Artan's smile slipped easily onto his face as he started to work once more, fixing up a few spots he'd missed before replacing the nib and starting on color, starting at the tips of the wings, a deep reddish-purple that he always liked seeing in skin and ink. "Well, I wouldn't necessarily consider Skwisgaar - or any of that band, for that matter - a family man. Back home, he's got a reputation of being the band's playboy. He usually dates older... WAY older chicks, though. And heavy women, too. But then again, the dude's only like, thirty. He might have mellowed out and grown less ridiculous, who knows?" He looked at the chart, watching carefully where he laid the ink. The colors would blend seamlessly once he was finished, but for right then, he was working on making sure the ink he set down was exactly where it needed to be.
"So lemmie tell you about the Thieves Guild. Back home, there were certain professions you just kind of either had to be born into, or have an in-road. One of those jobs was professional thief. Now, being a regular schmuck like I am, I had to carve my own way there. When I was ten, I decided I wanted to be just like my favorite mutant in the whole world, the Thief that worked for the X-Men, who went by Gambit. Now this guy, he's suave and tall and sexy and Cajun. Has that look to him that could break hearts if he just smiled, right? Well, he was my type of guy. Annnd then I realized I wouldn't be growing past 5'9" anytime soon. The tall, dark and handsome was right out the window, so I had to rely on my skills and technical ability. So I learned how to break into a person's house without use of my charm. I started getting the Guild's attention when I was sixteen, and when I was 18, I finally sealed a place in the trials by stealing an amulet straight off the neck of a vampire. Sure, I had to pretend like I was after one of their swords, but they totally didn't see it coming."
He'd been one of the many thieves who'd fallen victim to the puzzle box, in fact. Rubies were shiny things, and Artan was and always had been a ferret.