vocalistyodels | OPEN POST

Foolishly of him he'd assumed the other man had made his escape, but here he was still. Cooper sits up in the plush bed, looking a right mess. Even if he didn't look like a walking talking corpse he'd still be a terror.

"Lucky you my dinner was very filling." He goes to take another sip of wine and... oh, with a look of disappointment he'll toss the empty bottle lamely onto the bed.

"Guess I owe you, wouldn't be very nice to make you dessert after setting me free." Accidentally perhaps, but it counted.

It's an utterly gruesome scene, made all the more surreal given just hours ago Jaskier was very enthusiastically fucking Lady Iosith on that very bed. The room still smelled of sex, under the fresh gore and liquor. Jaskier leans back a bit when Cooper sits up, but doesn't run this time.

"I would be in staunch agreement with that," Jaskier said with an airy certainty, and with that confirmation began to delicately make his way into the room to fetch his discarded clothing. Well, to look for it. There was a lot of enthusiastic removal and throwing. "I don't suppose you have any idea where we are exactly?"

The great thing about missing his nose is his sense of smell was mostly gone and at this point even if it weren't he was so used to the stink of death it normal to him. Cooper watches the man move about the room, his mind still thinking he'd make a damn fine meal, but maybe that's just the captive part of his brain speaking. He's a free man again, as free as he is in this life anymore.

"Near Murivel and Egremont, the woods there, they're dark and thick. We're set in far enough most folks won't bother her here and any who did..." He shrugs, as if he hadn't just been held against his will for... Days. Weeks. Months. Probably months.

"Typically she just used her magic to come and go, like she had with you." Curious eyes still watch the man, "Whether you'd stumbled into that room on your own or not, woulda ended up there in the end." She'd probably just wanted to play around with him more first, couple more rounds, maybe let him stay a few days, then feed him to her little pet monster.

If he could watch her die again he would.

"Rude," Jaskier says under his breath, about being an eventual sacrifice either way. After the lovely time they spent together, too. No respect at all anymore. Egremont and Murivel though- still in Redania, thank the gods, he was worried they were closer to the Dragon Mountains, but that's probably just the Kestrels then. Far more reasonable to get back to Oxenfurt from, assuming he wants to return there.

Jaskier tugs the loose shirt on over his head when he finds it so he's less outright exposed. He glances over to Cooper again, wincing anew to see all that blood.

"So - were you like this before she got to you, or-?"

Sliding off the bed, he'll pad around the room, opening drawers and looking into fancy boxes with jewlrey and her perfumes and such. A big impressive wardrobe with clothes that would not look flattering on him in the least. He's not got the bosom for them.

"Like what...?" Cooper looks over at the man, brow furrowed as if in confusion. Oh he knows what he means, but let him have a little fun. He deserves it.

A corset could work wonders on many, but even they had their limits for making something from nothing.

(Jaskier looked very good in them, but his chest was more impressive than most guessed.)

One stocking found, and his jacket draped over a chair spotted in the corner, Jaskier has to straighten up and look at Cooper first with alarm and then suspicion at his question. The man is fucking with him. Has to be. Does Jaskier want to risk offense when he just saw Cooper eat a corpse? Probably not smart, but Jaskier is that kind of smart that tends to be very very stupid.

"Like you've been dead at least a month."

Oh he's noticed how nice Jaskier looked, his hunger had made it hard to not look at him. While that has subsided for now, it's difficult to not let his eyes still drift to him with interest.

"Only a month? Looking better than I thought." Cooper grins, at least until he notices a mirror in the room. Walking over he'll stand in front of it, looking at his ghastly appearance, touching at his face. It's been a while since he's seen how he looks now, he's even more gaunt than before, being fed much of nothing does that to a man, even one who's a monster.

He doesn't know when he started to laugh, low and quiet, until he almost sounds mad.

"Fuck I need a bath." Cooper finally says.

"You really do. I haven't seen the bathtub but she promised me a decadent one," Jaskier offers up, in case Cooper was busy... being kept chained up in a single room and not had a chance to look around. That was probably the case, actually, unless he'd started as a guest gone awry like the apparent plans for Jaskier had been. Oh, there's his smallclothes and other stocking, thank goodness, the trousers were going to chafe without them after too long. He glances at Cooper, then decides there's no point in being shy given his state, undoing the ties on the trousers to push them off to get redressed properly.

"Given she seems to keep everything, think she has a stash of clothing from previous people she killed?" he asked lightly, trying not to imagine what his own would look like in said discard pile once she had apparently fed him to this man. And not in a sexy way.

"I could do with a little decadent." Guess it's time to go hunt this fancy bathtub down then. Cooper pauses at the doorway, thinking about the question for a beat.

"Some folks were already naked, others still had everything on. Doubt she'd keep the clothes on them ones, I tend to make a real mess of em." When hunger was all he could think about, starved till he was nothing but a ravenous monster, tearing through clothes were nothing. Just more to tear through before he could eat.

"But I ain't interested in going back in there till I've soaked some of this grime off. Since you was so kind in setting me free, anything valuable you find in there is yours for the taking. For your troubles." He starts to leave again, but stops.

"If you happen upon anything concerning The Vault, would appreciate if you left that behind." Now, excuse him as he goes to find that tub.

Everyone could use with a little decadence when it came to baths, in Jaskier's opinion. Pulling his trousers back on, he paused to glance over to Cooper as he spoke. For a man who was quite monstrous just recently, he really was acting even more polite than Geralt.

How terribly curious. He didn't answer Jaskier's question on if he looked like this because of the witch either - but all his anger at her seemed to be of the 'kept me prisoner' variety rather than anything related to him being transformed, so Jaskier was guessing not.

"Will do," he said, still rather unmoored, not sure what this 'vault' specifically was (it sounded like something specific with that 'the', rather than a general vault). He'd have to ask ... later. Once Cooper headed out to search for the bath, Jaskier bundled up the top ruined sheet to take towards the junk room he found the other man tied up in. Squinting to make sure he could only see the now dead witch as a blurry mass on the ground instead of what was left of her, he used the sheet to cover her up. Part dignity, sure, but also Jaskier knew he'd puke a second time if he had to look at it. The smell was bad enough, and he pulled the collar of his shirt up over his nose and mouth to breathe as he gingerly stepped past.

There was certainly no doubt valuable items in the room, but as someone who wasn't magic himself he at best was only able to recognize here and there something Geralt or Yennefer mentioned. He grabbed a couple things he thought either of them could use and would not be likely to be dangerous to carry around, as well as assorted more obvious coins that seemed to be scattered carelessly about. Books, too. He had to limit himself to three since he'd need to actually carry this, but still took several others out of the room to set aside somewhere on the off chance he'd ever be able to return for them. Tragedy.

He did find a trunk that had an assortment of clothing in it, and while some of it was very out of style it looked like it wasn't all made for the feminine form. Just as he was about to chalk that up as the best good news to give the other man, something caught his eye. An stack of old letters tucked away in the corner... and while he glanced over them and saw much of the information was well over his head in spite of being written in Elder and him being fluent, he did recognize one phrase - 'The Vault'.

While Jaskier is having a grand ol' time poking around the room that had been his personal hell for months, Cooper was heating up a nice warm bath. Decadent felt like the wrong word, it was beyond that, this woman sure knew how to spoil herself. Or had.

There's a little collection of scented oils that he'll take the time to smell, before deciding on a nice lavender to pour into the bath. Next he removes the petals from some flowers she'd decorated the room with and sprinkles them in for good measure. Decadent! Cooper sinks into the water with a sigh and it doesn't take the nicely scented bath to turn into a pinkish hue. Well, it almost looks pretty, if one didn't consider it was that color because of the blood. He'll soak for a little bit, letting his sore body soak up the heat, the color of the water turning more of a reddish tint as more blood washes off him. If not for the blood he'd tracked into the washroom it would almost look nice, minus the ghoulish looking man.

As the warmth of the water starts to cool, he'll start to properly scrub himself clean and the red of the water turns more brown than anything. Dirt, grime and blood all mixed together, the petals still floating on top can't make this look pretty any longer. Cooper already feels better though, he's eaten a "proper" meal and cleaned up, he almost hates to have to leave the bath and get dressed. Rudely he'll leave the filthy water in the tub, whoever might find this place and the horrors in it can clean it if they wish. Drying off, Cooper secures the towel around his waist and heads back on out, avoiding the bloody trails he's already left, but follows one back to that room.

A little smirk tugs at the corner of his mouth seeing the witch's body covered as he steps into the room. What he doesn't expect is that man to still be there.

"Figured you'd have made for the hills already." Guess there was a lot of stuff to go through.

"Can't decide what trinkets you wanna take with ya?"

There was a lot of stuff to go through, but also...

"Have you looked outside? It's already dark out, and snow is coming down. I don't travel at night by myself. Forget bandits, I'll get eaten by a wolf at that rate. I'm not going anywhere until the sun comes back up and I can make it to a town before it goes back down again," Jaskier explained as he continued to page through the letters, but only the one contained a mention of a Vault. Hopefully Cooper would hold to his promise to not eat Jaskier too... and that the witch didn't have anyone coming to look for her before that.

Ugh. Such a mess, literal and metaphorical.

"I'm Jaskier, by the way. There seems to be some clothing in here that wasn't hers- " he tapped the trunk with his boot, then held the letter out for Cooper to take. "And this said something about a 'vault'. It's in Elder. If you can't read it, I can."

All of that sounds like a skill issue, Jaskier. Cooper glances at the windows in the room, still covered with thick drapes that let no sun nor moonlight in. Going over he'll tug the heavy material aside, looking out.

He stares at the snow that's falling in the light of the moon, it looks soft, but heavy. There's already a decent amount on the ground and with how much is coming down it would become a hindrance quick enough when traveling. The man is right and Cooper let's the drape drop back down as he moves to take the letter from him.

With a hum he'll let his eyes roam over the words. His Elder isn't the best, it was something Barb tried to teach him over the years and he took half seriously. Was biting him in the ass now. With a grimace he'll set it aside, turning his back to Jaskier as he rummages in the trunk.

"Well, Jaskier, we can go over the letter with some wine since we'll be here for the time being." Aka, yes he needs you to read it for him. Digging down deep he manages to find a couple bits of his own clothes. His boots and a belt with an old buckle on it that once had sentimental meaning. He grabs the rest from what else he finds in the trunk, making a new outfit for himself for the time being.

The worn leather duster is actually quite nice, he may just keep it. Tugging things on he feels more of his humanity coming back of him, covering up the creature he'd been made to be by those damnable mages.

What Iosith had taken advantage of for months for her own amusement.

"What d'ya think-?" Cooper holds his arms out, does a little turn to each side, "The colors flatter my eyes?" The colors being darkened leathers of black and brown.

Jaskier did actually look at Cooper's ensemble somewhat critically, since he'd asked and all. He knew it was surely out of sarcasm, but Jaskier never ignored an inch offered in jest that gave him an opening to take a mile, and he wasn't about to stop now.

... for all he was something that looked like he'd fit right in crawling out of a big, the man did have startlingly pretty eyes. Glancing into the trunk, Jaskier bent over to dig into it until he pulled out a man's scarf, rich blue accented in gold thread. Iosith had well favored victims, it seemed.

"You need an accent color."

How else does one deal with the horrors of life but with sarcasm?

Jaskier seems to take him semi seriously and Cooper has to huff at the scarf he picks out for him. The blue and gold is another reminder of his past, of who he used to be, his family... he takes it, looping it loosely around his neck.

"Make a decent cover for my face. Most folk ain't about to let a talking corpse wander through their city, but I'm sure you know that much." The less bullshit he has to deal with the better. Unless it's bullshit he starts himself. Though there's the risk of him hiding his face attracting attention too, what is he hiding- yadda yadda...

Cooper steps around the room to find the crossbow Jaskier had accidentally used to murder Iosith, picking it up and giving it a look over.

"She really was a packrat, even kept my crossbow." His eyes scan the shelves to find any bolts but it's only after he pulls open a drawer on the desk that he finds any. That'll be one thing he'll need to buy more of as soon as possible.

"Never did get a chance to take my shot at her, the irony of that bolt still being loaded when it was in your hands almost warms my heart."

It would provide useful face covering if needed. Given the amount of shit Geralt got for being a Witcher and all that set them apart were the eyes at a glance (no pun intended), he imagined Cooper's situation was not exactly fun.

"That is some dramatic irony. Consider it an act of teamwork," he suggested, rolling up the rest of the witch's correspondence and stashing it in a hardened leather tube made for carrying messages that she had laying around. There was just enough suspicious wording among them that Jaskier would feel better passing it off to Geralt or even Yennefer. Then at least he could feel like he had done something about this whole mess.

"Why were you after her?"

Excuse his snort at the mention of teamwork. He doesn't do teamwork, he walks alone, he is the night blah blah, lone wolf, something something, embarrassingly really, look where that got him.

"Pretty nosy for a guy who saw a fella eat someone." Cooper says, but he doesn't look over at Jaskier. He's looking over his crossbow, checking for any wear on his weapon. Clearly it worked well enough to kill someone, but that didn't mean it was in good condition.

"... list of names I've been looking into, seeing what they could tell me bout The Vault. Where to find em. Looks like I was right." That she had a connection to them. Fucking mages. Cooper looks around then, curious if she'd- ah. Reaching up on the top of another shelf he grabs a hat, dusting it off a little and plops it on his head.

"What bout you? Canoodling with witches, ain't heard nothing with those ears of yours?" Now he regards Jaskier, wondering if his accidental savior could be connected to them beyond having his cock inside one.

The Vault, there it was again. A weighted word that meant something. Jaskier wondered what he had stumbled into with this.

"I'm not canoodling with witches. I have bed partners that do not exclude witches or wizards provided they're not psychotic sadists," Jaskier said, only to pause and regard the room full of discarded objects from people that had likely died at her hands directly or indirectly. "... She didn't seem that way at the time. I was at Oxenfurt and Thanedd is so close you get the magical sorts through there with some regularity. We don't generally discuss magical business - I can't recall hearing of a 'Vault' before. Does it have another name?"

Cooper does raise his brow at Jaskier with that first part, but the man catches himself quickly enough. He'd argue all witches and wizards are psychotic sadists, but he's biased.

"They ain't got another name, not that I know of. It's a group of em. Magic sorts of all types." Cooper had come to this area for that reason, though Iosith had been his primary target, but if he were going to find any new leads for The Vault it would be near Thanedd.

"They want to 'change the world for the better', but they gotta cleanse everything first. Start over." Cooper walks around back to stand by the covered body of Iosith, watching her blood start to soak through the cover Jaskier had put over her. Cooper none to politely spits on her covered corpse, she deserves even less than that.

"But they ain't tell you that last part when they're looking for people to join their cause." Not at first at least.

Look... Jaskier isn't in disagreement that there's something from with most witches and wizards. Some more than others. It's just sometimes what's wrong with them is ultimately harmless or just good kinky fun as far as Jaskier is concerned. Which was what he thought was what Iosith had going.

That said, sneaky underhanded group that seems to think it's got the right mind for things... No, even if Jaskier's worst interpretation of her character, that doesn't sound like Yennefer's deal. But it does sound like the kind of thing she might be approached for. Jaskier crosses his arms thoughtfully, humming, glancing over as Cooper spits on the body. The sheet has so much red on it now. Ugh.

"I don't know anything... but I might know someone who does," he says, making sure he's got everything pocketed he intends to take before heading over to the fallen witch to very carefully step over her body again. "I'm going to take a pass at her pantry, since it isn't like she's going to eat anything in there. I think I can keep something down now."

Iosith wasn't not into kinky fun, but she also was a whole lot of other things. Her biggest hobby became luring people to her home to feed to her new pet monster. The monster being Cooper of course.

Cooper was starting to think there wasn't much else Jaskier could offer him, he didn't seem to know anything. Though if he did get on with magic sorts... his head lifts watching Jaskier as he heads out of the room and he's not far behind him. He's spent enough time in there.

"While you indulge I'd be interested in hearing about this someone of yours." Another magic user no doubt. He'll have to keep a close eye on Jaskier, he could be leading him into some trap. Just because he ended up freeing him doesn't mean anything.

"Oh, she is not 'mine' in any sense of that word, not even slightly," Jaskier insists, glancing over his shoulder to see Cooper following behind as he heads to where the pantry and attached kitchen was. It was well stocked, if nothing else. He could use some wine, himself. Or ale. Anything alcoholic. It it has been a long day. So that's what he raids first, going through a cabinet and grabbing the first bottle he finds to uncorck, take a smell - ugh, but it'll do the job - and pour himself a mug.

"She's psychotic, vicious, evil, and devious," Jaskier informs Cooper with a serious look, taking a long drink of the alcohol at the very thought of dealing with Yennefer. Maybe he'll find Geralt first and be able to ask the man to be a go-between. Double ugh.

Right then. More searching. Bread and cheese - he's not so sure about stomaching meat just yet. Maybe in another hour.

"But, she's not all those things in that kind of way. Awful as she is, I can't see her actually being part of anything like what you've said 'the Vault' entails... but that's because I know her better than most, which I must emphasizes is against all desire on my part. Someone who knows her only by reputation or what she wants them to see? They might have made an offer to her about that fully certain it is in her wheelhouse."

Sorry for any blood that was tracked in there, he'd already raided some of the wine in his bloody and naked glory earlier, but there was more than plenty left. The food he'd not even touched, not yet anyway. For now he moves to sit at the table in there, one any servants she may have had at some point would have sat at and prepared meals at. It had only been Iosith for a while now.

Boots up on the table, Cooper leans back watching Jaskier enjoy his drink as he talks. Yennefer... the name rings a bell, maybe he's seen the name in other papers he's found in his search for these bastards. If she's anything like his new acquaintance says then no doubt The Vault would be looking to make her part of their scheme. Who says she already isn't, Jaskier might, but that means nothing to him at the moment.

"An' where could I find this Yennefer of yours?" Cooper leans back in the chair a little, his crossbow on his lap, "Just want to ask her a few questions about our possible mutual interests."

Oh, Jaskier can tell what that kind of 'relaxed' stance means. He's seen it on Geralt plenty of times, that 'just asking questions' when he was fishing for a mark.

"As much as I would relish seeing that - one, she would eviscerate you, and two, I don't know at the moment. I don't keep track of her. Again, everything I know about her has been thoroughly against my will," he explains- aha, bread and cheese both discovered. He looks for a knife next and takes them all to the table to get started cutting some manageable chunks off of both. "I could ask around, though. Geralt might know, I could send word to him... or, hmmm, given where we are it might be just as fast to meet him, given the time of year..."

That last part being Jaskier mostly thinking aloud to himself, recalling the yearly circuits the Witcher made, wintering at his home up north.

"Guess I'd be two for two against witches then wouldn't I?" Look, he knows he's woefully unprepared to take on these magic users, but it doesn't mean it's going to stop him. They have his daughter and he's not going to stop until he gets her away from those motherfuckers. Or dies trying.

Cooper cocks his head curiously at Jaskier at the other name he mentions. Geralt... Geralt where had he heard that name?

"Geralt...? Ain't that that Witcher fella? The one that song about?" Look even the rich folk heard those songs, they made their way around. Toss A Coin To Your Witcher was a ear bug for sure. Cooper takes a closer look at the man now, gears in his brain turning.

"Hell, what'd you say your name was again? You ain't that bard who wrote that song are you?" The ghoul's brow furrows until he remembers, "Jaskier, that was it. Thought there was something familiar looking bout you. Pretty sure I've seen you preform before, long time ago." The ghoul's eyes do a once over of him.

"Ya looked bit different then." To be fair, so did Cooper at that time. They'd both been younger, different men in a way.

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