New Skin Art, All Around!
So this is actually an RPG session done in chat with Tiirikka. Slightly edited for a better reading experience (transferred into past tense, and translated to English), but mostly just as is. So this is just for laughs, guys!
***
Tico's phone rang. Call ID showed Emma's name.
"Hola?" Tico answered, especially cheerfully.
"Hey, TR! Listen, you've gotten a tattoo in London, right? Could you recommend a place?" Emma went straight to business, "Foxy didn't know any, since it's been so long since he got his..."
"Ah si", Tico fumbled for words. So Emma was into tattoos as well. Not that it was particularly surprising, but this was just the perfect time for it. "I was actually going to get a new one soon myself. There's a nice little place downtown. Knows their stuff and the price is right."
"Excellent, do you think they have a big waiting list? Mine won't be that big or time consuming, but Matt is also getting another one. For moral support, ya know", she chatted, "and... You could come at the same time, too, of course! More the Merrier! And we'll crab a pint afterwards!"
"Well it's a relatively popular place but I didn't have to wait for too long the last time I was there", Tico tried to remember, "Mine won't be that huge either. Si, will do, I'll just let Ace know. Oh and make sure it's just one pint, otherwise that one is going to have a fit", Tico added, slightly embarrased. Moderation was not his strongest suit.
"All right, give me the number and I'll make a reservation for tomorrow. Call ya!"
"Si", Tico answered while obligingly searched for the number from his calendar.
The next day Emma and Matt came to pick Tico up with Matt's Jaguar. In a moment later they pulled the car in front of atattoo shop. Ink Skull Studio looked like a pretty traditional tattoo shop and behind the counter a large, bald man welcomed at the incomers with a stare. Tico greeted the man cheerfully and announced that the party of three had come to get some new ink on their skins.
"Ah yes, Roho party is it? Go right in and we'll get your scetches."
There were a few available tattoo artists. Matt immediately engaged one in a discussion about a half-sleeve design with lots of colour, the other looked at Tico and Emma and asked what would they like to get. Tico smiled radiantly at the other two.
"What are you getting?" he asked conversationally.
Emma kept her eyes strictly on the font examples on the wall, but Matt gave him a sneer.
"Something bold and beautiful! Some animal, perhaps... Any ideas? A tiger or something."
"Oh you won't shake your red fur that easily, Fox", Emma noted without even glancing at the man.
"A tattoo of a fox might be something a bit too personal", Matt replied while winking at her turned backside, "Someone might get the wrong idea."
"A lion, snake, eagle?" Tico chuckled, "Just not a wasp. Or a spider." He uttered out a more grim laugh. "In my experience, those who get insects don't live that long."
Matt's face lit up.
"A snake, did you say? Oh, that could work. Could work just fine..." his grin went from ear to ear. Emma gave him a slightly scornful look.
"A snake in paradise. It would fit fine", the man continued.
"You've created a monster, TR..." Emma sighed.
Matt started to put the design together with the artist. There was going to be an apple on his bicep, with a snake around it, slithering down his arm.
Tico shrugged. "I have wings on my back and a rose down my pants, you can't get much worse than that." He turned towards the available artist. "Playing cards and a ribbon of text. Let's keep it clean and simple."
"What will it say?"
"Lucky Plane Crash", Tico answered, "Ace of diamonds and four of clubs on the cards. Nothing more."
"And where will we put it?"
Emma turned to look at Tico with her head slightly cocked to the side. Tico had been already offering his left shoulder to the man, when he remembered the scars he had there.
"What do you think?" he asked Emma.
"It's for Jeff, isn't it? Put it somewhere you can see it. How about your inner arm?" Emma tapped her own left arm, covered with a sleeve. Tico looked flushed for a moment, it had suddenly gotten hot in the studio.
"Si, that might be good", Mexican mumbled.
"And has the missy decided yet?" the tattoo artist asked Emma with noticeable mocking in his voice. No wonder, since she looked like a tattoo virgin with her nervous behavior. Slightly irritated, Emma tapped on one image on the board. York Script italic.
"This, in white, with black stroke around. 'Mon Chevalier Blanc'. All words capitalized and a break after each."
"Ok... You'll have to write that down for me..." the artist replied, "Spell checking is the worst part in this job.."
"Finally decided on it then?" Mat asked, grinning.
"And that's for Danny", Tico noted to Emma, feeling satisfied that he wasn't the only one in this situation. Sounded French, easily connected to Danny. "Si", he replied to Matt, while smiling a slightly nervous smile.
"Oh, I meant Uniform", Matt replied, a bit baffled. He looked like he had just forgotten Tico's birthday. "That woman has been wavering with this and it has gotten on my nerves."
"So it has", Emma replied quetly.
Matt's tattoo had been started to scetch out, directly on his arm, while another picture of playing cards was being stencilled out.
"I still don't know whether this is a good idea... He's not really my White Knight. Maybe I'll just leave out the 'Mon'..." she hesitated.
"Yes it is", Tico confirmed while still fretting about the woman figuring out his plans. On the other hand, it was nice to know that they were now in the same boat.
"And it's not like you're carving a name on your skin, so if something goes wrong it won't be the end of the world. Danny'll appreciate it. If not, then I'll kick his ass", the Mexican tried to sound assuring. He gains a familiar lopsided grin as a reward.
"Let's just see what it looks like scetched out. I want it here, right under the ribs, on the left side." Emma pointed at her abdomen, about half way from her navel to the lowest rib.
The other artist showed his picture to Tico, and it looked good. He asked for Tico's arm so that he could transfer the image and see if there were any patching up to do. Tico nodded approvingly and started to chat on, to ease his own nerves.
"Is this your first or do you have more?" Tico nodded towards Emma's scetched design.
"So not my first." Emma moved her hair to the side, showing the "T-100" text on her neck. As she took off her shirt she also showed him her quarterback red Liverbird.
"But the first one was for myself", she pointed to her neck, "and the other for the club that I love."
Needles start to penetrate Tico's skin. Tico grimaced.
"Terminator", Tico grinned, as a fan of action films. The bird he recognised from the pictures he saw at the stadium.
"True hardcore fan? It does look good. I have a black rose. Oh yeah, and the pun", Tico tapped at this back over his shoulder, "After the Knights, the joke became even more ironic. One shouldn't tattoo nicknames into one's skin, it'll bite back later."
"Tell me about it", Emma replied a bit bitterly, "They called me the Terminator in the Corps. Efficient and deadly. It was... before it became more real than you'd ever believe."
"And perhaps that's why you're hesitating now as well", Matt called from his own seat.
Tico smiled sourly. "I feel you, sister." Tico moved his shirt up from the right side just enough not to interrupt the tattooist's work and not to show too much scars.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Saint The Fallen Angel", Tico laughed with a voice full of sarcasm. From under his shirt there could be seen parts of a grey wing in bandages and a text. "I wish I would have known, I'd have made them black."
"Maybe it's just a sign of a future promotion?" Emma smirked back at him, "And what's the rose for?"
"A favour, actually", Tico answered, slightly hesitating, "Someone was going to get it, as a childhood dream. Died before making it real. I used to bring flowers to the grave every year, but once I left home it wasn't possible anymore. For a long time I thought that I'd take that rose so I wouldn't have to feel so bad anymore about missing those trips. And it just felt like the right time." Tico sounded slightly morbid.
"Sounds sweet", Emma said compassionately. As Tico's picture was nearly done, Matt's was just starting to be needled in.
"Take a look, whether you'd want the text to be bolder", the tatooist said to Tico, letting him get off the chair.
"Originally it was just for her", Tico still pondered out loud, "but afterwards... there were others, and now it's a little bit for them as well." He got up and thanked the artist, looking at his new picture but lingering near.
"I hope I won't end up on the couch for this," Tico chuckled. Emma sat down in his place. Her design had already been stencilled and now they had an argument about getting it in just the right place.
"That's what we all are hoping..." Emma replied quetly to him.
"Listen, leave the 'Mon' last", she continued to the tattooist, who nodded in reply.
"If you're hesitating that much, just leave it out", Matt suggested, "Danny comes to mind from a mere French White Knight. To you, at least, and that's the point, no?"
"Cold feet, eh?" Tico grinned, perphaps even impishly, "It's your skin. But if you want permanent, then you get permanent, right? Or do you want permanent?" Tico glanced at his own arm.
"I went all in, is the soldier going to left second? I'm just a nurse, after all."
Emma gave him a suffering look
"Just remember, you had lived for Liverpool for 25 years before getting your bird. Danny's a good lad, don't get me wrong, but you've known him for what? Half a year?" Matt interrupted. Emma looked even more suffering and it clearly wasn't because of the needles poking her skin."And apparently you and Geoffrey knew each other as well from before? Give her a break! They just got a baby and everything", Matt continued.
The tattoo artist paused his work, glancing at Emma. "You know, we're not allowed to tattoo pregnant women, or in three months after birth..."
"For a year", Tico begun to say before Matt's words sunk in, "Wait, what, baby?" Tico looked like he had been dropped on his head.
"A puppy!" Emma told him, overjoyed as she got something else to think about, "Oh you gotta come see little Wolfie!"
Tattooist continued his work, relieved. Tico froze and went pale.
"What?" Emma asked him, puzzled.
"A dog?" Tico could barely whisper, "The HQ has a... dog?"
"Yeah, it's got its basket right next to our bed. Well, D's bed. But otherwise he roams around pretty free. It does good for a little one like that to snoop around in peace, where there's space to play in."
"And it clearly has Danny's nose. Like father, like son", Matt cut in.
Tico started to breathe very heavily and glanced around him quickly. He started to sweat and groped at his hair.
"A dog", Tico mumbled again.
"So how you want it, shall we put in this last one?" the tattoo artist asked while holding the needle gun over the top corner of the M. Emma took a few deep breaths and finally sighed submissively.
"Maybe it's best to show this to D first. Let him decide whether he wants to be mine or not...?"
"It's a small dog, isn't it?" Tico croaked, not able to concentrate on anything else.
"Oh I can so hear this conversation in my head!" Matt ragged, "No wait, no I can't. How do you even begin to ask something like that?"
"Wolfenstein? Sure he's small now, but hopefully he'll grow up to be a big and healthy German shepard", Emma replied to Tico, ignoring Matt althogether.
"A German shepard", Tico squeeked in panic, "Why not a pitbull while you're at it, goddammit."
"Tico! Help me out here!" Matt yelled to the Mexican, "That guy is sort of a noble. What do you think he'll like when someone writes that they own him on their belly?"
"Pitbulls are ugly", Emma sniffed, "German shepards have those lovely bat ears!"
"As well as fangs and a snout made for tearing people up", Tico went on.
"Of course. They are war dogs. So perfect as a dog for a soldier!" Emma smiled, clearly missing Tico's panic attack.
"Miss?" asked the tattooist.
"Leave it out", Matt said softly. Tico tried to pull himself together.
"I'd like it. If someone did. A tattoo, I mean. I mean if..." he couldn't keep his head on the subject for long though, "A war dog, for Christ's sake."
"You're not D. No offence!" Emma was quick to add, "Leave it out. I want to know whether D wants even this."
"None taken", Tico managed to mumble back, his thoughts so stuck on the doggie-nightmare that he missed everything else.
Tico and Emma got their tattoo's powdered, greased and bandaged and they waited for Matt to be done as well. They were going to leave the colouring for an other time. Outside the shop, Matt cast heal on his arm and suggested they try the pub around the corner. Tico nodded nervously, looking around him, just waiting for a dog to attack him right that instant. They stayed at the pub for a while, talking about menial things, mostly about football, since Matt and Emma had been going to every match that had Liverpool against a London team. As they were leaving the place, Emma said to Tico:
"I'll let you know, how it went", she grinned just as nervously, "Let me know, as well", she continued.
"Sure", Tico replied, a bit more relaxed now, "Grazias. Company was welcome." The panic about the dog was starting to fade to the background of the excitement of showing off the new skin art.
"Good luck."
Tico was dropped Geoffrey's building door and the Jaguar wroomed away.
***
Tico's phone rang. Call ID showed Emma's name.
"Hola?" Tico answered, especially cheerfully.
"Hey, TR! Listen, you've gotten a tattoo in London, right? Could you recommend a place?" Emma went straight to business, "Foxy didn't know any, since it's been so long since he got his..."
"Ah si", Tico fumbled for words. So Emma was into tattoos as well. Not that it was particularly surprising, but this was just the perfect time for it. "I was actually going to get a new one soon myself. There's a nice little place downtown. Knows their stuff and the price is right."
"Excellent, do you think they have a big waiting list? Mine won't be that big or time consuming, but Matt is also getting another one. For moral support, ya know", she chatted, "and... You could come at the same time, too, of course! More the Merrier! And we'll crab a pint afterwards!"
"Well it's a relatively popular place but I didn't have to wait for too long the last time I was there", Tico tried to remember, "Mine won't be that huge either. Si, will do, I'll just let Ace know. Oh and make sure it's just one pint, otherwise that one is going to have a fit", Tico added, slightly embarrased. Moderation was not his strongest suit.
"All right, give me the number and I'll make a reservation for tomorrow. Call ya!"
"Si", Tico answered while obligingly searched for the number from his calendar.
The next day Emma and Matt came to pick Tico up with Matt's Jaguar. In a moment later they pulled the car in front of atattoo shop. Ink Skull Studio looked like a pretty traditional tattoo shop and behind the counter a large, bald man welcomed at the incomers with a stare. Tico greeted the man cheerfully and announced that the party of three had come to get some new ink on their skins.
"Ah yes, Roho party is it? Go right in and we'll get your scetches."
There were a few available tattoo artists. Matt immediately engaged one in a discussion about a half-sleeve design with lots of colour, the other looked at Tico and Emma and asked what would they like to get. Tico smiled radiantly at the other two.
"What are you getting?" he asked conversationally.
Emma kept her eyes strictly on the font examples on the wall, but Matt gave him a sneer.
"Something bold and beautiful! Some animal, perhaps... Any ideas? A tiger or something."
"Oh you won't shake your red fur that easily, Fox", Emma noted without even glancing at the man.
"A tattoo of a fox might be something a bit too personal", Matt replied while winking at her turned backside, "Someone might get the wrong idea."
"A lion, snake, eagle?" Tico chuckled, "Just not a wasp. Or a spider." He uttered out a more grim laugh. "In my experience, those who get insects don't live that long."
Matt's face lit up.
"A snake, did you say? Oh, that could work. Could work just fine..." his grin went from ear to ear. Emma gave him a slightly scornful look.
"A snake in paradise. It would fit fine", the man continued.
"You've created a monster, TR..." Emma sighed.
Matt started to put the design together with the artist. There was going to be an apple on his bicep, with a snake around it, slithering down his arm.
Tico shrugged. "I have wings on my back and a rose down my pants, you can't get much worse than that." He turned towards the available artist. "Playing cards and a ribbon of text. Let's keep it clean and simple."
"What will it say?"
"Lucky Plane Crash", Tico answered, "Ace of diamonds and four of clubs on the cards. Nothing more."
"And where will we put it?"
Emma turned to look at Tico with her head slightly cocked to the side. Tico had been already offering his left shoulder to the man, when he remembered the scars he had there.
"What do you think?" he asked Emma.
"It's for Jeff, isn't it? Put it somewhere you can see it. How about your inner arm?" Emma tapped her own left arm, covered with a sleeve. Tico looked flushed for a moment, it had suddenly gotten hot in the studio.
"Si, that might be good", Mexican mumbled.
"And has the missy decided yet?" the tattoo artist asked Emma with noticeable mocking in his voice. No wonder, since she looked like a tattoo virgin with her nervous behavior. Slightly irritated, Emma tapped on one image on the board. York Script italic.
"This, in white, with black stroke around. 'Mon Chevalier Blanc'. All words capitalized and a break after each."
"Ok... You'll have to write that down for me..." the artist replied, "Spell checking is the worst part in this job.."
"Finally decided on it then?" Mat asked, grinning.
"And that's for Danny", Tico noted to Emma, feeling satisfied that he wasn't the only one in this situation. Sounded French, easily connected to Danny. "Si", he replied to Matt, while smiling a slightly nervous smile.
"Oh, I meant Uniform", Matt replied, a bit baffled. He looked like he had just forgotten Tico's birthday. "That woman has been wavering with this and it has gotten on my nerves."
"So it has", Emma replied quetly.
Matt's tattoo had been started to scetch out, directly on his arm, while another picture of playing cards was being stencilled out.
"I still don't know whether this is a good idea... He's not really my White Knight. Maybe I'll just leave out the 'Mon'..." she hesitated.
"Yes it is", Tico confirmed while still fretting about the woman figuring out his plans. On the other hand, it was nice to know that they were now in the same boat.
"And it's not like you're carving a name on your skin, so if something goes wrong it won't be the end of the world. Danny'll appreciate it. If not, then I'll kick his ass", the Mexican tried to sound assuring. He gains a familiar lopsided grin as a reward.
"Let's just see what it looks like scetched out. I want it here, right under the ribs, on the left side." Emma pointed at her abdomen, about half way from her navel to the lowest rib.
The other artist showed his picture to Tico, and it looked good. He asked for Tico's arm so that he could transfer the image and see if there were any patching up to do. Tico nodded approvingly and started to chat on, to ease his own nerves.
"Is this your first or do you have more?" Tico nodded towards Emma's scetched design.
"So not my first." Emma moved her hair to the side, showing the "T-100" text on her neck. As she took off her shirt she also showed him her quarterback red Liverbird.
"But the first one was for myself", she pointed to her neck, "and the other for the club that I love."
Needles start to penetrate Tico's skin. Tico grimaced.
"Terminator", Tico grinned, as a fan of action films. The bird he recognised from the pictures he saw at the stadium.
"True hardcore fan? It does look good. I have a black rose. Oh yeah, and the pun", Tico tapped at this back over his shoulder, "After the Knights, the joke became even more ironic. One shouldn't tattoo nicknames into one's skin, it'll bite back later."
"Tell me about it", Emma replied a bit bitterly, "They called me the Terminator in the Corps. Efficient and deadly. It was... before it became more real than you'd ever believe."
"And perhaps that's why you're hesitating now as well", Matt called from his own seat.
Tico smiled sourly. "I feel you, sister." Tico moved his shirt up from the right side just enough not to interrupt the tattooist's work and not to show too much scars.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Saint The Fallen Angel", Tico laughed with a voice full of sarcasm. From under his shirt there could be seen parts of a grey wing in bandages and a text. "I wish I would have known, I'd have made them black."
"Maybe it's just a sign of a future promotion?" Emma smirked back at him, "And what's the rose for?"
"A favour, actually", Tico answered, slightly hesitating, "Someone was going to get it, as a childhood dream. Died before making it real. I used to bring flowers to the grave every year, but once I left home it wasn't possible anymore. For a long time I thought that I'd take that rose so I wouldn't have to feel so bad anymore about missing those trips. And it just felt like the right time." Tico sounded slightly morbid.
"Sounds sweet", Emma said compassionately. As Tico's picture was nearly done, Matt's was just starting to be needled in.
"Take a look, whether you'd want the text to be bolder", the tatooist said to Tico, letting him get off the chair.
"Originally it was just for her", Tico still pondered out loud, "but afterwards... there were others, and now it's a little bit for them as well." He got up and thanked the artist, looking at his new picture but lingering near.
"I hope I won't end up on the couch for this," Tico chuckled. Emma sat down in his place. Her design had already been stencilled and now they had an argument about getting it in just the right place.
"That's what we all are hoping..." Emma replied quetly to him.
"Listen, leave the 'Mon' last", she continued to the tattooist, who nodded in reply.
"If you're hesitating that much, just leave it out", Matt suggested, "Danny comes to mind from a mere French White Knight. To you, at least, and that's the point, no?"
"Cold feet, eh?" Tico grinned, perphaps even impishly, "It's your skin. But if you want permanent, then you get permanent, right? Or do you want permanent?" Tico glanced at his own arm.
"I went all in, is the soldier going to left second? I'm just a nurse, after all."
Emma gave him a suffering look
"Just remember, you had lived for Liverpool for 25 years before getting your bird. Danny's a good lad, don't get me wrong, but you've known him for what? Half a year?" Matt interrupted. Emma looked even more suffering and it clearly wasn't because of the needles poking her skin."And apparently you and Geoffrey knew each other as well from before? Give her a break! They just got a baby and everything", Matt continued.
The tattoo artist paused his work, glancing at Emma. "You know, we're not allowed to tattoo pregnant women, or in three months after birth..."
"For a year", Tico begun to say before Matt's words sunk in, "Wait, what, baby?" Tico looked like he had been dropped on his head.
"A puppy!" Emma told him, overjoyed as she got something else to think about, "Oh you gotta come see little Wolfie!"
Tattooist continued his work, relieved. Tico froze and went pale.
"What?" Emma asked him, puzzled.
"A dog?" Tico could barely whisper, "The HQ has a... dog?"
"Yeah, it's got its basket right next to our bed. Well, D's bed. But otherwise he roams around pretty free. It does good for a little one like that to snoop around in peace, where there's space to play in."
"And it clearly has Danny's nose. Like father, like son", Matt cut in.
Tico started to breathe very heavily and glanced around him quickly. He started to sweat and groped at his hair.
"A dog", Tico mumbled again.
"So how you want it, shall we put in this last one?" the tattoo artist asked while holding the needle gun over the top corner of the M. Emma took a few deep breaths and finally sighed submissively.
"Maybe it's best to show this to D first. Let him decide whether he wants to be mine or not...?"
"It's a small dog, isn't it?" Tico croaked, not able to concentrate on anything else.
"Oh I can so hear this conversation in my head!" Matt ragged, "No wait, no I can't. How do you even begin to ask something like that?"
"Wolfenstein? Sure he's small now, but hopefully he'll grow up to be a big and healthy German shepard", Emma replied to Tico, ignoring Matt althogether.
"A German shepard", Tico squeeked in panic, "Why not a pitbull while you're at it, goddammit."
"Tico! Help me out here!" Matt yelled to the Mexican, "That guy is sort of a noble. What do you think he'll like when someone writes that they own him on their belly?"
"Pitbulls are ugly", Emma sniffed, "German shepards have those lovely bat ears!"
"As well as fangs and a snout made for tearing people up", Tico went on.
"Of course. They are war dogs. So perfect as a dog for a soldier!" Emma smiled, clearly missing Tico's panic attack.
"Miss?" asked the tattooist.
"Leave it out", Matt said softly. Tico tried to pull himself together.
"I'd like it. If someone did. A tattoo, I mean. I mean if..." he couldn't keep his head on the subject for long though, "A war dog, for Christ's sake."
"You're not D. No offence!" Emma was quick to add, "Leave it out. I want to know whether D wants even this."
"None taken", Tico managed to mumble back, his thoughts so stuck on the doggie-nightmare that he missed everything else.
Tico and Emma got their tattoo's powdered, greased and bandaged and they waited for Matt to be done as well. They were going to leave the colouring for an other time. Outside the shop, Matt cast heal on his arm and suggested they try the pub around the corner. Tico nodded nervously, looking around him, just waiting for a dog to attack him right that instant. They stayed at the pub for a while, talking about menial things, mostly about football, since Matt and Emma had been going to every match that had Liverpool against a London team. As they were leaving the place, Emma said to Tico:
"I'll let you know, how it went", she grinned just as nervously, "Let me know, as well", she continued.
"Sure", Tico replied, a bit more relaxed now, "Grazias. Company was welcome." The panic about the dog was starting to fade to the background of the excitement of showing off the new skin art.
"Good luck."
Tico was dropped Geoffrey's building door and the Jaguar wroomed away.
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