This Is For @maythefandomsbwithu Btw. Im Thinking Of This Headcanon For Modern Geralt/Jaskier, And Jask

This is for @maythefandomsbwithu btw. I’m thinking of this headcanon for modern Geralt/Jaskier, and Jask is taking new adhd medication, and if you know anything about it, it’s either going to work or it will not work. A hit or miss kinda thing. Anywho, after a while of being on schedule, an everyday thing, Geralt begins to notice... things.

Jaskier has stopped humming and singing around the house. Everybody gets busy yeah, but while cooking, or cleaning, or bouncing around, or work, it’s silent. That’s just the first thing.

Next, Jaskier’s movements have slowen to a stop. His back is curled in on himself, he sits to himself, his step are gentle, he never bounces around Geralt anymore..

And after Jaskier’s lost of appetite and not coming out of his room, Geralt begins to just slightly panic. When he goes inside, he always just sees a sad burrito Jaskier and every time he tries to get him to talk, to play something, he gives tired eyes back instead of those bright ones Geralt has fallen in love with.

It was hard, trying to find out what it was and stay steady. Geralt got Jaskier to eat with a little bit of stubbornness and stern talking, but getting him to leave the room without carrying him out was a hard one. He had talked to everybody too, Eskel and Lambert came over once a week with groceries, Ciri also came over for game nights and sleepovers. Even Yen and Triss dropped by, and gave him a plant. He remembers Triss talking to Jaskier who was curled up, telling him “not only will you take care of it, but it will take care of you”. That was a hard day.

When Jaskier’s next appointment came around, Geralt had written down questions to ask. Both he and Jaskier sat together through it, Geralt holding his hand to calm his own nerve, thumbs sliding over knuckles on a hand that would barely clench back. Luckily, the doctor explained it could be a side effect of the new medication, and that they would be willing to change out the prescription. Geralt gives Jaskier side eyes, because it wasn’t his choose, but that limp hand in his tightened, just a little bit.

After two weeks of slowly coming off the meds and starting the new one, both Jaskier and Geralt enjoyed a night out together, seeing and counting how many dogs they saw with little coats on, and feeding ducks too.

Welcome to A Modern Witcher fest!

This is a multi-ship event about modern AU’s for The Witcher (books, games & tv show). We encourage you to write, create art, make playlists, gifs, etc.

Posting will be from March 15th until March 21st 2021.

Rules | Optional prompts | AO3 collection

What I See in Eskel Based on His Physicality in TW3

I’ve recently been encouraged to share my thoughts regarding Eskel’s physicality in The Witcher 3 and what I’ve managed to intuit about his character. This is as much an exercise for me in verbalizing a very non-verbal thing as it is a fun little character study. Enjoy! 

Fighting stance

His feet are rooted into the ground, and his hips are wide and open. This not only lowers his centre of gravity, but also gives him remarkable access to what I will refer to as his Lower—the area of the body from the hips-down that we often lose track of due to our thoughts residing loudly in the Upper (specifically, our heads). Most martial arts and mindfulness practices include conscious activation of the Lower as a means to provide stability, both physical and physiological. 

Not only is this stance grounding his senses, it’s grounding his breath in the process, allowing for his intuitive responses to integrate with his intellectual responses to external stimuli. This allows him to maintain focus and a sense of calm-within-the-storm for a more extended period of time, granting him precision, and equal access to all his senses, not just sight—a sense which tends to dominate when our intuition and intellect are not integrated and working in tandem. 

Enhanced access to the Lower also means greater energetic control. Practices like Tai Chi and more combative forms of Kung Fu work not only with the physical, but also with the flow and mastery of Qi—the life force that connects us to everything around us. Those who can harness and control the flow of the life force in their bodies can then channel it to enhance the power of their attacks, but also to sync up with fellow combatants. For Eskel, this explains how he’s able to control his powerful magic and use it with such precision. 

Posture

There are areas of the spine I will refer to as Gates, which are found all the way from the sacrum and lumbar vertebrae (at the base), to the beginning of the thoracic vertebrae (middle back), the beginning of the cervical vertebrae (between the shoulder blades), to the occipital joint at the base of the skull. These Gates are places where residual mental/emotional tension are often stored as our body’s attempt to protect us from distress. When these gates are open, or relaxed, we have an easier time processing and moving on from heightened moments or experiences, and our intuition will again become more integrated with our intellect. 

Let’s have a look at Eskel’s posture…

The roundness of his back indicates that his gates are open, but more importantly his back ribs, and therefore his Lats which are huge areas of residual tension that, if and when released, hold a great deal of emotional and physical power. 

These open gates, combined with the softness of his trapezius muscles (tops of the shoulders) tell me that Eskel is a man who channels—emotions, energy, power—and feels intensely. With this openness also comes easier access to his animal intuition. When we allow ourselves to release the occipital join at the back of the head, our rear and peripheral awareness increases, and we have easier access to the responses of our amygdala—our lizard brain. Not only is it involved in survival instinct, but also in flocking and our capacity to sense one another in space and be sensitive to the physiological changes of others. I will therefore put forth that Eskel has high emotional intelligence as well as high sensitivity to changes in atmosphere.

The broadness of his chest indicates to me that he isn’t trying to close off to his vulnerability by guarding in the front instead. He remains tall and open in the chest, showing a softness and vulnerability to him that, without the sturdy grounding of his Lower, could become overwhelming, and probably does at times. 

Body Centre

The notion of body centre is one that I take from my training as an actor (along with the rest of this essay-ette). It’s based on the idea that we have areas of our bodies that “lead us” forward when we walk—we might go into the world chest-, shoulders-, head-, or pelvis-, first depending on our “disposition.” This is not by any means a suggestion that we boil people down to Overthinkers if they lead with their heads or Lascivious if they lead with their pelvis. 

Due to his inclusion of his Lower space and the openness in his hips, Eskel has a tendency to lead with his pelvis. However, we also see that he occasionally will lead with his head. Looking at character archetype, one might (and I do) discern that he is confident (tending towards cocky at times) and stable (both emotionally and physically). 

All of this, combined with the softness at the back of his neck makes for a character who is confident, capable, grounded, extremely powerful, highly-intuitive, and vulnerable. 

All of this is coming from the perspective of a trained stage actor and my shared experiences with fellow performers of embodying these same principles. This is not to say that any of this is universally true for those with or without specific characteristics mentioned. However, when it comes to discussion of the Upper, Lower, and the Gates, these are more universally impactful on the central nervous system. I’m looking at Eskel as a character represented by a computer-generated actor of sorts. If anyone has any questions or is curious to learn more about how I came to these conclusions, and how the heck I know all of this, please feel free to reach out! I love to talk about what I do :) 

I’m currently without power in this Texas snow storm, and very bored. So let’s make ideas together!!

Either anything you can think of for whoever character, or here’s a prompt we can go off of! Let’s have it be a road trip au with Geralt, Lambert, Jaskier and Eskel. Let’s figure out what they do for jobs and where they go, road stories to tell and laugh at, moments in storms, times were one won’t talk to another and the other two awkwardly have to fill the silence. I’m down to hear anything!

(totally not projecting) but Eskel being so used to not having a companion that he can't stand touch? like, in Kaer Morden physical affection amongst the younger witchers but not so much the adults.

Eskel spends so much time alone on the path that he gets used to not have touch, especially when as a witcher his senses are more sensitive and as the other witchers completed their transformations they didn't want affection from Eskel in the same way. And so when other witchers now - namely school of the wolf ones - try to initiate contact its Eskel having to reject them.

And it's not that Eskel doesn't want the affection - he does its almost a need after so long - but can't make himself do it, it's like a skin irritant.

Picture this, a casual gathering with geralt and all of his friends, dancing, music, food, alcohol, gambling, the whole shebang.

Geralt and Yen are dancing casually, sorta just basking in the environment. Yen looks at Geralt- hes staring at something over her shoulder, she turns around-

BAM Eskel and Lambert going HAM in the middle of the dance floor.

Are they dancing with eachother or are they trying to outdance the other? No one knows, all anyone knows is that they're using their witcher stamina to the fullest, busting out the most extra dance moves anyone had ever seen

Anon, I hope you know that this made me choke on my spicy chicken and rice. I’ve been giggling and drawing this for the past hour—