Forced Family Unit

[funandcutememes]

The Not So Happily Married Meme

(or the FORCED FAMILY UNIT meme)

Let's get one thing straight. Not all marriages are happy. They don't start with love, and they don't end with it. In fact, some marriages are more arrangements that anything. Whether it be through the will of an iron-fisted totalitarian government or something as ancient as tradition, people end up stuck. And now, you're one of them. Maybe you were assigned you partner. Maybe your parents picked them out. Maybe it's something different all together. But no matter what, you're going to be with them in some shape, fashion, or form.

So, what can you do? Do you just deal with it? Try to find a way out? Or worst of all, do you blame your so-called "spouse" for all this? You'll have to do something.

HOW TO PLAY;
1. Comment with your characters, putting any preferences you have in the subject. These are your OOC preferences, however. Remember, in meme your character's preferences won't matter.

2. Reply to others! You can use the RNG to roll for the WHY (why are your characters in this mess), the WHEN (what stage are they at), and the HOW (how do they feel about their partner). Or just wing it.

3. The fun of this meme is putting together characters who would normally never be together or have no business getting married, whether it be cross-canon, enemies, or strangers. But feel free to do what you want. Unlike your characters, you're never forced.

4. This is not a smut meme, nor is it a romance meme. There is a smut option and a romance option, but neither are required. The focus here is on CR and coping with situations that might be fairly unpleasant.

5. Have fun! And by that, I mean be miserable.

WHY;
1. GOVERNMENT: You live in a world where all aspects of life are controlled by the government. This includes who you're matched up with. Take "government" to mean anything you want it to, whether that be actual government or something like gods.

2. ARRANGED: Due to your culture, status, or family, you have an arranged marriage. Your significant other was picked out long before now.

3. SOLD: One of you belongs to the other in some way. At any rate, it's not a completely consensual arrangement.

4. KEEPING UP APPEARANCES: You don't particularly care for this person, but you have to look good for some reason. They'll do for that.

5. SHOTGUN WEDDING: Because of outside circumstances (read: an unplanned child), you're stuck together.

6. CURSED/POTION: At least one of you is under the effects of a curse or potion that binds you both.

7. THE BEST I COULD GET: Either one of you or both of you are settling. This is just a marriage of convenience.

8. Wildcard/free space.

WHEN;
1. JUST MET: You've never seen this person that you're engaged, intended, or assigned to. This is your first meeting.

2. JUST MARRIED: Ceremony or knot, you've just tied it.

3. CONSUMMATE: What's a married live without consummating the union? Whether it's for some kind of ritual, a fulfillment of a contract, or the need to produce offspring to become workers, you have to come together.

4. IN THE FAMILY WAY: Congratulations! You're about to bring a child into this (potentially loveless) family. Are you proud?

5. MARRIED WITH CHILDREN: You have kids already. They might be biological, or they might be state-assigned. How's the family life going?

6. FILLING YOUR ROLE: The two of you have a job or purpose, such as starting a business.

7. TRYING TO ESCAPE: You have to get out. You can't take this life anymore.

8. THERE'S SOMEONE ELSE: Since you didn't ask for this marriage, one of you has a lover on the side. Do you tell your spouse upfront, or do they find out themselves?

9. Wildcard/free space

HOW;
1. STRANGERS: You hardly know this person. Getting to know them is important (since you're only going to be spending the rest of your lives together) , but are you willing to put forth the effort for that?

2. HATE: They've ruined your life. Maybe not directly, but they're there and that's enough.

3. LOVE: There might be a light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps you do love each other, or you're at least learning to do so.

4. IN THIS TOGETHER: It may not be perfect, and you might not be be in love, but you're making it work for yourselves or for any children you might have. And hey, sometimes friendship like that can be a strong enough bond.

5. Wildcard/free space

Comments

Sylvie Laufeydottir || MCU || OTA

[apocalypsegrown]

[ Spoilers are fine for D+/BW. ]

[gloriously_purposed]

[Would you be interested in them getting to know each other in an alt timeline in which the ATV forces them into some sort of marriage? For reasons.

Gen or shippy. Totally cool if its still not your cup of tea.]

[apocalypsegrown]

[ Absolutely! I'm fine with shippy too, I do enjoy the pairing. Did you have a scenario in mind or can I wax poetic? ]

[gloriously_purposed]

[That's perfect then! Not really, totally open to anything that tickles your fancy.]

cersei lannister | game of thrones/asoiaf

[skirka]

[valter]

"Do you want her?"

His Emperor had asked him that after offering the barest explanation of the situation. The political motivations behind it must have been many but Valter understood it to be an act of tribute. House Lannister was making an offering, and among those various treasures being given was the family's only daughter. Only, the Emperor of Grado didn't want her. In the end she was still accepted as a gift but would be married instead to one of Grado's imperial generals.

Valter the Moonstone was a wyvern knight renowned for the peerless might of his lance and infamous for his ruthless cruelty. He was common-born and the second strongest general of Grado, answerable only to his senior general and Lyon the Emperor himself. He was not the kind of man who thought of marriage and yet there was one being delivered straight to him.

The capital of Grado was Grado Keep. Its position was deep inside Grado on its southern peninsula and with a mountain range to its rear. The castle was fortified by a thick wall, surrounded by the homes of nobles and those of high military standing, followed by another wall. Outside of this outer wall was the castle-town. There Cersei's arrival would have been met without pomp. There was no grand celebration welcoming her to the city nor the capital. The wedding itself came and went. The ceremony was without opulence. It could even have been accused of being bare. Neither did the emperor make any appearance.

Valter only knew of the Lannisters by name, and even then only in passing. As soon as he laid eyes on Cersei though the urge to bring her low grew great and deep in his belly. He must have smiled like a child receiving a new toy, made just for them. He never had any intention of treating her particularly well, anyway.

So the day passed and the night came and Valter brought his new wife to his home in the inner city. It was a comfortable house with two floors and without any servants. He was dressed still as he had been for the wedding in his usual armor, colored a faded purple, polished for the occasion and with a surcoat worn over it.

[skirka]

You will. This was all her father had spoken, hearing none of her protest. She was to wed - who? A common solider? A man fundamentally no better than a peasant? A champion of the lance, her father had noted absently, as if this made any difference. With all the cool calculation of a man deciding upon which route to send his latest war detachment, he had informed her that she must be in Grado. When the time came, he needed her within the foreign city's walls, enacting a marriage to a man whose name she did not want to hear twice. She might have understood this prerogative, no matter how much she resented it, if she'd been matched with a man of influence. A plot of political intrigue ought to involve a king, an emperor. She can imagine no greater insult than to be wed to a greater man's lesser. Her railing against this sham of an arrangement did not matter. She would go.

She goes in fury, in a quietly seething rage. She will not be without the most scant of pleasures, she has decided - this new city will herald her arrival with all the extravagance she is due. Her lord husband will be humbled by her beauty. She will have him in her thrall, servant to her whim before the ceremony is through. No one can deny her this.

Except she finds, upon her most unremarkable arrival, that she has been denied this. She has been denied it from every side, in open insolence. Is this carelessness or indifference? One matters as little as the other. The insult is the same, and it is egregious. Her entrance to the capital - indeed, her entrance to her own wedding - is treated as if she were no more than an ordinary wench wandering the streets. No one strews golden flowers before her; no one falls to their knees in awe. There is no splendor. It is as if she is a broodmare being led into her cramped, fenced corral. The people here act as if her name were not bejeweled, illuminated with generations of gold and glory. Her new husband looks upon her as if she were a piece of wood to be whittled as he pleased. Not a flicker of appreciation, and not a flicker of fear.

Her rage is scarcely veiled through the ceremony, and it is poisoning her every gesture by the time he delivers her home. To his home, their home, and this too is a slap to all she is entitled to. It is a mere two stories, and bereft of any servants. What is she supposed to make of this? She holds herself as stiffly as if to brush any of the walls or furnishings might infect her with the same lowly curse. Was her father mad?

She turns to the armored general, this man to whom she has been sold, furious even that she must stand before him in such fine silks, that he can claim even a glance of her beauty when he is owed none of it. The city is wrong, the manner of her reception was wrong, the wedding was a farce, and this is not the husband she deserved. This was not the luxury she could by right of blood claim, and this was not the life she would be resigned to for even a year, however long her father deemed the charade necessary. She would not.

"Peasants wed in barns are treated with greater dignity. My father will hear of this."

[valter]

From the beginning her fury was clear in her eyes. In them the fire of her rage and pride and staunch defiance burned.

It excited him to his core.

Her words are sharp. Valter lets out a stifled laugh and faces Cersei with a bemused smile. The threat, if it could be called as such, evokes not even the most minuscule speck of fear.

"Is that right? And how will he hear of it?" Even if Valter did for some reason care what news could reach her father's ear, he was practically the whole continent away.

Valter turns fully toward her. His new wife. The word means little to him. She is his is the point. He steps nearer to her, standing almost directly in front of her. He is taller than her by two heads at the very least, and his silhouette is only increased by the armor. He looks down upon her.

"Your father doesn't care what happens to you. You've been discarded. If I didn't take you, you would have been passed down the line 'till someone did." And probably she would be better off for it. "But when I'm done with you you'll have no dignity left."

kenma kozume | haikyuu | m/m.

[game_boi]

lucrezia borgia (the borgias)

[desirable]

( she's been in multiple arranged marriages already so this is par for the course )

Noctis Lucis Caelum | Final Fantasy XV | M/M

[princeofnight]

Alina Starkov | Grishaverse | M/F

[sungrisha]

Stiles Stilinski | Teen Wolf | M/M

[runningwithwolves]

yelena belova | mcu

[belovas]

[ red room-assigned fake marriage, anyone? ]

jessica jones | netflix marvel

[grunge]

nikolai lantsov | grishaverse | ota

[kingperfect]

Tyreen Calypso | Borderlands | OTA

[notthatkindofgod]

[Married to a goddess/cult leader? Or maybe you've brought her to your level.]

Bucky Barnes | MCU

[freightcars]

( prefs | especially hype for nat, yelena, steve, tony. )

sooo i randomly cooked up this rambly thing, but can totally edit if smth doesn't work!

[belovas]

Yelena had wanted to return to the United States someday, but not like this.

They've been camped out in false domesticity for a while now, sleeper agents in a small starter house fitting for a young professional couple. The Red Room planted her here with a stoic husband — installed as her muscle, backup, a co-conspirator, or perhaps as someone to keep an eye on her in case she ever tried to break and flee.

(Or maybe she's the one watching him. Both of them assigned to the other, serving as the shackles around each others' ankle, the ball-and-chain.)

There's a perpetually-folded piece of paper in her pocket with a set of codewords in Russian, in the event she ever needs to bring the Soldier to heel, but she's never needed to. They sleep in the same bed and he stays primly on the other side, his hands to himself. He assists. He complies. They work in an efficient orbit around each other; keeping each other informed of the latest mission details, dead drops, surveillance recordings they need to mail back to HQ. When bodies need disposing, they roll the dead weight into the carpet and tuck it into the trunk of the car together.

The more time that they spend away from home soil, however, and the longer he isn't scrubbed and reset, the more Yelena starts to suspect that, maybe, once upon a time, each of the Winter Soldiers had a personality somewhere underneath that steely surface.

(She has too much of a personality. It's been a lurking, brewing problem. She'd made herself over into the perfect assassin over the years, perhaps compensating for the sister who fled, but lately, there have been— issues.)

The married couple are installed in the DC suburbs, where they can easily ply politicians' aides and federal agents for information. Tonight, she's coming home, tugging the darkhaired wig off her head and shoving it back into the closet, and she feels like scrubbing her skin raw. After a too-long shower, Yelena (no, Jenny, her name on this continent is Jenny) emerges in a cloud of steam and wrapped in a terrycloth robe.

The water pressure is ridiculous here. The facilities at the Red Room hadn't ever been made for comfort, but in the life of a supposedly-happily-married American wife, she can indulge in exfoliating creams, moisturising lotions, bath bombs — all the decadence of the West.

There's a creak on the floorboards, and she finds him in the kitchen. My husband, she reminds herself.

"Hey." She's propped against the doorway, untangling her hair with her fingers. "Any trouble tonight?"

rambly things are best things

[freightcars]

He goes through stages of not trusting her. More accurately, he doesn't trust her properly through any of it, but the reasons change over time. They brace him to expect her to go off-mission, and they make it clear her alignment to the objective is his responsibility. If she veers, he'll be the one corrected for it. They instill a rigid sense of structure, and he keeps it strictly in mind when they begin the op.

Later, he doesn't trust her not (try) to kill him. She's a threat, he doesn't know where she's committed her loyalty. Widows have snapped before. Given that he trained some of them, he makes an appealing target. He sleeps on the other side of the bed insomuch as he sleeps at all — a few hours periodically, pushing the serum to its maximum capacity, and so probably seems like he's always awake when she checks.

Eventually, he doesn't trust her not to pick up on the deviations from his protocols. Thinks she might be a test, or she might be eyes checking to make sure he's finely tuned, not straying from the rules thoroughly ground into him. If she sees him falter, he thinks she'll be the reason why they reset him again.

But then she does things that don't... even remotely align with what he expects from widow or a handler.

She smells like citrus fruit and distantly familiar shampoo some nights after a shower. Don't ask him why that stands out so much, but something about it does. Something tugs at the edges of his mind, adding a shade of grey among the black and white.

He's cooking. That's one of those skills he has, even if he doesn't have any memory of having needed it before. Normally it's meal-replacement protein bars or specifically nutritionally balanced bland whatever that he mechanically eats because that's just the way it is. Here, they're pretending to be something, and that something involves domestic normalcy.

So he's cooking. Quiet, shocking absolutely nobody considering he's been the walking definition of stoic since they started, and with meticulous concentration. Mushrooms and peppers are diced so uniformly you'd think he was the Iron Chef instead of the Winter Soldier.

He doesn't look up as she steps in; heard her coming before she even left the bathroom really. Only her question has him dragging his eyes away from his hands, and he passes a discerning look over her before he answers. Bare feet. Calves. Robe. Wet hair she's untangling — they hang there for a second before moving on.

"Car accident," he answers levelly, dragging his knife along the cutting board to move vegetables into a pot. "Senator Casey's wife. I'm going out tonight to look at the car."

By tonight he means in the middle of the night, to check and see if the brake lines were cut, or for any other indication that it was intentional. Could be nothing. It's almost never nothing.

yelena belova ⧗ mcu

[zhilety]

( voicetesting! spoilers ahoy! red-room, deep cover? not interested in any dub/non-con. ota m/f. )

Daenerys Targaryen | ASOIAF | f/m

[ifilookback]

Lan Wangji • The Untamed • OTA

[stillyoursoulmate]

Re: Lan Wangji • The Untamed • OTA

[flutegremlin]

[ 3; Sold. | 4; In the Family way. | 2; Hate. ]

The Jiangs had a problem. That problem being financial trouble of course. When Lotus Pier was burned down and the massacre attempted (and failed) they didn’t have the funds to rebuild the place. So, they reached out to the neighboring Sects and enacted a very old agreement that no one practiced in the modern age. They wanted to arrange a marriage in exchange for money to help rebuild Lotus Pier. They learned quite quickly that there was a problem with this idea.

Jiang Yanli the eldest and their daughter was already engaged to people who already gave them money, and Jiang Wanyin the son was the heir. That left, according to Madam Yu, only one option. Their adopted son, Wei Wuxian, who was sure that Madam Yu was jumping through hoops to try and get rid of. She never liked him and this was the perfect excuse to get rid of him.

The Lans certainly had no idea what they were getting into but they agreed to the terms and from what Wei Wuxian knew the price they paid to marry him to their youngest son was—extensive. It made him oddly feel good that he was worth quite a bit but at the same time he was upset he’d been essentially sold at the same time too.

The wedding was held at some place called the Cloud Recesses. It—was a beautiful wedding. That was just a fact no matter how miserable he was. He wasn’t the only one miserable either which just made the entire thing worse. His husband, Lan Wangji, did not seem like he agreed to this in the least bit. He looked miserable and like he hated Wei Wuxian and every attempt he did at talking which only made him feel worse of course. He doesn’t think he met Lan Wangji before but the man seem to preemptively hate him.

They were expected to consummate the marriage, as was tradition, and—they did. If only because Lan Wangji’s creep of an Uncle performed some weird Lan ritual with music to help him be more fertile. Fertile. Him. A man. He never thought about having kids, he had no idea if he even wanted them yet it was apparently decided for him that he would have them.

Sex was… awkward. Not just for him but he was sure Lan Wangji too. The man was inexperienced, which was clear, and seemed almost as if he’d rather go outside and fuck a tree than place his hands anywhere on Wei Wuxian. They did—consummate though which he assumed was more than enough to make sure they’d never have to do this again.

And they didn’t.

Wei Wuxian knew nothing about Lan Wangji, wasn’t even sure if the Cloud Recesses were where they actually were supposed to live. After the awkward sex of the century the man left him alone for several days. Maybe he was doing whatever Lans did or whatever the company was but he didn’t see the other. He spent most his days just sitting around in the room they were using and wishing that his brother and sister finally brought some of his stuff over. Yanli mailed his phone to him on the third day and he was checking some of his texts as he wandered around.

According to google maps Caiyi Town was just down the mountain and he wanted to go check it out. Maybe buy him some stuff that he needs since there was no one else to ask for things from. He was nearly to the gate when the creepy old goat caught him off. Lan Qiren, Lan Wangji’s Uncle, that’s who the freak was. “Where are you going, Lan Wuxian?”

“First, it is Wei Wuxian, thanks. And to town? I need some personal supplies.” Like shampoo, and deodorant. He was fairly certain he smelled worse than a goat and he really wanted to wash his hope with some tree oil. Because it helped and it smelled like mint.

Lan Qiren did not look amused. What century were they in again? “You are not permitted to leave.”

“Permitted? I didn’t realize I was under house arrest!” He tucked his phone into the pocket of his jeans and crossed his arms over his chest. If this old man really didn’t let him out he didn’t care what Lan Wangji was doing he would make a scene.

[stillyoursoulmate]

Lan Wangji had not been ready for marriage of any type. Marriage hadn't even been in any of his plans for the future. In fact, he was content to never get married.

Wei Wuxian had thrown a wrench into everything. Okay, so maybe not him physically, but he'd been the one he'd been tossed into the ring with, as the saying goes. This whole situation was one that he wished could be changed. In reality, he wished everything could just go back to how it had been before.

Unlike Wei Wuxian, he was not a tactile person. So... sex was a little more than awkward. He'd needed to meditate and get himself back in order after the whole ordeal. He was tired of the whole situation altogether.

When he does return from meditation, he raises a brow at the stand off happening between his uncle and his... husband.

"There is no need for loudness here."