aeris-flores

[aeris-flores]

Series: anything you’re planning on binge-watching this summer?

"I'm not much of a binge-watcher. I'm actually not much of a television show watcher either. I don't go crazy for movies or new music releases, but if someone binge watches a show and I'm hanging with them, then sure, I'll watch. I don't go out of my way to do it, though."

[aeris-flores]

ZZZ: what’s your go-to sleeping position?

"I like to lay on my side, specifically my left side, arm tucked under my pillow, and my blanket can not be pulled up over my shoulders. I would feel like I'm suffocating. It's why I sleep with nothing, or if anything, my underwear, because it's otherwise smothering.

Alternatively, if I fall asleep on the couch? Then on my back, propped up a bit."

[aeris-flores]

"Is that what people reminisce on when it comes New York? Their favorite deli?"

Aeris scoffs, though it is nothing short of teasing. He's been there, and the food is worlds better than what can be offered on the west coast. But the last time he had gone was over two years ago when Bradley Banner was still sticking around Aurora Bay, and offering Aeris a taste of his old life here and there.

"Shop closed, finally. That pipe in the back room was a ticking time bomb, so I'm more surprised it lasted this long. Think I found a place, but the paperwork needs to go through. That's about all the update I have for you. You have something more exciting than a deli you got to see out there?"

@lydsinlacee

for: open! (0/5) location: a walking path during the evening @aurorabaystarter

"Yeah! It was pretty cool!" She smiles. "I really missed New York, I got to see some old friends, sit in on some conferences, went back to my favorite deli." Lydia babbles for a moment, pausing to let Gus sniff a bush before continuing on. "I am glad to be back though. I missed my bed and I forgot how much better I sleep without having to block out all the noise."

"What about you? How did your mid-summer go?"

(gif place holder i just wanna die)

[aeris-flores]

"I know. That's why I'm knocking," Aeris states, as if it's obvious. Another point in time (a year and a half ago, about) he may have just barged in, but there has been enough of a shift in his and Lorna's relationship that he feels he is treading on thin ice.

One misstep and he'll be under icy waters again, and he isn't sure this time he will find his way out.

Still, her surprise and lack of welcoming doesn't stop his slanted grin and the way he leans into her open doorway, his shoulder pressed up against the frame. "I think I secured a place for the shop. Right in town square, too." The foot traffic would do wonders for them in the tourist season.

"I may have also taken a few celebratory shots-" More so, they were taken because space hunting had been a nightmare, and now that it has come to a possible end, he needed the relief. "-and decided I shouldn't celebrate alone. Are you going to invite me in, or you gonna keep looking at me like I have two heads?"

@dilcne

closed: @aeris-flores location: lorna's front door

The thumping was enough to make her rise from her bed, taking a quick glance at her clock on her bedside table to see the late night time illuminating the darkness of her room.

She braced herself, as she opted to shove on a pair of shorts and a vest top, and made her way towards her front door. There wer eonly very few reasons someone would be knocking at this time, something was wrong, someone had died, she was about to fall victim to the Bay's secret serial killer, or...

"Aeris." Her tone was surprised, to match the expression on her face. "What the hell are you doing here? You live upstairs." She said, pointing towards the ceiling.

[aeris-flores]

"California is an at will state. If they're a shitty apprentice or artist, I can just give them the boot without notice."

It's something Aeris hasn't had to do, fortunately. His time as owner has been too short, and all he has had was employees walk in and out the door. But when one artist leaves, another will eventually join them.

"That's boring," he scoffs. "But sure, hang it up, if that's what'll make you feel better." If Aeris hadn't learned long enough ago, he'd consider throwing her a line under the guise of helping her 'get over' Tyler. It's only knowing that she'd say 'no' that keeps him from saying a single word.

Aeris waves to one of the tattoo chairs, stationed in between a divider that the hotel offered them to help with privacy between clients. "I have plenty of time, just tell me where you want them and take a seat." It won't take long, either. "I'm looking, that's for sure, but I don't know the first thing about it. All a learning experience and all. I'll have to shoot a text to an old friend."

Faye had in many ways guided Aeris through his obstacles, and by his parents' words, 'enabled', but she would know. "I'm sure it'll sort itself. It isn't like Aurora Bay is overflowing with tattoo shops. There's room for us, it's just finding it."

@thecelestexzhao

Celeste rolled her eyes at him, humming, "Despite how petty we know you are, I doubt it. Too much paperwork." She assumed anyways. Given he was the owner, it wasn't like he needed to run background checks and involve HR. He could probably hire someone off the street. But still. "Maybe I'll hang it up and stop fishing for a while altogether." Her voice quietened a bit as she said it, almost like she was saying it more to herself than anything.

"Listen, I don't want to be eighty with my own saggy tits, looking at perky, potentially blown-out ones on my skin." She argued back before nudging at him, "Why don't you get them though, if you think that way?" Unless he already did; not like he'd given her a tattoo tour. Looking over the flash sheet then and the one he pointed to before nodding, "Sure. I like the fire one too," She pointed higher up on the sheet, "Have time for both?" She wondered, thinking maybe inside and outside of an ankle before she hummed, looking around them, "Yeah, I think rental would be more of a headache in the long-run. Hopefully you find something soon? The town's perpetually expanding it feels like, so I'm sure there will be spots opening up."

[aeris-flores]

Who made you feel most anxious when you were a kid?

“I don’t recall ever feeling anxious as a kid. Never really had a care in the world about much, or a thought about anything. None of us did. The Flores brood was full of confident little brats. We weren’t calm or peaceful, but we weren’t sitting there worried and overthinking about anything, that’s for sure.”

[aeris-flores]

[ 💭 ]ㅤ.ㅤdo they believe they’re worthy of being loved ?

“Yeah. Have you looked at me? Doesn’t mean I have to love them back, though.”

[aeris-flores]

What aspect of your life are you most delusional about?

“Delusion? I don’t know her.”

[aeris-flores]

“If they’re an awful artist, I’ll send them your way to get them out sooner,” he throws back. Aeris doesn’t mean it, even if he doesn’t understand the desire to lock someone down like that. He waves out the door as if to the town and adds, “Plenty of fish out and about. You’ll catch one. Can even go the catch and release route.”

He shrugs and flips through the flash designs, noting her requirements. “Bo-ring,” Aeris sing songs, until he stops on a page and points at the tongue sticking out in the bottom corner. “Haven’t found a place, yet. I didn’t realize how hard it was to buy business space, but I really don’t want to go the rental route again. What do you think of this design?”

@thecelestexzhao

Celeste's smile fell a bit at his comment, lips morphing into a bit of a scowl as she huffed at him. Tyler leaving....it sucked. It sucked opening herself up to someone else, only for them to have to leave. Again. At least this time she got an apology and a goodbye, even if it hurt just the same. "I'll just have to wait and see who takes the next vacant spot. Third time's the charm after all." She shot back, words laced with sarcasm, hoping it hid the sadness that still lingered just the same.

"No tits or euphemisms." She told him as she dropped her bag onto a nearby chair, taking a look around before finally settling back onto him. "You here for long? When's the new place opening?"

[aeris-flores]

"Seems to be the trend. Those who talk the most about wanting a tattoo never walk into a shop."

In which case, Ink Box is the better alternative. Temporary tattoos for wimps and posers, those who can't handle a needle in their skin or committing to something as permanent as the real thing. It's just about the only thing Aeris can commit to, outside of being an asshole.

"Maybe they would," he muses, now distracted by the way the design looks right there on Lorna's arm. He's excited, impatient even, as he starts to ready the table and the cushioned stand beside it. "You can handle a little bit of stinging. You have enough of a tolerance. But if you're really worried, I'll give you a lollipop so you don't pass out on me."

A pink lemonade dum dum is pulled from a drawer and handed over. "Here. Now lay on your stomach, your arm will rest on the cushion next to the table, and make sure you're comfortable because you'll be stuck that way for about twenty thirty minutes - assuming your skin doesn't fight me and takes to the ink."

@dilcne

Fine. Lorna would take that as a compliment, probably one of the fewer ones she didn't have to fish for. Not that Aeris ever really bit, unless there was something in it for him at the end - which recently, much to her dissatisfication, seemed to be lesser than she would have hoped for.

At his question of when she had decided to brave the needle, she replied with a simple shrug, as her eyes were too distracted wandering the room in search for the dreaded prick. At least it wasn't like being at the hospital where the weapons and tools of torture were laid out in clean sight.

"I guess I just always really wanted one, but never had the balls to do it. But life's too short, right?" She finally puts him in her view, leaving the question hanging - but she knows better than to expect him to read between the lines. "Besides, I hear a lot of people think those with tattoos are cool... maybe my secret admirer would think they're cool." It would definitely serve as a conversation starter, if she were to ever meet said person.

After he'd worked, she does as instructed, and takes a few steps towards the mirror. She examined the stencil, bending her arm in various poses. She liked it, maybe even enough to actually go through with this.

"Yeah, no, it's good. Especially if it's minimal pain." She commented, before taking a seat and turning her head away. "Do it. Just don't make me watch."

@aeris-flores

[aeris-flores]

“So, I don’t like to stick to typical henna designs when I get the creative freedom to experiment, but the design isn’t too intricate. Thicker lines would make it look blotchy and not at all pretty.”

And it isn’t that Aeris is aiming for flashy pretty, or something too floral. He tried to keep in mind Nira’s vibe, and covering them in petals and glitter isn’t the route he intends to take. He opens the first image: a crescent moon with a few scattered jasmine and hibiscus flowers that don’t take away from the base.

“So, I figure this can go on your upper arm or your quad, so you can cover it up easy with clothes, and that gives me a lot of space to expand.”

@nirawu

"Aeris Flores, always so diligent in his homework," Nira teases with a hint of airiness to their tone. Oftentimes people are met with a much less friendly demeanor, though Nira has been trying their best with the museum gig to be a little less frigid. Piercing was about creating art, focusing on people's minds and perceptions to bring ideas to life.

Touring, however, is just pointing out what people say about their own art. It's somewhat stifling for a person used to working with their hands, but it's also offered a freedom to pick up their camera more to take that creation to film.

"I'm happy to see what you've cooked up in that brain of yours before I start rattling off half-baked ideas."

@aeris-flores

[aeris-flores]

🍵 + ziggy!

“Ugh, fine. Only because I know he’d drag my name through the dirt if given the chance.

He was a good friend. Was. Until he decided it was easy to cut that off, all over one thing. I won’t call it a mistake, I made that choice, but if it wasn’t me, Maura would have fucked someone else. So I saved him time, and what did he do? Snip snip. I’d say maybe one day, big maybe, this could be resolved, but I’m not really feeling it. 

I try not to put that much energy into thinking about him, and it’s pretty easy considering I’m doing just fine without our friendship.”

@ziggykyeons

[aeris-flores]

🍵 + mack!

“First glance? Not my type of guy. Not sure why. We can get along just fine, we work together, but I don’t go out of my way to make plans with him, but that definitely is because of my unwillingness to hang out with my employees outside of work. He’s a weirdo, but I have to admit, his energy is contagious. It’s never a bad day in the shop if he’s working. 

That tattoo thing he did, though? To win a girl? Sure, it worked, but he’s out of his fucking mind. No one is worth that dedication and commitment. And I mean in the ‘permanently inked on his body’ kinda way. That is a forever commitment, unless they ever break-up, then maybe I’ll be doing a cover up.”

@mackmontgomery

[aeris-flores]

𝐟𝐨𝐱𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 : what lies has your muse told to protect themself or someone else? how far are they willing to go?

"I haven't kept track. It's hard to remember which were for good intentions, and which ones were lying just for the sake of it. I think most of them are the latter. But I will manipulate the details of a situation to get rid of any responsibility.

Accountability? Who is she?"

[aeris-flores]

🍵 + jordan

"Jordan is my own version of the white whale. I don't mean in that I long after her wistfully, I mean that I know she won't give me the time of day and is ever elusive, but I will still try to win her over because I think she'd be a good lay.

And she humors it, so much so it can be infuriating, and yet, she's got me tailing after her. I guess it's an ego rub for her, or maybe it's because I end up being somewhat of a doormat or a punching bag, or a combination of both.

It's a shame she's off the market. Not that that has ever stopped me before..."

@jordanmitchell

[aeris-flores]

"Oh, hey, stranger," Aeris greets her, surprised to see Celeste here with Tyler currently not in the building - or town for that matter. "It's all walk-ins today, and since the hotel is off the beaten path from the pride events going on, we're slow. I think I can squeeze you in."

Aeris looks around and adds in a tease, "Hope you're not thinking about chasing off another one of my artists. Mack's taken, and I'm not sure Nina is the relationship type." He pulls the sheets out to look them over, mentally picking out the designs. "Tell me your hard 'no's when it comes to designs, and I'll give you my top three."

@thecelestexzhao

closed - @aeris-flores

where - pride flash tattoos

Celeste hadn't gotten a new tattoo in a while, and when she'd heard about the shop closing (and its subsequent flash event happening at the hotel) she decided to go check it out-both to support the shop and to donate to a good cause.

"Have time for another walk-in?" She spoke up in lieu of greeting, giving Aeris an easy little smile, "I'll even let you give me some of your own choices to pick from on the flash sheets."

[aeris-flores]

Aeris lets a smirk curl his lips in a way that isn't subtle, cocksure and slanted. "A friend. Sure." Not for the fact that he can't pinpoint Zana as a friend, exactly, just another tail he is chasing as she entertains it, but because Jordan seems interested in that little factoid.

That said smirk falls to a look of annoyance, and then Aeris is rolling his eyes. "You snuck us into the wrong apartment, Jordan. I had every right to throw a fit."

Aside from simply entering the wrong place, the person who rented is was asleep in their bed. That could've ended poorly for him.

"And not for nothing, there isn't much for me to be confident about when it comes to you taking the fall for it. You'd leave me in the dust, and I have a, uh." He winces and runs his tongue over his bottom teeth when he hesitates. "A previous charge, so that wouldn't look great for me."

The details of which really don't matter, and Aeris hasn't wandered back to his parents' to violate the restraining order. He has since left them in the rear view, but that doesn't mean it would bode well for him to get caught in another breaking and entering situation.

"I don't know. My friend gives me the time of day, if you catch my drift. Not that you can do that now, being shackled to someone."

@jordanmitchell

"A friend? That must be one hell of a friend for you to be their uber." Jordan was more curious about this friend he went out of his way for and how many others he had on his rolodex.

They'd always focused on her dating life and hadn't had the opportunity to delve into whatever, or whomever, he was doing.

"We kiss and make up every other month." Except the bump in the road that was his prison stint. "Never say never— but does that mean you've had a change of heart now because you made quite a fit about it last time I roped you in."

She watched him and smirked. "You haven't been the best partner in crime. You dragged your feet every step of the way so I'm thinking you're not really devoted enough. But maybe this friend of yours is more your speed."