MEME: Arranged Marriage AU

[frozenfractals]

We were craving a meme, so after some digging around, we've got something new and different for you guys, with a huge hat-tip to the bakerstreet RP memes comm (original post here). Let's get some of those marriage feels sorted.

Time to get your faux-historical/fantasy novel on. For today's meme, your pup is getting married, whether they want to or not. It's arranged marriages time!

HOW IT WORKS
❧ Post a comment with your character's name and any preferences. This should include whether you're open to full threads or mostly dialogue, Test Drive-style, if you have a preference.
❧ If there's a specific set of circumstances you like best, set the scene.
❧ Or leave your comment blank and let others use RNG to choose the scenario. Feel free to mix and match.
❧ Or even just write drabbles to any (or none) of the prompts.
❧ Please note the prompts below are merely suggestions and you're more than welcome to come up with your own situation.
❧ Have fun!

POSSIBLE REASONS FOR MARRIAGE
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.
5) Tribute → You have been offered as a gift or appeasement; alternately you're the spoils of war.
6) 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.

POSSIBLE SCENARIOS
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?

Comments

[frozenfractals]

It would be polite, Elsa knows, to speak first. If he's the kind of man who thinks a woman should wait to speak until spoken to, they'll never get along (though the match is already made, so what would it matter?). But the situation is unnerving, to say the least. The best she's been able to do thus far this even is keep quietly to herself, trying hard not to pluck at the fingers of her gloves and to keep her breathing steady. She will be calm, she will be graceful, she will be a lovely and appropriate bride, and she will not freeze this estate.

When Olivier speaks, she's unsure whether to be thankful or more nervous still, trying to measure out the meaning behind his words and the correct way to respond. "Get to know each other, I suppose," she says, glancing at their families and then back to him. She has no way of being sure what kind of man he is; she'd be a fool to trust the reports she's been given, undoubtedly curated to present him in his best light. Even so, focusing on him alone is easier to bear than thinking too much of the others. "Though these are hardly ideal conditions for that."

[somepoorsoul]

“Far from ideal,” he agrees with a ghost of a smile. Olivier can recognize when a person is choosing each word carefully; the girl is a master at it, with a mild politeness that never falters and tells him nothing about what lies beneath the cool surface. He can only reflect back the same impassivity, even as he thinks of the smiles Anne drew from him, the laughter. In sharp contrast, he and Elsa will be standing beside each other in silence for the rest of their lives, a handsome couple who never speaks.

Not so very different from his own parents.

Olivier has always been awful at smalltalk - at most talk, frankly - and this is no exception. As the silence again stretches, he ducks his head uncertainly. “I hope your travel here was uneventful."