#dragonfly the witcher

[meepthemeeping]

Cat Witchers!!! (ALL OF THEM)

[gingersnappish]

School of the Cat -AKA: the one that includes almost all of my favorite fanon-fleshed-them-out Witcher maniacs!

(Thankful credit is due to the many fanauthors and fanartists whose depictions have influenced my personal mental concept of the Cats and to the face-claims suggested by various fans on the Accidental Warlord Discord, which also ended up heavily influencing how I envision them)

[revoevokukil]

I appreciate the Finns having tried to give shape to Avallac'h's signature; this is the first time I've seen this done seriously. And I'll add my own mishappen attempts at calligraphy in their image 🫣

[dftea]

Give all you have been or could be

Accidental Warlord AU (@inexplicifics). Aiden/Sasha, Lambert/Milena, Livi/Dragonfly, Eskel/Geralt/Jaskier - All Is Not As It Seems

or

Duke Aleksander of Velen, Lady Milena de Roggeven, Lady Oliwia Bartol, and Viscount Julian de Lettenhove are plagued by strange visitors to their noble houses.

Who are these black-clad intruders and why are they so determined to disturb their isolated perfect lives?

But all is not as it seems.

[read on ao3]

[lenkalost]

Another snippet of Axel learning how the Caravan works - I hope you like it. Thanks to @akhuna for being the most wonderful betareader :)

[kenobihater]

Sorry, maybe this is obvious and I'm just clueless but what separates a good portrayal of Cat Witchers vs not? I'm kinda confused

Even though ableism against mentally ill people is baked into the lore, I don't think it's too obvious bc of how pervasive ableism is in our culture, so don't worry, you aren't alone in your confusion! As a mentally ill man, I didn't even realize what struck me as wrong about the whole Cat School madness thing until I read some fics that featured it heavily, so you're far from the only person not to notice it. That said, just because the lore is ableist doesn't excuse people doubling down in ableist ways in their fanworks. We shouldn't give ourselves or other people a free pass simply because the source material has bad implications, instead we should take accountability and tread carefully whenever engaging with Cat Witcher lore. Now, this is going to be Long and written for the dual and often overlapping audiences of fanwork creators and consumers, so apologies that the rest will be under a cut!

I've already written up a couple posts about ableism in regards to the Cat School, primarily focusing on fandom, but I wouldn't recommend those bc I not only focused a bit narrowly on mostly psychosis, but I also mistakenly identified dissociation as a form of psychosis in one of the posts bc that's what I'd been told by an actual mental health professional. F's in chat for me I guess, thanks Susan! Anyways I'll summarize and expand upon the contents of those posts here. Also, I don't know if I ever say in that post that the lore itself is straight up ableist, and I'll explain why in a moment. Now, it isn't inherently ableist to depict someone with severe mental illness, just like it isn't inherently ableist to depict anyone with any severe disability, but the way in which it's excecuted is what makes it bad or not. Basically, the whole "Cats are CRAAAAAZY!!1!" is ableist in excecution because it puts a value judgement on said madness, implying that they are both more violent and morally bankrupt because of their madness, whether or not it's linked with the mutagens (I think there's some wiggle room here canonically as to whether or not the mental illness is from mutagens or whether it's due to or greatly exacerbated by picking candidates who are prone to mental illness, but while that's fascinating, this post is gonna be long enough so I'll perhaps cover that in another one). Portraying Cats as more violent or morally bankrupt simply because they are mentally ill is bad, end of story. If you want specific examples of this, literally just go to the wiki, this post doesn't need a plethora of citations to pad it out even more.

Now that I've established the lore itself as being ableist, let's discuss theoretical specifics of their illnesses, and what that means for how we portray them faithfully! The Cats aren't easily identifiable as having any one mental illness. They're said to be "psychopathic", an outdated, pejorative term for people with antisocial personality disorder. Gaetan reports symptoms that could be identified with intermittent explosive disorder. The wiki says Cat Witchers have volatile emotions, which could be bipolar coding. The fandom also enjoys writing Cats as having psychotic episodes and dissociative episodes, both of which I suffer from and which are incredibly annoying to see done wrong. These disorders and symptoms can all have overlap, but they can all be boiled down into the terms of "mental illness" or "madness" which I will use interchangeably throughout this post, though it's worth noting that the latter is a divisive term and one I'm using to both engage with the canon and fanon on its level and to reclaim.

So, how do you portray Cat Witchers as mad without being ableist and also remain true to canon? I've come up with three guidelines for judging whether or not something is ableist or not. If you follow these as well as maybe do a bit of research into ableism against mentally ill people, and also excercise some common sense and empathy, I think you'll be fine.

1.) Considering the world of the Witcher, I'm not expecting anyone to use our modern terminology for their characters mental illnesses, but I recommend at a minimum researching mental illnesses and picking one to at least loosely base your Cat Witcher's symptoms on. I'd do this because that way you can have a reference for believable behavior and symptoms for your character. If you're depicting a Cat Witcher as having antisocial personality disorder, they would NOT have explosive outbursts like they would if they had intermittent explosive disorder (unless it was co-morbid, of course). If your character is bipolar, they would NOT be hearing voices (again, unless you write them as being co-morbid with a schizospec disorder, though I'd advise against this because it could easily come off as conflating two different disorders). If you aren't writing characters and are instead just engaging in fan content, some good questions to ask yourself while reading would be "Do I recognize this mental illness?","How was this handled?", and "Is this falling into any harmful stereotypes?".

2.) A topic I think is important to consider when portraying or engaging with portrayals of Cat Witchers is this: how is the ableism they face treated by the narrative? I'm not so naive as to think that you will be able to believably write a mentally ill Cat in the world of the Witcher who doesn't face some kind of ableism, but I'm concerned with the impression it leaves the audience with, not its mere existence as a narrative element. Does it come off as gratuitous? Is it legitimized by the narrator, plot, or narrative? By legitimized, I mean excused. I have read Cat Witcher fics where actual eugenics against the mentally ill were justified by the narrative, and the way it was handled was abhorrent. I don't want to get into specifics bc I don't want anyone to get harassed, but it left me with a horrible taste in my mouth. Please, at the minimum, don't treat eugenics or "purges" or whatever you want to call them lightly, and if you do cover such a dark topic I beg that you ask yourself if you're making it clear narratively that eugenics is bad actually, or if you're instead feeding into actively harmful rhetoric that is dangerous for an already marginalized group to face.

3.) The last thing I can think of that I would advise against that I've seen in other fandoms but thankfully not this one (yet) is that True Love™ doesn't cure madness. It just... doesn't. Mental illness doesn't just go away because you're seeing someone. It doesn't go away at all unless it's acute, and that has zero bearing on whether or not the character is in love. Instead, I'd recommend writing the couple as having coping strategies for when the party in question is experiencing symptoms of their mental illness. Doing so is a great way to strengthen their relationship in your writing! If you're reading rather than writing fic, I recommend asking yourself about how mad characters are treated in the fics you read, whether or not they're magically "cured" bc of the love of another or any other means.

That's all I can think of at the moment, and I encourage you to do your own research about ableism against mentally ill folk as well if you want to improve your understanding! Also do keep in mind us mad folk aren't a monololith and I can't speak for all of us, but I hope my personal opinions on this have helped you out!!

[catscraftsandcommentary]

So I had some time to think tonight at work (in between operating heavy machinery, swearing at the materials, and trying to keep the line running, fun times!) And I asked myself, "self, hypothetically, what might @inexplicifics Accidental Warlord AU look like in another generation or two - once people really get used to witchers being The Good Guys (TM) and helping out?"

And I was like "well, they'd probably get invited to social events - ooh! Who'd like which events best?!? What would that look like?"

Geralt, as we all know, detests anything too formal or Warlord-focused. He enjoys weddings and receptions, but his TRUE favorite is baby christenings. Seriously. Put him in a room with a tiny baby and he's happy as a clam. He'll happily growl away (or weaponize his puppy-dog eyes against) grannies, aunties, and other family members to hold the baby for as long as possible. He's also 90% of the reason that witchers are now rumored to be able to bless babies.

When Mouse and Treyse bring this new rumor to the council, everyone has to just sit. And process for a minute. Because what the ever-loving fuck?!? (Jaskier immediately writes the sweetest lullaby ever, "A Witcher's Blessing", and it is the ONLY song that Geralt ever sings in public, and only ever to babies and small children. Multiple women blame this for their immediate conceptions.)

Jaskier adores weddings and festivals of all types, and if a happy couple includes details of how they met and/or fell in love with their wedding invitation, there's at least a 50% chance that he'll show up to the wedding with a personalized love song, holy shit.

Ciri loves tourneys. Loves watching them, loves displaying in them, loves sneaking into competing in them (omg, heir, NO), loves WINNING them. She's a menace. She has various stealth coats of arms that she rotates between when she's not supposed to be competing, but her favorite is the battle goose. Obviously.

Eskel doesn't like crowds or being the center of attention, which are almost inevitable with public invitations, but he does enjoy being the +1 for his family. Several of his and their interests overlap, and even where they don't, he likes to see them enjoying themselves.

Yennifer becomes well-known as an extremely efficient - albeit terrifying - treaty negotiator. She'll talk to both sides, get a list of their must haves, deal-breakers, would-likes, and don't-wants (as well as - perhaps more importantly - the reason why each of those are on that particular list). Then she draws up a draft and viciously negotiates a compromise. She is genuinely surprised the first time that both sides thank her for her help.

Vesemir, with all his long years of teaching, loves visiting schools and seeing any sort of student performance or sporting event. Kindergarten to university, drama to music to dance recitals to track and field meets to football games to student symposiums to science contests to... He buys out bake sales and funds club field trips and donates several fortunes worth of antique knick knacks to various schools. He's invited as a guest lecturer, a commencement speaker, a competition judge, a referee.

Lambert and Aiden, at some point, discover bachelor's parties, call dibs, and never look back. People learn very quickly not to invite witchers to their stag nights unless they want the entire party to get horrifyingly drunk - but at least Lam and Aiden will make sure that everyone makes it home (or to the wedding) safely. Perhaps not soberly, or sans hangover, but definitely without major injury. (And if the bride asks nicely and the groom and friends weren't total jerks, Lambert can usually be counted on to make a hangover cure. He really is a softie at heart.)

Dragonfly and Serrit get tapped for the odd bachelorette party or ladies' birthday parties. Anything that falls under "I want to be able to drink and party with my friends without worrying about some strange guy hurting one of us." They are extremely protective and have both been drunkenly proposed to several times. (Livi finds this terribly amusing. Gweld just wants to know if he can watch.) Milena and Zofia sometimes go with them.

Milena loves going to wedding showers and baby showers, but outside Kaer Morhen, she has to stay in sight of Lambert or one of his brothers. Lambert's rule. (She got KIDNAPPED, okay? He's allowed to worry!) Usually she'll take Geralt (there might be babies! He's excellent protection!) or Eskel (he's very quiet and has excellent manners, and his signs are impossible to fight) for the more, ah, female-heavy events. If anyone asks, they're her brother-in-law and genuinely like spending time around kids. And very, very married.

[inexplicifics]

I read the ask about the dragonfly knife and I thought of something:

What are your thoughts on tattoos? I imagine at least some of the Witchers probably have some and maybe one of the bears or the manticores is an tattoo artist. Since Witchers live so long any tattoos they decide to have probably have a lot of meaning.

But also I would love for one of the nobles to decide they want a tattoo representing their lover, like for example a dragonfly for Livi.

Considering that I think tattoos in medieval times where mostly for sailors and criminals I’m sure if anyone from another court ever finds out (during the process for example) it would be quite a scandal. 😋

I think there are a fair number of Witchers with tattoos - I think canonical Erland has some, so I tend to headcanon the Griffins as often being tattooed, and I wouldn't be surprised if it spreads to the other Schools in short order.

Livi getting a dragonfly tattoo would give Dragonfly conniptions, I think - a combination of adoration and "but it hurts!" worry. But then she'd be mildly obsessed with it.

And yes, if anyone from another court ever found out, it would be scandalous, but Livi is already both extremely scandalous and extremely politically powerful, so she'd probably enjoy knowing she was causing Cognitive Dissonance.

[all-or-nothing-baby]

LAVENDER MILK AND BLACKBERRY WINE

.

The first time they share a room together at an inn, Jaskier is, unsurprisingly, completely at ease with—well. With everything.

The bard is so comfortable in these surroundings, obviously much more at home with soft bed linens and oil lamps than a patch of damp grass and only the light of a yellow-y moon. Jask is seemingly still so at ease with Geralt, too, even in such close quarters. He's apparently also completely unbothered by his own stark nakedness as he now shamelessly strips down entirely, readying himself for a warm and replenishing lavender milk bath and a cup or ten of blackberry wine.

The witcher watches the bard, whilst trying not to.

Geralt's cat-eyes very much struggle to stop following pale and slender limbs as they swirl around like dragonflies in the fragrant steam that now sits heavy and hot in the midst of their small room. Jaskier prances and preens and eventually melts like jam in porridge into the bath's soothing waters. The eternal bard then, of course, proceeds to prattle on and away about something and nothing and everything, occasionally breaking out into broken verses of half‐baked songs.

Geralt—sat sharpening his blades— sometimes grunting in occasional outward acknowledgement, sometimes not, keeps trying his damned best not to look.

He fails.

Jaskier sips long and often from his cup, the wine leaving his full mouth lacquered. Plum‐stained. Inviting.

Geralt watches still, swallowing whole cupfuls at a time of the sweetened fruit wine, thickly and far too fast.

The bard is then nonchalantly asking Geralt if Geralt would like to maybe join him in the tub? 

Geralt pulls a face with fake disdain, huffing and puffing his cowedly decline. 

Very obviously trying not to smile, Jaskier purses those berry‐smacked lips of his and merely blinks at Geralt for a few moments, just. Looking. Or looking back, seeing as Geralt—even red-faced and fuming as he is—simply cannot look away.

Jask allows himself a small, secretive smile, like he knows something Geralt wants to, then shrugs it off and says, not unkindly, "Suit yourself."

Geralt immediately hurls himself out of the room with the force of an enraged Archgriffin, the excuse of purchasing more wine a most welcome gods-send.

"Hurry back, dear witcher!" Jaskier's torment floats after him. 

On his way down the staircase to the main part of the inn, Geralt bites into his bottom lip so fucking hard he's tasting iron for the rest of the hellish evening.

[yennefer-of-vengerbergs]

Baldur's Gate 3 Mod List (Part 1)

Gear:

Armor & Camp Clothes

Astarion's Gear

Astarion's Wardrobe

Astarion's Vampire Outfits BY REN

Fancy Camp Clothes

Yennefer's wardrobe

Ciri's Clothes

Witcher 3 Armor (Keira Ciri Yennefer Margarita)

Witcher Outfits - Dettlaff

Annarietta's wardrobe

Triss' wardrobe

SR Apparel - Clothing and Armor

Astromancer robes

lokelani's lavish livery - outfit-clothes-clothing

Tasha's Cauldron of Outfits

Elden Ring Armor (WIP)

Enchanted Threads

The Dragonfly

Bandit Armors and Camp Clothes

Corset Outfit Variations

Off-shoulder dress (in Black and flower pattern)

Mix armour - Vanilla and SBBF and Beautiful Curvy body

Laced Flats

WarMagicks Armoury - Light (Rogue) Armours

Sam's Monk Backpack

Elven Weaponry - Chainmail

PK Clothes and Armours

Slutty Closet

IO's Outfit Collection

Fancy Dresses

Scantily Camp Outfit

Modular Pants and Skirts

Modular Equipment

Epilogue Camp Clothes - Item Shipment Framework

Ranger Gear

Ranger's Leather Armor

Noble Knight Armour

Druidic Soldier Armor WIP

Fancy noble gear

Extra Gear

Legendary Equipment - Class Armor Sets V2 Update LIVE

Simple Blouse Camp Clothing

Potent Robes for Dark Urge

Adventurer's Armour Collection

Purchasable Camp Clothes and Underwear

Shirts Dresses Corsets

Weapons

Leviathan Axe - The Kratos Axe - adaptation by RussWZ

Extra Weapons

Twinkle and Icingdeath - Drizzt's Swords

Elven Weaponry - Longbows and Quivers

Elven Weaponry - Daggers and Shortswords

Origin-Themed Weapons

Sets

Aeterna Amantes

Grove and Growl - Act 2 Druid Equipment

Crate of Lost Goods

Witcher Gear

Pirates and Rebels

Basket Full of Equipment. NSFW version

Hair:

Tav's Hair Salon

Icon and Race Patches for Tav's Hair Salon

Bububull's hair pack 02

Tav's Hair Mixer

REN'S DIVINE HAIR GALLERY

REN'S HAIR PACK 2

Em's Hair Mashups Pack 1

Em's Bigger Vanilla Hairs

Em's Custom Hair Pack 2

Lara Croft Hairstyle ( Ponytail )

Mashed Up Hairs

Stellar Ponytails - Long Ponytails with Physics

Silver's Hair Pack

Silver's Modular Hair Pack

Silver's Hair Mixer

Tasha's Cauldron of Hairstyles

Tasha's Cauldron of Hairstyles Pack 2

Harpy Hairs

Hairstyles of Faerun

Basic Hair

keysuspect's Hair Edits

Honey's Hair Kitchen (WIP)

Tepkunset Hair Collection

Hairstyles from the continent

Half loose hairstyle

P4 Bangs Bangs Everywhere (a Fringes and Extra Hair mod)

Long Hairs

De-Accessorized NPC Hairstyles

Astralities' Hair Color Supplement

Lazy's Heads and Hair

Vanilla (and NPCs) Hair Mixer

Ghouls Simple Braid and Ponytail Hairstyle

NPC Hairstyles

Vessnelle's Hair Collection

Piercings & Accessories:

Ghouls Custom Piercings

Mythral accessories

Kylin's Piercings

Trips' Accessory Collection

Tintable Piercings

Box of necklaces

Ellian's trinkets (camp version)

Ellian's trinkets

Crowns of Nature

[vesemirsexual]

me converting people to the way of the women Witchers: can I interest you in some Adela and Dragonfly/Ważka?

[meepthemeeping]

✨Cat Witcher✨ they're all stabby🐱

[antebunny]

Witchers v administration

NOW

It’s a series of coincidences which finally tips Eskel off to the silent administrative war being waged on Kaer Morhen. 

Jaskier bursts into his office one long afternoon when Eskel is slumped over his desk, wishing that every other Witcher didn’t run away gleefully whenever he approached them about taking his job or even sharing his duties. To date they have not recruited a human with the necessary skills or trust to take a shot at stewardship for all of Kaer Morhen. Eskel supposes it would be immoral to ask about kidnapping someone else’s steward, but they’ve done worse for less.

“Hello Eskel! Do you know where Letho is?”

Eskel jerks off the desk and makes eye contact with Jaskier, who brings a bright splotch of baby blue to his drab brown and gray office. The bard beams with that typical vaguely affable air of his, expecting a response.

“Egremont,” Eskel recalls, after a moment of hard thinking. “I think. Or maybe Flotsam. With…Aubrey. Maybe.” He drops his head into his hands. “Fuck. I don’t remember. Ask Dragonfly.”

“Already tried, she’s out,” Jaskier chirps. He waves a hand around the stacks of scrolls and documents piled around Eskel’s office. “Don’t you have it written down somewhere?”

The whole idea of having joint patrols was to protect Witchers. No one can simply ambush a lone Witcher anymore. No Witcher can simply disappear for months with no one the wiser. It turns out this good idea is a bit more difficult in practice. Witchers don’t coordinate very well, you see. There’s no written record of who is on a patrol to where with whom. 

“No,” Eskel summarizes.

“Oh. Rats.” Jaskier frowns and lingers in the doorway, puzzling through other potential people to ask for whatever it is he wants to bother Letho about.

Eskel makes a mental note to see about putting together actual patrol schedules, even as he mentally cries tears of blood over the idea of coordinating hundreds of Witchers and getting all of them to follow the damn schedule. He really needs an assistant. Or a new job.

Then the patrol schedule promptly gets forgotten as Eskel gains several new crises all at once.

“Eskel! They found out about the black dye!” Cenna, their head laundress (seamstress? It’s unclear what her official job title is, everything about Kaer Morhen’s organization is unorthodox) sneaks under Jaskier’s arm and plants her hands on Eskel’s desk.

“Who found out about what?” Jaskier calls from behind them.

Cenna sweeps her honey brown hair behind her neck, picks a path to pace around the office, and explains: “The black cloth dye. There was some sort of monster that had, erm, black innards and we could never get the stains out of the clothing. Then we started dyeing cloth with it deliberately, and Vasilisa sells it in Novigrad. Ever since she quit one of your Witchers has been dropping it off with her. She sells it all in about a week. Makes a killing in the market. No one else has black dye that strong. I suppose no one else ever thought of using monster guts.”

Jaskier processes this infodump, and the implications of Cenna’s original statement, only slightly faster than Eskel. “So someone found out that it comes from Kaer Morhen?”

Instinctively, Eskel’s mind comes up with best and worst case scenarios, and whether they threaten the safety of Kaer Morhen. Best case is that someone caught a glimpse of the Witcher leaving Vasilisa with bolts of black cloth, and spreads the news. Worst case scenario is that someone’s traced the line of production all the way back to Kaer Morhen, in which case they don’t know where the leak occurred. 

“Yes! We don’t know how,” Cenna reports, confirming Eskel’s worst fears. “Vasilisa says that all of a sudden there were whispers that the black cloth came from Kaer Morhen, and it was made with the blood of virgins or other some such nonsense. Vasilisa gave everything she earned from it to us, so she is not losing a source of income, and she says that in Novigrad it is easy to stay anonymous. So she is fine. Only I worry, how did someone find out?”

That’s Eskel’s worry as well. It seems too much of a coincidence to believe that out of all the new, exotic products popping up in a huge costal city like Novigrad, the only one subject to Witcher rumors is the only product that’s actually being made in Kaer Morhen. 

“That’s not good,” Jaskier notes, a damper on his usual cheer. “Can’t you sell it somewhere else? Cidaris or Vengerberg?”

“Yes,” Eskel answers slowly, but their original problem remains unsolved. 

Somehow, somewhere, someone discovered that the black cloth sold in Novigrad’s markets is made in the home of the Witchers. Eskel can’t even begin to fathom how that can be used against them. Jaskier is a perfect example of how the humans’ blind fear and desperation to get one of their own inside Kaer Morhen makes them stupid. 

Quietly, Eskel sets aside the matter of the patrol schedules. He’ll have to focus on this black cloth dye issue until–

“Eskel, a problem!” 

For the third time that afternoon, someone barges into Eskel’s office with a problem. It’s Triss, her curly red locks framing a lovely face and a concerned frown. She knocks twice on the doorframe, even though she can clearly see that Jaskier and Cenna have already come in and left the door wide open.

“Not a very troublesome problem,” Triss elaborates as she steps into the office, catching the worried faces of her friends. “But you know how I had to find a suitable soap scent from Kovir?”

Jaskier had complained long and loud about the lack of soaps in Kaer Morhen’s hot springs. What’s the point, he’d said to anyone who would listen, of having these lovely hot springs, if one isn’t even allowed to clean oneself? Finally, Geralt explained that the enhanced senses of Witchers also led them to dislike most soaps, as they all were meant to smell of something to humans, be it rose, bergamot, or jasmine. 

Only, Witchers weren’t supposed to have preferences when it came to something as silly as soaps, or weaknesses, and certainly not sensitivities. So it was a very long time before Jaskier was told, and a fair bit of time afterwards before Triss discovered a way to capture what she calls “blue smells” in a soap. Eskel doesn’t know the details, other than she found something suitable in Lan Exeter and has been bringing it back to Kaer Morhen ever since. 

“They must’ve taken it elsewhere,” Triss continues, miffed. “I thought we brought plenty of customers, but apparently they can find more elsewhere? I’m sure I’ll find something new, but I thought I should warn you that until then, we’ll be bathing without soaps.”

On a regular afternoon, Eskel would accept this unquestioningly. So some vendor decided to move from Lan Exeter to another location. There’s nothing noteworthy about that, especially considering that the subject matter is soap scents. 

But today, missing soap scents after losing the black cloth dye trade seems a bit too perfectly aligned. Geralt, self-hating pessimist that he is (he’s getting better about it though), would probably still think it’s just the natural bad luck of the Witchers. Eskel, on the other hand, is more inclined to think–

“ESKEL!” 

The last person to muscle into Eskel’s tiny office is a Witcher, Bojmir of the Crane School. The sheer size of him forces everyone else out of the doorway and properly into the office. Eskel observes their little group with an outsider’s eye and privately finds amusement in their arrangement. 

Cenna, an ordinary, almost middle-aged woman from Aedd Gynvael, with an eye for fine fabrics and a talent for bending them to her will. Triss, a sorceress who despite her trade is the only one trusted to heal Witchers. Jaskier, a Redanian nobleman by birth and bard by passion, who somewhat recently gained the unique and unconventional title of White Wolf’s Consort (also by passion). Finally, Bojmir the Serin, looming over the rest at almost seven feet tall, scratches three fingers through his braided beard. He started growing it out after moving to Kaer Morhen, and someone, probably one of the seamstresses, taught him the value of braiding hair. 

Bojmir eyes the rest of the people in the room. It’s an unusually suspicious move, and Eskel makes a mental note to bring it up later. For now, he just gestures for Bojmir to spit it out.

“Elante’s been found out,” Bojmir says.

Elante, the White Ibis, also of the Crane School, is one of the few Witchers to quit the Path entirely after the schools joined together. He always had a penchant for playing around with potions and elixirs and a love of liquor. Moving to Kaer Morhen facilitated his interest like nothing else, but Elante still joined his brothers on the Path. It was duty, and it was the only life he knew.

Then one of the cooks introduced Elante to brewing, and someone in Jaskier’s extended family was looking to get rid of an unwanted vineyard, and before Eskel knew it, Yennefer enchanted a ring for Elante to hide his mutations from humans, and he was out of Kaer Morhen. Elante set up shop in Jamurlak, on the White Wolf’s side of the Buina river, and opened the White Ibis Brewery & Pub, because all Witchers have a terrible sense of humor.

Last Eskel heard, Elante had invented some kind of fermented lemonade which nearly everyone in Kaer Morhen was going crazy for. All of Elante’s first customers were Witchers, before he gained popularity with the people of Jamurlak. They still stop by and visit him from time to time, mostly in disguise. Just because Elante walked away from the Path doesn’t mean he walked away from his brothers.

“How so?” Jaskier prods.

Bojmir shrugs his massive shoulders. “He said there were rumors of a monster near Jamurlak and he went to take care of it in secret, ‘n ever since then people’ve been eyeing him sideways. Then some woman started asking questions and she hasn’t done anything but she smells like she’s hiding something.”

And they all have a good (or bad) idea of how badly people would like to get their hands on a Witcher. 

“Fuck,” Eskel summarizes. 

First the mysterious discoverer of their black cloth dye trade, then their supplier for soap scents disappearing, then this debacle with Elante. Speaking of schedules–though Eskel has totally forgotten about making patrol schedules–they don’t know how long Elante has been on someone’s radar for, only when he decided to tell the next Witcher that stopped by.

So much for a lazy afternoon. 

“Someone’s waging war on us,” Jaskier concludes, concerned in that devil-may-care way of his. “Politely. But still.”

A polite war. Targeting the one glaring weakness of the Witchers: administration. 

THEN

No one has ever managed to spy on the Witchers. Ever since it became known that the White Wolf and his army of mutant monsters had taken up residence in Kaer Morhen, that old stone castle hidden high up in the mountains, in between their conquests, countless kings, sorcerors, spymasters and the like have tried to get a person on the inside. Not one of them has succeeded. Every disguised “washerwoman” seeking refuse, every trained courtesan, every “traitor” hoping to join the Witchers, every single mage-spy has been turned away at the door.

Their survival is perhaps more embarrassing, to the warlords and spymasters to whom these spies tell their stories. The Witchers do not kill these attempted spies any more than they let them in the doors. Somehow, every single one of them is simply turned away at the door, while others are allowed in, never to return. 

Because it is not secret that some people are allowed in. An old stonemason, who harbored Witcher sympathies long before the White Wolf started his bloody campaign, disappears with the pair of Witchers who came through his town. A local laundress, seeking out the trio of Witchers who came trudging through the town’s tavern, leaves with them all too happily. Somehow the impenetrable walls of Kaer Morhen open for these ordinary people, and not for the spies of Redania, Poviss, or Kovir. 

It is Malia’s job to somehow do the impossible and get a spy into Kaer Morhen. 

Which is not to say that she will be venturing up the mountain, or attempting to get a spy of her own into Kaer Morhen. That demonstrably doesn’t work. Instead, Malia will be attempting to get to one of the ordinary people who leave. 

[keirametzbrassknuckles]

Cat Witchers as Cats:

Gezras:

Guxart:

Dragonfly:

Brehen:

Aiden:

Kiyan:

Gaetan:

Bonus: Guxart whenever Vesemir comes over:

[dftea]

Ravelled and thinned

Accidental Warlord AU (@inexplicifics): Aiden/Sasha, hurt/comfort

[read on AO3]

And then it comes over him, an overwhelming wave of rage and vengeance, sweeping him away from Sasha and reality and everything good and beautiful in the world.

or

Aleksander is hurt on the training ground. Aiden loses it.

When the obstacle course explodes, Aiden only makes it halfway across the training ground before Sasha falls.

Shouts and Signs fill the air, as the Grassed trainees fling up their Quen shields to protect themselves and their humans from the falling debris. 

But they’re between him and his Sasha.

He doesn’t know how many he knocks down, how many feel the cut of his knife, but then he’s holding a blood-soaked Sasha in his arms.

There’s a jagged spike of metal through his sweet pup’s chest. He tries to form words, to shape Aiden's name, but all that comes out is blood.

He’s saturated in the smell of Sasha’s blood and fear.

And he cannot watch him die in agony, not like this.

He pushes Axii into Sasha’s head and watches him still, his face slack.

And then it comes over him, an overwhelming wave of rage and vengeance, sweeping him away from Sasha and reality and everything good and beautiful in the world.

When he comes back to himself, he is face down in the dirt of the training yard, Lambert pinning him bodily and a dozen Cat Witchers seizing hold of his limbs.

“–not going to fucking die, because Triss got to him fast. He’s going to be fine, Aiden, but he needs you to snap the fuck out of this, so you can–”

“I’m back,” he rasps, and feels the release of tension all around him. “I need…Sasha…”

“Let him up,” Lambert commands, and the others release him as Lambert drags him up to his feet.

“Did I…did I hurt…?”

“Cuts and bruises,” Lambert says, matter-of-factly. “Nothing that won’t heal in a few days. Now let’s clean you the fuck up so you can see Aleksander - he’s been asking for you.”

As he drags Aiden towards the keep, the Cats falling into a sort of honour guard around them, Aiden belatedly takes in the deserted training yard, the fading light.

“How long was I down?”

Lambert rolls his shoulders, subtly removing the stiffness. “Five, six hours.”

“You sat on me for six hours?”

“Fucking Axii wouldn’t take,” Lambert complains, steering him towards the hot springs. “Even when Eskel and the Griffins got involved. 

When they arrive, the baths are empty, and Lambert strips Aiden with ruthless efficiency before dunking him in the private pool. It’s barely body temperature for a Witcher, but Aiden feels half outside his body anyway, unable to process much beyond the cloying scent of Sasha’s blood surrounding him.

Lambert, Axel, and Cedric scrub him down until he smells like apples and the blood has all vanished with the magic of the springs. They also seem glad to have lost the lingering blood and dirt from their bodies, and Aiden numbly notes that some of those “cuts and bruises” are on them.

“I hurt you,” Aiden mumbles at Lambert, who shakes his head. 

“Nah, it won't even scar.”

His sweet pup will have a scar now, marring his beautiful body, because Aiden wasn’t fast enough. Because Aiden is too selfish to send him away to live in Wolfenburg or another safe town far from the fucking Cranes and their fucking obstacle courses.

Lambert pulls some clean clothes onto his unresisting body, before finally guiding him up to Sasha’s rooms.

The sitting room is crowded, more crowded than Aiden was expecting, with Livi and Dragonfly curled up in the chair by the window and the whole pride of Mantikittens surrounding Aren on the sofa. Mouse is pacing, muttering to herself, but no one tries to stop her.

It’s overwhelming, especially when all their eyes turn on him as he enters with Lambert and an entourage of Cats.

But then they smell relieved, that scent overwhelming the worry that feels palpable in the room.

“Milena and Triss are with him,” Livi says, offering a wobbly smile. “Triss says he’ll be fine in a few days.”

Aiden nods, still feeling like he’s in a waking nightmare, as Lambert pushes him towards the door to the bedroom.

The smell of blood is unmistakable, his sweet pup’s blood, but smothered by healing salves and the faint scent of Kitten’s tears.

She looks up as the door opens, moving aside as Aiden breaks free from Lambert to stumble to the bed.

“You’re all right,” Sasha breathes, and there’s more of that relief scent, wrapped up in the honey of his love for Aiden.

“You're not,” Aiden chokes out, the bandages around Sasha’s torso barely darker than his pale skin.

“I will be,” Sasha says, firmly, and he isn’t lying. 

“He will,” Merigold agrees, and she isn’t lying either. “You can lie on his right side if you like - you should rest.”

“Why are you being kind to me?” Aiden suddenly blurts out. “I lost my fucking mind - I could’ve killed someone!”

“Aiden,” Kitten says, softly, “it killed me to see Sasha hurting so badly. I can only imagine how much worse it was for you. Nobody blames you.”

“But they fucking should!” he says vehemently.

“Can we fight about this in the morning?” Sasha says plaintively, stifling a yawn. “I want you to hold me now.”

And he cannot deny his sweet pup anything, especially not when he’s lying there looking so fragile, when Aiden wants nothing more than to inhale his living, breathing scent.

“The potions for pain are on the cabinet,” Merigold says, as she goes to take her leave.

“Milena and I will be right outside the door,” Lambert says. “If you need anything.”

But Aiden is already crawling over the bed, light as only a Cat can be, before curling himself around Sasha’s uninjured right side.

He smells relaxed, free from pain - and not because someone forced everything out of his head in desperation.

“Forgive me?” he begs. “For the Axii.”

“Nothing to forgive, beloved,” Sasha says, and closes his eyes, sighing in contentment as he does most every night.

He isn’t afraid, Aiden thinks wonderingly. He still loves him and he isn’t afraid.

And maybe Aiden doesn’t deserve this trust, this love, but he won’t give up something so precious without a fight.

[lenkalost]

Cedric and Axel are as different as night and day. Yet, they somehow became friends, a fact Cedric isn't unhappy about. But when Axel starts flirting with him, things become complicated. And between contracts and the everyday trouble that is Dyn Marv, Cedric doesn't need any more complications.

Hey! Here's the second chapter, featuring Belleteyn at Dyn Marv. I hope you like it!