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[sterngaze]

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.

Comments

[warmare]

[Though Hayame had once looked down upon humans for not only being weaker than jinba but needing to rely on tricks and numbers to subjugate a far more powerful species... She did know better, now, to respect what individual humans were capable of. Different worlds apparently produced different things... and sometimes there was magic to account for, but...

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...

🎀

[sterngaze]

[Hayame smiles so rarely that when she smiles for him, even small and uncertain as it is, Liem can’t help but smile back, warmly pleased. Has he helped her all that much today? Perhaps not, in any big, concrete ways, but he’s helped her enough for her to feel like smiling, and that must be significant.]

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.