The Painful Secret Pining Meme

You've been with them for a long time - years, perhaps, maybe even their whole life. More than that, you served as a true friend and supporter. No one could be as dedicated as you are, and you're content to stay in the shadows and let them shine if it just means you can stay by their side a little longer.

But you're not a perfect saint or a martyr of friendship. There are somewhat selfish undertones to your loyalty. You love them.

You feel like you’ve loved them forever, yet while it’s a great affection - no, “great” is probably not enough - in your heart, these feelings are your secret, kept away from everyone…possibly from the object of your desire themself! After all, you couldn’t burden them with anything like that. So, you’ll allow your own emotions to come in second place.

Of course, you haven’t allowed yourself to figure out how this could come back to haunt you in the end, could you? What about when your love moves on to someone who’s “more than a friend?” They won’t need you as much any more. Can you take into account the moment when you snap and can’t hold back the truth any more? And even if you’re really “together,” others won’t know if you keep your relationship under lock and key, and you’ll have to endure others approaching your lover.

Then again, the shoe could be on the other foot. You could be the side being pined after. Will you ever realize your friend’s feelings; if you do, can you return them? After you are certain that you do, will it be too late? Can one burst of passion lead you both to something that changes your relationship forever?

• Basically, it’s a meme about (one-sided) love one friend has for another over a long time. Devotion, angst, all that.
• Thread out withheld desires, stoic facades, attempts at leaving this all behind, anger, awkwardness, breaking down, confessions, and all that.
• Comment with your character and preferences. You might want to include your smut/no smut status.
• Mention if you’d like your character to be the pining or the pined for.

Companion to Royalty Meme


There's one truth you must know of royalty: though power may lay in their hands, the crown is a cage. Whether you've always been noble, came into this position recently by complete surprise, or a simple person caught in the fray, you're realizing that leaders actually lead very little - even down to choosing who they spend their most intimate moments with. From eternal bonds of matrimonies to the distractions provided by courtesans, the people behind the throne make the rules. They cannot risk losing control of their most elevated and strategically placed pawn with a match gone wrong, which could create a domino effect and doom possibly thousands.

So, what part do you play in this game?

• Lifetime Royal: This is what you've been raised to do.
• Sudden Royal: You just learned of your position, which has been secret from you your entire life, or you unexpectedly inherited the job.
• Spouse: You're to be married to nobility.
• Concubine or Courtesan: For the royal, you're to be a sexual diversion.
• Unaffiliated: You're either a lower-ranking noble or a peasant, but you're free from all the machinations of the shadowy cabal...for now.

How willing are you?

• Completely Willing: Either you love the person you know you'll be matched with, or you're excited about the possibilities.
• Wary: There's no choice in the matter for you, so you may as well approach this situation cautiously.
• Unwilling: You didn't want to be matched up with someone. At all. Ever.

What path will you follow, once you're set upon it (there is, after all, little choice for the chosen ones)?

1. Prepared for This: Either you're a royal and have been one since birth, or you knew you'd marry or sexually entertain one.
2. Make Up for Lost Time: This life wasn't the one you lived until now, but times change. You're important or will be a companion to a very important person, like it or not.
3. A Sacrificial Token: Somewhere along the line, your people royally pissed off someone in a key position. So, in an attempt to smooth out relations, you've been given away as a gift to the highest power, either as a spouse for a political alliance or as a concubine or courtesan.
4. Pomp and Circumstance: All proper, this arrangement. You're to be married, as you've been promised to each other by your respective families. Consummation on the wedding night is key. Perhaps it's encouraged that the two of you act as if this is really a love match, to add insult to injury.
5. Genuine Love: Speaking of love matches, congratulations! You're one of the incredible few who gets to marry for love, so your lovemaking should be all the more enthused.
6. Only a Plaything: Heavy is the head who wears the crown, so you're expected to take on some side entertainment even if that's not your preference. Or you could be the courtesan...such a pretty, perfumed word for what the role really is...
7. Volunteered: You wanted this position, either of spouse or concubine. Your reasons are your own.
8. Cruel: You're powerful. You can do what you want to this person, a mere ant in comparison to you.
9. Forbidden: Even the most powerful can't have everything they want, such as someone who's promised to or with another; taking them for your own would create strife and destroy alliances, even to the point of tempting war.
10. Work Your Way Up: There's always a right tool for the job and you find no shame in using your own special tools to better your life.
11. Give Me an Heir: Whether you're legitimate or a concubine used as a surrogate, you must help in continuing the royal line.
12. Mutual Benefit: Both of you are comfortable with this arrangement because you're either compatible or it takes the pressure off of you otherwise.
13. Want to be More: Though you've been relegated to courtesan, you want to be there one and only spouse...no matter if that role is already filled or not.
14. Growing Affection: It may have started as all puppet strings and power plays, but now, you lo- care for them.
15. Loved Before: Before you became so important and powerful, before you became the focus of all the world, it seems, they were there with you. They were with you then, and you want them to be with you now. They ground you and they care about you for you.
16. Because You're Normal: They're outside of all the court's nonsense, and that's appealing to you. It's like a breath of fresh air.
17. WILDCARD

How to Play

• Comment with your character, preference, preferred role, and any other information.
• Reply to others.
• RNG or choose your options.