I want to write a new chapter for my Sentinel fanfic to celebrate getting 500+ hits, but I'm so stuck. Help! How do I showcase their magical tattoos? What Dangerous Situation™️ should I use, that forces one of them to rescue the other? Should I let other characters see the tattoos? I really need suggestions! Pretend it's your otp that has the tattoos. The tattoo represents their soulmate's animal Spirit Guide. In times of great need, the tattoo moves and helps the wearer. Kind of like the Mini Maui tattoo in Moana™️. Except they're a panther tattoo on Blair, and a wolf tattoo on Jim. The guys have no control over where on their bodies the tattoos decide to travel to, so they can't always keep them hidden under their clothes. The positioning is related to what's going on with their soulmate, and their relationship. The usual spot is resting over their hearts. The guys are currently both Detectives in the PD's Major Crimes department, which should give you an idea of the sorts of situations they find themselves in. Also Jim is ex-Special Forces, and Blair is an anthropologist who has travelled the world on many expeditions, as well as a modern-day Shaman. I can include an excerpt from the story, if you think that'll help. Otherwise, for now I'll just try to keep it short and sweet.
A very intriguing idea, living animated tattoos. It reminds me of... I'm not sure but I think it was Babel-17 by Samuel Delany. If it wasn't that book it was one I read at just about the same time in the school library. I only vaguely remember reading it when I was young, but instead of tattoos, people had small living beings attached to themselves. I think just like a head and maybe little tiny arms? I remember one was like a little gargoyle or dragon head, and could it talk? Seems right. Not sure at all anymore, I need to see if I can find it and read it again. Not even sure I have the title right. Sorry, this doesn't help with your dilemma, I know, but I just wanted to share. Edit—reading the Look Inside on Amazon, I see it is indeed Babel-17, and the practice is called Cosmetisurgery.
In Sherilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter books, the character Acheron Parthenopaeus has an animated tattoo, which represents a demon which is bound to him. She can take corporeal form with his permission, or in emergencies to protect him. Jim & Blair's tattoos can take on a type of form where the animals appear to be real and solid, but are actually insubstantial like ghosts, and they're visible only to Jim & Blair. That was their original form, before they became tattoos. They appeared as Guides when one of the guys, usually Jim, had a big life-changing decision to make, or as a warning when there was a serious threat to Jim & Blair's partnership.
