Colour tattoo of purple butterflies and curling scrolls with black outlines across a person's upper back, beside a black bra strap.

Purple butterflies and swirls on upper back

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The tattoo shows three purple butterflies with black outlines, joined by flowing black scroll lines and small curled tendrils that run diagonally across the upper back. Soft purple shading sits behind the scrolls and butterflies, giving a gentle halo effect. The image is a close, angled shot of the skin, with a black bra strap and lace visible at the edges.

Back Butterfly Swirl Scroll Vine Tendril

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Frank,

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The blacksmith finished the gate on Tuesday, so the lane has a proper entrance at last, and Mr Pryce has stopped complaining about the cows getting into his marrow beds. You'd like it. He hammered the scrolls himself, curl after curl, and the ends turn back on themselves like the tendrils on Mother's old sweet pea. Every time I walk past I think of you pressing your face to the glass of the wireless shop back in '47.

Something else is odd. The buddleia by the well has come up purple this summer, though Dad swore it would only ever be white. Three of them settled on it on Saturday, big wings edged in black as if someone had gone over them with a fine pen. I stood in the lane with the shopping and watched until my arms ached. Mrs Oakley came out and said they were the sort that blow in off the boats from Holland, but they were not. I know a living thing when I see one.

I haven't told Mum. She'd only say the sun has got into my head, which it may have.

Write back soon, and tell me whether they have butterflies in Hamburg or only ash. If you see a purple one, catch it in your cap and send it home in a tin. I'll have the pins ready.

Love, Dora