August 30, 1888 - The Destiny Hotel, London
Aphrodite Soiree

As the evening wore down Caroline felt happier than she had all summer. It was her first official ball of the season, if one didn’t count the Hogwarts Coming Out Ball (which Caroline didn’t as she had not been one of those debutting and as such hadn’t been able to shine as much as she would like), and it had been wonderful. Her gown was catching glances all evening, proving her outfit a success (the perfect homage to a mermaid and Aphrodite as well as her love of the sea), she had met several charming people and had spent most of the evening dancing. Even though the evening had several blemishes, such as the gentleman who had thrown her drink at a plant and the pouting lady at her table, Caroline hadn’t felt it had dimmed much. But now it was dying down. She noted other attendees had begun to glance at the clock wondering when the fireworks would begin, while the tired feeling of a ball nearing its end began to settle in.

Caroline for her part was still quite happily energetic. She’d always loved evening events, besides, dancing and talking always made her feel more alive and awake. Compared to the wilting debutantes around the room she felt she was quite flourishing in the environment, sure to catch eyes at her vivaciousness despite the hour.

She had been happily chatting with a gentleman who had whisked her across the dance floor the last dance, a banker or some sort and a decent fellow (one never knew when they might need a decent fellow), when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. “Excuse me,” She told the gentleman and turned to face the newcomer with a charming smile on her face.

  

Alexander was enjoying his time at the ball thus far. He had enjoyed his dances and the ladies that he had gotten to meet. They were all lovely except for that one girl that had continuously tried talking about his father. He barely spoke to his own siblings about the man so he hadn't been about to with some rando.

The night was winding down and he was milling about when his pocket watch went off one last time with the name Caroline Delaney. Ah, another matchmaker assigned dance. Okay. "Excuse me, Miss. Are you Miss Delaney?" He asked after he had tapped the nearest girls shoulder, indicating his pocket watch.

  

The gentleman before her was handsome enough, although that wasn’t everything she’d certainly admit. He appeared to have a boyish charm to him and a polite enough smile. “I am.” Caroline told him with a charming smile, glancing at the dance card on her wrist. “Are you Mr. Echelon?” She asked, fairly certain she had caught the name on the quick glance at her card.

  

"Yes, Alexander Echelon at your disposal," Alexander said, delighted to have gotten the woman right. She looked pretty enough. He certainly had no complaints. "I am glad to have found you. Are you ready for our dance or would you like to converse a bit first?"

---

  

“A pleasure to meet you.” Caroline told him with a smile as he bowed. Certainly not as mismatched as a few of her matches had been this evening.

“A dance sounds quite lovely.” She agreed holding out her hand so he could lead her to the floor. “Have you been enjoying your evening Mr. Echelon?”

  

Alexander was relieved when she agreed to a dance, having not been sure what he would even talk about. All the matched up by a seer matchmaker stuff felt like extra pressure more than anything. "I have been enjoying it immensely. Have you met the seer?" Alexander asked curiously as he led her into the dance.

---

  

Caroline let him lead her onto the dance floor, gracefully gliding into position as the music for the dance started up. “I’m glad to hear that.” She demurred prettily.

The seer. “No, I have not yet had that pleasure. Have you?” Caroline wasn’t one to believe seers and magic love situations. They were amusing but although it seemed entirely unreliable. However, she couldn’t shrug away that opportunity it had given her to be introduced to appropriate gentleman. For someone not from this circle it was exactly the opportunity she had needed.

  

"Not yet and I'm not sure if I want to," Alexander said. He really did tend to have a bout of bad luck and he didn't want to risk the seer saying he was destined to die alone or something in that vein. That would put a damper on the rest of his life, probably. "Do you believe in seers and their ilk?" It seemed a good conversational topic as any. Alexander wasn't quite sure of it all himself but he liked to have a trace of belief in pretty much anything he crossed. Like lizard people.

  

At least she wasn’t the only one at this soiree who was not entirely enamored with the idea of the seer. His next question, however, surprised her. She considered her answer before telling him, “To a degree I do.” After all it was a form of magic that had been long accepted, even if she had yet to see a seer truly do as they suppose. Besides, it seemed rather impolite to admit to not believing in a seer who was hosting the very event she was attending. “Do you?”

  

"I like to believe in just about everything," Alexander stated after some thought. "Our world is too vast for us to possibly know everything about anything and how things work." The thing with Seers is that they were the only ones who saw what they Saw. So it could be hard for the skeptic sorts to fully believe in their actuality.

  

That must be tiring, believing in everything. Caroline kept the comment to herself and instead smiled as if this made perfect sense. Nor did she allow the comment on blind faith to spring from her lips. “But doesn’t the rest of the world fascinate you?” She would give anything to visit and see the rest of the world, to know the experiences of other people. It was part of the reason she had fought so hard for Shawn to bring her with him to London.

  

"Of course it does. Wouldn't it fascinate anyone?" Alexander asked, mildly rhetorically. Then again, he supposed there were those that were content right where they were. One being fascinated with the world did not equate knowing about it. People were discovering and inventing new things every day and Alexander personally thought that was amazing. "Oh, seems our dance has ended. It was lovely to meet you Miss Delaney."

  

The music swirled to an end around them as couples came to a stop. She gave the gentleman a smile and curtsey. "The pleasure was all mine " She demurred politely before they parted ways.