The New Conjunction (a Witcher->Real World crossover)

[justmedk]

There was of course some residual sting left, but not much. It had been early the previous day when she'd gotten her tail warmed. And it was outshined by her exitement to get started. She giggled a little when he asked if she'd planned to cause trouble.

"Noo, not at all", she assured him, with a mild grin. "Just realized that it's been two days since I was to meet Renata, and I never did do that. Two days ago because that's when I..you know...found out. Yesterday because...well...you know that too", she said with a little bit of a blush, "So like...I hope she isn't mad at me or doesn't wanna pl...hang out with me anymore because of that", Ciri explained, more than a little nervous that this was actually the case.
When she was explained that it was too early for most people, she paused, then nodded, happy that she'd not rushed overthere like some kind of idiot, and made herself even more unpopular.
Though at the prospect of a phone, her eyes widened in delight. She'd seen these devices before, and wanted to try them out, but didn't know how they worked. And now she was about to learn!

She paid very close attention as he showed how the thing worked, and she was still meek enough after their "conversation" yesterday that she didn't protest when he placed a parental lock on the phone. There was even a bit of a warm feeling inside her, knowing that's the way he felt about her, even if only for this. She had to admit that she was starting to feel the same way about him as she did about Geralt. She nodded to his words about approving the apps she wanted to install. At the moment she wasn't too bothered by that. She didn't even really know what she had here. But she immediately opened the phone and looked around. She could obviously read the names, so when she found where it said "Messages", she remembered his suggestion about sending Renata a message and eagerly wrote a message asking if she wanted to hang out, and when.....and then paused.

"Uhm...Daniel?", she asked cautiously. "Once you've...written the message...how does this thing know where to send the message TO?"

[guesswho]

She picks it up quick. Daniel recalls the time when these things appeared To his shame, Ciri seems to pick it up faster than he did. It must be the age thing. And she's even smart enough to not argue about the lock and apps. He's fairly sure a quick reminder of yesterday would quickly suppress any issues, but it would be only for a short time.



"Yeah, that's...a problem, in this case. You still need to know the number of the other person. I think I have her parents somewhere, but not Renka herself. No worries, I'm sure she'll tell you. Just write it in the phone then, like this." Daniel adds his own number, so she can call him.



"Now, another very important part...timekeeping. It always shows you time, but you can also tell it to inform you at specific times. I'm sure it'll prove very beneficent to your sitting ability." After that little tease, Daniel shows her couple more functions. It's much more preferable than watching Ciri look at the clock whether it's already the time sane people go visit other sane people.


"Anyway, I think they should be up by now. Run along, and be back for lunch. Or let me know if you can't make it." Daniel says in the end, when he deems the time to visit her new friend to be acceptable...

[justmedk]

Ciri paid close attention when he added his number to the contacts, and then played around with it a little herself, adding people and numbers who didn't exist, only to delete them again once she had gotten the hang of it. Then she followed his demonstration of the other apps, like the one that tells time, and a few other things; unable to help hereself blush a bit when he gave that mild teasing comment about sitting. She chose to ignore it, because the ostrich method is obviously the best possible one, ever! Pretending nothing was said, even though she clearly knew that it was.



As soon as he said that it should be okay to go now, she was at the door with incredible speed. She'd heard him regarding being back for lunch - and made a mental note of it - but right now she just wanted to go see if she was still friends with Renata after having unexpectedly ditched her two days in a row. She tied her shoes, put on her jacket, and headed for her friend's house, all kinds of nightmare scenarios playing out in her head on the way there. Several imaginary conversations about how she could go plough herself because why would she be friends with someone who disappeared like that, etc.

So it was with some trepidation that she approached the house, and then she froze in place. Renata was there alright, but so were several other girls she hadn't met before. None of them seemed mean or anything, but...they were unknown factors, definitely


Just like Renata was about a week ago Geralt-of-her-mind said. She smiled. She'd missed Geralt-of-her-mind, in a way. The voice of reason in some senses.
So she cautiously moved forward, enough that they would be able to see her, but she didn't rush in like she belonged there. She left the reaction to her friend, hoping to the gods that things would be alright.

[guesswho]

And of course she runs off as soon as possible. Daniel shakes his head, but that was to be expected. With a smile, he goes about some housework.



An unexpected sight tears Renata away from her friends. Yesterday, she decided to let...whatever happened over there to cool down and maybe stop by later today, but Ciri came all by herself.



"Ooh, Ciri, how are you? I thought you wouldn't come!" She runs to hug her new friend and call her into their circle. "Girls, this is Ciri, she arrived last week and lives at the blacksmith's place!" She's a bit concerned whether to offer her a seat, but since she's supposed not to know anything, she does. And at least she'll find out how harshly did the blacksmith punish her. He hits iron all day long...or something. That must hurt.


"She draws reeaal good. And...you'll be in our class at school, right?" She has no idea how that one is going to work out, or to what school her uncle will send her, but maybe if she persuades her to persuade him...there's an air of mystery around Ciri, or at least she likes to imagine it.



"Oh, sorry, I didn't introduce the others..." She starts introducing other girls, her classmates and hopy Ciri's future classmates as well.

[justmedk]

When Ciri sees Renata come running, she smiles and hugs her tightly. She was so relieved! Having feared that she'd lost her only friend here, she sniffled a little as she embraced her.

"Hey...sorry about having been...like...quiet these past few days and not coming over a couple of days ago", she began. "It's been kinda....yeah, strange. But!", she began, then took out her new phone. "I got this! So now we can hang out even when we're not together!", she said with more enthusiasm and sense of wonder than a 13-year old really should feel nowadays. She asked Renata for her number, and when they'd exchanged numbers - which she had to have help with regarding finding out her own - Ciri headed over towards the others as Renata introduced them. She smiled a little bit shyly, but greeted the others, trying to do her best to commit faces and names to memory. When Renata praised her drawing, she blushed a little and told the others it was nothing really, but when pushed, they headed into Renata's house and found paper and pencils, after which they pressed her to draw something.


She relented, finally, and asked one of the others - Klara - to sit still so she could concentrate. And concentrate she did! She really had something to prove. It took the better part of an hour, but by the time she was finished, she was quite pleased with the results. She didn't know if the others would be though, so it was with some trepidation that she turned the paper around and showed them.

"What....what do you guys think?", she asked uncertainly.

A little bit later, the talk again came back to the subject of school. "M..my uncle", she began, knowing she had to stick to the cover story, "told me that I'll be going to school in the city. Is that where you're going as well?", she asked hopefully and looked at her friend and - hopefully - soon-to-be-friends. "And what can you tell me about the place?"

[guesswho]

The wait was worth it, and when Ciri shows the drawing, it is to the choir of awed voices, amazed at her drawing. The drawing passes around and in the end, Klara asks timidly if she could keep it, cause it's very pretty. But then talk comes to the city and their school.


"Oooh, I hope you'll go to the same school we do! Just...be careful around the math teacher, she's a real bitch." Voices go down to conspiratorial whisper, so the parents don't hear what they 're already well aware of. "But it's cool, and there's a lot of places to go after.



"Physics teacher is weird, though..."


"Nah, he's cool!"


"Well yeah, but also weird."



"Agata's brother says they went drinking with him on christmas party and he got completely wasted."


"He teaches physics, you think he has any other joy in life?" Says Anna, the cynical one. She has recently discovered the old Daria series and found herself in the main protagonist.


"So...tell your uncle to get you in the same school as us. It's really cool. And not that much homework."



"Except chemistry."


"Yeah, that one's really annoying...why doesn't she start cooking drugs and leave us alone?" Complains Pavla, who has recently seen Braking Bad on her older sister's netflix account. What she also seen was the new Witcher series, and so has a really weird feeling about Ciri.



The school gossip continues for another hour or two, before Renka's parents call he down for lunch, and other girls realize they should be going too.



"We've got homework, y'know. Chemistry. She should just start cooking meth."


"She'd explode. Old crone has been teaching chemistry to Lenin and still can't even cook tea..."

[justmedk]

Ciri smiles widely at their praise of the drawing, a little bit self-consciously too! Of course she let Klara keep the drawing; she felt honored!

It seemed that she did have a talent that this world had appreciation for after all. She listened to the stories about the teachers at their school, which honestly didn't make her all too keen on the idea of that school.....but....on the other hand....Renata, Klara and her other new friends would be there! And given that she already knew them, it was better to go a place she knew at least some people, than a place she knew no one at all. Ciri didn't need to be an expert on the subject of schools to realize that she was better off knowing at least a few people from the get-go.

So when she came back home, which she did with some - though not a lot - time to spare as far as his instructions went.
"I wanna go to Renata's school!", she said as the first thing she said when she came through the door, then paused, realized that had been rather abrubt and sudden. Then she blushed a little, slightly embarassed, but did continue "I mean...yeah, that'd be cool. I know her and Klara and Pavla and Anna and....can't remember the fourth name", she said sheepishly. "But isn't it better that I know some people already there?"

___________________________________


The day of "the visit" arrved some days later, and Ciri was both exited and nervous. She wants to make a good first impression. She was looking forward to learning more about this world from someone closer to her age than Daniel. Not that she didn't appreciate everything he'd done for her...well...not EVERYTHING if you catch my drift, dear reader, but the meaning should be plain.
But even so, getting tips on this place from someone young, and a girl, was something she was looking very much forward to. She just had to be careful with how she tried to pry information out of her. There was a difference between out of touch and completely clueless, and she thought that the cover story would explain her being the former, but not the latter.

After having showered, Ciri changed into a casual mathing-color (light blue) skirt-and-blouse-set that she'd inherited from the girl. Hoping that she'd notice. All there was left to do now was wait.

[guesswho]

Whether it was the knowledge that now it'd be the spoon on her backside, or some other reason, Ciri makes it home on time, just as he's finishing with lunch.



"Okay? I guess..." Daniel shrugs. He has absolutely no idea which school Renata is going to or how difficult it'll be to get Ciri there, but he's not going to refuse without a good reason. "I'll find out which one is that and we'll see if it's possible. Well, go change and let's have lunch, yeah?"



________________


Daniel's been watching Ciri get progressively more excited and nervous as the week goes past, but she's also well behaved these last couple days, and if that's caused by Denisa's upcoming visit, then she should definitely stop by more often. Finally, the moment's here and the doorbell rings. He goes to open the door and welcome his favorite kid...well, not a kid anymore, in this village.



"Eeeey, Uncle Dan!" Denisa, all in black and green of hair comes in and hugs him. "Long time no see! How's the forge going? King of Hell sends his regards and says he's got some custom orders for you, when you're available. Oh and where's the new girl? You're a real uncle now, aren't you?" She comes in, clearly in good mood and has been looking forward to this for a long time.


"Well look who the cat dragged in. Nice hair, got a new color?" Daniel asks, grinning when he's released from the hug. "I'll fit the King right in when I'm done with current stuff, just tell'im to send me what he needs. And Ciri's right here, come on in, she's been looking forward to meeting you." Daniel gets out of the way, so she could finally see Ciri.


Denisa stops for a second, staring at her. "Uncanny." She whispers and shakes her head. "Oh, hello there, nice to finally meet you!" She recovers quickly and goes to shake Ciri's hand. "So you're the newest troublemaker in the village? I hope you'll follow in my footsteps!"


"I hope not..." Says Daniel, laughing. It is true Denisa was his favorite village kid because of all the things Ciri would get thoroughly spanked for, and she often avoided the same punishment because he covered for her...


"Ah, and I see you've got some of my clothes. We'll need to take you to the city and buy you some real new clothes. I'm sure he does his best, but he's out of touch." She says, imitating sadness and condescension.



"I might be out of touch, but I'm not deaf you know. But yeah, I was kinda hoping you'd be willing to take Ciri and show her around. You know how it is, I'm the Brooklyn generation."



"Hey, so am I! You took me there once!"


"No you're not, I took you there...once...and you were fourteen at the time. Which was six months before it closed down. I used to play there."



"See? He's acting all high and mighty just because he used to drink in a legendary place." Denisa takes her boots off, which takes some time and finally comes to the living room.


"Alright you two, get to know each other. What do you feel like today, Denca? Tramin, as usual?"

"Yeah. Oooh, and guess what? I've been to Amsterdam and got you a gift."


"Nice. Let's keep that one for later, though." With that, Daniel leaves the two to go and get and some wine.

[justmedk]

When Denisa arrived, Ciri's heart started racing. This person had been a figure of her imagination until now. It was a bit of a strange feeling, really. She stayed in the background while the two greeted eachother and got reacquainted. Hearing her call him "Uncle Dan" made Ciri ever so slightly jealous even though she would never have admitted it!
That feeling was pushed aside, however, when the woman came into view, and greeted her. She smiled back and let out a small, almost meek

"Hey", trying to size the newcomer up. She seemed friendly and nice, and Ciri giggled at the remark about following in her footsteps, and Dan's following reply about how he hoped not. Ciri didn't, of course, understand the concept of a kid troublemaker being fun and quirky until YOU were responsible for the kid.
But at the idea about going shopping with her, Ciri brightens up, almost like a light turned on in her eyes! Yes, it had been a good day shopping with him. But the concept of shopping with an "older sister" (which was the closest equivalent Ciri could find for Denisa) was much preferable to shopping with an "uncle". She already looked forward to it!

As they talked about something called "The Brooklyn Generation", Ciri zoned out a bit; she had no idea what they were talking about, and honestly didn't much care either. From Denisa' explanation of it, Ciri found out that it was a drinking establishment of some kind.


"Sure, that'd be great!", she said exited at the prospect of going to the city wit her. She headed into the living room waiting for Denisa, hearing something about another place from where she'd gotten him a gift that he apparently didn't want. She turned around and said

"I...am new here", she said, keeping it as unspecific as she could. Her cover story specified that she wasn't too familiar with local custom, so she felt safe enough to say this. "But isn't it rude to not open a present you're given?", she asked when he didn't want Denisa's gift. She thought she was helping her new "sister" in doing so.

[guesswho]

Denisa drops on the couch and laughs when Ciri says that not taking the gift immediately is rude. She leans to her conspiratorially.



"He doesn't want you to see it. Cause it's slightly illegal and he's weirded out by having to act like he's a responsible adult and providing good example now. Give him time. He's new to this." She whispers, as if it was some great secret she's imparting. It's not, but with a cospiratorial wink, it sounds much cooler than it actually is.


"Anyway..." Denisa leans back and looks around. The place didn't change a lot with Ciri's arrival, though maybe the guestroom has. "So Dan tells me you got robbed and all your stuff stolen, right? Must have sucked, good thing my mom never throws out anything, cause I sure as hell wouldn't fit in...that..." She waves at the clothes Ciri's wearing now. It's ancient and she always thought useless, but has now been proven wrong in the weirdest way possible. "But we really need to buy you some new stuff. Say, I've got next week free, more or less, how about you stop by at my place for a day or two, we'll look around the city. They've got an ossuary there, it's full of skulls."


"Sure, if she wants...but behave." Daniel says, coming in with a bottle of wine.



"I always behave! Did you ever see me drunk?"



"Yep, many times." He says calmly, pouring two glasses of wine and one of kofola. He drops some snacks, both sweet and salty on the table.


"Yeah, wrong person to ask, I suppose."