Atticus barely disguises the look of distaste on his face--not that he brooks any moral objection to Magister Pavus' choice to do what he will with his wayward son, but to leverage blood magic to do so put a foul taste in his mouth. He briefly considers the extent to which he'd be willing to interfere with Octavius' life to prevent him from engaging in similar behavior, and decide very little. Drawing undue attention to the aberration only enhances the scandal.

And blood magic is, for his own reasons, an unacceptable avenue to pursue.

"I believe I do, Master Aremaeus," Ophelia replies genially and takes a small sip from her wine.

The party continues on for some time; Ophelia makes the rounds to those of her colleagues and acquaintances who are present, with Tavi tagging along beside her putting his best foot forward so as to not shame his mother, or his ever distant, somewhat frightening father. Atticus joins them for a time, then withdraws to one of the ornamental bookshelves lining the walls of the main gala hall. The titles are all the trite nonsense you'd expect to find at an event like this.

At some point, he determines that if he doesn't speak more than a few sentences to Benedict this whole evening, he'll end up slighting the boy and inviting irksome scandal into his life. So he approaches Benedict again, at whatever cluster of people he's joined, and waits until an appropriate moment to speak to him.

"I understand you're to be joining our household before the end of the season."