Chapter Text
If you ever met that bard you were going to kill him right where he stood. You know the bard I’m talking about. Loud, flamboyant, promiscuous… well now that it’s been said out loud, that could very well be any bard... well any bard except for you.
No matter, you’re going to kill him.
You’ve never quite been one for the peppy, upbeat dancing songs, always preferring the darker and more intense songs. That doesn’t make you the most popular bard, especially not in the smaller country towns, but you did well enough. You’ve always disagreed with the idea that all bards had to be loud, colorful, and rowdy. Just because you didn’t strut around like a peacock shouldn’t mean that your music is any less valid or you’re any less of a bard. This was an argument you’d had many times, especially while you were in school at Oxenfurt. There was one person you’d had this argument with the most during your time at school.
And that brings everything back around to the beginning of all of this.
That bard.
Jaskier.
Him and his “Toss a Coin''. It was all anyone wanted to hear anymore, people barely tolerated your sets before the song came out but now?! You've been run out of more towns than usual. Even in courts- where normally you wouldn’t have any issues, especially for more serious occasions like coronations and wakes- you were being demanded to play that god forsaken song.
You’d kill him.
Eventually.
But for now you were partaking in your second favorite pastime besides music, drinking alone. What can you say, some stereotypes are there for a reason and all bards have a tendency to enjoy an alcoholic beverage every now and then… or every day… or multiple times a day.
As you drank you let your eyes sweep over the small tavern, catching snippets of gossip here and there. Cintra has fallen, witchers, all the usual drama. It was quite unfortunate about Cintra though. Calanthe was one of your favorite royals to play for. At least she knew how to appreciate your music. Her death truly was a tragedy. Nilfgaard was becoming a serious threat to the whole continent, but it would hopefully be a while before they reached as far up north as you were currently. Normally at this time of year you’d be farther south seeking some warmth, but with the current political climate you figured Ard Carraigh was a good place to settle for a while. It’d only been a few weeks that you’d been here but once news of Cintra reached the town you decided it would be safest to stay put, especially as a bard very well known to frequent Cintra’s courts.
Your welcome as a bard would be wearing thin soon, but maybe you could buy a little cottage on the edge of town somewhere or find a room to rent long term in one of the businesses nearby. Despite being a bard by trade, you’d always known something like this was bound to happen sooner or later so you made sure that you were never a one trick pony.
As you contemplated you barely noticed the tavern door swing open or the man that entered and headed straight to the bar to haggle with the innkeeper. Barely. Suddenly all the frustration you’d felt earlier started to bubble to the surface again as you over heard the bar keep try to explain to this new stranger that they already had a bard employed for the night and had no need for another.
The few other patrons in the bar this early in the day fell quiet as you slammed your tankard on the table and stood quickly, shouting “You!”
In a few quick strides you’d crossed over to the man at the bar, grabbing him by the collar and spinning him around to face you. The smaller man seemed thrown off guard until he saw who it was that was accosting him, that’s when a big grin spread across his face which only frustrated you more. “I’m going to kill you,” you growl as you put your small dagger under his chin, “You’re lucky I haven’t spilled your guts onto the floor already”.
The man opened his mouth to make some sort of cheeky response no doubt when suddenly a hand yanked you from the man and slammed you against the wall, effectively knocking the wind out of you. Without so much as a second thought you plunged the knife into the new arm pressing into your chest and were able to push away when that caused their grip to falter. Grabbing the second knife you kept hidden on your person you braced yourself for another attack. You barely had enough time to watch your attacker rip your knife from his arm and snap it in two before a frankly giant hand was constricting around your neck and you were once again slammed against the wall. You attempted to repeat the actions of your first knife with the second but this man was smarter than that. He had the knife out of your hands and crushed it under his boot before you could even realize what was happening. As black spots began to dance across your vision you faintly heard the man holding you having a stilted conversation with someone else, but all you could focus on right now was clawing at the brutish hand around your throat and attempting to get some air back into your lungs.
Just when you thought it was hopeless and you were going to die like this, you were released and dropped to the ground. You greedily gasped and tried to get as much air into your lungs as you possibly could. Meanwhile, you began registering that the conversation that was going on while you were being CRUSHED was still going on, though could it be considered a conversation if one person was doing most of the talking? “...seriously Geralt? The one time I’m not actually in danger and you almost killed them?!”
Well at least it was good to know that Jaskier hasn’t changed since you’d last seen him.
With great difficulty you managed to wheeze out, “I’m still going to kill you bard”, though you likely sounded much less intimidating than you had hoped, “Just because you have some brute protecting you now doesn’t keep you safe.”
Feeling very much like a newborn foal, you staggered to your feet, fixed your sternest glare at the mountain of a man that had accosted you, and stalked back over to your table. The barkeep was yelling at all three of you but you paid no mind, instead opting to chug the rest of your drink, grab your case, and slam a few coins on the table before leaving while flipping everyone off over your shoulder.
Classy, right?
Well now you had to decide on what you were going to do much sooner than you previously had hoped. You’d planned on mulling around the tavern for at least a few more hours before making a decision, but now your hands were tied.
“Hey, hey hey hey hey! Don’t think you can get away from me that easily you violent fiend”, a voice pulled you back to reality. Oh yes, how could you ever forget. The man that started this all.
“Jaskier,” you sighed, spinning on your heel to face the younger man with a fond smile, “I wasn’t expecting to see you this winter”.