13. Artist's Alley
Vesvius
The Wicked God
Vote Tally : Original - Ten Pounds of Gold: A Pro Wrestling Quest | Page 19 | Sufficient Velocity
##### NetTally 1.7.5
[X] After all the talk about characterization and gear from before all that went down, you want to head to the Artist's Alley. Sure, most of them'll be terrible. But maybe you'll find something that inspires a good character.
No. of Votes: 14
[X] Sal Penn, an author you're a fan of, is giving a panel on good characterization. Sounds like it could be fascinating, even if Delilah would be bored stiff.
No. of Votes: 1
Total No. of Voters: 15
##### NetTally 1.7.5
[X] After all the talk about characterization and gear from before all that went down, you want to head to the Artist's Alley. Sure, most of them'll be terrible. But maybe you'll find something that inspires a good character.
No. of Votes: 14
[X] Sal Penn, an author you're a fan of, is giving a panel on good characterization. Sounds like it could be fascinating, even if Delilah would be bored stiff.
No. of Votes: 1
Total No. of Voters: 15
Strange outfits are nothing new to you at all- you're a wrestling fan after all. You're used to sequins and glitter, giant feather boas and the occasional chain-mail. But except for a few people you see dressed up as older wrestlers, none of that is on display here. Except the chain-mail; there's a lot more of that.
You drag Delilah out of the way before she's run over by one man in a particularly convincing costume, all plate mail with a horned helm and a yellow tabard. She won't stop gawking at all the costumes, and it's not the last time you have to save her from a pleather-and-cardboard stampede. You have to repeat the process when you pass a guy in a cardboard Megatron costume, and again when you go by a guy in what you have to admit is a really cool Iron Man suit.
Finally, as you think you're going to have to sling her over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes, she snaps out of it. She looks up at you with shining eyes. "I… love… this… place." She hisses out between clenched teeth, as if she's going to explode in joy the moment she opens her mouth.
"Can you love it from the sidelines?" you ask, rolling your eyes. "Or else you're going to be a smear on someone's costume- and wouldn't that be a shame. They've worked hard on these things."
Delilah growls at your teasing but does as you ask. She takes your hand without asking and makes sure to stick to your side as you guide her through the crowds. And though she still looks awed at any particularly well made costume, her acidic tongue returns as you go on.
"See that?" She asks, gesturing towards a man in a trenchcoat. "Know who he is?" You shrug, and she nods primly. "Exactly. See the hat? He's supposed to be The Question. All he did was throw on a trenchcoat and hat. Didn't even bother to work on the clothes beneath it or do something for a mask. Pathetic."
The man slinks away at her words. You shrug at him sheepishly. "I think he heard you-"
"He was supposed to." is her response. "If he doesn't know he sucks, then where's his motivation to do better? Sheesh, Martin, you think you'd get this by now." She stops in her tracks, mouth open. "Oh. My. God."
You follow her gaze. "Can you not 'motivate' them too?"
Delilah shakes her head. "I'm doing the world a service here." She cups her mouth with her free hand. "Hey, you! Store bought Dexter! I'd take you more seriously if the lab coat actually fit! If you're going to buy your stuff, then you should at least get the adult size, dummy!"
A ripple of laughter meets her comments as one very portly man tries hard to fade into the crowd. You groan out loud. "Can you stop encouraging her?" you ask no one in particular.
No one answers you and you sigh. Delilah pats your leg consolingly. "There, there, Martin. It'll be okay one day. I'm sure I'll be able to control myself soo- Yo! Scooby-Doo! Your costume would be way better if you bothered to do something with your ears!"
You start dragging her away. "How do you even know who Scooby-Doo is? Isn't he from way before your time?"
"Reruns are on late at night. It's fun to watch old cartoons. Ever look at the background and try and figure out how many times it repeats in one running scene? I did once and- Hey! Yugi! Nice!"
At least that one was positive. But you don't stop dragging her until you reach your destination. It takes you a very long five minutes to find the ballroom that's hosting the Artist's Alley, and the entire time Delilah won't stop calling her 'advice' at other people.
Artist's Alley doesn't look like a group of artists so much as it does a festering ball of chaos. You think you can see where booths and tables once divided up the creative types. But if there was any order it's lost to bedlam now as people swarm from table to table, gawking at art in all of it's many forms.
Delilah gapes right along with you. She looks from one table, covered with statues of Pterodactyls, to another, which is just a podium on which a man covered in body paint stands. That's not the strangest stuff you can see- or hear for the matter. A sound that can only mean that someone's selling hand carved Ocarina bellows from the back, and on a screen you can see someone's hand drawn animation.
"Why are we here again?" she asks.
You shrug. "Inspiration."
She nods as if that makes all the sense in the world. And to her, you guess it does. Delilah takes the lead and starts pulling you towards the knot of chaos. "Then let's get inspired!"
And so you do. You go from table to table, booth to booth, screaming artist to screaming artist, looking at everything the DMV Nerdfest has to offer. Some of it is amazing-
"It looks almost lifelike, doesn't it?" the guy at the digital design booth asks. You and Delilah both nod mutely as you look at what could be a real pegasus running across the screen. It's beautiful and disturbing in a way that only the fantastic coming to life can be.
And some… not so much.
"It's my stick-figure webcomic! Not at all like all the other!" The ...artist? says with a proud grin. "I wanted to use very minimal characters to not have anyone get distracted from the epic story."
You force a sickly smile onto your face and stomp on Delilah's foot before she can do anything but open her mouth. "Oh. Well-"
He doesn't stop. "It's about math, and it's about sex, and it's about dice and the triumph of evil over good when the good do nothing. You really should check it out! Only five dollars for the first-"
"Oh!" You break in. "I think I hear her mother calling!" And you run from the table as fast as you can.
"And she's saying that you suuuuuuck!" Delilah calls behind you.
And that's just the extremes. You see every kind of artist you've ever imagined in the Alley, and a few you've never thought of. You expected the painter and the cartoonists, the sketch-artists and the leather workers, but the utili-kilt guy was a surprise, and so was the musical group in the back. You've never heard of Ten Mugs of Ale before, but they're not awful. You'll have to check out their website.
After you think you've seen a little of everything, you finally manage to break out of the knot on the other side of the ballroom. Some enterprising soul has set up lawn chairs and giant bean bags, and you sink into them gratefully. You've got no idea how long you were in there, but you could use a moment off your feet.
But Delilah doesn't seem to agree. As you sit down she stays up, dancing in place. The enormous grin hasn't left her face. "So, so, so?" she asks eagerly. "See anything you like?"
You let out a huff of air as you rest. "Yeah." you finally answer. "There was a lot of stuff that was cool. But I'm don't really know how I could use it."
The kid stares at you uncomprehendingly. "Huh?"
"Like the bands, I guess make sense. It's never too early to start thinking of good entrance music. But there were a lot of just straight up painters and drawers. Don't really know how I could use them. The body-paint would be way too time consuming, and don't get me started on the sculptures. Maybe if I needed a unique weapon. And that seamstress doesn't work in spandex."
Delilah stops her dance and just looks at you for a moment. Finally her shoulders slump and she lets out another groan. "You're hopeless Martin, you know that?"
You quirk an eyebrow. "Yeah. I hear it a lot."
She doesn't pay your joke a second's attention. "Seriously. All that art and you're still thinking literally. The whole point of this is that it doesn't have to be literal. I mean sure, it could be, but it doesn't have to be."
"Like that poster, the one with the black knight on it. Take that for example. You're not going to get dressed up in full plate. That's gotta be expensive. And you're not going to be able to get a horse like that right away. But look at it. There's an attitude to it. The dude is walking away from a dead dragon looking like the baddest guy in the world. He's staring at you like you're next. Don't you think you can use that? Try and take that attitude, that overall look, and use it?"
"Or that other one? Superman being all happy? That's an attitude thing too. You're happy, you're smiling, nothing can touch you, and you're free in the air. There's nothing holding you down anymore because you're Superman. You can roll with that!"
"Maybe they weren't working for you because they were a solo thing? There was that one with the girl and her monster. You can think of a gimmick for that! Come on, Martin, you're better than that!"
Throughout her entire rant, you sit watching her with a bemused smile on your face. "You never really stop thinking about wrestling, do you?" you ask.
She scoffs at that. "Do you?"
"It's rare, but it happens." you reply. She frowns at that again, and you shake your head. "You really love it, don't you."
It's not a question, and she knows it. Her face flushes heavily. "Well- um- maybe but…"
You let her stammer for a few more moments before cutting her off. "Yeah. Me too. There's nothing quite like it."
Delilah nods enthusiastically. "Yeah. I mean… yeah." She studies you carefully. "I'm glad you still think that."
This time it's your turn to frown. "Oh?"
She kicks the rug beneath her feet. "You're in Mom's nineteenth training class. She says you're the third class of her fourth year of doing this, and you're definitely not going to be the last. I've seen students coming in and out of the house for training as long as I can remember. A lot of them are here to try and get money, but we get some fanatics like you."
"Some of them do well. Some of 'em only come to do the training to check it off their to-do list. BUt most of 'em quit."
You gape at her. People like you… quit? You wouldn't give up your place in Daybreak's school if they paid you to leave. Delilah nods at your expression. "Yeah! They say it 'ruins the magic' or some stuff. It doesn't make any sense. If Mom was willing to train me I'd be in there every day! I'd work harder than anyone! I'd set up the ring and sleep in it if I could! What kinda person gets this far and then just leaves?!"
Her voice grows more and more shrill as she rants. "I mean, if they were there for a cause like that Greenpeace guy in your class, or if they thought this'd be easy, I'd understand. I'd laugh at em, but I'd understand. But who comes here because they love it and then just quits on it?! It's not fair."
All of a sudden she realizes how loud she's gotten and quiets down. "It's not fair." she repeats, staring at the ground.
You study her with sober eyes. It doesn't take a genius to understand what's brought this on. "I… Delilah. You know why your mom won't train you, right?"
She shakes her head slowly, hair waving around her like a curtain. "It's because… it's because she cares about you. She knows that this causes a lot of pain and that the reward isn't always worth it."
You hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder but she doesn't react. "She's trying to take care of you as best she can. And she thinks you'll be much happier if you don't become a wrestler."
"She's wrong." comes the immediate response. "I won't be happy unless I can do this." She looks up from the ground, eyes shining with unshed tears. "She doesn't get it. I don't know why she doesn't get it."
You think back to the tiredness in Daybreaks eyes, the way she walks with a hitch in her step, the way she takes as few bumps as possible when showing you what to do. You know exactly why Daybreak doesn't get it- or rather, exactly why she does and wants to keep her daughter from her path. "She gets it." you finally say. "She'll explain it to you one day, in her own words."
Delilah rolls her eyes. "Why do people always say 'one day'? Couldn't they just tell me now?"
"Aahh, no." You respond, pulling yourself back out of the seat. "That'd ruin the mystery. You'll learn everything… one day."
"That's a terrible catch phrase."
"Meh. It's a work in progress. But you've got to let us old people have our fun. And keeping secrets from you until some mysterious day is like candy to us."
Delilah growls, but at least she's out of her funk. "You old people suck."
"And one day, you'll be one of us!" you say, wiggling your fingers mysteriously and pitching your voice like a ghost.
"...You're stupid, Martin."
You groan. "I'm underappreciated, that's what I am. Now come on." You grab her hand again and make your way back into the chaos. "Help me get inspired. For real this time."
"Fiiiine. Now let's do this right!"
She takes the lead once more, and hauls you back into the swarming creative people.
What art do you find yourself drawn to the most?
[] The Black Knight. It just looks badass, and you can definitely see it hanging in your home. The attitude the artist put in it practically oozes off the canvas. (+1 Brute Roll)
[] The Jacket. The leather workers have some great stuff, and the jacket they've got looks just awesome. You can see yourself wearing it, either as entrance gear or just because. (+1 Cool Roll)
[] The Gargoyle. It's an awesome looking sculpture, as cool looking as it is terrifying. You don't think you'd want to sleep with it in the same room- at least if it was facing you- but you feel goosebumps when you look at it. (+1 Crazy Roll)
[] The Webcomic. Alright, maybe you were a bit too hasty to judge. Or rather, maybe that one guy was just a bad example. There's got to be some other web cartoonists around and they can't all suck. (+1 Comedy Roll)
[] Superman. You have to admit that that's an awesome print, and you've always been a fan. You'll grab it and keep a copy with you. (+1 Wholesome Roll)
[] The Demon. Not the most wholesome piece you've seen here, you'll definitely have to hide it from Delilah. The nudity is not what you want to show someone her age. But still, it looks great, even if you can never show it to your parents. (+1 Weird Roll)
[] The Music. You really like the way 10 Mugs of Ale plays, with it's great baseline and kickass guitar. You're going to back there, pick up one of their CDs, and play it on the ride home. They always say to listen to music for inspiration after all. (+1 Cocky Roll)
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