LIVE BEYOND / tattoo time

[bubblegum]

DEAR FRIEND as you know,  your flowers are withering
your mother's gone insane, your leaves have drifted away.
but the clouds are clearing up
and i've come reveling, burning incandescently,
like a bastard on the burning sea.

YOU'RE JUST LIKE YOUR FATHER,
BURIED DEEP UNDER THE WATER.

Aside from her new cousins being born, things had been mostly quiet for the tigress since she'd moved from her hut back to the captain's quarters. The air, despite being a bit more humid, a bit more dusty, felt fresher in a sense. The scents were calming and welcoming, warm to the female. It cleared her head, the noise dying down, and allowing her to begin to get some real work done, along with focus on things she may have pushed to the side after the loss of her wife. She was thinking - thinking of when she was a child. Goldie would run around gladly, speaking to all she saw, making conversation to all that would allow it, and learning as much as she could, and that made her happy. In its own right, learning new things was just as productive as doing something like planning, hunting, or training. And it was just as important, too, to build relationships with the folks around her. And she's decided, that maybe she should use this revelation and turn back the tide in a sense. Things had become complicated in adulthood, skewed with wars and hurt, but things had been peaceful among the groups since the great battle against the Pitt, and she didn't see it changing just yet. The captain figures, maybe for a little while, it would be fine to focus her mind back into a more carefree attitude.

And thus lead the path down learning the art of tattoos. How exactly did it work on an animal? Her roleplayer didn't know, and didn't really care. It just works. Just trust him on this one. The female had already had experience with traditional art, taking on painting and sketching when she was younger as a hobby. She hasn't done it properly in some time, but that was alright. She wasn't looking to do something very detailed or skilled looking, just something that she liked, and all she had to do to accomplish that was sketch out some ideas. And so that's exactly what she'd do, trying out several different designs, using washable ink to practice on her paws to get a feel for how it'd actually work when she moved onto the final stage. Eventually, she lands upon a design she likes enough to finalize. She decides upon a stipple style of shading, and thick linework to make the simple shapes pop out. It overall wasn't very meaningful - it had thought behind it, but it wasn't connected to any personal idea or story. That's how she wanted it, though, so that was perfectly fine, and it's not like anyone was gonna tell her no. She wasn't asking for anyone's opinion.

The captain would practice a few more times, wash off her paw, and then take a mirror to work on the real thing. The good thing about working with a stipple was that it gave her room for error so long as she was careful. And finally, she would be left with the new marking on her chest. A cat skull, wearing a crown, sitting upon a small pile of leaves and flowers, four bolts of lightning framing its corners. She'd let it sit for a little while, working on other things inside her room to let it settle, before walking out onto the docks, then the beach, to show off her new tattoo, and of course, do things like walk around the archipelago.