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Welcome to Charming, the year is now 1894. 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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Queen Victoria was known for putting jackets and dresses on her pups, causing clothing for dogs to become so popular that fashion houses for just dog clothes started popping up all over Paris. — Fox
It would be easy to assume that Evangeline came to the Lady Morgana only to pick fights. That wasn't true at all. They also had very good biscuits.
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Doodads and Thing-a-ma-jiggers
#1
August 4th, 1889 — Magical Pawn Shop

They hurried down the bustling street and slipped into a rather cramped space that had every kind of whatcha-ma-call-it one could imagine. Ronan peaked over Alina's shoulder, "brass Scalees" She read, when she meant to read, 'scales' "Gl-ah-ves...and what's that last word?" 'cauldron.'

She did at least try to improve herself from time to time, but often reading felt impracticable to the work-ah-holic. Her gaze then moved around the shop in search for the store owner, though how someone made there way around all the bits and pieces piled high was beyond her.

@"Alina O'Malley"

#2
Alina never really bothered correcting her mother unless she absolutely had to. It wasn't worth accidentally starting up any drama. "Cauldorn, ma." She said after glancing at the word. She then continued to look around the shop.

Scales, gloves, and a telescope. Could they find that here? Likely. Possibly for a good price as well. It wasn't a traditional shop, and these were likely all hand-me-downs. Even with the low prices, the place seemed quite overwhelming.




Magic by Lady!
#3
"Cauldron." She corrected, a smarmy smirk on her lips. It was rare these days that she outsmarted her own brat on the intellectual scale, but she considered that good up bringing on her part. She then looked back at the word, "Sure is ah funny way of spellin the--" For a moment she slipped into Irish Gaelic saying a number of derogatory words. The irony being that gaelic was more of a pain in the butt to spell than English, though Ronan was illiterate in her native tongue.

She then looked around, "Right so let's find the gloves first. She began rifling through items and paused as she spotted an old wooden spoon, some balls of yarn, some old needles. A store like this was dangerous for Ronan who could think of a million different ways to use someone else's junk. "Ye need some more socks, I could knit ye some more socks lass? Oh look think Ella may like this wooden spoon? Oo ah can of black saturn grease, wonder how much good stuff that is for the old boots."

#4
Alina listened as her mother rambled on a bit in regards to odd spelling. She never found it odd, unless it was something long and ridiculously spelt. Than it was quite normal to find such a spelling odd. But she made no comment on the matter.

Then their search began. And soon after, her mother continued to find stuff they didn't need. "Ma, we don't need all of that. We need gloves and such." She reminded as she continued her search. All too determined to find what they truly needed to get by.




Magic by Lady!
#5
Ronan didn't often splurge, which was perhaps why junk shops such as this seemed so appealing to her, because she could do a little bit of splurging. Her jaw set a bit crooked in a disgruntled manner as she thought to argue on the issue, but Alina was right, "Aye, aye, gots to get meat for dinner." Meat was a rarity, they generally had it only once a week on Sundays.

"Ye are blessin enough lass, blessin enough. Scales...hmm." She dug for a good twenty minutes before finally she came across some rather unbalanced scales, "Wonder if we can fix this on our own?" She wondered and looked to Alina, "Seems off by ah few numbers." That was an understatement, one side was completely down while the other was all the way up.

#6
Splurging was not something that Alina ever approved of. Not unless it could truly be afforded. Which it couldn't. Not with Hogwarts around the corner, and certainly not with the meat being purchased for dinner. So they simply couldn't add more to that list. One day she would be able to get her mother random things every once in a while periodically. Today was not that day.

Alina glanced over when her mother spoke. Tilting her head slightly in thought. "If not by ourselves, I can ask the governess to fix it with a spell." Since Ma and aunt Ella weren't nearly as practiced in these sort of spells, and Alina couldn't use magic. So it made sense to ask. And while the woman wasn't her own governess, she was someone's governess. So that was what she usually called any governess while at home.




Magic by Lady!
#7
A look of discontent slipped across her expression. She didn't really care for the 'governess' as Alina called her, and one might say she was a bit jealous of the woman with how much attention she garnered from Alina. "We don't need her help." She snipped, "Me sure we can has it fixed ourselves."

Ronan gave the scales over to her daughter, "Now ye sure they have to be dragon skin gloves, cause I skinned ah cat just last week that would be perfect for ah pair of gloves." She insisted. Ronan didn't like dragons, never spoke of it but Eli had an illegal dragon hatchery at one point, while she was pregnant, didn't last long, but still unsavory business.

#8
Sometimes she truly didn't appreciate the fact that her brother other acted so jealous toward any governess that helped educate her. Thank goodness most interactions were with aunt Ella. Who worked for the family and had to act nice. Whether it was an act or not was hard to tell at times. She gave her mother a look before continuing her search.

She took the scales absentmindedly. Then she made an upset whining noise when her mother mentioned skinning a cat. She never did like that. Not one bit. "Has to be dragon." She muttered. She didn't know that, or much else, about her father. Not that she really cared.




Magic by Lady!
#9
The whine came out and Ronan rolled her eyes, "Oy, give it ah rest wee bit, it's part of life aye, beside the meat is solid and the guts sell for at least a few pence on the muggle market." But Alina insisted on on dragon skin, "Ye Dah liked dragons." She muttered shaking her head. "Alright alright, dragon skin it be." She moved over to a bin of gloves and began rummaging but all she could find was ones with holes in various fingers.

She huffed and started to dig a bit deeper, finally she grabbed multiples of mismatched pair, "Here try these on? How they fit? I can sew the good fingers onto one glove, replace the bad ones." She went to slide one glove after the next on the girl's hand.

#10
The details were far from welcome. "Ma!" She protested. This was not something she liked. Something she hoped would stop when she raised above their rank in life. She scoffed at the mention of her father. "Must have made him sad to hear that Hogwarts required these sort of gloves then." She stated with a hint of smugness. While she didn't know much of him, she knew enough to hate the man.

She tried on several obediently. Listening as her mother voiced what she planned. "They'll work. This one is too tight. That one is too big." She went on as her mother asked and she tried various ones on.




Magic by Lady!
#11
"Doubt it, he'd bring in eggs and hatch them for profit. The man was..." She paused thinking back to the bizarre emotions Eli would go through, and often at the drop of a hat. She shook her head, "Nevermind wee bit, nevermind. What matters is ye took those lifeless eyes of his and stirred the embers of ye passion and," She booped her daughter's nose, "Gave the world ah beautiful soul." She went to tickle her, lighten the mood if only for a moment, before returning to the gloves.

Ronan must have gone through twenty pairs with Alina, before they steeled on fifteen pairs. "And if ye ever damage 'em I'll have scraps to work with to patch 'em up. Just lets hope ye hands don' grow too much." She then looked about, "And one of them spy glasses aye, her telescopes? See if we can find one without a crack..." She began to rummage again.

Something Ronan hadn't paid much mind too was the fact that they were the only ones in the shop. There wasn't so much as a mouse stirring about, and the shop keeper was no where to be found. From down the aisle a bit of ways came a chilling breeze, but yet the small shop was vacant.

#12
That was disappointing. Then again, that man always seemed to be a disappointment. What was so different now? Her expression softened at what her mother said next. She even smiled while avoiding her mother's attempts to tickle her.

It didn't take much out of Alina to do this. Unless the gloves were too tight yet could still get on her hands with a struggle. "I'll try not to ruin them at all. Though it might not last too long if I join quidditch." Something she had yet to really bring up. One of the few things she thought of doing for pure enjoyment. She glanced at her mother with a hint of hopefulness.

"Doesn't matter if it's got a crack. I can fix it when I get to school. I know the spell." Has never casted it, but knew it. Alina glanced around and started to notice an absence of others. It was quite odd. Typically by now she would have noticed one person or another.




Magic by Lady!
#13
Ronan lit up at seeing Alina smile, it always made her smile, ever since the day she was born. Her mind went back wee little feetsies, wee little hands, wee little nose. She got that look in her eye that quite simply said one thing, 'proud mother,' and why shouldn't she be? Most wee bits didn't make it to their first birthday, and those who did rarely made it to age eleven. She stook a breath, still a long road ahead, or a short one.

Her grey stormy hues widened when the girl mentioned quidditch, "Lass has workin in the factory with me taught ye nothin of how dangerous that sport--" Her voice trailed off as she saw her daughters own eyes filled with hope. She stared at her for a long moment before sighing, "We'll see how ye grades are, and then we'll jump that hurdle." Maybe, if they were lucky Mister Pettigrew could give her a discount on a broom, luckly no brooms were allowed for first years.

She picked up an old telescope with a cracked lense. "Ye talkin bout repairo." Ronan knew it well, as it was a required spell from her Maggie days. "Word of caution lass, the spell only works on broken muggle items, not magical items, which is why ye should ask yeself, why this has not already been repaired."

A voice boomed from behind them, "Because that belonged to Claudious Albenhiemer, a wizard of great notoriety within the noble field of Astrology!" The man was hunched over to where he appeared half the size of Ronan and nearly the size of Alina. He had wobbly knees, and was kept upright with a cane. His beard went all the way to the floor and dragged down the long hallway. "5 galleons."

Ronan shot the old coot a glare, "Do ye wish to make any money in this store boyo?" She asked flatly. The old man gave it some thought, "I meant 5 knuts." Ronan nodded. "And the gloves?" The man responded, "Mmmm, one sickle a pair?" Ronan shot him down, "Try again."

#14
Very rarely in her life did Alina think that she was lucky. She liked to see herself as more of a fighter. Fighter to make it to be this age. Fighter to make a better life for herself. Fighter to make the best life for those she loved. Making it to eleven only felt like the beginning for her.

Her face started to fall at her mother's words. She knew the risk. Of course she did. There was risk in everything though. That was life. All she wanted was a chance. "But ma, tryouts start at the beginning of the year." she groaned. To wait until her second year to even try out? And why wouldn't her grades be good? She worked hard already, and she'll continue to do so while at school.

Of course Alina didn't want to admit that her mother made sense. Stubbornness ran in the family. But she listened and said nothing. Partially because when she could have said something, a voice spoke before she got a chance.

She looked over to see a little old man. He looked almost like what a muggle would think a wizard would look like. Though most depictions of wizards saw them as tall.

Alina had half a mind to scoff at each price given. All ridiculous. But she didn't interrupt. She pretended to look around, away from the man, in order to get away with an eyeroll.




Magic by Lady!
#15
"Final word." It was the final word to be had on the matter of quidditch, not that anything her daughter said would change her mind. Besides a year spent learning to fly would do the lass a world of good before she actually started playing the game. If the girl wanted to argue the point once they got out of the shop Ronan would be glad to tell her no again and perhaps never. One less thing the woman would have to worry about while her daughter was at Hogwarts.

She turned back to the elderly man and continued to bargain, "One knut a pair, seein the work I have to put into 'em just to salvage them." She said finally he agree, through begrudgingly, and she went to pay for the supplies. Once the items were purchased she gave the man a nod, and then looked to Alina, "First year learnin to fly and grades, ye make it that far, then we'll look at quidditch."

The old man called out after them, "I got a quaffle from-"

Ronan piped back, "No!"

#16
That was not the answer she had been looking for. At all. But how could she possibly fight it? If she tried to now, she knew her mother would just say no. Of course it felt unfair. But what else could she do?

As the two adults haggled, Alina looked around a bit more. Only for a little while. Soon her mother was finished making the purchases and had began talking to her again.

She bit her lip in thought. "Can I join the club? I have heard that it is far less intense and is more like practice for the real thing." Like flying class, but with the supplies of quidditch.




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