in a random village*
After a few days of walking, fighting a few Grimm, and sleeping near a stream Cole and Ilia ended up at a small town and were currently sitting in a small restaurant, but things weren't going well because Cole asked the worst question possible due to no one else willing to answer it, that and Ilia had found out what Cole was in turmoil over so one topic led to another, and now they were in a heated argument with a guy who'd interrupted him when he tried to mention it kindly, but this guy was not as tactful.
"I'm just saying that not every human tries to be a jerk, I was just asking if being Faunas meant that your kind had the tendency to act like your animal counterpart" some guy behind them said just as Ilia threw a bowl of rice at him only for it to miss and shattered against the wall leaving rice stuck to the wall of the restaurant they were currently arguing in.
"and I told you that I don't know, and you should just shut up and let me eat in peace!" she exclaimed as the waiter simply gave her another bowl of rice and quietly walked away, thinking she'd hit him if he said anything.
Cole chuckled as he took a bite of his meal and said, "look, could you please shut the hell up and let us eat like she said"?
"Whatever" he said leaving the two to themselves, she took another bite fully ignoring him to think and hoping to just leave him behind to go back to camp but shook her head knowing going back solo was suicide; Grimm or Adam is didn't matter cause she'd die either way and this made her very annoyed.
"Why don't I buy you some dessert" he asked, but Ilia ignored him.
After thinking about one fundamental thing every woman human or Faunas- loved when they got upset, was an expensive dessert.
"Miss I'd like to order something!" he hollered, catching the waiter's attention and as he quickly made his way over to Cole and Ilia. With a respectful tone despite Ilia's presence, he asked "what can do for you sir?"
"I'd like to order some cherry powder puffs and a small side of chocolate fondue with the freshest berries for the lady please" the waiter bowed his head and simply said "of course, right away sir"
Ilia raised an eyebrow but didn't tempt fate and just let it go, but when she heard another waiter call him 'sir' or m'lord she got even more confused and curious about it.
A few minutes later and the same person came back with a bowl of melted chocolate with cookies and fruit on one tray and cherry powder puffs on the other.
"Dessert for the lady" the waiter said before leaving with Cole's 80 lien tip, "thank you sir"
Ilia said nothing as she enjoyed her dessert while Cole ate his rice with spinach, broccoli, and chili pepper chicken on the side.
"Alright that's it, what the hell is going on" she asked after ten minutes of watching everyone look at them while some muttered about Cole being royalty or something along those lines.
Cole looked up from his half-eaten meal and asked, "what are you on about now?"
"Everyone here has been calling you 'm'lord' and 'sir' every time you ask for stuff, what's all that about" she said turning red showing she was getting angry. "you're getting special treatment, while I get ignored at best!"
Cole sighed as he took a drink and looked her in the eye with a sad expression, "you seriously think I like this kind of attention!? I don't, I may be a big deal to them but I'm just a 21-year-old that happens to have been born into a family that had its own secrets." he grabbed the bottle of wine and drained half of it then added with a sad look "being of noble birth me and my deceased sister were well respected around here, but we don't hold any amount of political power in Mistral any more especially with the Faunas…at least we used to; Apparently my mother was a council member turned huntsman that actively helped everyone she could, and being a noble she ran off to live a simple life in a nowhere village in the swamps of Mistral. But now the Faunas that knew my family treat me like a noble, but everywhere else I'm a wanted criminal" throughout the meal Ilia noticed Cole become quieter.
After a few more minutes of silence she looked up at him, noting his grief about his family took a toll on him, so she did something that she'd never do for anyone.
Cole flinched when Ilia gently grabbed his left hand and held it firmly and said "I'm sorry for your loss…I didn't know-" ripping his arm away he angrily said "it's fine, it's not like everyone knew who I was or anything" he drank the rest of the beer before leaving 175 lien on
the table and left. "I'll be at the inn, ask for me, and they'll show you to a room"
Ilia looked up at him and turned blue watching him leave the restaurant, she felt so bad that she ran after him.
Using her senses to find him at the inn near the front desk.
"Room for two please" Ilia quickly said, standing against Cole and winded.
The receptionist looked at Cole and said "oh, lord foster, it's such a pleasant surprise to see you again, look how much you've grown" she glanced over at Ilia and smiled "good to see that you're still making new friends" Cole smiled tiredly and said "I'm not a foster miss, I'm a valentine"
This earned a second of glaring, but vanished behind a façade as she pushed a button under the desk.
"good, nonetheless, and as always may your stay be a pleasant one and stay as long as you want" she said, handing him a key card with the number 1108 in the center.
Walking to their room Ilia noted how huge the place was, the amount of rooms and the large indoor pool and hot tub "this place seemed smaller on the outside" she muttered looking at the huge 20-foot deep pool.
"My father used to ditch me and my sister in the pool area to drink and gamble in the alley outside- come to think of it, my sister taught me to swim here while my mother worked as a guard for a month or so" he said as he smiled sadly toward the pool.
"Maybe he's not so bad after all" she thought as she followed him around, after they found the room and got settled in, Ilia watched Cole yawn as he stretched his arms over his head and walked into the bathroom and locked the door.
She decided to turn on a small speaker with a touchscreen and selected a heavy metal album titled "the right to survive" while she got undressed and wrapped herself in an extra bathrobe to get ready for her shower but by the sound of it she probably had to wait a bit longer since Cole was getting dressed in the bathroom.
Eventually Cole left the bathroom in thigh length boxers, a black short-sleeved shirt, and new bandages around his left arm (much to her disappointment even though his bicep was also wrapped up) but what caught her eye was that his hair was still white had brown highlights and reached halfway up his head; his exposed scars weren't too bad either.
"It's not like we're children at a sleep-over" she said watching him finish drying off his hair.
He rolled his eyes and gave the male equivalent to the resting bitch face and said, "well unlike most people, I'm not oblivious to the wandering eyes of a woman, Faunas, or human they all deserve some semblance of modesty and respect just as I do." He paused to see her blushing while staring at his body with interest. "But that being said, just because we're sharing this room that doesn't mean I'm comfortable with you being in here" saying this was a good move on his part since he barely knew her, but she still took it personally and glared at him, he knew if they continued they'd get into a fight, but Cole knew he couldn't let it get to him, so he decided to just lie down close to the edge of the bed and by the sound of the sigh he let out, the bed was definitely very comfortable to him.
Ilia walked into the bathroom with a scoff, she closed and locked the door.
Turning on the water to test the temperature she smiled softly 'and here I thought he used up all the hot water' she thought before fully stripping and stepped in and immediately began enjoying the hot water letting it wash her day away along with her worries and tough girl facade melted away as well, giving way to a few thoughts about Cole as a person and how respectful he was towards Faunas despite being human, 'I guess he's not so bad' she thought while washing her body with a loofah and some spare watermelon soap she stole from a store the week prior, "he is a bit of a jerk but at least he knows how to treat women….maybe someday he'd- no bad Ilia stop that!" she thought shaking her head banishing thoughts like that knowing she'd be like Blake, and she couldn't do that 'I'm a member of the white fang not some filthy human lover' she grew angry with herself at the prospect of that vile human in any capacity but had to not fall prey to her facade.
Cole had a decent moral compass as far as she knew, Adam respected him enough to help, and asked her to keep an eye on him despite not wanting to. But the one thing she didn't know was what his goal was or where he was headed.
Shaking her head she dismissed the thought altogether opting to end her shower early to dry off and got dressed before leaving the bathroom, and it slowly dawned on her that there was only one bed and Cole somehow realized that when Ilia stood there for a few seconds before Cole grabbed one of the three pillows and went to lie on the floor prompting her to stop him, "what are you doing?"
He stared at her with confusion and said, "I'm sorry but I'm not sleeping in the same bed with a stranger, especially since you probably don't trust me, let alone probably wanting to kill me since I'm a 'filthy human' "
"oh come on, I basically took care of you and kept you safe while you slept in a tree for god' sake"
"Don't care, I'm sleeping down here "
She sighed and asked "well, uhm, can you sleep behind me; we are technically criminals after all; safety in proximity y'know?" he froze for a few minutes thinking it over as well as trying to figure out what just had he heard.
'Wouldn't be the first time I had to do this' he sighed and replied, "fine, but if you try to cuddle up to me or something weird I'm sleeping on the floor" she nodded as she blushed lying down on the bed same as she did. Feeling his back press up to hers made her blush harder, letting out a quiet 'eep' sound.
It took an entire hour to calm down until she fell asleep, but unfortunately for her, Cole couldn't sleep, so he decided to use his abilities to 'feel' around the room sensing Ilia's body wasn't cooling down he turned on the fan on low to cool himself off, but it only made her scoot closer to him which he was annoyed with her and asked "didn't I just say that you'd sleep alone if you-" she rolled over and tiredly said "I'm a chameleon Faunas Cole, I get cold easily" Cole huffed and turned off the fan before lifting the covers, "come here before I change my mind" he said glaring and blushed a bit, she looked at him and kept quiet as she scooted into his arms letting him warm her up with his intense body heat and blushed dark pink, which he took notice to it and asked "am I making you uncomfortable?"
"N-no it's just- you're really warm is all"
"Uh thanks….wait I thought reptilian Faunas used special dust crystal clothing to keep warm, or just used their aura" he asked sarcastically making her roll over scooting out of his arms and said with a tired huff, "long story short, I never had mine unlocked and not everyone wants dust crystal enhanced clothing" rolling over she quietly added, "'specially since many others can't afford it" he frowned and let her go and rolled over clenching his pillow in his hands and ended up ripping the other side with his newly grown claws accidentally but decided to ignore it.
"at least you might still have aura, I wasn't born with one but I do have this" he held up his hand and created blue and orange-gold sparks over his hand then put his hand
on the bed and added "if you tell anyone we shared a bed I'll kill you"
she chuckled and snuggled up to him and said "i won't breathe a word to anyone, I promise" not long after Ilia fell asleep so did Cole.
Terrified screams reverberated through his head trying to hurry up the elevator shaft climbing the walls, leaping to the sides to avoid debris that blew from the walls.
As he reached the top he was breathing raggedly as he held up his hand to blast raven but nothing came, his lightning was completely gone, obviously powerless to stop what was happening.
Soon enough she turned around holding ruby by her throat and heard raven chuckle "you can play hero all you want but we both know you will just end up failing them like you did long ago!" everything was in slow motion; he took off in a dead sprint screaming for ruby as she did for him, raven laughed and dropped ruby from the building, he roared tackling raven off the roof and used her own sword to stab her in the stomach and used her body like a springboard.
"NOOOOO!" he wailed, falling toward her, reaching out for her quickly descending body. Their hands grazed the tips of their fingers before the ground came, ending both in a wet splat killing them on impact.
Sometimes speed is just a desperation to compensate for lack of power, Cole had a well-balanced skill set, but even he could do it all
Most ears that caught his screams would've just ignored it, but ciri and geralt heard it. "I'll take care of it, go make sure no one gets in the way" ciri whispered.
geralt snuck out the window while ciri went out the door to the halls creeping up towards the room that the scream came from and what she saw made her blush harder than getting caught in the act by her father; sometimes fate wasn't as cruel this time around.
The boy- no the man from five days ago sat on the edge of the bed next to a sleeping woman sweaty, shirtless and flowing auburn hair with white highlights touching just barely past the waist of his pants which loosely hung from his frame indicating he'd either lost weight or he trimmed down since she'd seen him last.
"Guess it was just a false alarm" she uttered, quietly sneaking back to their room.
Geralt saw from his angle that the girl was wide awake, but stayed quiet and gave zero indication she'd woken up to his nightmare. 'Either an old flame of she's a bodyguard….either way they seem fine for now' he thought turning back to their room.
Just as he'd passed two windows he caught a boy mumble "I can't believe he's in the hotel" but thought nothing of it and slid back in the room, opting to sit near the table he grabbed the plastic plate called a scroll and tapped in a four numbered pin to call the front desk but ciri was already in the room and shook her head walking to the bathroom to cool down before she went out to hunt, and she knew that a clouded mind definitely gets you killed.
"ciri, are you okay?" She heard geralt say from the other side of the door.
"I'm fine geralt, just need time to clear my mind"
"Ciri, I'm not sure if you're aware but I know why we've been following that boy, and it's not for protection from a distance" geralt said not caring if he was stepping into a boundary anymore, he knew, and he needed her to choose between their mission and trailing them.
ciri gave an 'ugh' and opened the bathroom door in an embarrassed huff with a bathrobe on glaring "geralt, I'm going to take a shower because i don't want to smell like a troll's foot and I doubt you actually know why I'm trailing them."
He was about to tell her something, but she ignored it, went back in and locked the door behind her.
"If only you could see how much she's grown yennefer" he said, walking over to his bed and started packing his gear and decided to mull over thoughts of better times.
Yen and ciri sleeping on a couch in an inn after a few days of stress.
Ciri first learning magic and how happy she was.
His first hunt with her when she killed a ghoul on her own.
When ciri got her first sword.
and when geralt found her in that cabin and hugged him tightly after his fears weren't proven, she'd been dead.
He cried when he thought her dead in his arms and then more tears flowed with happiness when she hugged him back and in doing so, made him forget he was a Witcher, but he'd never admit that to anyone.
Swords cleaned and sharpened, crossbow and bolts repaired and stocked, oils stashed, food and drink put in packs and medications bottled.
"You were my greatest success" he mumbled, grabbing the violet sash and tied it to his hip.
Comment anything you think could be worked on at:
H6pp1n355_in_misery.
Criticism is appreciated
