A Couple of Wild and Crazy Girls (for Daaharu)

The thought of doing this again took Carmen by surprise - not that she was against it, but the concept was a new thing. How many nights had she ended on the couch, watching some movie, alone with nothing but some reruns to watch? Actually having a regular reason to go out was a whole new concept, but not one she expected to hate.

Carmen shivered a bit as her shirt was lifted up and the night air licked at her skin. Lydia moved in, inspecting her stomach like a piece of meat in a butcher's shop. "Ah, that's nice, that's nice. Good canvas, good skin. So much better that way." She reached over and tempted fate by lifting up Lorenza's shirt, too, nodding with the same approval and earning more than a few stares from passerbys. "Good. Good."

Carmen just waved at an old couple that was powerwalking by. "This is getting awkward..."

Lorenza was more than happy to have Lydia lift up her Chivas Tijuana jersey to get a look at what she would be working with. She, unlike Carmen, had a couple of tattoos down around her midriff, but her hip itself was totally free, and she was glad that the tattoo artist appreciated the lovely canvas she had to work her magic upon. Lorenza didnâ€t even notice the passersby. When Carmen mentioned that it was awkward, she would snort.

“Oh, come on, Rodriguez. You have the guts to fight the best boxer in the world twice, but not to show off your belly to some friendly old Japanese people?” She chuckled, and would tighten her grip on Carmenâ€s shirt a little bit. Then, with her other hand, she would start motioning, instructing the other two women. “Come on, Carmen, you hold up my shirt, too. Lydia, one more picture!” Lorenza would use her grip on Carmenâ€s shirt to turn her to the side a little bit, making sure the skin that would receive the tattoo was in full view of the camera.

With so much ink on that skin, Carmen couldn't help but feel just a tinge jealous here. She'd always liked the way tattoos - good ones, anyway - looked on a girl's skin, and plenty of the woman she'd fought had a few, giving their look some add flair. Carmen had never been one for theatrics, but now that she had some wrestling experience under her belt she was seeing the value.

"All right, all right, all right, all right." She burst out into a laughing fit as she was pulled in, rolling her eyes as she lifted the shirt back up. She stuck her tongue out and pulled Lorenza in, mashing their hips against each other, passerbys be damned. It was Japan, not like they were outside a chapel or something,no reason to be a prude.

Lydia stood back and took a final picture, getting a small, barely noticeable smirk as she looked on. "Nice. Discount if you let me put this up."

Carmen broke down and gave in, and Lorenza would laugh along with her sister, happily pulling the brown-haired boxer in close as they showed off their soon-to-be-inked hips to the camera for a second picture. In hardly any time at all, those hips which were mashing together were going to be connected in an entirely new sort of way.

Once Lydia took the picture, Lorenza would let Carmenâ€s shirt down, tugging on it a bit to straighten it out again. She turned back to Lydia, who seemed to be pleased with the way the picture of the two boxers turned out. “Hey, a discount sounds good to me. Go ahead and put it up,” Lorenza replied.

Then, she turned to Carmen and smirked. “Okay, Rodriguez, you ready for your first tattoo? Time to head inside, eh?”

A discount was more than all right, really. Carmen was already in Lorenza's dept for what she did at the hospital and now this was going to be the cherry on top. Carmen had never much liked the idea of owing people too much - somehow, someway, she'd pay Lorenza back in a direct way.

For now, though, she could set that aside and use her mind to worry about more pertinent things, psyching herself up as she pulled down her shirt and got the jacket off a nearby bench. "Okay. So." She walk back Lorenza's way, tying the jacket around her waist as she went. "This procedure - I know it's going to hurt, obviously, but you've got the experience here, tell me how bad it's going to be. Scale of one to ten. One is a little pin prick, ten is taking a left hook from me in the last round. Go."

Carmen wasn't squeamish...at least, that's what she kept telling herself. Still, it would be nice to know what was coming.

Lorenza would wait for Carmen to gather up her jacket before the two of them walked inside the Rusty Needle. Lydia preceded them, presumably heading in to set up all of her equipment, get everything ready for the two boxers.

Carmen asked how much the procedure was going to hurt. Lorenza put a hand on her chin and thought about it for a moment. There was no one definitive answer to that question, but she would do her best to answer it, just so that Carmen would know what to expect. “A three or a four, maybe? Well…it depends. Getting hip tattoos should hurt less than other places, like the stomach.” She rubbed her own stomach, hand running over the star tattoo on the right side of her midsection and the kanji tattoo on her left. “But, letâ€s see…it feels like getting stung by a bee. It starts out that way, at least. Then, you have a sort of hot, burning feeling…”

“Oh, blood is normal, pero solamente un poquito, ¿sí? Not a lot.” Lorenza smirked and slugged Carmen softly on the arm. “Big girl like you shouldnâ€t have anything to worry about. Most people donâ€t even cry. If you can keep the tears in when Iâ€m pulverizing your ribs, you should be fine with a little needle in your side. Come on.” Grabbing Carmenâ€s shoulder, Lorenza would head inside the tattoo parlor.

Fuck, she had to mention bees. Fucking bees with their fucking stingers and their fucking buzzing. God...

Carmen shook it off as Lorenza reassured her - anything the blue bomber could take, Carmen could take. In theory. "Honestly, the ribs never hurt that bad during the fight, guess it's the adrenaline. I mean, you know, they hurt, no doubt, but it's only really after the fight that things get really bad, at least for me. There's always the golden moment, when you're cooling down, and the pain really hits home and I'm just like fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck."

They went inside, getting plenty of space to work with since it seemed like a slow night. The place had a nice design to it, almost as colorful a Lydia herself. Plenty of pictures showing off the various designs, books full of arts and details. All the necessary accouterments were laid out, including plenty of first-aid supplies and disinfectants, enough to handle just about anything going wrong. A fine little establishment, they were in good hands.

Carmen poked Lorenza's stomach. "Wanted to ask this since the first time we met, never got around to it - that kanji, what's it mean?" She was a little ashamed she didn't know herself, but she Japanese was a crazy language to learn. She'd come a long way, doing well enough to get around town without any hassle, but there was still much to learn.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, I know what you mean,” Lorenza replied, as Carmen described how the things that were only minor irritations in battle could turn out to be something extraordinarily painful—even something crippling or life-threatening—once the adrenaline wore off and you found yourself having to face them without the benefit of hormones or drugs. Lorenza had experienced that many a time, including immediately after her match with Carmen. “Last week, you know, I was still beating the shit out of you until the final bell. But after I got out of the ring, I couldnâ€t even feel my legs. All the pain came rushing in and I was like…gaaaaaaaahhh!”

She chuckled as the two of them walked inside the tattoo parlor. Despite the name, it was a pretty clean place, a first-class operation for its kind. It was bright, and colorful, with pictures of designs and of finished tattoos all along the walls. Those that were on the walls tended to be the more intricate ones, placed there to show off to potential customers Lydiaâ€s skills. Lorenza would need to remember this place for the future.

Carmen poked at her stomach, and Lorenzaâ€s attention returned to her rival. She grabbed onto her Chivas Tijuana jersey and lifted it up, not quite so far as before, but far enough so that the kanji tattoo she had was in plain view. “This?” Lorenza said. She looked up at Carmen and smiled. “It means to break, or to destroy, or to defeat. Fitting, right?”

She gave the tattoo a little scratch, wondering a crucial, deep question: Is Lorenza Saldano ticklish, and if so, where?
"Oh, yeah, very fitting, very fitting." She gave it Lorenza a pinch with what little fat she had for it and let her bring it back down. "Well, it wasn't before we met, but now? Definitely. I broke the hell out of you."

She put a little swish in her step as she moved ahead of Lorenza, nearing Lydia's chair like it was the execution chair. It almost looked like one, too, with all the needles setup. Sharp. Pointy. Metallic. Prickly needles.

"Phew. Lovely setup."

"Danke." Lydia gave her the thumbs up as she took up a stool and started warming things up. She pushed a big book their way across a table on the side. "So, you two, have you picked out a design or do you have something a little more custom in mind?" She looked them both over. "I could float a few ideas...."

Lorenza smirked when Carmen scratched at her kanji tattoo. She didnâ€t know what Carmen was trying to do, but if she had, she would have told the Puerto Rican woman that she was a long ways off from Lorenzaâ€s most ticklish zones.

Carmen evidently thought Lorenzaâ€s kanji tattoo was fitting, as well, but in a different way. Lorenza snorted and rolled her eyes. “Youâ€re quite the comedian, Rodriguez. Weâ€ll see how well you can tell all your funny jokes once I knock out all your teeth in our next fight.” She balled a hand up into a fist and shook it at Carmen, in an aggressive but still friendly fashion.

She gladly let Carmen walk ahead of her as they traipsed through the Rusty Needle towards the chair where they would be getting their tattoos. Lorenza unabashedly checked out Carmenâ€s butt as it swished from side to side. It really wasnâ€t bad. Not bad at all. Too bad Carmen had nixed the tramp stamp idea, because Lorenza very well might have gone through with it. The hip was good, too, though, and, for the tattoo the two of them had discussed, it was probably a more fitting canvas than the ass.

“Oh,” Lorenza breathed, when Lydia pushed the big book of tattoos towards them. She glanced over to Carmen. “I think we had something specific in mind…but, just because Iâ€m curious…what sort of tattoos would you suggest for two people like us, huh? I think you sort of get a sense of our…uh, relationship, for lack of a better word, right?”

She did wonder what Lydia might suggest. Maybe they could come back again in the future and put one of Lydiaâ€s suggestions to good use…