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sooth
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OOC PERMISSIONS
Tagging times/pace: GMT. I don't like my tags to sit around so I try to clear them as quickly as possible, but I am not always able to at work! I generally get back within the day, though!
Backtagging: Always.
Fourthwalling policy: Keep it vague!
Action vs. Prose: I tend more toward [Action] logs, but I'm always happy to match. Just don't mind me if one accidentally creeps into the other!
Offensive Subjects & Triggers: If in doubt please ask me, but I'm really not so easily offended!
IC PERMISSIONS
Physical Violence: No problem, but ask me ahead of time so I've a heads-up! Linneus is not violent, and he's not likely to instigate much fighting himself!
Mental Information: Again, discuss with me first. But it's more than welcomed. This guy hides a lot.
Physical Affection: Giving and receiving, always!
IC Triggers: None.
Relationships: Please give Linn all the relationships and all the love. He may not be able to reciprocate in full (there is someone in his past he is very stuck on and they will likely always hold a significant piece of his heart), but he is very warm and affectionate in the first place and will be more so if that is returned.
Are you interested in participating in the game's smut opt-ins? Yes.
If yes, please state your preferences: M/M; Linneus is gay as the proverbial maypole.
POWER-SPECIFIC AND/OR SPOILER PERMISSIONS Not applicable.
POWER-SPECIFIC AND/OR SPOILER PERMISSIONS Not applicable.
Application/Info
Character Name: Linneus
Series: Teahouse
Canon Point: Chapter 7 midpoint, where the series cuts off, taking into account the back-story outlined by the authors but not the endgame “wrap-ups”.
Character Age: 26
Background:
Linneus comes from a world where being sold into servitude is not uncommon and was himself sold to the Atros household on his fifth birthday to pay his father's gambling debts. From his arrival in the household, he took a shine to Xanthe, Atros' only son and heir. They became close friends despite the difference in their positions, but their friendship was frowned upon by Atros Senior, who sent Xanthe to boarding school - ostensibly to focus on his education, but also to separate him from Linneus' ‘softening’ influence. [The webcomic summary of Linneus' backstory is here, as part of its wrap-up of his storyline]
At the start of the webcomic, Linneus has been regularly seeing one of his clients, Liard. Xanthe raises Liard’s rates, certain the man will meet them. But later Xanthe finds a bruise on Linneus’ wrist, and following an ugly meeting between Xanthe and Liard, the appointments are terminated. Later, despite being the one to throw Liard out, Xanthe indirectly blames Linneus for “all the money [he’d] lost” the house and orders him to give up all the jewellery Liard gave him to make up for the shortfall. He later apologises, leading to an almost-kiss in the kitchen. Having spotted a bandage around Xanthe’s hand, Linneus later offers to take up his coffee, only to find Xanthe “engaged” in his office with another of the Teahouse’s courtesans.
After another fight despite a week of avoiding Xanthe, Linneus clears his schedule for a day… then ends up accepting a “walk-in” client, Gilder, on his way back from tending the garden. A hulking 6’6” (to Linneus’ slender 5’9”) and covered in scars, Gilder doesn’t seem to be Linneus’ type at first glance but having been urged to drop any pretences, he quickly takes to him, and admits that although most of his customers are pleasant “before and during sex”, things are rarely more than business afterwards.
Linneus later learns from Xanthe’s wife that they are expecting a child. He goes to Xanthe’s office to congratulate him, and to apologise for his earlier behaviour. Calling him “a terrible liar” Xanthe kisses him but Linneus breaks it off. The following day, Xanthe recalls Linneus to his office, only to inform him that Liard is interested in buying him – and that Xanthe intends to strike a deal. In another fight, Linneus bolts from the office having been accused of choosing to be a courtesan over choosing Xanthe.
Personality:
From candy-floss pink hair to slender frame to pouty lips, it's easy to write Linneus off as “sweet” through and through and consider him a walkover. While it is true that he cannot always assert himself well - he is still, technically, a servant of the Atros household and so has little say in many matters relating to himself (including his own sale) – his physical appearance belies his personal strength. He has been through a lot in his life, but he is still standing, despite the fact that circumstances seem to try to tear him down.
In flashback chapters, Linneus is portrayed as a chatty, outgoing, and gregarious child - very interested in others, and engaging with them simply for the sake of it - in sharp contrast to the aloof Xanthe. After their first encounter with Argent, even after Xanthe has chased away the bullies that have surrounded her, Linneus remains worried for her welfare ("Shouldn't we take him home with us?" "Why?" "What do you mean 'Why'?!"), even though they haven't even exchanged words. This shows a genuine concern and a desire to reach out to others, and indeed this particular incident was the beginning of a close friendship with Argent that has spanned almost twenty years.
In comparison, although he still cares deeply for others (especially for his friends in the Teahouse - and Xanthe, however tumultuous their relationship is), it is clear that time and the nature of his work has tempered him and his attitudes somewhat. His sweetness is still manifested to those he cares about in touches, hugs, and kisses, but he much more poised as an adult, has a quieter manner, and is less free with his shows of affection than he was when he was a child. His time, though, is something that he has in spades, and he often lends an ear to the other Teahouse courtesans; especially Rory, the resident virgin. Linneus was one of the first male courtesans in his area, and although he is hardly knowledgeable when it comes to sex in modern terms, the knowledge he has learned in his time has been hard-earned, having had no one to learn from. As such he has no qualms or hesitations in discussing it - certainly with other courtesans, at least.
He has also learned some difficult lessons about his place in the world since his teens, which can also be a reason for the change of his behaviours from the outgoing and extroverted child to the more prudent and reserved adult. Because he came to the Atros household as a child and was raised there, he didn't fully understand his position: although he had work to do as a servant, his age and charm usually meant that he was indulged by the other staff – allowed to have tea and read stories with Xanthe before he did his work, for example, or accompany Xanthe as an attendant when he left the house. It was only later on that Linneus came to understand that he never really had any agency in the first place; when Atros Senior planned to sell him to another country (effectively banishing him not just from the Teahouse, but from Ivore, too, for good) it's the first time it is demonstrated to Linneus the fragility of his position, and the fact that he can call no place his own, however deep his emotional ties there. He has since worked against upsetting this position as little as possible, though this does come off as resignation to the fate and future this life inevitably leads him to. There is little Linneus feels he can change at this point, and as he can see no way out of the corner he backed himself into all he can do is accept his lot meekly.
Linneus’ decision to become a courtesan at the Teahouse was one borne of a need for some kind of control over his own destiny - a desperate decision, but at least it was something he had decided on for himself rather than being subject to the whims of his master, and a decision that he owns, though some aspects of his decision can come off as stubborn or even bullheaded. In the years since (eight, stated by the comic, but ten on reading through the backstories), Linneus still has not told Xanthe the reasons for his decision and incidents leading up to it; neither has he made any attempt to improve his position or even escape, though he is clearly less than happy in his work. The choice he made had been meant as a temporary one, to keep him in the house long enough for Xanthe to come and “save” him, but has learned the hard way that love doesn't work out like a story in a book and doesn't necessarily bloom in adversity. In the end the deal he made bought him much more time than he expected, and although he was never going to be happy with selling himself at least he was with people he knew and loved, in a place he considered home. Better the devil you know, perhaps.
There is a clear 'this is my life now' sort of acceptance seen in the way that Linneus speaks of his other clients and that the most he can hope for is that “they treat me decently”. This suggests an underlying practicality borne of his upbringing as a servant - whatever else is happening, life still goes on, the work still needs doing, the situation still is what it is. But for all his practicalities, despite being considered a veteran in his line of work, Linneus is not always good at disconnecting his feelings from his work or seeing his clients as just clients – perhaps another holdover from his childhood. This is seen in how quickly he takes to Gilder once he is convinced to “drop the act” and just be himself. In the ‘pillow talk’ scene afterwards Linneus is almost shy, as though it’s the first time in a while that his attention has been reciprocated. A second point on Linneus' shyness in this moment; this conversation happens 'Afterwards' ("pretences have a tendency to drop afterwards.") and Linneus is disarmed in more than one sense of the word, not only by Gilder's sincerity (he pulls the sheets up to cover himself), but physically so. Through the comic we more than once see Linneus fully decked out in jewellery; multiple necklaces, chest- and head-pieces, bracelets that give the effect of armour (such as when he is waiting for his appointments with Liard. Going into engagements he wears his jewellery like armour; the more he layers pieces on, the more protected and confident he feels. Without it, as this particular scene brings to bear, he feels stripped and vulnerable. Dangerous, given his line of work, but on occasion (as with his encounter with Gilder), it can be a good thing.
His relationship with Xanthe is… fraught, to say the least, not least because his feelings for Xanthe are a tangled mess. He still cares deeply for Xanthe, despite his tendency to blow hot and cold (fighting one day, kissing him the next), despite his manipulation (The Liard Situation: ‘I’m raising his rates, the idiot will pay, he loves you’, ‘He’s cancelled all his appointments, he doesn’t want you anymore’, ‘He’s going to buy your contract and I don’t plan on stopping him’) and despite all of the ugly things Xanthe says to him (“My whore is exactly what you are”). For all of that, he is still the closest friend that Linneus ever had, the person who looked after him after his father sold him, the person he fell in love with. After all of their history together, it is still hard to Linneus to see Xanthe as his master, even though his contract passed to Xanthe when Atros Senior died. Despite this he has stubbornly kept his secrets and not, in nearly ten years, let on as to the true reasoning behind his choice - likely out of fear of destabilising his already delicate position.
At his core, Linneus is a warm, gentle and unflinchingly loyal person who simply wishes to belong, to love, and to be loved, but has ruled all of this out as impossible for him, given his vocation. He has braced himself for years to be shunned once his work becomes known, to be viewed as disingenuous, insincere, and so instead settles for being wanted, desired, or simply useful; though he knows that this too will not be forever. Desirability fades, people leave, and once he has outlived his beauty or his use his fate is to be passed on. Knowing that his own father sold him as a child, and learning later on exactly how fragile his position can be, he fears redundancy and not having a place to belong, however desperately he wants one in the Teahouse near Xanthe ("I never... this is my home."). Yet he maintains a dogged endurance when his home and love are at stake: his choice certainly bought him more time than he expected or planned for. His backstory makes clear that the life he leads was not something he wanted for himself and yet, even so, he endures.
Powers/Abilities: No powers. Amongst his personal talents… tea-making, gardening, and sex.
Power Nerfs (if applicable): Not~!
Inventory: One gold bangle that has been in his possession since he was sold. Being from his life before joining the Atros household, likely a memento of some sort as it was far to big for his child-sized wrist, this is a particularly dear piece to Linneus. One ruby necklace, a gift from an admirer. One framed photograph that does not actually belong to him, but encapsulates the beginning of a key relationship in his life.
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