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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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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.