[ti]private[/ti]wise decisions

If you want to find the place where geek culture and tattoos enthusiasts meet, look no further than Oz and his collection of elaborate tattoos with discrete references to his favourite franchises — a veritable gallery of proof on his skin. Gamers love tattoos, and so, a tattoo booth at the first convention thrown by an extremely popular Pokémon VR game? Profitable as fuck. Let me tell you, Oz sure is glad that he took his friend's offer to come help with the booth, even if he had to pay for his plane tickets — mortgage for the next few months is covered, to say the least.

Now, here he is, having just finished cleaning up his station after his last tattoo. He takes a seat at what's meant to be a front desk, fiddling with a design on his iPad's Procreate app while waiting for his next potential customer to arrive.

He does not expect it to be someone he actually recognises, however.

"Yo, it's you! The kid from the parkour game." He laughs, greeting Saint with a smile. What had he called him back then? "Birdie! That's the one... 'Course you can get a tattoo. What do you have in mind?"

"Game sure was a rush, eh?" Oz chuckles, the oh so stereotypically Canadian interjection escaping his lips naturally. "Lost a couple of lives myself, but man, it was a blast."

Still, his attention turns back to the matter of tattoos as soon as Birdie's does too, his gaze wandering over the designs pinned to the wall when the other speaks of his preference.

"Totally fair, a lot of people get tattoos that they can keep hidden 'cause of work and all. You could get something small and discrete... If you want something more geometric you might wanna look over here." Oz gestures towards a set of designs, deviating slightly from his usual illustrative style by experimenting with angles and lines. He has always liked that sort of stuff; doomed from the day he first got a compass set for Geometry class.

He looks at Birdie then, tilting his head slightly.

"Hm... You got any favourite Pokémon? One you vibe with more than others?"

Realistically, this "kid" probably isn't much younger than him, but with the more they talk, the more obvious it is to Oz that they're two completely different people — different lives and different approaches towards life too. Not something particularly rare for him, but still, it makes him want to offer a word of 'wisdom' or two (if these words are actually 'wise' is debatable).

"So? Who cares what your roommate thinks?" He tells him with that smile, as if it really were as simple as that. Oz is well aware that people can often be overly concerned with how they will be judged for their tattoos, especially those who are getting their first one, and while there's nothing wrong with having those concerns, he has never been one to shy away from encouraging others. "When you get a tattoo, you do it for yourself, not for anyone else. It's your skin, your body, and your choice. Unless you're getting something that is meant to be offensive or disrespectful to people, they shouldn't get to have an opinion."

Is it really as simple as that?

Maybe, maybe not, but Oz himself knows there was a time when he too worried about people's judgements and could have benefitted from hearing those words. So, he gives them to this person whose actual name he doesn't know.

"Not sure if I have any Primarinas there, but there's a few water types. Let me know if you like any, yeah? Oh, I'm Oz, by the way."

"Cool."

A single word, but meant to its fullest extent, and coming in company of an approving smile and everything. Yes, it's what you'd think he says to most clients, but Oz himself is all for dragon designs — as one elaborate sleeve tattoo would make clear to anyone — and out of all Pokémon, Gyarados is just about the only one who really fits that vibe. Plus, gotta love playing with geometry and weird angles, right? It's not for him to judge his clients (even though he totally does), but in his opinion: a solid choice for a first tattoo.

"I'll prep stencils in a couple of sizes, so you can get a feel for what it'd look like and pick. Read and sign this form for me, yeah? Typical consent stuff, you know how it goes." A clipboard is offered to Angelo, along with a pen. Yes, Oz is well aware that he doesn't actually 'know how it goes' and that this is his first tattoo, but he also seems like the sort of person who has a good head on his shoulders and that can figured out that as much as tattoos are easily done, it's also a delicate procedure that is not to be taken lightly.

His attention turns to his iPad and to the stencil printer, setting up the samples, but he still calls out to Angelo:

"Let me know if you have any questions or anything about all this. Getting your first tattoo can be pretty damn intimidating, but I've always found that knowing about the process helps. Demystifying it and all that, yeah?"

Plus, 'Birdie' here sure seems like he could use a topic to take his mind off whatever else he must be thinking about.

Oz's gaze is fixed on the iPad, fiddling with the sizing of the image, but it's not as if he needs to look at his latest client to be able to answer these questions that he has answered dozens of times already at this very convention:

"Ye, one session. Should take...couple of hours? Three at most? Not a big fan of rushing my work, and trust, you never wanna work with a tattoo artist who's in a rush." He shrugs, but it's simply the truth. There are tattoos that can be done quicker than others, considering size and level of detail, but worrying about how long it might take is never a good idea when it comes to any tattoo. "All the designs we brought here are small enough and simple enough for that. Usually when you have bigger one that take more sessions, you'll wanna wait at least three weeks or so between session so the tattoo can heal, and that's just not doable when you're at a con since most people come from all over the place. My studio's in Toronto too, so... yeah."

No, all that extra information wasn't needed to answer the question, but Oz likes making conversation and he especially likes making conversation about his work with people who care enough about their tattoos to ask these questions. Plus, Angelo here seems like the type who likes to know details about things. He even has a cute little notepad and everything!

Maintenance, though? Make contact while it's fresh? Antibiotics?

The sound of the stencils printing overtakes the booth, and as this happens, Oz glances back at Angelo, now squinting as if to get a better look at him.

"...You in the medical field, kid?" He asks, completely serious, and then he laughs, all seriousness gone. "Sorry, sorry. Most people just don't ask that stuff with those terms, ya know? I'll hand you a care pamphlet once we're done, go over all of it with you in case it isn't clear enough, and also link you my site where I also have all that info, no worries."

He cuts the stencils, gesturing for Angelo to take a seat so that they can begin, but as this happens, he gladly keeps explaining:

"I'll send you home with some adhesive bandage on it, so don't worry about it touching anything. Kinda like Saniderm? Medical grade stuff. You'll take that off after the first day, and from then on, you'll want to use a non-scented soap, gentle one, yeah? A few times a day is ideal since it's an open wound and you don't want it to get infected, think every three to four hours. You'll want to keep it moisturised too, so always use a non-scented cream after cleaning it. Keep it out of the sun, and things like antibiotics usually aren't needed but obviously go to a doctor if it looks like it isn't healing well, eh?"

Standard stuff, but all important to know. Oz isn't the kind of idiot who takes his tattoo aftercare lightly. While he talks, he sets a stencil up for Angelo as an example, being incredibly careful despite his ability to just go on and on and on while working. It's a learned skill, well-practiced.

"How about that size? Check it out in the mirror and let me know if you like the size and placement. We can make it a little bigger or smaller too."