Geralt's wandering through Novigrad. He doesn't do that often. No, he doesn't really care about the stares, but he doesn't exactly enjoy them either. It's inevitably tiring having people judge you for literally being alive sometimes. The streets are lively in the day, filled with merchants and civilians going about their day. Everywhere he goes, people keep at least two feet from him and maybe it should aggravate him, but it doesn't really. Not much at least.
"What is that man?" A young girl asks with round eyes. Round eyes, swimming in an ocean of innocence and curiosity. Geralt looks at the girl with a plain look. Please don't start crying he thinks to himself. He keeps walking down the street searching for somewhere to rest when the night falls, but tenses as a new voice replies to the girl. The sound of the voice does something strange to Geralt. Something that makes him have to stop and look.
"How dare you speak that way Avina? That man is a very respected one, for me at least, and you would do him great if you kept quiet" Geralt furrows his eyes at the response, lips parted slightly. For me at least. His piercing eyes are looking as curious as the young girl Avina's was, the words deluging his brain and colliding into suspicion.
Trust isn't an easy thing. It's not easy for anyone, but especially not for Geralt. Who in the world would say such things, if they weren't up to something? Only noble people; Royalty and folks who hired Witchers respects them. Others are terrified of what they don't know. Anything abnormal equals scary for such ordinary people.
Geralt questionably turns around to the source of the voice. A woman is sitting next to Avina, sharpening her arrows tip with a stone tool. A clinking sound whooshes every time she strokes the arrowhead, and her hands are looking beat up from the work. She's so intensely focused on her task, she doesn't even notice Geralt's presence.
"Valerie?" Avina asks, tugging at the woman's sleeve.
"Hm?" Valerie raises her brows at the girl, who points to Geralt with a trembling finger. Avina's hair is golden blond, braided into a delicate little braid. She's sitting with a book in her lap, legs dangling from the bench next to the wielder's shop.
Valerie raises her head to Geralt's direction, who's still looking as baffled as before. "Oh, hi" she says, then right after turning back to her beloved arrows.
Hi? Is that all? Is she just gonna say hi? Geralt grunts vaguely, luckily being covered by the sound of a bard being kicked out by Innkeeper who's shouting in complain.
"I think he's mad at you" Avina says, her mouth curling downwards with a bopping chin and those pure angel eyes squinting from the sun. Her one hand is still pointing to Geralt, the other one grasping the sleeve of Valerie's dress.
"Him? No no Avina, he's just confused because I didn't insult or throw something at him. Unfortunately that's what people do towards his kind" Valerie explains to Avina with an ever so soft voice, completely ignoring the lost Geralt standing in front of her.
"What is his kind?" Now Geralt's starting to wonder if he should say something or just leave. He decided to jump the gun, he doesn't want the woman to say something about him that's erroneous. Something that will scare her off.
"I'm a Witcher" He shifts uncomfortably on his feet. He's not good at communicating with kids, but that's because most of them just cry when they meet his gaze.
The sun is blossoming on the sky, and more and more people gathered on the streets. Merchants are now yelling from their shops, trying to draw as many customers in as possible. A baker is starting to argue with a citizen, accidentally sending clouds of flour through the air with his hand gestures.
"What's a Witcher?" Avina tilts her head, looking back and forth between Valerie and Geralt with a virtuous look. They exchange looks for a quick second, the exact same thoughts going through each of their minds.
"Oh all the questions you have.. you'll learn that when you grow older Avina" Valerie says, patting the girl on the head. "You better get back to your mom now, huh? I bet she's waiting for you" she caresses the girls cheek, before Avina hands the book to Valerie and leaves.
Valerie bites her lip, turning back to her very last arrow. "Ouch" she hisses, as she accidentally hits her finger on the stone tool. Geralt's still just observing her. He can't lie, her beauty is holy and Geralt isn't even religious. "Need anything else, Witcher?" she casts him a quick glance, sucking her thumb from the blood droplets with a squinting face.
"No" he turns around and leaves with a confusing and conflicted feeling weltering in his gut.
☆
Geralt doesn't get far from Valerie, when he's once again interrupted in his search for an overnight inn.
"Geralt? Is that really you? Of course it is, not many people look like uh- you know" the bugging voice of Jaskier sounds behind him. He clenches his fists lightly, not even turning to the bard. "Unbelievable! This must be another one of destiny's call; The bard and Witcher reunited for the.. uh third time" Jaskier rambles on, making dramatic hand gestures. Geralt narrows his eyes towards Jaskier who just sheepishly smiles back, following the now walking Geralt.
"What are you doing here in Novigrad? Any monsters lurking around the ravines?" Geralt doesn't reply, just keeps walking, knowing he won't get rid of Jaskier soon.
"I saw you talking to Valerie. Do you know her?" Geralt tenses, immediately stopping in his tracks. "Oh" Jaskier makes a baffled face, looking to Geralt, and then back to where Valerie is seated. "Did I.. do something?" his brows stitch together in utter confusion of the Witchers reaction.
Yes, you're still alive Geralt thinks, but he keeps his snarky comment to himself, not in the mood to deal with an offended Jaskier. "I frankly don't know what she does, Valerie. But i've met her many places in The Continent"
This one time Geralt is thankful of Jaskier's non-stop talking. The bard pulls his lute from his back and starts playing a melancholic melody.
"Oh mystery girl, Oh mystery girl.
I wonder who you are.
You roam around
You are not bound.
Geralt wants to-"
Jaskier gets cut off in his wonderful song, by Geralt growling "Will you be fucking quiet?" in an annoyed manner, slapping Jaskier's arm. Geralt walks a little faster in a foolish attempt to get rid of the bard that's now whining and clasping to his hurt arm.
"I think she made you mad, Geralt. You seem mad" Jaskier so greatly points out, waving his finger at Geralt who seems miles away now. A moment of silence befalls the duo while Jaskier catches up to the hurrying Witcher.
"So, where are you going now?" Jaskier asks, like a child following her mom.
"I don't know" Geralt mumbles, somehow hoping that his own anguish will come off on Jaskier, and he'' decide to turn around.
"Great! I'll come with ya!"
☆
She tugs her arrows into their leather quiver, and straps it around her torso. Fresh arrows for a fresh victims. She feels a twinge of guilt, thinking about Avina. That poor girl didn't know that Valerie was sharpening her arrows to kill a human, not a deer. She'll have to learn soon enough that the world is nowhere near the words 'fair' or 'easy' or else she will crack under the pressure. That's sadly how the world works.
Valerie's thoughts can't help but wander back to the Witcher. She's still amused by the look on his face, but also a dash of sadness settles in her. The world is especially cruel to some individuals. She has a boundless respect for Witchers, they after all do the same as her, just with disheartening and gruesome monsters that lives to kill.
She lives to kill as well. Does that not make her a monster?
Does that make him a monster?
Defining a word is troublesome;
A monster is said to be a large and frightening creature.
Valerie sure isn't that nor is Geralt.
But other people say that a monster is someone who does bad things.
Then it's time to define what bad things are. We can go on forever. Morality is something made up by humanity. Something to grasp onto when in doubt of your own or other peoples actions.
Just ask yourself 'Is it morally and ethically right to kill a man because he killed another persons wife? Is it morally correct to kill a human, the reason being money and revenge?'
Valerie's thrown morality out of the window a long time ago. The norms people decided to make are just pure bullshit according to her.
The Witcher.
She wonders what he would say. Who he would call a monster. She's so incredible intrigued by him, she just wasn't very good at showing it. She never is. It's all bottled up inside. It always is.
A. N.
Tysm for reading through this chapter .0.
I'm sorry the format of the gif's a little fucked in this, i'll fix it next time ;)
Tysm to starkIings for helping me out without something later out in the story hehe. If you have not followed or read any of her stuff yet, i'll send Geralt after you.
Ly, bye <3