Think Ink

Karina casually stood naked in the middle of the mall for about twenty seconds while she made her decision. She looked at the shoe store, then the ink store, then back at the shoe store, then down at her feet. Meanwhile, people around her were staring and pointing at the chubby naked woman.

'Hmm,' she thought. 'My feet are a little sore, but that was mostly because of the asphalt in the parking lot. This floor is a lot smoother, so I should be fine. Either way, I will have new shoes before I have to walk outside again, so I guess I will go get the ink first.'

Having made her decision, Karina walks into the store with the sign saying "Think Ink" above it, and at first she was surprised, because it didn't look like a typical printer store. It had rock music playing, and strange posters all over the walls. She could only guess that this must be some sort of new marketing technique, and thought nothing of it. There was however, as far as she could tell, at least one printer in sight, which was a small one behind the desk.

The bell above the door, which rang when Karina entered, alerted an employee who stepped out of the backroom only briefly.

"I'll be with you in a minute," the woman said. "For now, take a look around."

If Karina thought the store was unusual looking for a printer business, then this employee was definitely not what she expected. She a skinny woman with heavy black mascara around her eyes, and hair which was done up in a sloppy bun above her head, and which was such a bright red it was obviously dyed. She had tattoos on her arms and neck, which could be seen because she was wearing a low cut shirt and a jean jacket with ripped sleeves. And as if she didn't already look punk enough, she had a nose ring. While she didn't look like someone who worked at a printer store, she did match the look of this particular store, which also didn't look like a printer store. Karina thought that perhaps she was the one in charge of decorating, but didn't make any further connection.

'To each their own,' she thought to herself.

Karina continued looking around while she waited for the woman do be done in the back, which didn't take more than a few minutes, and after which the woman came to the front desk and immediately apologized.

"Sorry," she said. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting."

"No, it's alright," replied Karina.

"We're doing some reorganizing and it has been just hell. So anyway, enough about my problems. I assume you are here for some ink?"

"I am," said Karina. "How did you know?"

"Ha! That's a good one," the woman replied.

Karina didn't get the joke, even though apparently she made one, but she laughed anyways.

"So," said the woman. "Do you see anything you like?"

She was gesturing at the posters on the wall, and Karina looked at them.

"They're all very nice," said Karina, wanting to be polite.

"Thanks," said the woman. She pointed to one of what looked to be an abstract skull. "That's the most recent one. Made it myself just a few weeks ago."

"You made that?" asked Karina, genuinely impressed.

"Yep."

"Did you like make it digitally and print it or something?"

"Nope, I sketched it by hand. I like to do that to prove to customers that I can make smaller versions of it by hand. I can do that for you, if you like."

"No, that won't be necessary. But you are very talented." Karina thought that it was odd that this employee would offer to sketch a drawing for her, but she didn't want to insult the woman's creative chops.

Karina also noticed that the woman hadn't as of yet pointed out her blatant nudity. Unlike all of the other people's reactions to her state of undress, some of which made her feel beautiful and some of which made her feel silly, this woman hadn't really commented on it at all. Which was... oddly refreshing? Dispute this woman's appearance, which would normally have made her look scary and weird to Karina, she felt very comfortable in her presence and unashamed that a her curvier parts were on display.

"Ahem," said the employee.

"What?" said Karina. "Oh, sorry, I must have spaced out there. I tend to do that."

"That's alright. So?"

"What?" asked Karina.

"Have you decided on one? A favorite one you like?"

"Oh," said Karina. She looked at the posters settled on one that showed a pink butterfly. She pointed it. "That one," she said.

"Excellent choice, now follow me into the back."

"Do you have ink back there?" said Karina.

"Yeah girl, we got the whole shebang."

"Good, because I don't think I know much about ink. In fact, darn," Karina remembered that she forgot to write down the model of printer, a something-3000. "I forgot to write down which brand of ink I'm looking for."

"Oh, don't worry," the employee said as they went into the backroom. "I've had customers try to do that a before and they overthink it. Trust me, I'm a professional, just leave it to me.

"Well, here we are," she said as they entered a room with a reclining chair and lots of supplies and tools all over the tables. "Take a seat while I prepare the ink."

"Alright," said Karina.

Karina took a seat in the chair, which felt quite comfortable. She could feel the cool leather touching her bare skin. But she didn't have long too take it in before the woman handed her a clipboard and asked her to sing the paper on it.

"Is this really necessary?" Karina asked. "All I wanted to do was buy some ink."

"Sorry, has to be done. Legal complications, it's out of my hands."

Karina started reading through the paper, or rather, she skimmed it, noting a few key words here and there. It was basically a waver to verify that she knew what she was doing and that she was a legal adult and she didn't have any allergies.

"Is that really a problem?" asked Karina. "People being allergic to ink?"

"Yeah, of course, people have allergies to everything."

"I suppose so, but ink?"

"Hey, it's got chemicals in it, and when chemicals in your skin, that's dangerous."

"That makes sense," said Karina.

But in her head Karina thought to herself, 'what's the likelihood of that happening?'

"And what's this?" said Karina. "You have to be at least eighteen?"

"Oh yeah."

"I mean, I admit I've never seen kids try to buy ink before, but..."

"Happens all the time, mostly teenagers trying to do that, but they're not supposed to. Even happened to me a few times."

"Really?"

"Yeah, a couple of kids tried to come in. Had to tell 'em no."

"Wow."

"It's tough, but them's the rules. I mean, how do you think I got this ink?" she said, pointing to the tattoos on her chest and neck.

Karina thought the woman was making a pun, conflating printer ink and tattoo ink, so she laughed at that and thought nothing of it.

When Karina finished signing the paper, she handed the clipboard back to the woman, who seemed to be doing something with the tools and Karina didn't under stand why. But she didn't want question her about it. Clearly there was a lot she didn't know about ink business.

"Where do you want your ink?" asked the woman.

"Excuse me?"

"You know, like, where would you put it?" The woman looked Karina up and down. "I'm gonna go out on a wild guess and say you have a lot of free space."

'That's true,' thought Karina. 'I'm almost completely out of ink in my printer, so there is a lot space, but how does she know that? She really must be a professional.'

"Um," said Karina, trying to remember how she put ink in her printer. "Well, I hope this isn't a weird way to describe it, but kinda like in the back, where you can see it, except when the cover is over it."

"I think I know what you mean. You wanna turn over on your side."

"What? Why?"

"Just trust me."

"Alright."

Karina thought that the woman was referring to something with the chair, and how it was more comfortable to sit on sideways. She couldn't make much sense of it, but she just went along with it. She heard the woman come up behind her, and say "okay, I'm going to get started."

'What does that mean?' thought Karina. 'Start looking for the ink?'

"You mean you haven't started already?" asked Karina.

"Girl, you are a riot," said the woman, laughing once more at a joke that Karina didn't know she made. "Just relax," she said. "Everyone always worries so much."

Karina sat there on her side, expecting the woman to walk over to some closet and find some cartridges or something, but instead she suddenly became very aware that the woman was now even closer to her. Closer to her (bare) ass, specifically. Then she felt a tickling sensation on a spot on her ass. She couldn't quite place the feeling, but if she had to compare it she would say it kinda felt like a sanitation wipe, but that was only a comparison to describe the sensation.

"Don't move," said the woman.

'Oh my god, is there a bug on my ass!' Karina thought to herself. 'Oh, this is what I get for not putting on pants.'

"What is it?" Karina asked.

"Nothing to be concerned about," answered the woman, unhelpfully.

Then she felt a slightly painful pricking sensation.

"I think it bit me," said Karina.

"It's fine, that's natural," replied the woman. "Just keep still while iI get this. You're doing great."

She tried not to fidget despite the pain, and stay still as she was instructed to do so. The pain seemed to move around and what felt like minutes passed.

"Can't you get it?" asked Karina.

"I'm working on it."

After a few more minutes the pain stopped.

"All done," said the woman. "Let's see if I can get a cover to put on that. Don't sit down."

"Thanks," said Karina. "What was it?"

"What was it? It was a butterfly! What do you think it was?" replied the woman gleefully.

"That was a butterfly?!" asked Karina.

'I didn't know those could be so aggressive!' she though to herself. 'I didn't know butterflies could bite! How did it even get in here?!"

The woman came back and put a pad on the sore spot, which had tape on it to hold it in place.

"I would be careful sitting down on that," she said. "Maybe use the other cheek for today."

"Thanks," said Karina.

"Come on, let's go to the front so you can pay for your ink."

"Right," said Karina.

Karina noticed her ass was a little sore as she walked, but it was manageable. What wasn't manageable was the complete embarrassment of what had happened. Still, she wanted to thank the stranger for helping her with such an awkward situation, on top of her being naked, which the woman didn't;t even question for moment.

At the front desk the woman said, "that comes out to about $150."

Karina reached into her purse and handed over a debit card. As the woman swiped it Karina thought this would be her chance before she left.

"Hey, I just wanted to thank you for being to casual about my being naked and all. I mean, you didn't even ask why, you just went with it."

"Nah girl," said the woman, "you do you. In my line of work, I've seen people get tattoos in all kinds of private areas, mostly women. From breasts to tramp stamps, to a mark on the good old Mons Pubis, I've done it all."

"Oh, you're a tattoo artist?" said Karina, and once more she was confused at the woman's laughter as the card was handed back to her.

"There you go again, cracking me up!" said the woman, who took Karina by the arm and walked her to the door. "Anyway, have a good one. And come back if you ever want anything else done. I'm your girl."

'Wait a minute,' thought Karina. "Why is she telling me goodbye? She hasn't given me my ink yet.' And upon closer inspection she realized that the ink cartridges weren't anywhere in sight.

'Then what did I just pay for?' she thought.

And as she stepped back out into the mall confused and with her naked body in full view of a new set of shoppers, the truth finally dawned on her. She turned around and looked at the patch on her ass. The ink, the form, the butterfly; suddenly it all made sense. And then it dawned on her that she now had a tattoo, her first tattoo, and on her ass no less. It was all so sudden, she almost didn't know what to do.

Then she looked around her and saw the usual glaring bystanders, and then she also saw the shoe store and remembered that she was on a time limit. She looked at the time and saw that she was in the ink store, which she now realized meant tattoo stores, for half an hour. That, added to the ten minutes that it took to drive here, meant that she had spent forty minutes, and now she only had twenty left before her hour of permitted nudity expired.

So now she had to make a decision: did she want to go shoe shopping and risk being late, or head home right now?

And so, once more, she stood between the two stores while strangers stopped and glared at her body. She looked at the shoe store and thought about risking it, then she looked back at the tattoo store and thought with disbelief about what she had just done. She looked back at the shoe store, then back at the tattoo store, then down at her sore ass. And the people around her kept looking and pointing.