Ink and Flowers

Chapter 1 : The Tattoo Artist

I was walking to work (never liked the idea of driving) when I saw the new shop. The fire started in "Percy's Café" had ruined half of the little shop, so it had to be completely remodelled. I had known that there would be someone else buying the place after it was fixed up, but I didn't expect this. The words "Pendragon Flowers" had been put up at the front of the store, replacing the once cursive-styled neon letters that displayed to whoever drove or walked by that the place had been a cute little café. It seemed that the clotpole who bought the place had tried to stick to a similar style of lettering, but I didn't like it.

Quickly unlocking the door to my tatto parlour, "Ink and Magic", I darted inside and started to set up for the first appointment. Usually, people just walk in without an appointment, but there are those who prefer booking ahead of time. I sterilized my equipment then flipped through the design booklet I had. I had several tabs in it marking different sections. The first was labelled with "Ideas". These were designs I had come up with and quickly sketched so I would remember them later. I was known for my unique designs, so people often came in and chose something I had drawn. The second tab was labelled "Customer Ideas". This section consisted with many smaller tabs, each with a customer's name on it. This section was for the sketches I drew when customers came to me with brilliant ideas in their minds for tattoo designs, either for themselves or for other customers to use. I flipped through the folder until I found Gwaine's tab. He was very fond of tattoos and came to me once a month with an idea, quite often wanting me to tattoo his idea on him. Gwaine was my first customer today, so I pulled out the design he wanted.

"Merlin! How are you, my friend?" Gwaine exclaimed as he walked through the door and flopped onto the chair.

"I am well Gwaine, how are you?" I replied, grinning at how quickly he made himself comfortable.

"I'm doing just wonderful, I'm really excited for this new design you thought of! Did you finish the good copy of the drawing?"

"Yes, I did. Here, take a look!" I said as I passed him the drawing I had spent most of last night working on. I was quite proud of it. It was a large, golden coloured dragon whose body would start on his right arm, then its neck would go onto his shoulder/chest, the wings would stretch down his arm and up his shoulder, slightly onto his back, the tail would wrap around his arm, and last but not least, the flames from the dragon's mouth would spread out onto his chest. Ever since I told him about this idea, he kept that whole space free so he could be the first one to get this particular tattoo.

"Wow..." He breathed, "this is bloody amazing!" He ripped off his shirt and got settled in the chair. After gathering the rest of my supplies, I sat down in the chair beside him and started working.