Why, it’s Miss Alice Fairfield.
Goodness, MISS ALICE FAIRFIELD has arrived in London. SHE is 25, of the DEVONSHIRE FAIRFIELDS. Though they are NEW to the Season, we can only describe them as ASTUTE and CAPTIVATING, dear reader. Accompanied by HER AUNT, they have settled in and are accepting social calls. But be warned: they are known for their ALOOFNESS. (Fable, 25, she/they, SST)
Alice Fairfield is new to the London scene and isn’t here completely out of her own free will. She never thought she would have to be a part of the marriage market and to say she is a bit disgruntled at having to participate would be an understatement.
Her father is a trader and explorer and her grandfather was one of the first in England to import tea. Her father continues to be at the helm of their trade and the tea business has been booming.
Alice grew up in Fairfield Manor and loves the estate to bits. Every room in it has her mother’s presence and her father’s booming laugh. Though she loved travelling with her father the past few years, Fairfield manor is home and she will do anything to secure it - even marry someone she doesn’t particularly like.
Alice’s mother was the daughter of lesser nobility who fell in love with one of the gentry and was thus disowned by her very strict father. So though she did teach Alice every etiquette lesson possible, she never glorified the peerage and in many ways warned Alice of their conservative ways.
Alice has been travelling with her father to various parts of Europe over the past 6 years after losing her mother at 19. She believes her father couldn’t stand to live in Fairfield Manor without her mother and she admits the travels have been a welcome distraction for them both.
While travelling from Rome to Madrid, her father suddenly took sick and they had to return to Devonshire but in spite of numerous doctors visiting nobody quite knew what his ailment was. Just that he didn’t have very long to live.
She has been trained by her father in business as well as the arts and has never been taught to think of herself as less than a man. Which is why she was absolutely furious when she found out that in case her father passed before she was married, chances were that Fairfield Manor would go to some distant male cousin she has never met.
Thus Alice is at the season instead of some ship travelling far and wide. If she would be honest to herself, she was desperate for a match but those who present a persona to others very often forget who they are themselves.
Within her mind there is a constant fight between who she thinks she should be and who she is. She believes she deserves every single person’s approval. Having never had to face criticism or rejection growing up, she can’t imagine someone not finding her manner charming or her stories captivating. She thinks she is the epitome of what a lady should be, or at least plays the part well but underneath, she is actually a lonely, frightened girl suddenly thrust upon society.
She thinks she can easily find a way out of her predicament by bagging a suitor and getting engaged before her father passes but she doesn’t realise that because of the pressure, her usually amicable manner appears aloof and her normally humorous stories sound boastful to many.
She has one secret that she will take to her grave - when in Greece, she had developed a habit of donning men’s clothes and mingling with them, speaking about philosophy and astronomy. It seemed hardly worrisome then because she never expected to be presented in London Society, but now that she must make a good impression here, its imperative that its never found out. Unfortunately, there’s high chance of somebody recognising her.
