uhhhh tiny excerpt from my fic :) for context this is a tes x vyn crossover and ashma is from tamriel hence the meridia mentions!!
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Jespar slumps against the bar, relief blossomming in his chest as he sips his drink. The music is as lively as the people, the hearth warm and the food good. "So, what's your type?"
"I prefer it spiced, but this is nice too," Ashma says, swirling the deep red wine in her cup, hunched over at the bar.
"I meant people. What's your type? you like 'em blonde? brunette? tall? small?" Jespar chuckles, leaning in closer.
Oh.
The girls and boys she's liked through the years… Well, blonde with blue eyes, she supposes. That's what most of the people in Skyrim and High Rock looked like, anyways. Not that she ever did anything about her little crushes, because she had more important things to do.
And that's also how Meridia appeared to her too, but she wasn't going to let herself think about that at all. Definitely won't think about how her Lady has had an influence on such things.
"Uh… Blonde, nerdy, I guess?" She shrugs. But Jespar knows. Ashma's got some wonderful walls up, a good barricade that any warlord would be jealous of, but her type? Now that, that he can see right through her.
"You like the type that bosses you around, I can tell that. You're a knight, I guess that's got to come with the job. Nothing like a little frail thing that has you wrapped around their little finger. Or maybe strong ones, a bit older than you, maybe even someone that you look up to… Yeah, that's it. Someone a bit older, not necessarily stronger or more powerful, someone that you rely on, like a mentor. I bet you're crushing on Natara. Or Tealor."
Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. This wasn't going to be the place nor the moment where she'd look into the cross section between her taste in people, and her Lady Meridia.
She groans and rolls her eyes at Jespar, who gives out a hearty chuckle and a hard pat on her back, making her choke on her drink. "I'm just messing with you. Though that girl you waved at in Duneville…"
"Esme."
"So she has a name… Anyways, that girl, you-"
"She's getting over her dead girlfriend."
"Mmh. Still, a strong knight like you… girls probably go crazy over that, no?" Jespar teases, giving a knowing grin. "Lady Sakaresh, you're in a similar profession, do girls give you any special attention?"
Oh shit, Calia was with them, what does she think of Ashma now?
"… No, I… what?" Calia squints a bit in confusion, looking at Jespar with the same bewilderment Ashma has - she hasn't paid attention at all to their conversation, too annoyed by the clinking of forks and that foot tapping over there. What's wrong with this Jespar, why does Ashma hang out with him?
"No, I… I've never noticed anything."
"You two are boring, you know that?" Jespar sighs out, shaking his head.
