Chapter 2: An Interest
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Harry stepped out from the taxi and quickly made his way onto the
pavement as Hermione paid. He looked up at a nearly all black building
with a sign 'Dolor Gignit Ars' written on it in a thin curling script
in acid green, contrasting sharply with the dark background. When he
felt Hermione stand next to him, without facing her, he asked;
"Is this the place?"
"Yes. 'Dolor Gignit Ars'. Latin for 'Pain Creates Art'."
He turned and faced her and gave her an incredulous look.
"'Pain Creates Art'?! And you're completely comfortable in letting me
get a tattoo from here?!"
She gave him a disgruntled look. "I never said I was completely
comfortable in letting you get a tattoo from a place like this, I'm
not completely comfortable in you getting a tattoo from anywhere! But
since you want one so bad, I tried to find the best." She walked to
the tinted glass door of the shop and let herself in without looking
back to make sure he followed.
Harry sighed to himself. Great. Now he was going to have to find a way
to appease her. After giving the Exterior another look, he walked to
the door and let himself inside. As soon as he was in, he set to
examine the interior. It was large and very open. And it was white.
All white. The ceiling, the floors, the walls, stark white. Combined
with the faint smell of disinfectant in the air and the fluorescent
lighting, it reminded him too much of a hospital. He went over and
took a seat next to his sister on a black leather sofa, gazing at the
many pictures of tattoos with dark frames. At least the frames and the
dark furniture were there to serve as contrast to the stark whiteness.
No sooner than he sat, a tall, tall man stepped into the waiting room
and Harry couldn't take his eyes off of him.
Tom pushed himself away from his desk and stood. That was enough
paperwork for the day, now he wanted to do something that might
actually be interesting. His hand automatically went to the intercom
button, but he paused. He was in for some exercise, so he would walk
to the front desk instead. When he stepped out of his office, it was
to the sound of the street. Meaning that the front door was open.
Meaning someone was coming in, or going out. Time to see who that
someone was.
The guy was the epitome of tall, dark and handsome, looking like he
had a head on Harry in height and long black hair pulled back from a
face which seemed as if it were sculpted by the gods. He was wearing a
simple, all black outfit of a V-neck T-shirt, cotton trousers and
loafers. His short sleeves and low neckline exposed completely
tattooed arms and a mostly tattooed neck and chest with small patches
of creamy skin showing. As the man came closer, Harry could see
snakebites, a septum piercing, a bridge piercing, pointed ears which
were filled with multiple piercings, claws which looked like they
could do some significant damage and the most eye-catching feature of
all, kohl lined blood-red eyes with reptilian pupils which were gazing
at Harry in curiosity. At. Harry. He felt a chill go down his spine at
having those fascinating eyes on him.
"How may I help you?"
Oh, gods! That voice, it was cultured and oh so deep and sensuous with
a bit of a rasp. He broke out of his daze at feeling a sharp pain in
his ribs. Hermione had poked him.
"You're staring, you said you researched things like this." Hermione
hissed in his ear. Hermione didn't wait for an answer, but instead
turned to the -smirking- man and addressed him. "We're here to get my
brother a tattoo. I called in, made an appointment and was referred to
a, um...Luke?"
"Ah, I see. Well, he's not available at the moment." He frowned at the
front desk with obvious displeasure. "Would you like to make another
appointment?"
At that Harry finally spoke up. "No! I'd like to get it done today."
The man's eyes snapped to Harry once more and then, he gave Harry a
once- wait. More like a thrice over! "Alright. I'm sure I can find
someone to do you. Did you bring the necessary documents?"
"Oh! Certainly.", Hermione reached into her handbag, pulled out a
stack of papers stapled together and handed them to the man who began
leafing through them.
"Everything seems to be in order. I'll just get someone..." He turned
half-way, but then seemed to change his mind. "Actually, I'll do it.
That is, if you don't mind."
"No, not at all." Harry ignored his sister who was giving him a knowing look.
"Excellent. The name is Tom Patrick. Let's get started."
When Tom walked into the waiting room, what he didn't expect to see
was two girls- no. A girl and a boy, sitting on his sofa, both with
almond shaped eyes and a slight but toned build. The girl had hazel
eyes and thick, curly, chestnut hair, looking prim and proper, while
the boy had emerald green eyes and thick, mostly straight, black hair
down to his waist, looking anxious. One could tell the two were
siblings just by looking at them. Their behaviour was amusing, to say
the least. When the girl mentioned Luke, he looked over at the front
desk which was devoid of Natasha, put two and two together and made a
mental note to deal with the two later on. But for now... Tom looked
over the boy appreciatively. For now, he'd get to know this,
delectable creature better.
After filling out the rest of the paperwork and paying, they were lead
into a room at the end of a hall. Hermione took the opportunity to
properly examine the room and make sure that there was no room for
cross-contamination.
"Sit there." Tom pointed at a plastic covered black leather chair.
Harry went and took a seat. He looked around as Tom went about washing
his hands."You said you wanted a custom tattoo. Do you have an idea of
what you want?"
"Oh! Umm..." Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded up
piece of paper. He unfolded it and handed to his artist. "Here you
go."
Tom looked at the seemingly professionally done design with raised
eyebrows, but said nothing. "Where do you want it?" ,Tom asked as he
went about making a stencil. "Right...here." Harry exposed his right
upper arm. He bit his lip nervously, but Tom didn't even blink twice
at the cigarette burn scars. Harry closed his eyes in relief.
He Rolled Harry's sleeve up tightly, then went over to a sink in the
corner and washed his hands for the second time since they entered the
room. After he dried them he put on a pair of black gloves.
"Excuse me." Harry groaned mentally. "Are those nitrile gloves?",
Hermione asked.
"Yes." Soon Tom was sitting on a swivel stool with wheels and cleaning
Harry's upper arm. After shaving and cleaning his arm again, Tom
moistened his skin with soap and water and placed the stencil on his
arm, left it there for a second or two, and then pulled it away from
his skin, revealing a purplish blue likeness of his design.
"This alright?" Tom asked, referring to the position of the stencil.
"Yeah, that's fine." Said Harry. He began to take deep breaths.
"May I have a look?", Hermione asked Harry, gesturing at the design.
"Um, sure." Harry replied with slight apprehension. Tom pushed back a
bit to allow Hermione enough room to take a look.
"Oh, wow..." Hermione breathed after bending over a bit to take in the
design better. "Oh, Harry." She took her eyes off of the design and
gazed at him with a bit of sadness. "It's beautiful."
Harry gave her a sad smile. "Thanks, 'Mione." She moved back to his left side.
"I'm just gonna let that dry." Tom said, referring to the stencil as
he stood and went about preparing his equipment.
"Do you mind if I grab a seat", asked Hermione, gesturing at another
plastic covered chair against the wall. Tom didn't even glance at her.
"Go ahead." He said as he made sure to open a new pack of sterile
needles in Harry's line of sight, then began inspecting them.
Hermione huffed a bit at the blatant disregard, but quietly pulled the
chair to Harry's left-hand side and took a seat.
After a few minutes of waiting, Tom was back on his stool wearing a
fresh pair of gloves.
"Ready?" Tom asked. He was finally ready to do the first line.
Harry nodded silently.
"I'm here." Hermione mouthed at him as she took his hand.
The buzzing sound of the machine filled the room.