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Alex's boyfriend was booked straight up, which was sad; she didn't want to go this alone, but she also didn't want to wait. The longer she did, the more likely someone would try to talk her out of it, and she didn't want to be talked out of it, she wanted to--she felt like she'd wanted this for a very long time. Even though, technically speaking, she only had a few memories from further back than a month ago, and bad days tended to feel like they took literal years because of the huge proportion of her remembered experience they represented, and. And. And.

She took a deep breath and checked the folder in her arms. The sketches and reference images she'd picked out were still in there. The sketches were still a little gratifying, a little hopeful. She hadn't expected to be decent at drawing when she'd first put pen to paper, but it was like her mind and her hand were already trained to work together, to notice and record small details. Like magic. The universe instilled a different tremor in every hand, and Arkady's tremors just happened to mirror art...

Arkady opened the ornately carved door to Inked Heart, and peeked into the shop's big main room. "Hello," she called, uncertain if she could see anyone. "Um. I called and made an appointment for a consultation?"

Arkady smiled at the pink-haired man who popped up. "I guess you're Kekipi? We spoke on the phone... I'm Arkady Ashlyn-Smith, but you can call me Ash. If you don't mind." She rounded the counter, and peered curiously at the man's hands. They were smudged with ink--not a lot, not enough to spread, she thought (and how did she know that?) but enough that she could see it. She liked that, she decided, and the smile on her face when she looked back up to him was much warmer, the sort of thing one would give a friend rather than a professional aquaintance. It reached her eyes, turned the gray-green just a shade warmer.

"I'm being brave," she said, with a little embarrassed shrug. "I've kind of always wanted a tattoo, but... you know, needles are scary. I was hoping to get a quote and maybe get started on that today? I don't really know how all this works, I'm sorry." She held up the folder, uncertain if she should hand it over or not. "I've been thinking about it, you know. For a while. So I have some sketches and things..."