@gentapprentices prompts; August 12th, Wednesday - A man in love: on meeting and falling in love with their LI.
Somerled has three LI's, and two options for Polyam with Asra/Portia and Lucio/Portia. I'll touch briefly on all of his potential relationships below. These relationships occur in their respective routes except for the poly ones. Gonna go over their dynamics more than how they met, because I stick to canon in that respect.
Portia - Just two cottagecore cat people being cottagecore cat people. Somerled is absolutely endeared by Portia's bright attitude and her sheer moxie, and constantly entranced by her vast array of skills. He's very super big on constantly offering genuine praise and support, and when her insecurities come into play, he's quick to rationalize and offer the best advice he can. Together, they get into a lot of harmless shenanigans. I don't know how her route will end so right now their endgame canon is that he joins her at the palace as the head gardener, while she's head servant.
Asra - There's ANGST here. They didn't meet until pre-teenhood but Ć
se, Somerled's nanna, was quick to offer food and other goods to little Asra. Unfortunately she didn't have room at the then small shop, but she was trying to get him and Muri housing through her relatives when Lucio struck. Eventually Asra was able to move in and was briefly mentored by Ć
se and in part, Sommie, before the plague struck and she disappeared. After that, Sommie went to the palace to help find a cure, Asra left, we know what happens next. They have a really fun relationship with plenty of communication and compromise, neither wanting a repeat of what happened the last time they had a genuine disagreement. They constantly tease each other, and also encourage each other to reach out to others more. Now, Asra's long trips aren't lonely, because Somerled joins him, and the purpose of those trips is to find Ć
se rather than running from problems and bad memories ( spoiler: Ase is in the world's realm ).
Lucio: Somerled is constantly flabbergasted by Lucio; they have their moments were they both cut up and have fun but by and large, Lucio seems to have an issue with telling when something is appropriate, and Somerled is there to gently point him in the right direction. He's trying to help him mature, and in turn, Lucio is teaching Somerled to be more sociable and personable..and even less insecure. Lucios insecurities are very obvious to Somerled but the way he tends to disregard them in his typical extravagant fashion is a little inspiring. Of course, Somerled is also trying to smooth away those insecurities. I don't know where Lucios route will go, and while I Did have a placeholder endgame canon, I've decided to erase that and wait.
Portia and Asra - a mix of Asra and Portia's route! The fun never stops with this trio. They're all constantly making each other feel more comfortable with themselves, and bringing out the best in each other. Royal magician, head servant, and head gardener so they're very often/frequently at the palace, with trips to Portia's cottage or the shop to wind down or get some private time.
Portia and Lucio - Portia's route, spoilers! This one's my fave... This ship did exist before the update actually but I mean it just reaffirmed things. I don't have canon deviation here, things essentially went the same as they did in her route. Portia is constantly being doted on and treated like a goddess, and Somerled is often trying to de-escalate Portia and Lucio's ( harmless ) antics because they're both quite mischievous, or can be, and while Portia is a responsible person...Lucio isn't. And he can be a great hype man for his own weird schemes. Most of their time is spent at Portia's cottage. Portia and Somerled encourage Lucio to have a greater respect for the small things in life, and Lucio probably winds up encouraging Portia and Somerled to be more comfortable being themselves. There's actually a lot of insecurity deconstruction here...