The idea of marriage never exactly... Appealed to Skinner, if his current dynamic with his wife proved anything. She was always so finicky, so snappy. He remembered seeing her on the altar some years before, and she looked like she was about to faint when she first saw him standing in front of her. Now, if the scene took place just a few years later, she probably would've been one word away from punching him in the jaw.
He looked up to see the feline alien in front of him, and - in all honesty - he probably would've preferred marrying a cat over the woman he was currently betrothed to, if only because the cat didn't look like he'd punch him in the face over one misplaced word.
"Well, this is awkward, isn't it?" Skinner jested with a brash chuckle as he brushed the dust off his clothes, "I don't think either of us expected this, but here we are! I'm sure we were both getting to our workplaces, when all of... This happened... I hope you're understanding in that regard..." The words trailed off, primarily because now, there wasn't really a good reason why they'd be in the same place at the same time - except for this extremely inconvenient scenario. At least Skinner didn't have to worry about his wife being in the audience, so he just preened himself.
However, he did have to worry about the fact that if any of the aristocrats saw this, they'd probably cause a scandal destined to take him down. The most he could do was be as coy as humanly possible, to make this seem like a joke. He wasn't wrong by any means because, in all honesty, the middle-aged man did see this as some sort of cruel prank; in fact, he half-expected for the ringing of the bells to fade, and the white of the wedding decorations to be taken down in favor of something more "proper." Oh, if only...
"Besides, I'm technically already married, so let's just get this done with so we can get on with our days. The worst that can happen is that someone thinks that this is official, and that'd make the tension a little bit worse, huh?" Skinner's subsequent laugh echoed across the room and was likely pretty obnoxious, but - as pondered by the man before - what else could he do? Maybe he would've laughed less if he was marrying another person and not an alien.
In hindsight, maybe... Just maybe... Repeating his marriage to his likely-pissed-at-him-this-very-moment wife was starting to become a more preferable option to... Whatever this was.
dfhvghujfv honestly props to you bringing up Brown and Thermidor from the "Ship the Character Above You" thread because honestly?? the two meeting would be pretty interesting haha.
rip Skinner though.... time for a fairly long follow-up:
Indeed, Skinner's wife thought this was stupid as all hell. She had dogged him about it, so many times, that the warnings almost sounded like mindless blabber to the older man at this point. Which was really fucking rude considering that he personally considered that typical of younger women. Ew.
He ran his fingers through his thinning hair while she growled at him, "Well, at least it is a taste of your medicine, after the shit our union was." The young woman gave him a dry glower as she then sighed and wrung her hands together. "But then again... Politics is politics. As much as I think it would be a shame for a scandal to be made, it would still be better than alienating a potential ally. I hope you are aware of that, Skinner." And the middle-aged man had no choice but to nod, at least before the woman then shooed him away into the room where the ceremony was about to take place.
All that was in his head right now was the hope that the woman was not considering this ceremony in order to facilitate an affair. Gee, like that could be the only reason this was agreed to in the first place, right?
The first noise that he heard when he entered the room was a muffled whine, as a young woman looked up at him. She looked very, very different from his wife, though Skinner planned to treat her the same - perhaps better. In a way, he saw this as an opportunity to start over, to try again with someone new. Not permanently - ideally - but the guilt associated with turning Brown so hostile weighed down upon him, and this woman seemed like... A decent start. If only she wasn't so young, so concerned about his age.
"It's fine," he told her while seating himself next to the other party, "I don't want to go through this either, since... Well... I'm already married." He laughed uneasily while brushing some dust off his collar. "If the aristocrats back at home heard about this, they'd be pretty upset! Besides, I..." Is it worth telling her? Skinner's gentle smile faded as his potential bride continued to sob, and for a moment - he reached out to gently give her a pat on the back-
Only to be given a panicked screech in return: "Don't touch me!"
Too familiar. Skinner drew his hand back with a frown. Now his mind went back to, well, that. The promise he had made to his parents long ago, or was it the promise made between his parents and those of his wife? He couldn't tell, really. All he knew was that he had a reputation to uphold, and it wasn't just his own that was at stake. This planned union could tear everything apart, and any hope of starting over would be dashed by the ostracism related to such scandal.
He looked back at her with a frown.
"You see, miss, my wife and I... We're sort of bound to each other by contract. It'd be a shame if we broke apart, for... Political reasons. Besides, her reputation - or at least that of her family - isn't the best right now, and it'd cause a major blow to her if her husband discarded the contract and married someone decades younger. She doesn't like it either, trust me."
With a tense chuckle, Skinner looked over his shoulder; for once, he hoped she was watching, listening maybe. He wanted to show her that he really did care for her, even if they'd never become lovers. The older man let out a sigh, completely unrelated to the talk coming from the party seated next to him. They, however, were focused on the same thing: a dark-haired woman talking to an older man, the words barely hovering above the realm of name-calling and insults as Skinner picked up the fact that she was telling the man how stupid the idea was.
And for once... He had to agree with her. It was all a little "stupid" in retrospect.