Soft music and indistinguishable chatter filled the air around her as Cirwedh stepped onto the balcony of Beragon's townhouse, Gladriel in tow as the previous noise died down.
All eyes were on her as Beragon began his toast, and when they all called her name, one voice, in particular, caught her ear. Standing off to the side with his hands clasped behind his back was Fennorian, Ursilia standing beside him and conversing with some Skingrad noble the Count must have brought; glass of wine in hand. Their eyes met, and while the rest of the party faded they shared a moment of relief, having found each other amongst strangers. They would have time later, but Cirwedh could already feel herself being pulled in different directions as those gathered clamored for their chance to thank her. For what? they'd never remember.
Cirwedh weaved through conversational checkpoints like a needle and thread, exchanging clasped hands and well-practiced pleasantries until the sun sank low behind the trees, and the last few people trickled back into the townhouse proper (to continue the party somewhere with more food, she was sure). She had settled into a heated debate on the floor with Gladriel when the sound of her name caught her attention, just in time to see Ursilia close the door into the parlor. Fennorian was just as soon crossing the floor and pulling her into his arms. For a second, Cirwedh thought she smelled strawberries.
"I've been waiting all afternoon to hold you." the sentiment had her knees weak. As she pulled back to look him over, she noticed just how nice his clothes were. Fennorian had ditched the leathers altogether and instead opted for silken pants and a tunic, both dyed black and accented with silver closures that matched the coffin dangling from his neck. An almost opulent vest of deep maroon and scarlet florals brought it all together, visibly aged but still a fine piece of clothing. He noticed her staring and spoke up, "It was Verandis'. Seen plenty of court intrigue and ballrooms, I'm certain."
"And I thought I'd overdressed." A sparkling laugh spilled from her lips as she smiled and cupped his cheek with a sprouting hand. The only thing Alea had told her was to dress finely—well, as finely as she could, considering how she'd been covered antlers-to-toes in everything by the time she had returned to the city—so she draped herself in borrowed silk and leather, keeping it all on with living vines and the same blooming peonies she'd seen growing in the Skingrad gardens. Vibrant leaves and scars covered whatever skin was exposed, and beneath them lay enough freckles to make the stars envious.
"Considering some of the collars here were bigger than Glad's head, I'd say we're doing about average for this place." This earned a light chuckle. Somewhere below them, a gentle melody played, and muffled cheering could be heard from some other part of the city as people danced in the streets below. The arms around her tightened before releasing, and Cirwedh watched with a raised brow as Fennorian bowed deeply, eyes never leaving hers as he extended his arm for her to take.
"Would you give me this dance, Love?" a single pearly fang peaked from behind smiling lips. Small flowers crept up her antlers, and a deep blush settled across her cheeks as she took his hand and fell into his arms once more. The movements were slow and fluid, similar to a waltz she'd seen before in Alinor but never tried, and the setting sun painted everything golden as the stars shone like diamonds in the hazy dusk.
"I'm sorry I waited." She felt a pit of guilt begin growing in her gut. "I Saw Ursilia just standing there, and I think if I had gone over, she would have left with a few nasty scratches."
Fennorian sighed and brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. "I know she's told you she's using my guilt over the engagement—I'll take that up with her later—But we did burn a lot of profitable stock. The least I can do is make sure the vineyard's workers are properly safe." He squeezed her hand in assurance and pulled her closer before, somewhere in the distance, a loud snore from Gladriel interrupted. Laughing breathily as he held her near, Fennorian dipped down to capture her lips in a kiss full of love and shared longing. Yes Cirwedh had given some rather colorful opinions on the Lady, but here, on this balcony, she remembered why she'd put up with that blighted vineyard in the first place.
"If she takes any more than what is owed, what you feel is owed," her voice was a raspy whisper as she spoke against the soft skin of his lips, "I will turn her into soup." She pecked his cheek, mischief dripping from her tongue.
"I'm sure she would taste awfully bitter, my dear." His eyes glinted, reflecting in them a shared amusement as he shook his head.
"That is why I'll feed it to her, of course." her eyes wrinkled as she flashed her signature sharp-toothed grin.
Fennorian's chest rumbled against her with warm laughter as he spun her around and took her hands in his own, kissing her deeply once more. She had mourned the Paths not taken; it was true. But here, in the heavy, humid air that smelled of strawberries and peony, Cirwedh felt in the hands of her lover that she'd made the right choice.
IM FUCKING LOSING IT ANYWAY THANK YOU @saatoruus FOR ALWAYS SEEING THE VISION AND MAKING IT MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN I COULD EVER IMAGINE MWAH MWAH I LOVE U FOREVER
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To also go off of the point about cop!akihiko being annoying to me I gotta say that Akihiko as a character is very hit or miss with me because of how different adaptations of p3 will subtly alter his character. I felt like in portable with the femc route he comes off best, he’s a bit of a hothead with an obsession with fighting, but he’s overcompensating his strength so he doesn’t feel as weak and helpless as he’s been in many situations. He defines strength in a very literal sense, being physically strong and using that to protect others, but he’s lacking in emotional strength as a result. And in particular in this version I think he’s portrayed as a bit more goofy and sweet in a sense. He cares deeply for you as a friend and leader but he struggles with finding the words to describe how he feels. Hes kinda naive and gullible and has trouble noticing his surroundings. He has no clue what he’s doing but his heart is in the right place. I think he just comes off much more human and he has flaws, many many flaws, and that makes him all the more lovable
But then in other adaptations and spinoffs it’s like. They look at him through some hetero male bullshit filter and seem to view him as a lot more admirable and cool. Like in p3 dancing, theres literally an event where he’s talking with Junpei and Minato and they’re gushing about how perfect Akihiko is and how he doesn’t seem to have ANY flaws at all. And it becomes clear his inability to flirt with women just gets added as a way to make sure you, the Straight Male Player, don’t get insecure being next to such Perfection because at the end of the day, you’re still more charming and sexy than he will ever be because you’re better. It’s a “flaw” that’s only there to shield a sensitive male ego. And then in arena I mean, come on. He’s overly beefy and is a damn cop and travels the world and loves Protein™️ it’s his whole personality and he’s so clearly meant to be seen as hot but like, he’s just some shitty hetero male fantasy. Hes what the writers deem to be a Perfect Man that every guy wishes he could be, but don’t worry he’s still bad with women so you don’t gotta worry about him stealing your property- I mean, girlfriend!
And though I’ve not played reload and don’t really plan to anytime soon, judging from his social episodes they seem to have a similar problem. Akihiko comes off as a lot less approachable, like the year age gap is just too much of a barrier to get to know him properly. And he doesn’t have that dorky sweetness he has in portable, he’s just that perfect hetero male fantasy guy and don’t you fucking worry- he still has his protein powder with him
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OK I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS:
The 2012 turtle's reaction to the chris bradford finale foreshadowed how I'd feel towards the season 4 finale.
And idk if this was done on purpose, or if this was accidental and just bad writing. Spoilers for the last two episodes of 2012 TMNT season 4.
Every season in TMNT 2012 has the characters occasionally watching an old cartoon that will often foreshadow or tell the audience what this tmnt episode will be about. We get to see the finale of season 4's cartoon show, the Chris Bradford show, in the second to last episode. At first glance, it seems to foreshadow its own episode, Requiem.
Hero character is on a building, someone falls off a building. That's the common denominator of both the Chris Bradford final episode and the episode requiem. Unlike the episode requiem, the Chris Bradford finale is sudden with little to no pay off and has the turtles going..."that's it?"
Which is the opposite of the episode it's showcased in. The episode requiem has one of the most emotional showdowns and death where the actors, storyboarders, and animators put their heart and soul into it. I'm convinced the entire budget went to this second to last episode.
The episode after that on the other hand. The actual finale episode "Owari" is a different story. I'm gonna ignore the questionable writing choices they made to get certain characters where they needed to be in the last moments of the episode bc I have a lot of issues with that but that's not what this is about. This is about Leo and Shredders final stand off.
Actual spoiler time. Shredder should've died either after Leo almost got through to him but went ahead and stabbed him, or when the bros had shredder pinned and Donnie used the retro-mutagen. Not the moment we got.
The death we got seemed to happen...randomly? Why this moment? It was a simple attack that Leo has done before. What made this instance more special? Was it splinters word of wisdom? (Which made no goddamn sense btw) The anime esque freeze frame we get held no emotional weight. It felt simply like a "Leo was faster and stronger" moment. Which. Who cares? This is a weak character moment on both Leo and shredder. A good hero vs villain final fight should ALWAYS be more than just "they were faster/stronger". This is hero vs villain finale showdown 101.
It doesn't help that the final shot we see was unclear on what actually happened. It did not read that he died by Leo's sword at all. Which btw shouldn't have been able to happen anyways since we established that his swords can't pierce shredders heart but whatever. I'm ignoring that rn.
I'm wondering why that creative choice. Did Nickelodeon not want to show a kid killing someone? They had no problem with showing splinter being brutally stabbed on screen an episode earlier. Is it only ok if shredder kills someone? The cross fade from that one "dramatic" freeze frame shot to the next scene paired with all the other context I mentioned had me go..."thats it?" After that, I didn't care that Leo walked to the edge of the cliff and dramatically dropped shredder's helmet. Bc I was still stuck wondering "wtf happened. And also. THATS IT??" Just like the turtles reaction with the Chris Bradford finale.
So I'm wondering. Bad writing? Or was the audience supposed to feel that way towards Shredder's death? If the latter. That's a weird writing choice. Why do that to your big villain of FOUR seasons? And if the former. Well this is 2012 lmao. With every good writing moment you get an equally bad or worse writing moment. Just kinda sucks this happened on arguably the best season of 2012
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I've always loved Glow and Arrow! They're easily some of the best Glimbow fankids out there by far. I love their designs. Just out of curiosity, do you have any other fankids from spop?
Ahhhh, thank you so much!
I am basically a lazy writer in that I have a general sense of what fankids everyone has (like in my head Caradora eventually adopt a second kid when Finn is much older that they name Mara and Flora has several siblings) but I don't bother to really flesh them out in my head until I actually need to write them.
Which is why the only other kids I've actually named (because I started to write something with them that I never actually got around to finishing) are my Seamista kids and those are...
Their oldest son, Oshin, and the middle daughter, Shelli, both carried by Mermista.
And then Sea Hawk carries a set of twins like a proud Papa seahorse that they name Ember & Blaze.
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