TITLE: Five Tattoos

AUTHOR: Faith Alana Alastair

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, Joss is god. All non-buffyverse characters are fictional. Any or all similarity to real people or places is coincidental.

PAIRING: None.

RATING: NC-17

SUMMARY/PROMPT: Five people get tattoos. Drabbles.

SPOILERS: This is post-chosen, but not necessarily Season 8.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: A shout out to my girl, Crash, a wicked tattoo artist, and the inspiration for this. Faith and Dawn's are NYC, Buffy's is LA, Willow is England, Xander is in South Africa, in case you wondered.

FEEDBACK: PLEASE! ALWAYS WANT!

DISTRIBUTION:Want...Ask...Have


Faith closed the door quietly. "Hey you," she said, smiling. "On time, just like I promised."

"Hey yourself."

Faith eased herself into the chair and rolled up her sleeve. "I got a drawing for you," she said, producing a folded up piece of paper from somewhere. "Can you do this?"

Crash nodded. "No problem."

Drawn quickly, transferred to skin, and the sweet pain began, ink slowly pushed into skin with the insistent buzz. Too soon, it was over, a flourished, Gothic "B" on the slayer's shoulder. The tattoo artist smirked, and cash changed hands.

Standing, arm wrapped, Faith smiled. "Thanks."


"Just do it." Buffy lay on the chair, blouse open, revealing her chest. A carbon transfer lay to one side, a familiar knife in bright purple.

Spike looked dubious. "You sure?"

Buffy nodded and he began. Transfer placed and machine buzzed. It didn't hurt as much as she would have liked. Spike worked diligently, and she looked down. "You're good at this."

"Yeah, well, it's been awhile, but." He filled in some color. The dagger was completed over her heart. "Can't see why you wanted that bloody thing."

Buffy stood and buttoned her blouse. She turned away, smiling sadly. "Because."


Willow took a deep breath, and lay back on Giles' couch, buzzing coming from the machine he held between her breasts. A pentagram was beginning to take shape, a Wiccan symbol, the finished design had a goddess in the center, with a crescent moon." And it'll glow when I go over the edge?"

Giles nodded, and wiping his brow, continued. "Quite. The spell will make the mark shine, when you become unbalanced."

Willow nodded. "I've gained a lot of control, but I thought maybe some gentle insistence would help."

Giles finished. "What do you want the glow to say?"

"Tara."


Xander walked into the studio, and slapped a piece of paper down on the counter. A sword, an all-seeing eye, and a scroll. 'Anyanka'. "I want this," he said, scratching near his eyepatch.

The boy nodded, and shook his blond hair out of his eyes. He gestured to the back of the shop with a sweep of his arm. Xander settled into the chair, opposite a girl with hair just as blonde puffing on a joint.

"Want some?" She held it out to him.

He took it, toked, and passed it back, the scratching at his arm stinging. "Yeah."


Dawn pushed open the door. "You came recommended."

Crash looked up, an amused smirk. "Oh really?"

Dawn nodded and sat down. "A key. Surrounded by rays, blinding light, but cast in dark shadows."

"Piece of cake." She drew, then held it up. Dawn gasped and nodded.

Crash transferred the image to Dawn's back, and began making it permanent. "So who do I need to kill for recommending me?"

"Faith." Let it be her problem.

"Damn, now I owe her a beer." Color began seeping into Dawn's back, the image forming.

Finished, Crash snapped a picture, and showed Dawn. "Like?"

"Holy fuck."