Chapter Text
The first time Geralt took a boat with the bard was a riverboat ferry, six months into their reluctant acquaintanceship, and the bard babbled on so fucking much that Geralt believed it was his first time on a boat. But before he could even think to ask - not that he would, it wouldn’t do to encourage the overly eager lad he still had half a mind to leave behind one day, when he found the right town - the bard had launched into a story of the time his grandfather had taken him out on the water when he was a small boy and the horrible seasickness that had ensued, much to his ancestral seafaring family’s chagrin.
“Better not get sick on me, bard” Geralt huffed. He kept a sharp eye on the boy after that tale. The last thing he needed was to be dealing with an ill travel companion. They were not nearly close enough for that and yet it would feel wrong to leave the kid to fend for himself should it happen.
Fortunately, the waters were smooth, and the bard's demeanour remained upbeat. Unfortunately, it meant the bard’s ramblings lasted the entire trip, but Geralt mostly tuned it out. Background noise. Almost soothing - not that he would ever admit it to himself or the bard. He still couldn’t quite believe that one person could talk so much on so many topics, though never anything of any real importance.
Sometimes, he wondered if perhaps the bard was a new kind of monster that no one had ever seen before - one that ran a long game and killed its prey from sheer annoyance or talking them to death. Jaskier was so unlike any other human he’d ever met that it seemed possible, though not probable. As both amusement to pass the time on the long nights he kept watch and to ensure he was fully prepared in case his wild theory turned out to be right, he’d taken to writing notes on the subject in his bestiary.
He smirked at the thought of that “Bard?” section in his notebook, which the bard interpreted as a reaction to the story Geralt hadn’t been listening to, setting him off on an offended rant that Geralt also tuned out. The rest of the trip passed much the same, and they left the ferry. Geralt led Roach by the reins, and the bard, on Roach’s other side, pulled his lute around and began to compose as they walked towards the village offering the contract.