June 6th, 1892 — House Party

The party had been fun, as house parties often were. The drawing room, ahead of dinner was a little crowded, and while most of the ladies had taken up residence in the chairs near the fire, which was light in spite of the warm summer evening made the room feel too hot and oppressive for Chris' comfort, which is why she had slipped from the ladies chat of the new habberdasher in Irvingly to a spot nearer the window, where todays muggle London Times lay abandoned by a former reader.

'Gosh I never thought I'd see the day when the Tories and Whigs would be agreed on the fact that this new party is a bad thing for England' She remarked, reading over the headline of the paper that was folded on the sideboard, and not fully taking in who she was speaking to. Her tone didn't seem to agree with the Tories and Whigs, even if it did stop short of the almost outright revolutionary support of the voting working man.

'Do you think we ought to fear murder in our beds by the revolutionary masses?' she asked, looking up finally to the person who had appeared at her shoulder.

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This dress

Labour party founded - aimed at working class voters not gentlemen.

  

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I am my mother's savage daughter, The one who runs barefoot cursing sharp stones

I am my mother's savage daughter, I will not cut my hair, I will not lower my voice
MJ made glory

House parties were usually stuffy, sooner or later; too many people and too little air circulation. He preferred outdoor balls for that reason, though obviously he would have gone anywhere if someone argued that it would help Beatrice's chances. She certainly didn't perform well in such cramped quarters, though, and had given the party tonight a miss. Victor thought that was for the best, but it was only recently that his mother had come around to the idea that there could be any benefit at all in giving an event — any event — a miss as an unmarried young woman.

Bea's absence had allowed Victor to spend the majority of the evening so far with only the men he already knew from the club, and he'd barely taken stock of who else was in attendance. When he found himself within earshot of a young woman with a newspaper, he couldn't immediately place her. This was poor form — he was supposed to be paying attention to the young women at events these days, the better to decide which one he would marry. He still hadn't entirely gotten used to the idea... but anyway, she had asked him a question, so he'd best muster up an opinion or two.

"Is that today's Prophet?" he asked, tilting his head to try and better read the headline. "I don't recall reading anything about murderous wigmakers."

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   Aldous Crouch

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Fabulous set by Lady!

'The London Times' she corrected, rocking on the balls of her feet, and tilting the cover to show the headline announcing the speech in Parliment warning the public of the danger of this new 'labour' party and the threat that a voting common man could cause if they voted for their own interests.

'The muggle politicians - the whiggs' she clarified, he wasn't an aficionado of the muggle politics then. 'There is a new muggle political party, aimed at working and middle class men, who's politicians are working and middle class men - they support universal suffrage, true universal suffrage.' she enthused, speaking very quickly and matter of factly, but beaming, with the same level of enthusiasm that her counterparts by the fire were discussing the new haberdashers. there were not many men of the upper echelons of society who cared much for the rights of common men - fewer still who cared much for the rights of the common muggle.

'I'm sorry I often let me enthusiasm outweigh my manners' she laughed feeling a little ridiculous, 'Christabel Dempsey,' she introduced 'I don't believe we have been properly introduced?'

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I am my mother's savage daughter, The one who runs barefoot cursing sharp stones

I am my mother's savage daughter, I will not cut my hair, I will not lower my voice
MJ made glory

The Wigs seemed like a silly name for a political party, but Victor decided not to comment on it. She seemed to be quite invested in Muggle politics, and he obviously wasn't, so he didn't want to wade too far out of his depth here. From how she spoke he assumed that she had spent a lot of time in Muggle society, or perhaps had close family ties to Muggles. Odd — he knew a few Dempseys and he hadn't realized they did anything in the Muggle world. Unless she wasn't from the same family of Dempseys that he was thinking of? Her accent sounded vaguely Irish, though. How many sets of magical Dempseys living in Ireland were there likely to be?

"No, I don't believe we have. Victor Daphnel," he said, with the slight tilt of his head that gentlemen used as shorthand to mean if we were in a ballroom I'd bow properly. "And I can forgive your enthusiasm if you can tolerate my ignorance," he teased lightly. "I don't follow Muggle news. What do they mean by true universal suffrage? They want everyone to vote?"

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Fabulous set by Lady!

She returned his 'bow' with a nodding curtsey of her own. 'I know I am an island in this interest' she laughed, 'Some ladies like Quidditch, some like music, I like muggle politics' she shrugged, her hands outstretched in a gesture of embarrassed supplication. 'More drama than a Dickensian novel' which made the interest sound a touch more superficial than it really was.

His name was familiar, indeed, she was sure she knew of the mans younger sister. She was an odd duck by all accounts, an anxious little thing that Chris' had had little to do with, mostly because she assumed that the same thing that would make her anxious would also much her dull or typical. If she was honest she had heard nothing that would made her believe anything otherwise.

'If muggle politics does not hold your interest what does Mister Daphnel? she asked.

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I am my mother's savage daughter, The one who runs barefoot cursing sharp stones

I am my mother's savage daughter, I will not cut my hair, I will not lower my voice
MJ made glory

She hadn't answered his question about suffrage, but he didn't plan to ask again. Maybe she was a little embarrassed about the answer, because letting everyone vote was quite obviously a recipe for disaster. Maybe she didn't actually know and was trying to avoid seeming ignorant by letting on that she wasn't as well informed about this interest as she implied. In any case, he'd fit her into the archetype of quirky but harmless based on her enthusiasm about Muggle politics and avoiding the question left plenty of room for her within that particular box. If she'd been interested in magical politics, he might have found an excuse to go talk to someone else; he had political opinions but thought they were best kept to the walls of his club, not discussed with women at parties. Muggle politics, though — well, who would bother to have opinions on that in the first place? She might as well have said she was quite invested in the crossbreeding of peonies, for all the practical real-world applicability this particular pursuit had.

"Oh, I have plenty of interests — all of them boring," he joked. This was a paradoxical statement on the surface of things; what he meant was that these subjects were fascinating to him but he anticipated they would be boring to most debutantes. "Lately it's been advanced mathematics and arithmancy."

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Fabulous set by Lady!

She would be admonished later for dragging the more extreme elements of her own political ideaology into the finer drawing rooms of England - and Ozy's threat lingered in the back of mind, an intrusive, toad like thought that poked at her when she stopped thinking about other things. 'I do not intend to convert the estate into a foundry for wayward authors' - she didn't know how serious he was but she didn't like the prospect of her father passing and ending up on her elder brothers mercy. No it was better to reserve some of more revolutionary thoughts for the moment.

Christabel gave a small look that amounted to being impressed, although she was no mathmatician. Words were how she made sense of the world, numbers were dense and largely impenetrable. It was why she found those with a skill in that regard all the more impressive. She knew lots of people who handled words deftly and well - like finely tipped swords or paintbrushes. She knew few who would count numerical prowess amoung their skills.

'There is very little boring about a man with passions' she chided playfully, better a man of interests than some idle fop with nothing in his life but drinking in the club. 'And to what use to you put this advanced mathematics and arithmetical knowledge?' she smiled, taking a sip of the white wine that a footman had topped up as he passed.

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I am my mother's savage daughter, The one who runs barefoot cursing sharp stones

I am my mother's savage daughter, I will not cut my hair, I will not lower my voice
MJ made glory

"Oh, I'm afraid the things that interest me are the opposite of useful," he teased. He did use some math and arithmancy in his work, as it related to complex magical theory, but the sort of things that he found really fascinating went beyond daily application.

The staff member who had topped off her wine raised an eyebrow to silently ask if he wanted a drink as well and he nodded. The man nodded in return and cast a spell to summon a glass.

"There's a way to set up an equation that makes it something like a riddle," he explained with a grin. "Things that are mathematically proven but logically impossible, like an imaginary number."

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Fabulous set by Lady!

She had to admit that he had lost her, and she chuckled, 'Alas I took history of magic and care of magical creatures instead. Riddles I understand, but numerical ones are very much beyond me. Samson's Riddle, the honey in the lion, Shakespeare's mystery of the casks - those are much more my speed.' she smiled a little sheepishly. It wasn't often that Christabel was out of her depth in a conversation like this, but this was certainly the case.

'Are you one of the gentlemen here who is employed?' she pressed, aware from the general chatter that some of the gentlemen here were not just gentlemen of leisure. Chris was keen to ease her own discomfort once again as for the second time in this conversation - in a very short space of time she did not feel herself in control of the conversation - and she really really hated that.

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I am my mother's savage daughter, The one who runs barefoot cursing sharp stones

I am my mother's savage daughter, I will not cut my hair, I will not lower my voice
MJ made glory

Ah, the coquettish dodge. Victor was familiar with it, but he supposed it was better than someone staring stupidly and letting their eyes glaze over while pretending to humor him. He chuckled and grinned in response to her banter about riddles. Neither reached his eyes.

"Ah — yes," he said, with a glance down at his glass of wine as though the question had caught him by surprise (though what could be more mundane than asking about someone's career). "Spell Damage healer. I started in St. Mungo's but now I'm assistant head at Hogsmeade." He smiled glibly and added, "Hope I never have reason to see you there."

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Fabulous set by Lady!

'It's possible sir,' she admitted, 'I'm theorist rather than a practicum. My knowledge with practical magic is admittedly not as good as good as my theoretical knowledge.' Although it was almost unseemly for a lady to wield too much power, and there were few women of good standing who would like to be seen casting with her wand. So if Chris did suddenly decide to try some complicated magical casting or other, she would probably end up damaging herself.

'Although it is amusing, I attend a muggle magical society, a lark for the most part, but my goodness the stock they put in the theoretical of magic - they are entirely wrong of course but it is fun to hear them speak to earnestly about what they consider to the be the key elements of magic' Chris let out a snigger, although she realised it must sound like she had a strange obsession with muggles

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I am my mother's savage daughter, The one who runs barefoot cursing sharp stones

I am my mother's savage daughter, I will not cut my hair, I will not lower my voice
MJ made glory

Victor raised his eyebrows at that and took a second to sip his wine. He needed a moment to figure out how to respond. On the one hand, this was the most interesting thing (to him) that she had said so far. On the other hand, it was a bit strange that she regularly attended a Muggle society of any sort, wasn't it? An interest in Muggle politics was cute and harmless, he supposed, or at least it sounded so when she framed it as something dramatic and novel to spectate on, not a serious interest. If she was spending half her week attending various Muggle events, however, that seemed to cross the line from quirky to downright strange. Maybe this was why he hadn't been introduced to her before; when did she even have time to attend magical society events?

Oh dear, was she a squib or something? No — she'd made a remark about her practical magic not being that good, which meant she had to be able to cast, right? This was just a strange hobby, not an indication of something else. Maybe she wasn't one of those Dempseys and she was in fact a Muggleborn witch — that might have explained some of it, if she'd grown up surrounded by one culture and then been asked to entirely leave it for her new magical one.

"Oh? And what do they believe the key elements to be?" he asked, deciding it was safe to encourage her... for now. In the back of his mind he was spinning up a few graceful ways to exit the conversation quickly if this turned into a diatribe and he needed to escape.

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Fabulous set by Lady!

'A lot of chanting' she said flatly, her head cocking to one side. 'You know Gregorian style chants' she explained and then demonstrated with a line or two of incomprehensible latin, 'It's all very... she struggled to find the word, 'Catholic?' she finished, but it was almost a question. Although living in Ireland, the Dempsey's were members of the ascendency and she was many things but not a Papist.

'It's just all rather strange, they don't know any better of course,' she laughed, as though discussing children's obsession with Santa, 'but their earnestness is incredibly amusing.' it was an odd hobby, she knew that much, but it was a new comedy show every week. 'A few weeks ago they tried to do a spell to see ghosts' she explained to him, 'One member stood in a tub of soil for 7 hours, while others chanted around him. He claimed it worked, when in reality he was exhausted, dehydrated and seeing things.'

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I am my mother's savage daughter, The one who runs barefoot cursing sharp stones

I am my mother's savage daughter, I will not cut my hair, I will not lower my voice
MJ made glory

Victor blinked. "Muggles can't see ghosts?" This was honestly news to him. When would it have ever come up before? He didn't have much regular interaction with Muggles, or with spirits. They could see other kinds of magical beasts and beings just fine, though, he knew that much. Why should they be able to see pixies and centaurs but not spirits? That just didn't seem to make any sense. Unless there was something about seeing ghosts that was like seeing a threstral, where only certain types of people could see them? But then, he'd never heard of a witch or wizard who couldn't see a ghost. What a silly incongruity.

"Seven hours," he repeated, shaking his head. "I can't imagine anything I'd be willing to spend seven hours casting a spell for. Much less with an entire group. How do they get everyone onboard for that sort of thing? It sounds ridiculous."

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Fabulous set by Lady!

She shook her head, 'They can feel them, and see the things they disturb but they can't actually see the forms.' she chuckled at the memory. It had come as news to her as well, although Halfbloods, and rather interested in muggle politics it was not until she had joined the hermetic order, with Sorcha for a laugh, that she had realized just how deluded muggles were about what it meant to be magical - seeing ghosts was just a part of that.

'I don't really know' she admitted with a chuckle, 'I think because they need to be half starved or exhausted it takes that long for them to start to hallucinate or trick themselves into having an 'effect.' she explained as best she could. 'They are so desperate to be magical, to be special in comparison to other muggles that they will put themselves through incredible amounts of discomfort so that they can tell their friends they managed to do some magic - even if they didn't actually do anything. They que up to take part in it, never a shortage of volunteers.' she chuckled, 'It's very amusing - well for those of us with magic at least.'

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I am my mother's savage daughter, The one who runs barefoot cursing sharp stones

I am my mother's savage daughter, I will not cut my hair, I will not lower my voice
MJ made glory

Victor was honestly impressed by the dedication of the Muggles she spoke of. If there really were whole groups of them eager to spend seven hours on something they weren't even sure would work, imagine what they might be able to accomplish if they were actually on the right track with something! Not that Victor had any actual useful ideas about what that might be; Muggle life was mostly an enigma to him having grown up apart from it. But perhaps they could have accomplished something for science, rather than causing themselves to hallucinate.

"You ought to drop them a genuine hint sometime and see what becomes of it," he suggested. That was likely a violation of the statute of secrecy, but one Victor assumed would never be penalized. If some Muggles actually managed to cast lumos after chanting it together for an entire day, who would blame the person who'd told them the word? It was ludicrous (but fascinating) to think anything might come of it. No one could argue she'd been trying to tell Muggles about magic; at worst someone finding out about it might have thought she was making a bit of a joke.

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Fabulous set by Lady!