Black and grey realism style rose surrounded by ornate banding on the upper arm, with small script beneath it.

Black and grey rose with banding on upper arm

Realism · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

A large black and grey rose sits at the centre of a circular design, with petals shaded in soft greys and dark outlines. Concentric bands with lettering-like marks wrap around the rose, and a line of small script runs along the bottom edge. The image is a close, slightly angled photo of the upper arm against a plain background, with the tattoo filling most of the frame.

Realism Upper arm Rose Script Lettering

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tomas,

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The post cart came over the Kettle Gap on Tuesday with the snow still packed to the axles, and the carter swore he would not cross again before April. I have the wheel of cord you asked for, rolled tight the way Father taught us, its outer bands stamped with the mill's marks so the ropers can tell one lot from another. You will laugh at how thick it is. Mrs Ormerod says it will hold a loaded mule over the gorge if you tie it off at the old iron ring, not the new one, which cracked in the frost.

The rose is still on the cairn by the chapel, where you carved it the summer before you left. Someone has packed moss into its petals, and a child has pressed a blue bead into the centre. I went up on Sunday with the lantern, meaning to scrape the lichen from the rim, and found I could not. The letters around the edge have worn so soft that I read them by feel, the way Father read rope in the dark, and they say what they always said: come down before the light goes.

I am sending the cord with the carter's boy, who has promised it will reach you before the thaw. Tie the knot twice and check it each morning. If the rope fails, it will not be the cord's fault. You know who taught you that knot, and you know who will be waiting at the bottom of the path with the lantern lit.

Your sister, Ada