Welcome to Charming, where swirling petticoats, the language of flowers, and old-fashioned duels are only the beginning of what is lying underneath…
After a magical attempt on her life in 1877, Queen Victoria launched a crusade against magic that, while tidied up by the Ministry of Magic, saw the Wizarding community exiled to Hogsmeade, previously little more than a crossroad near the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In the years that have passed since, Hogsmeade has suffered plagues, fires, and Victorian hypocrisy but is still standing firm.
Thethe year is now 1894. It’s time to join us and immerse yourself in scandal and drama interlaced with magic both light and dark.
Play a character aged 35 or older for one month. Non-humans do not count. Show this by submitting two completed threads started one month (or more) apart. Threads must have at least ten posts, and at least three must be your own.
Did You Know?
It’s quite unusual for a caster's patronus to be their favourite animal, but very possible that it will take the shape of a creature they’ve never before seen or heard of. — Amy
Winston had been having a load of fun this far and he had met some interesting people. He was all over the place, really. As the night went on, it probably would not be a stretch that he had spoken to at least most, if not all, the spirits in attendance. And some interesting Living too! People were always interesting though, whether they were living or not quite dead.
Speaking of Living people, he saw a familiar face. He had fond memories of the other so he decided to approach (not that he actively remembered the setting of some of these fond memories but that was besides the point). If he was going to be sticking around, might as well reform connections, right?
"Your hair is still very brown and curly. Like chocolate swirls," he said, as if he had been expecting this to somehow change in the couple of years since they had last seen one another. He had also approached and forgone a greeting as if they had just seen each other minutes ago rather than actual years. And in Winstons mind, that might have well have been the case.
Winston Umbra hadn't changed either, Ford noted with a chuckle, though in this case it was less about appearance and more about his mannerisms. Umbra had been near him in school and a coworker in the Spirit Division, so they had interacted pretty extensively, but even if they had only met once or twice before Ford was sure that he would have remembered the other man. He was just so odd — but not in the same way that Tycho could have been described as odd, by people who didn't know him as well as Ford did. His own particular brand of odd.
"Yeah, I dyed it but it all grew back," Ford joked, then realized belatedly that he was unsure whether Umbra would recognize this as a joke. "Did you come with someone?"
Winston let out a little awed gasp. He had never taken Ford Greengrass as the sort to do such a thing. He supposed one just never really knew people. "What colour?" He asked in earnest interest. He rather thought a nice golden might suit the man. Maybe not his skin tone... but his aura and essence felt like it would suit a nice golden hue. But brown hair did suit the skin tone better, hm.
He shook his head when he was asked if he had come with someone. "No but a lot of the ghosts I have spoken to told me I would enjoy this." And he had most certainly had thus far.
Ah, he hadn't recognized it as a joke, and now Ford had to decide whether to come clean or just ride it out. It wasn't as though it particularly mattered if Umbra thought he'd dyed his hair — he was unlikely to go around gossiping about it, and if he did mention it to someone in an offhand way they probably wouldn't take him seriously. Still, it felt weird to be in the position of having sort-of lied to someone; Ford was generally an honest person. When he wasn't burglarizing wealthy homes.
"If anyone else from the department asks you, you can say Barnaby Wye invited you," he offered, choosing to forego the question of hair dye colors entirely. Ford wasn't sure if anyone else would care to ask or would do anything with the information if they did, but technically this party was for spirits and their living guests, so if Umbra wasn't someone's guest he was crashing a party not intended for him. "He's the one with the sword in his chest, and I think he's invited so many people he's forgotten the number, so he wouldn't mind one more."
Set by Lady!
June 11, 2023 – 5:57 PM
Last modified: June 11, 2023 – 6:03 PM by Winston Umbra.
Oh, so Greengrass didn't want to share what colour he had dyed his hair. Had it been especially embarrassing? Had he perhaps dyed it green? Green did not mix well with Greengrass's aura despite the others surname. He smiled at Greengrass in a way that he hoped conveyed it's all right, I won't pry for your secrets. First the tall fellow wouldn't share how he had gotten so tall (forget the fact Winston had not directly asked this) and now Ford Greengrass with what colour had had dyed his hair.
"I know who that is," Winny said cheerfully. "I've already spoken to most of the spirits here though I did not yet get the chance to speak directly with Barnaby Wye himself. I've met a lot of interesting people so far." There had been those twin spirits and of course, the tall fellow. His shoulders tingled somewhat at the thought of him. He rubbed his shoulder, weirdly feeling like he could still feel the others hand there. Hm, what was that about? "Was this all your idea, Greengrass?"
Winny has heterochromia. His right eye is blue and his left eye is green.
"Ha! Hardly," Ford said, shaking his head. "If it were up to me they'd have earned themselves a five year penalty at least after that stunt with the hunt a few years ago. But I suppose you weren't at that one?" he asked. He couldn't recall whether Umbra had attended or not. On the one hand, he was the sort of person who might have been invited by a spirit whether or not they actually knew each other. On the other, he apparently hadn't even been invited to this one, so maybe not. Ford couldn't actually remember any of the events of that night prior to midnight. For one thing, it had been two years ago now and a lot had happened in the meantime. For another — having to chase a pack of unruly ghost hounds through Hogsmeade while the town slept through the early hours of Wednesday morning had rather eclipsed everything that had happened previously.
"I certainly wouldn't have let them stage this thing with the bear," he continued, assuming for no particular reason that Umbra would have already heard about the upcoming spectacle. "But I was overruled."
"I was in another country so probably not," Winston said, these words said as if he was trying to remember if he had somehow actually been there or not. This was the first Spirit Ball he was in attendance to, he was pretty sure.
"There is a thing with a bear? Did you wrestle it from the forest or is it a ghost bear?" He'd had no idea the Forbidden Forest played host to bears. Then again, maybe Greengrass got it from another forest. Never mind that it sounded like if the Ministry man had his way, there would be zero bears, ghostly or otherwise, in the vicinity.
Winny has heterochromia. His right eye is blue and his left eye is green.
"It's a ghost bear," Ford said with a serious nod, as though both options were equally viable. He'd never heard of a living human party having a bear as a spectacle, and if one made an appearance this season he would have derided it as patently ridiculous — but he thought this business with the ghost bear was patently ridiculous, too, so they were about on the level as far as he was concerned. Were ghost bears or corporeal bears easier to wrangle? The jury was still out on that question, given that Ford had no experience trying to manage an actual bear. At least this one had the benefit of having only limited damage possibilities should it escape. It could be properly terrifying, he imagined, particularly if one was surprised by finding a ghost bear where there oughtn't to be one, but it could not actually maul anyone.
(Could it maul spirits? Hopefully tonight was not the night to find out. Was that the sort of thing Morgan would have bothered to verify before signing off on this? It seemed decidedly outside of Ford's pay grade.)
"It's really about the dogs, though," he continued, again failing to provide any context and assuming Umbra would already have it. "This lot with the packs of ghost hounds, they're just militant about getting changes to show them off. And I suppose they don't get many other opportunities."
Set by Lady!
August 14, 2023 – 10:09 PM
Last modified: August 14, 2023 – 10:10 PM by Winston Umbra.
Winston was looking forward to seeing a ghost bear though he was morally against the idea of bear-baiting. At least in this instance, the animal was not hurt like it would be had it been living. "Perhaps they want to relive their glory days," Winston provided as Greengrass continued to talk about the dogs and the ghostly lot that were connected to them.
Winny has heterochromia. His right eye is blue and his left eye is green.
Ford nodded. "I 'spose," he agreed. That was really everything at the ball, when it came down to it; trying to make as many spirits from as many different eras feel comfortable as possible, which left quite an eclectic event before the night was over. An uncharitable person could have called it pride for these ghosts to be so attached to long- abandoned rituals and customs, but Ford had always been sympathetic to spirits. "I'm sure it's frightfully disorienting for most of them to attend parties these days and see so little in common with the world they knew. Probably makes loneliness worse, too."
See now? This was why Winny had always liked Ford. He understood and sympathized with spirits much like Winny did. "Oh, indeed. A few also tend to disapprove of different things that would have been considered scandalous in their time." Others seemed to embrace the changes brought forth from the Living. "You're a good man." It was said as an add on with the sort of vibe that comes with someone saying something out of nowhere.
Winny has heterochromia. His right eye is blue and his left eye is green.
Ford quirked an eyebrow. "Uh, thanks," he offered lamely. He had an urge to respond you too but couldn't tell if it was sincere or a misplaced attempt at politeness; as if his brain didn't really know what to do with that comment and had decided to simplify it to have a nice day.
But Umbra didn't seem to have meant anything particular by the remark — he was already looking away, apparently distracted by something in the middle distance. "Uh — bye?" Ford said uncertainly, as Umbra turned towards something else. The conversation appeared to be over... and was just as unpredictable as all their previous ones had been. Well, it was weirdly comforting to find that Umbra hadn't changed at all... weirdly comforting, anyway, so long as Ford wasn't being asked to work with him again.
