March 27, 1888 — Flint Estate in Dorset, England

People were talking, but that was nothing new. She was always a topic of conversation when the subject of "this generation of debutantes!" or society scandals in general, but there was something particularly nerve-wrecking about the notion that she and Reuben Crouch were going to, what? Run off together? They barely knew each other!

"I'm telling you, Lucy, society has really regressed over the last decade," she insisted, violently stabbing her yarn with her knitting needles as they sat in the parlor. "Mindless gossips, that's what they all are!" Stab.

The whole problem would be less worrying to her if she'd actually remembered the entirety of her conversation with Reuben Crouch. She remembered him talking about... a girl? Not her, she was sure of that. But then again, she'd been drunk and that was also an issue she was having to deal with as well.

Perhaps she'd need to find out.

"If Mr. Jameshill begins asking questions at work, I'm going to hunt down every. single. person. who spread those baseless rumors and... and...!" Stab.

@"Lucille Flint"

  

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

After her time at Hogwarts Lucille was quite certain that if Bella had not moved in to the Flint home she would have simply died of boredom. While she was aware of the talk it created she also loathed being sequestrated at home with no friends about her. Especially when it was not the season and there were relatively few things to take her away from her home. Bella on the other hand seemed to always be out and about what with her internship and all that. Sometimes Lucy even wished she, who'd never had an interest in any sort of work, might have an internship to occupy her time. Instead she thrived on the companionship of her cousin, even if Bella was in a temper.

"I'm fairly certain they've always been mindless gossips." Lucille calmly replied, lifting her eyes from her needlework - the rose pattern was coming along quite well. After all women had very few things to talk about if gossip didn't linger. Lucy liked to think of her stories, the ones of old courts with kings and queens and courts that lived in castles - there were always rumors in those stories. Not that Bella was going to like that answer, but it was a truth that Lucy lived with. People loved to talk. Her own personal theory was that they loved to talk because they wished a more exciting life for themselves and were too scared to take it so they imagined someone else might actually do what they really wished they could themselves.

Across from her Bella seemed intent on practically murdering her poor knitting, her needles violently stabbing into the thread. "Do you really think healers care anything of baseless gossip?" After all healers were not exactly in the best social fields and they weren't with people from all walks of life. If anyone didn't gossip Lucy was convinced it would be healers.

"Besides, Bella, would it really be so bad to entertain the idea of Mr. Crouch? Perhaps these rumors might lead to something more." Lucy was always looking for a love story to come out of such things. She could easily see Bella and this Mr. Crouch becoming close because of the rumors. And if Mr. Crouch were involved in such rumors as well then it meant he might not mind the rumors that surrounded Bella as well. There could always be a happy ending.

  

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Thank you MJ for an amazingly Lucy set!

Lucy's annoyingly optimistic self refused to agree with Bella's complaints, which was ugh, but she was her cousin — and the nicest of them to — so she wouldn't give a snarky remark in return. She thought it was easy for Lucy, a girl whose life was never cast into public glace (and not to mention whose mother adored her) to believe that the gossip would just ~go away~ and everything would be alright in the end. Or apparently, that she should feed into it.

"Are you — I can't believe you're serious," she scoffed, dropping her needles and looking up at her friend. "He may seem fun and he may be cute, but he's trouble." Or at least that's what Witch Weekly had said when the magazine came out, not that she would ever admit than an ounce of her believed what it said after it had slandered her.

"And it doesn't matter if the healers overall believe the gossip! I have friends — certain people — at St. Mungo's who I don't believing the rumors. I'm trying to prove that I'm a responsible adult." And was utterly failing. She didn't think she could handle it if her few friends (real friends, not society ones) thought bad of her!

  

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

Like everyone else Lucille was very aware of the most recent Witch Weekly article detailing the very ineligible eligible bachelors, the very same Mr. Crouch had been included in the article. “Where's your sense of adventure Bella?” Lucy teased, although she was rather aware where it was - lost in the baseless rumors that popped up around her very dear cousin. “Besides, who says he's trouble? Witch Weekly?” Lucy was very aware of the fact that Bella loathed Witch Weekly and made a point of claiming to pay it no attention. Lucy was also aware that many of the claims listed in it were without fact, having often heard the other side of the story in her circle before the magazine even published the story.

“Oh? And who might these people be?” Lucy asked with a tilted eyebrow, all inquiry. Her mind instantly spinning with the thought that Bella might very well be keeping a secret crush - or even romance! - from her. “Do tell.” Lucy commanded, leaning forward in anticipation of just whatever was at the heart of her cousin’s preoccupation with the staff of St. Mungo’s.

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   Bella Scrimgeour

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Thank you MJ for an amazingly Lucy set!

Bella could feel her cheeks heating up. "My sense of adventure is perfectly in tact, thank you very much! It just has a habit of leading to problems, that's all, and I need no more problems." It was easy for her to say that now, sitting in the company of Lucy. Her cousin was a good reminder of what she could be like without being as in-her-face as Araminta. Lucy was perfectly proper, but was still a dreamer and knew how to have fun — just without getting into trouble. When temptation came like bait Bella, however, she was likely to take it, even knowing the troubles that came.

"It doesn't take a magazine to hear society whispers," she scoffed, as if insulted that her cousin would assume she read the magazine. "It doesn't matter, though," she declared suddenly, "My parents would probably be happy to see me marry any wealthy pureblood, and I'd like to not give them that pleasure. Besides, he's short."

She was going to say that she thought Mr. Crouch had a lady love somewhere, but she didn't trust Lucy not to gossip about those sort of trivial matters. Mr. Crouch seemed nice — or at least her drunken memories had thought so — and didn't want to add any fuel to the fire he was already battling.

"These people? My hospital friends?" she asked at the change of subject. "Oh, just coworkers. Other healers and interns. I'm sure my daily social ventures at the hospital wouldn't interest you," she insisted.

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   Lucille Lukeson

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

Regretfully Lucy did have to concede to Bella’s point, adventures did seem to turn out on the wrong side of things for her cousin. But she frowned at the dimissial of Mr. Crouch. Perhaps there was more to him than society’s gossips had the depth to fathom. “He's still from a good family -” Lucy started to argue when Bella cut her off. She could argue family, she could argue looks, she could even argue against rumors, but she could not argue with her friend’s moral compass in regard to her family’s desires. She just understood Bella’s perspective too well over the past year. “Well you're not terribly tall… ” She added lamely, pouting as she dropped the subject.

Although it was dropped in favor of a much more intriguing discourse. “Au contraire mon ami! I am very much interested in your social life anywhere.” Lucy objected, “After all, you are not confined to the grounds of Flint Mansion. ” Lucy waved around them, dramatically bemoaning her own boredom. “How else am I to live vicariously through you until the season starts if you do not confide such ventures to me.” A good natured smirk lingered on her features, her eyes bright with the sense of forthcoming secrets.

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   Bella Scrimgeour

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Thank you MJ for an amazingly Lucy set!

Bella playfully rolled her eyes at her cousin's melodramatic display. Bella failed to believe that Aunt Laverna kept Lucy here at all times; she at least had to go to Hogsmeade once or twice a week simply to practice socializing. Lucy just had too much energy to be stuffed away in the reclusive (beautiful, but certainly reclusive) Flint family home.

"I can assure you that St. Mungo's is nothing like the social scene, Lucy," she insisted. "Half the employees are men twice my age — and the ones that aren't are too busy building their careers to be interested in all the gossip folly." That wasn't the answer her cousin was looking for, and she knew it. Thus, she tried to add something entertaining to their conversation: "There are some cute healers, though. I'm not sure how many of them Aunt Laverna would approve of, though." Many of them were halfbloods, and while Bella would not hesitate to attach herself to one of them — just one of them — if given the chance, she didn't think Lucy desired to get disowned.

  

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

"Precisely my point, my dear Bella!" Lucy chimed in as she returned to her embroidery. "If they aren't gossiping - which I told you they wouldn't be, mind you," She pointed a scolding needle in Bella's direction as her mother often did with a finger when trying to make a point, "Not the, what was it you called them earlier? Not the mindless gossips our regressed society produces?" Every once in a while Lucy surprised herself by simply sounded so very educated with an argument, she couldn't help the almost proud smile on her lips.

Now cute healers, that was a subject that Lucy really found intriguing. "Pfft! You just said you didn't care about approval, Bella. What better way to show that than with a cute healer? Now. Tell me all about him."

  

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Thank you MJ for an amazingly Lucy set!

Bella sat with a pout on her face as her cousin — the ditzy Lu-silly — pointed out the flaws in her logic. Was she so set on avoiding any mention of her work life (and therefore her personal life) that she would completely contradict herself? Apparently so. With a sigh, Bella resigned to her cousin's pestering and answered the questions.

"I never said there was a 'him'," she pointed out. There was a him, but that was beside the point. There were multiple men she could talk about, none of which would prompt her cousin to get excited or otherwise press the matter. "But if we are talking about men, there's always Mr. Langley — my boss." And before her cousin could even question the matter further, she added: "And no, he's not my future husband. I promise."

  

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

Not a man? “Oh? How scandalous, Bella!” Lucy teased. But before that route of conversation took off Bella was quick to clarify. Lucy had heard of young ladies who liked other young ladies, and certainly there was always the rumor of some young man liking another man, but she didn’t know if it ever actually happened. Besides, she’d never seen Bella in any way inclined toward women, what with her habit of getting mixed up with a variety of different men.

“Your boss?” Lucy could see the match being suitable if he held a decent position and Bella’s opinion of him did seem quite high. “Why ever not? He seems perfectly suitable and besides you talk about him all the time. Does he share your sentiments? Oh, Bella, you might not even know that he does!” Lucy began, her brain spinning with the possibilities of a grand romance for her dear cousin.

  

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Thank you MJ for an amazingly Lucy set!

Bella had absolutely no knowledge of same-sex couples, nor had she ever pondered on the possibility, so she was left giving her cousin an odd look — what could possibly be so scandalous? — before blinking dismissively and moving on with the conversation. Not that Lucy gushing over the possibility of her boss as a suitor was any less scandalous than whatever Lucy had been going on about beforehand; on top of Mr. Langley being her boss, he was also below the Scrimgeour family on the social ladder. To marry him would be to see herself disowned, and though she expected that to happen at some point, Mr. Langley was the last person she thought would prompt it.

"No, Lucy. Not happening. Besides, I have reason to believe he's seeing another young lady!" There. If that wasn't enough to supply Lucy with her daily dose of gossip, then she didn't know what would. Though, from the tone she'd spoken in, Lucy might realize she was trying to deflect her prodding and then she'd be screwed.

  

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

Lucy pouted at the quick dismissal of her idea. "Oh Bells, it could be so romantic, what if he cared for you and you didn't even know it? What if the rumors were only so he had no idea that he felt anything for you?" Lucy gushed, determined to push the subject. "Besides, if not you, then who is the young lady? I'm sure she pales in comparison to you." To find the answer and hear the current gossip and to help her friend, Lucy could think of nothing more than a fine way to spend the afternoon.

  

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Thank you MJ for an amazingly Lucy set!

Lucy's antics would have been amusing if Bella hadn't been the one on the receiving end of them.

"It would be so romantic... if I had feelings for him, silly girl," she retorted, tossing a free ball of yarn at the blonde debutante. "Even if he did come into work and propose tomorrow, I'd immediately say no."

Mr. Langley, though handsome in his own right, wasn't the sort of man she imagined herself spending the rest of her life with. He seemed too serious at times, and was quick to scold rather than tease — unlike some other men she knew.

  

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

Lucy simply couldn’t argue that Bella like someone that she did not. She would be a poor friend if she did such, instead she sighed at the loss of what could have been a romantic story and returned her attention to her needlework contemplating what Bella was not saying. She wasn’t allowed much thought as their butler soon announced that it was time to change for supper.

“Gossips aside, Bella, you will find someone.” Lucy assured her dear cousin as they stood to head to their respective rooms.

  

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Thank you MJ for an amazingly Lucy set!

As silly as Lucille could be sometimes, at least she seemed to care about more than Bella's reputation. Araminta had always (reasonably) been concerned about how Bella's actions may have affected her, which often caused a rift between them. Bella rose alongside her cousin, setting her knitting needles and assaulted ball of yarn on the table beside her seat.

"Maybe you should focus on your prospects, and then you'll have plenty of time to concern yourself with mine," she teased before the two girls went on their separate ways.

  

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— MJ is MAGICAL —