bakerstreet | Companion to royalty

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Companion to royalty

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)?

Prepared for This: Either you're a royal and have been one since birth, or you knew you'd marry or sexually entertain one.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
Volunteered: You wanted this position, either of spouse or concubine. Your reasons are your own.
Cruel: You're powerful. You can do what you want to this person, a mere ant in comparison to you.
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.
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.
Give Me an Heir: Whether you're legitimate or a concubine used as a surrogate, you must help in continuing the royal line.
Mutual Benefit: Both of you are comfortable with this arrangement because you're either compatible or it takes the pressure off of you otherwise.
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.
Growing Affection: It may have started as all puppet strings and power plays, but now, you lo- care for them.
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.
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.
WILDCARD

How to Play

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

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[Spouse, Unaffiliated, Concubine, or Suddenly Royal by virtue to being appointed as personal apothecary and/or caretaker to someone within the royal household. Yaone's from humble beginnings so she'll be Wary about all of this regardless of role. For paths, I'm most interested in 3, 6, 7, 10, 12, and 14 with her but I'm open to other ideas if you want to fire off one! No underage characters for shipping or smut, please.]

[Down for:

Lifetime Royal
Sudden Royal

Wary

1, 4, 5, 11, 12, 14.]

[Preferred role is lifetime royal as per canon--although I'd be happy to AU him as a human or fae prince in some sort of nebulous fantasy world. Willing to be the companion for castmates (Hela would be interesting).

If Loki is playing the royal, he may be a jerk at first, but will not be actively cruel or abusive.

ETA because my own icon gave me a thought: an option here is to have him in his canon time period where he was masquerading as Odin, with the companion gradually uncovering the secret. Not necessary, just a thought.]

Edited 2020-02-21 13:26 (UTC)

[ ooc: I’m thinking ..3 with Loki being a Fae prince?]

[Oh, yes! 3 is a very fae prompt and I am here for it. Do you want to start so you can establish background for Rey, or would you rather I come up with something?]

[ ooc: if you want to start, that could work! I’m thinking Rey was given as a sacrifice to appease the Fae people for whatever stupid thing her “Father” did. Marriage as a means of appeasement without realizing the power she has. ]

The Courts of Faerie, and the delineations between them, are hard to distinguish for the outside (read: human) observer. One may call them the Summer Court and the Winter Court, one may call them Seelie or Unseelie, Light and Dark elves, or something else entirely, and while those terms are all true and sometimes make for useful distinctions, the fae themselves have other ways of marking one from another, which are hard to put into the spoken word. They know who is who, though. Who is aligned with preservation, who is aligned with destruction.

Which is why it was such a brutal shock for Prince Loki of the Summer Court to learn he was adopted from the Unseelie as an infant. What he did in the aftermath of that discovery, Rey has not been told. It didn't affect humans and is therefore not human business. But the upshot seems to be that he is too connected, too powerful to be banished by his adoptive family, and yet untrusted. A wild card.

She's a gift, demanded by the Summer Court for whatever past offense her father committed, and to be turned over to Prince Loki as some sort of bribe, or maybe a distraction. It's not a great place for a mortal to be in; the prince's reputation is ambiguous. He's a trickster, a liar, a spinner of tales and a rebel, always waiting in the wings to disrupt the status quo. Marriage might even be something of a misnomer. He's over a thousand years old and will live several thousand more. While she may well remain his wife to the end of her days, there is no guarantee he'll be faithful. But at least the Summer Court has given her the dignity of the title, rather than simply calling her his pet or concubine.

Their first meeting is as stilted and awkward as could be imagined. She's dressed up, hair done by the queen's handmaidens, and his eyes linger on her as they are introduced, as if he finds her pretty enough to look at. Otherwise, he's a bit cold, formal and quiet and seeking no contact other than holding her hand to kiss the back.

There is only a slight thaw at their second encounter, when the wedding ceremony begins to be planned. But that night while she rests in the room given her, he appears by the window without warning, backlit by moonlight, dressed in black.

"Do you fear the dark?" He asks, by way of greeting. "Most humans do, though they try to deny it."

omg it works so well

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<3

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<3 <3

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[ 19+ characters for romance ]

[ Could be either role depending on your character. ]

((Canon is lifetime Royal, willing to AU into other roles. AUs welcomes!)

[Lifetime royal here but possibly surprised that he was actually matched with anyone. Willing to AU into other roles.]

[ooc: Whelp, care for a rey?]

[Always!!!]

[ ooc: any prompt you’re partial to? ]

[Anything but 8. Surprise me?]

[The lifetime royal.]

Edited 2020-02-22 18:06 (UTC)

[Tony is a lifetime royal I'm thinking king since he's older. He likes to slip outside the castle from time to time though and walk among his people in peace without them fussing over him.]

_{[So here is my thought, one time when Tony goes out on one of his little escapes he meets a vigilante woman and they hit it off, but there's also this princess Rebecca from the neighbouring kingdom who he's supposed to marry or something. Spoiler alert they're the same person.
If you like the set up but would prefer canon gender I have that too]}

[This is perfect let me know if this starter works]

Tony was not running away from his responsibilities no matter what James says. He was simply taking time to think before deciding to take such a huge step like marry a complete stranger just because his long dead parents wanted him to. He rode through the forest trying to calm his thoughts. This was his thinking place where he wasn't a king but just a man. He slowed his mount and slide off taking a deep breath. The air was clear, the sun was warm and there was no one here to bother him. He settled under his favorite tree and pulled out his sketchbook. He had some ideas to work out.

A large black horse came trotting through the trees in something of a hurry, though it slowed to a stop not far from Tony and its rider, a slender, masked woman dressed in form fitting black and blue, slid a little clumsily from the saddle. She rested a hand against the horse's side, apparently not immediately noticing she had intruded upon Tony's quiet moment, her other hand pressed to her hip, where the fabric beneath her fingers was darker than the rest.

It was then that she noticed she wasn't alone.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude..."