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 1893. It’s time to join us and immerse yourself in scandal and drama interlaced with magic both light and dark.
Complete a thread in which every post is one word shorter than the post before it! The final post should be a grand total of one word. At least three posts must be your own.
Did You Know?
The first patented espresso machine was in 1884 by Angelo Moriondo. — Fallin
They hadn't been thieves before, at least. Noble had not been a murderer before either. Now he was one. Did thieving make a difference, at this point? — Noble Greengrassinbut the system is done for
Her sister's house had become a familiar haunt over the past two years, likely more familiar than it would have been had the pair never had stepped on that ship that one faithful day. And the pair were both very different people than they'd been those years before. Her sister was quite, harder and Tavie was more skeptical, less trusting. But one thing that hadn't changed was that Di was still one of Tavie's favorite people. And that when Diana had announced her intentions of returning to society, Tavie had viewed her presence by her sister's side as an unspoken assumption. Which, in typical Octavia Rose fashion, had meant showing up hours earlier with a little bit too much enthusiasm and an assorted bag of potions.
"I think the gold and jade one would go well with your dress but shouldn't be too much. You don't suppose you'll need walking shoes? Tea slippers or the like should be fine?" Slowing in her ruthless pursuit of accessories, Tavie turned towards her sister. Nose pinched, she watched, trying to read any tells the older woman might have of how she felt about this afternoon.
Diana would never be so bold as to claim she’d been through a physical war, but the last two years had felt at least as if she’d been kept prisoner somewhere. For a while, that was the only explanation that she could bring herself to think of; that she’d been taken prisoner somewhere and made to hallucinate all of her worst nightmares. But even in hallucinations, one had to be revived from them. And eventually she was given so many calming potions, surrounded by so much love and family that Diana had to accept it: her husband was lost at sea. A widow and a new mother stuck in a brand new home that was meant to be witness to so much more happiness, sadness, anger, than it had gotten to see.
Diana and Octavia Rose had always been close as sisters (though they’d had their fair share of sisterly spats), but with the shipwreck, Diana’s giving birth, and her subsequent mourning, Tavie’s presence had turned into something more. Diana could hardly go a week without seeing her sister, felt immediately calmer in her presence; which was a bit odd seeing as Tavie often entered rooms in a whirl of energy that seemed to linger even after she’d gone. It was just as well, seeing as Diana’s energy had been depleted significantly. Having Tavie over to coax her into knowing what it would be like to laugh and feel joy again was like a cool salve on a fresh burn.
Especially this day, with Di’s intention of reintegrating back into society. It had been over a month since she’d officially been allowed by the social norms of their time, and yet she hadn’t been able to bring herself to do anything of the sort until now. “You don’t think it’ll be too much?” She echoed, looking over her options. Naturally, her eyes gravitated towards the mauve color, the color of half-mourning that she’d donned for the past few months. It’d been like a shield in a way, and she was rather hesitant to go back to anything too vibrant. “I shouldn’t think I’d need walking shoes, it’s only a smaller event.”
"Of course not, a little bit of color will do the outfit good." The And You remained unspoken, but implied. It was something she'd been pushing for the past few weeks, each time a little bit stronger. And it wasn't just Octavia Rose's personal fashion tastes - though she wouldn't deny it was a part of it. A small part. But it also was the desire to see her sister start to find herself again. Come alive again. Smile. And maybe just maybe, allow herself to feel a bit of happiness again.
And then she busted into motion again, moving from her sister's jewelry stash to the pag of potions Tavie had brought. Hair potions mostly but tucked to the side, a calming drought. She had no intention of telling her sister she had brought but she wanted to have it today... just in case. As she started to sort through the bag, pulling out the ones she wanted, she spoke again, intentionally not looking towards her sister to give Di the privacy to sort though her thoughts. "What do you want me to do, Di? I can go with you or stay here. Which would be better?"
Of course, she heard the implications Tavie made; try as she might, her sister wasn’t exactly one would call discreet. No, she had too much energy for that, which was fortunate for this exact time, seeing as Diana seemed to need something to kick start the more cheerful thoughts that lingered in the back of her mind. And no sooner than Di gave a small snort of a laugh at this thought, had Octavia Rose sprung into action and bustled over to the accoutrements she’d brought along. Diana looked curiously at her sister’s bag, wondering with some caution if she needed to be prepared for anything drastic. She was fairly confident Tavie knew she was in no shape to be spontaneous with her appearance, but that certainly didn’t excuse accidents from happening (which, it seemed the Fawley girls were no stranger to).
“No, don’t leave —” Diana’s response came before Tavie had even managed to finish her sentence, and she felt the edge of panic slowly press itself against her throat. The thought of going alone…no, she needed someone there at least. Someone who she knew would be able to get her out without anyone the wiser. Not wishing to alarm her sister though, make her think things were worse than they were, Diana forced herself to take a deep breath. “No,” She said again, once she’d regained her composure. “I’d rather you come with me, please. If it’s not too much trouble.”
She froze at the tone of her sister's voice, ice shooting through her veins at the panic and desperation. She hated when Diana sounded like that. Hated that there really wasn't anything she could do to make it better. She'd gone through the same ordeal. Had been on the same sunken ship, but she was no closer to understanding how Di felt than she would've before. Sure she missed Mrs W but the loss of their maid hadn't carved a human sized hole out of her like the loss of William had done to Diana. Octavia Rose barely knew Will. She'd mourned him like she would have mourned a distant acquaintance.
All she could do was be there which when Di sounded like that, never felt like enough.
"Of course I won't. I'll be here as long as you need me. Mama wouldn't question it if I sent a message home saying I was spending the night either. And if you want to leave, I can always feign a headache. Now, come sit over here and I can do your hair."
Lady makes such lovely things.
August 3, 2023 – 5:53 AM
Last modified: August 3, 2023 – 5:55 AM by Diana Abbott.
A swell of affection welled up in her at her sister’s response, and she nearly started to cry once again. And when Tavie offered to stay the night she felt even less alone, and she felt her eyes sting. “Thank you,” She murmured quietly, pressing her lips together as if that would stifle the grief that had risen again. Her sister’s calming tone didn’t help either, but she got up obediently as a baby duck and sat down in front of Tavie, now with a rueful grin.
“When did the tides turn?” she asked with an amused tone. “It was only yesterday when I was instructing you to sit still so I could do your hair.”
The tide has turned when the ship crashed and Octavia Rose come out in one piece and her sister came out torn in two just like the ship. But she wasn't going to say that, not when she could see the quiver on Di's lips and if she really wanted to do today then now wasn't the time to bring up the whole dead husband bit. Instead, she ran her hands down Diana's hair. "Well I'm still not still so it's hadn't changed that much. "
There may have been a pregnant pause, or she imagined it. Either way, between her question and Tavie’s answer, the air seemed to grow heavy with meaning and Diana knew they were both thinking the same thing. Nothing had been the same once Diana had been separated from Will. Even more so was the fact that she couldn’t stop herself from going back to all those years before their marriage that they danced around each other. They should have just crashed into one another instead.
Determined not to let the weight settle on her shoulders for too long, Di cleared her throat and looked into the mirror at her sister’s reflection. “I suppose you’re right,” she gave in with a soft laugh. “After all, you’re still bossing me around and telling me what to wear. And you’re still my favorite sister.”
"And I'm your only sister," Octavia Rose retorted, tugging on the last strand of Diana's hair before she looped it up amongst the rest with a pin. Satisfied, she leaned her head against her sister's shoulder, twisting to glance up into Di's face. "But you are mine too anyways. After all, you let me boss you around." Even more so in the past few years. And it was true, their dynamic had shifted a lot within the last three years though they seem to have found a new normal. "And you look far better in gold than silver. Silver washes you out. And you aren't going out in anything less than your best today." People were obviously going to talk so give them something good to talk about.
“All the more reason for me to adore you so,” Diana volleyed back quickly with a soft laugh as she fiddled with one of the pins her sister was using. “And Henry our favorite brother, of course.” Their only brother, though that hardly mattered. Seeing him at the beginning of her mourning was lovely enough but she missed him when he went away. It was all necessary for his job, but that didn’t prevent Diana from sending him owls at least weekly to make sure he was kept abreast of what was going on.
“That, I do” She responded, knowing she wouldn’t really have a say in the matter if she did protest when Tavie bossed her around. It didn’t prevent her from feeling that stab of guilt though. Every time Tavie had come over and fussed over her like a mother hen Diana knew was time taken away from her sister finding a potential match. While it wouldn’t be entirely appropriate for her to have continued her search, even after Diana had come out of mourning Tavie hadn’t even questioned if she should be by her side. She had simply been there. “I must admit I like gold better than silver anyways.”
It was a dramatic change from where she'd expected to be at twenty-one when she first debuted. She'd fancied herself married by the end of her first season but now she was finishing her fourth no closer than she'd been her seventh year. Her first season her sister had married, the second she'd been caught in a ship wreck, the third she'd been with her sister in mourning, and this year she'd spent working her sister through her reintroduction. She hadn't had a single suitor since Emrys Selwyn that her parents had rejected. It was fine though. Disregarding the fact he died, Donhad been twenty-five and she'd married the love of her life. It didn't make her a failure. She had time.
"Well it is a good thing we agree then because you aren't leaving in silver." Tavie stepped back, eyeing Diana before nodding. "I think you are ready. I need to put on my shoes and then well be ready to go when the carriage comes."
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