Writing stories is a kind of magic

Posted on Sun Jan 4th, 2026 @ 2:21am by Black Market Jemison (Jemi) Ajayi

Mission: Tis the Season...
Location: Inkheart Tattoo Studio
Timeline: Current / six months after 'Closing in on the Moonflower'

Jemi began cleaning and sterilizing her tools as she recited after-care instructions to her last client of the day, a tall muscular woman who worked maintenance on the docking ring.

The client rolled her eyes and buttoned up her shirt, hiding the new whimsical cat-mermaid tattoo nestled between the woman's ample breasts. "Done this a few times, ya know Jemi. Can't wait to show this one off to my crew." She tucked a roll of credits into the front pocket of Jemi's apron.

"If any of your crew feels inspired to get a tattoo, send them my way," replied Jemi. Inkheart tattoo studio was supposed to be a legal front for her not-legal business assessing Earth-That-Was artifacts, and – when pressed – creating forgeries. But, as word spread, this legal business kept growing even though the artist herself wore no ink. The bell jingled as Jemi closed the door behind the dock worker, put up the retro 'closed' sign, then returned to cleaning her tools and workspace.

Her studio was quite small compared to other nearby businesses. The storefront window looked out into Skyplex Retail Bazaar, it was equipped with a tiny washroom, two reclining work table/chairs, one wall was covered with her original flash art, and the other wall displayed a growing collection of commissioned-ink stencils. A rack of after-care lotions and ointments sat on the counter.

Once her favorite tattoo gun, rotary, needles, and palette were cleaned and sterilized, she packed all of her trade tools into a steal case, slid it into the safe, and locked it up. If a gang of kids broke in here, they wouldn't be tempted to tattoo each other.

Jemi had been a resident of Greenleaf Skyplex for six months now. At times it felt like she'd been here forever, and at other times she felt like she'd just arrived.

Those first few days on the Skyplex had been insanely chaotic. Meeting Oksanna then 'Uncle' Zeno Petrovich. Then the attack on that Alliance diǎo, what's his name? – oh yeah, Carnahan. Jemi hadn't really understood what was happening on the Skyplex at the time, but because of it she met Cassie. Next thing she knew, Zeno was telling her and Cassie that Natalya Petrovich had been kidnapped, and sent them to find and rescue her. Luckily they did, and Natalya was okay.

Jemi had been smitten with Cassie at the time. But Jemi had known that a heavy-drinking, gun slinging, gambler was not the settling down type, so it hadn't come as a surprise when Cassie announced she was leaving the Skyplex and moving on after only a couple weeks.

Jemi suspected the Petrovich Bratva had something to do with her streamlined application for a shop, and inexplicably qualifying for residential quarters large enough to include her art studio and artifact refurbishment and repair laboratory.

She liked the individual members of the Petrovich Bratva she knew, and thought of them unironically as honest criminals. Unlike the Londinium Museum's corrupt board of directors, they didn't hide what they were behind polite masks and legal loopholes. Nevertheless, Jemi did her best to stay off Petrovich radar.

Hanging up her apron, she stuffed the wad of credits into a pocket of her blue jeans. Her stomach grumbled - time to head to the hub and buy dinner. Jemi pulled her leather jacket on over her solid black tee, grabbed her bag, and slipped out the door, locking it behind her.


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"Writing stories is a kind of magic, too." ~Cornelia Funke, Inkheart