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Reaching over with a grimace, Devon set down the spray bottle of alcohol and gave freshly emptied chair a swipe with the paper towel in his hand. His back was killing him; four in a row should have been a crime first thing on a Saturday morning. At least there was a lull now and the other artists were kicking back and stretching with a veritible symphony of pops and groans. Standing, Devon gave himself a good shoulder roll.

"Dev?" He turned at his name to see the tiny blonde deskgirl emerge from the back room with a bottle in one hand and his child (s**t, how did he get a child from a cabbage again?) balanced with the other on her hip. "Feeding time for Iggy."

"Yeah, yeah." He held out his hands obediently. "I'm just glad he was so quiet. I'm still sorry about havin' to bring him in. My neighbor who usually watches him..."

"Yeah, yeah," she teased, repeating his tone. "She's sick. Gotcha. C'mon, you know we don't mind. If you didn't bring him in soon, anyway, Bossman would've made you with the threat of a paycheck cut." She handed over the bottle first which he promptly set on his little rolling table amongst the pots of ink. The gently gurgling child, though, she hesitated over, clearly reluctant to part with the unusual-looking baby. Ignacio reached out to grab at the necklace hanging at her throat and she giggled.

"Hand him over, Tess," Devon said, waggling his hands. "Like you said, feeding time."

Once the golden-haired child was safely in his arms, Devon hooked his chair with his foot and dragged it underneath him neatly so he could sit more comfortably. Big eyes blinked up at him and he tried a lopsided grin of his own. "Hey, buddy," he muttered. "Thanks for bein' such a sport, huh?"

Ignacio blinked again and held out his hands, fingers opening and closing. He was hungry! Devon sighed, adjusted his hold, and neatly angled the bottle into the baby's mouth. Soon the rest of the artists were watching in bemused silence, punctuated only by sharp sucking noises from the hungry little Ignacio.

Unfortunately for Shiori, while there were plenty of people in the shop, no one seemed interested in her arrival. They stood in a small knot halfway towards the back, clustered around something completely fascinating. A few mutters of "Look at him put it away" and "Look at the little toes" drifted to her ears.

Finally, a slightly exasperated voice rose above the murmurs. "C'mon, guys. Give me a break here. He's just a baby and he's just eating. Don't you have, I dunno, needles to clean?"

Laughter answered him but the crowd parted to reveal a young man in his early twenties, disheveled of hair and tattoo'd of skin, cradling a child about Kisala's size who was polishing off a once-full bottle. He blinked hazel eyes at Shiori. "Oh, hey. Customer?"

Devon shook his head and held out the bottle in response before turning it upside down to show Kisala that it was completely empty. "He's bottomless," he muttered. Then he glanced around at his co-workers who had all magically found tasks to occupy themselves with now that baby-time was over and someone wanted to talk shop. He shrugged and awkwardly shifted Ignacio into a sitting postion, his back against Devon's chest. Ignacio promptly grabbed two of the fingers on the hand supporting him and stared at Kisala.

"Well, um, it's..." Devon would have flushed if he had been capable but his tanned skin never showed it. "Well, how do you do it?" he asked suddenly. "Maybe that'll help me."

"Ah. Gotcha." Devon nodded slowly. "No, 'round here, tats are just tats. People get 'em for different reasons." He held out his unoccupied arm to show an elaborate Celtic cross design, stark black even against his cinnamon-colored skin, on the inside of his forearm. "Sometimes people get 'em for memories. This one's... Ah, ouch, s**t." Wincing, Devon pulled his arm back in so he could shuffle Ignacio to his other knee and shake out the hand that had been holding the baby. "What did I tell you about usin' my fingers for teethin', Iggy?"

Rounded eyes started back up at him in polite incomprehension and then the baby blew a bubble. He turned back to Kisala and waved his hands vaguely before jamming one fist in his mouth to gum wetly.

"... Sorry about that."

There was a moment of hesitation but then, as he felt Ignacio grip new fingers with the clear intention of taking another bite, Devon gratefully snatched at the teething ring and transferred it into the child's mouth. He smiled sheepishly. "Thanks," he murmured. "I'm new at this and I still don't know how to tell my mom so I can't exactly call her for help."

Ignacio uttered a squeal of utter delight at the coldness and proceeded to chomp down hard. His little legs began swinging in time to his bites. Devon watched him for a moment and then turned his attention back to Shiori. "We use, well, tat inks. It's pretty much carbon-based stuff. There's different stuff you put in for the colors and we mix 'em as we need to. A lot of it's in the needlework, though. The shading." He paused and nodded suddenly at Kisala. "She's cute."

Devon looked alarmed even as a dribble of spit slid from the teething ring and hit his pants. "She's crawling already?" he asked. "Iggy's only rolling so far... And chewing... On everything. He kind of points himself at things and wriggles to 'em or just rolls."

Ignacio removed the ring long enough to send a raspberry in Kisala's direction. He laughed aftewards so clearly it was meant as a gesture of affection. Devon rolled his eyes. "He likes her," he pointed out unnecessarily. Then he paused and frowned. "We have a few months, though, right? Kids don't grow that quickly... Right? Even if they're outta cabbages like Iggy here."

"Hell, no." Devon shook his head. "I didn't even know I was gettin' a kid!"

Ignacio looked up at his guardian and stuck out his bottom lip.

"Not that I'm mad or anything," Devon quickly added, addressing the child directly. He was relieved to see Ignacio immediately burble back and then stick the teething ring into his mouth once more. His odd child then turned to face Kisala again and give her a rather drooly grin. "My boss told me to take this card and take care of what they gave me. It was a cabbage. Then it... Well, I got him here. I dunno."