The Great Gray Gallery (Private)

[20monkies]

((ooc: I am sooo sooo sorry for such a long wait, everyone! Please forgive me! At long last, we can get moving ))

Raven relaxed considerably as she watched her cat curl around the large Ibex's legs. It wasn't a rare sight to see her companion take a liking to someone other than herself, it mostly meant that she was aiding Raven in breaking out of her more self-reserved shell to speak to others.

To make more friends.

She smiled at the two as Mezcal showed her excitement in introducing herself once more. It was such an odd sight, to see a wrestler dressed as such. Her confidence made Raven feel a little at ease being around their presence, and she knew that if there was a time that bravery and courage was needed Raven wouldn't be short on that either. If it meant to protect them, she would do so.

Raven Feather nodded to Aurora, a warm smile still gracing her face.

"It is much appreciated. Thank you. I'm positive your knowledge will be most welcome." She gazed forward at Waxworks, her brows knitting together in deep thought. "I still question our tour guide… wouldn't it have been safer to gather an expedition group to discover what happened to the previous group, rather than risk the lives of tourists?" Raven wouldn't have minded still joining in the expedition, but most of these ponies could be heading towards an unknown fated doom. Even the words the Ibex seemed to speak to their tour guide were warning, and in line with her own thoughts.

In one way, Raven wouldn't have risked that for the sake of just finding out why a group disappeared in the first place. For all that she could guess, there could be a dangerous monster or enemy hiding within the walls of the Gallery.

Raven pressed a wing to her saddlebag, hidden beneath her cloak subconsciously. In case of a threat, she knew she was prepared for it.

As soon as the doors of the gallery had opened, Raven was more alert than ever. There was a shift in her mood, as there was no telling what was lurking in the dark corners of the building, hiding behind the paintings that hung so majestically on the stone walls.

The structure was breathing them in, like the mouth of a great dragon getting ready to breath fire.

Following the natural flow of the crowd, Raven was taken along for the ride and staying close to Mezcal and Aurora. The other ponies were exclaiming their excitement, their surprise of seeing never before seen art. Even Aurora herself, Raven noticed, had a smile that was as bright as the sun itself. It made the whole room seem to light up with all the positive energy this group had.

"I think we will catch up with you in a bit. You go on ahead." Raven said to Aurora, glancing back to Mezcal before her eyes swept and surveyed their surroundings.

Here was Raven, every muscle of her body tense and on guard. She wanted to enjoy the art, she really did, but something was nagging at the back of her mind. Her gut instincts when something didn't seem right at all. More often than not, she could not ignore that feeling. Instead, she made her mind so that she would ensure the safety of the group should something show up.

The rippling energy of magic that was present in the gallery itself seemed to reverberate against the walls, a strange sort of vibration that Raven thought she could feel. Or, it was probably just the echo of hooves that thundered across the ground as they all pooled inside of the building to get a better look at what it had to offer.

Whole sculptures coated in dust and spider webs, untouched and unbroken. Tapestries that hung heavily from thick copper banner poles rusting in the dim lights. Paintings with a strange aura about them, glowing with an invisible magical presence.

Raven took in a deep breath, and let out a sigh.

"Mezcal, do you not think it strange that everything seems untouched and in place, especially if a group had come before us?" She raised a brow at the cow, hoping that she understood what she meant by the question.

[waxworks]

As the ponies pushed their way into the enchanted gallery, Waxworks bid them in eagerly, watching for stragglers outside as she rolled her hoof over and over towards the entrance. What awaited them on the first floor alone was a dazzling array of art coating the walls and standing vigilant on pedestals. There was a collection of landscapes that seemed to beckon the viewers to reach out into them, painted with such vivid colors that they seemed to be bright and colorful even in the dimly lit gallery.

The light itself was another strange feature of the gallery. The windows, such as they were, were like a mad smattering of stained glass that layered upon the large, colorful external squares, so that the incoming light, though dulled considerably by passing through pane upon pane of time-worn glass, had a unique richness to it that seemed to grant some animation to the paintings as the passing of the sun made the boundaries of the color inch their ways across the works. Colored motes of dust swirled through the air at the intrusion, dazzling the light off of themselves.

The landscapes were wondrous, whether they were woven tapestry or oil base, there was even a mosaic made of scraps stuck together to make strange geography, alien and yet inviting, unseen yet familiar, disquieting and yet tremendously relaxing. It was as though the creator had some window into a world all his own and it was from this place he painted.

And with each landscape came a separate trick, a separate scheme that dominated it. One was mode solely out of bold black strokes that, when viewed as a whole, seemed to depict a world dominated by waterfalls, another had elements that seemed to bleed and blend into one another as though the world itself was melting. Another still was bold splashes where the night sky dominated over a tiny village, and yet another was a chaotic mismatch of angles that made various aspects that should've been far in the distance loom into the foreground while elements that appeared distant were things that should've been near.

In accompaniment to the collection of the landscapes were a strange and worrisome collection of busts, each solid shining black and portraying a singular pony in some form of distress. Each was, despite some intense stretching and squashing, the same general pony used for a model in each, but some of them resembled a sneeze in slow motion, others resembled the face you'd make if you dropped a hammer on your knee, and still others bore the visage of some pony that had just discovered the turnips he was eating had gone bad three months ago.

The onrush of ponies eager to explore the dusty gallery had a great sweeping effect, pulling in like a torrent, and in this torrent Aurora had eagerly made her way into the front of the group. Mezcal was having second thoughts, however.

The walk here, the flyer, their guide's narrative, it was all... well... not quite real. It had just been a story up until that point, but the gallery was a real thing. It was here, it was now, it was solid walls and solid floors, it wasn't just some fantastic piece of a story anymore it was the looming structure into which a flood of eagerness was drawing her and the cow could feel her bravery faltering. Suddenly hearing Raven comment about hanging back filled her with some tremendous gratitude.

"Si! Chu go ahead ponita, we're going to take it slowly. Lots to see! No need to rush, eh?"

Of course these words were helpless, and soon the cow found herself joining the massive A'bek, the enthusiastic Aurora, and the pensive Raven inside the gallery, a small shiver running down her spine. She wasn't much an art buff, and the paintings were nice and all, but she kept feeling some terrible anxiety like she was just waiting for somepony to leap out from behind a corner and screech at her. Another comment from Raven, and a little more gratitude from Mezcal. Anything to keep her mind off of the nature of this place.

"Aaaah, si! SI! It is strange that this place should be so dusty... and like the large goat was saying, would our host really be so callous to ignore the risk to others before us?"

"What others?"

Mezcal started as the voice of their guide suddenly came from the front of the group, when she'd most certainly been outside ushering the last of them in. Waxworks had, in fact, just leapt out from behind a corner with a slight screech to greet those eager ponies who had traveled further into the gallery's first floor.

"Iy!" The blazing cow leaned towards Raven and whispered quietly, "how did she do that?"

"Welcome to the first floor of the gallery everypony, and goat and cow and cat!" She flashed a grin at A'bek, and another glowing example at all of the ponies gathered near the front of the group, such as Aurora, "don't worry, everything's perfectly safe... on the first floor anyway. It wouldn't be much of a tour if everything ended on the first floor! There are three floors of the gallery and we're going to see every single one of them! Can you feel that magic pulsing through the air around you?! BEHOLD! The Mesmerheads! These grimacing busts were made by Mesmer Van Grip when he was in the hold of a terrible illness that hadn't been recognized by anypony at the time. He recovered, but to preserve the symptoms for future generations of modern-art-minded-medics, he sculpted his own face in the grips of that very illness!"

[ForgottenExistance]

Aurora heard her new friends speak as she moved ahead, but the best response they got from her was a slight nod, though her gaze remained forward as she moved upwards in the crowd. She was eager and excited, and that feeling acted as almost blinders for the artistic pony.

Of course, had she any more sense about the possible danger actually at hoof, it was possible that she might have lagged behind to the back of the group, or even left the group in lieu of something maybe a little more safe and less terrifying. Unfortunately, she was quite taken already as it was, so there was no chance of her backing out now.

Snapping out of her thoughts as she bumped into the large creature who she had contemplated earlier, Aurora shook her head in surprise and looked up at him, wondering how exactly she had just walked into him. She would attribute it to the fact that the pack of ponies was so tightly clustered that there was no way to avoid bumping into someone, but the fact that there was literally no one bigger she could have bumped into in the group wasn't lost on her.

Not pursuing the front of the group any more, Aurora settled into a shuffle pace alongside A'bek, giving him an apologetic smile for bumping into him, but stayed quiet until they were inside the long-sealed building. While the anticipation was almost murderous of its own, the suspense that saturated the room was almost doubly so.

However, as her hoof crossed the threshold of the building, Aurora was instantly swept away in her love of art and her desire to explore. Though, one raised as she was never forgot about politeness, and as her giant companion coughed up the dust from the undisturbed building, she reached a hoof up and gently pat his side, urging his coughing out in a supportive manner until his coughing fit ended.

Sure that he wasn't in need of any actual assistance, Aurora flashed a quick warm smile before trotting off a few paces from the group towards the nearest collection of art pieces with eyes as wide as plates and a grin that would work better then a torch at midnight.

While she wasn't that far from the group, she was close enough to the front that she'd be able to hear their guide talk about the sculptures and the magic in the air. It was certainly interesting to hear about as she stared at the busts intently, studying every little aspect of them as if there was going to be a test on them later.

Though, she wasn't sure if she really believed the guide when she talked about the busts as being used for reference points for an illness, but she still appreciated the actual appearance of the busts. They were very lifelike, and almost eerily so in the way that they captured the pain and discomfort that the artist had tried to implement in them.

It wasn't difficult to believe that they were indeed created to mimic the stages of a disease or illness, but who in their right minds would use sculptures as a reference guide for medicine? Aurora thought it was quite ridiculous, but she would let their guide have her fun.

While her guide spoke, Aurora began to mutter to herself as she was prone to doing when observing and analyzing art, "Lifelike, very detailed...structure... pain? Post-Discordian realism... Reminiscent of... Hmmm..." The musings of an artist were very rarely logical or even well formulated, but as Aurora muttered and the gears cranked away in her head, she barely noticed the feeling of suspense or anxiety as distracted as she was. Indeed, someone could yell in her ear and it would take a minute for her to even notice that something was amiss.

[CableZ]

(I join the long line of people being sorry for not posting, I had burnt myself out. Only took 2 years XD)

A'bek didn't dwell on the fact that Aurora had bumped into him, nor did he really blame her. The doors of this building were not meant for his kind so he knew it'd be a squeeze, what he hadn't been prepared for was the dust. He felt a tickle at the back of his nose, he tried a few quick breaths to dislodge the feeling. Alas it was to no avail, he could feel it coming. A few short breaths as he prepared to sneeze then...nothing. Gr, he hated that. Still, no reason to dwell on it. Taking a few steps forward onto the old worn out dust covered rug that offered a pleasant decoration to the floor of the main lobby, there was plenty of art that was above his understanding to admire. As ponies moved into the building and around A'bek, he watched the eager Aurora not even wait for Waxworks to point things out which he admired in a way.

Moving forward he-

ACHOOO~

The world fell silent for a moment, dust through out the building dislodged softly while the scurry of nearby terrified creatures could be heard. Rubbing his nose softly after his sneeze that could have shattered mountains, A'bek looked around with a sheepish grin.

"Ah- ahaha..Apologies."

Well he'd successfully announced the group to anything in the gallery and embarrassed himself fully. With a hidden blush beneath his fur, he wandered over to near where Aurora was stood. With a sigh, he recomposed himself from his little unintentional outburst. Taking a look at the pictures before him, A'bek thought back to his youth. He at one point had considered pursuing the arts, it had never endeared to him however as with years of practice he did not make the progress he wanted to. In fact it was the progress he made in his druid studies in the same time that set him on the idea of becoming one of natures guardians as they called themselves.

Certainly the art before him was very pretty, but beyond that he couldn't say much. Was it well made? Was it deep and philosophical? He had absolutely no idea. At first he felt a little silly being there but then he thought, this was a good chance to educate himself on a topic he was less knowledgeable on. Shifting on over to beside Aurora, he opted to talk to the one pony who seemed to know what she was talking about.

"Pardon me miss pony, do you think you could tell me about this picture?" He asked rather shyly, he felt slightly out of place in this gallery.

[20monkies]

((OOC:: Soooo sorry for holding up this RP you guys! Please, go ahead and continue. I'm passing up my turn for this round, since it's been almost 2 months since the last post. Apologies, once more! Please forgive me! ))

[waxworks]

(( IT'S ALIIIIVE! Sorry to leave this hanging for so long but I think we can get it back on course! ))

As A'Bek's sneeze rang through the building, it ran through Mezcal's spine as well. The little red cow tensed up as though she were about to be branded and it was only the presence of her mask that kept her expression somewhat hidden away from the rest of the crowd. Now realizing that she'd become quite tense and anxious from walking through a creepy art gallery, prior to anything genuinely creepy happening, she decided that she might take some comfort in the crowd. Specifically, she might take some comfort in having a thick wall of ponies around her to shield herself from any oncoming frights.

The crowd itself, while somewhat dispersed to view the various works on the first floor, had started to congregate around Aurora as the pony's discussion of the art seemed to be well educated enough that they might learn something. Also, a number of them were grateful for a different perspective on the art that wasn't trying to bring out the most terrifying aspects of it. As such, Mezcal had neatly inserted herself into this little cluster, and standing in the shadow of A'Bek she nodded curtly in a way that said, "yes yes, art, very good, we're all here to appreciate art, I wasn't just about to start a stampede, don't even think that."

A pair of blazing eyes watched them happily. This was, after all, just the first floor and she was certain things would get creepier the higher up they went. Three floors of frightful fun, that's what the Great Gray Gallery promised, and Waxworks was determined to see to it that every pony, and cow, and ibex, got what was coming for them.

To that end she surreptitiously snuck around a corner and with some cautiously casual poking and fiddling, activated a small tape recorder that began an exceedingly quiet whispering. Nothing jarring, not even noticeable amongst the noise of the gathered throng of visitors, but Waxy always believed that subtlety had its merit too.

"When everypony, and cow, and ibex is ready-" There was a slight clearing of the throat from one member of the group. The waxy white pony smiled politely, "and griffon... once you're ready, I invite you all to join me on the second floor, where the Van Grip collection of grim landscapes awaits us all."

[ForgottenExistance]

Aurora had barely noticed the abnormally loud sneeze of their ibex companion as she was analyzing the pieces of art in front of her, the world outside of the art seemed to melt away as she got lost in the admiration she felt. Art was many things to many ponies, but to Aurora it was the one thing that she knew for certain that she could never get tired of. While there was never any real understanding when it came to art, one could always assume and analyze it, but there would never be one right answer to what the artist had been trying to convey to their audience. Was it a symbolism for the social imbalance? Was it a philosophical stance on the diarchy? Or perhaps there was simply no meaning.

It was only after a few more moments of mumbling that she finally recognized that the ibex had sneezed, crossed the room and had begun talking to her in what felt like the seconds she had been staring at the artwork. Blushing a little in embarrassment that she had so easily zoned out, she turned her head up to look at the ibex and replied sheepishly, "I'm terribly sorry about that, dear, I must have zoned out. I never said bless you," she said with a warmly apologetic smile before returning her attention to the artwork, "As for this painting, there's a lot that can be said about it. The sharp lines suggest that it's trying to convey aggression and anxiety, but these soft spots here are almost entirely the opposite. The style is very much pre-harmony, it's not conforming with any normal conventions, but you can see influences of many different time periods in all of these paintings. It's a fascinating method... truly fascinating," she mused to the small crowd and the ibex next to her, quite taken by the anti-convention that the paintings presented.

Noting that their guide had spoke, Aurora quickly shook her head clear before turning around to face the guide with a refreshed grin, "Landscapes, you say? Ooooh! This will be exciting!" she exclaimed with an almost child-like glee. There may have been ponies and cows that were scared of venturing forth, but Aurora adored landscapes more than any other form of painting. If paintings were the epitome of art, then landscapes were the epitome of paintings, and Aurora was abuzz with energy at the concept of seeing long-lost landscapes from an artist that was so clearly talented.

[CableZ]

A'bek nodded and listened curiously, not truly grasping the intricacies of artwork in one sentence. Still he could get why this painting meant so much to Aurora, he stared at it for a moment by her side in silence. It wasn't until the white waxy looking pony mentioned landscapes that the pony lit up again, in all honestly A'bek was pretty curious himself due to his enjoyment of nature. One thing he'd always been able to enjoy about art was the surreality that could be added to reality, he recalled one picture that he saw in his youth that showed a landscape of floating islands and impossible scenery, that had always stuck with him. Then again Ibex artists nearly all drew landscapes so what would he have expected. These day's ponies had camera's and A'bek didn't really get the purpose of landscape any more, at least in a certain sense. He had to admit that he'd seen very little art since waking up in Equestria but what he had seen perplexed him somewhat, why would they spend countless hours recreating a landscape perfectly in paint when they can capture and image of it instantly on one of those amazing camera devices?

He chose not to dwell on it, he knew that if he tried to reason everything he didn't understand about the artistic world he'd be left behind as the group moved on to the next area of the gallery. A'bek decided to stick at the back of the group so he wouldn't get in the way, after all he was tall enough to see over all of them. He ascended the stairs slowly, which creaked rather ominously as his large cloven hooves stepped down on them. This place felt like it was going to fall apart, not exactly reassuring for a giant heavy goat.

"This place is eery, so quiet.." A'bek muttered to himself, kind of unnerved by the locale.