"Seraphina, my dear!" Calliope said, and once she had swanned into the room and greeted her friend, she waved her on impatiently to sit and dropped onto a chaise longue herself.
"How do you do?" She declared keenly, smiling over at the girl. Whilst she found a great many girls younger than her irritating, Seraphina was close enough in age to evade this pitfall, high enough in birth to be a useful connection, and of alike temperament enough to be an entertaining guest. Besides, Calliope enjoyed getting to play sage and worldly older-sister to girls like this - still debutantes, still pretty and youthful (and stupid for it) - who might appreciate her patronage more than her own sisters by blood ever had.
"I've not heard anything of you in Witch Weekly lately, so I have little enough idea of your recent exploits! You must fill me in on whatever mischief you are up to these days," Calliope teased with a lazy laugh, as though it was a joke. It wasn't: she did use gossip to keep up with her friends as much as her enemies. But of course Seraphina was too clever to let herself get slandered willy-nilly by the likes of the magazine. (Just her brother, then. Calliope could not say she had ever been particularly interested in the brother - but if there was gossip to be had there, she would just have to tease that out too.)
"How do you do?" She declared keenly, smiling over at the girl. Whilst she found a great many girls younger than her irritating, Seraphina was close enough in age to evade this pitfall, high enough in birth to be a useful connection, and of alike temperament enough to be an entertaining guest. Besides, Calliope enjoyed getting to play sage and worldly older-sister to girls like this - still debutantes, still pretty and youthful (and stupid for it) - who might appreciate her patronage more than her own sisters by blood ever had.
"I've not heard anything of you in Witch Weekly lately, so I have little enough idea of your recent exploits! You must fill me in on whatever mischief you are up to these days," Calliope teased with a lazy laugh, as though it was a joke. It wasn't: she did use gossip to keep up with her friends as much as her enemies. But of course Seraphina was too clever to let herself get slandered willy-nilly by the likes of the magazine. (Just her brother, then. Calliope could not say she had ever been particularly interested in the brother - but if there was gossip to be had there, she would just have to tease that out too.)
