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

[justmedk]

Hearing his voice, Ciri put the book down, bending the corner of the page she was at, so she could remember where she was, and then headed downstairs, her eyes widening at the huge sack of clothes. It was almost like....well, she didn't know what Christmas was, but if she did, it would be like Christmas!
Ciri had been training with the witchers at Kaer Morhen for quite a while now, so she'd gotten used to roughing it, clothing being practical and functional rather than pretty, etc, but she was at heart still a teenage girl, who'd grown up in a palace where clothes had been fashion and status symbols.

Ciri forced herself to have breakfast first, all the while eyeing the bag of clothes exitedly, hoping to find something good there!
She grinned at first at the story about the previous owner of the clothes in the bag stealing nails, but then blushed when he pointed out that the girl had not laughed when she was caught. She did indeed know what he meant, and it suddenly dawned on her that not only would he spank her if he felt she'd misbehaved - other adults might do the same! That was an idea she didn't quite know what to do with. But for now, she realized there was a far more pleasant duty before her!

So when she opened the bag and found dresses, skirts, blouses, and in materials that seemed at the same time lighter and more comfortable than what she'd known apart from her silken dresses for formal use, Ciri positively squeed, and couldn't stop herself from deep-diving into the bag. The idea that she was going to be sorting through someone's used clothes wasn't bothering her at the moment, though it likely would later. Right now, she was happy to have other choices than his old shirt.
Almost half of the huge bag, she took in happily. To a modern observer, it seemed like she'd tended towards the younger types of clothes. Not ridiculously so, but definitely picked closer to what the donor would have worn at 12, than at 15 - the colors tended to favor either pink/rose, white, or other "light" colors, as well as being slightly more inclined towards dresses and skirts and blouses, rather than pants and t-shirts.
Though of course also those - she knew she'd need clothes that could handle being trained in, and that would not only be impractical but potentially highly immodest in dress or skirts!

So when she was done - a process that took the better part of a couple of horus, at the end of which she was quite hungry too - Ciri was both exhausted but happy. She had some of her own clothes now. She rushed up to change, first taking a long shower, figuring out how to work the shower, but in her exitement to get back downstairs, she completely forgot to clean up, meaning the floor was soaking wet from the spray from the shower curtain not having been pulled all the way back.

She realized there was no underwear, but shrugged. She could get that later. For now, a fresh change of clothes was what was necessary, and she found herself wearing a semi-long light blue skirt and a matching blouse, before she came back down, feeling much better now that she'd had a proper change of clothes.

Then she sighed contentedly, and looked at him. "Yes...we need to find a believable story. The part about your sister will do the trick. I'll...", she began, then got very quiet for a moment, before continuing: "I'll just...think of my grandmother when people ask about my mother. That....", she shook her head. She didn't want to think of Calenthe. Doing so brought tears to her eyes, so she knew it'd be the perfect tactic for dealing with the inevitable questions about her mother.

"Oh, btw, all done", she grinned, in response to his instruction to tell her when she was done. "There was a lot of very good stuff there! Tell me more about the people here", she said. "You mentioned the woman you got this stuff from has a daughter. Tell me about the family?" The idea of having someone to play with

Hang out with! her inner monologue, which strangely no longer sounded like Geralt but like her own voice, insisted. She was too old to play! But the idea of someone her own age to hang out with, which she hadn't had at Kaer Morhen, was one she strangely liked.

[guesswho]

The self control strain is visible, as she eats her breakfast, and Daniel finds it an admirable effort. When Ciri runs off to try her new clothes, he decides to do some work and finish the order for the reenactment society. Couple more axes left to make, and he manages to finish one before lunch. Which, he reminds himself, someone has to cook. Maybe Ciri knows how to, but he doesn't trust her around gas oven.



He's cooking, when she runs turns up in her new slash old clothes. "Was there? That's great. So, wanna hear about the people?" Daniel can't really decide what to tell her and what to withhold. They're all humans, after all.



"Well, the girl's around twenty two, twenty three or so, I'm not sure. She lives the big city, studies there. Comes back here on weekends, mostly. Occasionaly comes to our shows. The family...dunno, they've been living here for generations..." Current one is the last. He can't see the girl coming back here once parents are gone. "Nice old folks, they've got sheep and chicken and whatnot. And a big scary guard dog, with great scary teeth. At least they'd like to, what they have is a giant lapdog who's more likely to lick a thief to death than to bite. Mom's retired now, dad drives a tractor. It's like those things on wheels you seen yesterday, just a lot bigger. We use it instead of horses on the field these days. Though some people still use them..." Daniel gives a short description of the family. "The girl should come end of the week or maybe the next, I don't know." By the time he's finished with the explanation, the lunch is also done. Some bacon and eggs, which is the two things one never has shortage of here. Also most of the readily available inventory of his fridge, he'll need to figure out something for dinner.



"There's bunch of other kids around...not as many as there used to be, but some. I'm sure you'll meet up with them soon enough." He's not looking forward to seeing the influence Ciri might have on them...or they on her. Best get ready for visit from angry villagers, but hopefully they'll leave torches at home. He tells Ciri some more bits and pieces about the locals over the lunch and moves the dishes in the dishwasher when done.


"This washes the dishes by itself. Just put them in when you're done, like this. I'm gonna do some work and I'll call you when it's time to get you some new clothes. You'll get to pick, but it'll take time before they get here." He leaves the girl with that, but it appears not for long. Route to his office takes him past the bathroom, from which he can see a small puddle under the door. Imagine the lack of surprise, when he opens the door and finds it in just about the same state as yesterday. Daniel rolls his eyes, but decides to give her benefit of the doubt and wait for her maybe to turn in next minute or so to clean up the bathroom, in case she just postponed it after lunch. When no Ciri is forthcoming, he sighs, but it's clear they'll need to talk.



"Ciri! Get over here!" He calls with a stern tone in his voice. He waits by the open door to the bathroom. "What did I tell you about the bathroom?"

[justmedk]

Ciri took in what he told her about the family, the girl obviously quite a bit older than her, meaning it's not so much a friend she can hang out with, as someone she can potentially learn something about this place from. They seem nice from his description, though, and she giggled as he mentioned the "guard" dog. She liked animals of all kinds, but cats and dogs especially. Correction: She liked domesticated animals. Wild animals and monsters, of course, she abhorred.

Eating lunch happily, realizing that the food here is a lot better than what she's known so far except in the palace, Ciri got a sneaking suspicion that cooking here is a lot more complicated than back home. It didn't occur to her that it was a matter of better quality ingredients because of modern health and safety requirements for produce, etc. All she knew is that food tasted better here, and for the moment this was all she needed to know.
She paid especially close attention when he told her about the other kids aroudn her own age, trying to make mental notes of what he told her about them. So Jana's parents were apparently only living here because with their big paychecks from being something called "Lawyer", they could affford a much bigger house here than in the city where they worked. Exploring their mansion, which it was in her mind since she hadn't seen it yet, could be a lot of fun. Tereza was a bit quiet, but generally good-natured. She could definitely see herself hanging out with her a lot! They'd likely go well together.

When she'd tried to memorize everything she could, she followed his example and put the plates and cutlery from lunch into the dishwasher, once more marvelling at how this was possible. She accepted his statement that it wasn't magic, but more like the machinery in a windmill, because she trusted him. But she could not make sense of it. The promise of more clothes shopping in a while makes her let out an exited squee and an eager nod

"Just let me know!", she assured him, before heading back up to her room to read a bit more.
But when she heard him calling for her - and in a tone he had not used yet but which her grandmother HAD used on a few occasions, Ciri was up like a lightning. All kids instinctively know that when their name is being called in that tone, there's trouble of SOME kind.

"Y...yeah?", she asked when she came over to him, and then blushed a bit as he asked his rhetorical question about the bathroom.

"Sorry, I forgot", she said, no deception on her face, and then nodded. "I'll do it now", she finished, trying to move past him into the bathroom to clean up after herself.

[guesswho]

It looks like she really, genuinely, just forgot. And he doesn't really think she'd do this just to test the boundaries, but the result is the same. Pity about warning yesterday. Problem is, he said exactly what would happen, and if he backs down, it will encourage her to question whether the threat of spanking is really so hot. And so, feeling like proper heel, Daniel bars her entry to the bathroom with his hand.



"There'll be time for that later. Come on, I don't issue empty threats." Daniel grabs her arm, gently but firmly so she knows there's no escape and since he was on the way to his office anyway, might as well take her there. The walls are covered in bookshelves, but they're of no interest right now, though a careful observer would find a few pieces of Neprakta's illustrations.


Daniel pulls up a chair from PC and sits down, standing Ciri in front of him. Finally more or less face to face. Well, certainly too late to back out now, despite being pretty sure both of them would prefer that outcome. But someone has to be the adult around here and enforce some discipline. Reluctantly as it is.



"You'll go and clean up the bathroom when I'm done with you. Come on, over my knee, young lady." He doesn't give her time to comply, it's more of an announcement of what's in store for her, as he pulls Ciri closer and bends her over his knee. When he lifts up her skirt, he finds no underwear, probably because the old lady never sent any. With one hand on her back, holding both Ciri and her skirt down, making her stick her butt out and the other hand taking a good runup before the first slap, he starts. A series of slaps to her cheeks, alternating between them...


"Ciri, when I tell you to clean up the bathroom, it's not just some arbitrary rule. When the water overspills like this and is left for a couple hours, it can damage stuff outside the bathroom." Daniel explains exactly why is she currently here and why his palm keeps coming in painful contact with her backside. There's not much force behind them, but this should be enough. Being a blacksmith, and a drummer, he always has to think about exactly how hard he hits things...or people, for that matter.

[justmedk]

Ciri gasps when she feels him grab her wrist and pull her towards another room. She remembered the threat from yesterday keenly, and now her heart was starting to race. No one had....done that....before! And now she was about to...no!

"No, please!", she protested shrilly as he led her into the office. When he stood her in front of him, she looked at the floor, unable to look him in the eyes, her hands on her bottom.

"Please don't! I'm sorry, I'm...EEP", she exclaimed as she felt him place her over his knee.

"Nooo!" the little girl protested as she found him flipping her skirt up. "No one ever...I've never...please, I'm scared!", she exclaimed, and while it wasn't actual genuine fear, she was definitely nervous and apprehensive. This was not the body language or verbal language of a kid used to spankings and just reluctant to accept her due. This was something else.

Luckily she didn't have much time to consider her fate before she felt his hand descend upon her upturned bare bottom, and her eyes widened - her hands instantly reaching back to cover her vulnerable backside, or try, at least.

"Please I'msorryy AIIIII", she squealed as she felt his large hand impact again and again and again. She started to kick her legs and struggle to break free, trying to escape the assault on her bottom to no avail. She had never felt anything this painful, this embarassing before. It was pure agony, and she started crying freely as she lost more and more of her strength to fight, before long hanging linmply over his lap, arms and legs dangling above the floor, bawling her eyes out. But something happened in that last act of surrender: It was not ONLY the pain of and embarassment of the spanking which had opened the floodgates - though of course primarily. But there was more. Not only the desperate squeals of pain and shame, but also the kind of mournful howls of a lot of stress and uncertainty and anxiety and worry of the past day whicih finally had gotten an outlet. And the catharsis was in full swing.

"IMSOWWWYYYYYNEVERAAAAGAAAAINBBEGOOOOOODWAAAAAAAAH AAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAA" were the last coherent words she spoke before she began to sound more like a baby with colic than a teenager, no strength left in her to fight, hanging limply over her guardian's knee getting her rump very thoroughly roasted.

[guesswho]

Did she really never get spanked? That must have been some almost divine intervention there, at least a couple times, going by her exploits and the people around her. Geralt could be swayed, of course, despite everything he's an old softie, but the others are more surprising. So she's in for a rather abrupt introduction to pain in her behind, it seems.



But the reaction is way different than he expected, it even kind of scares him, at start. Just a short while in, girl over his lap seems to melt down completely, just bawling and wailing. Confused, he looks at his palm and on her backside, which by now carries quite a few imprints, but no serious damage. At first he though he just went full force and didn't realize, but the actual damage in that case would be very clearly visible. Must be the stress from all that was happening.


Daniel slows down, but doesn't stop, landing slap after slap on her backside, but the force behind them by now is little more than symbolic. Enough to carry a sting, of course, but not much more. Since there's no resistance from Ciri, he just holds the girl in place and lets her cry, while prolonging the spanking for only as long as he deems necessary for it to be memorable.


Whole thing lasts merely a couple minutes, before Daniel decides there's no further lesson to teach. Backside reddish, girl wailing, giving up on any attempts at coherent speech long ago. She'll remember about the floor next time, he's pretty sure. So after a final couple slaps, he just stops and lets her rest over his knee for a short while, until she realizes it's over and starts calming down a bit. Only then does he lift Ciri up and seats her on his knees, offering a hug and comfort...

[justmedk]

Ciri had, at that point, lost all control of herself, and was a hot mess of sweat, snot and tears, her face even redder by now than her backside was. The pain seemed to lessen suddenly, though she felt the slaps still coming, and she was still crying hard.
She didn't know when the spanking stopped, but eventually it did, as she was still over his knees, trying to regaining her composure, but failed. Long after the spanking itself had stopped, she still tried and failed to stop crying, and she didn't begin to calm down until just before he lifted her up and sat her on his knee.
Her sore bottom impacting the relatively hard surface of his knees made her cry out in pain again, but she almost threw herself into his embrace, hugging him tightly and trying to apologize, without being able to make sense much:

"SOOOWWW...AAAHUHHH...S...Isowwwwy" she tried her best as she clung to him, soaking his shirt with her tears, snot and sweat, but by now very slowly starting to calm down. The catharsis had been achieved. She was exhausted, but also strangely felt better inside than she had since yesterday morning when she'd left Kaer Morhen. It was as if the tension and frustration and mental pain and heartache had flowed out of her along with her fluids. She buried her face against him and clung to him like a shipwrecked person to a piece of driftwood, and she didn't know how much time passed before she found herself standing on teh floor. She was unable to stop herself from doing the spanking dance, jumping around and rubbing her bottom to try to get the sting out of it, but shortly, finally, she did return somewhat back to normal, though she still sniffled and rubbed her nose and eyes.

She didn't quite know what to say...or if she could go. The uncertainty of what was next was killing her, and she was unable to look him in the face.

"C...can I go to...to my room?", she asked quietly, reaching behind and rubbing again.

She had never felt this before. It hurt, it was embarassing....but even in the midst of that, she also felt safe...cared for... in a way she could not describe. It was all very confusing, and she didn't know what to do with herself, fidgeting a bit.

[guesswho]

Daniel waits patiently, holding the sobbing mess of a girl for as long as she needs. It takes some time for her to regain composure enough to get back on her feet and do that cute, typical dance. He watches with sort of a smile, while she's trying to rub the sting away. It's no surprise she wants to go and hide to calm down, and even though he said she'd have to clean up the bathroom, when she asks for permission to go to her room, Daniel just doesn't find it in him refuse and make her spend next ten minutes wiping the floor.


"Alright, Ciri, go and get some rest. We'll talk when you feel better." He lets her go. You win some, you lose some. In the end, while she's going to her room with a sore backside, just like he promised yesterday, he's the one wiping the floor. Might as well throw the shirt soaked with her tears in the washing machine too. When all's done, it's time for relax. There's already a message from Veronika waiting for him. Her parents told her about the new girl. They text for a little while, and Daniel works on the cover story some more.



After some time, he just ends up at the TV, PS plugged in and playing Dark Souls, while waiting for Ciri to grace him with her presence. She probably hates him now, which wouldn't be surprising, and he'll just have to wait it out until she calms down or gets hungry or both.

[justmedk]

As soon as she'd been given permission, Ciri sprinted towards her room. She honestly did not remember at the moment that he'd promised her she'd be cleaning the bathroom afterwards. She wasn't - this time anyway - trying to get out of a chore. She didn't exactly have the presence of mind to remember it.
When she'd gotten to her room, she closed the door and quickly used the full-length mirror which was there too, to inspect the damage. She sobbed as she saw her butt was a "nice" clear shade of pink, and then laid down on her stomach on her bed and hid her face in the pillow. Right now all she wanted to do was hide from the world. She couldn't shake the feeling that a reset had taken place, though, and while she tried to resent him for having done this to her, it wasn't in her. She couldn't. Of course she wasn't happy about what had just happened! That much went without saying. But...when she thought of him, she didn't feel resentment. Sadness that she'd forgotten something very basic like cleaning up after herself, was at the forefront of her mind. And hoping that he didn't resent her for disregarded his instructions, was the overarching feeling. She very slowly came completely back to her own senses over the course of the next 15 minutes. The sting in her rear was of course still there, but she had stopped crying completely, then wiped her tears out of her eyes, taking a deep breath before she got off the bed.

She didn't do so, however, without a surprised yelp as she slid her legs over the edge and briefly sat on the bed, wincing as her sore bottom came into contact with the mattress. She quicky jumped up, red in the face, and headed for the door before she hesitated.
Had she known the expression, she would have thought that this would be a Schrödinger-like situation: She both wanted to go face him, and didn't. She wanted to find out if he was still angry with her, and she was too embarrrassed to look him in the eyes. That paradox was battling itself out in her mind for more than a few minutes before she was brought back to reality by a frustrated yell from the living room, and she jumped a little.

That settled it. She needed to face him. He was all she had in this world - it wouldn't do for him to stay angry with her, the way that scream had shown he still was.
Taking a deep breath, her heart racing, Cirilla opened the door and headed downstairs slowly and - albeit unintentionally - silently. When she gets to the living room she sees that one of these "Movies" is playing on the moving images-box, and she looked at the floor.

"I.....I'm sorry", she said quietly. "I'm sorry that...that I forgot. And...and that you're still upset. If...if I can change your mind, let me know", she began, and then elaborated "I...I heard you just now", she said "I...I guess I'd be frustrated too if someone had forgotten that...", she tried to place herself in his shoes. "I...I just hope you don't resent me now", she finished. She wasn't crying or anything, but it was very clear she was still outside her comfort zone.

[guesswho]

As usual, it doesn't take him long to feel like throwing the controller at the screen, when yet again, he's murdered in the fucking poisons swamps of this dumb game. Why does he even come back to it all the time. Apparently, his frustrated scream forced a reaction out of Ciri, who finally turns up and...thinks he's angry with her? It takes him a while of staring at the girl for all the things to click in place, but he has the presence of mind to suppress laughter.



"Oh, Ciri, I'm not angry with you at all. Come here, all's forgiven. I just play a game that makes me angry every time...yeah, I know it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to you. It's okay. I certainly don't resent you just for forgetting to clean up the bathroom. I just tend to shout when I play this, cause...eh, you'll find out if you ever play it yourself. Nothing to do with you, you have my word." Daniel puts the controller down, so she knows she has full attention. He's at bonfire anyway. Might as well open his arms, offering a hug. It must have been a pretty scary feeling for her to think he'd hate her just for such a minor mistake. And it'd be so petty of him...


"So, feel better now? Had some rest?" Daniel asks, genuinely interested in her wellbeing, but more importantly in how long it takes her to recover after a spanking. "Let's just put one thing to rest for good, okay? If you misbehave, I will spank you. But no matter what, I won't be angry with you beyond your punishment. If you hear me shouting and don't hear your name mentioned, it's generally safe to assume it's not related to something you did." He understands Ciri might need some reassuring that she's not a burden right now, so he provides it without hesitation. It's a difficult couple of days for her, so understanding and warm embrace is a given, whenever she needs it. Daniel can't even imagine just being torn out of his world and thrown somewhere where he has no idea how things work. It's a miracle she's doing so well anyway and doesn't die of culture shock...