Inked

Mel Thomas is tattoo artist, and "freak", working at Slinging Ink Studios in Brooklyn that's always seen wearing sunglasses and favoring the shadows.

Background

 * Born: March 1 in Passaic, NJ.
 * Mother - Tembre Tomas
 * Father - Sean Thomas
 * Twin sister - Lyric Thomas


 * Age 6: Started piano lessons with Lyric.
 * Lyric took to it, Mel did not.


 * Age 8: Family moved to North Salem, NY.
 * Age 9: Started art lessons.
 * Age 10: Stopped piano lessons.
 * Watched Star Wars for the first time.


 * Age 12: Entered a painting in an art contest.
 * Placed 3rd.


 * Age 13: Decided that she believes in the Force and wants to be a Jedi Knight when she grows up.
 * Watched Star Wars for the 75th time.
 * Started skateboarding with some of the other kids at school.


 * Age 14: Nermal, a Serengeti cat, joined the family and she started going to cat shows with her dad.
 * Age 15: Lyric first noticed that shadows creep towards Mel when she's concentrating.
 * Nermal placed 2nd in a show. Highest that the family cat had ever gotten, and the closest she ever got to 1st.


 * Age 17: Graduated from high school a year early.
 * Started fall classes at ESU.
 * Shaved the sides of her head into a mohawk for the first time.


 * Age 18: Dropped out of college.
 * Started hanging around tattoo studios and got her first tattoo.


 * Age 19: Got a job at Slinging Ink Studios after pestering David with her portfolio until he hired her just so she would shut up.
 * Allowed to give her first tattoo four months after being hired.
 * Moved into an apartment closer to the studio.


 * Age 20: Allowed her own station at the studio to work unsupervised.
 * Dyed her hair pink for six months.


 * Age 21: Acquired Ari and Bay, a pair of kittens from Nermal's 3rd litter, from her dad to start training them to be show cats.
 * Dyed her hair dark brown. (Nearly her natural hair color.)

Personality
Geek - If it's nerdy or technical, Mel knows about it. She reads comic books obsessively, plays video games whenever she has a moment of free time, and doesn't have a problem talking to anyone and everyone about her interests.

Artistic - Mel has always loved everything about art; from going to exhibitions with her aunt to creating her own paintings. Even her mother, who wanted her to be a great musician, took notice. While Melody does enjoy music, she has no talent for it, herself.

Jedi - Star Wars is more than just a movie for Mel; it's a way of life. She follows the way of the Jedi, believing that the entire universe is connected through a "force" that runs through everything. She does her best to follow the way of the Jedi, respecting life and doing her best to protect those that are weaker than herself.

Conspiracy Theorist - The government is covering up anything interesting that's ever happened! That's what Mel is certain of, anyway. There was a second shooter at the Grassy Knoll. There really was an alien spacecraft that crashed into the desert in New Mexico. If there's some crazy, off the wall theory about something that "everybody knows", then, more likely than not, she believes it's true.

Vegan - Mel believes that it's cruel to eat animals and to use animal based products for clothing or decor. Her belief system states that all living creatures are connected through an energy that flows through everything, and that animals are every bit as human as people, and that it's wrong to use them for something as trivial as food or for their skins.