It took Mirror several phone calls by the time she found a tattoo parlor that was willing to give her an appointment late at light. Since she could not influence when the shifting happened, and she did not want to get a tattoo without knowing exactly how ink behaved on her skin while going from one sex to the other, the only way to proceed was to experiment. And she wanted to do that in the presence of a professional. And preferably in a place that was not sketchy.

She was assured that she was in good hands. That was half the battle; the other half was her own consideration. Until recently, Mirror had never considered getting ink, specifically because of the weird way her body changed all the time. But meeting both Other Becca, and hes/his own doppelganger, made Mirror reevaluate her own thoughts on body art. For one, Other Becca was rocking her tattoos, no doubt about that. And also, now that she knew there were other universes out there, with other possible Mirrors, some probably with Maya and Gawain's own faces, and other mutants who could shift into anyone, Mirror started seriously considering getting a distinguishing mart, for safety reasons. Something small, easily covered. Personal. Something that she did not mind on her skin, but also something people would recognize as typically hers.

It was a lot to talk about, and she needed to talk to someone who knew what they were doing. It was half past eleven at night when Maya walked into the parlor, looking around curiously to see who had drawn the shorts straw of working the night shift for some extra cash.

"Hello?..."

Who the hell booked an appointment for a tattoo at midnight? 

A crazy person, no doubt. That, or someone with a very tight schedule. Whatever it was, Ravi wasn’t all that excited about having to go to work that late at night. He’d drawn he’d drawn the short stick and ended up having to work the peculiar shift with the no doubt peculiar client. Wonderful. Perks of being the young hotshot.

It wasn’t like Ravi was in bed by nine most nights or anything, but he usually wasn’t drawing on people past six. He was a little worried that he wouldn’t be able to concentrate or hold the needle the same way that he could when he was on top of his game, but he was going to make it work. There was a little bonus for coming in at that hour, anyway. Not really enough, but it was a nice enough reason to get him moving.

He’d stopped by a little coffee shop that a client had suggested on his way over and grabbed some sort of coffee with a stupidly long name, hoping that it would keep him working well. Normally, he avoided things that could potentially make his hands shaky right before a consultation, but he made an exception. It settled nicely, and by the time his bike was parked by the still-busy sidewalk, he wasn’t even the slightest bit tired. 

The key slid into the lock, and Ravi walked into the parlor, flipped on the lights, and got things running. He stepped into the back to gather his tools while he waited, counting down the ten minutes until the scheduled appointment. He really hoped that he wasn’t working with some lunatic. It would be a real shame to have to refuse service when he’d trekked all the way out there.

He stood at the counter while the seconds passed, his pen flowing easily across a pad of paper as he dreamed up new designs. Free time to draw and let creativity flow without anyone asking for specifics was always a hot commodity in his life. A few moments of peace were more than welcome in his life. The plaid shirt he was wearing hung loosely over a grey tank top and black jeans - a typical outfit for him. 

>>"Hello?..."

Ravi looked up to see a young woman walk into the store. He gave her a little wave and abandoned his pen on the pad as he walked over to greet her. ”Hey. You must be… Maya, right? Here for an appointment? I’m Ravi.” He offered his hand for her to shake before gesturing to the space behind them. ”Come on in and we’ll talk details.”

The parlor looked nice and clean. The guy inside did not look very enthusiastic, but that was to be expected for such a late night appointment. Maya, for once, arrived through the door, not wanting to flaunt her mutant powers right off the bet. She was off duty, and she was going to have to disclose them soon anyway.

>>”Hey. You must be… Maya, right? Here for an appointment? I’m Ravi."

"Hi" Maya smiled, shaking hands with the guy in greeting "Yes, that's me. Maya Morris."

>>”Come on in and we’ll talk details.”

Maya walked in, glancing around the parlor. It was a nice set-up, clean, bright, and full of interesting designs. Definitely a good place to come to, at first glance. There was no one else around this late, which was also ideal, since, even after multiple friends and girlfriends witnessing it, Maya was still uncomfortable with shifting in front of an audience.

"So... I have a design in mind, but... I'm not sure how my skin would handle a tattoo." she admitted with a sigh "I was wondering if we could... test that first."

Ravi followed the woman into the main area of the parlor and snuck behind her to grab his pens and the stencil paper. With them set out on the counter in front of him, he leaned forward a little and poised his hand over the paper, ready to draw at a moment’s notice. This had always been one of his favourite parts of the process. It was when you got to see a glimpse into a person’s soul, and when they really began to trust him and his abilities. 

He looked up to make eye contact with her, took a deep breath and prepared to start his usual speech, but stopped when she began to say something. Usually, he tried to get the first word in so clients wouldn’t have the time to get themselves all worked up, but he also didn’t want to cut her off. If she started to lose it, though, he was prepared to step in.

>>"So... I have a design in mind, but... I'm not sure how my skin would handle a tattoo. I was wondering if we could... test that first."

Ravi blinked for a second as he shifted his weight between his legs and considered how to approach the question. It wasn’t actually that uncommon for people to come in worried that they would be allergic to the ink or freak out about the needle. ”If it’s an allergy that you’re worried about, then I can attest that everything here is cleaned really well, so you won’t have to worry about contamination. We can test the ink somewhere small, if you’d like, though.”

There were always things that people worried about before they got a tattoo. It wasn’t Ravi’s job to push them into getting one, but it was his job to make sure that they felt alright with the process. ”If there’s something about the process that’s worrying you, then we can definitely cover that. But if it’s Keloid Disorder, then you should just go home. It’s not smart to risk that.” Usually, people with Keloids just knew not to get a tattoo, but occasionally, they would get the odd person that would want to risk it anyway. It was never a pretty scene. 

He pushed the stencil to the side and let Maya take her time. There was no need to rush her into a design if she was worried about something. Even if he was excited about that part. 

Maya was a little nervous. Not about the tattoo, she had done wilder things than that in her life... but rather, about explaining why she wanted to test the ink first, and with that, why she had to be here at the parlor just around midnight. Of course, she did not get that far straight away, and the guy looked a little confused.

>> ”If it’s an allergy that you’re worried about, then I can attest that everything here is cleaned really well, so you won’t have to worry about contamination. We can test the ink somewhere small, if you’d like, though.”

"It's not an allergy" Maya assured him. That was not really a problem, but she was relieved to hear that he was willing to test things if she asked

>>”If there’s something about the process that’s worrying you, then we can definitely cover that. But if it’s Keloid Disorder, then you should just go home. It’s not smart to risk that.”

"No, no, I don't" Maya shook her head, then sighed "It's... my skin... goes through a lot. I can show you, in a bit, but if it would be possible, could we do a small test?"

>>"It's not an allergy"

Ravi cocked his head and took the woman in for a second, blinking slowly. Allergies were common. Eczema was common. Whatever the woman had was clearly not common, given the fact that he couldn’t even think of one thing that it could be. There was absolutely nothing that came to mind based on the vague description that she’d given him.

There were a few worst case scenarios that popped into his head, but not many of them would fit the circumstances, and most people were pretty upfront about those sorts of things, or just refrained from getting tattoos altogether. It would be easier for both of them if Ravi simply knew what to expect.

The artist shifted on his feet, trying to decide what the best course of action would be. People could be very private, but if he was going to be tattooing her, then he did need to know whatever it was that would prevent him from doing his job effectively. There was a certain amount of privilege that people in his situation were allowed, and thankfully, most of them were good at keeping their mouths shut afterward.

”I mean… I suppose I could do a little line or a dot somewhere hidden so that you know what will happen, but I do need to know what this is. There’s only so much I can do if you keep me in the dark, and I can’t do my job to the best of my ability if I don’t have all the facts.” There. That made sense to him. Hopefully, she would understand that he wasn’t just trying to be nosy. He really did need to know, especially if there was going to be some sort of danger to him.

He nodded his head toward the chair to the side of him and gestured for her to sit down. ”If you want to do that now, we can. Otherwise you can think about it and we can brainstorm a tattoo for you first.”

The guy was clearly not completely on board with the blind test, and Maya could understand that. It was a lot to ask from a professional, especially with something as permanent as ink. But she was very hesitant about trying to explain what was going to happen soon(ish), instead of showing it; and time was of the essence, since soon she would have to wait another full day before she could test the theory. She would not want to pay for a full tattoo just to shift it away the next night...

>>”I mean… I suppose I could do a little line or a dot somewhere hidden so that you know what will happen, but I do need to know what this is. There’s only so much I can do if you keep me in the dark, and I can’t do my job to the best of my ability if I don’t have all the facts.”

"I understand that" Maya sighed, taking a seat next to him "Believe me, it's just... hard to explain."

>>”If you want to do that now, we can. Otherwise you can think about it and we can brainstorm a tattoo for you first.”

"Yeah... let's do it." Maya nodded, taking her shirt off and uncovering her shoulder blades and a simple bra "I would like a tattoo back here" she tapped her shoulder blade "So if you can do a test in that general area... I'll show you what I'm talking about."

>>"I understand that. Believe me, it's just... hard to explain."

Miss clammy still wasn’t letting anything slide, apparently. Ravi looked at her through narrowed eyes, but nodded. He supposed that he would see what she meant after a minute or two (hopefully), and if it was something dangerous, then he could always refuse service. He certainly didn’t like the idea of going in blind, but if she was willing to pay the extra fee and it wasn’t harmful, then he would do it.

>>"Yeah... let's do it. I would like a tattoo back here. So if you can do a test in that general area... I'll show you what I'm talking about."

Ravi nodded, took in a deep breath, and gathered his equipment. The tools were cleaned and prepped beforehand, and he hoped that he would be alright with gloves on. It was a new experience to do things like that for him, but he was willing to try it. To a degree.

”Alright, this might hurt a bit, but do your best to stay completely still,” he told her. Squirmy people only hurt themselves and ruined the design. With her hand on her shoulder to steady her, Ravi drew a simple dot in the area that she’d asked for. It barely took a second or two, and it was small enough to not be noticeable as anything other than a mole if she didn’t end up wanting something done, or it could be worked into the final design.

The artist grabbed the little handheld mirror next to him and held it up to show her the barely-there tattoo on her back. ”What do you think? Are we waiting for something to happen?” There was no obvious allergic reaction in the area yet, anyway.

Maya could tell that the guy was not too happy about the whole mystery thing. She was about to give up and try to explain the situation to him after all, but he gave in first, deciding to just go with the flow until she could give him a more complete answer.

>>”Alright, this might hurt a bit, but do your best to stay completely still,”

Maya did. Not like he was drawing anything elaborate, but she wanted to give the experiment a decent shot, so she braced herself while he drew on her skin. It was a strange feeling, a little painful, but above all... unusual. Maya bit her lips. She could feel herself getting goosebumps, which meant it was almost midnight. Shifting time.

>>”What do you think? Are we waiting for something to happen?”

Maya took a look at the mirror. If the dot disappeared, so be it. If not... he could expand on it to make it something else.

"Yeeah." she answered his question, turning to glance at a clock. Midnight. She could feel her body shifting, and she exhaled slowly. She hated shifting awake.

"Soo... this is completely normal. I do it all the time." she noted, before the change truly began. She had time to reach around and undo her bra - it would have gotten awkward real soon, as she shifted into Gawain's lankier form and flat chest. Underwear-wise she was prepared, and she was wearing cargo pants which did not make much of a difference. Once the shift completed, Gawain let our a breath he had been holding. "So... um. I was wondering if the ink would survive that..."

They were waiting for something, apparently. Ravi kept his eye on the dot as he set down his equipment and glanced at the clock. Good lord, it was nearing midnight and he was at work. He was supposed to be young and free and all that! Not confined to a little parlour at odd hours. Still, at least he was being paid extra.

Paid extra to see nothing, that was. The artist stifled a yawn as the dot continued to do nothing. Meanwhile, the woman was unhooking her bra, saying that she “did this all the time”. Ravi stood up, placing his hands out in front of him. ”Woah, woah, I don’t know what you think this is, but I don’t-” he stopped short of the full sentence.

The woman… was changing. She was no longer a woman, actually. The mutant had transformed from a woman to a lanky guy in a matter of seconds. Ravi’s eyes bulged and he ran hands through his hair as he took pacing steps around his little work area. This was not what he had agreed to. In fact, if he had known any of the details, he likely would have asked someone else to cover for him. Mutants were… not his strong suit, by any means.

”You…” he let out an angry noise, shook his head, and tried to compose himself as he thought through the… thing he just saw. His hands travelled to his head and made the mind blown motion as he continued. ”You can’t just do that. A mutation is not a condition. It-it’s not fair to spring that on me.” How was he supposed to do his job when he was shaking like that?

Ravi took a deep breath and cleared his throat as he did his best to clear his head. He couldn’t be outright bigoted. Sure, he didn’t like mutants, but he wasn’t outright, racist, was he? He liked to think that he had enough decency to not be. So, he had two choices: he could refuse service to the… man? Or, he could man up and finish what he was being paid to do. It didn’t seem like a great idea to piss off a potentially dangerous mutant that he didn’t know the capabilities of when there were sharp objects around. With a stony expression, Ravi picked the mirror back up and held it up to the guy’s back, where the dot had been on his female version.

Maya really needed to take the bra off before it got stuck on Gawain. It had happened before, and it was highly embarrassing. So she did, but Ravi was clearly reading the gesture as something completely different.

>>”Woah, woah, I don’t know what you think this is, but I don’t-”

The shifting shut him up. Gawain ran a hand through his suddenly shorter hair, shaking off the last moments of the shift, and then turned to see how the tattoo guy was faring with the spectacle. Not very well, apparently. He looked a little freaked out.

>>”You… You can’t just do that. A mutation is not a condition. It-it’s not fair to spring that on me.”

Gawain arched an eyebrow. Okay then... it was, of course, a possibility that someone would not be okay with working with mutants, but he had thought that a tattoo parlor would be a fairly neutral place, as far as weirdness went. Apparently he was wrong. Oh joy.

"Would you have believed me if I said that I was gonna turn into a guy?" he asked with a shrug "I shift every night, I don't have control over it. So, before I made you do a whole design, just to shift it away that night, I wanted to do what happens to ink when I shift..." he looked in the mirror. The dot was still there. "Well, that's a good start..." he looked at Ravi "Look, if you're not okay with working on mutants, I'll go."

It wasn’t exactly every day that a person walked into the parlour and changed genders on the table. If the girl that had walked in there initially had told Ravi that she was about to turn into a dude, then no, he likely wouldn’t have believed her. It had taken it actually happening in front of him for it even to register in his mind that it was a possibility. Yes, there were some crazy mutations out there, but this was…

Well, it was just weird.

He understood where the… person… was coming from. It wouldn’t make sense to get an entire design done when they didn’t know if it would last. Still, it was a mutant in his chair. It was a mutant who had already lied to him and proven that they couldn’t be trusted.

Ravi ran a hand through his hair and chewed his lip as he looked at the little dot that he’d already done. He would be tattooing a mutant, but he was getting paid extra, and he did want to do some art that night. As long as nothing else happened, then maybe it wasn’t the worst situation in the world. That, of course, didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to keep his eye out for some underhanded tricks.

With a sigh, Ravi reached for his notepad and pen and set them down in his lap. ”What were you thinking you wanted done?” he asked in a rather flat tone.

Maybe he could just ignore it all. He could probably do that.

Oh, the guy was far from happy about this. Gawain could tell. He was ready to walk out too, and find a mutant-friendly parlor (or an artist that was actually a mutant?), but in the end, common decency or a late-night bonus must have won out in Ravi's mind, because he reluctantly settled down for further conversation. Gawain stowed Maya's bra and shirt in his bag, and sat back down too. If things got too awkward, he could still leave.

>>”What were you thinking you wanted done?"

"Well..." Gawain paused "I have two names. A guy name and a girl name. I was named after a knight and a goddess... mom's a dork" he said with a small smile, clear how much he cared for his mother "I want a design that combines symbols of the two. A coat of arms, and the veil of Maya."

He dug into the bag, and held out a piece of paper for Ravi; it was Gawain of Orkney's coat of arms, a golden pentagram on a red field.

The situation was still a weird one; there was no denying or hiding that fact. There was tension that had settled between the two men that likely wouldn’t be alleviated any time soon. Yes, it was mostly Ravi’s fault, but he didn’t feel all that bad about it. In fact, he felt more wronged than he felt guilty. It was hardly his fault that Gawain had walked into his shop and lied to him. It wasn’t his fault that he felt uncomfortable dealing with him, either. None of it was his fault.

Still, he listened to Gawain’s description of what he wanted on his back. As he spoke, Ravi took notes on his notepad. Quiet interpretations of other people’s words were what he did best, after all. Silently, he took the paper that he had been handed and began to incorporate it into the doodle that he’d already started.

Soon enough, an image had begun to form. Despite his reluctance to tattoo him, the design was actually coming out quite nicely. It had turned into a rather lovely tattoo idea. After putting a few finishing touches on the final product, he turned the notepad over to let the guy take a look at it.

”How’s this?” he asked, displaying the artwork, which was the crest that Ravi had been show surrounded by a swirling veil. It really was a completely original design.

As much as Mirror had no talent for art whatsoever, he loved watching other people work on it. There was something mesmerizing about artwork appearing out of thin air, and turning into something beautiful right in front of his eyes. And there was also something about the look on artists, the intense concentration and the movements, that made the process quite the spectacle.
Gawain watched and sat in silence as Ravi worked on the design. Whether he disliked mutants or not, he was definitely in his element when sketching.

>>”How’s this?”

Gawain's eyes lit up as he saw the design.

"Yes. That. I want that." he grinned. It was original, and pretty, and would look great in color. "They were not kidding when they said you were great..."