∫ i'm of the glamorous ladies at whose beckoning history shook

[eyvdowtyah]

In some ways, Christmas with the Beauchamps is much easier than the days they spent in France with the Malfoys; extended family fills the townhouse, spilling out into others and there is an ever-fluctuating sea of laughing, friendly faces whose names she has mostly mastered. They are loud and glorious, and she drifts without particular purpose

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[nameofnote]

Sergei has managed to get his hands on a PINpoint. (He figures if Avdotya has one, he should too.) So this time it's very purposeful when he turns up in Wales, with a bag slung over one shoulder. He and Lika had parted a few hours before; she was spending New Years' with some school friends in New York, and he told her to have fun and be careful (possibly in that order) before leaving her.

Christmas hadn't been easy, but it had gone well enough. His Mother and Lika were still rocky, but they'd both tried to put it aside for the holiday. Frederick still tried too hard, but it was well-meant. And having something else to look forward to certainly helped him, it must be said.

He approaches the manor optimistically, though with caution. As a Malfoy, he doesn't want to go sneaking up on it.

[eyvdowtyah]

A wise choice by all accounts.

The door is answered by a tall, expressionless man in severe black; Guilfoyle examines him briefly and then says, "Mr Alkaev. Come in."

[nameofnote]

"Um... hello." He's taken slightly off guard. He doesn't know why - in a manor this large, it only makes sense to have at least one servant. He just had an image of Avdotya kicking around the manor alone, skirts tied up and a book under her arm.

Still, manners do kick in, and he comes inside when invited. "Thank you."

[eyvdowtyah]

"Allow me to take your bag," unfailingly polite but extremely difficult to contradict, the efficiency for which Guilfoyle is always so highly paid, "and I will show you to Miss Karkarova."

The door slams shut a little harder behind Sergei than is strictly necessary, with a certain odd impression of sulkiness.

Caledfwlch looks much improved; cleaner, better-lit, certainly much warmer. Some of the portraits and furniture have been removed - the former to be restored and some of the latter just to be replaced entirely - and it's still something of a work in progress, but it's now looking more like a house and less like some monster's lair.