“A good choice, that one is. A bit of an ancient Egyptian flavor.” Toltiir commended Nabiki’s choice.
“What does it mean, and why are there two of them? I thought we would get matching designs?” Ranma pointed out, as he pointed to the two designs.
“Just trying out some ideas. One means health, the other luck. You can choose whatever you’d like. After drawing those, it occurred to me to suggest the word or blessing for happiness.” Toltiir explained. He then thought to himself, ‘After all, most people would consider that having a soul mate would bring more joy into their lives.’
Nabiki thought it over for a moment, tapping her chin. “What would a blessing for happiness look like?”
Toltiir turned his pad to a fresh leaf and began to draw quickly. When he was done, he had three rows of two runes each, or perhaps two columns of three runes each. Like the earlier designs, the runes were enclosed within an oval with a figure eight knot on top and glyphs on the bottom. Turning his sketchpad around to show his customers, Toltiir commented, “I was thinking of something like this. Simple, clean, and makes a good tat.”
“I like it, what do you think, Ranma?” Nabiki smiled at Ranma, hoping to get him to agree.
Ranma shrugged, “Looks, I don’t know ... old. How would we explain the significance it has to us? How would it represent our friendship? Though, it does look nice, and I like the idea that it would confuse even the old ghoul.”
Nabiki stayed silent, trying to think of a response.
Toltiir took the opportunity to ask, “I am curious though, why something like this and not one of the designs with the three rings? Borromean rings are just as common, if not more so, in Japanese culture as it is in European culture.”
“It is a lovely design, but it’s widespread use is why we can’t use it.” Nabiki promptly answered. “And it is all Ranma’s fault,” she winked at Ranma as she said this to show that she was only teasing him, “because we usually get some strange challenger showing up at the dojo. If their family crest looked similar, that would probably just cause even more trouble. It is not worth the extra trouble, so it is better if we got something foreign looking. I don’t think we have to worry about a Martial Arts Runic Calligraphy challenger.”
Ranma smirked. “But now that you have mentioned it, with my luck, that will be the very next challenger to come along.”
Nabiki just rolled her eyes. “Also, it is not like anyone would ever mistake Ranma-baby for some reincarnated spirit of the king of an ancient kingdom.”
“Tooten Kamen, the masked ally of the Mummy-5, magical girls dedicated to the fight for love and busty-ness...” Ranma trailed off at the looks he was getting from Nabiki and Toltiir. “What? It could happen.”
Nabiki just shook her head in exasperation. “But Ranma did bring up a valid point-”
“About me being the champion of love and busty-ness?”
“No!” Nabiki sighed. “About how we decided upon this design, or even why we got one at all.”
Ranma shrugged, “If we got the one with the naked people, I was going to say I lost a bet to you and you made me get one, that one. Might work for this. I got a tattoo, or we both did, because of a lost bet. That, or I was challenged to Martial Arts Tattooing.”
Nabiki smirked, “Oh? And would the tattoo mean you won, or you lost?”
“Ranma Saotome never loses, if they think the tattoo on me means something, wait ‘til they see the other guy.” Ranma said this with total conviction, as if he was stating that the sky was blue.
“What other guy, Ranma?” Nabiki raised one eyebrow. “There wasn’t any challenger to begin with.”
Toltiir added his two cents. “If there was Martial Arts Tattooing, I’d like to think I would excel and win at it. Plus, if your friends asked to see a demonstration, you’d be caught in your lie.”
Ranma leaned over to Nabiki to whisper into her ear, “Remind me to find work in a tattoo parlor so I can invent Anything Goes Body Inking.”
“Well, you’ll have to come up with your excuses later. Shall we start the process, or would you prefer to chicken out?” Toltiir taunted his customers with an evil glint to his eyes. “Who’s first?”
“Ladies first, Nabiki.” Ranma gallantly offered.
“Afraid of the pain from the needle, Ranma? Didn’t think you were so squeamish.”
“No, actually, just excited to see the tattoo I picked out for you. You might want to get it someplace you usually keep covered, hint, hint.”
“Oh?” Nabiki was intrigued. “That bad? Must be quite ugly then, if you don’t want me to show it off.”
Ranma just chuckled at her attempt to rile him up into revealing what her tattoo would be. “I am getting for you a tattoo on your groin that says, ‘This Porking Space Reserved for Ranma Saotome’ with an outline so it looks like a sign.”
“Porking? I am surprised you even know what that means.” Nabiki remarked with humor.
“Well ... Hiroshi and Daisuke say it often. I kinda roughly figured out what they mean by it, over time.” Ranma blushed and found his slippers interesting to look at.
Nabiki shook her head, “Whatever. I was going to get it on my back or ass anyways.”
“Before we go back, is there anything else you’ll be wanting, Miss Tendo? I believe you shown interest in getting a dragonmark.”
“Yes,” Nabiki answered, “I’d like that ear piercing to understand people and hear the truth in their words and the dragonmark. And, of course, the matching tattoo we just chosen.”
Toltiir rummaged around under his counter for a few moments before emerging with the item of jewelry that Nabiki wanted and slipping it into the pocket of his apron. “Well then, let us step this way then.” Toltiir beckoned for Nabiki to follow him towards the back of the store.
“Would it be OK if I watched?” Ranma asked Nabiki as he tugged gently on her sleeve.
Nabiki smirked. “Why, Ranma, if you wanted to see me naked, all you had to do was buy me expensive gifts and bring me to a love hotel.” Then, smiling, Nabiki added, “Actually, I’d feel better with you there. I don’t like the idea of being alone and naked with some stranger.”
Ranma and Nabiki followed Toltiir through a curtain of beads at the rear of the store. Finding themselves in a hallway, they followed the diminutive gnome into a room on the left.
Toltiir pulled a sheet of paper over a strange, padded bench and a chair, and placed some vials of ink down on the counter before turning to address the teens. “I’ll be right back, I need to get some supplies from my dragon-breath autoclave. Why don’t you strip in the meantime.”
Nabiki started to disrobe as she eyed the bench nervously. Soon, Toltiir returned, carrying a towel covered tray. Getting another, smaller, sheet of paper, Toltiir covered a stool before setting it in front of Nabiki. “You can sit here for now. Why don’t we start with the piercing. The dragonmark makes you unbreakable, so I will save that one for last. It would be nearly impossible to pierce your ear if I gave you the dragonmark first. Anything already pierced or broken when you get it, will remain so. Speaking of which ... when I say unbreakable, I mean it. I imagine you are too young to be thinking about having kids, but you might want some one day. With the dragonmark, you won’t be able to have a cesarean birth. A vaginal birth tends to remove nearly all of the hymen, except yours will be impossible to break off. It should be quite elastic though. If you think you’d rather not take any chances, I can surgically remove it before marking you. I’m going to step out to get some topical anesthetic for your ear. It’ll take me a couple minutes to prepare it ... why don’t you think about that while I am gone.” After getting a nod from Nabiki, Toltiir turned and left back through the door.
Nabiki blushed as she ran through the gnome’s words in her head. “Uh, Ranma?” Ranma had spent most of his time in the room, so far, just standing in the corner and staring into space. Hearing Nabiki, he looked over to her. “Did you hear what I was told?”
“Yeah, he’s saving the dragonmark for last so he can pierce and tattoo you easier.” Ranma answered.
Nabiki blushed again. “Did you understand what he was talking about after that?”
A confused look crossed Ranma’s face as he scratched his head. “Not really, he has a habit of speaking vaguely.”
Nabiki sighed, not feeling so embarrassed any longer. “It’s OK, nothing you need to worry about.”
“Nabiki, I was thinking, since you can’t be hurt ... can I practice on you? I don’t have to worry about holdin’ back or nutthin’.”
Nabiki raised an eyebrow and asked, “You want me to just stand there and let you hit me, repeatedly?”
“Of course not, it would be more of a challenge if you kept moving around while I try to hit you.”
Nabiki glared at Ranma for a moment. “We’ll see, we’ll see. What’s in it for me?”
Ranma stared off into space again. “I don’t know, what do you want?”
Nabiki smirked in response. “Well,” she replied, “you should know better then to hand me such an open ended offer.” Before she could say much more, Toltiir walked back into the room.
“OK, I’m all set. Ready to be pierced?” With a nod from Nabiki, he climbed onto another stool with a couple packets from his tray. “I see you already have one piercing in each ear. Which ear did you want pierced?”
Nabiki gestured towards her left ear. “This one, my left.”
Toltiir then applied some cream to her ear using a swab. “Lets just give that a minute to numb your ear.” Soon, Toltiir was unwrapping, from an autoclave bag, a tool that looked like a leather punch. He unwrapped another tool, some kind of pliers, and opened a small bag of silver grommets. Nabiki paled at the sight of the tools. Holding her ear tightly, Toltiir punched a series of 7mm holes around the rim of her ear. Then taking the pliers, he crimped the grommets into the holes. Toltiir removed the enchanted jewelry from his pocket. It had a snakes head, jaw open and fangs bared, and a round cable body that looked like silver rope. Clamping the head to the top of Nabiki’s ear, Toltiir squeezed the head shut tightly. Taking a tool from his pouch, a sharp pointed awl whose tip was glowing red with heat, he inserted the tool into each of the nostrils on the snake for several seconds each. “There, that should fuse the jaw shut.” He then threaded the body through the uppermost hole from behind, pulled the chain around back and through the second hole in the same manner. Lacing the jewelry around Nabiki’s ear, he came to the last hole. Pulling the chain tight, he let the end dangle. Pulling a clear teardrop shaped gem with wire from his pocket, he weaved the wire into the chain. Using his hot tip tool again to weld the wire to the rest of the jewelry, Nabiki now had a dangling gem that descended from a cable that wound around her ears to the clamp on top. “That does it for your ear. Did you come to a decision about that other matter?”
Nabiki nodded. “Yes, go ahead. Better safe then sorry.” Then she scooted forwards a little bit, leaned backwards somewhat, and opened her legs. Toltiir deftly retrieved a small too, a thin wand with a small curved blade at one end, from his pouch. A quick, circular hand motion later and he was holding a thin, transparent membrane in his hands. The operation was not only quick, but painless and bloodless as his tool also cauterized if necessary.
“Where would you like to get your small, matching tattoo?”
“Hmm,” Nabiki sounded as she thought. “Maybe on my arm or breast. I think I’d like it on my breast, so it is easy to cover up as the situation demands.”
“May I ink it over your heart, then?” Toltiir asked as he got down from his perch. Walking to his counter, he deposited the piercing tools into a bin.
“Yeah, sure. I have no problem with that. Left breast it is.”
As Nabiki answered him, Toltiir was busy opening a thin and long cylindrical case. From it he removed a fine haired brush, which he placed in a rack with the bristles pointing up. Choosing a vial of blue ink, he placed his supply to the side. Next, he opened a small box he got from his tray. Inside, Nabiki could see thin rods of gold, each a different length, and each tipped with a metal nib. Placing everything on a small table top near a reclined chair that would be at home in a dentists office, Toltiir motioned for Nabiki to sit in the chair. “Why don’t you get comfortable.”
Once Nabiki settled in, Toltiir picked up his brush, dipped it in some blue ink, and began writing on her. As the brush easily slid across her skin, Nabiki could feel an electric like tingle where ever it passed. After writing in the runes, Toltiir put his gnome sized brush down and picked up one of the gold handled pens. Deftly, he drew the oval and knot around the runes. Nabiki could not see well what was occurring, but Ranma could see that where ever the pen passed, it left behind a metallic golden color. Changing to a finer tipped pen, Toltiir added in the final glyphs. Finally, picking up his brush again and dipping it in more ink, Toltiir outlined the gold with a thin line of blue on both sides of the golden band. “There, all done.”
“All done?” Nabiki asked in shock. “Don’t you have to use a vibrating needle to insert the ink under my skin?”
“Naw ... this is a magic tattoo parlor. I use a magic brush, the ink is already in your skin and I didn’t even have to make an open wound. Here see.” Toltiir handed Nabiki a hand mirror so she could more easily look at her new tattoo. Wiping her hand over her new tattoo, she was surprised to see that the ink did not smear and that all she felt was skin.
“Looks good. I like the colors, especially the gold.” She commended the artist.
“Glad it pleases you. Now if you don’t mind getting up and laying face down on the bench, I can begin work on your next tattoo.” Toltiir then positioned her so that she was kneeling on a padded rest and bent over the edge of the bench, her top half resting on the bench top.
While Nabiki waited on the bench, Toltiir retrieved an assortment of brushes and the color choices Ranma had chosen earlier. Setting to work, Toltiir expertly painted a profile of a horse’s head. A puff of steamy breath erupted from the horse’s nostrils, mane whipping back as if caught in a slipstream from a fast gallop, and a red eye directed forwards. Below the mane, where the neck would be, Toltiir painted, in Japanese, the phrase ‘Ranma’s Girl’.
Once he was finished, Toltiir looked to Ranma and addressed him with pride, “So, what do you think?”
“I like it!” Ranma enthused.
Looking to Nabiki, Toltiir remarked, “All that is left is for you to choose where you want the dragonmark. Maybe on your shoulder blade? As long as you’re already lying down like that.”
“That should be fine, easy to hide by wearing a shirt.”
“This is going to hurt. I am going to need to strap you down, so you don’t move too much and ruin it. OK?” Toltiir started to dig some straps and cuffs from a cardboard box in the corner.
“Yeah, I guess.” Nabiki answered reluctantly. ‘Ranma will stop him from taking advantage of me if he tries anything funny.’
After strapping her down, Toltiir once again turned towards Ranma. “Do me a favor? Hold her shoulders down so she doesn’t move much.” Ranma nodded and moved towards Nabiki. Toltiir opened a cabinet under his counter and extracted a wooden box. From the box, he removed what looked like a giant, curved, pointy fang and a 5mm thick square block of gold.
“Is that a dragon’s tooth?” Ranma asked.
Toltiir nodded. “Yes, from a jade dragon. The bottom has been carved with the brand.” Toltiir then touched the base of the tooth to the gold square. Ranma was surprised to see smoke immediately start to curl up from where the fang met the gold. The scent of something burning assaulted both Ranma’s and Nabiki’s nose. After about 5 seconds, Toltiir removed the tooth from the gold pad and, without any hesitation, pressed it firmly into the skin over Nabiki’s left shoulder blade.
Nabiki’s body immediately jerked as she screamed out in pain. Once Toltiir removed the dragon’s tooth, Ranma could see a strange marking burnt into Nabiki’s skin. It looked like some kind of strange kanji written by gouging wet sand with a sharp claw.
Toltiir unstrapped Nabiki, who sat up rubbing her wrists. “Alright, I believe the young man is next. Why don’t you go in the room across the hall while I apply some healing and pain numbing potion to the young lady.”
“You could of warned me it was going to hurt that much,” Nabiki groused.
“So sorry. Let me get you something for the pain. Meanwhile, you have to tell me what I am going to ink onto your friend. Have you any idea?”
“Yes. I want it to say...
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(Posted Mon, 15 Oct 2007 06:13)
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