like a drum, baby, don't stop beating

Crissy; 31 || Roleplayer Professional Feels-Giver Started at the bottom with the Glee fandom and, now, I'm...still at the bottom, but I have some OCs now. I used to be a hell of a lot more active, but adulthood is hell on a muse and, you know, the time to do shit. Now, I'm a shitty partner that my friends probably only play with because they love me and I'm annoying. Forever missing the days I could sit around and do nothing but RP all day. If we have a game together, assume that my activity will be trash (this is why I don't join groups anymore, man). Poke me. Prod me. Remind me. Always feel free to send me memes. It just might take me two years to answer them. Not an RPH. This account is a sideblog to ice-whisper. Tracking: crissy622

[lengiesofrps]

[Text]: I don't like myself right now. [Parchmates]

[Text]: Oh, piss off you great prima donna.

[Text]: It's as if you've just murdered someone in cold blood.

[Text]: All you did was admit to having a "not particularly disastrous" time talking to a Weasley.

[Text]: If it makes you feel better, she said that maybe you're not the world's largest git. Think you've been knocked down to fifth.

[lengiesofrps]

[Text]: I don't scare you. [Parchmates]

[Text]: Why would you scare me? You're a nameless, faceless entity that can't even turn me against my friends with a very biased memory- doesn't even have the decency to be attached to an evil diary- probably won't turn out to be Voldemort was assigned to me by the Headmistress. [Text]: Oh Merlin, how will I ever survive the ink and the parchment and the letters? I'm trembling in fear from the letters. [Text]: The scariest thing about you are the rants about goblin legislation and merfolk procedures. Last time you droned on, I had a dream that I was being chased by a gavel with fins. [Text]: Someone giving you hell?

[be-artistic-deactivated20230306]

[oldfarmhousefallfeatures]

Infatuated with Red🎈🍂🌺❤️ 🍂

https://www.instagram.com/jessannkirby

[crissy622]

FIC: Glove You Like That [1/1]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALAINA! We love you to the moon and back. For this fabulous day, we wrote you an Unholy Trio fic. The non-existent Ao3 page is now up to two whole ass fanfics about these disaster children.

Everyone, go wish @isadorahart​ the biggest happy birthday ever, because she’s awesome and we love her.

Written By: @crissy622​ & @lengiesofrps​ Characters/Pairings: Charlotte Lightwood, Cameron Walsh, Luna Darkmore [Unholy Trio] Rating: PG Summary: The gloves had been Cam’s idea.

The gloves had been Cam’s idea.

Any other day, Charlie may have laughed at the thought of Cam, with his corduroy jackets and fondness for truly horrendous tie-dye, being the one to come up with something relating to fashion. But she didn’t have it in her today. Umbridge had hurt Luna. Umbridge had scarred Luna.

Charlie still felt sick any time she looked at Luna’s hands and saw the scars. The cuts had healed over, thanks to essence of murtlap, but the scars were shiny and new with I WILL NOT MOCK and I WILL NOT BREAK RULES standing out against her skin. That it had happened, enough times to become permanent, and they’d missed it…

“Remind me that I won’t be any help to Luna if I’m in Azkaban for skinning Umbridge with her own bloody quill,” she told Cam darkly as she settled in next to him in an empty classroom. Luna would be in her music class for another hour before she had to meet her for Divination. She needed to get her anger under control before then, because retaliating against Romilda Vane was vastly different than against a Ministry official.

Though, it was tempting. She might even be able to get away with it considering her family’s and Blaise’s connections. Malfoy did owe her a favor…

“We would break you out,” Cam’s voice interrupted her thoughts, his usually soft voice carrying a hard edge. “But just remember that to skin her with that thing, you’d have to stick the quill in unimaginable places. Which means you’d have to touch unimaginable places.”

Charlie’s nose scrunched up at the thought as disgust rolled through her. Breaking her out of prison — while sweet — was highly improbable when one remembered the Dementors, but he did have a point about having to touch the foul woman. She huffed and turned her eyes up towards the sky to try and spot the owl that was supposed to deliver the package. She had been clear in her instructions about when and where the delivery would take place. If they thought they could cheat her out of the extra galleons and not deliver- Ah, she thought as her eyes caught sight of the approaching owl. There it was.

“My plans for revenge can be put on hold until after we’ve given these to Luna,” she told Cam as she stood up and gave a sharp whistle. The owl shifted course towards them and dropped the small package into her hands without stopping to beg for treats. Just as well. She didn’t have any.

She sat beside Cam again, still angry Luna had been hurt enough to make the gloves necessary at all. She took a breath as she handed the box over for him to inspect. They needed to make sure they were up to standard and they had better wrapping to put them into anyway.

The gloves, when Cam opened the box, were as they’d ordered, at least; black, fingerless gloves comprised of a thickly patterned lace to cover the scars with its winding patterns. Repelling spells to keep them clean. Anti-snag charms to make sure they wouldn’t get damaged during class. They’d be breathable enough that she shouldn’t be uncomfortable in the warmer months.

Assuming she liked them at all.

She picked up one of the gloves carefully, laid it out in the palm of her hand as she traced a finger across the thick petal of a flower. The fabric felt softer than she’d expected. “Madame Pomfrey really doesn’t think the scars will heal over?” she asked, her voice barely at a whisper.

Cam shook his head once, lips pressing together hard enough to leech the color from them. “No,” he answered shortly. He watched as gray clouds rolled swiftly through the sky, absentmindedly cracking his knuckles against his knees. Finally, he turned to face Charlie. “She said with the amount of abuse her hands took that it was a miracle that she didn’t have a tangle of scar tissue. If Luna hadn’t thought of murtlap, her hands would just resemble knots.”

Charlie pressed her eyes closed, jaw clenched. She wouldn’t cry, but it didn’t make it any easier to hear. This woman had hurt her friend and they couldn’t fix it. All they could do was cover it up. She let out her next breath a little shakily and reopened her eyes as she put the gloves back in the box. “I hate this,” she admitted softly, useless as it was. Hating the situation wouldn’t change that it was their reality. They weren’t even the ones who would have to carry the scars.

She pressed her forehead to Cam’s shoulder and took another couple breaths to compose herself. “Close the box and I’ll wrap it,” she told him. “Could you keep it in your dorm until we give it to her? I don’t want her to see it while we’re in Divination.” There wouldn’t be a lot of time for them to give it to her that night. Dinner was too public and Cam had Astronomy right after. Tomorrow morning, she supposed. None of them had classes until after lunch and she didn’t want to walk into Defense that afternoon without giving the gloves to Luna.

Now that she knew what the quill did, the woman looked too satisfied any time she could see the scars she’d caused.

“Yeah,” he whispered. He set the box on her lap, but threaded his fingers lightly with hers before she had a chance to pick it up. Cam leaned his head against hers, sighing heavily. “Just because we can’t retaliate now doesn’t mean we’ll never be able to. We all know the position is cursed. She won’t be our teacher next year…” The thought trailed off but it was clear that Cam was dreaming of what they could do in retaliation when Umbridge had less power over them. That he wanted revenge just as bad as Charlie did. “I can set up the fort tonight. No one ever bothers us in there.”

She smiled at his promise. As improbable as it may have been — getting close to Umbridge once she wasn’t at school with them would be too difficult — the idea that they could get revenge against her… She squeezed his hand back and nodded. “We’ll meet you there.”

She dragged Luna towards Ravenclaw Tower the next morning after breakfast, their fingers intertwined as they wove around students heading to where they’d just left. Some Gryffindors glared at them as they passed, but as they got closer to Ravenclaw, the house uniforms gave way to blue and silver. They dodged around a sad Cho Chang as they went, but she didn’t bother to acknowledge them.

“Is everything okay?” Luna asked as a few running first years almost bowled them over. “We never go to the fort this early.”

“Family drama,” she lied and winced. She hated lying to them. “I just wanted to get away from Slytherin for the morning.”

Luna tossed her a concerned look, mouth open to probably ask if it had to do with Blaise, but they reached the portrait and she let the riddle distract Luna from asking. She gave her a gentle push inside once the door swung open and they went towards the fort without hesitation, crawling inside their little sanctuary.

Cam was already inside, present set aside somewhere Charlie couldn’t see at a quick glance, but they crawled in closer towards him as they said hello with kisses pressed to his cheeks. Luna settled in comfortably against Cam’s side, while Charlie gave him a questioning look. Where is it?

His eyes flickered towards a corner and she followed it, setting herself down where she could see the edge of the box peeking out from behind a pillow.

“Come here,” Luna implored her, reaching out to her. “You’re too far away.”

“In a minute,” she told her before she let out a breath. “I lied to you.”

Cam’s eyebrows disappeared towards his hairline and Luna frowned before her face turned to something that looked like horror. “You were the one who walked in on Malfoy wanking to a picture of Potter?”

“No!” Her nose scrunched in disgust. Malfoy wanking. Ugh. “I’m not surprised if he was, but no, that wasn’t me. However, whoever did could probably use a nice obliviate right about now.”

“What even happens in Slytherin?”

“Purebloods only mostly have sticks up their asses,” Luna told Cam, smiling sweetly when Charlie shot her an unamused look. “What did you lie about, then?”

“Why we’re here,” she said and took a breath before she grabbed the box and held it out towards Luna. “We got you something.”

“It’s not my birthday,” Luna pointed out after a moment. 

“Nope,” Cam agreed.

She didn’t reach out for the box, though, and Charlie sighed before she put it in the girl’s lap.

“It was Cam’s idea,” Charlie explained as Luna finally began unwrapping the box and nerves began to twist her stomach. This could go so wrong. If Luna thought they were giving her the gloves because they had a problem with her hands… Charlie did hate the scars, but Luna had spent months wearing her sleeves so long that she flirted with a dress code violation. “If you don’t like it, we can just toss it in the fire.”

Cam’s hand found hers like he was telling her to calm down and she squeezed back, nervous, as Luna opened the box and just stared at the gloves for a long moment.

“They’re charmed to stay clean and they won’t rip,” she hurried to explain when the silence stretched a moment too long. “Cam said fingerless would be a better idea for classes. You’ll need the dexterity for cutting ingredients in Potions-”

“Charlie,” Luna cut in before her face split into a wide smile and she leaned in to kiss Cam’s cheek first before she crawled close enough to press on to Charlie’s too. “I love them.”

“Told you,” Cam told her and if Charlie had been a couple years younger or a Gryffindor, she may have stuck her tongue out in response. Instead, she just rolled her eyes and let Cam pull her closer until she was tucked into his other side.

“Yes, yes,” she huffed. “You’re a Ravenclaw. You’re smart. You know all.”

“Granger’s the know-it-all,” Luna piped in as she slipped the gloves on and held them out for inspection. “What do you think?”

Charlie looked closer at them in the dim lighting of the fort. The fine detailing — she was never telling Cam how much the gloves actually cost — and the way the lace laid over her hands. She couldn’t see the scars and the grin Luna had made her think the other girl couldn’t either. 

She reached out to catch Luna’s hand with her own as Cam’s played with the ends of her hair. “Perfect.”

“Very Madonna,” Cam agreed and gave her an innocent look in return when Charlie frowned. “Muggle singer.”

“Remind us to play Erotica for you sometime,” Luna added.

That was what muggles named their songs? “I think I’d rather if you didn’t.”

Luna laughed, her face turned into Cam’s shoulder, before she looked back up, contemplative. “So who do you think actually did walk in on Malfoy?”

“Luna.”

The End

[lengiesofrps]

ALL OF THEM FOR THE TRIO

who uses their words to fight people and who uses their fists

Cam is baby, your honor, and he has never thrown a punch in his life. He knows all too well what getting punched feels like thanks to his dad and he isn’t about to do that to anyone else. Luna and Charlie are more confrontational, but they’re much sneakier about it than using their fists. After all, they are Slytherins, and they know how to make someone pay for their actions without having to punch anyone.

who’s more likely to hog the blankets

None of them really. The trio has a tendency to spend a good portion of their time in blanket forts, where they transfigure blankets to be much bigger than they need to be. That way they can all cuddle comfortably. Both the Slytherin and Ravenclaw students have gotten used to seeing the forts pop up over the years and no longer try to investigate or convince them to take it down. They learned quickly after the first time they pissed Charlie off.

who bakes and who cooks

Luna has a fondness of attempting to create things without a recipe, as evidenced by her attempts to make Cam a birthday bread. Charlie gets dragged into it, against her wishes, but she still tries to make the end product be something that they can be proud of (and that won’t murder Cam in the process). Cam can cook a little bit, as he has to take care of his sister while he’s home, but it’s only basic things that a nine year old would like. Cheese toasties and chicken nuggets and soup. More often than not, he just uses the money that he exchanges into pound at the end of the year to supply himself and Jessie with lots and lots of Indian food and other takeaway.

who’s a sucker for matching couple things

Cam would love to have matching couple-y things, but he knows better than to attempt to have the girls participate. Charlie would roll her eyes at him and Luna would wear whatever it was to make Cam happy, but he knows that it wouldn’t be something she’d actually enjoy. The one exception they have is their pea pod necklaces that they all share.

who’s more likely to give the silent treatment when they’re upset

Luna, especially when Cam and Charlie get back on their bullshit about the marriage. She gets tired of hearing them constantly bicker about Charlie and Blaise getting married. It’s not that she disagrees with Cam, she hates the idea of Charlie getting married to someone she doesn’t love just as much as he does, but she knows that their trio is on borrowed time. Luna would much rather enjoy the time they have left rather than fighting about it all of the time. Sometimes, she feels as though she’ll never talk again when the pair of them get into it.

who’s more likely to go on a health food kick

Charlie. She is consistent in not eating enough and only going for foods that have no carbs, no sugar, and no taste. Luna constantly tells Cam that it’s a matter of control, which Cam thinks is bullshit. He thinks she has too much control already and if her grip on her life gets any tighter then the whole thing is going to shatter. Luna and Cam do convince her to indulge in some bread on occasion, but even then Charlie puts up a constant battle.

who has better “puppy dog eyes”

Cam. Let’s be real, both of the girls are soft for him, so he doesn’t even have to try to hard, or even try at all to win at the puppy dog eyes. His emotions are always plainly written across his face, so if he’s feeling put out or sad, it’s going to show. Luna is always the quickest to pick up on his mood shifts and is usually the one to convince Charlie to help make it better.

who’s better at being a functional adult

Everyone of them has their own skills that they bring to the table to help them survive. Charlie is very socially aware and is able to read the room well; Luna is very well read and has knowledge of spells that most people don’t; and Cam has a lot of practice in taking care of himself and others. Make no mistake about it though: none of them are ready to function as adults, which will make it that much more devastating when they’re forced to go on the run.

who’s more introverted and who’s more extroverted

Cam and Luna are more introverted; Cam is friendly with most people, but the only people he ever wants to spend any quality time with are his girls. They’re usually the only people in the room that he sees. Luna hates the thought of anyone else infiltrating their friend group and gets quite jealous when Cam attempts dating. I wouldn’t say that Charlie is particularly extroverted, but she’s very good at the posturing that comes along with being a rich, pureblood. She is often made to attend functions on behalf of her parents or as Blaise’s date and is very adept at controlling the room when she needs to.

[lengiesofrps]

ALL OF THEM FOR BONDED DRARRY

ice-whisper asked: ALL OF THEM FOR PARCHMATES

Since they’re the same ship, I’m just going to do one for both of them and note any differences.

who uses their words to fight people and who uses their fists

Both Harry and Draco tend to fight with their words, but Harry is the one to add fists into the mix too. After all, he is very much a Gryffindor at heart. Punch first, ask questions later. Draco is above such petty things such as physical violence (Bonded Draco has Crabbe and Goyle to take care of such matters) and has only ever been physically violent if someone else throws the first punch. However, he has no problem with adding a wand in a fight. He’s been an adept dueler since a young age and is quick on his feet when it comes to throwing spells.

who’s more likely to hog the blankets

Harry. Parchmates Draco won’t figure this out for a while, but once Bonded Drarry share a bed to combat the effects of the bond, Draco will quickly realize that Harry does not know how to share blankets. It’s a good thing Potter is asleep when he does it, because the tug-o-war that follows is embarrassing.

who bakes and who cooks

In both instances, Harry cooks. He was always made to cook at the Dursley’s and is pretty adept in the kitchen. Baking has never been his forte though.  Draco has always had house elves to do the cooking and baking for him; however Bonded Draco is introduced to the concept of baking through Mrs. Weasley when he’s forced to go to the Burrow for holidays. She’s one of the few people in the house who aren’t constantly sneering at him or making snide remarks; as he hides sits in the kitchen, he’s very likely to find that baking is almost like potions making and that he possesses some skill at the craft. He’s still more likely to request what he wants from the house elves though.  

who’s a sucker for matching couple things

Neither one of them really. The only exception that Harry insists on is that they have to wear their matching Weasley jumpers on Christmas, which Draco absolutely despises.

who’s more likely to give the silent treatment when they’re upset

Both of them. They are both stubborn assholes who don’t know how to talk about their feelings. It’s shocking that they ever get anything done. Harry is more likely to break the silent treatment though because he has little talent at sitting down and shutting up.

who picks the obnoxious tracks (rainbow road) on mario kart

There weren’t a ton of Mario Karts made when either one of the Drarrys happen, but a look in the future says that Harry “teaches” (he just shoves a controller in Draco’s hand and lets him figure it out) Draco how to play Mario Kart. Draco is absolutely rubbish at it to begin with and Harry picks the hard tracks just to frustrate him. Joke’s on Harry though, because in a moment of solidarity, Hermione begins to teach Draco how to play properly in secret. They both have the shared goal of knocking Harry down a peg. When Draco eventually obliterates Harry on all of the hardest tracks, it’s well worth the effort just to see the look on his face.

who’s more likely to go on a health food kick

Draco. Harry is a garbage human who likes garbage food. Draco is the only thing standing between Harry and a heart attack.

who has better “puppy dog eyes”

Draco would never stoop so low as to employ puppy dog eyes. He does have some dignity, you know. Romance with Potter aside. He is also above falling for the trick whenever Harry tries to use them. Sure, he looks cute, but Potter is going to have to find more... convincing methods to get him to do anything.

who’s better at being a functional adult

They’re both better at different aspects of adulting. Draco is better with financial matters and keeping the house in order, while Harry is better with things like cooking and making sure that there’s toilet paper stocked in the house.

who’s more introverted and who’s more extroverted

I wouldn’t say that either one of them are particularly extroverted. Harry probably leans more that way than Draco does, but he has always stuck with his core friends. He’s never really had time for large groups of people. Draco is better at talking to people with his pureblood training, but honestly he finds small talk exhausting and could do without all of the hemming and hawing. Parchmates Draco is a little less sure of himself in social situations, given his current standing in the wizarding world.

[crissy622]

“You can’t control or choose your sexuality.” Tartar Sauce

Tarter Sauce for @lengiesofrps

It sounded so simple when Carter said it like that, like her liking girls just was instead of being something that she had to smother and hide, but… She’d spent years trying to smother it down. She’d spent her whole life trying to pretend that when she looked at a couple, her eyes strayed to the girl before they looked at the guy.

She’d spent years of her life trying to kill the warm feeling Carter’s smiles would light her up inside.

Years spent trying to stamp out that part of her and for what? A relationship with Asher that she’d clung to out of fear and hurt him in the process? Throwing away any chance at being genuinely happy so she wouldn’t disappoint parents that she’d never been able to satisfy, anyway? Trying to hold onto a life in a community that was so steeped in judgement that people read Page Six before they bothered to read what was happening in the world? Stressing and starving herself into dress sizes that got smaller and smaller until she’d managed to scare herself?

“I know,” she whispered shakily as Carter took her hand in the car. She looked beautiful -- hair loose around her face and a little bisexual flag painted on her cheek. Her purple t-shirt with say hi if you’re bi printed out in big letters. It contrasted so much with the clothes she was wearing and the necklace with the miniscule rainbow charm she’d almost been too scared to wear.

Too scared to wear a rainbow to a damn pride parade, she thought bitterly and wondered how long it would take until she stopped being scared of herself.

“I’m just...not ready yet,” she admitted and felt like a failure as Carter leaned in to kiss her cheek. “I’m sorry.”

“Let’s go somewhere else, then,” Carter said easily and leaned into the back seat to grab a spare shirt. She traded out the loud one for a quieter white one with a subtle rainbow border around the edges -- the one Taylor had been supposed to wear and chickened out with. Taylor’s cheeks went pink and she made herself look away, because God, they were in a parking lot.

“You’re ridiculous,” she told her.

“Yep,” Carter agreed without shame and turned the car back on.

She drove them to Brooklyn instead and dragged Taylor out of the car with a declaration that they were going to walk the beach before they went into Luna Park. “We can do a different first for you,” Carter told her, because they both knew that she’d never been. She’d been to so few places that weren’t considered for the elite and all because of her and her parents’ stupid status hangups. She felt like a fool for it now.

Halfway out of the car, though, Carter paused and pointed at the purple, pink, and blue flag on her cheek. “I can take it off?”

She could. She probably should. They weren’t somewhere that was celebrating this today and it would probably draw attention to them both, but Taylor took a breath and shook her head. “Keep it.”

Some people looked their way as they made their way down the beach, bare feet getting splashed with water that was still just a little too cold, and a couple glanced as they made their way into the park, but she didn’t let herself shy from it.

She held Carter’s hand when they rode the Cyclone and when they went on the ferris wheel after, she was the one who leaned in and pressed a kiss to Carter’s lips when they reached the top.

Carter smiled like the sun and Taylor was pretty sure this was what happiness was supposed to feel like. 

[quiescvnt]

i, personally, would love to do replies, and yet

[lengiesofrps]

[Text]: Won't you stop your crying? [Bonded]

[Text]: Malfoy, do you ever shut up? Maybe stop worrying about what I’m doing and focus on crawling around in the scum, as you do. [Text]: And I’m not crying. My best mate was poisoned, so I think I have the right to be concerned. [Text]: Like I didn’t have to deal with you stressing about your bloody glamour for your bloody eyeball for over an hour last week. [Text]: This is an A-B string of thoughts so C your way out.

[lengiesofrps]

[Text]: You're not a little curious? [Parchmates]

[Text]: Blimey, Ladon. [Text]: Of course I’m curious. I’ve had more real conversations with you than I’ve had with anyone in my life, outside my best mates. You’ve told me things I’ve been too thick to notice for the last seven years, shown me parts of the wizarding world I’d never know about otherwise. [Text]: Fairly certain I drunkenly told you that I’d drop to my knees and blow you on the spot if we ever met. The memory’s fuzzy. Sorry if I just thought it and you’re just hearing about it now. [Text]: Don’t get me wrong, you’re a right pain in my ass and you’re a massive snob, but writing to you is one of the few parts of my day where I don’t have to put on a show. [Text]: Obviously I want to know who you are. But we’ve been over this. You knowing who I am will change how you see me. [Text]: And I’m still not coming to the reveal party.

[lengiesofrps]

[Text]: What's the point in fighting? [Trio]

[Text]: The point is your entire future, Charlie. You can’t even lie and pretend that you’re gonna be happy when you do as mummy and daddy expect and marry Blaise. [Text]: Whenever we ask you if you will, all you can come up with is that you’re content with what’s to come. That you’ll be comfortable. [Text]: Is that all you think your life is worth? Just... settling? [Text]: Because I think it’s worth a hell of a lot more.

[crissy622]

FIC: Happy Birthday [1/1]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KIM! We love you death and, as such, Alaina and I wrote you a fanfic based on our trio. You’ve gone looking for fics of them many times, just to remember that fics for them do not exist, so now, one does. We love you and have an amazing birthday.

Everyone, go tell @lengiesofrps how awesome she is and how much you love her.

Written By: @crissy622​ & @isadorahart​ Characters/Pairings: Charlotte Lightwood, Luna Darkmore, Cameron Walsh [Unholy Trio] Rating: PG Summary: "We're going to bake bread for Cam's birthday," Luna declared as they got ready for bed one night and Charlie sighed.

-Fourth Year-

"We're going to bake bread for Cam's birthday," Luna declared as they got ready for bed one night and Charlie sighed.

"Must we?" she asked, but she could already see that familiar gleam in Luna's eyes. That gleam never led to anything good. Detention. Charlie being force fed snacks. She mentally added baking to the list and wondered if she would have done better over at Beauxbatons. She may have had to deal with more Veela -- though, she still had her own suspicions about Malfoy's bloodline -- but she wouldn't have had to bake. "We do have house elves, Luna. If we can't use the castle ones, I can get one of them from home."

"It's supposed to be from us," Luna reminded her, "not from the house elves."

"Did you write the book you got me last Christmas?" she asked, sure she'd just broken through Luna's logic.

"No, because then it would've just been a book of curse words that was enchanted to say the worst possible one each time you opened it." Luna tilted her head, considering. "Actually, look forward to your birthday now."

There went that hope, traded out for growing dread.

"No," she told her firmly. "Don't you dare."

The hum Luna gave was the farthest thing from comforting. 

"I don't want to know how you got them to agree to this," she said, resigned, a week later as she and Luna stood in the middle of the kitchens. House elves were watching them cautiously from around a corner, distrustful, and she honestly wasn't sure if it was because of their house colors or because she and Luna had intruded in their territory. Probably both.

"Nope," she agreed with an unrepentant grin. A Slytherin through and through, Charlie thought dryly as she took the apron Luna offered her with a disdainful look.

Still, it was for Cam. They had to celebrate early, same as every year, since his birthday always fell after they'd gone home for the summer. Once that happened, she wouldn't be able to see them until they went back to school.

"Can't I just get him new dress robes and promise I won't talk about the wedding for a month?" she tried, but even before Luna rolled her eyes, she knew it was futile. She was going to end up with flour under her nails for days and they were probably going to give Cam food poisoning. "Do you even have any idea how to bake bread?"

"Not a clue," Luna answered cheerfully.

"Then, why are we doing this?"

Luna looked at her, cheery smile dropped off to something more tender and more serious. "Because it's Cam."

Charlie bit her lip and thought of Cam with his quiet ways and the months of separation he had ahead of him. Of him buying Luna gloves to cover up the scars Umbridge had caused. Thought of the year she got sick and fevered memories of how he and Luna had stayed with her, holding her hand and running fingers through her hair to keep her calm. Thought of them always butting heads about her wedding, because it wasn't the world he'd grown up in and he wanted to protect her. 

For Cam, she could withstand flour-caked nails and inevitable food poisoning. She put on her apron. "Where do we start?"

---

“That depends,” Luna said as Charlie tied the apron around her waist. “Are we going for flaky like Malfoy when he hears anything to do with muggle studies or hard like that broomstick handle that’s constantly lodged up Cam’s dad’s-” Luna rocked back and forth on her heels while picking at her gloves. She was getting sidetracked. “We’ll go with flaky. Bread is so much better when it’s all buttered and flaky.”

Luna started rifling through the pans, trying not to laugh while internally debating who looked more uncomfortable: the house elves whose kitchen they were hijacking or Charlie who was making at least eight different sacrifices just to be here. Luna was proud of her, not that she’d tell her. She’d leave that up to Cam, because he was the more vocal of the three and she was content to just nitpick instead. 

“You do realize we’re going to be doing plenty of taste-testing before we hand over a finished product, right?” Luna announced gleefully. “Nothing but the best can go to Cam.”

Charlie rolled her eyes, but Luna could see the fondness there. The girl got so pureblood on them, sometimes, but they knew she cared. "It might help if we had a recipe."

Okay, that was true, but still- "Rude," she said and stuck her tongue out at the other girl. "Cam will appreciate us being creative."

"We're going to ruin bread for him," Charlie said flatly as she poked a bag of flour.

"How much faith do you have in us?"

"About as much as Slytherin winning the House Cup."

"That's not fair. That thing is just blatant favoritism." Even if they hadn't been forced to listen to Malfoy whine about it for years, it was obvious. At this point, Luna was pretty sure Dumbledore would give Potter points for tying his shoe correctly if it meant Gryffindor won.

Or anyone other than Slytherin, really.

She clapped her hands before Charlie could spread her pessimism any further. "I think we need eggs!"

"You think?"

"Do you have a recipe?" she asked innocently. 

"Do I look like someone who bakes bread?"

Actually, she looked like someone who had never seen bread in her life and that was something Luna and Cam were both still trying to rectify. 

"Do you think the first person to bake bread had a recipe?" Luna returned. "No, yet, look how well it turned out!"

Yep, there was the sigh that Charlie did every time she regretted everything that had brought her to this point.

Luna grinned.

The first attempt burned a bit.

The second caught on fire.

"Luna!"

"It's fine! I know what I'm doing!"

The third attempt didn't rise at all.

The fourth looked normal, but it tasted oddly of pickles.

"The castle doesn't even have pickles, Luna."

That was the point where Charlie refused to taste-test anymore. Honestly, Luna was surprised she'd made it that far.

"I'm going to write home and have Blinks bake the bread," Charlie told her around the ninth attempt. The house elves were still watching them, even hours later, but a few had started crying a while back about all the wasted ingredients.

An odd one covered in clothes had loved the pickle bread, though, so ha, Charlie.

There was also the drunk one that stumbled through at one point. Luna wasn't going to ask.

"You are not," she said with a roll of her eyes, because Charlie had been threatening to do that since the third round. Her threats were about as empty as Potter's head. "Besides, if you do that, I will wait until you’re sleeping and cut just a single lock of your hair off and not tell you until the most opportune moment.” 

"You wouldn't dare."

“Slytherin,” Luna reminded her and grinned like it was a challenge. Charlie glared back at her, looking increasingly fed up and entirely too clean for how many breads they'd made so far. It was a far cry from the liberal amounts of flour on her and the dried bit of old dough that was stuck to the end of one of her braids.

"We're both Slytherins," Charlie shot back. "Don't forget what I did to Romilda Vane."

"I don't think anyone could forget about that." The only people who even knew about it were her and Cam, and Charlie had never so much admitted it as look smug. It had been nice, though, to see Charlie go to bat for him like that. She'd never doubted that the girl would, but they were all used to prim-and-proper Charlie and I’m-getting-married-and-am-going-to-pretend-it's-a-great-idea Charlie, not secretly-terrifying Charlie.

Charlie shook her head and peeked under the towel that was hiding attempt number twelve. Luna was pretty sure it wasn't rising.  "If we don't figure something out tonight, I'm finding a recipe."

"Do you even know where the cooking section of the library is?"

Judging from the look Charlie shot her, the answer was no.

---

Charlie nearly asked Blaise to give her his great-grandmother's bread recipe -- not that she'd ever eaten it, but it looked good and people raved about it.

She didn't ask. 

It didn't feel right to involve Blaise in it. Luna had her heart set on them doing this for Cam and, as it stood, Cam was decidedly not a fan of Blaise.

Instead, when she and Luna had to admit defeat for the night -- mostly because the house elves had kicked them out -- she told the other girl she'd be finding a recipe for the next day. She may have skipped lunch to look through the library, but by the time she met up with Luna that night, she'd meticulously copied down a recipe she'd found.

"I think it's the one they served at the Halloween ball last year," she said uncertainly as Luna looked it over. "He'd liked it."

"You remembered the bread?" Luna asked, surprised. "I didn't think you even looked at the food at those things."

"You two talked about it for a week afterwards," she pointed out. "That was the only one I could find that had lemon in it."

Luna grinned at her and clutched the recipe to her chest. "Aw, you do care," she gushed as Charlie's cheeks went pink.

"Don't make me regret this," she muttered as she grabbed one of Luna's hands and dragged her into the kitchens.

The first attempt that night didn't have enough yeast.

The second made Luna smile that stupid smile that made Charlie's chest go funny.

"That's it!" she cheered. "I think we need to do that fold thing a few more times for the real one, so it’s more flaky, but this is definitely it." She drew Charlie into a fast hug that the girl didn't think she'd ever get used to and popped another piece of it into her mouth. "He's going to love it!"

Charlie looked down at the ugly little loaf they'd made and smiled.

A week later and two days before they took the train home, they made Cam promise to meet them down by the lake and, then, spent the whole morning with the bread. The final loaf they loaded into a basket with some extra treats was about as ugly as the one before it had been, but it didn't smell poisonous. Charlie was cautiously hopeful as they made their way through the halls and outside. 

It was warmer out, even as the sun began to sink behind the trees, but Charlie still wrapped her jumper around herself a little more and adjusted the basket in her grip. She'd insisted on carrying it, because days of attempts and trying to pick dough out from under her nails was not going to be wasted by Luna dropping the basket.

"I wouldn't!" Luna had insisted, but the second she saw Cam, she launched herself at him with a shouted happy birthday, so Charlie didn't believe her.

She followed after at a calmer pace and set it down before she hugged him and kissed his cheek. "Happy early birthday," she murmured into his ear as his arms came around her waist.

He murmured a thanks as they pulled back and settled down in the grass. "Food?" he guessed as his eyes went to the basket.

"And your presents," Luna said happily.

"If it ends in disaster, it's Luna's fault," Charlie said and pointedly ignored Luna's indignant squawk.

Cam looked between them, amused, as Luna dug into the basket and paused. She looked up at Charlie, accusing. "You got him a book."

"Did I?" she asked innocently as Luna passed the wrapped gift over to Cam. It wasn't a book so much as it was a box of self-replenishing parchment. She might not approve of his little homework business, but the amount of parchment he went through added up after a while.

"You're encouraging me now?" he asked when he opened the gift, both eyebrows lifted up.

"Of course not," she sniffed. "If they don't want to do their homework, they should fail. You're going to do it anyway, though, so you may as well have something practical."

"She's encouraging you," Luna told him.

"I'm getting that feeling."

"I am not-"

"Next present!" Luna declared and reached into the basket again so she could pull out the wrapped box she’d shoved in next to the food. She set it down in front of Cam and pulled her wand out, cancelling out the shrinking charm she’d apparently put on it. It grew to nearly four-times its usual size.

Cam and Charlie stared at it, wide-eyed.

“You two didn’t need to do all this,” Cam told them as he started unwrapping the box.

“It’s your birthday,” Luna insisted. “Of course we were going to get you presents!”

It wasn’t a present. It was a horror-filled box of whatever that tie-dye muggle trend was. The ugly blending and bleeding of colors that made someone look like a rainbow had encountered Seamus Finnegan on one of his explosive days. Cam pulled out a shirt and, somehow, didn’t look utterly horrified.

“You two can’t be serious,” she said as Cam shrugged out of his jacket and slipped on one that was white until some psychopath had gotten their hands on it. Luna smiled like the sun.

“It’s fashionable,” he told her, voice a complete deadpan, and she knew he had to be messing with her. He had to be.

“That is not fashion,” she said. “That looks like someone let the Gryffindors at a paint set.”

Luna patted her knee consolingly. “She just doesn’t get it,” she sighed.

“We’ll need to get her some for her birthday.”

“I’ll burn it.”

“Pink,” Luna agreed as if Charlie hadn’t spoken at all. “She looks cute in pink.”

“I’m going to look pretty in red when I kill you both,” she warned. “Put those monstrosities away.”

Cam rolled his eyes, but he thanked Luna and gave her a hug before he set the box aside. The jacket, however, stayed on. “How much did you guys do?”

“Just one more thing,” Luna said and pulled the bread and its platter out of the basket to present to him. “Birthday bread! We made it!”

“We used a recipe,” Charlie added. “That’s the only reason you might survive eating it.”

“She’s being dramatic,” Luna pushed on. “It’s the bread from the Halloween ball last year. Charlie remembered it and found the recipe in the library.”

Cam’s eyes turned towards her, curious. “You found the cooking section for me?”

“It’s a library,” she muttered as her face heated and she looked away. “I found a shelf. I didn’t find the cure for lycanthropy.”

“Thank you,” he said softly and she glanced back up to see Luna lean in to hug him again and the smile he gave her. She returned it as Luna cut a few slices of the bread and handed one over to Cam while she kept one for herself. The dough under her nails was worth the way his smile widened at the first bite. He made it through half before he broke off the corner of his slice and held it out to her. “For my birthday?”

If he’d asked any other way, she would have said no. Luna hadn’t even offered her a slice, because she knew better, but it was Cam’s birthday and he asked her to. He knew she couldn’t tell him no.

“You should have been a Slytherin,” she told him seriously as she took the bit he’d offered her and took a bite. It was good, better than she’d expected when she considered their initial attempts. She wasn’t sure it was rave-about-it-for-a-week worthy, but she popped the second bite into her mouth and met Cam’s and Luna’s smiles with her own. “Happy birthday, Cam.”

Luna grinned. “We love you.”

[motivationsforlife]

Malibu by Kyle Cottrell

[pohroro]

Judith (Revamped)  —  Preview / Code

About page.

Matches with Genesis blog theme.

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[angelicxi]

「   THEME #04: SKETCHBOOK by angelicxi   」 LIGHT VERSION ↳ [ preview ]   |   [ code ] DARK VERSION ↳ [ preview ]   |   [ code ]

This theme was conceived with personal blogs in mind (since at first it was my own personal theme), but it works well enough for all kinds of blogs — especially those oriented towards writing, photography, or art. I do hope you enjoy. (ღ˘⌣˘ ღ)

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— option for a background image (texture/pattern). if instead you wish to have a wallpaper, go to the body section in the style part of the code and find background-repeat: repeat;. replace it with background-repeat: no-repeat;. hit enter, and immediately under write: background-size: cover; — full sidebar that comes with: → option for background image, which can be a texture or pattern. if you’d rather have another kind of image (wallpaper etc.) CTRL+F and search for #sidebar in the code and add: background-repeat: no-repeat; → a 175x175px sidebar image - make sure it is this size or parts of it will be cropped off! → title, subtitle & description; — navigation menu that has by default home & ask links. there are slots for your twitter, about and navigation, as well as four extra links, that you may turn on and off as you will. the pagination and the credit are also contained within the menu; — customizable colors for pretty much everything; — pick the LIGHT version for white menu icons & music player and pick the DARK version for black menu icons & music player; — the option to customize the post border with a texture/pattern of your choosing; — single column 500px posts.

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[lengiesofrps]

ice-whisper replied to your post: What are they like when they are drunk? [Carter]

Instead, she got Taylor drunk in her lap and Taylor wanting to make out with her.

They can never be drunk at the same time, what a catastrophe

[crissy622]

It’s when they’re at their gayest. Just think about the next time they’re drunk and Taylor’s lesbian ass doesn’t have a stupid boyfriend.

[lengiesofrps]

Yeah but Taylor will be trying to make out with her and Carter just wants to lay on the floor and vibe and tell Taylor she loves her. A clashing of the gays

[crissy622]

“Stop telling me you love me and kiss me, you ignoramus.”