The Fox Howls under the Moon

Thursday Night

“I am telling you the truth! I swear I didn’t double book you, so you would have to stay and I could leave early.” Amber promises as she packs up and cleans her station. I glare at her and shake my head. “Just remember who signs your checks.” I playfully threaten her. She laughs and rolls her eyes. “You love me too much to actually do that to me.” She shrugs and blows me a kiss. I flip her off and go back to prepping my station for my last client of the night. It was a simple add on, so I knew I wasn’t going to be here too long. “If this runs late, and I’m late to the show tomorrow, I am kicking your !” I playfully warn Amber she makes her way out of the shop. She laughs and agrees, “Whatever you say boss.” I shake my head and roll my eyes. A few minutes later I hear the door open and I look up to see my last client. “Hello, welcome to Dragon’s Ink, you must be Adam.” I offer him my hand and he shakes it as he smiles. “Yes ma’am, I’m Adam. Nice to finally meet the famous ink master, Onyx.” He slightly gushes and I chuckle. I pat his shoulder and lead him to my station, “So still the same tattoo we talked about over email?” I ask him as I pick up the stencil and show it to him. He nods and gives me thumbs up. “Yes ma’am, that is the one.” I nod and point to the chair. “Make yourself comfortable.” He nods and takes his shirt off. I put my gloves on and start to get the spot ready for the tattoo.

Two hours later, I clean up the fresh tattoo and help him up and lead him to the mirror. He gasps and smiles. “Damn! I can see why you are the ink master.” He whistles and looks at the tattoo. I chuckle and shrug, “Just doing what I’m good at.” He nods and takes a few pictures before putting his shirt on. I give him the aftercare treatment bag and we walk up to the cash register. He pays for the second half of his total, and we shake hands. “Thanks again. I’m in love.” Adam smiles happily and waves as he makes his way out of the shop. I smile and wave back. I close up the cash register and walk back to my station to clean up, ready to close up shop and get home to relax. Ten minutes into cleaning, I hear the door open and I furrow my eyebrows. I put the cloth down and walk out to the lobby. “Hi, sorry but we are closing soon. Did you just want to browse and get inked tomorrow?” I ask the group of ladies who walked in. They all pause for a second, before the fifth person spoke up, “Yeah, my friends are from Seoul but they heard about your tattooing reputation and Solar here,” she points to Solar, “would like to get one done from you, but they are only in Austin for the weekend. Think you could squeeze her in?” she carefully asks as she bites her lip. I sigh and look at the time, a quarter to midnight. “Depends, on what she wants to get done.” I reply and walk behind the counter to get out my portfolio. I show them my work and Solar talks to their translator in Korean, while I show them the book.

“My friend wants to add on to her soulmate mark. Since she already meet her mate the tattoo is done, but she wants to add the date they meet and the sound beat of her mate saying ‘I love you.’” She explains as Solar finishes talking. I nod and thank the being above, that it was a simple text tattoo. I smile and pull out a piece of paper and write down what she wants and she pulls out a picture of the sound beat of the ‘I love you’. I grab the paper and look at the group again. My attention stops on the girl standing next to her, something about her pulling me in. I look down and see that their arms are linked and I inwardly pout. I clear my throat and ask what font she wants, pulling my attention back to Solar. After we clear up what and where she wants the tattoo, I lead her to my station and she sits down on the chair. She puts her arm on the arm rest and rolls up her sleeve to reveal a chibi sun mixed with a cloud surrounded with nine stars. I smile and put the stencil on her arm, just under the soulmate tattoo. I put my gloves on and get ready to tattoo. As I start to the tattoo, the girl next to her holds her hand tells her word of encouragement in Korean, or at least that is what I assume she is saying.

After an hour and a half, I wipe the tattoo once more before sliding back a bit and stretching. I put my gun down and throw the trash away, “All done.” I smile and take my gloves off. She stands up and walks over to the mirror. She smiles and tears up a bit, the rest of the girls getting a bit emotional as well. She turns around and hugs me, “Thank you!” she manages out before letting go and I smile. “No problem.” They get their stuff and walk over to the register. They pay for the tattoo and wave as they leave, talking about the tattoo in Korean. The translator smiles and we shake hands, “Thanks for squeezing her in.” I nod and smile, “Sure, no problem.” I walk them out and lock the door after they leave, my eyes lingering on the same girl that Solar linked arms to. When they did that, I look away and go back to closing up. They left me a good tip, which sort of made up for the fact that it is one thirty in the morning. I quickly close up and make my way over to my jeep. I quickly make my way home and I toss my bag on the couch as I walk to my room. I shower, change into shorts and a t-shirt, I put my phone to charge before flopping on the bed and crashing out.

Friday Morning

At seven, my alarm rings to life and I groan in annoyance, not ready to wake up. I slowly get up and turn my alarm off. I drag my feet to the restroom and do my usual morning routine. After that, I am a bit more awake, not even sure how. I change into some skinny jean, a tight white V-neck and my favorite leather jacket. I pull my hair up in a faux hawk, I keep my make-up simple and I slip on my favorite gray and white Vans. I grab my bag, phone, and a quick meal I had prepped. I make my way over to my shop where I was going to meet up with my crew and we were all going to go to an artist convention downtown. I tell Amber about the girls from last night and how one of them had a pull towards them. She laughs and rolls her eyes. “That just means you need to get out there and meet someone.” I sigh and sip my tea. “I know, but I just want to meet my one and be all cliché and happy.’’ I softly chuckle and Amber pats my shoulder in slight pity. I shrug her off and flip her off. “I don’t need your pity, just because you have Henry.” I playfully glare and open shop as the rest of the crew arrives. Once the whole team is together, I start the team meeting. “Okay, so Amber, Eli, Loki and I will be going to the Artic Convention while the rest of y’all maintain headquarters. We will back around 6, or 7, and when we come back we will close up shop for the day. So make sure to be done before 8. If not, I’ll stay till you are done. All good, no questions?” I ask my crew. They nod and we all agree. The four of us make our way out to our Uber, and we start the day. The Artic convention was a small event where local artist got together, showed off their work and potential clients got to check out the artist in one spot. We arrived at nine, set up by a quarter to ten and the convention started at 10. The event would go on till 5, but since it was out in a park, people could talk to us till we left.

By the end of the day, we had booked twelve new clients and showed our art to a few hundred people. I took a hundred and one selfies, and I also had some awesome tacos from a one of the food trucks that set up near us. Loki put in the last box into the SUV and we all got in and made our way back to the shop. We unloaded and Amber paid the Uber. I look at the time, and then I remembered something important. I had a concert to take my little sister (Important fact: she is the daughter of a close family friend, so I consider her my little sister.) to. “Hey, Amber, I just remembered today I have to take Jane to the concert, since I closed up yesterday, you close up today.” I quickly tell her as I grab my bag and semi run out to my jeep. I hear Amber groan but I knew she would do it. I call Jane and tell her that I am on my way. I arrive to her house at 6 and by 7 we arrive to the venue. I didn’t want to struggle with parking so I pay for valet parking and we go get in line. Since this was her birthday gift, her parents had gotten her two VIP tickets to go see one of her favorite groups, MAMAMOO. I look down at my ticket and sigh, “I still can’t believe your parents managed to get two tickets for you but got me clothes for my birthday.” I playfully whine as we walk over to our seats. We had seats in the middle, three rows in front of the stage. We also were going to meet MAMAMOO after the show. She chuckles and shrugs, “Guess they love me better.” I scoff and look at her with wide eyes. “The sass is strong with this one.” I tease. We chat for a bit, while we wait for the concert to start. As it gets closer and closer to the start, I could feel the venue start to buzz with an energy that can only be found in a concert. I don’t know the group, aside from a few songs my sister plays in the car sometimes, but I was still getting hyped and ready for the concert to start.

The lights dim low and the crowd goes wild. Everyone stands up and start to chant, ‘MAMAMOO’ over and over. I look around and film the crowd and I turn back to the stage when the crowd starts to yell and cheer. The girls walk out and I put my phone down a bit, I knew them. Or at least I’ve meet them before. As they start, I recognize Solar and learn the name of the girl she linked hands with, Moonbyul. After they sing Um Oh Ah Yeh, they stand front and center, they do their greeting and the crowd cheers. I focus the phone on all four, but my focus was solely on Moonbyul. As they chat and their translator translate, I could not stop looking at Moonbyul, something about her pulled my attention in. They said something and the crowd cheers, I shake my head and they start to sing Mr. Ambiguous, followed by AZE GAG, and You’re the Best. After that they play some games and answer some questions from the fans. While they were answering questions, Solar noticed me and waves at me, I smile and wave back, not sure how to answer to that. My sister looks at me, with a look that said, ‘explain what that was.’ I shake my head and promise to tell her later. They play one more game, before they perform a few more songs, chatting with the crowd after every few songs.

I recorded the whole thing, I tried to focus on all four, but when Moonbyul did her solo stage, my jaw hit the floor and I think I was one of the loudest people cheering for her. After the show, the girls say goodbye and take a group photo with the crowd. After they walk off stage, one of the workers, tells us that those with backstage and meet and greet passes need to stay in the front while, everyone can make their way out. Ten minutes later, those who stayed are divided into two groups, meet and greet on the right while backstage passes are on the left. We sit down and watch as the meet and greet high five and get autographs from MAMAMOO. My sister turns to me and glares, “Alright, confess. What was that?” she points to Solar. I sigh and clear my throat. I lean in and tell her about Solar getting the tattoo, unsure if she is public about finding her soulmate. My sister coos, and smiles, “That is so cute, her and Eric are hell’a cute together!” I furrow my eyebrows and put my hand up, “Hold up, so her mate is this Eric guy?” she nods and furrows her eyebrows, “Yeah, why?” I shake my head and face forward. I was not going to tell her that I found Moonbyul attractive and that I thought Solar and Moonbyul were together, I didn’t need that level of teasing.

Once the meet and greet was over, I stand up with Jane as they lead the backstage pass holders to, well backstage. It was a group of twelve people and all of us were going to have dinner with MAMAMOO, a signed album, and take both individual and group photos with MAMAMOO. They had a lounge set up with a table for 20, and we all got to sit where we want. Jane and I sat in the middle, leaving a spot empty between me and another fan. I order a margarita and Jane gets Dr. Pepper. We chat with the fans in front of us and next to us on Jane’s right. A few minutes later, MAMAMOO walks out and they sit down where there are empty seats. Solar pushes Moonbyul to the spot next to me and I could have sworn I saw Solar smirk evilly. Jane gushes and has a fan moment when Hwasa sits in front of her. I chuckle and roll my eyes at her. I greet Moonbyul and Hwasa while Jane could barely form a full sentence. “This is Jane, a major dork who loves y’all.” I chuckle and introduce her to them. Their translators translate and they chuckle at her. After the excitement of seating at the table with MAMAMOO dies down a bit, the food is served and I happened to be really good friends with the chef at the event. I stand up and hug her, “¿Qué pasa, niña? Mucho tiempo sin verte.” I smile as I lean back a bit. She smiles and nods. “Lo sé, has estado tan ocupado como Ink Master.” She teases, I roll my eyes and shake my head, a smile still on my face, “No juegues chica, tenemos que reunirnos más tarde y ponernos al día.” She nods and agrees, “Por supuesto, tienes mi número.”* I nod and give each other one final hug before she goes back to serving food. I sit down and explain to April, another fan, how I knew her. The translators translate and Hwasa asks me if I knew everyone. After it’s translated, I laugh and shake my head no, “Just a few people.”

Once we eat the food and chat for a while, the managers tells it’s time for the pictures and afterwards MAMAMOO would be signing albums. We all get up and take pictures with them. Jane and I take one with them; I end up standing between to Hwasa and Wheein. Next, Jane takes one of just her and them and I take one with them alone as well. Once all the single photos are done, we take a few group photos and MAMAMOO sit down at the table and the twelve of us line up to get our album signed. Since I didn’t owned one, I bought one at the merchandise table. Moonbyul was sitting at the end of the table, so I had to get to all three before I got to her. I went after Jane, so when I finally got to Moonbyul, I hand her the album and our fingers touch. I instantly knew why I was so attracted to her, she was my soulmate. And if that wasn’t enough to prove it, our tattoos started to change and color in. I gasp a bit at the pain while Moonbyul pulls her hand back to watch the tattoo change. I put the album down and look at my tattoo as it changes as well. My fox shrinks a bit and the night back ground goes from black and white to a beautiful blue, green, purple ombre mix. My fox colors in to a bright orange and a geometric moon start to appear. My fox looks up and you could tell it was howling under the moon. After the tattoo is done moving and changing, I trace my fingers over it and slowly look up to Moonbyul, just as she does the same. I look into her eyes and the world freezes, everything goes still expect her. She slowly smiles and I swear I could have cured world hunger with that smile. I smile back and we are brought back to reality when everyone around us starts to cheer for us and take pictures. She stands up and walks around the table and stands in front of me. I bite my lip and she looks down to my wrist, I show her my tattoo and she shows me hers. I smile and we slowly gravitate to each other and hug each other. I wrap my arms around her waist and she wraps hers around my neck, I smile and chuckle. “Hi, I’m Moonbyul.” She smiles and looks into my eyes; I laugh and smile even brighter. “Hey, I’m Onyx, your soulmate.”

The End

Thank you for reading. Once again, any feedback is welcomed and I hope you enjoy.

Thanks.

-Neon

* Translation:
¿Qué pasa, niña? Mucho tiempo sin verte. -> What's up, girl? Long time no see.

Lo sé, has estado tan ocupado como Ink Master. -> I know, you've been so busy as Ink Master.

No juegues chica, tenemos que reunirnos más tarde y ponernos al día. -> Don't play girl, we have to meet up later and catch up.

Por supuesto, tienes mi número.-> For sure, you have my number.