“…You’re right. We couldn’t do that to them. But, but then, what do we do!?” The pitch in Cynthia’s voice approached hysteria. She wished a Risen was still skulking around, ready to be lanced through by a righteous hero. Even if said righteous hero was currently in the throes of a berserker fury, justice would still be on their side. “Are you saying we just have to hide it? Everything!?”
“Yes, that’s what I’m saying. At least until those two work it out. They managed it once without us; they can do it again. Hopefully.” Severa sighed. “It’ll be harder to keep it a secret now, with both of us here. We have to be careful not to slip what we really are to each other. I’ve already told all the others about our situation – no one’s screwed things up. Yet.”
I have a confession: after I wrote my last Fanfiction Fridays I ventured deep into Fire Emblem: Awakening. Balls deep. So, I’m not quite ready to leave this fandom just yet. And really, I can’t leave when there are so many other good femslash pairings that could be written about; I had to see what the fanfiction authors had to offer. Though, sadly, there weren’t any tales about the female Player Character and Tharja, the hex-obsessed dark mage (I can’t be the only one who ships this), I did manage to find a fic about another pairing that a) I didn’t think about before and b) adds some of the lightheartedness from the games back into the fandom.
Minor spoilers for Fire Emblem: Awakening under the cut.
Last time around, I mentioned that at some point in FE:A, the characters’ children travel back in time to prevent the world from being overrun with evil. Also, understandably, these kids would have trouble adjusting to a world where they don’t belong, and their parents would have similar troubles accepting that yes, these are their kids. What aquamarine does in their fic Family Affairs of the Busybody Sort is take these situations and amplify them, while managing to keep the melodrama away.
Sumia and Cordelia are really cute besties in game, too. It’s a win-win
(Art by paper-hero @ DeviantArt)
Family Affairs is a humorous look into the mindset of Severa and Cynthia as they plot to get their parents together. They know that it won’t be easy, but they don’t realize how much work they have ahead of them until they see how far into the closet both of their mothers, Sumia and Cordelia, are. The sisters realize that while revealing that one of them is a daughter to each Cordelia and Sumia, spilling the beans that they’re actually sisters and that in the future Cordelia and Sumia are married to each other might be even more unbelievable, not to mention stressful. However, both Cynthia and Severa want to ensure their continued existence, so the sisters scheme to prod their parents into realizing their feelings. Yet at the same time, both Cordelia and Sumia believe that their daughters are trying to tell them something: that they are madly in love with each other. So while the younger ones are working hard their mothers, woefully ignorant about the situation, are trying to set them up in turn. What a mess!
Sometimes in fic where homosexual relationships are explored, especially in times of war or battle, the outcome can be exceedingly dramatic and angsty. And sometimes that works, but I’m really glad that aquamarine didn’t choose to go that route. For one, it wouldn’t have fit the characters, and more importantly, I think it’s really important to explore these kinds of relationships from a more positive perspective. Certainly Cordelia and Sumia worry about being judged, or how they might be outcast, but it doesn’t turn into a soap opera. And even when they’re trying to get their daughters together (again, they don’t realize they’re all related) they’re more focused on the fact that love is more important than ever due to war rather than ‘what will the neighbors think’. Darker fic certainly has its place, but damned if it’s not nice to see a lighter side too.
Coming in at a surprising 18.7k words, Family Affairs is really just a joy to read. And don’t let the word count scare you off: once you get into it, it goes fast. If you have a bit of free time, I’d highly recommend reading it—no knowledge of FE:A required (besides what I’ve already told you)!
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