August 2, 1892 - Wisteria Ball, Wellingtonshire

Writing regrets and wishes on a piece of paper to release into the air seemed like a terrible idea; they would merely fall, eventually, onto the ground, allowing anyone to pick up the slip of paper and read it. Regrets could be used against someone, even if a name wasn’t attached to the paper - Timoleon was sure there was an idiot or two here who would sign their name at the bottom - as it was entirely possible to trace someone’s handwriting back to them. And wishes? Wasn’t there a saying that wishes wouldn’t come true if you told someone?

Pursing his lips into a thin line, Leo stared at the blank piece of paper before him before he crumbled it and tucked it into his pocket. Better safe than sorry. He wasn’t going to write anything down on a stupid piece of paper that anyone could find; maybe he'd discretely read some of the ones he found around to see if there was anything useful he could use in the future - the upper class always had many regrets. Leo wasn’t ever above blackmailing someone for his own personal gain.

A small gust of wind whipped around him, tearing a few pieces of paper out of some guests' hands; he reached down toward the one that had fallen at his feet, his fingers moving to unfold the paper without thinking. Would it be a wish or a regret?

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Victoire Malfoy

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Thank you Stef for this beauty<3

Tonight's evening had been rather darling, Torie thought, something different at least. The decorations were absolutely stunning and the food rather exotic! Torie had tried a few things tonight she had never been able to before and had been pleasantly surprised by the taste of some of the Japanese delicacies Miss Mountbatten had shared tonight.

Dressed in a gown of deep blue, thanks to her new hair color nixing her beloved forest green from her wardrobe for the time being, Torie had taken in the evening as she usually would, a full dance card and some casual flirting with a few of her regular gentlemen. She was a bit put out to see Mr. Foxwood paying such genteel attention to this evening's hostess, so was in a bit of a pout by the time midnight rolled around and it was time for the lanterns.

A wish or a regret. Well, Torie didn't do regrets, didn't have time for them, didn't have the energy to spend on them and so therefore she thought of a wish that she could send up to the heavens and hope for the best. It didn't come nearly as easily as she would have liked and it wasn't very specific, but she tidily scrawled contentment across her wee slip of paper and began her search for a lantern. It was then that a gust of wind blew through the crowd and her own wish was torn from her fingers.

Without even much time to register what was happening, and by the time she thought to go after it, a handsome stranger had it in his hands and was looking at it! How invasive! "Excuse me!" She chirped, stepping forward to try and snag the parchment from his grasp before he read too much.

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Red again! June 1894

Leo instantly wanted to hold the piece of paper out of her reach, and as the woman’s fingers wrapped around the paper, his own tightened on it as he took a glance at the script cleanly written across it. The paper had the word content written across it before she managed to wrench it away from his grasp and Leo frowned at her because she had the audacity to snatch it from his hands! A normal woman would have meekly asked for it back, so whatever she had written much either be very personal or embarrassing.

“Content?” Leo pursed his lips together, amused. “Is that a regret, or a wish? Or both, perhaps?” He eyed her before he laughed quietly. She looked like she could go either way: regret for not being happier, merely being content with the life she was handed, or a wish to be happier. They were almost the same thing in his book.

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Victoire Malfoy

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Thank you Stef for this beauty<3

Grinning in triumph as she managed to snatch the paper away, she nearly hissed when he asked about what was written on it. Clearly he had seen, but hadn't seen all of it, or was just overly cheeky when it came to the mysteries of a woman.

"That is entirely for me to know and for you to continue to wonder about." Torie countered with a sly smile, tucking the paper into the top of her glove so it wouldn't blow away again. Men wouldn't understand what contentment was for a woman of her status. There was a craving to be content, happy in some way with their lives, whether they were in love with their husband, secure with their arrangement, or blessed with children to love upon, something had to go their way, if not more. Torie would always want more, and she was willing to put in the work to get it, but she wasn't about to tell this handsome interloper know that!

She found his quiet chuckle mildly obnoxious and it did not speak well to his countenance. Straightening out a piece of hair that had come loose in her quick sprint to reclaim her wish, Torie held the red between her fingers for a moment before tucking it neatly back into place. "Thank you for your assistance, I hope you enjoy your evening." She managed to add, despite her annoyance with the gentleman before her.

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Red again! June 1894

Leo laughed quietly as he let the piece of paper go without much fanfare, watching as she tucked it back into glove. “Well if you’re leaving me to wonder, I'll go with regret.” He shrugged at her; he’d learned people lived more with regret than they did on wishes, although he supposed they went hand in hand. People regretted not acting on their wishes, so he was going to assume she was no different than most. “Although, if you’re living with regrets of not being content, I wouldn’t be a proper gentleman if I didn’t try and change that.” He explained.

Leo stepped forward to stand next to her before offering her a smile; it wasn’t often a woman told him goodnight and walked away from him, and it was most certainly something he didn’t like - he wanted to be the one calling the shots. Craved it. “Or, we find wishes of other people and see if we match up who might belong to who.” He shrugged. “If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll find mine. I don’t live with regrets.” Or wishes. Timoleon Maxime had goals.

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Victoire Malfoy

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Thank you Stef for this beauty<3

Torie narrowed her eyes at him, suspicious. "I think the only thing I currently regret is entertaining this conversation." Of all the audacity! She rather thought his smile was a bit too smug and she wished for nothing more at this very moment than to wipe it from his face entirely.

"I see you don't learn very quickly," Torie rather thought she should make her escape, but he was infuriatingly prolonging the conversation and she was just polite enough that she couldn't truly just walk away. "Your wicked intentions were not appreciated by me, what makes you think anyone else would enjoy you reading their thoughts?" The very thought of invading peoples' privacy like that! Torie wouldn't even do that to her own sisters and they hated her!

Torie highly suspected her fussing at him wasn't going to change his thoughts on the matter, but at least he knew where she stood on the matter! She would not be pulled into his shenanigans, nor would she condone them either! "I should think you will need different company than myself. I cannot wish you good luck, as I also think you should find something better to do with your time." She turned her chin up a little at him haughtily, intent on exiting this conversation as soon as possible.

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Red again! June 1894

Leo absolutely despised women like her – they were never ones to fall in line, to shut up and be seen and not heard. It wasn’t as if women often had opinions of value. (Look at her stupid dream of wishing to be content when she could have wished for the world.) His eyes narrowed at her as she finally spoke, and he swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue. His only regret was ever letting go of the piece of paper so easily.

She was a spitfire and his lips curled upward more before he huffed a quiet laugh. “My wicked intentions. I’m sorry if I offended you, miss. Doesn’t everyone think of themselves as interesting?” Well, Leo knew he was and often found others a bore. Despite her being someone who was starting to piss him off, he still found her a fun thing to poke and prod – maybe he’d even make her draw negative attention to herself. Make her embarrass herself. Wouldn’t that be fun?

Stepping toward her, Leo paused as he blinked at her. “What do you suggest I should do with my time? I’m all ears.” His mum constantly told him he needed new hobbies. (Which was ridiculous because he found he wasn’t often bored.)

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Thank you Stef for this beauty<3

Torie pursed her lips and quirked an eyebrow. He didn't seem sorry at all and so she didn't believe him. She mulled over his comments for a moment, appraising him quietly. Wicked was certainly an apt description, from that smug smile to the way he spoke, Torie already had a sour taste in her mouth.

Unwilling to fall prey to his first question, as she had nothing nice to say on the matter, Torie was quite ready to be done with this entire conversation. "I'm sure someone as interesting as yourself can figure it out." She said finally as she held her chin up just high enough to be steadfast in what she concluded. "I do wish you good luck." She added, even though she didn't quite mean it. He could genuinely take a long walk off a short pier and she would be unphased.

Tired of this conversation and of him, Torie thought that was a good place to leave it and so turned to take her leave.

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Red again! June 1894

She didn’t immediately storm away from Leo, which he counted as a win in his book – she was interested, he could see it in the way she quirked her eyebrows at him. While he didn’t really care what she had to say on the matter – how interesting could a woman really be after all? – he wanted to be the one to walk away from her. She wasn’t allowed to walk away like he was just any other man. Why, she should be thrilled he was even paying the least bit attention to her, given how rude she was turning out to be. Did she even go through etiquette lessons?

Tilting his head as he appraised her like a caged animal, Leo latched on to the one thing she said to keep the conversation going; they were going to end this on his terms whether she agreed to it or not. “Ah. So you do think I’m interesting then.” He mused, pursing his lips together. “So tell me then, what makes you interesting? You seem keen on wanting to just stroll along, which is pretty boring. Please, by all means miss, prove me wrong.” Leo swallowed a laugh. She seemed like she might enjoy that, trying to bring him down a peg or two.

“Or even, tell me your name before you walk away.” He didn’t immediately offer his. Leo wanted her to ask for it, even though he wasn’t sure she would. (The truth was he just wanted to know which family she belonged to because they must all be rotten like her, undeserving of his name.) He pegged her as a spinster, and couldn’t hold in the chuckle that followed that thought, his arms crossing over his chest.

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Thank you Stef for this beauty<3

Torie wasn't so sure she'd ever met such an unpleasant man before (barring Raph when he was in a bad mood) but she was not going to give in to his strange desire to prolong this conversation any further. Torie was smarter than that and far too socially apt to let him goad her into anything else.

He must think pretty highly of himself, to keep tossing the word interesting about, and to call her boring. Clearly he was lacking in manners on a multitude of levels and that was no how Torie was going to choose to spend an otherwise pleasant evening. All she did in response was give him a little wave over her shoulder, not even bothering to look back. It wasn't worth it, he certainly wasn't worth her time, not when there were far more charming people to spend her time with.

That said, after such an uncouth experience, she needed some champagne to temper her attitude. Maybe she would find Poppy or someone equally cheerful to help her recover. As long as she was anywhere but here.

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Red again! June 1894