Cattermole residence
Southampton
@'Demelza McGonagall'
@'Julius Scrimgeour'
With the end of the Season drawing near, her grandparents thought it would be a grand idea to host a dinner party for all of their close acquaintances and friends. Her grandmother claims that it's to celebrate the end of an active summer - which Clara rather thought the elderly woman had enjoyed, for the last time she'd been able to squire about a young lady to different events and parties had been when her own daughter, Clara's mother, had been a debutante before she married - but after a sneaky glance at the guest list, Clara had to suspect it was to appraise all of the gentlemen who had past her the least bit of attention in the last few months since she debuted, and she'd been dreading it ever since.Not only because it was a clear matchmaking attempt on her behalf and she wanted the relationship with the man she was going to marry to develop naturally without interference, but also because it would shed light on how little she'd actually put into her first Season, and the last thing she wanted was to disappoint her grandparents - her grandmother, in particular, who had been so helpful and so happy to finally have a reason to be an active part of society again. If there was one person in her life that Clara couldn't stand to disappoint, it was her grandmother, and as the days steadily rose leading up to the dreaded event, so did Clara's guilt. She knew that she had an obligation to her family to marry, it was what was expected of her, but how could she express that she had little interest in matrimony at present - and even less interest in the company they'd invited?
Well, at least Tilly would be there; that was a small comfort, thankfully.
On the night of, Clara dressed in a simple dinner gown of pale pink - her signature color, which her grandmother insisted brought out the blue in the eyes - her golden hair arranged with fresh roses of the same hue from the garden, charmed to stay in place and not crinkle. A necklace and earrings had then been added with gloves to complete the look. An overall charming picture of feminine elegance, if she did say so herself, and she had even dabbled with a few of her own beauty products, a cream that gave her skin a softer look and a tonic to make her hair appear shinier. If anything, even if the night was a total bust, she could at least say that she looked and felt pretty.
Fortunately for Clara, however, the seating arrangements had found her placed next to a gentleman she felt more familiar with than some of the others in attendance, and Clara smiled lightly at Mr. Scrimgeour sat to her right. "I'm so pleased that you and Til -" Clara quickly corrected herself, accidentally slipping into her best friend's variety of nicknames "- Annabelle could come. No Cattermole function is the same without you both!" Which was the honest truth; of the six Scrimgeours, the Cattermoles were considerably more familiar with the two currently sat in their dining room, and Clara sincerely hoped that that would never change.
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