American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, MD, Wednesday

[justbeingbay]

It turned out the main exhibit at the American Visionary Art Museum for Bay and Gert's visit was by a guy obsessed with the end of the world.

His work was good, but it made for a morbid gallery to walk through before lunch.

"Okay," Bay said, as she stood in front of yet another canvas of skulls. "The world is not allowed to end before I finish high school."

[OOC: NFB due to distance. For she of the purple hair!]

Comments

[arsenicmauls]

"And if you went to any other high school, that would probably be a pretty easy task, but under the circumstances..." Gert noted, trailing off.

She stopped in front of one particularly gruesome-looking skull. "Wow, this is depressing. But I know a Goth girl who would love this."

[justbeingbay]

Bay snorted in agreement at the observation about Fandom. "I can see where these would be great room decoration for a goth," she said. "You should get a print for her."

[arsenicmauls]

"See, I can't help feeling like sending someone a skull-o-gram sends a weird message, even if she is kind of a morbid person," Gert said thoughtfully, tilting her head. "Is that weird?"

[justbeingbay]

"Nah, I get it," Bay conceded. "It's not like these are these cute Mexican Day of the Dead skulls. These are serious prepare-for-your-doom skulls."

[arsenicmauls]

"Yeah," Gert agreed, then added contemplatively, "Maybe I'll find a Hot Topic and split the difference."

She took a step back from the painting she was looking at, then wondered, "So, in your professional artist opinion, what do you think?"

[justbeingbay]

"I haven't been to Hot Topic in forever," Bay mulled. "And in my semi-professional artist opinion -- I don't know. The colors are gorgeous, and the guy knows how to get a reaction. But I wouldn't put them in my bedroom or anything."

She elbowed Gert lightly. "What's your not-an-artist opinion?"

[arsenicmauls]

"Yeah," Gert agreed. "I think I'm leaning more positive than negative. He's definitely talented, and he has a statement. It's depressing, and the whole 'a life devoted to the end' tagline makes me kind of want to give him a hug, but it's good art. As far as I can tell."

She glanced sidelong at Bay to gauge her reaction to that evaluation. Gert wasn't often unsure of her opinions, but critiquing art in front of an actual artist brought out that side of her, apparently.

[justbeingbay]

Bay was smiling, honored to be considered some kind of expert because she liked splashing spray paint around.

"It made us both feel something, right?" she said, as she started to walk toward the next room. "I think the only bad art is stuff you can ignore. Polite art."

[arsenicmauls]

"Bowls of fruit and stuff," Gert agreed, nodding. "The crap they put up in hotels and elevators that no one can take offense to." She scrunched up her face, obviously not a fan of the art she was describing. "I feel like art is a 'go big or go home' kind of game."

[justbeingbay]

"Definitely," Bay nodded. "I mean, I don't think Frank Bruno was walking around worried about making things pretty or not offending people. He's just -- out there. Everything about him."

She was trying to work out if that was a good thing or not.

[arsenicmauls]

"I think that's usually a good thing," Gert said thoughtfully. "I'm all for ignoring social pressure as long as it isn't, like, the pressure not to be racist or something. If you're just creating art that's kind of gory or hard to look at, that's just... you know, other people's problem."

[justbeingbay]

"Right, except if somebody only isn't racist because they know people don't like it, isn't that kind of like being racist anyhow?" Bay wondered.

[arsenicmauls]

"...Good point," Gert said at once, sounding somewhat surprised and amused by her own oversight. "I guess I meant more like... yeah, yay nonconformity unless it's gonna hurt someone if you say your ideas out loud. Which is just a really long-winded way of saying 'yay skulls,' I guess."

[justbeingbay]

"Yay skulls," Bay agreed with a little chuckle. "And yay saying what you want if it doesn't hurt anyone. Also, I would say yay to a cup of coffee, if you want to take a break."

[arsenicmauls]

"Please," Gert said vehemently. "I think that was my first serious intellectual conversation in a good year and a half. Surprisingly draining. Coffee in a museum cafe should make me feel less pathetic about that, right?"

[justbeingbay]

"As long as we're still in the museum, it's still culture," Bay said firmly. "But I know what you mean. Sometimes we get so busy just not getting killed we don't really get to think about the big questions."

[arsenicmauls]

"That ought to be my team's motto," Gert concluded. "Or we could go for gold and make it the official motto of Fandom High. Kind of as an explanation for our bad test scores."

She peered around the corner, nodding in the direction of the sign with an arrow toward the cafe and setting off in that direction.

"Like, world-saving is great and all, and I know as an ex-dropout it's weird that I'm saying this, but art history and literature and debates and stuff kind of make it have a point."

[justbeingbay]

"Oh god I need to take my ACTs," Bay moaned. "I'd been blocking it out."

Sorry, Gert. Senior year problems. She did her best to shake them off as she pulled open the door to the cafe.

"Anyhow," she said. "I know what you mean. Like, I hated Buckner, but ... sometimes I get depressed I could theoretically graduate without ever again solving an equation. Don't tell anyone."

[arsenicmauls]

Gert wrinkled her nose in sympathy. "Yeah, exactly," she agreed. "I hated my prep school in LA, and the notion of having to go to school at all, but high school seems extra pointless when all my classes are, like, 'how to pull pranks' or whatever." Which wasn't entirely fair - she actually liked both of her classes this semester - but it was a general complaint. "I liked when I at least knew my school was decent enough that I'd walk away knowing important stuff. Especially since I'm probably not going to college."

[justbeingbay]

"Why not?" Bay asked, genuinely surprised. Okay, so Toby was taking a pass on college because he was in love, and Ty had joined the army instead, but Gert wasn't like either of them. "If it's just money, couldn't you get a scholarship or loans or whatever?"

In some ways, Bay was very naive.

[arsenicmauls]

Gert shook her head, but didn't seem too bothered by the naivete. "It's not that," she said. "I'm not sure, but I think by the time I'm starting college I'll have access to my parents' accounts." Assuming they hadn't all been emptied into the Avengers' charity fund or something, which was a suspicion of hers. "But when I'm done here, I think I'm probably gonna go back to LA and help my friends with the heroing stuff full-time. At least for a while."

It didn't occur to her that they might not want to, or that she might change her mind between now and then. That was maybe a problematic oversight.

"You're thinking art school, right?"

[justbeingbay]

"Either Rhode Island School of Design or Art Institute of Chicago," Bay said absently. Mostly because she was kind of staring at Gert. "Wait -- you're going to do the hero thing? For real?"

This was not something she had imagined. Mostly it sounded dangerous.

[arsenicmauls]

"I think so," Gert said, looking a little bit self-conscious now - but in a good way, like Bay's surprise was forcing her to be more thoughtful. "I can't think of anything else I'd want to do right now that's a real job, and I still want to make up for all the shit my parents got away with."

She paused, then added, "Plus, when I was a kid I only ever wanted to be a politican, but now I think I'm officially burned out on authority figures forever."

[justbeingbay]

"Trust me, after what Daphne tells me about what goes on at the state capitol, I think you're safer with supervillains than with most politicians," Bay said firmly. "And, so ... I get where you're coming from, but doesn't the hero thing scare you? It would scare me."

[arsenicmauls]

"For sure," Gert agreed vehemently. "But I do have a psychic dinosaur and really badass friends, which is more than some people have. Plus, a lot of bad guys are total wimps."

It was kind of depressing, actually.

"Besides, aren't you scared about starting college? I think that would freak me out."

[justbeingbay]

"Seriously?" Bay was still surprised. "I always figured they wouldn't go into being bad unless they were good at it."

They were finally at the coffee stand, so she pushed open the door before answering Gert's next question.

"And I'm actually fine with it," she said. "Not that I'm in some rush to be an adult, but I've always liked being independent, you know?"

[arsenicmauls]

"Yeah, fair," Gert granted, nodding. So had she, she guessed - it was weird that the idea of college intimidated her at all. "How weird is it gonna be to take real classes again, though?"

[justbeingbay]

"It's art school," Bay said hopefully. "Maybe they'd let me just .... paint how I feel about calculus."

[arsenicmauls]

"Oh, perfect," Gert said, nodding in the direction of the room they had just come from, "you could just borrow this guy's style."

Gert was not a calculus fan.

[justbeingbay]

"And then I'd get an A for being passionate, right?" Bay asked rhetorically. "Or I could tear up my book and make a giant collage."