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Victoire Malfoy · March 22, 2023 – 12:31 AM

December 31, 1892 - Sugarplm Gala
Anthony Alderton

With her head buzzing and her heart racing, Torie knew she had two choices; retreat and lose whatever it was she had with Anthony over something she had not at all wanted to happen, or chase him down and beg him to listen to her.

She had never been one to back down.

His legs were much longer than hers, and he had a head start, but Torie had a sneaking suspicion she knew where he might be headed, if he hadn't apparated himself straight out of the party altogether. Cold night air stung her skin and lungs as she opened the nearest doors to the balcony leading down to the garden, but she would not be deterred by the chill. Torie was supposed to be made of stronger stuff, even if she has just been reduced to a teary mess with what had just happened to Basil. She had never been made to feel so uncomfortable or unheard in her entire life. She had been warned about such situations before her debut, which clearly was why ladies were not supposed to be alone with gentlemen, but this was Basil.

Torie had to clear her mind of those unresolved feelings for the moment, as she caught a moving figure out of the corner of her eye. Turning that way she hissed, "Anthony? Please, I need to speak with you." Her tone was pleading, near hysterical, even if she didn't want it to be. He had to know she wanted no part of that, just how... unsavory it had felt. Wrong, even.

It was him, she realized with renewed panic and urgency, "I need to explain, please." She added as she moved toward him.

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Atticus Foxwood

Red again! June 1894

Anthony Alderton · April 1, 2023 – 3:30 AM

Anthony wasn’t sure what he was feeling as his feet took him from the scene of the crime (literally, given that the vase he’d broken was likely worth a small fortune.) There was… Angst. Bitterness. Anger. But above all, he was warm under the collar from embarrassment. Embarrassment, foolishness, complete and utter regret. What was the proverb mama always used to recite to him and Atticus as children when they’d gotten into mischief? ‘Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread.’ An essay on criticism, indeed! Had he looked at the whole of the situation rather than merely what he’d have liked to see, perhaps he might not have fallen into the same short-sighted trap Alexander Pope so plainly warned of!

It was short of breath and jarred to the core that Anthony finally burst out onto the balcony overlooking their host’s gardens. The air was cold and stark against the heat he could still feel radiating off himself, and he welcomed the distraction of the moment he finally began to shiver. For now, with snow at bay but temperatures sufficiently low, he gripped the freezing stone of the railing and looked out over the edge as if determined to hop it.

How was he ever going to show his face to his cousins again? How was he going to ever face Ms. Torie again? After the utter idiot he’d made of himself on Christmas Eve, she must think him a cad. Not that what the lady thought at this stage mattered all that much. She clearly had other interests to prioritize. And they made sense, if he let himself sink into the darkest depths of their reality. The Foxwoods were purebloods. If anyone in the ton valued such a thing it was the Malfoys. He’d been delusional to entertain a single thought to the contrary.

It was with this bitterness that the curly-haired brunette heard the door open behind him and that familiar voice reached out like a small, delicate hand in the cold night air. Blue eyes closed, shuttering his expression against her. Explain? Hah.

Straightening from his hunched position over the balcony edge, Anthony tugged his waistcoat down and tidied himself as heels announced her approach. It took a tremendous effort on his part to turn a look of indifference to the lady when he finally faced her. The sight of those perfect features, the visage he’d been dreaming about for months, was a stab in the intestines. Still, impassive and determined to be a gentleman (read: save as much face as he could claw back), Anthony raised his chin. “You’ve nothing to explain to me, Ms. Malfoy,” he replied. His voice was even, if a little frosty.

Victoire Malfoy & muse song

Victoire Malfoy · April 1, 2023 – 9:46 PM

That look he fixed her with pierced her heart in ways she hadn't known she could feel. Tears welled in the corners of her eyes now; she had tried so hard to l not to let Basil see how bothered are was by his actions, but now seeing the real ramifications on Anthony's face, she felt the emotions finally flood her system. Anthony had become her safe space, she needed him right now and now this distance between them was unbearable.

"He caught me alone," Torie didn't know exactly what to say other than the truth of it. "That was... not Basil. I don't know what's wrong with him, but I did not invite any of that in, he wouldn't listen. I did not want it to happen. I was, I am scared, Anthony." Bad things happened to women who were on their own all of the time. It was why chaperons were so necessary. She had just wanted a moment to breathe and now she was holding her breath waiting to see if this was broken beyond repair.

The cold was creeping up on her and Torie wrapped her arms around herself both for warmth and for some sort of physical means of holding herself together. "There is nothing there, you have to believe me." Though she didn't want to think about it, if she did, kissing Basil felt wrong, entirely unlike what she experienced when she kissed Anthony.

Red again! June 1894

Anthony Alderton · April 2, 2023 – 2:45 AM

The contorted look of anguish on Ms. Malfoy’s face did nothing to ease the swirling guilt in Anthony’s belly. Did she think he was stupid? Or just naive enough to look past all of this? Her statement that it was not Basil, said with all the familiarity of a dear confidant, didn’t particularly help matters either. Anthony knew his cousin. That earnestness had been every inch Basil Foxwood, albeit strained and a little forced. If he was under some sort of influence, it only made him bolder than he might otherwise have the conviction to be. The sentiments themselves had not materialized from nothing.

“As I said, you really owe me no explanations,” he reiterated. “Your business with my cousin is your own. I never ought to have been gotten involved in the first place.” A small stab he hadn’t meant to come out so barbed, but which left no confusion as to his stake in the matter. Lacing his fingers behind his back, Anthony took a small step away from the lady to put some distance between them. The last thing he needed (or wanted) was to alarm her further by crowding her space. If he felt a little bit asphyxiated himself by the whole thing, well that was his own prerogative.

“Really, Ms. Malfoy, you should head back inside. You’ll catch an illness out here without a cloak.”

Victoire Malfoy & muse song

Victoire Malfoy · April 2, 2023 – 2:55 PM

Would he not listen to the words she said? How could he cast them aside so easily? His retort left her winded, like she'd been struck square in the chest. "There is no business!" She hissed, digging in her heels, ignoring his halfhearted comment about her catching something in the cold. The ice in his refusal to even listen to her was far colder than that of the air around her.

"I have told you before, we are just friends, or were, before he forced himself upon me." Hot tears spilled down her cheeks, a stark contrast the cold surrounding her. She hated to phrase it like that, but there was no way to nicely explain what happened. Torie realized she may be losing both a friend and a future tonight and that thought pained her more than she could bear to admit. "I have been nothing but truthful with you, but you're not hearing me." Her own fingers dug into her arms as she clenched her fists in frustration. She suddenly felt her twenty years young, terrified and scrambling, losing the careful composure she tried to hold at all times.

He stepped back and she didn't dare step forward, how could he not believe her? Everything had been going so well up until tonight. Christmas was only a week ago, but she felt certain things were going her way this time. "Why would I carry this around," Torie shoved her hand into the pocket of her dress to pull out the box he'd given her and held it tightly against her chest. "If I cared for anyone but you?"

Red again! June 1894

Anthony Alderton · April 11, 2023 – 9:16 PM

As if it was an instinct all men possessed, Anthony could tell the moment passion turned to hysteria. The change in Ms. Malfoy’s usually composed demeanor was not subtle, but unlike most men, the eldest Alderton had no inclination to glaze over and brush her off. In fact quite the opposite. He wanted to hear her, to believe her, even if deep down he knew he very well couldn’t.

No business indeed, he almost huffed. Friends were not as chummy as all that, nor did he think the Malfoy girl stupid enough to believe that’s all her cousin felt at this point - even if it was one sided. Still, Anthony flinched at the words ‘forced upon.’ He wasn’t sure what he’d stumbled into. He couldn’t bear witness to a judge if asked, impartially, what had happened. Had Basil forced himself on the woman? Was she exaggerating for lack of any other option? He wasn’t one to doubt his family when all was said and done, even if it was to all their detriments.

Steeling himself then as she rattled around the little box he’d given her not even a fortnight ago now, Anthony sucked in a small breath. He shuttered his mind to her (well-timed) question. It didn’t matter why.

“I’m sorry Ms. Malfoy for all you’ve suffered tonight, indeed,” Anthony replied. “I had hoped this evening might turn out differently, for everyone,” he looked down at his shoes in a momentary softening, hands tightening behind his back “but given the nature of confusion, I think it’s best you return inside and find your chaperone.” There is a reason young ladies are not to be out from under a watchful eye, the bitter part of his conscience chirped. Anthony shoved it aside. There was something else he wanted to say, lingering there on the tip of his tongue. Blue eyes flickered up, searching her face, wondering if it would infuriate her more or settle something between them. There was a long pause in which he considered and then, with a sigh, released all his anger and deflated.

“I won’t get in my family’s way,” he finally muttered, gaze dropping again. “I can’t. Even if you don’t care for Basil, he evidently cares for you.” Anthony sucked in a short, frustrated breath. (After everything he’d scowled at Atticus on Christmas Eve, he was reneging on it now.) “Please understand, they are more important to me than the dips and turns of society. I cannot do that to him.” Imploring sentiments had seeped into his tone and Anthony almost wished he could recall that icy exterior they’d started with. He didn’t want to bare himself so raw, but in some way he felt he owed it to the pretty debutant. He’d leaned into the unspoken promise of a future, had started to see it himself even. Now, all that was impossible and she at least deserved to know why.

“I beg you to give him a chance,” Anthony heard himself say then, to his own surprise as much as anyone else’s. “If he was, in fact, afflicted, then lord knows he’ll be miserably embarrassed but at least it’s out in the open.” The brunette took a small, tentative step forward, unsure why in the bloody hell he was taking his cousin’s case up as his own. He itched to reach for the lady’s hand, to offer her his coat, but refrained only just. “If you can’t too, then I understand that. Just… try and resolve things with Basil, please.”

Somewhere, in the distant chaos, midnight struck and sounds of celebration erupted from the manor house.

Je me déteste, encore.

Victoire Malfoy & muse song

Victoire Malfoy · April 11, 2023 – 9:57 PM

Well that was it then.

Torie felt something break in her chest, leaving her winded and raw. She immediately closed her heart off altogether. This showed in her straightened posture and tilt of her chin up upward, holding back the tears with gravity if nothing else. Fury bubbled up over the hurt and that was far easier to focus on. He truly didn't believe her and there was nothing she could do to change his mind. Fine, then.

Frustrated that no words came to mind to salvage some of her dignity, the building anger enough to overwhelm her, Torie instead took a deep breath and hurled the porcelain box at him with more force and accuracy than one would expect from a debutante.

She refused to cry in earnest in front of him and so she slipped her wand from her pocket and disapparated, propriety and her family be damned tonight. Everything be damned tonight.

Red again! June 1894

Anthony Alderton · April 11, 2023 – 10:20 PM

Anthony wasn’t sure what he’d expected from Victoire, but something more than… nothing. He hadn’t wanted her to fight back, or even to disagree with him, but… surely his confessional warranted something? As the little porcelain box hurled through the air towards him and she vanished on sight, the brunette flinched. She disappeared the same moment the box shattered on the ground at his feet.

It was poetic, almost.

Anthony nudged the broken pieces with the toe of his shoe. He’d been delusional to think this could ever be a good idea. Crossing one’s family rarely turned out in one’s favor. Hadn’t Atticus warned him of that very possibility? Still, he pulled his wand from his waistcoat pocket and muttered just enough of a spell to right the box and bring it to his hand. He would keep it long enough to satisfy his own guilt. Then, perhaps he’d pawn it off on Poppy. He was sure she could use the extra protection given her penchant for mischief.

Victoire Malfoy & muse song

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