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

[justmedk]

Ciri was still trying to figure out how the big box worked, and what those little boxes and disks inside them were, when she heard him call to someone who wasn't there, and suddenly the big box came alive. She jumped back with a little shriek of surprise, and watched in awed fascination at the colorful moving images. The closest she'd come to something like this, was a rotating cylinder which projected shadows on the nearest wall by shining light through it, but it was only ever the same five-ten shadow images. This was different. Much, much different.

It was almost as if he read her mind when he pointed out to her that it wasn't magic. She took him at his word. She knew he was telling the truth, because if these people had had access to magic, she'd be able to use her powers, and she wasn't. Therefore it wasn't magic. But she did wonder what kind of machinery could do something like this! Looking behind the TV to see if there was a lot of smaller cylinders and a light source, and being completely baffled when she found that there was nothing there.

For a moment she simply stared, before his voice shook her back to reality.

"I'm not tired, though", she protested when he said it was time to go to bed, but she did follow him upstairs. If he thought it was dusty, and therefore not optimal to her, he'd forgotten where she came from. Her room in Kaer Morhen had rats, and there was at least a couple of cracks in the outer wall. Nothing too bad, it was still one of the warmer places there, but compared to that, this place was luxury! The mattress was soft, the covers thick and the pillow fluffy. She had survived in the forest while she ran to get away from the fall of Cintra. This was amazing.

"Thank you", she said, and there was a more than a common courtesy in her voice. She meant that.
When he'd gone, she looked around the room. There wasn't much yet, but there was what was needed. She didn't see herself as greedy or spoiled. She would ask him if he had any books she could read.

Waiting for a few moments before she opened the door again, she headed downstairs to see if he was there. He obviously wanted her to go to bed, but she wasn't tired yet, and there was still so much to explore here! She was still captivated by the moving-images-box and sat down, watching the images and trying to make sense of the narrative. It appeared to be about a giant cat chasing a mouse, but she got the feeling that he wasn't trying all that hard. A lot of elaborate plans that always came to naught. Sbe smlied. It WAS funny in a sense, though it didn't make much sense. That didn't stop her from becoming completely lost in the cartoon, and also the following one about a wolf trying to catch some other animal that made a strange sound and ran extremely fast. There, she actually laughed out loud when the supposed prey ran right through an opening the wolf had painted on the face of a cliff, but when the wolf tried to do the same, it failed.

It was silly. But funny! And for a moment, Ciri was lost to the world.

[guesswho]

He shouldn't have shown her the TV before bad. That was a mistake. That was dumb. Now he stands in the doorway, head full of pleasant buzz and stares at Ciri, while she stares at the TV. What did he even expect will happen. And now, Ciri, hopeful mage and person who was supposed to mix up a lot of thing in her own world is sitting here, watching cartoons, and no one has any idea what to do. There's a voice in his head saying he should maybe enforce some discipline around here, but it's outscreamed by the one describing all the implications of this. And that one is, in turn silenced by the third voice: Cartoons!



He doesn't say anything at start and just lets her watch for a while. He can see quite well from here too, and might as well get some of the cartoons in. He gives her around half an hour, two or three episodes, which he too enjoys greatly, before coughing to announce his presence. "I thought I said bedtime?" He doesn't sound angry, but firmly enough for her to understand she'll need to move very carefully now. "You can watch cartoons tomorrow and following days to your heart's content. Come on." Daniel grabs her arm and pulls her out of the couch. With just enough so she knows this is not debatable, and lands a slap on her backside, protected only by his long shirt right away.


"When I say bedtime, I mean it. Understood?" He gives Ciri another slap. "Let's go." He lifts the girl up and throws her over his shoulder. "You should be in bed by now anyway, something will wake you up early in morning and may all the saints protect you if you're grumpy because you didn't sleep enough." Something always wakes him up early in the morning. A cockerel, usually. Daniel stomps up the chair and to her new room, where he puts the girl down...

[justmedk]

Ciri had definitely not either heard or seen him coming, and after she was alone that unnerved her more than the couple of slaps did, embarassing as they had been!
But when she heard his cough and voice, her heard jerked in the direction it had come from, almost as if to overcompensate from having been caught off guard.

"I...I'm not tired", she tried, then gasped a little as he pulled her up to her feet. She wasn't frightened or anything. He didn't hurt her. And then she felt a slap through the very thin fabric of the shirt. THAT hurt, and she let out a yelp of surprise and protest more than pain when he did.

"Y...yes", the girl conceded when he asked the rhetorical question about whether she understood what he meant. There was understanding, and there was agreement, and she had the former down, but not the latter.

"But I'm not tired!", she protested again before another slap landed in the same spot, making it hurt more, and she yelped out again as the sting spread through her rear. She had no desire to risk provoking further assault on her hindquarters, and simply nodded with the lightest of sniffles as she reached around to rub her bottom, only to find herself girl-handled and lifted over his shoulder so that she lost touch with the floor completely, hanging there on high, her face red from embarassment as he carried her up the stairs back towards the room she'd just come from.

"Wh...what will happen in the morning?", she asked genuinely, not having understood what he meant about something waking her up. How could he know that unless it was him? At Kaer Morhen, either Vesemir or Geralt had woken her in the morning, and more than once threatened her with breakfast sitting on a sore bottom if she didn't get up - which had always done the trick when nothing else had.
Finally back in the room, and finding herself once again standing on the floor, she looked down. She wasn't angry with him, or anything, but the two slaps had made her embarassed. They had underlined the fact that she was still a child, something she didn't like to think about.

"G...Goodnight then", she said, a bit uncertainly. Ciri wasn't sure what "Saints" were, but from the way he said it, they must be gods of some kind. She had to learn more about this strange new magicless place she'd arrived at. But apparently not tonight.

"A...are there any books?", she asked quietly. "I...I'll go to bed", she quickly added, not wanting to invite another smack to her rear. The sting from the first two smacks was already gone, but the memory of them weren't. "But...If....if I'm stuck on this sphere, I...I want to learn as much as I can", even as she reached back to rub her butt to find out if the sting was truly gone.

[guesswho]

He relents a bit, when she doesn't protest. At least there's no need for further violence. "Well, something will. Either an animal or some of the neighbors will be cutting wood or something like that. It's always something like that. Every. Fucking. Day..." He says grumpily, but it's obvious the anger is not aimed at Ciri. He shakes his head and looks up, when she asks about books. The girl's smart and active, and tries to make the best of bed situation. Who's he to stop her.



"Yes, there are books. You will have almost unlimited access to them. Alright, tell you what. Go to bed, and I'll bring you some books right away. Deal? Just don't stay up too long." It's admirable, in a way, he has to admit. And he might have overreacted. Daniel walks off to the room he loftily calls his office, but it's just a room full of books and a computer he uses for gaming and the annoying parts of his day job, like money and materials counting. There he picks up a bunch of books - mostly harmless, child friendly fantasy and brings them to Ciri.



"I'll leave them here. There's more, of course. I'll show you tomorrow. These are stories, good for some comfort for the night in a new place. Goodnight, Ciri. I'll be nearby if you need anything." He closes the door, leaving her a key in the room hanging next to it on a nail. Maybe he should go to bed as well, but he needs to clear his head. So instead of going to bed, Daniel turns off the light, sits at the computer and starts up a mindless hack and slash. He considered Witcher, but that would be a bit on the nose, in the current situation. He already has one Ciri, doesn't feel like rescuing a virtual one as well.



What a strange day, he thinks, as he beats the shit out of hordes of enemies, screenlight hypnotising him into forgetting the world around him for a while. Might as well let the subconscious do something useful for once...

[justmedk]

She nodded at his plea bargain: Go to bed, and get books. She'd have gone to bed anyway, to avoid a spanking, but now she was getting books as well. She quickly hurried under the covers to fullfil her part of the agreement, and looked up at the ceiling. Today had been a very strange, very traumatic day. But when it came down to it, it could have been worse. She could have ended up in the same sphere as the Wild Hunt. Or one of the myriad others, many of which were no doubt hostile to life as we know it. Instead, she'd ended up in a sphere where magic didn't work. Yes, that was horrifying. But when push came to shove, it could be a lot worse.

When he returned with books, she smiled and said thank you, looking at what he'd brought her. A lot of it was obviously for children, and she rolled her eyes at it, but she found a book which peaked her interest from the art. "The Fellowship of the Ring", she said aloud. "What ring?". She opened the book, but found herself reading the first page over and over again, so tired was she. Eventually, she threw in the towel and put the book down.

Looking up at the ceiling again, having turned the lights out, now all alone with her thoughts, Ciri started to think about the day, and the future. She tried her very best to go to sleep, but her mind was whirling with the myriad of impressions and events she'd been put through today. And how her life was forever changed.
Then she thought of Geralt and Vesemir...how they were likely scouring the forests surrounding Kaer Morhen for her. Having brought the rest of the castle along with her. She no longer worried about being in trouble when she got home. She wouldn't be able to get home. She was stuck here. Forever. That realization made her tear up. Because being stuck here was one thing, but not being able to tell Geralt that she was alright was worse. They'd search and search and search, but eventually they would call it off and conclude that she'd been caught unaware either by a monster or a wild animal, who'd eaten her and left no remains.

She knew Geralt cared for her, and the thought of this made her sob again, though she did her best to keep it down so as to not disturb Daniel. He didn't deserve this situation. And she worried that if she was too much trouble, he'd tell her to get out in the morning. So as the gravity of the situation dawned on her, she used the pillow to muffle her crying, her tears soaking into the fabric. Once she'd started, she felt her control slipping, and found herself unable to stop crying as the monstrous weight of the world suddenly rested squarely on her shoulders, it felt like.

Eventually, exhaustion did take her, and she fell asleep....but not a pleasant one.
Her subconscious was no less cruel than reality had been by taking her from what she knew.

Ciri found herself in a forest, the same forest she'd disappeared from. Only she was not alone. Geralt, Vesemir, Lambert, Eskel, and the other witchers were there too. All of them were looking for her, but none of them could see her, even though she waved eagerly at them, and called out to them.

"Face it, Geralt", Lambert said looking at Geralt. "The stupid brat thought she'd show you and Vesemir for sending her to get herbs, and ran away. And then something got her"

Several pairs of eyes looked with annoyance at Lambert for saying so bluntly what all of them were obviously thinking.

"We've been looking for days, Geralt, and there's no sign."

"We'd have found the knife, at least", Geralt protested.

"Like finding one needle among a million haystacks!" Lambert objected. "That's a small herbal knife, that is. Try to find that in the undergrowth of an entire forest."

"There's no blood. There'd have been blood", Geralt came back.

"Unless the recent rain washed it away", Vesemir quietly said, and the rest of the witchers nodded.

"Face it, Geralt", Lambert said angrily. "She was a stupid, spoiled brat, and now she's gone. Whether she's gone and gotten herself eaten by something, or actually ran away, couldn't find her way back, and is a frozen corpse somewhere, I don't know, but we'd have found her by now, and we're just wasting our time. I'm going back"

And then he went back towards Kaer Morhen, which was suspiciously close to where she'd last seen it in the distance of the place she'd disappeared from.
One by one the other witchers followed Lambert....until finally Vesemir gave Geralt's shoulder a squeeze. "You didn't deserve this, old friend", he said. "She was a stupid child who didn't know her own good, and now she's paid for it."

Geralt stood alone back when Vesemir too had left. All the while Ciri had screamed as loud as she could - which wasn't very loud in the dream - to get someone's attention.
Finally Geralt looked right at her.

"Why did you do this to me, Ciri?", he asked angrily. Then headed towards her briskly, his eyes fire. "WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME????" he screamed at the top of his lungs, almost in her face........

and that's when she woke up as she sat up in bed and screamed before collapsing back down on the bed, fumbling to turn the lamp on again, panting, eyes widened in fear, and she started crying loudly, not having the presence of mind any more to use the pillow to muffle it.

[guesswho]

Daniel plays his game for a while, before almost falling asleep during a fight, which means he should have gone to bed an hour ago. He considers shower, but doesn't really feel like it right now. It takes just a couple more minutes for him to drop in the bed, close eyes and drift off. Until the scream.



Apparently, one doesn't even have to wait for the morning to be woken up by some terrible noise anymore. It takes him a while to figure out what's going on, but when he comes closer to Ciri's room, he can hear her crying. Poor kid probably doesn't really take her new predicament all that well. Or bad dreams, or something like that. He's conflicted between just walking away and letting her deal with it and trying to talk to her. In the end, he decides to knock on door, upon reasoning that he'd probably wouldn't want to be all alone in her circumstances.


"You okay? I'm coming in..." Daniel announces and enters her room. "What's going on? Bad dreams?" He asks and sits next to her on the bed. Nobody's getting much sleep tonight it seems. "Come here. You'll be fine." Daniel offers a hug. It must have been a difficult day for her, and only now he realizes she held all the tension in all that time, but probably just couldn't anymore, when she got to bed. His lack of experience with children shows. Only on rare ocassions did he ever spent any time with kids, and in those cases, the mood was considerably better all around.


"Wanna go for a walk? Change the air a bit?" Can't really offer her much more. Maybe a shot, but who knows how that would end. He should have expected this and made preparations, but it's not everyday shit like this happens. "And you can tell me about your dream, what do you think?" He adds after a short while. Probably wisely, though he's unsure how to apply reason and logic to this situation. How would he act in her place? He'd probably be confused as fuck. Probably wouldn't cry, but someone would certainly end up with a bloody nose.

[justmedk]

Ciri didn't answer when he knocked, but when he entered she looked towards the door, her face puffy and red not only from crying but also from embarassment at the circumstances.

"I....I'm s.....sorry I woke you", she managed and sat up when he sat next to her on the bed. He didn't have to issue the hug-invitation twice, as she threw herself in his arms, needing the comfort of someone's arms around her at the moment. She instinctively knew that while Daniel was no Geralt, he was a good man nonetheless, and she felt she could trust him.
When he asked her if she wanted to go for a walk, she nodded, mostly because it had been his suggestion. She didn't know if walking would do her good, but she followed his lead like she'd followed Geralt's.

When they were outside, she shuddered in the cold night wind. Then she started to explain:

"I...I was back in the forest", she began. "Where you found me, but in the right place, and everyone else were there. Geralt, Vesemir. Even Lambert and the others. They were looking for me but couldn't find me even though I was right there screaming at them, and then Lambert said that i was just a stupid spoiled kid who'd run away, or gotten eaten, but that's not true! Then Lambert left and the others went with him one by one, till Vesemir was the last one and only Geralt was there. And then he saw me, but he was angry instead of happy, and screamed at me why I did that to him, and everyone were gone, and I tried to get their attention, I did!", she insisted, not realizing that she was rambling a bit. And now she was sobbing again at the memory of Geralt screaming at her. "It's not like I wanted to disappear", she sobbed. "I don't know what happened, or how to get home, or if I ever can get home. And I'm scared", she sobbed at the end as they walked down the street.

[guesswho]

So looks like some sort of guilt, mixed with the trauma of traveling between worlds. This is way out of his expertise. He knows how to hit things. So he just listens, and while he'd love to help her in some way, he doesn't have the first idea how.



"I see..." Daniel says, thoroughly confused. This does sound quite in character for those guys, as far as he knows. It's likely though that others will look too, Yennefer and so on, and those might have more success? Probably won't be able to bring her back, but maybe they'll figure out how she disappeared.



"Well, I'm pretty sure they'd be looking for you, but I don't think it went down exactly that way." He does. It's just not a thing one says out loud. Slowly, he turns their steps back towards home. Short walk in cold air always helps him fall asleep, no matter what. Maybe it'll help Ciri as well?


"Look, no matter what, you're safe here. This'll be your home until we either figure out a way to get you back or stop trying. For now, let's get back. You need some rest, it's been a difficult day. We'll both think more clearly in the morning." No matter what, they're not going to think of a solution to this problem in the middle of the night. At least not this one. The house, from outside, looks friendly, welcoming and warm, and he'll try his best to keep it that way. If Ciri's stuck here, he's probably the only one who knows the full story, so he's stuck with the girl. Might as well make the best of it and give her a home to prepare her for life in this world so foreign to her. He doesn't even know where to start.


"I suppose a shot won't hurt..." Daniel says as they enter and pulls out a bottle of clear liquid with no marking other than a sticker saying 'Jablkovica, 2017.' He pours a small shot glass for both of them. "It'll warm you up. It's from my own apples...well, mostly apples."

[justmedk]

Ciri listened to him, nodding as he told her what she already sort of knew, but it still felt good to hear it from him. Both that what she dreamed wasn't what happened, and that she was safe with him. Now that she was awake again, she felt kinda silly for having made such a fuss. That hadn't been very ladylike at all.

"Thank you", she said quietly as they headed back, staying a bit closer to him than necessary. The last thing she needed right now was to get lost here.
She shuddered from the cold again, and was happy once they got inside where it was warm and she sighed contentedly. One would think that she'd gotten used to cold after having lived at Kaer Morhen for about a year and a half, and from escaping from Cintra after its fall.
One would be mistaken. She resisted the temptation to head back to the moving images-box. She'd almost gotten in trouble over it before. She wasn't about to risk it again. Luckily, he preempted anything else be talking about how a shot wouldn't hurt. She looked at him a bit puzzled. She was certain he wasn't going to shoot her, so she wasn't scared, but what could "shot" mean in any other context? Then she saw him pouring a clear liquid into two minute glasses.

"What, do we have fairies coming?", she giggled as a comment on the small size of the containers, but sat down. It was clear she was starting to regain her normal self, and when he said that the stuff was made from his own apples and then corrected it to "mostly" apples, she gave him a genuine grin and raised eyebrow, before she took the small glass, not quite sure how she was to drink from this.
Seeing what he did, she followed his example, and turned the glass upside down quickly, thereby emptying its contents into her mouth all at once, and swallowed......

And then her throat caught on fire.

She gasped for air for a second - not because she genuinely couldn't breathe, of course, but because the shock of her body's reaction to the strong alcohol.

"Gods!", she exclaimed and looked at him in shock. "That....that was awful", she said before she could stop herself. She blushed. "I mean....I'm sorry, thank you", she quickly said. "But that....didn't taste very good.", and then she gave him a would-be-innocent smirk "I'd rather have chocolate", then sighed again. It was undeniable, thoguh, that she was getting warm from the drink. After a few moments, she was sleepy again, and got up, then felt herself being a bit wobbly for some reason. She knew it wasn't poison - why would he do that? - so she chalked it up to her lack of sleep.

"I'm sorry for having woken you", she said genuinely apologetically, before heading back upstairs, using the handrail to steady her ascent, collapsing back onto the bed, and she was out like a light as soon as she'd pulled the covers over her.

_______________________

A few hours later, she awoke again, clear-headed, although a bit tired from the interrupted sleep. It was starting to be light outside, and she got up slowly, sitting up in bed. Rather than waking him up - she'd done that one time too many already, thank you very much - Ciri decided to read a bit in the book she'd found, but been too tired to read last night, then took the book and laid back down on her stomach and started reading it again.

It seemed to be about something called a "hobbit", which, as far as she could tell, was like a human, but shorter. What that had to do with a fellowship around a ring, she had no idea about.

I guess I'll find out

[guesswho]

"Enough to kill any fairy, trust me." Daniel laughs, when she clearly underestimates the local booze. No offense taken at her reaction, it's exactly what he expected. It takes lifetime's training to drink this and keep a stone face, even though this batch was quite smooth and even pleasant to some people. Wouldn't expect a teenager to like it. He watches Ciri leave, pretty sure it won't take her long to fall asleep. The uncertainty in her step speaks for itself.



________


"Oi, Ciri! Come help me with this stuff!" Daniel shouts, as he enters the house, his arms full. In one hand, a bag full of clothing of neighbor's daughter, in the other a box full of cookies. The local hospitality didn't fail, and when the old lady next door heard the story, she rushed to get some of her daughter's clothes and packed him the cookies for the "poor young girl, she must be traumatized, here, bring her this, no talking back, and when she feels like it she should come say hello, we're looking forward to knowing her, you never told us you have a sister..."


He drops the bags in the kitchen and helps himself to a cookie. There's enough for Ciri anyway. He waits for the girl to turn up and pushes the box toward her when she does.


"So, I visited the neighbor. She send some clothes and shoes, no idea how it'll fit, and cookies and says you should come and visit, when you feel better. We'll need to get our story straight. I told her you're my niece, your mother died recently and since I'm the closest family member, you got sent here. You were robbed, and they stole all your stuff and you're still kinda scared and shy, so you'll need a couple days, before you come and visit. We'll work on the details, but I'm sure her daughter would love to get to know you." Oh boy, wouldn't she just. Pity she can never know who Ciri is. She loves the books.


"Slept well? Have some breakfast and go try the clothes. The girl's a lot older than you, but these are all old, back from the day when she was more or less similar size to you. She used to sneak into my forge and steal nails, you know. Just to see if she could. Only got caught once. We still laugh about it to this day, even though she wasn't laughing back then..." Daniel grins at Ciri, by now she should have pretty good idea what happened.


"Let me know when you're done, we'll buy you some more stuff, but it'll take time to get here and you can't run around in my old shirt for the next week." She could, but it would be really incredibly impractical.