Jan 21st, 1895 — Ife's Tea, Skyfall

"Ah," Ife said with a nod as the young woman she had been conversing with mentioned the upcoming potions competition. Potions were a necessary form of magic, of course, and there seemed to be an unspoken ideal in the English debutante community that they were a more proper form of magic for a young woman to indulge in as a hobby. Ife had no patience for this sort of thing. She had always preferred the flashier kind of magic. This would hardly come as a surprise to anyone who had seen her perform in the spellcraft exhibition last summer. It was only a pity that competition had been so brief; she would have liked an opportunity to embarrass some of the other women in a greater variety of enchantments before they were eliminated. At any rate, she could never condone any ideology that sought to limit women from their full magical potential on the grounds of making them more desirable to men. Women were desirable enough already, she thought. The men ought to be happy with whatever scraps of affection they were able to earn.

She caught the eye of a passing servant, who read her look correctly and swooped in to refill her teacup. It had only been half-full, but her bones were still chilled from the winter air in the garden and she refused to drink anything other than piping hot tea until she was thoroughly warmed. Had she not had the grand task of talking to all these young women this afternoon, she would have already been upstairs in an armchair, soaking her heels in a foot bath. "And do you intend to compete?"

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Vera lifted her teacup delicately, taking a moment to ensure her expression remained poised before replying. "Oh, no, Mrs. Gbadamosi," she said with a polite smile, her tone light but deferential. "I fear my talents do not extend so gracefully to potioneering. I find it a most admirable skill, of course, and I have great respect for those who pursue it with dedication, but I confess my own expertise lie elsewhere - charms and astronomy predominantly."

She set her cup gently onto its saucer, glancing momentarily toward her mother before continuing. "I have always found that they most suit my personality and my wider social interests."

Her expression remained warm, her eyes bright with genuine interest. "Though I must say, I would love to hear more about the competition. Do you expect a great many entrants this year? I was in France during last years competition so didn't get to see it"

  

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^  Look what Lady did  ^

Ife's eyebrows perked slightly at the mention of Astronomy. Transfiguration had always been her magical pursuit of choice, obviously, but the Skyfall estate had an observatory for which her son-in-law had spared no expense. It had been open to guests when they had hosted Iphigenia's debut last season, but honestly Ife couldn't remember whether Miss Blackwood had attended or not. She had been very involved in the curation of the guest list, but nearly nine months later the details had gone fuzzy, particularly where the non-gentlemen attendees were concerned. And the girl said she had been in France during the last potion competition, but honestly Ife hadn't the foggiest idea when that had been. She attended these sorts of things only when there was nothing better to occupy her time.

"Have you seen our observatory yet, Miss Blackwood? If not we shall have to find an opportunity," she said, a small tacit signal of approval. If Miss Blackwood didn't do anything to earn herself a strikethrough on Ife's mental list of girls from today then perhaps she could encourage Kayode to give Miss Blackwood the tour... though she supposed she would have to first give him the tour, since the observatory was her son-in-law's, not her grandson's. Did Kayode even like astronomy? She would have to investigate that detail.

"As to the competition, I'm not entirely sure," she said with a diffident shrug. "Though I believe they're expecting more women to compete this time than previously."

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