#urban relics

[urbanrelics]

SAPPHIRE CHURCH

Information about this abandoned church is extremely scarce. The church was built in 1877-1878, during the period when the city was experiencing enormous population growth due to the developing steel industry. During that period no fewer than 34 churches were built.

The church has a specatuclar blue vaulted ceiling, hence the name 'Sapphire Church'

Along with the demise of the steel industry, the population also lost interest in Catholic worship. Many churches fell into disuse and some were even demolished. This church was desacralized in 2019 and sold to a private developer. It is not clear what the plans are.

The church is now showing critical signs of decay, which are beginning to affect the structure. Not very hopeful regarding the survival of this very beautiful building...

[thedarkacademiagraduate]

[littlehillpress]

hand on the spicket and clouds becoming rivers to end a drought for just how long is anyone´s guess what is your PLAN B

[mistyspells]

“And I dream of metallic angels…” 2024, multimedia

In part based on my fascination with a refinery I sometimes pass-by in my local area, and the various chimneys, pipes and warehouses. In part based on my travels to the equally industrial city of Gdańsk, where every crane feels alive to me.

[michellemilesauthor]

Light of the World: It's Release Day!

It’s here! The release of LIGHT OF THE WORLD, book 5 in the Dream Walker Series. I’m SO excited to get this in readers hands. I hope you enjoy Anna’s story. Is it the end for both Anna and Kincade? You’ll have to find out!  Buy it at your favorite retailer here! Direct Kindle Apple Nook Kobo GooglePlay

[gilly-moon]

❄️ maybe a Danny and his ice core is on the Fritz ✨

Why did Danny have a Santa jacket in the Urban Jungle episode tho??? It’s so cute but its gotta be a relic from his childhood or something

[thebestofoneshots]

Gilded Constellations | (wolfstar x reader)

Series Masterlist | Previous episode

Pairing: Wolfstar x Reader Word Count: 8.8 K Warnings: None Prompt: In which you meet Sirius' real parents and go on a Christmas shopping spree. This IS a Wolfstar x reader fic, but it's incredibly slow burn. They won't start all dating each other until we're very deep into the story, but I promise the long wait will be worth it. Proofread by lovely: @aremuslupinsimp

Chapter 41: Urban Adventure

Wednesday, December 23rd

Sirius and you stayed by each other’s side until you arrived at the station and walked out of the train next to each other. On the platform, many students were smiling as they greeted their parents. You saw your boyfriend look at some of the scenes apprehensively, almost bitterly. That had been something Sirius had never gotten to do, at least never with his cold parents.

There were some couples kissing each other goodbye, while some kids held their heads up, trying to see above other people’s heads to find their families already waiting for them.  You didn’t bother looking for yours, you had told them you’d be taking the floo from Diagon, and that you’d be hanging out with some friends. You had gotten money on the response letter, a small enough fortune for you to buy as many gifts as you pleased, and a note that said something about them not getting home until late on the 23rd due to a work dinner that they’d be attending.  

Your father had sent you a separate letter with even more money, so you could spend as much as you pleased on your Christmas present. He had also sent a key to a vault in Gringotts inside that same envelope, saying that that was your 17th birthday present and that he thought giving it to you ahead of time would be clever, in case you wanted to save the money from your gift. He mentioned something about your vault already being filled with Galleons and some other family relics he thought you’d like, that he had originally moved it there because he needed to make space on the family vault but that you could take and squander as you pleased. Whatever was in the vault now, you could keep it as yours. 

You had been pretty pleased when you read that letter, although, you’d be lying if you said you weren’t curious about what exactly your father needed to make space for in the family vault. Regardless, you had been so busy that day, preparing for the moon, that you didn’t have much time to ponder about it. 

You saw Nina hugging a round, older-looking lady who had the exact same hair and nose, you instantly knew it was her mother. You also spotted some of your other friends here and there, some greeting their parents, some others saying goodbye to their friends. Walburga showed up at the station too, she was wearing a long dark coat and walked past Sirius like she hadn’t even seen him. Sirius’ expression turned sombre as he too pretended not to have seen her at all. You had pretty much recoiled from her and into Sirius the moment she so much as walked your way and he placed an arm around your waist. 

“Ignore her,” he told you simply. “She’s just a bitch.” 

You turned to him, he couldn’t even hide the sour expression on his face, he’d told you about the night he’d escaped with the Potters, it had been absolutely dreadful and Walburga had never seemed more horrifying to you than she did when he told you the story. And since then, you had also found out about the veritaserum she had used on Reg, and even if she looked as stunning and put together as ever, you could see the monster hidden behind her elegant features as clear as day.

You had been thinking of how Sirius’ hand tightened around your waist when you saw Sirius’ expression switch completely, you directed your attention towards his line of sight, and you instantly knew why he’d cheered up so suddenly. A slim lady who must have been in her fifties was walking towards him with open arms. She had a warm and welcoming expression, rosy cheeks and the most contagious smile you’d ever seen, only battled perhaps by who you instantly knew was her son, James Potter.

She had short, neatly trimmed hair, and there was a small unruly curl falling over her forehead. “Sirius!” she said with a smile, “Look at you, I’d swear you’ve grown a few inches since I last saw you.” She had her hands around the boy’s face now and was looking at him affectionately, exactly like you would expect a mother to greet her son after not seeing him for months. You couldn’t help but smile at the sight. Sirius was smiling happily as he greeted her, standing tall and proud as she mentioned her height and when she added, almost in a whisper, “And you’ve gotten more handsome too,” he even sent her a cheeky wink. 

You smiled brightly as you saw the interaction, almost mirroring the expression of the man in front of you, who looked just as happy as he stared at his wife greeting Sirius. He had a mop of black hair that seemed to have no trimming –now you knew where James had gotten it from– with a few streaks of white in sections and sunshine-bright hazel eyes. He looked slightly younger than the woman and had the same venturesome expression James had. There was no doubt about it, James Potter was completely and irrefutably, their child. 

“And this beautiful lady must be this Vixen you boys keep telling me about in your letters,” she said with a smile. 

“Nice to meet you, madam,” you said as you extended your hand, but she pulled you into a hug instead. If you thought Sirius had no sense of personal space, he was absolutely nothing compared to Euphemia Potter, but she had such a warm, honest and open aura, that you accepted her hug gladly, in fact, the shudder you had felt earlier when Walburga passed you by was completely forgotten the moment she embraced you as if she has some sort of calming superpower or something.  

“Please, call me Effie,” she said as she pulled back from you. “I’ve gotten a bunch of letters about you, even from Remus,” she told you with a smile. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” 

The man from behind, who had dragged Sirius into yet another hug as Effie spoke, turned to you with a smile. “Fleamont Potter,” he said as he extended his hand for you to shake, “but please just call me Monty, Mr. Potter was my father.” 

You smiled and shook the man’s hand, he was as tall as James, although he was rather thinner. You remembered James telling you it was his mom who taught him how to ride a broom and you thought it made absolute sense that she looked like the sporty one in the family instead of Monty. “My mother’s a big fan of yours,” you said. “She’s been using Sleekeazy since it was released.” 

Monty smiled at that, “Send her my greetings,” he said. 

“Do you know by any chance where James has gone off to?” Effie asked, looking at both you and Sirius. You exchanged glances, both of you had a pretty good idea of where he might have been, but you couldn’t exactly tell his parents that he was most likely –still– snogging Lily somewhere in the carriages.

“No idea,” you said as you looked around, pretending to look for him. “He said anything to you?” you asked Sirius who shook his head. 

Effie huffed and then shook her head as if to change the subject., “Where will you spend Christmas, darling?” 

You shrugged, “At home, I suppose… Mom and Dad haven’t talked much about their plans for this Christmas, why?” 

“Oh nothing, we were just going to invite you on behalf of James and Sirius, I’m sure they’d both love to have you with us. If not on Christmas day, you are more than welcome to come over whenever you please, we’ll leave the floo open for you during the entire break,” She said with a smile. 

“I think the boys are already planning to invite everyone over sometime for the New Year’s celebration anyway,” Fleamont added. 

“That would be lovely,” you said with a smile. “That way you won’t have to miss me as much,” you said as you turned to Sirius with a teasing smile, he scoffed in return. 

“You mean, you won’t miss me,” he sassed back, you shoved him lightly, and while still lost in each other's gazes, you completely missed Effie’s knowing smirk and Monty’s proud smile. Because of course, he was proud, ever since they had taken in Sirius, they considered him as their own, and frankly, he had been worried about his playboy personality. Not because he considered it inherently bad, but rather because he knew Sirius was doing it to piss his parents off by ruining his reputation even further, and because he was still trying to lick love out of knives, after having been starved of it throughout most of his childhood. 

Monty and Effie had vowed to make him feel loved and cared for, and they knew their friends were doing a great deal for Sirius as well, but they feared it not to be enough. The boy was still looking for love in the wrong places. But seeing him with you, teasing each other playfully, instantly told them that perhaps, Sirius’ need for love, would finally be fulfilled and he would no longer have to lick it off of knives, but rather he would be able to enjoy being fed silver spoonfuls of love by those he cared for so much. 

“You are definitely not telling my parents about my grades are you?” James asked as he placed both of his hands around you and Sirius, looking at both of his parents with a smile. 

You turned to him only to realise there was still some of Lily’s lipstick on his mouth and you turned to the side, pointing at a corner of the station, “Is that an Eagle Owl?” you improvised. And thankfully, both of James’ parents turned, and you threw a look at Sirius who decided to follow up while you used your thumb to wipe the smeared lipstick off his face. 

“Oi, what–”

“Shut up,” you whispered as you continued, “Your hair is messy enough, you really want your parents to figure out you were snogging earlier?” 

He gave you a worried look and you raised your eyebrows knowingly. Finishing the cleanup and then turning his head to look at the place you had pointed at earlier. Poor James was being manhandled and didn’t even complain about it because he knew how much help you’d been. Both you and Sirius, he might have had the best train ride of his life.  

“I must have gotten it wrong,” you said then with a shrug, “Sorry,” you added sheepishly, and Sirius had to hide the smirk threatening to grow on his face. 

Then James pretty much jumped from his spot, shuffling in between you and Sirius and reaching to give his mom a tight hug, even lifting her slightly. 

“Oh darling, you’re very energetic today, aren’t you?” she asked as he let her down, and it was almost impossibly hard for you and Sirius not to laugh after exchanging a knowing glance. 

He then hugged his father warmly and turned to Sirius and you with that same dumb smile as before, if you thought James was a goner for Lily before they started dating…

“We’re walking to a friend’s house and taking the floo home from there,” Effie explained. 

“Will your parents come and pick you up, would you like us to wait with you?” Monty offered kindly.

“Oh, no,” you said honestly as you looked to the side, there was a rather disproving glance from Effie that made you feel a little self-conscious. “No, don’t worry, I’m– they’ve sent me some cash, I’ll walk to Diagon with some friends and take the Knight Bus home, Mum and Dad are renting an apartment close to the Ministry of Magic.” 

“The Knight Bus?!?” Monty asked scandalised, not because it was a bad method of transportation or because of the pure bIood bias against it, but rather because he knew the driver and he was reckless. 

“Which friends?” Sirius asked with a frown. “We’re your friends.” 

You threw him a side glance, “Beth, Tom and I decided to get together to buy some gifts.” 

“And you are planning to walk all the way to Diagon?” Effie asked. 

“Well it’s too early to fly, and I don’t think any of us brought our brooms,” you added as you looked around trying to spot either Tom or Beth. 

Monty tutted, “Do you want us to apparate you there?” he asked. 

“I wouldn’t want to be an inconvenience, I’m sure James and Sirius are tired and want to get home–” 

“Nah, let them take you on a ride,” James said casually. 

You smiled after that, “If it truly is no bother…” 

“It’s settled then,” Effie said with a clap and an air of finality. “Find your friends, we’ll wait for you here, darling.”

You nodded and smiled, walking around the station to try and find Tom and Beth, Sirius and James both walking alongside. Beth was the easiest to find, she was talking with Mary and Marlene and you took the chance to hug the two other girls goodbye and wish them a fantastic Christmas. 

“You know where Tom is?” you asked the redhead and she sighed. 

“With Minho, I believe still inside the train.” 

“Oh fantastic, we can go look for them,” James said with a smile and you threw Sirius a glance, he instantly knew what you meant, and he had promised he would keep what he knew a secret, even from James, so he improvised. 

“Actually, why don’t we go back to your parents with Beth, Vix can find Tom and we buy some snacks to stock up your house’s pantry for the New Year’s reunion…” 

“Yeah, go ahead, I’m sure it won’t take long to find them both,” you said with a smile. Beth threw you a wary look and you sent her a reassuring smile. She knew you knew about Tom and Minho, she didn’t know Sirius knew as well, but she was sure you wouldn’t have told him without Tom or Minho’s permission and therefore decided to ask you about it later. 

You parted ways and bumped into a rather tall brunette girl, “I’m sorry,” you said politely, but the girl had turned to you with the grimmest expression you had ever seen. You were taken aback by her reaction and took a step back as you reached for your wand inside your pocket, not because you wanted to use it against her but because you thought she might want to use hers against you. 

Although… she smelled different. Almost like–

“Petunia!” you heard Lily’s voice from the side, and you turned to look at your friend almost in shock. 

Petunia as in, her sister Petunia?!? 

Lily ran straight to hug the disagreeable-looking girl and you let your wand fall back into your pocket as you pulled your hand out to greet the girl. You smiled politely, genuinely interested in meeting Petunia. Lily had told you something about the girl not responding to her letters, but she also told you that she was in her last year of high school and she was really busy as she attempted to apply for a Typewriting course in London, whatever the hell that might be.  

Petunia looked at your hand disdainfully and shook it with a very annoyed look. “Nice to meet you,” you said with a smile as you gave her your name. 

“Petunia Evans,” she replied simply and then turned to her sister as if exasperated. “Are you ready?” 

You turned to Lily who had the face of someone who wanted to excuse her sister and pulled her trunk behind her. You walked closer to her and pulled her into a much warmer hug than the one Petunia had given her, making sure to pass your hand over the back of her hair, which she hadn’t quite managed to get together after making out with James, “You have so much shit to tell me,” you whispered into her ear. “Prongs was absolutely panicked when he fled from you.” 

Lily turned red and giggled, “Merlin, please!” she said in an admonishing tone, and you just smiled teasingly at her. As you pulled apart you noticed Petunia’s look of disdain hardened. 

Good, she better fucking appreciate her amazing sister, you thought as you send her an equally hard look. 

Lily seemed to be able to sense the tension because she spoke again, “Where’s mom and dad?” She asked Petunia. 

“Didn’t make it,” she responded, perhaps that is why she was so angry. “And since they know I will be coming to London soon, they asked me to pick you up. Crossing that stupid wall was dreadful,” she added as she shuddered, placing both hands around herself.

How could Lily have such a dreadful –you used her very own words– Sister?

“Have a safe trip home,” you told Lily with a genuine smile. “Merry Christmas,” you added, giving a quick nod towards the taller girl and pulling Lily into another hug. “Don’t let her bring your spirits down, and write me all the details of the train,” you added just to tease her a little further, pulling back from the hug and giving her a knowing smirk that made her go red again. 

“Petunia,” you added, you were sure the way you said her name sounded as disdainful as the look she gave you in return and then walked inside the train. 

“Your friend is–” Petunia started. 

“Amazing?” Lily interrupted her before she said something that would annoy her, “I know.”  Petunia didn’t press further. 

As you walked inside the train you started looking through the compartments to try and find Tom and Minho. “Love birds?” you joked. There was no one else there according to the student counter near the entrance, “Come on, we must go,” you added. 

You were about to open the doors of one of the bathrooms when the one right behind you opened wide and out came Tom and Minho, both slightly breathless. You smiled knowingly at the two of them and Minho blushed a little more. His ears became almost completely red. Tom, on the other hand, only returned the look you’d given him.

“Sorry to interrupt your –talk–,” you improvised, and Minho was thankful you hadn’t called it what it was. He was not used to people knowing what he was up to, let alone who he was up to it with. “But the Potters offered to apparate us in Diagon and they’re waiting outside for us,” you explained, looking at Tom. 

“You and your angelic little face,” Tom said as he shook his head. “I’ve studied here for years and I’ve never been offered a ride by the Potters.” 

“Your parents have always come to pick you up,” Minho responded. The three of you were walking together towards the entrance, and halfway out Minho raised one of his hands to pull his satchel and threw Tom’s backpack his way. 

“Thanks, Luv,” Tom said simply and you would have sworn Minho’s ears were getting red again. 

By the time you were all out of the train, Minho gave the two of you a short goodbye hug and disappeared into the swarms of students. Tom looked at you and smiled.

“What?” you asked. 

He shrugged, “I heard you were alone with Sirius in the Marauder’s cart.” 

You smiled as you shook your head and elbowed him lightly, “I was… Until Prongs decided he needed a SexEd class and invaded us.” 

“Oh, I would have bet on Remus joining you in a threesome first…” 

“You what?!? We didn’t have a threesome! He asked Sirius questions.” 

“Oh well then,” he said with a shrug. Bet’s still on. “Wouldn’t have judged you at all, James is–” 

“James is what?” Minho, who seemed to have shown up out of nowhere, asked. 

Tom looked panicked for only a second before composing. “Really good at quidditch,” he said, “really good captain too.” Minho frowned. “Not as good as you, of course.” 

“Hmph,” you said playfully. “That’s your house’s captain, you're talking about Tom.” 

Then Minho gave you a teasing wink and cleared his throat, “You have my pen,” he said as he pulled a small silver and green fountain pen from Tom’s front shirt pocket. 

“And here I thought you’d let me keep it as a souvenir.” 

Minho laughed at that, “Merry Christmas to the two loveliest Gryffindors I know,” he added before turning around again. He no longer had his bag and you assumed he’d probably left it with his house elves or something. 

“But I’m the loveliest,” Tom said with a smile. 

“Yeah sure,” Minho said casually, as if he hadn’t been pining for Tom before the two of them got together. You just smiled, Tom’s self-assured personality could be intimidating to anyone, especially with someone as reserved as Minho, but it was nice to see that he wouldn’t let himself be teased without ever teasing him back. They really were an adorable couple. 

After Minho left –for the second time– it didn’t take much for the two of you to find the Potters again, Beth was having a really amicable conversation with Effie while James, Sirius and Monty caught up on how the boys had been doing in school. 

Effie smiled the moment she saw you and the boy walking by your side, “Thomas Harrow,” she said with a bright smile. “You are the spitting image of your father!” 

Tom smiled politely at that, “Thank you, madam, I’ll take that as a compliment.” 

“Just call me Effie,” she said with a smile and looked at him curiously. “The resemblance is uncanny, isn’t it Monty?” she said as she turned to her husband who nodded. “Tom was on the quidditch team with me in my Hogwarts years.” 

“You played quidditch?” you asked with a surprised smile. “James, you never told me your mom was cooler than you,” you teased, James gave you a huff in response and Effie’s smile widened. 

Who would have thought all it would take to charm Effie Potter was Tom and Vixen? 

“I was a seeker, like James,” Effie said. “Runs in the family.” 

“Bet your little redheaded children will also be seekers,” Sirius teased and Effie turned to James with a surprised smile. 

“Is this about that Evans girl again?” she asked. 

James slapped Sirius on the side and then turned to his mom with a smile, “Didn’t I mention to you in a letter we went on a date last month?” 

Effie gasped at that and shook her head. “You did not! Even Sirius told me when he started dating this lovely girl,” she added as she placed a gentle hand on your shoulder.

“You did?” you asked, turning to Sirius with a surprised frown and he shrugged in response. 

“Of course he did!” Effie responded. “Can’t believe you’d leave me out, perhaps we’re getting old, Monty.” 

“Maaaaaa,” James complained. 

“Well, I think you don’t look a day over 25, Effie,” Sirius said with a sly smile. 

“Definitely,” Tom agreed. 

“You could be James’ older sister,” Beth added. 

Effie smiled as she shook her head, a dramatic air in her voice that reminded you much more of Sirius than it did of James, “All of your friends like me better than you do.” 

“That’s not true, Ma,” James insisted and dragged Effie into a hug. As she was being hugged, she looked at you, Tom and Beth with a sly smile and then gave you a short wink before returning her face to that fake grieving one from earlier. 

“Ready for Diagon?” Monty asked as he looked at the three of you and you nodded. 

“Better go now before it’s too dark,” you said as you looked at the big watch near the end of the platform. 

“Indeed,” Effie said as she pulled back from James’ bear hug. “I think it’s better if we take one by one, to reduce the risk of splinching.“ The three of you nodded in agreement. “Monty, how about you take little Tom and I take darling Beth first?”

Monty nodded and walked towards Tom who instantly offered his hand. Beth did the same and just before they disappeared, Effie gave Sirius a small wink and mouthed, “So you can say goodbye properly.” 

“Woah,” you said as she disappeared. “Not even sure why I tried to cover for the lipstick smear on your face, Prongs, I feel like Effie would have just cheered you on…” 

James huffed and shook his head, “At least you didn’t straight up out me,” he added, looking at Sirius. 

“Mate, you ramble to her every time you catch a snitch in practice, how would I know you didn’t tell her about Lily?” 

“Common sense?” He asked. Sirius gave him a stern look and he just huffed again. “I’ll go look at the train or something.” 

“So he can actually take a hint,” you said as you saw James turn around and walk a few steps to the side. 

“I heard that,” he responded and you just laughed in return.

“Love you, Jamie!” You said simply.

“If you’re gonna snog her, Sirius, you better–” 

You didn’t even hear the rest of James’ rant, Sirius had pulled you by the shoulders and turned the two of you around, pressing you against one of the walls and planting a proper goodbye kiss on your lips. 

You kissed back just as greedily. It had been some time since you had kissed each other like that, and you would be lying if you said you didn’t enjoy every second of it. Even if, as you pulled away from his minty breath and soft lips you were slightly dazed. Sirius smirked as he pressed a soft, quick kiss to your lips, “You’re definitely going to miss me more.” 

Terrible choice of words, really. Two could play this game, you thought as you dragged your hand to the back of his neck and pulled on his hair lightly, dragging soft kisses through his jaw and down to that particular spot in his neck that made him overly vocal and you rejoiced when you realised he was trying –and kinda failing– to stifle a groan. 

In hindsight, kissing him like that in the middle of the station might not have been the most appropriate move, but even if you got some disdainful looks your way, the wall he had pushed you against was hidden enough and all people could really see, was two pairs of Gryffindors kind of snogging in the back. 

Sirius and you had equally competitive personalities, and neither of you would let the other win without competing properly, and in this case, the competition just happened to be about kisses. And you were most definitely at least one point above as you pulled back from his neck, giving the small bruise you’d purposefully caused a quick, wet kiss and then rubbing your thumb over the area with a little smirk. 

“There, so you’re reminded of me–”“ you looked up at him through your lashes, biting your lips to try and keep your smile from going bigger “–when you’re missing me more.” 

Sirius opened his mouth in amusement and you were sure he was about to make another move since you felt his hand threaten to inch down from your waist when Effie apparated again and you pulled Sirius into an innocent hug instead. 

She smiled as she spotted the two of you and tilted her head to the side just a little. “Merry Christmas, Puppy,” you said as you pulled away from the hug with a sly –insanely fox-like– smile. 

“Merry Christmas, Starshine,” he responded, his hand still around your shoulders. Effie couldn’t help but smile at the adoring look Sirius had given you. James had approached you then and you finally pulled apart to give him a hug, much shorter in comparison to the one you’d given Sirius, but just as tight. 

“Merry Christmas, Prongsie,” you said. “Take care of Pads for me, will you?” 

“Of course,” he said with a bright smile, and then a little louder, “I’ll keep him entertained so he doesn’t miss you as much.” Sirius rolled his eyes and pushed James lightly and the two of you snickered at his expense. “Try to keep yourself alive without us.”

You gasped at that, “You know, my close encounters have significantly increased since I met the marauders, so I’d say stepping away might actually give me better chances of that.” 

James shook his head with a smile and you gave him a short wink before walking next to Effie. She offered you her hand and you took a deep breath. “You get apparation-sick?” she asked you politely. 

“No,” you said honestly, even if that didn’t make you feel particularly at ease. You had apparated with Dumbledore a couple more times after that first class and you had managed to keep all those awful memories at bay by concentrating a lot. And you had been reading a book about Occlumency on the train before you fell asleep, but two things were making you nervous: you had never apparated such a lengthy distance since that moon, and you really didn’t want to give Effie access to your mind. Not because you didn’t trust her, you honestly thought she was lovely, but rather, because of how lovely she was. 

If she figured out what had happened that night, she may not actually understand why you had to keep it a secret. Something told you that, even if she had just met you, Effie would be more than ready to fight for your well-being and for what she thought was right. And while someone like her on your corner might be an excellent idea, you weren’t ready to relive that night again. 

“I’m just feeling a little drowsy after the train ride,” you lied, you weren’t sure if she believed you but she went with it anyway, you closed the distance between the two of you and linked your arm to hers. 

“See you in a second boys,” she said and suddenly the two of you were in Diagon. Tom and Beth right in front of you. 

You turned to her with a bright smile, “Thank you very much, Effie,” you said. “I hope you have a fantastic Christmas.” 

“I’m sure we will,” she said with a smile. 

“Merry Christmas,” added Monty as she took his wife’s hand and the two of them disappeared. 

The moment they were gone Beth pulled her list out and you all walked towards the first store: Flourish and Blotts, where you bought the very first gifts of the night, a book about History of Magic, but written by a muggle-born that you thought Lily would find fascinating, a romance book about mermaids that you were sure Nina would adore, a book about and a copy of one of the overdue books from the library Remus always kept on his bag. Beth also bought a gift for Lily there –a bookmarker– and you gave it an absolute passing nod when she showed it to you, still a little insecure on whether it was a good idea to have it or not. Tom bought like 5 different books for Minho because he wasn’t sure which one he would like best and even when both you and Beth told him he was exaggerating, he shrugged it off and decided he would buy them anyway. 

He regretted his decision when you walked inside Quality Quidditch Supplies, and he also thought every single thing inside the store would be perfect for Minho. At least this time around he actually listened and he only bought a Tutshill Tornadoes stationery set that included a mug with the seeker of the team –Minho’s celebrity crush–, a keychain and a notebook with their logo. You already felt bad about the poor Owl that would have to carry it all but he told you that he’d add a levitating charm on them. 

“You don’t mind Min will ogle at his crush whenever he has a drink?” Beth teased. 

“Not at all,” Tom said with a shrug. “I’m way hotter anyway.” 

Beth and you had thrown each other a look, Tom wasn’t lying, he had good looks and he was damn confident about them, not to say the guy on the mug wasn’t attractive. If anything, you’d both reached to the conclusion that Minho had pretty good taste in men. 

Beth and you had both bought your gifts for James and Marlene there. She’d gotten Marlene a stunning pair of beater gloves and you’d gotten her a matching pair of goggles and headband for sweatier days. 

For James, she’d bought some anti-rain spray for his broom and goggles, and you’d gotten him a small snitch keychain that you thought was adorable, you saw a beater bat and you got that one for Sirius and when you spotted the hoops and were about to get them for yourself Beth took them from your hands and told you that you’d see it again in Christmas. You also got a broom polish set for James and a small pin that said “Captain” which was more of a joke gift than an actual gift but the opportunity was too good to pass up. 

Tom bought a keychain for his father and when you remembered Effie had also been a seeker you decided to take another one of those cute snitch ones for her. You were sure she’d love to match with James. You also wanted to get something for Minho and in the end, decided to get him a very elegant-looking copy of Quidditch Through the Ages with annotations from Reyansh Atwal, the same seeker on his mug. 

“Oh, that’s brilliant, switch with me?” Tom tried to convince you as you all walked towards the register. 

“No way in hell,” you said with a smug smile. “You already have like 5 books for him, and your stationary set.” 

“But that is annotated by Reyanash!” Tom complained. 

“Sucks to be you, I’m a great gift buyer,” you replied with a smile. “I’m sure Minho’ll love all of your gifts, more than this one even,” you reassured as you moved and handed the money to the old man across the counter. “He’ll love them because it’s you who gave them to him.” 

“She’s right, young man,” the old wizard interceded. “I’ve had hundreds of books and trinkets, and I’ve cherished none of them as much as the ones Orlo gifted me.” There was an odd, longing-like look on his gaze that instantly told you that he missed that Orlo of his dearly. You wondered if the old man, like you and Tom, had peculiar preferences in regards of love. 

After that, you went to get some delicious ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Parlour since you knew he closed soon and the young owner Florean, gifted Beth a free icecream for being the customer number 100th of the day… although, both you and Tom suspected it was because he had developed a mini crush on her, that suspicion only grew when he asked if he could write her. Beth had laughed merrily and played dumb, not offering the man her address but thanking him for the free treat. 

Your next stop was Obscurus Books, where you found adorable pocket editions of a bunch of different wizarding world classics and you decided to buy one for each of the members of the reading club, including Nina who would now get double presents. And since you felt rather guilty about that, you decided to buy a few other books and trinkets for the other members you were really close to. You thought Nox, Neil and Todd would rather like the fantasy books you’d gotten them, and “The Book of Terrible Jokes'' you'd picked for Comet seemed to be right up her alley, be it due to irony or because she would genuinely make fun of how bad those jokes would be.  

You had also spotted a “Magical Chess Strategy” book there and after consulting with Tom in secret –who confirmed that Beth definitely didn’t have a copy of that one– you decided to add it to the bunch of books you already carried.

At Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment, you found the perfect set of medical instruments for beginner Medwitched and you got it for Mary, alongside a beautiful golden and red set of Gobstones that you thought would go perfectly with Peter’s collection. You found a circle tin with his favourite cookies and decided to buy that as well. 

You got a watch for your father and a simple but elegant necklace for your mom, some sweets for the rest of the members of the quidditch team, a book about photography for Alex, and a small fountain pen –similar to the one Minho had recovered from Tom’s pocket earlier– for Nightshade, a matching one for McGonagall, Merlin knows she deserves the world for dealing with all of your bullshit, and some small packs of chocolate for the rest of the teacher’s that you’d hand out at the beginning of the year. 

After you paid there, you all walked out and took a seat near a bench, you were looking at your parchment and writing down everything that you’d gotten. 

“You got Sirius a Keychain?” Beth asked incredulously, especially as she looked at James’ gift, even Peter had gotten a nicer lot. 

“Oh, I’m actually planning to get Sirius some non-magical gifts,” you said as you finished annotating everything and called Barnaby over with a whistle. You performed a simple levitating spell and sent him off with all the bags, “Do you guys have everything you were planning to get from Diagon?” 

“Yeah,” Tom said, pretty satisfied with his haul. 

“Me too,” Beth added as she checked her bags. Her family owl had also flown down to pick them all up and take them to her house, while Tom just placed everything inside his bag, like Remus, he had also added an undetectable extension charm to it. You thought perhaps it would be useful to do the same to your own bag, even if your trunk, which you had left back at Hogwarts, already had one of those. 

Then Tom pulled a list out of his pockets and unfolded it carefully, a smile appearing on his lips as he showed it to the two of you, he seemed incredibly proud of it. 

But Beth frowned, “How are– Tom did you get a map of London?” 

He seemed taken aback by the question. Of course, the three of you knew how to navigate Diagon perfectly, and you certainly knew how to use the muggle underground, provided that you had an idea of where to go, but Tom’s list didn’t even have addresses, just the names of the stores and what you could find in them. 

Beth sighed, “How are we going to get there?” 

“We could ask around?” Tom offered. 

“If I remember properly,” you said. “There’s a small bookshop a few blocks from here –on the muggle side– and they have to have maps there, right?” 

“You think?” Beth asked. You shrugged in response. 

“Well, off to an adventure!” Tom said as he started his march towards the brick wall that would take you to Muggle London. 

You and Beth gave each other a look and after shrugging at each other, followed Tom all the way to the outside. There you took the lead, walking the few blocks and straight lines until you found “Daunt Books.” 

A small smile drew itself on your lips as you looked at the shop, you were pretty proud you had found your way there, without a map and using nothing but the bits of things you remembered from 5 months ago when you had taken the exact same path but backwards. 

It was in Daunt Books where you had found the copy of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” that you had gifted Remus among other very interesting muggle books, and you were rather eager to get back inside, you were sure you’d find other books there. The three of you walked inside the store and a small bell rang as the door opened to let you in.

There was a young woman sitting across the book counter flipping through some pages of a book as she tried to keep a diverted and amused smile away from her face. She looked up from her book slowly, as if she didn’t want to stop reading and then looked at the three of you with a smile. “Welcome to Daunt Books, may I help you with anything?” 

“We’re looking for some maps,” replied Beth politely and approached her, Tom followed swiftly and they started talking with her, you were sure Tom had put on his winning smile and was asking the lady to help him mark some of the stores he’d picked on the map –at least the ones that weren’t already on them– but you were far too distracted by a pile of books near the back to really pay attention to the conversation. 

You leaned down to examine some of the books and found the most fascinating little display with rows of stunning, leather-bound books from a ��classic collection”. The Picture of Dorian Grey was there and next to it was a series of other books, some you’d heard of and some that were completely new to you. You grabbed onto one with a dark green cover and read “Frankenstein”, the tragic tale of the creature and the monster that created it. You grabbed onto it, and then onto a bunch of other books, some you’d read and thought Remus would love, and some you hadn’t but seemed right up his alley. Including a copy of “The Chronicles of Narnia” for Regulus. You had read the book and throughout the entirety of it, you’d thought of the Winter Witch as Walburga, he’d probably think it was funny when you told him about it. By the time you turned to the next row of books, you already had about 7 books in your hands. 

And then you saw it, near the back, there was a display of magazines and the absolute perfect gift for Sirius. You walked over to it and then pulled it from the shelf, it was a thick book, made out of magazine paper and it said “The Legends of this Decade”. There was an open version on display and you flipped through some of the pages. There was a section dedicated to the Beatles, another one to Queen, one for David Bowie, a very long special dedicated to the Rolling Stones and there were even smaller, 2-page sections dedicated to up-and-coming celebrities and groups like Bon Jovi (who you hadn’t heard of), Boston and Kansas (American rock bands of which you actually owned a few tapes you’d gotten back in the summer). 

You didn’t even continue flipping about and instantly took one of the wrapped books along with a special edition magazine dedicated to Bowie –whom Sirius adored–, a science magazine for Remus, and one that detailed the lives of the ABBA girls for Mary who seemed to really like the band. For a second you considered that perhaps you were going overboard with the gifts, and then you checked the money bag you’d gotten for Christmas and realised how freaking much you actually had left. So you thought, fuck it, and went straight to the counter with all the things in hand. You opted to not actually make the conversion of pounds to galleons and decided to just roll with it. 

The pretty girl gave you an approving look as she packed your stuff in a very nice paper bag with the logo of the store on the front section and you felt a little bit of pride at that. Of course, taste in books was relative, and there were books for everyone, but this girl worked at a bookshop, she must have read hundreds of books and if she considered your selection good, then it had to count for something, right? 

Tom and Beth thanked her for her help with the map and after a polite goodbye, you all left the store. “She was super nice!” Beth said, “I didn’t know muggles were so nice!” 

“Some of them are, some of them aren’t, just like wizards,” you said with a shrug and took out a bag of jelly slugs from your backpack and offered them some. 

“But she was delightful! If I wasn’t already dating someone…” Tom said as he grabbed one and placed it in his mouth. “She helped us mark all the stores on the map and even gave us a mini route so we could visit them all before they closed.” 

Beth nodded in agreement, as she too munched on a jelly slug, “And she even gave us some other recommendations.”

“And her number,” Tom chimed. “Although, I must say I suspect she was more into Beth than she was into me.”  Beth laughed and playfully hit Tom in the arm. You could easily tell they were really close, perhaps as close as you and James, or you as Remus were. “Oh here,” Tom said sometime later as he pulled the two of you into the underground.  

You had walked for hours and hours in London, you had used their bright red buses and even taken a cab, but you had never ventured into the underground. You thought it would take too much time and you enjoyed walking past stores and seeing the muggles doing their day to day so you stayed over the ground. 

But the minute you walked down those stairs you were absolutely fascinated by it, you had heard from the people in New York that the subway was dirty and had rats and, overall very many negative things, and while you hadn’t heard muggles explicitly hate on the London’s underground, you hadn’t heard them praise it either. Seeing now, in real life, made you think that perhaps those New Yorkers were exaggerating. There was a small group of people signing in one of the corners and many of them commuting around. 

It took the three of you at least a few minutes to figure out how to use the vending machine to get your tickets, but once you did, you all walked towards the train that the girl from the store had advised you to take with very accomplished smiles on your faces. 

After that, you visited a few other stores, some, where you bought some things, some, where you didn’t actually get anything. Tom dragged the two of you into Carnaby Chic Boutique and somehow persuaded you to buy some interesting muggle fashion items that he thought looked incredible on the two of you, he also got himself some clothes, and by the end of that little expedition, you might have been the most fashionable squad back in the school –as long as you were talking muggle fashion and not wizard fashion.

Then you went into a Vinyl shop, the one Daunt Books girl said would be open pretty late so she’d left it at the end of the short trip and you ended up splurging there too. You got all the new stuff from your favourites and Sirius’. You also got some chiller jazz and blues songs, since you had discovered Remus liked to listen to those while studying and you found them oddly comforting as well and you thought he might appreciate them.

You bought a few empty cassettes and a thing that would allow you to record some songs into them and make your own playlist, you were crossing your fingers it would work in your house (with all the magical interferences and such) but you got a pair of headphones. In case it didn’t, you would just walk with it –after charming it so it wasn’t as heavy– to the small café a few blocks from your apartment and record there.  

You saw some band shirts in the stores and also got a few of those, one for you with a really cool Pink Floyd logo (thought you bought it big enough in case Sirius ever wanted to borrow it), one for Lily with John Lennon (she had admitted that she’d had a crush on him back in 3rd grade), another Bowie shirt for Sirius (this one was technically a Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars shirt but it had Bowie on the front) since he seemed to love the one Andromeda had gotten him, and then a Sex Pistols one for Remus. Now you weren’t sure if he liked the Sex Pistols that much, but the idea of Remus Lupin walking around with a shirt that had “Sex Pistols” written in bold around the castle was too hilarious to pass up, especially with the wizards who had absolutely no clue that they were actually a band. 

After paying, the three of you walked outside of the incredible store and into the night. The sun had disappeared a while ago but it was certainly colder now than when you entered the shop. 

Beth sighed, her hands filled with as many bags as you as she sat down on a nearby bench. “I guess that’s it for today, isn’t it?” 

“I think so,” you agreed. 

“I’ll call the Knight Bus,” offered Tom as he looked around to make sure there were no muggles around and lifted his wand up to the sky. 

You walked next to Beth and sat there, leaning your head on her shoulder, as you waited. Then you saw a small light blink in the distance, and then all the lights to a store you hadn’t paid attention to earlier were on. There was a big green sign illuminated by the faint light of a yellowish lamp that read “L. Cornelissen & Son Art Supply Store”. You gasped, “I must go!” 

“What?” Asked Beth as she turned her gaze towards the direction of yours. “You want to go to an art store?” 

“I have to,” you said. “To get something for Sirius.” 

“For Sirius?” Asked Tom with a frown and you nodded in response. Then the bus showed up. “You already have like 4 other gifts for Sirius.” 

You made a mental note of how much you’d bought for him and decided correcting Tom was absolutely unnecessary, “Yes but… You don’t get it. It’s like you saw an all-Thubshill Tornados shop and deliberately ignored it, without even checking it out.”

“I had no idea Sirius was into art…” Beth mumbles. 

“Kids, are you getting on the bus or what?” a young pudgy guy asked as he held out a few tickets. 

“They will,” you said pointing at them. “I’m staying. I’ll call again when I require the lift.” 

“It might take a while, Sweets, we’re taking some people a little further out of town tonight and we’re pretty packed,” he added, he had a very strong Irish accent, that you would have perhaps considered nice if it hadn’t been so squeaky. 

“It’s fine, I’ll stay,” you said with a smile. “Home’s not that far from here anyway,” you added. 

Tom shook his head in disapproval and Beth spoke, “I really think it’s a terrible idea.” 

“As if I hadn’t walked around London at night before guys,” you huffed. “It’ll be alright, I promise. I’ll um… send Barnaby over as soon as I’m home. Or I could even fire-call you if you’re really worried about it.” 

Beth nodded reluctantly and pulled onto Tom who looked a lot less convinced, “Slysprite, just get on you have enough gifts alrea” 

“We’re not gonna argue this one out,” you said with an air of determination. “And I’m very stubborn. I could win an argument, even against you.” 

Tom huffed as he tilted his head to the side, clearly unsatisfied with the turn of events. “You’ll firecall me, swear.” 

You nodded, “Swear!” 

“Time to go!” the conductor said as he urged your friends to get on by pushing them lightly and shut the door. “Take care, Miss!”

“Thanks,” you said with a small smile as the bus sped out into the street. 

You instantly remembered your first trip on the Knight Bus and almost felt sorry that you wouldn’t be there to see your friends’ reactions to it. You wondered if they had gotten the hot chocolate and if Beth would be mad if it fell on her white coat. 

Alas, it was time to get to the shop. 

Series Masterlist | Next Chapter

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A/N: Badum tss… “How many pure-blood wizards does it take to navigate muggle London properly?” Now, I've left you on a bit of a cliffhanger, haven't I? Hope you liked this chapter, it's a cute and fun thing before things get dark. Love, Lils xx

Read more Marauders Fiction

[frenchcurious]

Leslie Ragan (1897-1972) "Twilight on the Hudson River" 1940s . - source Urban Relics.

[bestworstcase]

So it just occured to me. The Huntsmen Academies are to protect the Relics instead of train students. Putting aside the fact that guardians who are not told they're needed to stand firm/guard aren't going to do so, Haven and Shade are within major population centers. And Atlas/Mantle were proven to be entirely in the collateral damage field.

And Relics attract Grimm.

Priority of the populace or the relic stated right there. Something something, Huntsmen as an institution has the look of protectors but not the substance.

and beacon—the only academy that is not in the middle of its kingdom—is also the only school whose vault probably isn’t on campus.

to be a little fair to ozpin, he professes to be under the impression that the attraction is “faint,” and might be lost in the noise of an urban center. to be less fair, the leviathan BEELINES to ruby and completely ignores 1. the city full of terrified people behind her and 2. the ship full of likes dozen panicky huntsmen actively trying to get its attention, because ruby has the relic on her hip, so the attraction is clearly a lot stronger than “faint but undeniable” and ozpin has a very well-established habit of downplaying and hiding information, and if he’s been carrying these relics around for years he ought to know better.

yeah just put the grimm bait where all the civilians are. and then keep it secret. the funny part is that as a strategic choice to protect the relics, it makes the most sense if oz assumed—whether consciously or not—that the risk of thousands of civilian casualties would actually deter salem from going after the relics. which. given how long she kept her distance…

[urbanrelics]

VILLA DOCTEUR

As the title already suggests, this visit concerns the once beautiful, but now abandoned and dilapidated villa of a former doctor... Especially the large salon, with the lush Persian carpet and the beautiful classical murals, appeals to the imagination.

The villa - where, miraculously, water and electricity still work - shows very little signs to the former doctor's practice. Only on the landing an old chest, filled to the brim with prescription booklets, reveals the profession of the former resident.

Nothing is known about the doctor and his family. The abundance of bedrooms and bathrooms suggests that a large family once lived here.

A beautiful hallway and staircase lead up to the second floor with the many bedrooms.

[carionto]

Wisdom is to seek the experienced

Your typical dimly lit bar, closing hours. Few folk still remain, fewer still conscious. The door chimes to a sprightly young man, though his eyes echo decades of witnessing the grim reality. He orders a beer, sits down next to a passed out man in his late 50s, hand still gripping his last shot glass.

The young man prods the old guy awake.

"Tell me, what do you know about Old Man Henderson?"

"What? That's an urban myth. A fairy tale. Ain't no such person ever existed. Scram, kid."

"We believe the contrary. Correction. We don't believe anything. We know he is real."

"That story is over a thousand years old. Wouldn't be the first time some fools mistake a work of fiction from three apocalypses ago as fact."

"There's more to it than that. We know that you are connected."

At this moment, the young man takes out a small binder of documents and splays it in front of the old guy. Images of excavations of an old town hall. Unidentified dirt and ash samples. A heavily damaged pilot's license. Used cigarette butts.

And a list of names, dates of birth and death, addresses throughout their life, occupations, relatives. Seemingly, no connection. And at the end of the list a Mr J. Drenshaw - the old guy.

"We know you know these people, all of them. Ever since the incident Old Man Henderson was involved in, there has been an unbroken chain of people who studied and learned everything about him and what occurred. And you did your best to erase everything from all records but your own.

Well, the one thing the first to whom this knowledge was passed on to did not do was to cremate their mentor. Instead, they received a burial at sea. Somewhere in the middle of the Pacific from a plane. Forever lost to the world, beneath endless waters and unknown beasts of below.

Or, so it would have remained, had it not been for that little explosion that has doomed our world. Among the debris the OCC cleared was a tiny, damaged microfilm. Unable to restore its contents at the time, it was stored alongside the innumerable relics recovered from the disaster, and promptly forgotten about.

Until my superiors learned of something... odd, and we got to work searching for the loosest of ends. The rest is technical details. In short - you, Mr Drenshaw, have known about the reality of the Old Ones ever since your mentor exposed you to this secretive knowledge you've been safekeeping for the last twenty eight generations. It is no longer your exclusive club.

We need your help understanding what Cthulu is, what it wants, what it can do, and most importantly - what we can do about it."

After a long pause, J. Drenshaw looked at his empty shot glass, at the young man, to the floor, and sighed.

"The reason we kept it from everyone is because you can't do anything about a being like that. That's the point."

"Old Man Henderson did do something about it."

"He was a nutjob. One of a kind."

"Still just human."

"Bah. It wasn't even the full might of anything Greater."

"Even a fraction was still a part of it. We can expand upon that."

"What do I even get out of this? Cuz I'm telling you, it doesn't matter how many Supernovas you throw at Cthulu. The material realm doesn't bother them in the least."

"It doesn't have to be a hostile relationship. Our experiences with the Galactic Coalition, despite a rocky start, show we can communicate with anyone."

"Aliens and Old Ones are not comparable. Can an ant negotiate with the Moon? That's a bullshit idea and you know it."

"We found an individual who contradicts your belief."

At this statement, the young man shows Mr Drenshaw a picture of a young woman, barely out of her teens, but even through a simple image Drenshaw can see in her eyes there is... knowing.

"Okay? That your girlfriend? Good for you."

"That is Cintra Valkeim. Though it proved difficult to ascertain, we believe she made contact with Cthulu."

"Thought you didn't believe in anything. Couldn't get her to confess?"

"We're still working on the specifics, but we do know she died several times. Either by negligence or lack of interest in us 'nothings', her resurrections left marks on the cellular level."

"Nothings..." Drenshaw slowly repeated the word, as if something finally clicked.

"That is how They view us, yes?"

Mr Drenshaw finally looked back at the young man, took a deep breath and simply said:

"Yea...

Fine. I'll talk to this Cintra. Alone. After that I'll decide if it's worth a bother to help you lot."

"Those are agreeable terms. Shall I take you to her now or...?"

"Fuck no. I got a raging headache and I need a nap. Just cuz you got my curiosity don't mean this hangover is suddenly gone. Leave your number, I'll call you in a few days. Gonna do my own investigation."

"Understandable. Here are my contacts."

Mr Drenshaw takes the card, looks at it, and bemusedly puts it away.

"Fuckin' hell. Bunch of jokers you are. Alright, I'll be sure to ring you up, Mr 'John Smith'. Now get outta here, you've ruined my nap long enough.

HEY, BARKEEP! GET ME SOMETHING THAT'LL KNOCK ME RIGHT BACK TO SLEEP!"

[odinsblog]

Tens of thousands of people visit Bank of America stadium to watch the Carolina Panthers play football each year – never realizing they are walking on top of lost remnants of a once-thriving Black neighborhood established in the aftermath of the Civil War.

The stadium itself is built directly atop a relic of segregated healthcare: Good Samaritan Hospital, the first private hospital built in North Carolina to serve Black patients. Built in 1891, this historic hospital was one of the oldest of its kind in the United States.

It was also the site of one of the “most horrific racial incidents in Charlotte's history,” according to Dan Aldridge, professor of History and Africana Studies at Davidson College.

A mob of 30 to 35 armed, white men invaded the hospital, dragging a man out of the hospital and into the streets – and shooting him dead in front of the building.

The concept of “urban renewal” destroyed Black neighborhoods, communities, businesses and homes all across North Carolina, especially between 1949 and 1974.

Durham, for example, once had a prominent Black Wall Street, where Black businesses flourished; however, the historic community was almost completely destroyed by construction of the Durham Freeway.

Likewise, Raleigh once had 13 historic Freedmen's Villages, built entirely by men and women freed from slavery in the aftermath of emancipation. Today, only two are remaining, and Oberlin Village, the largest one, was cut in half by the construction of Wade Avenue.

Similarly, Charlotte's Brooklyn community was built by men and women freed from slavery in the late 1800s. Like many Black communities around the state, it was forced into an awful geographical location – on low-lying land where flooding, sewage and sanitation issues made life hazardous.

According to history in the Charlotte Library, the Brooklyn area was first identified on maps as ‘Logtown’ in the late 1800s – a name that matches closely with titles given to similar freedmen villages in the Triangle area, which were often called slang names like ‘Slabtown’ or ‘Save Rent’ due to their inexpensive homes.

In the 1900s, the area became known as Brooklyn, “a name that would become synonymous with the Black community until urban renewal.”

“It's a tragedy that so many stadiums were built on sites that were once Black communities,” said Aldridge. “They're poor neighborhoods. They're struggling neighborhoods. I won't romanticize them by claiming they're all like Black Wall Street, but they were people's homes and people's communities, and they were taken from them.”

Many historically significant Black sites were lost in urban renewal; likewise, many Black communities were forced to build in geographically unfit areas, making growing wealth and property more difficult – and more easily lost over time.

At its peak, Brooklyn was home to:

Charlotte's first Black public school

Charlotte's only Black high school

The city's first free library for Black patrons

The first companies to offer white collar jobs to Black workers

The first private hospital for Black citizens in Charlotte

Today, football players run up and down the Bank of America field for the amusement of thousands of cheering fans. However, in 1913, over a century ago, that same land had a very different story.

(continue reading) related ↵ related ↵

[trans-cuchulainn]

What do you think about using Irish as a stand-in for a dying Indigenous language in a Gaelic-inspired fantasy story? It would be spoken by sí, but also just be the native language colonialism has done a lot of damage to. If you don't have the time/spoons to answer this, completely understand and I appreciate you just having your ask box open and taking the time to read this. No ill will meant, your earlier post is just making me reconsider things. I am am Irish person, but I've been living abroad most of my life.

i am not the irish police or anything but i think it is worth considering the impact of continuing to use irish in fantasy as an unnamed magical or dead language that belongs to the distant past without naming and acknowledging it as a real language that real people speak everyday in the real world

because a lot of people will see this unnamed language and think "this is a fictional language" or "this is a dead language" and then when they see irish IRL it will seem magical and mystical and they won't think about it as something entwined with politics and language rights and funding and people's everyday existence

and a lot of them will also not realise it is irish at all. it is obviously difficult in a fantasy setting to refer to things by their real names but you can often tell the difference between an author with knowledge of irish who has deliberately chosen to use it to evoke certain real world parallels, and an author who has borrowed it because they think it's mystical and none of their readers will be able to understand it (and part of the difference comes from how the reader is cued to experience that language and indeed whether it appears to occur to the author that the reader might well understand every word of it)

there are certainly ways to use Irish in fantasy that are respectful and whatever, but i would caution that having otherworld beings be the speakers (i assume this is what you mean by "sí" although usually the word needs a person word with it since it refers to the place not its inhabitants, hence aes sidhe, daoine sidhe etc) and presenting the language as a "dying" language feels like it falls into some of those harmful tropes

(irish in the real world is a minority language, but it is also language with a growing number of urban speakers, new words being coined all the time, influencers and social media as gaeilge, growing support for language rights in the north, etc. that doesn't mean it's not endangered. but it does mean it is not a relic of the past found only in forgotten villages that haven't changed in 100 years, and the popular depiction of it hasn't really caught on to that fact)

but also i'm not the irish police. i'm not even irish. the language is not in my blood, i just went out and chose to learn it bc it interests me (maybe this is part of why i resist the Magical Language Of Our Ancestors spiel so much)

[marypickfords]

A Warning to the Curious (Lawrence Gordon Clark, 1972) Unfriended: Dark Web (Stephen Susco, 2018)

“The template for the perfect scary story is pretty much set in stone, and it’s unlikely that any technological advancement is going to change that. The ghost tales devised by the Victorian writer M.R. James at the beginning of the 20th century will remain the bedrock for the genre as we know it. [...] [H]e alighted upon and would consistently return to a basic, endlessly reproducible scenario: an antiquarian or scholar, usually fusty, male, and set in his ways, comes into possession of a relic, manuscript or other object of mysterious provenance and great interest, and this item turns out in some way to be haunted and/or coveted by the being who once owned it. [...]

One of the few recent horror movies that gave me the particularly Jamesian pit-of-stomach dread that comes from peeking a little too far below the surface of our seemingly safe everyday existence is 2018’s Unfriended: Dark Web, Stephen Susco’s rigorously conceived sequel to the also impressive yet more predictably moralizing Unfriended (2014). It’s perhaps a film that few would upon first glance consider classical or elegantly shaped, yet Dark Web’s ruthless exploitation of contemporary fears—of losing one’s identity, of being found out, of making one wrong misstep that has everlasting consequences—are firmly rooted in the scary story template. In “Oh Whistle,” the young professor Perkins absconds with an ancient, hieroglyphic-laden whistle he discovers buried in the sand amongst the groynes of a coastal town in eastern England; he later makes the mistake of blowing it. In Unfriended: Dark Web, our ostensible hero Matias (Colin Woodell), pilfers a laptop from a coffee house’s lost and found; it’s not as magical as the strange artifact buried on a rocky shore, but it’s useful for his purposes, and, like Perkins, he definitely should have left it where found it.

As in the classic ghost story, the owners of the object are coming back to claim it—in this case black-hooded figures who might be real, but who appear as staticky, pixellated manifestations of otherworldly evil. Or perhaps underworldly evil: as the title implies, this thing goes deep, man, all the way down to the heavily encrypted world of darknet that has inspired countless contemporary urban legends, here envisioned as a journey to Hades by rowboat, animated with rudimentary, Atari-era graphics. As though they’ve been hit with a fatal computer virus, all of his friends—who have gathered in their respective spaces to partake of “game night”—also are, in a sense, infected by association. The film’s logic is like a less literal Ringu: as soon as one sees the horrifying images, there’s no way back. The excavations of the dark web are essentially files buried deep within our collective subconscious.”  — Michael Koresky, A Few Great Pumpkins XIV

[michellemilesauthor]

The Final Quest is Almost Here!

I’m so happy to announce I’ve finished LIGHT OF THE WORLD, the final book in the Dream Walker series! In some ways, it’s bittersweet as I’ve spent well over a decade with these characters writing their adventures, their battles, their fight for good. I have loved spending so much time with Anna, Kincade and all the others. I hope you have, too, and find this last installment in the Dream Walker…

[whumpily-ever-after]

Whumpy Book List #3

Hello! As requested, here is another book list. Some of these books will contain a list of whump tropes and others will not. I did not take notes while reading, and I don't remember the exact tropes. There is at least a little bit of whump in each book.

Happy reading!

List below the cut

The Last Sun (The Tarot Sequence #1) by K.D. Edwards

Summary: Rune Saint John, last child of the fallen Sun Court, is hired to search for Lady Judgment's missing son, Addam, on New Atlantis, the island city where the Atlanteans moved after ordinary humans destroyed their original home. With his companion and bodyguard, Brand, he questions Addam's relatives and business contacts through the highest ranks of the nobles of New Atlantis. But as they investigate, they uncover more than a missing man: a legendary creature connected to the secret of the massacre of Rune's Court. In looking for Addam, can Rune find the truth behind his family's death and the torments of his past?

Genre: Fantasy, urban fantasy, magic, MM romance, Mystery, adult

Whump tropes: Past trauma

 Liar City by Allie Therin

Summary: A murder has Seattle on edge, and it falls to a pacifist empath—and a notorious empath hunter—to find the killer before it's too late It’s the middle of the night when part-time police consultant and full-time empath Reece gets an anonymous call warning him that his detective sister needs his help. At an out-of-the-way Seattle marina, he discovers that three people have been butchered—including the author of the country’s strictest anti-empathy bill, which is just days from being passed into law. Soon, Reece’s caller a shadowy government agent known as The Dead Man, who is rumored to deal exclusively in cases involving empathy. He immediately takes over the investigation, locking out both local PD and the FBI, but, strangely, keeps Reece by his side. As the two track an ever-growing trail of violence and destruction across Seattle, Reece must navigate a scared and angry city, an irritating attraction to his mysterious agent companion, and a rising fear that perhaps empaths like him aren’t all flight and no fight after all…

Genre: Fantasy, mystery, paranormal, MM romance, urban fantasy

Magic in Manhattan Series (Spellbound, Starcrossed, and Wonderstruck) by Allie Therin

Summary: To save Manhattan, they’ll have to save each other first… New York, 1925 Arthur Kenzie’s life’s work is protecting the world from the supernatural relics that could destroy it. When an amulet with the power to control the tides is shipped to New York, he must intercept it before it can be used to devastating effects. This time, in order to succeed, he needs a powerful psychometric…and the only one available has sworn off his abilities altogether. Rory Brodigan’s gift comes with great risk. To protect himself, he’s become a recluse, redirecting his magic to find counterfeit antiques. But with the city’s fate hanging in the balance, he can’t force himself to say no. Being with Arthur is dangerous, but Rory’s ever-growing attraction to him begins to make him brave. And as Arthur coaxes him out of seclusion, a magical and emotional bond begins to form. One that proves impossible to break—even when Arthur sacrifices himself to keep Rory safe and Rory must risk everything to save him.

Genre: Fantasy, historical fiction, MM romance, paranormal, magic, urban fantasy

Spell Bound by F. T. Lukens

Summary: Edison Rooker isn’t sure what to expect when he enters the office of Antonia Hex, the powerful sorceress who runs a call center for magical emergencies. He doesn’t have much experience with hexes or curses. Heck, he doesn’t even have magic. But he does have a plan—to regain the access to the magical world he lost when his grandmother passed. Antonia is…intimidating, but she gives him a job and a new name—Rook—both of which he’s happy to accept. Now all Rook has to do is keep his Spell Binder, an illegal magical detection device, hidden from the Magical Consortium. And contend with Sun, the grumpy and annoyingly cute apprentice to Antonia’s rival colleague, Fable. But dealing with competition isn’t so bad; as Sun seems to pop up more and more, and Rook minds less and less. But when the Consortium gets wind of Rook’s Spell Binder, they come for Antonia. All alone, Rook runs to the only other magical person he knows: Sun. Except Fable has also been attacked, and now Rook and Sun have no choice but to work together to get their mentors back…or face losing their magic forever.

Genre: Fantasy, young adult, MM romance, urban fantasy, magic

A Market of Dreams and Destiny by Trip Galey

Summary: Below Covent Garden lies the Untermarkt, where anything and everything has a price: a lover’s first blush, a month of honesty, a wisp of fortune. As a child, Deri was sold to one of the Market’s most powerful merchants. Now, after years of watchful servitude, Deri finally spots a chance to buy not only his freedom but also his place amongst the Market’s elite when he stumbles into the path of a runaway princess desperate to sell her royal destiny. But news of the missing princess and her wayward destiny spreads. Royal enforcers and Master Merchants alike are after it. Outmanoeuvring them all would all be hard enough had Deri not just also met the love of his life, a young man called Owain, whose employers are using the Market for their own nefarious schemes. Deri soon finds that the price of selling the royal destiny, making a name for himself, and saving the man he loves is dear. The cost of it all might just change the destiny of London forever.

Genre: Fantasy, MM romance, historical fiction, urban fantasy

Saint of Steel Series by T. Kingfisher

Summary: Stephen's god died on the longest day of the year… Three years later, Stephen is a broken paladin, living only for the chance to be useful before he dies. But all that changes when he encounters a fugitive named Grace in an alley and witnesses an assassination attempt gone wrong. Now the pair must navigate a web of treachery, beset on all sides by spies and poisoners, while a cryptic killer stalks one step behind…

Genre: Fantasy, mystery, romance

Silver Under Nightfall and Court of Wanderers by Rin Chupeco

Summary: Remy Pendergast is many things: the only son of the Duke of Valenbonne (though his father might wish otherwise), an elite bounty hunter of rogue vampires, and an outcast among his fellow Reapers. His mother was the subject of gossip even before she eloped with a vampire, giving rise to the rumors that Remy is half-vampire himself. Though the kingdom of Aluria barely tolerates him, Remy’s father has been shaping him into a weapon to fight for the kingdom at any cost. When a terrifying new breed of vampire is sighted outside of the city, Remy prepares to investigate alone. But then he encounters the shockingly warmhearted vampire heiress Xiaodan Song and her infuriatingly arrogant fiancé, vampire lord Zidan Malekh, who may hold the key to defeating the creatures—though he knows associating with them won’t do his reputation any favors. When he’s offered a spot alongside them to find the truth about the mutating virus Rot that’s plaguing the kingdom, Remy faces a choice. It’s one he’s certain he’ll regret. But as the three face dangerous hardships during their journey, Remy develops fond and complicated feelings for the couple. He begins to question what he holds true about vampires, as well as the story behind his own family legacy. As the Rot continues to spread across the kingdom, Remy must decide where his loyalties lie: with his father and the kingdom he’s been trained all his life to defend or the vampires who might just be the death of him.

Genre: Fantasy, vampires, LGBTQIA+, gothic

The Druid Stone by Heidi Belleau

Summary: Sean never asked to be an O'Hara, and he didn't ask to be cursed by one either. After inheriting a hexed druid stone from his great-grandfather, Sean starts reliving another man's torture and death...every single night. And only one person can help. Cormac Kelly runs a paranormal investigation business and doesn't have time to deal with misinformed tourists like Sean. But Sean has real magic in his pocket, and even though Cormac is a descendant of legendary druids, he soon finds himself out of his depth...and not because Sean's the first man he's felt anything for in a long time. The pair develop an unexpected and intensely sexual bond, but are threatened at every turn when Sean's case attracts the unwelcome attention of the mad sidhe lords of ancient Ireland. When Sean and Cormac are thrust backward in time to Ireland's violent history—and their own dark pasts—they must work together to escape the curse and save their fragile relationship.

Genre: Fantasy, time travel, MM romance, contemporary

Whump tropes: Curses, sent through time, torture

Whisper into the Night by Jay Leigh

Summary: Theo Moreau never wanted to be involved with politics, but when his mother wins the presidential election, he reluctantly agrees to tag along for his younger siblings. Nothing could have prepared him to juggle his anxiety, complex family dynamics, and the complicated world of the White House. Lacking supportive friends and family, he leans on his steadfast Secret Service agent as tensions rise across the divisive political landscape and the dangers of being close to the president come to the surface. Agent Connor O’Brien always wanted to be a hero, so working on the protective detail for the First Family seems like the perfect opportunity. What he isn’t expecting is to fall head over heels for the man under his protection. As their relationship blossoms, the foundation of the administration grows more unstable and the chatter from America’s right-wing demographic rises to a fever pitch. But when Theo becomes the target of their campaign, the stakes get even higher. Unsure of who to trust, and with little help from the President, Theo and Connor join forces with their motley group of friends to unravel the mystery of who is working against them from inside the White House before the situation turns explosive. As the sinister reach of this masked shadow spreads, Theo and Connor grow even closer and the magnitude of everything they risk losing propels them into a race against the nefarious mastermind, desperately clinging to the hope they’ve found in one another before their dream come true turns into a nightmare.

Genre: Contemporary, MM romance, suspense

Whump tropes: Anxiety, asthma, kidnapping, bad parents, bodyguard

Adonis by L Sherleen

Summary: Accused of a hate crime and expelled from school in his final year, Connor returns home to his seaside town to let everything blow over. There, not only does he have to learn to deal with the addition of two new stepbrothers and a new stepdad, but he also has to grapple with a world set against him. It’s not all bad though. Within his dad’s underwater lab, he discovers something in the deep. Something exciting. Something that calls to him. Something that doesn't shy away from the ugly in him as the world does. And Connor could use the distraction…even if it endangers his life.

Genre: Fantasy, MM romance, mermaids, science fiction, mystery

Whump tropes: Found family (kind of), bad parents, kidnapping, false accusations

A Rake of His Own by A.J. Lancaster

Summary: Marius Valstar doesn’t know which is worse: the dead body in his greenhouse or the naked fae prince on his desk. The only rakes of interest to Marius are garden tools. Not fae princes. Certainly not the arrogant, selfish fae prince he has the misfortune to have a history with. But when Prince Rakken turns up naked and bleeding in Marius’s college the same day a body appears in his greenhouse, scruples must take second place to solving a murder that could unravel the delicate balance between humans and fae. Marius’s own developing magical powers are more hindrance than help – as is Rakken’s bloodied past. Forced to work together, they must forge an uneasy alliance if they are to track down the killer. But how can Marius trust the man who represents everything he’s trying to avoid?

Genre: Fantasy, fae, MM romance, mystery

Whump tropes: Pain from telepathy, attempted murder, bodyguard

Wicked Fox by Kat Cho

Summary: Eighteen-year-old Gu Miyoung has a secret--she's a gumiho, a nine-tailed fox who must devour the energy of men in order to survive. Because so few believe in the old tales anymore, and with so many evil men no one will miss, the modern city of Seoul is the perfect place to hide and hunt. But after feeding one full moon, Miyoung crosses paths with Jihoon, a human boy, being attacked by a goblin deep in the forest. Against her better judgment, she violates the rules of survival to rescue the boy, losing her fox bead--her gumiho soul--in the process. Jihoon knows Miyoung is more than just a beautiful girl--he saw her nine tails the night she saved his life. His grandmother used to tell him stories of the gumiho, of their power and the danger they pose to humans. He's drawn to her anyway. With murderous forces lurking in the background, Miyoung and Jihoon develop a tenuous friendship that blossoms into something more. But when a young shaman tries to reunite Miyoung with her bead, the consequences are disastrous . . . forcing Miyoung to choose between her immortal life and Jihoon's.

Genre: Fantasy, young adult, mythology, romance