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About ten days after the explosion, a rainy evening, Sarah receives a message from Colin.

Nurse Rawlins, all the exams and the tests seem to confirm my hands are back to full functionality. I believe there was some pending matters between us about body art and finding warmth in the heart of the winter. Are you still interested?

Sarah gets the message and a warm smile slowly dawns on her face.  She replies quickly. 

Pleased that your recovery has been swift.  I would be pleased to attend to that matter soonest.  An hour?

OOC: Sorry - I was grumpy all day today.  Feeling a little better now. 

That would be most appropriate. I trust you to know an apt, secret abode for us to address this issue.

Colin prepares his well-traveled bag with all he's going to need, and waits for her to surprise him.


OOC: I thought as much. No problem. Glad you are.

OOC:  ... then I fell asleep.  Well actually I had a gecko hiding on the middle of my back where I couldn't reach but after that was sorted out I fell asleep.

IC:
I'll pick you up soon as I can.  She makes a few phone calls to Chicago businesses and then gets ready.  A run through the shower and then on to the clothes. 
What do you wear to get a tattoo from your boyfriend.  Dear Ms. Manners... 
And where is he going to put this tattoo?  Probably not my face... little noticeable.  Hands? 
She checks her nails and trims and cleans them up a bit. 
Arm? Leg?  Belly?  Back?  Where?  Ahh! 

Sarah scrutinizes her body thoroughly making sure nowhere has anything unsightly.  *sigh* I'll have to do. 

Back to the clothes.  Something... Sexy?  Tight? No I'd have to take it off for a tattoo... Tight it is.  No.. Um....
Some time later she settles on a dark green tanktop with a pink star in the middle and a purple peasant skirt.  She puts on a pair of dark brown boots and throws on a bomber jacket from her mom's closet before looking at the time.  "Oh crap!"  *zwip*

There is a tapping at Colin's window, as if someone gently rapping. 

Colin's only got black jeans and a white sweater to balance her colors. He looks up from where his doodling on his bed with a smile, and grabs his school bag.

"You're so beautiful" he says as he opens the window for her, with that undertone of amazement and complete sincerity that never gets old.

He dutifully closes the window not to let the winter in while they're gone, and takes her hand.
"Lead the way."

Sarah smiles softly at Colin and says, "Thank you.  You look handsome."  Sh closes her eyes for a few moments.  "Okay."  *pling*
The two appear in a dimly lit corridor.  She takes his hand and leads him along until they come to an elevator.  She pushes the button and the doors pop open.  Then she presses the top button.  She smiles at Colin as the doors close.  "Service elevator." she says by way of explanation. 

The doors open into a wide hallway, richly decorated with art pieces of copper or bronze hanging along it's length.  Small tables hold flower vases or photos.  The walls are painted in earth tones and floor itself is of wide plank hardwood.  There are very few doors on this floor and Sarah walks down to the end and takes Colin's hand again.  In a blink they are on the other side and she flips on a switch. 

Lights slowly rise revealing a large suite decorated in expensive simplicity.  She walks across the hardwood floor, her boots clumping softly until she steps onto the rug beneath a wide glass coffee table set in the living room area.  The floor to ceiling windows look out into the heart of downtown Chicago.  A small kitchenette and breakfast bar is off to the side and closed doors leading into other rooms to both the right and left. 

She turns around and asks, "I hope this is okay?  Someplace warm, quiet.. peaceful?"

Colin has a mile wide grin. "It's fantastic. And you say no one is going to bother us here? Should we put the 'do not disturb' sign out?"

He takes a look around, unshoulders his bag and hesitates.

"We can start whenever you're comfortable. Or did you have other plans?"

"I don't think anyone will be by to bother us.  It's a bit late for anyone to be checking in.  This entire floor might be empty."  At $5500 a night there can't be a lot of takers in the middle of the week in miserable February. 


Hehehehe  "Um, nothing really.  I just thought this would be a nice place.  I mean, I didn't know exactly where or what you'd need." 

Sarah takes off her mom's jacket and hangs it on the back of a beautiful wooden chair.  She wanders over to the window and watches the city through the rain covered glass. 
I really could get used to this lifestyle.

She turns and asks a bit shyly, "Where do you want me?"  She adds quickly, "I mean, is there somewhere specific you have to put the tattoo so that it works best?"

Colin is there behind her, and rubs his thumb at the base of her neck.

"I think it would work best if it was as close as possible to the heart. But it's your call, really." he says, watching some distant lightning crawl under the clouds.

"in any case, you'd be more comfortable on the bed."

He kicks away his shoes, takes of his socks, and takes a few steps barefoot on the warm hardwood. then he goes rummaging through his bag, and gets out several big candles.

"I'm told the lighting is important too."

Eep!  What?!?  She looks at his reflection in the glass.  Who are you and what have you done with my Colin?  OMG!  Is he finally calling my bluff?  Wait.  Am I bluffing?  Hold on... probably reading too much into this.  Oh right genius, you're the one who brought him to an expensive hotel.  You've dropped enough hints over the months.  Yeah but we aren't ready?  We?  You?  Who?  Well I'm... Shut up brain!  Okay okay okay... listen be sensible.  Yeah that's what you've been doing up to this point.  Seriously.  Just see where it goes.  He loves you, he really does.  Do you think if you told him no...or yes after all this time he'd think differently of you?  Stop presuming anything.  He wanted to put a tattoo on me.  Yeah.  Right between your funbags.  Seriously did you just call them that?  Oh right, we watched Desert Punk the other night.  Sidetracked?  Right.. um.. 

Fortunately for Sarah the long pause looks on it's outward surface to be one of soulful reflection or the cherishing of a touching moment rather than the panicked rabbiting of a young woman's brain. 

She nods and then looks over to the double doors on the left.  "Right this way.  Will you tell me more about the tattoo... or do you want to show me?  I trust you."  Hey... I do don't I?  So he ... trusts me.  Y'duh?  Oh..
"C'mon!"  She gives him an animated grin and takes his hand, pulling him along.  The large doors swing open silently and smoothly to reveal another wall of windows, a king size bed with cream colored bedding, more artwork and a fern green chair-and-a-half.  Across the room was a table with a laptop plugged into it. 

She moves over to the bed and sits on the side still holding Colin's hand.  "On my heart?  I thought you were going to paint a smiley face on my thumb."* 

Colin's hand is a bit unnaturally smooth, and still has very pink spots where his skin should instead be red. But it's the usual warmness, and he doesn't wince anymore in anticipation of pain.

"Sure. I thought of it, and made some rough sketches. I didn't actually made a model, because my magic isn't like Donnie's. Donnie can prepare his spells carefully, and write them before time. I am afraid mines would work the same way if they were... rehearsed. my magic is tied to my emotions, I think I should allow it to be as free and spontaneous as possible. I thought of what I wanted for it, trying to address what you told me and thinking it has to go on you. I made some art researches, and studied runes and symbols. In the end I think I found a way to tie everything together.
You see, Donnie always says magic is a way to 'cheat' on the laws of the world. I don't think I see it that way, it can be something quite natural. Small amounts of magic are everywhere. And even this tattoo, is not a tool, a blunt instrument. It's something to make you more sensitive to the flow of some perfectly natural energies. It's not prozac. Just something soft and quiet, like the way trees bend toward the light, and according to the wind. More a blessing then a spell. And we don't want it to be some flashy thing that only lasts a few seconds, we want it to last until it's needed. So I had to think of a way to keep it in touch with it source of strength. Which would be me. I'm sort of a door in this sense. magic from other realms flows through me. So I have to put a little of me in it."



He smiles. "I could do that too, if you want. I sort of imagined it on your back, but the position is not really important. Also, on your back, it'd be difficult for you to see it. Would you like to be able to see it?"

Sarah says, "There is no point in the world to having a tattoo you can't see.  So let me think a moment...  Ah!  Be right back."  She stands up and walks into the bathroom closing the door behind her.

A minute later she walks out barefoot and having traded her top for a terrycloth bathrobe.  "There," she says quite pleased with herself. 

She climbs onto the bed, fluffs a pillow and lies down on her back.  She loosens the belt and slides open the robe baring a wide line of skin from her neck to her navel.  Her modesty at least for the moment, is preserved.

"No happy faces though.  No faces at all I hope.  That would weird me out."  

Colin nods. "No faces."

He takes a good look at the room, makes some quick calculations on his mind, and starts disposing the candles according to some pattern probably evident to him but hard to figure out. When he's done, he fishes on his pockets for his zippo, and turns them on. Then he turns off the other lights, so it's only candles and lightning.

He prepares the stuff he's going to need on a table near the bed: an empty glass, a lemon, sugar, a glass of hot water, henna powder and a couple small brushes. Then he start mixing them in the empty glass. When the paste is ready he turns his back to the bed, and quickly pricks his finger, adding a drop of blood to the mix.

He takes the glass and the brushes, and smiles at Sarah. He leans in, and kisses her gently on her exposed navel.

"Last chance to change your mind."

Sarah crosses her feet and watches with interest as Colin prepares the room.  I hope he doesn't need to burn incense.  Fire alarm goes off this party will get spoiled for sure. 
The henna mixture is looks interesting.  lemon, sugar, hot water... sounds like something mom would make us when we weren't feeling so great. 


Sarah had been calm and collected up to that point.  When Colin leans down over her... all the possibilities started swarming her head and her pulse shoots through the roof.  His touch on her belly warms her like the glowing sun from head to foot in an instant. Oh gosh, who needs a magical tattoo if he can do that every day.  Her eyes close in unexpected pleasure.


"Hmmm?" she asks, slightly dazed.  "Oh.. no... no mind changing tonight.  I'm good."

So he gets to work. He slowly, softly rubs his thumb from her navel up to her neck, as if to measure what he's going to do, to fit the vague shapes in his mind to her body. He seems to have a shiver too.

He steps back and takes off his sweater and his short, remaining bare chested. His tattoos, all of them, not only th one on his arms, seem to flicker red for just a moment.

Then he takes one of the brushes and begins. He seems totally absorbed in what he does, like his whole concentration was in a few inches of her skin. The mixture smells sweet, a little acidic. As he begins to apply it, she notices the brush is harder than she expected. It makes sense, it's not a liquid color after all, the paste is thicker. It tickles a bit, but it looks like he know how much she can take, and always pulss back when she can resist and she's about to move.

Slowly, the lines unfold. He starts with the sun, right over her heart. He doesn't finish it though, the circle remains incomplete. He goes a little above it, and he starts working on a star, but he doesn't finishes it either. It's like a puzzle, he keeps moving to a different area. Below and to the left, a geometric pattern. To the right... a cat's eye? Sarah at some point realizes he's allowing the color to dry a bit before adding the next trait in each area, yet every line he adds is firm, like he already knows exactly where the next brush stroke will be needed. Also, she starts getting warmer. It might be his breath on her bare skin, or something else, hard to say. The geometric pattern becomes a turtle. Some of the lines around the sun look like symbols, or strange letters, and yet they flow like they were part of the drawing. But there's something else, something inside, trying to get out...

Colin keeps working feverishly. Every now and then he stops to dry his sweat and clean the brush. It looks like hours, though it's probably much less so. The distant lightnings are hypnotic, and they seem to dance at the same rhythm of the brush. At a certain moment she could almost swear she heard the echo of drums.

Then he stands up. "Done." he simply says. "Don't move yet. Give it a little time to dry and fixate. I'll bring you a mirror."

He does. Over her heart, there's a burning sun. From the heart of the sun, a glorious phoenix is spreading her wings, literally emerging from the sun, noble and beautiful. Among the patterns of her tail feathers, there's a little turtle. The shades on the wings seem to draw a lioness and her cub. The phoenix looks up to a star in the distance. It's not too big, Sarah realizes, it won't be difficult to conceal, only the star might peek out of a low necked t-shirt, but she's not likely to wear those much in February. It's hypnotic though. The rays of the sun seem to almost spell out words in a forgotten language, the whole ensemble has something Pre-Columbian about it, the lines are very simple, and yet the secondary patterns are there too, Sarah's not sure how he did it.

Colin checks on his work and takes a cotton swab. He mixes some more sugar and lemon juice, and smears it over the drawing. Sarah feels already hot, but when Colin gently blows over it to dry it, that's when she finally feels it. The sun. It's like when she was in Florida on the beach, just... not only on the skin... within. It spreads, up to her fingers and her toes, and then, when the wave is over, it quiets down, like background music. Only when she concentrates on it she feels it's still there.

"Do you like it?"

Colin's focus on her was a bit embarrassing at first.  She stayed quiet because she didn't want to disturb him or make him think she felt well, embarrassed.  As he focused on the design, leaning in so close to make sure each line was perfect she did grow warm.  It started with a flush of self consciousness but slowly turned into a kindling flame of desire.  The slowly evolving magic that added to the effect began to make it harder and harder not to move... to reach out to Colin. 

He stopped from time to time, seemingly aware of her struggle.  He pulled back and let Sarah lay there, exposed, doing her best not to pant.  Slowly the monologue in her head was taken over by a white noise, blocking out thoughts.  She fell into the feeling of his painting and clutched the sheet into damp balls beneath her fingers.  Through it all she heard the steady pounding of blood in her ears like drums so steady it seemed hypnotic.  She knew she couldn't move or it would spoil the spell and all of Colin's hard work.  All of bare chested tattooed Colin's hard... work. 

Finally the agony ceased. 


For the first time in her life Sarah was speechless.  Colin had created art on her, out of her.  She has to swallow a couple of times before she can even speak.  "It's beautiful," she says in a voice filled with awe.     


As if she wasn't already burning up inside, his breath across her body sets the magic into place and she blazes, burns and her eyes clench tight and it's as if she can feel the suns rays blazing through the lids.  A soft, "Oh." escapes her and she flushes from head to toe... no doubt from the heat. 


"I love you," in a ragged whisper. 

Colin leaves the mirror on the table and lies on the bed beside her.

"Why thank you." he says with a grin. "I love you too."

He gently pushes her damp hair away from her forehead and kisses her.

"Wow, you're hot! I mean... Your skin is really warm. It must be working."

He kisses her again.

"Our only problem is that it's gonna take a few minutes to get dry not to get smudged. And then some more to get really dry so that it doesn't stain your clothes when you get dressed again."

He smiles.

"Have you got any ideas what to do in the meanwhile?" he says in a husky voice.

"One or two?" Sarah says as she reaches for Colin. 


OOC:
Fade to black!  Fade to black!  For the love of PG-13 Fade to Black!!!  :) 

Don't worry kids - Colin and Sarah enjoy the luxury suite by watching a film on the giant plasma screen, checking their emails and raiding the courtesy fridge.  Right?*




*sha right.  oh and Sarah totally keeps that robe.

OOC: Aww, already?! I thought we were allowed some more room. :(  :'( ;)

Ok, fade to black and back to...



When he's done putting off all the candles, and otherwise removing every other trace of their presence, Colin joins Sarah by the window. It stopped raining, and now the moon is peeking from the windows.

He kisses her on the nape of her neck.

"Hey wondergirl. Are you all right?"

OOC:   :-*  How about I promise that Colin at least got the full PG-13 treatment? 

IC:
"All right?" she asks a bit mystified.  "I am so much better than all right.  It's a cold wet February night and I've got the sun warming me.  But better than that I have you." 
She covers her mouth before groaning.  "Oh wow that sounded so sappy didn't it?  That was Hallmark quality.  Eww."
Slightly chagrined she says, "Thank you.  Thank you for everything.  Tonight has been the most amazing.. I don't even know how to describe it."

She looks down at her parted robe and wonders aloud, "So do I get a touch up job in a few weeks when this starts to fade?  Or will this last me through the winter?" 

"Uhm. Good question. It usually depends on one's skin. A mundane henna stain lasts from two weeks to two months. A magic one, crafted especially for you? I'm afraid I have no idea. There's a chance it might go away when you no longer need it."

He wraps his arms around her.

"I love you. I truly do. I... well I've started to realize some things about me lately. Mostly about how I've been stupid. So I want to be sure you know that this night, what we had together this night, I won't ever forget any moment of it, and it helps me in a way I'm not sure I can explain."

He kisses her neck again.

"It wasn't a trap. I didn't really expect it. Ok, I know it looks otherwise... I can't deny I had thought of it, but... I just wanted to do something good for you. Something to help you. You gave me so much more."

His hands find her chest, and he starts caressing the tattoo.

"The turtle is for protection, but also she carries her home with her, wherever she goes. The lioness is for strength. Strength non for itself, but for the sake of the pride. And to protect the cub, who instead stand for playfulness. Or better, for learning by playing. For growing up and becoming more. The star is for direction. For finding out one's true way, and not losing it even in the darkness. And the phoenix, more than anything, is you. She's for rising brighter after a fall. Always. She's what you are to me. Whenever I fall, you pick me up again. And make me better."

"You didn't ask, but I thought you should know."

Sarah blushes a bit and says, "That last was my next question.  I'm going to look at this every chance I get."  She turns in his arms to say, "And I know you weren't setting a .. trap?  That's right.  Somehow you lured me into teleporting you into a $5000 a night hotel room.  After making me call around to half a dozen places to make sure there were plenty of vacancies.  That was pretty cunning of you."

She rolls her eyes thinking about something else Colin said, "And you are not stupid.  I don't date stupid guys.  I certainly don't let them paint me."  She grins at that notion.  Heh.  Maybe Sammy was right about that.  Girl starts saying she's cold and boys fall all over themselves trying to keep them warm.  I don't feel like I'm ever going to be cold again.   

"What?!!" Colin blurts out, a little too loudly, immediately regretting it. "God and Great Spirit, who the hell can afford this place." he looks around in something close to panic, seeing the room in a very different light now, but then his eyes go back to Sarah and he smiles.
"You are absolutely crazy, girl. And that's one of the many reasons I love you."


He grins. "Thank you for the vote of confidence, but my hands still beg to differ." he says showing the still pink spots. "Then again, they and the rest of me are still pretty happy, so I think they're going to forgive me, after all."

Sarah grins merrily.  "This isn't crazy.  Showing back up to school every day, that's a little crazy.  Leaping into fights with combustible people. Well...  This is the opposite.  This is sanity.  This is a moment I will remember the rest of my life.  Here and now is a reason that is worth any of the trouble we've been through and anything that is ahead of us.  I can't think of a better reason."

Colin for a moment looks like he would say something else, but he relents. He just keeps her in his arms until they feel like going home.

Never... but eventually the sun will come up.  Parents will wonder where they are.  Phones will start ringing.  Questions will be asked.  Before that can happen... *sigh*  *zwip* 

*totally stealing this robe.*

A long goodbye in Colin's room and then home for Sarah.