I guess anything goes!

Morgan sat in the chair, watching as Mei Wong sat up the equipment he had taught her how to use. There weren't many tattoo artists out in the Wastelands, but he had helped her start up her own little shop here in Rivet City. She had a steady hand, was a decent artist, and was almost anal about keeping her equipment as clean and sterilized as possible. Maybe because it was her thing, something that was a way for her to remain free, and a way to remind herself she was free. It didn't really matter to him. As long as she kept her kit clean, and kept giving him ink work for free, then he didn't really care. It was a nice arrangement. No one knew why, it was a secret shared between them. Just Morgan and Mei, well, and Sister's corpse. But he wasn't telling tales out of school any time soon. and neither were they.

"So what's it today Morgan? 'I am the Messiah'?" She laughed as she said it, but all he felt was a sour taste in his mouth. He was so tired of that attitude. He had even stopped off at GNR while heading to Carol's place, and Three Dog had all but refused to stop. He said it gave people hope. Morgan didn't really give a shit that it gave people hope. It made people hire mercs to kill him, and it made slavers come after him for the credits they could get off selling him to someone. He was tired of that, and had wanted Three Dog to understand that. He hadn't been out of the studio three minutes before that bastard was telling more stories about his exploits. But at least he had told them he was out West in the mountains. Maybe that would keep them off him for a while.

"I thought we'd do somethin' right here." He pointed to his throat, right over the little ditch of his collarbone. "I want Revelations real small, and then 21:6 right under it. Think you can do it for me?"

She looked at the area, squinting one eye before sucking on a tooth. "Lemme draw it, then we'll see how you like the sizing, kay?"

He nodded. That was fine with him. He'd want to see what she was going to do before she did it anyways, make sure the style was good for the surrounding tattoos as well. She was finishing up his throat and neck with this one. One of the first she had done was on the nape of his neck. All lined up nice in a row, a little 5mm cartridge and bullet, a 5.56 bullet, and a 10mm. The banner above them just said 'Wasteland', the one below them saying 'Justice'. That was about all he used. A little 10mm pistol for quick work, the one he had been given by Amata as a matter of fact. The 5.56 went to his Chinese model rifle, which he used quite often. Then the 5mm went to the Minigun he had scavenged off of a Enclave soldier a very long time ago. Those were the 'hands of justice', at least that's what Paladin Tristan called them, and he had certainly reached out and touched enough people with those hands.

The side of his neck, from earlobe almost to where she was going to be working, was odd. Both had similar tattoos, crossed hands like they were praying. One side had what was obviously a man's hands, down to slightly hair knuckles. The other side of his neck had a woman's hands, nails painted red and a diamond ring on her finger. The were both held like they were praying for something. The male hands had an 'Alpha' symbol, looking like it was carved into them, blood flowing from the edges of the wounds caused by whatever knife had carved an 'A' into their skin. The folding hands of the praying woman were similar, but instead of a carving, her hands looked like they held a brand, the 'Omega' symbol looking like it was truly burned into the hand that looked like that of a woman. And with this piece, it'd be done. His little tribute to his parents. The Alpha and the Omega, who had worked to pour a river onto the people at least. The water of life, for each and everyone, given freely. Amen.

Mei showed him the design, and he liked it. Then she gave him a smoke break. She knew that he liked to get a little bit of a smoke in before getting tattooed, since he never wanted to take a break. If her hand could take holding the tattoo machine, then he could take sitting there and getting tattooed. You just gritted your teeth and went for it. So now he was leaned up against the railing, watching some ruckus down at Flak 'n' Shrapnel that he couldn't give two shits about. GNR was playing on his Pip, and then Three Dog said something about some Ghouls and a tower. Now, he had heard him talking about this before, but he had been so busy with everything else he had never thought to check it out. But he wanted to do something. And as far as he knew, that was about the only thing to do right now. Oh, he could go back to Bigtown, see if they'd still been having Super Mutant trouble, or Slavers, and then he could clear them out of them, but then he'd have to deal with Bittercup. Contrary to what he told Nova, he had spent at least one night with the death-obsessed Wastelander. Sometimes he got drunk with Shorty and Red and then when he woke up she'd be besides, scratch marks down both their backs and bite marks all over her. So maybe he did sleep with her. But it was never good enough to remember, and the swag she gave him just wasn't good enough to justify it.

Mei started on the tattoo, and he sat quietly in the chair. That's where he'd go. Tenpenny Tower. See what was going on with the ghouls. Maybe he could help one of the groups out. Maybe even both of them. If not, depending on who he sided with, he'd get to explore a bit, maybe get into a firefight. He didn't really care for them, but sometimes you just needed one. That's what the Wasteland did to you. Developed your base instincts into something a bit more. Fighting, fucking, fleeing. Didn't matter. You eventually got sharper, with more desire for at least on of the three. Usually, if you didn't, you ended up dead. Not so much the fucking one though, though it did help out sometimes when dealing with female raiders. But usually that one just sent you into the cities to find a woman. Like Nova. But Morgan had the trifecta. There had been only one woman for him for most of his teenage years, and then he had come out to the Wastes, and it was like the desires for his baser instincts had grown. Now he 'knew' a couple women that way, and that was fine with him.

Probably so irradiated in his sperm that any kid of his would be a super mutant, no matter how much Rad-X he took at this point. But that was what it was. The Wasteland would give, but it would mutate the fuck out of you and your kids just as quick. And he was the one that kept going out there. Mei stopped the machine for a moment to wipe away excess ink, and Morgan closed his eyes to wait for her to finish. And then he was going to march right out there into the Wastelands until he got to that Tower, and did whatever needed to be done there.

And if he found a woman who liked his look and was willing, then he was going to do that too. Life was too short not to.