"Ding" the front door of the tattoo parlor chimed as Gene and Tina entered. The floors were tiled black and white like a checkerboard, there were drawings of traditional tattoos scattered across the walls and they were met with a strong smell of antiseptic. It felt like being in a really weird hospital. A girl with lots of facial piercings and a neck tattoo scrolled through her phone at the counter. She glanced up at them momentarily before returning to scrolling through her phone.

Tina looked around and tried to take everything in. This place was a world apart from everything she'd ever known yet there was something that felt so familiar. Behind the counter, a man in a denim vest. white shirt and thick tattooed sleeves tattooed a patron, with his back to them. It seemed almost as if one of his harms was completely blacked out with ink. Tina couldn't see what was happening, but she was sure it was painful. The loud buzzing and pained gasps of the bearded man getting tattooed made her certain.

"Hello Ma'am, my name is Gene, I believe we spoke on the phone." Gene approached the girl at the counter.

"You're here about the tattoo, right?" The girl laughed.

"Well, yeah."

"So what you wanna get done?"

"Me? No." Gene replied, "It's a gift for my sister."

The girl turned to Tina, "So what you wanna get done?"

"Uhh…"

"Not her, my other sister."

"So what she wanna get done?"

"I don't know, we just wanna pay for it, as a gift."

"I don't think we can do that."

Gene pulled his pants up. Tina knew from experience that that meant bad news for this girl. It meant he was about to go "full angry Linda". Whenever Tina's mum was told that a sale had ended, if she found out her babies were in trouble or if Colleen Caviello was going on about her Bake Seedy, Linda would get mad and use her words to viciously take someone down. Gene did the same, but with Gene you always knew it was coming, because he'd pull his pants up first.

"Listen here miss," He began, "I've come a long way to put down a deposit on this tattoo. We spoke on the phone, and you agreed to these terms. Then when I get here, you're rude and condescending, blatantly laughing at me."

"I…" The girl tried to interject.

"No I haven't finished." Gene continued, "You're too busy on your phone to treat paying customers with some respect? There are other tattoo shops in this town, and you'd turn customers away in such a rude manner."

"Gene, please." Tina reasoned.

"No! I want to talk to your boss! How'd they like to here about you lying to customers on the phone, and then rejecting their attempt to buy services from your artists, I'm ashamed in you."

"Look, I'll go ask Icky if he can make an exception for you."

"You better."

The girl walked over to the tattoo artist in the jean vest. She spoke softly to him; the buzzing stopped briefly as the artist stole a glance at Gene and Tina before continuing with his work. In the short second Tina saw the side of his face, covered mostly by a thick brown beard, she could've sworn she recognized him from somewhere. She quickly shook it off.

The young lady returned, if slightly disappointed.

"he said its fine," she told tem, "but it has to be an afternoon appointment."

"Tina," Gene called to his sister, "Pay the lady while I wait in the car."

"Gene we walked here."

"Never interrupt a woman when she sashays away," he said walking sassily to the door, "that's rule number one."