"About four years now," Lauren said, after a brief pause to count. Once he was settled, she started rubbing his outline down with the disinfectant wipes, discarding the wipes and the gloves while his back dried. "I started as a receptionist at a shop in Vegas when I was nineteen or so, got my apprenticeship there after a little bit." She set his reference material on the stand set up on the counter beside her, pulled on a fresh set of gloves, and began squirting ink from the bottles into the disposable ink caps she'd set out. She chose carefully; she had an eye for color, but she wanted to get as close as she could.
"So basically I worked there until I came here," she said, sort of glossing over what had made her leave Vegas. The money there had been great, she wasn't going to lie, especially once her work started to gain a little following. She remembered the first time a tourist had come in looking specifically for her. That had been badass. "Then the chick who owned this place had to bounce, so I took over ownership." That had also been badass, if a little strange. But Scarlet Oak was a strange town.
With the ink mixed, it was just a matter of setting up her machine; she chose a seven-needle shader to start, opening the sterile packaging and inserting the shader. She dipped it in the ink, hit the switch to let it pick up some ink, then picked her starting spot, holding the skin taut with her free hand. "Ready?" she asked. Rule number one was never to start without letting them know. One flinch could ruin the whole thing.