THE ARTIST & THE DEVOTED

TW : DEATH OF A PARENT Inaya never imagined there might be a place for her amidst high society, beyond the preening of younger sisters Miriam and Sonia. It was a fate well accepted, and one the young woman felt — in a strange sort of way that offered a cruel sense of comfort — predispositioned to. For the first ten years of her life, Inaya Stanhope acted as her mother’s shadow. From birth, she inherited her mother’s fiery personality, and as she grew, she developed a similar hunger for knowledge, and a passion for the pursuit. Mother taught, mother guided; mother was both friend and teacher, and always loved fiercely. But love was not enough to curb the pneumonia that took Mrs. Stanhope’s life, no matter how the young girl wished it might. Inaya had only just turned ten at the time of her mother’s passing. She could not allow herself to mourn the same way Miriam, then seven, and Sonia, then six, did. Or, rather, she would not. Father always remarked how like their mother Inaya was, and so she naturally took to caring for her younger sisters. Adolescence was endured ensuring Miriam and Sonia would not notice the absence of their mother. And, when the girls came of age, Inaya attended to the season to ensure advantageous matches might be made for them. Matches to ensure their happiness, comfort, and prosperity beyond the familiarity of their estate walls. Following the marriage of youngest Sonia, Inaya settled into her studies; developing a particular affinity for literature, a sweet spot for botany, and a rather fine hand at the pianoforte. She grew comfortable in the idea that this would be her life, settling into scholarship and spinster-hood. It was only when at the approach of the next season that the possibility of otherwise reared it’s head. With younger sisters settled and married, father encouraged Inaya to seek out her own match; an idea she initially spurned. But as the start of the season grew closer, the idea became more and more appealing. This season, though her fourth in attendance, is the first in which she attends as an eligible bachelorette. Once an excellent matchmaker for her younger sisters, Inaya now stumbles around the season, equally terrified and intrigued at the idea of a romance of her own.

TW : DEATH OF A RELATIVE Jasper Nightingale never was quite what a first son ought to be. His manner and way of being suited that of the second son, or perhaps a third, but not a first, not in the slightest. At birth, the Lord and Lady Nightingale were overjoyed by the arrival of their bouncing, baby boy. He was a gentle-tempered babe, with only smiles and laughter to offer. But such a disposition lasted only until the boy could talk, and then began the trouble. The world around them fascinated Jasper, in such a way that the Lady Nightingale hadn’t expected. In his childhood, Jasper grew to be a fiercely opinionated, and rather outspoken young rascal. His caretakers did their best to correct his out-of-turn way of speaking, and his eccentricities, but he had a passion for life. One that would not be so easily snuffed out. As the boy grew older, it became more and more apparent just how unlike the rest of his family he was. After his seventh birthday, the Nightingales were blessed with a second son. And then, shortly after that, a first daughter. And while Jasper was overjoyed at the prospect of being an older brother, as Lucien and Floriane grew, the palpable differences between the siblings only grew more apparent. It was not long before he settled into the status as the Nightingale black sheep. Jasper found kinship in his dear Aunt Tottie; a similar eccentric with a passion for art, and travel. She took to mothering him upon her return to English Society, teaching him all she could. It was through her that young Jasper’s love for the arts was nurtured. The two would often spend afternoons poised side by side, sketching and painting for hours and hours until their hands cramped and they could create no further. Aunt Tottie was, in many ways, Jasper’s only companion growing up. She was Jasper’s dearest friend in a home that felt more like a maze than a sanctuary. Jasper spent his adolescence completely immersing himself in his craft, often times skipping lessons with his tutors to hide away in his study, painting and drawing and thinking — always thinking. He was an intelligent young man, there was no doubt about it, he simply cared more for the arts than he ever did his academics. And hell, was he good at it. A natural talent for the arts, nurtured with hours of practice and lessons led to a rather impressive artistic sense in Jasper from the age of 12. In his fifteenth year, there was a new ( and final ) addition to the family — Teresa. She and Jasper were just the same; full to the brim with joy and laughter. Though she was fifteen years his junior, Jasper loved his baby sister fiercely in such a way that he wished he had been loved as a child. She would grow into a promising young woman, eventually following in his artistic footsteps. Though, that wouldn’t be for many years to come. As soon as he was old enough, and was granted the permission by his father, Jasper accompanied Aunt Tottie across the sea to Paris, France. For the better part of two years, he explored and painted and discovered who he truly was, all at the encouragement of his dear Aunt Tottie. Though it was his first time away from British soil, Jasper just knew he had to see more, had to experience more. He could feel it in his bones. But, just before his twentieth birthday — when he was to return to England for his first season — Tottie fell ill with an awful fever, one she simply couldn’t shake. It was a frigid, silent winter’s eve when she passed, Jasper at her side. He returned to England alone. Rather than attending the season with his family intended, Jasper spent his twentieth year across seas — mourning in his own strange way. He painted, and painted, and painted until no piece of his wardrobe was spared the fate of a splatter or two of paint, and the tendons in his hands ached from how he worked. It was cathartic, and painting with such fervor and frequency and talent, Jasper Nightingale began to develop quite the name for himself beyond his inheritance. Jasper attended his first season at twenty one, outfitted with a certain charm that accompanied a traveled artist ( though, truth be told, he had absolutely no idea what he was doing and made it by entirely on the seat of his pants ). He was a rather handsome marriage prospect, being both a good looking young man and the heir apparent of the Earldom, and yet Jasper did not marry during his first season. And did not for twelve more years. His time was spent, between yearly trips to London, traveling farther and father past the North Sea: Paris, Milan, Athens, Istanbul … If there was a way to get there, he’d find it. He documented his travels through his art, painting every beautiful landscape, flower, tree, man & woman he came across. It was entirely for himself, a rather selfish deed to leave behind his family in England in pursuit of Wanderlust, but it didn’t hurt that members of the Haut Ton would scramble to buy his one of a kind works upon his return to London. Seventeen years of travel and artistry led him to become a rather hot commodity at the social gatherings of the season. Provided with enough punch, Jasper could regale dozes upon dozens of people with stories of what grandeur he encountered on his travels for hours. He was not always so confident, in fact he almost never was, but there was just something so changing about the season, something that made him a different man … He could never decide whether he liked this different man more or less. Now, in his thirty-third year, Jasper Nightingale is still unmarried. His return to society is spurred by an ultimatum; secure an auspicious match by season’s end, or all inheritance and the title of the Earl Nightingale shall go to Lucien upon the current Earl’s passing. Suddenly, Jasper The Dreamer was met with his own sobering reality. He, who once thought he would marry for love, forced to marry or lose his means of creating.