Drawn to You

Chapter 13

"Nothing quite like fresh ink, is there?" Rhea looked down at Liv's newest tattoo, and Liv could tell she was fighting the urge to touch it.

"I know." Liv turned onto her side so Bran could clean away any smudged ink and wrap up her tattoo. "I don't think I'll ever have even half as many as you, though."

Rhea shrugged. "That's okay. It's not a competition, right? As long as you're getting ones you like, that's what matters." Once Bran had put an adhesive healing film on Liv's side, Rhea handed over her bra and shirt. "The bra is optional, you know," she teased. "You don't really need to wear it."

"I'll take it off first thing at the hotel," Liv replied as she got to her feet, sliding her bra into place and turning her back to Rhea so her girlfriend could close the hooks for her. "Thank you." She pulled on her shirt before sitting in the spot Rhea had just left, and she was glad it still held some of her warmth. After setting her purse and Rhea's on the floor, she stretched out her legs. "I'm ready for my strip tease now, Ms. Ripley."

Bran chuckled. "You two must be a hoot backstage." Over the course of Liv's tattoo, they got talking about their current jobs, since Liv had mentioned possibly wanting to get into inking in a few years, and it turned out Bran used to watch wrestling when he was younger. Liv promised to get him and Orlando tickets for the next time WWE was in town, and Orlando had sneakily put together care bags with healing salve, cleaning wipes, and moisturizer for both women. "These are small, so they shouldn't stop you from wrestling, but...." He gestured to some of Rhea's larger pieces as she took off her shirt. "I imagine you had some of those done while you had holidays?"

"We don't really get holidays as such," Rhea replied. "I mean, we can ask for time off, sure, but it's not like Hey, you get four weeks of holidays this year. I tend to get mine when I'm injured or if they say I probably won't have a match for a week or two. That's not always the case and... yeah, I suffer for it, but... gotta make it work somehow, right?"

"And we won't have any matches for a few days," Liv added, "so that should help a bit, right?"

"Definitely. The more healing time you can get, the better." Bran cleaned off the bed, switched gloves, and prepared the equipment again while Rhea took off her bra and tossed it to Liv. "Okay, you said you have one on the left side, yeah? I'll take a quick peek at that...." The inker grabbed a washable marker and traced a line across Rhea's back from her spiral sigil tattoo to her right side. "Right about there, I think." He motioned for Liv to come over. "What do you think? Look about right?"

Liv hoped he wasn't asking her in any professional context, because she had no clue. "I think it looks pretty parallel. I mean, you've got the better eye for it, obviously, but it looks even to me."

"Good." Bran picked up a hand mirror and motioned Rhea over to a wall-length mirror. "There's the line I drew," he explained, passing the hand mirror to Rhea. "So I was thinking here for the scales. Is that cool with you?"

"Perfect." Rhea handed the mirror back to the inker and returned to the bed, getting into position. "Do you only work at this market or do you travel around?"

"I'll travel a few states over and up into Canada sometimes, because that's where Orlando's family is from," Bran answered, pouring the steeped ink into a small cup. "Other than that, I tend to stay local. It's expensive to lug my equipment everywhere. I have a few regulars who spend enough to make it worth my while and they'll usually pay for my trip, so that's nice."

Liv patted her side gently and smiled. The fresh tattoo stung a bit, but it reminded her of the explosive joy of Pop Rocks on her tongue. "I'm not sure when we'll be back, but I'd definitely like to get a magical tattoo by you next time. I'll get my witch friend to mix up the tincture so I don't mess it up. Doing magic on yourself is always hit or miss."