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]

He takes her hand. "Kitty." He says softly. "If you want to go to school, you should. Anywhere you want. And not online. Maybe... maybe take a break and actually go be normal for a while?" He doesn't want her to leave, but he thinks she's selling herself short.

[goingthroughaphase]

She looks up at him, surprised. Then she gives his hand a gentle squeeze. “It’s...complicated,” she says slowly. “Part of me kind of does want to just be normal. Go to school, have the whole college experience, y’know? But part of me...doesn’t.” She shrugs. “I like being at the institute, and I love everyone there. I like knowing that I have people I can always turn to, and I want to be there for them too. I want to be able to be close by, to help out whenever I can.”

She glances down at their hands. “Is it selfish...to want it all?”

[southernreaper]

He shakes his head. "How about this?" He frowns, for a moment, coming up with a game plan. "During breaks, you still do what we do. But the rest of the time, you're a college student." He smiles a bit crookedly. "And there's no reason you can't go to school in New York." He points out. "Miss Frost would give us one of her apartments, and we could stay there during the week, go back to the institute on weekends?"

[goingthroughaphase]

She glances up at him. “Would you be okay with that?” she asks. “Coming with me during the week?” She knows it can be crowded in New York, and she worries it might make him uncomfortable.

[southernreaper]

He shrugs. "I can commute back to the Mansion, where my forge is or find a way to rent space in the city. We'll bring Mimsy in with us, and she'll be fine." He squeezes her hand. "It's your choice, though. Do you want to do that?"

[goingthroughaphase]

She’s silent for a long moment. “I’ll...I’ll think about it,” she finally says. “I don’t want to make a decision yet, until I figure out what school I’d even want to go to.”

[southernreaper]

He nods. "That's fine. There's no rush, either." He's not worried about himself. They'll discuss the possibilities he's faced with when he knows more. Though there is one thing... "You ever hear of a show called 'Forged in Fire'?" He asks, digging into his omelet.

[goingthroughaphase]

Taking a bite of her own omelette, she looks up at him and shakes her head. “I don’t think so,” she says around a small mouthful. “What’s that?”

[southernreaper]

He grins. "Well, it's a competition." He says, after swallowing his bite. "First round is to usually make a knife, without a handle in three hours. Then, second round is fixing the errors, and attaching a handle in about three hours." He sips his sweet tea. "Third round is three to five days, at your home forge, making an iconic weapon from history." He shrugs. "I... applied to be on the show." He admits, softly.

[goingthroughaphase]

She looks up in surprise. “You did? Wow! That sounds awesome! Have you heard anything back yet?”

[southernreaper]

He shakes his head. "Not yet. But if I do hear back, it's filmed in Brooklyn, believe it or not." He loves watching Forged in Fire. It's a great chance to see different techniques. "I just didn't want to surprise you if I did get it."

[goingthroughaphase]

She smiles brightly, placing her hand on his. “That’s great! I hope you get it. It sounds like it’d be a lot of fun.”

[southernreaper]

He turns his hand over and squeezes hers gently. "I think it would be. But they haven't even asked me for a Skype interview yet." He shrugs. "Maybe they won't." He doesn't know. He's hoping to have something in his email when they get home.

[goingthroughaphase]

“You never know!” she says, trying to be encouraging. “Maybe they’re just running a bit late.”

[southernreaper]

He shrugs. He's worried about it, but only because he's embarrassed by it. "So, I'll have to wear my suppressor that day." He says, softly, poking at his omelet. "I don't want me being a mutant to be the reason they let me on the show."

[goingthroughaphase]

She can't help a slight frown, sad that such a precaution has to be done. But she nods in understanding anyway. "Right," she replies. It made sense, unfortunately. There were too many people out there who only see them as just mutants, whether that gives them a reason to hate them, or use them as a gimmick.

[southernreaper]

Unfortunately, for him, it's also a safety issue. That's a lot of people in a small area, and if he's going to be standing close to them, he doesn't want to accidentally give himself away by killing someone... or even just removing their shirt.

"But, let's worry about that another day. Right now, we've gotta eat and then head for Disney." He's trying to be upbeat and failing. "You ever been?"

[goingthroughaphase]

She smiles, gently squeezing his hand, recognizing how much he tries. "Not in Florida," she admits. "My parents took me to Disneyland in California once, when I was younger, but that's about it."

[southernreaper]

"California, huh?" He says, curious. "I've never been to either one. Dad and I couldn't afford it, after Mama died." His father had later explained it to thirteen-year-old Kevin: Her medical bills had devastated them. But it had been worth it. So big trips like Disney just wouldn't work.

"So, we'll have to explore together?"

[goingthroughaphase]

She nods. "Yeah, that sounds fun. I've heard that it has a lot more than the one in California, so I'm kind of excited to see as much as we can."

[southernreaper]

He smiles crookedly. "So, we don't have to explore it all in one day. You realize that, right?" He teases her.

He takes a bite of his omelette thinking about what they're going to do. "I think one of the restaurants has a reservation for us tonight." He double checks his phone. "Yeah, Victoria and Albert's." There's a star next to it, and Kevin clicks it. He snorts in amusement. "Apparently, we have to put on nice clothes for it." Josh's note says "dress up stupid".

[goingthroughaphase]

She giggles softly. "I know. There's a lot to do there, but we can take our time." The point of a vacation was to have fun, after all.

Taking another bite of her own omelette, she then sips on her coffee before speaking again. "Really? It's not too fancy, is it?" She doesn't think she has anything too formal in her bag.

[southernreaper]

"Well." Kevin doesn't know. "I think we'll have to google their dress code. Josh says I have to dress up, and there's some garment bags in the trunk. So maybe they thought that far ahead?" Josh would've. He doesn't know about whoever packed for Kitty.

[goingthroughaphase]

"Oh really?" She hadn't noticed the garment bags. She'll have to check and see - really, any of the girls probably could have packed something for her.

"What time's the reservation for?"

[southernreaper]

"Eight. So, we've got time to get there, get changed, and make our reservation." He shrugs and puts the phone down, finally truly digging into his omelette. He's hungry, but he's been so focused on her, that he hasn't been eating.

"Unless you just want to get a pizza again?" Smirk.