MC4A Challenge Block
Stacked with: Shipping Wars; Summer Bingo; StL; ER; FR; FPC; BAON; TOS; SS; SF; SoW;
Individual Challenges: Gryffindor MC (x2); Ravenclaw MC; Red Moon Quindrabble; Trio of Silver; Seeds; Inks; Old Shoes (Y); Times to Come; Short Jog; Themes & Things C (Flowers); Shipmas
Representations: Major Life Changes; Tattoo Shop; Tattoos; Artists Celebrating Grand Opening; Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley; Neighbor Neville
Bonus Challenge(s): Clio's Conclusion; Unicorn; Second Verse (Bechdel Test; Not a Lamp; Persistence Still; Nontraditional; Found Family; Spinning Plates); Chorus (Endless Wonder; Odd Feathers; Bee Haven; Tomorrow's Shade)
Tertiary Bonus Challenges: Satisfaction (FR); Thimble (T3)
Word Count: 1329
Shipping War: Dreamy Redhead (Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley); Spring Prompt Medium List (Tattoo Shop!AU)
Summer Bingo: E5 (Desire)
Warnings: Extensive discussion of needles and other tattoo paraphernalia
Third Eye Tattoo
A rush of excitement filled Ginny's chest as she flipped the paper sign in the shop's front window from Closed to Open. They'd finally done it. Third Eye Tattoo was officially open for business.
Her girlfriend's delicate hand slipped into her own. "For all of our planning and practice, I wasn't sure we'd ever get here," Luna said.
"That's funny," Ginny said with a grin, "I seem to remember that you were the one telling me to have a little faith, that you could actually See this dream becoming a reality."
Luna shrugged and countered, "Not everything I See comes true the way I expect. I'm glad this one did, though."
In the five years since graduating Hogwarts, Ginny had played professional Quidditch and Luna had gained a reputation as the best portrait painter in wizarding Britain. Their life together had been happy and uneventful until, almost a year ago, Ginny found herself injured and unable to continue playing.
Luna played a huge role during Ginny's transition from professional athlete to temporarily unemployed. She did what she could to get Ginny's mind off of her misfortunes, and one of Ginny's favorite things to do was watch Luna as she drew. It was so different and awe-inspiring to watch Luna pour her soul into a small, battered sketchbook rather than one of the portraits she was coming to hate.
Ginny also loved to let Luna draw on her body. There was something soothing about the feeling of Muggle markers and pens dragging lightly across her skin, and the result was always so pretty that Ginny hated to ever wash it away. That's what started the tattoo conversation.
After the whole Dark Mark thing, the wizarding world was rather wary of tattoos. Ginny didn't care. She knew exactly what she wanted, social convention be damned. Luna was a bit skeptical about leaving her artwork on Ginny's skin permanently, but she played along. They ordered a decent tattooing set from a Muggle catalog and had the needles enchanted for strength and permanence. Luna learned to use the apparatus first on pieces of fruit and then on pig's skin they got from the butcher, just like all the how-to books suggested. Finally, when she was comfortable enough with the equipment, she gave Ginny her first tattoo on their kitchen table.
Ginny loved to look at the space on her left ribs, just below her heart, and see a pale, grinning moon wrapped gently around the freckled sun. The pain had been more intense than anticipated, and some of the lines were slightly unsteady, but she thought it was perfect anyway. In fact, Luna had since done several more tattoos for Ginny and even a select few for herself.
The idea of such a permanent decision, however, rarely appealed to Luna. She could sometimes See the outcomes of her decisions, and many of those involving tattoos led to regret. Instead, she'd asked Ginny to explore the idea of piercings.
They figured any piercing done with a non-enchanted needle could be healed with a simple charm and, since there was no good way to practice, decided to test that theory on themselves. Ginny bought a bunch of piercing needles, and she and Luna spent a few weeks piercing and re-piercing each other's ears, noses, lips, and belly buttons. They became quite adept at Numbing and Healing Charms, but eventually Ginny became quite confident in her abilities with a needle.
But needles and occasional Numbing Charms do not a career make. Though they could both live fairly comfortably on Luna's painting commissions, Ginny needed to work. She'd never been the type to sit idly by and simply be taken care of; she wanted to give as much as she took.
The idea for it all came to her as they lay in bed late one night.
"Hey Lu," she whispered, tucking a piece of hair behind her girlfriend's ear.
Luna flipped over to face her. "Hmmm?"
"How fun would it be to open a tattoo and piercing shop? Like the ones our catalogs are meant for."
"That would be a nice break from reality. I'll admit that painting nothing but stuffy rich people can be a bit creatively stifling."
"Exactly. You'd be able to work on your own art, and I could do the piercings and the management stuff."
"Hah. Maybe you could pierce Minister Shacklebolt's nose, and I could offer to tattoo his approval rating to his arm for free!" Luna cackled loudly at her own silliness.
Ginny's face fell at her laughter. "I'm being serious here, Lu. I know it's not something that's really caught on in the magical world yet and that everyone will probably think it's terribly scandalous, but that just means we could be the ones to make it happen. You hate doing those portraits now, and I've got to find something to do with my life. I really think we should give having our our own shop a go."
Luna opened her mouth to respond when her eyes glazed over and her entire body stilled. After a moment, she shook herself a bit.
"You Saw that decision, didn't you?" Ginny whispered excitedly. "What do you think? Should we do this? What if—"
"I need to sleep on it," Luna said firmly before flopping back over.
The next morning, she woke up full of enthusiasm and faith that this venture would be a great opportunity for them both professionally and emotionally. If Luna was all in, then so was Ginny.
After a three month whirlwind of Muggle post deliveries, mountains of legal paperwork, a thousand tears, and one relentless dream, Third Eye Tattoo had become a reality.
Ginny sat at her stool behind the counter, flipping through the Muggle catalog for body jewelry. She idly circled new things to add to her future wish list and allowed herself to daydream about the day there was a waiting list for her appointments. As they passed, the patrons of Diagon Alley did a double take to check out the new, scandalous shop, but their curiosity didn't extend past the front door.
The grand opening was a complete bust. Faces constantly peered through their window, but not a single soul was brave enough to enter. The whole day was an utter disappointment, and Ginny was wondering if maybe she should have just let this idea remain a dream. As she flipped the little paper sign back to Closed, a knock rattled the front door.
"Really? Now?" she groused under her breath.
Ginny threw open the door to reveal Neville Longbottom, potted plant in hand.
"Hi, neighbors! How was the first day?" he chirped.
"Hey, Nev," Luna called as Ginny showed him in. "It could have gone better."
Ginny snorted. "I think she means it couldn't have gone much worse."
"I saw the crowds hanging around your shop, but I never saw anyone come in. I'm sorry," Neville said. "Wizards in general, and especially the older generation, just seem averse to change. But maybe all the attention that comes from being Britain's newest and only magical tattoo shop will drum up some business for you. It took a while for Wallflowers to catch on, but I have to say that being the only non-commercial magical nursery means my business is pretty good these days. It'll happen for Third Eye. Just give it some time."
"I hope to Merlin you're right," Ginny muttered.
Luna elbowed her ribs lightly. "What my dear girlfriend means to say is that we're hopeful of the same thing. It will all work out—in time."
"That's why I brought you this!" he said, gesturing toward the pot of white heather on their counter. "It's supposed to bring you good luck and help your wishes come true."
Ginny couldn't help the small smile that spread across her face, and she saw it mirrored on Luna's. Maybe, with each other, good friends, and a little luck, they really could make this dream a reality.