Posted by Civilian Yavia Crockett (Nurse - Sacred Heart Hospital) in Plaza Exchange - A Night On The Town

Posted by Major General Charles Tenkiller (Vice-Commander, Colonial Customs and Defense Agency) in Plaza Exchange - A Night On The Town

Posted by Civilian Yavia Crockett (Nurse - Sacred Heart Hospital) in Plaza Exchange - A Night On The Town
Posted by… suppressed (9) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
The car slid through the city with ease and Tenkiller made small talk for the ten minute ride. Soon the car came to a stop outside a stretch of shop fronts and restaurants. The one the car stopped in front of was dark, but an older human male stood outside and smiled at Tenkiller and Yavia as they got out of the car.

“General.” he said with a nod of his head. “General’s attaché.” he added with a look at Yavia and a small smile. “Welcome.” and he touched a bioscanner and the lights came on inside and the door opened…

To the Turner Art Gallery.

Tenkiller

Yavia gave the man a serious and stern look and nodded, and when he turned around she grinned at Tenkiller. “Attaché sounds so much better than ‘private nurse’.” She stepped through the door and graced Turner with a smile, “Thank you.” She paused a few feet in, taking in the sights and sounds and the smells. The faint hint of machine oil and fired metal met her nose and the fainter scent of paint. The air scrubbers were a soft hum in the distance and lights were strategically placed to give the pieces the best light to reflect of the pigments and metal. Then she began to move about the room. Unlike the gallery opening where people followed a somewhat organized pattern, Yavia was all over the place. Moving from side of the room to the other or maybe only a few paces away. “Now tell me, what a man who knows ‘not much’ about art have in common with a man who’s work is art?”

Yavia

Tenkiller smiled and said “Frank and I go way back. I helped him set up a fee of his galleries… security systems and such… and he and I became friends. So now, when he has a new show, I get an invite. I get to see some new and amazing art… and some not so much…” and he laughed, “… and there you have it.”

Tenkiller

“How felicitous.” Yavia stared at the statue of the hands as it was right in the middle of the room. “Nice and Meet. How lovely. Most representations of FSL I have seen are only letters of the alphabet in some abbreviation. This is actual words. I wonder if the artist takes commissions? A few like this around the hospital would be delightful.”

She moved on approaching a wall of paintings. She gazed at them and then grinned, “They make my eyes dance. They seem simple paintings at first but the longer you look the more complicated the image. How very intriguing. I wonder if the effect was done on purpose.”

Yavia

Tenkiller shrugged as he looked at the piece. “Dunno. You’d have to ask Frank about it. He knows the artist. I usually just come ‘cause he has real beer in a bottle.” and he laughed.

They wandered around and looked at the pieces. There more than a few blank spots where sculptures and paintings had been. “Huh, guess the show went pretty good.” Tenkiller said softly. “Looks like almost half the pieces are spoken for.”

Tenkiller

“A success then? It is lovely to see places like this though. I’m not sure I agree that art is the top tier mark of a cultured society, but it is part of any society. When I first came to Oed the shops were mostly necessities and food. Or at least the ones on my walk from my apartment to the hospital. Now there is a lot more variety, more people, more…richness.” Coming back around near Turner. “The general tells me that you know the artists and know all about art and can tell me about it. Apparently his insight is limited to the quality of beer inside the bottles you offer.”

Turner laughed and said “The Major General is simply a connoisseur of… alternative… mediums.” and he smiled at her.

“Enlighten me, please, Mr Frank. Any piece or all of them, both artists or not. I wish to know more, though I am particularly intrigued by those three paintings over there.” The wording might be slightly comical but her interest and request was sincere and she gave him her full attention.

Yavia

“Please, call me Franklin. Mister was my father.” and he led her to a painting of blues and blacks that seemed both coherent and organized, yet organic and flowing simultaneously. “To answer your first question, yes. I know both artists we are currently showing, although the painter is adamant that they stay anonymous. The sculptor is Eryn, a quite well-known artist who almost only shows her work on Risa. We are quite fortunate to have her. But first I wanted to show you this particular piece.” He stood looking at it for a moment and then, without looking away, he said “Tell me, Miss Crockett… what do you do for a living? Of course you are not his-” and he jerked his head at Tenkiller standing behind them and off to the side, “- attaché. One, he doesn’t trust anyone in his professional life that much to give them such control; and two you are far too beautiful to work for the likes of him.” and he looked at Tenkiller. “Hey! If I wanted that kind of sass, I could have taken her to the modern art exhibit at the Oed Museum.” Tenkiller said with a grin. Turner feigned pain in his chest and said “Be still my heart, those barbarians barely know a Goigains from a Matsulima.”

Turner

Yavia studied the painting in front of them as Franklin spoke briefly of the artists and then grew quiet in contemplation. Then he began to speak again. His first point about Tenkiller didn’t surprise her, most people didn’t like giving control of their lives over to anyone, even those they loved and trusted. The second point though made her glance at him briefly. Was the man simply charming or suffering from ‘the power of suggestion.’ Yavia had seen it before, when someone encountered herself or another Deltan. Their imaginations and rumor ran away with them. The banter drew a grin and she shrugged. She didn’t turn to look at either of them though, continued to study the painting. “I would disagree Franklin, I would argue that given the work that General Tenkiller does, he should be surrounded by beauty. There is no lack of adventure on Oed, but it is not all wisps and motes.” She turned her gaze on Franklin and said quit seriously, “Oh I am something much more invasive than an attaché. I’m a nurse.” Her eyes dancing with mischief she looked over her shoulder at Tenkiller and winked at him.

Yavia

“I do hope in the mental health field. His is in dire need of such assistance.” Turner said without missing a beat. “Bite me.” Tenkiller said with a laugh. Turner made a tsk-tsk-tsk sound and looked at Yavia, mock concern on his face. “Masochistic tendencies. First step on the downward slide, I’m afraid.” and both men laughed together.

Tenkiller

Yavia leaned in slightly and shook her head, “I’m afraid that is not my area of expertise, but I’ll do my best to help. However I have heard that the appreciation and creation of art does wonders for mental health patients. Perhaps you can enlighten us both.”

Yavia

Turner sighed melodramatically. “He is a lost cause, I’m afraid. But you… you I can happily assist. Now back to this piece…” and he turned back to the painting. “I ask what you do for a living because this is a singular artist. This piece… all of their pieces… seem to be visual representations of mathematical principles. Principles, I might add, that the artist is not trained or even familiar with. It is a most… singular… talent. This is a painting depicting, from what I have been told, is the propagation of random numbers in an isolated matrix. Whatever that means.”

Turner

Yavia studied the piece and tilted her head side to side. “Hmmm I have no idea what that means either. My math skills go as far as biological chemistry.” Her gaze moved momentarily to the next piece and back. “How intriguing. You say the artist is not familiar at all with the concepts depicted? So someone else must determine what they represent…I am curious what the artist says about people proclaiming the meaning…the depiction behind their work.”

“At first, they were confused. After all, they didn’t set out to paint such things. But now, I think they just paint because they enjoy it. The fact that it turns out to be such things is irrelevant to them.”

“How amazing it would be to instinctually understand such concepts of the universe. To understand them in this” she waved at the painting in front of them, “abstract way. Such concepts are abstract but to understand them we try to force them into concrete explanations…but art is also quite abstract. This artist must see the worlds from a very unique point of view.”

Yavia

Turner smiled and said “Oh, I think that is a most succinct perspective, Miss…”

Turner

“Or perhaps it is wishful thinking on my part. We impose our own perspectives, experiences, and opinions onto such things - art, literature, music. There is no way to know if I am right, so I will choose to believe it is so. I will enjoy the work of this anonymous artist as if I know something no one else does.” Yavia grinned at Turner and laughed quietly.

“What about this one?” She nodded her head to another painting, filled with warm bright colors.

Yavia

Turner nodded and said “This is binary code, actually. The warmer colors are zero, the cooler ones one. I think the artist was having fun with the critics on this one. If you transfer the code into Standard, it says ‘Suck it, Chloë.’” and he laughed loudly. “She was a critic who kept insulting their work. Said it was too ‘simplistic and urbane’. She said, on record, that she could interpret any of their works. So… they made this one. As it wasn’t a mathematical permutation or a physical law, people were baffledfor some months. And then a young Vulcan artist decoded it. Oh the laughter that rang through the art world on that one.” and Turner laughed again before stage whispering to Yavia “No one likes her.”

Turner

Yavia laughed, “I wouldn’t like her either.” She studied the piece again. “Well it is impossible to make everyone happy all the time. Good for the artist for having fun with it. I like the piece even more for the sass. What is your favorite piece, Franklin?”

Yavia

Turner shrugged and said “A personal piece by this same artist. Except its not typical of their other works. Its a scenic landscape of their homeworld. Very different… I was very moved when they presented it to me. It hangs in my home so I can look at it everyday.”

Turner

“That is quite a gift if their talent for landscapes matches what I see here. Don’t worry I won’t ask which world.” Yavia moved on, “And what about the sculptor? Eryn you said her name was. What brought her work to Oed and your gallery?” The piece she approached was the most abstract of the current collection. Twisted metal in a ever growing twist and braid, adding pieces and bits that had no end or beginning, they were there and gone. The colors deep and subtle, but had a metallic sheen.

Yavia

Tenkiller chuckled and said “No tellin’ what that lady’s mind told her to do.” Turner smiled and said “She is… most unique, its true. But rarely is genius a product of being normal.” and he looked at Tenkiller. “Wouldn’t you agree, General?” Tenkiller smirked slightly and said “Genius presents in a while lotta different ways. Seen a lot of normal folks do some pretty amazing things at times.”

Tenkiller