sai_delgado | [AU] an evening like any other

Sunset's long come and gone, the horses are settled for the night, but it's too early by far to sleep. Susan Delgado's in the bar, curled up on the couch near the fireplace, a basket of golden straw nearby and a second one with dark leather strips beside it.

Bit by bit, she braids the golden straw, shaping it into a long plait that coils back into the basket on the floor. It's a contrast of sorts to her own sun-gold hair, which as usual she'd unbraided and brushed into a long smooth fall for the evening when she changed from her work-clothes into a simple chambray dress in a light denim blue.

Susan's humming softly under her breath as she works.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

bialy_wilk

"I'll keep it in mind," he promises.

The prices are probably better here, if nothing else. "Handy to have a place to come if a piece breaks out in the middle of nowhere."

From:

sai_delgado

"It would be, I wot." She sets the straw plait aside and picks up what at first glance appears to be a tangle of leather strips. As Susan shakes it free, it becomes clear that it's a headstall with the leather strings woven into a tight-wrapped braid for reinforcement and appearance both.

"If ye'd wish to see the work, first - and of course the Bar can provide all kinds of things as well."

From:

bialy_wilk

Geralt glances over at the headstall and nods. "You're more of an expert than me," he says.

"I'll bring Roach next time. About due for a onceover on tack, probably."

From:

sai_delgado

"I'll make sure we've a stall ready for her."

Susan sorts the leather strings with near-absent ease and starts working on the headstall.

"Do'ee visit frequently, or only betimes?"

From:

bialy_wilk

"Now and then. Between contracts."

It doesn't take time away from his search, but he still rarely stays for long. "Haven't ever stuck around longer than the time it takes for a meal, maybe a bath."

From:

sai_delgado

Susan looks surprised to hear that. "Does time not stop on the other side of yer door when ye're here?"

From:

bialy_wilk

He shakes his head. "It does."

But what is there for him here? No reason to linger more than a night.

From:

sai_delgado

"Oh." Mayhap he doesn't feel comfortable here, or has others to go back to, or some other reason that he'd rather not stay, she thinks, but it'd be prying into his personal business to ask.

Still, she doesn't want him to think her unfriendly. Her fingers fly back and forth among the leather strips as she seeks for a way to bridge the gap.

"What is yer world like? I've not heard of Rivia before," she settles on.

From:

bialy_wilk

He can almost hear Regis telling him to lighten up, to take pity on the poor girl. "I haven't been in Rivia in a long time," he says, which is true.

"My world is probably a lot like yours: people are more or less the same everywhere you go. Even the ones who think they're different, or better."

Charming, he can hear the vampire murmur, and grimaces slightly. He's a witcher; speaking with friendly young girls isn't something he's usually called upon to do. "The countries and territories in the south are defending against an expanding empire from the south. They're losing."

From:

sai_delgado

"Oh, I hope not," Susan tells him, with absolute sincerity. "My world's moved on, ye see."

There's sympathy in the fog-gray eyes as she adds, "I'm sorry to hear of yer war."

From:

bialy_wilk

Geralt grunts acknowledgement, feeling slightly awkward. He's not sure what moved on means, but –

(The world will die amidst frost and be reborn with the new sun.)

– he can make a guess. "Thanks," he says. "But witchers don't take part in human politics if we can avoid it. Temeria or Nilfgaard, the monsters don't take sides. They kill indiscriminately."

From:

sai_delgado

"Ye must have quite a few monsters in yer world," Susan says, after a moment to absorb that. "Many and many-a."

From:

bialy_wilk

"More than we have witchers."

He studies her as he puts his empty plate back on the side table. "Guessing your world wasn't like that."

From:

sai_delgado

"It had its share of trouble," she says, and oh, but her tone's rueful and wry. "Still does as it is now, I wot. And monsters too - slow mutants and taheen and can-toi and the like, and vampires and demons - different from the ones I've met here, ye ken - and the monsters from the todash darkness, but..."

She shrugs. "I didn't see much of it in Hambry; only a little. It weren't until after the fall of Gilead that things were so much worse."

From:

bialy_wilk

"Hm."

This time there's something of a professional appraisal in the sound. "Why's that? Something in Gilead holding them back?"

From:

sai_delgado

"Aye," she says, simply. "The gunslingers."

From:

bialy_wilk

Geralt shakes his head.

"Not familiar with the term."

From:

sai_delgado

Susan nods, and looks around the room before she remembers that of course Cuthbert isn't here, and that Alain's probably having a late supper with Lilly. Nor is Susannah visible, and it's not Eddie's not to 'tend, say true.

She looks back at Geralt and sets herself to explain. "Do'ee ken knights?"

From:

bialy_wilk

Geralt nods.

(Any immediate association with the knights errant of Toussaint he ruthlessly shoves down and away from any interaction with his facial expression.)

From:

sai_delgado

Susan nods back, and smiles. "Like that. Only with guns instead of swords like yours," she explains. "They ruled and led from Gilead, which were the capital city of the Barony of New Canaan, in the heart of In-World. They're protectors, and defenders, and they held as long as they could."

From:

bialy_wilk

Guns means nothing to him, as a word, but they must be some sort of weapon, and that he recognizes easily enough.

There's something wry in his expression as she speaks, but even Geralt can hear the admiration in her voice for these gunslingers.

No need to sully it with talk of how the same idea failed so miserably on the Continent. "Happens to the best of us," is all he says, instead, in commiseration.

There may be fewer monsters now, but there are few enough witchers to deal with them, too.

From:

sai_delgado

"I'd thought to introduce ye," Susan tells him, with another quick glance around the room. "But I don't see any of those who're here. Another time, mayhap?" she offers.