The Pain of Beauty

My husband has been in the Navy for nineteen and a half years. I have been trying to talk him into getting a tattoo for the last six years. He would not budge...until yesterday. A buddy of ours had been sending him little hint texts throughout the week that he was going in to get a new tat this weekend. Of course, I was all over it. A little later the eve before, Todd came to me and asked if we could Google some images. We looked at Celtic and Maori symbols. We looked at dragons. Then he says, “Can we look at skulls?”
“Sure.”
I pulled up some skull images and after clicking ‘next’ a few times, he saw the one he wanted. I had told him he might want to pick out something simple just in case he really did not like the way it felt, then the artist could stop after the outline and it would still look cool. It was a nice simple piece and I printed it out. He went off to watch more March Madness. I, for shits and grins, started to Google Goth and dark faerie images. I have wanted a faerie for so long. I already have three tattoos, but relatively small.
I went through the pages, not really with the intent to get one...but the itch had risen after getting excited for Todd and his soon to be virgin ink. I saw some pretty ones. I completely avoided the cartoonist ones. After about the tenth page...*gasp*...there she was. I found my faerie. She looked just like I had pictured her in my head for the last few years, now she was looking back at me. I printed it out, wordlessly walked over to Todd and handed him the picture.
“Wow, she’s hot!”
He looks up at me and says, “You want this, don’t you?”
My reply was simply the look of a child when being offered a piece of candy. He grinned and I knew I could get her.
The next afternoon, we picked up our buddy, Brett, and headed for the tattoo parlor. I have always believed things happen for a reason. When we arrived, Nate, the artist was just finishing up with another customer and there was no one else waiting.
When done, he came out and shook hands with Brett, as he was a frequenter of the place, and introductions made. Todd gave Nate the picture we had printed out; he looked at it and said no problem. I gave him the picture of the faerie I had picked out and he said, “Wow, she’s hot!”
Hmmm, same thing Todd said. *grins*
“We’re going to have to blow this up to get the detail.”
“How much bigger?” I asked.
“Where do you want it?”
“I want to be able to see her, so not on my back.”
Everyone is looking at each other. I pointed to the left underside of my forearm. We all agreed that would be a cool spot. Nate went in the back to blow it up. When he came back out, it was three times bigger than before. I know my eyes bugged. Then I said, “Dude, that’s like a quarter sleeve!”
All the guys are smiling and nodding. As I wrapped my head around this, we all walked to the back and had Todd go first so he wouldn’t chicken out. I was watching his face as the ink hit his skin for the first time. He didn’t like it much, lol. A half hour later, my husband had his first tat. It looked cool.
My turn. I had been getting excited watching Todd get his done, so all the worries about the size mine was to be had disappeared. I got in the chair and it took him about forty-five minutes to complete the outline. Holy shit that was just the outline! I asked, “How long do you think it will take to shade her in?”
“Maybe an hour, hour and fifteen.”
“OK...I need to go pee before you get started again.”
I came out of the bathroom. All of the guys had disappeared outside for a smoke. They come back in and Nate gets going again working the detail.
Then, Todd and Brett ditched me. Those two assholes went to the bar around the corner and left me there writhing and watching the clock all by myself. Soon, the tat-culture crowd starts to fill the back room. Now, there are half a dozen others besides myself the victim, and Nate. They all take their turns walking over to see the work. Much approval circled the room as everyone agreed that it was an awesome tat.
Todd and Brett come back, an hour later, just as Nate is finishing up.
I grinned and once again called them assholes.
Done, I got up and walked over to the mirror...wow...she was just as beautiful as I had hoped she would be. The detail was so amazing he even captured the demure, yet somewhat come-hither look on her face. She was standing and turned sideways in a shy stance. The wings incredibly detailed and the dress flowed. Her hair looked like it was billowing in the wind and the moon was behind her.
I had withstood two hours of soft-flesh tattooing and greatly rewarded for it.
The pain of beauty.