Breaking Curses - Tumblr Posts

Prompt 44

Geralt is cursed to be a monstrous beast. He lives his days in solitude deep in the forest. It was relaxing, he'd try and convince himself, despite the reality being that it was very lonely and depressing. Jaskier is lost in the woods. Dreadfully lost. When something starts hunting him, he takes off like hell, which only makes whatever's chasing him want to chase him more. A monster leaps out at him, only for another monster, a bigger one, to crash into it and begin guarding Jaskier. The monster that saved him resembles a giant wolf, in a way, along with more unique 'beasty' traits.. When the aggressive creature is scared away, Jaskier thanks the damn monster, before noticing that it's hurt! His very own hero! Geralt is confused that the human he saved isn't afraid of him. He is now delicately cleaning his wound and promising to bring him food and flowers as long as Geralt continues to protect him when in the forest. Geralt doesn't think it's too bad a price to pay for food. Even if it's just small treats, given how much bigger than the man he is. Geralt likes Jaskier. When Jaskier realizes Geralt is too smart to just be some animal, things start getting complicated then.

Prompt 54

Jaskier's been asleep for over three days straight now. Just went to bed like normal one night and never woke up. He still has a steady heartbeat, and is of perfect health, he just won't... Wake up. As Geralt rides off to find a cure, he notices that there are other people falling asleep seemingly at random throughout the continent. He figures out it's everyone who has listened to a one of Jaskier's songs recently, whether performed by Jaskier or not. I like to think it's some curse Valdo paid for that backfired way out of control, "Make people fall asleep during Jaskier's performances" type of thing But the VOTW (Villain Of The Week) is really up to you, darlings

Prompt 96

While on a hunt, Jaskier is hit with a spell. Geralt races over to his crumpled form and reaches out to shake him awake, only for Jaskier to push himself up, and for two large wings to sprout from his back. Ah shit. Geralt and Jaskier are dealing well with the spell, if you ask them. Geralt and Jaskier hold hands while Jaskier tries very hard to learn how to fly. It's more like panicked flapping that sometimes lets him hover just barely taller than Geralt, but that's just because he's only started learning. Jaskier complains how unfair it is that he gets the chance to fly and feel the wind and see the views only for the spell to make it so that he doesn't instinctively know how to fly properly. Geralt reassures him that with practice, he could learn. But why practice if you're going to lose them soon, anyways? Eventually, Geralt notices Jaskier is much faster to dodge in hunts with his wings. He darts out of the way miraculously fast, and now that they've been practicing every morning, Jaskier can fly decently high to watch over the fight, getting all of his inspiration from a safe distance. It calms a lot of Geralt's worries. Jaskier asks him one day if he can help him, because his wings are getting itchy and he can't reach the entirety of them, and Geralt agrees. Geralt likes preening Jaskier's wings. He likes the calming silence occasionally broken by Jaskier's humming. He likes the soft feel of the feathers. But moreover, he especially likes the little sounds Jaskier makes as Geralt's fingers work away. Jaskier tells Geralt one day that he doesn't want to lose his wings. Geralt nods, and yet they're still on their way to find a magic-user. Jaskier is worried Geralt doesn't want Jaskier to have wings. Maybe Geralt hates all the extra maintenance Jaskier needs now... He's stupefied when they finally find someone powerful enough for Geralt to deem workable, and Geralt asks for a glamour for Jaskier to wear, so that Jaskier can perform with no fear of witchunts after himself, but can soar with his wings when alone and safe with his witcher to protect him. Jaskier is so busy being awestruck by the phrasing of Geralt being "His Witcher" that he barely even processes how sweet the glamour idea is.

Prompt 120

PROMPTAPALOOZA BEGINS... In place of August Eighth, Prompt 1/??? lol I'll check later 10-ish prompts from my promptapalooza backlogs are smacking you in the face today! From 120-130! Special thanks to @bakewrite for being so supportive of me, especially during the makings of promptapalooza :) Geralt hates fighting sorceresses. He hates it even more when he has to do so with Jaskier nearby. "Jaskier, I told you to fucking run!" He growls at the bard in between slashes of his sword, and the wretched woman he's fighting raises up in interest. "Oh?" She coos, and slaps a hand onto Geralt's head, and then everything goes dark. Jaskier watches in horror as some sort of magical scary witchy blast shoots into Geralt's fucking head, and alright, maybe he screams a little, but she already knew he was there so it's not like he gave away his position! Geralt falls to the ground, and the sorceress turns to look at Jaskier with an ominous grin. "Do you like it? It's my favorite one to cast... But I thought it could never work on a Witcher. They've no feelings." "Why, you-" "Hush, bard. I know now that I was wrong. That's why I'm so excited." Jaskier glances between her and Geralt repeatedly, before doing what Geralt always tells him NOT to do, he walks closer. "What have you done to him?" "A spell that makes him kill who he loves most. And if someone were to stop him from doing so, they'll be killed too. I, personally, am hoping for a violent breakdown after he realizes what he's done. Perhaps he'll go on another rampage like in Blav-" "That's not what happened!" "Tsk tsk. You're spending too much time defending your Witcher and not nearly enough time running, Bard." And with that, she disappears in a cloud of smoke. Jaskier frantically inspects Geralt. He's relatively uninjured, thank meletele- Geralt's eyes suddenly snap open, and he grabs Jaskier's wrist in a bruising grip. "Aow- Geralt-" Jaskier cries out in confusion, before remembering what the sorceress said. His eyes widen and he desperately tries to distance himself from Geralt, but he won't let go of his wrist. "Geralt- Geralt, please stop! It hurts! Geralt, come on! Snap out of it!" Jaskier pleads, but Geralt won't let go, and the grip is getting tighter. Jaskier hears something snap before he feels any pain, and he panics. He lifts a leg and kicks Geralt in the face. Geralt lets go with a snarl, and Jaskier runs to Roach. Jaskier knows there's no way he can outrun Geralt, but if he takes their horse, he just might be able to put enough distance in between them for him to figure out how to heal Geralt before Geralt snaps any more bones. He looks down at the hand with the injured wrist and sighs. No lute for a while, he supposes. No matter. Geralt is more important.

“You love selfishly,” the witch told Geralt, which was pretty presumptuous seeing as how they’d met all of 5 minutes ago. And those 5 minutes had been spent trying to kill each other. “This selfishness will hurt you and those you love. Until you learn to love selflessly, you will only take your pleasure in the pleasure of others.”

Even as the curse took hold, Geralt didn’t panic. As curses went, it didn’t sound so bad. The bit about “pleasure” made it sound like it was about sex. Like, he wouldn’t be able to feel good unless his partner did, which was a standard Geralt held for himself anyway.

Only, the curse was much more than what he had assumed. Geralt soon discovered that food had lost its taste, that he tossed and turned all night. He wasn’t in pain, but he was never comfortable.

Fuck.

Through trial and error, Geralt learned the rules of his curse. It was pretty simple really. He couldn’t enjoy anything in life alone. Someone had to be nearby and enjoying it with him. Their pleasure was his pleasure. If that person wasn’t pleased with a meal—or in general—Geralt’s food would taste poorly too.

This made things difficult for Geralt. He had a solitary profession. Additionally, the people he did meet were never comfortable around him: all scared of hateful or suspicious.

Geralt found some work arounds though. Roach was a lifesaver: if she was eating, he could eat nearby and taste his meal. As long as she slept well—and nearby—he could sleep.

Winter was better: he explained his situation to his brothers, and he was never left without a companion. They offered to travel with him on the path, but he refused. He could endure the rest of the year as long as he had Roach

Geralt considered breaking the curse; however, he honestly wasn’t sure how. He honestly didn’t believe in love that was completely selfless. Relationships were always about give and take. People always wanted things from one another.

Years passed, Geralt endured, and then he met Jaskier.

Jaskier was… odd. He had taken one glance at a witcher, a rumored butcher, and decided that Geralt was his traveling companion. And then his muse. And then his friend. No matter how Geralt tried to disabuse him of any of these notions.

He did admit that having Jaskier with him made the path easier. He didn’t have to carefully time his meals and sleep around Roach when the bard was around. Jaskier was also surprisingly easy to please. Geralt could give him stale bread to eat and a lumpy mattress to sleep on, and the bard exuded joy.

Even while complaining the entire time.

The oddities continued when Geralt discovered that Jaskier didn’t have to eat a meal to enjoy it. Once, Geralt had been grievously injured, and Jaskier had insisted on spoonfeeding him. Even though the bard didn’t eat a morsel, the bard was so happy that the soup tasted like ambrosia to Geralt.

It was all so strange, and it made Geralt strange too. He caught himself thinking about how to make Jaskier happy. Not because of the curse. Because…because it was Jaskier, and Jaskier was meant to be happy.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! I love this!!!

Geralt is cursed to have his internal monologue visible on his face.

Of course, Jaskier finds him and questions the bag over his head.

*Bag falls off* Geralt: "shIT-" *quickly puts it back on* Jaskier: "What did that say??? 'I love...'?" Geralt: "ROACH. I love ROACH. AND ONLY ROACH. NOBODY ELSE. THERE'S NOBODY I WANNA THROW OVER A TABLE AT AN INN AND FUCK UNTIL HE CRIES. NOBODY I WANNA MARRY IN THE SPRING. NOBODY." Jaskier: "..........Geralt, darling, are you feeling alright?????"