The Green Labyrinth

Lost and Found

"Ow fuck.." I feel the sting on my arm.

"Sorry." Mark says, wiping my raw skin. 

"It's fine, it's fine. I just forgot how much this hurts. Keep going, I'm fine." I smile, leaning back in the chair. 

"We're halfway through. Do you want to stop and take a break?" He asks, I shake my head. 

"Keep going." I smile. He leans down, focused on his line work. Filling in, coloring. I'm so happy I did this. 

"You're a trooper that's for sure." Shea smiles, scrolling through her phone. I look up to see the curtain opening. Collin walks in, sitting down. 

"How's it going?" He sips his coffee, handing me an iced one. 

"Great. ahh.." My eyes squint closed, my face scrunched. 

"She's doing great. Most guys I do can't sit here for this long. Let alone do almost an entire half sleeve in one sitting." Mark looks over and chuckles. 

"She's a badass, what can I say?" He smiles, sitting back in the chair. Grabbing my hand, I squeeze through the stinging pain in my arm. I see him lift his phone, a camera sound goes off, capturing a picture. 

"Gotta capture every moment." He smiles, typing with his free hand. 

@ collinpatrickwalsh: what a trooper..." with a needle and ink emoji. He turns to show me, my face a smile, catching our hands holding in the bottom of the picture. I laugh at the caption. 

"Good one Walsh." I tease. 

"Alright, I need a drink break." Mark sits up, stretching his legs and arms. 

"It's been a few hours, I'll wrap it for now and we can finish up tomorrow." He takes some cleanser and wipes my arm, the colors so vibrant through the bright red of my skin, I smile. 

"It's awesome already. I can't wait till it's done!" He wraps it in plastic wrap and tapes it. 

"I have an interview in 20 minutes.." Collin looks up from his phone. 

"They want you to come with me and do it together." He smiles. Our first actual interview together...I nod and follow him to another tent. 

"Hey guys!!" Tori smiles and laughs, hugging us both. 

"Some new ink?" She laughs pointing to my wrapped arm. 

"Yeah, it'll be a full sleeve when it's done." I smile. 

"Sit, sit! I have the questions here and we're ready when you are!" She smiles, sitting on a lawn chair, two next to her, for us. 

"Hey guys, welcome back. It's Tori, I'm here with Theo from Our Last Nightmare and Collin from Grayscale, how are you guys?" She smiles.

"Well, we're doing very well." Collin smiles towards the camera. 

"Awesome, how's tour going so far?" She asks.

 "It's great to be back on tour again, I missed it. And especially being on Warped is so much fun, so many bands on this trip, lots of new and old faces. It's great to be back in the swing of things." Collin shuffles in his chair, finally sitting back and relaxing. 

"good, good. How have you been since the accident that happened? I know that took you out for a while, how are you feeling?" I feel a slight ping in my stomach, we don't really talk about it much. 

"I'm great, good as new." She gives me a side look and grin. 

"How are you Theo? I see you're getting some new ink?" She points to my arm.