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 Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 3:26 am
Her twenty-second birthday had come and gone and Becca had finally decided on what birthday present she was going to give herself. Well... sort of. As the girl stood in front of The Tat Cat. she pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side, red tipped hair brushing against her shoulder while the remaining orange color sat perfectly still atop her head. She'd gotten her arm sleeve years before - three, if she wanted to be exact - and up until that point she'd been wanting another one but hadn't been able to decide on what she wanted. But now she knew. Now she could go in confidently and tell the tattoo shop worker what she wanted. Well... sort of. She'd found The Tat Cat from Google - it had a 4.8 stars review, which was more or less an A so more or less a reputable place to grab her next tattoo from. Armed with a folder of all sorts of star shapes and colors and styles under her arm, Becca took a deep breath and pushed her way through the front door to the shop.
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2018 4:12 pm
Austen was covered in paint.
This was not, strictly speaking, an unusual occurrence. In fact, it happened more often than not, and generally on days that end in a y (as Blue often said, because we wonder why the ******** you do this every single day) and generally with colors that looked as though she'd stepped out of a blacklight convention magazine.
"I'm telling you, the lid wasn't on proper!" she said, shaking some of the neon green from the tips of her pink painted nails. She was dressed as eccentrically as ever, in a pair of cut off white shorts, a dyed blue tank top over a lime green one over a yellow one, and high top sneakers in a shade of violent orange. Multiple bangle bracelets lined her wrists, jangling noisily with every movement. "It was Daniel again, wasn't it? I can't tell you how many times I've told him to put the caps on again, but he doesn't pay attention."
Blue was standing with his arms folded across his chest, unhelpfully watching, his expression a mixture of exasperation and resignation. He was staring at the ceiling, head tipped back, as though praying to someone or something for strength.
"Or," he said wearily, like he'd had the conversation a thousand times before (which he had), "You just squeezed it too hard and didn't fasten things right before you left."
"I wouldn't do that," Austen protested, now running her hands under the nearest sink. "I didn't do that at all, Blue, come on now, don't be such a nancy. Come here and help me."
"I don't wanna." The tone was mulish. "You did this to yourself."
"Blue."
"Austen."
"Blue."
"Aust - get your hands away from me - stop that - "
The door jangled. Both Austen and Blue turned around, Austen in the midst of trying to slap her pain covered hands on his bearded cheeks, green paint dripping dangerously onto his black biker shirt - Blue, in the process of shoving her away, one hand on her forehead, the other gripping a wrist.
There was a moment of prolonged silence in which passing butterflies were likely to have attracted more attention.
"Hello!" said Austen brightly, ripping herself away from Blue and standing up straight, bounding cheerily over to the newcomer. "Welcome to the Tat Cat! I'm Austen, are you my two o'clock?"
She seemed to have forgotten about the paint, which spattered across the floor behind her.
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2018 4:37 pm
There wasn't enough time to drink in the scene around her and process it, not when she was immediately greeted upon entry by the most colorful person the college student had ever laid eyes on. Her outfit was all over the place in terms of shades and hues but in a delightfully cheerful way that had the other girl grinning from ear to ear without even realizing it. Talk about a warm welcome! "Two o'clock?" Becca had to pause for a moment as her brain strained itself to try to understand what the colorful girl - Austen, her name was Austen - meant. Was it slang? Some urban term, like I got yer six or ten-four, buddy? Oh. Wait.The figurative lightbulb flickered above her head and her eyes widened slightly. "Oh!!!! No, no, I'm just a walk-in, if that's okay?" She paused long enough to turn her head, the brightly colored ends of her own hair swishing over her shoulders as she looked towards the glass door of the shop, just in case she missed some glaringly obvious sign that said by appointment only. Leave it to her to screw something up right off the bat! Not successful in finding the answer (because reading words backwards was a feat Rebecca Robinson had yet to achieve), she turned back and extended the folder out towards the girl, disregarding the fact that the young woman standing across from her had wet, neon green hands (or fingertips, rather). "I was hoping for a star of some kind but I can't figure out which kind, if that makes sense??"
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2018 5:57 pm
Austen was studiously ignoring the exasperated and pointed noises coming from Blue, who was probably making some sort of terrible face behind her. Flapping a paint streaked hand in his direction without turning around, she said brightly, "Oh, a walk-in, that's perfect, luv! Walk-ins are bloody fantastic, aren't they, Blue?"
She didn't wait for an answer, especially since she'd probably have gotten a sarcastic one in response, and shimmied around behind the girl, almost forgetting about her fingers and jerking her hands away from the other's shoulders at the last second before any paint came into contact with fabric. Gesturing forwards in a shoo-ing gesture instead, Austen said brightly, "I'll snag your folder in just a second, stars are great, I'm totally taking you, luv, why don't you have a seat in that chair over there and let me just, er - "
More green paint splattered the ground. Blue made a disparaging noise.
" - clean up, and I'll be right with you!" Austen finished hastily, throwing a wide grin at her newest client. "Just that chair over there, against the far wall, Blue'll show you, won't you?"
This last part was said with a certain amount of foreboding. Blue uncrossed his massive, muscular arms, sighed, and stepped forward, navigating deliberately around the puddles on the floor to point the newcomer in the right direction.
"Don't forget to ask her where she wants it!" Austen called cheerily, and received a middle finger in response.
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2018 10:05 pm
The folder hung in midair, the other girl refusing to take it and puzzling Becca for a good minute until she finally noticed the paint streaking down the girl's fingers. Moving to press it against her chest, she dutifully waited for the large man (Blue? What an intriguing name!) to guide her to said chair while quietly trying to determine where the outgoing girl's dialect came from. It obviously didn't come from Destiny City, which meant points for Austen because as far as Becca was concerned, DC was about as interesting as a week old potato. Maybe less, because week old potatoes actually started sprouting weird and unusual crap - DC didn't do much other than raise the national average when it came to crime rates. But why in the world anyone from a foreign land would come here of all places was beyond her. Then again, eh, to each their own, right? The echoing question had Becca's mind frantically scrambling. Wait... she wanted it on her ankle, right? Or was it her wrist? .... her neck? Crap!
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Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2018 4:40 pm
Blue, as a mixture of tattoo artist, receptionist, pastry chef, and one of those gym goers who drank wheatgrass like it was a shake, was a large and slightly imposing (read: very imposing) man who was approximately six foot three, well muscled, and barrel chested, with short cropped brown hair, blue eyes, and always present stubble around his jaw and chin. Presently, he was dressed in a pair of worn jeans and a black teeshirt whose sleeves looked ready to rip apart around his bulging biceps - which were covered from wrist to shoulder in tattoos. In spite of this, however, he was really just a big softy.
A big, grumbling, irate softy.
He was still grumbling about Austen's lack of preparation, or whatever it was he was complaining about now. She could hear him grunting over the sound of the running faucet as she stood at the little sink beside one of the other stations, slathering her painted fingers with soap and working up a good rinse to at least try and get the majority of the goo off. It didn't matter that they were still stained as she snapped the water off, snatching up a towel to hastily dry her hands, ignoring the green tinge to her skin and ambling over to where Blue and the girl were.
"Okay, now that that's been taken care of - " Austen cheerily stuck out a hand. "Welcome to the Tat Cat, I'm Austen - I'll be the one tattooing you today. Blue's my assistant - "
Blue made an ominous noise in the back of his throat.
" - no, actually, he's my mentor," Austen corrected quickly, coughing, "but he's also the one who schedules everything, and believe me, he's really really good at it, even if he doesn't think so. Right, Blue?"
She winked at him. He rolled his eyes and slouched away, presumably to go back to the front desk or eat another quinoa cracker or find out where Austen had stashed the paper towels this time. Austen turned back to the client, her hair whipping over her face as she grinned.
"What's your name, luv? And can I take a look at that folder now?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2018 10:56 am
Becca watched on with delight at the exchange between assistant mentor, stifling her giggles as she sat there with a bemused smirk on her face. Blue looked like a giant grizzly bear of a man but it was clear from the way he tolerated Austen's antics (and Becca had a feeling there were several of those afoot) that he was way more of a teddy bear on the inside. "Are you two a couple?" She asked curiously, her forwardness getting the better of her as the folder was handed over. Inside, dozens of various stars littered the pages - some cut from magazines, some printed on computer paper (swiped from the college's library printer, no less), some doodled from Becca's memory or imagination. "I'm Becca. Well. Rebecca, but most people just call me Becca." Hands now empty, they fell into her lap and folded into each other. Fingers laced with fingers as she watched the other girl, waiting to gauge a reaction from the girl's perusing. Now was as good a time as ever to make her confession. "I'm...not too sure which star to go with, honestly. I just... really really like stars but I'm having a hard time deciding. Any thoughts??"
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Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 6:48 pm
There was a moment of silence while Austen stared at her client and Blue whipped his head around so fast that he probably broke something in the process.
"No!" they both said simultaneously, Blue sounding revolted, Austen sounding scandalized. "No, absolutely not," she added, turning to make a face at Blue, who was slowly shuffling back to his duties, his disgusted expression still visible on his broad face. "Not in this world, or any. He's got a girlfriend, you know, and she's quite pretty - well, not as pretty as me of course, but - "
Blue made another ominous rumbling noise without turning around. Austen waggled her fingers at him, smiling cheerily, then flipped her hair over her shoulder and went back to looking at the folder that the girl - Becca - had just handed her.
"What a lovely name," said Austen bright. "Lovely name and lovely - oh, well, I suppose there's several designs here, aren't there? You want a star, but you're not sure what kind or where, hmm..."
Her mind was already starting to whir in a thousand directions, placing images here and there in some construction of a piece. Nothing too complicated; something simple for a first-timer, something sleek and with pops of color, because Becca seemed as though she really did love color.
"You're not sure where you want it?" Austen asked, her head still racing with possibilities. "Most people go for the ankle or wrist, if you'd like to try either of those; they do hurt a bit, but the ones that hurt the most are ribs and the top of the foot and of course, your head, but doing head tattoos is lame, plus you have such pretty hair, and I wouldn't want to change that."
She grinned. "What about something on the inside of your wrist? Your forearm, as it were?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 2:24 pm
There was a look of mixed surprise and humor at the sudden outburst from both parties - okay, not together. Check. Point had been made... though Becca couldn't help but grin at just how quickly they'd both jumped to insist that there was no affection between them. Perhaps one was more fond of the other than they were leading on to? Emotions and coworker adoration aside, humorous interactions with her potential body-artists was not why she'd come to the shop in the first place. No, she wanted a star.... she was pretty sure, at least. "I like stars," she repeated, unhelpful in every way to the other girl but not in the young woman's mind. "I like all kinds of them, so it's... hard to decide on a favorite. I don't think it's fair to play favorites, y'know?" But then again, having them physically inked onto one's body would require picking a favorite among the crowd. SIGH. She listened intently as the other girl prattled on about tattoo placement - she had some fairly good points (and compliments to boot) which left Becca's head nodding in unison as she thought about all the different sorts of places one might put something as tiny and as cute as a star. "Forearm?" Glancing down, she stared at the skin (which didn't stare back, as forearms had no eyes to do any staring back with). If she put one there, she'd be able to see it all of the time... but it also meant she'd see it all of the time. What if it was a star she'd come to regret later? What if she picked the wrong star to use and then she'd have to look at it every single time she ever looked at the inside of her arm? "How about... some place that isn't as obvious as the wrist," she said slowly, a decision finally coming to mind. "Like.. the ankle. Or behind the ear. Or something I won't regret if I end up regretting. Not that I would regret it -- but you know, I might regret it, not that it'd be your fault but what if I pick the wrong star or the wrong color or maybe I really wanted two but I only got one and..." Her words trailed off as Becca lost herself in her own thought, teeth biting down on her bottom lip as she looked at the folder of stars, clearly troubled.
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2018 7:32 pm
Admittedly, there had been a brief time in Austen's life where she had momentarily considered what it would be like to date Blue. Hulking, muscular Blue, who was perhaps not conventionally handsome, but there was a certain strength to his face and jawline that was relatively appealing.
Then she had come to her senses five minutes later because Blue was like a brother to her, and the idea was nonsense. Besides, his girlfriend was a firefighter, and what was more badass than a tattoo artist with a firefighter girlfriend, as she asked Blue multiple times a day, all the while receiving a rolling of eyes in response.
"Stars are perfect," said Austen, with a wise nod, "I have a few on my temple, see?"
She pulled back her fringe of white hair to reveal a few, tiny stars dotted around her left temple, just at the edge of her eyebrow. A simple, yet effective design that was mostly covered when she needed it to be, and on display whenever she didn't. "That one hurt quite a bit, I must say; the head is all bone, and that's the one place on my head I don't find idiotic to get a tattoo, so I find it quite worthwhile. And I think it looks pretty, there's nothing special about it except that stars are lovely and I like them."
She grinned over at Becca, the latter of which still seemed a bit flustered, staring at her arm as though she half expected it to speak back. It was a process Austen knew well; there were a lot of clients who second guessed themselves once they were actually in the shop.
"Ankle is good! And easy to hide," Austen said cheerfully, then held out a hand hastily. "You're going in circles, love, circle back to the location first," she added, rotating her fingers in a circular gesture to indicate this. "Behind the ear might be a little painful for a first time tattoo, so why don't we consider the ankle for now? You don't need to get anything extravagant, and just so you know - "
She smiled warmly. "There is no wrong star or color. Whatever you get will be beautiful, and that's that."
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Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 8:03 am
Eyes widened in delight as she stared at the stars the other girl revealed, hidden cleverly by the way she'd fashioned her hair. Becca listened in intently as the girl explained the pain level -- yes, it made complete sense that it would have hurt more, what with the skin stretched so thinly across a skull as opposed to areas that had a bit more fat or muscle to pad it with. So maybe behind the ear wasn't the best place to go with. Hm... Thankfully, blessedly, Austen seemed to have a more confident answer than what the customer herself could provide. Suggesting the ankle cemented the idea in Becca's head as she glanced down at her somewhat pale, thankfully shaved, legs. Doing it on the inside of her ankle would help hide it from the rest of the world... but doing it on the outside would probably help hide it if she started to regret it. But when would she ever regret having a star on her?? "I want what you have," she suddenly blurted out, decision hastily (but presumably very decided). "A few of them. That way I don't have to play favorites when there's a cluster instead of a single one." Pause. "That would be okay, right? You wouldn't be offended if I borrowed the idea, would you?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 7:14 pm
This girl was endlessly entertaining. Austen watched with suppressed amusement as Becca's eyes grew rounder and rounder with each passing second, feeling her sense of cheerful excitement growing, because it was a delight to see someone so new and so eager and so flustered all at the same time.
Austen loved these sorts of customers; the ones that came in knowing what they wanted, but also not knowing anything else, passion and eagerness spilling out even though they were nervous, or frightened, or uncertain. It meant something, and Austen liked to see that.
She blinked at the sudden outburst, then grinned brightly.
"Not offended at all, love!" Austen said exuberantly, clapping her hands together. "Oh, this is perfect - are you okay with waiting a few minutes while I go draft something up? We can keep it simple but also spread it around with lots of stars, because stars are a very important thing - and it'll be small enough for you to hide if necessary."
She beamed. Blindingly so.
"You good?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2018 2:53 pm
The girl didn't seem to take any issue with Becca more or less copycatting her idea - it was a good idea, after all, so Becca was totally understandably perfectly okay if the girl didn't want to share with a stranger --- but when Austen did agree, she couldn't help but let out a small little elated squeak of excitement. "That sounds good, really good." Her head bobbed, colored hair bouncing with the effect as she watched the other girl excuse herself to go draft up a sketch. Becca had a feeling that Austen's decisiveness would play a big help when it came to determining the colors and design of each star -- oh man, she was finally getting a star tattoo! The realization hit her like a pallet of bricks and she couldn't help but stare after the tattoo parlor employee, a wide, goofy grin on her face. This was gonna be the best thing she'd done for herself in... well, practically the entire year! Who needed money for groceries when one could buy permanent drawings on their body celebrating their most favorite thing????
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 6:47 pm
Austen could have flown to the moon with this. Part of the reason why she loved what she did so much was because of customers like Becca, who were eager and excited and trusting and who didn't mind that Austen was all inked up herself.
Or that she was a woman, since that was a factor she preferred not to think about in the long run.
It took Austen about ten or fifteen minutes to get everything prepared. She came back with the papers, a bottle of water, a set of gloves, and a wide smile on her face that matched the one on Becca's face, and that was pretty awesome too. Austen dumped all of her supplies onto the table, then reached out to pat the long bed that served as the tattooing place.
"Hop up here, love, and lay down. Let me get this transfer on first and foremost so we can get the placement right, and then we'll go from there!"
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Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2019 5:34 pm
Becca was nervous but excited. Watching Austen bring in all of the supplies was a little nerve-wracking, especially when she saw the gloves. She knew why the gloves were needed but it made everything seem much more scary - like some sort of whacky medical procedure of sorts. No, she was just getting a tattoo. It wasn't a big deal. Just something permanently added onto her body, s'all. There wasn't much "hopping" but Becca did slide up onto the bed that served as the waiting spot while Austen mastered her craft. Shoes were abandoned on the floor next to the stand, the young woman sitting up straight as she offered her leg to the artist. "Sounds good to me! So how long have you been an artist, if you don't mind me asking?"
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