This one is a favorite of mine because i start exploring the Ink magic system further. Have fun everyone.

*****

He took her to an Ink Tattoo shop in the mall and told her to get anything. The wall was full of animated graffiti that showed what each tattoo could do. All the tattoos were, in fact, small blocks of codes, which were an assortment of numbers and letters assigned a meaning and identity through Magical Logic. However, in an attempt to hide the code or even make it attractive, there was a need for artists as well as surgeons, depending on what the customer wanted the code to do.

"Of course,” said the tattooed woman behind the desk, “if our wall catalog isn’t what you exactly have in mind, I can tailor a custom request.”

"What do you recommend?” came Nair’s excited question. Her happiness was contagious, shooting sparks that caught Mike and the store owner at the lips.

"I have something for each part of your body. Your eyes are a perfect chestnut, I can give you something that will make you change its color depending on your eyeshadow.”

Nair whistled.

"If you want,” she further recommended, “I have something that will make you see through any object, but of course you will have to look with a single eye and you may be caught. Interested? No? Very well, how about something to make you see exactly what you want?”

"What?” Mike asked. “New to the collection?”

"Yup,” the woman said, lifting her chin proudly. “There are new codes everyday, pal.”

"What do you mean it can make me see what I want?” Nair asked.

"Exactly what I said. Write out a scenario on a paper, parchment preferably, and read it with your eyes, close your eyes for a minute and you shall see it word by word, and not like a stupid dream or something, I am talking something like a movie. No? How about something for your ears? Yeah, you like a good gossip, don’t you? How about a tattoo that will let you listen in to any conversation around you, it’s even strong enough to reach into other rooms or… other floors!”

"Wicked!” Nair breathed. “But I have something else in mind. Tell me about that new X69X Blade.”

"That’s pretty painful to install into your arms, honey, pretty expensive too.”

"Don’t care about the money, actually,” Mike admitted.

"Your poison, anyway. You can choose the dimensions of that Blade, can make it as long or short as you want. You can choose if you want if for slashing or stabbing or both. Keep in mind you will have to inject your arms with Ink to keep using it. Agh, why the babble when I can show you? Step back, please.”

The woman shrugged out of her jacket, exposing arms half-covered with code, some tattooed over and some not. Under the jacket was a white crop top and baggy trousers tousled and creased. She held her elbow and her wrist jerked, bending down at a painful angle until her hand looked broken. A chamber opened from her flesh, like a circular window that was abruptly pulled apart. With a steel hiss, a pink blade slid out, positioned in what seemed to be like the number seven. Nair gasped, but it wasn’t until more of that iron appeared out of her arm that she gave an excited cry. The blade extended at least ten feet from where the woman was standing, a rough piece of metal with irregular edges. It was brilliant and beautiful, but terribly messy, drenching the tiled floor with pink Ink.

"Of course, it costs a lot more if you want it to extend that long,” the woman admitted, retracting her blade and hand back in place with a rattle.

"How much?” Nair asked, looking sheepishly at Mike.

"Do you have Ink cords installed?” the woman asked.

Nair shook her head.

"I can’t install it without having those cords. These will deliver the appropriate Ink to work that augmentation. You will need two surgeries now. Are you sure you want it? It just got a lot more expensive.”

"How much more?” Mike asked.

"The whole thing could cost about four-thousand gold papers.”

Nair cleared her throat and swallowed, her face turning a deep shade of scarlet. “How about something cheaper?”

“You can’t have anything that will last without having those Ink cords. Anything else will be just a one-time tattoo, goes away as soon as you use it. If you want my ethical opinion, good riddance. Ink cords mess up your veins, sometimes the damage is so bad you end up Inked-out.”

"Inked-out?” Nair raised her eyebrows.

"Yup. Somehow, you can still live with Ink pouring into your heart and brain, but don’t suppose it can be a good life. This,” she pointed to her temple and imitated taking a shot, “gone. After that, so many scenarios depending on what you were like sane. If you were peaceful, you would roam around not hurting anyone. But if, God forbid, you get angry easily, had a tough life, tough job, or even a bitter reality, you will avenge the life you couldn’t have.”

"How?”

"Easy, you kill everyone who every crossed you.”

“Thank you for your time, miss.” Mike smiled.

“Oh, damn. Nothing you saw you liked?”

“Maybe another time.”

“Yeah, sure.”