lia carnet

James lay on his back, one arm thrown up to pillow his head which was currently tilted in her direction.  Unlike other women, Lia looked radiant after he’d had her.  Usually, he started to see the little blemishes or those irritating habits afterwards, reasons to run, but never with Lia.  Perhaps the exercise brightened her eyes, or maybe it was something about how they twinkled.  Whatever it was, James certainly didn’t mind.  He always came back.  He liked to think that she would’ve done the same, in his position.

Contrary to all appearances, James was a complete fool.  He knew what Lia was and he knew that whatever coin he passed her was most likely more attractive to her than he was, but he liked to think it wasn’t all about the gold.  At least, not every time.  As a lad, he had always been fawned over by the ladies around court - and perhaps that was merely that his future wife would have been the most powerful woman in the South, someday - but James knew he was easy on the eyes.  Even that much couldn’t be said of all her customers and James was taller than most, sculpted and chiseled.  That much, at least, could be said for him, and when they talked it seemed to him that she quite liked him.  He didn’t allow himself to question that too much.  There were some things even he didn’t want to know for sure.

She was looking at him and reaching out with his free hand, he touched her chin.  She was a ship in motion and he let her move away from him, laconically watching her movements.  He smiled when he spoke.  “Are you planning on missing me?” he teased, lightly.  She was sitting up but he made no movement.  Shaking his head, James propped himself up on one elbow.  “A six month at most,” he responded lightly.  His sandy hair fell against his eyes but still he smiled, cheeky to the last.  “But that only if the storms keep up.”

He’d taken to her bed for refuge from one.  Lightning ripped open the sky when they made love, thunder blackening hopes of swifter arrivals.  Outside, rain had become humidity, sweeping back out to sea back towards the Southern Isles.  He’d draw on memories of that night for many to come, cold and alone on a volcanic island.

“I predict only a few weeks,” continued James.  “It’s all very routine.”  A hateful word, really, routine.  It was tiresome even to speak of routine, as far as James was concerned, and the fact that it was a routine kind of raid made it little better.  He was a pirate and, by all the gods, pirates weren’t meant to be predictable.  Once, he’d thought to leave that behind at Swystone Hall.

“What, done with me, already?” he joshed, tilting his head as she sat up.  “One whiff of routine and I’m no longer of interest to you?  Is that the way of it?  If I weren’t so confident in my charms, I’d be wounded.  Don’t tempt me to stay away longer.”  His eyes twinkled as he pulled aside the meager coverings that had tangled his legs and sat up beside her, as naked and confident as she.  He imagined himself to be joking, rather than making a prediction.  “You’d miss me then,” he told her, hoping it was true.

“We’re sailing west,” he added, momentarily growing more serious as he glanced around for his discarded clothes.  They’d been disposed of in rather a hurry, scattered here and there.  So far, he’d managed to locate only a lone boot.  He made no move to put it on.  “Past Vysova and up.”  Quirking a brow, he turned sea-blue orbs on her.  “Cold waters.”  She was looking at him and he ran finger through her raven tresses.  “I’ll miss you, at least.  Say you’ll miss me, too.”

She melted into his touch, her muscles tensing first beneath her brows, into her shoulders and down her back until her entirety curled over itself like a wounded animal. His skin left her aching, both for his presence and freedom from it. He bought her just like every other man, and when James returned to the inn every few months, Lia understood what to expect of her ngiht. She loathed her profession; every moment of the flirting and the fucking felt like anchors dragging from her ears. She awoke at night with stomach aches in the arms of men she did not know and rose the next morning sore with silvers thrown at her hemline. Because she had met James this very same way, she could never release him from the guilt of trafficking her body. In him, she saw a man content with buying a night and she hated that part of him. She wanted to shake it from his past and meet him on the road, both free Aragoth people with adventure in store.

James was no better than any common whorer, Lia knew this, but he was different nonetheless, because she knew he would return. Lia knew him by name, both first and last. She knew the stories behind his scars and his favorite type of brew. She recognized his twitches and threw extra sheets on him in the dark after he’d fallen asleep, because she knew he was easily chilled. He was consistent and dependable, furthermore, he was exposure to the world beyond the Swystone village. He was her fuel for a hopeful future, and so in that way, James continually broke Lia apart, reducing her to her worst while lighting the fire in her that yearned for something more. The more Lia lived as a woman capable of servicing James, however, the farther she ran from her ideal. 

She knew all of this, and she glanced at his hand in her hair with this tragedy in her mind. I’ll miss you, he said. He would missed the warmth of her breath, the touch of her skin, the heft of her breast. James missed the bodies of a women all over the country just as Lia serviced men all over country. But the hand playing with her curls was more than just a man passing through, for even when James went north, he was never truly gone from Lia’s thoughts. 

She reached up--her pulse still racing slightly from their games--to clutch his hand in hers. Strands of her hair wove in between their fingers. She squeezed his palm aggressively, pulling his fingers away from her head. They wrapped around each other, woven like the side of a basket. James’s hands, rougher than Lia’s, sent bumps rising on her skin. “It is not my job...” she whispered duskily, “...to miss you.” Her grasp softened around him, fingers moving softly over his callouses.

While choosing her words, she had been looking down him. His body was covered in scars, his chest molded and remolded like the shore of a beach. When crashed into, he healed. Then Lia looked down her own. Broken, yes, but not in the same way. Bruises healed and left no mark, but her bones stuck out in spots; her hips like the peaks of mountains, and the skin in-between like a shallow ocean. The hand weaving through James’s fingers dropped to his thigh and then Lia tugged on her collar bone. With the other hand she took a moment to clutch a recently sore spot on her ribcage. She breathed low. 

THERE HE WENT — (a modern au of the relationship between a pirate and his brothel whore with a plan your own adventure ending.)

No one learned her name, let alone thought to ask it. She served ale to drunkards and serviced them later in the night when they had silver left to spend. She was not a girl to miss nor was she the girl to miss others. It was so hard to remain unattached to him, however, when his presence filled her with such fire. She danced around as she listened to his stories of foreign islands and tended to the wounds from battles passed. While she was stuck, a staple of the southern port nightlife, he was like the wind, free, untamable. She wished nothing more than to know that feeling, and because she had never known anyone who lived a life as extraordinary as his, she thought of freedom and his name as one in the same. As she turned, her long black hair fell over her back. “And yet, there you go.” There he went–away. There the world went–spinning. 

TRACKLIST/STORYLINE. under the cut.

Okay, so a little about Rob: he’s the third kid of three and his older brothers are much older than him. They’ve also basically been the ones running the south/keeping things from completely falling apart while it’s been under Loys Mortain/Margery Mortain’s rule and since the Barret parents died a long time ago, they kinda neglected Rob a little a lot. And he grew up in their shadow and just thinks that everyone looks down on him and he’s so determined to prove himself to be better than his brothers (and yet he does love them in his own weird way??). 

And all of Rob’s “friendships” (idk if they can be called that tbh) are relationships where he feels ~superior and in control and that’s part of the reason he keeps going back to Lia is b/c he is in control with her (he’s not gonna talk about the fact that he’s literally paying her but shhh). Also, I think she’s the only woman he’s ever been with (although he def will tell it otherwise). I can see when he first started going to her (idk when Lia started, but I feel like Rob probably has been around pretty much the whole time tbh??) where he was idk ~softer with her and maybe they did talk about wanting a different life, but as he’s gotten older he’s gotten kinda twisted and he def has a one track mind tbh. Also, I think he has a lot of frustration and he probably takes a lot of that out on Lia (I’m so sorry). And I think he kinda treats her like shit anymore just b/c he can. 

But Rob is also kinda an idiot and he’s not that hard to manipulate and if she stroked his ego he’d be more bearable tbh b/c that’s all he really wants is for people to acknowledge that he’s awesome??? 

Anyway, these two are similar in the fact that they were neglected as kids. I mean, Marsilia definitely noticed Lia, but only ever to sweep the floor or service a customer. I don’t know if that really counts as being noticed or loved. Buuuuuut that could be something that these two connected with during their early days when Rob was still a little bit kind to Lia and talked to her. 

Ok, so Vince hasn’t known much kindness in his life at all (s/o to his dad who tried to murder his infant brother just for existing), so this act of kindness would make a HUGE impression on him, even if it had been a one-time occurence, but esp with it continuing, it’s probs one of the few actual stable, on-going relationships he’s ever had.  I think he’d be v loyal towards her and want to repay her, somehow, but lol he literally lives in the woods????  So pr safe to say it’s not gonna happen any time soon.  (And ngl there’s probs a pr good chance he’s got a thing for her.  But I’m sure he’s never said anything and has never bought a night with her or anything like that.)

Re: buying her for a night. Tragic!!! I’m sure a little part of Lia is also heart eyes on Vincent, but she probably thinks “why would he want me... I’m just a barmaid and prostitute, my hair is always dirty, and I can’t even read”. The only way she’s been shown affection by men is via sex for pay, so when he doesn’t ask to buy her (even after her suggesting it coyly) she probably assumes he thinks she’s gross. (JUST SPEAK YOUR FEELINGS, DUMMIES!!!)

I’m sooo down for #s 1-3!!!!  Actually, now that I recall, I think Lizzy and I had said that maybe James and Valery had actually met there, I think!  Hahahha

I’m gonna divert and talk a little about Aalis Vymont vs pirate!Valery vs barmaid!Valery (also if you ever have ANY questions about ODR…pls never hesitate to ask, I looooove talking about ODR tbh plus we’ve headcanoned this rp to the furthest possible degree so it’s gotta be hella confusing hahah)  The most basic answer is this: everyone, including Valery, thinks Aalis Vymont is dead.  She was dropped, anonymously, as a baby on the doorstep.  They named the unknown baby Valery and raised it, unaware that she was actually an heir to the throne.  She’s like King Arthur, being raised as just a peasant when #oops she’s actually the late king’s niece ;DDDD  So, as far as Valery knows, she’s just Valery.  She was raised there, was a barmaid, and ran off to sea.  And she has taken to sea like a fish to water the crew of the Revenge is basically just a weird, violent dysfunctional family I s2g Godfrey and Sybil are the parents and Valery is the kid and James is the squabbling uncle/adopted kid tbh smh

James is the opposite of Valery.  He KNOWS exactly who he is and he’s actively trying to hide it.  Ok, so Harry was 15 when he ran away and became James Garin, pirate extraordinaire.  If I recall correctly, the inn is located right along a port?????  So when he ran away he def could’ve made for that port?  Hoping to take the first ship to anywhere.  At that time, she would’ve been 9, so I doubt he would’ve taken any notice of her whatsoever at that time, though.  But, again, if it’s by a port, the Revenge may dock there a good bit, etc, and yeah, I can def see where, once they were older, he would’ve noticed her obv hahahah  And after that she absolutely could’ve been a fav of his!!! 

Repeat: I. Love. This. 

I have a feeling Marsilia started Lia’s business pretty early; the sooner Lia started working as a prostitute, the sooner Marsilia could stop. Idk if that means at nine years old, but I don’t really want James to have been Lia’s first customer; that would add a whole other level of fucked up to this and I don’t really want this. I feel like James (even though their relationship is still hella problematic) is kinda a light in Lia’s day when she sees him... and that leads us to the fact that she hasn’t seen him for a while. 

Lia probably feels REALLY guilty re: James, because 1). he got kicked off his pirate crew or whatever for stealing money to be with her and 2). he got exhiled to the Isle of the Damned for stealing a bracelet for her. I mean a little bit of Lia is like “holy shit this blonde hunk-a-munk is willing to get himself into some shady shit just to be with me... but then I have to live with knowing he’s not in the best of situations”. 

Sidenote as I’m thinking of it: She’s desperate to get away from the inn and Marsilia and her entire life, so part of her probably always wants to go with James when he leaves the port again. Lbr, she’d probably be a cool pirate too. She’s got the hairporn for standing on the front of a ship in the wind and she can deal with drunk pervs. Like what else do you need??? Idk if she’d ever expressed the possibility of her going with James, but that’s probably been on her mind a few times. I think part of her feelings for James (to whatever degree of romantic they are) gets jumbled up along with her feelings for adventure and freedom; to her, James is the epitome of freedom. Even if that means being free on the Isle of the Damned. :|||

Anyway, yes, she probably hasn’t seen him in a long time since he got taken away. Do you know how all that went down? Like does she know he got sent to the Isle of the Damned? Was she there when he was taken away? (That’d be hella traumatic.) Does she think he’s just dead or maybe he doesn’t want to see her anymore? Either way, it’s not a cheery situation. ~evil laugh~

Ps. I’m just now thinking of this as I read over stuff, but maybe they ran into each other when James was 15 and she was 9? And something about her was memorable enough that when James saw her away however many years later when he was paying for her, he remembered her? Maybe it was the cloth in her hair. (Am I basing this defining character trait off of a gifset... Maybe. But it’s kinda cool.)