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bambirex · 11 months

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It's A Game We Play: Chapter 6

Pairings: Geraskier, Yennskier, Radskier

Characters: Jaskier, Geralt of Rivia, Yennefer of Vengerberg, Radovid, original female characters, Essi Daven, Priscilla, Ciri of Cintra, Valdo Marx

Additional tags: inspired by Mamma Mia! (movies), crack, alpha/beta/omega dynamics, omega jaskier, alpha geralt, alpha yennefer, beta radovid, awkwardness, jaskier is a good parent, protective jaskier, weddings, found family, post mpreg, fluff and humor, alternate universe - modern setting, Jaskier is having the worst time of his life, valdo is here to make everything worse, confusion, banter, insecure Jaskier, internalized slut shaming, light angst, family drama

Rating: teen and up audiences

Full word count: 16,667 words

Chapter word count: 2,908 words

Chapters: 6/?

Summary: Jaskier's daughter is about to marry the love of her life, and she decides she wants both her parents at her wedding. Only problem is that Jaskier has slept with a little too many people in his youth, so the identity of the other parent is a mystery. That does not stop the bride-to-be from inviting three potential daddy candidates and unleashing absolute chaos in the process.

Otherwise known as Jaskier's terrible horrible no good past decisions leading to terrible horrible no good outcomes. Also known as the Mamma Mia! AU nobody asked for, but I wrote it anyway.

Chapter summary: Jaskier has a few things to say to Amaryllis, and someone else has a few things to say to him.

Author's notes: Whoops, this chapter became a little bit more emotional rather than cracky but sometimes we need that too, I guess!

Read on Ao3

Sara was the most understanding person Amaryllis has ever met. She accepted her with all her flaws, with her messiness and her stubbornness alike. She truly was going to be the best wife Amaryllis could wish for.

But even her eyebrows shot up higher than a ten-story building when Amaryllis told her about the letters. Sara knew about Amaryllis's wish to find her other parent, of course: she was the first person Amaryllis revealed this to. But she had no idea about the scheme her fiancée cooked up, until now.

For a few moments, she just stared ahead, hands gripping the steering wheel tight. Amaryllis fiddled with her hands nervously, chewing on her lower lip. She watched Sara from the corner of her eye carefully.

"Well," Sara finally said after a long, pregnant silence, "this may have not been your best idea, Baby."

"God, I know," Amaryllis sighed, her shoulders sagging in defeat. "I'm so anxious, I feel like throwing up every minute. Do you know what I did during the emergency inventory? I wrote 'Geralt' instead of 'Gilbert'. All I can think about is how the hell I'm gonna find out the truth."

"Did you even tell them why they're here?"

"Not yet. But that's why I'm heading to the inn, so I can do that."

Sara sent her a somewhat amused look. "I can't believe I'm marrying someone who's hiding three strangers in her father's goat shed."

Amaryllis chuckled. "Well, Baby, I told you you were in for a wild ride."

Sara laughed and reached over to give her thigh a squeeze. "How are you planning to tell them?"

"Honestly. I will walk in there and tell them everything the same way I told you. Then... I don't know. I gotta figure out which one of them is the one. Preferably quickly."

"And how are you planning to tell your papa?"

Well, that was a great question, one that Amaryllis didn't quite know the answer to just yet. She didn't plan further ahead, to be frank. She sort of hoped that she would manage to find out the truth via clandestine meetings with the candidates, and by the time she had the answer she needed, she could bring him or her to Jaskier. Because deep in her heart, she also hoped that she could help rekindle that old flame with the "winner". Judging by the way Jaskier wrote about these three in his diary, it was clear he had very deep feelings for them. And since they all rushed here when they thought Jaskier wrote to them, it seemed like they weren't quite neutral about him, either.

Maybe Amaryllis could find that passionate, deep love for her papa that she knew he deserved.

"I'll figure it out," she replied, staring out the window with a sigh. She could only hope this will go without a hitch.

"Oh, by the way," Sara said as she parked outside of the inn, "my mom is taking the wedding planner role away from your papa."

"What do you mean?"

"She invited some band. Something... Huh. I forgot their name. I just know that their frontman used to be a theater kid who made it big."

"I hope it's not Valdo Marx and his band," Amaryllis rolled her eyes. She's never met the guy but she hated him on principle because of his past with her father. But that would have been too weird of a coincidence, so there was no way.

Sara shrugged, clueless about the music scene as always. It made Amaryllis smile.

"I gotta deal with the goat shed situation," she said, leaning over to tuck one of Sara's dreadlocks behind her ear. "I'll call you when I'm done, okay?"

"Good luck," Sara chuckled, then kissed her fiancée on the lips. "Refrain from doing any more drastic stuff."

"Can't promise anything."

Amaryllis took a deep breath after she got out of the car. She gave Sara one last wave before she drove away, then, she cracked her neck and started walking.

She didn't get very far because she nearly peed her pants when someone yelled at her.

"Hold it!"

Amaryllis stopped dead in her tracks. She turned around slowly, coming face to face with Jaskier who marched towards her, his eyes murderous.

"Papa?" Amaryllis tried weakly. Jaskier put his hands on his hips as he glared at her.

"What were you thinking," Jaskier started, his voice wavering slightly before he pulled himself together. "What was the plan, huh?"

"I... I don't know what..."

"Don't play dumb with me, Amaryllis, we both know you're too smart for that. Tell me, what went through your head when you decided to write letters in my name and send them to my ex lovers."

Shit. Amaryllis felt her heart drop when she realized what happened.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, ducking her head down, "I know it was stupid, but..."

"Have you stopped for a second to consider how I would feel?"

The genuine pain in Jaskier's voice made Amaryllis's heart clench. She didn't dare look him in the eyes.

"That dragging three people I used to be romantically involved with here, after decades, may not make me too happy? How long were you going to keep this from me, by the way?"

"I wanted to tell you after I figured out who's the other parent," Amaryllis said, feeling stupider by the moment. What sounded like a cool idea first was now looking out to be the worst mistake she's ever made.

"How?" Jaskier scoffed. "And then, what? They escort you to your wedding, walk you down the aisle and then piss off from the island?"

"No," Amaryllis looked up. She bit her lip when she saw tears in Jaskier's eyes. "I was hoping that... you and my other parent would..."

Jaskier raised an eyebrow. "That we would what?"

"That maybe you would get together again," Amaryllis whispered. Jaskier released a shaky breath before he cursed under his nose quietly.

"Wonderful idea. Absolutely peachy."

The sarcastic tone of his voice dropped to a pained one. "How could you do this to me? And them? God, especially them! Now they have to deal with the knowledge that they may have an adult kid they didn't even know about!"

Amaryllis's eyes widened in horror, and she could feel all the blood rush to her head.

"You... you told them why they're here?"

"Sorry for stealing your thunder," Jaskier scoffed. "I mean, that's why they're here. I bet they're all very happy with this information. They're probably doing a circle dance as we speak."

Amaryllis groaned. She did not mean for everything to collapse like that - this was meant to have a more natural progression, in which this information was passed over more sensitively. But she may have expected too much. After this idiotic scheme that she pulled, she should've probably seen things would turn on their head.

"Papa, I'm so sorry," Amaryllis whispered. She swallowed heavily. "I didn't want to hurt you."

Jaskier sighed. He shook his head, shoulders slumping. He looked so tired, so defeated, and it was all Amaryllis's fault. God, she wanted to slap herself for this.

"I'm not mad at you," Jaskier said quietly, "but I'm very disappointed. Because you stole my diary, and you lied to these three poor sods who could've merrily gone on with their lives otherwise, and now we have to figure out what to do."

He looked at Amaryllis with another sigh. "I guess we can't just send them home after a revelation like that."

"What do I do now, Papa?" Amaryllis whimpered, tears running down her face. She felt like a child again, who made a huge mess and then pleaded for her father to help fix the things she broke. Like the vases in the lobby, Jaskier's acoustic guitar - and now his heart.

"I don't know," Jaskier whispered. He wiped at his face before he reached out and wiped off Amaryllis's tears as well. "I need to be alone now a little bit."

"Do you hate me now?" Amaryllis cried. Jaskier shook his head as he pulled her into a hug. Amaryllis hid her face in his neck as she sobbed.

"I could never," Jaskier promised. "But this was a shitty thing to do, and we have to untangle this mess somehow."

He pulled back, giving Amaryllis's arm one last squeeze.

"I think you should go and talk to them. They deserve to hear it from you, as well."

Amaryllis nodded. She hoped there was a way to fix this at all.

Jaskier slumped down on the stairs with a heavy sigh. He was sure he looked a sight with his red-rimmed eyes and smeared eyeliner.

He fiddled with his fingers as his thoughts raced in his head. Old emotions, deeply buried memories danced through his mind, mixed with new, confusing feelings. He had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do now.

"You okay? No, obviously not. What a stupid question."

Jaskier whipped around at the voice, confused. He recognized the blonde teenage girl he's seen in the lobby before. He tried his best to give her a convincing smile.

"I wasn't eavesdropping," she said, "but I overheard you fighting with your daughter."

"That's okay," Jaskier waved a dismissive hand, "we're gonna be okay."

The girl sat next to him on the stairs. For a few moments, she didn't say anything.

"I'm Ciri," she eventually said with a little smile. She radiated a sort of positive energy that made Jaskier smile despite the turmoil inside him.

"Jaskier."

"I know."

Jaskier quirked an eyebrow at him. Ciri grinned.

"I know a lot."

"Kind of ominous, but okay," Jaskier chuckled. Ciri shrugged.

"I've met Amaryllis. She's really sweet."

"You have?"

"Yeah. She dropped me off in the lobby before she took my dad and the other two to the goat shed, and I'm not telling on her now because you found out already."

Jaskier's attention caught on one single word, a word that made his eyes widen.

"Your dad?"

"Geralt," Ciri clarified. Jaskier blinked at her. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. Ciri didn't seem to notice his bewilderment.

"I knew there was something between you two in the past even before we came here. He was in such a frenzy when he got the letter. All blushy and everything."

"Okay, wait," Jaskier croaked, "let's recap, shall we? Geralt... he's your father?"

"Yeah."

Jaskier counted to ten in his head to make sure he wouldn't curse like a sailor in front of a child.

"And...where's your mom? Or your other father?" Jaskier asked, already dreading the answer. Of course, Geralt had a family in the meantime. Of course, he got married and had a kid. Like he deserved, obviously. But the idea that Geralt was mated to someone still caused a spike of jealousy to flare up inside him, for some reason.

"I don't know," Ciri said. "I'm adopted."

"Oh."

"Yeah, he adopted me when I was ten. I was passed from foster parents to foster parents before he took me in. He's awkward. And a hermit. But I love him, and he's a great dad."

Jaskier tried his best to stop imagining a ten years old Amaryllis getting a piggyback ride from Geralt. He bit down on his lip, hard.

"Okay," he whispered once he felt like he managed to pull himself together a little. "Well, that's good to know."

"I think he still has feelings for you," Ciri said casually while she fished around in her pocket for something. She offered a little tube to a gaping Jaskier. "Chewing gum?"

"No, thanks," Jaskier could barely get the words out. His mind was whirring like an industry machine as he tried to comprehend what Ciri just told him.

"What...what makes you think that?"

"They all do, actually. Nearly got into a fight over you on the boat. Growling at each other and everything."

Now, this really shouldn't have made him feel satisfied. Damn his stupid Omega hormones that made him nearly purr at the thought.

Yeah, his head was really confused and he needed to straighten it out.

"It was kinda fun," Ciri admitted with a giggle. "Dad even growled at his ex."

"His what?" Jaskier choked out. Ciri nodded, blowing a bubble of her gum simply, as if she didn't keep causing Jaskier mini heart attacks with everything she said.

"Yennefer. They dated, too. And you also dated all of them, so, that must be pretty tough."

'Tough' couldn't even begin to describe what Jaskier thought of this situation. He put his head in his hands, trying not to pass out. He still hoped this was just a bad dream, and he would wake up, and see that none of this happened.

"Does Amaryllis know you're Geralt's daughter?" Jaskier asked, his voice wavering slightly.

"I don't know," Ciri said, a little confused. "Why does it matter?"

Jaskier sighed. He wasn't sure how to put into words what the knowledge that Geralt had a child meant to him, and he had no idea how Amaryllis would feel about it, either. But then again, Geralt didn't even know of Amaryllis's existence up until this point, and he had every right to move on. With Yennefer (another weird bit of information), or anyone else.

"That's a conversation you need to have with your dad," Jaskier replied. He twisted one of his rings around his finger with a groan.

"It matters," Ciri started, her voice a little forlorn, "because she thinks maybe my dad is her dad, too, right?"

"God," Jaskier sighed, "I hate that so many people got dragged into this."

"It's weird," Ciri admitted softly. "That maybe my father has another kid. That maybe I have a sister. Or maybe not, if she's Yennefer's or Radovid's. Don't look at me like that, I told you I overheard you. And I kind of managed to put some pieces together on my own, anyways."

She reached out and patted Jaskier's shoulder a little awkwardly.

"I guess I just wanted to say I'm sorry about the shitstorm."

"Thanks," Jaskier whispered. Ciri hummed, before she got up and left, leaving Jaskier alone with the most intense emotions he has ever felt in his entire life.

It felt like there was no more oxygen left in the shed. Geralt's head pounded as he sat down on a box with a heavy sigh. He wiped his clammy palms on his jeans.

Nobody said anything, and Geralt didn't blame the other two, at all. He also had no clue what he was supposed to say after what they just found out.

He looked at Yennefer who had her hands clenched into fists. Her face was a mask of sheer agony as she kicked a cabbage that fell out of the bucket. The goats leapt after it with a happy bleat.

Geralt knew from the time he spent dating her, that it was smarter not to speak to her right now.

He glanced towards Radovid who had his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes distant and exhausted.

Geralt stood from the box and stepped over to him.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, not completely sure why. He didn't even know why he suddenly felt like talking, considering he was very good with silence, usually. He might have wanted someone else to put what he felt into words, since he couldn't.

"After I found out I might have an illegitimate child?" Radovid sighed. "Not very great."

"Of course the guy who named his tarantula Franz Joseph would say illegitimate," Geralt chuckled. There was a fleeting smile on Radovid's face, before it turned into a frown again.

"How do you feel knowing that Ciri might have a sister?"

Geralt hummed. "Shitty, I guess. Not even sure why."

"I know why," Yennefer chimed in with a huff. "Because we deserved to know. I've wanted a kid for so long, and maybe I actually have one, but I didn't even have half the chance to meet them."

"Okay, let's not pin all of this on Jaskier," Radovid said, "he must have been terrified."

Yennefer's shoulders dropped, and she let out a sigh. "You're right. This wasn't fair of me."

"It's understandable you feel emotional," Geralt told her softly. Yennefer looked at him, an unreadable expression on her face. "We all do, after this. And we all need to figure out how to cope."

They heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. They all turned around to see Amaryllis in the door of the shed, shifting from one foot to the other.

Geralt felt an indescribable emotion squeeze at his chest when he looked at her. She might have been his child. And even if not, she was a piece of that person he loved so much. The fact she looked so much like him didn't help.

"Hi," Amaryllis said quietly. Her nervous, but endearing chatter that they experienced at the docks was nowhere to be seen now.

"Hey," Geralt greeted her. Amaryllis tried to smile, but it wobbled badly.

"Uhm... I'm glad you all came, and... I think it's time we also talked. Like, actually talked."

"Yeah," Yennefer breathed. She tried to offer Amaryllis a smile of her own, but she also failed at it. Radovid didn't quite manage either.

Geralt closed his eyes and prayed that he would somehow wake up from this weird dream.

#the witcher fanfiction #the witcher fic #mamma mia au #my fic #geraskier #yennskier #radskier #jaskier #geralt of rivia #yennefer of vengerberg #radovid #a/b/o #omega jaskier #alpha geralt #Alpha yennefer #beta radovid

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thelostgirl21 · 8 months

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Definitely missed that poll too!

Yeah, I'm kind of really sad about it, because I'm the one that had asked for a version of the poll specifying if it was for the TV show or the videogame character, back in September.

Since then, I had periodically been checking on the @foundfamilyadoptionagency blog to see when submissions would reopen, so I could submit Radovid with a picture and description of the character, specifically from the TV show this time, and was planning to rally other fans (especially those that I know have a large number of Radovid/Radskier fans followers) of the character to reblog the poll so fans of the TV show and the character would hopefully see it.

I'm thinking of one person, in particular, that tends to make the notes on my own Radovid posts soar whenever she reblogs them.

But Destiny apparently had other plans, I completely missed it (therefore didn't vote, nor did I get the chance to increase its visibility among fans of the TV show and the TV show character) and, at some point, it would be ridiculous to just keep insisting for it to be reposted again and again, expecting a different result.

That being said, I was extremely surprised and very touched that they'd remembered it, though!

I was not expecting they'd be doing a second version without a reminder, or someone giving a proper submission, so a part of me went "OMFG! They're so sweet!", while at the same time face-palming that most fans I know seemed to have missed it.

I have a feeling that a lot of Radovid (show version) fans tend to check out the Radskier (Jaskier/Radovid ship) tag more often, too, since that allows us to avoid posts about the videogame character (and most Radovid posts are also connected to Jaskier and their relationship anyway).

Or they simply follow the few main blogs that keep creating and reblogging content about Radovid and Radskier directly to get their fix.

But yeah, given said main blogs did not appear to notice or repost the poll, I'm actually not at all surprised by the results.

Because "The Witcher" 's fandom is a bit of an eclectic mess of clashing ideologies, values, and extremes.

Including hardcore videogame fans that were expecting the TV show to religiously follow the narrative of the games, rather than create their own adaptation of the books.

So, while you will get people disliking Radovid for the usual (and perfectly valid, BTW) fandom reasons, such as:

They simply fail to emotionally connect or relate to him,

They feel like the show had been building a romance between Geralt and Jaskier for the first 2 seasons, only to instead pair him up with another newly introduced character in season 3.

You also have some videogame fans that are having a hard time treating these two characters as two completely different persons, and will even readily admit that they have an irrational dislike of Radovid based on his videogame counterpart.

Again, a fairly reasonable thing to happen that does affect the character's overall popularity, but usually those fans are pretty laid back about it and don't mind that people that only read the books and never played the games, or have only been watching the TV show, fell in love with the show's version of the character.

Videogame Radovid and TV show Radovid, are essentially two very different original characters that were created to serve very different purposes, that were vaguely inspired by a few lines from the books.

One is a villain people love to hate.

The other basically Netflix's version of a Disney Prince.

But then, you also have a very passionate and extremely vocal group of gamers (type "The Witcher" on YouTube, and get ready to enter incel territory!), that will be losing their shit over the fact that they made Radovid a super gentle and sensitive gay prince that admits to being scared, huddles and weeps in a corner when he finds out his guards have all been slaughtered, has a romance with Jaskier on the show, and is ready to leave his life at court behind to go chase after love; instead of the cruel, paranoid badass hypermasculine dictator king that was written for the 3rd videogame.

And then, there's also the argument that: "Jaskier is straight in the books and videogames! How dare they make Jaskier queer by having Radovid be written as Vizimir's adult younger brother instead of being his 12 y.o. son? They aged up a character just to make the show more woke and gay! It's so wrong! " we keep getting from queerphobic audiences.

Basically, TV show Radovid has been getting a large amount of hate from toxic subgroups of the gaming community ever since Jaskier was announced as being in a M/M relationship with him.

It's not even an issue they have with Radovid specifically, but the show in general.

There are entire YouTube channels devoted to hating on the show, it's creators, and everything they deem to be wrong with it, such as the way it focuses too much on Yennefer and Ciri when it's supposed to be called "The Witcher" (not "The Sorceress" or "The Child of Surprise"), having chosen to cast women with healthy and diverse body types (and ethnicities) to portray sorceresses that are described as the most beautiful women on the Continent in the books (when the videogames gave them more "conventionally attractive looking", and often white, in animated form), etc.

And that sort of general resentment towards the show for wishing to explore its own themes, being more inclusive, and taking their adaptation in a different direction than the games (and the books, at times, like most TV show and movie adaptations will do), means they'll take any opportunity they have to express their discontent.

I remember a poll, at some point where the "Radovid's character was screwed over on the Netflix show" option was winning, until the fan I'm talking about earlier reblogged it, and then the "He was treated just fine!" option won (I think the "he was screwed over" ended up with only 15% votes after it was reblogged by fans of the TV show).

So, you have gamers that hate everything about the show and the way it's different from the games... that are sharing the same space/tags as people that love the show, and either have no interest in the games, or are able to appreciate each as two very different takes on the same shared source material.

Of course they positively hate the way the TV show ignored the King Radovid from the 3rd game and created their own character. So they'll wish to "ditch" that version.

And, of course they hate videogame King Radovid, given he's meant to be hated on! He's an awful human being!

Radovid might stand a chance in a context where the fans of the TV show and of the new romance with Jaskier are given a chance to mobilize on their voting.

Otherwise, the fact that he got close to half the votes without help from any Radovid/Radskier centric blogs is actually... rather impressive!

He's actually more popular and beloved than I thought! 😆

So, don't worry too much about it. It's already extremely nice and considerate that you (the poll creator) were willing to give his TV show version a chance, so that it was clearer which one of the two characters we were voting on.

But yeah, "The Witcher" 's fandom itself is a very strange and sometimes scary place to navigate.

#Radovid #foundfamilyadoptionagency #My thoughts #My posts #Super nice people doing super nice things...#I'm just really sorry I missed it...#😔

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