February 17, 2021 – 8:24 PM
Zelda Darrow — Played by Beanie
February 21st, 1891 - Dionisia's Bedroom
The salve had worked, but the most interesting part of it was Dionisia's note on the inside of the lid.
She'd had to tell; well, she'd had to tell Xena, because they still shared a room for another month, and Xena could be an unobservant roommate but apparating out would certainly have alerted her. So she'd told Xena she was coming here tonight to help Dionisia with Elliott overnight, and if Xena had been suspicious then it was alleviated by watching Zelda read off the address she needed when she flooed to Ari and Dionisia's that night in her nightdress. She walked through the darkened house, taking careful steps so as to avoid waking Elliott, and pushed Dio's door open when she reached it.
"They know I'm here," Zelda said with a wry smile, once the door was partially open; she took a few steps further inside and closed the door behind her. "What are you thinking of?" Obviously Dionisia had to have something in mind - she wouldn't have summoned Zelda to her home just before midnight, sans Ari, if she didn't have some sort of plan. The only thing was, Zelda had no idea what it was.
Dionisia Fisk Holly Scrimgeour
![[Image: xXXD462.png]](https://i.imgur.com/xXXD462.png)
AMAZING set by MJ
February 17, 2021 – 11:48 PM
Dionisia Fisk — Played by Bree
Dionisia had long thought her moral code was written in strictly black and white. There was right and wrong, good and bad, and anything in-between could be categorized into one or the other. Being a mediwitch only made her judgments more quick and snappier; she rarely left a situation without an opinion, and Zelda's relationship with Alfred Darrow was no different. Only this was a situation where society's view of what was right was seemingly making Zelda miserable, while what made her happy was what the Fisk family thought the end of the world.
"Tell me, Zelda, do you wish to marry him?" She thought she knew the answer to that. It was only a matter of hearing it from her sister-in-law's lips. Dionisia brushed through her long, dark blonde hair, watching Zelda from the reflection in her mirror.
February 17, 2021 – 11:59 PM
Last modified: February 18, 2021 – 12:00 AM by Zelda Darrow.
Zelda Darrow — Played by Beanie
Zelda smiled at the question. "Yes," she said, "That's sort of the point, I think." She wouldn't have been spending all this time being forced to do the debutante-y chaperon thing thing if it wasn't true.
AMAZING set by MJ
February 18, 2021 – 12:04 AM
Dionisia Fisk — Played by Bree
Dionisia smiled. She remembered their times at Hogwarts, when she and Zelda were so invested in their careers and thought of fawning over men and attending society parties seemed like a ridiculous notion. She still felt that way, of course, but Zelda had found love and was willing to go through the motions to have it. In a way, Dionisia was a little jealous (but not much, because there was no way she could have had that sort of love with the way life turned out, and she knew better than to linger on thoughts like that).
"And does he wish to marry you, too?" That was a better foundational point. They would get no where if Alfred did not feel the same as Zelda. Any variations of her plan would fail.
February 18, 2021 – 12:07 AM
Zelda Darrow — Played by Beanie
Zelda was reminded, again, of the way Alfred kept offering to elope with her - she would not explain that to her family, even to Dio, but Alfred was so ready to marry her that he was willing to drop everything to do so if he needed to. It made her feel, among other things, wanted. "Very much so," she said simply, instead.
AMAZING set by MJ
February 18, 2021 – 12:13 AM
Last modified: February 18, 2021 – 12:18 AM by Dionisia Fisk.
Dionisia Fisk — Played by Bree
Dionisia put her brush down and turned around in her chair. It was a strange thought, Dionisia realized, to think that one day Zelda would be Mrs. Zelda Darrow. (She, along with Bree, would undoubtedly shoot herself in the foot by addressing her wrong in formal settings.)
"Does anyone else know about your... incident with Mr. Darrow?" It had happened only two days ago, but there was no telling who could have found out in the meantime. Zelda had other friends who, as people not married to her brother, might be easier to trust and, being unrelated to the family, might find themselves pulled into Dio's plan unwittingly if they'd learned of it.
February 18, 2021 – 12:20 AM
Zelda Darrow — Played by Beanie
She was starting to feel awkward answering these questions from just inside Dionisia's door, and Zelda went to sit down on the corner of the bed, instead. "No," she answered easily; that wasn't something you told people, (especially the part Dio didn't know about, with Alfred touching her), and while she trusted plenty of her friends, kissing was still something Zelda felt better keeping to herself.
AMAZING set by MJ
February 18, 2021 – 12:38 AM
Dionisia Fisk — Played by Bree
"The plan involves... lying. Only a little. I hope you are not above that?" She did not think Zelda would, not in this situation. She smiled at her friend timidly, hoping that, despite her reservations, Zelda would be open to the idea that followed. "Your family wants what's best for you, naturally. What if what was best for you suddenly became... marriage to Mr. Darrow? An immediate one." (Had she taken inspiration from her own life? The more she spoke, Dionisia was beginning to suspect she had.)
February 18, 2021 – 12:43 AM
Zelda Darrow — Played by Beanie
Zelda's eyebrows quirked up; by the time Dionisia finished, the surprise was clear on her face. She wasn't sure what to say, and fidgeted with the edge of Dionisia's blanket. "That's not going to work," she said, after a beat, the answer having come to her even as she considered it. Because if Dionisia suggested it - well, even with its downsides, it wasn't a terrible idea.
Except that Zelda had very much dug her own grave there already.
"Even if -" she sighed, and knew that the truth was about to come out of her mouth even if she didn't want it to. "- even if none of them tried to duel him, it wouldn't work." Given the behavior of some of her brothers recently, she wouldn't put it past them. "Because... I had the opportunity to demand a hasty marriage once before. And I didn't. And we got lucky. But -"
She exhaled again. "- Ari knows, about all that."
AMAZING set by MJ
February 18, 2021 – 12:46 AM
Dionisia Fisk — Played by Bree
Dionisia understood where Zelda was coming from, but Zelda did not seem to get where Dionisia was coming from—yet.
"Alright..." she began slowly, nodding as she contemplated her words, "but what if the reason for a hasty marriage was not... Mr. Darrow's fault? What if accusations were made in a way that your family knew them to be inaccurate but could not... silence them?"
February 18, 2021 – 1:30 AM
Zelda Darrow — Played by Beanie
They moved past her indiscretion easily, and Zelda was relieved. "What are you thinking of?" she asked, because she didn't think she could deliver a verdict without more information. That sort of thing, even if it landed on marriage to Alfred, would have reputation repercussions.
AMAZING set by MJ
February 21, 2021 – 12:07 AM
Dionisia Fisk — Played by Bree
Dionisia, in truth, had many thoughts. She was not unfamiliar with the consequences of hasty marriages, but, in truth, one could have a hasty marriage without eloping. Her marriage to Ari would have gone off without a hitch if not for the appearance of Elliott a mere six months later.
"Well," she said, suddenly feeling a bit tongue-tied. Dionisia had never considered herself witless, but there had been a reason she was sorted into Hufflepuff instead of Ravenclaw. "What if someone published rumors—not about your impropriety, no. That would not be good." She spoke not only to Zelda, but herself. She did not want Zelda scandalized, surely, but not all rumors were about scandal...
"What if they made unkind—and untrue—remarks about your... desirability as a wife? Surely your father wouldn't want you depicted as unworthy, and Mr. Darrow would be there to defend you. Perhaps your father would be more amenable to your marriage if..." Dionisia sighed and shook her head. She was not good at explaining things outside her domain. "I only mean it would give Mr. Darrow a chance to show his devotion to your family, and you would know the remarks were untrue."
February 21, 2021 – 11:02 PM
Zelda Darrow — Played by Beanie
Zelda listened, waiting; impropriety was bad, but Dionisia's actual answer didn't make her feel better, either. It wasn't that being called undesirable was so terrible - people were called undesirable all the time - but rather that this was one of her fears; that she was unattractive and unworthy and her elder sisters would always be better. Dio said Zelda would know the remarks were untrue; the thing was, Zelda sort of believed that they were.)
Still. It might work. Especially with Xena marrying someone old next month; Xena had always been better at Zelda than being a lady, and she hadn't even scored a match she actually wanted. (Presumably; Zelda didn't talk a lot with Xena, about their feelings.)
"That could work," she admitted after a beat, "It could. Especially with Xena and Mr. Bixby, and Brannon does want me to marry eventually. But - can I think about it? I'm not sure I want to hear those things about myself. Even knowing they're false."
AMAZING set by MJ
February 27, 2021 – 2:15 AM
Dionisia Fisk — Played by Bree
Dionisia nodded and stood up. She moved to her bed and sat next to Zelda, placing her hand atop her sister-in-law's. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable, of course," she said, in the same soothing tone that she might use for one of her patients who was unsure about their treatments, "but I also don't want you to be miserable." It was funny how she and Zelda's positions were so drastically different, wasn't it? Zelda was unable to marry the man she loved because of her family's wishes, and Dionisia had married a man she hadn't loved in spite of his family's wishes (not that she was aware of any specific issue the Fisks took with her marriage to Ari, but she'd always assumed they judged her for marrying him out of the blue).
"If he makes you happy, and you really love him, I will do everything in my power to help." If she'd married under the same circumstance she had but to anyone other than Ari, she might have added Because I don't want you to end up unhappy like me, but she couldn't say that, could she? She'd told Zelda that Ari didn't love her, but nothing more; she had no reason to believe that Dio was anything other than content.
February 27, 2021 – 4:43 AM
Zelda Darrow — Played by Beanie
Zelda leaned her head against Dio's shoulder. "He makes me happy," she said, "And I really love him. If I didn't love him I wouldn't bother with any of this." When she was younger she hadn't wanted to marry ever; then she'd left school and things had gotten more complicated. She wanted to be loved, she wanted someone to be her person; she had been fine with all of that being a distant abstract until she had really fallen for Alfred, and now she wanted their future too much to give up on it. She wished her father understood that.
AMAZING set by MJ
