Black sword and eye tattoo with spiky rays above a black angular rune on the inner forearm, set against a red tribal-style background.

Sword, eye and rune on a forearm

Forearm · Mixed · Photo

A black sword passes through an eye with spiky rays above a larger angular black symbol on a forearm. The linework is bold with solid black fill, and the eye and rays have sharp, tapered edges. Behind the motifs, a red wash with pale tribal-like swirls fills the area, and the image is shot straight on against a plain background.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Nell had the red gel on the lamps for the third time that week, because the big lamp over the stage would only burn the colour she wanted if she coaxed the bulb with a folded beer mat. Below her, the sprung floor was already taking the weight of the Saturday crowd, and Mr Pryce from the council was asking why the ceiling boss above the bandstand had a painted eye on it.

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The eye had been there since before the war, a plaster sunburst with rays like scorched feathers, and somebody had driven a brass sword point-first through its centre so it looked as if it were winking at the dancers. Nell had never liked it. Her father said the old ballroom had been a chapel once, and the sword was a carpenter's joke for whoever looked up at the wrong moment.

On the last night before the hall was sold, she climbed the ladder with a tin of black paint and a rag, meaning to scrub the eye out. Halfway up she saw the rune cut into the timber beam beneath it, angular and deep, and the red wash of the old footlights had worked into the grain so the pale swirls looked alive. She dipped the rag, then didn't. She painted the rays a little thicker instead, and came down with black on her knuckles and the eye watching her go.

The buyers never painted over it. Pryce's son mended the floor and left the sword where it was, and on Saturday nights, when the lamps went red, Nell swore the eye had its lid half closed, as though it had seen the whole town dance and decided to keep the secret.

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