#jaskier centric

Chapters: 30/? Fandom: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion, Eskel & Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia & Lambert, Eskel & Jaskier | Dandelion, Jaskier | Dandelion & Lambert Characters: Jaskier | Dandelion, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Lambert (The Witcher), Eskel (The Witcher) Additional Tags: Miscommunication, Past Rape/Non-con, Dubious Consent, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Misunderstandings, Power Imbalance, Unintended power dynamics, Mentions of past abuse, Mentions of Starvation, there will be comfort eventually I swear, Hurt Jaskier | Dandelion, Food Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, intermittent braincell reception, also should probably have had this already, Slow Burn, Dissociation, partially inspired by ‘Seeking Shelter’ by sphagnum Series: Part 1 of Out of Shyness or Shame Summary:

Julian Alfred Pankratz, a small noble boy of Lettenhove, runs away from his lessons to play in the woods, because he would much rather prefer being bare-footed and climbing among the trees than being in some stuffy room learning about assholes who killed their people and then themselves. And, out in the woods, he finds an egg.

He gets excited because he learned about eggs before, and they always hatch into cute little birds. And this egg is really big, so that means this is going to be a really cute bird.

That was logical, right?

The bigger the egg, the cuter the bird?

What he doesn’t know is that it is a griffin egg – not just a griffin, but an arch-griffin egg – that was orphaned by a witcher who killed the griffin and cleared out the nest, but missed this egg, which had rolled away and stayed hidden.

Julian only sees one option, and it’s to carry the egg home so he can care for it and wait for the baby bird to hatch. Because what else would he do? 

Chapter 1

The scrunching of the snow underneath his boots sounds loud in the eerie silence of the night. Jaskier pulls the collar of his coat closer to his neck and leans against the wind as he passes the corpse of the basilisk lying shattered in the courtyard.

He stops at the hitching post where Geralt tied down his horse, and with a sick feeling of satisfaction, he pats the mount’s neck.

“You’ll be good for me, won’t you?” he murmurs. The horse watches him with attentive eyes and neighs.

“Good,” Jaskier mumbles and closes the buttons of his doublet and then of his coat. They are meant to mainly look good, but if he wants to leave the mountains behind without freezing to death, vanity and fashion need to take a step back, and the buttons will have to prove their true worth.

Jaskier unknots the reins and throws them over the horse’s head. He looks up at the keep, so much larger, so much worse than he had imagined it, made it sound in his songs. But he understands his friend Geralt better now, having been here. This is his home. This is where he grew to become the man he is now, where he recharged every winter they spent apart. For sure not a place for warmth. Not a place to learn to deal with emotions beyond reining them in during a hunt and keeping people at arm's length.

The bard purses his lips, his jaws clenched. No wonder that even after decades, he couldn’t carve out a tiny space for himself in the witcher’s heart. No, for that to be achieved, one needs destiny, and that one isn’t on Jaskier’s side.

Granted, he comes from a privileged place. Not one filled with love either, but at least one needn’t worry to freeze under the blankets while being fully clothed.

The events in the hall have sobered him up, but he can feel the weight of a hangover combined with an adrenaline crash pulling on every muscle of his body.

What a fragile thing the human body is. No wonder Geralt never meant to burden himself with someone as fleeting as Jaskier. Humans must be like annoying midges for long-living creatures like him and his witch, irritating, but easy to slap away.

Witcher, Lambert POV, Season 2 Aftermath

Rating: G Words: 2044 Ships: None, really (Hints of Geraskefer)

It was only cemented in his mind the countless times that Geralt had to save him from a monster, or even worse, a random thug in a tavern.

He had no true talents other than his words, his music, and what use were they really?

He couldn’t save anyone with words or a lively tune. And yet he was surrounded by the most powerful people on the Continent.

Geralt of Rivia, the famed Witcher, the Butcher of Blaviken, the White Wolf. A mutant, a man with unnatural power, whose mastery of the sword was unparalleled. Yennefer of Vengerberg, one of the most powerful mages who walked the earth. A woman who could raze cities and read minds.

They were a love story for the ballads, two powerful, beautiful people brought together by destiny, by fate.

And then there was Jaskier. A simple bard. A human bard. Whose greatest talent was managing to keep a steady note even while drunk.

Gods, he really was worthless, wasn’t he.

In the presence of gods and monsters, what worth is a man?

It was part of the reason he had never come between Yennefer and Geralt. Because he loved Geralt, and he knew that he was unworthy of him. Geralt deserved someone who could keep up with him, someone who could challenge him. He deserved someone powerful and as immortal as he was.

Someone who wasn’t Jaskier.

Every time he saw Geralt, he had to stop himself. Had to hide the love which encompassed his entire being.

Every word he said to him, every move he made was perfectly calculated to make sure that he never knew.

It was an endless torture, but a sweet one.

And so the next time they encountered Yennefer, he left.

He stood outside the tent where they lay together, and whispered his final goodbye to the wind.

okay so I’ve 100% read fanfictions that r kinda based on this premise (and if you want me to rec them, let me know!) but I want Jaskier to be a bard but Dragon Age style. For people that don’t know, a Dragon Age bard is just like a normal bard, they go to courts, compose music and generally tell the stories of the world, however they also acts as assasins and spies of the highest order, inflitrating courts and selling their secrets to the highest bidder while also killing however they need to. Their facades as happy-go-lucky musicians keep everyone fooled until it’s too late. 

So, imagine Jaskier as a bard who decided he had enough of the courts and the intrigue and left it all behind because he did not want to just spill secrets to a faceless noble but instead tell stories that will last generations. He wouldn’t be in trouble or anything with other bards for ‘abandoning’ his training but he would most likely be seen as weak. 

Bards are trained in dual sword wielding and archery for weaponry and I can totally see Jaskier using butterfly swords/Baat Jaam Dao cause he wants to remain inconspicious and achery is little bit too obvious, Baat Jaam Dao are small and easy to conceal. The fighting style is all about overcoming your opponent with fast, agile strikes, and disarming them, not killing them. I think this fits Jaskier really well. For reference, here’s what the swords look like: 

Jaskier could totally hide them. Also, this sword idea may or not be inspired by a move from the Dragon Age series called the Butterfly where you slash the enemy’s wrists and then their throat immedialy after. (Please go read Dragon Age: The Masked Empire)

Bards are also expected to be able to complete a mission in private, say, at a banquet and then return to being the life of the party, not a hair out of place and no one even noticing you are gone. And oh god, I love this idea so much. 

Like Jaskier doesn’t really take jobs anymore unless they strike him as somehting that needs to be done, morally speaking, and he actually doesn’t really and try and hide it from Geralt. So Jaskier tlak all the time but never about his past but Geralt never asks about his past so Jaskier basically pretends it doesn’t exist. 

And Jaskier is really more trained for dealing with human monsters so it’s not like he’d be of any help for a kikimora hunt or whatever, that’s not really in his wheelhouse. 

Ugh just imagine if Geralt gets captured or incapacitated, something that Jaskier has never had to deal with so he steps in and just takes whatever the threat is OUT. Geralt is surprised and horny. 

Chapters: 1/14 Fandom: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion, Jaskier | Dandelion & Vesemir, Jaskier | Dandelion & Renfri | Shrike Characters: Jaskier | Dandelion, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Vesemir (The Witcher), Renfri | Shrike (The Witcher), Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg, Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, Lambert (The Witcher), Eskel (The Witcher), Aiden (The Witcher) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon, Witcher Jaskier | Dandelion, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, starts before the show, mentions of jaskier/others, Curses, Cursed Jaskier | Dandelion, Stregobor Being an Asshole (The Witcher), Blood and Injury, mention of the witcher trials, mention of child death, Identity Issues, Jaskier | Dandelion Needs a Hug, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Pining Summary:

Made a witcher when he was young, the halls of Kaer Morhen have no secrets for Julian. He is an expert witcher now, inseparable from his friend Vesemir's side. Amidst teaching chaos, he is asked to help prepare new trials for a thirteen years old boy, who just passed his first trials.

When he refuses to help them, he is cast out from the wolf witchers' stronghold, separated from his friend. He is then confronted by Stregobor, a mage with whom he fought a few years prior, who seeks revenge on him, and who is helped by another wolf witcher set out against Julian.