Granny Times

[Katherina Selwyn]

Earlier that afternoon, Katherina had taken her granddaughter to the House of Lytton, so they could update her wardrobe for her time at finishing school. It was an expense Kath was willing to pay. As a lonely, old lady, she didn't have many reasons to spend her handsome allowance, so it ended up being spent on presents to her nieces and grandchildren. 

After they'd finished the fittings for Angelica's new dresses, Katherina took the girl to Fudge & Son's. They got a lovely window table and ordered some of the shop's most expensive ice creams. 

"I received word from my niece. You will get one of the school's best rooms. The 'Helga Suit', I believe she called it." Katherina had asked Evelyn to give her granddaughter the best that she could. "You might know your roommate, too. It's Isidore Carrow's girl."

@'Angelica Fawley' @'Helena Macmillan'

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   Helena MacMillan

[Angelica Fawley]

Distractedly picking at her ice cream, having managed to place precisely three small spoonful’s into her mouth and swallowing it down only through sheer force of will because her grandmother had bought it and she didn’t want to disappointed her, Angel listened to the news of her fate with resignation. It really wasn’t too bad of course – at least her aunt’s house was not her empty tomb of a home and there would be plenty of people to talk to. On the other hand there were also chaperones: a breed Angel had managed to go without for the last few years and certainly didn’t think she needed now!

“Is she the one that killed Sterling?” She asked with a delicate furrow of her brow. She had met the brother several times over the years and found him as engaging, albeit temporarily, as the next gentleman. It was a shame he was dead really but it would be an even greater shame if she followed the same route. Perhaps she should invest in a musket?

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   Katherina Selwyn, Louisa Potts

[Katherina Selwyn]

Katherina had followed the Carrow murder drama with as little interest as she could. She wasn't directly related to them but the girl's status as her nephew's betrothed meant that she couldn't ignore it, either. She didn't think that the Carrow girl did it, probably because she'd never heard anything about her other than she was Claudius' intended. Someone that inconspicuous couldn't be responsible for a murder unless the girl was truly a hyper-intelligent psychopath of the Lucius Lestrange caliber under that English Rose exterior.

"I would refrain from asking her that, dear!" Katherina chided but her smile made it clear that she wasn't offended by her granddaughter's slip of manners. "She was a suspect, yes, but I think she was found innocent. Or they didn't find sufficient evidence to charge her." Sterling Carrow's murder still hadn't been solved, after all. Maybe the girl was responsible and her father - and who knows, maybe Lucius too? - had 'arranged' for it to remain a mystery. 

Kath leaned closer to her granddaughter and confided in a more hushed tone. "A piece of advice, my darling. You will be amazed by how often you will find yourself in the presence of a criminal. Those more likely to end up in hell usually make for the best company."

In her old age, Katherina had learned that someone was more than what they let on. She highly suspected her own family members of being less virtuous than they appeared to be. She also knew that it was better to act as if she was unaware of that, unless it directly affected her. Lucius could kill muggleborns as a hobby and Marian could feed orphaned toddlers to her snake for all that she cared, as long as they didn't bother her by doing so.

  

[Angelica Fawley]

A slow smile spread across Angel’s cold, dry lips as she contemplated the implication of her granny’s words – and immediately made a game of picking out the innumerable people of their mutual acquaintance who were reprobates and assigning them suitable crimes. Her great uncle and aunts might be serial poisoners: they certainly had the attitude of them sometimes and she certainly wouldn’t touch any consumable that was given to her by either of them out of choice. Perhaps one of more of her cousins had birthed babes out of wedlock? She didn’t need to stretch her mind far to pick the most likely candidate!

“I’ll hold my tongue if you think I ought to granny,” she said honestly. The only person in the world she found herself inclined to show any real deference to was her grandmother so the promise was not made without the intention of holding it; even if her granny never knew she would and it would make her uneasy to think she had broken faith with the only person who cared for her. At all costs she must keep her grandmother’s good will. “I do hope she’s not as boring as the other debs,” she added with a wistful sigh. “At least if she is a murderer she might have conversation beyond Mr Lytton’s latest frock or who the Minister tries to marry next.”

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   Katherina Selwyn

[Katherina Selwyn]

Angel was a good girl. She had a bright nature and it pained Katherina to see how her late daughter's terrible parenting had dimmed it. Michelle had never been fit to be a mother. She was too selfish for that, in a narcissistic kind of way. A pet owl of hers had perished because of Michelle's negligence - she hadn't bothered to feed the poor thing. It was appaling how she'd mistreated her children. She'd cared so little about them that she hadn't even been a strict presence in their life. To that effect, even the harsh Olivia had been a better mother.

"I hope she doesn't give you any ideas," Katherina commented bemusedly. "And you will meet many people you will want to kill once you are properly a member of society." There had been so many people who had irritated Katherina as a young socialite. Wives who had boasted about having sons when Kath had only had daughters, men who had treated her as though she should be more 'in her place'... It was satisfying to hear of their deaths, now that they were all older.

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   Angelica Fawley

[Angelica Fawley]

Had it just been her father’s idea to pack her off to finishing school Angel would have lashed out and refused, trying his patience until his mood changed and he ceased to care about her again and she was left to her own devices once again. She didn’t want to share a room and be finished and presented – she had been lingering in limbo for too long to care about any of that nonsense any more – but this was what Granny wanted for her and that made all the difference.

At least Granny cared about her, loved her even.

Better than that: Granny understood her. She knew what would make her laugh and she chuckled now, rolling her eyes as she propped her chin up by elbows she had firmly placed on the table. She wasn’t finished yet after all, she was allowed to sit like a child for a few month more.

“That sounds like how I feel already,” she said with a grin. “Does it ever go away?” She asked slyly, eyes alight with intrigue.

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   Ellory Pendergast

[Katherina Selwyn]

"I'm afraid not, my dear," Katherina replied bemusedly. "In fact, it gets worse." Some people got more childish and petty as they grew. Or, rather, they never outgrew those negative attributes.

"An advice - do not join any charities. You can do good deeds without having to argue with some stubborn socialite over a fundraisers' napkin design!"

"But - my niece's school will teach you the art of 'grin and bear it'. I know that it would be satisfactory to hex some people, my dove, but it really isn't worth it."

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   Helena MacMillan

[Angelica Fawley]

Angel pulled a face at the last: she was quite sure that it would be worth it, but if Granny said so then she was probably right. Other than unfortunate children her grandmother, to the best of her knowledge, had never put a foot wrong in society and was extremely well thought of so she must be right about it all.

“I don’t think charities will be my strong suit somehow,” she said honestly, having very little interest in philanthropy and even less in doing it with others. “I don’t think I could grin and bear idiots like that if my life depended upon it!”