Black and grey realistic octopus tattoo with a tribal pattern above it on the lower arm.

Octopus with tribal pattern on a forearm

Realism · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A black and grey octopus with shaded, stippled tentacles curls down the limb, its eye rendered in fine detail. Above the head, a dark tribal-style panel with swirling patterns frames the octopus. The shading is smooth and the composition runs vertically along the limb against a plain grey background.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Ada,

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The octopus has come back to the lower steps again, I'm nearly sure it's the same one, because it has a notch out of its left arm where the gulls had at it last spring. I leave it the crab shells from the store-room bucket and it takes them without fuss, turning each one over with a slow patience I've never managed myself. Mr Pascoe on the mainland says they can open jars, and I believe him now, having watched it work the lid off the paraffin tin on Tuesday.

Last week the relief boat was three days late and we were on half rations. I told Tom it was a bad sign, a creature that comes up to the rock when the weather's turning. He laughed and said it only wanted feeding. Then the glass dropped and the swell broke right over the landing, and when the mist cleared the octopus was still there on the wet stone, its arms spread out like the carved panels on the chapel door, watching me with that black, unblinking eye.

The boat came in on Thursday with flour and a crate of lamp oil, and I was too glad to be sensible about anything. Tom says the thing must have been waiting for us to be sensible, and I suppose it was. Since then it has left no marks on the step but a faint pattern of suckers, neat as stitching, which I have scrubbed at twice and cannot shift.

I've decided to leave them. Come out in June if the crossing is kind and you'll see them for yourself.

Your loving brother, Samuel

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