A/N:
Eli is a Fucking Mess™ and let's learn about the ADHD Cat.
Now if you're confused about what the actual hell is happening, when we change POVS, it's a new day.
Conquistador - 30 Seconds To Mars
"You decided last night that you want a tattoo..." Honoka repeated what Eli had said to her as they left the yoga studio, sweat beading on their foreheads. The cold winter air hit them both hard in the face. Eli nodded and adjusted her coat.
"Yes, it's the only thing I can really remember. I want a tattoo, and I want Nozomi to do it,"
"Not Rin-chan?" Honoka smirked as they made their way down the street. Eli sighed,
"I really like Rin, and her artwork is fantastic, but there are two problems: One, she's under a lawsuit and might not even become a fully fledged tattoo artist, and two-"
"She's not Nozomi," Honoka finished the sentence for her with a small grin. She tilted her head to the side upon seeing Eli's brows twitch in guilt.
"Don't worry about it, Eli-chan! Of course you'd want to get tattooed by the woman you love. What did you want to get?"
Eli instantly blushed and turned her gaze to the pavement. "You know how Nozomi is really good at flowers?"
Honoka nodded, "I think all tattoo artists have to be good at flowers."
"Well, Nozomi is the best artist for flowers," Eli tightened her grip on her bag.
"I wanted a flower chain around my ankle, but not of one type of flower. A mixture of cherry blossoms and crocuses and roses just spiralling around my ankle! U-Uhm," Eli caught herself before she got way too excited, and Honoka let out a laugh.
"Eli-chan, if you want it, just get it!" Honoka's encouragement lead to Eli rubbing her arm nervously.
"I-I'm gonna talk about it with Nozomi tonight. If I can design the flower chain, and she draws it and tattoos it, that would be pretty neat."
"That sounds awesome! Awesome sauce!"
"...I beg your pardon?"
"Awesome sauce, it's what the kids have been saying at the daycare," Honoka shrugged, as if nothing was wrong with what she just said. Eli scratched at the back of her head, she had never heard something so weird before.
"...Okay then," she moved the blonde hair from her face and adjusted her hoodie.
"Elichi, have a look at these and tell me what you think," Nozomi placed her sketchbook on Eli's lap as the two sat on the couch watching some cooking show that evening.
The florist looked down at the sketches, and noticed the difference in styles immediately. It was hard to believe the same artist drew both of them.
The left page had a rather intricate bouquet with Bibi's logo around the ribbon.
"With the right shading and colours, that one can pop out against a solid white paint of the van," Nozomi pointed to her design. The bouquet itself was a mixture of roses, lilies and cherry blossoms. Eli smiled at Nozomi, eyes twinkling.
"It's beautiful, and I really like the combination of flowers," she lightly nudged Nozomi's side.
"You would make a great florist," a small, sweet kiss on Nozomi's cheek made the artist giggle.
"Flatterer, now have a look at the next one," Nozomi pointed to the next page, and Eli's eyes followed.
She instantly turned bright red: the second design featured a buxom blonde sitting on a swing, with the ropes wrapped in vines. Her expression could only be described as sultry. She wore an A-line dress and had a bouquet in her left hand. Her right arm was linked around the rope vine.
"N-Nozomi!" Eli could barely whine out her girlfriend's name as she stared at the design. Nozomi gave a mischievous grin.
"She's a pinup girl, Elichi."
"Why does she look like me? Why is she on a flower swing? How has she not fallen off and broken her neck?" Eli shot out questions from her frazzled mind, and Nozomi sighed while taking the sketchbook away from her.
"Pin up girls can grab anyone's attention."
"You do remember we live in Japan? This isn't Italy!" Eli could not comprehend realism from sublime anymore, and just slumped onto the couch.
"And I thought Umi-chan was sensitive," Nozomi muttered with an exaggerated sigh.
"Well, if you don't like Rosie, I can work on the bouquet or do something different."
"You named her?!"
"She might look like you, but her name is Rosie and she has green eyes," Nozomi pointed to the girl's eyes and grinned.
"I can make her you if you want. I do love drawing that sexy body of yours, Elichi."
Eli choked on her own breath and smacked her face against a pillow from the couch.
"I'll take that as an unfortunate no," the artist shook her head and put the sketchbook away.
"Guess I'll have to come up with a new design for you."
Eli snapped her head up from the pillow and felt a wave of anxiety crash over her. Was she asking too much of Nozomi right now?
"It can wait. It doesn't have to be done now,"
"I know, but I like to be on top of things," Nozomi shrugged and pulled out her pencil. Eli frowned and took the pencil out of Nozomi's grip.
"I don't get the van until mid-march, Nozomi. I just thought thinking about the design would give you something to help ease the whole court thing…" Eli trailed off, leaning her head against the pillow. Nozomi's grin deflated, and she looked down at her sketchbook.
"It didn't take me long to come up with the designs, and it's not difficult-"
"I know it's not difficult for you," Eli softly interjected and grinned up at Nozomi.
"You are the best artist in all of Tokyo, and there's a reason why you're the go-to girl for flowers, but I don't want you to overwork yourself."
Nozomi raised an eyebrow and twitched her nose. The little stud in her nostril glinted in the light.
"If I was overworking myself, you would know for sure."
"Well, to be fair, I wouldn't. You always hide your emotions," Eli was treading on a minefield. Nozomi sighed, clearly not in the mood to direct Eli's footing towards a mine, and closed her sketchbook.
"So you want me to think about it rather than actually draw it?"
"N-No, that's not…" Eli trailed off and hugged the pillow tighter.
"I don't know," she mumbled and closed her eyes. It was an odd feeling, she thought that asking Nozomi to design the van would be a nice side activity while she dealt with the court case. It was not related to tattooing or her rather in any way shape or form.
'Why am I double backing? I'm so confused,' Eli thought with a sigh. A familiar hand touched her shoulder.
"Elichi, do you feel like you're asking me for too much with the van and your tattoo?"
Oh...that would make sense. Eli nodded dumbly, and Nozomi chuckled lightly.
"You don't have to worry about that, Elichi. It's not a burden like you think it might be," Nozomi curled up next to Eli and readjusted herself as Eli extended an arm around the artist.
She decided to drop the matter, because Nozomi had just answered all of her unasked questions.
"Rin, you need to get up. It's nearly 9am."
"Five more minutes, nya~"
"Rin! Umi is here!"
"No she's not"
"Yes I am."
Finally, the vibrant eyes snapped open. Rin shot up from her bed and snorted loudly.
It was Wednesday morning, and Maki stood in the doorframe with a scowl and folded arms. Next to her was Umi, glowering at the apprentice.
"You're not ready to go," Umi's voice dropped an entire octave, which scared both Rin and Maki.
'As if her voice wasn't scary enough,' Rin thought with a gulp. Maki shook her head in annoyance.
"Rin, you better get dressed and hurry up."
"Where's Kayo-chin?"
"At university, remember?" Maki's patience grew thin. The ginger got out of bed and pat down her yellow boxer shorts with small cat-paws on them.
"How on earth do you sleep in a sports bra?"
"It's nyat a sports bra!" Rin whined and threw on a pair of jeans to expose her non-tattooed legs. Umi had silently excused herself to the living room.
"It's a crop top!" Rin pointed to the matching yellow piece of clothing. She turned around to open the closet, and Maki took in the sight of her back piece: it was an array of stars, with constellations covering her entire back.
Maki couldn't help but be in awe of her roommate's back. Rin covered it by throwing on a black t-shirt, then a black and yellow letterman jacket. The back had her family name with the number 11 on the back.
"The warmest jacket I have is from my soccer days," Rin mumbled, ruffling her short hair and fluffy undercut in the process.
Maki thought back to the Rin she knew in highschool: a very distracted bundle of endless energy that had a short temper to go with her attention span. Rin did only two things in high school: sports and graffiti. After a practice that made her mad, she'd go out into the streets of Tokyo late at night and place her mark on the walls. She had been caught only once, and that was when she sprained her ankle. At the time, Rin was being scouted by a B league football team, and had to choose between being staying in school to get offered the position, or continue to vandalise Tokyo's walls in the middle of the night.
Maki remembered that Rin had stopped graffiti to focus on her sports once she was offered the choice. Sure enough, after she finished high school Rin became a B league athlete. It was all fine until Rin ruined her hamstring during a game that would decide if she was going to move up into the A team.
Maki's heart sank at the memory - Rin was this close to being a professional, to play for Japan's top women's team, and Maki couldn't even imagine the feelings Rin must have felt when she was told that she could never play professional again. Of course, knowing Rin, she got angry and went back to graffiti. This time though, she was getting caught more regularly. Maki remembered the phone calls she had received from Hanayo asking for help to collect Rin from the police station.
Rin did not have the grades to get her into university, and in all honesty, she'd 'rather go to prison than school.' Hanayo, who back then started studying fine arts at university, bought Rin a sketchbook to try and get her to vent her anger in a way that would not get her arrested. It seemed to work, and before long, Rin used her knowledge of bold lines and bright colors to experiment with cartoons and neo-traditional artwork.
Maki recalled what had happened the day Rin came home from a walk with an apprenticeship to be a tattoo artist. It was honestly the most euphoric the medical student had seen her friend in such a long time. Maki had moved in with Rin and Hanayo to not only become independent, but Hanayo had suggested that she and Rin could use some company. On top of Rin getting an apprenticeship in tattooing, and Maki moving in, it seemed like Rin was happy again, and that made Maki smile.
"What's Maki-chan smiling about now?"
The redhead was yanked from her thoughts as Rin stood before her, fully dressed with her bag on her shoulder and beanie on her head. Maki shook her head and moved aside.
"Nothing important. You might want to hurry, because Umi looks like she's about to blow out your mind with telekinesis or something."
"R-right, I just gotta brush my teeth," Rin quickly headed towards the bathroom, and Maki went back to the living room.
"Since when did we have crocuses in stock?" Nico raised an eyebrow as Eli brought out the garden box that Wednesday morning.
"This is a flower shop, Nico," Eli answered flatly. Nico scowled and snapped the daily planner shut.
"Yes, you smartass, I know it's a flower shop, but when did we start stocking crocuses?"
"When I took over," Eli didn't look at Nico while she took three of them out and started to form a chain. Nico turned as red as Maki's hair, but decided not to push the matter, because there was a very important daily count that needed to be done.
Eli rolled her eyes and went to the back to get more flowers. She needed two white roses and some hydrangeas to complete her chain. When the chain was done, Eli took out her phone and snapped a photo to send to Nozomi.
She waited for a bit, knowing that Nozomi would be with the lawyer. Upon asking Nico, who knew Maki better than she did, Nico told Eli that the lawyer Maki had networked for Nozomi was nicknamed 'Emitsun,' and was probably one of the most successful business lawyers in Japan.
Eli was pulled out of her thoughts when her phone lit up. She grabbed it eagerly.
Nozomi, 11:10
You love some strange combinations don't you Elichi? I'll draw something up for you tonight xx -N
Eli smiled down at her phone. She had asked Nico for her input on the designs, and will be sure to ask Alisa when she picked her up that afternoon. Nico had laughed out loud at the pin up girl, and sent a photo to Maki instantly.
"So, why the mixture of flowers?" Nico peered over her shoulder at the chain.
"They say not all tattoos have to have a meaning, but I really like mixing styles. It's also fitting that I have European heritage and live in Japan, I guess," Eli shrugged, putting the chain onto tissue paper and carefully taking it to the back room.
Nico opened the door for her, "That sounds stupid and gay but hey go for it."
Eli ignored her co-worker's remark and carefully placed the chain in the temperature-controlled area of the room. It was sectioned off by glass and a small latch.
"Hey, about the designs Nozomi did," Nico put two fingers together, clearly unsure on how to address the topic.
"Did she rush those? I mean, you only gave her the task on Sunday and she did two, and it's Wednesday."
Eli took a deep breath through her nose as she shut the latch and adjusted the temperature for the plants inside.
"That's what struck me as weird, too. Nozomi is normally so relaxed about her work, and she produces the most incredibly things at her own pace. So what I want to know is why she did two massive designs in such a short period of time."
She paused and looked at Nico with a small, sad smile, "She's trying to distract herself from court on Friday. She's terrified, and keeps saying that doing the designs and thinking about tattooing me is 'not a burden,' but come on," Eli adjusted her apron and scowled at the floor.
"It might not be a burden to her by doing all this work to distract herself from what's about to happen, but it's making me worry."
"All you do is worry."
Nico's blunt answer made Eli lookup. Nico had her arms folded and a smile on her face.
"Tits Mcgee knows you'll worry about her - we all know you'll worry about her. By working, she can seem happy and act like there's nothing wrong. That's how her twisted mind works."
"You're right," Eli let out another sigh and awkwardly fiddled with her apron.
"And you hate it when I'm right," Nico smirked, nudging Eli's side with her elbow.
"Come on, I need to do the daily count and you need to get your ribbons done."
Leaving the law firm that evening, Nozomi pulled out her phone and glanced at the picture Eli had sent her again. As usual, her girlfriend had incredible taste, however the complexity of a flower chain around the ankle was what made Nozomi hum in thought.
'It's not impossible, I've done plenty of ankle chains, but I don't want to mess up because this is Elichi I'll be tattooing," She thought, sticking the e-cigarette in her mouth.
The thoughts stuck with her the entire walk home, and she entered her apartment in silence.
"Nozomi?"
"Oh, Hello Elichi! Sorry, I'm home," Nozomi quickly announced her presence, taking off her shoes and jacket. Eli got off the couch and kissed Nozomi as usual.
After dinner, Nozomi opened her sketchbook and pushed open a page towards Eli on the opposite side of the table. It was raining outside, and the splattering against the windows was not as calming as it usually was for the two.
"Here, have a look at this," Nozomi tapped the page for Eli to inspect. On the paper was a line drawing of the flower chain Eli had made that day.
"I only had my pencil with me, so I couldn't color it, but it's just something to give you an idea of the style."
Eli's breath was taken from her at how intricate and beautiful the simple line drawing was. It was everything she imagined and more.
How Nozomi was able to look at a photo taken on her phone of a flower chain she had made in under ten minutes and turn it into something so exquisite was just unbelievable.
"I...it's beautiful," Eli could barely muster out of her system. Nozomi chuckled and scratched at her stomach.
"Thank you, now take this page and stick it to your face."
"What? Nozomi!"
The artist ripped the page out of her sketchbook and pushed it towards Eli. The look on her face could be used if Nozomi ever went to an art gallery and urinated on a painting.
"Elichi, it's a sketch, and I will make photocopies. Just have this in your line of sight for as long as possible, because it will desensitise you to having a flower chain on your ankle for the rest of your life."
"Oh, that makes sense," Eli used a finger to slide the paper over to herself in the most delicate way possible. Nozomi was right, if she really wanted this tattoo, she'd have to have that image with her everywhere.
She instantly pulled out her phone and took a photo, then made the picture her lock and home screen.
"I'm going to stick this on the counter at work, because I don't have enough flowers to look at already."
Nozomi laughed with a snort, and Eli couldn't help but smile. A genuine laugh from Nozomi was music to her ears.
As I'm sure many of us know, living with anxiety isn't fun. Second-guessing and doubling back can just make you more anxious.
You know the drill, my tumblr is (tarot-tatas)