tiger whiskers

we call a situation ’tiger whiskers’ when a process is at its initial stage – such as getting a fashionable tattoo of a tiger and the whiskers are complete and:
a. but stops there, as the adventurous feelings are decreasing by the strong pain, and the client leaves with only 6 little lines on his/her shoulder in the hope of a braver future
b. it turns out how much more exciting these mysterious lines are, which hint at the enigma of its owner

for example in higher education a student certainly gets a line = tiger whiskers, and it only turns out afterwards how much more of the tiger is etched