[i]“Wait, what?” [/i] How Mark's words still managed to catch her off-guard was beyond Julie. She supposed that somewhere she had still thought that he wasn't [i]that[/i] crazy and had only brought her here to show off what new ink [i]he[/i] was getting. Really, she should have known better though. “You're insane,” she said, gaping at the plethora of tools that stood neatly next to every seat lined up against the far side of the establishment. The place could easily be mistaken for a rather eccentric sort of beauty parlour, and a professional one at that. This went way beyond a pedicure and highlights though, and the mere thought of what her parents, what [i]Bryce[/i] would think if they discovered she'd permanently marked her own body -– well, it wasn't pretty. Julie shrank almost visibly upon inadvertently envisioning the words of accusal, of disapproval that she'd have to endure for it. It didn't even matter what her own opinion on the matter was, really; she just knew she'd much rather avoid such confrontation. But just as she was ready to spin around and flee from the curious gaze of the exceptionally beautiful looking receptionist lady and from the store altogether, there was Mark's hand grabbing hold of her wrist as if he knew she was going to run. It stopped her dead in her tracks before she'd even started moving at all and Julie rather sullenly stared at her friend, trying to gather her own thoughts. There was a look in his eyes that she knew all too well. Mark was daring her to do this – no, daring her to [i]dare[/i] do this. He'd always been the one to challenge her to things that were wildly out of her comfort zone. When they were young they'd been silly things, stupid things like jumping into a pond together when they could barely swim or drinking a full gallon of chocolate milk – that had been particularly disastrous – and sneaking into a late night horror marathon at the local theatre that gave her nightmares for three months after. Each and every one of them had been terrifying, and yet she never regretted doing them at all. As scary as new things were to Julie, they were also adventurous and thrilling and [i]fun[/i] and among her fondest memories. And despite the expectant look he gave her, Julie knew she could still say no to Mark, even if he clearly wanted her to whole-heartedly say yes. Even if she bolted now, if she ran scared and admitted to not wanting to get a tattoo because it was permanent and scary and painful and lots of other reasons that were really all very sensible, then there would be no repercussions. No angry glares, no silent treatment, no looks of disappointment or uncomfortable reminders in any random argument to follow. He'd still be her friend and they'd still be okay. [i]They were always okay.[/i] It was that and only that which caused Julie to rethink her initial opinion, and as her gaze deviated from Mark to the many, quite amazing looking tattoos that adorned the dark-haired woman who had by now stepped out from behind the neon-lit counter, she felt her nerves slowly settle. Her heart beat still felt elevated, but rather than being nervous there was a far more enjoyable, more exciting sensation boosting her adrenaline levels. Suddenly it didn't seem like something she shouldn't do just because it wasn't the appropriate thing to do anymore. Contrary even, a more defiant part to the usually so eager to please girl wanted to go out and do this [i]because[/i] no one she knew would expect it, let alone approve. No one but Mark anyway, and probably Rebecca. In her head she could already hear the girl loudly applaud Julie for 'growing a pair', as she would so bluntly describe it. “Hey there,” the receptionist girl welcomed the two of them. Her head quizzically inclined, she took in both Mark and Julie before settling her gaze on the latter. “Welcome to New West. You're looking to get some ink done today? Did you have an appointment?” Julie refrained from answering, gladly letting Mark do the talking. As suspected, this had been a pretty spur of the moment idea, although she wondered if this was what he had drunkenly promised her the night before. Drunk ideas were rarely good ideas, but perhaps this could be the golden exception. The girl nodded after Mark's explanation, and her toothy smile widened; the red lipstick made her teeth look ever so white. “Well, my name is Riley,” she introduced herself, “And me and my co-worker are here to help you figure out what it is you'd like – and where - and answer any questions you might have.” Julie didn't imagine the look Riley gave her at that; despite her diminishing nerves, she still wasn't all that confident that this was a good idea at all and it was definitely showing. “Are you sure you're ready for this?” Riley inquired rather directly. His gaze dashed to Mark just for a moment. “He's not [i]making[/i] you do this, is he?” she grinned. “I'm not working on you if you don't want it. That's bad for our reputation.” Almost immediately Julie raised her hands, palms forward. “No I – he didn't make me do anything. I just--” She paused, taking a deep breath, trying to keep her mouth from running off with her. “Yes, I do want this.” The answer clearly entertained Mark and she pulled a face at him, then focused on Riley instead. The friendly girl had already summoned her colleague – a redhead with a laid back attitude and a piercing through her left eyebrow who introduced herself as Robin. Meanwhile, Riley seemed eager to get started – her enthusiasm was rather infectious. “Now you come with me, then we'll get you started.” Riley gestured towards one of the seats at a nearby table, which had several books and magazines stacked on top of it. “Do you have any idea what you want already? You can look at the examples we got on the walls or in the albums, there's literally thousands. Or you tell me what you have in mind and we'll figure something out together.” Julie didn't immediately reply. She'd never really given this any real thought before and spontaneous decisions didn't quite seem to be her thing nowadays. Her eyes wandered the various pictures that were plastered all over the wall, and she quickly dismissed the Chinese symbols, the dolphins, hearts and infinity signs and the numerous tramp stamps. “Oh man,” she groaned after aimlessly staring at the wall for several minutes. Doubts were returning and more than once did she look to where Mark was animatedly discussing his options with the other professional, wondering how long it would take for him to notice if she snuck out of the store now. “Most people take months deciding what they want before even setting foot in here.” Riley had gone to stand by Julie's side by now and was casually looking over the overwhelming amount of examples. “You don't strike me as a girl to do things on a whim. So how come you're here?” Julie cast the girl a sidelong glance. The easy answer would be to blame it all on Mark – deny all responsibility and hide behind her usual insecurities like she was so prone to. But that was the coward's way out and besides, it was a lie, and after some thought the girl managed to gather her thoughts and give Riley an answer far closer to the truth. “Mark and I have been friends for as long as I can remember,” she explained, and Julie knitted her brows together into a somewhat difficult expression. “I'm not gonna lie, this was definitely his idea, but if I really didn't want this, he wouldn't have suggested it. I wouldn't be standing here right now, either. The thing is, our lives are changing and like, I'm going right and he's about to go far, far left.” Julie shrugged and crossed her arms, her features softening. “Call me sentimental, but I guess I like the idea of having something to remember the fun times. We've had a [i]lot[/i] of fun times.” Riley nodded in understanding at that. “Definitely not the worst reason to get one that I've heard,” she grinned, then pulled out a chair to sit down. Paper and pen in hand she looked at Julie, who quickly followed suit and took a seat opposite her. “Now let's talk details.” The actual design didn't take more than ten minutes to draw up. Surprisingly enough, her own words gave Julie enough inspiration to brainstorm a few ideas she had. In the end Riley managed to custom design for her a graceful, curving branch of sweet pink blossom with dark slender branches (reminiscent of the one that even to this day stood at the edge of her parents' garden), rather simplistic in design, with the silhouettes of two birds in the very top of it, of which one had just taken off into the sky, the other looking after it. A phrase wound in parts inbetween the twigs, reading [sub][indent]When you're high[/indent] [indent][indent]you never[/indent][/indent] [indent][indent][indent]ever want to come down[/indent][/indent][/indent][/sub] That was the easy part, now for the part where it would actually have to be applied. “I'm gonna have to incline the chair all the way back,” Riley explained as they relocated to a place with all these wildly unfamiliar tools next to it. “You're absolutely satisfied with this? No changing your mind once that needle's doing its magic.” Julie shook her head and pulled the loose, sleeveless top she was wearing up to her chest again. In the mirror she was watching her abdomen, regarding the pen version of her future tattoo with a critical eye. It wrapped about her hip so perfectly, curving gently towards her navel. It was a bit bigger than she had anticipated but anything smaller and it would have seemed wrong. Mark was definitely going to be surprised about this one. “You're not allowed to look 'til it's finished,” she told Mark. “And if this hurts, you know I'll take it out on you, right?” “Feisty girl,” Riley said approvingly, giving Mark an amused wink. “Bet you have your work cut out for you with this one.” She pointed towards the chair, focusing on Julie again. “Now let's get to work, you're gonna keep me busy for the next four hours.”