Streetlights, People (Jory/Maverick/Verity)

[Ariel Logan Callahan]

Maverick had grand ideas for what would happen should Verity come back soon, and alone. "I think it's more than a maybe," he said, smiling to himself as he finished out the detail. He wiped over the fresh tattoo to pick up any extra ink or blood that may have surfaced, then pushed himself away, his hand low on the girl again. "Look in the mirror, see if you want anything added or whatever."

[Verity Bromley]

"We'll see." Verity said lightly, though she knew he was right. A teasing grin tugged at the corners of her mouth and before she let her thoughts run with ideas of what would happen when she came back, it was time to see her tattoo. Her eyes were brimming with excitement. She pushed herself up and rolled onto her side a little, careful not to roll too much because of her fresh tat. When she stood up, her shirt dropped a little. She twisted around a little and looked in the mirror, holding her shirt up maybe a little farther than she needed to and revealing a flat and toned stomach. She arched her back a little to catch a better glimpse of her tattoo. "It's beautiful." She breathed. Verity tore her eyes away from the design and look at Maverick. It was everything she had wanted and then some.

[Ariel Logan Callahan]

Maverick grinned and pulled his gloves off once he had gotten the tattoo covering out of the drawer. "Anything would be on a girl like you," he said, coming up to her and running his fingers lightly along the edge of her back where the tattoo stopped. "It fits you just right." His eyes moved over to hers again. He knew just how close he was and just how easy it would be to move the few inches to press his lips to hers. As it was, his eyes dropped to her lips.

[Verity Bromley]

Verity couldn't bring herself to break her eyes away from his. She was aware of how close they were and the light touch of his fingers on her back left her with a racing heart beat and an even stronger desire for something more. Her eyes dropped to his lips. Her heart pounded in her chest, driving her forward. She leaned in, barely allowing any space between the two of them. Her lips parted ever so slightly and she could feel his soft breath on her. This was what she wanted, but it was so wrong. An image of Leo's face when he had found her dancing with that guy at the Festival flashed through her mind. As hard as she tried to ignore it and get on with what she had been waiting for ever since she stepped foot in the shop, she couldn't. She pulled back, straightening her spine, and clumsily bumping into something that made a small clang. "I shouldn't keep Jory waiting any longer." She said masking any hesitation she had with a teasing smile.

[Ariel Logan Callahan]

Maverick's eyes flickered dark for a moment before he smiled and nodded. "Well, come over here, I need to cover the tattoo." He turned quickly and headed toward the cabinet. "You have to keep this on it for a few hours and when you take it off put this," he gestured to a bottle. "On it a couple times a day. It'll scab over and when that leaves it's good. If you need any touchups come back." He hoped she would come back sooner, perhaps he would get his kiss then.

[Verity Bromley]

Verity moved closer to him, probably a little more quickly than she needed to, so he could put the covering on. She nodded as she vaguely absorbed the instructions. It shouldn't be too hard. Stuff in the bottle, couple times a day, scab over, she mentally checked off in her mind. Her heart was still racing and her head was throbbing with What ifs... She wasn't sure she made the right decision by pulling away. She didn't feel that immediate rush of relief like she thought she would. "I'll be back." Soon, she added as if she just needed to convince herself that's what would make her feel better.

[Ariel Logan Callahan]

Maverick took the covering for it, white cloth with tape to cover the tattoo in its entirety, and stepped around behind Verity to press the it in just the right spot against Verity's lower back. It was easy to let his hands drift to her sides and settle there for a few seconds longer than necessary. "In a couple of weeks it should be healed," he said, smoothing the tape against her skin.

[Verity Bromley]

Verity turned around as soon as he finished smoothing the tape on her back. "Thank you." She said rolling on the the tips of her toes and reaching up to give him a kiss on the cheek. It was small, a symbol of gratitude, and as much as she had wanted to turn it into something else, she couldn't. She slid away from him, but not by much, before she did something she would regret. "I'll see you soon." She said again with a wide smile and a twinkle in her purple eyes. Exactly how soon soon would be was getting to be sooner the longer she thought about it. She forced herself to break her eyes away from that gorgeous, tempting face. Jory had waited long enough and Verity's self control was slipping closer to zero by the second.

[Ariel Logan Callahan]

Maverick gave a soft sigh as he nodded and led the way out of the back room to the front and told Verity the price. "I hope so," he said, barely sparing a glance or a thought for the kid sitting outside. Perhaps next time he would be able to focus more on getting further with Verity rather than simply admiring her form through the eyes of an artist. Okay, so not really, his thoughts hadn't been entirely honest earlier.

[Verity Bromley]

Verity straightened herself out before walking to the front. She pulled her shirt down, careful not to mess with the covering on her fresh tattoo. She followed him out gave him the appropriate amount of money before turning to find Jory. A wide excited grin was on her face. She had done it and there was no going back. It would be a while before she would be able to show anyone, but it was worth it.

[Jory Addison]

Jory hopped up from his seat and came over to Verity. "How was it?" he asked as he headed to the door. There wasn't any more business with Maverick, though Jory did give him another silent thanks in the form of a wave. He knew he wouldn't be able to see the tattoo yet, it wasn't an easy place like Lyric's had been for them to cheat, but he didn't mind, he would rather see it when it was fully healed, anyway.

[Verity Bromley]

Verity let her eyes linger on Maverick for a brief moment and gave a brief nod of thanks. She turned around and walked out with Jory, her brown curls bounced behind her, her heels made that soft click noise against the ground, and her skirt swayed naturally with her hips. “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.” Verity said. “And it’s absolutely gorgeous.” She said with an excited grin. And the tattoo isn’t half bad, either, she added silently. She wished she could fast forward to when it was already healed so she could show it off. She even wondered for a brief second if there was any kind of magic she could use to make it heal faster, but then decided it would just be better if she let it heal on its own. “How’s your tongue?” She asked.

[Jory Addison]

Jory stuck out his tongue flat against his lower lip to show her, even though she had already seen, then brought it back in. It still felt so weird having the metal bar in his mouth. "It's okay, kind of numb right now, I think it'll start hurting tomorrow." He glanced back at the door to be sure it was shut so that Maverick wouldn't hear what he said next. "He's really hot," he said, keeping his words low as though Maverick could hear them through the glass and away from the store. "If he wasn't a homophobe..." He let it trail off and he glanced back again, then shrugged and brought his hands together in front of him to play with his spinning thumb ring.

[Verity Bromley]

Verity giggled when he stuck his tongue out. "It looks so cool." She said. Her cheeks were flushed from being so excited that she was downright giddy. "I can't believe we actually did this!" She said with a small squeal. Well, she couldn't believe that she did this. It still hadn't hit her that she had just spent loads of time getting a tattoo from a guy that was so...what was it that Jory just said? Oh, right hot, that was a good word for him. She nodded. "Yeah, he is." She agreed with a light sigh and a wide grin. It circled her thoughts back to when she was going to come and visit again. She had gotten so lost in that train of thought that she almost missed what he said next. "Wait...he's a what?" She asked. Maybe she didn't hear him right. Her grin faded quickly. Her first thought was that couldn't be right, but when she thought about it some more she found it really explained a lot about Maverick's behavior, not that she had noticed it before then.

[Jory Addison]

"I don't think he really agrees with me liking guys, but I figure as long as I give him money he can't complain too much, and he does good work," Jory said, shrugging. If the work wasn't good, he wouldn't be nearly as forgiving for the attitude. He more than thought that Maverick didn't agree, it was pretty obvious that his views differed. Jory wasn't really looking forward to finding someone else to do the work, and the prices weren't inflated, so he guessed he could let it slide.