[GP] Check-in Day: Lurking Out of Habit

[st_ingofthehundred]

The first of the month arrived and Kash took up his usual station at the edge of the Cafe with his eyes on the door. It had been his habit since he first arrived and learned that arrivals had a pattern, and he had kept to it when he realized that a lot of people showed up injured. It had nothing to do with expecting Zahra to come for him any day now. Nothing to do with wanting to be right here should she arrive. He was just doing his work as a healer.

From the new library, he had acquired a text on modern medicine. It sat in front of him, a cup of coffee by his hand that Kitty kept full of fresh, steaming brew, and a plate of chocolate chip cookies by his other hand. He wore the symbol that he refused to consider holy, his dark spear rested against the thigh closer to the wall, and he had prepared all of his healing spells, and a few damage and area of effect spells in case anything came through that posed a threat.

Kitty was on-shift, which used to mean covering the bar, the cafe, and the pool bar. Out of habit, she still watched all of them, but these days, she had plenty of help. Ignis or Emma were almost always in the kitchen and someone usually tended the bakery counter.

In short, there was absolutely nothing unusual about the day, Kitty or Kash. It was exactly like every other arrival day. The only exception, if it was one, was that Kash was almost as interested in his book as Kitty was her research.

Comments

[st_rikingblueeyes]

The initial description got Corbie thinking. She was not the only girl here with light hair and blue eyes... but the name made her eyes soften and she shook her head. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I don't know anyone by that name."

The specification of young caught her attention. Not a peer, but someone he was, or felt, responsible for. Cared for. He didn't expect for this Ciri to be here, but the confirmation would still hurt.

[st_eelremains]

"Thank you," he made himself say, and it came out with a sort of detached courtesy. "I suppose I knew the answer already. If she was here I would have dreamed of her. Look," and he wrenched his mind back to practicalities, "is there somewhere I could get cleaned up?" He smelled of the bog, and he wasn't entirely sure he wasn't bleeding on the floor.

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Yeah, the way he was trying to make it sound like it didn't bug him said everything about how much it bugged him. But Corbie let it go. Wasn't her business. "Your room'll be best for that." She nodded toward the desk. "He ain't much for conversation, but he's got a reservation for you. Then I can help you find your room, if you like." Which could be a dangerous thing, for a tiny girl like her to offer to a man like him, but he wasn't going to hurt her. Gut feeling, but that kind of gut feeling hadn't failed her yet.

[st_eelremains]

A... reservation? 'His' room? Strange and stranger. "I think I'll take you up on that, if you don't mind. This place looked pretty big from outside." Trying not to grimace or limp too noticeably, he headed over to the desk Corbie had indicated, and managed not to be too unnerved by that particular encounter. Strangers knowing his name had rarely meant anything good back home.

"Sorry to take you away from your sewing," he said when he came back. "Appreciate the help, though."

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie shook her head and bounced to her feet before setting the work into the chair. "That's all right. It's why I'm here." Which could sound even creepier, so she clarified, "We noticed a pattern of what days people tend to show up, so someone's usually around to help out with that. It's my turn today. What room we looking for?"

[st_eelremains]

"...209?" Geralt said a bit hesitantly. "Never encountered an inn with hundreds of rooms. Not even in Novigrad."

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"Me neither," Corbie admitted, wrinkling her nose. "Ain't encountered one quite this ugly before, neither." But since buildings one and two only had rooms in the 100s, she already knew where they were going. Three was the only option. "That's near my room, I think," she said before heading for the door.

[st_eelremains]

"What do you do here? Beside sew, and greet people." He was talking more to distract himself than anything else. The leg was definitely going to need some attention once he was someplace safe.

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"I study magic," she said. And for the moment Corbie left it at that, waiting to see what the reaction to that would be. She was well versed in places and people she could bolt to if it wasn't good.

[st_eelremains]

"Ah. Known a lot of sorceresses in my time," Geralt mumbled, thinking with a pang of Yen. They hadn't parted well. She'd blamed him, of course, and he didn't blame her for a moment for feeling that way.

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Which was enough that Corbie step perked back up. She wasn't quite trotting, but you had to do weird things to match a stride that was so much longer than yours. "Technically I'm a wizard," she said. But really, as long as it wasn't 'witch' she didn't much mind. "Not a very good one yet, but what are ya gonna do?"

[st_eelremains]

"Magic's hard," Geralt said quietly. "Hope you've got someone helping you." His shoulders twitched in what wasn't quite a shudder. "There was a school for girls with magical talent, back in my world. Good place. Gone now, unfortunately."

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"I do," she said. "Why's it gone?" Corbie had her guesses and none of them were good, but she couldn't really know.

[st_eelremains]

"Mages made a convenient scapegoat for a king with a shaky grasp on sanity," Geralt said. "Aretuza... didn't move quickly enough to send its students away."

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"Oh." Corambis hadn't had a king in hundreds of years, largely because of things like this. If the king went wrong, there was no backup.

"Where I come from, they just don't like having to teach girls. So there's a school, but it ain't very good. They're hoping we'll just give up and go home or something."

[st_eelremains]

"So you're proving them wrong. Good for you." Yen would have liked her, he thought. As would Triss and Rita would have probably wanted to take her home and keep her while she taught her everything.

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"My magic's a part of me," Corbie said with a shrug. "I can't just stop."

[st_eelremains]

He almost asked her if she'd ever wanted to. Ciri certainly had. But maybe Corbie's magic was a blessing for her, not a curse. It would be nice to think so. Instead of replying, Geralt just nodded and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.

"Should I leave my sword in this room?" he asked after a moment, a bit distantly. He didn't like the idea, but it would be best to know. Putting himself in a position to get into an argument about it wouldn't be the best idea, at least not until he knew more about what was going on. "It's magic. Probably shouldn't be touched by anyone else."

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"You wouldn't be the only person with a weapon," Corbie said with a slight shake of her head. Reaching building three, she started climbing the stairs. Jackson and a few others had guns. Molly had that spear now. Sunny had a knife... "I don't think anybody'd blink if you kept it on you."

[st_eelremains]

"Wish I hadn't dropped the other one." The weight on his back felt wrong, off-balance, without the second sword. Not dropping the potions pack would also have been a good idea, although to be fair, it felt more like something had torn it off his belt.

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"I'm sorry," she said, not because she understood why anyone would need two swords but because she knew how many times she had wished for more things she'd left behind. She didn't even have her coraline. She knew all the prayers even without the beads, but...

"Here," she said, in front of a door reading 'Oriental Fantasy.' "So here's where that card the innkeeper gave you comes in. You slide it in here." She pointed to the lock.

[st_eelremains]

He tried it, gingerly, and heard something click in the lock. When he tried the door, it opened, and he managed not to let his eyebrows hit his hairline at the sight of the room within. "... interesting colour scheme."

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie peeked inside at the decor, all too curious. "... This is one of the better ones, actually."

[st_eelremains]

Looks like someone with too much money tried to design a Zerrikanian brothel.” But Geralt sighed, desperately tired suddenly. How long had it been since he’d had more than a few snatched hours of sleep? “It’ll do. Thank you for showing me how to find it.”

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"Yeah, whorehouse was my first impression of this place, too," she said, not quite chuckling.

"Need anything else?" Corbie didn't mind keeping him company, however innocently or not, if he wanted it.