for.heaven's.sake.i.know.you're.sorry -open-

[Myranda]

Caj eventually had to finish sketching this tattoo design, but right now he felt anxious. It was the tell-tale sign of the need for a cigarette break. In his mind, this design was shitty anyway. It was too.. Typical. Like everyone else's. It was meant for the woman's back, and it was a trail of butterflies going up and twisting slightly to her side. Girls always got butterflies. Caj wanted to see a woman come in with a truly badass design idea- something he'd enjoy sketching. Bt who was he kidding? Americans were all the fucking same.

As he pushed the door to the parlor out, a bell tied to the door frame rang. He hated that bell. He thought it was the dumbest idea, but since only he thought that the bell had to remain there. The sun was shining brightly, and even though it was hot outside Caj insisted on wearing a black zip-up sweater over a tight, white t-shirt. He took a seat on the crappy metal picnic table that was set up in front of the shop.

The shop used to be a day-care center. There were crappy metal picnic tables everywhere. The main playground had been taken out, but the swingset still stayed. As Caj took a seat, he pulled his half-empty pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket amd pulled one out, his hands shaking a little. His lighter was in his front pocket, so he pulled that out too. It was all silver and had his initials engraved on it- a gift from an apologetic ex girlfriend. He liked the lighter, but not the girl.

Caj could sit here and chain smoke all day. And he would have, if it weren't for that stupid-ass sketch. He just wanted a few minutes to himself; smoke a few cigarettes, watch the cars drive by. He didn't know how long he'd be in America, and despite how much he hated it he wanted to make the most out of his time here. It wasn't everyday he recieved such an opportunity.

[lucy]

Prudence was on a mission to get something pierced. Maybe her hips, she liked those. Maybe even a nipple. She giggled quietly to herself, God that would be awkward if the piercer was a guy. Her heels clicked as she sauntered up the sidewalk towards the parlor. Prudence noticed what she assumed was an employee on his break. He looked the part to have a job at a Tattoo shop. She didn't want to disturb him, but really didn't see why she shouldn't either.
"Excuse me?" she asked. "You work here, right? Do you do piercings?"

Hopefully he did, if not, she would bum a cigarette off him and find out who did do piercings. The unknown employee wasn't exactly her type anyways. What was she thinking, she didn't exactly have a type. Prudence shot for anything she could get these days.

She questioned the odd setup around the area, the small picnic areas that looked big enough only for a small child, let alone an adult.

[Myranda]

Caj looked up from his half-smoked cigarette at the girl. He noticed that she was pretty, but that probably meant she was a terrible person. He nodded and said a quick, "Yes." He'd always been a little self conscious about his Greek accent. It didn't sound Greek, it sounded Russian. He had the gamiliar Greek accent traits, like the rolling of his r's and his emphasis on the last syllable of most words, but he had trouble with articles; he'd forget to say them. When borrowing a cigarette from somebody, he tends to say something along the lines of, "You have smoke to share?"

He quickly finished the rest of his cigarette and put it out in his makeshift ashtray, which was just a tin can with sand in it. He stood from the bench and motioned for her to come inside. His lack of confidence in his accent made it difficult to understand him, so he tried to keep his speaking at a minimum. "You want... Piercing, for where?" He asked standing behind the glass counter that held all kinds of different pieces of jewelry. He was the only one in the shop today, so he'd finish the sketch later.

[lucy]

Prudence was a little surprised by his accent but didn't show any feedback towards it. She smiled confidently, "I was kinda leaning towards a nipple piercing.." she said while examining the display of different jewelery. Buying different rings, studs and labrets were always fun. Putting in a new hoop through her septum was like a new toy.

On any other day she would have decided on a less adventurous set of new holes, like an industrial, but she wanted to do something drastic and fun. As mentally shy as she was about her body for some reason she had no problem exposing it to strangers. What conflicting emotions she has.

[Myranda]

Caj looked up from gathering his paperwork and slightly raised an eyebrow. "You are eighteen-year-old?" He questioned, though he didn't plan on carding her. He focused back on the paperwork, which he handed her to sign. "Sign name here, and here." He marked x's on the lines for her to sign with a purple pen he had found lying on the floor. "And choose ring from case," he added, tapping on the glass case above where the nipple-rings were kept. There were a variety of colored hoops, and a few that looked like eyebrow rings with two studs.

Caj kind of disliked doing nipple piercings; it was uncomfortable. In his country, girl's weren't as flaunty with their breasts as they were here. Everybody thinks in Europe sex is just as common as it is in America because of the nude-beaches and stuff. But Americans didn't realize how sex-crazy they really were. Hollywood can'y make a good movie without a sex scene or a whole bunch of sexual innuendos. For Caj, the nipple piercing represented that American ability to flaunt their bodies; but mostly, he was unsure how to make grabbing a ladie's breast and sticking a needle through it comfortable in any way.

[lucy]

She smiled, she could easily pass for eighteen, but was glad the man didn't bother asking for the fake piece of plastic she kept in her wallet. She nodded her head once in understanding and signed the paper with the pen offered to her and slid it back towards him.

Prudence carefully examined the rings she had to pick from, selecting a hot pink capture ring; the kind with the bead that closes it. "That one, the pick one on the left."
Adrenaline pumped through her, she was excited at this point with anticipation.

[Myranda]

Caj took the ring out of the case and walked into the back room where he set it into a bowl of hydrogen peroxide to sterilize it. They weren't allowed to wear gloves while piercing people because the glove got in the way. Well, Caj hated that fact and made up for it by scrubbing his hands and applying hand sanitizer before every piercing. After doing this, he realized he had forgotten to tell the girl to come with him into the back room, so he walked back out and motioned for her to come.

Caj didn't believe that she was eighteen, because most eighteen year old girls come to tattoo parlors with their friends to get pierced and/or inked. The fact that the girl was alone was a small giveaway that she wasn't supposed to be there so she didn't want anyone to know. She was lucky that Caj was stuck running the place today, though. If anyone else were here they would have called her out on it. Caj didn't have the energy to do that today. He looked over her papers and saw her name; Prudence Hendricks. He made an attempt to say it, "Purr-dance Henrick." He gave a little half-smile at his failure, and decided not to mention that his first name was 'Henrik'.

[lucy]

Prudence waited idly until she was told to follow him into the back. She took a seat on the leather chair placed in the middle of the small room. "So, who's name am I yelling when I find out this will hurt?" she asked, her voice slightly muffled by her shirt while she pulled it off over her head.

If she had friends that were up to coming with her, she would've brought them. They were all turned away at the idea of going to the mildly unsanitary tattoo shop with her, only to watch her get a needle shoved through her chest.

[Myranda]

Caj stayed focused on checking her paperwork- again. He didn't want to look like the perverted piercist that watches his piercees undress and then cops a feel when he should be simply piercing her nipple. He looked up at her, but in the eye. He couldn't tell if that was her way of asking for his name, but he figured if she wanted to know she could ask a little more bluntly. "Your own?" He replied, walking towards the piercing which he then took out of the bowl.

He slipped the end of the ring inside the needle; the needle was actually a bit more complex than your average needle. It was a tube he was going to stick through her nipple. So, not only was it more complex, it hurt an entire shit ton more. "Get ready," he said. "I give you free smoke after if you do not tear." Caj had a problem mixing up the words 'cry' and 'tear'. Once, a man came into the shop wanting a tear drop tattoo under his eye. Caj related the message to his buddy by saying, "He wants a cry on his under the eye." Although he struggled with speaking english, he could understand it perfectly, which tendd to confuse a lot of people.

[lucy]

Prudence nodded, trying to relax herself. "Deal, I'll try my best," He hadn't given her his name, which bothered her a little but it wasn't a big deal. His hands were fucking cold though, that definitely wasn't what she was expecting.

"S-sorry," she said under her breath. She was embarrassed but tried to reassure herself that this wasn't the only time someone has gotten goosebumps among other things in the process of getting a nipple pierced.

[Myranda]

Caj nodded to reassure her she was fine. "Take deep breath in," he paused, waiting for her to take a breath. "And out. Little pressure," he said, pulling the needle through as quickly as he could without tearing her nipple straight off. All in all, it only lasted for about six seconds. He snapped the ring in place and turned around to put the needle away. It was, for him, exactly as awkward as he thought it would be. She seemed fine, though, and that was all that mattered in the end; the satisfaction of the customer.

"Is ten dollar piercing day." Caj said, as he made a solution of saltwater for her to take home and use to help her piercing heal. "Cheap for the intern." But, the intern wasn't even here yet. Every first Monday of the month, the tattoo parlor did ten dollar piercings so the intern, Nate, could practice. But Nate had school until about three, so that was when the price reduction started. Since it was only 2:45, Caj decided to let it slide.

[lucy]

Prudence grinned once it was all over, examining the fresh piercing in the mirror. "Sweet! Thanks so much," She gingerly pulled her shirt back on over her head once it was okay to do so and and walked back out to the counter up front. "Alright, so that was ten bucks?" she asked as she searched in her purse for her wallet.

It hurt, a lot, but nothing she couldn't handle. She didn't cry either, so that meant she could snag a cigarette off of this guy and stand out front for a bit. Might as well get to know him a little better, he stuck a needle through her tit.

[Myranda]

Caj nodded, and thanked her for her contribution as simply as possible: "Thank you." He cashed in the money and handed her the bottle of saltwater. "For to clean," he said, motioning his hand over his chest. It was his discreet way of saying 'nipple' even though she probably could have figured it out. He gave her a bottle and the little slip of paper that did a better job describing how to clean a piercing than Caj could ever even attempt. "I owe you smoke." He remembered pointing a finger knowingly.

He took her out back where the swingset was and sat down on one of the swings after pulling his pack of smokes from his back pocket. He pulled out one and handed it to her, lighting it for her with his engraved lighter. Then, he lit his own and took a puff from it. "How is it?" He asked, knowing how badly it hurt to get his own nipples pierced, and figuring it would hurt worse as a female.

[lucy]

She stashed away the cleaning solution and instructions before accepting the cigarette and sitting down. She took a long drag, needing the nicotine. She exhaled slowly before answering his question. "Extremely sore, and I plan on taking like, four Advil when I get home." Prudence paused, smiling, "But its definitely worth it."

She didn't mind this guy; his accent was a little weird but she wasn't one to judge. He wasn't some gross pervert like she would've expected from such a weird looking shop as this one.
"I never got your name, by the way."

[Myranda]

Caj looked straight ahead as a barely-there smirk crossed his face. "You never asked for name, just for who to scream." He responded somewhat playfully, something rather out of character for Caj. He glanced over at her, blowing the smoke out of one side of his mouth. "Henrik Caj." He said, though the impression he got was that he was difficult to understnd when he said his name, because he said it in another language.

Caj could see it better in the light that she was very young. He could see how she'd pass for eighteen, but he would guess she was young; fifteen, sixteen at the most. It made him feel weird- he had just touched the breast of a little girl. Though he was only nineteen (twenty in a month), he still felt much older than she was. "You are... Under age?"