Black and grey realism tattoo of a compass framed by two roses on the side of a thigh, shown in a studio.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Compass and roses on a thigh

Realism · Thigh · Black and grey · Photo

A compass with a star-shaped rose at its centre sits in a circular frame, with a shaded rose above and a second rose below. The linework is soft and the shading is smooth, giving the roses and compass depth and a realistic finish. The design is entirely black and grey and fills the thigh, with the studio background visible at the edges.

Realism Thigh Compass Rose Star

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Right, sit down, you lot. The chairs in the sports hall were never built for grown adults, I know that. Forty years since we left Hollin Road Comprehensive, and nobody here has ever heard what became of the brass compass Mr Atherton kept in his desk drawer. He said it had belonged to his grandfather, a ship's chandler in Whitby, and that it pointed true only if you were honest about where you'd come from.

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Nobody believed him, least of all Dennis Pryor, who swapped it for a packet of Polos in the fourth form and swore the needle had spun like a top. Dennis went on to sell carpets in Bradford and died owning nothing but a pocket watch. Yes, Brenda, I know he's not here. That's rather the point of my story.

The compass came back to the school in 1987, in the lost property box, and that is where Ruth Okonedo found it the summer before she left for Leeds. She took it home and watched the needle swing away from north and settle on the rose bush by the bike sheds, the one we all climbed and bled on. She dug there. Under the roots was a tin with forty pounds in coins and a note in Atherton's hand telling whoever found it to go where the needle wants and come back for the rest.

So go on, check your watches. Mine says it's time we walked over to the bike sheds, because the tin is still there, and Ruth left a name inside for each of you.