Talk of Motorcycles and Tattoos Who: Mitchie and Sarah Where: The Wild Cat When: Afternoon - August 2
Endless days had been spent wandering the streets of L.A. in the hopes of finding her father from this time and place. Her search, though, had proved fruitless as Mitchie was no closer to finding Joshua Cromwell then she had been that first day she found herself in this world of the past. Having given up, finally, the teen turned her attention to another avenue. Find, and hopefully connect, David Cromwell, her uncle.
The small bell above the door chimed when Mitchie opened the door to the tattoo place and walked in. This was the second stop she was making that day in hopes of finding out any intel on her uncle. The biker bar she had visited previously had produced no leads, but did get her more then a couple sexually insinuated invitations to visit an upstairs room.
Sarah was sitting in a chair in the front of the shop, flipping through a motorcycle magazine. OK, so David had gotten her into motorcycles a lot since she had started seeing him. She was actually scanning through one to see if any sparked an idea for a tattoo. She was kind of wanting to get a motorcycle on her back, but wanted to pick a good one before getting someone to slap it on there.
Tattoo shops in the afternoons weren't exactly known for their business (more business comes in at night, lots of it from drunk college kids, but why knock a huge demographic, right?), so she was the only one in there. She looked up when the girl came into the shop. "Can I help you?" she asked, shutting the magazine and setting it aside.
"I was thinking of getting a tattoo." The red head answered. Stepping further into the place wearing a plaid shirt and a pair of slightly tattered jeans, Mitchie approached the artist. "Just not exactly sure what to get that will be forever etched on my person." She smiled softly to the woman.
Sarah nodded and stood up. "Well, I've got plenty of examples around here of stuff I've done in the past," she said. She had photos all over the walls of both drawings and actual photographs of tattoos she had done, plus several photo albums and sketch books full of stuff she could do. "Why don't you take a look through some of these books and see if any spark your interest?" She pushed some of them her way. "What are your hobbies, anyway? Lots of people get their likes or hobbies tattooed on them as well.
"Thanks," the red head smiled appreciatively reaching for the first book eased toward her. "God," Mitchie chuckled half heartily, "where do I begin." She answered grinning lightly to the artist. "Bikes, cars, sports, especially baseball, eagles, etc." The young woman continued while flipping through the first design book.
Sarah grinned when the girl started to list off some of her likes. "Oh, there's lots we can do with those," she said. "Easy ones are a baseball or bat, an eagle..." She grabbed her magazine and pushed it toward her as well. "Actually, I was just looking through this for one myself. I was thinking of putting a bike on my back. My boyfriend works on them for a living, so it would be a little tribute to him."
"A little tribute?" Mitchie chuckled. "You must think quite highly of the guy to brand yourself with a permanent reminder of him. My dad worked on them too, bikes and cars. Which is how I kind of got drawn into the whole mechanic thing." The teen rambled on as she accepted the magazine offered to her. "Wow, in fact he had a tat just like this one." Swiveling the design book around, Mitchie pointed out the tattoo design of an eagle holding a banner that read Born to Ride. "Kind of amusing to think someone else is walking around sporting the same tat." The girl said with feigned amusement at the thought.
"Yeah well, I kind of do," Sarah admitted with a slight grin. What could she say? She REALLY adored David. One reason she had quit at Saints & Sinners, besides finally having enough money to open her own tattoo shop, was because it had made David uncomfortable. He never gave her anything like an ultimatum or something, but she knew that he didn't like having a girlfriend that took her clothes off for a living. Hell, few guys did. "Your dad had a tattoo just like that?" she asked. That was kind of weird. "That's a design that my boyfriend has as well." He'd had it before she met him, but David definitely had that.
Hearing that sparked a little bit of hope within the young woman. "That's freakin weird." Mitchie commented with a non-chalant glance over to Sarah. "And if I didn't know better I'd be highly suspicious of Pops long nights away from home." And Mitchie knew definitely that the mentioned boyfriend wasn't her dad as he, along with her mother, perished with their world after she had managed to leave the place.
"So, is this guy friend of yours a biker type too?"
That actually made Sarah laugh a little, calming what could have been a slight fit down. Well, she hoped that she would stay calm, anyway. She'd rather continue liking David, thanks, and not find out he's got a secret family or something like that somewhere. "Yeah, he's a 'biker type'," Sarah said with a smile.
"They play up the tough guy exterior quite well when most of them are big ole teddy bears deep down, don't you agree." Mitchie put out there after hearing the woman's reply. Now if she could just circle around to finding out the guy's name without drawing suspicion to herself, Michelle Cromwell could very well have the lead she had been searching for all this time.
"And that is so true," Sarah said to her with a chuckle. David liked to pretend to be big and bad, but get him around Lucy and he literally turned into a giant teddy bear.
"I'm Michelle, by the way." Mitchie introduced herself seeing as they both seemed to be getting along quite well. "And actually new to the city." At least to this time and day she was.
"Sarah Varone," she said, offering Michelle her hand. "Are you now? Well, allow me to welcome you to LA, then." Sarah had grown up in LA, but she knew that not everyone was so lucky.
"Thanks, and it's nice to meet you Sarah Varone." Mitchie accepted the woman's hand and shook it. "And now to get a bit off track here. Do you happen to know of a reputable garage? Kind of having a little trouble with my Harley, and seeing as you seem to know the city loads better then me thought maybe you could give me a recommendation or two." Mitchie smiled pleasantly.
"Hmm...lucky you then," Sarah mused out loud. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her wallet, plucking one of David's business cards out of it. "Here you go. This is the place my boyfriend owns. If he can't fix it, no one can." She handed her the card, which had David's full name on it as well as the business name, address, and phone number.
"So," the teen accepted the business card and was barely able to contain the rush of excitement that rushed through her when she glanced it over and noted the name. But manage to hid it she did. "He's reputable and charges a fair price for his work?" She questioned tucking the small card into the pocket of her shirt.
Sarah nodded. "He can even build them from scratch," she told her. Plus, even if he *was* her boyfriend, she wouldn't direct the girl over to him unless he was actually good at what he did. That would just be plain wrong, after all.
"Sounds like the guy knows what he's doing." The red head commented with a smile. And if the woman was being dishonest with her, which Mitchie didn't think was the case, she'd know if she did take her bike in. Growing up learning the trade of her father and uncle, Mitchie knew her way around motorcycle and car engines. Much more then the average girl who tended to only know the very basics.
"Well, he built me a bike, so I certainly hope so," Sarah said playfully. He had been showing her how to try and ride it, but so far, it wasn't going that well. Of course, he *insisted* that happened with everyone when they first started riding a bike. No one was perfect on it the first time they hopped on it.
"You ride then?" And that was only stating the obvious. If the man built her a bike then it was a good assumption that Sarah knew how to ride one of the motorized two wheelers. "What kind of bike is it?"
"Well, I sort of ride," Sarah admitted with a sheepish grin. "I'm still learning right now. David, that's my boyfriend, is trying to teach me. I'm doing pretty well. I mean, I haven't killed myself yet, so that's always a good start."
"What kind are you learning on?" If the woman was being taught to ride a motorcycle, Mitchie was certainly under the impression that she was learning on a bike she already owned.
"I'm learning on a Harley," Sarah told her. "That's all that David deals with, actually. It's one that he custom built for me."
Mitchie smiled at that. "That's awesome. Harleys are great. Custom built ones? Well, there just beyond awesome. You should have him give it a little bit of your own touch. Maybe a handcrafted design of yours." The woman after all was a tattoo artist. Surely she could create a one of a kind design that could be detailed onto the custom made Harley.
"He actually did design it a bit to match me," Sarah told her. She lifted up one of her sleeves to show the cheetah designs on her shoulder. "He had a copy of these put on them. I think that nailed it just as good as anything I could come up with."
"Wow," Mitchie definitely impressed by the tats, "those are awesome." Some people couldn't understand why people would want to taint the exterior of their bodies with colored ink, Mitchie on the other hand found a certain attractiveness in tattooes. Most had a story behind them.
Sarah smiled at her. "I've always loved cats. I've always thought that so much grace and power put into such a usually comparatively small body is just fascinating." She laughed. "And now I'm rambling. Sorry."
"They are graceful creatures." Mitchie had to admit, though the wild felines weren't her favorite of all animals. Still one couldn't deny that the sleek animal had speed and grace going for it.
Sarah nodded. "That they are," she told her. "So, are you going to think some more on the tattoo that you might want?"
"I think so." Mitchie admitted. Not that she hadn't ever thought of getting herself branded with a tat, it just hadn't been her actual reason for stopping in the tattoo shop. "So you can expect to be seeing me again soon." The teen stated with a smile thinking now just might be the appropriate time to make her departure.
"Fantastic," Sarah said to her. Her shop was already doing pretty well (it was honestly hard to mess up a tattoo shop in LA unless you just couldn't draw, and Sarah really could), but new customers were always a plus. "Come back and see me when you're ready then."