The wilted Tower (Rams)

[Elizabeth]

"If you would like to take this time to show off your completed canvases, you may. Or feel free to pack up and call it a night. Thank you, everyone." A woman wearing form fitting light blue jeans, with splotches of paint, and a dark green, long sleeved shirt with sleeves shaped like bells, sporting a half apron around her waist said once she was finished. She would hold up her own finished product, turn it to face the class and a couple people would clap at her amazing replica of the Eiffel tower. The tower was in the front of the city scape, with various tiny, no-named buildings.

The canvas was no larger than a fourteen by thirty-five centimeter off white color prior to being painted, but now it was afforded a different life. It would either sit in an attic collecting dust, or find a way to a wall, depending on the person and how they feel about their completed work. Others would show their work off, more or less looking the same as the woman's in front of her. Elizabeth's looked nothing like the others. The blonde haired woman took a more eccentric approach to her drawing, melding the tower and all the colors from the backdrop together for a more Van Gogh approach to her Tower and city skyline. The inspiration behind her decision was that Elizabeth believed all colors, from one spectrum to the other were connected to the other spectrum. Much like a mind to the different parts of ones body; the way they all connected and worked together.

Deciding after seeing three carbon copies of the tower, Elizabeth decided she would not be sharing her work of art with the paying class. She rose from her working space, collected the canvas from the back, and more or less fucked out of the off shoot room that was afforded to them for the class in the gallery.

Since the painting wasn't completely dry in the city background behind the tower, the telepath held her paining with the painted side out, and the canvas side pressed to her chest as she made her way outside. The woman decided she was going to walk home tonight, simply because she didn't want to deal with people's questions. Or people in general tonight. Her mood as of late went to the more sporadic side of downwards, than the brighter side of things, so she had naught the patience for people not in her household or of her blood.

The journey wouldn't take her too far away from the area in which Elmworth and Bullwood interjected. With the sky raining down tiny white flakes, it was evident what was upon the woman. And her painting. She needed to find shelter sooner than later, because if she did not, then not only she, but her painting would be covered in white soon. Damaging her efforts for the past two weeks on every Tuesday and Friday night for a single hour. The woman looked around, saw the aquarium that was still very much open to the public and bolted for it. For a price, anyone could enter the facility if they wanted to. Nothing on this earth was free anymore, no one's happiness, protecting a painting, or even watching rare, unique fish not seen around these parts for a long time, or ever.

[Ramsey (DELETED 7783)]

"One, two, three, AIRBORNE!" The loud chanting was followed by the slam of beer bottles on wood before silence descended on the rather obnoxious group as they all chugged icy cold beer in a race to be the fastest. Ramsey's empty bottle hit the table milliseconds after the man to the right of her, along with the staccato taps of a dozen others clattering down.

Every thing in life was a competition and the group at the table was no exception. They were all brothers, but they were all fiercely competitive, which is how they found themselves tossing back beer and shots of whiskey and tequila. This was their last night in Canada and some of their Canadian counterparts were here as well, though they didn’t seem to be faring as well as the American’s in such a fast paced, raucous drinking competition.

Shots were passed out from a serving girl who found that each time she set a glass down, a dollar coin or dollar bill took the place of the glass. Every time she delivered a round, she walked away at least 40 dollars richer. No wonder she was so attentive to the 20 soldiers and airmen gathered around the table. The rest of the patrons didn’t seem to mind the shouting, shoving and crude jokes coming from the group either. Probably because they were all in uniform and keeping themselves confined to the corner table staked out as their own.

Hours had passed in a drunken blur before coats were passed around. Ramsey shrugged into hers, brushing a hand almost lovingly over the Airborne and Air Assault patches sewn on the left breast. The back of her jacket emblazoned with a skull wearing an Airborne beret and smoking a cigarette. The script reading “Airborne never dies, we just go to hell to regroup.” As they all neared the doors, berets and caps were put on, blending the one lone female seamlessly into the group.

No one was super protective of her, after all, she’d proven she could hold her own in any kind of situation. Instead, she was just one of the guys and she liked it that way. Moving through the streets in a crowd, their numbers dwindled one by one as each went off to apartments, hotels or another bar. After the last shout of goodbye and the last wave had been given, Ramsey found herself alone.

Blinking bleary eyes, she leaned against the closest wall, to support the building of course. Strong hands massaged her right thigh, just above the knee, working out the ever present ache of sore muscles. Her eyes focused on an overly bright sign, the colors making her squint slightly. Garish fish swam in turquoise waters and she realized she was at the aquarium. Fishing in her pockets, she shuffled to the ticket counter and purchased admission for one. Pulling her beret off, she stuffed it in her pocket, pausing to let a woman with a painting move past before making her way slowly into the jellyfish display, the darkness swallowing her up, only to release her when ever she neared the lights of a display tube.

[Elizabeth]

The people were of no consequence to Elizabeth. Her only purpose here was to protect the piece of art she had made in the last two weeks from the outside weather conditions that were starting to brew. O the occasion she would glance at a person walking by her, or she walking past them, but made no conversation pieces with any of them, as the woman kept the painting close to her persons as the woman glanced around in the elongated glass cases inside the aquarium. It would be ideal to not have to interact with anyone and find a place to bunker down for a half hour, or an hour until the rain passed, or until she got bored , or had no other way to travel by foot and decided to tome home to her gardens. What use was there to have a pointless conversation with someone she would never see or meet again?

Elizabeth stopped at a sort of fork in the road inside the aquarium and glanced up at the bright blue and white colored signs hanging above the heads of observers like she. One way would lead her to the tentacles exhibit. Another to Harper Rock Habitats and the last would take the woman to an exhibit called Mission to the Deep.

By a simple deduction, Elizabeth figured anything that had to do with Harper Rock would be bass and anything else someone could find fishing. The initial thought reminded Elizabeth of Skipper and images blinked into her mind. Memories, to be precise. A fishing trip with the husband and the dog on the boat. She shook her head and decided to proceed onward to a different exhibit. Why relive a memory without Shamus, when Elizabeth could make it real once again with him this spring; her favorite season of all?

Mission to the deep it was.
The woman stopped at the first glass pane she encountered and searched the murky depths of the water, while listening to a per-recorded 'virtual show.' She heard names like fangtooth fish and other things Elizabeth had never heard of, or encountered and then glanced at the television in one of the four corners of the room when she heard the words Vampyroteuthis infernalis. Better known as a vampire squid. Not so much a predator, but a scavenger among it's brethren. Elizabeth watched the creature 'attack' the organic matter in the sea, before she heard a dragging noise to her left. She glanced over with wide eyes to see a tentacle of a squid swish against the surface of the glass she had been looking at not a mere five minutes prior, before chuckling at herself for even being mildly concerned at the noise before proceeding onward to read about other creatures in the deep, dark waters in other parts of the world.

[Ramsey (DELETED 7783)]

The jelly fish only entertained her for a little while. What she found more intriguing was the fact that someone was wandering about with a painting. She slipped from the Jellyfish exhibit and followed the woman. She really didn’t pay much attention to the things in tanks and the recorded voice, instead, she practiced her stealth skills, moving in complete silence from one shadow to the next.

She passed the woman quietly, wondering why she was carrying a painting around the aquarium. She decided the lady was pretty in the classic way, with high cheekbones, a pert nose and flowing hair. She passed a hand through her own close cropped, half shaved hair and grinned. She’d never look like Painting Lady, but she didn’t care. She noticed when the woman flinched, and laughed at her own overreaction to the thing in the tank. Curious, most people didn’t react to the aquarium as if it were a fun house.

She found the next pool of darkness and leaned on the wall, reaching down to rub her aching leg. She mentally cursed the week of night jumps, high altitude jumps and rappelling from helicopters. She was going to pay in pain for every single jump. But it was worth it and she was looking forward to the next training exercise. Rumor had it they were going to Italy. Now there was a town she could raise a little hell in.

[Elizabeth]

While the blonde haired woman stopped at a large reading segment about other types of creatures that existed in the deepest parts of the water, retaining information about the depths that they could be found in, when they came into existence (the theory behind the time line, anyways), what they survived off of and their perceived ancestors. Really, nothing overly fascinating for anyone other than those who weren't intending on being a marine biologist, or wasn't here for some class trip; but since the woman was here...

It was when Elizabeth set down her painting near the large plastic mold with the fountain of knowledge did she see the other woman. She had seen her before from out of the corner of her eye, but paid her no mind or attention. She was just another patron in the aquarium within the city, but now she was showing up more and more, and Elizabeth found herself on alert. Or at the very least, like a wolf on guard, with hackles raised when something just didn't seem right.

The painting was momentarily forgotten about as Elizabeth finished turning around to look at the woman to size her up. The woman appeared to be an individual that could take care of herself. She was human, and had short hair. Not unusual, Elizabeth supposed as she looked the woman over as she turned to look away from her, as if something near the woman caught her attention and Elizabeth just had to turn to see what it was. While Elizabeth did this, it was concluded that the woman was a somewhat small threat. She was following Elizabeth. She was physically fit from what Elizabeth could 'see' of the woman under the clothes she was wearing. She supposed her body fat percentage was less than one percent, and the clothing seemed military in nature, like the guards near and around the land of the walking dead ones. And the woman had short hair. It was both perceived and concluded by the telepath woman that the woman was part of the faction of paladins. Perhaps one of the last few of the Order, or some new offshoot of the group that once was.

Regardless, the woman had to die. In what matter and how long it took to achieve that goal was up to the woman entirely. "Oh, hello." Elizabeth asked once her eyes landed on the woman, but bounced off to the tank on the other side of the wall. "I did not see anyone else. I shall leave you to your own means." This was the one and only shot the woman would get from Elizabeth of walking away unscathed. The petite woman moved to a corridor that would circle around the entire building and end anyone back to the front entrance of the building.

[Ramsey (DELETED 7783)]

"Good evening." She said to the woman's quiet hello, a small smile appearing on Ramsey's lips. "I didn't mean to startle you. Just came in to get out of the rain." Slightly true. Mostly she came in cause she was drunk as hell and her leg hurt. The woman headed off and Ramsey chuckled to herself. Apparently she hadn't been as stealthy as she thought. As the woman walked off, Ramsey's eyes roamed the room and spotted the painting. Clearly it was something the woman wanted as she had carried it around the the aquarium. Grumbling to herself she picked up the painting and headed after the petite female.

The hall was dim, and she wasn't even sure if she was going in the direction the woman had gone. "Excuse me! Miss! Hey!" She said as she spied the woman from behind. Her steps moved quicker, not running, but certainly a double timed quick step. "Hey! You forgot your painting!" She said as she caught up to the woman, awkwardly holding the canvas, paint side out. She didn't want to get any thing on her uniform.

[Elizabeth]

There were a few options available to Elizabeth. Sneak inside a bathroom to tome away, duck out of the building before the other woman noticed Elizabeth was sneaking away, or stay in public until the other got tired of waiting around and decided to find someone else to bother. Some different vampire.

Blue irises scanned for the restroom, but came up empty handed. Now, just because Elizabeth didn't see the restrooms didn't mean the aquarium didn't have them. To believe such an idea was beyond ludicrous, as everyone knew that places such as these had to have public toilets. What it simply meant was that they were not in the immediate vicinity. With that no longer being a choice, she was left with two and not three, and while leaving seemed ideal, what if there were more like her outside? Waiting for the trap the woman set up? It was entirely possible and ingenious and not something she would put past anyone to devise. Public location it was, until the woman got bored or found a new target.

Her fingers splayed outwards, as the telepathic woman came to the conclusion that she would be staying inside, at least until she found the bathroom. Empty fingers fell at her sides, and brushed against the fabric of her skirt, Elizabeth coming to the realization that her fingers were....depleted of the tower she painted just hours ago. “Oh, drat.” Elizabeth slowly turned around to see the woman she was trying to avoid chase after her, with the very painting that was on Elizabeth's mind. Elizabeth glanced away, as if she hadn't heard the woman screaming at her about her painting.

Elizabeth swam through the sea of people, bobbing between people on her left and right, as Elizabeth moved to a side room with the theme of squids. To her right was an elevator, that indicated a bathroom and vending machines with a small cafe could be found. She made it to the elevator where she pressed the circular button, repeatedly pushing it as if it would make the electrical moving box come any quicker. Toming seemed the more favorable option in the moment.

[Ramsey (DELETED 7783)]

"Oh for fucks sake!" She cursed as the woman darted off like a scared rabbit. The Captain muttered a few apologies as she darted through the crowd and caught up to the woman who was stabbing the elevator button as if it would make it come faster. "Look lady, I'm sorry I startled you. I'm just going to lean this here and walk away." And by 'here' Ramsey meant the wall near, but not too near where the elevator was. She actually backed away, keeping sharp blue eyes on the nut job. She was far to drunk and in too much pain to deal with a ball of crazy like that.

Weaving her way through the crowd, she found the exit and stepped outside. It had stopped raining, leaving the tang of ozone in the air. Ramsey inhaled deeply, then placed a cigarette between her lips. A flick of the lighter and she was soon drawing acrid smoke into her lungs. She checked her watch, placed her beret snugly on her head and started walking. She didn't know or care where she was headed at this point, just so long as she got away from the aquarium, and the psycho housed inside.

Okay so it was partly her fault for spooking the woman, but really? Who the hell was that damn jumpy? Then again, the lady could be a criminal and thought Ramsey was here to arrest her. That wasn't the case. She just liked to try and follow people. See how far she got before they saw her. Clearly doing that while drunk wasn't the greatest of ideas as the woman had spotted her pretty quickly. She gave a small shake of her head, chuckling as she meandered down the street. She needed to hit the rack soon, morning PT came damn early and she had a lot of booze to sleep off.

[Elizabeth]

The elevator couldn't close fast enough, which was both good and bad. Bad, initially, as Elizabeth believed the woman to have been following her and know just what she was. Maybe even who, too. But the woman appeared to be far from aggressive in nature as she stopped, communicated with Elizabeth and re-gifted Elizabeth the painting the woman had worked on in the weeks prior to finishing it. The elevator door made a loud metallic sound, indicating the doors were jammed, or stuck, but Elizabeth didn't move. Not with people staring at her, some complaining about Elizabeth breaking the elevator, and not even when the woman's back disappeared from her view.

She simply waited, tuning the elevator's noise out, which would have been silenced had Elizabeth moved her right foot backwards and out of the sensor field. "Lady, move your foot or get out." Elizabeth blinked, cocked her head to the right and stared through the woman that shouted at her from the main floor of the aquarium. "Apologies." Elizabeth said with a dip of her head, moving to collect the picture of the tower. Some of the people moved on, continuing their observations of various sea creatures, while others remained, mumbling things about her, about the rude woman, and about the other unknown woman.

"I require your services." Elizabeth said, the picture tight to her persons as she summoned her wraith, Reynold. He came when called, for he had no choice, but he wasn't always thrilled for the unexpected and unwanted request of his presence for a master he didn't want to serve. "I require things too." He said with an exasperated sigh, not holding back on his Altruistic demeanor towards her. "Then do them in the free time in which you have most evenings." Elizabeth snapped back, a hand on the metal bar that when pushed would let her out into the damp and dismal night scene of Harper Rock.

"There was a woman..." Elizabeth pursed her lips together in thought, her eyes swinging from left to right in an attempt to locate the woman. Until then, she kept moving, attempting to close the gap between them so Reynold knew who she was speaking of. "There. That one." Elizabeth's left index finger locked on the back of Ramsey. "Follow her. Report back to me within an hour." She left the wraith floating on the street and made her way to the park in which her home could be found.

[Ramsey (DELETED 7783)]

By some miracle she made it back to her hotel room. Unlocking the door, she slipped inside and pulled off her beret. She placed it carefully on the desk, her jacket went over the back of the chair and her blouse top was hung up. She pulled off her t-shirt, leaving her in a desert drab tank top, uniform pants and combat boots. She sat on the edge of the narrow bed and reached down to pull out a case.

Setting the case beside her, she opened it up and pulled out the Beretta nestled with in. Meticulous inspection and cleaning followed as the alcohol burned it's way clear of her system. Once her gun was clean, she pulled out her rifle case and gave that weapon the same meticulous care. When her back started to ache, she put her weapons away and did a few push-ups to ease the stiffness. Finally, she changed out of her uniform and into a pair of pj pants and a tank top. She sat back on the bed, after checking for her knife under her pillow, and massaged her right thigh while reading a book until her eyes drooped. With only a few hours to sleep off the last of the booze, she finally inched down in bed and turned out the light to sleep.