Solo The Customer Is Always Right

[Savos]

55th of Summer, 514 AV

Somewhere within the interior of Lazuli Ink's skyglass dome, eyes could be seen peering through the glass. The small structure reflected Syna's light in strange ways, as though breaking the prism of light that shown through it to created a myriad of colors, each unique and bright and beautiful. The eyes wondered what might cause such an effect, whether it was some unidentifiable law of nature or another mysterious case of magic and djed in the world.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Savos wrote off his musings and returned to his work, plowing away at the pig skin stretched out in front of him. Now that his motor functions were beginning to understand his intentions as he started out his tattoo, he could retreat into a world of calm concentration. As long as he kept the little tap in rhythm, he could allow himself to peacefully continue his work without feeling rushed or impatient. The sound, the vibration through his fingers, they were almost hypnotizing.

He focused his entire being into the work. His hands moved like clockwork while the rest of his body remained still as a corpse, and his brain peddled away. It was not that he was doing anything particularly complicated. He had set himself on creating a small swirl design within the hideous skin in front of him in order to get practice at creating a seamless curved line. He remembered about tapering his line as Soraya had once shown him on paper. He went over the first line again near the center in order to create the effect.

“Hello.” Inecino's voice came from behind as though being carried by the waves of a vast ocean. Savos didn't react for a few moments, his priority still entirely on his design. It took a few seconds for some inactive part of his mind to wake up and remind him that it was not polite to keep people waiting, let alone his boss.

“Hi, Inecino,” Savos finally replied, turning away from his work. “Do you need anything?”

“As a matter of fact,” he replied with a smile, and leaned over to peer at Savos' pig skin.
“Ah, I just started, it's still got--
“No no, it's good. You're really coming along. Anyway, I have a job for you.”
“Ah yes, I'll just clean these supplies and I'll be right there.”
“Of course.”

Inecino retired and Savos did as he promised, systematically picking up his tools and returning them to where they belonged. There was a small rag used to clean the ink off tools, and Savos dipped it in a basin of water to clean the tattooing tool. He did so slowly and with careful movement so as to not poke himself with the row of needles at the tip of the tool. He admired the craft of setting up the shards so that they were lined up so perfectly.

[Savos]

Savos entered the room to find Inecino chatting amicably with someone he had never seen before. The man was sharply dressed, blonde, and somewhat chubby. He had a glimmer in his eye as he spoke, and it was almost like he was putting a lot of effort into speaking at a conversational tone. When he saw Savos, however, he boomed loudly and stomped over to where he was.

“The man I was hoping to meet! You are Savos, correct?”
“... Well, there's no one else here by that name, so-”
“Wonderful!” He shook Savos' hand vigorously, who was so taken by surprise by this strange character that he just looked over at Inecino helplessly. Inecino noticed his distress and walked over, and put a hand on the blonde man's arm.

“Savos, this is Mr. Charles Sulia. He came in about a week ago to discuss a tattoo session. We had a discussion about it, and he would like you to tattoo him today.”

Savos smiled politely at Charles, though he felt like anything but smiling. Soraya had warned him about this last week, and he had spent his last week of practice somewhat anxiously. Though his eye was trained to understand what a good drawing was, his physical skill regarding the art of tattooing was still not adequate to him. But this man seemed to have insisted that he wanted Savos, and only Savos, to tattoo him. Inecino did not seem to be offended by this, and decided to simply give Savos the reigns on the whole affair.

“You do me a great honor, sir,” Savos decided was the best thing to reply, and gave a light bow. Mr. Sulia replied with booming laughter.

“No no, it is you who honors me. You see, lad, I am a great admirer of the many races of Mizahar. I have studied the Myrian culture from afar, trying to understand their way of life. Truly fascinating creatures, they are.”

Creatures? Savos restrained the swell of pride he felt for a race he did not know. It was difficult to remind himself in these times that he should not feel pride for something he was not a part of. Mr. Sulia seemed to notice the subtle hints in posture that showed Savos had been offended by the comment, but misunderstood why.

“Ah, I'm sorry 'mboy. It must sadden you to be so far from your people, here in our beautiful, but sadly isolated city."
“Not at all. What can I do for you today, sir?” Please get to the point, before I commit ritual suicide.
“Ah of course, yes. Well, I just had one of my caravans come back home after many years of journey with the biggest profit margin I've had in years. Mizahar is finally becoming a more civilized place to be! Great thing for men in my business. Maybe one day we'll even be able to create roads in Falyndar.”
“One day, maybe.” I pray to Leth that you will never step foot there, for your own sake.
“Ah, well anyway. In commemoration of this splendid achievement, I wish to tattoo a kina, here on my shoulder. I have been so enamored by my studies of the Myrian tattoo art that I wish to share the pride they take in it. You understand, yes?”
Not really, no. “Of course.”
“You know, I really expected your people to be more... How should I say? More decorated. The books mention facial--”
“Yes, well. I never actually grew up in Taloba. I'm from Denval, sir.” It felt as though he had had to make this correction thousands of times before.
“Ah, I see.” He seemed a little disappointed. “Well, working here, I see that tattooing is in your blood!”

The resistance Savos needed to not roll his eyes or grimace at that comment felt like he was working out his facial muscles. In your blood. It was an assumption he had spent his entire life battling, and every single time it was mentioned, it hurt, just a little more than the last. He smiled again, forcefully.

“Shall we get started, Mr. Sulia?
“Of course, of course! I have been rambling. Let us.”

The retired to the tattooing room where Soraya had already carefully prepared the tools of the trade. Mr. Sulia kept going on about something or other as they sat him down, such as how he had not expected Savos to be so well spoken compared to what he had read in his books. Savos wondered how much crap those dusty tomes were filled with. He exchanged glances with Inecino, who seemed to have an apologetic look about him. At least he understood the position this pompous man was putting Savos in. Savos didn't blame his boss. He knew that they could not reject customers for being a little rude.

[Savos]

Savos had developed a filtration system by the time they begun their work. His anger had been worked up a little at the beginning of their conversation with Mr. Sulia, but Savos understood how to deal with it. Inecino had to deal with customers who were less than friendly in the past, and now it was Savos' turn. At least this man had some respect for him, however misguided that happened to be.

They lay the man comfortably on his stomach, where they would have a good place to work as he wanted the tattoo to rest closer to his shoulder blade on the shoulder. Instinctively, Savos almost began stretching the skin when Soraya gave him the tattooing equipment needed, and he remembered that he was not supposed to do that today. As they took their positions, it felt almost surreal to see Inecino sitting where Savos should have sat, as his assistant. He was sure that he had dreamed of these roles being reversed before, and it was hard to convince himself that he was awake.

First, Savos took a brush and dipped it in to the ink. With a dotted line, he carefully mapped out a draft for his line placement. He felt awkward doing this, for Inecino rarely had to unless he was working on a complicated design. Despite being reassured that all beginners must do it in order to minimize the risk of making a mistake, he still felt inadequate. Soraya had subtly placed a sapphire kina on the floor next to him, and he smiled at her in thanks. Reference was always a welcome gift, and he was glad that Mr. Sulia was not creative enough to ask him to tattoo something more abstract.

Once he finished meticulously crafting the shape of the coin, he asked Soraya to give him the needle.

“This might hurt a little at first, but please don't move. If you need us to stop at any point, say the word."
“Yes, yes.”

At the first tap into the skin, there was a small flinch, but the man kept himself in control after the initial involuntary reaction. Savos' heart was pounding at first, as though he had just walked up onto stage with thousands of people in front of him, waiting for him to recite a poem he had barely revised. The beginning was a nervous wreck, and his stutters came in the form of taps on the needle that lacked the rhythm that allowed him to focus. But it was not long before he grew more comfortable, and could finally hear that settling beat, that rhythm to the song of the needles.

One of the things that immediately brought calm to his senses was that the human flesh was much more cooperative than any of the crappy substitutes he had worked with. Inecino and Soraya had told him as much, but it was hard to believe until he actually experienced it. He felt like he could somehow feel exactly where that thin zone under the skin was, between piercing too deep and not deep enough for the ink to find its place.

[Savos]

Even with his newly found confidence as he worked through the main curve of the ellipse that would be the coin's outer contour, Savos was slow. Immeasurably so, when he compared himself to Inecino's master work. It was inevitable, and Savos constantly had to remind himself to keep his current pace, and not try to speed up. He remembered what Inecino had told him not so long ago in regards to one of his practice works on a pig skin.

Slow down. Speed is a convenience that is earned after years of experience. If your method is correct, no matter how slow, it will work.

Though his words were of reassurance to Savos, he also knew that the convenience of speed was for the customer. People had a habit of moving around, and when forced to stay immobile under the pressure of the needle, they tended to grow impatient.

“How is it going, then?” Mr Sulia asked after a while. Savos was impressed that the man hadn't said anything sooner and did imply a rather polite tone. Savos smiled to himself, thinking that maybe Sulia was being nice due to the fact that he had a very sharp row of needles in his hand.

“It's going smoothly,” Savos replied as he removed his needle from the skin and let Inecino and Soraya clean up. The linework was done, and now Savos had to prepare to use Soraya's blue ink for the filling. He began to clean the needle, making sure there would be no black ink left on it when he dipped it into the blue ink.

As he cleaned the tool carefully, he peered over at the tattoo, beginning to grow red around the edges due to irritated skin. The outline and the ovular fact of the gem were outlined, and Savos was proud to see that gave a good three dimensional appearance even with the trouble of putting an ellipse into perspective. He was slightly upset that one of the lines that was meant to be facing the light source was not as thin as he would have liked.

The next part was pretty smooth sailing. Filling in with the blue ink did not require too much technical know how, but was time consuming and tedious. Several times through the process, Savos had to reassure Mr. Sulia that they were almost done, and if he could stop fidgeting things could go faster, thank you.

[Savos]

The finishing touches consisted of a few spots to administer some white ink in order to simulate the highlights of the reflective object, reinforcing its crystalline texture. Savos wiped off the needle and Soraya and Inecino cleaned off the rest of the ink and blood from the wound. Savos breathed a sigh of relief at a job well done.

“You can get up now, Mr. Sulia.”

The man shot up like he had been waiting for the go-ahead for years. Savos stopped him from standing up so that he could cover the tattoo with a medical bandage.

“You're going to have to cover this for about 3 days or so. Replace the bandages every night and dab it with this,” he handed him a bit of Krolar poultice, a paste that helped disinfect and heal wounds faster. Lazuli Ink kept a stock, and included the price in the fee of the customer's tattoo.

"... and it should heal nicely. It's going to feel sore for about a week.”

Soraya handed the man the materials he needed to keep the wound properly cared for. Savos went through some more basic care, such as how he should avoid rubbing at it, even when a small layer of skin would start peeling around the area. Tattoos were like that.

Mr. Sulia asked if he could see it, and Savos immediately fetched a mirror so that he could.

“Ah, very good! I like that shade of blue, very royal.”
“Courtesy of Soraya, she mixes the pigments.”
“I see, good. A bit small, don't you think?”
“The what?”
“The tattoo is a bit small.”

Savos' face visibly twitched. The man had the nerve to make such a remark without even so much as a thank you? Savos reminded himself to keep his cool. It was his first tattoo, it would be natural that he felt more defensive about it. The time to react dramatically over a few words of insolence was not now.

“Well, you did not specify size. Apologies about that.”

Mr. Sulia mumbled about a few more things before finally getting to the bit where he said thank you. They exchanged useless pleasantries, and more importantly, exchanged payment for the services. Things felt a lot better when Savos could weigh the small bag of kinas in his hand.

When Sulia left, Inecino told Savos that he could leave early for a job well done. There were only a dozen chimes left on his shift, but he smiled and thanked him graciously anyway. The job had tired him more than he thought. The stress, brainwork, and muscle control he had exerted over those last few hours had worn him out more than expected. So, even though it was midday when he reached his little apartment, he flopped lamely onto his bed and went straight to sleep.

[Brandon Blackwing]

Savos

XP Award:

• Tattooing +4
• Socialization +4
• Rhetoric +1
• Observation +3
• Drawing +1

Lore:

• Tattooing: It’s all about rhythm
• Mr. Sulia: first client and fascinated by Myrians
• Customers can be rude and annoying
• Reversal of roles: Savos the Tattoo artist and Inecino the assistant
• Tattooing: first drawing guidelines with a brush before using the needle
• Tattooing: Human skin is easier to tattoo than pig skin
• Tattooing: Stick to your own pace
• Tattooing: The finishing touches
• Note to self: Ask customers to specify the size of their tattoo
• Dealing with frustration

Notes:
A very good read, as expected from you! As always, nice descriptive style and dialogue. I liked Savos’s mental comments upon meeting Mr. Sulia, you never fail to amuse!
I thought I’d give you a lot of lores since, well, Savos learned a lot
Anyway, keep it up and enjoy the grade!

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credit goes to Adelaide Sitai