Dripping Ink (Open)

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Gryphon entered the tattoo shop for the fourth time in his life. Each of the three other tattoos that adorned his body he had gotten on seperate days, and he felt in the mood for a fourth. He had a general idea of what he wanted, but it was difficult to put a finger on what exactly he desired. He flicked through some folders of tattoo art for inspiration.

Gryph wasn't the best artist. Meaning he couldn't draw a stickman to save his life. He liked his tattoos to be unique, though, so two out of the three he had were writing, both in a hand written style: the one across the inside of his right forearm reading 'Sometimes when you fall you fly.' And the other, which sat right underneath his wings, said 'This is what freedom looks like.', with specific attention on the word 'freedom'. His other was the silhouette of an eagle on the inside of his left wrist, with it's wingspan fully stretched out. All of his tattoos meant something; if they didn't, what would be the point in having them?

[Deleted]

Anthony wasn't thinking about getting a tattoo. At least he didn't think he did. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with them, his dad had a few himself, it was just that there were needles. Not that he was scared of needles, just that he didn't like the idea of being dug into by one repeatedly over and over. He heard the things bled. He heard it felt like a cat scratch. Or a lot of cat scratches.

But just in case he wanted one ever, it would probably be a good idea to have an idea of what he wanted and what options there were and how much it cost. Actually, Anthony thought he might look kind of cool with a sexy mexican girl on his arm that practically did the hula whenever he flexed. Yeah. He wondered if this artist would be able to do something like that.

And the fact that he had about $300 cash in his wallet meant nothing.

He stepped into the shop with his thumbs casually hanging off his pockets, moseying about like he belonged there and knew what he was doing. Uh....now what? Did he just...pick something from off the wall? There was another guy looking through a book. Welll....when in Rome.... Anthony strode up beside the asian boy and looked over his shoulder...well more like next to the guy and peered off from the side. "Hey," he said not-awkwardly. "So...have you ever gotten one of these before?" When in doubt, ask!

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

The idea of getting a tattoo, for some people, would be pretty daunting. I mean, you pay some random (qualified) stranger to insert ink into your arm, making some permanent design on your body, which was only removable if you had the money for that kind of treatment. Gryph himself... didn't really mind so much about all of that. It was good to take risks! And he planned his tattoos well, so he wouldn't regret it later.

He lifted his head when someone else came through the door, and dropped it again seconds later. He didn't recognize the guy; extra attention didn't feel necessary.

But a shirt while after, the boy was stood over Gryph. He beamed a smile up at him, "Hi." He turned over the page to look at some new designs; there were a lot of tribal ones in here, it was kinda boring. He nodded in response to the stranger's question, "Yep," he was wearing a long sleeved top, so he pulled the sleeves up his arms, exposing two of his three tattoos. "Got one on my back too, but I don't think you need t'see that." That statement was a bit... vague, and could easily be taken as an innuendo or something similar, but he'd already said it now.

He looked up at the guy, "What about you?"

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Anthony looked down at the ink the other boy showed him, a smile creeping on his face. He shot up his eyebrows at the strangely suggestive statement, deciding to take it a little further in jest only. "Well, if you're wanting to catch the attention of someone as awesome as me, then you might want to show off that back of yours." He rolled his forward, fixing his eyes back on the designs in the book. "But seriously, does it hurt as much as they say?" Anthony looked up again at the asian boy, his eyes questioning.

"No, I mean...no," Anthony denied, "I'm...not thinking of getting anything, no. This is for a...a project! Yeah! For my English class. Doing a controversial essay on, uh, the uh....the acceptability of tattoos in the workplace! And so, here I am, out here, doing interviews to get some, uh...some first hand sources, you know?" Not a bad lie, if he did say so himself. Just the execution sucked.

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

I'm not sure you'd want t'see a pair of wings today, Gryphon thought at the boy's comment, which seemed laced with self confidence. "It's not particularly special r'anythin'," he replied, trying to draw attention away from that area of his body. He wasn't ashamed of his wings, not by a long shot, but some people couldn't handle them. Especially those who were anti-meta.

"It's not terrible. It does hurt, but it's alright, as long as you're ok with needles." He explained, speaking the truth. Some people made it out to be the worst thing in the world, getting a tattoo, but it honestly wasn't that bad. Or maybe Gryph just had a pretty high threshold of pain, who knows?

For someone who seemed so confident and sure of himself at first, for him to suddenly start stuttering and stumbling over his words was... unusual, to say the least. The actual reason... wasn't a bad one, but it was still difficult to believe someone who struggled to come out with it so much. "Right." He said with a smirk and a few chuckles, "So who you gonna ask?" He questionned, looking around the otherwise empty room, going along with what the guy had said. They were the only two in the shop right now, the owner was in storage or cleaning tools or something right now. Besides, he was intrigued to see how long he could keep this up.

[Deleted]

Now that just didn't make sense. Why would someone get a tattoo if it wasn't anything special? It was a permanent work of art being done to your very body, how could it not be special? Unless….maybe those stories he'd heard of people getting drunk and cut were true? Jumping to conclusion based on very inaccurate assumptions, Anthony nodded and gave the other boy a comforting pat on the shoulder. "Didn't turn out like you wanted, huh? Sorry to hear that…" He could be so sympathetic, reading between the lines and everything!

Though at the mention of needles….needles were nothing! Yeah, Anthony could handle needles! Still, it did make him a little hesitant. "Sounds…interesting."

Yeah, Anthony wasn't all that good with the lying, especially not the spur of the moment kind, and it was plainly obvious. But at least he had perseverance and could ride it out for as long as he thought he could get away with it. Or until he got too worked up and started spouting teddy bears everywhere. "Well…." Anthony scanned the room. "If….uh….you were looking to get a tattoo….or actually since you already have them maybe…I don't know, you could answer some of these questions?" Damn, he didn't have any prepared…..and actually he wasn't expecting to be called out in his lie with the need to follow it up with another one. "That is, if you aren't busy." Please be busy, please be busy.

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Huh? No- what? No, that's not what he meant! What gave him the idea that- well, he had said it wasn't special. But still... no, there would be no point trying to prove otherwise. He would have to come up with some ridiculous other reason why he didn't want to show the boy his back, because unless the other boy somehow told him that he was meta, or at least, wasn't against them, Gryphon was not showing him his back. He just gave him a look that read 'what the fuck are you on about?' for a second or two before, shaking his head, and leaving it at that.

Oh yeah, being stabbed in the arm multiple times was the most interesting thing on the planet. He pulled his sleeves down again and crossed his arms, this guy was being oddly suspicious. "Yeah." A single syllable to acknowledge the fact that he'd heard the guy. And that was all he was saying.

Gryphon's eyesight flickered around, and upon seeing no-one else still, he shrugged his shoulders and closed the book of designs on his lap, "I've got nothin' else to do, fire away." He was intrigued to know where this guy was gonna write down what he was saying, but he'd find out soon enough anyway. If the guy didn't cave first.

[Deleted]

Anthony was a meta so he probably wouldn't have been too surprised to see this guy's wings, but he also had no reason to believe that he was also meta, nor had he indicated it of himself. And Anthony wasn't about to tell anyone what his power was by his own free will.

Then again, if he got flustered enough, this kid might find out anyway.

Which was likely to happen since he seemed to be cornering Anthony in his poorly composed lie. "Oh, you don't? Well, that's…perfect!" He nodded with a slight too much enthusiasm. For a moment, he just stared blankly at the asian boy, a little awkwardly as his mind raced to find out what to do. What could he…? How could he…?

Right! A phone! Anthony had a phone! A good one too. He could still swing this….act he wasn't even sure why he was still playing.

Anthony pulled out his phone from his back pocket and pressed a few buttons, pulling open a recording program. "So…" Question question. "Whhhaaaat inspired you to get the-the designs you did?"

Great save Anthony!

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Gryphon beamed him a wide smile, "Perfect." he echoed back quietly (now was not the time for him to get bird tendencies, being a parrot wasn't exactly fun). The boy stared at him for a few moments and he raised his eyebrows, looking back with interest. "Well?" he wasn't being impatient or anything, but... he was just standing there.

And then he produced a phone. He rolled with it, maybe he was just secretly very shy? He wasn't sure, but he didn't want to laugh at the boy's skittishness. Not yet anyway.

Oh crap, now Gryph had the difficulties. The reasons why he had all of his tattoos were because they related to his flying and his love for doing it. Which wasn't exactly something he could say. "What inspired me to get them?" Alright, buy time, buy time... hmm... random backstory or... guh. "I love birds." That was most definitely true. "And I'm pretty jealous of the fact they can fly around." That was a complete lie. Seeing as he could fly. But he was on a roll, "So they all relate t'birds and freedom and stuff, because that's what I love." That was good enough. Believable, in the least. He smiled openly, waiting for the next question.

This was fun.

[Deleted]

Yup, everything was going peeerrrfectly smoothly. Anthony's ad-libbing skills were one of a kind, there was no way this guy suspected that he was just bullshitting for no particular reason other than he was afraid to admit he was afraid to get a tattoo and was trying to figure out how scary it really was.

Anthony kept his eyes on the other boy, waiting for an answer. He should know the reasons why he got each and every one, right? It shouldn't be taking so long…right?

So…a bird fanatic, huh? That made sense. There was something a little dispassionate about his story though, didn't fanatics usually go into long rants about what kinds and favorites they liked? Though he could definitely understand the desire to want to fly like them, that would be pretty cool. "Wow, that's pretty interesting," he said, with a totally cheezoid smile. "So…you like birds." Of course, he just said so, you idiot! "Are you…are you a bird watcher? Which one is your favorite?" As is any of this had to do with tattoos anymore.