Ren "THE RAPIST WITH BONY HIPS" Valin (renvalin) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2010-01-20 12:35:00 |
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Entry tags: | 2009-06-30 |
I know you hear me knocking
Who: Leidy and Ren
Where: Dog-Ink Tattoos & Piercings
When: Tuesday - 7pm
The past couple of days had been odd for Leidy. She was starting to get used to the obscure feelings she felt in everything she did, from filing paperwork to climbing into bed at night. She had no idea what was going on. Maybe it was the weather. Maybe she was PMS'ing. Either could explain the sour moods she found herself in - which was completely uncharacteristic of herself. Anyone who knew Leidy knew that she was a happy person. She searched for the Silver Lining in every cloud, if for no reason other than the fact that it was all she had sometimes. She was fine when she was around other people, but when she was alone, it was all downhill from there. This time of year, she missed her brother more than anything else. She left the office earlier than usual tonight, opting to cut the lights at 6:30 rather than 8. There wasn't much work to be done today at Joining Hands. She was noticing a serious lag in the number of people registering themselves with the organization and a higher number of refusals to meet up with their lost loved ones. Although it was beyond her comprehension why anyone wouldn't want to be reunited with their children or long lost lovers, it wasn't her place to pass judgement. And so, she spoke of her feelings only behind closed doors and only to the sweet girl who had been filming a documentary at Joining Hands for quite some time now. Someday, she'd look back on clips from the documentary and remember that she helped more people than she hurt.
Leidy pulled the door to Dog-Ink Tattoos & Piercings open and stepped inside. Her eyes instantly took in the colors and the talent hanging from the walls in the parlor. She hadn't been in a shop in years, not since she'd gotten her piece done. It was the Latin quote tattooed across her lower stomach that brought her here tonight. Her brother, Niall, had done the words in black ink, exactly how she wanted them. He was supposed to shade the letters in another time (mostly because she threatened his life if he didn't stop after two hours of more pain than she cared to admit), but never had the chance to finish. What better way to cope with missing him than to finish up his work, right? She reached into her bag and pulled out the initial sketch of the words and the colors that she wanted to use in them.
There were more people in there than she had been expecting for a Tuesday night and so she figured she'd wait around for a few moments. She wasn't in any kind of rush, anyway. She glanced down briefly at the paper in her hands and felt a wave of sadness pass through her limbs. Fuck, she thought to herself. "I can't." She spoke aloud to herself and realized that she was standing beside a customer when she did. The girl looked at her oddly and she nodded, taking that as her cue to walk across the room and talk to herself elsewhere. "Good job, Leidy." She mumbled to herself as she brushed her fingers over the plastic of some displayed work. She notes the artists' name by each vision and started to compare work. Niall had always taught her to study an artist's work thoroughly before choosing them as her own. He then proceeded to tell her that if she ever let anyone else tattoo her, he would sell her first born to the black market. Ah, she missed him dearly.
As her eyes scanned some more artwork, she caught sight of some photos hanging on the wall. The pictures looked like they had been taken in a shop, though she couldn't quite recognize it as this one. She squinted to try and make out some of the faces and after a few moments of back and forth, she recognized some of the people in the photos as the people in the shop who were currently helping out some customers. "Cool." She said to herself, moving to check out some of the other photos. She had always loved taking group photos, especially after a night of drinking. Drunken photo shoots made for the best conversation pieces at dinner. She was about to go and see if she could flag someone down who worked there when she caught sight of someone she recognized as more than just a familiar face. Her breath caught in her throat as she backed up, leaning forward some to try and get a better look. Oh my god, he looks just like...
No. There was no way. A handsome fella, with tanned skin and dark hair like hers smiled cautiously in a group shot. He was in the back and off to the side, clearly not one of the main focuses of the shot, but her eyes zoomed in on his face immediately and she felt dizzy all of a sudden. If Leidy didn't know any better, she'd swear by the clothes on her back that the man she was looking at in that picture was Niall. She turned quickly, needing to get someone's attention stat and in her sudden movement, she kicked the leg of a small table that held a magazine rack and some portfolios. The contents fell to the floor loudly, causing most of the people (if not everyone) in there to turn and look at her. Her heart was racing as she turned to face everyone, her jaw slightly dropped. "I.. um.. I need some help.." She stumbled over her words and turned quickly, realizing what she had just done and dropping to her knees instantly to pick up what she had knocked over. She needed to calm the fuck down, but she couldn't and she was almost afraid to look at that picture again.
Ever since the woman had come into the shop, Ren's eyes had followed her. Maybe it was the tanned skin, or the dark hair, but for whatever reason he couldn't help himself. He mused silently that the fact that she was a woman was more than enough reason to watch, but there was definitely something else. She was almost familiar in a way.
When the magazines were knocked to the floor Ren rolled his eyes, stepping away from the counter to head toward her. She'd been staring at the photos on the wall... His eyes scanned the pictures briefly before he stooped down to see her better. "What do you need help with?" he asked, not quite reaching to help her. He didn't really give a shit. Someone else would take care of it if he didn't. They were just magazines anyway. "Balance and coordination?" Ren smirked, unable to keep it to himself. "Because I'm afraid this is just a tattoo and piercing parlor."
Leidy looked up when he spoke and she quickly finished grabbing everything off of the floor and standing. "Sorry about that." She mumbled, turning slightly to glance towards the picture again. She was overreacting - she had to be. So, she took a moment to compose herself before turning to look up at the man standing in front of her. "I'm Leidy." She would normally have reached out to shake the stranger's hand, but she was getting such a weird vibe right now that she really just wanted to turn around and leave.
"I came in because I wanted to find out if someone here could finish what my brother started.." She pulled the folded paper out of her bag again and held it out to him. The sketch of the words “Astra inclinant, non necessitant” (The stars incline; they do not determine) had been done in color by Leidy and Niall a couple of years back. "I really just need to get it colored in.." She lowered the hem of her jeans and lifted her shirt to show him the tattoo that had been done in black ink below her naval, stretching between her hip bones. Her eyes turned back towards the photo on the wall and she squinted, trying to see it again.
Ren squinted at the tattoo as it was shown to him, bending over a little to see it better. He didn't quite comment on it, but nodded as he stood back up again. It was a decent enough tattoo, but he wished in the back of his mind that he'd been able to do the entirety of it. Briefly, Ren glanced around for Remy, wanting to put her on this. He didn't tend to do "touch-up" work, or the finishing of tattoos left undone. It never quite sat right with him... But, upon not seeing Remy around, he turned back to this Leidy girl with a small smile. "Okay... so this is what you want, then?" Ren gestured to the paper, asking more to get her to talk again than for his own benefit. "Looks easy enough."
"Yeah.." She trailed off, still looking over at the wall, then quickly turned her face to the man standing in front of her. He was a lot taller than she was and so she had to look up a bit. "I'm sorry, but do you know this guy?" She pointed towards the guy who looked remarkably like her brother in that picture hanging on the wall. "Obviously you know him, because you're in this picture too. But like... where was this picture taken? And what's his name?" She knew she probably sounded slightly fucking insane, but she didn't care. She stepped close to Ren when she realized that she really was making a bit of a scene. She didn't realize her hands were shaking until just then and so she shoved her hands in her pockets.
Ren blinked, lips parted slightly as he listened to her questions. Well, that had been unexpected. He glanced to the photo on the wall and shifted his weight, brow furrowed as he settled again. "I dunno, I might know him. We're not exactly making out in that photo, though, are we?" He turned away from her to head back to his desk, pausing behind it to begin digging out paperwork for her. If he was going to give her a tattoo, he'd need her formal consent. As far as he was concerned, the conversation had stopped being important. That guy - the one in question - hadn't been seen in a while, now. Ren blinked and looked up to the woman, watching to see if she would follow.
For a minute, Leidy just stood there, considering his answer to her question. It wasn't harsh, but it sure as hell wasn't very helpful, either. She followed slowly, resting her palms against the desk to try and keep her hands from shaking now that they were out of her pockets. She waited until she was in front of him to speak again. Her eyes raised to his face and she stood up straight. "I don't mean to push the subject, but I really need to know who that guy is." She didn't want to spill her life story to a stranger, but she was fully prepared to do so if that was what it was going to take. "He looks like someone very dear to me that I haven't seen in a very long time... I just want to know if it's him." Her voice was soft, but it took on a seriousness that surprised even Leidy. "And if you don't know, maybe someone else does." She turned to glance around the shop, feeling the urgency to make a scene if she had to.
Ren heaved a great sigh as though he were being put-upon, and rolled his head on his shoulders to pop the bones in his neck. "Nobody else in here knows that guy, believe me. None of them have been around long enough to know anything about any of those photos." He snorted a brief laugh, though the sound was irritated more than amused. "He's uhhh... a friend of a friend, kinda. Liam or Neil or something. I don't really remember. We didn't exactly get close, you know?"
Pulling her wallet out of her bag, she pulled a picture of her brother out and showed it to Ren. She looked at the picture, then at Ren. "Is this the same guy?" She could tell that he was irritated and so she paused to explain. "This is my brother, Niall. He's been missing for a.. long time now, but they never found his body. I know you don't know me and therefore, you don't owe me a thing, but please - just tell me. Is this the same guy in that picture?" Her face was flushed and her heart was in her throat. "I'm not a cop or anything, I swear. I just... is it him?"
Ren stared at the woman hard for a long while, not sure what to say to her at first that didn't include "fuck off" somewhere in the sentence. He finally moved though, turning his eyes downward to the photo. He took in a slow breath and finally shifted, his features losing some of the venom. "Yeah, that's the same guy. He was hanging around with another buddy of mine, kinda. They came and went. I didn't get close." He was being short with her for a reason, but it wasn't anything he felt she should know... especially if they were related. One didn't generally react well to their family members being taken from them in such an abrupt manner. He was smart enough to realize that.
Leidy's eyes hadn't moved from the photo that she was holding out for him to look at. Once he confirmed that Niall was the guy in both pictures, everything sort of blurred out for a minute and she had to hold onto the side of the desk to steady herself. If what he was saying was true, this would change everything. For a moment, she thought about her nephew and his mother, Aileen, at home. She thought about her parents back in New York and she thought about all of the events that followed Niall's so called 'death'. She thought about everyone who thought that Niall was gone.
Eventually, she snapped out of her daze and folded her wallet closed, slipping it back into her purse. She reached out and took the paper with her tattoo drawn on it and nodded slowly. "Thanks.." She found her voice although it came out barely above a whisper. Without bothering to look at Ren, she turned and walked over to pick up the last couple of magazines that she had dropped to the floor. It was sort of mechanical now, as she stood and made her way towards the door, pulling it open and walking out, without bothering to look back. She'd suddenly lost interest in the initial reason for being there.
Ren's eyes narrowed as the woman turned around and headed to the magazines. He watched her pick them up, his mind running through the facts surrounding the man she'd been looking for. It wasn't really any of his business though, and this woman meant just about as much to him as any other one passing him on the street. He didn't owe her anything else; the information in his head was just that -- it was his.
As the woman left Dog-Ink, Ren turned back to what he'd been doing before her arrival, her questions lingering vaguely in the back of his head.