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Liem Talbott
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Liem's mindscape is dark; quiet; contemplative. Any feelings or sensations that Liem doesn't intentionally project himself seem distant, as though echoing from a far-off room. Following any given sense to its source is bafflingly difficult.
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... He is the person she had awkwardly approached to attempt to understand her confusing mix of feelings over being granted a title as an honored citizen of Springstar while also knowing what she "truly" was... or, had been, in her world. And he is who she had trusted to see her like this, when she knew there was a chance that something might go wrong or strangely with such a drastic magical transformation, leaving her vulnerable.
She had... not thought "vulnerable" was going to mean "half-naked" and "struggling to walk", per se, but.]
Now I know why caltrops are so effective...
[The mutter is defensive and barely there, but with Liem's assistance she manages to get back to standing, and with his support she does make it to the powder room. Apparently it was largely a balance issue. The muscles are all there, they're fit, it's just... she is wobbling, accidentally trying to move the limbs with the same force and direction as her equine ones, and that... is not conducive to a smooth human gait. Once she has the sunk to grab on to she transfer to that, her face red, finally able to free up a hand to tug her ill-fitted robe down enough for bare modesty, knees locked up too rigid, putting too much of her weight on her heels rather than the flats of her new feet.
Shoes, right, she's going to need... shoes...]
... Thank you.
[For going to get those. For not laughing or leering. For all of it.]
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[It’s always Liem’s pleasure to be of service to someone he knows, someone he likes. He leaves her at the washroom door, making sure she’s not in any danger of falling into the room and cracking her head on one of the washroom fixtures before withdrawing. She can close the door if she likes, but it faces away from most of the rest of the space, so he is quickly out of sight regardless, padding away in search of clothing appropriate for a rather small woman.
Admittedly, the pickings in Liem’s home are rather slim. He has what would probably be—at least to Hayame—an embarrassing wealth of clothing for himself, which should be obvious enough given that none of it looks the same and he switches his outfits frequently. Most of his own things, however, won’t remotely fit a woman eight inches shorter than him and quite differently shaped.
In the end, he makes do. The stockings will probably still fit sufficiently, and he acquired a few pairs of spare slippers for guests after D had to visit in just his bare feet. One of these is small enough that it should probably fit her acceptably. The rest… well, he brings a few different garments down, and figures he’ll give Hayame her pick.
Admittedly, it takes him longer than just a few moments to come back, but it is not much longer. He returns promptly enough, pausing just outside the washroom door and knocking gently.]
Hayame? I brought some things for you. I wasn’t sure what you’d prefer to wear, so you have some options. They’re bound to be somewhat ill-fitting, though, for which I apologize.
[He hadn’t been expecting to need to provide spare clothes as well as slippers.]
1/2
But once he has disappeared around the corner, she does drop some of the embarrassment… and reveals only to herself the fear and discomfort that had been lurking underneath. In the mirror she checks her face, and it looks the same, but there is somehow scared and weak looking in her eyes that she doesn’t like as she looks at her chest, watches herself breathe but ears internally with the sensation that it isn’t enough, she’s not breathing hard enough… Her hand goes to a breast and presses down, trying to feel for the second heartbeat she has always had but it’s not there, because of course it’s not, she only had one now, but-
Real humans couldn’t feel like this. Cramped and confined in their own bodies, like they had shoved themself into too-small clothing and couldn’t now get out. If she wasn’t careful she’d hyperventilate, she’d panic, and she can’t do that because it’s not even sensible and if she can’t master this form then what was the point—]
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Y- You do not have to apologize, Liem, I am the one who was so foolish as to not to think about what would happen to my clothing…
[Hindsight may be 20/20, but she still feels rather dumb about it…
Still, she manages using the wall to come closer to the doorway. What has he brought… ?]
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[He might have considered the issue before she attempted the transformation, having more experience with magic than she did, and he didn’t think of it either. So, he feels he should still accept some of the responsibility for Hayame accidentally ending up pantsless around him.
He peeks into the washroom only long enough to see where she is, to determine how he should be delivering the clothes to her. Since she is nearing the doorway, he withdraws his head and instead sticks out his arm, which is draped with several different garments that are… all sized for him, obviously, but will hopefully suffice. Hanging from his hand is a pair of leather-soled women’s slippers.
The garments draped over his forearm include a pair of thin stockings; a high-necked, dove grey silk undergown that is definitely going to drag on the floor; a long, pull-over cotton shirt; and a pair of trousers that are probably both too narrow and too long. If he even owns underpants, he didn’t think to bring any.]
The trousers will probably be easier to walk in, since you could roll them up, but… we’re not really the same build.
[Unfortunately Liem’s clothes are all tailored to fit, which means that his pants are made for someone with two sticks for legs and no ass.]
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This is just. It's just a small challenge.]
I shall... Figure it out.
[Once she shrugs out of her robe, the undergown she gets on relatively stress-free, and just... having that on makes her feel immediately more at ease, even if she does recognize that walking in it like that could be a recipe for tripping, considering the difference in height now present between the pair of them. It was so strange to be confronted by it in that way, for it to be that way at all, and before she realized it... She had been staring at her human-shaped feet not moving for a few minutes.
Struggling to shake it off, she finally calls out,]
The gray fits.
[... Hhh! It takes a lot of effort for her to manage the stockings without falling over, eventually relying on sitting on the toilet to pull them on, then shove her feet into the slippers. From outside, Liem might here the sound of pattering as Hayame curiously slaps her now leather-sole-protected feet on the floor a few times. Better...
The trousers, though...
After probably way too long to be able to pretend she had managed dressing herself anything remotely resembling skilled, Hayame totters back into the doorframe. She is dressed (slightly swallowed) in the undergown and cotton shirt, she has the stockings and slippers on, but the trousers... seem to be around her ankles. If she looks a bit embarrassed, well.]
Liem, I do not think they are going to fit...
[She has... hips. And a slight rump. And muscular thighs. And now that she's wrestled herself into them, she has also had some problems getting... out...]
If I wrap my pelt and belt it, perhaps just the grey is enough... ?
[Maybe it will just look like a skirt........]
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He tries not to stare at the pants bunched around her ankles, below the baggy hem of the too-long gown.]
Ah… I thought that might be the case…
[Hayame is clearly a lithe woman, but unlike him, she has never struck him as particularly bony. It was probably optimistic of him to think she might be able to wear his trousers.]
I don’t think you’ll be indecent without them—it just might be a challenge to get the skirt to stay out of your way, even if you belt it.
[It should be well enough as long as she just stays around his house, but if she wanted to leave and buy clothes for herself, he thinks they’d need to pin it up.]
Well, we can certainly see. [A brief pause.] Would you like assistance?
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It still doesn't feel real, in some ways.]
I feel decent enough... Surely it will be fine...
[His undergown on her is long, so most of her is covered. As long as it's covered... for now, that will have to be enough. She can address being able to fight or defend herself in a human wardrobe later. In Liem's home, she is not worried for threats. Holding on to the doorway she manages to get out of his pants just barely, saved only by the sheer strength of an archer's arms practically supporting her entire body weight at a certain point, but it's done, and she just-
His sofa seems... pretty far away now. Still, she is stubborn, she shakes her head slightly, lips pursed.]
No, I can manage it this-
[It's about three steps towards him that she wobbles and nearly pitches forward again, though she manages to catch herself by pinwheeling her arms slightly and turning her knees sharply. The steam of embarrassment is fairly radiating off her, but Hayame forces herself to remember that... she did not have to do everything by herself anymore. She had... friends. She was supposed to rely on them. Even if it felt shameful still, she... she has changed enough in her time here that she can force herself to admit,]
... Yes, please.
[She tries to at least straighten back up before he gets to her side, using the leather soles of her slippers to try and make sure her feet stay where she puts them, stiff and awkward.]
I was hoping... I thought that using this shape might grant me the ability to seek out the monsters coming from Kowloon, or avoid those in Highstorm who would spot a jinba at a thousand paces, but like this...
[She has to master being in this body, or what- What use was it?]
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He steps closer smoothly, offering a steady arm so she can make her way over to the sofa for now.]
Having never walked on four legs, I cannot say I’d know how different the experience is—but you have hours yet of practice ahead of you, yes?
[She had said the transformation lasted close to half a day.]
I’m sure your balance will improve as you grow more accustomed to the shape.
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I do, but...
[She had just. Yes, she had just assumed she would be a master of it from the get go. Humans? She knew them! She had been raised by their hands, she had marched beside them, she was trained by them, she knew how to fight them, so she knew their weaknesses and strengths, surely, but...
It is difficult not to pout. It would be terribly unseemly to pout. Or blush. Or grumble. So she will focus on copying how Liem moves when he escorts her towards the sofa, trying to put her feet down like he does, move his knees like he does. When they reach her goal, she eases down onto the delicately embroidered cushions for the first time since she had started visiting him, but there...
Her fingers tighten not on Liem's arm now, but the edge of the sofa cushions. Being vulnerable is not her strong suit, a warrior did not need such things and so she had never honed openness or communication. Still...]
It... It is more uncomfortable than I thought it would be. This body.
[She had hoped... to simply be magically good at using it, so she might be magically able to accomplish what she needed to with it, and then get back to her own shape as soon as possible. The idea that she might need to practice for hours... perhaps, worst case, for multiple uses of the thing... ?]
I cannot... smell anything, or hear anything... and everything is so- So tight...
[There is just one heartbeat pounding in her chest, lonely without the double thrum she has known all her life. She finds herself struggling to breathe if she accidentally forgets she's only supposed to have two lungs now, not four. If she did not acclimate... would she ever be able to pass for human properly no matter how well crafted the shape was?]
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[At first, Liem doesn’t understand. Shouldn’t his home feel more spacious to her, now that she is smaller? Certainly the clothes he’s lent her still threaten to swallow her whole, baggy across the shoulders and at the end of the too-long sleeves. But… he realizes, that is not what she means. It isn’t the clothing or the space that is too tight; it’s the body itself.
He hums, thoughtful.]
I suppose it would seem so. Do you think… you wouldn’t want to venture somewhere dangerous in such a body, after all?
[Though she’d said that was her intention, perhaps now that she’s experienced human shape firsthand, she might not be so keen on the idea. It is, after all, a far weaker and more fragile shape than her own.]
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Well, she would sound like a madwoman, probably. More importantly… she might lose the courage needed to stay in this shape long enough to… Will it get better? Will she acclimate?]
Certainly not now…
[Or if this persists…. Not her second time or even her third time. Without meaning to, one of her hands moves to her breast to press her fingertips in over her heart as if searching for the twin sound that should be there.]
I wished… the entire point was not to be a liability, but if I cannot fight…
[A grimace.]
Fight as good as a human…
[… Sorry, humans, but.]
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He thinks for a moment.]
From what I know, in my own world, transformation spells such as this were not expected to have a long learning period, regardless of how different the shapes might be. There was learning involved, of course, but if you acquired, for instance, a cloak that gave you the shape of a bat, you could expect to fly as one in short order.
[He’s rambling, he thinks. He’s never had to try to reassure someone in this circumstance before, and he’s a bit out to sea. Nonetheless.]
What I mean is—the skills and training you had before are still with you, and they are what you spent your entire life learning. Balance and ease in this body will come much more quickly, I think, once the strangeness lessens.
[Don’t horses learn to run within hours of birth? Not that jinba and horses are the same, but if a baby horse can run around right after being born, surely an adult woman can learn to do the same in a magical shape.]
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No, really she is just... she feels so much weaker in this body than she knows she is supposed to be. Than she has always been. When had she last felt this dull and puny? When she was a filly? Hayame listens as Liem speaks, she is, even though she might look a bit distracted just with how shocked she still is from the transformation and the changes it has wrought.
What he says... it makes sense, of course... If it was discombobulating to the point that it could not be acclimated to... there would be no point. So she must be able to acclimate. She will. Just... now... this moment... As tempting as it is to complain, to continue trying to give voice to the dysphoric feeling in her chest and in her mind and in her heart... Hayame stays silent for a moment, forcing her hands to pull away from listening to her heartbeat and to instead fall to her... lap. Her lap must be... softer now. Not hard with equine forelegs, or hooves to accidentally sit on, or her muscular dun lower chest... Would-
Her cheeks are slightly ruddy, but. She manages a smile. She is still not good at it... At least, she feels like she isn't. The corners of her lips sometimes twitch or quiver from strain, muscles unused for so long, but-]
... Thank you, Liem.
[He is. Trying to reassure her. She wishes to acknowledge that, even if actually feeling comfortable will take time. She had asked for his help, let him know in her unspoken (directly) way that she trusted him not to laugh or judge her, that... she could risk being weak in front of him. Because they were... friends. So for that, she tries... She does try to smile, and even say something more light-hearted. Maybe he will smile, too, then-]
When I asked you for lessons in dancing, I did not think I would ever be able to have two legs instead... I imagine its easier that way...
[And after all that effort, actually, thinking she would surely need it at a masquerade ball... No one had asked her to dance. She remembers being... weirdly proud, that her reputation was so fearsome that no one had the gall, and weirdly offended, at the same time. Hah. Was that... really a year ago... ?]
Perhaps if I master walking and fighting, I must retake the course...
🎀
I would be happy to teach you again, once you’ve mastered moving on two feet.
[The dances he knows are all meant for two-legged people, of course—and those who aren’t seven feet tall besides. He imagines it would be delightful to try dancing with Hayame again, when she’s not at a natural disadvantage in trying to learn the steps.
For now, he rises in response to the growing whistle of the kettle he’d left on the stove.]
But for now… we break for tea, and then we can see how your legs treat you.