Gendry and Hot Pie walked into the tattoo shop, ringing the bell on the door behind them.
"Too late to back out now," Gendry said. Hot Pie was too distracted by the colourful flash art on the walls to respond. The best flash was signed 'Arya Stark', noticed Gendry happily — his appointment was with her.
After Hot Pie proudly checked his friend in for his appointment, the lanky, pierced counter attendant told Gendry and Hot Pie to have seat to wait for Arya. Gendry sat with Hot Pie, waiting for his artist. He flipped through the scrapbook featuring photos of tattoos Arya had done left out by the shop on a small table in the waiting area. Though she had many tattoos under her belt, Gendry had seen online while researching for a qualified artist that Arya was only 20 years old, four years his junior. Her profile on the shop's website stated that she had started tattooing at 18 with an apprenticeship under renowned tattoo artist Syrio Forel. Gendry, opening the scrapbook to the last page which featured a picture of Arya Stark tattooing a simple wolf on her left thigh, noticed that his artist was very pretty.
Gendry wasn't afraid of much but he was afraid of needles. His friend Hot Pie came with him to the shop for support as Gendry got his first tattoo.
Gendry and Hot Pie shared a nervous look as they heard the unmistakable sound of heels on wood approaching where they sat. Walking in with a confident stride, a short woman with short brown hair, tattooed conservatively for a tattoo artist, gestured for the pair to follow her to the back. Gendry recognized her as the woman in the photo and for the second time, Gendry found himself admiring Arya's beauty.
Once arrived at Arya's tattooing station, Gendry sat and placed a muscled arm on the arm rest of the tattoo chair. As Arya prepared his arm for the tattoo – shaving it and placing the stencil – Gendry prepared mentally for the pain. Hot Pie, sensing worry in Gendry, went to hold his hand but Gendry, with a severe look, brushed him off.
"You ready?" asked Arya. With a nod, Gendry insisted he was ready for the tattooing to begin.
The needle pierced Gendry's skin gently and he remarked with great relief that it felt no worse than a cat scratch. He had never owned a cat in his life as his family was too poor to afford another mouth to feed but when he was younger, Gendry played with alley cats and was familiar with their scratch.
After reassuring Hot Pie that the pain wasn't too bad, Hot Pie left to go in early for his shift at his mother's bakery. He promised Arya he'd be back with a tray of cupcakes for her and the staff at the shop next day as a thank you for taking good care of his friend.
As time went on, the pain grew fiercer and Gendry let out a few groans of discomfort. To take his mind off the pain, Arya started talking to Gendry.
Arya was flirtatious and Gendry wondered if she acted this way with all her customers.
"There," Arya started as she finished the tattoo. "Not too bad, huh, big man?" she asked playfully as she wrapped the tattoo. "Here," she produced a sheet a paper from behind her. "These are tattoo care directions for you to follow." She went over the direction with Gendry once before having him read over them again to confirm that he understood the admittedly basic procedures. She then produced a small business card with her name and the logo of the shop printed in pink ink on thick paper. "If you have any questions about your tattoo, you can reach me here," she said, motioning her finger to the printed phone number and email address on the card. Then she pulled out a pen from her work station and wrote out another phone number in bold letters. "This is my cell. You can call me here about, you know, anything else."