*Chanting* ESKEL! ESKEL! ESKEL! ESKEL! ESKEL!

*Chanting* ESKEL! ESKEL! ESKEL! ESKEL! ESKEL!

someone get him out of there

Okay but, am I the only one who like the idea of The Witcher (Netflix) being like the Netflix show “Castlevania” ?

Just a small warning for people who either haven’t seen The Witcher or Castlevania, there will be spoilers and such, and I heavily suggest giving both a good watch, trust me it’ll be worth your time.

I love the idea of Geralt being a Witcher and Jaskier being the oh so attractive bard, but I also can’t help myself placing them in the world and setting of Castlevania. Hear me out, hear me out—

Geralt being a Belmont? Not the last, having Lambert, Eskel and Vesemir (along with other Witchers if I’m forgetting some) being the only Belmont’s left alive after the purging of them. Geralt just, y’know, likes to be alone is all. Well, that was until coming upon a small village for coin so he can settle. Upon being there, hunting for jobs and asking around, I do full on expect him to come across Speakers.

Now, in Castlevania, The Speakers are a group of nomad scholars who maintain oral stories and traditions. They are persecuted by the Church, who see them as sorcerers and responsible for Dracula's wrath (this small paragraph is from the Castlevania wiki explaining Speakers). I would like to think that, yes, in this mixed world, Dracula is indeed taking over the world from it killing his wife, and I will explain more of that later. But for now, the speakers I’m thinking about are more.... of singers? Not all of them, but young ones. Geralt does stumble upon them, hearing about a speaker who sings gets his attention and then he meets Jaskier.

Julian (who goes by Jaskier) is the youngest of the Speakers, and he is very bright in this dark little world. Going with Geralt after a long fight with creatures, Geralt learns that not only does this Bard like Speaker only carry information from village to village, he can cast spells and is excellent in helping Geralt heal. At first, Geralt doesn’t like the non-stop talking of the speaker, but by the next village, he does learn how smart the Speaker is. He puts in good word for the Belmont’s, sings of them, and Geralt is secretly thankful.

Now, back to Dracula. We can’t keep Ciri out of the mix, being a Child surprise and all, so I would like to think that instead of Alucard, there is Ciri. I know of the games and have heard of the books of The Witcher, but I don’t know a lot about either of them enough to know what Ciri is like in each, so I’ll stick with the nextflic version. Instead of grown up Ciri, I’ll stick with tiny Ciri, escaping the war broken out with Dracula and the world, and searching for the ‘hero’ Belmont who hunts vampires (and more). When she does come across him, she’s also happy to see a speaker who is more than happy to calm her with a song or two.

i've been so braindead ever since geraskier entered my life

a very important photoset of Jaskier's face

the animal inside

When the sorcerer throws the spell at Jaskier, Geralt expects many things but not what he actually sees.

The spell is meant to unravel the animal inside one’s soul and turn the person into it. It’s a cynic irony and it’s nor deadly, so Geralt can’t exactly kill the sorcerer. It’s just annoying, especially as Jaskier gets hit. Geralt is sure he’ll have some kind of songbird, or a lark or another annoying singing bird stuck by his side for the next 2 weeks.

What he isn’t expecting is for a big shape to jump on the sorcerer and close its jaws on the man’s neck with a crunch.

“Jaskier!” he yells, sword in his hand. Did something go wrong?

Then, Geralt gets a good look at the animal and all words die. Jaskier, for it must be Jaskier, is some kind of big cat. Sleek and tawny brown, with moving ears and a long tail. He’s big, not quite as large as some tigers Geralt saw, but big enough. Big paws and strong jaws, shockingly blue eyes.

“Jaskier,” Geralt mutters.

Jaskier huffs at him and then goes still. Geralt sees him look at his paws and then turn in a circle, chasing his tail. Then, Jaskier plops down on his hear and makes a small chirp, years standing tall.

The Witcher comes closer hesitantly and the cat pushes his head into his hand. Geralt starts to pet him while looking. There’s solid muscle in the animal’s chest, sleek but powerful and his legs are strong, capable. He looks like a killing machine with a feral glint in his eyes and for a second, Geralt wonders why he was expecting a bird.

It’s not some cliche, it’s what’s inside. And inside, Jaskier is definitely not sweet and gentle and cowardly, so he’s not that surprised to see a feral big cat with stunning blue eyes.

“Only you, Jaskier,” Geralt says dryly and gets headbutted in the side. “Now you have to help with hunting.”

Jaskier just huffs again and yawns, uncomfortably large teeth on display, as well as the strong jaw. Geralt’s aware that he’s probably strong enough to chop a human arm off with those jaws.

They set off again because they’re used to weird things and Jaskier takes to his new form with delight, chasing animals and jumping around, testing his new legs. Geralt just admires from the distance and that night, he has a solid weight of pure muscle and fur settling on his chest, familiar eyes blinking at him. He just chuckles and kisses Jaskier’s forehead.

In all forms, he’s still Jaskier.

i had the pleasure of drawing eskel getting some much needed rest for the lovely @theashenphoenix ! proud of how this came out and that i had the patience to pimp out all the tiny details - which turns out is something i really enjoy (•̀ᴗ•́)و

commission info here!