8th of July, 1892 - Tillie’s Debut, Alderton's London Home

Ida’s wand was made from cypress, apparently a wood that had strong associations with nobility. Or more specifically, the knights of nobility. As these particular types of wands were drawn to the types of personalities with a tendency to self-sacrifice, and make martyrs of themselves through an heroic death for some noble, greater cause.

The former Ravenclaw was not entirely sure why this particular bit of trivia sprang up in her head as she glanced around the terrace of the Alderton estate, marveling at the second outdoor dance floor and the lavish magical lights and flowers that surrounded it. It was a pretty touch - one that had Tillie written all over it - a thought that afforded the brunette a small smile as she descended down the steps onto the grass. Of course, Ida would go to great lengths to care for her friends. She was undyingly loyal to those that were close to her, and would submit herself to any number of vicious torture devices to see to it that they lived happier and better lives. Even if that meant attending a high-society ball, her own personal gallows.

Though the brunette showed her face for a moment by the outdoor dance floor, she had zero intention to engage. Instead, she slipped surreptitiously away from it, opting to perhaps wander further into the garden to enjoy a moment of quiet and watch the sun set. Her older brother had come along as a chaperone, a note less begrudgingly than he might’ve been otherwise, because it was Ida who procured the invitation. He took it to his full pig-headed advantage, of course, conversing not far off with a group of men undoubtedly pitching his services as a solicitor.

Confident that she hadn’t strayed too far off for it to be deemed improper, the girl took a seat on a bench that had the best view, incidentally in front of a handsome fountain with a Grecian-style statue. Affording a tiny glance over her shoulder to ensure no one was around and then reminding herself, wait, I am an adult, the brunette reached into her clutch and retrieved a cigarette, which she carelessly lit with her wand. It was as she stashed her wand back away that a half-hazard glance stopped Ida in her tracks.

A butt. But not just any butt - a finely chiseled one of stone, staring right back at her the same way she stared at it now, driving a short and quiet “Ahh!” of fright from her mouth. Once recovered, she could barely stifle her giggles. Oh. My. God. Surely it was no… accident to have this fountain so strategically positioned, in such a precise angle, at such a close distance, exactly where one would want to have the best sunset view?

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Open to anyone with an invitation to the event

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   Anthony Alderton

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stefanie made this beautiful set <3

After successfully setting Anthony Alderton on fire - by accident, of course - Juniper decided she had enough of being inside. He had taken the ordeal in stride, just as one would expect from someone as nice as he was, but she’d rather spend her days parading around as a polyjuiced Ms. Twiglett than live with the insistent teasing that was sure to follow the incident. She didn’t enjoy being teased by anyone, let alone by someone who had friends she might marry one day; her first season had just started and she was already botching up every interaction. At least they knew what they were dealing with when it came to one of the Edevane sisters.

Bidding Mr. Alderton a hurried goodnight, the blonde found herself darting outside. She pulled in a deep breath of air, happy to be free for a bit to have time to herself. Juniper would spend most of the night dancing, and a walk in the garden would be a nice reprieve before forcing herself into tedious conversations that might actually bore her to death while waltzing. She stifled a yawn at the very thought, slipping deeper into the garden; while she couldn’t go too far, her father had enchanted her dress to burst with little fireworks if she strayed too far from her chaperone, the gardens surrounding her felt like an entire world away from Tillie’s debut.  This was just what she needed.

It was a familiar voice that gave June a firm path forward, and she stopped in her tracks to find her dear friend staring at a naked statue. She was… giggling at it? The blonde tilted her head as she studied it from afar - the artist had taken their time to chisel a masterpiece, and before she could think better of it, her mind was quick to supply that Cassian Valenduris was probably the model. A growl escaped her throat. She was still angry with him, and this butt was much better.

June’s fingers tightened against the fabric of her dress to lift from the ground as she shifted forward, crouching just behind the bench Ida sat on. Then she tugged her wand from her sleeve and quietly cast a spell. The statue’s hips began to wiggle as if to show how toned its butt truly was, putting on a show for both of them. A laugh sounded from the blonde and she quickly covered her mouth with her hands.

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Ida Chang

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   Ida Chang, Poppy Dashwood

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~relatively SFW link!

Ida was doing a fairly shoddy job of recovering from her giggles, and resorted to covering her mouth to stifle the noise should others think she’s barking mad (or worse, appreciating the view). As a result she did not notice that someone else had encroached on her from behind. The unfurling sight before her would keep her distracted anyway.

Giggles subsided slightly as the statue began to…. gyrate? Yes. That is indeed what was happening. As the buttocks beckoned, Ida’s first ill-conceived thought was that she’d drank too much, but that couldn’t possibly be true, because she’d only indulged in one shot of firewhiskey so as not to make a fool of herself! Brown eyes blinked a few times to make sure she was seeing properly, and ascertaining as much, the woman's wide-eyed stare flicked suspiciously to her cigarette. Well shit. She’d pilfered these from her brother, had it been mixed with something else?

No time to think on it too much, for the statue called for her attention again, this time moving into a low, squatting stance whilst making thrusting movements with its bottom and hips. Possessing truly delicate sensibilities as far as this kind of thing is concerned, Ida responded by jumping up so abruptly that she dropped her cigarette and emitted a veracious shriek of terror.

It was at that exact moment that she heard a tell-tale laugh from behind her shoulder, and Ida whirled around, face blistering red.

“Oh my god - June!” she cried, filled with everything from shock to indignation to relief all at once. The young witch perceived then that these little ministrations had come from none other than this angel-eyed blonde. Only, Ida knew her personally, and was acutely aware that she was no such thing. “Oh what the fuck!” she gasped, without much pretense, before doubling over with full-throated laughter. “Look here, you made me drop my cigarette,” she managed to eke out through tears, plucking it from the grass.

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   Juniper Edevane, Poppy Dashwood

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stefanie made this beautiful set <3

She had to admit, whoever had chiseled that butt had taken their sweet time; Juniper would believe it was done with magic because no artist could perfect work like that with just their hands. Ida didn’t seem to instantly know it was her, so she turned up the spell, just a bit more. Tilting her head, the blonde stared as the statue lowered himself and began to thrust his hips and butt. Part of her wished it was flesh. Only so her dear friend could watch a glorious, naked ass shake with all the fleshy movement without having to be scandalized from a real person. It would be some time before Ida Chang - alongside Poppy and Beryl - saw the real deal, and she felt it was her duty to prepare them for the main act, lest they were too memorized by all the moving parts to properly enjoy it.

Another laugh bubbled out of her throat as Ida shrieked from the movement. She finally seemed to spot Juniper behind her, forcing her to straighten her back as her fingers smoothed over her dress. Her friend’s entire face was beet red, but she just batted her eyes at her while forcing an innocent smile against her lips - she hadn't done anything to embarrass one of her best friends. “I didn’t make you do anything,” She shot back as she laughed again; it took her a moment longer to be able to breathe properly to sputter out more words. “As women, we are allowed to enjoy the male form just as much as men are of the female, and by god Ida, whoever he is modeled after is someone I would like to meet.” Naked. In a bed. Alone. Hell, other people could watch if they wanted, even if that was a bit weird.

June moved forward to toss her arm across the girl’s shoulder once she straightened from picking up her cigarette. “If you’re feeling bold, we could go around to the front.” She glanced at Ida from the corner of her eye as she raised an eyebrow; she wasn’t sure what, if anything, the statue held in the front. Surely the Aldertons wouldn’t have something like that on display in their garden.

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Ida Chang

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For her part, Ida had zero inclination to find herself within a real naked man’s presence for… ever, probably. If the unpleasantness with which the idea twisted her stomach was any gauge of this. But June had summoned up a fine charm, highly innovative, and it was because Ida was curious about that that she glanced back at the monstrosity again. Which continued to shimmy its butt at them, and which started a new round of embarrassed laughter as Ida covered her face once her head snapped back to her friend.

“There’s no way that is modeled off a real man,” she whispered, bemused in part by the idea that someone would sculpt such an intimate body part (which, she supposes, may just be an appreciation for… artistic form?), but then also that said body part was… so… muscley? “Is that normal?” she further inquired. Of course not the dancing - ugh, she couldn’t look at it without choking from embarrassment – but the butt. Itself.

“It can’t possibly be normal course for a man to look like that. Perhaps your next suitor should be a gladiator, then,” Ida smirked a bit despite herself, relighting her cigarette and taking a drag to compose herself (and doing a shit job of it – her face still burned red and eyes watered from laughter). Out of habit, Ida offered a puff of the cigarette to her friend, forgetting for a minute they weren’t on the Hogwarts grounds exchanging a furtive smoke.

“Noooooooo,” Ida’s eyes widened at June’s quirk of the eyebrow, realizing why it was that June said it would be a bold move. Well this was actually terrifying. But unfortunately, as often in most cases with Ida, her friends knew how to tempt her with fear of the unknown. Leaving something to the unknown was quite off-brand for the young former Ravenclaw.

“Surely there is a… modesty leaf, or something?” The idea of June’s charm still in effect and of impact on that very nearly made Ida lose it all over again, so she stifled her girlish nerves with snickers against her hand.

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stefanie made this beautiful set <3

June almost laughed. Instead she pressed her lips together to keep it from bubbling out of her throat, and it took her a moment to speak as she contained herself. “My dear Ida, have you ever seen a real butt?” She looked at her from the side of her eye because she highly doubted her friend had; Ida had her head on straight and real goals for her future. June just wanted to hex the man behind the beautiful butt she’d see in real time before she had to suck it up and get married. And not to Mr. Blackwood. She pondered if he had a cute butt too.

Tilting her head, she watched the statue for another second before whirling around to face Ida. “I’ve seen one, and my god.” June fanned her face with her hand, the words coming out as if she'd been speaking of the weather. “If a gladiator who resembled him wanted to come sweep me off my feet and keep me in his bed all night I’d let him.” She mused before taking the cigarette from her dear friend and puffing it; she needed something else to do with her mouth other than talk, because that was about to get her in trouble. Now that she’d told Poppy about her rendezvous last summer, she was almost ready to tell Ida and Beryl about it.

Almost.

Well -

Juniper handed the cigarette back to Ida before eyeing her, a smirk spreading across her face. “I’ve seen one of those too. If there’s a modesty leaf I’ll just have to tell you you’re really missing out.” Not that she wanted to picture Cassian Valenduris at the moment, yet she couldn’t help the blush that spread across her cheeks as she did just that. He hadn’t been disappointing, although it would have made life so much easier if he had been.

She reached out to grab Ida’s hand and tug her forward toward the front of the statue. She paused before they rounded the corner and moved behind Ida to cover her eyes, just in case there wasn’t a modesty leaf.

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Ida Chang

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   Ida Chang

Just the idea of seeing a real butt, or more, caused Ida to make a slightly exasperated but mostly embarrassed noise from somewhere in the back of her throat.

“No, of course not, unless seeing my little brother’s baby butt counts,” she tried to play off, though the red spots high up her cheek bones suggested otherwise. Ida regarded the statue dubiously; being caught alone in a room with an in-the-flesh gladiator like this one seemed terrifying, actually, and she had no idea what Juniper was talking about. (Well – she had an idea, based on the dogs their family bred over the years, but the way people talked about relationships made it seem like ‘the deed’ for humans was something much different than that.)

Despite her sense of impending danger from June’s goading, the brunette couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow to her friend as she took back the cigarette. “But since when have you seen a real one?!” she couldn’t help the inquiry, this was news to her. Butts are one thing, but there was just one circumstance Ida could think of where one might see the other thing! And she never once thought she was missing out from not seeing it.

A long, ponderous drag of the cigarette helped her mentally prepare to be tugged along around the statue. Very well then, might as well see the sights once and for all. Though she must have hesitated as they got past the point of no return, because June thoughtfully paused to cover her eyes. Ida screwed her lids shut anyway, it only felt polite in the face of indecency (nevermind that the statue wasn’t actually sentient).

“Well? Is it everything you dreamed of? I don’t want to bother seeing it if it’s no good by your discerning standards,” The brunette teased, doing her best to ignore how fast her heart was beating.

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stefanie made this beautiful set <3

June couldn’t help but grin at her dear friend; Ida was smarter than her for sure, but June had more real life experience when it came to a lot of things. They balanced each other in a way, and she knew she’d be relying on her when it came time to Flint Institution for information she wasn’t sure on, and she hoped Ida would come to her when it came to debutante things. But that was in the future and she was focusing on the here and now. “I’m afraid that doesn’t count.” Juniper countered, although she shrugged. She hadn’t ever seen Redford’s butt and if she had, she wouldn’t count that as seeing as a real one. She didn’t comment on the blush Ida was sporting; most debutantes would blush at the very thought of seeing one.

Ida cocked an eyebrow at her and June just shrugged, not offering anymore information on the matter. She hadn’t told Poppy any of the details despite promising she would, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to share with any of them the nitty gritty details of what transpired. She hadn’t laid eyes upon Cassian Valenduris for over a year and the very thought pissed her off. He was going to hurt just as much as she did. Instead she focused on saving Ida’s innocence as she covered her eyes and moved them around the statue toward the front.

There, she frowned. “Oh, Ida.” She breathed out quietly as she dropped her hands away from the girl’s face, although her own gaze was set on the member carved out of stone; the artist had taken their time with it and the longer she stared the more she appreciated just how realistic it was. A soft blush spread across her own cheeks as she realized a few long seconds had passed since she’d spoken, so she turned toward Ida and grinned at her. “This will be the penis you compare every real one to.” She wondered, albeit briefly, if she should enchant it to grow erect, although she didn’t want to scar her dear friend that much. Mr. Blackwood popped into her mind but before she could even begin to ponder that train of thought -

Juniper spun around to face Ida, and in one breath spoke to her. “I lost my virginity a year ago.” Then she leaned forward and pressed a single finger against Ida’s lips. “The experience was everything one could hope for, but the after. I will find him, and I will make him suffer for using me like he did.” Never mind that it was her lies that got her in the situation to begin with. If he was as smart as he thought it was, Mr. Valenduris would have seen right through her charades and called her out on it.

Juniper tossed a look back over to the statue to keep Ida from seeing her huff. “The statue looks better, honestly.”

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For her part, Ida kept her eyes screwed shut even as she felt her friend’s hands move away. The breathlessness in June’s voice told her everything she needed to know, It was literally right. There. She just needed the gumption to open her eyes and look. The more she kept her eyes closed the more she would build this up in her head to be like a bigger grizzly monster than it is, Ida knew. Plenty of people had one. Actually, all men did. It can’t be that unusual. It can’t be that scary.

Swallowing her nerves, Ida didn’t even notice the time that elapsed until June spoke again, but used it as her cue. She finally, finally, opened her eyes at a squint to see.

And then she tilted her head to the side a bit, like one does when observing some of that modern fanciful, complex impressionist art out of Paris.

“Maybe… a strange question… But are they supposed to be so…. Ugly?” she finally found the right descriptor, and turned a skeptical look to her friend. The build up felt silly now, the thing was just… a thing. An impractical and uncomfortable looking one, at that. And how did they walk around with those things? Ida looked on for a minute pondering the physics, but found that it made her uncomfortable to keep staring. So she turned a questioning look to June, who finally seemed ready to reveal some of the meaning behind what she shared earlier.

“You wha–!” Now it was her turn to be breathless, eyes widened with shock at June’s confession. The shock was more surprise, rooted less in judgement over her friend and what she’d done, and more in what she said was after. She could sense, through the former Slytherin's casual assessment of the statue, what the varnish of aloofness might conceal. A world of hurt.

Hurt that made her blood boil.

“Oh June, how dare he be such a stupid, fucking fool,” the woman agreed with darkened eyes. She did not know what to do with this information. She did not know where to file it away, that wouldn’t make her face heated from anger. She wanted, more than anything else, to hug June. But she kept her feet firmly planted, and balled her hands into fists where she could feel her nails dig into her palms. “I can’t wait to hear how badly he regrets what he’s done.”

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stefanie made this beautiful set <3

Of all the things she expected Ida to say, calling it ugly wasn’t something June had expected; she choked out a laugh, ugly and loud, unladylike in all its glory. Her head swiveled back toward the statue as she scrunched her nose up. “I think this is the prettiest one you will ever see. I’m sure it’s a nuisance just constantly dangling between their legs, but I find it’s appropriate because I’ve never met a man who wasn’t one.”  She hummed quietly.

Cassian Valenduris was the biggest nuisance she ever had the (dis)pleasure of meeting! Why, if the big blonde ogre was right in front of her she’d stab a finger into his chest while telling him such. If she ever met him again, those would be the first words she’d speak to him. (Spoiler: they weren’t.) Maybe that’s why she told Ida the truth about last summer. Shock was evident across her friend’s face, and she wasn’t immediately sure how to respond to the anger Ida felt. Juniper was irate too, although she didn’t want to think about the imbecile man who’d broken her heart nor about the other daft man who might break it she decided to give him a chance.

Well, that was a new train of thought.

She considered Olixander and whether or not she thought he was a nuisance as well as she turned away from Ida to stare at the statue, although her eyes were trained on the face of the man who smiled like he could offer the world to someone. It only took a moment for her to decide Mr. Blackwood was a much smaller annoyance in comparison to Cassian. Finally she turned back to Ida, pausing as she took in the wrath that was boiling just below her skin, her fingernails digging into her skin. There was no judgment, nothing to indicate that Ida thought less of her because of what she’d done.

Frowning, Juniper reached to take her friend’s hand and threaded their fingers together. “Thank you. But it’s ok. I haven’t seen him in a year and when I do I’m going to turn him into a tiny version of himself, just so he can feel what it’s like to be made to feel like an idiot. Then I’m going to stick him in a jar for as many days as I’ve felt like a fool for trusting him.” Juniper squeezed her hand. “I promise you can shake it as hard as you’d like.”

She looked at Ida from the corner of her eye as her lips ticked upward into a grin as she imagined her dear friend holding the jar in her hand and shaking it as roughly as she could manage. Maybe she could even transfigure it. Why, Ida and Beryl could take a turn at shaking the jar too. Juniper laughed at that image. It was glorious.

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   Ida Chang

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“Oh,” Juniper’s cackle only barely raised the corner of Ida’s lip, who frankly sounded a bit disappointed that this would be the prettiest one that she would see. Surely that is not how it stays or anything, but it looked a bit inelegant is all. Though it took the fear out of her, finally bearing witness, and this certainly could only be a good thing.

Eventually the girl was startled out of her train of thought, the one that made her blood boil and mind toil around what this horrible person could have done to her June, when the blonde’s hand pulled open hers. Ida found every muscle in her body instantly relax. How her friend could be so calm about it all was beyond her, and it felt uncomfortable to realize that June had gone an entire year holding this information hostage in her belly. Had she told Poppy, maybe? Hopefully, at least that respite…

“Ha, I would very much love to see the tiny version of this man. Perhaps we’ll conduct a few experiments of his physical fortitude while we have him, since you say he had some prowess. I should slowly fill the jar up with water, and watch how long he can tread before he passes out from exhaustion.” With a final glower, Ida deemed it necessary to put this man outside of her thoughts (if only for now - and not very far).

“I hope you know you can always share these things with me June. I mean, whenever you feel ready. I am glad you told me now.” Ida spoke quietly, brown eyes curiously searching for her friend’s green ones. She wanted her to understand. These sorts of burdens shouldn’t be shouldered alone, too heavy a weight can sink any ship. “We live in a society that detests strong-minded and willed women like ourselves, that seeks to break us apart with cruelty and loneliness. Making us think the most normal things are improper when they are all machinations of a dimwitted man’s mind. We must trust each other and rely on one another, now more than ever.” A gentle, meaningful squeeze of June’s hand between both of hers punctuated the message. You can trust me.

“Ugh, meanwhile, this statue is creeping me out,” The young woman abruptly turned the topic with a playful whine, accompanied a gentle tug on June’s hand. The statue in question had slowed in its movements following their inattention, hips making awkward pokey thrusts every four seconds.

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stefanie made this beautiful set <3

The corner of her lips quipped into a smile at Ida’s comment on running experiments – June would like to see that, a lot. He’d probably stand there with his arms crossed over his chest and an indecipherable look over his face, but she knew, deep down he’d be annoyed at the very least. Vexed and choleric even, if she asked Ida, Poppy and Beryl for their help putting - and keeping him - inside the jar of doom. This was the very reason June loved her friends as much as she did. They always had her back even when her ideas were terrible and harmful, turning a blind eye to the dark magic she liked to play with whenever the opportunity arose. (Except Beryl who embraced it as much as she did.) “Thank you. Maybe we’ll have to practice at Flint Institution?” She offered with a quiescent laugh. She enjoyed the thought of not being alone there.

Her expression softened as she met a pair of brown hues filled with emotions other than judgment; that had been her greatest fear when it came to telling her friends, because she had readily given away something that was meant to be precious. “I know. I appreciate you for it. I would trust you with my life, you know. I was just so…” Pausing, June blew out a hot breath. Irate? Mortified? Hopeful? It had been a mixed bag of emotions and she felt every day she could reach into it and pick out something new she was feeling. The summer had been the worst and as the months wore on the emotions turned solely to anger.

“I felt a lot of things, but I think most importantly I doubted myself, and I hated feeling like that.” And that was the reason why she hid from her friends; why she let the feelings consume her. Ida had hit the nail on the head in every aspect – she had felt improper and isolated because she had done something outside of marriage most would reject her for, as if her purity was her only worth. It wasn’t as if it was information she had to disclose anyway. “Society is ignorant and I won’t let it break me.” June turned and smiled softly at her dear friend as she felt the squeeze against her fingers. “Or any of you. You’re right when we have to stick together, now more than at Hogwarts.” Because it was them against the world. Eat or be eaten. (Good thing Juniper Edevane would always consider herself a man eater.)

With a light then June allowed herself to be tugged away from the statue; her eyes flicked back toward the entrance she’d come from, but she wasn’t ready to go back in just yet. “Do you ever wish you could float away from your body?” She asked, arching an eyebrow at her. “Or even… polyjuice as a man to see just what life is like on the other side? I think we should do that in the future. Collect some hair from some unsuspecting victims and just go for it.” It would be interesting to see what they learned. It would be more interesting to do as they pleased for the evening without the repercussions for their actions.

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Ida leveled June a mischievous little grin then, pleased at her suggestion to practice together – it sounded exactly like what she wanted, a continuation of everything she held dear about their traditions back at Hogwarts. “Oh yes. We’ll most certainly need to practice, so we’re dead ready when given the opportunity,” she pointed out helpfully. Ida was nothing if not thorough.

Though as June went on to reveal everything that happened, her toothsome smile turned to a more curious, thoughtful look. Dwelling with a little concern as June sighed and sorted through her feelings. Ida knew how that felt – the conflict and turmoil. Like June, the two of them aired more on the side of playing their feelings closer to their chest at first. The brunette nodded sympathetically as she explained. Then, a knowing look as June made her turn.

“I understand you completely,” Ida offered, and gave her friend’s hand a gentle squeeze. “And the only thing breaking will be this rat bastard’s bollocks,” she added with a faux-pious smile and fiery look in her eyes. 

The cigarette tasted sharp and bitter then, and Ida grimaced slightly. She dropped its butt on the grass, running her shoe over it as June asked her question. “Hmm, I’ve wanted to disappear in a room, I guess?” The idea gave her pause, knowing just by the former-Slytherin’s expression that she had a mad idea. And her hunch was right -- it was an utterly mad idea. It brought out a grin, and even a short burst of laughter from Ida at the thought.

“Yes! Bloody hell, could you imagine?” Admittedly, Ida’s ideas were much more innocuous. They’d wander into all the bars in London, somehow dig themselves into a gentlemen’s entertainment club, smoke all the opium from the nice lounge pipes she imagined them to have, like the ones she read in books. And more practically, “Oh, the gossip alone would give us an endless amount of intelligence on how to handle the season. Do a bit of reconnaissance… But most importantly, who would we wish to masquerade as…” she pined, question in her throat until the moment her expression flickered to what seemed like a true logistical concern. “Although. …How do they walk with those things?” That wasn’t the concern. The concern was the prospective possession of one. of. those. Things.

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stefanie made this beautiful set <3

Poppy, Beryl and Ida made June feel safe in ways that her family didn’t; her stepmother was as scrutinizing as they came, watching her stepdaughters like hawks to ensure they were perfect little debutantes (a joke, really, because she’d already shattered the image of what perfection looked like last summer with Cassian Valenduris), her father was just as meticulous about watching them (if not more, as if he had an inkling of what his eldest daughter had done), and Ophelia… oh. She’d always hated that little wench who stole her face the moment she’d followed June in birth.

Her friends though, they provided protection in ways that made her feel like she could speak about anything. June laughed quietly at Ida’s comment, and nodded. If she ever met Cassian fucking Valenduris again, he was going to rue ever being born. The thought made the blonde giddy and her grin.

Her grin widened though as Ida seemed to enjoy the idea of polyjuicing as a gentleman; maybe she’d bring the idea up in their journal to see what Beryl and Poppy thought – Beryl would be thrilled by the idea, but Poppy… she’d probably be interested and horrified at the same time. “The season wouldn’t know what hit it, and I enjoy the thought of having an in, and always making men wonder how I know so much.” June pressed her hand to her chest. “I would be Mister Blackwood.” (Not that it should shock Ida that of all the men in the world, she chose her not-crush). “And I’m sure he has some friends I could get the hairs of for you guys.” It would be difficult, but she believed she could.

“And well, they’re not all that big.” She tilted her head toward the statue with a laugh, although it died in her throat as she heard the shrilllovely voice of her stepmother.

“Juniper?” Grace Edevane appeared at the end of the path, her arms resting against her hips as she pursed her lips together. “Why are you out here, when you should be in there? Come along. You need to make a decent first impression if you ever wish to be married off to someone reputable.” She closed the gap between them before she reached forward to grab her arm, giving her a tug toward the ball.

“And you Miss Chang, shouldn’t be out here, either. Come along.”

June turned toward her friend and rolled her eyes, but this was not the hill she was going to die on tonight. “I’ll see you inside, Ida.” She murmured as she wretched her arm from Grace’s grasp before walking back toward the festivities.

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   Ida Chang

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Their plan sounded equal parts ambitious, terrifying, and righteous. It was enough to send Ida’s heart rate into a spike, a nervous shiver drawing her hands up to rub her own arms. The woman shook her head. “We’d have to plan the night carefully, find a way to ensure they won’t be there to spoil our plans,” she cautioned, missing the fact that somehow she’d already implied her agreement with the plan. Nevermind that… silly details. Already her mind was turning over the possibilities of what men talk about at gentlemen’s clubs, and the types of snobs one finds there.

“I wonder if it makes the most sense to pick those whose affectations we know personally…” Ida couldn’t begin to imagine what Mister Blackwood’s friends were like, but she could imagine the ilk. Just then June was addressing The Most Important Question, wrenching Ida away from her thoughts. The young woman was listening intently until she heard the unmistakable voice June’s mother, and Ida matched June’s expression with a pronounced grimace.

The witch rounded quickly upon the woman’s approach, and nodded at her sharp remark. Without thinking much of it, Ida averted her eyes, like Grace were some feral entity that she ought not make eye contact with. Though as the girls made their way back to the festivities, Ida stepped aside by the outdoor dance area and flashed June a broad grin in the affirmative. “See you soon– and we’ll resume our schemes for this season’s domination,” she teased, a sly remark that might quirk Mrs. Edevane’s brow but surely could only be considered as the right attitude.

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stefanie made this beautiful set <3