sterngaze: (blush: aghast)
Liem “sock-wearer” Talbott ([personal profile] sterngaze) wrote2022-04-15 09:48 am
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I love me some gen threads, especially funny or drama-filled ones, but I am also shamelessly here for shipping AUs. The general Liem-shipping vibe is "I want more than this, but I shouldn't & they can't possibly want me back," so if you're into that, I've got what you need. His default setting is very D&D-like high fantasy, but I'm comfortable playing him in modern fantasy settings as well. Pretty much any prompt can also accommodate Liem being a full vampire instead of a dhampir, if that's your thing.

Prompts for inspiration:
Arranged Marriage: Liem's shady vampire family has arranged his marriage to you, but he seems a rather reluctant fiance.
• Bodyguard Shipping: It's Liem's duty to keep you safe and out of trouble, possibly despite your best efforts.
• Companion to Royalty: Reclusive vampire king Liem and YOU! Are you a gift from a local power? Sacrifice from the townsfolk? Or did you just stumble up the road to his castle during a storm?
• Enemies to Lovers: Maybe Liem is a foreign agent trying to sabotage your country or organization. Or maybe you're rebelling against the current regime and he's trying to take you in.
• Fake Dating/Fake Married: A relationship is your cover story while you're travelling for some secret reason. Gotta keep up appearances.
• Hunter & Hunted: Are you a hunter trying to track Liem down? Or a snack that proved more than he bargained for?
• Hurt (Comfort Optional): Whether he's hurt, sick, drugged, or just upset, two things remain constant: Liem needs help, and he doesn't want to accept it. But maybe you don't want to fix him anyway; maybe you want to make him worse.
• Living a Lie: Whether you're undercover on a mission, or you lied to cover something up and now you have to commit, you're stuck playing a role until you accomplish some secret objective — or until you can shake off your nosy company.
• Loss of Control: For whatever reason, one of you is struggling not to go berserk — or perhaps has already failed. If it's Liem, can you help him come back to himself, or are you the one pushing him over the edge?
• Out of the Frying Pan: The classic "tried to help someone in trouble, ended up with a new and possibly worse problem" situation. But at least you're in it together!
• Priest/Celibacy: Default here is that Liem is the priest, but it could go the other way. Smutty, or just laden with UST? You decide.
• Texting: Stupid TFLN-style text threads, my beloved...
Random Scenario: For if none of the above tickle your fancy.


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CODE BY TESSISAMESS
lumberlady: (あたしはね)

[personal profile] lumberlady 2022-10-07 06:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[Liem frowns, but Konoha smiles, warm but firm now that they've at least got the decision making out of the way. He'd said he felt faint and had to rest in the shade, (and surely there was no reason to lie about that), and they had to set back out for a longer stretch to the next highway town early the next morning. It was best if he just rested here for the remainder of the day, for his own health and also safety while she tried to ask around about the devolving situation at the border. True to her word, Konoha leaves... and later that evening, returns with replenished supplies, a marked-up map based on information about more volatile tribe movements gathered in the market, and a hot meal of steamed buns stuffed with grilled lamb and thin wraps of fruits and vegetables.

She's observed him enough, so far on their journey... to have asked for no sauce and spice on his. She ate the rest of her two stomachs' fill while she was out, so he wouldn't feel any pressure, and after arranging some things for the next mornings' departure... she bids him goodnight, and backs herself into a corner of the room, locking up her knees and crossing her arms beneath her breasts, letting her chin dip down and her eyes close to fall into the light sleep of a creature able to rest standing.

Their first hurdle as "husband" and "wife"... comes quite early, when they leave the inn the next day only to find that one of the two centaurs who had accosted them the previous day was hanging around in wait. ... And not to take revenge. It becomes quite awkward quite quickly, when it seems that the stallion had a vested interest in knowing if a relationship like there's was actually possible, something unrequited and suppressed in his own desires. Thankfully... they fake their way through it, and Konoha can't help, in the end, wishing their former "enemy" luck in his pursuits.

They have luck themselves, along the road. It isn't high season, and there is not so much traffic to contend with just yet. They make good time at first, with hired cart part of the way, a ferry crossing, and then back to foot travel, slow and steady, camping under the stars in tents along the way. In fact, Konoha even starts to think they might make it to the next inn without incident beyond a few odd looks... until, having to take a detour in the wake of a flash flood having washed a road out, the rockier terrain ends with a bit of a twist and a sharp stone lodged in her hoof. A hoofpick and a bit of help from Liem dislodges it, but...

It's aching a little more than she'd like by the time they made it to the city, and then to their lodging. She doesn't try to hide it, but she also doesn't complain, still evaluating... But, perhaps she won't sleep standing tonight. The floor would be kinder on her fetlocks. Setting down her supplies, she gives a long, self-indulgent stretch, both arms arching above her head and rump twitching as she cracks her neck left and right, letting out a low sigh.]


We still made decent time with all that... So far so good!

[They'd even managed to avoid most conversations about their relationships, not too many lies needed with knife and ring on open display, and thanks to her updated map they'd avoided more openly hostile tribes (as of yet)...]

Do you mind if I use the bath after you, Liem... ? I'll just soak my legs.
lumberlady: (少女)

[personal profile] lumberlady 2022-10-11 03:47 am (UTC)(link)
[There is no way that Konoha could allow him not to take the bed. Not only was he her client (well, Sha Gozen's client), something she took very seriously, but he just... He looked like he really needed the rest. Considering what he'd told her about how the sun and heat affected him, too... She would be fine. She was hardy, and strong, and built to survive in the mountains and pains, so... She would sleep on the floor or standing. Even though the parts of their journey that could be covered in a carriage had him seated and her trotting along at pace with the hitched up horses, he still somehow looked more exhausted than her...]

Aha, yeah...

[Until she's determined exactly how bad it might be, she just gives a little laugh and agrees. Her legs might need it.]

But there's no need to rush, or anything... I need to rearrange some supplies, anyway! You should soak...

[After the maid is summoned to start the tidy little fire and re-heat the water in the large but simple jinba-sized tub in the corner of the room, she arranges herself in the way that would best offer modesty for him, putting her back to the bath and trying to focus on supplies instead of how easy it was for her keen senses to pick up things like rustling clothing and lapping water.

Her tail swishes gently across the floor as she keeps her hands busy, stuffing heavy packs that she carried on her back with new supplies from this outpost, taking longer than needed to pack everything as tightly and efficiently as possible. But silence is... Well, she was comfortable enough with it, but she ends up not being able to help herself...]


Is the water nice... ?

[The inn had changed hands since she last came through this route, so- It was... worth asking...]

I heard that Goka has whole bathhouses that use water that springs from the earth hot... and some of them have healing properties, even!
lumberlady: (怖かった)

[personal profile] lumberlady 2022-10-12 05:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[Even if she dragged it out... at least she'd been honest about needing to rearrange the supplies? She's actually doing it! And just because he rode part of the way on their journey didn't mean it wasn't hard for him as a two-legged person... She wonders, sometimes, if she'll ever see him looking rested on this journey. She also kind of wonders if she'll ever see his eyes... But he'd said he had his reasons, so...]

That's what I heard, anyway!

[She chirps back a cheery answer as she folds a rain cape into the smallest shape possible. If someone asked her why her "husband" wore shaded glasses all the time, what should she say... ?]

There are springs near my home village, actually, but you have to worry about snakes and leeches... I'd definitely go to a nice clean inside bathhouse if there was one...

[It occurs to her to ask something else, then, and without thinking she just turns her head to do so, because obviously you just looked at the people you were asking things, but-]

They don't have them in...

[His back is to her, and the tub meant for jinba is so large that it's not like she sees anything untoward, but Konoha is actually shocked by what she sees anyway. He'd described his work only vaguely, yes, but with his weakness in the sun and how he always seemed so tired, she had just assumed it was something sedentary and scribe-like, nothing that would... require a lean, muscular back much more like that of an archer or lancer.

Oh. Liem is... fit?

And Konoha forgets to finish her sentence or respond about the maid until it's been far too obviously long.]


... Oppara?

[Maid, right, she should... grope for the cord near the door that calls the maid...]
lumberlady: (ショック)

[personal profile] lumberlady 2022-10-12 11:02 pm (UTC)(link)
That wouldn’t be as hot, right…

[Oh… When he moves, the muscles of his back move. Which. Made sense, of course, but… Konoha still watches a bit longer than is really proper. It was… it was odd, right? Or… maybe it wasn’t, maybe he did charity work for Abadar or… had to work construction as penance for something, or just… liked a certain sport or fitness routine? Still, it was… his shoulders are so well built, almost like an-

The bell rings before Konoha realizes she’s just absently tugged it, and a second later she registers it, straightening up in alarm and slapping a hand over her face to force herself to stop looking. Eight million plains gods, she can’t blame it on being distracted by his physique???]


Ah- ! Sorry, sorry, I called too soon, um-

[She turns back around to not get caught peeping but then… oh, no, that would look so weird to the maid if it seemed like she was trying not to look at her husband disrobed… !]

I’m going to look! To be natural! Just stay in!

[The walls of the tub were quite high, it’s… it’s fine! She throws some supplies around behind her and quickly resituates, trying not to blush so terribly or look too directly so by the time the maid arrives with more wood for the fire…

Konoha is only blushing a little and she even manages to say a mostly convincing We’d like to reheat the water, please.]
lumberlady: (少女)

hello!!!

[personal profile] lumberlady 2022-10-13 08:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[Konoha might be used to bathing with the women of her village, and occasionally some mixed bathing... but the latter usually involved at least a thin layer of cloth for modesty's sake, never mind if once soaked such things barely hid much. It was the thought that counted.

And sure, he's probably right that the maid is probably used to this sort of thing... But she isn't. There wasn't exactly a lot of opportunities for a woman in her line of work to meet people. At least, people who weren't clients or just... brief, brief connections. She hadn't been able to help herself from indulging in a bit of heat-induced flirtation, she'd entertained a courtship or two... but centaurs didn't quite do things the way humans did, and having been raised by two-legged parents... She found herself a bit disappointed in some ways, mentally, no matter how fine it was physically. ... She didn't see so many men in the bath, is the point.

But she strives to act like this is totally normal for her- for them. She leaves Liem to instruct the maid on temperature, and mostly just tries to continue packing, but. It's normal to look, right? It must be. So she occasionally makes a point of looking... not staring, just. Glancing over. Saying things like We'll be getting up with the sun tomorrow, alright? and Not still sore, are you?

Very natural. But as part of her looking... She notices... she isn't the only one.]


Ahem.

[If she were a wife... Would she be the jealous type? Maybe? She's not sure... But Konoha still clears her throat rather loudly, just a bit possessively, nodding her head towards the door.]

... You can go now, miss. Thank you.

[So then she wasn't the only woman in the room blushing a bit, briefly, before the girl skitters back out the door with stories to regale the other staff with later. Weirdly, Konoha feels a bit satisfied for a moment... Before she remembers.]

Oh, right-

[She covers her eyes with her hands for a moment, it's easier than getting back upright enough to turn her heavy body all the way back around again.]

You can get out now, Liem... Thanks...
lumberlady: (酔っ払い)

[personal profile] lumberlady 2022-10-16 07:33 am (UTC)(link)
[She is good, and doesn't look this time. When Liem gets out of the bath she can hear the sounds of displaced water, perhaps imagine movement and body to go with it, but beyond what their act required she really shouldn't… be doing more. She knew that. Even if she accidentally got a little titillated, not having so many opportunities like this, he was a client, and a priest boot… A very muscular, curious sort of priest.]

Ah… If you want to. Otherwise I’ll just finish up later, it’s fine.

[So she might feel a little bad making a client do work she herself should’ve done far more timely, but one thing Konoha understood was wanting to help, and she herself didn’t usually like was being told that her help wasn’t needed if she’d offered. She won’t do that to someone else, even if she provides an easy out to excuse him from the task. Now that the bath is free and he seems to be seated, she lets her hands down and picks herself up off the floor, making her way over to the tub, pleased with the steam she sees roiling off the surface of the water.]

Oh, that looks nice…

[As tempting as it was to take a full bath… She only pulls up her robe a bit to make sure it didn’t get wet as she carefully steps in over the tall rim to just soak her lower half and legs, including the slightly swollen fetlock. Though she hisses a bit when that leg goes in, the water irritating a few very minor scrapes and cuts from the stumble, the sound ends in a happy sigh as the heat envelops her.]

Oh, that is nice…

[Thankfully designed for jinba, the tub is up against the wall and has a sort of shelf that is perfect for half-laying against so that she can actually take her weight off her limbs. Settling into it, she lets out another sigh of contentment, stretching out her sore legs and flexing them slowly.]

Much better…
lumberlady: (日常)

[personal profile] lumberlady 2022-10-18 10:21 am (UTC)(link)
[Well, if he doesn’t mind.

She thanks him again, and returns to enjoying her “bath”. Dip. Half soak. To be just a bit safer about dampening the fabric more than just giving it a good steaming she ties her robe up a little higher on her “waist” where human-like skin transitioned to hide, and pulls a long tie from a sleeve and deftly trusses those up as well. Task done, she lets herself relax, and silence… As chatty as she could be, she didn’t actually mind quiet.

For a little while, there’s just the sound of lapping water, little content sounds mixed with small groans that accompany stretches, and an occasional trickle when she wets her hands and does a little bit of spot washing. Hands. Neck. Face. Back of the ears.

… She does start humming a little tune, eventually, though. Not because she doesn’t like quiet, it’s just stuck in her head! He might recognize it as something they heard another traveler whistling along the road earlier. The question, though-]


Aha, maybe not standing, no…

[Probably best to keep her weight off it for a while, just in case. They had a long journey ahead.]

I’ll lay down on the floor tonight. Don’t worry about the sound, though! I’ll put one of the blankets down so hopefully when I roll over my hooves won’t be too noisy.

[Unlike standing, laying down necessitated rolling over every few hours to avoid the discomfort of her own heavy weight crushing itself… But the blanket should help muffle the clacking sound!]
Edited 2022-10-18 10:22 (UTC)
lumberlady: (赤い)

[personal profile] lumberlady 2022-10-19 04:24 pm (UTC)(link)
[As kind as Liem’s offer is, konoha can’t help but let out a scandalized gasp in response. That, and a little kick of her hooves that adds a near comical splashing sound to the mix.]

I can’t let you sleep on the floor on one of the few nights we have a proper inn!

[Though he isn’t looking in her direction, she can’t help but wave her hands as if to ward off even the thought of such a thing. Even if she wanted to, he already looked rather consistently tired and stressed physically by their journey, so the last thing she wanted to do was stand (ha ha) between him and a good nights sleep. More importantly-]

Sha Gozen would kill me if I had a client sleep on the floor!

[It’s not like she wouldn’t appreciate a bed, but…]

I could… I could pretend we had a couples fight, if you want, and try to get a separate room, that way we both have-

[Except-]

Oh, no, they said they were full up tonight already…

[Brow furrowing in concentration, Konoha makes a rather intense face at… well, the water? He’s not looking at her, it would be weird to stare at the back of his head-]

I’ll take the floor! I’m used to sleeping on straw and outside more than you, it’s fine, really… It’s nice of you to worry, but…

[There is. One thing. She could think of, but. She certainly couldn’t suggest it, could she? (Nevermind she’s… suggested an entire fake marriage. That was fake!)]
lumberlady: (汚らわしいな)

[personal profile] lumberlady 2022-10-22 04:15 am (UTC)(link)
W- Well, no, not on purpose…

[She certainly didn’t see a point to self-reporting that, and maybe he’d keep his mouth shut, too, but… She’d know and that was enough??? The less important or grave an issue was the more likely she was to spill it by accident or in a cluster, too, and that would just cause so much confusion… Okay, they could…

Konoha catches a glimpse of those unexpectedly well formed muscles again as Liem gives a very poor reasoning for why he might sleep on the floor and leave the bed free for her to use, but she covers her face respectfully a moment later, her voice muffled behind her palms.]


Oooooh, that’s such a silly argument, Liem… No one prefers the floor— We really are going to have our “first fight”… !

[Hopefully the maid couldn’t half-overhear and think that her peeking really had inspired a couple’s argument… Konoha kicks a bit in frustration, water splashing in the tub, but… If he’s going to be that stubborn, she has no choice but to suggest It. After a long, long pause, her voice a bit more timid than it usually was, still a bit muffled by her hands…]

We could… If we’re not telling Sha Gozen anything then we could… maybe share… ?

[The bed was technically meant for up to two jinba…]
lumberlady: (ブルブル)

[personal profile] lumberlady 2022-10-26 04:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[She is definitely not convinced! And she’s definitely not going to let any client of hers sleep on the floor, let alone one who already looked sickly and unrested??? Even if he claimed he wanted to… Nope. It’s not happening! So if she’s not sleeping on the floor, and he’s not sleeping on the floor…

Once she thinks she hears him dressing, Konoha pulls her hands back down from her face, now ruddy with frustration with on top of her flash of embarrassment.]


I’m alright with it…

[Or she wouldn’t suggest it!]

I’m used to sleeping with other people in my village anyway.

[A moment later, reaching for a towel, she realizes how that could potentially sound, hastily correcting as she begins to ease herself out of the bath as the water shifts from hot to just warm.]

M- My parents! When it’s cold I share the bed with my parents, I mean…

[Not that she thought of Liem like a parent... Far from it, but- ! Maybe that would reassure him… somehow? It sounded filial at least? Certainly not perverse… It's just that she worked the trail routes most of the year and only got to stay put during the winter season when the snows were too heavy for most travelers who'd hire an escort or guide like her.

And… honestly he’s so small compared to the other jinba the bed was meant to hold, so she thinks they might could even arrange themselves so they don’t even touch! … As somewhat lonely seeming as that was as an idea, the inn mattress could just wait for a proper couple to stay the night and find that fulfillment...

Towel retrieved, she carefully drags herself from her soak, beginning to try and dry her dark bay coat.]
Edited 2022-10-26 16:52 (UTC)
lumberlady: (恥ずかしいな)

[personal profile] lumberlady 2022-10-29 11:45 am (UTC)(link)
R- right, just one night isn’t bad. And it’s our little secret anyway.

[Especially when you were already pretending to be married… and this way, she could rest her strained leg and he could just… rest in general, he looked like he really just needed. All the rest.

Toweling off as he speaks of sleeping in his temple cell (lonely, that sounds pretty lonely, she thinks), Konoha goes through one towel and then another dealing with drying her damp coat, but thankfully this place was used to jinba and had left enough for her to use. At the mention of her village, though, she laughs, as if she weren’t just a bit embarrassed.]


Mmm, I do. Or, did, I guess... We’ll actually pass through it in a few weeks, when we get closer to Goka!

[Things are a bit easier since she didn’t dunk her entire body, so she doesn’t take too long… but while she does-]

My father is a carpenter, and my mother is a weaver. That’s why my marriage knife is so good, actually… I’m really lucky.

[There’s something else she was supposed to add to her parents’ description, something about why he sounded surprised they lived in a village…]

Oh! They’re humans, by the way- ! My parents. That’s why…
lumberlady: (できた!)

[personal profile] lumberlady 2022-11-02 12:13 am (UTC)(link)
It's fine... People used to notice it more, but I've been working for Sha Gozen for a few years now, and she taught me a lot... and my parents did try to teach me centaur things!

[Or she wouldn't have the knife now in Liem's possession. Toweling off, Konoha switches to a new dry one, her coat finally getting less damp.]

Mm, it's pretty much all humans...

[The more sordid details of how she came to be raised by human hands and not those of her own species, well... He didn't need to hear something like that before bed, and she herself didn't really like to dwell on it. Setting aside her towels, she scoots a little closer to the bed... well, he's still facing away from her, she can blush, it's fine. She's the bigger of them, she should probably get in first and let him arrange himself how he pleased after...]

My father goes to Abadar's church sometimes... He might not even cry that much if I married a priest!

[It's okay to joke about it, right? It's not real... Even if she did kind of think most of her life that she might have to marry a human, or maybe even should... if she could find one willing to deal with the fact that not everyone would accept it. Behind Liem, the mattress shifts as Konoha eases in, searching for the most comfortable way to lay and keep her fetlock rested.]
lumberlady: (大したことない)

[personal profile] lumberlady 2022-11-06 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
[It's definitely a bit of a process, but thankfully this inn has mattresses more suitable for her kind- It was harder on ones meant for humans. She carefully scoots her foreknees into place, sidles up parallel to the bed, and "falls" in a controlled manner the rest of the way, squirming a bit with her hands bracing on either side of the pillow until she finds just the right spot... chuckling a bit as she thinks about her father.]

Oh, no, I'm sure he does... Maybe not as much as my mother, but-

[The chuckle dies, but she's still smiling absently, at least, brushing over,]

They had, um- eight children before me. "Real" children. But by the time they adopted me, they didn't have any. ... So, you know, I think he's just not ready.

[To "let her go", even symbolically by giving her to another man, despite the fact that she is now frequently away from home for work. Her equine parts arranged to her satisfaction, back legs curled up to her belly and her strained foreleg held carefully straight, she finally lets her upper half relax into the pillows, releasing a little sigh of comfort. ... Sharing wasn't a bad idea after all, right? And talking about this, joking a bit, actually made her feel a bit less awkward, too...]

He doesn't think anyone's good enough... Maybe I should be looking for a priest...

[Aha... Not, um, him, of course, but. Who could complain about a priest? And unlike "rich merchant", "prince", or "bandit king", that sort of marriage fantasy was way more realistic! Konoha nuzzles in the pillow, making sure he still had plenty of room on his half of the bed before she starts pulling the comforter back up. She'd have to move in the night to keep herself comfortable, but the mattress at least seems designed not to let as much of the movement carry (considering... her weight). After sticking a smaller pillow under her fetlock...]

... Mmm. I'd appreciate that. I don't want to disappoint them.

[Her mother would be so thrilled if she brought someone home...]

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