Post by Aurora Graves on Apr 23, 2017 18:40:27 GMT -5
Rebel Ink Tattoo Shop
Las Vegas, NV
Tuesday, April 11, 2017 – 7:30 am
Spring Break was well underway, which meant that Rebel Ink’s resident Shop Boy was spending a lot more time there. In fact, on this day, Vincent Aranson was especially early, sitting in the back room, feverishly working in his sketchbook. The only thing that caught his attention even for a brief moment was the sound of the back door opening.
Damon’s Voice: Vincent?
Aurora’s Voice: That is his car parked out back... not sure why he’s here so early.
Damon’s Voice: I know... I’m not complaining, but we don’t even open for another two and a half hours.
Aurora’s Voice: Hey, look at it this way. At least the kid’s making good use of his time off from school. Come on... let’s go see what he’s up to.
They walked up to the door that led into the back room, where they saw Vincent staring intently at his work, the tip of his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth. With an amused smirk on her face, Aurora knocked on the door frame, causing Vincent to jump in his seat a little bit.
Vincent: Holy shit... you guys scared me!
The young man let out a deep sigh of relief as he leaned back in his chair.
Damon: Didn’t mean to startle you, kid. Just surprised to see you here so early. Figured that since it was Spring Break and all, you’d want to sleep in.
Vincent shrugged.
Vincent: And normally, I would. But this is my senior year, and unlike a lot of the other people in my class, I know what I’m going to do right after graduating. Might as well take the time to work on my sketches.
Damon smiled, giving his apprentice an approving nod.
Damon: Not a bad idea. Say, have you given any thought to what we talked about the other day?
Vincent: You mean about me actually getting tattooed? Yeah, I suppose I can see the reasoning behind it. After all, if I’m going to learn to do this myself, it makes sense. I know people would probably rather get ink from someone that has some ink of their own – not some bare-armed virgin. In fact....
Vincent turned his sketchbook around, showing the Horde symbol from World of Warcraft, drawn as if it were being revealed beneath torn skin. Seeing the symbol put a smile to Aurora’s face, and she gave the piece an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
Aurora: Quite an ambitious undertaking for your first piece. You put a lot of detail into that sketch; it’s going to make the tattoo itself take quite a bit of time... not to mention it’s going to hurt more.
Damon: You sure you’re up for it, kid? We’re talking several hours stuck in the same position. Though I will allow for breaks if you need them.
Vincent thought about it for a moment, then gave his bosses a confident nod.
Vincent: Yeah, I am. Go big or go home, right?
Aurora & Damon: Right!
Damon: Good news is, you’ve already got the sketch, so all I have to do is get my equipment set up. Where do you want to put this?
Vincent: Where do you think would be a good place for it?
Aurora: Well, given the size and the detail, I’d say a good spot would be on the back of your calf. That way, you can hide it under your pant leg when you’re at school.
Damon: So they can’t bust your chops for...
Aurora & Damon: “Disrupting the learning process.”
Aurora and Damon rolled their eyes, throwing up air quotes to go with the sarcasm in their voices. It was no secret that they both had tremendous disdain for overly conservative – and often inconsistently enforced – dress codes.
Vincent: Have I ever told you two how utterly creepy I find it whenever you finish each other’s sentences like that?
Damon: Oh, come on... you say “creepy” like it’s a bad thing.
Aurora: Just wait; one day, you’ll find a girl that will probably do the exact same thing with you. Then you can creep everyone else out!
Vincent: Well, since you put it that way, I guess I can wait for karma to come right out and bite you two in the asses!
Aurora: Hey, just don’t forget who signs your paychecks, kid!
Vincent: Hello! It was a joke!
Aurora: Maybe that was, but you know what isn’t a joke? This obligatory paperwork you have to fill out. Hey... just because he’s mentoring you doesn’t mean you can skip all the legal stuff.
Vincent: Of course not. Protocol and all that. So, how long do you think it’ll take him to get the stencil ready?
Aurora: “Stencil?” Oh no... Damon’s gonna draw it freehand, right there on your skin.
Vincent: Uh...
Vincent looked a little nervous at the idea of not using a stencil.
Aurora: Hey, when it’s a hand-drawn piece, and not something someone found on the internet, he likes to reflect that by actually hand-drawing it into place. Gives him a better idea of what the finished piece will look like once he’s done.
Vincent: I see what you mean.
From the other end of the store, Damon’s voice echoed throughout the empty shop, interrupting Aurora and Vincent’s discussion.
Damon’s Voice: HEY! I’m all set up; we doing this or what?
Aurora arched her eyebrow at her husband’s apprentice, smirking as she tilted her head toward the door.
Aurora: Come on, kid... time to get inked up.
One last signature, and he was finished with the form Aurora had given him. He handed her the paperwork, then grabbed his sketchbook.
Vincent: So... how much is this going to hurt?
Aurora: Let’s see....
She furrowed her brow as she contemplated the question.
Aurora: Judging from the size and the location of the tattoo... taking into account the length of time...
Aurora tapped her finger against her chin, pursing her lips as the words spilled from her mouth in a low mutter.
Aurora: More than a tickle, but less than your final exams!
Vincent rolled his eyes, groaning as he headed out of the room toward Damon’s workstation.
Rebel Ink Tattoo Shop – Break Room
Las Vegas, NV
One hour later
Aurora sat on the black futon, her legs curled up beside her as she sipped on a glass of iced tea, her eyes fixed to the TV on the other side of the room, which was showing the gym scene from West Side Story. The crowd was broken into two groups – one for the guys and one for the girls – and they were arranged in circles. A cheesy, circus-like tune began to play, and the two groups began to walk in opposite directions. As the music stopped, the girls stared across at the guys they were lined up with, and apparently, they didn’t like what they saw. Aurora paused the video, the screen frozen with the image of the girls giving the boys dirty looks.
Aurora: Good things rarely ever come from randomly trying to pair people up. I mean, at times, there have been a few exceptions to this rule, but most of the time, what looked good when written on paper usually winds up blowing up in everyone’s faces once it’s actually put into practice. For this reason, I walk into my next match with extreme caution.
Take a look at this scene here on the screen. Here, some guy comes in, and tries to get the kids to intermingle by shuffling them around like the human equivalent of a deck of cards. And while I’m sure he meant no harm, take a good look at the faces of those girls. It’s clear that they want nothing to do with the men they’ve been paired up with. I know I for one wouldn’t want anyone other than my man touching me. So with that in mind, you’ll have to excuse me for being less than enthused about having to team with Joey Setala.
No offense to you, Joey. I’ve got absolutely no beef with you whatsoever – well, apart from you and Blair being after Rebel Ink’s championships, of course. Suffice to say that I’m rather particular in who I trust. It took more than just one match for Damon Graves to earn that trust. And now, if I’m being honest with myself, I can’t picture myself being as successful in the tag team division if I were paired with anyone else.
Let me make things abundantly clear. As the Redemption Tag Team Champions, Damon and I should be in the ring, defending against actual contenders for our titles, not participating in this Strange Bedfellows nonsense! Nevertheless, the match has been made, and I’m not going to back down from a fight, even if one of the people I have to fight happens to be my own husband.
Aurora stood up from the futon, slowly twirling the remote control between her fingers as she glared into the camera.
Aurora: I’ve never been a fan of these sort of tag team jumbles. Sure, it may work for those that aren’t already in established teams, but the one thing I can’t stand is when they muck around with an established team’s chemistry. But you know, it could be a LOT worse. I can at least take solace in the fact that I’m being paired up with someone I don’t totally despise. However, I think it would have been much more interesting if I had been teamed up with Blair. Battle of the Sexes? There’s your ratings gold mine, Devlin!
Now, I’ve already proven that I have no qualms stepping into the ring against my husband. And he knows damn well not to expect me to go easy on him just because we share the same last name. Oh, no... in a business that can put you up against a hated enemy in one match, and your best friend in the next, we know that it’s part and parcel for what we signed up with, and we knew our paths would cross in the ring long before we ever went on our first date. But of course, this both works in my favor, and it works against me. Because out of everyone in this match, he knows me better than anyone else. It’s what makes him the best tag team partner I’ve ever had, and at the same time, it makes him my most dangerous adversary when he’s standing on the other side of the ring. But just like we proved the last time a promoter split up our team for something he thought was going to grab all the ratings, we will tear it up from the moment the bell rings until the match is over, and when the final bell rings, whoever comes out on the winning side won’t make a damn bit of difference to us. If one of us wins, we both do.
Aurora flashed a confident smile, then tilted her head to the side.
Aurora: On to you, Blair... It wasn’t that long ago that we stood across from each other in tag team competition, and yet here we are again, right back where we were just a few weeks ago. But this time, we’ve got different people in our corners, in what has to be the craziest episode of Wife Swap in history. Nah... I could think of several people that could make this situation even crazier than it already is.
Blair, you know damn well that you are one of the few women on a list about as short as a shrew’s dick that I have any respect for when it comes to this business – hell, even outside of the business. And you also know that I’m not happy at all with what happened the last time we faced off. And while I know we’ll be facing off again soon enough, for now, we have to deal with this shit. So be it. Once again, I invite you to bring your absolute best, because you’re going to need it if you expect to be able to keep up with my husband. Sure, you may make him out to be a joke, but the FOUR tag team title reigns – a good chunk of which were started with HIM scoring the pinfall – that Damon and I have on our record prove who’s REALLY laughing at the end of the day.
The way I see it, there will only be one winner in this match, and that winner’s name... is GRAVES.
Aurora flopp back down on the futon, hitting play on the remote as she continued with her movie.
