[color=lightgray][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/YGxzxVR.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/wA3P0IB.gif[/img][/center] [color=D0B4EC]Time:[/color] Evening [color=D0B4EC]Location:[/color] Ballroom [color=D0B4EC]Attire:[/color] [url=https://i.imgur.com/XgrtOQU.png]Outfit[/url] [color=D0B4EC]Interaction:[/color] [@Potter] [color=#8FBC8B]Olivia[/color] [@Oso] [color=lightsteelblue]Cassius[/color] [color=D0B4EC]Mention:[/color] [@FunnyGuy] [color=salmon]Lorenzo[/color] [/color] [hr][color=lightgray] [color=lightsteelblue]“I seemed off because you walked in looking like that, love.”[/color] Charlotte stared at those pretty eyes of his. Ordinarily, she might have looked away by now, absolutely flustered. She might have busied herself with fiddling with her jewelry, or pretending to notice something very fascinating about the tablecloth. But tonight, though she felt a certain rush, she didn't feel the need to run and hide. Her arm rested against the back of the chair gracefully, though her fingers tightened around the rim all the same. That was the curious thing. The spell had done precisely what she had asked of it... It had stripped the fear right from her chest. And yet her heart still fluttered. It was more dangerous, perhaps, because it made her want to lean closer instead of step away. Her eyes stayed on [color=lightsteelblue]Cassius[/color] with unguarded fondness. Without quite realizing it, she caught her lower lip between her teeth, then smiled like she had discovered a secret. [color=D0B4EC]“Oh?”[/color] she asked innocently as she leaned in, setting her elbow upon the table and settling her face into her palm. Her lashes lowered slightly, but her smile remained. [color=D0B4EC]“Like what, [color=lightsteelblue]Cassius[/color] ?”[/color] [i][color=#8FBC8B]"What the hell is going on with you?"[/color][/i] Charlotte paused. Her head turned slowly toward [color=#8FBC8B]Olivia[/color], though her lips remained parted. For a moment, she looked exactly like a girl who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. [color=D0B4EC]“Um...”[/color] It was not, she felt, her most elegant contribution to the conversation. Her gaze flicked briefly to [color=lightsteelblue]Cassius[/color]. He was watching her too now, waiting for the answer. But there was no delicate way to say that she had cast a spell on herself. [color=#8FBC8B]Olivia[/color] had warned her more than once not to meddle with magic alone, and she had told [color=lightsteelblue]Cassius[/color] she wouldn't do magic. Technically, she did say she would [i]TRY[/i] not to. Either way, she did not want to lie to them. Not to them. Her shoulders slumped, and some of the mischief slipped from her expression as her brows lifted and she frowned. [color=D0B4EC]“Someone wrote something rather ridiculous about me in the paper,”[/color] she relented with a sigh. [color=D0B4EC]“Apparently, I tried to throw myself from the balcony at the last ball.”[/color] She looked to [color=#8FBC8B]Olivia[/color] then, and the faintest ironic curve returned to her mouth.[color=D0B4EC]“Couldn’t possibly imagine who would encourage such a charming little interpretation, could we?”[/color] That smile did not last long. [color=D0B4EC]“Anyway,”[/color] Charlotte continued, drawing a trembling breath, [color=D0B4EC]“I spent the morning shredding that newspaper into [i]tiny, tiny[/i] pieces,"[/color] The memory of it brought a flicker of anger back to her face, sharp enough to make her nose scrunch in a show of disgust. [color=D0B4EC]“ ...because the very last thing I need is [color=salmon]Lorenzo[/color] believing I mean to follow after his late wife.”[/color] Normally, she would have left it at that, but she found herself pressing onward. [color=D0B4EC]“Not when Prince Wulfric already thinks [color=salmon]Lorenzo[/color] may be suicidal, and not when he is apparently mixing his—”[/color] Charlotte lifted both hands and made little air quotation marks with her fingers, [color=D0B4EC]“—medicine—”[/color] Her smile faltered as the room around her seemed to blur at the edges. [color=D0B4EC]“—with his alcohol.”[/color] A nearby servant passed with a silver tray of blue cocktails, and Charlotte suddenly lifted one hand to motion him over, [color=D0B4EC]“Please, sir, bring those over here.”[/color] The servant obeyed, though when he merely offered the tray for her to choose, Charlotte gave him a pleasant smile and requested that he leave the whole thing. [color=D0B4EC]“Thank you [i]so[/i] much, you are terribly kind,”[/color] she told him warmly and patted his forearm with such open sincerity that the poor man flushed pink, bowed hastily, and hurried off. She subsequently plucked one glass from the tray without even properly looking at him. The drink was sweet when she swallowed it, cool on her tongue with a pleasant taste of berries and sugar. Then she lowered the glass and looked between them both with a smile that was many things at once: lovely, stubborn, and not entirely convincing. [color=D0B4EC]“All this to say,”[/color] she said, her voice light again, [color=D0B4EC]“I am quite fine, my lovelies.”[/color] She lifted the glass toward them. [color=D0B4EC]“I would like to have fun tonight.”[/color] The book had not warned her. It wasn't surprising that her other emotions were present; the spell was to simply remove fear. However, the emotions that did remain were more vivid and merciless than she had expected, filling the hollows that her anxiety had once lived in. [/color]