#id like to get coverup tattoos some day like

[vinnyandthephenomena]

tattoos hm

[mousemilf]

its rly interesting 2 me that this poll has held steady right around a 25/75 split from 5 votes to 222 votes.

few things: i am turning 27 in two weeks and voted 5 years. if u think thirties is old thats really really weird to me. i am pretty confident that i am going to look about the same in 5 years other than the vampire prep changes i would make (invisalign, tattoo coverups, hitting the gym, etc) and like. minor fine lines which i already have and literally do not mind at all. if youre living a lifestyle that would age you that much in 5 years i think that is an individual thing. normal people dont just randomly start hagmaxxing at an arbitrary age.

job and money obviously still matter as a vampire because you can still die but now u can die from vampire stuff. ik in vampire media theyre always independently wealthy but that would not just magically happen to you when u got bit. in my view stable income is likely more important as a vampire bcs you have to shelter from sunlight every single day or u die. if you're living paycheck to paycheck and suddenly you cant survive your morning commute or short walk through the parking lot, and you cant find a nighttime job in time and you lose your housing, you might be completely fucked. like way more than a human. you can't sleep in your car (windows) and most shelters will not accommodate a nocturnal creature of the night; you cant wait outside for them to open bcs u will burn up.

on top of that, even if u manage to keep your housing, what if your utilities get shut off or you get fines from the city and you literally are not able to go to the office while theyre open? a frustrating amount of things require you to show up in person. better make sure youve planned and prepared for that.

for me personally i dont have any yuppie skills and i doubt that id be able to find a high-enough-paying remote job in time. overnight non-yuppie jobs would be difficult to find post-transformation too, bcs if they wanted to interview in person before dark thats pretty much not an option.

its possible too that your social circle will also shrink considerably once you're nocturnal, so youll gradually lose at least some of your support network. 5 years would give u time to build a new nocturnal one.

on the other hand - even if we're assuming that as a vampire you no longer have joint pain and u get vampire strength, illness and pain that may worsen over the 5 years will affect your permanent physical appearance. the reason i dont have very good abs is bcs of improperly healed neck and back injuries that make most ab workouts painful. i have ugly blotchy scars from chilblains on my hands. cysts in my feet. etc.

if i take the 5 years i am risking more shit like this. imagine u spend 5 years prepping and then right before u get turned u have a toenail get ripped off and u get to spend eternity without a toenail. ofc other things can happen too, u could find a remote or overnight job and lose it right before the transformation, or get a botched haircut, or of course you could just get run over by a car or whatever and never get to become a vampire.

would u rather be turned into a vampire right now immediately or in 5 years? assuming your body stays exactly the same forever as the moment when you were turned, including haircut, piercings/tattoos, etc. 5 years would give u time to change these things as well as set up a lifestyle that would work for a vampire ie working from home or working nights, but it is also possible that your circumstances and body would change in ways you would not want as a vampire (illness, debts, aging) as can normally happen in a 5 year span. do you take the time to prepare, but risk this, or preserve your current state even w flaws....

[why-am-i-here-someone-save-me]

Thank you sm for answering my ask!! It was WONDERFUL and i love it so much!!!

I wanna add on to tattooed creator!reader, because what if she could give them tattoos? Id imagine theyd freak out at the needles at first but bear it just to spend time with you, hehe--

Once again, thank you so much! Have a nice day!! :))

Some of them would definitely be extremely adverse to the idea of gettin a tattoo themselves.

Not because of you, but because of outside factors. Like medical conditions (chongyun), or religious reasons(the nuns, Miko due to being a shrine maiden, ect.)

Don’t be too mad at them okay? They would if they could, just to make you happy, but they really can’t.

The kids would be super excited to get tattoos from you; but they are a little sad when you tell them they aren’t old enough.

You opt to offer them temporary tattoos instead. (And you make sure to give Qiqi stickers, since you aren’t sure how her body would handle ink of any sort) (She’s thrilled. Expect to see little stickers scattered around the walls and counter of the pharmacy)

The archons will almost definitely ask you to give them a matching tattoo of the one you have for their element if you have it.

If you have an electro symbol on the back of your neck like Ei & the Shogun, they’ll be slightly sad that they don’t have an excuse to spend time with you like the others.

Zhongli will 100% ask you if he can use you as a coverup if someone sees his adepti markings.

“Ah these? No, they’re not natural, I received them from [Name].” -A very nervous Archon trying not to blow his cover

If you have a tattoo that matches Xiao he might just cease functioning.

Most of the characters will ask you if you could give them a tattoo of their constellation.

Yes, you make jokes about having “maxed out their cons” after you do.

No, no they don’t understand, but you’re happy, so they’ll roll with it.

If your feeling really bold, you could approach some of the more humanoid enemies with offers of tattoos

They aren’t really ‘enemies’ anymore, because they really like you! Teyvat as a whole loves you, so even it’s more hostile creatures are more like big teddy bears around you.

Oddly enough, those ‘enemies’ that you do give a tattoo don’t show any signs of aggression anymore, even after leaving your presence.

Because of this, there’s been a significant number of Treasure Hoarders, Fatui members, Kigarashi, and Nobushi who have managed to turn their lives around. They consider the tattoo to represent a second chance at life.

Hilichurls would definitely consider a tattoo from you like a badge of honor.

Overall, anyone who gets a tattoo from you considers themselves extremely honored to have received it.

[nightsonights]

sleeve- z.k.

masterlist

summary: zion gets his sleeve and doesn’t forget about you ;)

warnings: the slightest smut, absolute fluff

authors note: i’m back! feels like i haven’t posted in forever. remember, my inbox is open to requests (might take me a little bit to write them but regardless). enjoy!

•••

i sat in hypnotic daze at the squint inducing LED display of the TV. my manicured hand reached into the polymer bag to retrieve another corn-baked snack.

the credits quickly rolled from the current episode of grey’s anatomy; netflix inquiring of my current engagement. my hand retreated in disappointment as it gave up its search through the empty reminiscence of cheese dust and polypropylene.

i reached for the remote when i caught sight of the orange dust that had seeped into the creases of my fingerprint. i mentally scolding myself at the pigsty state i had afflicted upon myself.

the cheese dust fingers. the wrappers hang daintily on the foggy glass of the coffee table. the unconscious awareness of elapsed time watching Netflix.

deciding enough was enough, i lifted my weight from the plump cushions of my couch and carried myself to the kitchen sink.

i towered over the silver faucets lining the sink and switched them on in opposite positions. i laundered my hands with the fruity soap nearby, rubbing over the small tattoos lining the length of my fingers.

i smiled to myself as i recalled the mocking tone of zion on the topic of tattoos earlier that morning.

~~~

/“mY fInGeRs taTs lOok dOpe”/

“stop! they slap bro!” i protested, playfully hitting his bicep.

“tHey SLaP brO.” zion threw his head back as he giggled at his playful derisive.

“you’re so annoying”

“i’m just joking witchu. i think your tattoos are... okay” he sided, shrugging his shoulders in comprise-able comprehension.

i let out a short scoff at his lack of impression. “you’re one to talk, flower boy” i teased, referring to the tattooed rose that stood out on the bare of zion’s forearm.

“okay talk your shit now but when i get my sleeve, it’s gonna be hard,” he rubbed his biceps in a boastful manner, “harder than your little finger tats.”

~~~

i washed over the palms of my hands once more before letting the transparent liquid seep through the slips between my fingers. the orange artificial cheese hugged the drops of water and together they slithered down the drain.

i quickly retreated to the living room with clean hands and the full intention to continue my sinful Netflix marathon.

as i plopped onto the faux fur decorative throw blanket that lined the couch, the house alarm indicated that someone had entered.

“kaliyah?” zion called out, his voice vibrating throughout the empty spaces of the house.

“i’m in the living room!”

within a few silent footsteps, zion towered over the loose-cushion back of the couch. his large palms fell to the board of my shoulders; massaging his fingertips into the slips of my scapula.

i melted into his touch, reaching to direct his hands to my most pained areas. i let out a sigh as his hands left my shoulder blades; leaning down to plant a small peck on the soft of my cheek.

“hey baby. how was your day?” he inquired.

“it was good, just catching up on grey’s” i replied, tilting my head up admirably at my boyfriend.

my eyes traced venerably over his attractive features. the curtain of platinum blond locs that hung over his dark, passionate eyes. the loose fitting graphic tee that lightly brushed against his muscle structure.

my examination travelled to his arms, my breath suddenly hitching in my throat at the recognition of the plastic wrap encasing his arm.

“um, z? what’s going on with your arm?” i inquired; eyebrow furrowed as i studied the series of cartoon characters dotting his upper and lower limb.

“oh this? i went to get some ink after work” he acknowledged, glancing down at the fresh puncture of pigment.

“some ink? z, it’s your whole arm. come here, let me see” i urged, patting the spot on the couch next to me.

zion circled around the arm of the long upholstered seating place, plopping down onto the cushion. i gently extended his arm, examining the intricate piercings of the fictional personas.

“it’s just an outline. i have to go back for some shading this week” zion protested, watching nervously as i took in the intricacy of the fictional artistry.

“why didn’t you tell me?” i inquired, my bottom lip sticking out in a pout.

“why? do you not like it?”

i glanced up into his doubtful eyes. “yeah, it’s dope. for a nintendo colouring book.”

i let out a series of unrestricted giggles as zion rolled his eyes dismissively. he sheepishly bit the inside of his cheek; attempting to suppress the laugh threatening to slip past his lips.

“haha good one,” he passively brushed off,” but seriously, do you think it’s okay?”

“yeah baby, it’s hot. id fuck you”i shrugged.

“you’d fuck me huh?” zion challenged.

his large hands groped the soft of my thighs; fingers lightly dancing along the bare of my inner thigh.

“hmm” i hummed, catching onto his salacious proposal and holstering my leg over his pelvis.

zion hooked his finger underneath my chin and slowly reeled my lips onto his fleshy embodiment of love. the kiss left me lightheaded at its simplicity; zion teeth tugging at my bottom lip as he pulled away.

his lips parted to form a sentence but i quickly reunited our moment of fervent inclination. the tension from whatever he needed to say disintegrated as i shifted closer to him; deepening the kiss.

his body hitched forward; lips trying to mirror the hunger found in mine. i gently placed my hands on his chest, signalling him to stop.

“we should go to the room” i suggested, thinking about the tedious work a cum stain would leave on the couch.

i excitedly lifted myself from his lap, reaching for the remote to turn off the tv.

“kaliyah, hold on” zion pleaded, reaching toward to catch my wrist.

“what? i mean, we could do it on the floor but i mean the bed would be more comforta-“

“no, it’s not that” zion interrupted, half smiling at my enthusiasm.

“then what’s wrong?” i inquired.

“i have something to show you” he voiced, ushering me to have a seat.

“okay?” i giggled cautiously at zion’s sudden serious tone.

“don’t be mad at me okay?” zion preferenced, his smile nervously twitching.

zion proceeded to tilt his head, folding the flexible cartilage encasing his external ear. squished between the petroleum jelly and plastic rap stood a nonchalant K.

i lightly traced its swollen properties, brow furrowed at its insignificance. “this is cute.”

zion whipped around to face me, frantically batting his lashes at me in astonishment.

“just cute?” he clarified.

“yeah, i think it’s a cute family tat. kekleli and elom should get one. make it a sibling thing” i suggested innocently.

zion let out a breathy chuckle as he shook his head at my ignorance.

“what? isn’t it just your last name? k for kuwonu” i puzzled as he continued to find the situation amusing.

“that’s a good coverup but i didn’t get this as a family tattoo. i got it for you” zion declared.

i abruptly let out a sharp gasp; clasping my shaking hand over the wide of my mouth. i stared at zion in complete incredulity.

his eyes sparkled with excitement as the corners of his mouth contagiously remained upwards.

“z, you didn’t have to do this” i breathed, misty tendencies forming in my eyes.

“i know, i wanted to do this” zion paused to massage away the lone tears painting my cheeks, “you mean everything to me.”

“you’re amazing z. this is beautiful. thank you. i love you” i cooed, pressing my lips against his.

“you’re welcome baby. i love you too” zion replied as we both feel back onto the couch; eager to reel in the benefits of our love.

[thegothicalice]

A rant

So this is a somewhat overdue rant about tattooing I’ve had in my head awhile and is a tad lengthy.

A disclaimer to start: I really do love tattooing. Overall, long haul, most of the time, whatever, it’s an awesome career and I’m super glad to be in it. However there are so many things that just, drive me up a fucking wall.

Reoccurring stupid shit that customers do does suck though. Such things include:

-Taking children to tattoo appointments (toddlers are the WORST because they absolutely cannot sit still and have to touch every fucking thing, plus it’s a fucking health code violation) when we have FOUR signs, two on the door and two in the lobby that say no kids, because of course their little pains-in-my-arse are the exception to the rule

-Complaining about price, which hey, like many things, tattoos are a “get what you pay for” kind of deal. Sure, your buddy can do it for $20 in his kitchen, and we’ll see you in a few months to get a coverup that was twice the price we quoted. Asking for discounts is also incredibly rude and seriously, you’d be pissed if someone asked the same of you (someone came in a few days ago and balked at my coworker’s decent price for a session, replying with a “is that the best you can do” without even seeing her work, and she’s more than worth every penny). You’re hiring an artist (or any other tradesperson, not just artists) for their expertise, aka allllll that training and knowledge behind them, as well as the time it takes to do the job.

-No call no shows to appointments. People often flake out on tattoos because to them, hey, it’s a luxury item and something more important came up and they forget artists are people too  so they chose to not show up, neglecting to understand or care that tattoo artists are 100% commission (no tattoo, no paycheck, it’s not a clock in clock out deal); so by leaving an artist hanging they’re out money, and often unable to fill that time so last minute. (people that demand deposits back are a different story and infuriating in a different way)

- Customers “talking shop” in a trying too hard, bullshit kind of way. Which is frequent, usually not a big deal, and means to impress. But calling machines “guns” sounds like scratcher talk, calling them “tats” is tacky and outdated, and trying too much to sound like they known everything is just kind of exhausting. Worse offenses include saying “it shouldn’t take you that long” because that’s just dicky (because oh yeah, you know how long it’ll take me to accomplish that? I’m not a human printer, you don’t pay me and art just instantly appears because art is work).

-Sometimes people just have a need for a “kitchen sink” tattoo; they only want the one, but they want everything in it including many elements that don’t work together (flowers and tribal and six names and a ledger’s full of dates and an anchor and a semi color and an infinity sign with birds...) and then want the whole thing to fit in a baseball-sized area. Which means a shitty tattoo that’s overdone anyway will be a shitty blob of a tattoo in a few years because skin moves over time and it all blurs together into a big mess. Trust the artist when they tell you no because 99% of the time we’re not being assholes, we’re trying to save you long term misery.

So that’s the “pet peeve” part of the industry, in general, which could run much longer than just what’s listed. But onto other bits of why the timing on this particular rant: I’ve had a few too many rough customers the last few weeks. On the one hand, I’ll gladly do silly trinket tattoos they found off Pintrest and deal with people in the same phony personable way that I did working retail, it really isn’t bad. But sometimes it’s just, well, worse than retail.

For example, back-to-back tattoos from a couple weeks back, two girls. One getting her second tattoo, the other getting her first, the designs are about the size of my hand on their calves which I personally find to be a “whatever” kind of spot to get tattooed on (I’ve tattooed my own calf a couple times, like seriously it’s one of the less painful spots). The first girl had been tattooed at my shop before, and had admittedly been talked about because of the fact that she cried, full blubbering, at a shoulder tattoo. She did better on the one I did but twitched like crazy, subtly trying to get me to hurry so she wouldn’t be late for work, which makes clean lines really not so easy. Her (I believe) stepsister was next, and nervous, and wanted the back of the calf. I told her it was more painful there and if she had pain tolerance issues maybe she should try the side? Nope. I barely started and she starts sobbing. For the first half of the tattoo. Now, the real trouble is less her crying; I think it’s kind of excessive to cry from physical pain past childhood, but her mother was the real trouble. Hand holders are often more of an issue than criers/twitchers/whiners, whatever, because they encourage bad behavior and make whatever is not good, worse. Her mother telling me how to do my job (she seriously said “you missed a spot” which was not something I have patience for when I know I’m not getting anything resembling a proper tip), doing a weird running narration to her 18-year-old like she’s a tattoo expert, and babying the whole crying thing is just, not what that messy day needed. Everyone in my shop breathed a sigh of relief when they left; people were lapsing in conversation to eavesdrop on the shit this lady was saying to me and the girl in my chair like it was a soap opera or something.

The other example was a week later. Saturdays are typically the busiest day of the week, but the day had been weirdly slow and most of my coworkers had left/were leaving by 5 pm (we have six artists including me, and we’re open til 8). Just before the shop owners leave, a guy comes swinging in, talking a mile a minute about tattoos he wants, ones he wants fixed, and covered up, and chatting like he knows us and being kind of a bossy prick. His eyes light on me and he nearly demands that I do the tattoos he wants, then and there, his son and daughter’s names in a “tribal” font with “your own twist on it” to put on either side of his ribs. I’ve hit the fuck it it’s money mentality and draw something up based on a font he chose, he pays a “down payment” (seriously dude?) and goes to get some food, be back soon. The whole time he’s waving his right arm around, or, the half that is left, since it’s amputated above the elbow area. He comes back about 45 minutes later, with some friends. By that point, only one of my coworkers stayed because he didn’t want to leave me in the shop by myself, especially not with this guy and with almost two hours til close. This guy is cracking jokes and being a general fucking pest, such as “do I look like I drove here? I don’t have a license, I brought my friends to vouch for me, you understand” and not doing paperwork before coughing up an ID because gee, it’s like professionalism matters. By that point, I’m definitely aware that he’s hitting on me. Bad. To the point that even I, thick as I am when it comes to the whole flirtation thing, am nearly struck dumb by the nerve of someone twice my age, redneck as hell and more annoying than a lapdog going full tilt hitting on me. My prerogative is to get him in and out of my chair quick as I can. The left side tattoo went ok (though I think tribal lettering just looks like shit because hey, it’s not 1995) and he just kept talking straight on through with my “mhms” interjected and bland comments occasionally offered. He went out for a smoke before the other side was going to be done, and my coworker was grimacing for me. Inappropriate comments were made by him though he was somewhat quieter when he asked that I wouldn’t accept anything from anybody and a cold “nope” was the reply. The other tattoo went worse, because he decided to make a phone call to his son, insisting on holding the phone up to my machine (dude, it’s not a fucking coil machine, it’s a rotary so it’s really quiet, you’re not going to hear shit on the phone) with his one hand and trying to maneuver the phone better with his hand and his other arm. So his half arm is swinging all over the place dicking around with his phone, when I’m tattooing his ribs like three inches below the arm pit. The image of one of the Jackass bits of the smily face tattoo on an ATV came to mind as my coworker watched the whole thing from the lobby with bewilderment. Both of us were beyond grateful when he left.

The whole incident was incredibly draining, because six years of previous customer service jobs drilled politeness into me and being polite is sometimes just so damn hard when people are jackasses. I don’t care that sometimes people are ignorant of some things in this industry, it’s mostly expected and not a big deal, but blatant stupidity and assholedom is just so exhausting. Artists are really people and our jobs are really hard and being rude just makes it harder.

End note- just please, be nice to tattoo artists (artists in general really). I love my job, wouldn’t trade it for the world, but sometimes shit just gets to me and needed a rant-out.