[Noel] Plastic Stress

[gabe]

Gabe was exhausted. There was no doubting it and he sincerely doubted that anyone would blame him for that at the heart of it all. He'd practically been working around the damned clock to keep the tattoo shop going, and it wasn't for any lack of work in the area. Quite contrary, actually. He got a surplus of both residents and tourists that came into the shop in a steady flow, but the fact of the matter was that he sincerely needed someone to help him out at the shop. He was understaffed as hell at the moment with one apprentice who was usually regulated to stocking up Gabe's work station while he worked his ass off or running errands. He felt bad for the guy, but he knew that the moment he had the chance to really teach him a few things, he'd gladly take it and run with it.

Today was no different than any other day at the heart of it all. He'd come into the shop a few hours early after a whopping four hours of sleep so that he could get started on sketching the work in for the day. That way, when his clients came in, if they wanted edits to the pieces they were getting, he could make the changes before proceeding quickly enough that they didn't wind up wasting too much time on it all. He always scheduled in extra time for first-time tattoos for the simple fact that he never knew when someone was going to damned near pass out on a chair on him or wind up chickening right out. But today there wasn't anyone who was a first tattoo, which he was actually thankful for.

He felt kind of bad for Kathy because he hadn't been able to see her near as much as he would have liked to, but such was life. And with her finally going back to school, he was pretty sure that the pair of them were bulldozing their way through work and school respectively. Gabe was only thankful that the shop was closed on Mondays so that he could see her for at least a few hours before she had to get to bed because of class in the morning.

Gabe was at his desk sketching when his apprentice came in and opened the doors for him. "Thanks, Man." Gabe muttered as he worked away. Steve nodded and set a cup of coffee down on the side of his desk. "You look beat. You need a day off." Gave rolled his eyes. "Kind of hard to take a day off when you're the only artist on site. I'll take a day off when I have another artist employed. One that actually looks like they might stick around for a little bit." He muttered as he kept his eyes on what he was doing.

Gabe had just finished the piece he'd been working on and was just opening up his coffee when the door chime sounded. Gabe spun around in his seat so that he could see who had just come in the room. It was still too early for a client to be in, but he was curious. When he noted that it was a woman who had come in the shop, Gabe leaned back a little in his chair. He was too tired to get up at this point, but he knew the coffee was the pick me up that he needed. "Can I help you?" He asked her as he turned the volume on the stereo system he had blasting hard rock music through the speakers. It was what he used to keep centered and focused on his work.

[NOEL BEAUMONT]

[/style][style=width=400px; background-color: #C9837B; padding: 10px; font-family: wire one; color: white; font-size: 30px; text-align: right; width: 400px; line-height: 110%; letter-spacing: 2px;]i think i'm losing, i think i'm lost

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color:#234880; padding:0px;] Did Noel need money? No. She was perfectly fine without a job but she was bored, bored senseless no less. There was nothing to do in this godforsaken town and it was driving Noel bonkers. Without Wesley around, it was increasingly difficult to find a quick lay and Noel was getting frustrated. Then Jaxon came up with the brilliant idea that she get a job and go meet people. Noel had originally rolled her eyes but the next morning, she went into Jaxon’s room and dragged the grown man out of bed. She’d made him get dressed and all that jazz and he was like a grumpy old bear. He grumbled incoherently as he was forced to function. It wasn’t till he was behind the wheel with shades on that he finally looked over at his sister. ”Where the fuck are we going?” He grumbled, irritated with her for waking him up so early. Normally, Noel was the last one up but that still put Jaxon up well after noon. Now, it was so early that Jaxon was sure he’d had barely any sleep and he had to use his shades to block out the light to prevent a headache from inducing and even worse mood on him. ”You’re taking me job hunting.” Noel said in such a chipper manner that Jaxon glared at her. It wasn’t like Noel to be chipper. No, Jaxon’s little sister via adoption was just a brat, a bitch on her good days. She was selfish and didn’t let anyone tell her what to do. She was very much an acquired taste and she never did anything she didn’t have to so why the fuck was she awake so early or looking for a job? ”Here. I want to go to this one first.” She said, extending a piece of paper out with a couple of business names on it and pointing to ‘up in arms’. Jaxon entered the directions into his GPS and went, grumbling. ”Let it be known from this moment forward…I disown you.” He grumbled but Noel just sat silently in her chair and Jaxon couldn’t help but steal a glance at her. God she must have been pregnant or something. That was the only thing he could see for such a change in behavior. She was either pregnant and trying to save money for an abortion without anyone knowing or she was pregnant and actually intended on keeping the kid or some bloke bashed her in the head. If the latter were the case, Jaxon wasn’t sure if he should shake the man’s hand or beat him to an inch of his life. Maybe a little of both. Jaxon made all the turns and parked the car, looking at the shop and back at her. ”A tattoo parlor? Mom’s going to have a fit. Dad too.” He informed her but she just smiled and climbed out of the car, not waiting for him. She opened the door and looked around. Some girls might have played up the cute and brushed their hair behind their ears looking shy but not Noel. When she got nervous, she started fiddling with things. She should have brought a drumstick or something cause fuck this was nerve racking, especially when the deathly handsome man turned around and spoke to her. God he resembled her uncle Holden… ”I was wondering if you had any job openings.” She said, proud that she’d mastered the ability to hide her nervousness. Noel watched him expectantly, waiting for some acknowledgement and an reply.

i don't know what to do when I have nothing to prove

[gabe]

Gabe looked at the woman as she stood there. He'd been expecting a few things to come out of her mouth. Maybe that she was looking for a tattoo or a piercing, but what he hadn't been expecting to come out of her mouth was exactly what she had wound up asking him. Any job offerings? Christ, had someone plucked her right out of his mind and plopped her down right there in front of his shop to come in and save the freaking day? But now, there were a few questions that he had to pause and ask himself. He wasn't about to jump up and hire the first person to come along just because they had come along to begin with. He had a reputation with his shop that he damned well wanted to keep as good as it was. Some days his reputation with his art seemed to be the only thing he had left going for him.

"That depends entirely." He said, leaning against the counter as he paused a moment to drag a pad of paper over in his direction. He grabbed a pen and tapped the point of it against the pad of paper as he watched her a moment. "Are you an artist? A piercer? Have any experience working in a shop before? Or are you just looking to be generalized help for the time being?" He asked. Gabe didn't have a problem taking on an apprentice or anything of the sort, so long as they wound up pulling their weight around the shop and could actually prove to be useful.

He paused a moment when he realized he hadn't even introduced himself in the moment. "Shit. Sorry..." He offered her his hand a moment later. "Gabe Anderson... I own this joint here. And you are...?" He paused a moment, waiting for her to respond before he got right down to business again. "I'm going to be blunt with you. We're busy as hell here and I really do need the extra help at this point, but it's not going to be easy work and you'll probably be working crazy hours if you can manage it... The shop doesn't open until noon and it closes at two in the morning during the summer, spring and fall and midnight in the winter. I sincerely hope you're a nighthawk if you're planning on working here."

He also sincerely hoped that he hadn't just wound up scaring her away with everything he'd just gone and said, but he needed to be blunt with her before she wound up considering taking the job. He didn't need someone sticking around here that'd wind up wasting his time in the long run. He needed someone that would help out and work out. Besides... it wasn't like he was a shitty employer. He paid anyone who worked under him pretty damned well because he knew how crappy it was when you were getting into the industry.

[NOEL BEAUMONT]

[/style][style=width=400px; background-color: #C9837B; padding: 10px; font-family: wire one; color: white; font-size: 30px; text-align: right; width: 400px; line-height: 110%; letter-spacing: 2px;]i think i'm losing, i think i'm lost

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color:#234880; padding:0px;] Yes, Noel felt that most days she was an answer to the prayers of the general population. Ok, not really but she still would have said something like that had she known what he was thinking. Probably would have flirted a bit and lost her chance at the job entirely but seriously, with arms like Gabe’s all tattoo’d and beautiful, it was a wonder she wasn’t trying to take his clothes off where he stood. If all the merchandise matched what she was seeing, fuck Noel wanted on that. She let her eyes trail over the man before her before lifting back to meet his gaze, giving her best impression of a sweet smile; she tilted her head as he inquired after her intentions and desires…well not really her desires since she would desire to have the man in bed or at the very least in a back room somewhere… Oh Noel. You can be such a dirty little slut. ”Tattooist.” She said promptly. There was no way that Noel was about to do general office work. She’d probably murder someone in an hour if she was stuck doing shit like that. ”And I wouldn’t trust me with a piercing gun.” She said, a smile curling her lips as she laughed a little. It was true, putting a piercing gun in her hand wasn’t the best of ideas but she still laughed it off as if she were truly joking. ”Nice to meet you Gabe. I’m Noel Beaumont.” She said, taking his hand. This was one of those moments when she set aside the flirty gazes and the joking to introduce herself. She gave him a firm, confident handshake and a little smile. She listened as he confessed that they needed help and she nodded. ”Let me be blunt with you.” She started, giving him a little grin. ”We just moved to town and I know no one, I have no life and I have no friends. I would much rather sit around here with a gun than sit at home with a remote. I rarely see the light of morning unless the sun’s coming up as I go to bed and I’m good.” She stated confidently, looking over her shoulder and sighing as she eyes Jaxon outside having a smoke. ”Pardon me.” Noel turned and went to the door, opening it and grabbing Jaxon’s sleeve, tugging the man in as he tried to inhale on last puff of his cancer stick, flicking it out the closing door and looking around a little confused. ”If you want to see any of my work, these are all mine..” She said, gesturing to her brother and nudging the larger man closer so her potential employer could see that she was indeed decent with a gun,

i don't know what to do when I have nothing to prove

[gabe]

Gabe nodded a moment when she said that she was a tattooist. That suited him well enough. He desperately needed to hire on a few more staff as it was. He arched a brow at her when she said that she wouldn't trust herself with a piercing gun though. That didn't bother him overly much as it was. Piercings weren't a good chunk of their work, really. While they certainly did get a fair number of customers in for that particular thing, piercings didn't take nearly so long to do as a tattoo did. That being said, he could still managed to cope with what he had going on in the shop and who he had working for him. "We'll just keep it safely out of your hands then, huh?" He smirked a little bit.

"Nice to meet you too." He murmured when she introduced herself. She basically laid all the cards out there on the table for him in the next moment with what she said. Gabe braced his arms on the counter in front of him as he looked at her. She claimed she was good, but obviously, he wanted the chance to see her work. He was just starting to wonder what kind of an artist came to a tattoo shop looking for work without a portfolio in hand when she pardoned herself from him and bolted out the door for a second to grab hold of the arm of a guy who was standing just beyond it. Gabe blinked at the pair of them for a moment as Noel nudged the other man closer.

He headed around to the other side of the counter and looked over the man's arms. "Nothing like being put on the spot, huh Bro?" He asked with a slight smirk. He nodded, given what he was seeing and then looked back up at her. "Can you come in for a test run? Seeing as you're not actually submitting a full portfolio to me, I'm not going to say you're hired right off the bat and expect everything to be just fucking peachy." He said pretty bluntly. "I can see you do decent work, but I need to see how you handle shit in the parlor." He said simply enough. "So if you want the chance... let me know what day you can come in and stick around for a few hours."

[NOEL BEAUMONT]

[/style][style=width=400px; background-color: #C9837B; padding: 10px; font-family: wire one; color: white; font-size: 30px; text-align: right; width: 400px; line-height: 110%; letter-spacing: 2px;]i think i'm losing, i think i'm lost

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color:#234880; padding:0px;] ”Nothing at all.” Jaxon replied to Gabriel, looking pointedly at his sister. ”I’m not taking off my shirt brat.” He said, looking down at Noel and batting her hands away as she tried to peel up his shirt to reveal the tattoos beneath the covering. Noel looked up at him with her big, indignant eyes and Jaxon just pouted back at her with a furrowed brow. They held the glare for a brief moment and then, after Gabe told her she would have to try out, Jaxon laughed brightly like the funniest joke had just been told. Noel looked up at him confused like. ”Thought you were a shoe in didn’t ya?” He laughed, nudging her. ”Daddy’s not going to get you anywhere this time is he?” He laughed. Noel shoved him some. ”Shut your face! I don’t need dad to get me a job.” She said, making the bigger man stumble to the side a bit as she stepped on his toe and laid her weight into him. This didn’t stop Jaxon from laughing but Noel decided to ignore him. ”That’s fine.” She said, giving him a sweet smile as if he hadn’t just witnessed her and her brother’s immature display of sibling rivalry. ”Just let me know when. As I mentioned before, I have no life so whenever is fine with me.” She nodded. Noel mused her fingers through her hair a bit, glancing over at her brother as he composed himself and walked back over to them. ”Sorry about that man.” He said, extending his hand as he apologized for his lack of decorum. ”Jaxon Beaumont. This one’s brother.” He introduced himself, flicking Noel on the head some, watching her lips pucker in another pout as she folded her arms across her chest and fought back her temper. When it came to her temper, Jaxon knew exactly how to light her fuse and he took every opportunity he could to light it. His antics now were just an attempt to make her blow the interview in hopes of keeping her at home where he could keep an eye on her. Noel knew that she had a thing for guys with tattoos and she was twice as likely to come home knocked up if she worked at a tattoo parlor than if she worked elsewhere. ”Adopted brother.” She clarified poutily. Jaxon chuckled a bit. ”Adopted brother.” He said, shrugging. ”Cause we look so much alike.”

i don't know what to do when I have nothing to prove