Dueling Dragon's

[Lucas]

Sergei had been drawing. It was nothing specific, really, just something to pass the time. Recently he'd been studying Mesoamerican art. He found their pieces particularly vivid and alien, with their stylistic faces and vivid imagery of jaguars and serpents. But he had yet to find a client who wanted to use one of these pieces yet. No matter. He was just doing this mostly for himself

Lucas was busy with Nika anyway, finishing her work. Sergei liked the guy. He might technically be the boss, but he viewed Sergei as more of a fellow artist. Which was appropriate after all. Sergei had been inking for 15 years. His clean lines, use of shading and color, and easy manner kept people coming back again and again no matter what shop he was at. The relationship between a tattoo artist was an intimate one, and once forged, was not broken so easily

So between the two of them, the shop did well, with a steady stream of clients and friends coming in to just see what was going on or to hang out. Closing hours was never really a thing anyway. You just hung around until everyone decided to go somewhere else to party. Well, except for Lucas, poor guy. He had to hand it to the kid. Rough life he had? Addiction? He did for himself. Sergei was the first to say it and anyone who twitted Lucas about staying sober heard about it from him. He'd seen plenty of his friends destroyed by drink or drugs or worse. He thanked God that had never been him. Precious few of his friends ever came back from that hell. But Lucas did. And Sergei respected him for it.

The brunette from the other night came in and Sergei smiled at her and went back to his drawing. She was here for Lucas anyway. She radiated pain and for some reason the poor guy was drawn to it like flies to honey. He looked up again, as she walked along the wall. She was cute, he would say that. Not his type, really. Too intense, too brooding. He liked 'em fun and goofy with a bit of sass. Just like him.

Speak of the devil, Thalia walked in. And she was early! She grinned at him. "Hey Sergei. I'm early. Fancy that. Rune should be here soon."


"Heya gorgeous!"
He made it a point to check outside ostentatiously. "Well, i guess it's official then. Hell musta' froze over."
He came over to her and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Good to see you Thal. I was happy to get your call. Here, "
he said, taking her coat and scarf to the rack to hang them up.

While he did that, she struck up a conversation with Lucas' brunette. He shrugged. They must know each other, he guessed. He was content to let them be as we went back to his drawing. Thalia would be over presently. You could never pin her down anyway. She always reminded him of a butterfly, fluttering from flower to flower, sampling and tasting and smelling, but always ready to flit away at a moments notice. She was free, and he liked that about her.