empressliu: (Default)
[personal profile] empressliu
Liu Mingyan has a lot on her mind.

In the three months since Luo Binghe vanished into thin air, Xin Mo abandoned at the foot of his throne, his Empire—her Empire—has... changed. The throne remains empty, of course—to have anyone else claim it, even temporarily, would be conceding that his absence is unintentional, either accidental or, more likely, a malicious coup. Whoever did the claiming would be the prime suspect for mal intent, including Mingyan herself. So it sits, empty, at the center of his great hall, Mobei-Jun standing sentinel beside it, never to be looked at directly by any visiting dignitary or sniveling demonic petitioner.

She's been redirecting all audiences to her wing of the palace instead. Her hall is not quite so grand, but it is nearly as imposing, and her own throne no less terrible and beautiful. When Luo Binghe is in residence, she primarily uses this hall for meetings with her network of all-female spies—not because Luo Binghe doesn't know about them, in his vague and uninterested way, but because Liu Mingyan has learned from experience that if they encounter him they turn very quickly from useful and competent agents to fawning and lovestruck young maidens, and then it's only a matter of time before they join the ranks of the harem. Liu Mingyan does not resent this; there would be no point. But she prefers to conduct her business in private nonetheless.

Now, of course, even from her own throne many of her edicts must be delivered as if they're orders that Luo Binghe left for her to give. Ning Yingying has been surprisingly useful on this front; despite Liu Mingyan's disdain for what she believed a naive and trusting heart who had given up her sect loyalty to marry for love, Ning Yinging does know Luo Binghe, perhaps better even than Liu Mingyan does, offering insight into what Luo Binghe would have said, if he had in fact instructed Mingyan on how to handle this matter. Liu Mingyan does not always take this advice—she does not always want to do what Luo Binghe would have done, especially as his absence stretches from days into weeks into months, but she does not resent it, either.

In truth, what Liu Mingyan resents is the idea that Luo Binghe will return, and she will be expected to relinquish rule back to him, and everything she has built—the tenuous and confusing peace between herself and Sha Hualing, and thus the quelling of the constant threat of southern rebellion; the ease with which she receives the other wives and soothes their fears, rather than holding herself above them;1 the shifted tenor of court itself, with fewer public displays of violence2—all of it will go back to normal, and Liu Mingyan finds she has less taste for normal every day. It's not that she doesn't want Luo Binghe to return—of course she does—but she wishes that somehow he might return different. It's a futile thought, and a disloyal one to think about a man who created this life for her, a man she cares deeply about, but she cannot deny that she thinks it.

So when she steps down a secret stairway into a corridor that should lead to her chambers and ends up in an unfamiliar hallway instead—the light entirely wrong, the architecture unfamiliar—her first thoughts are uncharitable. It seems obvious that this is the same trap that ensnared Luo Binghe. It also seems unfair to make her the one to bring him home, and be the agent of her own undoing. She'll do it—he is her husband, and while that doesn't mean the same thing to her as it does many of his wives, it does mean something significant, as undeniable as it is ill-defined—and her Emperor. But—

She sets her jaw behind her veil and wraps her fingers around Cheng Luan's hilt, proceeding silently down the hallway.

[NSFW: Susan's thread, Janet's thread]

1 Well, sometimes she's still above them. If you know what I mean.
2 Not that there has been no violence—it's just generally conducted elsewhere. Her floors are harder to clean than Luo Binghe's.

Date: 2023-12-14 03:12 am (UTC)
quote_gentle_unquote: (41. i don't need your baggage)
From: [personal profile] quote_gentle_unquote
"It is a shame," says Susan, but she's looking at Liu Mingyan with renewed interest. The worst thing about this place is that you might run into former assignations anywhere! Luckily she hasn't had any that she regrets, but still. The place and its population are both small.

She hasn't been so openly bold with a woman right off the bat before, but she's still riding the high of reconciling with her sister. And if Liu Mingyan is truly not going to stay, there's really no downside to continuing her overtures! "I should have liked more time to get to know you."

Date: 2023-12-15 04:20 am (UTC)
quote_gentle_unquote: (33. how am i supposed)
From: [personal profile] quote_gentle_unquote
Susan hesitates for the barest of moments. "I'd thought to show you the cafe first on your tour," she says, and clarifies: "A gathering-space of sorts. Food, drink, broader companionship... but I am equally happy to show you my rooms. So far I have enjoyed these spaces equally."

Date: 2023-12-15 07:22 pm (UTC)
quote_gentle_unquote: (43. still i came back)
From: [personal profile] quote_gentle_unquote
Susan lets her eyelashes flutter at the touch; she smiles up at Liu Mingyan flirtatiously. "In that case," she says, "we shall have to double back." And she starts to lead Liu Mingyan back the way they came, toward her rooms.

Date: 2023-12-15 09:18 pm (UTC)
quote_gentle_unquote: (05. easy they go)
From: [personal profile] quote_gentle_unquote
"Doesn't that sound luxurious!" Susan exclaims. "I'm afraid my rooms here are ever so rustic in comparison. They're comfortable, though. I've got the essentials."

Her rooms aren't terribly far off, and soon enough, they're at the door. Susan opens it with an ironic little flourish.

Date: 2023-12-16 01:48 am (UTC)
quote_gentle_unquote: (43. still i came back)
From: [personal profile] quote_gentle_unquote
"So are you," Susan says, tilting her head back so she can take Liu Mingyan in. Unfortunately, she can't see a lot of the woman's face... but what she can see is beautiful. "I'm sorry, I've never done this with someone veiled before. I don't know the protocol."

Date: 2023-12-16 04:36 am (UTC)
quote_gentle_unquote: (39. oh it's just a little blood)
From: [personal profile] quote_gentle_unquote
Susan cranes into Liu Mingyan's touch, eyelashes fluttering again. This is only partly an affectation. She really doesn't usually do things like this - not with women she's just met, anyway; she certainly has with men - but something about having reconciled with Lucy has loosened something within Susan, and this seems like the easiest thing in the world to do.

Liu Mingyan is very tall, somewhere between Janet and Lancelot. Susan moves one hand to Liu Mingyan's cheek, tracing over her (lovely) mouth with a soft fingertip, and then leans up for a kiss.

Date: 2023-12-16 05:23 pm (UTC)
quote_gentle_unquote: (38. if i come in)
From: [personal profile] quote_gentle_unquote
As Liu Mingyan deepens the kiss, Susan feels a brief, fierce flush of triumph. That this mouth is only meant for women? A gift indeed! Liu Mingyan seems deliberate with her movements, like this is a familiar dance for her, and so Susan lets herself descend into the rhythm of it. She lets her eyes drift closed, rising on her tiptoes so she can curve closer to Liu Mingyan, moving her hand from Liu Mingyan's face and instead draping her arm around her back, hooked over her shoulders.

Date: 2023-12-17 02:01 am (UTC)
quote_gentle_unquote: (37. hope you don't mind)
From: [personal profile] quote_gentle_unquote
Susan goes smoothly where she's guided: Liu Mingyan seems like she can bear her weight easily, and her hands feel positively luscious over Susan's nylons. Liu Mingyan's clothes are exotic and sumptuous to the touch. She almost - almost! - feels bad mussing them as she runs the fingers of her freer hand down the neckline of her clothes, but then her fingertips brush skin and she doesn't feel bad anymore.

Date: 2023-12-17 04:05 am (UTC)
quote_gentle_unquote: (08. i never grew up)
From: [personal profile] quote_gentle_unquote
Susan has gone from seeing one set of bare breasts (besides her own) in months to two in the span of mere days. Perhaps there is something to this queer little place! Liu Mingyan's are gorgeous, and Susan presses herself back against the door, legs firmly latched around Liu Mingyan's waist so that she can give herself the leverage to frame one with her hand, her thumb and forefinger stretching underneath it, cupping it, just to get a feel for it. Then she brings her hand up so that she can tweak Liu Mingyan's nipple. It's an exploratory pinch, neither as hard as Susan would prefer, nor as soft as someone else might like.

Date: 2023-12-17 06:52 pm (UTC)
quote_gentle_unquote: (39. oh it's just a little blood)
From: [personal profile] quote_gentle_unquote
Susan shudders at the feeling of her garter belt suspenders snapping against her thigh; warmth floods through her in the wake of that sting. "In a manner of speaking," she says, instead of 'no.' "In that they have defeated men in the past."

Date: 2023-12-17 08:30 pm (UTC)
quote_gentle_unquote: (39. oh it's just a little blood)
From: [personal profile] quote_gentle_unquote
"I doubt you'll have to," says Susan; Liu Mingyan seems like an intelligent and capable woman. She unbuttons the front of her dress swiftly, eyes running feverishly over Liu Mingyan's increasingly-revealed body as she does so.

Date: 2023-12-17 09:28 pm (UTC)
quote_gentle_unquote: (39. oh it's just a little blood)
From: [personal profile] quote_gentle_unquote
Susan presses up into the kiss, bringing a hand around the back of Liu Mingyan's head. There, she spreads her fingers, slipping them through the strands of Liu Mingyan's fancy updo. She runs her other hand down Liu Mingyan's side, slipping her fingers down the waistband of her trousers.

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