Just something light way, way back in SR1 towards the beginning of the game. Figured I'd get this down before going all serious again.

V's arm itched. Keeping it covered helped to put it out of her mind, but the temptation to scratch it through the sleeve of her hoodie lingered like crazy. With two tattoos already on her she knew that doing so was a bad idea, but it didn't make it any easier to ignore, especially when all she had to do was lift the sleeve to get to it.

After seeing so many bright and lively variations of Saints pride floating around it'd only made sense to get inked too, so when the idea hit her and finally stuck she let it carry her all the way to Rusty's.

The artist there didn't ask too many questions when she picked out the design from the ones they offered, and lucky for her it only required one session to complete. Still, getting it had been a bit impulsive on her end, even if it had turned out pretty sweet.

Sammy was smoking in one of the corners of the church, idly talking to another Saint she hadn't met yet, and V shook her arm out as she approached them. "Yo, Sam."

He glanced up and gave her a smile. "What's up, girl? Enjoying your time off?"

"I was, but it gets old after a while. Figured I'd drop by and be social for a bit."

"Yeah, I get you."

He held out a cigarette for her to take and she took a seat by the two, lighting it quickly while the woman he was with eyed her curiously. "Who's your friend?"

"Well, shit. You haven't met yet? This is Dee. She's with Troy's crew."

Dee gave her a small wave and folded her feet under her. She looked Hispanic or mixed, and her short platinum hair was one of the lightest shades she'd ever seen. "You're V, eh? Having fun racing around?"

"When the car isn't falling apart around me, sure," she joked, remembering how the last one nearly caught fire after a nasty accident. "They don't make the damn things like they used to."

She laughed. "No, they don't. Probably why I opt to stay out of shit like that. My driving blows, and the last thing I need is to get sardined for it."

Sammy leaned towards V. "For real, don't ever hitch a ride from her."

That got him a quick kick from Dee, and V snickered as the two challenged each other. "Don't listen to half the shit coming out of his mouth. He can barely drive stick."

"No worries there," V teased, rolling her sleeves up to give her tattoo some air. "And you aren't lying about the stick bit. Burns the clutch like crazy."

Sammy gave her the finger, but whistled when he saw what she had been hiding. "That's new."

"Can I?" Dee took her wrist and V let them both get a good look at the fine lines covering the top of her forearm.

"It's a week old. Got it while I had a day or two to fuck around." Dee gently turned it to the side and V had to admire the outline of the wings gracing her. The tat was easily the most elegant thing she had now. "It hasn't been too bad, but there are times when I watch to scratch it raw. Drives me nuts."

"Didn't want to go for the fleur?"

"Wasn't feeling it at the time," she said, taking a decent drag off of her cigarette. "There's always later, right?"

She smiled and let V's arm go. "Smart girl. I was a few days in and let my adrenaline do the thinking when I got mine." Her fingers hooked the loop of her jeans and pulled them down far enough to expose a large violet fleur de lis. The long T-shirt kept the top part of it hidden, but V guessed it had to cover a good quarter of her hip. "I might've overdone it."

"Looks gorgeous, though," V said, admiring it. "Tough to show off, but if I had something like that I think I'd make it work."

"I try to do it justice. Just got to catch me at the right time if you want a real show." Dee winked at her and let it disappear out of sight. "Great for parties, public and private."

V was definitely smiling at this point. "Good to know."

Sammy cleared his throat. "I hate to break this up, but they were asking about you earlier, V. Had some work, I think."

"Shit, why didn't you say so?" V asked, putting out her cig before getting to her feet.

"Got distracted. Can't fault me for that, right?"

"No, guess I can't, but you're buying me dinner later. For the trouble."

"You're buying us both dinner, actually," Dee told him, checking her nails. "You still owe me for the fuck up I got you out of last week, and I think a steak dinner would be just the thing to make it up to me. Sound good to you too, V?"

Sammy put his face in his hands and V giggled. "Relax, man. As amazing as that sounds I think we can aim for somewhere cheaper. Phuc Mi Phuc Yue work?"

"Yeah, yeah, just get out of here," he said, waving her off. "Troy's in the usual spot."

She had a bit of a hop to her step as she cut down the hall leading to the offices and slowed down when she spotted Troy and Johnny. They were both sitting at the desk, a couple of beers cracked open by them and V paused by the doorway. Gat was laughing about something, and Troy was doing his hardest not to be amused by any of it.

She knocked twice on the wall and she seriously hoped she wasn't interrupting anything too important. "Hey, uh, hi?"

Troy aimed his amused expression at her and waved her inside. "Hey. Been meaning to catch you."

V shoved her hands in her pockets and wandered forward, keeping her movements as casual as possible. "Would've been by earlier, but Sam wanted to talk my ear off."

"Sure you weren't showing off? Noticed you finally stopped by Rusty's." Gat said, his eyes moving over her.

Shit. She glanced down at her uncovered arm and had to stop herself from jerking the sleeve back down. "Um. Yeah. Was going to happen at some point. Figured now was good."

Troy exhaled, and V tried not to stare at the tattoo on his own arm. "Sting much?"

"Nah, not too bad. It's the itching that's the problem."

"Not as bad as the other one?"

He tapped his shoulder and V felt her face warm a bit. "You caught that? Not much gets by you, eh?"

Johnny chuckled and Troy pursed his lips, but didn't say anything in response. Pushing her nervousness down, she unzipped her hoodie and slipped it off, turning around to give them both a better look. The twin fish swimming on her right shoulder blade were done in white, standing out just enough to be noticed.

"Got it done as soon as anyone would take me. Should probably get it touched up, but I keep on putting it off."

"Why that one?"

Troy would ask. "Looked good. When it's your first do you need any other reason why?" She tugged the hoodie back on after a minute, and tried not to shuffle around on her feet too much. "Probably should've skipped the one on my neck, though."

"Guy con you into it?" Johnny asked, smirking.

She nodded and tried not to remember the hangover that came with it. "Drunken tats are never a good idea, because anything sounds good when you're oozing out of the seat or trying not to throw up. At least that didn't turn into too bad of a disaster."

"Can do worse than a star. Knew a guy that tried to get his girl's face over his heart, but missed the step where he was supposed to stay still and quit being a douchebag," Johnny said, leaning forward in his chair. "The guy doing it wasn't too happy about it, so he left a little surprise waiting for him."

"What?"

"Put his face there instead. Close enough, right?"

"Shit," Troy said, wincing. "That must've gone over well."

"Nah, he tried to beat the shit out of him, but by then the owner was asking for protection. Had to step in and negotiate. Settle things down. Shotgun's pretty good at that."

It didn't take an active imagination to see how that had gone. "Ouch. Not much left of him to ID after, I guess. Clean up must've been fun too." Gat shrugged, but the glint in his eye made her hair stand on end. "So, Troy. You had something for me?"

He switched his attention away from Johnny and sat up. "Yeah, thanks for reminding me. You've done good work with the cars lately. Impressed Miguel and word's gotten around." He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and held it out. "Got more work in Chinatown if you're interested."

"Interested? Hell yeah." The scrawled number was difficult to read, but she could make out the gist of it. "Thanks."

"No problem. You're good at what you do, so why wouldn't I send this your way?"

The compliment made her avert her eyes, and she started backing towards the door. "I'll get right on it then. Anything else you want me to check out?"

"Not for now. Keep an eye on your phone, though. You never know when something'll pop up."

"Cool," she said, mock-saluting them. "Catch you two later then."

She nearly bumped into Dex on the way out, and she babbled an apology as she ducked around him. Johnny's laugh followed her down the hall, and she tugged her hat down.

It didn't do a thing to hide how red she was, but that didn't matter much. She was too busy trying to figure her way around the swell of pride that had settled in her chest.