Twenty-third Link

[colorbymemory]

Characters: Namine, Amaterasu, Chibiterasu
Content: Field trip to the Louvre
Location: The Louvre. Paris, France. Circa the 1990's.
Time of Day: Early afternoon.
Warnings: Artwork.

Namine hadn’t thought she’d use the time machine. With the exception of Kaldur, Aqua, and Twilight Sparkle’s expeditions to find good books, most of the others seemed to use it for adventures. While she enjoyed hearing their stories after they got back (even if she worried), she was usually well content to wait for them while they were gone.

That was before she’d found about something called an art museum. She hadn’t known that people on this world collected art to display, simply because it was pretty. Some of the pictures in the book had seemed interesting, and a museum seemed safe enough from how she’d heard that sort of place described. The worst was that it might be crowded, and the snacks far too expensive.

Still it seemed best to have some company, and Amaterasu seemed like the one who would most enjoy this sort of excursion. Taking her without asking Chibi along as well seemed cruel, though, so she’d decided to see about getting all three of them there.

The main problem was that, from what she could tell, animals weren’t allowed in museums. Finally, she’d gotten some help finding information about something called a “therapy dog.” Amaterasu had seemed amused at the idea of playing the part of one, with Chibi along as her puppy training for the same kind of work.

That settled, it was time to go. At first, they’d see if all three of them could go through with her carrying Chibi. If that didn’t work, Amaterasu would wait while she went back for Chibi.

Comments

[yabigfurball]

Ammy could see the red line as well, having the same brush powers as Chibi...minus this particular power, of course. She waited as the crowd moved around them...surely Namine would find that and follow it, right?

And she did! Ammy smiled and wagged her tail as Namine knelt down to pet them both. It was good to have them all together again. That's quite the useful brush!

[littlesun]

Chibi bumped his head against Namine's hand and wagged his tail at her. It felt good to use his powers again to help people out.

Yeah, it's super nice when you're working with partners.

[colorbymemory]

The crowd thinned, most everyone seeming satisfied that the owner of the two dogs had been found. Namine overheard cautions to be careful in the future, some of which seemed not so kindly meant. At the moment, though, she was mostly focused on her two companions.

After offering some final pettings, she stood. "Shall we try the next room?"

The guard was frowning again, so it was probably best to move on.

[yabigfurball]

Ammy's main partner throughout her journey had been Issun, and since he rode on her head anyway, she didn't have to much keep track of him. But if Chibi had many partners as he'd indicated, a brush to guide them along dangerous paths would be useful.

And while this path was less dangerous for Namine, it was still useful. At least the crowd was dispersing now, although the guard was still giving them an eye. She nodded to Namine...now was a good time to move on.

Ahead, it looked like they could go into an area with a lot of sculptures from here. Considering she'd never done sculpture before, this would be interesting.

[littlesun]

Chibi was glad to see that the crowd seemed thinner here, or at least less bunched up. It seemed like people didn't press as close to statues as they did to paintings. That was good; they probably wouldn't lose each other again.

A lot of the statues seemed to be of people; the artists who'd made these were clearly really good. Their clothes look like they're really draping!

[colorbymemory]

The statue room was so much easier to move around in that Namine didn't see the need to pick Chibi up so he could see better. Statues were meant to be viewed from a distance, so maybe that's why people didn't crowd them.

She'd made small statues before, but always out of clay. Most of these seemed to be carved out of stone, and the artist's success in achieving a draping affect for the clothing was impressive. Wondering how they'd done it, she moved in to take a closer look--not close enough to touch, but she kept her hands clasped behind her just in case.

[yabigfurball]

Having a bit of room to look at them did make the sculptures easier to view. The paintings were really nice, but oftentimes they were quite small (not as small as some scrolls, but still small) and everyone wanted to see them at once.

Yes, they are. I wonder if that's how people here wore them in the past? Because from all the people around them, it definitely didn't look like that was the fashion now. She figured it must have taken a long time to carve these things so intricately, especially out of stone.

[littlesun]

I bet it is. It must be pretty warm if that's what they wore; it doesn't look like it would be good in the cold. Chibi looked around; it seemed like some of the sculpture was like what they'd sort of seen outside through the crowd, but other things looked like architecture pieces.

[colorbymemory]

Having finished looking at the sculpture with still no idea about how the artists had made the clothes look so real, Namine went to look at the small plaque that had information about the statue. Apparently the artist who had made it had lived several hundred years ago, but it was modeled on art from even earlier. "It says here that the statue is supposed too like some that were in Ancienct Greece. I guess this is what people then looked like."

The clothing looked about as effective against cold as her own, which wasn't much. Still, it was pretty. She glanced in the direction Chibi was looking. Architecture wasn't a big interest of hers, but there were a lot of carvings on the pieces that looked interesting.

[yabigfurball]

Ammy glanced to look at the plaque as well. She hadn't been able to tell as much since the paintings were crowded, but it looked like all of the art pieces had this kind of thing: a little statement explaining who made the art and what it was about. She'd never heard of such an idea before, but she could imagine it would be useful for a lot of art from different time periods.

She also looked towards where Chibi was glancing. Indeed, it seemed like some of the building itself was a part of the art...or was it vice versa? I wonder how long it takes them to carve all of this.

[littlesun]

It must take years and years. Chibi wished he could look at it closer, but he was pretty sure people weren't supposed to climb all over things, and no one here even counted them as people.

The plaques seemed like a good idea; not everyone who was here would know art that well, so having explanations of where something was from made sense.

[colorbymemory]

Days, months, or years, it looked like it required a level of skill and patience that was beyond Namine at this point. Still, the work was impressive and she would have liked to feel comfortable taking an even closer look. The people in charge of the museum really did seem concerned about not touching anything.

The plaques were very helpful; it was nice to have some background information on the artwork. She took her time reading them before moving on to the next room.

The next room was more sculpture, and there was a guard here as well. Unlike the guard in previous rooms, though, he didn't just frown as soon as they came in. He focused solely on them as they tried to look around, even shifted position to never be too far from them as wandered.

[yabigfurball]

Amaterasu waited patiently while Namine read through everything they saw, although she also did sit and yawn a little bit. Art always did take some time to appreciate.

The sculptures in this new room looked like they were from a different era, or perhaps a different land entirely, although they were still made out of stone.

Ammy noticed the guard that was starting to trail alongside them. She glowered back when he kept giving them a frown...they were allowed to be here, right? They were wearing these little "therapy dog" outfits and everything!

[littlesun]

Chibi was on his best behavior, sticking near Namine and stopping when she stopped, not getting distracted by people, just like he was supposed to, but the guard just wouldn't go away. He pretended not to notice, but it made him a little nervous; he wasn't worried for himself, but he didn't want Namine getting in trouble.

As they got most of the way around the room, the guard got even closer; now it looked like some other people had noticed the guard's following them too.

[colorbymemory]

Namine herself had been so engrossed in looking at the statues that it took her a moment to realize exactly how closely the guard was paying attention to them. While she'd expected a few sideways glances, the therapy dog vests were supposed to help smooth things over. So far they'd been lucky, but it looked like that luck had run out. The guard was openly following them, and others were taking notice and whispering.

They probably should leave, but she didn't want the guard following them all the way and causing a scene. It looked like they had no other choice but to risk that, though--she didn't want the even worse scene of the guard confronting her. Quickly picking up Chibi and laying a hand on Amaterasu's back, she whispered, "Let's go," and began walking back the way they'd come.

[yabigfurball]

It looked like they weren't going to be left alone at this point. Admittedly, Amaterasu was annoyed...this museum was big, and they hadn't gotten to see nearly enough of it so far. But from the sound of what Namine was saying, they were probably going to have to leave anyway. How fair was it to chase out someone harmless like Namine?

Still, it wouldn't do to resist what Namine said. She began to follow her back out the way they came.

While Ammy didn't want much trouble for Namine or Chibi, she was not without her mischievous side. As they began to leave, she glanced back and drew a power slash over the guard. It wouldn't actually cut him like it would an enemy, but it probably would feel like someone had slapped him upside the back of the head really hard.

[littlesun]

Chibi laughed silently. The guard had deserved that, after bothering poor Namine the way he had. At least they had gotten to see some of the things that the museum had to offer before heading back. It would be a nice memory that they could take home with them afterwards.

He'd have to see if Namine could teach him that different style of drawing or painting; it would be a good way to pass the time.

[colorbymemory]

Namine appreciated how readily Amaterasu and Chibi followed her. Looking back to see if they were being followed, she saw the guard react as if struck, and then noticed Chibi's laugh. Well, she couldn't prove it was either of them, and it had distracted the guard long enough for them to lose themselves in the crowd heading outside so he couldn't follow them anymore.

All too soon they'd made it back to the time machine. It was too bad they hadn't been able to stay longer, but they'd made some good memories. She'd be happy to have Chibi paint with her sometime so she could show him how those kind of paints worked.