A/N: JMount74 on AO3 kindly let me run away cackling with a couple of ideas sparked by Serious Moments- A day Gordon remembered- and this happened. Enjoy!

Markings

It was one of those ideas that had come out of the group-think, probably spurred on by the fact that Virgil and Scott already had one and Gordon had two.

But in any case it had become a rite of passage in International Rescue- when you got your ship (and in Alan's case when he was also of legal age), you got a tattoo. Virgil had found the tattooist- talented, professional and discreet, years ago she'd been the one to give him the semicolon tattoo on the inside of his wrist when Virgil had hit a rough patch shortly after they lost Dad.

Virgil had insisted on designing the tattoos- placed on their right deltoid the blunted triangle from their shoulder patches was inscribed in titanium white and outlined in the deepest carbon black, overlapped by an image unique to each of them.

Scott's Air Force squadron badge on his left deltoid was joined by a swooping Peregrine Falcon on his right, wings flared out and talons extended to pluck up it's target- akin to how Scott regularly snatched victims from danger. The fastest of the birds of prey, strategic and cunning in the hunt, known for its keen eyesight and a reference to Scott's attainment of Falcon in the Rescue Scouts, it was the perfect symbol for the eldest Tracy.

A patch of starscape drawn like a watercolour in inky purples, blues and blacks graced John's arm, the triangle capturing the nine brightest stars of the Pleiades within its confines. Not only was the constellation known across cultures and used in his field of science, the nine stars stood for the nine people he counted as his family. There'd been some curious looks and questions when he'd accepted the artistic bent to it, but he'd explained it with one word: Mom. Virgil had known she'd painted him a starscape like it when he'd first discovered the beauty of the night.

Virgil's was the least intricate but the most technically difficult to execute: a treble clef in a cascade of shades of green on a paper-white background, but etched into his skin in such a way that it looked like it had been painted on with a brush. It represented two of his loves- music and art- drawn in the colour of his beloved Thunderbird.

A Short-Beaked Common Dolphin leapt across Gordon's upper arm to join the scar-twisted Colossal Squid draped over his left shoulder and the Olympic Rings on the right side of his chest. The highly social cetacean had made an impression on Gordon when as a young child he'd seen a pod of them bow-riding their tour boat on a long ago family vacation in Alaska. While he'd already been a keen swimmer by that point, it was seeing dolphins in person that awakened him to his love of the creatures that lived in the water.

It had surprised everyone when, after a good deal of thought, Alan had turned down Virgil's initial design and asked for a star map in indigo blue and brilliant white instead- Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, and Southern Cross and the Pointers that showed the way to the South Celestial Pole. He'd asked for the constellations to be angled in such a way that the South Celestial Pole overlapped Polaris in the centre of the triangle. Alan had explained that he wanted them so that he could always find his way home.

A cluster of hibiscus flowers tumbled over Kayo's skin- red and orange petals unfurled from around bright yellow stamens heavy with pollen to overlap the edges of the blunted triangle and serrated green leaves poked out between the blossoms, all on a blue background. The national flower of Malaysia, when Virgil was designing it she asked that he incorporate their favourite colours into her tattoo to bring her family together with her heritage.

Now, after many long years away, it was Jeff's turn. Virgil led the way, the final design in a folder tucked securely under his arm. Scott and John flanked their father, Gordon and Alan close behind chattering about their experiences under the needle and ever watchful, Kayo brought up the rear as they entered the tattoo parlour so that the Tracy patriarch could join their rite of passage.