[Viola Fitzgerald (Rose)]

Viola lowered herself onto a cushion. She was not sure she had ever picnicked in Hyde Park before and had certainly never sat on the ground there before. Not that it was such a new experience. She and Olivia had often eaten on the lawn at home.

She found herself sitting between Ladies Amelia and Juliet. She tried to place the names. Leveson was certainly familiar. Was there a Lord... Lord Simon Leveson perhaps? Someone she had been told to avoid in previous years. Well, the lady seemed sweetly disposed enough. Lady Juliet Landon though... Her memory went to the Society News she had read this morning. Was this the Lady J. L. who had got all the attention? Viola sized her up unobtrusively as she arranged her skirts on the cushions around her. Not as handsome surely as the gushing of the paper had led her to believe. Suddenly she had to bite her lip in amusement as she realised that Lord Emerson's three surprising partners were part of this circle. She felt prodigiously curious to know what Ladies Rosalind and Juliet thought of him, but equally she did not want to have to give her opinion on the man herself.

She merely turned to observe Miss Tolson. Both she and Lady Juliet smiled sweetly at what was said but she fancied the former wished to detract the attention from herself. Most young ladies would not hesitate to tell all the stories they could if given such an opportunity as Lady Rosalind allowed. India though. Well! Viola was not so very interested in travel as some people. She couldn't help feeling that India was a very great distance from where they were and that she was quite content to remain in England.

"I am sure they are very interesting, Miss Tolson," she replied, smiling at her, "but I expect you must be rather tired of telling them! In your situation I fear my tales would become more and more impressive with each telling!"

In all honesty, she was more interested in Lady Juliet. India could wait. This season's latest diamond could not.

"I understand from the Society News," she continued, taking in all three of them, "that you all debuted last night. I must offer my congratulations, and I hope your first Almack's lived up to expectation."

[Amelia Leveson (Jen)]

"It was indeed crowded," replied Amelia to Juliet "I am sure I have never been so busy and sociable in my life! Everybody wanted to dance with me, it was such fun!"

Completely oblivious to the unattractive bragging in this little speech, she sat there looking very pleased with herself while Lady Viola settled down. Lady Juliet seemed like a nice sort of girl, though she could not make a full judgement on her character in so short a time.

Miss Tolson, on the other hand, she was able to form an opinion of almost instantly, and she had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes at the girl's comment. Modesty, or the pretense of, never was something Mia could identify with or feel particularly kindly towards, and Mia, in her unkindness, labelled her as a boring sort of person. Well, really, she should either tell her interesting stories or let someone else be interesting, for goodness' sake! She of course knew better than to voice any of these opinions and so remained uncharacteristically silent for the moment, a kind yet false smile plastered on her face.

Her attention, however, was soon drawn to Lady Viola. She seemed by far the most interesting person here (apart from dear Rosalind, of course) regardless of what countries she had been to. Amelia found her to have an inspiringly powerful presence and something made her want Lady Viola to like her. She therefore leapt at the chance to talk about herself, though this was probably not the right way to go about endearing herself to someone.

"Oh yes! I never dreamed it would be such fun, and I declare there is no place on earth quite so fun as Almack's!" she smiled "It didn't last long enough, although by the end of it I was quite tired..." She looked politely to the others, wondering what their experiences were. Dull, probably, she sighed inwardly.

[Juliet Landon (Izzie)]

Juliet kept her smile even, her facial expressions smooth. Inwardly, she was shooting a thousand curses at Lady Amelia Levenson. The girl was far too perky for her liking, and reminded her far too much of Elizabeth. With that, Juliet made a mental note to stay away from the girl in the future.

Charlotte, oblivious to Lady Amelia's thoughts, instead laughed lightly at Lady Viola's comment. "Well, I fear that they are not so interesting, but others have assured me they are," she shrugged, still laughing. "Lady Rosalind's brother, Lord Marcus, was quite intrigued by my elephant-riding escapade story last night," she giggled at the memory.

Juliet nodded at Viola's congratulations. "Yes, I greatly enjoyed myself last evening. I was exhausted by the end of the evening, I feared that I would fall asleep on my feet!" she laughed lightly. Charlotte merely smiled and nodded. She had not, in fact, made her debut last night - she had made her debut in Bengal some four years ago. But this was not something she wished to point out to this company of near strangers, particularly how she had been out for four years and not married yet! Well, Charlotte corrected herself, You were very close to being married. The memory flashed in front of her, of herself in a creme dress, the small church, the minister at the end of aisle...but it was not to be, and so Charlotte blocked the memory from resurfacing, and turned back to the conversation at hand.

[Rosalind Fairmont (Alexandra)]

Optimistically, Rosalind hoped that at least some combinations of these ladies were well on their way to becoming friends. Fingers crossed!

She rather thought Viola's impression that all three ladies had made their debut last night might have been mistaken. Charlotte had not been in white, after all. Nor had she been paraded about the ballroom like a prize pony. No, Rosalind had certainly formed the impression that last night was not her debut.

On the topic if last night... Rosalind had concluded her examination of the society news pages over tea and grooming and discovered that her new aquaintance, "Lady J.L." had featured even more prominently that she had first thought. Very impressive indeed. Though, perhaps, the line about her encounter with th Duke of L (Leighton, obviously!) She herself had had the duke pointed out to her by her mother and the term 'black mood' seemed to fit him well- though she thought attributing it to Juliet a bit harsh for the expression seemed a permanent fixture.) She would dearly love to know more about that particular high profile encounter.

The picnic party was garnering looks from passers by and Rosalind idly wondered how many were for the set up alone, how many were caught by Amelia's blonde head and how many were curiously putting faces to names from the pages ...

"It is fun to fill a dance card... but it takes its toll. Especially on one's feet!" she added, stretching out her own slippered toes for a moment. "Though, the extent depends on one's partner." Rosalind made a face. "Some have better... navigational skills than others."

[Viola Fitzgerald (Rose)]

Goodness, Viola rather wished she had not asked about the ball. It was very amusing, yet tiring. How incredibly... unilluminating. Viola felt sure that she had had much more interesting things to say about her first Almack's. She could not at present recall any of them, but she was sure that they had been of vital interest, deeply original and well worth hearing about. She smiled to herself. Really?

Neither Lady Amelia nor Lady Juliet had said anything Viola found any particular interest to reply to. Both very proper, very sweetly enthusiastic and Viola was already bored of them. Miss Tolson, however, she continued to find interesting, and not just because she did secretly think tales about elephants might be rather amusing. She seemed to genuinely disclaim and show modesty. It was not that Viola prized modesty particularly. She was not, after all, modest herself. But in a younger girl, real genuine feeling and lack of self interest and hypocrisy was a pleasant thing to see.

Nevertheless, she laughed at Lady Rosalind's comment, wondering if she had also danced with Mr. Hopkins-Lawrence. "Yes, you put it very diplomatically, Lady Rosalind!" She twinkled her eyes at her and slightly raised her eyebrows briefly before returning to the others. "But really, all of you tired? I thought it was quite inconceivable for debutantes to be fatigued after a ball! Or perhaps it was your partners who made it tiresome?"

Viola enjoyed gossip as much as the next lady. She did not like malicious gossip that could harm or damage reputations nor did she like spreading rumours that were unfounded, but a little bit of digging to find out who liked whom and so forth was as entertaining a past time as any other. Of course, she laughed at them privately afterwards. Such serious interest in particular gentlemen... so unnecessary!

[Rosalind Fairmont (Alexandra)]

"Tired, no. In jured - yes!" Rosalind agreed with Viola's sentiments wholeheartedly. Just keeping the laughter from her voice she added, "and to be far less diplomatic about it: a word to the debutantes... do try to avoid Baron Clarke if you quite like your feet the shape they are now!" Or if you wish to avoid an earful about the different genera of gorse bushes he had observed growing on his property. Shrubs? Really? Did she honestly look like the type of young lady who enjoyed discussing shrubs? In a ballroom. Lord, if so then she would have to seriously rethink her wardrobe decisions. "Unless you are a keen horticulturist," she added, no doubt somewhat cryptically.

"But, now, at the more pleasant end of the spectrum who," she mused, "who would we deign reccommend would you say, Lady Viola?" She grinned. "Can you think of anyone sufficiently light of foot and quick of wit ot warrant a referral?"

Languid, lazy and spoiled was the idea for the afternoon and so Rosalind had arranged for lunch to be carried to them and served out by (hopefully!) dexterous servants with silver utensils. Plates and cutlery were handed out. Lunch consisted of dishes that easily allowed this, including a pretty array of dainty tea sandwiches, roast ham, hearty slices of pies and, of course, scones with clotted cream, strawberry and lemon tarts galore with - just in case anyone could squeeze them in - cook's Cardamom shortbread cookies. All washed down with lavender lemonade. It would be just like a buffet - but no one need bother to move. If people wanted to move, there was a croquet set in the carriage that could emerge later.

[Charlotte Tolson (Izzie)]

"I assure you that my partners last night took to great lengths to ensure that I did not tire from boredom, Lady Viola" Juliet said smiling, reveling in her slightly cryptic sentence. "It's just that my family spends a great deal of time in the country, and thus I sadly do not have the opportunities to dance all night. I fear that I shall have to work on increasing my tolerance during the Season for such late nights!" she exclaimed, laughing.

Charlotte laughed along with her cousin, while accepting a tea sandwich from a nearby servant. "You really must, Juliet, otherwise you will miss out on all of the fun later in the evenings," she said with a quick wink to the younger girl. Charlotte, always the social creature (however well she hid it), leaned in slightly to hear what gossip Lady Viola had. Not that Charlotte knew many of the gentleman that she was sure the Lady would speak of, but still, Charlotte sorely missed having a group of ladies with whom she could converse with about gentleman.

[Viola Fitzgerald (Rose)]

Viola felt her interest in Lady Juliet decrease with a slight irritation. She lived in the country for most of the year as did the majority of society and yet she had never found that that had affected her ability to be tired at balls or not. She wondered if Lady Juliet wanted her statement about her partners to be questioned. Viola was curious enough but she did not like being toyed with and she couldn't help thinking there was a touch of smugness in Lady Juliet's voice when she was speaking about her partners, so she merely replied, "I am sure you will have a great many opportunities to do so."

Then she grinned mischievously back at Lady Rosalind, put her head on one side and answered consideringly, "I think your brother would qualify as light of foot and quick of wit, but he is hardly a good recommendation to you! I can always put in a good word for Lord Linley and Mr. Stapleton who are old friends of mine. I don't know whether you danced with either last night," she added turning to the others. "And as for new acquaintances, I think Lord Gabriel Pritchard answers all the requirements."

She paused to take a slice of ham and some salad. "Thank-you. Now, have you any recommendations for me? I have missed the season for a couple of years now and most of my old partners are now married. Who should I angle for now?"

She spoke in a suitably joking tone. She was not going to angle for anyone, as she did not intend to marry, but there was a serious undertone to the conversation, as there always was when the people discussing it were all unmarried young women.

[Amelia Leveson (Jen)]

Lady Amelia was actually having rather a lot of fun, and cheerfully took a sandwich and a slice of pie from a passing tray. What a delight picnics could be! And what beautiful people to be surrounded by, she thought despite herself. She would, she decided, refrain from making any more judgements on the present company. It was not fair, and perhaps she would end up being very good friends with them, as it seemed they were not all that boring after all. There, how saintly she was being! She mentally congratulated herself as she bit into the sandwich with relish.

Having drifted in attention slightly from the conversation, as she tended to do in a day-dreamy way, Mia swiftly came back to the moment when the prospect of gossip was at hand. She listened intently, though felt that she lacked anything to add to the conversation, and this upset her. She did not like to be left out.

However, Viola's question gave her an opportunity to contribute. "Well if it is of any help I would certainly not recommend my brother, for the son of a Duke he may be, but a wise choice in marriage I am sure he is not" she giggled and took another bite of sandwich, happy that some attention was upon her again. It was a little unfair and perhaps cruel of her, but she was never particularly kind to her brother, in a petty superficial way.

"As for myself, I haven't a clue who to give my affections to, I'm sure there is far too much choice and I get quite overwhelmed." This was nonsense, of course. It was just that no one had yet to live up to her impossible standards.

[Rosalind Fairmont (Alexandra)]

"As it should be, after your very first London ball," Rosalind assured Amelia with a pretty smile and an offer of more lemonade. Indeed, pretty blonde daughters of dukes who debuted should be inundated with suitors though they should probably not state that for everyone else to admire. "You have all season to sort the gentlemen from the crowd." During their brief acquaintance, Rosalind had formed the opinion that Amelia was an only child - she acted as one, certainly - and was surprised to be reminded that she had brothers. They were probably a great deal older than she.

Speaking of gentlemen... Gabriel Pritchard. Cause for thought. Everyone seemed to be speaking of him: first Marcus and Lord Emerson last night, then Elise and Lady Emerson this morning and now Lady Viola. It was most frustrating to hear his name dropped every hour and not have seen hide nor hair of him. She wondered if he was much altered and supposed Sunday would give her an opportunity to find out for herself. As she accepted some sandwiches onto her plate, her gaze drifted again to Viola. It seemed that she made the acquaintance of both Pritchard brothers of late. How curious.

"With two younger sisters who dearly love to practise their dancing, one would hope Marcus was light on his feet by now," Rosalind laughed. She was well pleased to hear Marcus spoken of with approval and, shooting a surreptious glance at Charlotte next to her, wondered if that lady cared to voice her own opinion. Probably not, though she Rosalidn would hazard a guess that she had formed one...

"However, I can agree with you in regards to Lord Linley, at least. And add Lord Latimer and new arrival, Lord Daniel Rossington." She could not remember if the latter was a particularily strong dancer or not because their conversation had quite occupied her mind. Bonus points for that . "And even" she added, after a moment's consideration and an oh why not?, "Lord Emerson when he is not delighting in being cynical and cryptic." She rolled her eyes as if in exasperation. Or was that part of his charm? Did he have charm?