[open]

[whattaprick]

Who: Lambert and YOU
Where: The Carnival
When: During the downtime between Atlantis and their next world.
What: Any Witcher worth his salt knows the first thing you should do when you're in an unfamiliar environment: get the lay of the land.

1. not the nurse you're looking for
[ You might have come into the medical tent looking for supplies or something else. If you were looking for Zecora, prepare to be disappointed because there's a scarred man scowling heavily as he clatters around the place, not working on anything in particular.

He doesn't seem to register there's someone else around -- or is he just straight up ignoring you??? ]

2. by the woods

[ With the carnival no longer water-logged, Lambert's taken a walk of the perimeter, even stepped into the edge of the woods, but he hasn't tried to press any further, although he's stood and looked at it for some time.

There's no sense letting his skills get rusty, so he mostly spends the time-- night or day-- sparring invisible enemies, steel sword flashing as he weaves it through the air.

When he's not swinging a sword around, you'll find him sitting on the dirt, legs folded under him and eyes closed. ]

3. getting to know you?

[ Lambert doesn't normally care about getting to know people, but he also normally doesn't stay anywhere longer than a few months, either. And that's at Kaer Morhen, where he can always get blind drunk and fuck off into the woods and kill some drowners if he needs to let off some steam instead of dealing with the other Witcher.

If he's going to be here for a year and a day? He's going to at least need to know names.

So wherever you are, whatever you're up to, you might notice a newcomer watching you for a few moments before he speaks up. ]

So what do you do around here?

4. wildcard!
[ If we discussed a previous scenario or you just want to do something not covered here, go for it! I'll match whatever prose style you go with. ]

Comments

[whattaprick]

"Funny, I thought it was polite not to poison someone I'm drinking with. Or is that different in England too?" Lambert grins, leaning against the table edge. He wasn't lying about the brew's potency; the latest glassful's left his eyes half-lidded and cheeks flushed. He is not, however, going to bother denying the charge of rudeness, something so blatantly true that to say otherwise would be plainly farcical.

As he continues to prove when he slides the bottle across the table. "If you want to start seeing visions and puke up blood tomorrow, be my guest." It won't kill him, but he'll probably wish he was dead. He remembers sneaking out alcohol from Vesemir's stash as a kid, before the first set of mutations, and he'd more or less survived. Probably burned a permanent hole in his liver, but he survived.

"It's usually used for alchemy, but you look like you can hold your drink."

[atouts]

"Depends on who you talk to," Childermass says without one damn hint of worry. Apparently, Lambert's warning either doesn't hold water to the man or he really does think he can handle it (which he does, actually, but that'll be the surprise). He catches the bottle Lambert slides his way and takes a moment to hold it up, get a good look at it, before giving a sort of half-shrug to himself — like saying 'all right, whatever' without actually saying it — and opens it.

Less goes into his drink than he saw Lambert pour into his own, of course. He'd been told the necklace can only handle so much poison and, with it hidden away as it is, he can't exactly keep an eye on it for any dangerous color changes.

"Used for alchemy how, if I might ask?"

Sure, he's about to drink literal poison, but he's also still going to carry on with the conversation casually as he closes the bottle again and slides it back to Lambert. It's only after that that he'll drink the rest of his whiskey, White Gull and all.

itt: i use google to help me write vaguely science things

[whattaprick]

White Gull is a strange brew -- translucent and with a faint scent that's both medicinal and sweet, under the sharper, nose-singing quality of really strong alcohol. Still, there isn't anything about it that marks it as having any particularly magical properties.

The indifference would be infuriating, but it's more intriguing instead, the self-assured confidence something Lambert hadn't expected from the man at first glance. He sort of ignores the question at first, watching him like a hawk while he drinks it all. After a few seconds pass and Childermass neither drops he laughs (loudly) and pounds the table with the flat of his palm.

"You're one tough bastard, Childermass." Judging from the tone of his voice, that's clearly meant as a compliment, not that he cares if Childermass takes it as one, and he skips right back to answering the question like he wasn't interrupted.

"A lot of magical components don't dissolve properly in water, and that's not going to work. A solution and a suspension do completely different things. So you use alcohol instead." There, like it's obvious.

"Or say you need to extract something from a raw material, but you can't heat it or break it apart to do that. Almost any really strong alcohol will work, but some are better than others."

what is science we just don't know

[atouts]

At least that solves the mystery of why Lambert would spike alcohol with even more alcohol. What was in that bottle, being that strong, must outstrip whiskey by far. If that man can drink it without a magical trick up his sleeve, too, he can only imagine whatever those "bad potions" he had mentioned before has changed much more than how his eyes look.

Good to know. It's not that he would ever think to try poisoning someone else, but knowing what won't work is always a plus. In any case, he sets his glass back down and shrugs, like it's nothing at all.

"So I've been told." He'll take it as a compliment just fine, but he never really knows what to do with those. If anything, he, again, sounds like he finds it funny. The explanation for its actual use, however, that he can respond to better than any compliment. "Ah, and yet here you are drinking it."

Well, both of them now, not just Lambert, but that was very much a one time deal on his own part.

"No wonder you would call it poison, if that is what it's meant for."

[whattaprick]

"Mm-hm." As if to prove the point, not that there is much of one to be made, Lambert takes another swig of his nasty Witcher cocktail. "And now, so are you." maybe the man has more going on under his skin to, or the raven feathers hint at a nature that isn't entirely human...

"You sound like Vesemir. 'Young man, that is meant for alchemy, not your stomach. Put that down at once!''" He deepens his voice and wags a finger at Childermass like he's a schoolboy, squaring his shoulders until he's standing at rigid attention. He only holds it for a couple of seconds before he lets it drop again, reaching to take his cup and drain it dry. Conveniently, that means he can pour the last of the whiskey and White Gull into it, reclaiming the empty bottle.

"A toast to bad decisions, then?" He lifts his glass, raising a brow.

[atouts]

"If that means that I sound sensible, I see no reason to argue." Whoever Vesemir is, if he thinks drinking poison is stupid, then he's only going to take that as another compliment, even if this time it's entirely unintended on Lambert's part. Still, he won't be so serious that he won't incline his head in the barest of nods to his toast and raises his own glass.

"To bad decisions, then. Usually other people's."

Because oh boy, are Childermass' bad decisions come far and few between compared to pretty much everyone else he knows.

[whattaprick]

To that, Lambert's happy to drink, draining his glass in one long, steady pull that leaves his throat burning, though he's grinning widely when he puts the glass down.

"Well, Mr. Childermass, as entertaining as this has been, I think I'd better take my leave. Still have the rest of our coworkers to meet and all that." A touch unsteadily, he pushes himself to his feet, giving him a wave with a flick of his fingers.

"Let me know if you ever want to grab a drink again. I'd be more than happy to take you up on the offer."