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 Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2014 1:42 pm
This was it. She was really going to do it.
The young woman stood outside the shop with her messenger bag clutched to her stomach like a life preserver, the angle of her bare shoulders speaking volumes about the tension in them and her over all mental state.
It had been a long, trying month... The hint of purple under her eyes spoke of many nights of interrupted sleep, like last night when the dream had come again. The dream of having her chest torn open to pull her starseed from the gaping hole before the landscape blurred into the center of the city and a column of darkness that ate everything as she stared on, powerless to stop the forms of stone around her from crumbling to nothingness. 4 A.M. patrols were common place now as an escape from sleep that gave no rest. The only solace she found was in her weekly trips to Ida, the only place she could sleep without nightmares and where she planned to start the process of introducing new green, growing things. Maybe staining her hands with clean, honest dirt would help erase some of the invisible stain she felt on her spirit...
But, a different kind of marking was what she was after today and Orah shook her head as she pulled herself from her dark thoughts to realize she had been standing outside Inked Heart long enough to catch a few weird glances from strangers. Her cheeks heating pink, she reached to push open the door and stepped into the clean, well-lit front room, her dark eyes sweeping over the many displays of beautiful art meant to decorate skin. Hopefully she could keep her courage up long enough to get her own skin decorated... the design she had chosen would hopefully go a long way towards easing her troubled heart. She'd worn a simple, white patterned dress for the occasion, avoiding the higher neckline of some of her other clothes because of the positioning she wanted.
Part of her mind was trying to dwell on how close the artist's hands were going to be to certain parts of her, but she was carefully avoiding that line of thought. She was nervous enough as it was as she approached what she took to be the front desk, her teeth worrying her lower lip.
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Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2014 2:05 pm
The soft chime of a bell alerted Kip that he had a potential customer. Ducking out of his work station, he grinned and headed for the front counter. A dark skinned, dark haired vision in white stood there and he had to grin a little more widely. Not out of any lecherous thought, but just because she was easy on the eyes and seemed to fit the summer day.
"Hey there! I'll be with you in one moment, miss. Go ahead and grab a release form and start filling it out, you'll find them and pens in that basket," he called out cheerfully. A second glance had confirmed that her almost too stiff posture was a sure sign of nerves. Best to get some of what might be considered unsettling done when she couldn't see.
Like getting the needles out and into the gun.
That done, he sauntered out and leaned on the counter.
"Thanks for your patience. How can I help you today?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2014 3:07 pm
A man's voice calling to her startled Orah out of her thoughts and she twitched before she could stop herself, mentally grabbing firm hold of herself with a harsh word about how skittish she was being. She was a friendly person and this was a nice shop... there was no reason to act like a scared rabbit. Forcing her tight shoulders to relax, the young woman eased something of a mostly genuine smile onto her face at the greeting and she lifted in return.
"Hello! Um... take your time, I'm not in a hurry." She called back before her gaze drifted down to the papers and pens on the desk. She very much wanted to hurry this process, to get it over with before she changed her mind, but she squashed that impulse. She was being silly again, and the people here didn't deserve to be rushed just because she was being stupid. The release form was something she hadn't thought about, but should have. At least she was eighteen now and wouldn't need her Da to sign for her... one small thing to be thankful for. She would have a hard enough time explaining to him after the fact, but at least she wouldn't have to try to convince him to go along with it.
Bent over the desk, the pen scratched out her name and relevant information in a smooth flow, the rounded letters a hint at a normally girlish personality. When her loose braid slid over her shoulder, Orah tossed it back lightly before it could brush the paper and disturb the ink, her eyes darting up when the man who had called out to her finally emerged to lean against the counter. Her gaze found the hem of his shirt first and traveled upwards to a smiling face and tropical coloring, blinking her own chocolate eyes and wetting her lips nervously before she found words again.
"Um... I wanted to get a tattoo." Duh, its a tattoo shop. Stop being stupid. "A, ah... Celtic Knot. Right here." Orah reached up to touch her sternum with a forefinger, below the wings of her collar bones. She'd left off with any sort of necklace today, knowing it would have only gotten in the way. "I want it big enough to see the detail, but not so big it looks ridiculous on me... Maybe about this big?" Her finger and thumb curled in a ring to show the placement and size, resting lightly on her chest. Despite how quickly she'd made up her mind to get this tattoo, she'd put a lot of thought into it. Tattoos lasted a very long time and she knew that, so even though this was an impulse, she was trying very hard to make it something meaningful that she wouldn't regret later. Hours had been spent browsing the internet for suitable designs, hundreds of flower images considered and rejected before inspiration had struck.
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Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2014 3:43 pm
"Well, you're in the right place for it, miss. I'm Kekipi or Kip is you prefer and I will be your artist today."
Still smiling, Kip gave the young woman a cheerful wink before grabbing a post-it pad and writing down notes on what she wanted. Nodding occasionally as she spoke, he made sure to listen carefully so that the process would be as smooth as he could possibly make it. Poor girl was nervous enough as it was. No reason to make it worse by being sloppy.
"We can do that for you, no problem. Lot of different Celtic knots out there, though. You have a specific one in mind? Any particular colors you want me to use or avoid? In the interest of being completely honest, the area you're looking at is going to hurt a bit since there's not much in the way of fat or muscle between your skin and breastbone."
Maybe it wasn't the best thing to say, but Kip fully believed in being as honest as possible with his customers. And besides, if he told her up front that it would hurt a lot, chances were decent that her own pain tolerance would kick in and it wouldn't be as bad as she'd have built up in her head.
Straightening up and stretching his arms over his head, he moved to open the small gate between the waiting area and the back, beckoning her in.
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Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2014 4:04 pm
"Ah... Orah. Orah Gowan." Kekipi... an unusual name. The wink he gave her brought out a deeper blush and she dropped her eyes as she went to pull her bag's strap off over her head, setting it on the edge of the desk to fish around inside.
Orah shrugged when she surfaced, more of her tension bleeding away now that the process was more or less under way. The square of paper she handed him had a diamond shaped knot printed on it, the four corners reminiscent of flowers, at least to the young woman's mind. A nod to half of her heritage, to her other self, and with many layers of meaning...
"I really like this one." She said as she glided to the gate, her bag tucked under one arm again. "I don't know what color to make it... black maybe? I like purple, but I don't know what would look best."
Reaching to tuck a few fly-away hairs behind her ear, Orah glanced around the back of the shop, some of her natural curiosity reasserting itself before she smiled wanly, rolling her bare shoulders in a shrug.
"I'm not worried about the pain. I've had worse... I can handle it." Could the tattoo gun compare to a spear, cutting to the bone? She suspected not... and she'd lived through that already. If anything, the idea of the pain was soothing, in a way. For what she wanted, it should hurt. It would mean that much more in the end.
"Do you do a lot of people each day?" She wondered as she followed him, trying to keep the polite conversation going. Talking distracted, and that was good. "This is my first time."
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Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2014 4:31 pm
Taking the paper, Kip studied the knot, still nodding to himself as he seemed to consider the best way to give her exactly what she wanted. As for the color question... Well. He had to chuckle a little.
"I've got a couple different purple inks we can use, Orah," he stated, clearing a chair for her. "How about a good, dark, deep purple for the majority of it and I can use a couple of the lighter shades for highlighting and accents. You've got the right skin tone where colored ink'll pop and be pretty stunning."
Though too polite to question her about the worse pain thing, he did arch an eyebrow before going to the cupboard by the chair and pulling out gloves and ink bottles. Well, if she was sure, he'd take her word for it. And if she wanted to talk, well, that would keep her relaxed for now.
"Truth? It depends on what people want done. For you I'm estimating maybe an hour or so."
He couldn't resist teasing her a tiny bit when he continued with a soft, "I'll do my best to make it memorable for you, then. So. Any particular kind of music you like? I've got a pretty good stereo in here and music might help you feel more relaxed."
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Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2014 5:41 pm
Stunning? Orah twisted her fingers around her bag as she pushed down a blush, offering him a small smile. It was going to be rather prominent on her chest, so it would be good if it were pretty.
"An hour? That'll be fine, I think. Whatever it takes." That... seemed like a really long time and she was briefly worried. It wasn't the most intimate spot she could get a tattoo, but the thought of having him that close for that long was daunting... She couldn't let something like that stop her though. He was a professional, so the issue was all in her head and she was eventually going to have to get over it.
Settling into the chair, the young woman crossed her ankles and set her bag on the floor before her hands smoothed her skirt down over her legs. The teasing brought more heat to her cheeks and she shrugged gently, fingers curling together. Memorable, hmm?
"I don't, um, really have a preference." Orah said as she offered him a small smile. "Put on something you like, I would be happy to listen to your music... I've found that I rather like listening to really all kinds."
His easy going manner was helping to ease her nerves some and she leaned back into the chair's padding with a slow breath out. It would be okay... she could do this.
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Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2014 6:06 pm
Once she was settled, Kip hooked one of his feet around the leg of a stool and pulled it over before sitting beside her. Moving easily, he reached to a small shelf nearby and flipped the CD player on as the less than dulcet tones of The Protomen filled the shop.
"This swap out once the CD is done and I think it's Bach or something like that after," he explained. "Now, try to relax. I'm just gonna recline the seat-back here a little so we can both be a little more comfortable here."
Suiting action to words, he reclined the seat so that Orah has half laying down before grabbing the tattoo gun and dipping the needles into the dark purple ink. Then, with his free hand, he took the reference picture and tacked it to the side of the chair so that his eyes could easily flicker to it when needed.
"All right, Orah, we're gonna start now. Do your best to not move, okay? And if you scream or anything, it's cool. I don't even mind inventive swearing as long as you stay as still as possible, mmkay?"
Withthat, he set needle(s) to flesh and began to outline the knot.
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Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2014 6:41 pm
Orah felt a smile grow as the music rolled from the speakers.
"I like this... and Bach is nice too. You have an eclectic taste." She said as she watched him work the chair, trying to relax despite the awkward feeling of being laid backwards. Uncrossing her ankles, she crossed them the other way and smoothed her dress down again. Brown eyes sidled to him as he handled his gun and ink. She'd never seen one in action, not really, but she had to trust he knew what he was doing... it was his job after all. Needles had never really bothered her, so she saw no reason to worry about it now.
"Alright, I'll try not to move..." The young woman murmured as she moved her hands to the armrests and curled her fingers around them. She turned her head to the side as he leaned over her, bracing herself as the gun began to buzz and set to her skin...
The pain was startling and Orah sucked in a sharp breath as she tightened her grip on the chair, her eyes widening. Okay, that hurt... quite a lot. Not... unbearably so, but... a lot. She needed a distraction...
"Ah... so, um... how long have you being doing tattoos?" She said, trying to find something to talk about. And maybe not breathe too deeply so her chest didn't rise and fall as much. Or maybe breathe from the stomach...
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 7:51 am
"That's me," Kip replied cheerfully. "Eclectic to the core."
Frowning in concentration, he watched the first part of the knot design take shape on her skin. He was heading into his own personal Zone where Orah might as well have been a painter's canvas as opposed to a flesh and blood person. A person who was tensing slightly and apparently trying to learn the art of not breathing...
With a small, understanding smile, Kip glanced up into her eyes and paused the gun long enough to reach out with his free hand and give her a gentle pat on the arm.
"You still have to breathe, hon. And as much as you're going to think it sounds stupid, try as hard as you can to not tense up because that'll make it worse. Now," he continued as the gun came back to life and resumed driving ink into skin. "I've been doing this for a couple of years now, but I always had a fascination with tattooing. Made my own gun when I was a kid off of plans I found on the internet. Did my own inking too. Took me a whole day, a full length mirror and a hell of a lot of aspirin afterwards."
Here Kip chuckled, though it was clear that his laughter was directed on himself. With a tiny pause to get more ink into the needles, he decided that some encouragement was in order.
"You're doing just fine, by the way."
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 4:47 pm
When he called her out for trying to still her breathing, she let it out in a rush and gave him a small, embarrassed smile back. It wasn't easy to relax with the tattoo gun vibrating painfully against her sternum, but she let herself take a few deeper breaths and relax her hands on the arm rests a little.
"Sorry." She murmured as she let her head fall back against the chair and tried to think of other things. She wanted to look down at her chest, but it was a difficult angle and part of her wanted to wait till he was done to see the full image.
"I've always admired tattoos, but I never thought I would get one myself. Goes to show how people change, I guess." Orah said, trying really hard not to think about... him, and the things he'd said. "Do you always free hand your work? Do people ever ask you to design something for them, or do most of them bring in designs?"
The pat on her arm and the pause for ink gave her a chance to breath deeply again, though she felt her cheeks turn pink once more.
"Ah... thanks. Like I said... I've felt worse. Its just a matter of... bearing with it." She said as she offered him a pained smile, glad her eyes weren't tearing up. It would have been highly embarrassing to cry in front of the artist, even if he'd probably gotten worse reactions from other customers.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2014 9:06 am
Still smiling sympathetically, Kip gave Orah's shoulder a gentle squeeze before resuming his work.
"If we didn't change, we wouldn't really be living," he replied cheerfully. "Sometimes I free-hand it. If it's a case of simple shapes and geometric stuff like your knot, free-handing is a bit easier. Stuff like faces or animals and all I tend to do a light trace on their skin first."
Doing a quick ink refill, Kip kept working and smiling. He couldn't blame ORah for being nervous. She'd probably heard all kind of horror stories. But damn, she was being a trooper about the pain she was clearly feeling. He had to admire that.
"It's a mixed bag, really. Some folks bring in their own designs, some pick a design off the wall there and the rest have an idea in mind, but no idea how to set it down. And then there's the drunken dudebros who stumble in once in a while. Those're always fun to chase out."
Kip had to laugh, remembering the last drunken idiot who'd stumbled in, determined to prove his manliness by getting a tattoo. For a moment, he considered telling Orah the story, then decided against it. Given where the guy had wanted to be inked, he wasn't sure that it was something she'd want to hear. Still, he wanted a way to keep her calm and talking seemed to be working best. So, time for some questions of his own.
"So, what made you change your mind about getting a tattoo?"Bluefire Dragonz I am so sorry for the delay! RL stress has been doing a number on me. ;;
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2014 9:31 am
"I don't really draw... I would be scared to do that without some sort of guideline to follow to make sure I got the lines straight. You're really good, to be able to do it like this." Orah said, still a little flushed by the hand on her bare shoulder. She let herself take another deep, steadying breath as he refilled. The pause seemed to only serve to let the numbness caused by the vibrating needle fade a little so the pain flared up when he started in again, but she pulled her mind away from it.
The mention of 'dudebros', said that way, startled a genuine giggle from the young woman, surprisingly light and cheerful. More like her old self... she felt like she hadn't truly laughed in more than a month now, and it felt good, even if the moment was fleeting. On the heels of that came an innocent question of why she was subjecting herself to this pain and her face fell, her eyes closing off as she retreated mentally.
"I have had some... events in my life recently that have... put me under a lot of stress." She said slowly, feeling out how she wanted to phrase this. 'I found out the man I was sleeping with has been trying to kill me for the last year and I'm terrified someone is going to reach into my chest again and rip out my starseed' seemed like maybe too much information. "I'm probably being horribly, stupidly impulsive, but the idea of having a symbol for protection tattooed into my skin is... comforting, in a deep way. I know its just ink and it can't do anything, but..."
Slender brown hands gestured helplessly, replacing the shrug she was afraid to make while he was working. This was a stupidly childish reaction to trauma, but at the same time, as she had toned it down to this small, simple thing, she found it hard to really rebuke herself for it. This tattoo would be small and pretty, it hurt no one but her, and it eased her mind... was that so wrong?Twilight Jaws Its okay! I know how it is
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2014 9:44 am
Ah, life events. That was something Kip could understand. He wanted to tell Orah how much he could relate, but somehow, he rather though that telling her he'd been recruited into one magical club, only to be forcibly switched over to another and oh hey, in the process, he kind of lost his memories of everything in his life before that point...and...yeah. That'd go over like a friggin' lead balloon.
Instead, he kept his sympathy to a nod and smile.
"It might be ink, but I would never underestimate the mental and emotional boost it could give you," he answered quietly. "I mean, that's how all those self-help books and religion is supposed to work, right? Finding something to take comfort in so you can feel stronger. Nothing to be ashamed of."
As he worked, the tiny corner of his mind not completely focused on Orah began to churn. Maybe it was time to design a new tattoo for himself to commemorate his own re-birth. If this poor, sweet little girl could do it, so could he.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2014 12:17 pm
Orah would not have considered herself a good example for anyone about anything right now, but his ready agreement put her at ease a little. This whole trip had been impulsive, but it was meaningful. A smile teased across her face once more at the mention of self-help books and she gently shook her head.
"I've never read any of those books... they never seemed all that helpful to me." Religion was a nebulous concept... with two parents with different ideas, she'd ended up floating between both, never really ascribing to either. But the logic was sound. "People probably come here all the time with tattoos that are symbolic to them... There are probably people who do it just for the artwork or whatever, but I can imagine there are a lot who want them to mean something. That seems like something that would be common."
This would hopefully just serve as a way to ground herself, give her something, some mark that would let her push herself forward despite the hardships she knew were in her future... and maybe offer some small bit of comfort. It was hard to say, but it just felt right.
"Hmm... what was your favorite tattoo you've done?" The young woman asked finally, stretching for things to talk about. She liked to listen to him talk, and it honestly did offer a good distraction.
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