Tonight can still be a good night {Null & Cleo}

It was a beautiful day out, the sky was a wonderful shade of sapphire dotted with lovely white fluffy clouds, lined with silver linings. The bright sun bore down on the Backroom Tattoo parlor, as the owner of the shop sitting outside the parlor with a coffee he had gotten from his partner's coffee shop across the street. He was deep in thought, thinking of the monotonous responsibilities that come with owning a business. It stressed him out of course, many things plague his mind nowadays. The thought of his partner’s business also on his mind as he thinks of her in place of himself. Wondering what sort of difficulties Cleo’s shop goes through with the cats, their health, the food she serves as well as coffee and other beverages she serves. Null glanced down at his coffee cup. Twisting it slightly to get a better view of the small message written in purple glitter pen.

“Hope you get a lot of ink put on lucky grems!” The message was surrounded by purple glitter hearts, as well as a small smile with a tongue sticking out of the upturned smile. Null looked at the message for a long while, a small fond smile creeping onto his usually stoic face. He looked up to the delightful sky and sighed. Maybe today will be a good day after all.

Later in the day, after a few appointments at his parlor, Grems come and go with fresh ink and happy faces. Null was tatting his next appointment, sitting on the stool with his tattooing machine in hand, surrounded by various supplies. Things such as ink wells filled to the top with thick brightly colored ink. He had a tablet with the final look of the current tattoo not far so he would be able to get as close as possible, the tattoo was depicting scales of a snake, white flowers and delicate smoke twisting into each other, crawling up the grems arm is a slight s shape. His clawed hands donned with blue latex gloves, a shop towel in one hand and the machine in the other, using artful sweeps of his wrist to build the tattoo up from the dark purple stencil that was placed on the Grems forearm an hour prior. 

The Grem sitting in his chair was scrolling on his phone, trying to hide the pained expression on his face with short videos of gods knows what.The music Null had played in his shop drowned out the noise but by the faces the Grem made. He wasn't doing a very good job at it but Null would say nothing of it, it wasn't his job to do that, his job is to tat the image he made for the Grem, get the payment and send them on their way. However his job is made harder by squirming and tensing that makes his lines not smooth and as purposeful as he'd like. He gives ample breaks and breathers if the session is a bigger tattoo like this. This Grem is not making it easy though, every so often he would huff and groan softly, tensing as he does so. Making Null need to pull his tattoo machine away from the grems arm so as to not mess up the line work he is just over half way done with. He may have to ask for this guy to come back for when he does the color. It's fine really but it is a tad bit annoying in the long run. The healing time would take alot longer and therefore risk infection, which he does not have the time to deal with an angry Grem with an infected tattoo. He let out an aggravated sigh, his inner ear slowly turning an dark grey as he got closer to finishing the line work.

 Sweeping the last few lines he finally wipes off the entire area with disinfectant. Getting up and removing the latex gloves to grab some saniderm and a how to care pamphlet. His inner ears still dark grey as he silently controlled his frustration and anger, he knows this is an irrational response to a completely understandable amount of pain tolerance but his mood has shifted dramatically for much less before. So he will take it as a blessing he isn't making rude comments about them not sitting still and continuing anyways. Taking a deep breath he sighed long and hard, his inner ears slowly returning to the bright magenta color they always are. He returns to a very disgruntled Grem, as soon as he is close enough and sets the things he had down, the Grem shoots him a glare. Confused, Null lifted a brow in question. Wiping the tattoo once more, clearing away any remaining blood and ink that seeped from the open wound. 

“That was very rude, you know.” the Grem muttered. “Leaving me without saying a thing about where you were trotting off to.” he huffed in annoyance. Making Null pause in applying the Saniderm. He looked up to the Grem with a surprised expression. 

“Pardon??” he asked, he wasn't a big talker, he usually was very curt and blunt. Not bothering with the extra fluff most people used in their conversations. He wasn’t good at conversing with others in a normal manner but no one he knew well expressed he was ever ‘rude’ in his attempts. “I merely noticed you were in too much pain to continue today, I figured we could reschedule you to come back another day.” He explained as politely as he could manage.

“You walked away without saying anything!! You don't do that to people in pain!” the Male Grem shouted, his inner ear and eyes shifting from a bright yellow to a deep black. “I mean seriously! And now you want me to come back?? You won't even finish my tattoo??” he exclaimed with exasperation. Null paused, processing what the Grem in front of him had just said. Making sure the saniderm was placed correctly with no bubbles and covering the entire tattoo. Once done, Null leaned back on the stool, his large strong arms crossing over his chest. Considering how he should respond, his magenta inner ears slowly shift to the dark grey color like before. He is greatly annoyed by this when he was trying to find a solution to help him not be annoyed at all for the rest of the appointment. 

“Sir. I simply can not work more on this tattoo if you are in too much pain. I am trying to work with you so you don't have an awful experience here. I'd appreciate it if you did not raise your voice at me. I have already spent 2 hours on your line work, it will probably take several more to even finish the color. I do not believe it is wise to do this in one appointment.” Null exclaimed. He did slightly raise his voice a little but it had mellowed out once again near the end of the explanation. Keeping eye contact sternly as he has energy to possibly muster. He did not want to deal with unruly customers today, the day is almost over. This had been the last appointment scheduled for the day. Of course it had to be someone who was going to be difficult. 

He took a very deep sigh and got up from his spot on the stool. “I'm going to ring you out for today's work and you will come back and get the rest done.” he handed the Grem the instruction pamphlet he grabbed earlier and continued. “Make sure to follow these instructions or it will become infected and I won't be able to see you next time. Now follow me to the front.” he finished and lowered the bed the Grem was laying on so he could more easily get off. Null started walking to the register, getting the transaction started to get this guy out of his shop. The customer walks up a little later, his inner ears back to the bright yellow they were before. He still looks upset but at least he is quiet. Null pinched his brow and sighed again, trying to calm his growing anger before it exploded out of his body without his say. He looked at the screen of the register, making sure the time spent and the amount charged was correct.  

“124.63 is going to be your total for today, is that going to be paid with cash or card.” he said, not asked because the payment is not negotiable. He looks to the Grem with stern annoyance. Hoping he will just pay and leave his shop so he can get ready to close and go across the street to see his partner. He really needs to see her and just hold her for a bit, that would definitely help him feel better. While lost in thought he didn't realize that the Grem in front of him had gotten a lot angrier. He was not prepared for him to start screaming at him.

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO PAY RIGHT NOW IT ISN'T EVEN DONE??” he screamed in a rage so hot it made his bright yellow eyes and inner ears turn and inky dark black. “THIS IS RIDICULOUS! YOUR SERVICE IS TERRIBLE AND YOU DIDN'T ASK ME ONCE I WAS DOING!! I'M NOT PAYING FOR THIS!” he continued. Null stared blankly at the Grem, in absolute disbelief at what he was hearing. 

“Excuse me?” he queried, still baffled by the audacity of this man to scream at Null in his own shop. “I usually have people pay before in full before I even start the mock ups for their tattoos.” He started, his voice stern but not raised. His inner ear was betraying his emotions however, once a bright magenta not even a minute prior, now a dull dark grey. “But you were in a tough spot and you have a good relationship with one of my employee’s so I was feeling generous to have you pay in installments as we went. We both discussed this and you signed a contract explaining that discussion in length. If you care to remember” He continued, watching as the Grem wilts in front of him. “Now if you have an issue with my surfaces i can charge you for the mock ups and final art and you won't have to come back to see me again, Or you can pay the damn fee and get the hell out of my shop and come back in a month. Take you pick man.” He finished, his voice raised a bit at the end there but he stood there, strong arms leaning against the counter top. Waiting patiently for the annoying Grem to decide what he was going to do.

The Grem before him grumbled out “it'll be a card.” and started rummaging into his bag for his wallet Null assumed. He didn't care enough to pay that close attention to him. Null got the transaction ready for him to pay and stated, “It's ready when you are.” moving to straighten up the front desk. Getting an appointment for the guy to come back and writing it down on a sticky note, once the receipt printed, stapled to it and handed it to the Grem. The Grem snatched it and stormed off to gods knows where, leaving the shop and Null behind to think his angered thoughts. Null followed after the guy left and locked the door behind him. Shooting a text to Cleo to let her know that he was finishing up and closing for the night. She texted right after with a “okay love! See you soon, i'll have a warm breakfast sandwich and drink waiting for you when you get here” and had a heart emoji sent with it as well. He sighed so deeply, a soft smile reaching his lips. His inner ears and eyes slowly shifted back to the bright magenta. He put his phone down then started getting ready to close and see his partner.

 Tonight can still be a good night.