the "p" doesn't stand for pretentious, FYI. [art gallery, may 6th—??? ]

[theearth]

[ Welcome to Locke's very own Taste de Louvre, everyone! Predictably, the unveiling of the new set of statues at the magnificent Hugh P. Thadson Gallery of Fine Art has turned out to be a rather fanciful affair. The upper echelon of snobby society, in their snobby society attire, has come to mingle amongst one another—and is endeavoring to ignore you, fair citizen, as much as possible—and discuss this fantastic addition to our city's fair culture.

The first statue is a touchingly metaphorical piece, the prominent carving of a snake coiled around a human heart that looks so real you can almost hear it beating within your ears. This statue appears to be the most popular; the crowds drawn around its base simply can't stop going on and on and on about how wondrous it is, along with the rest of the works on display tonight.

The second statue also depicts a snake, but has its blush-brushed scales cut dramatically open to display its own wicked black heart. The Thunder Corporation and its latest line of tacky memorabilia is the primary subject of discourse here.

The last statue is strikingly different from the other two, and features a wolf howling at the open sky,* dying in apparent agony with a sword driven through its chest. You get a distinctly unsettling impression from it that the other, ordinary folk don't seem to notice—that perhaps your adventure to meddle in recent affairs is ill-advised. Inscribed below the pained wolf's paw is a link of sorts to a peculiar forum that, when accessed, bears only the topic "Let's Negotiate" with the same message enclosed within. Strange, but since no one else is talking about it, you wonder if you can't have just imagined the whole ordeal... and yet stranger things have happened, right? Perhaps it's worth looking into, in any event.

There's plenty to do with the statues about and the gift shop buzzing, with lots of familiar faces to run into. So what's your agenda for the evening? ]

(( General mingling post for the plot as related to art gallery affairs! There will be base threads for OPEN INTERACTIONS, open to all as implied, CLOSED INTERACTIONS, for planned out one-on-one interactions between player characters, and a general purpose EVERYTHING ELSE, for characters who wish to explore the gift shop, just mull about. Just as a general reminder:

1) Touching one of the snake statues will grant you one (1) Echo, for two (2) Echoes max. However, touching a second statue will definitely arouse suspicion, so be prepared for that. One safe Echo, two potentially risky ones up for grabs here! No Echoes from touching the wolf statue, though, so slither your way towards the snakey-snakeys for those.

2) If you'd rather not touch the statues themselves, hanging around them for awhile -- about an hour or so -- will grant one (1) Echo.

3) Accessing the webforum will not grant an Echo, but posting a reply to it will. It will be possible to get a second during conversation, but as for how it happens... it's a secret to everybody!

4) Little statuettes are available for purchase in the gift shop, but do not grant an Echo themselves in any way.

You may also handwave the mingling NPCs being snobby snobs at you, just for fun. Because why not.

As before, please wait for all base threads to go up before posting. OPEN FOR BUSINESS! In your character's subthreads, please put your character's name, the day, and optionally the time you are visiting in the title so things remain nice and neat. Remember, open to all interactions in the open section and one-on-one time in the closed section. Everything else goes in Everything Else. This post will remain stickied throughout the entirety of the plot duration, for easy finding.

The plot post for this week, detailing about the art gallery and more, can be found here.

*This awesome picture drawn by our very lovely Lucas-mun! Thanks, MC! ]

Comments

[struckout]

[ If her hair was already looking slightly off the last time Kallie met Brendan, the odd tannish color it is now is even weirder- somewhat like a dark-on-light dye job gone neglected for a very long time... save for the fact that the color goes all the way up to her scalp, betraying whatever happened was pretty recent.

Truth is she did color it - with permanent dye, yes - somewhere around a week ago. Unfortunately, whatever caused her brown hair to start fading in the first place seems to have affected the artificial pigment as well... which is a shame, because she really could have used that $9.97 for something much better than for what has now left her looking even stranger than before.

Life must go on though, and that includes making her way to the site of the latest sign of suspicious behavior, just like-- pretty much everyone else. She's a little annoyed that nobody on the network thought to say anything about this whole thing more publicly already and that she had to rely on word of mouth that these statues were here. On the other hand though, she almost has to commend everyone's restraint. It's a complicated matter.

In any case, somehow, she's not surprised to catch sight of the young man here too, considering the coincidental nature of the first time. She really has to debate with herself about whether or not she's going to say anything to him, however, staying back as her eyes drift between people and statues.

Eventually, she votes on yes, and finally steps up closer to his side. ]

Hey. Class assignment?

[ Just play along, bro. It's the end of the semester- surely there's plenty of people trying to wrap up their field requirements around now too. ]

[kingside]

[He hears the voice before he sees the woman, and although he can't place it immediately, he recognizes that it's familiar and turns, frowning the faintest bit. Who... ah, Lightning, the girl from the Dead District, the one who'd nearly given him a heart attack. Brendan's strangely relieved to see her again, though, and so his face soon relaxes into a slight smile, head tilting in greeting. It's impossible not to notice the hair, but then considering his own strange coloring, the transformation of which she'd been present for, he can easily hold his tongue.

... It does look weird, though. What the hell had happened?]

Hey. Yeah, you know how it is. [He shrugs eloquently.] Easier than some of my other ones, though. You too?

[It's a much more relaxed manner of speech than he usually adopts, but if they're playing at classmates or casual acquaintances, it can't go amiss. That does also bring up yet again the question of whether or not she does go to the same college as him, but he'll leave that unvoiced, too.]

[struckout]

[ Kallie might be weirdly set on not getting too friendly with anyone else, but... yeah, she does find an odd sense of association all the same. Not that that necessarily makes her friendly, even when she's playing another part that could probably benefit it, but at least the unfriendliness seems to be absent for the time being.

She tilts her head to the side, shoulders raising just slightly in a shrug. Even though she started it, she then abruptly realizes she knows practically nothing about anything that would pass as convincing someone she was actually in a class that might send students out to somewhere like this. ]

Not really... guess I just wanted to see what all the commotion was about.

[kingside]

[Friendly, who said anything about friendly? Brendan's playing a role in much the same way, even if he is... well, not entirely against the idea of getting along with Lightning. She seems a practical woman. That's neither here nor there, though, so he'll move on.]

Then you're seeing it.

[He gestures expansively to the three statues, then turns to the one he'd been focused on, hand dropping. Still quite incomprehensible and still the most popular, but maybe there's something beyond a compulsion drawing people toward it. He doubts it, though.]

Think you might get a souvenir? I've heard there are plenty.

[His tone is rather dry, indicating that he doesn't feel quite the same as the others do about these, er, masterpieces, but he doesn't care just yet. Lightning probably knows what he means.]

[struckout]

Maybe. You?

[ She shifts subconsciously, lifting a hand to rub at the junction of neck and shoulder as she peers in the direction of the wolf-shaped statue. Conversation isn't really her strong point, even when-- maybe even more so when she's just pretending like she is now. ]

... I don't suppose it's at all appropriate to get very close to the real deals.

[ As in... you know, getting one's grimy fingers all over one, like they had with the example in the dead district. ]