[Relationship] My Name Is On My Back

[Tereza Rozanov]

After debating the merits of trying to take the car down to London, Tereza had instead opted for the train. For the most part, they were left alone other than an impolite overture from some guy their age making suggestions that a short glare and growl from Tereza quickly put to flight. As they hopped off the last leg of their journey in Lambeth proper, Tereza smiles and looks around, "Brand should be around here somewhere."

[Samantha McManus]

"Just somewhere?" She chuckles, "I thought you were the one with a head for directions."

[Tereza Rozanov]

"Well, I told her when we were arriving, I thought she might be here to meet us," Tereza snorts, pulling out her phone to check it.

[Samantha McManus]

"Afraid I don't know her well enough to pick her out from the crowd."

[Tereza Rozanov]

“I think...” Tereza’s phone buzzed several times. “She’s running late. She’ll meet us at her place. I’ve got the directions now.” She shows Sam the phone.

[Samantha McManus]

"That's fine," she nods, "let's go."

[Tereza Rozanov]

As they walk, despite the number of people, Tereza seems to be pretty calm, comfortable even. A couple of people give her second glances and then wave and she waves back. She checks the directions a couple of times, but eventually they make it to a block of flats and Tereza trots up the stairs to the third floor. "You ready?"

[Samantha McManus]

"Well you keep telling me this isn't anything to worry about, so I'm as ready as I'm going to be," she smiles.

[Tereza Rozanov]

They stop at a door and Tereza knocks twice, pauses for a second, and then knocks once. Sam can sense the mind in the apartment get up and move, coming to the door, just before the tall, solidly-built woman opens it. Her dark hair is pulled back in a ponytail except for the blond shock in her bangs that hangs over her forehead. "Hey, Glacier," Brand says, wrapping Tereza up in a bear hug. Tereza just chuckles, "Hey, Brand." Brand lets her go and turns to Sam, "And you must be Sam." She hesitates and Sam gets the sense she's not sure how Sam feels about personal space.

[Samantha McManus]

"I only bite if asked," she smirks.

[Tereza Rozanov]

Tereza snickers and Brand laughs, wrapping Sam up in a hug of her own. "So, you ladies hungry? Or you eager for your ink?"

[Samantha McManus]

"Tereza might have convinced me to get my first."

[Tereza Rozanov]

"And so it might be better to do that first before she chickens out," Tereza teases.

"Well, I can get set up," Brand chuckles, "What did you have in mind, Sam?" She steps out of the way and gestures into the apartment. It's a tidy mess of an apartment and obviously 'lived in'. Most of the furniture looks second-hand and thrift store and there's a decent number motorcycle and car magazines laying around.

[Samantha McManus]

"She got me thinking, aye? Something like a wolf on each shoulder around a raven."

"Which is probably a big ask for a favor, so maybe we can do just part of it?"

[Tereza Rozanov]

"So you're talking about a wolf here and here?" She pokes Sam just above each of her shoulder blades, "And then the raven here?" She moves her finger across the top of Sam's back from shoulder blade to shoulder blade.

[Samantha McManus]

"Just so," she nods.

"A bit personal, but I think it's growing on me."

[Tereza Rozanov]

"You wanting color or just black?" She grabs a pad and starts scribbling some things down.

[Samantha McManus]

"...well, if we want to get really personal, one of the wolves is silver and the other is gold."

[Tereza Rozanov]

Brand glances at Tereza and scribbles some more notes, "I'll have to send Glacier to pick up some stuff, but I think we can do that, or at least get the outline started." She tears the sheet off the pad and gives it to Tereza. "Alfie over on Bankton Road knows the stuff I like to work with. Take this to him. If he doesn't have some of it, tell him it's fine, just order it."

Tereza nods, "Want me to grab some take away on the way back?"

Brand nods, "Sounds good." After Tereza's out the door, Brand gestures to one of the few other rooms in the flat, "Work room's in here." Inside, there's art on all the walls and a stool with some strange, hand-constructed contraption that Brand adjusts until it's set up for Sam to sit front facing. "So how's she doing?"

[Samantha McManus]

"Tereza?" She asks, taking her shirt off.

"Better than she's been in a long while. We had kind of a rough patch there, but things are a lot better."

[Tereza Rozanov]

"Good. It's good to see her happy." Brand fiddles with her phone and small cheap portable speaker begins playing. She pulls out a small makeup pencil, "Just lean forward and relax. I need to sketch out the idea before we start committing ink to it."

[Samantha McManus]

"She ah... told you about the wolf bit, aye?" She says as she assumes the position.

[Tereza Rozanov]

"She mentioned it. I didn't totally understand what she said happened, but she's not a liar, at least not with people she cares about, so I just took her word for it." Sam loses sight of her as she moves behind her. The drawing is pretty light, firm enough to not tickle, but not enough to hurt.

[Samantha McManus]

"I just tell myself our lives were never going to be normal. It got easier after I let go of that, a bit."

[Tereza Rozanov]

"Normal's overrated. Better to be supernatural," Brand chuckles, smudging off something she's just drawn and redrawing it.

[Samantha McManus]

"And sometimes it all just clicks between us and it's... it's really good," she says, cheeks flushing.

[Tereza Rozanov]

"Acquired a taste for ice, I see," she laughs, drawing on her right shoulder, "Silver wolf on right or gold?"

[Samantha McManus]

She purses her lips thoughtfully before answering.

"On the right."

"And I've... gotten a taste for a lot of things I didn't ever think of before."

[Tereza Rozanov]

"She mentioned there was a third in your relationship. A blond. Glacier seems to have a small weakness for blondes."

[Samantha McManus]

"Aye, and she's a wolf too. Hence... well, I'm sure you pieced it together already."

[Tereza Rozanov]

"Big step then," she says, fixing something on the right shoulder and then moving to the left.

[Samantha McManus]

"Aye. Feels right, though."

"We're both hoping to meet back up with her over the summer. She's had some things to take care of."

[Tereza Rozanov]

"Never easy to be away. And I'm sure it's weighing on Glacier's mind. Separation is... a thing where she's concerned."

[Samantha McManus]

"Add pack instincts into that and... it's a problem, for sure."

[Tereza Rozanov]

"I'll bet." She concentrates on her drawing for a while, then takes Sam's phone and snaps a picture, offering it back to Sam. "How's that?" It's a rough sketch, but there's a bird spreading its wings with a rough wolf leaping nose first towards either shoulder from behind the wings.

[Samantha McManus]

"It's like you read my mind," she smiles, "I thought I was the one who was supposed to do that."

[Tereza Rozanov]

"Call it intuition. Do enough of these, you get a feel for what people want." She washes her hands and starts prepping some colors. "Glacier claims this doesn't hurt too bad, but I've never done it to myself, so I can't say."

[Samantha McManus]

"I've got a pretty good pain tolerance. For reasons I probably shouldn't get into."

[Tereza Rozanov]

Brand smiles. "Your stuff is your business. You don't want to talk about it, I won't pry." She puts her right hand into the ink, wetting her fingertips. She gets dark lines in her hand and she moves over to Sam's back, smudging away the design with her left hand and starting to fill it back in with her right. There's a pressure and sting as she does so.

[Samantha McManus]

"Guess she was right. That doesn't hurt at all. Feels interesting, though."