February 5th, 1891 — Some Event, London

Since he'd started courting Zelda, Alfred accepted any invitation he happened to receive. His appetite for these sort of paltry society events had not increased, nor had his comfort level in dealing with large groups of strangers, but he got to see her so infrequently that he couldn't possibly pass up an opportunity, if the situation arose. He had no particular reason to believe Zelda would have attended the opening reception for a new restaurant in London, but — well, what if she did? He was not going to spend the evening at home drinking alone and aimlessly pouring over nautical charts if he could have been spending it stealing a moment with her, somewhere. So here he was, but he was twenty minutes in and had seen no sign of Zelda and was beginning to lose patience with this restaurant. He had a drink in hand, so figured he ought to finish it before he left, so as not to appear rude — he did want to keep getting these invitations, after all, at least until he was finally able to marry her.

He was sipping his champagne (not his drink of choice, but the only thing that was available) and casually scanning the crowd when he caught sight of a familiar face. Miss Delaney — soon to be Mrs. Darrow, he supposed. And, if he was being honest, he was a little annoyed that she'd be receiving the title before Zelda did, but that was hardly something he could blame her for.

She was seated at one of the tables, and there was an empty chair next to her. Alfred crossed to it and sat down without asking whether it was taken; if she was going to be his sister soon enough, he thought he was entitled to a chair. "Congratulations are in order, I hear," he said with a grin. "Or condolences, maybe."

@"Caroline Delaney" Sisse Thompsett

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   Zelda Darrow

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

In recent months Caroline had felt less an interloper in British society and more accepted. Her social options this winter had been much less limited then they had been in the past, something she was certain had to do both with her own relation and with Shawn's marriage and a dash of the amount of time she had found herself in London. Sometimes she wondering if people had simply begun to accept the American in their midst. There had been more invitations to tea, dinners, and balls then she could recall in previous years, and even events such as restaurants opening. Although a resturant opening was hardly an elite event, her parents had been invited to their own fair share in Boston in hopes that they would become a regular at such establishments. They were the type of event that Caroline often felt she ought to anticipate being invited to.

Both Anthony and herself had received the invitation to attend this evening's event and having nothing else to do this evening they had decided to make an outing of it. Caroline had enjoyed herself, making small talk and moving around the room before she sat herself next to Anthony with a glass of champagne and a moment of reprieve. Moments later she had been abandoned by the simple comment of an acquaintance and off Anthony had wandered, leaving Caroline sitting next to the wife of some business relation of her brothers'. The woman was well enjoyed in a conversation of the merits of one's housekeeper with the woman beside her, which left Caroline to survey the room. That was until Mr. Alfred Darrow appeared.

She greeted him cheerfully as he sat down and then found herself letting out a nervous laugh. "I've been assured it is congratulations." She told Mr. Darrow playfully. In truth Caroline was still giddy at the idea of her future, she could no less picture it condolences then she could picture anything sour about the future at all. There was a healthy rivalry between Alfred and Evander, that Caroline well knew (especially with a slew of brothers of her own) and so she felt no insult in the words, only the jest she suspected was intended.

  

"If you say so," Alfred said with a shrug. He had spent a good deal of time wondering about this particular attachment, back when Evander had started courting her. Everything about it seemed terribly unlikely. Miss Delaney was an American (strike one), her family was involved in Alfred's line of work, which was about as far from Evander's as could be imagined (strike two), and she appeared to actually be interesting and charming (strike three; Evander was neither of those things). Alfred had not spent much time or energy picturing Evander's future wife, before the appearance of Miss Delaney, but what from what vague notions he'd had about it he'd supposed Evander might marry the adult daughter of a coworker solely because he already knew and liked her father, or perhaps one of their cousins when they were approaching spinsterhood and had no serious prospects. A comfortable arrangement, neatly executed with crossed 't's and dotted 'i's. He had never expected his brother would willingly subject himself to the sorts of social events required to meet women*, nor to courting, and certainly not to anything approaching a romantic overture.

(*Alfred thought, having met his own future wife after having capsized a sailboat near a beach she had no particular reason to be on — but he had never been particularly traditional, and Evander was pointedly traditional, so he could only assume Evander had met Miss Delaney at some boring social thing like the one they were currently attending)

"How did he ask?" Alfred asked, curious. He wasn't trying to make fun, necessarily; he honestly could not even begin to picture it.

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

It seemed like such a question to come from a lady not a gentleman that Caroline found herself laughing with her answer, "Oh quite civilized." As if anything else could have been expected from Evander. He was the soul of a gentleman, perfect and careful. Always thinking of the best way to protect her, even when Caroline was quite determined that it ought to be a bit more risk to it. No matter how playful she might feel herself with her intended's brother she would not betray Evander's nerves, his stumbling words, and the annoyance in his voice. She had forgiven him for the lack of romance on the mere element of recognizing the true happiness in his face, the earnestness of which he had asked the question and expressed his happiness. Of course, in protecting his vanity she was not able to turn the tale into the sort of story she thought it ought to be in the retelling for how much it had impacted her. "I am sure it is precisely the type of proposal you would expect." She added, although she wondered as the words left her mouth if Mr. Darrow might anticipate much worse than the scenario had been, so she added, "He was quite charming." And he had been.

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   Elias Grimstone, J. Alfred Darrow

Alfred wrinkled his nose slightly at her choice of words. Civilized he could certainly believe; Evander had always been quite civilized. The opposite of Alfred, in most respects. Alfred had heard words like civilized and proper and traditional applied so frequently when describing what was wrong with him, what he lacked that made him unsuitable for English society, that he hearing them in any context now left a sour taste in his mouth. But yes, it only made sense that Evander had been civilized about it — whatever that meant. He had not, apparently, indulged in any tribal dancing or mystical chanting whilst proposing; had not dissected a chicken on the spot and had a diviner check the liver to confirm the match was a fortuitous one, as they did in East Asia; had not brought her father a bone or tooth from something he had killed to prove he could hunt and provide, as they did in the Pacific Islands. No, Evander's proposal had been quite civilized.

Picturing his brother doing any of those things had set him to laughing, and although he tried to stifle it he could not help but chuckle as he responded. "Well, if there was anything charming about it I can assure you it's not the type of proposal I expected at all. But I suppose you have to find him charming, don't you? It comes with the territory."

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Of course, she should have expected such ribbing from Mr. Darrow, in her very limited experience he was not above painting Evander in the worst possible light no matter the social situation. "Naturally. I should think it very hard to be in such a position without finding him charming." Caroline retorted good-naturedly.

"But my affection for your brother hardly makes exciting conversation, I'm sure. Tell me of your trip to Morocco. Miss Fisk mentioned it when I last saw her and I have found I'm quite intrigued." Caroline deftly switched topics, suspecting that Alfred's desire to tease his brother might be overshadowed with his interest to speak of his own passions: work and his own courtship.

  

"Oh, you spoke to Miss Fisk?" Alfred asked, with an eyebrow raised. Miss Delaney was right in suspecting that this had entirely derailed his thoughts from any investigation of Evander's method of proposal. He tried to imagine where they might have spoke, but came up empty. Presumably at another thing just like this; it was where people tended to meet. It was the only place he could really picture Miss Delaney, aside from the London street where he'd first made her acquaintance; she just seemed to be at home in these kinds of settings. Zelda, on the other hand, was not at home in these kinds of places, which was why it was so hard to imagine that the two of them had any sort of real bonding experience in one — but perhaps he was mistaken. Perhaps Zelda was only so uncomfortable at the events he saw her at because there were so many other places that he and Zelda would rather have been together.

"And what about Morocco intrigues you?" he asked, with a good-natured smile. He did like to talk about traveling; Miss Delaney had him more or less figured out, which was maybe a little embarrassing since she hardly knew him. He was an open book, though, generally speaking — especially since the most intimate and personal years of his life had been published for mass consumption and touted as the most scandalous read of the season, the year they'd been published.

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

“Indeed.” Caroline smiled, adding, “At a tea last month.” No need to admit how dull the tea would have been without Miss Fisk unless Mr. Darrow pushed the matter. She suspected he might appreciate the tidbit, but like any good conversation you had to leave breadcrumbs to be picked up and inquired about.

“I suppose all of it.” Caroline admitted, finding she didn’t need to fake interest in this particular topic as she often did at events like this. “The people, the sights. Is it true they eat their suppers sitting on pillows?” Her eyes were eager for each tidbit he might leave her, but she was sure to keep her tone light and airy, just interested enough to ask, but not to seem too eager.

  

Alfred laughed at her question and wondered where she'd heard that (and why that bit of trivia had made it through to her ears, but nothing else about the country — it was hardly what Alfred considered the most interesting).

"Well, sure they do, but only if you're invited to dinner at someone's home," he explained. It had happened to him once, but not during his most recent trip there. Dinner invitations were not typically issued to sailors who were only in town for two days. "If you go to a restaurant to eat it's all very English, unfortunately. At least in the port towns, which are the only towns I visit." Presumably if he ever got off the beaten track things might be a little different, but it wasn't easily accomplished. There was a reason the towns he visited were more heavily trafficked by travelers and tourists; they were far more accessible than any of the others.

"There is a good deal of street food that's much more interesting," he continued, not sure how she might feel about the idea of buying food from a vendor on the street and then eating it while walking around. It wasn't something most proper young women would be keen on, he suspected. Probably Zelda would enjoy it — he ought to take Zelda to Morocco, one day.

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

That seemed like the typical measure of things, the British’s ever present sense of decorum and propriety. She suspected it was much the same almost everywhere these days. Indian probably too. Nodding politely Caroline found herself thinking back to the books she’d read on such topics.

“And what sort of street food do they have?” For some reason she was more included to believe Alfred ate at stalls rather than restaurants anyways. “I’m sure it uses a great deal more spice than British food.”

She found herself wanting to ask about fashions as well, but Alfred, like her brothers, likely didn’t care much for the topic or therefore actually pay attention to it.

  

"Most things use more spice than British food," Alfred joked easily. Having grown up here he didn't dislike English food, but he had traveled widely enough to realize the spice pallet typically used at home was incredibly limited. Before the Sycorax he'd still been hesitant to eat things that were too heavily spiced (unless on a dare from one of his shipmates), but after living with the tribe for so long he'd acquired a taste for more heat, particularly in his meat, on occasion.

"There's meat skewers you can buy with lamb or goat, and those are pretty spicy. Or you can get them tossed in a sauce and rolled into a piece of flat bread," he explained. You could also buy whole sheep heads, steamed and seasoned, but he didn't think this idea would particularly appeal to Miss Delaney, so left it out of his description. He left out, too, that the animal providing the meat was often strung up immediately next to the grill, so that you could watch the chef shave the meat off before cooking it. It was strange, by English standards, but at least there was no confusion at all about what the meat was, which was not always a given in foreign ports, particularly with language barriers.

"A lot of what you can buy is actually pretty sweet, though," he continued. "Lots of fried breads or doughs with honey or syrup. They're tasty, but they do leave your hands quite a mess," he said with a grin. "Have you traveled much, Miss Delaney?"

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Caroline chuckled, “They certainly do.” Although she ought to refrain on her additional thoughts of British food as they were indeed in a British restaurant.

“I am surprised, I hadn’t thought they would have much sweets there.” When she thought of such exotic places she thought of spices and heat, hardly anything sweet came to mind. “They must have a sweet tooth worse than mine.” She joked.

“Only here to England.” Caroline admitted with an easy smile. At the time that had seemed an adventure, she had known there were others places in the world to visit, but she had been unlikely to see them under her parents’ thumb. So she’d convinced them and Shawn to bring her here to London. She enjoyed the change from Bostonian society to British society and the chance to see completely magical towns such as Irvingly and Hogsmeade. But she was no fool to know there was still the rest of the world out there. She intended to ensure her honeymoon took her to one of those places, although she had yet to broach the subject with

  

"And you liked it so much you decided to stay?" Alfred teased lightly. There was nothing wrong with England, he supposed, but it certainly wasn't enough to keep him home. There was a reason he'd chosen a career that necessitated being abroad frequently; he thought nearly everything was more interesting than England. If Zelda hadn't lived here, he wouldn't have spent as much time lingering here between trips as he did. He certainly wouldn't have been attending the opening ceremonies of restaurants he had no particular desire to patronize.

"I've always thought Boston was more interesting than London," he said with a shrug. "Maybe it's just that you're used to Boston, and I'm bored of London."

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

“I have.” She nodded with a smile, although it was less England than Evander that had convinced her to stay. That and she hardly doubted Shawn would allow her any further than England and her parents would only want her to come back home.

“I suspect you are right. A perspective of where we have grown up.” She admitted. “Although, I admit I do love Boston. There are moments I miss it, but then again, I suspect no matter where life leads one is apt to be a bit homesick from time to time.” She shrugged this particular amount of musing off, it did not do to be too introspective at a social event.

“I suppose I should not be surprised to find you have traveled to Boston. What did you think of it?” Few here even liked to dein a thought that anything across the Atlantic even existed let alone visited or wanted to speak of such a subject.

  

"Oh, I haven't been in years," he said with a vague shrug. If she tried to banter with him about anything that had happened recently in Boston, he would be ill-prepared to contribute, and even when he had visited more frequently he had never stayed more than about a week. Just as long as it took for whoever they were escorting to unload their cargo and load up something new, really. Still, he had rather fond memories of Boston. Troll boxing was quite the spectacle, and they did that in Boston, but that probably wasn't the sort of thing someone like Miss Delaney spent her time on. (He was making some assumptions about her, admittedly, based on the fact that she seriously intended to marry Evander; he could not believe that she was too interesting if that was the case).

"I've always found it a very welcoming city," he continued (welcoming in more ways than one — it was in Boston that he'd lost his virginity at nineteen, though he was hardly going to mention that to anyone, ever, probably until the day he died). "I think the people are the most important part of any place, honestly."

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

“I absolutely agree.” Caroline put forth with determination. Afterall it was a person here in England that had caught her attention. But it went beyond that, the basis of a civilization was its people. Nothing could be built without them.

“Where has your favorite place to travel been?” It did not do to be too philosophical at gatherings such as this.