RP:Full Day Of Work

From HollowWiki

Summary: Back to back tattoos for Meri all day today, but Oline finally gets to have the tattoos that she has been wanting.

SoulsKin

There is a faded message painted across this shop's front door which reads, abandon all Hope. It may be just cryptic enough to pique your curiosity... Two glass display cases dominate the center of the room, filled with trinkets and jewels from around the world. In the back corner, beneath the stairs that lead to a second floor, there is a bookshelf with a comfy armchair next to it. A low work table lines the entirety of the western wall, a couple of chairs and a bench sitting in front of it. There is a curtained partition, for those that might wish to have their ink work or body modifications done in privacy. The work table is usually littered with bottles of ink in various colors and sketches of viable tattoo designs. Feel free to chat up the artists who might be working if you're interested in having some work done.


Oline strode into the tavern looking better than she'd looked in quite a while. There was a certain sway in her half-pint step as she swept in through the door, loincloth propped up lazily on her hip like an afterthought. She stopped at the counter up front and leaned against it, happy to wait until Meri had finished whatever transaction she had with the burly looking fellow who'd come in just before her. The giantess didn't mind waiting... he was an interesting bit of eye-candy, that one. Besides, she had to sort out the two pages worth of runes she was wanting done from the rest of the clutter in her satchel. One of these days she'd make herself a bigger bag...

Meri was just bandaging up that burly sailor right when Oline came in, payment was taken and the guy was sent on his way. It seems like her tattooing sessions are just going to be slammed and back to back today, thankfully Oline was considered a friend and not a client and Meri was inclined to take advantage that with a demand of, "I need a damn cigarette." Said with the tone of someone who has not even had the chance to smoke for hours. Her own cigarettes are located in her personal belongings that are tucked away in some drawer toward the back of the shop, lighting up on the way over to Oline. "Alright, girl. So what do we have and where do we want it? Hit me with it." It would be best if Meri stepped outside to smoke, but it was toward the end of the night and did Oline really care anyway? Naw. Plus it gave her the chance to hear Oline out and Oline the space to organize her papers.

Oline didn't mind at all, though it did make her hand instinctively slide down toward the row of cigarettes tied loosely into the strap of her loincloth. She stopped herself just a bit short, though. It was Meri's shop. She could get away with smoking in here. Oline, maybe not so much? Instead she just looped her thumb through the sinew band and placed the parchments she'd finally found down upon the counter. "So... Ah'm wantin' thess forr 'ere..." she gestured to the first grouping of runes on the page. In order they were: A large shape like a K, but with a tail in the middle of the back line and dot situated in the arch of the tail. The next was a squiggly shape not unlike a ~ merged with a >. The third was the same as the symbol they'd done on her ankle. The last one was an angular S-shaped symbol with a Y superimposed over it. "... thess iz gunna b'th firss wuns. Ah'm juss wannin 'em 'cross m'showlduhs lahk." She pointed to the next four, which her author would surely describe in detail another time when her brain is working better, and indicated similarly across her chest... albeit a bit more stylistically in order to account for the terrain. "'n thess forr 'd go heyuh." The last six were on the second page, and she quickly indicated. "En thess wuns'd be on each ahum. Onna owtsahd've it... runnin down frumma showlduh lahk."

Meri double checks her understanding of that it is Oline wants. "Aight, so you want this one here?" She points to the first tattoo indicated, the one that started with the large K shape. "And you want it running horizontally along the back of your shoulders?" Meri touches from shoulder blade to shoulder blade, the gesture not at all a flirty one, but it is simply to bring spatial awareness to Oline as to where Meri understands these tattoos to belong. "The grouping of four...? You want along your chest. Also horizontally? Or vertically?" The final group of six is pointed to next. "And this, is essentially double....You want this running...down, so vertically, starting from about your shoulder blades? So..this tattoo would likely start just below the first tattoo....?" Motions to the first tattoo by waving her cigarette wielding hand, brow lifted a touch. While she waits for the confirm, Meri puffs away at her cigarette. It wasn't her shop, really, but the artist has seen Lita do it so if the bosslady does it than smoking inside is probably okay on occasion, right? Then again, what Lita doesn't know won't hurt her! Naw, Mer likes Lita too much for that nonsense.

Oline nodded her head at first bit, though she couldn't quite see over her shoulder. "Mhm... th'firss forr'd be lahk tha, yeh... 'nnen the wuns on the arms is the same on both sahds... 'n wud staht sumpless raht about 'ere..." she tapped herself on the bulge of her arm where it met with the socket of her shoulder and ran it straight down the outside of her arm down to the wrist. "Izza r'peetid verse. Ah' thot'd make sense t'puddit on both." "N'then th'frunn wuns'd be horis... horz... they's'd be 'zontuhl cross th'chesst. But... lahk..." she gestured in a sort of loopy fashion above the slight curve of her breasts. "Nawt... lahk... straight 'cross're noffun... ovvuh." She held out hope that she might not be done developing in that department just yet.

Oline nods, moving toward the front door so that she could flick the remains of her cigarette outside and then to work she would go. "Alright, chick. I think you are familiar with this drill then." This time she does not demand that the giantess wash, having the hopes that Oline had clued in on that want from the first session with the ankle. "Have a seat. What we are going to do is the set of four on your chest first, then we'll move to the six on the arms. And the last one will actually be the piece you showed me first? The reason being, if we do that one first you are probably not going to be able to just set back and relax in the chair, sort of thing." Meri knew she did not need to ask Oline twice to follow this instructions and so the artist would set about gathering her supplies. As there was barely time between clients today, Meri would have triple the cleaning to do tonight by the time it was all said and done. Good thing they had supplies aplenty here. Comfortable enough with the designs that Oline has picked out for herself, it is straight to the black ink and needle for Oline. Ink, needles, rags, etc, they are all gathered and set onto a cart that is wheeled over to where Oline is meant to be seating herself (and probably already has done).

Oline was clean, and not just in the having freshly bathed sense either. Well, mostly, if one didn't count whatever fleas she might have picked up from the shoddy inn room she'd stayed in or somesuch. Who knew with those kinds of places, anyway? No, she was quite sober today. As promised. "Orrite.. .mecks sense t'me. Ah dun mahnd whut order they's dun in. Most folks en't gonna know wuttha sod they mean, enny'ow. S'fahn." commented as she planted her butt in the chair and took a deep breath. "Buzzy day, hmm? Ah saw Pilar com'n owt on m'way in. How'd her m'morreeyuhl turn out?"

Meri bobs her head in a nod as she picks up her needle, not one of the ones that has been used on any of the other clients -- those still need to be cleaned. It would be straight into work Meri would go, and she would not count it down in the same way that she did the first time she tattooed Oline. This time it was a simple, "Let's do this." And then, the tattooing began, starting with her chest as Meri explained that she would be doing. The runework curves gently along the line of her chest so that the tattoo is indeed not in a straight line as promised. It's after she begins that the conversation starts, "Yeah, apparently. It's like, when it hits it hits? Then I can easily go a week or two without getting hardly any work." Which tends to be the time that Meri is more prone to traveling and getting into her other mischief. "Pilar seemed very happy with her piece, which is good. That would be the worst wouldn't it? Getting a tattoo for someone you love who is now dead and then hating it because it turned out horribly...." Thankfully this was not the case, in Meri's time working here she's never botched a tattoo. Knock on wood. Every so often Meri would reference the papers that Oline has brought along to make but it would not take Meri long to complete the chest piece. As customarily done, all that extra ink is cleaned up and Oline is presented with a mirror but...Meri does not stop here, she moves on to the left arm to start the first set of six. Thankfully she did not need Oline to move, Oline could hold the mirror in her right, all she had to do was keep the left still.

Oline barely flinched, honestly. Occasionally there was a sharp hiss of air when the needle bit down a little harder than she'd steeled herself for... but Meri was quite competent at her job and that served to relax the giantess immensely. Upon mentioning botching jobs, she couldn't help but snort and shake her head. "Ah'm shoor idd'appens... Ah'd be ahll kinna piss'd iffit were me. Dun thenk Ah'd evvuh git sumthin' sad lahk tha' puddon me. D'be lahk... carryin' a coffin arownd with me're sumthin'. Ah'd nevvuh git t'rummemba th'good thengs." She shook her head. "Folks greeve in they's own way, tho. Sum gawta carry the coffin... sum gawta stick it away 'nna grownd 'n fohgeddabowdit. Ah'm sumpless atween both'vem. Ah'd go back 'n vizzit the grave wunssin awahl." She inspected her chest in the mirror and grinned fiendishly. Red and raw as it was, it came out beautifully. "C'mpasshun... akind t'Valkr's mercy..." she hummed softly, nodding her approval "Wizdum akind t'Valkr's light. Love adkind t'Valkr's pashuns 'n Currige akind t'Valkr's might." It was a short, simple prayer... often repeated as a kind of mantra during times of great strife in the girl's life. Oline laughed faintly and shook her head. "S'ucha borin' liddul poem... en't noffin lahk summa th'stuff Valkr hisself wrote affore b'comin th'Valkr evvuhwun r'membuhs now." Not that anybody outside of Hjotun-Ka really know much of anything about the warrior-poet god of the Fjaaldenreikers."Nngh! Ow..." she grumbled softly as the needle bit hard again. "Y'do a byootuhful job! Ah kinnevvin uh-maggin y'screwin up!"

Meri was glad to listen to Oline talk, it could be so awkward working in silence at times and yet the woman could only concentrate so much on the conversation while also tattooing. Music. Music would be nice here, she mulls to herself, briefly letting her thoughts stray from Oline's words. "I suppose it could be viewed as carrying around the coffin so to speak. Personally I view it as a way of honoring someone's memory, if they were important enough to you in life then why should you forget them in their death?" All one really had to do was look at the inside of Meri's wrist to know that she has her own story of someone tattooed upon her -- though she has at least thankfully learned they are not dead as of recent. So maybe it's not so sad anymore. "I don't think there is anything boring about the poem and it definitely does not seem boring to you. You seem to cherish it quite a bit." During the time spent talking she has finished up the tattoo on the left arm, cleaned it up, and moved on to the right. Oline is still armed with that mirror and she is free to look all she pleases. Quick work is made of the right arm, from tattooing to clean up, and soon the final set will be tattooed, all Meri needs is...."Alright, Oline, time for you to sit up."

Oline slowly stood and turned around. She managed to straddle the chair comfortably with just a little finaggling and let her chin rest against the back. "S'umthin' m'mutthu usta sing... whinna Ah wuz rill liddal. S'th'only memry Ah've got've her. M'folks dahd whenn'Ah wuz jussa wee thing. Ah wuz raised by bears!" It was distinctly possible that Sigdis had made that up and simply gone senile before ever explaining it'd just been a fun story. Oline went back to humming cheerfully, suddenly feeling very self-conscious about chatting incessantly. "Ah wu'un fohgeddum... Ah juss... thenk nevvuh bein' able t'geddaway frum th'sadness... maht be too much foh me. Y'know? Sumtahsm... Ah've gawt 'nuff gowen on. Thenkin' abowdt alla folks Ah've lost? Dun thenk Ah'd b'able to focus."

Meri would nod, except she was presently behind Oline so it honestly did not matter as whatever her reaction was would be unseen anyway. It could be felt though, that she was hard at work completing the last run of Oline's numerous tattoos. Her needle would go from the left shoulder blade, to the middle of her back, to her right shoulder blade. "Raised by bears, eh? I mean you are a wild one but I am not sure you quite strike me as the raised-by-bears-feral sort." There would be a brief shrug but again, how would Oline know? "Well, like you said, everyone has their different methods of grieving and coping. Some of them are healthier than others but eh, most of us have no room to judge." Not that she was meaning to imply she felt like Oline was judging, that was not the case. It was just idle commentary during the discussion. The rag would be felt across Oline's back along with the proclamation of, "Done!" Except for the bandaging portion. Meri would take care of all of that now, starting with her arms, finishing with the back. The artist was not overly concerned about letting Oline get a view of the last tattoo, sort of challenging with a back piece. "Tell me the rules of tattoo care again, Oline." Otherwise, Meri would remind her. Twice a day with the salve, no sun, out of the ocean, don't pick, don't scratch, probably will heal faster than two weeks as the first seemed to heal much faster.

Oline recited the rules perfectly, in an almost monotone voice. She'd had to remind herself through repetition... not that she thought it was a droning list or unimportant or anything. "S'tha... kinda stung a bit, yeh!" she admitted with a slight flush of her cheeks, allowing herself at last to slide a cigarette out of her waistband and prop it up between her lips. "Soddin' wurth it, tho... kin fill th'Divahn pruhtechshun allreddy." Or was it just the sensation of pain causing a mild euphoric state? Hard to tell. "S'whuts th'damage, coin wahs?"


Meri smirks at the monotone voice that Oline takes on while reciting those rules. It reminded Meri of those days when she was a child, stuck at school and having to do something for the teacher that she didn't want to do. "Yeah, they sting a bit. The closer to bone I get, the more it is going to hurt." A thoughtful moment of silence as frankly Meri had never considered the price of this work up until this moment. "Eh, it's just a bunch of line detail really. So I am thinking that a hundred and fifty gold is a fair price." There might be a 'friends discount' in there somewhere but Meri has learned that it is easier to just not come out and say that. People object, then she doesn't get her way, yada yada.

Oline seemed to think that this sounded like a perfectly reasonable price, and quickly set about fetching her purse. It, like so many other things, was buried in her satchel. "Ah'll prolly be willin' t'dowet aggen latuh... mebbe wuns Ah've d'sahded on sumthen rill spiff t'do." She was already toying with the idea to commemmorate the slaying of the Queen Wasp, though it hadn't quite materialized into a proper vision yet. "Ah'm thenkin' abowdt sumthin' t'celebrayt killin' tha' Wasp Bitch." she eventually said, if only to break up the tedium of couting out 150 gold coins. "... Ah neerly gawt kill't ridin' tha' bugga! Thenk Ah d'suhve sumthin' t'membuh it by." She'd been too injured to collect a trophy... and in fact she'd lost two prized possessions beneath the sand, her Kanabo and one of her Giant Mantis Scythe blades. "They's ya go! Wun fifftee! S'fahn iffin y'wanna cownit. Ah'm nawt th'best at math."

Meri did not feel inclined to double count Oline, she trusted that her friend has supplied more than enough. Even if she was short? (Which she was not) Meri would have not fussed over that. That gold was collected but then set aside without a thought, placed next to her other earnings for the day. "Oline, whenever you want to have yourself a tattoo done? I am happy to do it for you." But for tonight? Meri couldn't even think about handling one more tattoo. It was late, it was time to lock the doors, so it was with a wave of her hand she motioned to the mess she has to clean up. She made it, it was only fair. "Alright, I have got quite a bit left to do tonight before I am going to be able to sneak out of here so....It's time for me to lock the doors, yeah? You and I will be seeing each other soon." Of that Meri had no doubt.

Oline gave Meri a smile and a nod before heading out the door. A glass orb with a softly-glowing green flame emerged from her purse and pressed to the end of the cigarette between her lips. It bust into flames a couple seconds later, emitting a small trail of sweetly-scented violet smoke. "Oh yus... Ah'm shoore we will! Thenks aggen, priddy lady. Ah'mma go fahnd a room foh th'night. Catch a ship back t'Cenril inna mornin'." And with that, she was out the door.