Rain falls gently all over the city, small droplets cling to overhead awnings, car windows, the sidewalks, and everything that dares to cross its path. It's a soothing touch to the normally bustling city whose rush stops for no one, save for Mother Nature of course because she controls everything whether civilization likes it or not.
The streets squish with the remaining residue from the earlier downpour, the sidewalks are heavy with umbrellas and thick rain coats, and the sky is coated with dark billowy clouds, still pregnant with rain and threatening to explode within a moment's notice.
Carter leans against the brick wall of her shop, a cigarette between her lipstick stained lips and her crystal blue eyes roaming the less active streets for anything abnormal or interesting. Only the rain catches her eyes for a good ten minutes. Her original cigarette is long gone and she's lit another one out of habit. Really, it's unusual for her to smoke only one on any occasion.
She's far too busy admiring the low hum of the drenched city to notice the man that's deliberately making his way over to her shop, the faint neon sign that reads Indelible Creations capturing his immediate attention.
A cloud of smoke passes through her slightly puckered lips, her eyes landing on the figure of a lanky man with his hands shoved awkwardly in his pockets, debating on whether or not he wants to take another step and enter the tattoo shop.
The corners of Carter's lips lift slightly as she notices his hesitation, "We don't bite. Although, the burn of the needle surely does. Are you looking to get a new masterpiece?"
The man hesitates, his right hand rising to run through his mess of curly hair, "Yeah, actually. Dunno what I want though, that's the problem."
Carter snubs her cigarette on the brick wall and properly disposes it in one of the fancy disposers that she installed a few months prior. "In that case, how about you step inside and take a look at our books to get your mind working and your inspiration flowing."
The man nods, a tilted smile to his unusually plump lips. "Sounds good, yeah. I'm Harry, by the way."
He sticks out his hand with a friendly smile, which Carter returns professionally as she shakes his hand, "Carter."
She drops his hand and steps inside the familiar atmosphere of her shop, her smile instantly switching to a genuine one as surveys the home away from home that she's created.
"Okay, so, the only artists here today are myself, Jeremy, Alex, and Pandora. However, Alex is booked all day, so you can go to anyone but him. Our books are on the table over there and I'll come back over in a couple of minutes after you've had some time to delve into our artwork and to imagine something that you'll like. Just ring the bell on the counter if I don't come over here quickly enough. Please, help yourself to anything in the fridge or on the table, it's all complimentary."
Carter leaves him at the front of the shop and heads back to her chair to tighten up her machines and to make sure that everything is as it should be. She does this often so that she knows that there's nothing wrong, but it's become a bit of a habit over the years and she just can't seem to let it go.
Pandora makes her way over and rests her head on her arms on top of the medium sized wall that separates her booth from Carter's. "Who's the hot guy up front? I'd like to have him in my chair, hot damn."
Carter laughs briefly, her eyes lifting from her machine and meeting Pandora's, "Settle down, Pandora. He's a human being, not a sex toy. His name's Harry. I'm not too sure what he wants, but he definitely wants something. I told him that he can pick his artist, but if you'd like to try and win him over, please, be my guest. But no sleeping with customers in the shop, do that at your own place."
A smirk finds its way to Pandora's lips as she winks, "Bet you twenty bucks that I can make him a sex toy for the night."
Carter laughs and continues to work on her machine without looking up, "I dunno, he doesn't seem like your typical boy toy, Pandora. Only twenty?"
Pandora playfully rolls her eyes, "None of them do, Carter, you should know that by now. Yes, only twenty because I know you'll fire my ass if it's more and I win."
"Good thinking on your part. Alright, you're on. No buying him out though, that doesn't count and if you do you're going to pay me double."
She knows how her friend is and, if she doesn't clarify that one rule, she knows that she'll do anything that she can to win a bet.
Pandora playfully scoffs as she starts making her way to the front of the shop, "You're no fun!"
Carter laughs lightly to herself and calls back, "I'm fun enough to keep you employed!"
She can't hear the two of them talking up front from her booth, but it doesn't bother her much because she already knows what Pandora's saying to try and convince him to let her tattoo him and introduce him to her bed.
Pandora's known to use men like him, but Carter's confident that this guy is different. Hell, he might not even make it into her booth.
It's not very long before Pandora's walking back over with a noticeable frown, "You might have actually won this bet, damn it. He says that he'd like it very much if you would be his artist and that he's ready to discuss what he'd like whenever you're ready."
Carter raises her eyebrows, it's unusual for a man like him to pick her over Pandora and her overtly sexual flirtation. "Me? This guy actually prefers me over your horny ass? I'll be damned."
Pandora laughs with her because she's surprised as well, it's not like Carter isn't an attractive woman, it's just that she's a little more revealing and she's overly sexual. "I know! I even pushed my boobs up a bit more! But hey, you're hot too, so it's understandable. The bet isn't over yet though; I've got some time to figure out how to get him in my bed."
Carter laughs a little louder this time as she stands from her chair, "You flatter me far too much to be straight. We'll see about that. I might just go out for drinks with my winnings."
She heads to the front of the shop and finds Harry fiddling with his thumbs, a small smile on his lips as he waits.
"So, what are you looking to get now that you've awakened your mind?"
Harry's smile grows and his hands fall into his lap, "I was hoping to get a pinup on my arm. I really admire your work."
Carter nods because pinups are nothing new to her, she's actually quite good at them. "You're in luck, those are actually one of my specialties. Is there anything specific that you'd like, or would you like to see what I come up with?"
Harry continues to smile and he shakes his head. "Something nautical, other than that, just make her look stunning."
She smiles because she loves it when the customers give her artistic license instead of restricting her to rigid details and hard outlines. "Sounds good! I'm just going to go draw something up really quickly. Again, feel free to help yourself to any food or drinks."
Carter leaves him there again and, once again, when she returns she finds him sitting in the same position with a smile on his face as he twiddles his thumbs and carefully inspects the photographs of tattoos that line the walls.
She stares at him for a moment before asking a question that she usually doesn't have to ask, "You alright there? Not on drugs or anything?"
Harry laughs lightly as she takes a seat beside him on the couch. "No drugs, I promise. I'm just admiring your work."
Carter looks at him with a raised eyebrow, "How did you know that those are mine?"
Harry shrugs, his smile still intact. "Little nuances that aren't present in any other artist's books. You live to leave your mark, don't you?"
She nods briefly, it's a little weird that he's noticed that so quickly. No one's ever noticed that before and it's...different.
"Yes, I do. Anyway, here's what I came up with for you. You seem like more of a 'modesty is hot' kind of guy, so I made her sexy but modest. I can change that if you want, it will only take a minute or so."
His grin literally stretches from ear to ear, it's the best drawing that he's ever seen and he loves it the way that it is. "I love it! It's perfect!"
Carter smiles and stands up to make her way to her booth and Harry follows, "Alright, just follow me and we'll get started."
She leads him to the back and into her sitting chair while she gets the stencil printed. He sits patiently and watches her with the utmost intrigue. He loves coming to tattoo shops and watching other artists put their hearts out with the ink that they set into his skin. Tattoos are one of his favorite things and he's not really sure that he'd be the person that he is without all of the tattoos that he's gotten over the years.
Harry watches her with light eyes as she marks his skin with dark ink and a needle. For a man who looks like a woman can break his heart with just the snap of her fingers, he sits very well. Pandora spends about an hour of her free time trying to lure her into her bed, only to be shut down very politely which inevitably leads to her giving up on winning the bet she made with Carter.
"How long have you been doing this?"
Carter looks up from the tattoo and pauses packing the color in on his pinup's shorts, a small smile gracing her lips. "Doing what? Dealing with her, or marking people for life?"
Harry laughs and it's a nice, but unexpected, sound compared to how low that he speaks naturally. "As you put it, 'marking people for life.'"
Carter returns to color packing and she laughs lightly as he slightly jumps in the chair as the needle runs over a particularly sensitive patch of skin. "About eight years or so. I got an early start when I was a teenager."
Harry sneaks a peak at his arm as she works the tender skin with the needle, "You're very good for only eight years' experience. Actually, you're probably the best artist I've gone to."
Carter smiles to herself, she's worked hard to get where she is in the industry and ten times harder than she should have had to because she's a woman. It really means a lot to her to hear him say that, even if he's a stranger."
"Thank you, I work very hard to keep improving in my weaker areas. I've just got to add a bit of white to some of the highlights and then you'll be done and ready to go."
Harry nods even though he wants to stay for a little longer and get to know her a little better, "Can I ask you a personal question?"
Carter hesitates with her answers because personal can mean almost anything. "I suppose that it wouldn't hurt."
He winces as she runs the needle over a particularly irritated part of his skin, "Do you have a boyfriend?"
Carter fights the urge to laugh as she shakes her head and sets her machine down, "No, I don't have a boyfriend. Why do you ask?"
Harry gasps as she cleans his fresh ink, the solution feels like it's searing his open skin. "Just wanted to make sure that no one would kick my ass if I asked you to have a couple of drinks with me after your shift ends."
Carter laughs freely and shakes her head at the thought. No one's asked her out in years and it's been that way for a reason. She's not really ready to get back into the dating game and she's not that interested in it either.
"Thank you for the invitation, but I think I'll pass. You're all set, total comes to three hundred and fifty, the solution is complimentary."
Harry hands her four hundred, "You can keep what's left, your prices are generous for the work that you do. If you change your mind about drinks, just let me know."
Carter can't hold in her smile, "Thank you, and if that happens you'll be the first to know."
She snaps a photo of his new ink and sends him on his way. Pandora's quick to question her as she starts to reset her station.
"You did not just tell that walking piece of sex no when he asked you out for drinks! Please, tell me that I was just hearing things."
Carter shrugs, it really isn't that big of a deal to her and there really is more to men than just good looks and sex. "No, you heard correctly. You know that I don't care about romance right now, Pandora. Plus, he scheduled an appointment to come back in a month for another piece. If it will make you happy, I'll sleep with him and then go back to focusing on my art."
Pandora sighs and hands her the twenty that she's won from their earlier bet, "What happened to you that turned you away from relationships? Even sexual ones for that matter?"
Carter drops her eyes because it's a topic that she doesn't want to discuss, even with her best friend. "Something that I'd rather not talk about."
Pandora nods curtly, she understands that it's something that really gets to her and she tries not to push her about it too often, but she does wish that she'd be a little more reasonable about relationships. "Alright, I won't pry. But you can't avoid relationships forever, Carter. Art isn't everything that you need to thrive, your heart needs something too, not just your mind."