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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.

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[sterngaze]

[Though Liem doesn’t know what to expect in response to his denial, he knows that what he has offered Set is not what the other man deserved to hear, and not what he wanted. A helpless, unhappy anxiety squirms through him even as he says it, uncertain what this, too, will mean for him. For them. If only he could be better… but he doesn’t know how. Ultimately, he can only be what he is.

He is not expecting, when Set draws back to look at him, the red-eyed stare and the hands on his face to be followed by the god’s tongue dragging over the damp of his cheek. Liem’s expression, stern and frowning in an effort not to crumple in abject misery, falters in bewildered surprise. He is suddenly left completely lost, having no ready reply to anything that is happening in this moment.

He opens his mouth, but it is a while before he can make anything come out.]

All right.

[Shockingly, he finds that when Set says he doesn’t need his love, even if he wants it… he actually believes him. Maybe it’s because he is divine, and ultimately doesn’t need anything from mortals aside from their worship. (Maybe it’s because his love isn’t shallow.)

Liem leans his face gently into one of the hands framing it, feeling overwarm and nervous and a little sick. He desperately wants to just go lie down.]

I’m sorry I called you a liar. That was unfair of me.

[redsoil]

It wasn't, really.

[ Right here, he lets himself slip a little.

The deep formality, the glowing audacity of a god used to speaking and being heard slips away and leaves him a little quieter, a little subdued. His tongue slackens, words blurring into something more casual and less — distant. Liem apologizes for calling him a liar, and he suddenly feels very tired. Lying used to be something he did, a lot. Enough, so that his entire history was changed for the worst because he'd put on a mask and lied, pretending he was something monstrous and strong.

Liem wasn't entirely wrong, he thinks. Maybe he is still lying, just to himself. ]

I made you stand in your foyer and have a terrible conversation with me, I'm not surprised you spoke harshly. We all say things... that we do and don't mean, when we are overwhelmed and scared. One day, I'll even do the same to you.

[ He's NOT talking about his confession of love!!!

Set dips, bending at the knees a little so that he can shove his arms around Liem's waist and the back of his thighs and lift him, bodily hauling him up from the ground so that he can hold him. Carry him deeper into the house, face pushing into the cool crook of his neck as he does so. He can follow his nose, familiar with the shape and size of the rooms and halls, the cool, dark spaces that Liem needs because the sunlight hurts him. ]

It's still choosing one another afterwards that matters.