Who: Bess Zeller and Drystan Fawcett
What: Drystan has been secretly paying a portion of Bess' rent, and she just found out!
Where: HIS flat
Status: Finishing in comments!



It just seemed to be one thing after another. Bess' leg bounced furiously as she waited for the lift to get to the right floor and her eyes watched the lights ascend through the numbers. She had been dealing with her custody battle with Chester when her finances were brought to Brady's attention, and it was utterly confusion. It had just been a routine check, but when her boss had joked about how she must be sleeping with her landlord to be getting that kind of deal, Bess knew she needed to investigate.

No, she wasn't sleeping with the dodgy land lord, to clarify. He had just...felt sympathetic to her situation, and had lowered the rent, was all. At least, that was what Bess had believed, until he explained that a private benefactor was paying a rather large sum of her rent. Of course, she immediately thought---well of course she thought it was Fabian, but when she inquired as to who this man was (after nearly ten minutes of prodding, and her voice going into an irritatingly high pitch), her land lord announced that it was Drystan Fawcett who was providing her with the rent.

Bess didn't know what shocked her more, this revelation that a near stranger (the night at the ball had been fun, but not life altering) had been for some reason unknown to her helping her survive or the fact that she had started to cry, right in her land lord's office. She couldn't understand why (maybe--maybe his sister had a flat nearby? Did he think he was paying for her rent?), but as she looted through Drystan's paperwork at the office, she could barely catch her breath. She found his address, and nearly half an hour later she was at his door.

Just---knock, and ask him to please stop with the payments, because they're going to cause trouble with the custody battle and she would simply find a cheaper place to live. The door opened and even though she had knocked in hope that he was home, Bess was startled and stared up at Drystan with a gawking expression.

"I---Mr. Fawcett? Mr. Fawcett," she cleared her throat, "Hello, I hope I'm not intruding."

Drystan had, at that moment in time, been busying himself in the kitchen when the knock at the door came. His brow furrowed as he glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room, noting the time. Ensuring that the spoon was doing a proper job of mixing everything in the bowl, he wiped his hands on the nearest hand towel, slinging it across his shoulder as he made his way to the front door, calculating the possibilities of who would be calling at this hour. His sisters would have given word; it couldn't be anyone from practice, seeing as he had just left them… Drystan's musings continued as he turned the knob, a flash of blonde catching his eye first.

"Miss Zeller," he said, tone even despite the raising of his eyebrows. Suffice it to say, that had been one face he was not expecting to see at his door. His mind immediately jumped to the news that her sometimes-paramour (one honestly never knew what to believe in the rags--he of all people was very familiar with that notion) had died in the most recent Death Eater attack, though he neither said anything nor altered his expression to echo such thoughts.

"Of course. Won't you come in?" he stepped aside, gesturing her past the threshold.

"I've just been informed," Bess began, walking into the flat with her eyes focused on the ground in front of her. She needed to be professional about this, to make it easier to stop and avoid any sort of awkwardness, "that you have been paying an---a percentage of my monthly rent, and while that is---quite...philanthropic of you," even Bess cringed at the word, what was she, some charity case? "I'm going to have to ask you to stop."

She realized she'd nearly walked straight into the wall opposite the door, and she turned, holding her briefcase tightly in her hands in front of her. Bess felt quite nauseous, and hoped that he didn't find offense in her words, but...how could she continue to allow him to basically support her? Even Bess could admit she would never be able to afford the lovely flat on her dreadful salary, it would be so...wrong to accept the money any longer, especially if Chester found out. Bess found herself trying to get mad about all of this, it could lead to so much trouble, but she couldn't do anything but take shaky breaths and avoid his eyes.

"You should expect a repayment of sorts in the post," she said with a nod, "I won't be able to requite the lump sum right away," or ever at the rate her life was going, "But I---can assure you that you'll get it eventually."

It was difficult to say whether he felt shocked or even surprised, as she informed him she knew of his "philanthropic" efforts. Certainly, he felt no small amount of contempt for her beady-eyed landlord, who was so intent on charging Miss Zeller an exorbitant amount, now that he knew she had a financier, but Drystan found him only slightly troublesome to deal with. The money he had been paid on the side for the promise of keeping the information to himself, even under duress, on the other hand, would be taken from him, most likely with interest.

Drystan's lip might have curled slightly as he thought fondly of the visit he'd be paying the man very soon.

Slight sneers aside (he did try hastily to rearrange his expression so the slight lip quirk would go unnoticed), he listened to her with no discernible change of expression, nodding once as she finished.

"Are you able to afford the residence on your own, then?" He'd have to talk her out of believing she owed him payment for it, he supposed.

Bess had made sure to avoid Drystan's gaze, her eyes wandering all over the flat before she suddenly felt like an intruder. She should not be in this man's flat! She had no right to be in here, she did not know him! Bess felt as if she had known Drystan better she would not be the stuttering fool she was right now, but what could she say? She had no idea where his kindness had come from, so there was this worry that she might owe him something. She had no money! She had nothing to repay him with, and her head shot up at his question; it was as if he were reading her thoughts.

"No," she answered a bit too quickly, but Bess straightened and kept herself looking away. No, she would not be able to afford the flat, Sadie would have to move again and be confused again and readjust again. This would be the fourth home her daughter had lived in during her short life, though a return to her brother's seemed like the most likely scenario. Bess smiled tightly, forcing herself to keep her composure as everything began to hit her at once.

"We have until the end of the month to find a new place, we'll be--fine."