So it all started when I received a call from my best friend. It's not very uncommon for us to make huge last-minute decisions, and this was not hard to learn if you knew either of us long enough. It was some time after-school on Wednesday, the 17th of October, she'd been pondering the idea of getting her tongue pierced and had discussed this with me before. I was open to the idea, although the undeniable urge to have my tongue pierced that I had after seeing Thirteen had died down since. But somehow it was decided we'd both be getting our tongues done together, as soon as possible. It might take a while when you have zero cash and you haven't even received approval from your parents, but being us, a day was sufficient time.
At A Glance Author captainstar Contact captainstar@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Barry Studio Evil By Needle Location Delta, BC Each of us went to desperate measures and begged our parents to give us a shitload of chores to complete in order to pay for our piercings. Somehow we were each able to end up with enough by the end of the night, and the next day we set out to find a shop for her first and my.. not-first, professionally done piercing. As I'd had several other experiences prior to this, and also because of the decent amount of students at my school with mods, I had little trouble finding a 'reputable' shop for us to go to. (The place I usually went to was closed for Wednesdays and Thursdays)
Admittedly, reputable meaning decently priced as well as being one that weren't so strict with their age requirements. YES, I know, shame shame. The problem being that my best friend is barely sixteen and I, right on the verge. Now I was been able to obtain consent for my eyebrow and vertical labret, my mom has even grown to approve of my septum and 1" earlobes, but my tongue was another story, and bringing it up just made her cringe.
The next day at school I asked around for shops people had positive experiences with. My first choice was Evil By Needle because of the surprising number of people who'd been there. Talking to one last girl who'd recently (that same week) had her labret done there made it definite. I got the address and phone number and afterschool I met up with my best buddy to venture down to Delta and mark just one of our impulsive journeys.
Before we got on the skytrain we stopped at a nearby cafe and got something to eat. Made an appointment to make sure, while at the cafe and we were on our way.
At the shop we were greeted by a girl who asked us if we needed anything. We told her we made an appointment earlier and one of the guys behind the counter yelled "HEY BARRY, THE GIRLS WHO SAID THEY'D BE HERE AT SIX ARE HERE AT FIVE THIRTY!", jokingly I assume. She told us to sit down on one of the couches and wait for Barry to come out. Overall the atmosphere in the shop is pretty big, neat, and there's a fishtank with koi at the front! It didn't take long for us to be called into the piercing room together.
The room was fairly small, our piercer had us sit down in these cute chairs and explained the procedure, aftercare, all-you-need-to-knows, etc. as he laid out the barbells and needles in their respective individual packages. He seemed informed and knowledgeable and gave us the opportunity to ask any questions. I went first since this wasn't my first time sitting in "the chair" and honestly because I didn't want to see it done before it was my turn. We got to pick out what color of acrylic balls we wanted for the top bead at this point. Mine was orange and hers was green & purple :)
Had the mouthwash rinse which wasn't as bad as everyone makes it to be. I got a bib and he marked the placement of my tongue with the usual purple ink. First time he looked at it again, furrowed his eyebrows, and wiped it off. Second time he seemed impressed and I had a look in the mirror. Clamping my tongue was a slightly difficult process and he did give me assurance that my tongue was a bitch to keep still. Aligned the needle with my tongue and the clamp, and I kept myself cross-eyed trying to witness the action. POP!!!! No, actually I've never heard the infamous "pop" that people recall they experience as the needle exits the other end of the piercing, but this one was painful. Apart from the clamp pulling on my tongue like crazy, while the needle was halfway through, he had me stick my tongue out as far as I could. Think about piercing a muscle that was flexed as hard as you could, it HURT. Which was unexpected for me, since all I've heard is that the soft flesh makes it virtually painless. Rinsed once more with mouthwash and I took a look in the mirror. Off-center and slightly crooked. Nice. I wasn't here with full expectations since this was a last minute decision, and it didn't bother me much. I sat back down into the little chair beside the piercing chair that now held my nervous friend.
Same procedure and I held her hand, except he forgot her bib and she needed one a tad bit more than I did. I could definitely tell she was excited. We paid him, tipped him, and walked out happy as ever with our new modifications.
The next day at school, one side of the p.e. changeroom was occupied with a few squealing kids at the sight of these new pierces of jewelry. We resumed our normal lives and although advised against it, alcohol and weed couldn't be kept out of our systems. Swelling turned out really bad for me but the pain was virtually non-existent. For my friend it was the opposite, as she had no swelling but complained of a lot of pain. For some reason my tongue had turned a deep purple for th e first week. I was a bit freaked out at some of the comments I received about it, "OMG IT'S AN INFECTION YOUR TONGUE IS GOING TO FALL OFF TAKE IT OUT", but I assured myself tongue infections didn't cause discoloration. I'd heard of similar cases before and I was sure that it would go away. Sure enough a week later my tongue was normal color and after two weeks I had the barbell changed to a shorter length.
It took a month or two for the swelling to go completely down, and the arguable crookedness of my fresh piercing went away considerably. Now her and I have been happily pierced for four months, and I have yet to regret the spontaneousness I acquired with my best friend one fine October evening.