9:00am

It wasn't like this was a new idea to him; rather, it was an idea he'd quietly nurtured for some time. For years it had been just that - an idea. It had finally become a determination after his mother had been locked away. Somehow, the idea he'd never see her again made this even more important. And, maybe, the fact he was scared she'd actually escape and come back - and the guilt that he felt at that being a worry - was helping.

But all his fancy justifications aside, the fact was simple; he wad going to get a tattoo. A real one, that is. He already had one, but the little cartoon shark on his hip wasn't exactly significant. Or symbolic of anything other than bad choices from college.

It still felt odd to be here, though; there was a vague sense that he could get in trouble for this, like if Ignan saw him he'd get scolded like he actually was still a teenager. Having Luthas with him helped more than he was willing to admit.

"You're sure this place is good?" He asked, doubtfully, as the two men made their way through the busy street. "Because if the prices you quoted to me are actually real this tattoo had better be able to accumulate interest or...something," he trailed off, lately.

Luthas smirked, "Well you want it to look better than your shark, right? Don't worry, the place is good. They were the ones who did the one on my shoulder." Subconsciously he indicated his left shoulder, the edges of the large tribal tattoo peeking out from under the sleeve of his T-shirt. "But a full back tattoo on a big person will allways cost a lot more than a dinky him tattoo."

"So...." He drawled, twisting to the side to avoid a speeding pedestrian, "How are you enjoying Hogwarts? Ishane mentioned that you'd been having difficulties." The look Luthas gave Tapendra showed exactly how unhappy he was about having to find things out from the grapevine instead of Tappy.

The two stopped in front of a large storefront, the sign proudly declaring it to be the Rusty Needle in bright neon lights. Luthas opened the door and smirked at Tappy before heading inside, "Ignore the name."

Tapendra shrugged dismissively. "Difficulties about sums it up," he said, with a friendly and polite tone that nevertheless made it clear he didn't really want to talk about it. "It's chaotic, is all. With half the staff quitting and the kids being...well..."

He waved hand vaguely, but let it flop to his side when he saw the sign. The magic in the sign didn't help the impression it gave, as it flickered in odd places and suggested that the enchantment needed to be redone. Still, he trusted Luthas enough to assume the man was right.

"Just so long as they don't use the needle to shoot up beforehand," he said, half-jokingly and half seriously.

The inside of the shop was considerably more affluent than he'd expected. It was a bit more traditional than the place he'd gotten his hip done - more polished wood and far less stainless steel - but the seats were well cared for and clean, the art on the walls all tasteful and the general atmosphere was, over all, upstanding. It almost made him feel bad about the shooting up comment; though at the same time he wondered what had possessed the owner to call it the Rusty Needle in the first place. Irony, perhaps.

It also made him fear for his wallet. At least his mother's money paid for that, as loathe as he was to spend it. He might have more money than he'd expected to ever have now...but for some reason that made him more stingy.

"You know one of the artists, don't you?" He asked, stepping next to Luthas in a subconscious sort of way, unsure exactly how this went. He'd made an appointment with Luthas's help, but still...

Luthas grinned at Tapendra's reaction when they walked inside. He had a similar reaction as well, though he was confidant that he had hid it better "The name's an inside joke between the owners, I've been told."

Luthas led the way to the counter, "Yeah I do. A couple of them actually. I made your appointment with Bobbie, she's the one who did Ish's orchid tattoo." He turned to address the lady behind the counter, "Luthas Blair and Tapendra Trishna." The girl (Lily, if he remembered right) nodded and marked something down in a book on the counter. "I'll let them know. It'll just be a bit." She turned and walked into the shop back without waiting for a reply.

About two minutes or so later, Lilly returned with two people following her, a man and woman. The man was an average sized well built man of East Asian ancestry. The black tank top he had on revealed his sleeve tattoos and the large Buddha on his back. The woman was of some sort of indeterminable European ancestry and, while her gray baby doll shirt didn't reveal as much as her fellow artist, it still allowed for almost all of the rather impressive phoenix on her right arm to be seen.

Luthas smiled and took the man's hand, "Iseul, Bobbie, great to see you both." He gestured to Tappy, "This is Tapendra."

"Yeah, alright," Tapendra said, and let Luthas handle the front desk, since he seemed to know the girl. Instead, Tapendra hung back, arms folded loosely behind his back as they waited. He was glad the person assigned to him was a woman; not just because she'd been the one with better art, in his opinion, but also because he really didn't feel like getting shirtless for a man, again. It might turn into a pattern.

The several months since having to strip down to his skivvies for Darian obviously didn't matter. Patterns were patterns.

Luthas got the extensively tattooed man, and Tapendra followed...Bobbie? To her chair. She'd come out with an envelope under her arm and as he sat in the dentist-like chair, she was opening it and pulling out the design.

"Nice to meet you," she said, with a smile, and Tapendra took her hand and returned the grin, though he was clearly nervous. She patted his arm. "It's not as painful as it might seem. Now then..." She turned the paper over towards him, and eyebrow raised. "This your first tattoo?" She asked, with another smile; he got the sense she might be preparing a sarcastic little bit on how it only hurt if you let yourself think it did.

"No," he admitted, and shifted, lifting the edge of his shirt and turning the waist of his jeans down a bit to reveal the somewhat faded shark. Bobbie smiled, and he flushed slightly. "It's like a decade old," Tapendra admitted.

"Cool. So you're familiar with how this goes, then." She looked at the design again. "Not gonna lie - this is gonna take awhile. Thankfully there's no shading," she said, as she started putting her tools onto her workbench. "Go ahead and take your shirt off."