Phil

"STAY STILL PHIL"  Rembrant cackles loudly as Phil swings his head back and forth trying to avoid the menacing vibrating tattoo needle.

Rembrant exaggerates her arm movements like a serpent weaving around Phil's face, tapping at his skin with her metal fingernail.  

Phil jumps and squirms yelling into his gag.  

Rembrant bends over so that her eyes are 1 inch from Phil's "Doth thou protesssssssssst Phil?"  

Rembrant drops the needle haphazardly into Phil's lap causing him to buck his hips in attempts to knock it away.  

Rembrant is blinded with tears of laughter as she shimmies across Phil's line of sight darting her tongue out at him and hissing. 

Phil is blinking and breathing rapidly. He follows Rembrant's theatrics increasingly aware of the danger he is in.  He mumbles loudly, pleading his case under the gag. 

"Gettin' my fill of ya Phil" Rembrant sits in the chair next to his raising the needle to his face.  

Phil is frantically shaking his head back and forth.  

Rembrant signals and stands as Rodrigo appears with Carlos, they secure Phil's torso and head with leather straps.

Rembrant stands over Phil loosely holding the needle, she lowers it to the side of his eye "Now this is not my usual medium, but I will give a whirl, eh?" 

Rembrant smacks Phil hard making sure he is paying attention, she watches a single tear flow down his cheek and stares at it mesmerized.

She grins

The needle presses into Phils skin as he yells in protest, dribble escapes the corner of his gag.  

Rembrant is biting her lip with one eyebrows cocked as she outlines the shape of a tear near Phil's eye. 

"All you do"  Rembrant is filling in the shading, blood mixing with the ink. 

"Is cry" Phil whimpers as Rembrant presses the needle in intentionally too deep.

Rembrant stands up getting rid of the needle, she is looking at the bloody blob on the side of Phil's eye, it is starting to quickly swell.  "Oops"

She grabs a cloth and wipes away the excess ink and blood revealing her work of art.  She starts laughing "That looks like a teabag"

She calls Rodrigo over "look... this look like a fucking tea bag to you?"

Rodrigo knows not to answer her "Answer me!"

 Rodrigo begins to sweat

"Well it does!" she answers herself

Rodrigo resumes breathing, relieved

"be glad I didn't try to make a wine bottle" Rembrant is laughing at herself as she turns away from Phil.

"Anyway, I am not good with needles". Rodrigo quickly steps away as Rembrant reaches into her vest pockets, walking several paces away from Phil's chair.  

"I'm good with knives"

She whips around with precision releasing the knives from her hands, they land on each side of Phil's neck springing fountains of blood.  

The life escapes rapidly from Phil creating a mess in the parlor.  They were prepared for it.

Phil wasn't

https://youtu.be/jSRIg9GlG6Y

Peter had been contemplating for a long time about getting some 'ink', not for any other purposes of remembering the original homeland.  He'd thought about it for a long time but had a final design he'd like to take a look at an artists rendering of.

It had to be several orange lily flowers wrapped around each other, with a crest of the crown of the King in the middle.    

"Is this something you can do?" asked Peter

Madhatter walked around Detroit when his eye was caught by Hel's Pit Tattoo Parlor. It looked like a nice place to get some ink done but what whould he want. He could take a nice queen of harts on his ass. A smoking caterpillar was also a nice tatto to take. But today he had an new idea for a tattoo. 

As he walked into the shop Madhatter noticed that the owner hasn't been here for a while. Even though he was a little mad this wasn't the time to get ink from an abandon shop. He turned around a went out to look for a new place to get his new tatto. He really needed a "I love Alice" tattoo.  So it was time to go hunting for an open tatoo shop, in one of these places he has been visiting.  

Rembrant walks into Hels Pit Tattoo parlor looking for Helriek's assistant Santo.  "Santo?"  she calls into the parlor.

Santo walks out from the back room "Well as I live and breathe"  Santo grins, he leans over and kisses Rembrant on the cheek.  Santo approved Rembrant's last job at the shop, she made sure the place was spotless for Santo's after she finished.

"I need information Santo"  Rembrant slides a picture of a tattoo design to Santo across the display counter.  "This, who designed it, more importantly, who did the work?"

Santo walks into the back room returning with a large photo album and his spectacles.  He places a bottle of Monkey Shoulder on the counter and two glasses.  He pours them a drink taking a sip as his brow furrows, his eyes squinting as he studies the highlighting and shading.  The design is intricate and unique but no artist can hide from Santo's keen eye to detail, they will reveal themselves, they always do. "this part looks like Thelema but the hexagram has several hesitation marks here and here"  Santo places his arm around Rembrant's shoulder directing her where to look, he positions his jeweler loupe over the sections.  Rembrant clearly sees the tiny pool of ink at each point.  "This doesn't make sense, it has to be a fluid motion of a single line or the protection spell won't take"

Rembrant stares intensely at the design "Orrrrrr, maybe they were being forced to ink it.  Can you pinpoint the artist?"

"I have a suspicion but I want to be sure, they are not local, I need a few days"  Santo take another sip of his scotch.  He focuses on another section of the design.  He flips through the photo album under symbols "This looks Scandinavian, strange combination of symbols Rem, it is a custom design."

"I will be back by the end of the week Santo, thank you for looking into this, much appreciated"  Rembrant finishes her scotch, says goodbye to Santo and exits.

Santo tells Rembrant who he suspects drew the unique occult symbol she had shown him last time. "There is a man by the name of Ed Harlow who lives off the beaten track near Pickburg.  Familiar with the place?"

"No, just the area.  Over by Mcgillans shop?"  Rembrant tries to concentrate on the map and recollect any familiarity with what she is looking at.  She grows increasingly frustrated, Santo's picks up on this quickly.

"Yes, close! I will draw you a better map."  He points to the paper, "if you turn off here, you will find a dirt road on the right.  Take this here."  He draws the turn on the map with a pencil, filling in small details as he talks like a shrub or a tree. He draws a small shed on the map and an outhouse.  "He lives here and will not take kindly to unannounced visitors"  Rembrant looks deeply at Santo. "Well, I am sure that we can notify him that you will be seeing him"  Santo smiles a bit nervously.

"This is perfect Santo.  Look, I am not out to hurt the man, I simply need to understand how this tattoo wound up on this body" Rembrant throws the picture down on the counter.  "You said Scandinavian for this.  This isn't exactly something I can go over to local library and ask about, ya know what I mean?"

Santo gets his jewelers loupe and studies the photo once more, this time, he will focus on the outliers.  He refers to them a s distraction marks, it is the rare occasion where the artist's mind drifts and creates an unwanted ink spot.  

He is drawn in to a particular spot and the motion of the pen stroke.  "If I were a betting man, I would concur with your hypothesis, there was someone else in this room with them.  He or she would be standing" Santo gently moves Rembrant to one end of the counter making sure she is facing Santo who is mid-way center in the room. "about there, see if I am inking here and you startle me, my pen will jerk this way"  Santo demonstrates the scenario.  "Up to the right and out, just like it is here"  Santos walks back to the photo gesturing Rembrant to come closer and look.  She sees the stroke, it is faint but visible.

"Well, surely that could be anything, but my gut says otherwise.  I will find out soon enough which one is correct.  Thanks again Santo"  Rembrant grabs her sunglasses and keys.

"Whoa, not so fast Rembrant."  Rembrant shoots Santo a look of concern. She gently holds her forearm.  "This tattoo, it was meant to protect"

"You told me that Santo, I got it." Rembrant is getting impatient with Santo's histrionics.

"It's just that, he is dead Rembrant, I don't want to see you in the same boat with whoever is behind this design.  Ed ain't that person, but watch your six tight when you pull up there.  Who am I telling, right?"  Santo smiles and leans over kissing Rembrant's cheek.  "You need anything, you know where I will be anytime day or night.

"I know darling and I thank you.  I think this will go swimmingly, these are the lowest rungs on the ladder.  The ones who are trying to get my attention are much higher up. They are the ones calling me out to play."  

It is too soon to guess what this about, but it is not good

She places her arm around Santo gently hugging him before exiting.

Rembrant walks into the tattoo parlor with Rodrigo and Carlos who are holding 1 case of Monkey Shoulder each.  They carefully place them on the countertop and quickly get into position.  "Santoooooo?"  Rembrant calls out and waits.  Nothing  She looks around the shop, nothing seems out of place and the door was unlocked with the open sign showing.  

She walks into the back room and smells a powerful acrid odor.  Shit!  On the floor lies Santo, he has recent strangulation marks around this neck. She checks for a pulse, he is clearly dead.  Rembrant holds her nose bending down to get a better look at his neck.  They used a garrote, this could be personal or maybe just the quietest method for the location and area of the city.  She calls in Rodrigo who stops and gags at the doorway then joins Rembrant near Santo's body.  

"I need this place swept of our presence and I also need as much intel as you guys can gather as to who was here before we came in.  They may have left us clues.  They already left a signature  Rembrant thinks to herself as she removes a single black rose petal from Santo's mouth.  She closes his eyes, they are wide and the surrounding skin is covered with petechiae.  She looks under his nails, there is dried blood and skin tissue under them.  He fought well

Rembrant stands and readies to leave.  She tells Carlos to grab a case as she grabs the other, they carry them to the car and put them in the trunk.  "Listen, I need you be there for Rodrigo, your stomach is stronger for this shit."  They hear Rodrigo vomiting.  "GREAT more to clean up, get in there Carlos for gods sake."

Fredrick gets out of the car and opens the door for Rembrant "Thank you Fredrick"  She gets in and unwraps the napkins protecting the black rose petal. Can't be, she is dead  Rembrant looks out the window concentrating on the whos and whys as they drive off.

The Squirrel god could not believe his luck.  Hel was here!  The Queen of the dead hersef! Loki's daughter!  Oh what fun they would have together on this mortal plain.

The Godly rodent entered all smiles but suddenly frowned

'you're not Hel, what is this malarky?'

Mutt was in Detroit to Visit some of his relatives.  He was born in Detroit but no more than a year after birth moved with his mother to Philadelphia.  So over the years he had been traveling to the motor city to visit with his aunt Wendy.  He landed in on a hot summer morning and met his aunt at the coffee shop right away.  Over a few coffees and a lot of jokes they both had made comments about a new tattoo.  Mutts father died at a young age, which was Wendy’s brother.  A Tattoo in respect for the deceased man was now on the agenda. 

Hels pit Tattoo was just right around the corner from the coffee shop and they both decided that would be the place to get it done.  
Mutt walks in first and sees the nice establishment.  Everything was pretty clean and organized.

”Me and my aunt here are looking to get a tatto to remind us of my father, her brother? His name was Henry and he died when I was just 1 year old.”

The artist got straight to work drawing something up for the pair.

The squirrel god noted that Mutt, his rival in the inter city competition wanted a tatoo

overhearing he wanted a 'Henry' the squirrel deity grabbed the tattoo equipment and drew a henry the hoover on him.

'advantage squirrel god'

Disgruntled from the evenings events feeling slightly buzzed from visiting a bar down town, Callum slicked his hair back muttering something under his breath, knowing Nino and Shyla were standing guard in the boss's room keeping a look out allowed him a moment to have a few hours off without worrying what mischief she would get herself into this time.

"It's  five in the morning.. surely gotta do something productive"  the flicker of a neon light captured his interest, muttering it whilst reading it.

"Hel's Pit Tattoo Parlor... huh, sure why the fuck not" knocking back the remainder of the whiskey in his flask while standing in front of the establishment, Rolling up his sleeves before pushing the door open, wearing a crooked smile glancing around the room, buzzing echoing through the place.

"'ey there, ya got room for one more?"  he spoke to the tattooist  leaning on the counter at reception,. the smell of medical grade cleaner, whiskey and smoke evident.

"I'm lookin at gettin a defender .. or soldier band around my forearm... celtic knot work n' what not... something ya could do Sir..? I could sketch it up for ya"  rummaging around behind the counter for a blank piece of paper and a pencil, The tattooist just grunted 

"Yeah right, give us a look when yer done kid"

I had an itch that needed scratching, I needed a tattoo to silence my mind a little, to numb my overwhelmed state, after a failed deal of some information being leaked from an agent I paid under the table, resulting in me shooting a damn gun.... though failing miserably I did manage to wing a body guard of one Durden's bodyguards that were homeless.

The guard was rough housing one of the girls at the bar pushing his weight around thinking like he was gods gift to women, the meer thought of his retched breath filled with cheap bourbon and stale smoke meer inches away from my nose... ugh. Didn't know he'd squeal like a bitch though when I winged him.

Pushing the door open I flicked through the sheets of paper to find a tattoo that took my fancy, though there wasn't anything really that captivated my interest, calling out to the heavily tattooed gent washing up the needle.

"Hey sweetheart, I uh, need a new tattoo... it's rather simple but nothing like you got here, on each wrist I want some vikinh runes..."fishing the runes out of my pocket placing them on the counter top searching for the right one.

"Ah! Here...the stone of Uruz, representative of the wild bull. The strength, endurance, hard work, perseverance of one...and the stone of Tiwaz the warrior stone self explanatory really..." smiling warmly as she traced over them symbols, lifting her head up to only find the man rolling his eyes at the simplicity, muttering under his breath.

"Can I atleast liven it up a little cos that's basic as shit miss...sorta disrespectful to my artist within" His smirk grew as he motioned me to sit  down and allow him to "spruce it up"

Tutte stood outside Hel's Pit Tattoo Parlor and watched at a man getting a tattoo on his arm, a death-skull, he neve runderstood why having a tattoo on body he thought it was waste of noth time and money to get those but he also seen many really good-looking ones on arms on his friends. but he never gonne get any, that he had promised his mother long time ago and also his father that didnt liked it either.

The man was tattoed now and looked happily on his shoulder-tattoo. tutte walked away to see what he were about to do next instead of harrasing others like he just did.

 It had been years since Helriek was around last. He had taken some time to travel over seas and learn various arts of tattooing styles such as Tebori, which is very popular in Japan. He also spent time in Scotland learning the ways of stick poking and hammer poking, a long traditional style of tattooing dating back as far as the viking age.

 Helriek's long journey brought him back to his shop in Detroit, Michigan, where the shop had been closed for several years at this point. The painted named on the glass was slipping away with time but Helriek decided it was time give his parlor a rebirth. He opened the shop up and kicked on the lights to see all his seats, couches, and even the pool table was covered in dusty plastic, the liquor bottles on the back wall aged with time. "Glad to be home" Helriek uttered to himself.

 It took Helriek almost a week or so to get he shop cleaned up and back to its glory. He cherished every moment of it though, taking pleasure in bringing his pride and joy back to life. Now all there was to do is get new artist in here and get the community the tattoos they desire.

The Grand Reopening of

Hel's Pit Tattoo Parlor

Now hiring new artist of the various forms and traditions 

Apply within