Jean-Baptiste Karr once wrote "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose". Skylar didn't speak a lick of French but knew it roughly translated to "the more things change the more they stayed the same." He didn't think that was entirely true and maybe Jean was a bit of a pessimist. Skylar had changed a whole lot, he changed his entire life for the better and desperately hoped nothing from the past stayed the same. The last five years he grew into himself and finally became comfortable. He learned how to deal with feeling things rather than drinking, smoking, and snorting them into a forgetful fit of confusion to deal with later on. He had felt the hard and solid foundation of rock bottom and slowly but surely climbed his way out of the hole he dug. He was at one point convinced his friends and family were the ones who gave him the shovel, enabling him and what not, but that was wrong, he did it all to himself. So yes, he changed and he was happy.
Skylar stared up into the stark oak rafters from his bed in his studio apartment. He needed to get up eventually and get ready for work. His feet hit the cold hardwood floor and he made his way into the bathroom. He would shower and brush his teeth but forego shaving. The constant 5 O'clock shadow was a hell of a lot easy to maintain than the chinstrap. He had also grown the sides of his head back out and re-dreaded them as soon as he could. Growing his sides out took a solid 2 years and one more to get everything the same long length from before. The dread hawk was cool for awhile but he'd rather have his full head of dreads. Maybe that in itself stayed the same even without the white locks.
He looked at the time, 12:30 pm. He needed to get going. He grabbed a Rockstar energy drink from the fridge and a banana throwing it in his backpack and headed out the door after grabbing his full face helmet. He bounded down the 3 flights of stairs, passed the mailboxes, and headed outside. It wasn't freezing yet, even for NYC in January, but still cold enough that he wore a jacket over his hoodie. He started his bike and headed west on 47th. Thankfully Hells Kitchen wasn't so constipated with traffic this time of day. It would be a 15 minute ride down 6th to the studio on the GSXR.
The bike was a little old, a 2008 model, but he had always admired it. It was gold and black and 1000cc's. She rode like the wind. The Dodge Ram spun a bearing in the bottom end motor a few years ago and Skylar had her scrapped. It was a good truck and he got his money's worth from it. He was able to have things like this now. One thing he was especially thankful for from SSX was the generous pay, bonuses, and sponsorships. He could afford things like his dream bike and a third floor studio apartment in Hell's Kitchen and a wardrobe that absolutely did not misinterpret to the world that he was an alcoholic and potentially homeless.
But even with SSX's money he still needed a job to maintain his sanity and bank account. He couldn't imagine just sitting at home all day and night. His alcoholism and drug abuse would've probably been fatal. So he got back in contact with Charlie Brooks, an old friend from high school in Mott Haven, Bronx. Then with some formal training, began working at Bang Bang Tattoo Studio. Skylar was a tattoo artist now.
Skylar parked his bike out front on the side walk and locked the trees to the handle bars. He pulled the helmet off and unlocked the front doors stepping in and switching all of the lights on. The place had the minimum décor and was mostly black and white with gray cement floors and stainless brushed half walls for each station. He walked over to his station and shoved his bag and helmet under the desk. He noticed scrap paper from last night sitting on the desktop.
He had worked well into the early morning last night and was still somewhat exhausted. His client was last minute and wanted the quote "Perseverance is stubbornness with a purpose" tattooed on her shoulder blade so he did it for her. She had told him her whole life story while he did it and talked about how one change domino-ed into her changing her whole life, she just needed to want it. Skylar agreed.
