CHERRY BOMB

Joselia Lopes Silva. Twenty-five year old tattoo artist. Penned by Nikki

[joseliaaa]

I. BIOGRAPHY II. CONNECTIONS III. MUSINGS IV. PINTEREST V. STILLWATER

Stone Age love and strange sounds too / Come on, baby, let me get to you / Bad nights causing teenage blues / Get down ladies, you've got nothin' to lose

[joseliaaa]

closed starter, at San Bernardino County Jail, 3:02 p.m. on july 6, 1966; @bellstrom

It hadn't quite been a year since Joselia got the call about Daddy; he'd wrapped his truck around a tree late last night-- yes, they were sure it was him 'cause nobody else in town drove a rusting, burnt orange monstrosity. She'd lost something that day. Not Daddy, specifically, but whatever pieces of her childhood Joselia still had in her grasp. It was well and truly gone. She couldn't go back to Mama, and Daddy was locked up for at least a couple of years, given his priors.

If it wasn't for Ramone and the MC, she surely would've been on the streets. They'd taken her in, no questions asked, and shown her the true meaning of family-- how in the end, blood didn't really mean much other than who you'd shed it for. She wanted that for everybody else in the world, and if she managed to find a good fit, then maybe it'd be like paying them back. Adding value, proving her place in the group.

That's what Benny was supposed to be. He fit the mold as far as Joselia could tell, and he obviously didn't know many people in town. It was supposed to be simple and mutually beneficial. Then he'd gone and fucked it all up. He snitched, the cardinal sin-- the fucking scarlet letter that was staining Jo, too. She was fuming in the stupid plastic seat in the stupid bland waiting room waiting for her stupid name to be called. Jo hardly finched when she went through security, shot a dirty look at the officer who probed her a little too liberally, and watched the door through narrowed eyes.

When another officer led Benny out, she allowed herself a fleeting moment of gratification at his surprise to see her. Joselia waited for the officer to move out of earshot before she leaned over the table, pressing palms to the cold steel and growling, "What the fuck were you thinking?" She spoke through gritted teeth, "After everything we-- after everything I did for you? You fucking rat." She glanced around the room before turning her fire back onto Benny, "You won't be in there forever, you know, and I'm won't forget this anytime soon. Fucking asshole. Did you even think?"

Jo leaned back, frustrated hands clenched into fists and she shrugged, disgust ticking her mouth downwards, "So? Got nothin' to say for yourself?"

[joseliaaa]

closed starter, at The Mint, half past ten p.m., with @psychedelicsunflwr Two vodka tonics in hand, Joselia pushed her way through the crowd and spilled onto the sticky table Phoenix had claimed for them. "Good news, the drinks are free thanks to our new friends," she announced, shooting a flirty grin over her shoulder at a group of already-drunk older men. The grin immediately dropped into an eyeroll when she turned back to her friend. "Bad news-- apparently vodka tonic is a ladies' drink. Something about staying 'trim'." She took a long swig despite her disgust, shrugging as if to communicate that free was free, after all.

Jo gestured to the band setting up on stage and asked, "You know them?" Phoenix usually did, in the same way Joselia's father used to. He could go on for hours talking about his favorite bands and their influences and their influences' influences. She never got tired of it, even now when she turned her curious gaze to Phoenix.

[hopefms]

hope pushed her thick sunglasses up as soon as she entered the store, looking around curiously. going to a tattoo parlor was not in her plans when she woke up that morning, hell, it wasn't in her plans ten minutes ago, but something had drawn her in. tattoos were not her thing, but she already felt so disconnected from the hope harris she used to be... a look couldn't hurt. "i'm afraid i don't have anything as cool or funny." she shook her arm until the sleeve moved to show the very small flower on her wrist. "this is the most adventurous i've ever felt."

[joseliaaa]

One of Jo's favorite things about The Joint was the clientele. It was impossible to predict who would come through their doors, and aside from a few regulars, it was nice to get to know her neighbors this way. Planting her elbows on the counter, Joselia pushed forward to take a look at the woman's ink. She shrugged, "Everybody starts somewhere, right?" Jo revealed her own patchwork sleeves, both arms dotted with smaller designs. "Each has their own, or whatever the fuck Shakespeare said." She walked around the counter, tapping on the flash design booklet and smiling at the customer. "Anything in particular you're wantin' today?"

[dee-voss]

He just needed some air, before he headed home from that last gig. Air, yeah, more than a walk; his bad leg was buzzing behind that one-too-many he might've had, as the night went on. Just buzzing, though, the familiar prickle and pull and ache pushed back, for a moment, with the rest of everything. Like the sort of sense that would've kept Dee going past the Joint, instead of heading inside. With an idea.

The place was almost dead empty, which might've been a bad thing; no waiting around for that sober(er) second thought to show up. Instead, a lady was eyeballing him over her drawings, ready to get down to business. "Uh, it's - more of a... replacement? Lost the last one..." A laugh snuck out of him there, a little sheepish, a little shitfaced. Just a little. (Like Hope'd said. That's all.) But, business. "Sunflowers? Right here, like..." Dee drew a finger around his forearm, the one that hadn't got cooked. "Just the lines. Nothing crazy. How - how much would that run me, you think?"

The cost was more of an issue than the time, but... fuck it, the money'd been good tonight. And he'd wanted to bring Charlie's made-in-Saigon stick and poke home for Elly to see. He really had. Before it got burnt off. "It's for my girlfriend," he explained, the heat in his cheeks more to do with that, definitely, than the whiskey. "They're her favourite, so - yeah."

[joseliaaa]

With a quick up-and-down, Joselia took stock of the man in front of her. Probably a vet, definitely shitfaced, and-- aww-- a bit of a romantic. Planting her feet on the ground, Joselia quirked an eyebrow at his proposition, and the lazy line he drew around his forearm. "So, like, three inches? Or closer to five?" she asked, motioning for him to roll up his sleeve. "How many?-- and do you want stems and leaves or just, like, center and petals?" she asked, making quick work locating a couple already-drawn sunflowers in her notebook and pointing them out to him. Quite fucking cheery, but whatever he wanted. Joselia's gaze softened at his explanation, and she leaned against the counter, edge of her mouth pushing upwards. "Okay, Romeo, I'll shoot you straight-- a three-inch bare bones outline'll be fifteen. Extra five per inch plus another five for shading. All that includes the for my girlfriend discount. So, what'll it be?"

[nourfk]

Nour never thought she'd ever come face to face with a tattoo shop. The sentiment was a bit dramatic, but she couldn't help but feel so out of place just standing in front of it. She had been eying it from across the street for a while, a treat in hand for her new friend, Joselia. It was a passing invitation, mentioning that she should "stop by and say hello" when they talked about each other's workplaces. Nour couldn't help but want to invest herself by actually following through with wanting to see someone again, even if her anxious mind was telling her, 'That's just what people say.' Joselia was kind and friendly when she met her, so even if she didn't mean it and was only looking for someone to work on... Nour still wanted to seem genuine. She was younger and so much different than her, but that was the fun part— scary but fun.

After walking through the doors with her treat, it suddenly occurred to her that she hadn't told her she wasn't actually a customer— or planned to be one. The realization made her sink, but she smiled anyway and shook her head in response. "Actually, I came to just stop by and say hi," she grinned. "I was in the neighborhood and always wondered what this place looked like inside." She looks around, visibly uncomfortable. She tried to hide it, but her slight fear of needles started to kick in. "It's... kind of scary," she whispers the last bit, the corner of her lips turning upwards with knitted brows.

[joseliaaa]

Joselia didn't have a lot of women in her life. Other than her mother, who... wasn't so much in her life anymore, Jo found herself unintentionally steering clear of femmes and feminine energy. She had a way with men, whether they were her father or her brothers or guys in the MC-- they were easy, Joselia knew what they wanted... but women required a greater deal of self-reflection, an activity that Joselia purposely avoided. Still, it was lonely. She'd connected with Phoenix, who had been a godsend (if she believed in that kind of shit), and her friendship had begun to chip away at Joselia's notion that she wasn't any good at talking to women beyond one-night stands.

Meeting Nour felt like the next piece of the puzzle. Where Phoenix and Joselia fell into step easily thanks to shared experience, Nour was different entirely... which is why Joselia was shocked to see Nour floating through her door. "Well, welcome!" Joselia said, pushing off of the counter and standing to drape an arm around Nour's neck. Her smile grew at the apparent discomfort on her friend's face, and Joselia took the opportunity to lead her to the sitting room in the back. It was still just as gaudy as the front, with sketches and pin-up girls and whatever weird fucking 'vintage' decor the guys brought in littering the walls, but it was currently unoccupied. "It's not so bad," she promised, taking a seat cross-legged on the black leather seattee and motioning for Nour to do the same. "I mean, you'll get used to it." She dropped her voice and leaned in, smirking as she confessed, "The guys have to make it seem super badass to make up for the fact that they sit around doodling all day. Fragile masculinity's a bitch."

[joseliaaa]

open starter, at the joint tattoo + piercing, just before 11 p.m. @swstarters

Weekdays were always slow, and after the four-hour back piece she'd completed this afternoon, Joselia was grateful for a breather. Cigarette dangling between her lips, she propped her boots up on the desk and doodled in the flash book. Her dad had always reckoned Joselia was some kind of artist, what with her 'bohemian soul', but she was twenty-one before she discovered her love for visual art. A late bloomer, or maybe she just never had time for artistic pursuits in between Daddy's ups and downs.

When the front door jingled open, Joselia peered up from her sketchbook and surveyed the customer. She leaned forward, lips curling upwards. "Please tell me you've got something nasty that needs to be covered up," she teased. "What is it-- an ex's name? A mom heart?"

[joseliaaa]

OLD FOLKS SAY, YOU POOR LITTLE FOOL!

Joselia Lopes Silva (Julia Dalavia) is a lot of things. To her mother, she's a miscreant. To her brothers, she's woefully misguided and naive. To her father, she's a longsuffering saint. But with her crowd-- bikers, tattoo enthusiasts, and generally functioning alcoholics-- she's whatever the fuck she wants to be.

TLDR

✨ A couple years after she was born, Joselia's family moved from Brazil to the United States. Her dad had big dreams of being a famous musician, and he finally got some sort of a breakthrough. ✨ To put it kindly, his career was short-lived. Three albums and he was cut. He became a bartender, a gambler, an alcoholic. ✨ Joselia's Mama and two older brothers were quick to give up on him, but Joselia's patience was constant. ✨ Joselia met Ramone and the rest of the gang at her dad's bar, and when she started hanging out with them: smoking, riding bikes, getting tattooed-- Mama finally kicked her out. ✨ She lived with her dad for a while, dropped out of school to work full time to support them both, but ended up with a DUI and a couple years of jail time. ✨ The gang's been taking care of her ever since. Sure, everybody had their own vices-- but they were always there. Chosen family.

AROUND

full biography

connections

musings