"Why wouldn't you travel by main roads?"

Episode 5, Bottled Appetites - Geralt

Alright, now for the tangled mess that is Geralt's side of this episode.

Jaskier: "Ugh! Do you want some? "How are you doing?" I hear you ask."
Geralt: "I didn't."

Let's take a moment to talk about what Jaskier didn't do here, which is ask how Geralt was doing and give him a chance to ask how Jaskier was doing. Jaskier is, in fact, the one who opens this interaction rudely by rushing straight for saying he wants to talk about himself.

I don't think this is rude of him, to be specific. I think this is totally within normal conversational tolerances for someone you've known for a decade. You know what's also within normal conversational tolerances, though? Geralt's reaction. Geralt is not only being about the same amount of rude, but he's doing it in response while Jaskier is starting it.

Now, as I said on Jaskier's meta, Jaskier, being drunk, has a good explanation for why it takes him a bit to realize anything's wrong with Geralt. Unfortunately, the same applies to Geralt realizing things are wrong with Jaskier, which makes it very hard to tell how much is him choosing to be an asshole and how much is accidental.

Jaskier: "Well, the Countess de Stael, my muse and beauty of this world, has left me. Again. Rather coldly and unexpectedly, I might add."

Furthermore, while we have Geralt pushing Jaskier away, in line with previous interactions we've seen, he's doing it before Jaskier drops the fact he's unusually sensitive about rejection right now.

"I fear I shall die a brokenhearted man. Or a hungry one, at the very least, unless somebody fancies sharing a fish with an old friend? Oh, are we not using "friend"? Yeah, sure. Let's just give it another decade."

So, that was certainly not the reassurance Jaskier would like. It's a lot better than Geralt saying, "I'm not your friend," again, but we don't know if that's Geralt trying not to be an asshole right after Jaskier said he's sad about getting dumped or because Geralt already said two words and isn't planning on returning to the conversation so soon.

I personally think Geralt is trying to be relatively friendly at this point. Once Jaskier gives him a chance to get a word in edgewise, he starts talking again and while it's curt and monosyllabic, it's volunteering information to continue the conversation rather than just trying to get Jaskier to stop talking. It seems in line with his initial interaction with Renfri where he's not trying to freeze the other person out. Overall it seems like Geralt isn't saying much because he's having trouble talking. That's normal for someone who's exhausted and it's normal for someone who hasn't been talking to anyone for a while, and in Geralt's case, as I've argued previously, he's also very wary about what he says around Jaskier so there's an additional layer of effort before he speaks.

And he does seem to be trying. Instead of refuting that they're friends, he just doesn't respond, and then when Jaskier rambles on with fish and ties that to friendship, he says he's not actually fishing in the first place - ie, that the lack of fish is not because Jaskier, as a non-friend, doesn't get his fish, but because he doesn't have any fish to give Jaskier.

Geralt: "I'm not fishing. I can't sleep."
Jaskier: "Right. Good. Well, that-- that makes sense. Insomuch that it sort of...doesn't. What's going on, Geralt? Talk to me."
Geralt, doing a dramatic sigh: "A djinn."

So Geralt is participating in conversation today, and doing so despite the fact he's stressed and distracted.

It's very hard to tell if this is because he wants to be (Jaskier does not see like he'll go away if Geralt doesn't want him here) but the focus on fishing dials down for a moment in a way that suggests it's making him feel a little better to try to talk about it.