31st October, 1889 — Ravenwood Manor; London
Evalina Rosier

Masquerade balls were, in Elladora’s esteemed estimation, only enjoyable when one had a particular fondness for the hostess and thus had a higher purpose than frivolity for one’s attendance. She rarely attended balls and when she did it was usually out of boredom, but for Evalina Rosier she would wear a creation from her mother’s favourite French fashion house, don a mask that made her feel faintly ridiculous and drink just enough champagne that she didn’t impede her reputation when really she had quite particular ideas about how disreputable she would like to be.

It was all Ursula’s fault.

No, she forced herself and she took another sip of her half-drunk champagne, don’t think about that for Merlin’s sake! Find Evalina. If there was anybody that could clear the mind of one’s emotionally confusing sister-in-law then it was the ever-enticing hostess of tonight’s festivities.

Striding into the hallway she knew would lead to the ballroom Elladora spotted a tall woman with raven tresses in the mirror and allowed herself a small smile before the woman promptly vanished. She narrowed her eyes contemplatively. She had no idea what Evalina might be wearing but the dress had certainly looked fine enough to be one of hers and the alabaster curve above the neckline gave Elladora hope that she might find their hostess sooner rather than later this evening. By the time she had reached the other end, expertly avoiding conversation with no less than three separate matrons she had no interest in speaking with, Elladora was disappointed to see that upon a second glance the woman from the mirror was most certainly not Eva. Instead Mrs Mulciber nodded at her in greeting and Elladora responded in kind before vanishing away swiftly: of course she had mistaken Ursula’s best friend for her lover, after the last few weeks it simply felt like just another perturbing twist of life.

As she entered the grand ballroom Elladora had to suppress her awed pride at the sights all around her: clearly the ball, though in its early stages, was already a tremendous success. There were delighted faces everywhere she looked – albeit ones that were tempered slightly by the rigours of the class they all belonged to – and Elladora could see the effortless style that was Eva’s speciality practically glittering everywhere. What she couldn’t see was the woman herself but just as she was beginning to grow agitated at the prospect of actually having to properly socialise a squawk demanded her attention and she turned to see a raven atop an ornate chair eyeing her beadily from behind a small plague doctor mask.

“Ah Vanth, are you my escort?” Lips twitching she watched as the raven took off, circling slowly to make sure was following as he led her through the crowd and to the patio beyond. The decorations were just as luxurious out here but the crowd had not reached a point where fresh air was a necessity so the garden was startling quiet after the ballroom, aside from the tap of the raven’s sharp talons as it landed on a table and gave another squawk. A shadow moved then and Elladora smiled as Evalina emerged from the darkness, looking far more resplendent than Elladora could have possibly imagined.

“My dear Mrs Rosier,” she took slow steps closer, her voice polite and steady. “What a tremendous success, you must be very pleased with yourself,” glancing over her shoulder to see that they were alone Elladora lowered her voice and allowed a coy smile to bloom on her lips. “You chose that dress to torture me, I am quite sure of it.”

  

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fabulous set by Lady <3

Everything was as it should be down to the last crumb on that godforsaken cake. Evalina had spent the better part of the last 24 hours making sure everything was perfect for her annual Halloween Party, including knowing exactly where her husband was at all times. That way she'd be able to make sure she was on the opposite side of the room from him as much as possible. But society was prone to gossip, and so Evalina made sure to make it seem like her talents as a hostess were what kept her separated from her beloved, as opposed to overall disgust.

Indeed, her duties as a hostess were what kept her from her beloved; just not Henry. In addition to his duties to keeping an eye on her husband, her raven, Vanth, was also in charge of making sure her most esteemed guest was kept comfortable and happy. The thing about ravens was that they were incredibly smart. So many people took them to be simple pretty playthings all gleaming black and covered in mystique, when in fact they were the most intelligent creatures Evalina had laid eyes on. Given the fact that Elladora was a noticeable figure from afar and the fact that she was a constant presence in Eva's library, it wasn't hard to make sure Vanth knew Elladora by sight.

It was thus that his mistress had transfigured the raven a small mask of his own and light as a feather. She'd dressed him quite aptly as the Plague Doctor, and instructed him to keep an eye out for Elladora.

She was out in the garden, pacing and growing increasingly agitated. Ella should be here by now, and she knew full well Eva wanted her opinion on how the evening was going. Everyone would, of course, tell her it was a success, but their sycophantic pretty words would fall upon ears trained to sniff out the emptiness of high society whisperings. There was a flutter of wings and Evalina spun around, prepared to scold Vanth for coming to her empty-handed when Elladora appeared not far behind him.

Though she wore a mask to hide her face, her eyes flashed in mild irritation. Irrational irritation of course - Elladora was a woman of society and despite how well Eva knew she hated it, appearances must be kept and Elladora was most likely obliged to at least stop to chat with a few members of society. Things would look weird if she'd gone straight to the hostess, wouldn't they?

Whatever emotions she was feeling while waiting for Elladora subsided into relief as she drank up the sight of her best friend. Her mouth split into a crimson smile to match her gown, and she curtseyed politely and respectfully. " 'Twas but a pleasure," she said, in the honeyed tones society women adopted when attempting to appear humble. "As long my guests are happy, so am I."

Of course, she'd carefully picked her outfit for the night - while women of society rarely wore red, tonight was an exception and she knew her status would far outweigh whatever mild scandal the color of her dress would bring forth. Evalina laughed, her smile turning into a knowing smirk. "And your goal tonight wasn't to do the same to me, Ms. Black?" she volleyed back, raising her eyebrows and taking the time to let her dark eyes rake over the ravishing figure in front of her.

  

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i refuse to break myself into bite sized pieces
i will stay whole, and you will
choke
※

Even if her mask had covered the bottom half of her face and thus concealed her smile Elladora doubted she had the control to stop her eyes from dancing with delight. She abhorred most high society and abstained where she could help it, but it didn’t prevent her from the odd craving for company and especially company in the form of the woman before her. It was only a crying shame that they would have to return to the ballroom at some point – nights like this, and dresses like that, oughtn’t be shared with those that didn’t appreciate perfection when they saw it. No doubt all the young men inside were fawning over whoever was the toast of society this month when all the while the finest woman in the room was right under their noses, going unnoticed by their insolently idiotic eyes.

Though quite how they managed to not notice Ella would never know. Their hostess was a vision and though nothing on earth had yet to be created that would quieten Elladora’s anxieties entirely Evalina was as good a tonic as any she could find.

“I never make much of an effort for the dratted beau monde,” she quipped, quoting loosely more or less every line that had ever been written about her in the society rags. Elladora had always taken some pride in being the professional objector to fashion though the care she had taken tonight contradicted her usual raison d'être and they were both perfectly aware of why. “Perhaps I simply look better in the dark? Surely the honourable Mrs Rosier hasn’t been at the wine already?”

  

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fabulous set by Lady <3

Ever the skilled potioneer, Evalina was a keenly aware of what amortentia smelled like to her; tonight, however, if someone were to waft a goblet-full of amortentia below her nose, she'd be none the wiser. The slight earthy sweetness of the outside of her grounds, the scent of recently fallen rain (mitigated at the party by a simple atmospheric charm) and the woman in front of her.

Eva rose an eyebrow behind her mask and chuckled heartily. "The only people who look better in the dark, Ms. Black, are not at this party." she leaned forward to give Ella a hug as a good hostess would. "and you, Elladora Black, are no such being." she murmured, allowing her voice to pitch into a low, honeyed tone. "If you look better in the dark, it is only because you are a bright soul that would outshine anyone at such an event, and light up even the darkest room."

She pulled away, longing to brush her lips against Ella's cheek - it'd be too obvious though, and she turned to approach the rail of the porch. It did seem the party was going well, and she smiled as she heard polite applause from inside, signaling another dance concluded. A spark of jealousy coursed through her; would that she and Ella could dance as the couples in there did. Even then she'd be cursed with divorce as a weight upon her.

  

---

i refuse to break myself into bite sized pieces
i will stay whole, and you will
choke
※

Elladora had to swallow down a bark of laughter: rare was the person who thought her a bright soul, or who thought of her as being anything other than someone absolutely guaranteed to inject a black mood on any situation. How on earth nobody had rumbled them over the years when they had a tendency to be so much softer in each other’s company Ella would never know: couldn’t they see how they lingered, how eyes lit up, pupils darkened, porcelain skin became ever-so-slightly flushed.

They were well-practiced at being subtle, of course, but even after Elladora took a step away from the taller woman there was a frisson between them she was amazed nobody could see. If she had her way they would stay out here all evening: the cold weather could be chased away easily enough with a bit of imagination and warm, spiced wine.

“Flatterer,” she retorted, casting a glance over her shoulder at the roomful of people, unable to offer such words of affection with as much ease as Evalina did, even to the woman herself. “I would have worn this dress for you alone if you’d only asked. Instead I might get whisked away by one of the widowers,” Ella said with an eyeroll. Since she had hit her late thirties they had begun to circle again. She had been unjustly confident in the notion that once one was unable, or unlikely, to bear children the men would stop bothering her and the last ten years had been a joy but now they had buried their wives, their children had flown the nest and they were lonely. Suddenly she had become a catch to overweight, whiskered men in their fifties. “And if you don’t rescue me I will take a lot of mollifying.”

  

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fabulous set by Lady <3

Evalina tilted her head to the side smirking in an 'if you say so' sort of way, seeing as she was many things between the two of them but a flatterer was not one of them. "Perhaps I'll request this more often, then..." Her eyes followed Elladora's to the guests dancing in the background. A giggling couple staggered from the door directly into the maze, clearly drunk on excessive amounts of chanpagne already. Evalina pursed her lips, already turning up her nose at such a display of the lack of one's social decorum and made a note to not invite them to Christmas dinner.

Her expression soured further at the prospect of someone else touching Elladora especially simpering widowers. Like Elladora, she saw the foolishness of her younger ways, thinking that Elladora had triumphed and escaped the pathetic bachelors vying for her attention when all along, she'd just avoided the first wave.

Her hand twitched towards the folds of her dress; she'd taken to carry a thin, magically concealed dagger at her hip in large crowds and was rather tempted to give it to Elladora and witness her filet such a widower right then and there. "I'll come to you demanding you come help me with some silly hostess task saying the house elves have spilt all the pumpkin juice on the lace doilies." she responded, her eyes flickering to the other witch. "Or at the very least slip something to you to convince them to back off." She subtly patted the folds of her dress that concealed the dagger. "I should be very entertained to see how they react to such a prospect."

  

---

i refuse to break myself into bite sized pieces
i will stay whole, and you will
choke
※

Her fingers hummed with the desire to reach out but there were onlookers and Ella cursed herself for missing the chance. It seemed she was eternally guilty of just that crime – failing just short of having what she wanted because the ever-present gaze of others halted her deeper instincts. She wanted this woman but could never have her in all the ways she wanted, she longed to be as respected as her brother but she never would be.

Once she had thought briefly of leaving the family home, of striking out on her own but Ella was no fool and she had seen what became of those creatures. By rejecting a husband she had left herself with only two options: become marble or dirt in the eyes of anybody that mattered. Was it easier to crack a shell than dig yourself out of a grave of one’s own making?

“I’m sure they’ll believe it requires our collective intellect to manage the doilies,” she replied, bitter at the world and annoyed at herself for letting the barricades crumble just enough to spoil the moment. She eyed Eva’s pocket, thought briefly about how calm she would feel when putting a knife to another’s throat: then she thought about holding it to Ursula’s and immediately needed a drink.

“Can you be rid of Henry tonight?”

  

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fabulous set by Lady <3

Eva laughed at the thought of her and Ella feigning innocence and stupidity under the gazes of the patronizing elder wizards. "How I wish they knew exactly how capable we were," she mused quietly, her sharp eyes surveying the crowd. "Then we should see who was patronizing whom."

She grinned at Ella's question, her eyes sliding from the crowd back to the beauty in front of her. Her sharp expression softened, perhaps too much for being in public. Luckily most of her visage was hidden by her mask. "For you, Elladora," she replied softly. "I would be rid of him every night for the rest of my life." And frankly speaking, it wasn't beyond her methods to try and do so either. Regardless of if she had Ella beside her or not, she wanted to be rid of him. It was because of her lover that she wanted him gone more than she already had before.

  

---

i refuse to break myself into bite sized pieces
i will stay whole, and you will
choke
※

The hair on the back of Elladora’s neck prickled. Whenever she attended any of Eva’s events a time always came when the hostess would be sought out by her guests and this was that moment; she would have scowled at the loss if not for the promise from Eva.

“If only,” Ella replied with a sly glance, turning to see bodies beginning to advance on them, smiling ingratiatingly at Eva over her shoulder. At her look some of them stopped, seemed to hesitate and be unsure whether their socialising was worth risking the wrath of the estimable Miss Black, but the lure of Evalina’s favour was evidently worth more.

“The vultures are swarming it seems,” she commented quietly, resuming the mask of indifference that she wore in society, something so ingrained in her public persona that she was confident that it could be seen even underneath her masque for this evening. It would never do to be seen without it.

“Try not to be too overcome with tedium without me,” she said, winking artfully at her lover before taking her leave, passing those advancing with utter indifference. Not one of them was worth her glance but only years of control prevented her from looking back, one more time, at Evalina.

  

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fabulous set by Lady <3

Eva returned Ella's response with a sigh of her own as she noticed her lover's glance diverted over her shoulder. It must be that time for people to come and praise her for her event. "Ah, is it that time?" she asked innocently, though she secretly ruffled her own feathers. She enjoyed the complement paid to her; she worked hard at her events. Though they were tedious at times, they were her only escape from her mundane life at the manor besides being with Elladora.

"Very well, I will do my best." Her expression dimmed slightly as she realized, watching Elladora's visage take on its neutral expression, that it meant it was time for them to part ways. She sighed again, this time filled with morose as she watched Ella's retreating figure. As other members of society crowded around her, she smiled kindly, though she couldn't help her eyes from occasionally flickering upwards to attempt to find a certain woman in the tangled crowd.

  

---

i refuse to break myself into bite sized pieces
i will stay whole, and you will
choke
※