Tattoo tales

OK, deep breath.

This is the opening page or two of a story I've been working on... and I'm keen for a bit of feedback. I never felt comfortable posting it before, but my creative ramblings have led me in the direction of another weekly challenge - Sunday Scribblings. Their theme this week is tattoo and since a tattoo of sorts featured in my story, I thought maybe fate was nudging me to dangle my characters into blogland and see if anyone bites!

It's strange, because I don't feel nervous writing blog postings. In fact, as you may have observed from the prodigious quantity of posts (particularly this month when I've purged out more posts than there's been days in the month - with even more 'waiting in the wings'). I quite happily pour out my heart for all the world to see - from Moldova to Brazil if my little widget is to be believed - I tell it how it is. Yet, posting up a little fiction is an entirely different matter. Anyway, enough procrastination. Here is my entry for:

Sunday Scribblings: Tattoo

“Scratch my back will you”, murmured Tabby as she rolled over in bed shrugging off the last vestiges of an alcohol-fused sleep. The returned answer was more of a grunt as Mark flung a hand in the general direction of her back and gave a half hearted rub while desperately trying to regain sleep.

“I had that weird dream again” Tabby said to the hand doing its poor job of relieving her annoying itch. Giving up hope of getting back to his dream of playing alongside his hero Thierry Henry, Mark gave his girlfriend his full attention. “Not dungeons and dragons again?” he smiled at her, marvelling at the powers of her subconscious imagination which was currently conjuring up the contents of a Tolkein novel most nights.

“Dragons and unicorns actually” Tabby remonstrated, “as well you know, and don’t laugh. I’ve never had such vivid dreams, they’re freaking me out”.

“I keep telling you… too much cheese… “ laughed Mark stumbling out of bed towards the shower. “If it bothers you that much, go and see the doctor, though be prepared to leave in a straight jacket!”

Tabby sank back under the duvet consumed by thought and duck down. She had no intention of going to the doctor over a series of odd dreams but they bugged her none the less. What she might see a quack about though was her birthmark which seemed to be changing. Climbing out of bed she tried to peer at the unusual markings on her back which had begun to itch and become inflamed in the last week or so. Her fingers traced the strange pattern at the base of her spine. She was rather proud of it in a way, it was certainly unlike any birthmark she had seen on anyone else – more like a tattoo, a mixture of swirling lines forming what seemed the beginnings of a pattern. Mark, an artist, had even created a series of paintings based around it. He came out with some supposedly romantic notion of it forming a bond between them., but Tabby didn’t need a painting to know that they were meant to be together. She blew an invisible kiss towards the steam filled shower and headed off to the kitchen to make the love of her life a coffee.

***

Tinker glared at Tony, his eyebrows knotting in anger and frustration.

“There’s nothing wrong with it, just do the tattoo” he ordered, but the artisan sat firm on his artist’s stool and stared back with as much determination.

“I’m telling you man, see a doctor, then I’ll do the last part. There’s definitely some inflammation around that mark that’s nothing to do with my artistry. Probably nothing, but I have my reputation and more importantly my insurance to think about.”

Tinker leapt up and got dressed wearing his frustration and disappointment alongside his leathers and filthy jeans.

“Looks bloody stupid now,” he bemoaned. His hands smoothed over the intricate design on his lower back made to match his weird birthmark. It was starting to look really cool, much better than the dumb mark he’d had to put up with all these years. Tony had skilfully mirrored the strange markings creating a labyrinthe design. It was too big a job for one session though and he’d returned for the last part today only to be turned away for “medical reasons”. He slouched out of the tattoo parlour and headed for the doctors. Might as well get the all clear today if he could, maybe Tony could fit him in later…

***