vocalistyodels | OPEN POST

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.

There was no hiding the way Jaskier perked up as Cooper recognized the name Geralt - specifically from the song, Jaskier's whole attitude brightening like a preening bird.

"Toss a coin to your Witcher, Oh, Valley of Plenty, Oh, Valley of Plenty, oh ~ Toss a coin to your Witcher, A friend of humanity~" Jaskier sings at the prompting, hands stilling from where they were cutting up the bread and cheese. He's come up with other songs he's equally proud of since then, but this was the one that put him on the map and turned Geralt's reputation for the better.

"You must have looked different then, too. I'm certain I would have remembered your face."

Now isn't that swell, Cooper never thought he'd get a mini private performance from The Jaskier. That's certainly the song he remembers, missing the playful sound of the bard's lute, but it's still a good ear worm regardless.

"Heh, well had a nose then. Hair. Complexion was a bit nicer." Aka he had normal skin, less man set on fire looking. "But needless to say, ain't in them circles anymore. Far as anyone is concerned that man been dead for a while now."

Jaskier gives Cooper a considering look, trying to picture what he must have looked like before all... this. His eyes are striking, though. Perhaps it will come back to Jaskier in time. 'In those circles' - implies that Cooper was 'someone'. Maybe the way Jaskier has been 'someone' too.

Complex. He'll have to ponder it.

"Yes, that Geralt. The Witcher, the 'White Wolf'. He's familiar enough with Yennefer - to put it politely - that he'll likely know where she is now or at least where to contact her."

The ghoul considers the bard, curiously. Maybe he shouldn't be surprised he'd get involved, beyond his accidental involvement that is. He's used to following a Witcher after all, this must seem like just another odd thing.

"And you just plan on putting all your plans on hold to help me, huh?" He shifts, legs falling off the table to sit up straight.

"Just like that?"

Jaskier is used to following a Witcher - but even when him and Geralt had parted ways for a couple years under bitter circumstances, spending that time with Geralt had made Jaskier rather discover he apparently was the kind of man who when someone needed to do something realized that he was 'someone'. When had it become second nature to offer a hand, if he could? He doesn't even consider that he'd done it until Cooper questions it. Because, yes, just like that.

"It's entirely possible he won't know how to contact Yennefer - or he will, and she'll have no idea what it is," Jaskier said with a small shrug. "So both would be a dead end. I don't see why assisting to make sure the option is explored is going that much out of my way."

"And The Great Jaskier isn't meant to be playing all across The Continent?" He's almost touched he can put down the lute to travel the lands with him to meet this great Witcher of his.

"You're real quick to jump in bed with me," Figuratively, "Man you don't know the name of and you can't say I'm telling the truth." Cooper isn't trying to make Jaskier second guess his decision, but he's just curious about his reasons for jumping to help him so readily.

"Maybe Lady Iosith had me chained up for a good reason."

Jaskier raises his eyebrows. Figuratively. Indeed.

"Given you killed and ate her and admitted to having come here to kill her in the first place, if anything I assumed she didn't have good reason to lock you up because a smarter person should have killed you outright if you were so dangerous to them," Jaskier said with an easy shrug, meeting Cooper's eyes as he took a bite of the cheese and began looking for some better wine. "I don't have particular engagements lined up for a few weeks - and it's the same amount of travel between here and Ard Carraigh as it is to return to Oxenfurt anyway."

He's certain if they leave in the morning they should be able to make it there well enough during the turn of winter to ensure they'd meet up with Geralt as he passed through there, as he rather reliably did twice a year.

"Don't let me take all the credit, you killed her. I doubt she expected a clumsy bard to ruin her fun." The fun being having him chained up as her living trash compactor for people she kills.

"But I guess you're my ticket to finding this Yennefer." Cooper isn't even sure it'll be worth the effort to find her, but he can't not look into it. He's been waylaid for too long and this fell in his lap, he's got to take it.

"So we wait for the storm to pass and head out soon as we can, better fill up and get your rest." Though don't rest in Iosith's room, the bed is a mess, no thanks to Cooper. No doubt in this big place she's got a guest room or two with beds that don't stink of sex and gore.

Jaskier makes a face at the reminder he was also responsible for Iosith's death. Trying to forget that, thank you.

"Hopefully she has some extra bedrooms in here, given the mess you made of hers," Jaskier comments, voicing those thoughts aloud. More wine found, Jaskier opens the bottle - takes an experimental sniff - then a very long drink from it. More like chugging, really.

He wants to help, sincerely, but there's a small part of him that's also hopeful this will make it so Cooper doesn't change his mind and decide to kill him in the night.

"What should I call you, anyway?"

"Think I deserved to make a little mess." A little mess he says, having tracked blood all over the place.

And hey now, he doesn't just eat people to eat people. He didn't have much choice in the matter while being held against his will. Jaskier is not on the menu, nor will he be. Maybe he's a little bit of a fan of the bard alright.

"Can call me whatever the fuck y'want." Real helpful, Cooper.

Jaskier gives Cooper a look at the justification for the mess like he's being a particularly recalcitrant toddler. Well.

"Whatever I want? Your wish is my command, Fitzwilliam," Jaskier said with a mock half-bow. He fetched a plate to pile the food on and took up the wine bottle to search for a clean room to go pass out for a few hours in.

He just smiles at the look, of course. At the name Jaskier picks he scoffs.

"That's the name ya pick?" Look he did say whatever, but Fitzwilliam? Did he look like that? He definitely doesn't look like that.

"You said whatever I want," Jaskier says, straight faced, a challenge in his expression. He takes another long drink of wine. "Unless of course you have an alternative answer."

The point was it was the most objectionable name he could think of on short notice. He'd never known a pleasant Fitzwilliam.

The ghoul isn't trying to hide who he is exactly, there's no point, technically dead or not, what would it matter if he told Jaskier who he is. He'll follow the bard a little bit, stopping to lean in the doorway, arms crossed.

"Cooper." Does he look like a Cooper anymore either? No... no he'd say he didn't.

"Coop is fine too."

Jaskier pauses when Cooper does, giving him another measuring look, thoughtful. He doesn't look like a 'Cooper' either, but if he had to sincerely pick a name, what would match? He tries to think of any 'Cooper's hes met before. The name rings enough bells that he thinks he's met several at least. More to think about. It's entirely possible it's also not his name at all, and just something he finds less objectionable than Jaskier's choice.

"Coop, then," Jaskier repeats, going straight for the familiar.

Coop it is. He'll exhale, pushing away from the door, walking to stop beside Jaskier. Nodding at the bard's platter of cheese and bread he'll reach up to pluck a piece off for himself.

"Why don't you tuck in. I'll wake you once the weather breaks." Preferably after sunrise. Besides, he wants to get things ready for their travels, have a better look around, maybe get a little rest himself. Popping the bite of cheese into his mouth he'll chew, finding he taste of normal food again... odd for a moment.

"I'd sing you a lullaby, but singing is your forte." He chuckles then, moving to walk away.

Jaskier looked only mildly annoyed at the theft of some food - well, good to know he doesn't just eat people...

"Suppose it is. Wake me if you need one for yourself, I can be up for a little while. If you look around more and happen to find and instrument, I left my lute back in Oxenfurt since I wasn't exactly expecting to be gone for more than a night," he pointed out. It was always more helpful to have an instrument when traveling than not, though he could do fairly well with voice alone. Giving a nod of goodnight to Cooper, he headed into the room to undress and get some sleep once he finished eating.

And drinking at least half that bottle by himself.

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