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

[justmedk]

Cirilla was tired. She was cold. She was hungry. She hadn't eaten all day since breakfast, but she was determined to not show how exhausted she was. She got enough grief from the witchers as things stood already. She was certain they were giving her a harder time because she was a girl. And not just a girl. A princess.
The look in Geralt's eyes when he'd seen her on the obstacle course had been both one of intense pride, and also that "You're in trouble"-look which he used very rarely, and therefore with great effect. He hadn't made good on his threat from the forest. Yet. And she did not want to test if he would.

So she found herself in the woods, following Vesemir's instructions for gathering herbs and plants. This was suspiciously like "women's work", but Geralt had pointed out that potion-making is very important for a witcher. And important to that skill, was knowing the right plants by heart and appearance. So she'd relented. She found herself deeper in the forest than she'd been before, though, and this unnerved her a bit. She looked back, and breathed a sigh of relief as she could still see Kaer Morhen.
Ciri was pretty certain she had to be where Vesemir had told her she'd find the right plants, and searched the ground eagerly for the description he'd given her.

So focused was she, that she didn't notice the change around her. It was subtle, yes, not a gigantic tremor but more like a quick but hard gust of wind which she didn't think about at all. She had been too focused on looking for the right plants to notice that there hadn't really been any wind, so the gust had come out of nowhere.
But when she looked up to go try another place, Ciri froze. She realized something was different. The trees looked different, and were placed differently from where they'd been a moment ago.

"H....hello?", she called, before getting annoyed with herself. None of the other witchers were here. All she'd risk doing was attracting rogues or wildlife. Neither of which she wanted. She turned around, deciding that enough was enough, and heading back...only Kaer Morhen was gone!

That almost sent her into a panicked frenzy before she remembered Geralt's face and how he'd likely tell her to calm down. She looked around, in the hope that she'd just shifted position and the castle was somewhere else....but with no luck.

She sat down on a fallen log and hid her head in her hands. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know where she was. She had neither food nor water. She And if she didn't find her way back before night, she would surely freeze to death. Or, barring that, the nocturnal wildlife would get her, as she had only the knife she had meant to cut herbs and plants with to defend herself from them.

"What'll I do??", she asked herself, desperation all over her voice. Not only was she in a forest, she was in a strange, unfamiliar forest from where she didn't know her way back.

[guesswho]

What could be nicer than an evening walk in the woods. Some say there's something dark deeper in the forest, something magical. Some also say people disappeared here, but it's always my friends wifes cousin twice removed says...yadda yadda. Anyway, there is very little that could scare a blacksmith wearing a chainmail, with a zweihander on his shoulder. Customer had very specific requests as to both of these items need to be comfortable to carry over a prolonged periods of time in difficult terrain. Some sort of historical reenactment crew ordered a bunch of weapons and armor for their shows. It doesn't have to be the kind of gear that could hold its own on a real battlefield, so the materials used are slightly lighter. After an hour walking, Daniel is quite satisfied with how heavy the things are, and he's pretty sure those guys will be happy with it as well. He sends a message that first part of the order will ready for pickup tomorrow. Time for a hike back home, movies and bed.



A gust of wind...where the hell did it come from? Chill runs down his spine, and all of a sudden, the forest is not such a nice place anymore. For a while, he muses on how easy it is to scare the monkey brain, and just to show a middlefinger to his own subconcious for trying to scare him, he grips the sword tighter and brings it up in a guard sword guys taught him as a bonus for one of their earlier orders. He doesn't always want to be paid in money. While not exactly rich, there isn't a lot of opportunities to spend the money around here other than food, booze and materials. And books.



"Well, come at me, whatever you are." He laughs and swings the sword, quite inexpertly. There is a reason why two meter long sword is not a great weapon in a thick forest. In this specific case, during his overhead swing, it tangles in a tree branch, says goodbye to his hands and as the surprised blacksmith loses balance and falls, the sword sticks in the ground about ten centimetres from his head full of colorful hair. Daniel lies on the ground, contemplating just how embarrassing his death could have been were the sword fall differently.

[justmedk]

Ciri heard the stranger approaching, and quickly hid. Training with Geralt, Vesemir and the others had sharpened her senses considerably. She had always been attentive - that was necessary at court. But the witchers had taught her to see and hear more. The rustling of the undergrowth alerted her to someone's approach long before she heard his voice, and bt that time she'd found a hiding place in a small depression which - given her short stature - made sure she could just about peak over a log, but pretty much remain unseen.

Sbe spotted the stranger, with his sword drawn, and her heart raced. So this was the one who'd taken her from the known forest into this unknown one. But why did he have a sword? Mages did not wield swords - they fought with their magic! Yennefer had taught her that. Besides, she knew how to read faces and body language very, very well. Again: Court life. A skillset that had been enhanced by spending time with the witchers, and Geralt in particular. And he swings thte sword seemingly at random, at nobody, while telling whoever's there to come out, but also laughing in a way that tells her he expects no one is there.

This is not a trained fighter....or a mage, she thought, and a moment later events confirmed her thought, as she had to cover her mouth to stop herself from screaming in shock as the idiot nearly impaled himself on his own sword.
She observed him for a moment, her mind racing. It was unlikely that this person had been responsible for bringing her here. Again: He was neither a great warrior or a mage, both had been demonstrated clearly. But his appearance here right after hers could also not be a coincidence.
And something else: He was, if nothing else, at least an adult. Which meant that he had food, water, and shelter. If she could convince him that he would be handsomely rewarded for guiding her back to Kaer Morhen, then maybe she might make it out of this alive after all.

Ciri was lost in thought for a while, so long that he was almost out of sight, and she jumped up.

"Wait!", she called and rushed towards him. "I don't know where I am or how I got here. I thought at first that you had taken me by magic, but if you were a mage, you wouldn't have been surprised the way I saw your face. And you're obviously not a great warrior either, though you somehow wield the sword of one.", she went on, before going on:

"I'm.....Ciri", she said, at the last moment Geralt's voice in the back of her mind told her to not say her full name. This man was indeed her hope of getting out of this alive, but he might also, bumbling fool or not, be working for Nilfgard or any of the others that wanted her. "Please. If you could help me get back to Kaer Morhen, I know that the witchers there would reward you generously".

She didn't like to think about Geralt's reaction, though. She worried he wouldn't believe that she'd literally been one place one moment, and a completely different one the next. He'd think she was lying to cover up for wandering too far. And then he might actually make good on his threat.
But that was a worry for another time. Right now, the problem was getting out of the dark forest, finding shelter, food and water for the night, and getting back to Kaer Morhen tomorrow.

[guesswho]

After a while, he gets up and pulls the sword from the ground. At least there's no one to see how he almost killed himself, Daniel thinks as he turns to leave. And is proven wrong shortly afterwards, when a young girl jumps up from...where the hell did she even come from? How did she manage to hide this well? Then again, starting with someone not being a great warrior is not exactly.


"Oh hi. You seen all that? That's embarrassing. Also, rude, but probably true." Now this is an interesting person. A young teenager claiming to be Ciri and wanting to be taken to Kaer Morhen. Well, LARPs sometimes happen in these woods, of course, but usually he knows about that and joins for some delightful interaction with cute city nerds who never seen a live blacksmith before. She probably mistaken him for another player due to his sword and armor. An easy mistake to make.



"Come on, Ciri from Kaer Morhen. It's getting dark, you can crash at my place and in the morning, we'll go and find your friends." He'll need to look up where their group has a camp or whatever, though it's weird they're doing it this time of year and even weirder that he has no idea about it. He must've missed the announcement or something, though generally, they also inform him personally.



"Didn't see you in these parts before. Got any idea where's your camp?" He asks, as they trudge through the woods back to his house. "I'm Daniel by the way. Local blacksmith. Certainly not a great warrior. Or a mage. We're about an hour walk from the town. D'you want me to contact someone specific?" While he's not opposed to staying in character if the girl considers this just a continuation of their LARP, it's always wise to check for some contact. What is he even supposed to do with a thirteen year old? Though she looks surprisingly like Ciri from the books. The costume is elaborate. That gives hope there might be a Yennefer later on.


"There any more of you guys lost in the woods? Should I start a search party? It happens from time to time, nothing to be ashamed of. Even locals get lost ocasionally." These things happen, the forest is big, dark and developers didn't get around to cutting it down quite yet. Only real danger is the elements, maybe a bear, but from his experience, the hairy bastards keep to themselves and aren't interested in humans very much.

[justmedk]

Ciri smiled, relieved beyond words, when he told her to come with him. No matter what else happens, she'll not get eaten by predators - or monsters - this night. Her face turned slightly red at the mention of her remark being rude. It had not been intended as such, but he also hadn't seemed to take overly much offense, so she preferred to let the
matter drop.

She was a bit confused about his questions, though? What camp? What others? She looked at him confused as he asked these questions.

"I...don't know about any camp Mr. Daniel", she said genuinely. "Nor about any others. Vesemir sent me outhere to find herbs and plants for potion-making.", she recounted, not realizing that the man wouldn't be likely to know who Vesemir was. "There was a sudden gust of wind, and then the trees had moved and changed appearance...and I hid when I heard the noise of someone coming. Then you came, wielding a sword", she recounted the events, this time leaving out how she'd seen him almost kill himself. She needed to stay in his good graces, after all. "And...well, you know the rest. I must be very far from Kaer Morhen, because I could still see it in the distance, but now I can't. That's why I thought you were a mage, at first, and had pulled me through a portal of some kind. But then I saw your sword, and know it couldn't be, because mages don't fight with swords.", she finished, not realizing either that the latter part of her explanation had likely seemed like a bit of a ramble.

"Where are we, then?", she asked cautiously. "This forest is strange to me, and Geralt and I travelled all the way from Sodden to Kaer Morhen, so I've seen plenty of forests, but none like this. Also... I've only trained a little, and I don't have much in the ways of weapons", she admitted reluctantly, not fond of admitting that she was not yet able to protect anyone else, much less herself, before holding up the knife Vesemir had given her for a specific purpose.

"So I hope it's not far to your dwelling? Many monsters, I've learned, are nocturnal"

[guesswho]

And yet another name he knows. Vesemir, Vesemir...which fucking Vesemir? He knows at least three different dudes going by that nickname at one time or another. And then there's also the one in books and games. A mention of Geralt as well. All the known names, but what is going on here? If there was a witcher LARP in these parts, he would know. He knows how to make a toy sword look like a silver sword, and made a fair number of those witcher medallions. Maybe one of the organizers took offense to something he said and didn't invite him? But he'd still at least know something's going on.



"I know a Vesemir, but I'm pretty sure it's not the same guy you're talking about." Daniel sighs. "Okay, kid, real talk. Out of character." He lifts a hand to his head, a universally recognized gesture for doing things out of character. "We're near Posadne, South Moravia. A small town, maybe five hundred people. Where's the rest of you guys? You're...what? Thirteen? I'm pretty sure you should have a number for one of the organizers. Or at lest tell me a name, I know most of them and can get you in contact. And which one of the morons gave you that knife? I thought there was a rule about no real weapons...is that one of mine? Cause if that's one of mine, I swear I'm gonna count that guy's ribs..." He said it clearly, weapons made by him don't find their way in children hands, unless under adult supervision. There's nothing special about them, but he doesn't like the idea.



Daniel pulls out a phone and quickly searches for LARPs going in these parts, but there's nothing. Not even on the international sites. Next one is four months from now, and the girl doesn't look like she's been wandering around here since summer. "This is weird." It must be some extremely private session, then. And generally, the costume quality isn't this good either.


"Okay...anyway. You alright? Didn't hit your head or something? I'll take a look when we're home." Slowly, they reach the border of the forest and in the distance, just over some fields, they can already see the town. Lights in some of the houses, and at the perifery, it's his house slash smithy. He built it there so as not to annoy people with noise, and also for people not to annoy him too much. He'd always been in love with idea of blacksmith having sort of mysticism around him, but these days, one really has to cultivate it. And best result is just a really competent weirdo anyway.



"That house nearest us is my place. Let's have some rest and food and we'll figure out what's going on, okay?"

[justmedk]

Ciri was more initially more surprised at his hand gesture than his words. She had never seen that before. What did he mean by "out of character"?
Initially, because what came next surprised her even more. She didn't know any of the placenames he gave her. She could see that he was being truthful - she'd learned to pick up many of the subtle clues that tell you when people are deceiving you, and he showed none of them.
This was apparently the truth. But she had no references to make sense of them. She had never heard of those names. Could they be all the way east of Haakland? But there was absolutely no way she could have gotten there except by magic. But then whose? Not this man's, certainly. He seemed just as confused as she was.

"I....I don't know what you're talking about", she said, and there was genuine confusion and frustration in her voice. She was certainly not acting or deceiving him, either. "I don't know what number you want me to give you. I was not told any number. And organizer of what?"

When she deduced from his next question that he must mean Vesemir, her eyes turned to fire. "Vesemir's not an idiot!", she said angrily. "And no, this knife is not yours! How can it be - he gave me this knife back at Kaer Morhen!", she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"He gave me it to cut herbs and medicinal plants we need for potions! He hadn't expected someone to use magic to take me....where, exactly? Somewhere on the other side of the continent?! And where is this person? You might have seen them as you arrived? Or heard someone chanting in Elder Speech?", she tried. "If so...can you remember the exact words? If you can, I should be able to get back. I have Chaos, Triss told me, and though I don't know everything yet, I have understood the basics", she informed him as they headed towards the forest's exit.

She noticed him digging up a device from his pocket and stared at the rectangle intensely. Why did he move his fingers around on it? Was it a good luck charm? Had she been mistaken, and he WAS, in fact, a mage, albeit not a very competent one? That might explain why he tried to claim he was not a mage. What mage would want to be seen as incompetent? It was clear that he hadn't known what he'd done.
When she caught a look at the device her eyes widened and she stepped back in shock. There were pictures there. And the pictures moved. He made them move with his fingers. Maybe he was not all that incompetent after all, and had only pretended to be?

She hadn't heard the last part about his house, and his exhortation to go get rest and dinner - something she'd very much like at the moment - as her mind was reeling with what she'd just seen.
Ciri stepped back, her eyes wide in shock. "What is that?", she pointed at the phone. "And why did you tell me you aren't a mage when that there is clearly a magical amulet of some kind? What do you want with me?"
This was either a world-class Oscar-level performance, or the girl was in genuine distress and fear.

[guesswho]

Daniel stops and stares - he himself a strange sight, in armor, with a sword on his shoulder and a phone in one hand. To the best of his knowledge, the girl does not seem to be acting. Slowly, he replaces the phone in his pocket and sticks the sword in the ground, so he has something to lean on.



"Huh. I'm no mage. Let's...let's entertain, for a little while, an idea that you somehow got here from a different world. And you don't know. This is a phone. It's not magic, though it might look like it. It's technology. Like...like a mill. Just infinitely more advanced." He knows quite a bit about the world from which the girl's got here, in case she's not just crazy. There's a book in his house with her picture on the cover. A bit older. With a scar. There's a bunch of medallions she will certainly recognize. Maybe hide, before she thinks he hunts witchers for a living? Or even worse, figures out he sells them hundred crowns a piece to anyone who likes them.


"If you give me a name of a person, I can look for them and contact them wherever they are. No, still not magic. I know a bunch of Vesemirs, but I don't think they're the one you're looking for." He's not going to argue with her that she should know what a phone is and that traveling between world, especially literary ones, is impossible. That magic doesn't exist. What's the point in that? She's either acting, in which case she's so good at it she won't be dropping the disguise anytime soon, or she's crazy and there really is no point in being rational about it, or, the weirdest, she somehow got here from the Witcher universe. He might as well play along.



"Ah, well...anyway. Let's go. Do you a bath, you'll feel better and we'll figure out what to do next. Or run along, I suppose, if you think I'm a mage and want to hurt you. I'm not gonna stop you." Daniel throws the sword on his shoulder and starts walking again. This counts in at least top twenty weirdest days of his life. Probably not top three, though. He has seen some shit and is prepared to believe more or less anything that substantiates itself satisfactorily. Why not, in the end. Life's weird.



"I'm tired, and I'm sure you're as well. I need to finish an order tomorrow, and if you know how to sharpen a knife, you can help me. And maybe we'll find a way to get you back to Geralt and Vesemir, though I wouldn't want to be in your shoes when you're explaining this to them." He's got a pretty damn good idea what their reaction would be...

[justmedk]

Ciri listened to his explanation. Once again, he seemed to be absolutely genuine, though she had trouble grasping that. The comparison to a windmill seemed ridiculous on its face, but after a thought, she made sense of it. To very primitive people, a windmill would seem like magic. For all she knew, this was something similar.
Apparently he read her mind, as he started his explanation with the assumption that she was from another world. Because if this was the kind of technology these people had, she was certain she was no longer in her own world. The implications were staggering, and she thoguht for a moment, before she "zoned back in" to his explanation.

Then he more or less asked her to put her money where her accusation was, and for a moment she stood staring. A lot of thought processes going on at once. Eventually, meaning after only a few seconds, however, she arrived at the obvious conclusion: Even if he was a mage, she really didn't have any choice. She didn't know where she was, she didn't know how she'd gotten here or how to get back, and she had neither food, water, or shelter for the night. What option did she really have?

"Wait!", she called, and ran after him.

She nodded when he said that she must be tired. "Yes", she said, and then dared to trust him slightly by going on "And hungry. I haven't eaten since breakfast this morning. And it was Lambert's turn to cook", she said with a bit of a frown. Lambert's cooking was better than nothing, but not by much. The added remark of Geralt and Vesemir's reactions to what would at that point be a very lengthy absence and a rather incredible story, was one she could also guess. it had been a close call a few times, with Triss intervening on her behalf with Geralt, but she was certain that he'd.....well....not be happy when she got back from here.

At the moment, she didn't care much. She just wanted to be back to where she knew what was going on.

When they got out of the forest proper and into the street, Ciri's eyes widened. Even the most remote rural area of our world is generally way above and beyond what Ciri was used to in terms of technology and industry, and this was no exception. Horseless carriages raced faster than gallopping horses, down what was clearly a road made from stones so fine and well-placed that they seemed to be all one material instead of what must be millions of tiny stones. The road was illuminated by lamps of some kind, but she could not see where the lamps were getting their oil from. She stared around trying to take in what she was seeing, incredulity written all over her face.
The strangeness of it was enough to make her feel less than safe, and before she thought about it, she'd taken his hand for some kind of comfort. When she realized, however, she discreetly let go again, slightly red in the face.

Arriving at his house, he would have plenty time to put away the more obvious items that she would recognize, because for several minutes all she did was stand in the entryway, mouth agape. Of course it was no palace, but it might as well have been. There were more of those oilless lamps all over, and while she of course recognized that it was not a king's palace, it was also clearly not a pauper's abode. Her rescuer was quite wealthy, it seemed.

Meaning he'll be less likely to be influenced by the promise of reward Geralt's voice in the back of her mind told her. But she decided to trust this stranger anyway: He hadn't yet done anything to indicate that he meant to harm her. There was a kind air about him, as there was about Geralt himself.

"This....this place is...incredible", she exclaimed after a couple of minutes of staring at the wonders of modern living wide-eyed. "You....you must be a man of great importance!"

[guesswho]

Her reaction to cars and streetlamps seems genuine enough to Daniel. He'd be surprised as well. And then they finally arrive to his place, hardly a palace and more like a messy abode of aging punk, but to her, it seems so shocking. A man of great importance, indeed.



"Sorry to ruin your impression, but I'm just a common village blacksmith. I'm not poor, but a man of great importance? Hardly. Come on then, let's make you a bath, and I'll make some dinner, alright? Follow me." He leads the way to the bathroom, grabbing some towels along the way.



"Don't think about it too much. We'll either figure a out a way to get you back and you won't need it, or you'll understand in time anyway. This is how you control water. This is hot, this is cold. Try not to spill too much please, I don't feel like cleaning up, okay? Here's the key to the bathroom lock, and when you're done, I'll have some of my old clothes ready for you for today. Pull this out when you want to get rid of water. Take your time. And enjoy." With that, he closes the door and leaves Ciri to her own devices in the bathroom. Well. There's some serious warp fuckery right there. Nobody's gonna believe this, he'll need to think of something. But for now, it should be all okay, at least for a couple weeks. He finds a shirt and some pants, both his size, so maybe three Ciris would fill the clothes, but there's nothing else, really. And if the pants don't hold on her, the shirt will serve anyway...should be about to her knees, at least.



Now, to hide all the witcher related stuff and hope he didn't forget about anything. He's not ready for that kind of talk. To dinner, then. Old Kovac brought him a chicken earlier today in exchange for a new knife, so that's gonna be the dinner. To the oven with the animal! At least he plucked and gutted the poor creature, so that saves him some time. Some spices, baked potatoes...should be okay. Not that the girl has a choice in the matter anyway. He puts it all in the oven and waits. At one point, he realizes one more place to check. Missing persons! Maybe she got lost? But no. Nothing there. He'll check again tomorrow, maybe it's just not reported yet? She must have parents somewhere...unless she's really from another world.