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Welcome to Charming, the year is now 1895. It’s time to join us and immerse yourself in scandal and drama interlaced with magic both light and dark.

Where will you fall?

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Did you know? Jewelry of jet was the haute jewelry of the Victorian era. — Fallin
What she got was the opposite of what she wanted, also known as the subtitle to her marriage.
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Private
Tea & Cards
#1
August 5th, 1892 — Chance L'Amour

Chance L'Amour was Ruby's usual place of operations when she met up with customers for readings unless they wanted more privacy. Even then, when it came to male customers, Ruby couldn't accomodate them with at-home readings. Her reputation didn't need to suffer any more, besides she didn't feel comfortable going to strange men's houses.

As such, she'd told Mr. Lissington for them to meet at Chance L'Amour. It was after they arranged their meeting that she found out, through her younger brother, that he was the DADA professor. The instructor back at her time at Hogwarts had been a 40-something-year-old Russian, so Ruby imagined Mr. Lissington would be around the same age.

She didn't expect a young man to come to her table and she had to admit to herself, had he been her Hogwarts professor, she might have tried harder! Mr. Zabini still had the main place in her heart, of course, but Mr. Lissington was pleasant to look at. Also, younger people were generally more fun to interact with.

"Hello, Professor Lissington," Ruby greeted. With her Hogwarts years not being that far behind her, it felt more natural to address him that way. "Shall we order some tea and get started?" One of her Tarot decks was already spread out at the table in front of her. Whenever she met up with male clients in particular, she made sure that it was obvious this was a business meeting and not one of the other sort!


Gus Lissington



Ruby-MJ
set by MJ
#2
Gus wasn’t sure why he’d agreed to have a card reading, but it sounded interesting; perhaps he wanted his fortune told to validate his feelings - was he actually cut out to be a professor? People often told him he was, but he had his reservations of whether this was for him, or if he wanted to tuck tail and beg his old boss back for his job as a curse breaker. He’d committed to Hogwarts for the year, and as he pushed the door open to Chance L'Amour, he found himself grimacing. A year. Three hundred and sixty five days. That was a long time.

The worst case scenario was that the cards would tell him he was right and he’d committed an entire year of his life to a place he wasn’t sure he belonged. Best case scenario, which the redhead wasn’t even holding his breath for, was the cards telling him he was right where he belonged. Gus wasn’t sure which would make his mindset worse. Maybe they wouldn't even touch on the professor aspect and show him his relationships or his family matters. His life wasn't exactly calm at the moment.

Approaching Ms. Urquart’s table, he couldn’t help but slightly wrinkle his nose at the professor title. His face twitched before he offered her an easy smile and slid into the chair across from her. “Good afternoon Ms. Urquart. Thank you for meeting me, I really appreciate it.” Gus clapped his hands together as he turned his attention toward the cards in front of him, suddenly feeling a little more at ease - they were just cards, right? How much truth could they actually hold?

A lot, he reminded himself, but the thought was fleeting as he turned to order some tea: black tea with as many sugar cubes as they thought the cup would hold without overflowing, and a splash of milk. He turned his attention back toward the young lady and cleared his throat. “So uh… what is this going to tell me?”





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#3
Professor Lissington, Ruby could tell, was the sort of customer that didn't have a Tarot background. At least he didn't seem the sort to mock her craft, something that always made Ruby uncomfortable. She was naturally a defensive person, prone to put up walls the moment she felt like someone was judging her.

Generally, first-time readings were enjoyable for Ruby. She loved introducing people to the craft, which she believed to be very helpful. The Tarot was one of the best tools of introspection.

"Whatever you want them to," Ruby replied with an encouraging smile. "There's the six cards spread, which is great for any type of question. It gives an idea of the person's past, what is bothering them and what the potential solution is. Then, there's also spreads designed for specific questions -- personal relationships and one's career are the most popular. What sort of questions do you need answered, Professor?"





Ruby-MJ
set by MJ
#4
Whatever you want them to. Well that was vague because there were a lot of things he wanted to know, although there wasn’t much in his past he couldn’t imagine. Things he would do definitely, for sure, but not a place he wanted to revisit. And personal relationships, goodness - he was working on rebuilding many of those after dropping all his friends like hot potatoes for a decade and expecting to step back into their lives as if no time had passed. (Surprisingly many had let him without much pushback.)

The career thing though - “So ah… I guess I’m not sure if the professor thing is for me?” Gus admitted sheepishly as he nervously scratched the back of his head before dropping his hands into his lap. “Do you ever feel like you made a mistake, Ms. Urquart? It’s not like I hate it. I mean I don’t. Not entirely. I like being home in London -” on the days it didn’t feel like he was being suffocated. “And being around my family is a blessing, but I’m not sure if I should be a professor.” The admission felt odd to someone he didn’t know, but it’d been something Gus had struggled with all year, and then most of the summer. Now what?

“I know this must sound odd. I was a curse breaker before this and it’s a huge change for me.” And he kept talking, as if explaining himself was going to make this any less awkward.






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#5
Ruby nodded along and dropped the occasional filler sounds to signify that she was intently listening to his problem. His was a common issue in human life — Ruby herself had felt so lost about her life after school. Being a debutante was out of the question, due to the scandal following her family, so she'd have to work. It had taken time for her to come into terms with her current employment being a legit job.

"I understand," Ruby replied, having resisted the urge to call him 'Professor' once again. As he spoke, she had been shuffling her cards and when he'd finished speaking, she spread out six cards.

"The cards have sensed your doubts," she informed her customer with a smile, gesturing to the first card: The Hierophant. "You are in need of advice. Another interpretation of this card is that you may find yourself in the position of giving others advice. In your case, becoming a teacher is a position where you guide others." It still amazed her, how on point cards could be.

"The Lovers - what you want the most right now. It doesn't mean you want anything related with romance per se-" She couldn't make such assumptions about her customer. "-in your case, this card shows that you want to know what choice to make. Do you truly want to take a risk? As you told me, is becoming a professor truly the path for you? Your fear - The Chariot -" she tapped on the third card, "is failure, that you've made the wrong choice and that you will struggle more than you've initially thought."

This one must have had a pure soul, because the cards had 'read' him quite well. However, some customers thought at this stage that Ruby was merely telling their woes back to them in a fancy, card-reading way.

"Things do seem to work out in your favour," she told the man, "but the biggest obstacle is yourself and your perspective on things." She tapped on a card depicting a winged woman pouring water next to a lion and an eagle - Temperance.


The cards I generated for reference.



Ruby-MJ
set by MJ
#6
[
He nodded at her as he followed her gaze toward the first card. Nearly wincing, Gus lowered his gaze toward the cards set out in front of him on the table; it was terrifying to think that he was giving advice to people - to young people! - and making an impression upon their minds. Guiding them down the wrong path to make the wrong decisions was terrifying to Gus and he wasn’t sure he was cut out to do that.

But that was his problem and not one he was going to spew all over this poor girl he was just meeting.

The lover came up and Gus’ thoughts drifted to Basil, although that was also a complicated situation and well… It was much easier to agree that there was a struggle elsewhere in life rather than being in love with someone who was hot and cold and may or may love him back, depending on the day of the week. The whiplash was crazy and it was already making his head spin. Gus laughed quietly as he nodded. “Well, the Chariot certainly has been my life for a while now.” He finally settled on as his fingers hovered over the cards.

He frowned then at her next set of words as he once again blinked down at the card - Temperance. What was in his favor? Never being called professor again or sticking out what he felt was the worst mistake of his life? He cleared his throat. “And this one?” Gus looked back at Ms. Urquart as he nodded toward the Magician. It was almost ironic that he was a wizard and got someone who practiced too; maybe he would wave his wand and make all his doubts disappear. Wouldn’t that be nice?





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