Black and grey realism tattoo of two cats' heads hanging from fine puppet strings on the upper arm, one wearing a bow tie.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Marionette cats on an upper arm

Realism · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

Two cat heads hang from a horizontal crossbar by thin black strings, like marionettes. The fur and eyes are shaded in soft grey tones with fine hatching, and the bow tie beneath the left cat is rendered in solid black. The design fills the outer upper arm, with the strings running across the skin and the cats' faces sitting at different heights.

Realism Upper arm Cat Cat head Bow tie

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Nell, the crossbar split again during the second house, so the Fenwick cats went on at the last minute strung with baling twine instead of the good black cord. Mr Odell swore at the drizzle for a full minute before he would let me touch the strings.

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The cats are the only things in the act nobody asked for. Odell carved their heads from lime wood the winter you left and painted them grey as wet slate, then fitted them with bow ties because he said a cat in a tie is harder to dislike. They hang so the faces sit at different heights, one watching the bus stop on the Headrow, the other tipped up at the lamps. When the crowd thins I work the strings so they seem to be arguing.

Tonight a man in a wet overcoat tossed a coin into the hat and asked who was pulling them. I said nobody, and he laughed, but the left cat's string went slack in my hand right then, and its bow tie slid sideways as if it had been waiting for someone to notice.

I packed them up at midnight under the bridge while the streetlamps buzzed. Odell's fingers were too stiff for the knots, so I picked them loose myself and left the crossbar in the cart for the morning. If you write back, tell me whether a puppet that has never had a master can still be made to dance. I would like to know before I find out the hard way.