New Years Ink

[needleandink]

Adrian learned very early in his career that the best way to avoid starting off the new year dealing with pissed off people was to stop work by ten on New Years Eve. And by stop work, he meant door shut, lights off, and a huge "not a chance" sign on the door.

Even his usual system of capturing inebriated clients clearly requesting whatever drunken ideas they thought fabulous while wearing beer goggles didn't seem to help on New Years Day. Nope. Instead, he closed up and spent the night ringing in the new year in a much better way, to his mind anyway.

Which is why he was able to open the shop at ten on new years day, put out the sign offering ten percent off all new ink, and settle at the counter with coffee and a smile.

Comments

[starsfallen]

Corrine smiles graciously. Even if she doesn't feel it, she always puts her best face forward, be it in case media should find her, or because she never knows when it might be a fan whose day she can brighten.

"Thanks and Happy New Year." She steps in, eyeing the art along his walls. "Well, I'm interested in a tattoo. I guess that's obvious. But I needs to be small, easily hidden. Can you do that? It would be personal for me, not really for others." Corry figures it worth elaborating. "For when I'm on screen. It would need to be hidden or easily covered with makeup."

[needleandink]

"That's quite an order you've got there," Adrian grinned as he rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. "Let's take this step by step and see what we can come up with. First of all, where were you looking to have the ink placed? Arm? Hip? Forehead? Knuckles?"

He threw the last two in as a joke but, really, you never knew.

[starsfallen]

"Well, I was hoping you could help me with that." Corrine wanders over to one of his gallery books, highlighting clear masterpieces and skill he has bestowed upon others. "Where would be the best place for something personal, unlikely to be too showy to others?" The obvious strikes her and she feels the need to clarify. "Not... somewhere that private, mind you."

[needleandink]

"Well, hell. There go all of my prurient fantasies for the night," Adrian laughed, then flipped the book to some of the work he'd done with white ink. "If you're looking for one primarily for you, white ink might be something to look into. Still there for you to see, but much easier to cover up or camouflage with simple foundation no matter where it is, so long as it's not, you know, covering your whole back or something. As for the where, again, that will depend on the ink if you'd rather not go white also on your pain tolerance levels, since some spots on the body hurt hell of a lot, some places aren't as bad."

[starsfallen]

"Mmmm." Corry is barely listening, flipping through his art and trying to picture it interlayed with her own skin. "Maybe the inside of my wrist? Can you do something small there?" She wants it where she can see it, small, subtle, but forever a reminder to be true to herself. She will not allow herself to be so lost again. "I'm not worried about pain." She's caused enough, she may as well feel it.

[needleandink]

The woman wouldn't be the first masochist to come through the doors, and wouldn't be the last, but Adrian didn't get that kind of vibe off of her. Regardless, it wasn't down to him to psychoanalyze the whys of tattooing his customers. His job was to make sure they were informed, plusses and minuses, and take them through the process from ink to aftercare and send them on their way.

"I can do that. Do you have a design in mind, or do you want me to leave you with the books for a while to look without me hanging over your shoulder while you do so?"

[starsfallen]

"Actually, I was thinking about this one." She points to a delicately inked mermaid with flowing red hair like her own (http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/007/9/a/mermaid_tattoo_by_tarafleming-d5qrcle.jpg). And what truer way can she convey a reminder to be herself than that of the siren form she only so recently learned to control. In fact, doing so was the first time she'd truly felt in control since she'd left rehab.

"But some gold in her tail. And - the scales should extend and curl with the curves of her chest. It seems more natural." More natural being more true to true siren forms of reality and outside of sexualized fantasies - or at least true to her own siren form and those she's seen of others. Around the chest the scales lessen and shift, mixing with skin until there are mere traces as they reach the neck and beyond. "You can leave off the shell and hair decoration - I want her to look free. But can you do the background as a star? Just plain and yellow?"

[needleandink]

Adrian looked at the image, mentally tweaking it the way she indicated. "If you want this small and on your wrist, you're going to lose some of the detail, unless you're looking to carry her from wrist to forearm."

He picked up her hand and turned it over, tracing the area the ink would cover, from wrist to nearly her elbow. There wasn't anything overly sensual about it, his touch was more like a doctor's examination. "I'd pick somewhere else for a design like this, like your back, down from shoulder along the scapula, she should be free to spread her fins, her hair, without being cramped into a small space."