#muse: cahir mawr dyffryn aep ceallach

[boundlss]

okay i thought i was done with the cahir stuff for the day but the fact that they don't mention in the show at all that he's actually from vicovaro, one of the nations nilfgaard occupied and turned into a vassal state, rather than nilfgaard proper, is actually among the worst crimes netwitcher has committed in terms of cahir. it's almost like the fact that he's a soldier for a country that isn't his perpetuating the violence of the empire that took over his home is important to his story or something.

[closedcoffins]

@c4rdsharp / cahir starter call.

A witcher!

Cahir knows immediately that this one is not who he's looking for, and a second later he realizes that this witcher probably wouldn't even know where Geralt is. Even setting aside the fact that witchers are usually solitary, Cahir's vaguely heard about there being several different guilds, or schools, so it's highly unlikely that this witcher even knows Geralt.

Had it been the Viper that was once in Nilfgaard? I recall the emperor saying... No, but even if the school itself hadn't been flushed out, what good would that do even if this were a witcher raised in Nilfgaard's territory? They have no obligation to the emperor, sure, but they have no obligation to those not aligned with the emperor who do not have money.

And I...

Cahir thinks despairingly about his near-empty pockets. If he could safely return to Vicovaro, there's no doubt that his family would help him with whatever he needed in spite of how badly the Emperor desires his head on the business end of a spear, but returning there for funds isn't an option, either.

Still. Cahir is practically only known for his persistence.

"Ser Witcher..."

It's an unusual form of address for a witcher. Cahir knows that it stands out only because Geralt had reacted strangely to it during their stay in Toussaint, and he's hoping his formality grants him at least a minute of audience. Even if not, he's prepared to drag himself through the mud to even grasp at a clue.

"... May I request a moment of your time? It will only be a moment."

[boundlss]

Cahir is startled by the realization that Geralt's response has elicited a nearly-inaudible huff of laughter from him. It had struck him as an incredibly typical thing for Geralt to say, and that was probably why he'd laughed at it.

"'Sometimes' is more of an acquiescence than I had expected," Cahir comments, leaving unsaid that it was more than likely an especially generous addition in regards to Geralt's attitude towards himself. He settles on a more apppropriate way of conveying the same message; "I am glad to be included in the band of people whose company is sometimes enjoyable to you."

From a less honest person, those words might have been said in jest, or with some sort of biting cold. From Cahir's mouth, though, they mean nothing more than what the words alone convey. As Geralt looks at him, he reflects that he is indeed glad of Geralt's generally subdued attitude towards him recently. He is not quite a humble enough man to delude himself into believing he doesn't deserve to be treated better.

He turns his eyes away in a surprisingly leisurely motion---rather than looking away out of fear, he's once again looking out at the scene the two of them had extracted themselves from out of a general desire to look; nothing more.

This falsely peaceful evening and stretch of time it belongs to look, from this angle, almost like the life Cahir can never return to.

"I'm glad," Cahir repeats, after a stretch of silence that goes on for far too long. "I'm sure the opinions of others are mostly inconsequential to you, but because I have nothing left to turn to outside of this, it puts me at ease to have heard something like that."

geralt  raised  a  brow  ,    curiosity  piqued  at  the  young  man's  observation  .    he  was  right  :  geralt  hadn't  exactly  been�� secretive  about  his  dislike  for  the  entire  situation  .    he  preferred  to  travel  alone  ,    or  with  those  who  were  not  simply  stuck  to  him  to  be  stuck  to  him  ;  he  would  rather  grumble  about  it  ,    on  the  days  when  clouds  wrought  damp  atmosphere  and  rain  and  made  his  limbs  act  against  him  ,    or  on  the  days  when  something  happened  and  their  troupe  wasn't  able  to  travel  very  far  .    this  often  made  him  dislikable  to  the  rest  of  the  hansa  ,    but  he  couldn't  ever  bring  himself  to  care  .

yet  still  ,    they  remained  at  his  side  .    cahir  remained  at  his  side        and  at  the  side  of  the  rest  of  their  band  ,    of  course  .    even  after  geralt  had  insulted  the  young  man's  honour  ,    spat  his  cynism  into  his  eyes  and  traded  blows  with  him  beneath  blazing  skies  ,    still  ,    he  stayed  .    still  he  stayed  ,    and  did  not  hold  any  of  that  against  geralt  .    it  was    …    odd  ,    not  having  someone  throwing  back  his  misconducts  and  wrong  notions  in  his  face  whenever  circumstances  allowed  it  .    whatever  cahir  had  been  taught  during  his  life  at  vicovaro  ,    it  kept  him  deferential  and  modest  in  ways  the  witcher  couldn't  even  fathom  .

somehow  during  his  train  of  thought  ,    a  deep  frown  had  pressed  its  way  into  geralt's  forehead  .    it  did  not  leave  even  when  he  realised  it  was  there  ,    so  he  turned  his  head  ,    facing  away  from  cahir  so  that  he  didn't  spot  it  .    ❛  i'm  not  offended  ,    ❜  he  said  first  ,    in  case  he  was  about  to  hear  some  apology  or  question  about  it  .    that  would  only  make  him  cross  all  over  again  .    he  knew  himself  better  than  that  ,    and  cared  enough  to  warn  against  it  happening  ,    this  time  .    ❛  and  i  believe  you  .    strangely  enough  ,    i  believe  you  .    ❜

then  he  took  a  long  breath  .        ❛        and  as  for  my  denial  of  my  need  for  you  all        i'm  denying  nothing  .        ❜        and  he  absolutely  ignored  the  fact  that  he  was  denying  it  even  now  .        ❛        i  would  much  rather  find  myself  unescorted  in  times  like  this  .    no  matter  how  difficult  it  might  be  .        ❜        he  paused  ,    deliberating  on  his  next  words  .    they  felt  vulnerable  .    he  hated  the  feeling  .        ❛        …    but  i  have  found  ,    in  travelling  with  all  of  you  ,    that    …        ❜        another  brief  consideration  where  he  forced  himself  to  speak  .        ❛        i  rather    …    enjoy  your  company  .    sometimes  .    and  sometimes  ,    you  can  all  go  to  hell  .        ❜        he  looked  back  ,    frown  turned  scowl  .

[seancekitsch]

(Feel free to ignore!!) Reader is working at court (maybe a cartographer or something) who has worked with Cahir before he was sent away to these raiding parties. Both tried to remain professional (feelings? They? Love is for children) but when he returns, Reader is the one who goes & finds him? Fluff-ish? (You can take it in any direction you‘d like. Your work is fantastic!!! Thanks so much for carrying the Cahir fans on your back. By yourself)

ahhh thank you so much love!! i hope more people start writing for him i think there's only like three or four of us!!! hope you like this one :)

You refused to look up at the intelligence officer as you continued to erase from your draft.

“Where to this time?” you ask, scrubbing the northern part of the Yaruga river from the landscape.

“Thanedd,” he says, his voice just barely above whisper. 

“Thanedd?!” you lose your composure, looking up at him a moment before grounding yourself. 

“Thanedd is having a lot a visitors lately.”

He only hums, not at all buying your nonchalance.

“Thanedd it is,” you muse, sorting through your folders for a suitable map that isn’t too well used to hand to him. You pass several until you find your own personal map of the island, like you always do for him. It’s easy to find and you pull it and toll it and pass it to his hand, all without making eye contact. You ignore the warmth that floods your hand when his fingers graze yours. 

“Thank you, darling,” he says, the closest thing to an affirmation you’ve gotten from him, yet so much more bold than anything you’ve said or done. Nilfgaardian courts aren’t exactly the safest place to be, especially when your position in it is so precarious. Other cartographers could easily be better trained, better trusted, but Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach vouched for you specifically and you weren’t about to destroy you credibility for falling for the officer. 

He leaves without lingering though, sparing you from doing something foolish.

The interaction is something you can banish from for only two days, however, because then you start to hear whispers on your way to the new stronghold in Cintra. Whispers of the mages all coming together, whispers of the elves and their army as well… 

It feels bad, a pit sinking in your stomach as your riding party starts to ride ahead of you as you slow your horse without even thinking of why. 

Thanedd really isn’t that far from here, maybe an eight hours ride…

And Cahir has your personal map of the island. He’s the safest he could possibly be unless the worst happens. 

Knowing Cahir and his luck lately the worst will happen, you think to yourself, pulling on your horses reigns. 

Fuck it, you think, and then you let your horse and your heart lead instead of your brain. 

You come upon a field haggard and tired, your horse just the same, to a landscape reeking of blood and smoke; a scent that hadn’t filled your nose in quite some time. A Nilfgaardian soldier alone and elves closing in on him. The events must have gone worst than you thought if there is fighting even out here, on a part of the island rarely gone to, you think. You put two and two together easily. It’s not that you give out maps that are incorrect, just, you only give out ones with the relevant information. You save the complete ones to draw upon and make pretty as a personal art project. Like the one you handed Cahir before he left that would definitely have this side of the island detailed out. 

Fuck.

“Hey! Hey, stop!” you shout, all while urging your horse on despite its own fatigue. The elves stop in their advance, but do not retreat, and you can finally confirm your instinct that is is Cahir. He looks shell shocked, without his weapons and without his helmet. When his gaze meets you his eyes are wild and sad, not the serious and sometimes flirty man you knew. 

“You… you came,” he calls out to you, and you dismount your horse quickly to rush to him.

“Stupid man! I had to,” you yell, not hiding the fear or anger from your voice, but then you soften, your hands finally placing themselves on his armor. He’s here, he’s not dead yet. You both might be soon. Why not throw all practicality into the wind if you may be executed by the elves on horseback mere feet away? 

“I needed my map back.”

“I was always going to return it,” he assures you, his arms rising to brace your own. 

“No you weren’t,” you insist as the elves close in, Cahir once their commander now lost all faith in him. 

“I was,” he insists, and surges forward to kiss you. It’s like time stops, and everything in your life and on this continent falls into place for just a moment; his lips on yours and clear skies painting the future. 

And then you’re ripped apart from one another by the elves. 

You don’t resist.

[boundlss]

@revenanthearts ( emiel regis rohellec terzieff-godefroy ) / continued from here.

Cahir is glad of their circumstances, too. That he'd known from the beginning that Regis was a vampire hadn't prevented him from being afraid, but in retrospect, having not known would have soured his feelings towards Regis before he could have learned to appreciate Regis for his separate traits.

"I don't blame you for your deception when it comes to that," Cahir says honestly, and earnestly. "I am also glad you never had the opportunity to lie to me, because I would have reacted badly to it. But having the understanding I do now, I would venture to say that your secrets have very little bearing on my current feelings."

As with most things Cahir says, there is very little exagerration in the expression of his sentiment. As far as encounters with monsters, Cahir was one of the lucky few to have had absolutely none firsthand, relying on legend and myth to fill his own blanks. As such, he imagines himself to be in a fine position to meet Regis where he is, regarding his vampiric nature.

It's a pleasant first experience with a Vampire. Cahir at least knows enough to understand his fortune in meeting Regis, both for that and for his own selfish enjoyment of his company.

"For my own benefit, I admit that I was happy not to be the only person broadly distrusted by our company," he admits, having the decency to sound shameful. "Even though I feared you for a short time as well, I thought it less lonely to be the only one. Although you were always closer to his good graces than I will ever manage to be."

He finds it ironic now that the two of them should have these talks. Two people that others might have reduced to monsters, understanding eachother clearly in a place where nothing else can be understood. The third remains monopolized in the comfort of Toussaint's second-warmest bed, though Cahir does not regret his absence from these nights of solace.

"... My past feelings don't have any bearing on the way things are now. I've said that I don't like to decieve, but I have never felt shame in helping you uphold your cover before the unaware people of Toussaint, and I don't intend to start."

[closedcoffins]

"Not a contract, necessarily," Cahir is quick to clarify, thinking for just a moment longer about his woefully empty pockets.

Were it for the right reason, Geralt might have done whatever was asked of him for free. That said, the right reason is exceedingly rare, and so are witchers like Geralt; it certainly doesn't help that Cahir is actually only tracking Geralt down for purely selfish reasons.

"I just had a question about witcher guilds. I'm looking for a specific witcher---Geralt of Rivia, if you're familiar?" Logically, he knows the answer will probably be something along the lines of 'we've never met', but Cahir doesn't need a personal introduction to make it further in his pursuit of Geralt. He only needs one more breadcrumb, and he'll be satisfied to go on his way.

That said, it's helpful that Geralt is a hundred times more famous than most other witchers. It does mean he's more likely to find that breadcrumb somewhere that isn't also dangerous for him to be.

"We traveled with eachother for a while, and I heard he was in great danger some time ago... I don't expect all witchers to know eachother, but I was only wondering if you happen to know the school of witchers he belongs to."

He'd seen Geralt's witcher medallion before, of course, but his memory has never quite been the same after his head wound. It's even possible Cahir had been directly told this information before, but he wouldn't remember it if he had.

"Sorry. I imagine it's offensive to inquire about another witcher to your face, but I don't dare approach ordinary people."

People don’t often approach Luck. Not unless they were in some desperate state, or lacked the willingness to believe in societal rumors. It was already quite odd for this stranger to be looking at him so intently, with something dancing around in his eyes. It wasn’t as if he was going out of his way to hide it, that deliberating look. It was an expression Luck had seen a number of times – it was an expression a lot of people made when approaching a witcher at all. That was about the only thing they had in common : the initial hesitation. But, what the young man had said next completely took him off - guard.

ser witcher? my, that’s unusual . . .

It wasn’t the first time Luck was addressed as ‘ser.’ Young kids on the street sometimes called out to him with such a term, either indifferent or unknowing to Luck’s personage. As odd as it was, it wasn’t completely unheard of for someone to address a witcher so formally. Of course, adults were exceedingly rare. It was almost as if they lost all decorum when it came to someone different than themselves . . .

i won’t bother with that now. besides, it’d be quite rude of me to leave him waiting. i’ll admit, he's piqued my interest.

Luck considered the stranger’s appearance, eyeing him from head - to - toe, as if trying to glean what it is he possibly ask for from face alone. After a second or so, he gave him a most unusual thing for a witcher to give somebody they didn’t know.

A smile.

Not a real one, of course, but most witchers wouldn’t bother with the formality. Luck supposed it was fitting for someone so unusual to have met a witcher just as equally so. “ ser witcher? that’s a new one. it’s not everyday someone greets me so kindly. i could at least have the equal kindness to hear what you have to say. fortunate for you, i am in no hurry. “

of course, whether i’ll be of any help or not depends on how long my brothers keep me waiting.

He kept that thought locked behind his smile. “ what sort of assistance are you looking for? if you’re looking for a witcher to contract, i’m afraid you’ll have to wait a few minutes more before i can discuss the details with you. but, if it’s something else . . . ? “ Luck tilted his head to invite the odd stranger to finish for him.

[boundlss]

and don't even get me started on gallatin first of all. what a completely unnecessary addition, if you wanted cahir to have a situationship with a member of the scoia'tael isengrim would have been a much better and more narratively suitable choice, but also cahir would have never stabbed someone he cared about in the back like that for emhyr's sake because he's not a fanatic. i can't stress this enough. cahir was a member of nilfgaard's army to be sure but he was never ever a fanatic and deeply devoted follower of emhyr.

[boundlss]

dont even fucking talk to me about netwitcher cahir okay i already hated his portrayal in the show before but this episode drop really sealed my distaste for good.

the absolute fucking audacity the netwitcher writers have to not let cahir at LEAST keep his helmet in that scene is one thing, but the fact that he surrendered in the middle of the fight? the fact that instead of being a moment of ciri taking the helmet off and seeing a terrified young man it's just some random fight where cahir rides out to beg her to kill him? i wish all netwitcher writers a very die. cahir's writing in the show as a whole is perfectly reflected in the shitty half assed "redemption" they try to throw on him. god.

[boundlss]

i've definitely said it before but cahir is literally put through like a RIDICULOUS amount of consecutive shit without even a single break. imagine youre like freshly 18 and the guy whose army you are in a surprisingly high position in due to your noble status is like "cahir i need you to patrol cintra while we fucking siege it and get this princess" and youre like "ok emperor who i work for!" only to find out through experience the princess you're capturing is like 10 years old. so you're panicking and not sure what you're even going to do with her if you ARE going to bring her back to the emperor at all and you bring her to some nearby refugees so you can both blend in. thats cool right? WRONG

because ACTUALLY you fall asleep and she, panicked after having passed out before she realized you weren't actively trying to hurt her, runs away, and so when you wake up you're hounded by the other guys in that army you're in for the location of the girl and you're like first of all i don't know SECOND OF ALL WE'RE WORKING FOR A BAG OF DICKS!!! so naturally they put you in prison for talking shit and then you're just in prison

BUT WAIT

you have one single opportunity to redeem yourself because you're like the only living easily accessible person on the continent who knows what the princess looks like, so you're brought out for princess kidnapping round 2 electric boogaloo because like it's that or get literally executed so the whole kidnapping thing sounds great actually. but actually it's NOT because now she has witcher training and for some reason after knocking your helmet off she spares your life after kicking the collective ass of the elves you've been saddled with which. okay

so then said elves are like "well time to take this guy back to emhyr" because they don't fw humans and also you're literally going crazy talking about some dreams related to the princess you're having now so they don't really wanna fuck around with keeping you alive so they tie you up in a coffin and just sell you to like. some random ass guy. and then some people come by and free you but actually uh oh! it's the princess's adoptive father (and company) and they mercifully spare your life but tell you to fucking scram but actually these dreams you're having are getting worse and you really gotta know what the deal with those things is so you get yourself a shitty little horse and you follow them

right so you catch up to them once and they tell you to fuck off again but like you literally can't go anywhere else because you are a nilfgaardian soldier slated for execution meaning BOTH sides of the war want you dead so you keep following these people, except at one point you get ambushed and your horse runs off so you have to follow them ON FOOT. which is fine and you do eventually catch up and perform a good deed to get yourself wormed into the group so all is good right?

WRONG AGAIN!!!! the direction you're heading you need to cross a bridge to avoid fighting but UH OH looks like the fighting is already on the bridge!! DOUBLE UH OH, obviously the fighting is the north vs. nilfgaard so now you have to willingly and openly betray the army you served in while literally recognizing some of the people fighting for their side during the fight. then you somehow get enlisted into the rivian army and become the only person in the entire war to have fought on both sides and also deserted from both sides.

right but NOW you're definitely in the clear right???? WRONG AGAIN your gang has another member now but the initial guy who hated you because you were under orders to kidnap his daughter is trying to accuse you of betraying the group somehow and you literally beat the shit out of eachother to the point you have to get physically pulled apart. but at least that dynamic is settled now. so you go on and do some more shit and it seems like it's going to be fine

BUT ACTUALLY then you get a severe head wound that means you have to stay back and get care from the same guy who was going to beat the shit out of you and you're just there in a cave delirious for a few days saying whatever shit pops into your head and then suddenly another member of your group shows up and then the first guy just vanishes so the two of you have to meet up with the rest of the group alone and on your 1 shitty horse that you had with you but AT LEAST WE'RE OKAY NOW RIGHT?

NO!!!! because you have to stop in touissant which seems super nice at first but almost immediately it sucks because you're constantly hounded for attention by people you don't like and it's very clear this whole situation is just a trap and it takes ALL WINTER to leave touissant and you're miserable the entire time and anyway then you fucking trudge through a massive blizzard towards your ultimate goal and it's like woah surely now that we've all made it to this place we need to be at things will be okay right WELL THINK AGAIN BECAUSE YOU FUCKING DIE

and thats not even it either because you spent your entire life telling people actually youre not a nilfgaardian youre actually from vicovaro and then when people talk about you posthumously they literally only call you the nilfgaardian in the hansa, and then all 3 of the alive members of the group collectively forget the group ever existed rip forever cahir never gets a single moment of peace

[boundlss]

i don't think we've considered how funny it is that cahir is the only character in all of the witcher to have served in both nilfgaard's army and an army in the north during the same war.

[boundlss]

sorry guys past midnight it always turns into cahir hours. i think people tend to overlook the fact that cahir never catches a break even one time during all of the books

he goes to his first ever battle in cintra and gets traumatized then fails to do what he was sent there for and gets locked up in prison for over a year. then the emperor lets him out of prison and he fails to do the exact same thing again so he takes refuge with the scoia'tael unit that accompanied him but he's been plagued by scary prophetic dreams and also the knowledge that returning means execution so he's constantly losing it and the elves he is with shove him in a coffin and try and sell him back to nilfgaard. he's saved by geralt dandelion and milva but then they tell him to fuck off (understandable because he was trying to kidnap geralt's daughter on orders of the emperor) but instead of fucking off he just rides behind them at a huge distance. but then he gets attacked and his horse runs off but the rest of the party still has horses so he's just walking after them on foot. then he actually does join and journey with the party and geralt still hates him. they get to the yaruga and cahir has to fight against his own men some of whom he knows personally. then hes made a knight of the OPPOSITE SIDE for like 2 weeks before they desert. then he gets a really nasty fucking head wound that means he and geralt have to spend several nights in a cave while cahir very well may fucking die. then regis arrives and geralt literally fucks off to a different cave somewhere so cahir and regis have to go to touissant alone. touissant is fine i guess but all these women keep hitting on cahir and he does not like them even a little bit. then he gets to reconcile with the woman he tried to kidnap under threat of death and earn forgiveness but he literally dies 2 seconds later

[boundlss]

cahir/ciri is not welcome here but thinking about ciri and cahir's complex history in terms of cahir's free will because even when he is making his own choices for his own sake they always ALWAYS revolve around another person and cahir will never be truly free but at least he is acting on his own command and his own accord over just this one thing.

[boundlss]

what’s your underlying motif? [MUSE: Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach]

the home. whether it’s your warm embrace, your unwavering reliability, your smile that says “welcome back”, your motif is the home. your the equivalent to coming out of the rain to the fire on and your slippers waiting by the door. your uncanny way of making people feel alright, you’re treasured in these trying times. i respectfully request you take care of yourself, the world will never been as kind to you as you are to it. anne lammott said “lighthouses don't go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining” and though unconventional, lighthouses are inhabited and your cup runs over with generosity. because you probably don’t hear it enough, thank you.

tagged by: @vanbredevoort ( thank you! )

tagging: @futurecomposed , @eccedentesian ( or whichever blog you'd like to do it on! ), and anyone else who would like to!

[boundlss]

we are here to make you think about death and get sad and stuff. (for cahir bc i'm that funny)

"How comforting," Cahir responds, a general middle ground between polite, dry, and awkward. He's never known well how to interact with his elders, especially when those elders are sorceresses---his Aunt Assire had only ever visited once, and Cahir had been much younger and far more unrestrained back then.

Now, with the propriety of a Count and the rigidity of a soldier in his repertoire, Cahir isn't sure which of those is more appropriate.

"But I am a soldier," he replies, after some hesitation. "It does me no good to think about any death but the death of my enemy. If I should start wondering if I'll die, I'll hesitate and get myself killed."

It's a sincere, straightforward answer. Such things are few and far between in Nilfgaard and its vassal states, but Cahir knows nothing better. He's not experienced with the circles the other nobles talk themselves through, nor does he understand the benefit of lying or withholding.

"... Forget I asked," Cahir thinks to tack on, "please. As a soldier, it was improper of me to speak to you like this at all."

But, of course, a Count would have done far worse.

scott pilgrim. / accepting.

[boundlss]

never talk to me about what the netflix witcher did to cahir because where did my young man who was raised to think only of the glory and righteous fury behind warfare only to realize in his first proper battle that the other side is just as young and human as himself go. huh. where did the slow transition from "i'm not a nilfgaardian because nilfgaard does not give usurped kingdoms citizenship" to "i'm not a nilfgaardian because i care about my own identity and my own country more than i will ever care about nilfgaard's rule of it" go. HUH.

[boundlss]

"i had it under control." for cahir? :>

"So you did."

Cahir nods stiffly, fighting the instinctual urge to withdraw from Geralt. Speaking to him sometimes feels like when he had attended functions in Vicovaro as a child---not knowing at all what the right thing to say or do was, and worrying constantly that he might offend with the smallest misstep. At least here, Cahir has no further ruination to fear, and the worst Geralt might do to him is attack him.

In any case, it's hard not to be annoyed with Geralt when he falls back into his general insistence on independence, though Cahir understands that Geralt doesn't hate him for nothing. Still, that annoyance makes it easier for Cahir to stand his ground.

"I must apologize for my quick action, then. You only looked like you were stumbling through interactions with these fine people without your ever-present leech," Cahir's nose wrinkles at the thought of Fringilla Vigo, "directing them for you. I only thought you might like assistance escaping the conversation from someone well-versed in southern diplomacy, but I see now that I was wrong. In the future, I'll be sure to leave you alone."

dialogue prompts. / accepting.