Cherubplay

🌀

He ended up cleaning his apartment from top to bottom, just for something to do. It didn't take up as much time as he hoped it would, so he was left just sitting on his couch.

He entertained the thought of playing a game for a bit, but quickly dismissed the idea. Too much work. He supposed he could go look up what he needed for his tattoos again.

2015-08-29 22:12:16

●

Dave on the other hand, wasn't as bored as he was worried that Eridan would go back to being a Debbie downer. It was kinda weird, that he thought about that more than he should. He only knew him for about three weeks, and he did hit up the people at the coffee shop to be extra nice to him, but he was still worried.

Alas, he ends up taking the title of prince of sap, and ends up texting him a heart before he got on board, followed by "On my way to my destiny."

2015-08-29 22:14:43

🌀

He heard the text from his position on the vouch and got up to go check what it said. He smiled at that, taking a moment to roll his eyes and text back a heart and 'be brave my knight'. He put his phone down again afterwards, sitting at his desk.

2015-08-29 22:17:01

●

Dave laughed a little, reading the text over before he turned off his phone. Right. No electronic devices. This was going to be a pain in the butt.

Or maybe not, it ended up being a really short flight, actually, and they played cards all the way to Washington.

2015-08-29 22:19:34

🌀

He didn't expect another text, remembering vaguely the finickyness of planes. Plus Dave should be spending time with John, not texting him.

He did end up getting out all of his equipment and inks for the tattoos, pulling out the designs again to go over them. He could maybe start one today. Maybe the one on his hip?

2015-08-29 22:21:34

●

Three hours later they were landing on Washington, and John was already excitedly calling his dad. Dave was happy for the guy, he didn't get to see his dad too often, and Mr.Egbert was so nice too. He doesn't understand why John disliked him so much growing up, but he supposes the distance helped him figure out a couple of things.

Dad of course is waiting for them, and as obvious as it might have been to every single person and their dog, John was not expecting him to be there since he didn't ask him to, so Dave got to assist to dad-son hugs galore, and got an awkward pat on the back. Well, awkward for him, because Mr.Egbert seemed pretty psyched about seeing both of them and driving them to their hotel.

2015-08-29 22:24:09

🌀

He put the fish on the automatic timer, knowing that this will take a long fucking time. His phone was also within reach. He was drawing the design on his hip now, sitting on the plastic sheeting he'd put down in his bathroom. Thankfully his bathroom was spacious enough for this.

The felt pen was almost ticklish, sliding across his skin. He'd taken a few hours to read over everything again carefully, and to disinfect all of his equipment again. He had his laptop open so he could see both the instructions he'd written up from the book and the design.

The one on his hip was the biggest, made of coiling tentacles, waves, coral and sea flowers and stretched from his hip to just above his knee.

2015-08-29 22:29:34

●

As soon as they were settled down, Dave took the time to text Eridan, as he had said he would.

"Hey bro, just got to DC. Just met up with dadzo and we're gonna have lunch." ,

Mr.Egbert obviously had to treat them to Egbert style lunch, which means a lot of good home-made things that no Strider is going to pass up on.

Is it because Striders can't cook for shit? Who really knows. It could be for any reason.

2015-08-29 22:32:51

🌀

He was double checking all his equipment and loading up the first colour (black), when Dave's text came through.

"Cool. Eat absolutely everything on offer. Im just doing another latex run wwith the stuff." He wasn't going to tell him he was actually doing the tattoos now. Its a bloody surprise for one thing, plus Dave's reaction earlier sort of made him nervous about actually telling him he was doing it.

2015-08-29 22:35:23

●

Dave laughed softly, making John peek at what he was texting. He didn't even bother to read who he was texting, he just grinned and pretty much agreed, because who doesn't like Dadbert food.

They were now coming out of the hotel, their bags in their rooms, and he let the two Egberts sit in the front as he texted Eridan in the back of the car. "I will devour the bodies of the unborn. By that I mean eggs. Fucking love eggs. I wonder if he's gonna make eggs. And neat, can I see how it's coming along?"

Dave just loves ruining plans.

2015-08-29 22:37:41

🌀

"I gavve you eggs before you left an they wwere gone in like. A second. You havve an obsession wwith egg davve."

Fuck. Dammit Dave.

"Also maybe. If its good enough. Im running out of latex so i gotta head to the store an get some more. Nearly reached the end of the tub. Also shouldnt you be socialisin wwith your friend instead of textin me?"

2015-08-29 22:40:10

●

"what can i say, eggs are the shit. ahaha egberts making eggs. i didnt even realize the irony. nice one me. And alright, that sounds nice, you do that. I am socializing with my pals, theyre just socializing with eachother right now. father and son talk. by which i mean theyre geeking out about piano."

2015-08-29 22:43:05

🌀

"go eat your eggs davve an lemme latex an arm. Might evven paint it grey first. Make it aaaalll authentic an shit"

"Nah nevvermind thats too much wwork. Im a lazy bastard after all"

"If its good ill showw you"

2015-08-29 22:44:22

●

"alright grumpy mcgrumps ill leave you and your tattoos. just gonna stay here. in the back of the car. all bored and lonely and looking good." He really liked exaggerating things.

"you go do your work babe. knock yourself out" he sent a lil ol' heart afterwards.

2015-08-29 22:46:24

🌀

"thats grumpy mcgrumpyington to you" He smiled down at his phone, even if Dave couldn't see it. He sent a heart back, fins wiggling a bit at the exchange of little symbols. "Have fun eating egg an listenin to piano music. Dont forget my souvvenir."

He put his phone down after that, picking up the tattoo gun again and taking a deep breath.

Jesus dicking Christ that hurt.

2015-08-29 22:59:13

●

The lunch at Dadbert's house was every bit as good as it was last time, if not even better than last time. John still doesn't eat cake though, so that means more cake for Dave. And cake to take back to the hotel. So much cake.

They talk about going to that fair that they talked about, since John won't be having too much time tomorrow and they don't know when he's going home (even if Dave is 304% sure that he's winning this thing), so they do, and holy cow this is awesome.

2015-08-29 23:01:37

🌀

Eridan grit his teeth, making sure his hands were as still as possible. Steady hands means steady work. He set his jaw, glancing back up at the coloured image of the tattoo and set about continuing with the black. The black was mainly outline work, and after a bit, the pain settled into a dull throbbing and he continued with ease. His hands didn't shake once, and when he finished the outlining and pulled back to have a look, it look neat and very good.

And with his sped up healing shit, he only had to wait about ten minutes before he could start on the next colour.

2015-08-29 23:08:59

●

They were looking at a couple of hand-made decorations right now, a couple of hand-painted plates here, a few christmas-y figures there, and then Dave saw the thing that would take all of his money. All of it. It didn't even take half a day for him to figure out what he was going to give Eridan as a gift, nothing would ever top this.

It was a large boat, a little bigger than his forearm, though he made sure it would fit his bag to take it back, and it was all made of sea shells and the like. The deck was made of little rocks, and the outside of the boat was decorated in red stones, all of different shapes, but roughly all the size of his pinkie nail, and white ones were making the shape of a seahorse. The sails were made with white shells. The only thing that didn't come from the sea there was the wood to made the masts, and the small pieces of rope, but it did not matter.

Soon, he was already trying to make a deal with the lady that made the boats.

2015-08-29 23:15:27

🌀

Eridan was carefully mixing a little bit of blue ink together with the purple in in a separate ink canister, waiting for the ten minute timer on his phone to go off so he could set about with the next colour. His entire leg was throbbing, and he turned the timer off once it went. He took a deeper breath before starting again, wincing a bit as the pain stabbed at him again.

The lady was trying to haggle for the original price, making offers here and there to try and convince Dave not to buy it or to buy another. She wasn't too happy at the end of it, but agreed to lower the price a bit on the boat once Dave pointed out that it was missing a shell at the back. A small detail, the missing shell wouldn't even be noticeable, but it got the price lowered all the same.

2015-08-29 23:19:05

●

It shouldn't be too painful to fill it in with ink, as the needle was broader and the pain was evenly distributed for more skin, even if it was still pretty sore.

He was very happy with the deal, and concluded he'd glue the shell on the back himself once he got back home. He also bought a smaller boat, just barely the size of his palm, also made of shells and pretty stones, because the lady was nice enough to lower the price and he really wanted one of those in his bedroom.

He looked like the proudest person in the world when he got it all nice and neatly wrapped in bubble wrap, and in a layer of plain brown paper just to conceal it further. John was definitely a bit confused as to why he'd buy boats of all things, but then again, John was a fellow that needed everything said to his face, otherwise he just wouldn't get a hint.

2015-08-29 23:22:44

🌀

It was really painful by the time he'd finished the tentacles and the waves and moved onto the flowers. They were the last bit to do, and he had to take a moment to put his stuff down and press his hands against his eyes. One of the waves and half of a tentacle were over one of the scars on his thigh, and fuck that hurt so bad it almost brought tears to his eyes. Thankfully, the flowers missed most of his scars.

2015-08-29 23:47:44

●

They walked over the fair for a while longer, and he politely asked the lady to save the boat for him while he walked around, saying that he'd definitely be back in 30 minutes, and she was happy to do so since she already got payed.

Dadbert saw a neat old cook book, and got it, much to John's horror, because half of it was cake recipes, and he insisted in telling his dad that he could find all of that online, but he did not listen. John on the other hand, ended up buying neat little figurines from games.

After said half hour, Dave picked up his stuff, and they went to the hotel again so that they could relax.

2015-08-29 23:52:36

🌀

It took over an hour to finish up the flowers, and then a few finishing touches. The flowers had little dots in them, lots of extra little finicky detail that he found so pretty and he went to great lengths to make it look perfect.

And it did. When he finally sat back and wiped the few tears that had escaped his iron grip, he took a proper look at it. It looked so good, he was actually.

Proud of himself.

Actually proud of how it turned out.

He wished he could tell Dave.

2015-08-29 23:58:24

●

Dave was wondering how the tattoo 'test' was coming out, but he ended up deciding not to bother him, since Eridan said he'd show him if it turned out okay. He should still be working on it.

Once they got to the hotel, he put the boat away in a place he wouldnt accidentally break it, and John showed him the songs he'd be playing for the contest, which were a fuck ton of them, mind everybody, since he had to play two on the first day and one for each other day. One song had like 15 pages, it was crazy, and Dave adored listening to it on youtube while they played cards, while John made snippy remarks about how they missed an adagio or how he played better.

2015-08-30 00:02:20

🌀

He waited the required time before getting the specially tattoo-needed bandages and bound it his leg up. He'd need to keep that on for about a week, despite being a fast healer, in case of infection. He cleaned all his tools and carefully packed up everything, completely done for the day. He'd tackle the one of his arm and shoulder tomorrow, and then maybe the sigil the day after. He wasn't getting too many tattoos, and should be completely done by the time Dave came back.

2015-08-30 00:05:47