying his fingers in her coarse fur the way he hasn’t for years. It’s been a long time, since they were as close as this. When they are together she sleeps an arm’s length from him. For days at a time they’re apart. He knows her only as a flash of white on the edge of his vision, a scent in the air. She wanders for miles, for weeks, following her own path, and he sees her not at all.
so let’s talk about the break up!!
Geralt & Dag used to have a more ‘normal’ person + separated daemon relationship (like most witchers), in which they would only split up for long periods out of practical necessity. they broke up for several years following events in blaviken. here is my extremely rough rendering of how that went
geralt: why you let this happen. you’re supposed to be my conscience :(
dag: umm how is this my fault? you asshole?
geralt: fuck off
dag: fine i will!! *fucks off*
geralt: wait no i didnt mean it :(
i have no intention of ever writing this scene as i don’t think i could do it justice. in my head he also throws a rock at her tho. bcos he’s an angry boy & an asshole.
however!! the strain in their relationship would not have started there. when i was writing this fic i was imagining that the fact of being separated would in itself put a strain on any person/daemon relationship, which i felt was implied by the HDM books. & then since writing it I read The Secret Commonwealth which more or less confirms that separating does just cause people’s relationships with their daemons to break down sometimes.
I think I said this in another post but, I imagine that the newly acquired ability to have separate experiences would make them more and more able to seriously disagree on things. and physically separating for long periods (even if only for practical reasons) would force them to get better at functioning alone which could in turn make them more and more emotionally distant from each other.
He scratches at the join of her neck and jaw, and that purr grows, long and deep and contented. She lays her head down beside his, and he holds her. He’s aware of her tail flicking, restless. She’ll be awake a while yet and so will she. They always sleep and wake at the same times, no matter how many miles separate them.
Geralt loves her, his lion, his dæmon. He loves her with every fibre of his being. He loves her strength, her grace. He loves that she can take any shape she pleases, be a bird or a fish or a snake when the moment calls for it. He loves the distance she can walk from him. He would not have her any other way. He cannot imagine her any other way.
i was always going to have witchers w separating daemons for this fic. however i got talked into the idea of witchers w mutable daemons by someone in a witcher discord I’m in... whoever you are I have forgotten your tumblr so can’t credit you for your idea properly sorry!!
i was originally reluctant bcos it seemed to me that mutable daemons implied innocence & youthfulness, which is kind of at odds with how witchers seem to be perceived. however following the above discord conversation i realised it can also imply 1) that witchers don’t really have ‘fixed’ personalities, which ties in with their supposedly not having feelings; 2) ‘innocence’ but in a negative way, in the sense of immaturity & not having a properly developed mind and sense of morality.
obviously none of the above is actually true and witcher daemons are just shapeshifting adult daemons but, that is how people perceive it.
additionally, given how superpowered witchers are it seemed to fit that they would have found a way around all the weaknesses that having a daemon bring.
He knows that she loves him too. He understand why sometimes she despises him. He has cursed her, with his words and his thoughts, and she hates him for it. She has left him alone, and he hates her for it.
They say witchers feel nothing and they are not wrong. It doesn’t pain him when they are apart. He hasn’t felt that pain since he was a child. He barely remembers what it feels like.
She stops purring. Her breath puffs against his skin. “Stop thinking so hard,” she says. “Go to sleep.” Her tail has stopped twitching. “Go to sleep.”
*
“I think you and I might have got off on the wrong foot – as they say.”
this scene is supposed to take place offscreen shortly following the gutpunch haha
“White hair – no visible dæmon – two very – very scary looking swords – I know who you are.”
I don’t like when daemon fics recap entire scenes w the addition of daemons but I wanted to get this 1 change in so. here it is in a brief flashback. i elected to take out ‘big old loner’ bcos 1) listing 3 things is neater 2) I felt that not having a visible daemon would be a more notable characteristic for jaskier to point out.
not having a visible daemon is not necessarily a ‘tell’ that someone is a witcher or part of another demographic that can separate as people’s daemons are just out of sight sometimes.
It had surprised him, the ease with which that word visible had tripped off the bard’s tongue; that unhesitating acknowledgement that just because he couldn’t see something did not mean it didn’t exist.
He says, “hm.”
“Aren’t you going to ask my name?”
“No,” he says.”
“You can call me Jaskier,” says the bard. With a jerk of his shoulder he indicates the songbird-dæmon perched atop his lute. “This is Tansy.” The dæmon peeps a greeting. Receiving no response the bard goes on, “she’s a nightingale which I think is very sexy of her. You know,” he adds. “Because I’m a singer. And she’s a – a songbird.”
i realised while i was writing this that jaskier never actually introduces himself on screen. which seems like an oversight on the part of the writers tbh. means we can do what we want tho.
as i said in the a/n on the fic itself, I got the idea of giving Jaskier a nightingale daemon from two halves of a whole. usually I try and avoid just straight up copying other people’s form ideas but i just. fell in love with nightingale.
other forms I’ve seen for jaskier seem to tend VERY strongly towards birds which I find interesting! i’ve think I’ve seen maybe 1 daemon fic where he doesn’t have a bird daemon.
moving on to the name! this is tansy:
I do intend to get into this in potential future installments of the series, but Tansy is not her birth name (none of the main daemons in this AU use their birth names, completely independently of each other). she started going by Tansy relatively young and when he later changed his to match.
I think Jaskier settled relatively young - maybe 2 years before the time this fic is set - and being the overdramatic little punk he is hasn’t quite got over the ‘have i mentioned how cool my daemon’s settled form is today’ phase yet.
& finally before moving on, p much the first thing we learn about Jaskier & Tansy is that he is very happy and at ease with her and the form that she takes. this is important.
He grunts an acknowledgement – if only to get the bard to stop explaining.
“You’re not the best conversationalist, are you?”
A sudden tension, inside his chest. She’s close. He looks up and there she is, slipping into view on the clifftop.
“It’s just usually when you have a conversation you take it in turns to speak,” says the bard. “Rather than one person doing all the – oh.”
Dag makes her way down the ragged cliff, leaping from perch to perch in languid motions till her white paws touch the earth and she’s beside him. Stooping Geralt runs his hand over her head in greeting. Her eyes narrow.
this is another thing I have mentioned Elsewhere but i did fall in love w geralt’s daemon’s name in two halves of a whole (linked above) and went looking for something which had a similar feel to it. sorry.
i’m aware that Dag is technically a man’s name but given the kind of, inherent gender-bending nature of opposite sex daemons it seemed appropriate.
i confess i was also thinking of the dag in fury road.
seen a lot more variety in daemon forms for Geralt than jaskier! most common choices seem to be 1) wolf and 2) roach is his daemon. I’m really not into ‘existing animal companion as daemon’ bcos I’m firmly in the camp of ‘daemons as a manifestation of a person’s inner voice’ rather than ‘daemons as Companions’ so I can’t get behind daemon!roach (I actually find it actively offputting gfdlkjfskdh)
wolf is a p good fit imo but I find it a bit on the nose and I wanted to do something different. so. he is a giant kitty cat. & as someone (I forget who sorry) correctly identified she is leucistic rather than albino.
white mountain lions do exist but best as i can tell there’s like 1 photo on the entire internet. bummer.
He’s aware of the restlessly silent presence of the bard behind them shifting his weight, his dæmon fluttering about his head, aware perhaps that he’s intruding on something intimate.
Geralt straightens, and the bard takes that as his cue to begin again. He clears his throat and says, “what can I call her?”
It’s been a long time, since anyone has asked for her name so brazenly; in fact he isn’t sure anyone ever has. Geralt shoots the bard a look.
“Well, you must call her something,” he says, unintimidated.
“I do,” says Geralt. “You don’t.”
The nightingale-dæmon, now resting upon her bard’s shoulder, is eying Dag curiously, but she’s cautious enough not to approach.
one thing I’ve noticed when re-reading HDM is that characters very rarely refer to other people’s daemons by names, even when they know them. generally i’ve loosely kept to this in my own daemon AUs bcos 1) i find that when fics us each daemon’s name every time i get a bit lost as to whose daemon is whose and 2) I like the idea that using someone else’s daemon name is a very hm. intimate thing. hence geralt is reluctant to call tansy by her name, even though he knows it.
“Right,” says the bard. “Well, then.”
*
Come morning, Dag is gone, but not gone far. Out of sight, but not so far away he can’t feel her. She’ll come back when it pleases her.
He readies Roach for the path ahead, half-listening to the lilt of conversation that carries from the bushes; Jaskier’s voice, and the pretty voice of his dæmon.
The bard stumbles out into view, tousled and bleary from a night on the ground. “G’morning.” He ambles over to join Geralt.
i genuinely wanted to specify here that jaskier was having a piss in the bushes but i couldn’t find a way to get it in that didn’t seem kind of tasteless. that is what is happening here tho.
“What will it take to get rid of you?” says Geralt.
“My, someone woke up on the wrong side of the – ground,” says Jaskier. “More than yesterday. Where are we off to next?” He puts his hand on Roach’s saddle. Geralt swats it away.
“I’m going north,” he says. “You go wherever you want.”
“Maybe I want to go with you,” says Jaskier. In a flutter of wings his dæmon comes to rest on the pommel of Roach’s saddle, and he can’t shoo her away. He wouldn’t dare put his hands near her.
They say of witchers that they have no souls. They say their dæmons are something else, something monstrous. They say they have no respect for the great taboo. When they see him mothers’ dæmons snatch their children away.
“You don’t,” says Geralt.
“You sound awfully sure,” says Jaskier.
You don’t know what you’re asking for, Geralt wants to say. He doesn’t know how to say it in a way the bard would understand. He glowers at the nightingale-dæmon until she takes the hint and flies back to Jaskier’s shoulder.
He feels Dag before he hears her, the padding of her feet on the ground as she emerges from the bushes, the soft sound of her breathing.
Jaskier nudges him. “You don’t fool me,” he says. “You’re a big pussycat really. Don’t think I didn’t hear her purring all last night.”
did u know that mountain lions are the largest cat than can purr! here is a video of one purring. it’s very cute but also a little scary.
“You’re imagining things,” says Geralt.
“I absolutely am not,” says Jaskier. “She was practically shaking the ground.”
At that Dag actually laughs, a short and bubbling laugh of real amusement. Geralt shoots her a look. Jaskier is looking at her too, looking at her curiously, startled by this, the first human sound he’s heard her make.
Looking away from them Dag stretches out on the ground, lounging as if she has nowhere to be. Jaskier tears his eyes away from her and says, “is she always a lion? It’s just –” His dæmon pecks him hard on the neck. “Ow – it’s just I heard witchers’ dæmons don’t settle.”
He fastens the straps on Roach’s saddle bag, and his hands still. “They aren’t unsettled,” he says. “They’re mutable.”
“I don’t follow,” says Jaskier.
“They settle,” he says. “But they keep the ability to change, after settling.”
“Ah, I see,” says Jaskier, nodding. “But is she –” His dæmon fastens her beak around his ear lobe and tugs. “Ow – ow – alright – there’s no need to be like that,” he mutters to her.
“I’m leaving,” Geralt says. “As I said. Go where you please.”
The bard and his dæmon follow him north.
*
Chimney smoke rises down in the valley. He doesn’t know the name of the town.
Dag is waiting for him, draped in the branches of a tree. She’s been scouting ahead, or perhaps she’s restless, or perhaps both.
She yawns, showing off her teeth. “Did you lose them?”
“You know I didn’t,” says Geralt. He can hear Jaskier’s voice behind them in the woods, and so can she.
Her tail swishes. “Why not?” she says, and he knows at once what she means.
bouncing off what I was saying above re ‘manifestation of a person’s inner voice’. I like taking opportunities to show that a person & their daemon are 2 halves of the same mind.
“You know why,” he says.
“Tell me.”
And she says it in that particular tone, a tone with steel in it, and he has to answer. “He’s soft,” he says. “He’s young. What he’s asking for will break him. He doesn’t understand.”
“Hm,” she says.
“It’s best he realises sooner,” he says.
“You don’t know how soft he is,” she says. “You don’t know him at all.”
“You’ve seen her,” he says. “That’s what he is.”
Tansy is delicate – pretty – fragile. She weighs almost nothing. She comes close by him as few dæmons will and every time he tenses for fear that he might touch her, without meaning to – hurt her – break her.
u know that post about the person whose boyfriend was afraid of holding babies in case he didn’t know his own strength and accidentally hurt them? thats geralt.
Dag’s tail is moving in the air, no longer swishing, flicking in sharp, angry jerks. “We both know that’s not how it works.”
He knows what she’s thinking. It hangs between them, unspoken. Another little bird dæmon they had once known, a pretty, charming robin-dæmon who had melted away like smoke before his eyes.
I’ve only seen 1 daemon fic featuring renfri (and I don’t think it was strictly a conventional daemon au) and it gave her a shrike daemon, which i do think is fitting. however as w wolf for geralt I find it a bit on the nose.
additionally, giving renfri a daemon has the potential to kind of, shift things wrt the ambiguity of her character, so you have a choice to make wrt whether you want to shift it more towards ‘she’s outwardly scary’ or ‘she’s outwardly innocent’ and I went for ‘outwardly innocent’, in part so I could do this specific parallel but also bcos I just preferred that vibe.
i went for european robin bcos it’s a very nice match for renfri’s aesthetic, and 1) I’m a slut for aesthetics and 2) helps to make sure readers will know who this is about.
He might say don’t. Don’t make me think of it. But he doesn’t. This thing has been unspoken between them for so many years. He doesn’t know what will happen if he breaks the silence.
They’ve been on the road for five – almost six weeks. He’s growing used to the chatter and the birdsong. Jaskier hasn’t complained – hasn’t complained much – hasn’t complained as much as he’d expected, not even when his feet bled in his fancy shoes. He’s generous enough to share the coin he gets from playing. Geralt’s had worse travelling companions.
Jaskier blunders out of the trees. “There you are,” he says. “Trying to shake us?”
“Yes,” says Geralt.
Jaskier snorts, as if that’s a joke. He looks out over the valley, the distant strings of smoke hazy in the twilight. “Do you think they have an inn?”
“I don’t care,” says Geralt.
“I want to sleep in a real bed,” says Jaskier. “And I want a bath.”
“I’m not stopping you,” says Geralt.
“It’s going to be freezing tonight,” says Jaskier.
“I’m used to it,” says Geralt.
Jaskier nudges him. “C’mon,” he says. “You could use a bath yourself. I don’t like to say so, but you are a very – unusual smelling person.”
“You’ve said so several times,” says Geralt.
“Have I?” says Jaskier innocently.
“Yes,” says his dæmon.
“So I have,” he says.
“Go and find an inn if you want,” says Geralt. “I’m not stopping you.”
“Stop being ridiculous,” says Jaskier.
“I’m being ridiculous?” says Geralt.
“Yes,” says Jaskier. “Alright, how about this. I’ll buy you a drink.”
“I can buy my own drinks,” says Geralt.
“But I’m offering,” says Jaskier. “A kind and magnanimous offer, out of the goodness of my heart. And also I think it’s going to rain and I want to get in doors, so stop being ridiculous.”
“Hm,” says Geralt.
They go to the inn. It’s begun to rain by the time they reach the town. Tansy hides herself away within Jaskier’s cloak. Dag doesn’t follow them down the valley, preferring to find a dry spot in the woods, preferring to avoid prying eyes.
The inn is crowded with people sheltering from the rain; two more strangers with hidden dæmons don’t get a second look. The rafters are lined with bird-dæmons, safely away from the crowd. Sitting alone in his corner he watches their movements, the beating of their wings. There was a time Dag might have changed her shape and joined them. A space like this is never comfortable for a large dæmon.
reading back over this story I think it’s hm easy to think of Dag as the Emotionally Mature one of them but she’s the one whose making a choice to like... hide from Regular People and has been doing it habitually for a long time, either by changing her form or just leaving him alone.
Geralt & his daemon do this for a number of reasons I think, in part for practical reasons, but also because he doesn’t want people go be able to get a fix on what kind of person that he is, and on some level wants people to see him and be immediately repulsed by his not having a daemon... this is a self-destructive behaviour that Dag is an active participant in. stop it Dag you’re supposed to be the smart one.
There’s a bard playing, raising his voice to be heard over the crowd. He doesn’t sing as nicely as Jaskier. He’s made a poor choice of song, too, a quiet ballad, one of many about the beauty of the touch.
“Her hand upon my dæmon, the first in my life – it was like roses in the summer and I knew then she’d be my wife –”
1) i hate writing rhyming poetry and i am very bad at it. got away with it this time i hope bcos this is supposed to be kind of trite.
2) this is is what we call Planting. lol.
Jaskier pushes his way through the press back to their table. “As promised,” he says, sliding Geralt a mug of ale. Geralt grunts a thank you.
Jaskier sits, and regards him. Tansy flutters down to perch on the rim of his mug, dipping in her beak. Absently Jaskier strokes her downy back and Geralt tracks the tiny, intimate motion with his eyes. “Is this it, then?” says Jaskier.
one thing I was trying to convey throughout this fic is that spending time with Jaskier & Tansy is the first time Geralt has been around someone who has a Normal relationship with their daemon (as opposed to the ‘it’s complicated’ that geralt & dag have) for a long time and he’s very aware of the contrast.
“Is this what?” says Geralt.
“Is this how it goes?” says Jaskier. “It’s just that I can’t help but notice there hasn’t been a lot of witchering.”
“That’s not a word,” says Geralt, and takes a draft of ale.
“What?” says Jaskier. “Witchering?” Geralt grunts. “Maybe I’ll put it in a song and get people saying it.”
“Don’t you dare,” says Geralt, and Jaskier laughs a little.
“Really, though,” he says. “Is this it?”
“How many monsters do you think there are in the world?” says Geralt.
“How should I know?” says Jaskier. Still perched on his mug Tansy whistles along with the ballad. A moment later Jaskier’s fingers begin to tap along. “What d’you do when you can’t get any work?”
“I make do,” says Geralt.
“Hmm,” says Jaskier. Sensing he isn’t going to get any meaningful answers – or perhaps just bored – his gaze wanders to the bard. For a few moments he listens quietly. “Have you ever done it?”
“What?” says Geralt.
“You know.” Jaskier ducks his head in the direction of the bard.
“Been a bard?” says Geralt.
“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” says Jaskier, mock-stern.
“No,” says Geralt. “Not like that.”
He’s had another’s hands on his dæmon, more than once. He and Dag have sworn to themselves: never again.
“Hm,” says Jaskier. “No. Me neither.” Again he strokes Tansy, perhaps imagining it.
Tansy is still whistling along with the bard, giving the final notes of the ballad a few extra flourishes, and Geralt catches himself thinking that she and Jaskier would sing it better.
*
“I’ll be having the bath first – if you don’t mind,” says Jaskier.
“Hm,” says Geralt.
“Though don’t think I’m going to let you get away without bathing,” says Jaskier. “I know what you’re like, and, and your aroma is really starting to bother me.”
“Hm!” pipes up Tansy in agreement.
“Find someone else to annoy, then,” says Geralt. He sits on the edge of the bed, still in his armour. Jaskier is meandering about the washstand, unfastening his doublet, restless as ever.
He tosses his doublet onto the bed, and looks Geralt up and down. “You’re not planning on sleeping in that, are you?”
“Maybe,” says Geralt.
“What, do you think the inn’s going to get attacked in the night by – werewolves, or something?” says Jaskier.
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” says Geralt.
“I can never tell when you’re joking,” says Jaskier, and unlacing his undershirt as he goes he wanders behind the screen.
“I don’t joke,” says Geralt.
“See?” Jaskier’s undershirt drapes over the top of the screen. Tansy, perched beside it, tugs at it with her beak, neatening it up. “There you go again.”
one of the biggest (& most underrated imo) challenges when writing a daemon au is characterising daemons... they’ve got to be like, recognisably the same person as the character, but at the same time ideally their own entity with their own personality. i found Dag came quite naturally, probably bcos Geralt is a character who definitely hides a lot of aspects of his personality, but Tansy was harder.
i imagined Tansy being very quiet with people who aren’t Jaskier & also very much the ‘put your clothes away don’t leave them all over the floor’ type of daemon.
Alone – or what passes for alone – Geralt begins to divest himself of his armour.
Jaskier’s trousers appear atop the screen. A moment later there’s a gentle splashing of water. A sigh.
geralt is definitely not thinking about the fact that jaskier is undressing. nope. he is not thinking about the fact that jaskier is naked in the same room as him. this is of no interest to him at all. He Does Not Care.
“This soap smells like pig fat,” he remarks.
“That’s because it’s made of pig fat,” says Geralt.
“Well. Yes,” says Jaskier.
Tansy is looking at him curiously from atop the screen. Caught staring, she opens her wings and drops out of sight to join Jaskier.
“Does Dag not come indoors?” says Jaskier.
“Now and then,” Geralt answers, before he has fully processed what Jaskier said. His hands still on his armour. “When did she tell you her name?”
this is something I do intend to cover in a future fic but I also don’t intend for it to be especially dramatic
“A few weeks ago,” says Jaskier. “I didn’t think much of it. Why? Do you mind?”
“Yes,” says Geralt.
Behind the screen water splashes. “Why on earth would you mind?” says Jaskier. Geralt doesn’t answer. “Well – I suppose that’s another one for the list of things I’ll never understand about you – like your sense of humour, and why you spend hours talking to your horse when you’ve a perfectly good dæmon.”
an extra dimension of geralt talking to his horse in this au is that he is used to having his daemon there.
Rising, Geralt begins setting his armour on the chair. “She isn’t always there,” he says.
“Well, yes, but it’s not as if she goes very far,” says Jaskier.
“Sometimes she does,” says Geralt.
In a sudden fluttering of wings, Tansy reappears atop the screen.
“How far does she go?” says Jaskier.
“As far as she pleases,” says Geralt.
A gentle sloshing of water. Tansy turns on her perch, peering down at her bard, something wordless passing between them. “Does it,” says Jaskier. “I mean, do you – I don’t know how to ask.”
“Spit it out,” says Geralt.
“Can you still feel her?”
“Yes.”
“Does it still hurt?”
“No.”
so this scene is (obvs) a kind of a call back to That One Bath Scene in canon. this is the first time they’ve been hm ‘domestic’ together and it’s a little awkward, especially for geralt, who is not used to it. all of which is in contrast with how comfortable they are around each other later.
& this is the most frank (probably) conversation they have over the course of the entire fic and it happens when they are physically screened from each other. and also jaskier is literally naked while geralt is opening up to him. this is all very notable for obvious reasons I hope.
“I see,” says Jaskier, though Geralt doubts he does. It’s difficult for humans to get their heads around the way he and Dag experience the world. Most aren’t interested in trying.
geralt here actively ignoring the fact that jaskier is making an effort to understand
He hears the water moving, and the padding of Jaskier’s bare feet on the floorboards. His clothes are whisked back down from the screen and half a minute later he emerges, his hair towel-damp. “All yours,” he says.
Geralt sits in the still-warm water, and soaks, and listens as Jaskier putters about on the other side of the screen, getting ready to sleep, listens to the steady back and forth of his conversation with Tansy. He hums, and she whistles along.
uh so if you’re an introvert I imagine you’ve probably had the experience of being Alone and Unobserved for the first time in an uncomfortably long time... i have this experience every day when i leave work fjgksfkgjfg
tansy & jaskier talk p much non-stop when they’re (semi)alone
When at last, the water cold, he ventures out from behind the screen, Jaskier is on the bed, scribbling something down in his little book.
“You can have the bed,” says Geralt. “I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“Don’t be stupid.” Jaskier shifts over towards the wall. “We’ll both fit. I don’t mind if you don’t.” He glances up from his writing. “Though just to warn you, I’m reliably informed that I kick.”
“He does,” says Tansy from the headboard.
The room smells like candle smoke, and pig fat. The scent of the outdoors still clings to them to their clothes, to Jaskier’s hair. He sleeps facing the wall, the warmth of his body pressed to Geralt’s side. Tansy sleeps with her head tucked beneath her wing. Geralt lies awake, listening to Jaskier’s breathing.
geralt is not affected by this situation at all. he is not even a little bit uncomfortably attracted. nope. nuh-uh.
they don’t ever share a bed in the show but i gather it’s a normal thing to do in the books so for the purposes of this fic, this is a thing that it later becomes normal for them to do.
He mumbles now and then in his sleep. And true to his word, he does kick.
*
Morning comes grey, but dry. They eat breakfast in the tavern. Jaskier chatters, about the weather, the food, the song he was writing in the evening. Geralt tunes him out, and lets his eyes roam over the other patrons. His gaze falls on a pair of old men smoking long pipes. They’re looking at him, at the absence beside him, the empty space he occupies. Caught staring they look away.
Jaskier pokes his arm. “Are you listening to me?” he says.
“Hm?” says Geralt.
“I said you’re even more sullen than usual this morning,” says Jaskier. “What’s got into you? Trouble sleeping?”
Geralt turns his attention to his porridge. “You kick.”
“I’m aware,” says Jaskier. “I did warn you. Well, I dare say –”
A woman is approaching their table, purposefully, stoically. Geralt recognises her attitude. Jaskier is savvy enough to guess.
“You’re the witcher?” she says, as if it’s a question. Her dæmon, a large, horned beetle, clings silently to her sleeve.
always hard w daemon AUs to strike a balance between making it clear to the audience that everyone in this world has a daemon & including superfluous information about daemons who aren’t relevant to the story. originally didn’t include this woman’s but then decided I didn’t have enough background daemons.
this is something i actually paid a lot of attention to while reading the secret commonwealth bcos i wanted to see how pullman handles it.
additionally I think insect daemons are under-represented in daemon au fic so I have been trying to get in as many as I can.
“Well, he’s a witcher,” says Jaskier. Geralt nudges him to be quiet.
She says, “my sister has a job for you.”
*
The wind is picking up. The day is getting thin. Ahead, on the hilltop, the dark outline of a hay barn, stark and flat against the grey sky.
He dismounts, and ties Roach to a tree.
“Is Dag not joining us?” says Jaskier.
“She comes and goes as she pleases,” says Geralt.
“What, did you two have an argument or something?” says Jaskier. Geralt grunts. “Did you? About what?”
“You,” says Geralt truthfully, and Jaskier laughs as if he’s made a joke.
Dag is in the air somewhere above them. Irritated with him as she may be, she hasn’t gone far, this time. She’s watching the valley, her keen hawk’s eyes searching for any untoward movement.
He starts to climb the hill. Jaskier makes to follow. Turning Geralt holds up a hand, halting him in his tracks. “Stay with Roach.”
Jaskier adjusts the strap of his lute. “I can handle it.”
“This won’t be pleasant,” says Geralt.
“Honestly,” says Jaskier. “How do you expect me to write about all this if you never let me see anything?”
“I don’t,” says Geralt.
“Anyone would think you didn’t want me to immortalise your deeds in song,” says Jaskier.
“I don’t,” says Geralt.
“It’s stifling to my creativity, not to mention rude,” says Jaskier. “And wholly unjustified. I have a strong stomach.”
Wavering, Geralt glances at Tansy, on Jaskier’s shoulder. She hms in agreement. He drops his hand. “If you’re sure.”
In the doorway of the hay barn Jaskier turns his face away and retches. “Oh gods,” he moans. “Oh heavens. Fuck me –”
“Go and wait with Roach if you want,” says Geralt.
One hand braced against the door frame, the other over his mouth, Jaskier looks at him. He takes his head from his mouth. He shakes his head. Tansy flutters in the doorway, from the shadow to the light, and resolves. She flies into the barn, up, up to the rafters, and there looks down upon the bodies.
This is where they have brought their dead, this most remote outpost of their village, with the spiders and the rats and the dust. They brought the bodies here, a dozen or more of them, and piled them up, meaning to burn them, meaning to burn this lonely place to the ground.
They’re unmarked. The air is thick with the smell of death. The most recent lies near the door, her eyes open, staring up at the roof. She’s young. Her hair is fair. She’s dressed in an apron, as if she’d just stepped out of her kitchen – to the water pump, perhaps – when she was attacked.
One death such as this, two, they’d bury. This many, in as many days, they know what haunts them, and they fear it like nothing else.
“What killed them?” says Tansy from the rafters.
“Hm,” says Geralt. He crouches to look at the dead girl, to be sure there are no marks on her, as the village healer had said. Taking off his gloves, he touches her face, tilting her head towards the light.
why does geralt take off his gloves. bcos later i had a scene where he’s washing his hands and then it was pointed out to me that he normally wears clothes and so wouldn’t need to. shush.
It isn’t his place to interfere with how these people treat their dead; but this isn’t right. There’s nothing to fear here. They are only dead. The danger, the thing that killed them, has passed. There’s nothing to be gained in consigning their dead to this bleak, anonymous fate.
A scuffling, above. Tansy moving on the rafter.
“Geralt?” says Jaskier. “What killed them?”
“Shh.”
Geralt glances up, at Tansy. She’s perched quivering on the rafter. “What is it?” he says.
“Something moved.”
tansy being a very hm fastidious sort of person translates to being quite perceptive
“I didn’t see anything,” says Jaskier.
“You weren’t looking,” says Tansy.
Geralt rises. He reaches for his sword.
The barn reeks of death. In the semi-darkness he had taken it for one of the bodies piled around it. It’s rising now to its feet, its movements stilted, unnatural. You might take it for a lumbering thing, a slow thing you could outrun. You’d be wrong.
Tansy takes flight, flashing in and out of the light from the doorway, and as she does so it begins to move, crawling forward over the piled bodies with the speed of a darting insect, snatching, grasping at the air above it. Jaskier cries out. “Run!” Geralt barks, raising his sword.
this whole scene was hard for a number of reasons... firstly i don’t know a lot about witcher monsters and spent a while trying to find one that fit the kind of scene I wanted before saying ‘fuck it’ and inventing my own
and secondly I don’t know about anyone else but uhh whenever i want a story to include an action scene in my head it’s just like ‘and then a fight happens!!’
+ w this one as well as planning out the fight i had the extra issue of, how it manages to get hold of Tansy which I. hope i explained satisfactorily.
The sight of silver gives the dæmophage pause. It halts, its eyes wide and staring, its shoulders heaving. It’s a fluid creature and it no longer needs its human disguise. Its limbs stretch, its spine bends at an unnatural angle, its slit nostrils flaring. It has no mouth. It has no need of one. Frost spreads from its fingers, coating its hands and arms, the bodies beneath it, the packed dirt floor.
He’s aware of laboured breathing behind him. He’s aware, suddenly, that Jaskier has not run. He risks a glance over his shoulder and sees him pressed to the far side of the door frame, gripping the wood with one white-knuckled hand. His other hand is held, clenched, to his chest. The colour has drained from his face.
“Run,” Geralt says. “Run!” Still Jaskier doesn’t move, and stepping back, not taking his eyes off the dæmophage, Geralt reaches blindly behind himself, finds Jaskier and shoves him backwards.
He resists, and in that resistance Geralt feels what has happened, feels it before Jaskier lets out a pained sound, before he says, choked, “Tansy.” For it’s not the resistance of one who doesn’t want to go; it’s the resistance of one tethered, of a tied-up dog trying to run from a fire.
The dæmophage is crawling forward again, one-handed. It’s holding something in its other hand, in a hand thick with ice. He can’t see what it is. He knows what it is. “Geralt –” Jaskier wheezes, and whatever he means to say next he can’t find the breath.
There are many vile ways to die, in the world. Few worse than your dæmon becoming meal to a creature like this, the life crushed from it, your soul slowly, torturously drained away.
He takes off the dæmophage’s arm first, the arm that holds Tansy, and its whole body jerks spraying dark blood across the walls, across the bodies. As its severed arm hits the ground its fingers fall open and he sees her, a fistful of icy brown feathers, but there’s no time to dwell on her, no time to dwell on if he was fast enough, if there is anything left to save. The dæmophage lashes out at him with its other hand, with its sharpening claws; he dodges, swings, and its arm falls to the ground, cut at the elbow.
It takes two strikes to cleave off its head. Its body remains half-upright, swaying, blood bubbling from its neck. He stands over it, sword raised, breathing hard. They’re fluid creatures. Half-shadow. You can never be sure.
It falls. It is still. He lowers his sword.
Behind him Jaskier falls heavily to the ground. Geralt turns to find him on his knees, shuddering all over, gasping, but still conscious, his eyes alert. He slumps forward, catching himself on his hands, and empties his stomach onto the dirt.
“Tansy,” he croaks. “Oh gods, Tansy –” He sees her, still in the dead creature’s hand, melted frost dripping from her feathers. He tries to rise. His legs won’t hold him.
She had been in its grip less than a minute. It must have felt like an age. Geralt is surprised he didn’t faint. Perhaps he’s made of sterner stuff than he looks.
so I don’t imagine this being as much a matter of Inner Strength as much as (as established early) Jaskier & Tansy having a very close and intimate bond, which in turn is a reflection of Jaskier being at ease with himself and the kind of person he is.
in short this isn’t a matter of jaskier being like, exceptionally brave so much as being like ‘hey! don’t you dare! fuck you!’
Stepping closer Geralt takes his arm and heaves. “I told you to wait with Roach,” he says. But the look Jaskier gives him, of mute, numb disbelief at his coldness, silences any further reproach.
He hauls Jaskier to his feet, but Jaskier tugs his arm from his grip. He wipes his face on his sleeve and staggers forward, falling to his knees once again beside her, reaching for her with shaking hands.
When he picks her up he lets out a gasp of relief – or terror – it’s hard to say which. She doesn’t respond to his touch. She lies limp in his hands.
Jaskier looks up at him, and voice unsteady he says, “she’s cold.”
*
He sets the barn alight. By the time he’s done it’s growing dark, and the wind has died away. He leaves it to burn on its hilltop, to be sure the creature is dead. He’ll tell the villagers to come back when it’s burned to the ground, to take the bones of their dead and bury them properly. They’ll do it, if not for the right reasons.
The barn is a red-orange blaze in the distance. Down in the valley there’s a chill in the air. He can see Jaskier’s breath, though it’s not cold enough for that. He hasn’t stopped shaking. Geralt builds a fire, so he can warm himself, and sets about fastening the dæmophage’s head to Roach’s saddle.
“Geralt, she’s still cold,” says Jaskier. He’s kneeling too close to the fire, Tansy clutched to his chest, hidden in his cupped hands. He’s stripped off his filthy doublet, dark with the creature’s blood. “Geralt. Geralt. She won’t wake up.”
i don’t know if it actually makes sense for jaskier to have got blood on him but listen i will take any excuse to have him take his doublet off bcos i’m just into it.
“She’ll wake up,” says Geralt.
“Are you sure?” says Jaskier.
“Hm,” says Geralt. He isn’t sure. You can never be sure. But if it had drained enough of the life from her that she was beyond waking, Jaskier’s mind would have broken. She’d be fading away. She was in shock. That was all. She’d wake.
If he’d been fast enough to kill it, but not fast enough to save her – he’d seen it before. He’d seen men and women, their minds broken into icy fragments, spending their last days terrified, in pain, alone. Unable to understand what had happened to them. Sometimes it was more merciful to let the dæmophage finish its meal, and kill them outright.
Not this time. He’d been fast enough.
“She – she won’t wake up, Geralt, she –” Jaskier breaks off in a ragged gasp. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Give her some time,” says Geralt. He fetches a blanket, and tosses it to Jaskier.
Jaskier doesn’t take it. “I can’t wake her up,” he says. “Geralt, what do I do?”
“Stop panicking,” says Geralt.
It’s no good. Jaskier understands what he’s saying, but he can’t keep his thoughts straight long enough to act on it. His mind is clouded. Where his connection to Tansy should be there’s nothing but confusion.
this was a fun opportunity to get a little bit into how the connection between a person and their daemon works :3
“I don’t know what to do,” he says. “I can’t think – Geralt, I can’t –”
His name falls again and again from Jaskier’s lips and it carries a silent plea. Help me. Do something.
He doesn’t know what to do. Or rather he knows what he ought to do, to offer comfort and warmth until this passes, but he doesn’t know how.
If he had seen it sooner. If he hadn’t let Jaskier talk him into taking him into danger. If he’d been quicker, smarter, harsher.
Tansy will get better. Jaskier will walk away from this.
double meaning in ‘walk away from this’ as in ‘survive this’ but also ‘will walk away FROM GERALT because of this’
Tension, behind him. He feels her long before he sees her, long before she ghosts into the firelight on owl-wings. She lands and with a soft rushing of air she’s herself again. Jaskier falls silent, startled at seeing her change, though he knew she cold.
“Jaskier,” she says. “Do you trust me?”
Half-watching, Geralt sees him nod.
“Put her down,” she says.
Jaskier hesitates. “But –”
“I know what I’m doing,” says Dag. “Put her down. Let me see.” Again he refuses, a wordless stammer of protest. “Jaskier. You’re panicking. Breathe deep. Put her down.”
Jaskier lays Tansy down. His hands are still shaking, but his breathing has slowed. That’s something. “What’s happening to her?” he says. “It hurts –”
He’d known it must. But Jaskier hadn’t said so, to him.
Dag noses at Tansy’s tiny, limp body. She licks her, once. “She’s just cold,” she says. “She’s just fainted. She’ll be fine.”
The back of one hand pressed to his mouth, Jaskier sobs.
“Shh,” says Dag. “Jaskier. Be calm.” Then she ducks her head forward, and touches him.
She touches her head to his face, nuzzling him, and at that contact a tremor goes through Geralt like a static shock. It’s only for a moment. Jaskier jerks away from her, as one would if a dæmon came too close by mistake.
this scene was inspired a bit by the part in The Subtle Knife where Pantalaimon physically comforts Will bcos he doesn’t have a daemon to comfort him. Obviously Jaskier does have a daemon, but he’s experiencing her being unconscious while he’s awake for the first time, making him essentially bereft of her.
He turns to look at Geralt, standing by Roach, no longer pretending he isn’t watching this. Their eyes meet. Geralt says nothing. Does nothing.
Jaskier turns back to Dag. Her eyes are lidded. Gingerly, Jaskier raises a hand to touch her. Geralt should cry out stop. He should go over there and drag them apart. He doesn’t.
Jaskier runs his hand over her head, the touch barely-there, just enough pressure to be felt through her fur. Geralt feels that touch like a gentle nudge somewhere within his ribs. It doesn’t feel bad.
He can feel, somehow feel birdsong in that touch. He can feel silk, and music, and laughter. It feels like the smell of perfume and candle smoke. Polished wood beneath his fingers. He’d had another’s hand on Dag before. It did not feel like this.
and THIS description of what touching (or being touched by) a person’s daemon would be like was inspired by how it’s depicted in Disciples of Apollo which is an a+++ daemon AU you should read if you like daemon stuff regardless of whether you’re a fan of M*A*S*H or not... please read it it’s so good.
He wonders what Jaskier feels, touching her.
i do intend to cover this. eventually. if i ever get around to writing more of this series.
Jaskier runs his hand over Dag’s head a second time. She purrs, low and deep in her chest. On the ground, Tansy gasps for breath.
my intention here is that Jaskier’s distress is part of what’s keeping Tansy from waking up, but then as long as she’s unconscious he can’t calm down, so by acting as a kind of stand-in daemon for him Dag is helping him Chill The Fuck Out sufficiently for Tansy to pull herself together.
“Tansy.” Jaskier’s hand falls from Dag’s head, and he reaches for her. “Oh gods, Tansy –” He cradles her in his hands. Her whole body is trembling.
“Jaskier,” she says, and at the sound of her voice all of his breath leaves him, his shoulders shaking, limp, weak with relief. He kisses her, holds her close by his face. Neither of them speak.
Geralt looks away. He meets Dag’s eyes, and she holds his gaze. He understands why she did it. He wouldn’t take it back. He’d do it again, and again. He still doesn’t like it. Dag turns away from him. She lies down beside the fire.
He tucks the blanket around Jaskier’s shoulders, and Jaskier murmurs thanks. He sits. He cleans his sword. The air smells like smoke. They shouldn’t linger here, in the dark. Jaskier’s breath is still fogging the air.
“We should go back to the village,” he says.
“Okay,” says Jaskier. Unsteady on his feet, he levers himself upright with one hand, the other cradling Tansy to his chest. “Okay.”
In the village lights are still burning in the windows. Geralt unties the dæmophage’s mouthless head.
“Should we,” says Jaskier, “talk about this?”
“Hm?” says Geralt.
“You know what I mean,” says Jaskier. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No,” says Geralt, and taking the creature’s head he marches away.
“I’ve heard of mixed signals,” calls Jaskier in his wake. “But this is ridiculous!”
am not actually 100% happy with this part, i wanted to get this line in but i couldn’t get it to mesh w the tone of the scene
*
The village is too small for an inn, but as well as coin the monster’s head earns them a bed for the night in the alderman’s house, and an invitation to dinner.
The monster’s head, and perhaps Jaskier; Jaskier, whose boyish smile and pretty dæmon had charmed the alderman and his wife at once, Jaskier, who had come back from the hunt pale, and shivering in a way they must recognise.
geralt thinks Tansy is very pretty. that’s just how his tastes run and he genuinely has no idea that most people don’t think nightingales are like, notably pretty.
There’s only one bed in the room they’re given but the alderman’s daughter makes up a cot. He tells Jaskier to take the bed. Jaskier doesn’t argue. Jaskier says nothing at all.
Since his outburst when they reached the village he’s spoken only to say yes and please and thank you. He lies upon the bed, staring at the ceiling, one hand stroking a slow, contemplative circle on his own stomach. Tansy sits on the pillow beside his head, plucking at his hair, grooming at him like a mother cat with a kitten.
Geralt washes the dæmophage’s blood from his hands. It has dried into the creases in his palms, under his fingernails.
“Will you come to dinner?” he says.
“Not very hungry,” says Jaskier.
Stretched out upon the cot, Dag raises her head. “You should eat,” she says.
Geralt sees her indoors so rarely. It takes him off-guard, sometimes, how large she is compared to human things. The alderman and his family must have been startled, to see him go on a hunt without a dæmon and return with one, but they had said nothing about it.
i did not mention that dag is in this scene before she speaks to emphasise that her presence indoors is unusual and unexpected. i am very smart.
She lies alert, tail flicking, watching over Jaskier.
His hands don’t feel clean. He washes them again. “You’re quiet,” he says.
“Hmm?” says Jaskier.
“Are you alright?” says Geralt.
“Since when do you care?” says Jaskier. “I thought you wanted me to shut up.”
“What will it take for you to give me some peace?” he had said, more than once.
“Hell or high water, probably,” Jaskier had answered, sunnily smiling.
If he hadn’t been fast enough. If the creature had taken something that could not be brought back – the light in his eyes. Warmth. A smile he’d never see again. Not like this. He didn’t want it like this.
once again double meaning re geralt thinking that jaskier is going to leave him because of this
He leans heavily upon the washstand. He breathes out. He’d been fast enough. Jaskier was shaken. That was all. He’d be fine.
“I’m just,” says Jaskier. “Thinking.”
“What are you thinking about?” says Geralt.
“What’s it to you?” says Jaskier. A moment’s quiet, and he says, “why don’t elves have dæmons?”
this is my no 1 issue w this fic (which i am otherwise happy with), I really wanted to get this conversation in but wasn’t quite sure where to put it. originally i was going to include it much earlier, and have it be in response to meeting the elves, but i couldn’t get it to work with the pacing and i needed something for them to discuss here so. here it is. i’m not 100% sure it works. i think i understand why jaskier is bringing this up now but i’m not sure how to describe it properly.
The question jars him. It’s like something a child would ask. Why it’s on Jaskier’s mind now, of all times, he can’t imagine. “You know why.”
“I want to hear what you have to say about it,” says Jaskier.
“It’s the way the world is,” says Geralt. “Humans have dæmons. Elves don’t. Others don’t.”
“You’re not human and you have a dæmon,” says Jaskier.
“You know why,” says Geralt again. He can feel Dag’s stare on him, accusing, but he can’t help his frustration. He has the sense that Jaskier is goading him – or trying to catch him out in a lie. He doesn’t know what Jaskier wants from him.
“Do you think it’s lonely?” says Jaskier.
“Being an elf?” says Geralt.
“Mm,” Jaskier agrees.
tbqh it’s just occurred to me now as im re-reading it that part of this is jaskier obliquely asking geralt about his own feelings about having a daemon.
Geralt begins to dry his hands. “You can’t miss what you never had.”
“I don’t know,” says Jaskier. “I miss all sorts of things I’ve never had.”
Geralt waits for him to expand on that thought. But he’s lapsed back into silence. “Elves find dæmons distasteful,” he says. “It bothers them. Like seeing someone with their insides spilling out. They think half-elves born without dæmons are stronger for it.”
At that, mystifyingly, Jaskier laughs a little. “Hear that, Tansy?” he says. “Maybe I would have been stronger if I didn’t have you, like a half-elf. What do you think?”
gjlkghjklghdfj i had so much trouble w this line bcos my beta fully believed that this was jaskier professing that he was half elf so i had to re-write it and somehow at least one reviewer has still thought that was the implication... he’s 100% not half elf in this AU sorry. if i ever get around to writing the sequel it will be evident that he’s not half elf (or like if he is he has no idea)
Tansy clicks her beak. “I think you’d miss me terribly,” she says. “Even if you’d never had me.”
His hands are dry. He stops running the cloth over them, and sets it aside. “Dag’s right,” he says. “You should eat.”
“If you insist,” says Jaskier. “Where are we going next?”
Geralt turns to look at him. He’s gazing up at Tansy, running a finger over her neck. “After dinner?” he says.
“Tomorrow,” says Jaskier. Geralt says nothing, but his silence must speak for itself, for Jaskier looks at him and says, “don’t think you’re getting rid of me that easily.”
“Why?” says Geralt.
“I’m a glutton for punishment, I suppose,” Jaskier says. “Anyway. I’m working on a song and it isn’t finished.”
“Hm?” says Geralt.
Jaskier’s gaze drifts back to Tansy. “Still needs an ending,” he says.
i wasn’t sure how to end this story and this last line is very cheeky eheheh. i can do what i want.
thank you again for requesting!! i hope u enjoy this commentary. it has been a fun diversion. i’m very pleased w this fic and i love talking about daemon AUs. <3
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saw another post that reminded me of this SO here’s some pet peeves i have abt daemon AUs:
- a scene from canon is recapped, except w daemons. the presence of the daemons does not impact upon events at all. it’s literally just a recap of a canon scene except a few lines here & there are given to the daemons instead of the humans. (i’ve seen this done well ONCE and can only attribute it to the fact that the author’s writing style was just That Engaging)
- daemons have ‘fantasy’ names even tho the setting is 21st century earth. I will accept this if there’s some explanation about how daemons get their names but often it’s just like, the writer picked a bunch of names that sounded cool/meant something appropriate without any thought given to the characters’ backgrounds
(positive example: this B99 fic in which Jake’s daemon’s name is Hebrew and Amy’s daemon’s name is Spanish. that’s what I’m about baby!!)
- no actual story concept the author just wanted to describe what daemons they thought the characters would have
- taking the ‘servants have dog daemons’ thing at face value (not common i think? but i saw it once in a lotr fic)
- it’s in the HDM tag even tho it’s not an HDM fic (don’t do this)
- bad guys have reptile and/or insect daemons
that’s all for now. additions welcome.
(I want to add ‘daemons not having any actual personality’ but i’m not confident i’ve done a good job w that in my own daemon AUs sdfhgjkhglk)
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shout out to rolling stone for the best HDM headline so far
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i definitely needed the recap for last seasons HDM. not as fresh in my mind as it should be
Garak and Marisa Coulter brunchtime asmr
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i’m not liveblogging his dark materials, for many reasons, but i’ll do an episode recap + impressions (like i do with the stuff i read) every monday/tuesday, more or less, and i’ll tag it as effie watches hdm, so you can blacklist if you want to avoid spoilers or simply to ignore my fangirling.
also i’m tagging the show as bbc hdm spoilers for a week after each episode.
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My brand new episode of #neutrophicalvlogs is now available on my facebook/youtube! (Link in bio) It’s a little recap from my latest gig at FIFO - Ravecave 2019, enjoy!🙌🏼🙌🏼 . . . #neutrophic #dj #fifo #ravecave #örebro #party #rave #live #hardstyle #music #new #hdm #nightclub #unity #trance #dance #nivå #gig #psy #love #hard #hardstylefamily #style #hardstylereport #rawstyle #dedication #underground #halloween #instavideo (på/i NIVÅ) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4pnqZshcg2/?igshid=1qt2kfgpvbs6s
#neutrophicalvlogs#neutrophic#dj#fifo#ravecave#örebro#party#rave#live#hardstyle#music#new#hdm#nightclub#unity#trance#dance#nivå#gig#psy#love#hard#hardstylefamily#style#hardstylereport#rawstyle#dedication#underground#halloween#instavideo
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September 2017 Highlights: The Highs + Lows
The fall is always our busiest time of the year on the work front, but fall seemed to start in early August this year and we’ve just been on the go ever since. Yet, I only stayed in hotels nine days this past month, so why does it feel like I haven’t been at my own house in forever?
I can’t believe I’m saying this but I look forward to the holidays when things slow down a tink, but in the meantime, I’m having a blast seeing and doing it all, such as…
Highs
Becoming honorary duck master. Hold up—what?!? That’s right: This week, I was staying at the Peabody Memphis and was surprised during the daily duck march when Duck Master Anthony announced to the crowd that I was going to assist him for the day. Let me just tell you, you haven’t lived until you’ve been an HDM. It was so much fun, I was smiling from ear to ear the rest of the week.
Kicking off our Whiskey Trail project. Why was I in Memphis in the first place? Welllll, SVV and I are working with the Tennessee Distillers Guild to drive—and cover—the entire 26-stop whiskey trail over the coming month. We’ll be posting in real time on my social media then recapping on the blog after the fact.
Going to my fourth Music City Food & Wine. Nashville’s own food festival celebrated its fourth year, and I couldn’t obsessed over this weekend each fall more. Good food, great weather, time with friends—what’s not to love?
Returning to Sweden! Man, was that just earlier this month? Seems forever ago! That trip was indescribably magical, and I really look forward to sharing everything we saw, did and ate while in Scandinavia.
Seeing a Jack White-produced show in the cave. Third Man Records and Tennessee Tourism put on a pretty killer Americana show in Cumberland Caverns with Jack as emcee, and it was a pretty epic way to see my last ever show in that particular cave.
Attending Pilgrimage Festival. It’s pretty much been my life’s goal to see Justin Timberlake live. To see Justin Timberlake live in a field in Tennessee with some of my best friends and a Chris Stapleton cameo was even better.
Writing a couple Savannah pieces for Marriott Traveler. For those of you who read my full weekend itinerary and still need other recommendations of what to do, you might want to check out the romantic’s guide to Savannah or my Savannah dining article.
Also writing another piece about Nashville for Hertz’s blog. Headed to Music City and wanting to remain somewhat healthy? This article is for you.
Doing goat yoga. I’d wanted to do this for oh so long, and it was all it was cracked up to be.
Lows
Fatigue. Couple hay fever with my allergy shots not (yet) working and the fact that I’ve been on the road more often than not, and I’ve been one exhausted mess this month. I’m usually a burn-the-midnight-oil kind of girl, and I’ve been going to bed as early as 9:30! The upside is I’ve been waking up at 6, so there’s that at least.
A general lack of time. I love traveling (duh), but the lack of time at home has made it hard to stick to a workout routine. I’m running a half marathon in just two months and haven’t even had time to start training yet! Oh well, I’ll sleep when I’m dead (but what about working out…?).
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October has us exploring more of the TN Whiskey Trail, visiting Gatlinburg for the Governor’s Conference and heading to Georgia for a quick project and time with friends.
What was your September highlight?
September 2017 Highlights: The Highs + Lows published first on http://ift.tt/2gOZF1v
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HDM Episode 1x07 recap
Recap of His Dark Materials Episode 1x07: The Fight to the Death
SO MUCH HAPPENS IN THIS EPISODE YOU GUYS
so we start with marisa standing alone in the ruins of the abadoned Bolvangar
obligatory Ruth Wilson Scream (TM)
marisa finds the handmaiden still hanging around, for some reason
then marisa goes absolutely apeshit on her for no real reason, bc that’s just how she be
the she calms down
then we turn to lyra, who’s miraculously unharmed after falling out of lee’s balloon
she hears growling in the distance, and thinks it might be iorek
but she’s so so wrong
then we get a glimpse of what is presumably the subtle knife in action, carving a gateway to will’s world
it’s B'Oréal of course
after that short scene (I told you a LOT gets covered in this episode), we’re back to Lyra, who’s being taken prisoner into Iofur’s fortress
there's blood on the steps to the fortress, and i have SO MANY QUESTIONS like how is the blood spilled so neatly without the snow being disturbed at all??? because no way could an actual fight or killing have taken place here without disturbing all those aesthetic snowdrifts
Anways Lyra gets locked up in the fortress. In true "child of asriel and marisa" fashion, she attempts to fight her way out of the cell
pan, who has braincells which i can only presume are inherited from stelmaria instead, suggests using the alethiomtere instead
at this point, the other prisoner in lyra's cell suddenly makes himself known
he introduces himself as jotham santelia, regius professor of cosmology at the university of gloucester
lyra finds out from the alethiometer that iorek is coming to save her, but he’ll most certainly be killed by iofur’s guards around the fortress
back in lyra's cell, jotham tells her that what iofur wants more than anything is to have a daemon like humans do
this gives lyra an idea and she wastes no time in putting it into action
back in “our” world, boreal is at it again
just like will in the last episode, he’s listening to one of john parry’s interviews
now, let me just stop here and say that we're 7 episodes in and I have still no fucking clue what Lord Boreal is really up to, but the actor puts so much nuance and thought into every expression that I somehow forget this everytime he's on screen
back to lyra, she's being led to iofur's throne room
i know these bears are supposed to be scary and awe-inspiring but THEY'RE SO FWUFFY
lyra starts off her plan with such a breathtakingly blatant lie...
... which Iorek fully believes???
lyra convinces iofur that if he fights iorek in single combat, he'll win her as his daemon
to “prove” to iofur that she’s a daemon, lyra answers a question by him that only a daemon would know the answer to, using the help of her alethiometer
she gives the right answer to the question of who iofur’s first kill was, which was his own father
meanwhile, lord boreal is off to find john parry's letters, to see if he can find something about john's real goal in them
he forces his way into the house past will’s mom elaine, and i'm already like 🔪🔪🔪
boreal doesn’t waste time getting down to business
SHOUTOUT TO MRS. ELAINE PARRY WE STAN A QUEEN
ok if he wasn't such a snake i'd almost feel bad for boreal, he just CANNOT get ANYTHING done in our world... first he has to deal with parking tickets, then he gets his car clamped, then the people he's trying to threaten actually know their rights under the law... this man is so tired
then his snake daemon decides to make an appearance
anways he leaves elaine after that, and i really want him 🗡️🗡️🗡️ for trying to gaslight her like that
then boreal goes back to his car and asks his goons to get the letters from the parry house by any means necessary
back in lyra's world, iorek finally reaches her, and lyra lets him know of the single combat she's arranged between him and iofur
off we go to the fight, and it's a sign of how into this world i'm getting that i'm seeing a perfectly normal polar bear on my screen and i'm getting uNCOMFORTABLE
so the bears both take their armour off for the fight, which I do not remember happening in the books
At first, it looks like iofur defeats iorek pretty handily
Lyra mourns her fallen friend
iofur realizes that she was lying to him the whole time
then it turns out iorek was just faking his death, and he does a suprise attack on iofur and kills him, in a scene which mostly takes place off screen for some reason
back in our world, elaine is waiting for will when he gets out of school
back in lyra's world, iorek officially becomes king of the armoured bears
Iorek leads lyra to roger, who’ll be joining her to find and free asriel
lyra checks her alethiometer and finds out that her mother is coming after asriel too...
...and she makes a decision that i truly cannot understand
then we get a seemingly unencessary affirmation from Roger, and a lingering closeup on him, for NO REASON
back to marisa
we get an incredibly uncomfortable standoff between marisa and father macphail over her joining them to capture asriel, with what i'm quite sure are supposed to be sexual undertones to the dialogue
back in will's world, they realize their home has been broken into, so will leaves his mom with his boxing coach, and heads back to their home to investigate
shoutout to the coach for just taking all of this in stride
meanwhile, lin manuel scoresby did in fact make it out the crash alive, and is visited again by serafina pekkala
she gives him back his gun, and he agrees to basically be on call for whenever lyra needs him
then we get a really beautiful scene of lyra and roger riding on iorek towards lord asriel's lab
back to will, who's at home opening his letters from his father,when he's interrupted by boreal's goons
will tries to fight one of them, and the guy trips over moxie the cat, and falls over the stairs
meanwhile, marisa is getting ready to apprehend asriel with the magisterium, and we all know the magisterium are the bad guys, so of course lord asriel is the good guy, right?
...right?
we get a quick scene of will running away from his house without even saying goodbye to his mother. my poor son :(
lyra, roger and iorek finally reach lord asriel's lab
here it comes...
Oh.
then stelmaria alerts asriel to the fact that roger is also here
corporate has asked you to find the difference between these two pictures
(there is no difference. they are the same.)
And that’s what you missed last week on How To Traumatize Your Children In Eight Easy Episodes!
#his dark materials#hdm#the fight to the death#lyra belacqua#iorek byrnison#iofur raknison#serafina pekkala#lee scoresby#marisa coulter#pantalaimon#mrs. coulter#jotham santelia#stelmaria#hdm recaps
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bewareofitalics replied to your post “this show is taking more narrative liberties and chronological...”
The thing I'm stuck on is that it looks like they're giving Billy Costa Tony Makarios's plot. On the one hand, streamlining characters and more emotional impact, but on the other hand,
THAT'S SO MEAN TO MA!
I’ve noticed that too, yeah, in the movie they did the same thing, combining them. In this particular adaptation, though, it seems a bit too much considering everything points to Roger going through the same arc as in the book and not ending like in the final cut of the movie, with the filmed ending removed. I feel like it’s a bit of an overkill to have the only two kid characters you get to know apart from Lyra ending in the same way, albeit by different people. I mean, it’s canonically brutal so it’s faithful to an extent, but I don’t know if it’s necessary for both to go on the same route and not give Billy his canonical ending, but both BBC and HBO seem to like the overuse of shock lately.
For what I’m seeing, I feel like Thorne has used the entirety of the books to make the series instead of going book by book and with the main 3 alone. In some instances, I see the appeal, like referencing La Belle Sauvage for example, but in others...I’m confused.
They seem to be building up Will’s dad very early on, with Boreal looking for him explicitly and stepping through towards Will’s Oxford in episode 2. I really felt that took away the impact of the world-building a lot. I feel like the thing about different worlds is something that unravels very seamlessly in the books, by introducing Lyra’s first and then when you think you’re in this alternate fantasy landscape, you find out our world was in it too. The ending of book 1, with Asriel’s gateway, is kind of diminished in impact when you have Boreal moving around visibly like nobody’s business before Lyra even learns to use the alethiometer.
And this thing of re-structuring the books into one thing is fine if you’re already set on how many episodes you’ve got but so far only season 2 has been greenlit so fingers crossed for the 3rd.
All in all, I’ve had my reservations with Thorne from the start and he hasn’t made things easier for me to trust him so far, but the cast and Hooper are making a great job, so fingers crossed.
Also I wonder if they’ll do what they did with La Belle Sauvage but with elements from Once Upon a Time in the North and The Collectors...I haven’t managed to get those two because they were never translated and getting them in English is a mess, so if they do it’s gonna fly over my head. I really need to try to get them.
#bewareofitalics#reply#his dark materials#his dark materials spoilers#hdm bbc#hdm spoilers#I'm not even mentioning coulter dropping the asriel reveal early because at this point is the least of my concerns lol#I feel like we need a good recap after every ep but the official podcast is not good
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