"Carmen?" the shop’s other artist, Daniel, called, "you ready?" The woman perked up from the magazine, and setting it down shook her head and followed Daniel behind the partition that sectioned the waiting area off from the artists’ stations. The three-foot tall partition doubled as a display for various paintings and sketches done by the artists. Only two of them were in today, but Voodoo Tattoo was home to six well-known and skilled artists. Hung along other walls were tribal masks, an anchor and the cast of a marlin someone caught.

"I noticed some fading in the back. The front healed fine. Do you see it?" Carmen lifted the hem of her tank top, revealing a firm stomach, defined back and curves that begged to be stroked.

"I see. This shouldn’t take long. Lower your pants a bit, and we’ll put plastic wrap over them so they don’t get stained." Carmen followed his directions as Daniel pulled out a chair for her to straddle. He tucked the plastic wrap in between her skin and the back of the waistband and she straddled the chair. This left her facing the other artist and his lanky client, who was in the same position she was.

Meanwhile, Shane had hiked up her shirt, revealing the tattoo for Jake and straddled the offered chair. It was nice to sit after having to lay down with her arm over her head for so long. "Sit up! Sloucher…" Jake ordered. Shane sat up accordingly and found herself no more than ten feet from the beautiful woman who had walked in earlier. "Hello indeed," she thought to herself, as a half-grin crept on to her face. Long layers of silky dark hair cascaded over wide, brown eyes, angular features and tanned skin. The tips of her long fingers ended in short, well manicured nails, and the black tank top showed just enough cleavage to be tempting, but not trashy.

Carmen’s world stopped as she met those eyes, half-shaded by hair, half-tweaked with a grin. She was jolted back to reality as Daniel pressed the needle to her skin. It took a flash of a second to get used to the vibrating burn, and she turned her attention back to the woman in front of her. Shaggy hair fell around her face and ears, and long lean arms snaked out of a fitted green wifebeater. Carmen noted several small rips and tears in the worn out jeans that covered the tops of equally worn out skater-style shoes. She decided if she was going to have her skin pricked thousands of times with little needles, she might as well have something nice to look at.