About a minute after that first sip of iced coffee, a smallish young girl walked up and stood outside the first gate.  Scarlet would make a point of carding her to check her age but the night had been so uneventful that, just for some company, the artist buzzed the outer gate and allowed the girl inside.<br/><br/>Once the young woman had entered, the artist sensed that the woman seemed conflicted.  Scarlet watched her eyes scan the art examples, to perhaps see if anything 'spoke' to her.  Then the woman made a kind of small and involuntary sound.  Scarlet had heard such surprised little exclamations from young men and young women before.  Scarlet's eyes quickly followed the young woman's gaze and the artist knew what kind of art the younger woman was looking at... and was more than a little surprised.  However, Scarlet forced herself to act like a professional, just in case this was a government 'sting operation'.<br/><br/>Scarlet feigned a little cough to get the customer's attention and the girl gave a little jump before Scarlet asked to see her identification.<br/><br/>"Here." said the girl, handing Scarlet a driver's license.  Scarlet accepted the I.D. and quickly studied it along with the customer.  It looked legitimate and everything seemed okay, except the girl's nerves as it was clear the customer was well outside of her 'comfort zone'.  Scarlet decided that everything was legally okay.  Her name was Millicent.<br/><br/>"I know I look like I'm 14 or something," Millicent tried to explain. "I'm not, honest."<br/><br/>"I believe you," Scarlet answered as the artist gave back the license.<br/><br/>"It's fine I'm used to it," the girl continued just a little bit nervously.  Then she began to speak again and eventually found her voice, "And... uh... I'd like that one...!"  Millicent pointed to a photo of a tattoo, where two pretty and naked women embraced and kissed each other.<br/><br/>Scarlet nodded and answered, "Nice choice.  It's one of my favorites."  Millicent's choice of location wasn't a bad one either.  The girl would certainly be feeling the high speed needle but that section of the thigh wasn't nearly as sensitive as some places where Scarlet had inked her canvasses.  There was the matter of how much time it would take.  Scarlet could pump herself up with caffeine and maybe she'd just be able to 'become one with the needles' but it wasn't worth risking doing a crappy job to imagine that she'd 'find the zone' this late at night, even if Millicent changed her mind.<br/><br/>"I can see that this is important to you," said Scarlet.  "I want to do this for you but it's a bit late to get started on a six hour tattoo, tonight."  Scarlet then looked Millicent in the eyes.  "Something as important as a first tattoo tells me that I shouldn't try to do it when I might normally want to be sleeping."  Scarlet smiled.  Then, realizing that she really didn't want to go back to her empty apartment just yet, she asked Millicent, "Would you like to come with me to the diner, down the street, tonight?  We can set up an appointment for you and you can ask me your questions over coffee and pie, yes?"<br/><br/>If Scarlet was honest with herself, Millicent's choice of the subject matter for the tattoo was bold and a little intriguing to the artist.