As she slid her finger across the screen to answer her mothers call, her smile turned into a pensive frown. It only took three seconds of conversation with her mother to ruin her day. Ophelia stood with her back straightened and chills on her skin as her mother told her, “Lia, don’t taint your body like this.” Growing up, her parents spoke maliciously about those with tattoos and spoke about their temples being ruined. How can a temple be ruined by self expressive decoration?, she thought to herself, silent on the phone. “I gotta go mom, I’ll ca— , can you hold on please?“ she said, as she tilted her head to hold onto the phone so she could rummage through her purse for her debit card. Grabbing her card, straightening back up, she looked up to see she was next and realize her mom had hung up on her. Sliding her phone into her purses side pocket with a sigh of relief, she walked over to the artist and nodded along to his introduction. “Hey, I’m actually here for a dove behind my ear. I was just hoping for a minimalist tattoo since it’s my first one…” As she shrugged and sat on the chair, she glanced up at the various designs on the wall. “It’s addicting, isn’t it?”
“Addicting is one way to describe it, that’s for sure,” he laughed, gesturing at his tattooed arms. He had gotten his first tattoo at age eighteen but had collected many pieces on his body over the years. Yet he wasn’t even close to being finished. “A dove behind your ear...how big are you wanting it?” He asked, pulling out cleaner to sanitize his station. “And are you wanting color?” Dominik continued his routine, pulling out a fresh needle for each client and squirting out the colored ink of his choice.