Tattoo Bus

Today was a long bus ride. We sat in the back, on the left side. In the same row, but the right side of the bus sat a woman. She had a tattoo on her left side that popped out because it was full and vibrant colors and it was two anime characters making out, Goku and Vegeta from Dragonball Z to be exact.

I wanted to compliment her on it, but she had headphones on.

A few stops later, two men entered the bus and sat in the row behind me and Mere. One man tapped the tattoo girl on the shoulder to get her attention.

"I like your tattoo," he said.

"Thanks," she replied.

"Are those cartoon characters?"

"Yeah it's Goku and Vegeta." I listened to confirmation of what I already knew. The conversation, however did not end there.

"Where did you get it?" he asked. She named someone. "But where?" Apparently that person no longer worked at that particular tattoo shop.

I heard the man tell her about his tattoo. He probably showed her, but I didn't turn around to see. Then he started talking about how the ink used shampoo and toothpaste. He started to explain the process.

"I know how ink is made," she said. She did state she was a tattoo artist herself at the beginning, he must not have heard. The man revealed he got his tattoo in prison.

The conversation had definitively taken a turn. Any worry I had for this woman was washed away when she said, "Yeah, I'm familiar. My brother spent 15 months in prison." Maybe she said years, but regardless, DAMN. Homegirl can fend for herself.