Darren waited patiently, reading the latest issue of Rue Morgue magazine and listening to Nine Inch Nails. He actually lost track of time, which wasn't that uncommon when he concentrated on reading.
He was startled out of his reverie by a young woman entering his shop,quite alone. "Hello," he said to her, turning on his charm, wanting to put her at ease.
"Hi," she responded quickly, barely paying him any attention at all, instead looking at the flash artwork on the walls. "I see you're really into animal tats, huh?" she said to him.
"It's actually all I do. I find it much more satisfying to bring out someone's inner animal than to simply doodle a tribal design, or put skulls on someone's arms," he told said, showing a bit of his ego. While she wandered the shop, he took a careful appraisal of her.
She stood around five feet, six inches tall and had shoulder length brown hair. She wasn't a petitely built girl, though she certainly wouldn't be called heavyset. Rather, she was quite well proportioned, but a bit broad shouldered, and with decently sized breasts. He could tell by the way she stalked around the room, simply by her posture that she'd had some experience fighting, or some form of martial arts training.
"Do you see anything you like?" he asked her, hopeful she'd say yes.
"Actually, yeah," she replied, "I think it's ZZ-13 on your board here...the brindle pit bull."
"Excellent, and where do you want it?"
"On my left shoulder blade. How much is this going to be?" She was glancing at her purse; Darren realized that she was probably low on money judging by her mannerisms.
"I'll give it to you for free, since you're my first official customer," Darren said, turning on the charm again.
"Great!" she replied, pulling her shirt off and heading for the chair.
"I just need to make a copy of your I.D. You know, legal shit," he told her. She complied, handing him a card identifying herself as Melinda Jacobs, age 22. Darren ran into the back, making a copy on his Xerox machine and filing it in a cabinet marked "Canine".
Two hours later, and Melinda Jacobs left his parlor with a smile and a new tattoo. "Tell your friends," Darren said as she left, wishing he could follow her.