Shapeshifting and Glass Slippers

3

The Palace was hectic, everyone rushing to prepare for a Royal Wedding meant there was hardly any peace. There were constantly servants rushing around trying to make sure that everything kept to plan. They also didn't want anything to overrun as well, the Palace could not risk the wedding being late of all things.

They had to get the correct fittings for Cinderella, as well as Loki, and make final tweaks for Clints. Because apparently Wedding formals involved twelve additional measurements? The colour scheme had to be planned. The Church had to be chosen.

The worst part was notifying the surrounding areas of it all. So many had sent in their sorrows of their Prince marrying a village maiden and not a Princess. Clint had received eight invitations to marry various Princesses — eight — he'd never gotten so much attention before his engagement hit the news.

But it meant Clint had to also find ways to comfort Cinderella. Her worry was how she meant to keep up, compete with all these various Princesses being offered. But it was Clint's favourite part to take Loki or Cinderella's hand to reassure them he wasn't going anywhere. He'd made that promise in the forest, and he was not going to go back on it already.

Clint noticed how thrilled Loki was when he got the chance to look over the ceremonial weapons they had to use, so took a wild chance. One day, when Loki was Loki and not Cinderella, Clint took him down to the Square.

He couldn't deny that he was missing the feeling of a string against his fingers, so he might just have been looking for an excuse to escape to the Square. Their first stop would be the training salles on the right, then likely quickly followed by one to the ranges on the other side of the Square.

Clint watched as Loki approached the weapon rack in the salles and he realised he'd made the right call. His eyes seemed to glow as he scanned the various melee weapons in front of him.

Loki smirked, reaching for the staff. His father had taught him how to use them while growing up to protect himself as well as a useful bit of knowledge to impress anyone who they might need to borrow something off.

The gold staff was well balanced in his hands, even with the flared head. Nor was it overly long, it meant he didn't have to strain if he overstretched himself. It was a fine bit of craftsmanship, something worthy of a guard of a Palace.

"Do you know how to wield a staff?" Clint questioned. He was curious, Loki chose that staff without any hesitation and felt it in his hands like he had hours of experience with one.

"Father taught me how to wield one growing up as a boy, I also dueled some village men sometimes," Loki shrugged. It wasn't overly impressive, he didn't know anything formal, just what he needed to.

Clint grabbed another one of the spears, weighing it in his hands before he grinned at Loki. "Care to duel?" He asked. He wanted to know how well Loki could defend himself, and this was a perfect chance to test him. Clint wasn't the strongest in spear dueling, but he knew how to stand his ground with them.

Loki grinned, bringing himself into an unoccupied salle. He smirked, bringing himself into his ready position. "First to three disarms?" Loki asked, watching as Clint settled in front of him.

Clint nodded, moving into his ready position. He noticed he had a disadvantage, with Loki being so tall, he had a longer arm reach than him. It would be interesting, but Clint was sure that he would be stronger, his work with a bow helping build that strength. "That sounds reasonable."

Loki studied Clint. He took note of how the Prince would lean heavily into his swings. It made it difficult, and ended the first match swiftly. The next match, Loki managed to keep further away, away from the thrusting end of the spear, but found himself suddenly working against a stronger strength as well. The second match lasted only slightly longer than the first.