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This Witcher - Luka - seemed to take the new things best, so far.
Eryk wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t believe them, or because he was just that good-natured, or if it was because the person in charge was nominally someone he knew, and so it was less upsetting to him somehow.
“When did you get petrified by the creature,” Nolyn asked him, as Eryk silently bemoaned everything in life that had led him to the point where he was going to have to interact with a flirty person who was technically Guxart’s age and acted just like the Cat and his Wolf, Vesemir, likely had when they’d been younger.
“Late autumn, heading back to the keep. 1164.”
“Okay. So if Degari was fifty years ago that’s about… twenty years after Lexandre, and you’re about ten years after him.” Eryk tilted his head slightly. “Ten to twenty years average so far.”
Luka glanced from Eryk to Nolyn, who smiled a little. “For the bestiary entry.”
“Ah,” the redhead said with a nod, enlightened. “Well, I can help with that,” he said with a little grin.
Eryk held up a hand. “You are definitely hot, but stop flirting or I’m going to stab you. I’m taken. And you’re practically my uncle.”
Luka gaped at him. “Excuse me?”
Nolyn rolled his eyes. “I don’t know if Vesemir and Guxart knew each other-“
Luka snorted. “On every available surface and in every available position, as often as possible.”
Eryk nodded. “Right. And Guxart’s my Cat Father, which is a Cat thing. So Vesemir’s kind of my father in law. Sort of. So you’re basically my uncle.”
Luka stared at him. When Eryk didn’t seem about to change his explanation, he looked at Nolyn, who nodded.
“So, wait, Witchers go around just adopting people now? And in law, they’re what, married? What the- how?”
Eryk shrugged a little. “Things are different under the Wolf Law,” he said. “But all of us Witchers live at the keep together. With servants that aren’t afraid of us. And some of us have partners. We don’t marry, because why bother when nobody outside of Kaer Morhen would get it, or care. But we have partners. And we can adopt if we want.”
He grinned suddenly. “Or get adopted. Letho of the Vipers is like… almost as big as a Bear. And he got adopted by this little kid. It’s so fucking adorable.” Eryk chortled in amusement to himself.
Luka frowned a little. “‘All of us’. Every Witcher on the continent just… lives together at the keep?” He paused, for a moment. “And it works?”
Nolyn nodded. “We’re one force. One nation, as it were. And the White Wolf leads us. Because he is good, and honorable, and ruthless when he needs to be.”
The redhead stared at him for a long moment. Then he nodded slowly. “Yeah, I suppose if I was gonna follow any one Witcher it would probably be that tow-headed brat.”
Eryk snorted with laughter.
Luka looked around at the remaining statues. “Well, you said the last one was fifty years ago and I was older?”
They nodded.
“Right. So things are probably just going to get interesting from here. Who’s next?”
Eryk glanced around and tried to estimate who was next. “Hm,” he sighed. Then he leaned toward the passageway to the creature’s lair. “Hey, Bricriu can you come down here, this next one’s a Manticore and I’m all out of oriole,” he shouted down the passage.
Nolyn snickered softly.
A moment later, the Manticore in question appeared, wiping green ichor off of his hands onto his pants.
Just in time for Michal’s warning whistle, and for the glow from the mist to light up the Manticore in question.
Good. That was handled.
Eryk noticed that - right along with him - all of the other Witchers took a bit of a step back.
He bit back a snicker.
Bricriu dodged when the other Witcher burst into sudden movement.
They traded a few blows, the new Witcher’s curved sword moving quick and graceful, and they snapped a few words and phrases back and forth at one another.
Before long the fight had slowed, and then they were talking to one another, rapidly, in slowly more excited conversation. Zerrikanian was not one of the languages Eryk knew. It was similar in some aspects, to Elder, or Nilfgaardian. But the pronunciation and word structure was a little confusing. And the two of them were speaking so quickly that even if he’d known the language he’d probably still be having trouble following them anyway.
Before too much longer, the recently-unpetrified Witcher grabbed a hold of Bricriu and tugged him forward into a cheerful embrace.
Eryk shook his head a little and glanced over at Nolyn, who smiled and shrugged.
Bricriu turned and smiled at the others. “This is Iwan,” he said cheerfully.
Then, to Iwan he said, “come, the creature’s this way.”
Which was typical. Venomous creature? Manticores have to go investigate. And had he heard that name before?
Eryk shifted a little on his feet, a touch uneasy. Michal was now in that cave with two Vipers and two Manticores.
They weren’t going to hurt him.
He told himself again.
Michal was fine.
Nolyn kissed the back of his head.
He sighed and leaned back against his lover, waiting for the next Witcher to light up.
He glanced amongst the statues, trying to decide who would be next. The Cat or the pretty not-a-Witcher.
He had no idea which he was hoping for.