Eskel Headcanon Because Apparently I Can't Stop Myself (it's Not Gonna Work With Game Visuals But Ignore

Eskel headcanon because apparently I can't stop myself (it's not gonna work with game visuals but ignore it please?)

Eskel's signs are powerful, more so than anybody else but they also emanate from his whole body, not just his hands when he gets really worked up.

When he signs Quen, all of his body radiate light, almost has bright has the shield itself.

Igni turns his skin hot, steam leaving his body. His hands get darker. He discovered by accident he can touch fire if he's angry enough, without hurting himself.

Yrden makes his skin prickly and anybody who touches him when he's casting is in immediate pain. He can also see non corporeal beings a lot better than most Witchers when the sign is still building under his skin. He can cast Yrden on any surface, including in mid-air.

Axii makes his eyes glow and his body slightly less corporeal. Sometimes he feels like if he pushed himself, he could take complete control of someone's mind. This one is the sign that he avoid casting the most when he's angry. He's afraid he won't find his limit one day.

And finally getting hit by his Aard is like being slammed into a brick wall at full force. It radiates from his entire body, crashing into his targets faster than any other Witcher's Aard. There's no escaping it. When he's furious, he can pulverise a tree or bring down a wall in a second.

And because of that, he has to be very careful always to keep his emotions in check. He had special training to learn to keep his signs under control when he's angry. It can become useful in a fight, but his signs are too volatile, so he avoids letting his emotions loose too often, particularly around humans. He can't afford to lose control after Blaviken.

It earned him a reputation of a calm, polite and well-mannered man who's dependable and will do the job quickly. Nobody has ever any idea how powerful he truly is.

Thinkin’ soft moments like times Jaskier gets Geralt to laugh, like a deep belly laugh, or its surprised out of him.

Something like maybe.... Jaskier wakes up in the middle of the night, with travel time sometimes his sleeping schedule gets off centre, so he sits up and rubs his eyes and accepts that was all he’s gonna get for the night. After sitting for a moment, he realizes that Geralt is awake too, tending to the fire to keep light. It was smaller than when it was first made, so the light from it was dim, perfect for seeing both sleep deprived men but keeping everything beyond that in the shadows.

He’s spent more nights than he could count like this with Geralt, mainly on the path but sometimes in the villiages they stay in, too. Though, normally Jaskier tries to find something(someone) who will give him a good enough time to knock out after. That being said, during these times it’s normal for them to be, well quiet. No, Jaskier is no quiet man, but just being able to sit there with Geralt and just have that small peace— it was kind of nice.

So when Geralt mumbles something to him, well he wasn’t awake enough to hear.

“Hm? What was that, darling?” Jaskier asks, turning his head to the side, tired eyes watching Geralt. Geralt moves with him, slumping back against the small tree behind him and crossing his (sexy) arms over his broad triangle frame, and says “look up.”

So that’s what they do. After Jaskier looks up, Geralt convinces him to stand and takes him to a place he found while trying to hunt for their dinner. It was a small field filled with normal field things, probably a bit smaller than the courtyard of Kaer Morhen. The sky was over all clear with a few clouds here and there, and the moon was at a perfect place to cast its lovely shine on the overgrowth.

Jaskier shoots Geralt a small questioning look, but is lightly shoved in response, and follows Geralt into the field. The patches of tall gross come up to about Jaskier’s lower thigh, so when he wasn’t watching his step he was watching it wave in the howling wind. Doesn’t take Geralt long either to stop them and flop onto the dusty ground. Jaskier isn’t so tough like that so he crumbles to the ground with more grace and lays on his back with Geralt, and they begin to talk.

Waking up in the middle of the night for Jaskier was weird enough, but waking up and going to a secret place and star gazing while you talk about random things to someone you have grown to love, one could say Jaskier was having a good night. Time has passed and the topic Jaskier and Geralt are now on going something like...... hmm... “it starts when you’re young, you follow people’s reactions, or listen to them. An example is like being told dogs are a good thing to play and love on, so you make that apart of the ‘good’ or ‘safe’ for yourself—“

“mhm, mhm.”

“—but you’re also told that, something like ants are bad, either taught so or you’ve learned on your own. If my songs could change some people’s opinions, imagine the days where parents tell their kids that’s a Witcher’s coming to save them and instead of that taught fear now, it’s joy and happiness.” Jaskier finishes, hands connecting over his stomach as he retraces a constellation with his eyes.

“Mm. Some places are like that now, have I told you about the little girl who came up to me?” Geralt continues, tilting his head a little towards Jaskier, who tilts back towards him. “What? What happened?” Jaskier watches as Geralt moves back with a small smile, slowly blinking up at the stars. “She thanked me.”

Jaskier smiles to himself, rolling into his own space again and laying in silence once again. He knew Geralt was happy for the change, thankful for it. He deserved all of it, really, and Jaskier was happy to give him that. After a moment, Geralt licks his lips, “say, if you were to tell a kid about Witcher’s for the first time, what would you tell them?”

Curiosity always got the best of everything, and it’s also easily contagious. “Well, what wouldn’t I say? Hmmm, how they help with keeping their homes safe? How strong and powerful witchers are? I...” he paused, his hand coming up to tap at his chin in thought before turning to Geralt. “I’d probably tell them You smell.”

And that’s what gets him. Geralt’s head leans back and his face breaks into a wide grin, a booming laugh comes out and it’s a good laugh. Jaskier is so taken back, smiling and absolutely enraptured by the sound, the sight and Geralt. The laugh was short, but forever shall it reply and reply in Jaskier’s head as one of his favourite sounds, he also gets a small shove after Geralt’s reducers to chuckles.

This kinda turned out longer than I though, but I hope you guys like it. It was a cute idea to write down.

Thinking about largely nonverbal Geralt, who expresses himself through gestures and facial expressions and non-speech sounds, and who tries so very hard to make himself understood.

Not that anybody listens, because they see the white hair and yellow eyes and they think monster, and they certainly don’t hang around long enough to make the effort to hear what he’s saying.

At least Roach understands him, and she doesn’t mind whether he’s using words or making sounds or just petting her mane. She doesn’t demand that he speaks, and that’s one reason he prefers her company to humans. He figures he’ll never really be able to communicate with them.

Until he meets Jaskier. For all that Jaskier never stops talking, he actually listens remarkably well too. When Geralt hmms unhappily, Jaskier will rethink and backtrack what he’s just said, and when he hmms teasingly, Jaskier will grin. It makes Geralt feel that perhaps he isn’t impossible to understand after all.

When Geralt uses signs, Jaskier watches attentively and talks back to him. When he writes or doodles on scraps of paper, Jaskier sits by him and writes in his own notebook. When he grunts or growls, Jaskier will pause his monologues long enough to say Well of course you’d say that or Don’t start with me or I know, Geralt, but the truth is so much more poetic when it’s embellished.

It’s remarkable, this feeling of being understood. Of not feeling compelled to form words, not having to force himself to grind out vocalizations that feel like sand in his mouth. No obligations, no pressure, no tying himself in knots trying to spit out awkward, stilted speech. For the first time, he’s being heard without words.

And anyway, Jaskier talks enough for both of them.

Let’s make a list of things Jaskier does because of ADHD. This is coming from a person with adhd and anyone is free to add things, anyways—

Sometimes while walking, Jaskier could be talking about this amazing song he’s come up with and after taking a small pause he will forget whatever he was going to say and the topic he was just talking about

He may forget the face of someone or their name after just meeting them, but if you ask him about an historical event, he’ll go off

Don’t go to the market with Jaskier, because he’s very quick at planning on what things he needs and finding the fastest way to get to one tent to the other

(Geralt has lost him more than once)

He can also multi task very, very well. Geralt saw him having a conversation while writing a letter for someone else

But, if you give him anything to read like a book or contract, or have him count money, give him a second sometimes it takes reading it over and over again for him

Sometimes inside voices doesn’t exist for Jaskier

Before getting to talk to someone for contract information, Jaskier will do a shake down, just kind of shakes his head, shoulders, and hands

When he’s got a lot of energy inside, sometimes he’ll bounce his leg so hard he forces himself to stand up, walking around helps too

Another thing when he sits, he’s sometimes gets really happy or excited about playing, so he taps his feet(sometimes without realizing)

Geralt learns some very interesting facts about music and the instruments and history behind them, It’s one of Jaskier favourite topics to share

Along with music, he will also share, in detail, information about how boats stay afloat, what certain ropes are for, slang they use, etc.

He won’t share how or why he knows this.

Did i basically write down things I’ve done because of ADHD for Jaskier? That’s for me to know. Again, anyone is free to add stuff.

What if Eskel was that uncle that was weird but everyone loves. Like Ciri had been completely fooled by the polite smile and manners, she once saw Eskel waving to his own imaginary crowd and swan dive onto Lambert, wrestle around a little bit and then threw him. He totally cheered himself on too.

Or she’s probably also seen Eskel in his trousers being followed by goats, his hair also has many tiny ponytails, and whenever one of his beloved goats yelled at him he just nods solemnly, “Yeah, I understand” or “oh I totally get it” are some of his answers to them.

I also would love to see the sibling rivalary between Geralt and Eskel, because Geralt maybe had told Ciri about how close him and Eskel are, so when she’s expecting to see them clap shoulders and share a brotherly moment, and not expecting to see Eskel walk up to Geralt and put a fishing hook in his cloak and begin running as fast as he could away from the others, well she’s very very surprised.

That but also some soft Eskel, like maybe the first few winters staying at Kaer Morhen, Ciri has some long lasting night terrors sometimes and if Geralt isn’t around, Eskel will scoop her up and hold her tightly against him to try and calm her back to sleep. He’ll read to her, softly sing songs his mother used to sing under his breath to Ciri, whatever she needs that he can give to her. He admits that seeing her cry like that reminds him of Geralt when they were younger, except now he can do stuff about it.

Idk, give me chaotic yet soft uncle Eskel, this man is bananas (b-a-n-a-n-a-s) and if you mix that with some soft stuff, it’s like the perfect smoothy.

Quarantine activity: take old doodles and try to make them look better.

And I have tons of Eskel to draw again XD