How Green Becomes Wood

"Luckily our house is accessible to the visually impaired," Dark replied, turning back to his drawing, "but I have reached my current age without needing glasses so far, so I have faith in my survival."
 
"The overhead lights are nightmarish," Dark said, "That is why I choose dimmer, yellower light bulbs, so even when they are on they are never accosting." Then he glanced at Xander, not putting his pencil down, "What would you like?"
 
"A tattoo," Xander said bluntly. He watched Dark's reaction closely. Dark was a "cool dad," and definitely the last person on earth to say negative things about tattoos, but Xander wasn't even seventeen. Yet.
 
That was enough to make Dark put down his pencil and turn away from his drawing which, if Xander could see the page around his father's body was not a happy one. It was unfinished, but already the shapes of figures in agony were becoming visible "I do not know if it is legal at 16," He replied, "What particularly would you want?"
 
Xander pulled out his phone and flipped quickly through the pictures before presenting one to Dark. "The White Horse of Uffington. I don't know if actual white would show up, so it'd probably be the black horse of Xander." He frowned. "That sounded so stupid. Anyway, it's legal if I get guardian consent. And I'm not sure where I want it, so I thought maybe you could help me figure it out?"
 
Dark took the phone and looked at it, "If you do a black outline it would work well enough. I would not recommend white ink, but it would probably appear better on your skin tone than on mine." He sighed, looking at the image for a while, "Not all artists will do it even with parental consent. I would need to ask if mine does." He looked at the picture and then over at Xander, "I would probably put it on your forearm. Especially as a first tattoo. Or your shoulder, but then you would not see it. Could you handle it?"
 
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"Really? I'd have thought it would be easier to see on yours than mine," Xander remarked, looking at his arm. Then he admitted truthfully, "I don't know if I can handle it. I dunno, but I want to try."
 
"Coloured tattoos are harder on darker skin tones overall. With white ink especially it can be difficult to get the skin to absorb enough ink to keep the white ink bright. It is very common for white ink to disappear completely as it heals. I am not as dark as some, obviously, but for all of my colour it required more work than if I looked like you." He looked at the picture again and handed Xander his phone back, "What would you do if part way through the tattoo you learned you could not handle it and needed to stop?"
 
"Huh. I did not realize that." Xander took his phone back. "I don't have an answer for that, but I guess no one really knows if they can take it or not until they try. I'll just try to pick a spot that is supposed to be the least painful."
 
"I did not mean the pain," Dark replied, "I meant the contact. They will be wearing latex gloves, but you cannot get a tattoo without being handled. They are going to need to stretch your skin, adjust how you are positioned, sometimes they may end up resting their other arm against you for stability. It is impossible for the only contact to be the tattoo gun."
 
"Oh." Xander frowned, his brow furrowing. "I hadn't thought about that," he admitted. "People just talk about the pain and whether or not they regret it and stuff. I hadn't thought about the manipulation part."
 
"You should take some time to think about it," Dark replied gently, "I do not know if I am comfortable letting you get one at sixteen, and I would need to talk it over with Daizi, but you can expect it would take at least half an hour of a stranger touching you. You can request breaks as needed, but it is not really a situation where you can avoid it entirely."
 
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"At seventeen you only have one year left to wait," Dark replied, "What is the benefit of getting it one year sooner? I recognize it is me asking that, and I did get some underage, but all of the ones I got then have long since been covered up or lasered off."
 
"Because that's a full year I'd get to enjoy it," Xander pointed out. "It's not something stupid like a name or a slogan or something I think I'd outgrow. No real benefit other than just... I know what I want now, but I guess I could wait."
 
"I cannot give you a firm yes or no now, especially as I have not yet spoken with Daizi, but we will think about it. It also depends on if good artists will agree. When I was getting mine done under age, the only ones who would did horrible work. I will not allow anyone I love to go to a bad artist. Especially with that design, your only cover up would be a SAP."
 
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