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 1895. It’s time to join us and immerse yourself in scandal and drama interlaced with magic both light and dark.
With the same account, complete eight different threads where your character interacts with eight different usergroups. At least one must be a non-human, and one a student.
Did You Know?
Braces, or suspenders, were almost universally worn due to the high cut of men's trousers. Belts did not become common until the 1920s. — MJ
'Cause I loved you enough to know I ain't what you'd need in the end
And I left your heart breaking when I hit the pavement and I'd do it again
'Cause you might hate me now but someday, yeah, somehow you're gonna see
That I loved you enough to leave
Sage was still in shock.
She was holding her bawling almost-four-year-old. The sweet little face she thought she would never see again. The sweet little face she could see both herself and Locke in so clearly. Maggie had just been dropped off by a very sorrowful nanny trying to explain what was going on before she left for her new post.
It was impossible to comprehend. Of all the choices Maggie’s, Magnolia’s, adoptive parents could have made in this impossible scenario, why on Earth had they chosen this? Tragically killed in some sort of accident, a carriage crash; they had entrusted Maggie back to Sage in lieu of any of their relatives— who apparently did not want, or could not support a child. How could they possibly think this was the best place for her? Sage had though she had already found that and it wasn't here.
Subconsciously, Sage was running a hand up and down her daughter’s back, making shushing noises and trying her best to soothe the upset. It was breaking her heart and it took all of her own willpower not to tear up and say, It’s okay little one, Mommy’s here. To Maggie, to this wee blonde with chubby cheeks and Locke’s bright blue eyes, her mummy was dead and she had just been sent to live with “family” that she had never met before with nothing but a little suitcase of clothes, a blankie and a stuffed bear. Oh and two letters. One Sage had written before sending Maggie away and the other from her adoptive parents trying to rationalize their decision.
”It’s okay, Love,” Sage managed, a little choked up despite her best efforts. ”We’re going to take good care of you, I promise.” There was no response, just a tighter hold on her neck. At least the little lamb wasn’t trying to run away.
Upon entering the print shop, hoping to find Tess, Sage blinked back the tears, finding Declan instead. ”I—” could explain? Had a good story about the crying child in her arms? How did she explain this to the one person who she had hid this from and probably shouldn’t have?
The printing press was whirring away, creating an invitation for a Christmas Eve party next month. This client visited them for all of her parties, so Declan had painstakingly made sure that every letter was just as it should be in the template. He'd even painstakingly carved a mistletoe illustration into blocks for each corner of the invitation, spending time making sure that they all matched while Fabian scoffed at him. Finally it was set, and into the press, which was now happily whirring away via magic to make all five hundred invitations while Declan read his book and waited for clients to come and pick up their orders. He was sure that when he showed Tess his work on this one, she at least would be proud of him.
The book was sentimental, a romance. When he'd first started to work at Whitby & Co. Declan was embarrassed to get caught reading romance novels, but now he didn't mind — if Fabian wanted to poke fun at Deck for reading Lamplighter then he was welcome to. He thought that Kenna might like this one, if he gave the worn copy to her when he was done — the lead was a woman, and from all indications, Declan suspected that she was going to get her happy ending.
He looked up at the sound of the bell over the door, hoping for one of the clients he was waiting on, or for Tess so that he could show her his hard work on the invitation. His brow creased at the image he saw instead — it was not at all surprising to see Sage, and normally he would have shown her the invitation instead. But he couldn't get his words out, because there was a young child weeping on her shoulder, with bouncing curls that screamed Whitby girl to Declan.
"Sage?" he said, dog-earing his book and closing it. He stood up from the stool and stepped out from behind the counter, concern wrought through the lines on his face — he wasn't sure what was going on here, but it was strange, and he couldn't possibly go back to working normally when Sage's eyes looked wet like they did now.
It was much harder than she would care to admit to pull herself together when she felt like she was unraveling at the seams. "Ah, this is Magnolia, Maggie," Sage started with, like it explained anything. It was a pretty name. Not something Sage would have chosen. She hadn't chosen. Sage hadn't been dumb enough to do that to herself, name the baby she carried before giving her away. The bump had always just been her little Bean and that had been that.
But she was in fact, a child, a very upset, very confused child. Sage felt the same, if she was going to be honest, but it was hard to really wrap her head around what was happening. "Have you seen Tess?" Surely her sister would know what to do. Tess always knew what to do. Sage had strived not to lean on her sister as much as she had before Maggie came into the world; it had been the first time Sage had handled something almost entirely on her own, hadn't let Tess take the brunt of it or take responsibility.
Now she was going to have to really dig down and take responsibility herself.
Looking helplessly at Declan, she mouthed, she's mine.
Magnolia. It was a Whitby-sounding name, to Declan — it worked well with Sage and Saffron, and even fell a bit in line with Amber. The trouble was, Declan hadn't been aware of any additional Whitby girls. Amber was the youngest, their mother died before Declan knew them and certainly too long ago to produce this child, and Archer Whitby was a fabrication. He didn't know of any real cousins.
He didn't quite manage an answer to Tess question, too busy trying to fathom the child in Sage's arms. He likely would have figured it out eventually, with her bouncing blonde curls and the upset on Sage's face, but then Sage mouthed she's mine and Declan could only blink at her.
The baby girl was hers. Steady, responsible Sage, the most educated of the Whitby girls. This seemed like something that could happen to Mia, or maybe even Amber — not to Sage. And the baby couldn't be more than five, which meant that Declan had been here, working in the printshop, when Sage was with child. That meant she'd kept it from him. They'd kept it from him.
He huffed out a breath, an undignified exhale, and leaned back against the counter. Hurt spread in his chest. The Whitbys felt like family to him, sometimes closer than his siblings. He straightened back up, because there wasn't much else to do right now. His expression was less confused, but still concerned, with a slight pout in his lower lip. "I think she's out with a client," Declan said. He wasn't sure if she was out as Archer or as Tess, but either way, Tess wasn't here.
Sage was too distraught to notice the flicker of emotions that crossed Declan's features; too focused on the crying child in her arms that were beginning to ache from holding on so tight.
"Great," she sighed heavily. Sage had always been good with kids, but she was so worked up herself, she knew she wasn't helping. "I don't know what to do." She barely held back the catch in her voice as she swayed unconsciously, trying anything to soothe Maggie. "I don't think almost-four year olds drink tea?" Right now she couldn't even get Maggie to let go long enough to check on her breathing.
The hot sting of tears prickled at the corners of her eyes and Sage had to look up, trying to blink them back. She readjusted her daughter in her arms, trying to think of a way to at least get her to calm down more. "Would you like a little snack?" They had to have something upstairs. She tried to get a peek at Maggie for an answer, but all she got was a sniffle and a nod against her shoulder. At least the tears were starting to slow a little.
"Will you help me? Please?" Her tone was pleading; she needed somebody to keep her sane at the moment.
Declan was sure that they'd given Maeve II tea when he was this age, but also he could not pretend that Mae had grown up in a particularly normal environment or that he had been a particularly normal child. So he probably ought to avoid arguing the point.
But maybe Maggie wanted a snack. And maybe there was another Whitby girl upstairs. "Stay down here," Declan said, because he did not want to abandon the printing press while it was still running — and because he was not sure how well taking a crying child up the stairs would go. "I'll get something."
He didn't wait for arguments before he left to go up the stairs, letting himself into the Whitbys' private quarters without his usual knock-and-pause. He didn't find any of the girls in his cursory search, but he did find a square of cheddar cheese on the kitchen counter, along with rolls of white bread, and some Honeyduke's toffees. He grabbed a knife to slice off pieces of the cheese. Declan gathered the items up in his jacket pockets, and made a mental note to replace anything that they ate when he came in tomorrow.
He took a second to exhale, with his hands resting on the Whitbys' kitchen counter, and center himself before he straightened and bounded back down the stairs, closing the door to the Whitby girls' rooms as he left. Right before he rounded the corner to find mother and daughter, he announced — managing a bright and cheerful voice despite the strange situation — "We have some cheese and also some treats, Maggie!"
Sage had been about to protest, to suggest maybe she go upstairs to find something, but Declan hadn't waited for her to agree and then she was alone with Maggie while the printing press whirred in in the background. She couldn't hear it over the buzzing in her own ears, but Maggie's cries had quieted some and Sage managed to stifle her own for the time being.
What in the name of Merlin's beard was she going to do? This poor girl had just had her whole world shattered, had lost the only family she had ever known and now she was back with her actual family and Sage was frozen with indecision. Would they be able to make this look reasonably proper? Pass her off as a cousin? If anybody scrutinized the pair of them too closely it would be all too easy to come to the conclusion that Sage was her mother. From the golden crown of curls to the roundness of her face and everything else, Maggie looked like a Whitby. Sage could of course see Locke in there, the brightness of the blue in Maggie's eyes; her nose had the same slope as Locke's. She had spent enough time studying his handsome face to see the traits he had passed on to their daughter.
Declan was back and Sage blinked at his tone. In any other circumstance she would have laughed at him, but she was still too shocked to register anything much. Maggie perked up at the sound of the snacks on offer, looking up at Declan with tearstains on her cheeks, but curious enough to look at the plate. One little hand snaked out and grabbed a roll. "Why don't you sit on this stool and enjoy your snacks." Sage offered moving toward the nearest seat and clearing a little place off for her daughter to eat. Maggie reluctantly slipped onto the stool, but once the food was set down, started in on the snack like she hadn't eaten in a while.
Sage shook her arms, feeling the fatigue in them, finally taking a moment to turn away from Maggie to let her own tears fall.
Maggie was so enthusiastic about the roll that Declan had to stifle a laugh; instead, he quietly sliced off some pieces of the cheese so that she could start eating them if she wanted. He pocketed the knife and watched her. She really did look like an almost-mirror of Sage, with some slight differences — especially in her nose. But he suspected that Tess would know who the baby was as soon as she got here. (Of course, she would already know that Sage had a child — later, when his head was on straight again, Declan was going to have to do the math to figure out how this had all happened.)
But Declan knew that he shouldn't spend so much time thinking about his own role in all of this; Sage had turned away from them. Deck left Maggie alone to the plate and stepped up to put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey," he muttered, voice gentle; hopefully the sound of the printing press would drown out their conversation, so that Maggie would not be able to hear them. "It's going to be alright."
He couldn't be certain that it would be alright, of course — but if anyone was going to be able to figure this out, it was Tess.
The hand on her shoulder almost undid her completely. Maggie looked more content with her snacks, taking in the printing room at large, the machines and everything else. It was fascinating, how it all worked, and Sage barely understood it all, could only help with the most basic of tasks, but it was home.
She looked up at him, pulling him a little farther away while trying to stem the flow so she didn't alarm Maggie. "I gave her up for a reason." She whispered, barely audible over the press, thank goodness. "A chance for something better," family preservation; self-preservation. Maybe it was selfish, maybe it was selfless, but she had never, ever imagined she would be here. Sage had made peace with her decision only to have it thrown back in her face. "Her parents, adoptive, they died in some sort of accident. They wanted her to come back to me in the event." It was all sort of tumbling out in a quiet stream of the jumbled thoughts bouncing around her head. Sage didn't really know how much they knew of her. The letter she had written for Maggie was still sealed, untouched. Sage had even known if they would give to her at any point. Sage hadn't even thought to read the one addressed to her yet. She still had bigger things to worry about.
"She looks just like me, people aren't stupid. They're going to match up the timeline." Merlin what a mess this was. Sage dragged her hands over face miserably.
Declan's mouth twisted; Sage had given Maggie up, because of course she had. He didn't have to know the situation well to know that it was likely the only option she had. (The father, in Declan's mind, was a bit of a cad. That was likely partially because of the conversation that they'd had about intercourse the other month, where Sage said that sex was fun but also that she was the worst. And if he was a good man, the father would have either married Sage or taken on the responsibility of Maggie himself.) Maggie, orphaned. Sage had pulled away from him, so Declan removed his hand from her shoulder and glanced over his own to look at the wayward child. Neither Maggie nor Sage was going to have an easy time with this.
He could not figure out whether or not Sage wanted him here. She was spiraling, dragging her hands over her face. Declan reached his hand out because he wanted to pull her into a hug, but he remembered the way that she had pulled back and instead left his hand hovering a few inches over her shoulder. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to try and fix this, his mind was whirring with increasingly chaotic options as his mouth pressed into a thin and unhappy line. He wanted to try and fix this, but he had no money and no reliable family, and she had not come here looking for him. She had come here looking for Tess.
"Tess will know what to do," Declan whispered, with urgency. "She always does."
Her mind was buzzing, trying to think through this rationally and coming up empty. Sage had, like Tess, always figured things out. Tess was better at it, more reasonable and less emotional like Sage, but they had always managed to come up with solutions that actually worked. It felt like there was no right answer here and it was killing her.
She caught the motion of Declan's hand and it felt like an invitation, she already missed the steadying weight of his hand on her shoulder and so Sage collapsed into him, hiding her face and the tears that had started to fall. She couldn't let Maggie see, sweet Maggie who had stopped crying herself, and was content with her snack, watching the printing press at work. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you," she was. It felt like an idiotic choice now; he was part of the family and she could have used his support then; he wouldn't be so shellshocked now, would have a better grasp on the situation. He was right though, Tess would know what to do and Sage just had to muddle through until she came back.
Unfortunately for Declan, he was also stuck with them for the time being.
Declan wrapped his arms around Sage in a secure hug, and gently patted on her back. "It's alright," he said quietly. He was not sure that it was yet, or that he was only upset with her and not with anyone else, but he knew that he would forgive her sooner rather than later. She obviously had not expected this; she had never expected the baby, Maggie, to come back at all.
Tess would know what to do. And he was sure he could forgive her, too.
Whether it was meant to be placating or not, Sage didn't feel any better, but she knew she had to get ahold of herself. Upsetting Maggie again was the last thing she wanted to do. The hug was doing its job, Sage sucked up the tears and buried her face into Declan's shoulder for a moment, willing herself to get it together. There was so much to consider.
It took a moment, but she managed to steady her breathing and wipe away the last of the tears. She swiped at Declan's shirt where she had left tearstains on the fabric. She just had to keep it together until Tess got back and then they could figure this out. It felt daunting, overwhelming really, but underneath it all, Sage was quietly pleased that Maggie was home. Of course she'd had a better chance with her adoptive parents, but even now, almost four years later, Sage had the chance to do better, to be present. All she'd ever wanted, really.
"I just— it's a lot." She admitted with a sigh. "I should take her upstairs and get her settled." She managed as she pulled back further. Merlin she didn't even know where poor Maggie was going to sleep! "Thank you, I'm going to need you." She warned with a breathless chuckle. He was more grounding than anyone else. Tess would know what to do, but Declan would never make her feel worse about it. Not that Tess did either, but Sage couldn't help the guilt that welled up where her sisters were concerned.
![[Image: Sage-Sig94.png]](https://i.ibb.co/gtRGfGX/Sage-Sig94.png)
