Participants:
| Scene Title | Welcome to the Family |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Winters meets Xiulan and gets a tattoo. |
| Date | July 26 2009 |
The interior of the Green Dragon is cramped, at best. No larger then eighteen by thirty in total, the space has been divided in half by the presence of an ornate blanket hung on clothes line. Upon stepping through the door, clients find themselves in a modest waiting area, the walls and ceiling all decorated with samples of the artist's work, the majority of the work displayed from Chinese myth and legends. A low slung, dark blue loveseat is arranged before the picture window to the left of the door. A view of the street, however, has been blocked by a rendering of a massive Chinese dragon. Over head, the single bulb lending light to the area has been draped with a red scarf, creating an almost eerie crimson glow that just barely manages to penetrate the room. Needless to say, numerous shadows haunt the nooks, crannies and corners. To the right of the door, an end table boasts a coffee pot, styrofoam cups and a basket with creamer, sugar packets and stirrers.
Beyond the hung curtain, the space is even more cramped, boasting just enough room for a reclining tattoo chair and the shelves of inks, needles, guns and cleansers required for safe working conditions. Upon the far wall, rickety bookshelves paly host to numerous bodywork texts and magazines, a goodly portion of those in Chinese. While the workspace is most assuredly cramped it is still immaculately clean. Of course that could just be because of health regulations, hard to say.
Typical of tattoo parlors anywhere, Green Dragon Tattoo keeps odd hours. Odd hours, in this case, meaning it opens when Xiulan is in the mood and has the time. Such being the case, Xiulan has only just arrived back at her shop and flipped the sign from closed to open. The fact that she's only just gotten in herself is made more clear by the fact that there is a sack of steaming hot take away on the counter and the artist, herself, is in the process of turning on lights and tidying up stacks of magazines.
After giving what he saw as an adequate enough time to get in and get situated, the door opens again. He's been sitting here, waiting. When you can be running around in any number of different places, waiting for one place to open isn't that big of a deal. Winters closes the door behind him, wearing jeans and a white t-shirt. As he deems appropriate for going into a store, he allows Xiulan to do the greeting.
There is a 'ding-a-ling' courtsey of the bell over the door, a sound which brings Xiulan's head up and a smile to touching her lips. "Heya, come on in I'll be just a second." Magazine straightening is left for another time as the artist straightens and brushes dust off her hands before extending one toward the potential customer. "Xiulan Song."
Walking in, Brian offers his hand out to her as she does the same. "Brian." Is all he'll give her. Usually being a bit more polite and sociable he simply looks around. "Wanted a tattoo." Like that isn't obvious. "On my right shoulder." He motions to said body part. "Nice to meet you, Xiulan." He adds as an afterthought
"Awesome," is the response to the desire for a tattoo, the word coupled with a single shake and release before she draws back a step. "Do you already know what you want? If not," she adds with a tilt of her head toward a stack of black binders against the wall. "I have some sample books you can choose from." Stepping around the counter, she goes about the business of filling a coffee pot and putting it on to brew. "Coffee'll be up in a sec." Her take away? That's tucked behind the counter to be dealt with later.
"Yeah, I do. Well.. a rough idea. I want a yin-yang." Brian murmurs, glancing over at the sample books. "I'd rather it look awesome." He gives a little smirk.Glancing over at the sketch book. "But the details of it.." He gives a shrug. "Not sure on. Just want it to look good."
Slanting a glance over her shoulder, Xiu quirks a brow as she sets the coffee pot on the hot plate. "Well, what looks good to me might not look good to you… But.." Trailing off, she steps away from the coffee pot and ducks behind the counter to rummage in a small file cabinet. It is after a few moments of doing so that she pulls out two sheets of paper and sets them on the counter. "Personally, I like the koi, myself, but…" So saying she slides both pictures across the counter for Brian to look at.
"Fish." Brian responds blankly as he looks down at the papers, obviously not sounding thrilled at the koi prospect. "I was thinking something more.. black and white. Stylish, but simpler. Does that make sense?" Brian asks tilting his head at her. "How long have you been doing this?"
"Since I was old enough to mix inks with my mother," Xiulan answers easily enough. The fish not prefered, she turns back to the file cabinet and draws out another sheet of paper. This one has two black and white representations of Yin and Yang with a more tribal flair to them. "If we can't find something that suits you," she notes. "You can always find exactly the right image and bring it to me." One shouldn't, in her opinion, get the wrong tattoo after all.
"That's a long time." Brian remarks idly. Looking at the sheets, he brings his finger down to one and taps it twice. "That one's good." He murmurs in satisfaction. "I like it." Taking a step back he admits, "I've never gotten a tattoo before, though."
"You'll hardly feel a thing," Xiulan promises as she gathers up the chosen picture. Gesturing toward the half open curtain and the chair beyond it, she tilts her head in invitation. "I'm going to need you to take off your shirt for me and have a seat." Slipping out from behind the counter, she slips behind the curtain and sets the picture down to start pulling out ink and set up her gun. "About how big did you want it?"
Taking his shirt by the bottom he pulls it off as he makes his way into the curtain, brushing it aside with one hand he goes to take a seat. Setting his shirt on his lap, he leans forward. "Take up the whole back of my right shoulder." Brian says, folding his arms in his lap.
"Your call." Moistening a fold of fresh cotton with antiseptic, Xiulan steps over and swabs the area to be worked on, her tone curious as she asks. "This is your first tattoo?" Whether or not he chooses to answer, the cotton is set aside and the gun is taken in hand. From behind and slightly to the right, a soft buzzing hum can be heard, a slightly prickly vibration on his flesh preceded by the words, "Here we go." Now, while the gun is real and there are needles in it, they have all been filed down to the point where they won't do more then give the illusion of a perfectly mundane tattoo being performed. In reality, the design takes shape courtsey of Xiulan's ability, the graceful, sweeping whorls of the yin and yang taking shape in a perfect recreation of the picture chosen.
"Yeah. Never had one before." Brian answers. "Doesn't hurt at all." He notes, with a smile of admiration. "So. I heard you do some work for.." His eyes go out to the window. "Some people of.. lesser repute. I might say." He looks over his shoulder to see what her reaction might be. "It's alright," he adds in. "I've started working for them, as well."
Lesser repute? Xiulan actually quirks a brow at that, her lips twitching in a wry smile. Really, she doesn't mean to be coy, but she works with a lot disreputable people. "Depends on who you mean, really. I mean, I work on anyone with the cash to pay for thier ink." Turning her gaze back to her handiwork, she makes a show of dabbing mock blood off his flesh before slanting a glance back up to his face. "Fortunately, my business is perfectly legal, so if you happen to be fishing for something to hang on me, you'll be sorely disappointed. Otherwise, welcome to Chinatown and obviously, there'll be a discount applied to your work." And if he turns out not to be Triad? Well, she'll get her money back in a couple of pounds of flesh. "What sort of work do you do for them, Brian?"
"I'm not here to hang anyone." Brian responds gently, giving a little chuckle as she wipes off his not-blood. "Right now, I'm getting information." And that's all that will be said, for now. "Thank you. For now, I'm just an.. associate, I guess you would say. Have to prove my mettle with my first job." A wave of his hand says that this will be no problem.
Silent a beat, Xiulan shakes her head as she checks over her work, the hum of the gun ending as she deems the tattoo worthy and finished. Yes, if it were done the old fashioned way, it would have taken considerably longer. Fortunately, Xiu's work is quick and always perfect. "Well, make certain you pay attention to the details of your assignment," She advises. "Many people have gotten themselves into a great deal of trouble by not following the letter of the 'law'. At any rate," she adds as she sets the gun aside. "Welcome to the family, Brian. Consider this a welcoming gift to our newest member." That said, she again swabs the tattoo with antiseptic, tossing the cotton away before offering her hand. "No doubt you'll be working more work done in the future, so."
"Thank you very much." Brian says, glancing over his shoulder to the newest addition on his person. Going to rise out of the chair he grabs his shirt and hangs it on his shoulder. "Maybe I'll get some work done here… But I'll definitely be seeing more of you, Xiulan."