wiedzminka | ❧ IC INBOX: Abraxas

[ Clearly, Ciri has missed the memo.

She stops in front of the door, blinking once. Her lips purse. Then, she sighs and shuts the door behind her, letting the satchel she'd been carrying drop with a thud. Without the sword at her back and dressed lightly, it's clear she hasn't been out far or working. ]

Just imagine. A Witcher coming home to find a vampire in their kitchen, preparing dumplings. If you had an apron, Alucard, you'd make a proper country wife.

[And look! He isn't even a wolf this time!

Alucard places the pierogi in his hand down onto one of the finished plates, before automatically reaching under a towel to retrieve another perfectly cut circle.]

I suppose this is both the best and worst time to inform you that when home, I usually forage with a basket in hand. [He is absolutely a country wife.]

I'm not going to apologize for overtaking the kitchen, but I thought Jaskier had told everyone to clear out for a few hours so I could do this?

[ What an image. Ciri bursts out laughing, shaking her head in wonder at this exceedingly odd, domestic vampire. She is absolutely imagining him in a little apron and kerchief wandering around putting mushrooms in his basket to bring home. It's... charming? Maybe? It's bizarre, but to each their own. ]

Was that today? Hm.

It hardly matters. I wasn't using the kitchen in any case. Help yourself. In fact, I've just brought some more vegetables.

[ Ciri picks the bag back up and brings it over, revealing some potatoes and onions, staples that are easy to grab at market pretty much whenever. ]

I understand your cemetery hasn't got an oven, but is there a reason you're here making enough pierogi to feed a whole family of strapping lads?

Really now, foraging is what gets you? [For once, Alucard's question isn't a dour, too serious thing. There's a little undercurrent of warmth there. Not joking, but lighter.] I've too many opaque affairs to have more ambition for anything but a quiet life in some cabin, foraging and cooking.

[If he can't get a long, long nap in a crypt, that is a second solid best. Regardless, Alucard perks up at the offered groceries, quickly scanning and considering them. There's a quiet nod if I run out of filling, that'll work, and then a more serious response follows.]

Partly a long running matter with Jaskier and Geralt moving from the Horizon into the real world, and the rest is to relieve energy. The nonsense with the Singularity did not do as much as I had hoped.

[ Ciri just sort of nods, preparing to ignore him and go about her day, since apparently Jaskier has given the dhampir free rein of their kitchen. She doesn't particularly mind, in any case, and wonders vaguely where Rinwell is--

When Alucard's change of subject catches her attention. Ciri stops, looking back over. ]

You were there?

[Alucard doesn't mind falling off into a comfortable silence. To do that is one of the highest marks of trust that he can offer these days - to know that to sit in a shared space with no words said won't threaten him is the greatest luxury.

So he hopes he can be forgiven for looking taken aback as he stops in mid-crimp, head tilted slightly.]

For selfish reasons, but yes. Why?

[ Ciri had been going around to sit on the couch, but returns to the kitchen now, slowly. She leans an elbow on the counter, watching him. ]

I'd like to know what happened. Your reasons are your own, and I won't ask after them.

Appreciated. [One of the strangest courtesies that Alucard has found from most of those in this house (Hector does not count at all), has been the tendency to not ask after personal reasons for actions. The lack of pressure or expectation of explanation does wonders.

The dhampir's hands resume their work, much of this automated now. Crimp, put on plate, reach under tea towel, fill, crimp, repeat.]

The expectation, at least from this place's view, was to run interference with Thorne. With what they call the Dimming, and forgive me if I refer to it as the solstice here, the Singularity and magic also wane. Thorne returns some of the energy they stored from the thing ages ago to the monolith, and with more hands present, there's more to potentially ruin.

[That's two more pierogi made.]

I can't imagine Solvuun's goals in being present, but it was essentially a race to the center of the crater, either to return the stored energy or to bring it back. I imagine that whatever has been returned to Thorne will be subject to experimentation. The overly critical science judge at that festival hall strikes me as the primary instrument for that. He was the one who provided equipment to those of us that went out towards the Singularity.

[ Ciri has kept herself abreast of the situation as well as she could without participating, but she does not interrupt Alucard's more thorough explanation even if she doesn't need some of it. The fact he is willing to give it, however, is noted. She merely crosses her arms over the counter where she leans, nodding on occasion to show she is paying attention.

The bit about Solvunn is new information, to her. Ciri's lips press together into a thinner line, while she waits for Alucard to finish. She hadn't been entirely sure until he confirmed it that he'd actually gone to the monolith itself, personally. The idea that Thorne has shards of some sort (that is how Ciri is imagining it) from the Singularity containing unknown magic and people are now simply carrying them around near such a powerful structure and fighting over it... doesn't sit well with her, for a number of reasons. She wonders why Alucard had gone, when he seems so disinterested in the goings-on of this world, but as promised, she doesn't ask. When it comes to the dhampir, Ciri is frankly sure enough already that he hadn't done it to seek power or out of loyalty to the prime minister here or any such thing. He is not a danger to watch out for, but he could be a source of information. ]

How many pieces of this thing were there?

If I said Thorne was operating with a dozen, I would feel it a slight overestimation.

[It is the fairest answer he has, all things considered. He knows that in action, it is easy to lose track of things, and his bats were stunned for a little while.

He makes a point not to read into any expression Ciri makes. It feels a politeness, given what she is affording him so far as reasons for getting involved are concerned.]

Whatever was present, I would assume a three way split with one faction have a slight weight.

Which one would you say has the most pieces, then? Between Solvunn and the Free Cities. I assume the Thornean representatives return the shards to the monolith as was the ritual.

[ But she'd heard it was supposed to be one piece at a time. Not many. Ciri doesn't have details, and it's much harder to find reliable information -- though the people in Cadens come from far and wide, and some of them are willing to talk. All she knows is it's meant to keep the Singularity strong, or some such superstition.

She frowns. ]

Did anything happen? The it-- The Singularity, did it do anything? Look any different?

I think Solvunn. I was rendered unconscious while in my bat form for a time, so I may have missed some details. Reconstituting myself from being a few dozen woozy bats was...unpleasant.

[Enough about him. Different. That gives Alucard a moment's pause, working to recall what he did see.]

On one hand, the word dimming was fairly literal. The thing was less luminous than before. Metaphysically, it had less gravity to it. Less pull. There wasn't any Horizon around it, only crater.

[There's a note of concern in Alucard's voice. It isn't the worry of what aren't you telling me though. It is what should I watch for for you?]

There's more going on beneath the surface. There was no time to investigate that.

So much for neutrality.

[ As if Ciri was counting on that. She doesn't actually give a fuck about any of the factions or what they want, but if it becomes a problem for her family--

She wants to ask about Yennefer. But it is too much detail, and she doesn't, despite how much she wants to know. Alucard is not... untrustworthy. But he is not that close an ally, either.

Instead, she simply asks: ]

Did you get to speak with any of our number from Thorne or Solvunn directly? Did they seem particularly loyal to the task they'd been given?

[ She promised not to ask Alucard's intentions, but Ciri has a strong feeling he hadn't gone because he wanted to help out the Free Cities or Marlo in the particular. It seems more likely to her others had also gone out of curiosity, rather than a dedication to their new makeshift homes. ]

It may still be so, depending on what they choose to do with them. If they simply hoard and make no use, then an argument for neutrality remains.

[It is a little piece of speculation, and Alucard has to admit, he doesn't much care either.]

And I did not. If I was not running interference, then I was spending roughly half an hour as a few dozen stunned bats. [Has Jaskier told Ciri about the bat incident? He's not sure.] Being impacted by a magic based attack is a novelty for me.

[Moreover, and more importantly, he's filled his current plate up with pierogi. Golden eyes move towards a stack of clean dishes beside the sink.] Could you bring two more plates over to where I am, please?

Who attacked you?

[ Ciri obliges, bringing over the plates as he asks. And yes, she knows about the bat incident (a fascinating power, considering she knows a vampire can turn into one bat, but many of them is new).

Once the plates are handed over, she decides to grab one of the large bottles of ale (an excellent invention) out of the ice box (another excellent invention that's impressed all of them). Yanking the cork free, Ciri stops the foam trying to bubble out by taking a swig right from the bottle before raising it in offer. She cocks her head in question. ]

Bottle or cup?

Not a face I know, meaning it is either someone newer or someone who was never thrown into Thorne's cells.

[Alucard shrugs. Both options are valid. He probably should care more, lest this happen again, but now he knows what to be on the look out for. A worthy experiment at any rate, even if it was not a complete outlet for his anger.

Ciri may busy herself with the icebox, but Alucard's attention returns to the pierogi. He has...probably two dozen left, based on the remaining dough. Just enough to move onto the desert pierogi filled with raspberry jam.

He takes the jar, smears a dollop onto the dough, and repeats the process.]

Neither until I'm entirely done, thank you. I-- [oh.

Alucard's eyes go back towards the ice box.]

I have no idea how to fit all of these in there.

[ It's becoming clear quickly enough that Alucard doesn't really have any information that will be of use to her. That's fine. She could press, ask him for details on who was there, what they looked like--

But in the end, Ciri doesn't care that much. And she suspects Alucard would get prickly and unhelpful over it, anyway. What is the point? It's only one person she actually wants to know the status of, and she's not willing to ask in such detail. She will hear from Yennefer soon enough, surely. ]

Why put them in the ice box? Just boil them.

Because if you freeze them, then you don't have to eat all of them immediately. That leaves the possibility of a longer stockpile.

[He could go on, say if Ciri's inclined to just boil it he'll need another set of hands, but that isn't strictly true and she seems to have far more important matters on her mind. The dhampir respects that much, just as he always continues to play by the rules of never poking at what is below the surface. If someone is inclined to share, it'll happen.

But he'll make an offer.]

If anything else stands out in my memory over the next few days, I'll let you know.

❧ IC INBOX: Abraxas

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