‘The back’ – ah, maybe this was the part of the tattoo studio which warranted aesthetic hints to an alternative lifestyle. She was even more glad now that Adrijana hadn’t insisted on attaching the leash, appropriate though it may have been. She didn’t want to be declaring some nature of a relationship that didn’t even exist – assumptions could be all too easily made and she could imagine the leaps of imagination Mark was capable of making.

The room delivered on its dark promise – quite literally. The lamps made a modest attempt at illumination but it was really nothing like the first room, a deliberately crafted den of shadows and leather punctuated by the occasional spike and chain. The brightest part of the room was in fact the hair of the other women, each falling neatly into the stereotype of such a place. Persephone wondered at whether Adri knew any of them, or whether she had her own selection of leashed friends to ink and pierce.

Certainly, she seemed delighted to be back.

A more sober Persephone would likely have scoffed at the place and left, mostly in offense at the public display of affection that was taking place at the next bench. Affection was perhaps the wrong word, dependent on the dynamic at play, but it was still uncomfortable to witness. Instead of turning on her heel, however, Persephone just averted her gaze and instead turned her attention to the bench Mark was gesturing at.

She wouldn’t pretend to know what he meant by ‘Vanderscamps’, and she wouldn’t pretend to have any intimate knowledge of the tools, instruments and restraints around the room, but she was still set on earning the respect – or at least, good favour – of the Heiress of Spades so she quietly ignored their presence for now.

“Adrijana drew it on with sharpie,” she explained as she settled onto the bench, kneeling and twisting so that he could see what she was referring to. “I think that gives you a pretty good idea of what we want.”

We, not I. Persephone was not so bold as to discount the influence of the Heiress, after all.

She slipped the fabric down and exposed the drawing, pleasantly surprised by her own positive reaction to seeing it once more. There was almost, but not quite, fondness in her expression. She looked up at Mark, meeting his sharp-toothed smile with her own smirk. It wasn’t exactly one of confidence, more of amusement at the entire situation. “What do you think?” she asked.

Persephone had taken a joint with her for the road, indulging in heavy drags to help fuel her confidence as Adrijana led her to Diablo’s Ink House. A layer of adrenaline bubbled below the surface of her high, some kind of risk-taking volcano. She felt a little in a corner at this point – backing out would surely disappoint the Heiress – but simultaneously she wasn’t regretting her decision to visit the tattoo place.

It was as one might expect of such places – the outside intimidating to more conservative types, but the interior was nothing particularly alarming. If anything, it was slightly more typical than Persephone had been expecting. The collar at her neck had hinted at some place truly dark and shadowy but it was, despite the lingering cling of smoke, quite hygienic looking and actually had decent lighting. She felt reassured.

The guy at the door – Mark – had sharp teeth, which looked a little ridiculous but fit in with his overall aesthetic. She watched as he wrapped his skinny arms around Adrijana, their friendship evident. Adrijana’s time behind bars didn’t seem to bother him at all – if anything, he seemed a little impressed.

Finally Adrijana moved aside to introduce the reason for her visit, and Persephone regarded him with a cool, even look – eyebrow raised slightly as he looked her up and down.

“Right now, I’m a blank canvas,” she explained. “Adri’s tried her hand at something that I think suits nicely.” Persephone smiled at this point and stepped further into the shop, slipping her thumbs into her waistband in preparation. “It’s probably a familiar theme for you, if you’re Adri’s regular – but with a personal twist.”

She turned, pulling down a little at her jeans now to expose some skin. “Wanna see?”

Unable to properly read the critical look Adri sent her way, Persephone decided to settle for hope that it was a positive kind of critical look. Or, at the very least, not entirely disapproving. Adrijana Evgeniya was a whole different creature to her sister – Persephone had figured that out very quickly indeed – but she was still powerful and impressive in her own way. Adri’s approval seemed to be valuable currency and Persephone was determined to earn it.

“Oh, you could?” Persephone didn’t try to mask her own eagerness. She felt like she had to be careful when talking about her most treasured horticultural interest in the presence of certain people, but not Adrijana. The woman’s enthusiasm was too genuine, too infectious to be anything but a shared interest in the effects of poisons.

She listened attentively to Adri’s suggestion, little sparks in her own mind igniting as Adri spoke. Not enough to formulate the exact concoction, but she’d made similar products before and it would be just a simple case of finding the exact ingredients.

“I could definitely make those with the right materials,” Persephone said confidently, enjoying the certainty that her power whispered in her ear. “Come visit me in the lab one day and I’ll show you the more …exotic plants we take care of. Even some of the plants in this room could potentially be useful in getting the effects you want.” She gestured towards a couple of deceivingly plain looking “house plants” as she spoke.

She played idly with the piercing in her nose as Adri filled her face with metal, particularly admiring the scaffold piercing that Adrijana slotted into place. Her nod of agreement was passive and understanding – there was a certain vibe that one tended to expect of tattoo places.

Her second nod of agreement came with a subtle raise of an eyebrow. A bit normie, huh? Her entire wardrobe was as plain as she could manage. She could maybe raid her selection of Duchess attire but that was just a touch too classy for the venue she was sure Adri had in mind.

A collar. That would certainly make her seem less normie.

Adri was happy but insistent as she thrust the collar towards Persephone. Persephone wasn’t completely naïve to the implications of collars but luckily the connotations held no such significance for her. She was detached enough that her hesitation was just a tiny blade of grass compared to the rest of the field – which was still set on earning Adri’s approval. It meant nothing to Persephone, although she would draw the line at a leash.

She put the collar in place, meeting Adri’s gaze with a steely determination. “How do I look?” she laughed, tossing her head back and forth to make her hair sway across her shoulders. “You are not putting that on me,” she added firmly, pointing at the leash. “The Queen would kill me.” Which was true, if not her main objection.

Persephone fixed her eyes on Adrijana, listening intently as she spoke of the Queen of Spades. It was nice to hear confirmation of the Queen’s preference for her Duchess from somebody so close to her. Somebody who claimed ‘you can tell’ even though she’d only just reintegrated into the world of the Spades. To have already made such an impression was mollifying. It was true that others had watched her rise through the ranks with envy, but Persephone did not make it to the top on favouritism alone. It was her talents, her natural gift and her unwavering loyalty that had earnt her her place.

“What’s it like? Being her sister?”

She asked the question in a pause between hungry mouthfuls. Persephone hadn’t realised how ravenous she’d felt until she’d taken the first bite. Maybe it was just really good pizza. Either way, she was enjoying it. The pineapple had been a good decision that Adrijana had made on her behalf.

The tattoo was something that she had almost forgotten in a matter of minutes, swiftly remembering that she still had the marks from Adri’s sharpie work on her body. She tipped her head in thought.

“Sure, when?” Now? a voice inside her queried. “You seem like the expert in this, and your design was perfect.” Maybe it’s the weed talking, but… “I think it’s a great idea!”

Persephone listened to Adri with amusement. The last time a guy had really seriously tried to pursue her had been when she was still trying out the circus life. The fire juggler had been older than her and not just interested in trying to get into her parents – horrifically, he seemed to want to date her too. Since then Persephone had become somewhat of an expert at imposing distance on hopeful potential sexual partners. But the way Adri seemed to have such knowledge, such power over her partners, made Persephone understand more why somebody would choose to entertain themselves with that kind of thing.

She hadn’t yet met somebody who she could consider sexually attractive, however. The idea of sex was not something that seemed particularly appealing to her – not inherently repulsive but not something she felt she was missing out on. If she found somebody who seemed to fit Adri’s criteria maybe she’d give it a try… if only to enjoy the callousness of dropping them like a hot potato the moment she grew bored of them. That part sounded fun.

Did she have any beer? Good question.

She jumped up and headed quickly towards her kitchen. “Lemme see, I don’t tend to drink much but I think I bought some impulsively a few weeks back that I never ended up touchi- Ah ha!” Persephone exclaimed triumphantly as she pulled her fridge door open. “Anchor Steam good with you?”

She popped the top off and brought it over to Adrijana, getting mild horror flashbacks to her time as a waitress. Persephone didn’t exactly entertain guests on the regular and so the vast majority of her experience serving drinks was to annoying, loud-mouth customers. At least Adri, who was currently chattering excitedly about Sailor Moon, was a far more preferable recipient of her service.

“That sounds a little fucked up,” Persephone said, though she was smiling. “In a good way, I mean.”

Picking up the slice of pizza she had abandoned in search of beer, Persephone made herself comfortable on the sofa once more. She was just taking a bite when Adri looked over and dropped a fairly off-hand compliment, the praise slamming into Persephone like a bullet train.

“Me?” she asked, visibly flustered. Composing herself for a moment, Persephone watched Adri’s face carefully for signs that it was some kind of joke – in complete awe that she seemed to be making a good impression on the almighty Evgeniya sisters.

“Oh, dude, I don’t know…” She rubbed her neck, on the edge of blushing. “Her Highness is more than good to me. I owe her so much, you know? I wouldn’t have any of this without her guidance and approval.”

Of course, Persephone knew damn well that she was in Yennefer’s good books. She was even aware of the mild favouritism at play, but she would never have been so bold as to claim that Yennefer liked her. Of all the cards Adrijana had to play on her, this was probably the strongest in the whole deck, and it was working like a charm.

Persephone nodded at Adri’s advice. “Aren’t you tempted to add any more to your collection?” she asked innocently. Adrijana already had quite the display of tattoos all across her body but after witnessing her enthusiasm Persephone certainly wouldn’t rule out the other woman expressing further interest in body art.

If Persephone had been uncomfortable before when Adri first pulled down her jeans, that was nothing compared to the hand at her backside. It rested there as she spoke. On the one hand, Persephone was definitely feeling convinced about the tattoo’s location. On the other, it was getting quite impossible to hold back the tension in her body. She desperately wanted to impress Yennefer’s sister, after all.

All her effort was going into keeping relaxed – an effort helped significantly by the THC in her system – and as such she failed to suppress an eye roll at the idea of driving a guy wild in bed. “Simple minds, simple tastes?” she suggested with a wry smile.

The sudden yell from the delivery boy startled her and she dropped her phone onto the sofa, watching as it bounced onto the floor. She scrambled to pick it up while Adri bounced her way to the door. Adrijana was quicker than she expected and Persephone was quite literally caught with her trousers down as the door opened.

She froze for a moment before slowly pulling her jeans back up into place while she watched the exchange take place with this ‘Chip’. Adri clearly ordered more than her fair share of pizzas.

“You’re cruel,” Persephone said, her tone full of admiration. “That guy was totally crashing and burning. What’ll you do if he ever works up the courage?”

Adri was evidently a master of controlling others, similarly but oh-so-differently to her older sister. The two must make an odd yet formidable pair.

At Adri’s instruction, Persephone reached for her first slice of pizza and settled back onto the sofa, finally remembering that Sailor Moon was still running in the background. She waved a hand towards it, “What’s going on in this show anyway?”

“If this is studying maybe I should have tried out a college education after all,” Persephone quipped, her eyes bright with amusement. “I could deal my way to a Bachelor’s, no problem.”

Persephone had gone straight into waitressing after she finished school, and all the money she’d saved from that had gone into escaping her parents’ home. Her disposable income was hardly on the level that could have enabled her access to higher education. Financial issues aside, Persephone had never been particularly enamoured with any single subject at school – certainly not the point where she wished to study it further. Her garden had been her equivalent mental exercise. She hadn’t exactly ruled out getting higher qualifications at some point – she was more than able – but so far there hadn’t been any need.

Anyway, her high school diploma was just fine when it came to skyrocketing to the top of large criminal organisations, apparently.

“The spades are a great idea…” Persephone said softly, half to herself. Her gaze was fixed on the spade on Adri’s forearm. She liked the intricacy of the design – less blunt than a simple, black symbol. The fact that Adri had so many spades tattooed on her body was very impressive, and Persephone found herself viewing the Heiress with a whole new level of respect.

As Adri discussed the message of her thorn necklace, Persephone instinctively reached out to stroke a rather thorny plant which nestled on a table just adjacent to her sofa. Another great idea. Not one that she intended to steal, of course, but it was still a drop of inspiration.

“Woah,” was all her stoned mind could provide as she gawked at the horror medley covering Adri’s back. Her eyes were wide – a little overwhelmed by the sheer size and detail of it. She was definitely admiring it, but she also knew that she herself wasn’t ready to commit to such a huge design. She was still staring a little as Adri suddenly jumped up and headed for her kitchen area, beginning to rummage through various drawers.

Sharpie acquired, Persephone looked down at her own body. The pen was poised in Adri’s hand, ready for Persephone to take it and create art on her skin. She liked the idea of having something to cover up.

“Maybe here,” she said, twisting and pressing her palm against the small of her back – off to one side just above her waistband. “Or even lower, so it’s rarely seen,” she added, not quite brave enough to trail her hand down to demonstrate where she meant. “A spade! Made out of like… vines, or branches, or something… You know?”

It was an awkward angle to draw on herself. She waited patiently to see if Adri would offer to do the honours herself.

“I’m not wound up!” she protested. Realising the irony, she giggled suddenly at herself. “I’m not,” she affirmed – more relaxed this time.