Dead Dove (Do Not Eat) [ZhongChi]

Tattoos

"You're taking it quite well." 

"I've still got nanomachines. It heals faster than it happens. You can be as rough as you want." 

"It's not supposed to hurt." 

"Well, it's not really supposed to feel good at first either." 

"Hm..." Baizhu stopped drawing on Dottore's body for a moment. "Is there a reason you're making this process sound more suggestive than it is? I'm giving you tattoos...not..." 

"Not what?" Dottore smirked. 

"Ugh, forget it," Baizhu frowned, going back to the design on his arm. He was nearly finished with the body parts that were visible...but he was stalling at doing anything close to the dick. It wasn't that he had a problem with staring at it...just that...he wasn't sure what to do if Dottore got hard. Or worse. If he did. 

"For a doctor, you're pretty shy about this stuff, eh?" Dottore snickered. Baizhu didn't respond. "Why'd you choose snakeskin?" Dottore looked at his body that had been inked. 

"I like snakes. Isn't that why you gave me Changsheng?" 

"I didn't know you liked snakes this much." 

"Then why did you give me Changsheng?" 

"Lucky guess?" 

"I like snakes," Baizhu repeated. "They're on the symbol for healthcare and can shed their skin."

"Oh?" 

"And they're cute and have little beady eyes. I like watching them stick their tongues out it's adorable." 

"Is that so?" 

"And some snakes basically hug their prey to death and that's pretty cute." 

"Hm," Dottore glanced away. "So, if you ever hug me I should be worried?" 

"If you're my prey, you're not getting a hug," Baizhu glanced up, snickering. "Something else will get squeezed." 

"Now who is being all suggestive?" 

"There," Baizhu sat up and stretched. "I think that's the..." he cut himself off, looking at Dottore's face. It was still hidden behind a mask. "They'll recognize you easily if you have that on." 

"Nah," Dottore waved his hand dismissively, "people look for the original when they hear the name. They don't pay attention to me." 

"You probably shouldn't wear it though." 

"Is this your way of asking to see my face?" 

"Well, there are only two places left to tattoo." 

Dottore sat up and moved his hand to the mask. He hovered over it, about to take it off, but he couldn't bring himself to. 

"I'm not going to mind what you look like," Baizhu assured. 

Dottore allowed his hair to fall in front of his face and took the mask off to reveal a hideous scar covering the majority of his cheek and forehead. "A tattoo ain't gonna make this look better, sweetheart." 

"Hm," Baizhu rested his hand on Dottore's scarred cheek. "Close your eyes and lie back down." 

"Why?" 

"Just do it." 

Dottore did as he was told but he could only hear the whirring of the tattoo gun. A lot of his scars would require many sessions of marking but his face's nerve endings were shot so he couldn't even guess as to what Baizhu was drawing. He fell asleep somewhere along the process. 

"Here," Baizhu held up a mirror. Dottore opened his eyes. 

"Eh?" He grabbed the mirror, staring at himself, hardly able to recognize his face. The design was a snake's face inside a bed of roses. The snake's tongue outstretched to the corner of Dottore's lips while the flowers covered the scar on his cheek all the way to where it ended on his forehead. "You've really got a thing for snakes." 

"Baizhu," Qiqi walked in. Dottore reflexively covered his face with a hand. Baizhu grabbed it, bringing it back down. 

"What is it?" 

"Patient," Qiqi glanced at Dottore. "Nice," she gave a thumbs up. 

"I'll go take care of the patient," Baizhu stood up. He fluffed Dottore's hair, thinking about a haircut, but didn't say anything more. He followed Qiqi out, surprised to see one of the harbingers there. Along with one of the city's well-known detectives. 

"Hello, doctor," the detective grinned, placing the unconscious harbinger down on a table. "Would ya mind treating my bounty?"