#i hope this doesn't come out as acephobic or offensive in any way

[ikeepwatchinghelicopters]

How about Jaskier who is not entirely human but doesn't know about it? Like, his mother had a brief tryst with some kind of fae/creature (I don't feel like doing research rn to find out what would fit best) and she has to hide it from Jaskier's father, so right after birth (or maybe even during the pregnancy), she has a witch cast a strong spell on Jaskier to make him appear 100% human. She never tells anyone about the spell and kills (or something less drastic) all the maids that were present during the birth. And Jaskier indeed looks human, but he kept some of his supernatural nature, so he likes and does different things than a typical human. Maybe he has very strong likes/dislikes for certain foods, erratic sleep schedule, infinite fascination with pretty, shiny things which have zero practical use, and he loves sharing. Like, him stealing someone's shirt of their food is a show of trust and affection. It just feels natural for Jaskier to express his love that way. However, the humans don't see it like that and they take him for a misbehaving brat. His nannies get mad when he begs them to go outside and see the moon in the middle of the night. His parents get furious when he tries to steal food from their plates, because that is now how a noble son should behave at dinner. His teachers mark him down as stupid when he always gets distracted by the pretty colours of the light coming through the stained glass instead of listening to their lessons. When he's older, he also discovers that sex is not as great as everyone makes it out to be. Sure, it's physically pleasing, but he feels no deep connection or anything. He doesn't need to have sex, he'd much rather just cuddle, thank you very much.

So, he learns early that he's different and that is not good, because he usually gets scolded or punished for things that feel natural to him. So, he puts on an act and perfects it. Always hiding to conform. Even at Oxenfurt, where he feels much more free than in his parents' house, he keeps most of his masks. Though he gets to drop some (like he no longer has to pretend that he's sleeping peacefully through every night) and it feels good.

And then he starts travelling with Geralt. I like to imagine that Geralt would notice Jaskier's not entirely human pretty early on (even though his medallion wouldn't react to the spell, because it's so old and thouroughly interwoven with Jaskier), because Geralt is not stupid, but he doesn't say anything, because Jaskier never brings it up. He accepts Jaskier's not typical behaviour better than any human ever did, partly because he knows that some of it is just natural to Jaskier and it would be idiotic to try to fight it, and partly because all of Jaskier seems weird and annoying to him (at least at first), so it's not like he really needs to call out particular habits (maybe he's even more accepting of Jaskier drinking his ale than Jaskier constantly making noise). And Jaskier cannot believe it at first. When he slips up and does something humans would consider weird, he cringes and apologises and feels embarrassed. And Geralt can't really understand why he'd be apologising, so he just tells him it's fine. And Jaskier feels that spark of hope that maybe Geralt doesn't really mind. Sometimes, Jaskier is so tired of hiding. He slowly starts testing the waters with Geralt slowly, slowly letting more of his masks slip and always waiting to be told that it's too much and that he's too weird. But Geralt never tells him that.

One time (probably after they reunite after the mountain and Geralt gets unconstipated enough to give Jaskier a proper apology and explanation) Geralt mentions that Jaskier is not human and the bard is absolutely baffled, because why wouldn't he be a human?? And that's how Geralt discovers that Jaskier actually doesn't know. Yennefer's also around and she confirms that Jaskier's indeed only partly human (she'd known since the djinn). He needs some time to deal with that revelation. He also asks Yennefer is she could get rid of the spell that's hiding his true form. Yenn manages to do it because she's BAMF, but probably complains how Jaskier and Geralt would never understand how difficult and complex it is to undo such an old spell. Anyway, I didn't give Jaskier's appearance much thought, but I imagine he'd have pointy ears. Yenn then makes a charm (like a necklace) which makes Jaskier look human, but now he has a choice whether he wants to hide or not.

As for his music, maybe he's more attracted to music and sounds due to his supernatural nature, but all his skills and success come from his hard work. He's not supernaturally good at any instrument instantly just because his biological father wasn't human. But maybe in his non-human form, he can use a very weak compulsion or something similar. Like, normally he can make his audience sad with a sad song, but in his non-human form, he can make them even more sad (and every single one of them gets affected even though they probably wouldn't normally). He mostly uses this ability to help Ciri fall asleep (he's like a Jigglypuff when he sings lullabies, lol). Also, he gets longer lifespan than a regular human (he'll live to be at least 150 years old). He does age, just more slowly.

#the witcher #jaskier #geralt of rivia #geraskier #fic idea #i guess #i hope this doesn't come out as acephobic or offensive in any way #because it's definitely not supposed to be #also #sorry if there are lots of fics like this out there already #the idea feels a little bit basic #random cliché thought #i might actually write this one sometime in a very distant and vague future #who knows? #also also #sorry for the long post