Something about the end of summer and Halloween brought out the people that wanted tattoos, all types really.   Small, large, weird, dark, creepy, and just plain weird.  Like who really wants a rainbow unicorn riding a black widow under water?  It makes no sense at all but its what the client wants and its what they will get.  Now that Halloween is over, work has slowed, just a bit so shes going to use her time to go to one of the places she loves to be.  The library.


Walking up the steps and through the doors Rayne lets out a silent sigh as she shoulders relax.  Can't be tense here, this place is calming.  Well to her anyways.  Some people might hate it which she would never understand really.   Heading straight to the research and information books and then straight towards the animal books.   She had already returned her other books over a week ago and was really feeling the withdrawal of reading.   For her gift, not reading, not learning is hard on her.  This time, she wanted to learn something...big.  Bigger than anything she had tried before.  

Another Halloween, another birthday. Happily enough, this time he wasn’t alone.

His art had been doing well, so he took his girlfriend out for dinner and a movie. Movie was decent. After that, they hit up a bar. All in all, a very good time. The morning after, however? Not so good.

Elliott’s head ached. Lights were too bright, sounds too loud. His eyes were red. Well. Redder than usual. What he needed was something hot and greasy, that wasn’t coffee. But also, coffee. What he had was wheat toast and green tea. Yum! The girlfriend really needed to go shopping.

Kenzi was at work. He himself needed to go to work and research his next art project... and maybe something for his college classes? Therefore... to the library, he went.

Lucky for him, Kenzi’s flat was within walking distance of a good library. Er, apartment. Not flat. She’s been making him watch too much BBC TV, OMG. GG.

Elliott pushed his way into the library, a tall green skinned bald man with black antennae in a black leather jacket and blue jeans. He smiled at the librarian and got directions about where he needed to go.

On her way towards the section she wanted to go, Rayne got stopped by a kid who she's seen here a few times before.  Now shes not even remotely dressed in anything that hints at being a librarian...her dark jeans with a few rips, white tank top and a black leather jacket unzipped...yeah totally librarian material.    After pointing to kid to the right direction Rayne turns and heads back towards her own, but by this point there is a guy behind her that she almost runs into.  


"Oh sh...Sorry, I didn't see you there."  Takes a step back very quickly so she didn't run into the guy as she takes in his green skin and antenna and not once missing a beat.   Who is she to judge someone's look when she herself turns into an animal and her own body has adapted to her first shift.  Then again that could be considered hair dye, shes just glad her eyes have never changed into an animals yet. 

“Whoops.” Elliott said.

He really needed to focus more on walking thoughts and less on thinking thoughts like about what he was searching for, and what he’d be doing later and eating later and whether or not he should just go get a cup of coffee and come back later.

That she didn’t see him was not unbelievable. Though usually, people noticed him from 100 yards away unless he was hiding in trees. So it did slightly stretch the suspension of disbelief. Or maybe he was just being a cow.

Elliott glanced around thoughtfully.

“You have any idea where the art history texts are, because I just got directions from the head librarian. And—“ he smiled at her conspiratorially. “Between you and me, that woman needs to take a class in giving directions.”

“Heh. Maybe you’re looking for the same thing I am and are just as horribly lost.”

Rayne saw him when he came in, how could she not?  He was green and bald so hes not easily missed, she was just preoccupied with the child in front of her and didn't know he was so close when she got up and turned around.   Luckily she has fast reflexes so she didn't actually collide with him.  That would have hurt.  


When he states that the librarian needs to learn how to give directions, Rayne chuckles slightly and nods once.  "I have to agree with you there.  When I first came here she tried to tell me, but I just ended up wandering around.  On purpose of course, after a while anyways."   It's always good to know where everything is just in case she needs to find something else one day, for whatever reason.  Or this reason. 


"History is a few rows down from where I'm headed so I'll show you."  She has the day off today and she does need a new book to read, having just finished with the other ones.  

The summary of the librarian seemed right. What with the wandering around and all.

“I’ve got a suspicion they just want to be away from their desk to avoid work as much as possible.” He nodded.

He nodded again, when she said she’d show him the way, antennae bobbing up and down with the movement. “Thanks.”


As they walked, he glanced at her. Not in a creepy way, of course. Just a taking of stock. They were dressed similarly. He smiled a little.

“We could almost be twins,” he said.

When he states that they could almost be twins, Rayne has to glance at him a bit confused for a second before she notices what he is wearing as well and chuckles some. "Yeah guess so."  It never really crossed her mind to check what he was wearing against herself until he said something.  Lost in her own mind perhaps.


Rayne gets to her isle she needs and then continues on a few rows down and stops.  "Art History is here."  Doesn't want to pry but..."You looking for inspiration to draw or learn?  Or just like the pictures?"  

“Draw. Learn. I’m taking a class.” He nodded. “And maybe I’ll find something to work on for my own stuff. Though usually I paint for that.”

He grabbed a random book off a shelf and leafed through it. “Modern art. Ew.” There was a picture of a urinal visible on the page.



Elliott turned to a different page. Then he flipped back nearly half the book.

“This is more my style.” He jabbed at the page on Jackson Pollock. “Although mine usually has more movement and footprints. But I’m trying to branch out.”

Abstract was well and good, but if he could sketch better... he’d always been jealous of his roommate Benji and his ability to draw things that looked like things.

Rayne nods, "Taking classes always helps so long as you put the effort in.  Though don't be rigid, let the drawing flow or it doesn't work."  Rayne did take some classes but to be honest with herself, she just always knew how to draw.  


Glances at the book he is holder and wrinkles her nose.  She likes art, yes, but a urinal is not art.  It will never be art.  The next one he looks at is a Jackson Pollock and nods some.  "A messier art but its all about the artists point of view."  


What Rayne does is sketching and drawing and some tracing if a client wants something specific and not hand drawn, always boring though, too stiff.  "What are you trying to branch out too exactly?"  Painting is different than most things since its all strokes of a brush and mixed paints.   She's curious as to what he wants to do. 

He nodded. Drawings had to flow. You couldn’t force art or else it wasn’t very good.

“You can’t force happy little trees.” He agreed. Not to quote Bob Ross or anything.

Some modern art really did try to force the envelope though, didn’t it? It was really pushing it. It seemed they both agreed about that infamous urinal. It was unrivaled. It really took the piss, to use a British-ism.

Thanks, Kenzi, and all your blood Doctor Who.

She was right about Jackson Pollock-styled art being about the artists point of view. It was an elegant weapon for a more civilized age. She’d made him watch that, too.

“I’m trying to branch out to sketching and drawing, like my old roommate Benji. He was always so good at making things look like things. I was always jealous.” Elliott replied.

Hes right, you cant force something to appear to be something. It usually will look like something else entirely and only sometimes look like its supposed too.  This new style of art...its really pushing the envelope.   Now the older arts, that's something anyone should be proud of.  It took skill and style to do.  Not just take a picture with lighting or throwing paint everywhere.


"I can't paint, but I can sketch.  If I could paint like the older masters, I would have a new job.  Probably."  Pauses for a second. "Well maybe." Rayne really likes being a tattoo artist. 


Classes can help with ones ability to draw, but they also need to branch out on their own too.  "While you aren't in class, try looking online for something to copy, but make your own at the same time.   It helps."  That's how she learned really before it just clicked for her. 

He nodded at her comment about having a new job if she could be the next Van Gogh or Davinci. Only when she talked about copying things did he speak up.

“The old masters.” Elliott smiled wistfully. “Reminds me of a comic where every person kept saying they wished they could paint like the old masters. Every generation, back to cave men days. Some scrawl on a wall. Caveman says I’m the best. Dunno what to think of that.” He shrugged a shoulder.

“Every generation wanted to imitate and improve the one before it. They should just do their own thing. They’d probably be happier. Less copying, yeah?”

“Although people who duct tape banana to walls and sell it for millions need to stop preying on idiot billionaires, and just stop.” Being open to new ideas is good but not so open your brain falls out.

Rayne shakes her head slightly.  "I think you misunderstood me there, sorry."  Pauses to think a moment.  "When I meant copy it, I meant the style not the art itself.  Learning from the old masters and new ones help you figure out your own style."    Well at least, that was her opinion anyways. Rayne likes some of each so she kind of does her own thing with the flare of others when it calls for it.  That's what shes a sought after tattoo artist.  She can give the client what they want. 


People who did sell bananas taped to a wall did need to stop.  Its just fruit that will be garbage a week or so later anyways.  Waste of money.  To her, art takes time and it should look like something.   Though she wont tell her clients that.  What they want is what they get.  Its their body its going on.  

((And if they want a tattoo of a banana who is to judge them?))

“Ah yeah,” Elliott rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Yeah. That’s fair. Mainly I like to draw what inspires me.”

He was silent for a few seconds, then he confessed. “My roommate... he’s the one who got me into art. Quite by accident. See... he saved some people, you know. Heroically? And when all his stuff was left behind... I just sort of kicked the dumb paints into the dumb canvas because I was so tired and angry and messed up. And my girlfriend saw it and said it was art.”

He shrugged. “So that’s kind of what my style has been as far as painting goes. Transferring emotion into canvas. Maybe walking on it. Punching it, kicking it. Smearing it. Not really trying to make forms. And apparently people who can convey feeling in art can make a pretty decent sum in this world of ours. But I’d like to adapt and grow too. Because I don’t want to become repetitive or a one trick pony...”

“I’ll try copying things I like and adapting it to my style. That’s good.”

"Inspiration works wonders when you draw.  It's what gives people the picture in their head to put on the paper."  Rayne says as she look at al the books on the shelves.  She hasn't been down this isle after the first time looking for her own books.   She likes art, yes but after doing her own research a while ago, she doesn't want to mingle hers and others.  


"His stuff was left behind?  What happened?  Move out?"  Like was said before, art is in the eye of the beholder.  Kicking paint around, could technically turn into something or it could not.   


Rayne nods slightly when he explains what he does with the paint and all that.  "Copy but don't copy, best way to explain it."  Pauses for a second then nods to the books.  "I'll be a few rows down if you need to find something else."