A name and a place

Elsie Norton. Her name was literally the only thing Selwyn knew about his prospective date.

He had booked a table at the restaurant under his own name. She would meet him there if all went to plan. If it didn't, he may never meet her at all, but Selwyn was prepared for this. He was expecting a lot of rejection before he found the perfect wife.

A perfect wife, he mused as he sat down. It sounded so cynical, so backward, so conservative. He wouldn't be getting married at all if he had the choice, let alone to someone perfect. He doubted anyone would find him to be the perfect husband.

Oh well, he sat up straight and sipped his water to give a good impression. Women these days, who knew what the fashionable drink was? All he could do now was wait.

Elsie really couldn't figure out how her parents had managed to get her into this one.

Okay, she could. They controlled the accounts, and her job was barely a title, let alone a paycheck.

Not that her parents ever would revoke their money from their daughter. That would mean she would look poor. And how would that reflect on them? And then they would never get rid of her. Years of her embarrassing the family at pureblood mixers by flirting with the fathers instead of the sons, by sitting under tables and getting drunk with engaged men, and still her parents remained optimistic that they could pawn her off.

Really, they were just desperate to get rid of her.

The threat of cutting off her funds had been scary enough, though, so she dawned a dress, dolled herself up, and stepped out into the real world.

She arrived at the restaurant, fashionable late, as fashionable was the best way to describe her. Soon, the host was leading her to her table and to her date.

"Hello," she said, smiling, overdoing it a little, and not at all sincerely. "Elsie Norton." Her voice was melodious but not at all sweet. She did not reach out to take his hand or anything of the sort, but sat, catching the host. "A French Martini."

She was American.

Selwyn didn't know what to think. His instinct was to be appalled. An American girl couldn't possibly appreciate the rugged beauty of the Scottish Highlands. He almost wanted to take her there right now so they could get this farce over with as soon as possible.

That, however, was impossible. Partly because it would be extremely weird, and partly because he knew in his gut that he was being a jerk. You didn't get to be a jerk for as many years as Selwyn had without noticing the signs.

"Hello, I'm Selwyn," he managed to stand before she got all the way into her seat. "But you already knew that..."

Sitting once again, he felt the onus was on him to make conversation.

"You look very nice this evening."

This was awkward, painfully awkward. Surely letting the veela out to play wouldn't cause too much harm, just to ease the tension?

The host scooted off to place the order with whomever their unfortunate waiter was, and Elsie tightened her bracelet, before looking up at her date. He was attractive, which made the whole ordeal a little less painful. However, her intentions were not to charm him. She was in the business of taking down purebloods and Death Eaters, and this man was neither, if her research was correct. At best, he could be a distraction. And she was already distracted enough.

"Thanks," she said, in response to his compliment. It seemed she wasn't even willing to pretend she had listened to all of that manners training growing up. When she was around the Rookwoods, she was a queen. Right now, she was coming off very pouty-teenager.

Whatever.

"So," she said, glancing towards the bar to check the status on her martini. "Are you just as excited as your parents are to find yourself a wife?"

Well, she was blunt. Selwyn liked that in a person, and it went a long way to put him at ease.

"Oh, it's not my parents who want to see me married," he replied somewhat more cheerfully. "It's a spell."

He wasn't willing to expand much on the details of that spell, not until he learned more about the lady in front of him. Speaking of which:

"Are your parents the ones who set you up?"

He was almost certain he knew the answer to that one. Most of these kind of arrangements were organised by the parents, usually to the dismay of their children. He assumed Ms Norton was part of that company, since she didn't seem all that impressed with being here.

Elsie slowly lifted an eyebrow at his comment, waiting for him to explain just how a spell had brought him here. Was he trying to insinuate an Imperius curse or something? Sounds like the sort of insult she would try to lob at someone. But it didn't sound insulting. He sounded genuine, even though he had no interest in explaining.

Just as well. She was sure it would have bored her.

The waiter arrived with her martini and she thanked him, taking the drink and taking a sip - done well. She allowed more of the liquid into her system and then set the glass down.

"Most definitely. They think that if they get me married off, I'll stop being their scandalous little embarrassment." A small smirk touched her lips - it seemed she was long passed feeling hurt by being the black sheep, and had instead embraced it. Leave Ben to be their parents' pride, she had her own chosen family she chose to impress.

"Oh really?"

Selwyn knew he shouldn't have been intrigued.  He was looking for a wife, not a fling.  He certainly shouldn't have been interested in someone who was pleased to be an embarrassment; it was so fifteen year old boy.

So he had the mind of a fifteen year old.  If only he was still thirteen, he might have been ahead of the game.

"I think perhaps you should tell me about these scandalous things you've been doing," Selwyn smiled. "I couldn't possibly marry someone with a more interesting reputation than my own."

He definintely piqued at her last statement. And now she was torn. She had hoped to scare him off by the time the appetizers were out. She could not afford getting wrapped up in anyone outside of her target demographic - friendly, romantic, or otherwise. She had Ben and Claire, with occasionally Asher and Sutton to fill in the gaps. Her social circle was complete.

However, anyone who seemed at all interesting to her had appealed to her vanity.

Still, she had to be tactful. She sat back, tilting her head as she regarded him. "But you're only here because of a spell. I'm sure you can't be that interested. Tell me - since you're not here of your own accord, what do you look for in these arrangements?"

"Of course I can be interested!" Selwyn protested. "I need to know if you're fit to be married to, or whether I should keep you as a mistress."

She began probing about the spell, and Selwyn shifted in his seat.  He didn't want to talk about that, particularly.

"It really depends," he hedged.  "It's different with every person, you see."

The corner of her mouth twitched upwards, but she raised an eyebrow to act as though she was displeased with both options. "But my parents would be so disappointed in me." Part of her wanted to jokingly add 'so would all the other men I'm mistress to.' Something told her, however, that her current mission would be better aided if she didn't go around bragging about it. So she swallowed her words.

She tilted her head, curious at his words. Her vanity was definitely being tickled, and she had no qualms pursuing further pleasure. "Really. Well, then, have you formed your opinions about your latest arrangement?"