shit's going down in thorne (what else is new)

[funbreaker]

[ It's early evening when Thancred's message arrives, sent specifically to Istredd, Kyle, Stephen, and Yennefer. These are the people he's identified as the most at risk based on the note he received. To narrow it down to a number that could safely travel without attracting attention in the night had been its own monumental task, and he can only hope he's gotten it right.

Assuming all of them even agree to Jolene's offer. ]

Meet me in the secure wing of Istredd's domain in half an hour.
It's urgent.

[ Did he ask Istredd about this? No. Yet it's where they've had private meetings in the past, such as the one with their allies in the Free Cities, and so it seems the best option. Istredd will understand that if Thancred is invoking this, it's because it's serious. ]

Comments

following istredd and yennefer's chat

[funbreaker]

[ Thancred bids everyone stay safe and then leaves Istredd's domain shortly after, aware that he and Stephen have much work to do. They need to pack but lightly, taking only the essentials. The privacy of Stephen's room allows them to coordinate in relative safety; the room is warded, Thancred knows, and they will have to hope that is good enough.

But while he hopes that Istredd will be able to help Yennefer see reason, he doesn't know if it will be enough. Nor is he convinced that his own words will sway her any more effectively than a close companion from her home star.

Yet he owes it to her to try, and so when his bag is packed and he feels as prepared as he can be in this situation, he sends out a message to her. ]

Yennefer,
I would like to speak with you before I leave. Let me know when you are free to do so.

[ If he dresses it up as bidding her farewell, perhaps she'll agree to the meeting, though he's certain she'll know the truth of his purpose all the same. ]

[vixening]

[ it really does depend on how thancred wants to define 'see reason'. especially where it concerns yennefer and changing her mind. still, the state in which thancred reaches out to her, she is thinking about things differently. she is feeling differently than she had when she first stormed out of istredd's horizon, but whether or not that means her mind is changed is still up for debate.

still, when thancred's words come, it is after her conversation with istredd. after her exchange with geralt. part of yennefer almost expects the script to be geralt once again trying to press her, but the yennefer in the different scrawl immediately tells her otherwise.

the message is very casual, tied up to look like a goodbye, but yennefer does suspect. ]

I am free now, Thanced.
If you aren't too busy with your preparations.

[funbreaker]

I believe I'm as ready as I can be for what's to come, given the circumstances.

[ Even here, he is being vague. It seems like the safest option. ]

Shall I come to your chambers?

[ In truth, he's already on the way. ]

[vixening]

I am here.

[ and she is. after her conversation with istredd and geralt, yennefer had packed all that would be of any use from her classroom. at first, the packing had been for stephen to take with him, given she has no idea where it is they are to escape to and what will be available to them when they do.

now... well. she wonders. she considers. she, possibly, has packed a bag full of things stephen wouldn't know the first thing about. the bag sits in her room now, atop the table in her small sitting area, and yennefer stares at it from where she sits on her couch, glass of wine in hand, waiting for thancred to arrive. ]

[funbreaker]

[ It doesn't take long for Thancred to reach her chambers. That being said, he does take care to make certain the corridor is clear before he steps up to her door and knocks lightly on it. He suspects Istredd was here already, and he'd rather not start a rash of rumors about Yennefer receiving so many visitors on this particular night.

As soon as she speaks up to indicate he can come in, he opens the door and shuts it tight behind him. Thancred takes note of the packed bag immediately, catching that Yennefer was staring at it before her gaze turns to him.

He won't say anything about it. Not yet, at least. ]

A little over an hour, now. [ Until he and Stephen must head for the rendezvous point. Thancred heaves out a sigh and moves toward Yennefer, taking a seat in the chair that sits diagonal to the couch, allowing him to face her. ] To be honest, this all brings back memories.

[ He lifts a hand to rub at his eyes. He's been here before, and that time they didn't even have these few hours of warning. ]

[vixening]

[ he would suspect correctly - though istredd had found her in her classroom, rather than her chambers. her and geralt's conversation had been during her walk across the castle. and now- now she had a bag packed despite not speaking to anyone directly about her plans, and now thancred was stepping inside her door, his eyes falling to the bag before turning to her.

she gestures to bottle of wine on her desk in the corner, an offering for thancred that he has taken her up on before, though she's not sure if the alcohol would help or hurt the current circumstances.

yennefer's brow furrows, curious. ] The secret escape? Or stealing away to my room in the middle of the night? [ it's an attempt at a joke, though it lacks her usual bite - the weight of the next few hours a thick fog around the castle. and now, especially, in her room. ]

[funbreaker]

[ Thancred does eye the bottle of wine for a good few seconds, considering, but he doesn't want to be anything other than razor-sharp for what awaits, so perhaps that isn't the best idea at the moment. He gives a small shake of his head, a quiet decline.

Tired as Yennefer's tone might be, Thancred can tell that her questions are meant as a jest. He lets out a scoff that doesn't quite make it to a laugh; even he struggles to make light of this current situation, particularly when it brings make so many memories that sting even now. ]

Both, I suppose. [ He remembers when he'd come to see her at some late hour when half their number had been abducted, how they had taken a moment to catch their breath together — and how it had finally felt like he was forgiven for what he did in Nocwich.

He reaches one hand up to rub at his eyes. ]

There was a time when Himeka and I, along with the rest of our order, were falsely implicated in an assassination attempt on the sultana of a powerful city-state. [ He drops his hand and stares directly at Yennefer as he weaves the tale. ] There was more to the plot than that, mind, and I will not bog you down with all the details, but the salient point is that we had to suddenly flee the city, even using dangerous magic to escape pursuit.

[ There's a pause as he indulges in a wry, mirthless smile and looks away. ]

In fact, that was what led to my losing the ability to cast magic.

[vixening]

[ that is one of the many differences they face - thancred, who needs to be razor-sharp, and yennefer, who can't even consider what is to come while sober. he shakes his head, and yennefer lifts a shoulder, a silent your loss.

thancred says both, with a scoff that barely sounds more than an exhale, and her eyes fall to her own glass. she knows than thancred has come for a reason, a purpose, but she's not entirely certain in what way she needs to be prepared.

while his mind drifts to the last time he snuck off into the dark of her room, yennefer's is on tonight. on the conversations she's already had, on conversations she wonders are to come, on the heavy weight of fate that feels like it's encircling her even now. thancred starts in on a story of him and himeka, another summoned from...solvunn, she thinks? it's enough to pull her attention away from her glass, which means that her eyes are already on him when he drops his hand to stare back at her.

it is not lost on her, the parallel details, similar stories. it's the last of that story that has her brow arching, tired as her own mirthless smile grows. ]

I don't know if I was aware you had an ability to cast magic. [ which... she does not know if that's true or teasing, unwilling to go back through all of her and thancred's many conversations. perhaps that's her own fault, the fact she doesn't remember something like this, but the fact he's looked away makes yennefer think there's something more - to his story, to the reason he's come to talk to her.

she gives him a moment, then another, before she takes a sip of wine. ] If you're honestly trying to convince me, Thancred, this is not helping your case.

[funbreaker]

Surely I told you at one point. I was never an expert, mind, but...

[ Thancred shakes his head. That isn't what truly matters. The ability to weave spells had been ripped from him; Y'shtola had lost her sight. There had been consequences for most of them, with Himeka, Alphinaud, and Tataru fleeing to Ishgard in exile.

Yennefer's remark about his poor case draws a hollow laugh out of him. ]

Who said I was trying to convince you?

[ But of course, they both know why he's here.

He heaves out a breath and stares off to the other side of the room, where there are bottles and papers and other effects. Not that he's really looking at them. ]

Someone important to me... that was also the last day I saw her. [ He'd seen her in other forms after that, as the Word of the Mother, but not truly as just herself — as Minfilia. ] I told her to go ahead while I bought her and the others time, but still... [ His expression twitches as the pain of that old wound rises up, and he closes his eyes for a moment. ]

I make the wrong decision, and someone who matters to me gets hurt. That's always the trend, it seems. It happened to you in Nocwich. I don't...

[ He trails off, eyes blinking open again as he leans forward, hoping to take her hand. ]

I can't let that happen again, Yennefer.

[vixening]

[ it's possible he has told her before now - yennefer is not in a state to be stubborn about this. doesn't know if she would, even if she had the energy. but it's still all been sapped from her - the fight with istredd, the conversation with geralt, and now...

thancred offers a hollow laugh, and yennefer's smile is tired, small. they do both know why he's here, and in some way yennefer already knows what she's going to do. thancred being here, thancred talking about all of this, it feels more like a moment for her to confirm what she already knows. what she already feels. his stare is empty, distant. he's not looking at anything in particular, but yennefer is looking at him. watches as he speaks, as he says while I bout her and others time, as his expression twitches.

her chest tightens, whether it's through his emotions she picks up on, or the fact she knows where he is going with this. knows that the mention of nocwich is coming, before the word leaves his mouth. he does lean forward, his hand reaches out, and yennefer watches it.

i can't let that happen again, yennefer. ]

I hated you for a while, after Nocwich. [ she says after a brief silence, perhaps a bit bluntly. it's not meant to be harsh, or sharp, and truthfully she doesn't have the energy in her to even try. instead, she sets down her wine. looks back to him, to his outstretched hand. ]

There were very few within the castle I could trust, fewer who I could admit to myself I did. [ yennefer had been without magic, had been scared and cornered and so, so desperate. angry. a representative of the very crown she was so desperate to protect herself from.

it feels like lifetimes ago, and in a lot of ways it has been. still, it feels like there's so much more to go. so much more to do. her life feels as though it had only begun to settle, which she supposes means she should have expected something like this.

her eyes linger on her wine glass for a few moments, before she shakes her head. ] I've been betrayed before, by those close to me, and at the time those wounds still hadn't healed. Everything that happened at Nocwich, everything that happened after, it reopened old wounds. I blamed everyone, I blamed you, because blaming myself would have involved admitting just how little control I had.

[ when yennefer turns back to thancred, she offers another small smile, then leans forward and takes the hand he'd stretched out for her. her fingers wrap around his, squeezing gently. ]

You're not making the wrong decision here, Thancred. You have to know that.

[funbreaker]

[ Thancred can't be certain that the word "hate" has ever come up before in relation to how he'd betrayed Yennefer during the Nocwich attack, but he'd felt it all the same. She hadn't ever spat that into his face, but she hadn't had to, the distance that had grown between them speaking plenty on its own.

With his hand still hanging there in the air, waiting for Yennefer to take it, Thancred does feel oddly vulnerable. But he doesn't pull back, focusing instead on Yennefer's face and waiting for her to speak her piece, as he already has for himself.

It's illuminating to hear her talk of it now, to describe her past actions almost as if they belonged to another person. With the queen's life practically forfeit now as far as they know, perhaps she's realized that she can let all of those masks fall away and simply be herself.

He'd be the last one to judge. ]

You were right to blame me, for the record. I didn't mean it as a betrayal against you so much as keeping a promise to another, but that doesn't change what I did or how it all played out. It was a risk, one I knowingly took, and if you had suffered any worse consequence as a result, I never would have been able to forgive myself.

[ Oh, and finally, there's the warmth of her fingers wrapping around his hand. Thancred lets out a breath that had been caught in his chest and shuts his eyes for a moment, the relief washing over him. ]

I am sorry that I reopened old wounds. And I'm sorry if that's happening all over again now. [ He suspects that it is. Yennefer has been in some situation like this before, and surely that's why she's digging her heels in. When Thancred opens his eyes, his expression has hardened with determination as he stares her down. There's no reason not to lay it all out on the table now. ] Yennefer, listen to me. I don't want to leave you behind, if only because I can best assure your safety if you're at my side. I realize that's selfish of me, but...

[ He tightens his grip on her hand. ]

Well, I at least had to come say my piece. I can hardly force you, but I didn't want to leave without trying.

[ No, he isn't going to try and drag her to the caravan against her will. Yennefer will have to make this choice for herself. But he had to come see her before it was too late to make his stance clear. ]

[vixening]

[ no, the word 'hate' wouldn't have been said aloud. yennefer very rarely spend the time to voice it, when the feeling is a little too true. her actions tend to say plenty, and the distance she had very explicitly placed between them had been plenty loud enough. she knows thancred had known, knows that it had been something unspoken between them, and while some part of her wonders if it's even worth bringing up now, a larger part knows that there is no good in leaving it unsaid.

just as thancred sits there, hand outstretched for her own, and waits - open, vulnerable, patient - she can give him the same courtesy. ]

No, I wasn't. [ she argues with him, once her hand is in his own. once she crosses whatever marginal distance had been left between them. ] I had myself to blame, mostly. And then perhaps Lucifer, but that's only because I'll always find some way to fault him. [ which is... well, it's a joke, yes. but it's also an attempt at a diversion - yennefer, not really wanting to think too much on how poorly she handled past events, what she did and what she should have done, the wedge in drove into so much of her life. it all feels ridiculous, in a way, to think that at that time she'd thought it had all come crumbling down, when in so many more ways things were just beginning.

thancred closes his eyes, relieved, and yennefer watches - shifts so that she is leaning a little closer to him, her hold on his hand a little more settled. I am sorry he says, and she very nearly argues with him. tell shim that one more apology and she'll force him to have that glass of wine, but the mention of now has her stilling, because he is right. the old wounds, the fear that the familiarity of this all instills in her, it's the reason she is pushing back the way she is.

to be in that place again - scared, alone, without magic - she can't do it again.

she won't.

she isn't.

thancred opens his eyes and she sees the hardness in his gaze, the way his hands tighten around her own, and gods. she supposes that is it, then. whatever she had been musing, whatever she had been sure of but still unsure of, it all leaves her. I can hardly force you he says. ]

You could not force me, even if you attempted to. [ her eyes go to his hands, where they sit in her own. they linger there for a moment before she sighs, and then speaks. ]

I'm joining you and Stephen. [ which perhaps should be said in question, should be a request, but it is yennefer. there's no question there to be had. ] Wherever it is this stupid, vague plan is meant to take us. I've decided to come.

[funbreaker]

[ Thancred isn't expecting for Yennefer to gave him some grace for his past actions. Even if it's true that his choice hadn't been made with any intention to hurt her, he had still known the risk of what he was doing, of choosing to protect Solvunn's delegate over Thorne's. Himeka over Yennefer. He had hoped that the other Thorne Summoned would be able to cover things, and to some degree they did, but he still feels complicit.

Maybe Yennefer doesn't hold it against him, at least not anymore, but he always will. It's his way, for better or worse, and only more time will cause that guilty feeling to fade.

He does manage a small huff of a laugh at the mention of Lucifer, and while he would be curious to hear more of that implication and how Lucifer was even involved, now is hardly the time. He insists to himself that he'll get the chance to ask Yennefer about it later, even if their futures are so uncertain in this moment.

He could not force her. He knows this. But it's almost as if admitting that is what finally breaks through. Granted, Thancred doesn't attribute Yennefer changing her mind to anything he said, as such. He knows that Istredd spoke to her, and possibly Geralt as well. Even so, he heaves out another sigh, his hands taking tight hold of hers again, not particularly wanting to let go now. ]

And there is no one else I would rather undertake a stupid, vague plan with than the two of you. [ When it comes to his fellow Summoned in Thorne, they have always been his closest and most trusted friends. And perhaps it goes deeper than that now, and has ever since that bizarre, too-real dream. But again, now isn't the time to think of such things. ] Is there aught else you need to pack? I'm a decent workhorse, you know. [ Finally he pulls back, drawing his hands away almost reluctantly. But she's said she'll come, and he no longer needs to worry about her slipping through his fingers. ]