Placeholder Job Thread #2, Fall 513 AV

[Adair Askara]

Fall 60, 513 AV

„No, no, no!“ Adair exclaimed. „I’m not going to do that!“

In front of the proprietor of Askara Ink stood a middle aged woman that wore expensive clothes and a little too much makeup.

She’d recently taken a younger lover and apparantly thought that getting a tattoo would make her look young and fashionable as well, but unfortunately she wanted the wrong tattoo, and nothing could ever give her a different face!

„You will give me whatever tattoo I want. I’m paying you“, the woman insisted. She sounded as if she was used to getting what she had wanted, to people obeying her, but unfortunately she had never met Adair Askara.

The young man looked directly into her eyes and firmly said, „No. I’m not going to tattoo what looks like a pair of mishapen antlers on your ass. It’s ugly and at least a hundred years out of fashion. Besides, I have no interest in looking at that part of your body!“

The woman glared at him. „Why, you little …“ she began, but Adair only laughed and replied, „Sorry, I’m taller than you.“

That was clearly not the reply the woman had expected. „What did you just say?“ she asked, a little confused (and more than a little angry).

„You called me little, I reminded you that I’m taller than you“, Adair replied and raised his head and even stood on his tiptoes. The young man stood at a gigantic 5‘8“, and he wanted her to be aware of that!

„You cannot refuse to give me a tattoo“, the woman told him. „Don’t you have to pay off a debt?“

„I also have to protect Kenash“, Adair replied.

The woman looked at him thoughtfully which he misinterpreted. „I know what you are thinking“, he told her. „I’m not going to give you a tattoo with the name of your lover on one of your arms either. You’ll probably split up next season at the very latest, and then you’ll be stuck with his name. How would you explain that to your next lover?“

He grinned at her.

She of course didn’t grin, but informed him, „I’m going to tell your cousin Banjemin. He’s your cousin, right?“

„Yes, he is“, Adair replied. „And he’ll agree with me. My dear cousin would like me to protect Kenash from such unfashionable ugliness as well!“

The woman stormed out of the tattoo parlor.

[Adair Askara]

Fall 65, 513 AV

„She’s pretty“, Adair informed his Vantha slave that stood behind the desk, doing the paperwork the Askara didn’t want to do. As he heard his master’s voice, the slave looked up and replied rather indifferently, „Yes, she’s pretty.“ Unlike Adair he had no interest in women. He didn’t understand how Adair could be attracted to both sexes when they were so different.

In the entrance to Askara Ink stood a woman of about Adair’s own age, with big blue eyes, blonde curls and a heart shaped, freckled face. She looked around a little uncertainly before she asked, „Which one of you is the owner of this tattoo parlor?“

The Vantha rolled his eyes as he heard that question – couldn’t she see his mark? – but Adair smiled at her and walked over to her. „I am. Adair Askara, at your pleasure. What can I do for you?“

The young woman smiled. „I’d like a tattoo, a few butterflies on my right shoulder. That would look lovely, don’t you agree?“ „Absolutely“, Adair replied and led her to one of the benches. „Did you bring a drawing or shall I propose a design?“

„Please propose something. You look like you are a wonderfully creative man“, the woman replied. Adair’s slave rolled his eyes again and shook his head. Adair on the other hand took his notebook and a pencil and started drawing a few somewhat stylized butterflies. They all had similar patterns on their wings. The woman watched him as he was drawing and nodded approvingly.

„I think pastel colours would look best with your blonde hair and your skin color“, Adair told her. He painted one butterfly light blue, another one pale pink and a third one yellow. „I like that“, the woman informed him. „Then let’s get started. Lie down on your stomach while I get my tools.“ While the woman did just that, Adair carefully washed his hands and arranged his tools on the table next to the bench where she was lying.

After he had disinfected everything, he turned to his customer. „I will first draw the design with some black ink so that I know where exactly I need to put the needle later on and the tattoo looks good.“ The woman nodded, and Adair started drawing the very same butterflies he had drawn in his notebook onto her skin. Once he was satisfied with how it looked, he took the needle. „It may sting a little now, but all in all the shoulder is one of the less pain sensitive parts of the body you can get a tattoo on. Try to think of something else while I work.“

Adair worked slowly and concentrated hard as he tattooed the woman. He couldn’t erase any mistakes he made. Once he had made a tatto, it was permanent. It took a while, but finally he had drawn the outlines of the butterflies. While he did larger tattoos in several steps, this one was small enough that he would be able to finish it in a single day.

„I’m going to colour it now“, he told the woman. „This will be a little more painful as I have to go over the same area several times.“ The woman nodded and gritted her teeth, and Adair took a differently coloured ink and continued his work. Finally he was done, wiped away whatever blood had appeared and disinfected the tatoo and the area around it.

„Would you like to see it now?“ he asked the woman and led her to a large mirror on the wall. He handed her a smaller mirror so that she could take a look at the new tattoo on her shoulder.

„Wow. It’s pretty!“ she gushed and smiled at him. Adair smiled back. „I’ll have to put a bandage on it now though. I want you to leave it on until tomorrow morning to keep it from becoming infected. Tomorrow morning I want you to wash the tattoo with soap and apply ointment. Here, I have some for you.“ He handed her a bottle of ointment. „I want you to do this until the area is fully healed. Do you think you’ll remember that?“

The woman only smiled at him.

Once she was out of the door, Adair turned to his slave. „I did a great job, didn’t I?“ he asked. „Yes, very great“, he replied and frowned a little. Everytime a pretty woman entered the tattoo parlor, he couldn’t help but feel a little jealous, even though most women left again.

[Adair Askara]

Fall 70, 513 AV

„I would like to to get a tattoo“, the man who had entered the tattoo parlor announced. He had brown hair and brown eyes, was a little younger than Adair and wore clothes that were meant to impress. „I have a picture right here.“

Adair walked over to him and talk a look at the piece of paper he had produced, furrowing his brow a little as he did so. On the paper were two words in a foreign language, surrounded by vines. „Skurak Deyhan“, he read and looked at his customer, hoping for an explanation.

„These are Myrian words“, the man proudly proclaimed as Adair looked at him questioningly. „I had a trader translate them for me. In Common they mean ‚proud warrior‘ – just what I want to be when I’m older. The Myrians may be savages, but they are great fighters!“

As he heard that, Adair had a bad feeling. He didn’t know what the words meant – he wasn’t very familiar with the Myrians – but he was pretty sure that they didn’t mean ‚proud warrior‘.

His Vantha slave had also approached and took a look at the paper before he started to laugh. „Proud warrior, indeed“, he murmurred and shook his head. „And what a proud warrior he’ll be.“

The customer looked angry because the slave had dared to speak like that, but Adair merely asked, „Do you know what these words really mean?“

„Of course“, the slave replied. „Before you got me, I was in the slave market for a while and acquainted with a Myrian. He was very violent towards the guards and insulted them a lot. I can’t translate these words exactly, but I think they mean something along the lines of ‚snake vomit outsider‘.“

„Ah“, Adair remarked and turned to the customer. „Unless you have a weakness for snake vomit and want to be made fun of by every Myrian you meet – my dear cousin has a Myrian slave, in case you aren’t aware – I would suggest you get a different tattoo.“

„I’ll think about it“, the man murmurred. He didn’t look very happy. „If I ever see that trader again …“

[Adair Askara]

Fall 75, 513 AV

A middle aged man with sunburnt skin that looked like a sailor entered the tatoo parlor and looked at Adair and his slave. „Who of you is Adair Askara?“ he wanted to know. „He is“, Adair answered and pointed at the Vantha behind him. „I’m just a poor slave that has to obey all the time and is in permanent pain from all the whippings. Ahh!“

He pretended to scream in pain.

The sailor looked confusd, and Adair laughed. „Just kidding. I’m Adair Askara, he’s the slave, and he never gets whipped because he isn’t into that kind of stuff. I would whip him if he asked for it though because I want him to be happy. Anyway, what can I do for you? What kind of tattoo do you want?“

„Something like that“, the sailor said and showed him a slightly crumped drawing. It depicted a scantily clad and very curvy woman. „I’m going on a long journey, and I want something to remind me of all the women on land.“ Adair nodded and gestured at the bench.

„Sit down there, and we’ll get started. Where do you want the tattoo to be?“ „On my right upper arm“, the sailor replied, and Adair got to work. As always, he carefully washed his hands and disinfected his tools before he draw a sketch on the sailor’s upper arm.

Adair found it easier to draw ornaments and things like butterflies and flowers, so he worked especially slowly and carefully. He didn’t want his customer to end up with a deformed freak on his arm! He didn’t warn the man that getting the tattoo would be painful. He looked like he would be offended if Adair as much as mentioned pain.

The woman on the picture had very red hair. It took him a while to find a shade that matched. After what seemed like an eternity he was finally done and cleaned the tattoo and the area around it before he let the sailor inspect it. The man took a long look at it and finally nodded.

„What are you doing?“ he asked as Adair began to put a bandage around the tattoo. „Putting a bandage on it“, Adair replied, stating the obvious. „I want you to leave it on for the next couple of bells to lessen the risk of infection. Once you have taken the banadage off, I want you to wash the tattoo with soap and regularly use ointment until the skin is fully healed.“

„I’m not going to do that!“ the sailor replied. „I don’t need a stupid bandage and some fancy ointment. What do you think I am? Some weak little girl?“

„Even big, strong men like you get infections“, Adair informed him and handed him a bottle of ointment. „But if you want your arm to start rotting and fall off, feel free. I’m sure they’ll have a use for a one armed sailor. Maybe they’ll even give you a nice, sharp hook that you can poke people with.“

Of course Adair had exaggerated a bit, but he needed his threat to be effective!

The sailor frowned, but he took the ointment and let Adair finish bandaging him. Once he was out of the door, Adair’s slave remarked, „That tattoo was just as tasteless as the one that older woman wanted to get the other day. What was it? A pair of deformed antlers? Why didn’t you talk him out of it as well?“

„Because it will likely be the only woman he will be able to touch for the next couple of seasons“, Adair replied. „And I’m not so cruel as to deny him that little bit of pleasure.“

„That sounds perverted“, the slave remarked. Adair laughed and nodded. „I doubt he’d really do that with his tattoo though. How would that even work? Let’s clean up and get everything ready for our next customer.“

[Adair Askara]

Fall 80, 513 AV

„I loooove you. I loooove you. I love you, love you, love youuuu!“ Adair loudly sang and danced around the tattoo parlor. „I do, I do, I doooo!“ His slave watched him amusedly and wanted to know, „Who do you love, master? Me?“ Adair spun around, threw his arms around the other man and passionately proclaimed, „Yes, of course I do! I love you and that Morealis boy – by the gods, can he kiss! – and Katherine Morealis – think she’s interested in a threesome with her brother and me? - and that old guy in the lighthouse and my cousin Alex and Fiora Radacke and her husband and …“ He listed about two dozen more names, and then he leaned forward and attempted to kiss the other man who pushed him away as he noticed the smell of alcohol that was coming out of his mouth.

„Master, are you drunk?“ he asked. „Sure!“ Adair happily replied. He wasn’t particularly mad that his slave had refused his kiss, but just sang and danced again. „Oh, oh, oh, I looove you!“ The slave furrowed his brow and decided, „We need to get you sober again quickly, master. I don’t know what you have been doing – I’m not sure I want to know – but we are supposed to open in less than a bell, and our customers must not see you like that!“

„Why?“ Adair asked. „Maybe they’ll join us!“ The slave shook his head and quickly exited the building to retrieve a bucket full of fresh, cold water – that he emptied right over Adair’s head. Adair just stood there for a moment, mouth wide open, and then he shook his eyes and wiped his eyes. The slave who realized what he’d just done, murmurred, „Please don’t punish me, but your business …“ „Punishing slaves is boring. Everybody does that“, Adair replied. „Do me a favour and get this place ready while I lie down for a moment. I don’t feel so good …“

A bell later the first customers of the day arrived, a boy and a girl who seemed to be very much in love. „We want matching tattoos“, the girl said and hugged her boyfriend. „Hearts!“ „Oh, love!“ Adair only replied, and his slave sighed. He realized that Adair was still in no state to work. „Master, may I do this?“ he asked, and Adair grinned at him, „Feel free! I’ll go and find love.“ And with that he went through the wrong door, right into the backroom where he immediately lay down again and slept for the next couple of bells while his trusted slave took care of the shop.

[Translucent]

Congratulations On Your Hard Work!

Adair Askara:
XP: +1 rhetoric, +3 observation, +2 drawing, +2 tattooing, +2 medicine, +1 singing, +1 dancing
Lores: How to run off a customer, Tattooing: The shoulder is one of the least painful areas, Medicine: Preventing infection, Even Big Strong Men get Infections

Notes:Amusing job thread

As always PM me if you have issues.