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It's the Saturday before classes start. Ellie has been driving all day, but it's worth it for an entire three months out of the house. And she even drew a single in the dorm lottery, so there's that. It's tiny, but she doesn't have to share.
Suitcases on the bed, she starts unpacking into the dresser that lives underneath. Tops here, pants there, hanging things in the closet. Computer can go on the desk, and then notebooks into the drawers.
River! It's farther away, and the compass takes a bit of fiddling to get it to point to a specific part of a specific river instead of the closest one -
There's a little stone bench on a deserted walking path beside a smoothly flowing river, overhung by trees at the edges.
These are all nice places. She and Ruby should go together some time.
Bench is the obvious place to look.
A stained glass sun-catcher showing a river meeting an ocean, and, like before, a piece of paper.
The next clue appears to be:
Of all the Souls that stand create –
I have elected – One –
When Sense from Spirit – files away –
And Subterfuge – is done –
When that which is – and that which was –
Apart – intrinsic – stand –
And this brief Drama in the flesh –
Is shifted – like a Sand –
When Figures show their royal Front –
And Mists – are carved away,
Behold the Atom – I preferred –
To all the lists of Clay!
With an image of an art studio with a pottery wheel and a jumble of canvases in the background, and a vase or pot or something in the foreground. There's a window in the image, the view from it - buildings - sketched in.
Seems to be! Though it's harder for some reason.
It's a loft studio on main street in a small town, apparently, a bit further away. The door and windows are all unlocked - and it's definitely the same view out the window from the door, but the interior's been rearranged from the picture. There's a mattress in one corner, and a coffee station and mini-fridge in another, but the majority of the space seems dedicated to art. Mostly painting, but some fiber arts and clay work.
There's a kind of random grouping of paintings and framed sketches and photographs on the back wall, some paintings leaning against a corner, not hung, some artsy items on shelves, a bookcase with books, a few work tables...
The art's a mix of traditionally pretty or cutesy - flowers, cats, trees, girls in colorful dresses - and violent - blood, bodies, thorns - and sometimes both in one piece.
Some of the locations are recognizable as from her campus.
Many of the paintings and sketches are, in fact, signed by some variant of 'Decima', 'Ruby', or 'A Tiger,' though some are unsigned.
One of the smaller ink drawings, sitting on one of the tables a bit out of view of the door, framed so it could be stood up on a desk, is of Ellie, an outline of a cat behind her.
It's rather good - either Ruby's memory is better than advertised, or she was working from a photo Ellie didn't see her take.
There's a folded piece of paper under it.
Wild Nights – Wild Nights!
Were I with thee
Wild Nights should be
Our luxury!Futile – the winds –
To a heart in port –
Done with the compass –
Done with the chart!Rowing in Eden –
Ah, the sea!
Might I moor – Tonight –
In thee!
The sketch is a cartoon tiger face.
She's -
Hard to find, but on a beach, apparently. A pretty one, and a deserted one, somewhere the sun's starting to set. The air's warm and moist, and the sand's white, and the water's crystal clear. She seems to have set up a little picnic on some towels.
She laughs. "I was thinking of making it longer! Ran out of poems meeting my requirements, though."
"Heeee. Thanks! They're all by Emily Dickinson - the bees in clover one is actually one of my favorites."
She blushes a little and makes a happy noise. "Art's really - my passion, you know? Figured if I was leading you around I could show you my studio slash 'permanent address.'"
"Good! Communicating the beauty of my subjects is something I pride myself on - one of these days I'd like to paint you."
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