RP:Ink for Oline

Summary: Oline has ideas for her own tattoos, Meri and the giantess have been working on how to make this happen. Hopefully this is not a botched attempt.

SoulsKin

Meri wasn't immediately within sight at the shop. And by not immediately within sight, it seems that Meri has stepped outside to stretch her legs for a few paces while smoking a cigarette. She probably rounded the corner of the building so that she could get a peaceful view of the ocean while she blackened those legs. Meri wouldn't be out of the shop for more than ten minutes and the shop would not be left unattended. There was always that chap that Lita and Meri had in their employ to help run the front end by answering questions and scheduling appointments when both artists were too busy tattooing to speak with the clients directly. Depending on when Oline arrives, she could be waiting for ten minutes or so before Meri shoulders open the door of the establishment and returns to work.

Oline hadn't had to travel far today. She'd taken up lodging in town, anticipating making the trip back to Meri's shop at some point... though perhaps not this late She left her name with the fellow at the desk whom informed her that there was nobody presently able to assist her and took up a seat against the far wall to wait. It was a good thing she'd brought that little leatherbound book with her again! No sooner was her butt planted on the seat than out came the book, its dogeared pages lazily ruffled through as she searched for her page.

Meri would thankfully not keep Oline waiting for long, not long enough to really flip through the pages of her book. As soon as the artist returns to the shop a smile is instantly donned at the sight of the not-so-giantess. "Hey!" Meri exclaims, not really too surprised to see the other woman. They had been making plans. "Well come on back. Let's do this." She had definitely anticipated that Oline would be back sooner rather than later and had already gone through the motions of setting up all of her equipment that she'll be using onto the cart that she usually rolls closer to the tattooing station. "Alright, so this is a tester, aye? So that means we should probably be picking a spot that maybe most people don't end up looking at? Just in case this does not work out as intended...." Meri motions for Oline to make herself comfortable in one of the tattooing chairs, likely the very same one that Eirik sat at yesterday. By the sounds of it, Meri had a few ideas turning in that mind of hers but she would first defer to the giantess, "So do you have any ideas of what you want to do for a tester tattoo?" Red lips twist up into a sly grin. "You want a butterfly, don't you? I know you dooooo." A joke!

Oline tried to stifle her laughter, failed, and ended up snorting to boot. "Ah'll hafta pass..." she stated, rising back up to her feet and following Meri back towards the station. "... Ah wuz thenkin' mebbe sumthin' simple. Lahk this." She found the page she'd been looking for in her book and held it up to show Meri. There, on a page with various runes and glyphs, was an arch with a circle on top and three underneat. It was this that the giantess pointed to. "Tha's th'symbol foh Valkr... hizza sort've... soljuh gawd. Anchyuhnt warryuh-poet frum th'Skaaldi clans. S'posta mean yeh'll fahnd 'venchyuh 'n fame iffin y'wearriz symbol. Ah figyuh iz gawtta be dubble lucky t'have it fohevuh-lahk. Raht?"

Meri only spared half a glance at the glyph in the book before Meri was grabbing her own sketchbook and a piece of charcoal. When at work these objects were readily laying around. Within it she quickly replicated the drawing, an arch with one circle above it and three circles beneath it. It is quickly shown to Oline to see if it meets the giants seal of approval. This was not one of the most complicated tattoos that Meri has done but spacing can sometimes be important when it comes to runes and glyphs, or so the artist would believe, thus why Meri does a quick sketch of it for Oline. "Right, I think you are spot on with that logic. Double lucky. Sit, sit. Come on now, have a seat." A flash of a grin as Meri waits for Oline to make herself comfortable. With the what settled upon, Meri just needs to know the where. "I was thinking maybe your ankle? That way if this is a total bust at least you can cover it with shoes?" Though Oline will once more get final say.

Oline looked the drawing over carefully before nodding her approval. "Tha' looks abbowt raht! Shoore!" As for the question of where to put it, that was something she'd been trying to figure out. She wanted it to be someplace not terribly obvious if it turned out terrible, but... at the same time it was the symbol of her faith, and it felt weird to intentionally obscure it so. But where else could they put it it wouldn't be obvious? "Ah... s'pose tha's orrite, less yeh gawt enneepless else y'thenk ent gunna be seen?" Given her typical state of dress... there weren't really a whole lot of options. Maybe the ankle was best...

Meri fetches Oline a basin of water, some soap, and a rag because if she was wanting her ankle to be tattooed upon...well Meri would be working with clean feet. No shoe sweat, toe jam, sock lint, none of that would be something that Meri wanted to deal with....and this was no offense to the giant, either. Meri hits everyone who thinks that their feet will rest upon Meri's legs with the 'wash yo' dang self' request. While Oline heeds this request, Meri will move to that cart and wheel it closer only to settle herself into position on a stool in front of the giantess. "Well, think of it this way. Shoes are a matter of choice. If this turns out good, then you can opt to wear sandals and can show off the symbol. If it doesn't turn out like we are hoping? The ankle can be easily covered." For such a simple design, Meri wasn't even going to start with tracing an outline in temporary ink like she might do with clients wanting a more elaborate tattoo. It's straight to the needle and ink for Meri but she gives pause, she will not be diving right into the fun part without at least warning Oline. Past conversations have suggested the giant might prefer a more gentle approach. "You ready?"

Oline 's feet were... probably among the most-in-need-of-washing to have grace Meri's shop recently. The girl never wore shoes... and her hygeine was primarily limited to bathing whenever someone instructed her to. She'd been careful to clean up prior to coming to get inkwork done, but... she hadn't been thinking about her feet. After a quick scrub, though, they were good as new and ready to go. Oline's nerves, on the other hand, weren't quite so much so. Swallowing down a slight lump in her throat, the un-giantess took a deep breath and nodded her head. "Mhm! Ah'm reddy. Ah thenk..."

Meri grabs Oline's left foot and places it up upon her knee, twisted just slightly so that Meri can have more of a view of the side of the limb rather than a top view. "Three....Two..." One wasn't a number that Meri actually reached because one was literally marked by the sensation of a needle poking into flesh. Thankfully, the design that Oline had selected for herself was just a few simple lines. Those lines might have their own shape to them, but ultimately those arches and circles were just a matter of five simple lines. Oline would not be subjected to nearly as much pain as other clients and she wouldn't even have to deal with the joys of the shading needles. Some tattoos took Meri hours to complete, this one would be done within a matter of a few minutes. Maybe Oline didn't agree, so Meri would try and tease her friend with, "So I know you said you wanted that glyph thing but what I am really doing right now is tattooing a unicorn onto you...okay? So pretty soon here we're going to be diving into some purple and pink, because I really think those are your colors...." If Oline cared to look, it would be pretty obvious she was not getting a unicorn. Plus look at that obnoxious smirk held across those red lips, so serious.

Oline winced only once, punctuated by a sharp gasp, before letting the breath go and closing her eyes. When they opened again, she was almost serenely calm... up until that comment about a unicorn. She honestly wouldn't have been terribly perturbed had she quickly glanced down at the needle and seen that, yes, she was indeed getting a mono-horned horsebeast. That being said, she was certainly glad to see the design she'd requested being reasonably put to flesh. "Almoss 'ad me tha' tahm. Woulda' had t'leef a bad r'view! Honestly... en't too bad... thot'd hurt wurssin'iss..." another wince, and a bit lip. "Hnnss... stings a liddul."

Meri enjoys a good joke -- at least she finds herself to be funny, maybe others do not share this opinion quite as much as she does -- but she thankfully is not so much a prankster as to tattoo a rarely seen beast onto Oline's ankle without consent. This is not the way to keep friends. A wink to Oline and then Meri sets up, placing the needle aside and cleaning the freshly tattooed ankle up, wiping away both blood and ink onto a rag that is discarded right over the needles she was using. "Annnnd done. There. That wasn't so bad now was it? The ankle tends to be a more sensitive place because the needle ends up moving closer to bone, but it really isn't that bad. If you can get beat up by bugs you can get a tattoo. Take a peek at your first ink and then I will bandage it on up, yeah?"

Oline was glad to see that the tattoo had turned out very much like she'd envisioned it. The pain had hardly registered after the initial shock of it, and now that it was done she felt rather confident in her ability to sit through the rest of what she'd had planned. Grinning, the giantless-giantess gave her toes a wriggle just to make sure it wasn't like... not her leg or something stupid before glancing aside. "Now all'Ah gotta do iz get bigga 'en see 'ow th'ink r'sponds, huh?" Well... she'd wait for a bit first. Not too long, but... she'd give it some time to recover and rest at least. As an aside, she asked "Wuzza weerdist pless y'evvuh hadda tattoo sum'un?"

Meri would do the clean up in a few minutes, first she applies a salve to Oline's leg and then wraps the ankle in a bandage. "This does not need to say on more than a couple hours." First and foremost, and then Meri flops back to Oline's question, "Eh, to me there is little that is strange about the body. For the most part, much of us are equipped in all the same ways with all the same bits. Unless you are like...maybe a naga or something?" A mature answer, but honest because Meri didn't view any of the requests she has received as weird. "Maybe I have just gotten a very lucky run with my clients though, eh? I suspect that the requests might get weirder if I was like Lita and also did body modifications." Cue a bit of a light smirk but that fades as Meri flips the subject back to instructions, "You can't get your tattoo be getting dirty. You will need to keep it clean for a few weeks. Don't let it be exposed to the sun for too long." Which may be a challenge for someone who runs around barefoot all the time. "No frolicking about in the ocean for hours on end. Normal habits can resume in a couple of weeks...Well....that is the timeframe for humans." Was it faster for giants? Meri did not know. That was Oline's decision. "Finally," Meri bustles about the room again to retrieve that same salve that she had put on prebandage. It is given over to Oline. "Twice a day, once in the morning, once in the evening. Not too much. Not too little. You can't let the tattoo dry out. Some flaking is normal, too much flaking is bad. Do not pick, do not itch."

Oline listened intently. She wanted to make sure she understood everything she needed to do to properly take care of her new tattoo. Once the instructions were over, the giantess took a moment to stash the salve away in her satchel before turning to look at Meri. "So, 'ow much d'Ah owe yeh?" She'd have to wait and see how quickly things healed up down there, so she didn't have any questions about that. Was there anything else? Hmm... guess not.

Meri shakes her head sternly as Oline attempts to circle the conversation back to the topic of money, "Naw, this one? This trial? It is on me. This was an experiment and I cannot guarantee the quality of this work. We'll talk price when it comes to any future work I do on you." Or perhaps any touch ups to correct any mistakes on the current work, if said experiment fails miserably. With nothing left to do but the same old clean up routine, Meri starts about that process. It is very much the same process that Meri did the day before upon completing her work on Eirik. Needles are disinfected, there would be boiling water involved first. Rags are tossed into a hamper. Ink is put away. Carts are wiped down. The list of chores Meri will be performing goes on.

Oline stood up, giving her leg a testing bit of pressure before walking around on it lightly. It still stung, but... definitely nothing to be worried about. With nothing left to do, the giantess found herself loitering awkwardly. "Ah hope it enn'a total failyuh..." she sighed out loud. "Ah rilla wanna git th'restuvvit dun." She was back to leafing through that book, now, wistfully. She'd already picked out the runes and symbols she wanted and exactly where they would go. But all of that would be for naught if she couldn't maintain the integrity of the inking once the size-altering magic making rendering her small deactivated. "Ennythin Ah kin do t'help 'rownd ere then? Fill bad fer geddin' sumthin foh noffin... speshully frumma frend."

Meri flashes Oline a wide grin, one meant to convey appreciation for the offer that the giantess puts toward to Meri. "Honestly? It's not that much. And what I do not feel like doing..." Her gaze travels to the front desk, centering on the chap that greeted Oline at the start of this session, when Meri had stepped out. That pointed look does not linger for long for Meri finds herself creeping over Oline's shoulder to see some of the pictures she was staring so longingly at. "I suppose worst case scenario is going to be that this does not work, the tattoo ends mucked up, and I end up investing in another set of needles like we had planned from the get go." And if that happens then Meri would have to find some way to touch up/cover up the tester tattoo upon the ankle. "You just let me know once you find out the results of this experiment, yeah? You got an idea as to when you were thinking about doing this? I've got an appointment with an avian in the next day or two and then there was that whole thing that warrior's thing that I promised you and Eirik I would go to as well."

Oline hummed thoughtfully for a moment, tapping her chin with her index finger. "Ah... wuz thenkin' mebbe raht afftuh w'get back. Mebbe git sum kinda tribyoot foh suhvivin' th'buggas, too, aye?" She thumped her chest with her fist and grinned, flipping her book closed and heading for the door. "Izzit impropuh foh me t'ask who th'aveeyuhn is? Ah'm kinna kyureeuss. But Ah en't wanna pry iffin they's keepin' idda secret o'sumthen."

Meri nods and without hesitation for whatever tattoo Oline wanted, she would probably get it out of Meri at some point or another. The time frame presented, about after they get back from this expedition she is being convinced join seems reasonable enough and thus earns no objection from Meri. "Her name is Brennia...I think you saw her at the party..." Not that Meri had really spent much time socializing with Brennia -- she hadn't wanted the giant to be snubbed by the others in the room. Blue eyes slant toward the window, noting the fact that no rays of sunlight are to be seen anymore. "Well, it is getting time for me to close up shop. I've got a few things that I need to take care of here before I can actually head on out but I will see you this weekend. Up in Frostmaw." Or maybe sooner, one could never tell. Their paths did cross a lot, but they definitely had plans for Saturday.