Tattoos

In the bustling heart of Brisbane, known for its vibrant art scene and bustling cafes, lived a woman named Tessa, a loyal patron of a popular local tattoo parlour. An ardent lover of body art, Tessa held an impressive array of tattoos, each one symbolising a special moment, a memory, or simply her eccentric love for Australian fauna. One particular afternoon, she decided to get a new tattoo of her favourite bird – a kookaburra.

She contacted her usual professional tattooist based in Brisbane and booked an appointment. The tattoo parlour was abuzz with patrons keen to try out their latest offering – a revolutionary new ink dubbed the ‘Lively Ink’. This supposed breakthrough, they claimed, would bring tattoos to life, offering a dynamic, never-seen-before experience. Intrigued, Tessa decided to give it a try, unknowingly opening a door to a realm of the uncanny.

Upon getting her new kookaburra tattoo, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It was a beautifully stylised image, the embodiment of a kookaburra in flight, delicately etched onto her forearm. But by the next day, her tattoo seemed to have taken the ‘lively’ claim quite literally. Her once static kookaburra was flapping its wings, its motion constrained within the boundaries of the inked outline.

As days passed, she reached out to fellow patrons of the parlour, discovering she was not alone. Many of them experienced their tattoos shifting and morphing, tales of inked roses blooming, or waves curling around an inked lighthouse. Concern escalated quickly, and their sense of awe was rapidly replaced with trepidation. Soon, the tattoo parlour was flooded with customers seeking tattoo removal services near Brisbane, desperate to restore normalcy.

Rather than panicking, Tessa resolved to delve deeper, to figure out what had caused this extraordinary situation. And so, with determination in her heart and a flapping kookaburra on her arm, she embarked on her quest to understand the truth behind the ‘Lively Ink’. The path she trod was a treacherous one, but Tessa was resolute. She knew she had to find answers, not just for herself but for everyone who had become a living canvas for this inked mystery.

Hey everyone,

Thanks for staying by my side these last couple of years. Although I haven’t made any blog posts since I got my first tattoo memorialising my brother all those years ago, I have been checking in on this account every few months ever since. I swear every time that I logged in over the past few years I would have a message from one of you guys asking how I am and telling me you’re thinking of me. It really helped and made me feel like there are people out there that I can turn to if I ever need them. It’s the small stuff like that which goes a long way.

I thought I would post an update for you all now and let you know how my last few years have been. I’ll admit, I’ve had my ups and downs. It was really hard losing my brother and it has been really hard to move on from. I don’t know if I really ever will.

What has helped is knowing that I have my brother’s favourite saying tattooed on my body forever. I take it with me everywhere I go (obviously) and I feel like I’m living by that phrase now and that he’s guiding me throughout my life. I’m so grateful to the realism tattoo artist in the Brisbane CBD that I visited all those years ago. She gave me something that no one else will ever be able to give me, and I wish I hadn’t moved away so that I could go back and thank her for everything. She knew at the time how important it was that the tattoo was a perfect representation of my brother, but she didn’t know how important the tattoo would be in my recovery. I am eternally grateful for her work. 

If any of my readers are grieving, I recommend talking to a tribal tattooist or whichever style you like best and getting a memory of your loved one imprinted on your body. I can safely say that it really helps.