Of Monsters and Men

Derrick's eyes flicked over to Treasa and he frowned, putting down his blades and fixing her with an irritated gaze.
"What is your problem?" Derrick called after her. "Ever since we met, you've been at my throat for no reason. I've done nothing to you. I've made no advances, and all I've done is joke and try to lighten the mood after a mass slaughter. We could all do with something a little lighter in our hearts I think. So why are you going after me?" He glanced over at Alastar and jerked his head towards Treasa.
"Have you got any idea what her issue is Alastar? Is she always like this?" He showed no signs of stopping there. "Have we met before? Have I wronged you somehow? Something other than breathing, that is? Please, enlighten me, I'm afraid I don't quite understand. If you wanted me to leave you alone you could just say so, instead of being a goddamned unbearable b*tch to somebody you don't know, and have only just met!" It had been a long day, a day where his temper had been called upon time and time again. A day of loss, sadness and frustration. Her behaviour was the final straw which prompted his outburst. Was it really too much to ask to have good company, and some peace? Was it really too much to ask not to be an environment of tension and hatred? Alastar was alright, he was a funny guy and they could get along, but her behaviour was simply inexplicable and completely unjustified. He couldn't remember having ever met her. Was it a friend of hers? Derrick was at a loss. ​

 

​

Treasa halted in her stride, her hands gripping her bow tightly. "You and him." She jerked her head in Veceslav's direction. "You men. You're all the same." Her voice trembled with rage, but it wasn't enough to cloud her judgement. Not quite anyway. "You think we're just something to obtain, something to brag about. I wonder what happens when someone says no to you." She whipped around, her hair flying away from her face as her eyes became bright with anger. "Do you just take that as a challenge? Something else to brag about?" She was fairly screaming the last few words, memories dredging their way to the surface, memories she had neither time or desire to deal with.

Perhaps she hadn't been fair to him. Perhaps she had judged him too much. It didn't matter, her own pride demanded that she refuse to apologize.

"Don't wait up for me." She spat, turning around and walking quickly away. She only broke into a run once she reached the other side of the hill, where no one could see her. She kept running until she reached the very edge of the forest, where she slowed, drew her bow, and shot. The arrow was true, and found its mark in the tree trunk. She walked forward and yanked it out, gripping the shaft so tightly her nails began to dig into her palm.

Fuck making arrows. She stalked back to where she had previously stood, drew the arrow, and shot without aiming. This time, she didn't stop, pulling back the bowstring time after time, releasing each arrow with a satisfying twang followed by the thud of the arrowhead burying itself in the tree. It was just enough to keep her from feeling the pain that the anger covered and enough to distract her from completely realizing she had let Alastar out of her sight. That panic would keep, right now she needed to make this tree into a pin cushion.

​

Veera jerked awake when Treasa started screaming, then stared. It was clear the girl was upset, but to exactly what, she didn't have a clue. Veera raised herself onto her elbows and watched as the girl stormed off. She tensed, ready to jump up and defend Derrick if need be from the rage of Treasa's uncle, but otherwise she was quite content where she was.

​

Zack was helping put together a table. He brushed the sweat from his face and stared at the burning city. It would probably smolder for days. In the meantime, his constant goal was to get his people somewhere safe. They couldn't fortify this area very well, and without a good form of protection they were sitting ducks for whatever decided to pick them off first; the king's army or bandits or disease.

We need to get somewhere safe. But where? He doubted Archon would be very pleased at what had happened. Or perhaps he was. It hadn't gone unnoticed that the city guard had simply stood down when Z-Bryce's forces had overwhelmed the city.

"Oy!" The shout drew his attention from his task, and he got to his feet, brushing the dirt off his knees as a small boy came running towards him. Zack followed the lad back to the boundries of the camp, where, speak of the devil, half the city guard stood. Some of them had weapons drawn, others simply looked as though they were in shock.

"Please." The leader, probably the captain, was begging one of the guards. "Please let us come. We can help defen-"

"Like you did our city." The doppler snarled, his pike at the ready to stab the captain. "Like you did our people."

Zack laid a hand on the angry doppler's shoulder, staring at the captain with hard eyes.
"He's right. We needed you, and you abandoned us just as much as every other citizen."

There were women, and children, some of whom were crying, carrying stuffed animals. Some families wore the faces of grief and shock, clearly the victims of loss.
"Come with me. You and only you. I will allow our healers to treat your people, but they stay out here until we come to a consensus."

The captain nodded, relief smoothing his features as he spoke quietly to his men and stepped forward. Zack did the same, but headed towards the quieter side of the camp as the boy who had fetched him went to do the same to the healers.

"Now, you will explain to me what has happened, and why?" Zack turned to face the man, arms crossed across his chest.

​

She murmured in her sleep, her unconscious mind supplying her with both happy memories and terrors from the past in equilibrium. Her hand loosened its grip on Seth's, then tightened when her fingers slipped from his. In a flash, her eyes had opened, but they were met with a far more welcome sight then her tired mind had suspected. Instead of empty air, Seth's resting face greeted her. She smiled, wiggling in closer until her face was pressed into his chest, his chin resting on her head.

Slowly wrapping her arms around him, moving carefully so as not to wake him, she shut her eyes and drifted back, this time to a much happier place.

 

​

Kruez casually shrugged his shoulders at Tatiana's comment. Even if he did leave, there was still the issue of his not knowing what to do and thus being bored once more. Probably wouldn't be an issue if he was better at planning things ahead and didn't just with the flow. Oh well, it was the lifestyle he had chosen. Once Tatiana was ready, the mage had simply followed behind Tatiana. "Now if I were some random person that happened to be here, where would I be?"

Despite Terra's words, Sweallow still felt somewhat bad about his actions. Regardless he said no more on the matter. Instead he listened to her question and pondered on his answer. "While I have never been married, I can say that there was someone caught my fancy (now there's an expression I never thought I'd use)." In fact, said someone was another key part in his decision to help save lives instead of take them, however that was quite some time ago.

​

As the medics finished attending to his wound, replacing the makeshift bandage with a actual one as well as treating it, Zephyr gave a quick wave as Ana motioned towards him while talking with her friend. He made sure to keep the name of the one who had injured him in mind. It would definitely be a good idea to keep that in mind. Once again he heard his name mentioned, this time it was followed by the suggestion of him joining them for training. Normally Zephyr would've objected and said that he could handle himself, but in lew of recent events he couldn't really say that with very much confidence. When he did choose to speak, Vyle had kissed Ana to which Zephyr simply looked away to give them some form of privacy.

 

Ethan's pov:



He was walking on the streets of Novigrad that it seemed to be getting dark. He would have to find a place to stay for the night and then head back to the village of Pontarsfork in the morning. He continued to walk around not really finding any place that he wanted to stay. There was always, the sorcerer's building, but he wanted to stay as far away from there as possible, after the crazy sorcerer attacked him, because they wanted his sword. Not really finding anywhere he wanted to stay he thought might just give up and just portal away.


Olivia's pov:



Now out of the city of Oxenfurt, she was ready for what might come. It was getting dark and she did not fancy staying in the woods by herself. She would have to get going until she got back to Kaer. It seemed like it was going to be a nice night out tonight, but one was never that sure. Looking out she could Just see the edge of a near by forest. The mountains of the land sparkled in the night sky. She was ready to go home. "Ready to go home?", she asked her horse. She slightly wondered where everyone was. Did they just leave her or did they not come in the first place? Whatever the reason she was sure that they had some dumb reason why they did not find her.


Will's pov:



William, should have probably gave up hours ago, but that was not going to happen. He had a quest to do and he was not just going to give up, just because there was no sign. Maybe he should pick up looking in the morning. Really he was not finding anyone. After all this time he was beginning to think that the person he was looking for was dead. They had fight he was sure of it. He did not think that they would go down that easy. Fight on, Fight on. Never give up. Never give up fight for the dream you hold near. He would find them if it was the last thing he did.

 

Darick's pov:

The sounds of outside seemed to reducing, and perhaps the fighting outside had finished, but he didn't know for sure. He had finally found someone to look over the place while he was gone but had no reason to leave right now.

Evan's pov:

He started walking in a random direction, perhaps he would find a town or something soon. The place he had found had nothing and so he had to find adventure somewhere else.

 

"Who needs Precision when things start dying when you hit them, as for the top heavy balance that's just something you'll get used to." Alastar said, he doubted Derrick had known how to use a sword from day 1 or felt the balance was accurate, it was always a case of getting used to. "You got a bloody brand now? By Melitele, what happened to keeping it simple and just being a witcher?" Alastar asked "It's not about what women think is cool, sure the company is nice sometimes, I'll give ya that but if me using Axes keeps most of them away, fine by me. I like my nice and quiet however hard to believe that is." Alastar explained.

Treasa was on her way out firing some shots at him and he knew this was going south quickly after. Derrick had lost his **** as Treasa escalated even further and Alastar merely sighed. Derrick had asked him if he knew what her issue was and well he knew, it hadn't been the first time this had happened, he figured it was some left-over trauma from the incident that lead her to find her way to him. "There's been an incident in the past, ever since she isn't the best in dealing with men who have a reputation of sleeping around." Alastar said simply. He didn't know why she accused the Crow though, he hadn't heard of him sleeping around a lot like which was the case with Derrick, but still he was being accused. "Now if you'll excuse me, I got something to take care off. And you do too." He refered to having to calm the **** day.

Alastar stood up, he had seen Veera was awake again, the Crow was still out cold damn the old man was real tired then. He went after Treasa, not asfast as the girl bolted, but he did go after her, just to make sure she wasn't gonna break someone's leg again. He deliberately didn't go after her at full speed just to give her some time to sit down and cool down. When he did finally catch up to her he found her firing arrows into a tree, he merely sat down in the grass and watched her fire them into the innocent tree. He hadn't been silent, she knew he was there, he was physicly incapable of being silent, just because his footfalls were heavy. He'd just let her go at it for now. He knew she had been unreasonable. ​

 

Ellyn suppressed the urge to go to Matilda to take a closer look at her face, and look for other wounds that weren't immediately visible. Instead however, she stood rock still and turned a cool gaze to Ardal. “What happened to her?” she asked in a dangerously light tone. There was the possibility that this man was responsible, but she didn't think so. Matilda addressed him familiarly, and she seemed to have been made comfortable enough in the tent. A misgiving reminded her though that while on the surface a relationship might seem safe, abuse could be frequent and brutal.
Ellyn's deep brown eyes assessed Ardal. Was he a kind, gentle man helping a young woman who needed it, or a slithering rat doing his best to hide the truth, and use her to further his own fortune?


Evander just barely managed to keep up with Adolin and Alanna, stumbling along rather than walking, once falling to his knees but pushing himself up with a snarl and a glare at his two companions that said he didn't want help. He didn't exactly expect them to help him, but it payed to make his feelings clear. I don't need your fucking sympathy!

 

​

Vyle caught himself smiling as Ana embraced him, but it was a sad smile. Something had changed in her since the witch hunter incident. Nevertheless, she was still Ana. "I..." he began to speak, but the words caught in his throat momentarily. Coughing subtly he returned the stern expression to his face "I won't" he stood there a moment longer, just staring at her "There... there is a part of me that I fear. The part that needs to feed, the ferocious, vicious part that you saw when I saved you, the part that keeps me going when times are desperate. And I hide it, but with it so too are hidden the other emotions... I guess what I'm trying to say is... it's... it's difficult to hide so much when I'm around you" he said carefully, each word calculated. "On a different subject... I believe I still owe Derrick of Kaedwen a debt. Shall we go find the witchers?" he turned to the mage "You want to come along too?"

The first victim fell down at the edge of the village after battling the wasting disease. With his last few moments he looked up to the sky... and saw it blotted by a shadow "Welcome to death. Please enjoy your stay"
"Are you the Grim Reaper?" the peasant asked. Solomon laughed at that as though he'd heard a brilliant joke
"You wish!" he said with a smile. In that moment of horror the man died. "Now, rise and become the bearer of my plague"

The journey was boring, mages made the worst conversation. But eventually, after riding through rocky crags and winding paths, they arrived at Crow's Perch. Formerly owned by Lord Ethilis, now owned by witch hunters, who had quite the statement nailed to the front gate.
"Disgusting" stated her male companion as he looked at the body with disdain. Guards were stationed at the gate of course. Willow hung back as Lord Bramwell walked ahead, with several of his own guards behind him "Good evening" the mage greeted "I am Lord Bramwell, an emissary from his Royal Highness King Archon Dragoncrest, Supreme Ruler of Redania" Bramwell explained, looking down on the witch hunters "May I meet your master?"

Meanwhile, Willow had snuck off the coach without anyone noticing and changed back to her normal form, waiting hidden by the side of the road for the events to unfold.

​

At that moment, Kyle was patrolling the gates of Novigrad to scour for dopplers, as their glorious leader had commanded. A group approached and a pair of guards blocked their way. It seemed to consist of a man, a woman, and a witcher.
"Hold there" Kyle instructed. He looked to one of the guards, who grunted and felt for the hidden medallion. It was vibrating wildly at this group. Kyle narrowed his eyes at them "You're either dopplers or mages, or worse. I don't know if you've heard but King Archon Dragoncrest (praise be his name) has commanded a total culling of dopplers in Redania after the events that unfolded at Oxenfurt. However, if you are mages we would gladly let you pass" he stared with hatred at the group, waiting for them to respond. He subtly signalled for guards with crossbows to back him up.

"Annabelle" Archon stated coldly "I am disappointed" Violet had brought his young daughter to him and told him what happened, before retreating to the side of the room to guard her king "Did I not tell you to stay in your room? And what did you do?"

 

​

Treasa ignored her uncle's presence and kept firing, arrow after arrow hitting the tree. Her eyes blurred with tears, but she ignored them, letting them fall down her cheeks as she raised the bow, the feathers brushing past her cheek as she let the last one go. It flew wide and disappeared into the forest, leaving only a damage girl behind. She wiped her cheeks on her sleeve, using all the curses she knew to blast all men of every color and race. Her anger was misplaced onto them, because she was unable to admit that it was herself she hated. Being too weak, being too afraid, she could have stopped it, could have changed it.

Treasa stormed up to the tree, yanking out her missiles, and breaking more then one in her anger. "I'm not apologizing." She stated, her voice ringing back towards Alastar.

"And I'm not taking back what I said." She whipped around, the wind tugging her hair away from her tear stained face. "It's true, and you know it. He would know it, if he wasn't so arrogant. It's because of men like him that they....that I...." She gritted her teeth and rubbed her eyes. "I'm so tired, uncle." Her tone indicated the exhaustion wasn't physical. "I'm so tired of having to watch over my shoulder, of being stared at like I'm a piece of meat, of having to wonder whether the man I'm talking to is actually talking to me, or if he's too busy wondering what's underneath the armor."

Why can't this be easier? "I....I'm lost, uncle." She sighed. "I should have died in that house."

 

Alastar merely watched Treasa rage on as the tree took the assault like a champ. "Didn't think you would and I'm not asking that Treas." Alastar said his voice gentle. Her face was stained with tears. "Hush, Treasa, it's alright." He said as he got up and folded his arms around the girl for a moment, letting go when she did. "No, my dear girl, you shouldn't have, you made it out because your will to live was strong enough. Men like him are only the vocal minority, most peasants especially in the smaller villages have a sense of decency. You've seen it for yourself, remember Oreton?" He asked her "And Treas the men that did that to you are all not part of this world anymore." He knew where she kept the dagger and grasped it, the blade in his fist, holding it hilt out to her it was her reminder of strength. "Treas, I know it ain't much, but I'm always watching over you. You know maybe you should talk to Veera, maybe she can help you." He wasn't the best for dealing with these issues, though he always tried to make the effort to help her.

Sigmund's face showed a friendly smile when Matilda explained why Gregory was there and apologised for the fuss he was making and said it was alright, it was to be expected. Sigmund went upstairs and softly pushed the door of the guestroom open, he found his guests sleeping in each other's arms. Ah young love... he remembered his younger days, from an age long past. He decided the wounds were to be looked at immediatly, since it had already been too long because of their journey. He silently closed the door again and went back down to go get Matilda, then back up again and knocked loud enough to wake his guests up. "Seth, Tessa, there is a doctor here to look at your injuries." He waited for either of them to open the door eventhough it was his own house.

The Witchhunters eyed Lord Bramwell "We know who you are, no need for all that crap of yours. You were expected follow me." One of them said as he lead them through the gate, small village, another gate and into the keep where the new ruler of Crow's Perch sat in front of his fireplace, he had sent out men to riled up more and more of the surrounding villages, despite Archon's Doppler culling they would not be denied. As Villagers kept on flocking to his banner. "Spit it out and cut the crap." Milosh stated not caring who was in front of him, eventhough he knew full well.​

 

​

Treasa sighed. "I suppose we have to go back there, don't we?" She scuffed the dirt with her boot before sighing again. "Fine, uncle. I'll talk to the legendary Veera and see if she can help me overcome my insidious hate of all things with phallic parts." Her attempt at humor only partly failed, and she leaned down to grab up the broken shafts of her arrows, as well as some new branches.

"I did say I was coming out here for wood, after all." She muttered rebelliously, following Alastar back to the camp with her arms full. Instead of going to Veera, she chose a spot a little ways away from the group, well within sight and sound, but enough that she didn't feel threatened. Not that she should feel threatened, but it seemed her uncle was determined to stay with this group for a short while, and she? She would just have to do her part to try and keep the peace. If that meant remaining over here, she could handle it. She didn't look at Derrick, or Veera, or Veceslav as she sat down, letting the wood fall beside her and pulling a knife out of her belt, before she began the time consuming process of turning the wood into shafts for her arrows.

In time, the worries of the world around her would melt away, and she wouldn't have to think about any of it. Her past, the present, or the ever looming future. None of it mattered in the face of carving enough arrows to drive through her enemies.

​

Veera sat up, rubbing her eyes as she watched Alastar go after Treasa. "Oh, the woes of being a teenage girl." She muttered, pulling off her armor piece by piece to inspect it. Veceslav was still out cold, and she cast a worried glance at the older man before shifting back to the task at hand. She could deal with a bit more sleep, but it seemed more prudent to keep her eyes open and watchful to make sure the girl didn't stab Derrick in his own sleep.

"What'd you do to her? Sleep with her mum?" Veera asked Derrick quietly, without humor or sarcasm. "Or did you finally refuse a girl and she didn't take it well?" She could see either way happening, but without having been awake for what was probably most of the argument, she was leaning towards Derrick being the wronged one. If it was truly the former, then they would have to handle it. If it was the latter, she could honestly saw she was proud of the younger witcher, but given the day they had, she wouldn't have been surprised.

The damage to her armor had been massive, beyond what she could fix herself, and she sighed, before placing it to the side and examining her weapons. They were dented and scratched, but it seemed...more so then they should have been. Veera examined them intently, her lips pressing into a thin line. Had she done something with her silver sword to ruin it so? The headache began to return slowly, and she looked away. Another lost memory, then.

​

Ana smiled a little, letting go of the vampire to stand back. She squeezed his hand once before letting go, hoping that it conveyed to him that she understood. She might not be the same brave woman she had been before, but she was still herself. Hopefully, with enough time, she would recover who she had been. She didn't want to be scared of every shadow forever. But Milosh's voice whispered in her ear and she shivered, her arms wrapping around herself as she watched Zephyr. The witch hunter's doings would haunt her for some time yet. She flushed a little, realizing she had completely forgotten Zephyr was there when Vyle had kissed her. She had completely forgotten everything when Vyle had kissed her, and she couldn't complain.

Maybe, when they found some time alone, she would pull him aside and tell him...No. No one but she needed to know what she had gone through. If Vyle was there to calm her down, then that was all that mattered. And he had promised he wouldn't leave her. She smiled to herself before turning the same expression to Zephyr. "You'll be safer with us then you would be on your own." She murmured. "But if you want to stay here with the dopplers, I won't blame you."

​

Tessa murmured at the sound of knocking and pressed her face back into Seth's chest, her voice mumbling incoherently. She was warm, comfortable, safe. Why would she want to leave this for the outside world? It was good here. Bad there. Yeah, good here. She smiled, wrapping her arms tightly around Seth as she dozed, a small part of her wanting to get up to see what Sigmund wanted, but the larger part staying right there where Seth was. If it was important, Sigmund would open the door.

​

 

Apparently he'd poked the hornet's nest now, revealing a host of issues that he had no way of possibly knowing. He blinked a couple of times in surprise, not expecting to hear what he was hearing. Her judgement was unfair. To some extent, he knew that he deserved his reputation but for Veceslav? No. He was about as genuine as they came when it came to people. He disagreed with some of her conclusions, at least about his own personal views. Sometimes, perhaps it was like that. Sometimes it was a challenge, a game and then that was that. And sometimes people played along with that, and that was when it was the most fun. For the most part, Derrick considered most of his escapades not for any feeling of possession or manly pride, but simply for the love of the activity. He wasn't ashamed of what he had done, but he did think that her judgements were unfair, especially considering that she had no real understanding of his reasons, or the opinions of the people involved.

The Witcher lay back on the grass and placed his hands behind his head, looking up at the sky. He heard Veera speak all of a sudden. He didn't adjust his position to speak.
"I wish it was that simple." Derrick replied. "Apparently she just hates all things male. If she had an issue with me, I could even understand that to an extent - If I had hit on her, which I hadn't. But no, she judged me, though I see how she came to that conclusion, but I don't get her issue with Vec. She really is just a hateful person. Guessing something awful happened to her that made her hate men so much. Makes you wonder though, why does she wander around with a male Witcher, and a beast of a man at that, if she hates us males so much?"




Adolin cursed under his breath and gritted his teeth as the guards approached. It was irritating, but they might be able to get through. In theory, he'd be able to lie through his teeth but if he couldn't, Evander and Alanna the two mages were going to have to provide some assistance. Damn it, Bryce you stupid *******. You've made everyone's lives harder. Should have become Carrak of Cintra before coming in here. It was stupid to walk in here with my real face.
"I'm a Witcher, Bonhart of Metinna. Come up from the South in search of work. The city has a Doppler problem?" He inquired. Perfect. If I can pull this off, I might able to fool them into thinking I need some 'work'.
"Alanna Tanette, sorceress. I was travelling with my companion," Alanna gestured to Evander. "When we met the Witcher on the road. He offered to accompany us here." Most city guards wouldn't think to ask any further than this. We should be in the clear. If this goes wrong, I'll put up a protective field and let Adolin handle the cutting them to pieces. Standard plan of action.



Ardal's face looked genuinely grim when Ellyn posited the question.
"It's an army camp. She went out to fetch some water one night... Only managed to intervene because she screamed and one of my men heard." He explained, folding his arms seriously and looking at the knight. "We ran over and she was being... Attacked. She got bruised up badly, but we managed to run off the whoresons responsible before anything happened." He took care not to give anything more specific. Her brother Gordon didn't look like the sharpest tool in the shed, and he looked young. He didn't want to disturb the poor boy, ignorant of the world.
"If you want to visit the ones responsible, you'll have to go to the nearest hangman's post. The boys and I had them strung up." Ardal looked at Matilda. "You don't attack one of our own, even if she's not officially. She is to me and my lads."​

 

​

Ellyn watched Ardal closely as he gave his explanation for Matilda's bruises. He seemed to be telling the truth, and in general a good man on first impressions. She decided that she believed him. “I'm glad you've already punished the perpetrators, Ardal,” she nodded thankfully to the soldier.
She then drew a little closer to Matilda, squatting down to be closer to eye level with the girl. “I'm sure you realize that it's not a coincidence that I'm here with your brother, Matilda. Your family is worried about you. Why did you leave without saying something?”

​

With a snarl, Evander pushed himself to the front of the small group, placing himself a step away from the guard. “They want fucking proof, obviously,” he growled at Alanna. His glare swung over to the guard, Kyle, and he held his upturned palm to his face. In it rested a small pebble. “You watching?” he demanded, not waiting for a response.
Concentrating with all that he had, he closed his fingers firmly on the pebble, and with just barely a finger hold on a trickle of what power he could summon, he forced the tiny unseen fissures in the small stone apart, breaking it into ever smaller pieces, until there was nothing but dust when he opened his fist again.
The small pile Evander now held out was an utterly pathetic display of his magic, but at this current time the mage was surprised he was even still standing at this point. There had been a good chance that he would have failed to grasp anything, and would have been left awkwardly standing in front of a jumpy guard with an untouched pebble in his hand. That said, he felt like he was about to collapse. He just managed to stop himself from swaying.
Evander glared even harder at Kyle. “The next person that get in my way, that'll be their head," he stated, tossing the dust to the side. “I need a fucking drink!”

 

​

Veera threw one of her gauntlets at Derrick, slow enough that he could catch it easily. "You should open your eyes more often, it helps to see things more clearly." She commented before going back to working on getting the kinks, or what she could, out of her swords. The silver one would have to be replaced after all. "Have you noticed the way she keeps her uncle out of the corner of her eye? She did mention he was her uncle, by the way." She graced her comrade with a small smile. "I would guess he's all she has left in this world, and if something terrible did happen to her, as you suggest, then it's not a surprise that she sticks so close to him."

"Besides..." she flexed her fingers, working out the cramps before resuming her work with the sharpening stone. "She's probably just pushing you two," she jerked her head at Veceslav, "away, before you can hurt her. I did that too, remember?" She lowered her voice as Treasa returned, the girl's arms full of wood. She sat apart from both of them, clearly ostracizing herself from the group.

Veera raised her eyebrows at Derrick, and then lowered her head.

 

"Well only to say we're leaving at the very least." Alastar said as Treasa did agree with him to try and talk to Veera and he chuckled at her remark of her insidious hate of all things man, well nearly all things, he was an exception to the rule but only because he was her Uncle atleast that's what he thought was the case. Alastar had gone back while Treasa grabbed some wood to make new arrows, while he was here he decided to grab some wood, liking the idea of setting something on fire right now, a fire was just so homely so he dragged bag some wood and without paying too much attention to the conversation that went on and discussed him. So he was a beast then? Wow not scoring any points there Derrick he merely thought. Veera seemed to be more observant and have figured out part of the deal with him and Treasa, well right now it hardly mattered as Alastar built himself a fire.

When he was done and the flames were blazing he looked at the Crow who was still out cold, just to be sure he watched more closely and he still saw the old man's chest move as he breathed, nothing to worry about. The witcher sat down by his fire. "You're not exactly wrong, Veera" Alastar admitted "Something did happen, not going to explain since it doesn't matter anyways. It happened, nothing to be done about it anymore." Alastar had caught her saying that she was just pushing people away before they hurt her, like she apparantly had done herself. "I may not have an as pretty face as you, Derrick, but that doesn't mean I am a beast. I may fight differently from you, doesn't mean I'm a beast. So tell me what makes me a beast in your eyes?" He left out a remark regarding Derrick's vanity, no need to throw more oil on the fire. "Say, does the Crow always sleep that peacefully?" Alastar asked Veera, as he looked at her he saw the damage to her armour. These three had been through hell and had come back. He ignored the earlier comment about Derrick wondering about Olivia, after all if she were a witcher as he had claimed she'd be fine.​

 

"Yeah, I guess I should have been paying more attention. It's been a long day, you know." Long two days, but you wouldn't remember anything about that, would you? "Well, I hope that she winds up alright. It's hard for some people to believe, but I do actually give a sh*t when something bad happens to someone." And of course, trouble arrived. This time, not Treasa, but her Uncle who apparently had as much of a short fuse. He sat up, now irritated and twigged his shoulder. He cursed, feeling something warm on his shoulder. I ripped the f*cking wound open again. For f*cks sake. He got to his feet, his peace now well and truly disturbed and strode right for his horse.
"For f*cks sake I was talking about the fact that you're a walking f*cking mammoth. Your crazy niece hating the sh*t out of me for no fault of my own is one thing, but now you're getting pissy? To hell with this!" Derrick strapped all of his things to the horse's saddle. It was impossible to get a break with these people. "This is f*cking stupid. It's been a rough couple of days, you know? I wanted a break, but look at all of this sh*t! I've got you on my case now, I've got this new slice of trouble, Aaron, basically a kid, died and the f*cker that did it waved his f*cking head at us, a massacre of innocent people just happened, one of our own is lost and might have gone the way of Aaron, and that is just f*cking today! Yesterday, mage kidnappers, friendly vampires and Veera tried to f*cking kill me!" He mounted the saddle and pulled out a strip of bandage and started to wind it around his shoulder which he'd torn anew and downed the second Swallow that Veceslav made him.
"They did a sh*t f*cking job with me! Some Witcher I am! They f*cked up, because unlike all of you, I'm cursed with actually giving a sh*t!" He looked down at everyone, and the rage in his eyes turned to tiredness, and exhaustion. "I'm f*cking tired. So much sh*t has happened, and you're all a bunch of cheery f*cking individuals. I'm going to Novigrad, I'll get a job and probably f*ck a few people along the way, because that's an awful lot better than here!" He started moving away slowly, his arm not feeling ready for the strain of a full gallop quite yet.




"Of course. She's here for a reason after all." Ardal replied. He sat down on the ground next to her and held her hand as she looked up at Ellyn to answer.
"Because they hate Nilfgaardians, they pretend not to care, but they do. They'd never let me go." She replied, tightening her grip on Ardal's hand and sitting up to speak. "I love Ardal, that's why I left. After they're done here, I want to go back to Nilfgaard. With him. Ma and Da would never have it. They want me to stay there and work that farm my whole life, to live there and be a good farmer's wife here in this village. And I'll marry some slob who hits me, have his kids and live in misery. I don't want that. I want something better." She spoke passionately, as if she had been wanting to say this for so long, but had never had the chance or will to say it. She put her head against the shoulder of the corporal who stroked the back of her hair to comfort her and calm her down. ​

 

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With his luck, he'd either get himself into trouble some way or trouble would find him. Neither options were all that appealing him, plus there was the matter of repaying Ana for the two times she'd basically saved his life. That may have been something that he and only he thought he needed to do, but he would do it if he actually could. "I go with you guys."

​

It would appear that Tatiana had an idea on where someone would be if there were here. That was helpful, now that they had a starting place to search. "Alright, lead the way then." Though she already did so even if he hadn't said anything.

"Her name was Katia." Sweallow answered, followed by chuckling at her guesses. "Nothing like that. You could say she was my inspiration for my decision to help others." Having a feeling that things weren't going to end with that answer, Sweallow started to recall his memories of her to be prepared for any further questioned.

Now at whatever bar Talon was currently at, a ruckus was started to begin. Something that was surprisingly easy for one individual given how drunk the person he was interacting with was. This particular person was quite drunk and quick to anger if one could press the right buttons. Turns out it wasn't all that hard to do something.

"I dare you to said that again punk!"

Instead of a immediate response to the fuming drunk, Xross smirked. "As you wish." Taking a moment to clear his throat, Xross spoke once more. "I could easily beat a muscle bound idiot such as yourself. Happy now?" If the look on the man's face wasn't enough of an answer, then the visible vein on his forehead would be. The drunk quickly responds with a punch aimed towards Xross. Xross on the other hand avoided the fist by leaning back slightly as well as sticking his leg out.

Both these actions had lead to the man losing his balance as well as trip him into some other drunk. This lead to that one punching the due that had tripped as well as the original drunk punching him. This of course eventually lead to most people in the bar fighitng one another. Xross on the other hand, he just sat back and watched this all happened, his trademark smirk still plastered on his face.