February Choice Poll – Spare Pairs

As the last poll was exclusively fanart pieces, it's only fair to give some space to my beloved brainspawn to balance things out. And since February is known for its love-related proclivities, this poll will feature several pairs to pick from!

(Yes, my schedule is roughly 2 weeks askew, how can you tell...)

(And yet, I still wrote a mock purple prose bit for funzies for SF.)

The winning pair will get cleaned-up colored sketch that fits their relationship dynamic, with at least some of the progress being streamed no later than next weekend.

Not all of these couples are necessarily romantic, and the resulting image might not be such even for those that are. Love, after all, has many forms, and I've never been a fan of the chocolates and flowers type, anyway.

I do realize that you actually may not be familiar with these characters, but... hey, you have the perfect chance to get to know them! I'm still omitting humans from my roster as I'm still not that confident with them (so no Hollow, and pirates will get their fuzz-bound variants intsead), but I tried to have every in-progress story represented at least once. I also limited this to non-extremely-spoilery pairs and major characters to avoid having a bajillion options.

So who are your choices gonna be?

1. Vartan and Sara (Semper Fidelis) – my template for romantic couples, really. Both on the quiet side, but passionate, both different, yet cut of the same cloth, and both fiercely dedicated to their duty, but also one another. A banteng bull former soldier and a liger former cop.

2. Lambert and Ginny (Semper Fidelis) – because you reprobates keep asking me for these two, despite them not being officially a couple. But as I said, love has many forms, and courtly love combined with absolute trust also counts for the contest. A mouflon knight and a red panda diplomat.

3. Arno and Eleanor (White Crown) – a political marriage of convenience between a young and inexperienced king thrown into his role too soon and a queen who, together with his advisor and spymaster, tries her best to shield him from the nastier consequences of court politics and backstabbery. A piebald melanistic lion and a lioness.

4. John and Lizzie (Borderline) – these two are reckless, madder than a pair of ferrets in a sock, and most in possession of common hobbies. Those hobbies include urban exploration, parkour and a very alarming love of non-OSHA-compliant places for a cuddle. Smilodon and a maned wolf.

5. Matthew and Elizabeth (Whistle at the Wind) – there's people who would do anything for their significant other. And there's people who would do *anything* for their significant other... Basically my version of Romeo and Juliet, if they were even more reckless about their whole deal. A stray cat and a highborn irish setter.

6. Thomas and Ed (Whistle at the Wind) – sometimes, you just see someone and you're immediately smitten. This is relationship is... more or less the opposite of that, being grown instead out of friendship, trust and honestly also an obvious lack of other options. Red deer sea captain and european badger boatswain.

Happy picking, everyone! Results will be due on Friday.