You deserve better than the way she treated you.
Her twisted voice echoed through his head, the sickening similarity between what was once was, but wrought into something new. He both did and didn't recognise her.
For what it's worth, dad. You did well by me. None of this was your fault.
He tried to find comfort in her words. They were the only things keeping him going right now...
But words could only do so much.
Geralt was sat on the far side of the living room, wedged into the corner of their second-hand sofa. He teased the tie of his tatty grey dressing gown through his fingers absent-mindedly, distracted.
He was staring, as though entranced, at the flames of their small electric fireplace. The bright but soft reds and oranges flickered and shone in his dull, grey eyes, and was currently the only source lighting up the dark room. Across from him, at the window, the curtains had been drawn, but not completely. The cold, artificial glow of the space station's Sun-Lamp had been switched off some time ago, and the pitch blackness outside curled and threatened to slip its way through the cracks in the window, and envelop him. That gentle flicker of the fireplace however, kept the void at bay.
Just on the other side of the hall, in the kitchen, Geralt could hear the others. Pots and pans clattered across the kitchen surfaces and cupboard doors slammed open and closed as Tivy, Trent and Oxyi put the washing up away after dinner. He could hear girls chatting, but their words were muffled through the living room door, which Geralt had pushed-to when he came in. He wasn't sure how long ago that'd been.
And so, he simply continued to stare, far into the flames, completely lost in thought. He didn't acknowledge any of the noises around him. Perhaps couldn't acknowledge them...
"Geralt!" Oxyi suddenly popped her head around the door and Geralt jumped. He struggled quickly to sit up straight, and dragged his gaze away from the fireplace to meet the lioness' as her warm voice floated around the room. The flames flickered a lingering, inviting red in the corners of his vision.
"Y-Yes?"
"I've been calling you for ages!" Oxyi chuckled lightly. Her eyes briefly glanced over his attire; that was the same pair of pyjamas he'd been wearing for the last, four, five days now? And that dressing gown had certainly seen better days. Hadn't it been blue when they'd bought it?
"We're, uh, we're having some cake for dessert." Oxyi glanced away from Geralt and back over her shoulder, towards the kitchen. "D'you wanna piece?"
"What kinda cake?" Geralt asked. Despite himself, he felt the tiniest tug at the corner of his lips - as if he even had to ask.
"Chocolate!" She grinned. It was always chocolate.
"Alright, just a small piece for me though."
"A small piece, of course." Oxyi's grin teased into a cheeky little smile as she padded softly back into the kitchen. She was greeted by the sound of more clattering, of porcelain scraping across porcelain as presumably a new set of plates were pulled out of the cupboard, and placed on the counter.
"D'you want cream?" Oxyi called out.
"Of course!" Geralt did his best to call back.
He slumped back down against the sofa and slowly, purposely shifted his gaze past the fireplace, and towards the window.
Venner and Robin had gone to bed about an hour ago. Seeth had been gone on her latest job for a couple of days now, and wasn't due back until tomorrow at the earliest. He was sure she'd told him what her latest contract was (or maybe it was the one before?) but either way, he'd be damned if he could remember any of what she'd said, and he hated asking anyone to repeat themselves, just for his sake.
The microwave started beeping, drawing Geralt out of his thoughts as the door was *clunked* open. The girls laughed and more cluttering scraped against Geralt's ears, but the sound was quickly replaced with Tivy's over-excited voice as they served up dessert.
Tivy entered the living room first. She came bounding through the door holding her plate precariously above her head. On the plate sat a massive slice of chocolate cake. She hopped up onto the armchair across from Geralt, and curled up underneath the throw rug. As Oxyi and Trent followed her into the room, it quickly became clear that Tivy's slice was easily twice the size of everyone else's.
Trent sat down on the floor, in front of Tivy. He positioned himself in such a way that even though he was leaning back against the armchair, he could still see her. Oxyi sat down on the other side of the sofa with Geralt. She fidgeted about with the two bowls of cake and cream in her hand, and awkwardly passed him a spoon through her fingers.
"We warmed it up, should be just how you like it." She smiled.
"Thanks." Geralt went for a smile back - and almost managed it this time.
No-one spoke for a few minutes. They were happy to sit in a comfortable silence, enjoying their desserts, but also the calm of one another's company. Geralt glanced across at Tivy as he chewed on a sticky mouthful of cake; rather than using the spoon Trent had so kindly offered to her, she chose instead to shovel large handfuls of cake and cream into her mouth with her fingers, leaving crumbs all over her blanket in the process.
"So, uh, did you make this cake or buy it, because it tastes really good." Geralt asked, pushing another spoonful into his mouth.
"Nope, it's home-made! Me and Oxyi baked it this afternoon!" Tivy smiled wide and proudly, showing everyone the chocolate buttercream stuck to her teeth.
"Oh, please!" Oxyi laughed. "I didn't bake shit. I just stood around and reached things off the high shelves for you!"
