Arranged Marriage

[bostonhowler]

It's a trope near and dear to our hearts. Arranged marriage.

Maybe it's for the family. Maybe it's for a friend. Maybe you know the person and have been expected to marry them for years. Maybe it's the wedding day and you have no clue who it is you'll be tied to for your natural life. Maybe you've been married a while, and you're just now starting your life, away from the expectations of others. Or maybe, the "others" are watching, waiting, making sure this marriage sticks.

Prompts for those who need them:



Reasons:

1. Station → You come from a royal, noble, or otherwise distinguished family who has chosen a suitable spouse for you.
2. Feud → You are being married to put an end to the bitter enmity between your two families.
3. Economics → Your economic state and/or your station will improve through the union, though one of you may be marrying down.
4. Empire → You and your spouse are merging your businesses and/or property to create something more influential or profitable.
6. Tribute → You have been offered as a gift or appeasement, alternately you're the spoils of war.
8. Bloodline → Carrying on your distinguished family name has fallen to you and the equally well-bred spouse of your family's selection.
7. Disapproval → Your marriage has been arranged to keep you away from the person with whom you truly wish to be.

Scenario:

1. First meeting → This is the very first time you're meeting your future spouse.
2. Courtship → To get to know each other and encourage affection, your family has approved of you going on dates.
3. Engagement party → Be it a huge, formal affair or a small, intimate get together, you're celebrating (or pretending).
4. Wedding day → The big day!
5. Reception → The big party!
6. Wedding night → Every meme needs a smut prompt, right?
7. Honeymoon → Where will you go with your new spouse and what will you do there?
8. Been at this a while → Just starting to get to know the other person

Comments

[southernreaper]

Talking just generally doesn't go well for him. He gets tongue tied, and trying to be honest while not being too honest is just hard! He flicks her hair over her shoulder, settling his hand on her hip. He kisses the tip of her nose, and smiles.

"Alright. You can ask me anything. You know that, right?" He says. His life, except for a few sore subjects, is an open book and has been since he arrived at the mansion. Most people know him pretty well from rumors if nothing else.

[goingthroughaphase]

She returns the smile, resting one hand on his arm. "I know. But still I don't think I know all that much about you. The little things, like your favorite color, or what kind of music you listen to."

[southernreaper]

He chuckles, watching her. "The little things, huh?" He says. "Favorite color is blue. Deep blue, kinda almost black but not quite." He shrugs one shoulder. "You can get the same color out of metal, if you know what you're doing. Music, that depends. In the forge, I listen mostly to older rock. Aerosmith, Guns 'N' Roses, Metallica, things like that. In the car, it's country." He admits. Josh makes fun of his country listening, calling him a hick. Kevin just shoves him away, and ignores him.

[goingthroughaphase]

She tilts her head a bit as she looks at him. There are a few things she wants to ask, but she isn't sure which to ask first. Eventually she settles on, "How do you get color from metal?"

[southernreaper]

He grins. He loves talking about metal and working with it. Ever since he came to the mansion, he'd wanted to continue his metalwork. Luckily, the professor had been very encouraging about that. Even if there were some - Cessily, he's thinking of you - who refused to stay out of his workshop, and eventual forge.

"It depends on the type of metal. Heat treatments bring out different colors in metals. Then, if you mix ores, sometimes, you get interesting combinations and colors. Doesn't make it easier to work with - makes some down right dangerous or tedious - but it's fun to experiment." He plans on giving her a key to his forge so that she can go out there whenever she wants. It can be their own little refuge.

[goingthroughaphase]

She can't help smile a bit as she listens to him talk. It was a subtle change, but the way his eyes seemed to light up when he started talking about metal work was...cute.

"So what are your favorite kinds of metals that you like to work with?"

[southernreaper]

He loves working with metal. There's a rigidity to it's flexibility. He knows that sounds dumb, but it's the truth. Besides, there's a few things that he's been practicing. He hopes to get the courage to follow through, but there's no guarantee.

"Tin's a good one, even if it is lightweight. It mixes well with a few types of metal to make something stronger. Iron, always. It's got a lot of applications. But there are a lot of subcategories of metal." He glances at her. "You can't find this fascinating. You sure you wanna hear about it?"

[goingthroughaphase]

She laughs softly. "I'll admit, it's not really my thing," she says. "But I wanna know what you like. Besides, I don't usually get to hear you talk this much."

Which is true, honestly. She'd always thought of Kevin as someone who was rather quiet and reserved, so it was nice to get to see him talk about his passions.

[southernreaper]

He kisses her, quick and hard. People don't like listening to him talk - it doesn't help that he doesn't talk much - so for her to say so is... sweet.

"Well, I figured when we got back, I'd get you your own key to the forge." He says, quietly. "No reason I need a place to hide from my wife, now is there?" He asks. "You're always welcome out there, alright?" It's usually just him and Mimsy out there anyway. No one else comes out there, unless it's to force him to quit working to go do something stupid... like eat.

[goingthroughaphase]

The sudden kiss takes her by surprise, but she returns it while she can. Looking up at him again, she smiles. "Thank you," she says quietly. "You'll give me a tour of it when we get back, right?"

[southernreaper]

"Of course." He says, pulling her against him. "All you have to do is ask, and I'll do just about anything for you." He won't say anything because that's dangerous. But he'll do his damnedest to make sure she has everything she wants and needs.

[goingthroughaphase]

Reaching up, she gently cups his cheek. "It's too bad that we didn't really get to know each other before all this," she says softly. "But this is still...nice."

[southernreaper]

He turns his head and kisses her palm. "Like I said, ask anything you want." He says gently. "But I don't know your favorite color." He says, smiling a little. "I know you like to go out dancing with Jubilee, but that's about it."

[goingthroughaphase]

She laughs softly, gently stroking his cheek. "Pink," she replies. "Rogue makes fun of me for being basic, but I can't help what I like. I'm a little surprised you didn't know that, though."

With her party girl status, she isn't exactly shy of letting people know what she likes or how she's feeling.

[southernreaper]

"Is that why Josh put a pink bow on Mimsy?" He'd wondered about it, but had decided that arguing wasn't going to solve anything. Besides, Josh did things that only made sense to Josh most of the time.

Still, he's curious about her. He hasn't been paying much attention, the last couple of years, except when he's experimented in the kitchen and Storm has asked for feedback.

[goingthroughaphase]

"Either that, or Mimsy picked it out herself," she jokes softly. "So was Josh in charge of all the decorations?"

[southernreaper]

"I think Keller and Sooraya kept him away from most of the decorations." He says, with a grin. After all, they're not still covered in glitter. "But he was in charge of gettin' me and Mimsy ready." Josh had been a pal throughout all of this. He owes his former boyfriend a great deal. "And in charge of the dance music." He says with a grin.

[goingthroughaphase]

She giggles. "I'll have to thank him when we get back then." Though she's content that that won't be for a while.

At that moment, a knock on the door interrupts them, and she gently untangles herself from him to slip off the bed, taking a moment to fix the bathrobe before going to open the door.

[southernreaper]

Kevin puts the blanket over himself. He hadn't thought to bring a bathrobe - and in fact, doesn't own one - but he's still naked in the bed, and there's no reason he needs to get up. Still, he's a little disappointed that she's all bundled up in her robe again.

He wonders if they're going to have a problem. When he can be naked? He is. So, when that door closes, he's stripping out of his layers and just relaxing on the floor with Mimsy, usually. Or in bed. But if she's going to have a problem with it, he'll have to work out something with her.

[goingthroughaphase]

After tipping the delivery person, Kitty closes the door and returns with the two pizzas, settling back onto the bed and placing the two boxes between them.

"Here we go," she says eagerly. Now that the smell of food was so close, she's reminded of the fact that she actually is pretty hungry.

[southernreaper]

Kevin finally pushes himself up. He takes his pizza, and immediately opens it. Everything but onions, olives and anchovies. He loves it. He waits for her to start eating before he starts eating himself. But he's starving. One thing he and Rogue have in common is the fact that they both have to eat a lot. Their powers consume a lot of calories during the day - and night - because they can never switch them off.

So, he's used to eating a lot at once, and then going back for more.

Still, she got him a pretty hefty pizza. He'll say this for the random pizza place, the pizza isn't bad at all.

"I'm gonna run down to the soda machine. You want some?" He asks, pulling his jeans back on.

[goingthroughaphase]

Kitty, meanwhile, generally doesn't eat too much. She's hungrier than normal at the moment, though, but her pizza was definitely a size smaller than Keven's.

Taking a moment to swallow her current mouthful, she nods. "Yes, please," she finally manages. "A Sprite, or a root beer if they have any."

[southernreaper]

He nods and kisses her cheek, heading out to get them a pair of sodas. He's thirsty and the calories won't hurt him, though the caffeine might. So, he settles on root beer for both of them, because he needs to sleep at some point tonight.

Coming back, he opens the door. "It was Mountain Dew or Mug. I got the Mug." He passes her one of the bottles of root beer.

He settles on his side of the bed again, and goes back to his food. "So, why vegetarian?" He asks, sipping his root beer. He's heard, vaguely a few reasons why, but those were from unreliable sources.

[goingthroughaphase]

"Thanks," she says as she takes the bottle from him, twisting it open for a quick sip.

She contemplates the best answer as she takes another bite from her pizza slice. "There's a few different reasons," she says with a shrug. "My family's Jewish, so my parents already eat Kosher, so pork is already out. Plus my family has a history of health problems, so it's better to avoid some of the riskier foods. And...I dunno, I just feel bad about it. Some of those documentaries they show about how animals are treated to prepare them for slaughter are kind of horrifying."

[southernreaper]

He loves cooking with ham and sausage, but he can work around that, for her. It's not going to be a hardship at all. "So that's why you loved the eggplant parmesan that was made last week." Yes, it's one of his, no he's not admitting it. Not yet, anyway.

"But I tend to cook a lot, so it's no problem to not make meat for you." He's even been branching out in his vegetarian dishes. So, she'll have to try his experiments. "Is there anything else I should avoid?"