P-precious ... Slut... Tattoo...?
Who: Kirk and Fluttershy What: Fluttershy gets a tattoo! When: Last Saturday Afternoon (and before we even saw Pinkie's post, sorry Pinkie! D: ) Where: Precious Slut Tattoo Rating: PG-13 for Tattoo Needles mostly Status: Complete!
Jim decided to pick up Minerva for her tattoo. It would be easier that way, she’d have less time to fret and worry and think on the way there then if she’d taken the bus, and she’d have a more private setting with a friendly ear. He pulled up in front of her home, and honked the horn. Besides, he was curious how her dates had gone!
If Jim was trying to prevent Minerva from freaking out by picking her up, he was already just a bit too late. She'd had a day or so to think about it since she'd sent him that text, and spent a lot of time working on her own sketch of the mark she wanted. All of that time to think and research about tattoo shops had already made her so nervous that there were several butterflies in her stomach when he pulled up.
But she greatly appreciated the fact that she wouldn't have to think about it on the bus all the way there, too, and offered him a nervous smile as she walked up to his car. The sketch of the mark and where she wanted it (along the side of her hip) was in her hand.
"I uhm... I really appreciate this, you know."
"I don't mind." He gave her a soft grin, "I don't know why you picked me out of all your friends." He had a theory - he was less embarrassing somehow. And he was easy to talk to. He waited for her to buckle up and pulled out into the street, "Have you researched a place? I know one that I know is clean and has a good artist."
Both things were very important, he thought. Even if he had never actually gotten a tattoo himself.
"Well uhm... because... well... you're you, and uhm... you've seen a lot of flanks in your life, so it won't really phase you to be looking at... mine... and I'm comfortable enough around you maybe that..." she ducked her head a bit as he pulled out onto the street and headed down the road, lowering her voice a tinge, "You know... I'm not sure I mind if you see it."
Mainly because he already knew he wasn't getting much of anywhere with her, or maybe because she was actually thinking of letting him. But that was a conversation for some other day, and the thought of it made her blush profusely as she looked over her paper again.
As for the last question, she glanced at him and nervously tucked some hair behind her ear. She was still blushing. "Uhm... well... I did some research, yes, but if you know a good place, then I trust you. The one I found was ... well it wasn't very nicely named."
"I have indeed seen a lot of...flanks..." Jim said, struggling not to laugh. He remembered why he'd had such a hard time wanting to sleep with her. She was too adorable and sweet. He hoped her date had gone well - he'd be a little upset if it hadn't, really. Sort of like with Fleur, he'd gotten fond and defensive of Fluttershy. Of course, his dating life had been suffering ever since his affairs with Janice and Bela...
Out of the corner of his eye he saw her blushing, "What's the name?"
He had to hear her say it. He had to like burning, "Because your research is important, too."
"Oh, uhm..." Minerva ducked her head so far down that her pink hair fell in front of her face, and the only thing that would have made her look more like Fluttershy would have been if her face was horse-shaped, really. Her voice was almost so low it couldn't be heard over the rushing of air in the car, "... P-precious ... Slut... Tattoo...?"
As for dating, everyone was over and horrible and Minerva was beginning to think that she was bad luck. Carmen hadn't been her type even though she'd made her feel ecstatic inside and Raven was... well Raven was mean, and had embarrassed her on purpose. She hadn't heard from her or her friend since. Which was sad. Rogue would have been more on her level, Minerva thought. The southern girl was very nice.
"What do you know, that was the one I was going to suggest!" Jim gave her a big grin, then squeezed her shoulder, "Relax. A lot of places have crazy names like that. It's gotten good reviews. It will be fine. So how did your dates go?"
He didn't think they'd gone too well, just on a gut feeling. It was good to get these things out of the way.
"I don't really want to talk about it," she admitted, glumly. If it was possible for Fluttershy to ever sound glum. She was even beginning to wonder if she was a lesbian after all. She wasn't really certain about anything.
The spa trip for instance had gone really well, and she was so grateful that Rarity took her out, but then all the half naked women at the spa had really only made her nervous. Rarity was... well Rarity was a gorgeous woman, too. She wondered why she hadn't cast admiring looks in people’s directions, like her friend had.
"I'm sorry." He reached over and patted her leg, "Sometimes you just need to meet the right person. I've known guys who love women who met the right man, and vice versa. You don't need to feel pressured."
Because that's what she looked like. Pressured and worried and in general miserable. He hoped this tattoo would help.
"Well I..." Minerva chewed her lip, "...She was scary at first, she looked like she wanted to eat me or ... something. But she really was just gorgeous, and ... and she was very convincing, and I really..."
She looked away from him, out the passenger side, and let out a long sigh. She wasn't going to cry about it, not again!
"I really liked it. I... really enjoyed it, but then she scared me away, and... I got the impression that maybe I... Maybe I wasn't supposed to be eating breakfast at her table that morning. She didn't want me there. I liked her friend, more."
Jim winced. He'd had some adventures like that himself, on the opposite side. It was rarely a good idea to get involved with virgins, at least when you didn't want to hurt them the next morning, "I think she probably didn't want a long term thing, and took advantage of you. I'm glad you liked it though. There are plenty of women out there who aren't bitches like that."
"She knew I was one, and then she..." Minerva trailed off and then ran both of her hands up into her hair, "She talked about ... toys and things that vibrate and I ... I never thought about any of that, not with women, and I think she knew..."
The woman looked like she was on the verge of hyperventilating. It was that stressful of a memory.
Kirk changed the subject, “So you’re going with butterflies?”
The change of subject was met with mixed feelings. Something else had been on the verge of slipping off of her tongue, something she kept meaning to ask him. The thought had made her extremely nervous, and she was grateful for the temporary relief, but worried she'd never get it out at this rate.
"Butterflies, yes. I've always loved butterflies, they're just so... amazing, you know. That's why they called me Fluttershy in school, you see... all the butterflies I used to wear. And I was so shy, even worse there than now."
"Okay then," Jim said, giving her a smile. "Lets get those butterflies out of your stomach and onto your butt."
With great timing, he pulled into the parking lot!
And there they were, sitting in the car in front of Precious Slut Tattoo.
Fluttershy wanted him to turn the car back on and drive away.
But no, she'd decided to do this, and she was going to see it through. She could be incredibly stubborn when she wanted to be, and this was one of those times that she thought absolutely necessary.
It was her cutie mark, after all!
So she took a deep breath, and got out of the car, paper of tattoo ideas still clutched nervously in her hoofhand. Then, without checking to see if Kirk was even behind her, she started marching into the place.
She tried to pretend the parlor was a scary dragon who had just hurt and bullied her friends. That tattoo parlor needed a talking to! Or something.
Jim watched her march, for a second, then followed. Really, for all her shyness, Minerva was probably one of the most stubborn, intense people he knew. You just had to find the right triggers and the right reasons to get her going.
Inside, there was loud music and the buzz of needles. Jim positioned himself so that Fluttershy wouldn’t be able to escape if she turned around to do so!
Which she almost did, at the first sound of the needles. But Jim was right behind her, and she could feel him there like some kind of stone, supporting her. So she nodded her head, and started marching her way up to the counter. When she got there, the woman on the other side looked her up and down for a moment, like she was fresh meat.
Fluttershy gulped, then furrowed her brow, and slapped the paper down on the counter, "Uhm Hello. I want this drawing here, and I want it right where I've drawn on this model here, and ... and I'm doing it all in one sitting, and checking to make sure you ... you sterlize everything, too."
She nodded, like that was that and the words she'd said were some kind of memorized speech, that she'd managed to get out all in one go. Then she eyedarted and added, in a lower voice, "If that's alright."
The woman arched a brow and picked the paper up, tilted her head to one side, and laughed, "You must be one of those bronies. Tom should be ready to tattoo you in a few minutes, he's just finishing up with someone. It'll be 250 bucks for this. And we do sterilize our equipment. And yes, it does hurt, but your boyfriend can hold your hand the whole time if he wants. Here's some pamphlets."
"Oh, uhm..." Fluttershy squeaked, as she pulled out a credit card and took the pamphlets. She glanced behind her and then back at the lady and lowered her voice further, "He's... he's just a friend, but I'd still like him to hold my hand if that's alright with ... with Tom."
The woman shrugged, "It's not like Tom's going to be looking anywhere but your flank, sweetie. Take a seat."
Jim smiled approvingly, managing to not laugh at the 'if that's all right' at the end of her little speech. Yeah, he could never sleep with her, at least not without a lot of psyching up first.
Jim put an arm around Fluttershy, "Come on, it'll be over before you know it."
“Oh, I... I hope so. This is really going to hurt, but I... I really want to do it, so...” She was clearly still psyching herself up. She tucked some hair behind her ear again, and wished that she was the kind of person who would ever willingly get drunk before doing random adventurous things like this, “I kind of wish I was drunk, a little bit.”
"They wouldn't let you get one. Only sleazy places do that." He took her hand and squeezed it, "But it's part of your identity, right?"
"It is. I just wouldn't be ME without it, you know." Fluttershy nodded her head, and squeezed Jim's hand. Hard. So hard she had white knuckles.
At this point, she really just wanted this to be over. Which was good, because a big guy named Tom came out of a door and held out his hand to shake Fluttershy's, "I'm Tom, your tattoo artist. Come on in when you're ready. You're going to need to take your pants off, so I've got a clean sheet to drape over the other leg in there."
Fluttershy blinked her eyes a few times and then took his hand with her free one (the other one still clutched Jim's), then nodded her head, "Oh... alright... thank you..."
He guided her off to the room and then waited outside while she got ready. She gulped, again feeling like a thousand butterflies were going to escape. But none did, thankfully, as Tom came back in and pulled up a stool for Kirk.
He got her positioned comfortable and then traced the mark onto her leg, showing her with the mirror where it would go, before opening up a freshly sterilized package and getting ready. "We'll take as long as you need. Just let me know if you need a break."
Without further ado, he began!
It was not the first time Jim had gone with someone to get a tattoo. It probably wouldn't be the last time (wouldn't it be a treat to get the IDIC symbol on Spock? He'd have to bring that up.)
This was the first time he lost feeling in his hand, however. He let Fluttershy squeeze it to death, rubbing his other had over the top of hers, and tried to distract her by talking about the time he hadn't worn underwear to school.
The talking worked, on and off, and Fluttershy was extremely glad that she'd thought to bring him along. Even if she almost thought she'd pass out from the pain about halfway through.
They took only one break before they were finished, and Tom was showing her her brand new cutie mark. She wanted to touch it to make sure it was really there, but he warned against it before placing a light bandage over it.
The pain had all been worth it. He'd done an excellent job.
"Th-thank you..." she stammered, and shook his hand. Tom laughed, and tossed the needles into a sharps container, then headed out so she could get dressed. That took a bit of time and effort, since she had to slide pants on over her newly tattooed leg. She was grateful she brought Jim along, again, when he helped her out.
Then she turned to him and gave him a shy smile, "Uhm... thank you, too... I ... I think I might have broken your hand, and I'm so sorry..."
He shook his hand out, "Don't worry 'bout it. I have a good friend who's a doctor. I'm sure it will be fine. Even if I'll never be able to play the piano again..."
Both of her fists immediately went flying up to her mouth as a show of how extremely distressing his words were. She even looked at him with gigantic, ashamed-of-herself eyes.
“It’s a joke!” He was quick to reassure her!
The fists fell down to her sides, and she gave him an admonishing look, "Oh... oh... I really wish you wouldn't do that, you get me every time..."
Tom arrived then, to guide them out of the tattoo shop. He gave her a sheet of instructions and a kit of bandages and salves to care for her new tattoo, before getting back to work.
Grinning at her, Jim just shook his head. Sometimes it was so easy, it was a little ridiculous. He rubbed her back, then waved at Tom, before taking her back to his car, “You did so well. I’ll buy you dinner.”
"Oh I was thinking, there's this nice place... Not a sweet tomatoes. It's got a huge salad bar, though, and it should have some nice meat for you to eat, since... I know that you really like meat. And I thought I would pay, because you did all of this for me." Fluttershy smiled at him as she made her way to the car.
Jim tilted his head, watching her walk towards the car, with a slight pained limp but also a certain degree of confidence. Time well spent, he thought, as he started to follow her.