Starships

Chapter 26

The weekend rolled around. Komi stayed with us all week. She and our dad were discussing different strategies for when we go to Tamaran. My mom would call in on Wildfire and Galfore about any updates that they would have and keep note. Everyone had a job, but me.

I laid in bed all Saturday morning. I can hear faint whispers of my family members downstairs. I try to listen in, but I can not make out what they are saying. I lay there, checking my phone every so often.

"Kori? Are you awake?" Komi taps on my closed door.

"Yes. You can come in." I tell her. 

Komi opens my door, and slides in. She closes the door behind her and walks over to me. She pulls the covers off of my bed and she gets in, covering herself up.

"How are you?" Komi asks.

I turn around so I am facing her, "I am the alright."

"Kori. Really? How are you? You are never in your room for this long. This past week, it feels like you have been avoiding us. So I am going to ask you again. How are you?" Komi tells me.

"I am upset," I tell her, "I am just now getting use to being normal, but now I need to be retrained." 

"Kori. Nothing about this family is normal. We are aliens for crying out loud." Komi smiles, which makes me smile. Komi smiling is rare. 

We both look at each other for a while. Komi breaks the silence and whispers, "Lets go have fun today."

I raise an eyebrow, and flip onto my back so I am looking at my ceiling. I cross my arms, "Like what?"

Komi thinks and thinks, "Lets get tattoos!"

I turn my face. I am shocked. Where did she get that idea from?

"Tattoos?"

"Yea, you know. Tattoos?" Komi is smiling again, "I went with a friend back at NYU for her first tattoo. She got what looks like a sideways eight. There is a name for it, but I can't remember what she called it."

"Does it...hurt?" I ask her.

"Kori. We are aliens." She reminds me.

I get up from bed, "Okay. Let's go."

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Komi drives us both to downtown Gotham. While I was showering and getting ready to leave she looked up places to get these tattoos. She found a place that does walk in appointments. She told me to look up some ideas for our first tattoos. 

She gets us to the place and we get out. The building looks old and run down. I give Komi a look.

"Relax. Jason said that this is a good place." Komi tells me.

We both walk in and it smells like dried ink and candles. A bald man with a big beard greets us.

"Hello ladies. Here for a tattoo?" He asks us in his deep voice.

"Yes! We are getting our first tattoos." Komi takes control of the conversation. I stay behind her.

"First tattoos huh? What are you thinking?" The man leans against the counter. 

Komi takes a step closer, which makes me take a step forward. Komi pulls up her right sleeve, showing the man, "I am thinking a constellation here."

"Okay. We can make that work. How about you miss?" The man directs his attention to me.

I pull up a picture on my phone. I drew a picture on our way here of a simple space ship with little stars surrounding it.

"Okay I can do that for sure! Where are you thinking of having it done?" the man admires my work.

"Oh. I do not know where." I tell him, "Komi where do you think?"

"I think on your upper thigh." She pats my leg, "It will be sexy."

"Okay! Sounds great. Who is going first then?" The man claps his huge hands together.

I push Komi up indicting that she is going first. This was her idea after all. The man laughs and tells us to wait out here while he gets his area ready. Komi and I sit in the little waiting area.

"Let me see your picture." Komi says. I pull my phone out and show her. She nods in approval. 

"Which constellation are you getting?" I ask her.

"Maybe the constellation of Leo." Komi replies back. The man comes back to the front of the store, smacking some rubber gloves onto his hands.

"Are you ready?" He asks Komi.

"See you in a bit sister." Komi gets up and leaves me behind.

Minutes go by, and I can hear the buzz of the machine finally turning off. The man is asking Komi what she thinks and I can hear her scream in approval. She comes over to me and shows me her new body art. It is beautifully done. The stars are lined up perfectly, and they appear to be shining. The man comes back to Komi and wraps her arm up in a bandage. It is now my turn.

I follow the man to his back area. There is a soft table and gadgets around. Good thing I decided to wear shorts under my sweatpants today. I pull my sweatpants off and put them on the soft table. The man tells me to sit on the table and I do.

"Can I see that picture again?" He asks me.

I pull my phone out, and show him my doodle. He looks at the drawing closely, admiring every detail I added. He gives it back to me, and cleans my thigh. I flinch at how cold the towel is.

"You can't be doing that when I get the needle." The man tells me.

"Sorry." I whispered.

He gets his tattooing supplies together on a silver tray next to him. He turns back around again, and he is lean over on a table. He is writing something down. He does this for a few minutes and comes back around with a white sheet of paper. He drew my drawing on the paper. He showed me for my approval. I nodded. He then took the drawing and put it against my thigh. He pressed on the paper and then lifted it. The drawing is now on my skin. 

"There is a mirror over there. You can see if you like it there. If not, we can move it elsewhere." The man informs me.

I get up carefully and walk over the mirror he was talking about. I look at my drawing on my skin. I can feel a smile grow across my face.

"I will take that as a yes." The man smiles back at me. I walk back to the table. The man gets new gloves on, and he turns on his tattooing machine. The machine buzzes in my ear. I can feel him put his hand on my thigh and he takes the tattoo needle and puts it on my skin. I was expecting some type of pain. I know Komi said that we are aliens, but that doesn't mean we don't feel pain. We can tolerate pain. I look down and see that he is working on the sparkling stars first. I put five stars on my picture. One for each member of my family. I smile at watching him do his work. I relax my head back again, and I close my eyes. 

I open my eyes again when the man told me that he was done. I put my head up and see my new body art. The black ink on my skin is surrounded with red. 

"Don't worry the redness will go away in a few hours." The man tells me.

I get up and walk back to the mirror. I am in love. 

"Well lets get you wrapped up as well." The man goes over to his desk and gets a similar bandage that he gave to Komi. I walk back over and he wraps my thigh up. I pull my sweatpants back on, and walk back to where Komi is. The man follows me.

"So how did it go?" Komi asks me.

"It went well." I tell her.

Komi walks pass me and to the man to pay for our new tattoos. After the payment, Komi and I walk out together hand in hand.

"Want to get food? I heard that there is a new sushi restaurant down the road." Komi asks me.

"That sounds splendid!"