bakerstreet | More than arranged

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More than arranged

Arranged Marriage Turned More

To have and to hold, you said, till death do us part, all while the sharp, swinging pendulum of obligation hung overhead. But how could you have truly meant those words? This union has been tainted from the start, forever bearing the chains of an arranged marriage. It would be understandable if you couldn't bear to look at your new life partner, eternal reminder of your stolen future that they are, much less like them.
Much less love them...

Still, things can change.

You could realize that they are in the same boat as you or, that when compared to others around you,
they are the lesser of evils. Perhaps you even open up to the idea of a friendship; at the very least,
an alliance may be in order to become a power couple in a perilous world. From that innocent decision or sense of self-preservation, a new feelings sparks. Something like affection.

Something, you realize in the wake of speeding heartbeats, like love.

Will you acknowledge this? Can the two of you have a happily ever after - happier than if you'd met in another fashion - or will you hold firm in your distaste?

how to play.

- Everybody loves "couples forged by less-than-ideal circumstances" tropes!
- Comment with your character, prefs, all that good stuff.
- Reply to others.
- IDEC where you set your threads, it's wide open. Fantasy world with hairy hobbits, old-timey lands, future AUs, do a space marriage for all I care. I'm sure they're still getting married in Star Wars or whatever.

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[Maybe an AU on the whole concept of wiping out mutants through the water source from Logan, where now, idek, mutants who have been tested and found not to have their x-genes damaged are paired off to continue the mutant race? Or something else entirely:D]

[Within her canon, it'd be easy to justify an arranged marriage to settle a feud between survivors, solidify a merger of communities, a matter of tribute/capture, or to help ensure everyone's got skin in the game for some kind of longterm deal (our meds for your food or w/e). (It'd also probably be be easiest if it's Dawn/Grady Hospital making the deal rather than Rick & co.!) If you've got another idea, or if there's something in your canon that you like the idea of, I'm all in favor! Interested in both canon and cross-canon CR, happy to do things in her world, your character's world, some kind of forced-marriage jamjar, or a complete AU! This is one of my favourite tropes, and I'll gladly play it any way I can.]

(( it'd be easy enough to au the end of her movie or take her from earlier in canon and her mother is incredibly religious and misogynistic, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that she'd be interested to marry Carrie off to someone in a very Old Testament sort of way. In any case, I'm open to suggestion! ))

Edited 2018-07-24 02:11 (UTC)

[ pre-GotG v. 2; Ego uses her for a bargaining chip because he's Ego. ]

Edited 2018-07-24 02:19 (UTC)

( ooc: my pref rundown to avoid tl;dr. to sum it all up - open to anybody, the more unconventional the better; i'm especially a fan of crossover with fantasy canons like tolkien, GoT, et al. )

[[Some background - Pyra is a Blade, which in simple terms means that as well as a powerful sword, you get a cute girl to help you use its magic as part of the bargain. Naturally she doesn't have a whole lot of choice in who wields her, especially if she's a national treasure that was handed off as part of a peace deal or something. But she's a sweetheart at her core, so she could quickly come around to her new Driver after some time together.]]

[As a Crown Prince from a fantasy setting, Alric is definitely prone to winding up in an arranged marriage, especially if she's regarded as being like a minor deity or royalty or something from another nation. If that sounds good to you, any special requests/preferences/etc?]

((Details I’m interested in playing with below. Mix and match!

SETTING
A —	Canon. Your character’s or mine’s.
B —	Historical period + fantasy (throw in some magic, nonhuman races, fantastical creatures, etc). Urban fantasy along with “generic medieval times with fantasy trappings” are both fine. 1920s Europe, Prohibition America, Holy Roman Empire and westernizing Japan are all favs. If you want to go full Harry Potter or Percy Jackson that’s also cool.
C —	Cyberpunk from soft to hardcore it’s a hard-knock life.

SCENARIO
1 —	Someone’s kidnapped your brand new waifu/husbando before the new spouse smell has even worn off and you’ve had to take time out of your day to rescue them/pay the ransom/negotiate a shady deal for their release. How badly were they roughed up in captivity? Are you going to hold them close and comfort their trauma away? Or is this the time to inform them they’ve cost you quite a bit of trouble and they’re going to be repaying their debt to you one way or another?
2 —	One of you has had a bad day at work. Let the boss down, failed to save the bystanders, lost the battle; you come slinking home at your lowest to a spouse not even of your choosing. Can they comfort you? Or is this going to turn ugly?
3 —	The night of your marriage is supposed to be an exciting time. Instead you find yourself sharing a room with a virtual stranger after all the partying’s done. It’s time to get out of your fancy clothes and sleep the day’s exhaustion off. But maybe you should talk about this marriage thing first? Or at the least, clarify if the rapacious bodice ripping sex everyone expects you to be having is going down or not.
4 —	It’s your first public event as a married couple and you’re expected to make a show of it. A ball, a charity dinner, a festival; whatever it is the world is expecting to see an happy, besotted couple. Can you stand corroborating lies about your nuptial bliss and smiling through gritted teeth long enough to get through?
5 —	Everybody keeps asking it: when are you going to have that baby to show the unity your marriage is meant to represent? It’s probably time to sit down and talk about that.
6 —	While on your honeymoon things go wrong. The ship sinks and the two of you wash up alone on a deserted island. The private plane goes down in the mountains. Your starship malfunctions and you have to escape pod down to an unknown planet. Whatever it is it’s now just the two of you against the elements alone. Can you make this work when you really have no escape from eachother?
7 —	Pick a fairytale! This is the arranged marriage that happens (during or afterwards) in the “happily ever after”. Koschei the Deathless, the 12 Dancing Princesses, Beauty and the Beast, and Sleeping Beauty (straight up or Disneyfied) all work if you need ideas.

RELATIONSHIP
Rivals —	You’ve been competing ever since you first knew of eachothers’ existence. Getting along may not be as easy as a few vows and an exchange of rings.
Enemies —	You were enemies and now you’re a sign of peace (forced or amicably agreed). If you can’t make it work neither can your respective sides. But how can you just forget the wrongs you’ve done one another?
Strangers —	Complete and utter mysteries to one another! It’s a little bit exciting, but it’s also repulsive to be handed over like furniture to someone who doesn’t know the first thing about you.
Fan —	One of you looks up to the other. They’re your hero and you’ll do anything to be worthy in their eyes. Whether your new spouse is comfortable with your starstruck admiration, and won’t take advantage of it, is another matter.
Snatched —	One or both of you were engaged to someone else, the true love of your life. You went through with this marriage due to a lack of options out, but that doesn’t mean you’re happy about it. Or plan to be faithful.
Servitude —	One of you was the faithful servant of the other. A bodyguard, a butler, a tutor. Now you find yourself on equal footing and It’s Weird. Reshaping your entire relationship with one another isn’t proving to be easy.
Bad End —	There was an arrangement alright, but it didn’t quite make marriage. One of you was given to the other as a concubine, a bedwarmer, a pretty bauble meant to seal a treaty or some other deal. In time you might evoke enough affection in your consort to make it to spouse. But you’re going to have to earn some good will first.

Other details: I have Squall [FF8] here, but I can also pull out Tony Stark, Pepper Potts [MCU] and Takeshi “where morals go to die” Kovacs [Altered Carbon novels]. May/December is fine, 16+ for any smut, no prolapse or vore. Open to playing fast and loose with the options above. If you’re hankering for something different drop me a plotting comment.))

((Points at eyes, points at you!! Interested in doing something with these two? Something something canon (Rinoa's position as a general's daughter suddenly becomes a political bonus and way of Galbadia making nice with SeeD?) or AU is all fine with me!))

( well look at this! as much as a possible canon thing is fun, i am intrigued at a possible au and if you have any ideas for it, because au's are awesome. )

((Let's seeee we can do the obvious princess angle, with Rinoa being the princess of a country and Squall being the prince of the neighboring country. Their marriage is supposed to bring peace, but not everyone agrees so cue kidnapping and assassination shenanigans,

Conversely Squall could be the king of space!Sparta. A review of the entire kingdom leads to Rinoa being chosen as his ideal queen, but Squall's not exactly onboard. Thus begins the minsters forcing Squall on dates with Rinoa against his will while she's tasked with mellowing him out so he stops solving every political problem with war.

If you're up for a class drama one of them could be an impoverished noble, while the other's from a rich merchant family. Marriage happens for political reasons. While on honeymoon they get stuck somewhere, either in the wilderness together or hostage by some malcontents and they have to help eachother get home in one piece.

Or, tbh, replaying Tarzan and one of them's Jane and the other's Tarzan would probably be hilarious. It's practically canon anyway....]

( it might be the obvious angle, but man i do like the idea because i can be a bit of a sucker for that kind of nice cliches, i think they will call them, and yep i can kind of see that coming since political shennanigans and for some is better if there's no peace actually.

in the case of the impoverished noble, it will be more for economical reasons than political. i mean, i guess it wasn't that odd for an impoverished noble to find prospective marriages with others just by the weight and prestige a tittle carried to the person that was marrying them for it. so many things to do.

we can go with the cliche with the princess/prince marrying to bring peace...maybe economical power if you want to one crown or whatever was having monetary issues with the keeping up of the war. )

[ f/m or f/f, 21+. ]

[Want a thing with an original setting Crown Prince who has his own emotionally-influenced magic-ish elemental powers? I figure they could have been acquainted from childhood (in case Alric had gone along on diplomatic missions to Arendelle before the gates were locked), or they could have never met before. I'm up for whatever other twists you'd like to add, too.]

[ i'm not interested, sorry! thank you, anyway, though. ]

[No worries, the reply's appreciated!]

It had been a complicated situation.

Remy was the rightful leader of the United Guilds, left to his dear friend Belladonna after an objection to their nuptials lead to death and exile. In the years passed on the leader of the Assassin's had grown cold and began to buy into the rumors and lies that had grown in the rift between them. Ororo had not been shocked that Remy finally came to her when he decided the situation finally needed to be addressed. After all, she was not a woman who was quick to ire; she'd led Wakandans, Morlocks and X-Men with equal ease. She was adored by her former subjects, her former followers and her current team with equal reverence among them.

So she agreed to help her dear friend with this particular problem of succession and diplomacy and found the truth was far murkier than she would have liked. Belladonna Boudreaux was a smart, pretty woman - dangerously effective in her leadership of both guilds and after the first conversation, Ororo knew that this was going to get worse before it got better. Belladonna had needled them both that Remy had obligations to his guild and his wife, and while Remy did his best to pacify both his technical spouse and his friend, Ororo's legendary patience wore thin near-instantly.

Gone was her charming Remy, fettered by regrets and a life abandoned before it seemed he knew what to feel about it. She knew it wasn't her battle until Belladonna, quite pettily dragged her in. It was bad enough the Ororo refused to capitulate to Belladonna's attempts to get a reading of the nature of her relationship with Remy. Politeness was ignored, the constant attempts to breach her privacy rankled Ororo. Still when they weren't immediately speaking of the Thieves and Assassins, Remy seemed to like his wife and worked to ease Ororo's frustration with her. However, Belladonna proved to be as clever as her old friend one night and without Remy around to assuage her, Storm rose fantastically to what felt like bait.

"Stop chasing what's mine before I wipe your charming little compound off the map with you in it, Miss Boudreaux."

Belladonna, surprisingly, took a great deal of actual offense at a strange woman claiming her husband - affection true even after years of resentment and longing and laid down an ultimatum.

"A castle cannot have two rulers and a king can't keep two queens. Make him honest and I'll forget how he came out of exile to break my heart. Or you can admit you're lying and him and his guild can suffer the consequences for breaking our last agreement."

That had been a few whirlwind hours ago and despite being so tired, Ororo couldn't bear to sleep - waiting in the hotel room so graciously provided by Belladonna for her new husband to return from the United Guild compound safely.

It had all been a big gamble. Marrying Belle and bringing peace and unity to the guilds. He'd been a child still. At least that's how he felt about it now. How Smug and giddy he'd been while his father and brother had draped the Thieves Guild's colours over his shoulders and tied his tie. He's won. He was marrying The Princess. Remy had known of Julien Boudreaux's hatred for the Thieves and for him in particular. He hadn't expected to be challenged to the death on his wedding night however and in a few short minutes his whole life had been upturned. Remy had never quite recovered from the shock of it all.

When he returned to New Orleans, bringing Ororo with him he hadn't thought that it could ever be worse than the night he'd killed his best friend (and wife)'s brother in self-defence.
He had been wrong.

When Remy had been a boy, the Thieves' cache had primarily gone to to Candra. Candra was gone now, like his brother and his father and Julien. With her gone, the Guilds were rich. As he peeled back the layers, delving into the details of the business, it unsettled him. Wealthy and exotic Trinkets won more for bragging rights were slowly being replaced with contraband. Guns. Drugs. Girls. The current guild cared less about a challenge and a pretty treasure and much more efficiently about making a profit. Belle's influence no doubt. She was if nothing else... efficient.

Remy was away for hours, learning about the business of the unified guild and the changes while he'd been gone. It was exhausting and he could only look forward to getting back to the hotel and 'Ro where things were simpler. It was late when Remy got back, moving silently in case 'Ro was sleeping. He wouldn't expect her to wait up--not this late.

Edited 2018-07-26 04:59 (UTC)

Ororo startled a little when Remy entered, moved from long thoughts from the sound of the door. They both knew that in a better mood, she would have been asleep and Remy could have made run of the place before actually waking her - which meant that her attempts to calm down were failing.

She'd been terrified when Belladonna made her demand, hating that she contributed to his record of complicated romances. And the alternative was far worse: the head of the Thieve's Old Boss paraded with those of the Thieves cut down to make room for her new blood, to show what happened when you crossed the Queen of the Unified Guilds.

Whatever he'd seen meeting with them seem to weigh on him and Ororo had to bite back a sob.

"Remy..." she breathed, moving to embrace him as the door shut. "I don't suppose you could ever forgive me for being so reckless?"

The door closed and his arms slipped around her, drawing her in tightly against him so he could breath in her scent. There was no use locking the door behind him so he didn't bother. Locks wouldn't keep out any honest Thieves or Assassins if they truly wanted in.

He presses his lips against her throat, the smell of her hair and her skin melting away the smells of Louisiana and he sighs gently. Tiredness but contentment. If he weren't tired, if he didn't have a million concerns in the back of his mind, he might have taken in her state a little more quickly.

"I reckon I might forgive you just bout anythin' if you're gonna greet me like this every time I walk in a room. Now what's this all 'bout?"

Edited 2018-07-26 05:39 (UTC)

Ororo blinks, confusion that veers suddenly into anger as lightning cracks the sky and she forgets to breathe. For a moment she can think of nothing but striking this awful woman with the fattest bolt of lightning she can make. And then she remembers that that anger and her mouth got them into this.

Her eyes clear from milky-white and Ororo as to choke down a sob for the second time in about as many minutes. Belladonna didn't tell him - which means she's left with the bag.

"I did something foolish," Ororo's began slowly, voice too careful. "because I think Miss Boudreaux was ready to hurt you and the men who used to follow you if I didn't agree."

The lightning splits the sky and that's Remy's cue to pay attention properly. He pulls away enough to look at her. Properly look at her and he brings one hand to touch her face. He's concerned now, waiting for her eyes to clear and the expression to settle on her face. He draws her into the room, away the door and windows and to the large king-sized bed that takes up much of the room.

"I ain't doubti' your intuition, Stormy but... Belle ain't been anythin' but gracious since we got here..."

He doesn't doubt her in what she's saying, he's just trying to understand it. He knows of course southern politeness and hospitality. He's grown up with it but he knows that Ororo wouldn't be upset over nothing. Something has happened and he needs to know.

"What did you agree to?"

"She... pressed the issue concerning the nature of our relationship, under the pretense of showing me around and learning more about me. Since I seemed so important to you"

Ororo huffs, eyes going to the floor in embarrassment. "And I fell for it."

Her eyes flutter closed as she recalls the overly saccharine questions, the smug expression on Belladonna's face whenever she routed the conversation away from sex.

"It was fine until she started sounding like you might not walk away from one of your meetings with her. And I said something I shouldn't have, which she then ran with."

She leans into his touch, sighing. This was a mistake. Him trusting her, her agreeing to this without his knowledge, trusting Belladonna to tell him.

"I was told that I either had to make an honest man of you and we would be allowed to leave unharmed, I would have to be ready to bury you and a hundred men the moment I moment I said no."

All in all... he can't be surprised or even Angry. It sounds exactly like the Belladonna Boudreaux he befrended at ten years old and who became his best and closest friend until he fled New Orleans.

"If anyone is t'blame here it's gotta be me for not warnin' you properly 'bout Belle."

He sighs deeply and strokes her skin gently in a soothin' manner. He had been foolish to put his trust in Belle but even now he can't be angry with her.

"So.. I'm guessin' you didn't say No then, since I'm still here. Awful brave of you thinkin' I c'n ever be an 'honest man'..."

"That woman is evil all on her own Remy, don't take responsibility for her."

Ororo hadn't meant to bristle, but how could he claim this woman's wrongs. Surely he'd seen the things she was up to while running things. Remy, for any of his failings would never be so crass or common to run drugs or guns, to say nothing of the rumors of girls under the the guild's 'protection'.

"Why would I say no, Remy? You've never lied to me."

Remy would like to argue that Belladobna isn’t evil but that just feels like picking an argument. Belle is the person raised by her father and bitter from loss. He understands her and in his head they come from the same twisted world of thieves and assassins. But he can’t deny that he doesn’t like what has happened to the guilds. The same way Marius had raised Belle, Jean-Luc had raised Remy. The theft was more important than the value. The hunt and challenge and finess... it was why he could be so damn frivolous when it came to his targets.

Things had changed when the guilds unified and he wasn’t sure how to fix it. He wasn’t sure it was his place anymore to fix it. Perhaps he was mentally preparing to run again... not for his sake this time but for Ororo’s.

“So. You gonna make an honest man outta me after all these years?”

Ororo blinks at him before sighing and pulling away to walk over to the little office table in the room. At the corner sat a flat little ringbox and a piece of luxurious looking paper under it. Another gift supplied in Belladonna’d ‘generousness’, all they would have to do is sign and wear the rings provided.

“In all the time I’ve known you, the only thing I’ve ever seen you ever guard jealously was your freedom. No price to high, no choice too difficult if it meant keeping your agency.”

She’d half expected him to be furious with her, ready to walk into death because she took the choice from him.

“You should have chosen this, Remy. But we’re here because I panicked and now my heart aches. I’m no better than anyone else who’s tried to make you into something without your say.”

He hadn't expected that. Words. Threats. Ultimatums. Those were so much more Belle's style. As he registered the document and the ringbox sitting on the table, he could feel his stomach clench and tighten. He might be a Thief but Marriage still meant something to him. And he had avoided it along with all the other long-term responsibilities.

"This ain't on you, 'Ro." He says quietly. "You made th best choice you could... given th' options."

There was no good choice truthfully. Only painful choices. And in Remy's case, no choice at all. It was bittersweet and vindictive. Exactly what he should have expected coming home.

“I did enough to get us into this.” Ororo huffs, extremely dissatisfied with the whole mess. Sweeping her hair to one shoulder, she turns to face him, leaning on the desk.

“Belladonna seemed to lose her composure when I claimed you - she seems to think I’m just here to look pretty on your arm.”

She meets his eye finally, exhaustion beginning to settle in her features. Just a little more thought and she would have been able to out maneuver the manipulation, but no. It seemed that both of them were out of their depth seeing Remy’s other woman.

“I get the feeling she didn’t mean to show her hand and is trying to overcompensate.” She chuckles mirthlessly. “You’re alike that way.”

Belladonna never did like the fact that Remy slept around. All that was supposed to end though. The fantasy that he would settle down to lead the guilds with her as his wife... It hadn't worked out that way but most days he didn't regret how things turned out.

"Non... she wouldn't like that claim of yours at all. Figure she was gonna do somethin' similar an you beat her to it. Made her change her plans an too angry t'think of somethin proper..."

Belle might have tolerated his dalliances as a boy knowing they were to be married one day. She might have even been smug about it each time a fling of his ended. But now, when he should have already been hers, Remy's affairs with women, the way he looked at Ororo in a way he had never looked at her--no. It was a surprise she hadn't lost her composure sooner.

Still 'something proper' or not. Here they were. Tired, joyless and with a threat hanging over them.

Running her hands through her hair, she sighs hard. Of all the people she considered precious, Remy was very near the top of the list - on paper, this should have been an easy choice. They adored each other, found comfort and peace together - no matter how fleeting.

“It’s a shame.” She takes a breath and can’t help but approach the bed slowly, almost shy as she fussed with the hem of her dress. “I think I trust you more than I ever did T’Challa.”

It’s something that everyone knows: anyone who tries to come between Gambit and his Stormy was in for a rude awakening. Correct or not, she tried not to indulge such rumors, especially the salacious ones, but she had seen T’Challa’s insecurities. She’d seen his dreams of her surrounded by a harem filled with people she loved most in the world - chief among them Yukio, Logan and Remy. Even when things were good, she’d noticed that he had no place among her lovers. More awkwardly, her ex-husband hadn’t exactly been incorrect.

“I think Miss Boudreaux still holds a great amount of affection for you, twisted as it is by resentment.” Gingerly, she sits on the bed once more, as if his very proximity would be enough to set her aflame.

“Do you love her too?”

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More than arranged

kylo ren ( STAR WARS ) ota

Rogue | xmcu

beth greene | the walking dead | ota

Carrie White | Carrie (2013) | OTA

mantis | mcu | ota

Laurent of Vere | Captive Prince

Abel | Starfighter

Declan Lynch | The Raven Cycle

King Thranduil {The Hobbit} Open

belle ❀ beauty and the beast (2017) → ota

Mary Crawley | Downton Abbey | M/F

Pyra | Xenoblade Chronicles 2 | F/M, castmates

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Squall Leonhart/Tony Stark/Pepper Potts/Takeshi Kovacs | OTA

rinoa heartilly | final fantasy viii | f/m

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Alfred ( Vikings ) OTA

elsa | frozen | ota

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Remy LeBeau / X-Men / OTA

I hope you like text, AUing slightly lol

Oh I DO!

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I redid the tag cause I hated the last one lol

Nico Acosta | OC | M/F

Evie Montgomery | OC | F/M

Sophia Nate ~ Super Robot Wars ~ m/f

Vex'ahlia ➵ Critical Role ➵