#and i feel like once mal gets more comfortable and confident she'd also want to learn

[mercymaker]

woke up early, sick and feverish, and immediately thought of malstarion

i wonder what that means for me.. hmmm

[softsmolbirb]

disney descendants - but add TATTOOS

the Docks house the majority of the tattoo trade on the Isle, so the Sea Three grow up treating tattoos more casually while they've got more of a rebellious vibe for VKs living inland, like the Core Four.

to the VKs on the docks, tattoos most often serve as a show of ownership or as self expression.

for the Core Four and AKs, I imagine it's more common to see tattoos as individual pieces of art.

there's a lot of blurring that line, but seeing tattoos as self expression vs art can carry a lot into both how a person perceives tattoos in general and how they tend to design and place their tattoos.

Jay shows up at the Dragon's Den one day with a large, traditional, fully shaded, badass cobra curling around his bicep.

Evie and Carlos are fascinated but also a bit uncomfortable.

Mal immediately feels challenged, artistically, and starts designing a badass dragon design that she wants to get on her back someday.

Evie and Carlos don't get tattoos until years later, when they're in Auradon and comfortable in their own skin and are able to go to a nice, clean, entirely above-the-board tattoo studio.

Evie gets a little crown on her ankle.

Carlos ends up getting a number of random, small designs over time. Jane's name, a silhouette of Dude, the date that he last saw his mother (the date from when he's been free).

Evie gets a second tattoo eventually, on a dare, and gets a small ruler design on her wrist that's perfect for helping measure hems and edges for her projects.

Mal waits until getting settled in Auradon, too - first because she doesn't trust the skill of the tattoo artists on the Isle to do it "right," and then because she doesn't think her tattoo would be viewed as appropriate for the future Queen of Auradon.

once everything has settled out post-D3, though, and she's confident in her skin she brings it up with Ben (because having the Sea Three around is making her remember how much she really wants to get a tattoo, not that she'd ever admit to that).

Ben totally supports her and she gets a fantastical dragon across her back, painstakingly done by one of the finest artisans in Auradon.

Harry started tattooing himself when he was a kid, messing around with stick-and-poke techniques he saw the older kids using.

they didn't have great ink and stick-and-pokes usually fade pretty fast anyway, even faster when you're constantly in the sun, so he had a lot of fun with the canvas of his hands, arms, and thighs and did a lot of experimentation.

once he and Gil got closer, Harry did a lot of small designs on Gil when he was bored.

Uma got the first real tattoo of all of them.

she showed up at one of the tattoo shops dragging a bag full of tips and left several sessions later with a full sleeve of ocean waves crashing against a ship that was surrounded by tentacles.

she was pleased by how the artist had gotten it to look like the tentacles could either be pulling the ship to its doom or just giving it a hug.

Harry absolutely loved it and began going to get himself a new tattoo every time he scraped together enough tips and stolen coins.

a compass on the back of his hand; a dagger down his thigh; constellations dotting his arms; a menagerie growing one by one of seahorses and sharks and gulls.

he gets a traditional pinup on his hip; a grand, proper pirate's ship on one knee and a kraken mirroring its style on the other; he has multiplication tables and other memorization tricks done on the inside of his wrists to help him on tests.

months after his first (and only) hesitant, respectful request, Uma lets him get her name tattooed as a tramp stamp.

she goes with him and directs the artist and he ends up with her name surrounded by tentacles; they're strategically positioned to curl around the letters but also draw the eye to where they disappear beneath his waistband.

Uma didn't get tattoos as often but they were always grand and befitting her rank as Captain.

she adhered religiously to her colors and aesthetic, creating a map of black, turquoise, cyan, and purple whirls and lines that made her look ever inch the magical being she should be.

Uma complemented the heavy linework with little skulls and bones, sea creatures, and rolling waves.

I've seen some people say that "Wharf Rats" is just an insult Carlos called the crew, but I like the headcanon that it's the actual name of Uma's crew and that everyone who joined up was required to get a tattoo as a promise of loyalty.

Harry totally designed it himself.

Uma and Harry have the largest versions of it, so they added some extra detail and flare to theirs. Uma's on her chest and Harry's across his upper back.

most of the crew have theirs on a bicep but Gil got his on the back of his neck.

Gil didn't get any ink until he came back to the Docks and joined the crew.

once he was back, though, he tagged along and got something done every time Uma or Harry went.

he liked to get Harry to help him come up with ideas for designs that would draw attention to his arms and muscles.

Gil got lots of flowers and plants and birds on his arms, eventually tying the designs together into full sleeves.

Uma and Harry would roll their eyes but loved how badass Gil could manage to make a bunch of flowers.

colored tattoos were far less common than black linework and shading because it was much harder to come by substantial quantities of colorful ink on the Isle.

having his flowers colored made Gil's sleeves pop out and draw attention even more.

he got roaring waves and sharks and sea monsters on his back, pulling up into his Wharf Rats tattoo, with everything perfectly designed to flatter the flex of his shoulders and back.

on his trip around Auradon with Jay, Gil had a lot of fun getting a new tattoo in each kingdom, coloring in his chest with new kinds of flowers and filling up his legs with a variety of designs that reminded him of his favorite stops.

once she escaped the barrier and was restored access to her magic and heritage, Uma learned that her she could make her tattoos glow and reflect her natural magic.

she waited a long time for the day when she, Harry, and Gil were all free from the Isle and she was able to casually take her shirt off and enjoy Harry tripping on his feet and falling on his face at how extra stunning her tattoos were now.

Harry took advantage of the better resources for tattoos in Auradon and had his tattoos relined, as a lot of them were beginning to fade.

he had red lines and shading worked into the designs to give them an extra bit of pop, cohesiveness, and general Hook aesthetic.

for AKs, the most common tattoos were small and easy to hide, like significant others' names, important dates, and little minimalist designs.

Harry won a dare once and coerced Jay and several of Jay's tourney friends into going and getting larger, more artistic designs, though.

to Harry's surprise (and Uma and Gil's delight), some of Harry's first AK friends ended up being heirs from kingdoms like Matinui and DunBroch, with whom he bonded over tattoos after they approached him with admiration for his ink and for his opinions on design.

kingdom pride and fairytale tattoos are definitely a thing. an artist would have a lookbook with glass slippers and well known castles and glass covered roses.

just. TATTOOS guys.