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birthright_rpgAt least this time she'd showed up in broad daylight.
In Searchlight's library, there had been a book about the symbolism of tattoos, tribal and otherwise, and Echo had read it in one sitting while sitting in the same spot she and Holly had shared. It had given her a lot of food for thought, and she'd mulled it over while cleaning out the van to find something to show Devin when he brought her his next few chapters. Would it help? She didn't know. Her parents had never had anything to say about getting tattooed, either for it or against it. She still hadn't called them.
The drive up the highway made her palms sweat, but she'd deliberately gone early enough that there was no chance of darkness falling while she was in Vegas. As long as there were no shadows, there was no place for that thing to hide. She hoped.
The tattoo parlor was called The Starlight Den, and the hybrid stepped out of the heat of the day into a pleasantly cool interior. There were two couches against one wall, several chairs taking up space in the middle of the floor. She could smell the fresh wax job. The bell above the door had jingled cheerfully when it opened, and a woman with bright orange hair came out of the back room.
"Hey there. Can I help you?" "Uh, yeah, I hope so." Echo stared at the unnatural shade of the other woman's hair for a full minute before collecting both her wits and her thoughts. It wasn't as if she'd never seen a dye job before. "I was thinking of getting a tattoo, but I figured I'd better ask somebody who does that kind of work before doing anything permanent."
"Well, I'm Judy, and this is my place. Did you have a design in mind?" "My name's Echo, and not really. I read this book about symbolism and what it means to get tattooed, and I was thinking I'd get something simple." "Simple is the best way to start. A lot of people make the mistake of getting something really elaborate the first time, and then they end up regretting it. I have some books you can look at, artwork I've done in the past. Everything from Chinese characters to spirit animals. Here, have a seat."
Judy's calm demeanor settled the brunette's nerves, and she studied the glass-topped table in front of the sofa she sat down on. She wasn't afraid of the pain since needles had never bothered her, but this had a point to it and wasn't just a lark. If the stuff about what body art meant was true, it could give her some help in learning to deal with the much wider world. She was going to have to deal with things somehow.
The books turned out to be portfolios of photographs, close-up work of various people's arms, legs, and backs. The tattooist left her to it, and Echo flipped pages contemplatively while considering and then discarding designs. She should have come in with something already in mind, but if spirit animals were popular she'd have asked for a wolf without thinking about it. And that felt like trivializing the Wolf, or possibly giving away too much information.
She finally found something that looked promising, and her sneakered feet carried her across the recently waxed floor to the room Judy had come from, which featured posters on the walls and what looked like a barber's chair. "What's this one mean?" Echo asked, turning the book so the other woman could see it. "I keep meaning to label the pictures of characters," Judy said with a self-deprecating smile. "That one means courage."
"Really?"
The hybrid looked at the picture again, traced the simple black lines of the tattoo with one finger. 'Courage'. God knew she needed some of that, and more often than not. It was small, it was tasteful, and it wasn't as if she were having herself branded. She wanted to do this.
"All right, I want this one."
"Cool. Just give me a few minutes to get my supplies ready and we can get started. You're lucky, you caught me during a lull. If you'd waited until the late afternoon, I'd have been swamped. This is a small place, but it's pretty popular with the music crowd. I need to hire more help."
Echo left the room on the stream of Judy's cheerful chatter, and she felt oddly at ease even knowing she'd have to take her shirt off. This would help, if only symbolically. If she could get 'Courage' tattooed onto her flesh, maybe some of it would sink into her soul.
She hoped.
In Searchlight's library, there had been a book about the symbolism of tattoos, tribal and otherwise, and Echo had read it in one sitting while sitting in the same spot she and Holly had shared. It had given her a lot of food for thought, and she'd mulled it over while cleaning out the van to find something to show Devin when he brought her his next few chapters. Would it help? She didn't know. Her parents had never had anything to say about getting tattooed, either for it or against it. She still hadn't called them.
The drive up the highway made her palms sweat, but she'd deliberately gone early enough that there was no chance of darkness falling while she was in Vegas. As long as there were no shadows, there was no place for that thing to hide. She hoped.
The tattoo parlor was called The Starlight Den, and the hybrid stepped out of the heat of the day into a pleasantly cool interior. There were two couches against one wall, several chairs taking up space in the middle of the floor. She could smell the fresh wax job. The bell above the door had jingled cheerfully when it opened, and a woman with bright orange hair came out of the back room.
"Hey there. Can I help you?" "Uh, yeah, I hope so." Echo stared at the unnatural shade of the other woman's hair for a full minute before collecting both her wits and her thoughts. It wasn't as if she'd never seen a dye job before. "I was thinking of getting a tattoo, but I figured I'd better ask somebody who does that kind of work before doing anything permanent."
"Well, I'm Judy, and this is my place. Did you have a design in mind?" "My name's Echo, and not really. I read this book about symbolism and what it means to get tattooed, and I was thinking I'd get something simple." "Simple is the best way to start. A lot of people make the mistake of getting something really elaborate the first time, and then they end up regretting it. I have some books you can look at, artwork I've done in the past. Everything from Chinese characters to spirit animals. Here, have a seat."
Judy's calm demeanor settled the brunette's nerves, and she studied the glass-topped table in front of the sofa she sat down on. She wasn't afraid of the pain since needles had never bothered her, but this had a point to it and wasn't just a lark. If the stuff about what body art meant was true, it could give her some help in learning to deal with the much wider world. She was going to have to deal with things somehow.
The books turned out to be portfolios of photographs, close-up work of various people's arms, legs, and backs. The tattooist left her to it, and Echo flipped pages contemplatively while considering and then discarding designs. She should have come in with something already in mind, but if spirit animals were popular she'd have asked for a wolf without thinking about it. And that felt like trivializing the Wolf, or possibly giving away too much information.
She finally found something that looked promising, and her sneakered feet carried her across the recently waxed floor to the room Judy had come from, which featured posters on the walls and what looked like a barber's chair. "What's this one mean?" Echo asked, turning the book so the other woman could see it. "I keep meaning to label the pictures of characters," Judy said with a self-deprecating smile. "That one means courage."
"Really?"
The hybrid looked at the picture again, traced the simple black lines of the tattoo with one finger. 'Courage'. God knew she needed some of that, and more often than not. It was small, it was tasteful, and it wasn't as if she were having herself branded. She wanted to do this.
"All right, I want this one."
"Cool. Just give me a few minutes to get my supplies ready and we can get started. You're lucky, you caught me during a lull. If you'd waited until the late afternoon, I'd have been swamped. This is a small place, but it's pretty popular with the music crowd. I need to hire more help."
Echo left the room on the stream of Judy's cheerful chatter, and she felt oddly at ease even knowing she'd have to take her shirt off. This would help, if only symbolically. If she could get 'Courage' tattooed onto her flesh, maybe some of it would sink into her soul.
She hoped.