Still Rock'N'Roll To Me

[Ophelia Dippet]

Where have you been hiding out lately, honey?
You can't dress trashy 'til you spend a lot of money.
Mr. Winkle's ball, mid-evening. @'Lucinda Cavanaugh' (@'Roberto Devine' @'Armando Dippet', for your situational awareness)

Mr. Devine had suggested that they head to this ball once they'd danced a while at the Lytton party, and Ophelia had been more than happy to take his suggestion (and to drag her grandfather there with her). Honestly, she would have devotedly followed him anywhere he suggested, even if it was a reunion of the disastrous charity ball at which Sterling Carrow had been murdered. This ball did sound interesting, though, when he had described to her some of the 'curiosities' that were on display in the area. Upon arrival they'd taken a stroll through them, then had a dance. Mr. Devine had just departed to get them a pair of drinks, leaving Ophelia to her own devices for the first time that evening.

It didn't take her long to spot a familiar face, and she approached Mrs. Cavanaugh with a smile--though her smile turned into a bit of a smirk as she took in the other woman's outfit. It was the sort of thing that she might or might not comment on, depending on her mood... but with recent events having gone so splendidly in her favor, Ophelia was feeling a little superior, and Ophelia in a superior mood wouldn't think of letting a thing like that pass.

"Wonderful to see you," she gushed, a little superficially; it was always best to deliver a little extra honey before a catty comment, she'd found. Lucinda would see right through it, of course, but it was good practice for daft women like Ada Lovegood, who were too socially awkward to tell the difference between real and imagined pleasantness. "I don't think I've seen you in this dress before, it's very nice," she said, but then glanced around slightly before lowering her voice. "But--is that a bit of cotton in the skirt?" she asked, with a significant glance down at the offending bit of fabric. "Aren't you worried someone will notice? Goodness, they might think your husband has pulled the purse strings right out of your hands," she teased. "You know how people talk."

  

[Lucinda Cavanaugh]

Oh, Lucinda was not in the mood for this. She wasn't in the mood for very many things at all, but 'Ophelia Dippet, in a Mood' did not appear anywhere on the list of things which Lucinda wanted to deal with. 

(Maybe Hannah was here - Miss Dippet and Mrs. Pettigrew got on like oil and water, and Hannah could have extracted her neatly. But casting her eyes about for her blonde friend would have looked too much like desperation, so instead Lucinda decided to metaphorically grit her teeth and get on with it.)

Lucinda offered her sweetest smile, and did not look down at the apparently-offending skirt. "A delight to see you as always," she said, "Don't worry yourself in the slightest - it's certainly not cotton, I would never! And the thought of Mr. Cavanaugh pulling my purse strings - pff." She gave a small, but genuine laugh. After all this, Lucinda was certain that Wesley would never take full control of the finances - he was probably half-concerned that she'd smother him if he did.

  

[Ophelia Dippet]

"Oh, good," Ophelia said with a melodramatic expression of relief; she threw one hand over her heart as she let out a sigh, using her other hand to take Lucinda's arm, whether she wanted her to or not. "It would be so abysmal if he were to try and set restrictions on your wardrobe. I'm sure you've heard just as many stories as I have about men who simply don't understand the importance of things like that. You know, how one poorly made dress can set people to wondering about your fashion sense and your finances for an entire season," she said, as though this were a truth universally acknowledged. Honestly, though, she wasn't just pulling this out of her ass. Women talked about all sorts of things that men couldn't comprehend, and she had heard that it was very difficult for wives with miserly husbands to try and justify the cost of staying on top of fashion.

"Of course, you know all about that," Ophelia continued, tone shifting slightly as she dropped the hand from her chest. "How something that looks cheap," she said, with a significant glance down at the offending bit of Lucinda's skirt. "Might lead people to think all sorts of things. It can reflect very poorly on both parties," she said, her tone all innocence for all that the implication was obvious. "Or even on the marriage itself. Haven't you found that to be the case?"

  

[Lucinda Cavanaugh]

Maybe if she willed it hard enough, she could be far away from here, or at least less irritated about being here. She wished that she could still count on Wesley to bail her out, or that Ruth would ever attend something like this. Ffss.

"Oh, of course," Lucinda said in a cool tone, "I've found it more often to be the case with guardians - husbands have more cause to keep their wives happy, no?" She raised an eyebrow at Ophelia. Of course, Ophelia's guardian had more money than God - he had been alive for so long that he possibly was God - but she couldn't let Ophelia say everything. Could she?

"Not, of course, that that's ever been your situation." 

  

[Ophelia Dippet]

Ophelia hadn't really been trying to be mean--she'd just been having a bit of fun, really. Catty societal banter was her definition of fun. That being said, her look soured at Lucinda's mention of her lack of a husband. It wasn't something that was particularly troublesome to her now, with Mr. Devine in her life, but it had been a rather sore spot for a good long while--which was probably why Lucinda had known to go for that particular tack. It was also something that she had no defense against. She may have recently started courting, but she and Lucinda were the same age, and Ophelia had just started courting, whereas Lucinda was married and already had a child.

Well, fine. The gloves were coming off, then. Metaphorically speaking, because she liked these gloves.

"No," Ophelia responded pertly. "But I'm so glad to hear that yours has been so good at keeping you happy, despite how reclusive he's become," she said, sinking a bit of venom into the words. "I was expecting to see you both at the Queen's ball, but..."

She let the but hang in the air, then gave a little hmpf and a shrug of her shoulders, as if to say that whatever came next didn't really need saying.

  

[Lucinda Cavanaugh]

Lucinda's eye twitched. Ophelia had struck a nerve, obviously - and Luce had no defense. She was still more than slightly resentful of Wesley skipping the Queen's ball, but was trying to forgive him, and having Ophelia Dippet poke around in her hurt feelings was doing her no help at all.

She had a few available tactics: be furious, say something catty, or pivot to a different topic and admit defeat. Being furious in public was ill-advised, and she was suddenly out of catty things to say. Pivoting was too obvious. So Lucinda went for option the fourth: lie her skirts off and hope for the best.

"Yes, well - they had a bit of an Magical Games and Sports catastrophe with the Caerphilly sponsor," Lucinda whispered in a conspiratorial tone, "He was all mad that his team is just terrible."

Not her best work, but better than nothing!

  

[Ophelia Dippet]

"Oh, dear," Ophelia replied in similarly hushed tones. She allowed her eyes to widen slightly and she raised one hand to her heart lightly, as though she believed what Lucinda was telling her and was quite scandalized by the confidences. In reality, her interest in Quidditch extended only so far as it needed to in order to keep up a witty conversation with Mr. Devine, and she couldn't have said whether Caerphilly was doing well or not. That being said, she felt as though she would have heard something if they were doing so poorly as to merit a disaster, and her friend's excuse seemed a rather thin one to her. Mr. Cavanaugh had skipped a dance with the queen because some grown man was having a temper tantrum? And it had lasted the entire night?

"It must have been quite the catastrophe, if Mr. Cavanaugh thought it was more pressing than our reconciliation with the queen," she said. Her tone might have been all innocence, but the significant look she shot Lucinda told the blond she wasn't buying a word of it. "And particularly if he thought it was more important than spending the night with you..."

  

[Lucinda Cavanaugh]

Lucinda sputtered. This was beneath her, but she couldn't help it - she didn't know how to deal with Miss Dippet at the moment. She didn't know how to deal with anything, with her marriage only barely on the mend, and she certainly didn't know how to respond to Ophelia poking fun at her.

Somehow, she was saved: a spell struck her sort-of-friend.