The Culture Tour

[alanwrotethis]

"Outskirts of Krakow, extensive stone and salt mines, the miners dug chapels directly into the rock and minerals. Not too similar, not so different."
Dukes tilts his head.
"Curious thing about carved angels... very little kenning of broader religion. Most think they are local spirits, little gods, family who can't die. Even the matter they're carved from doesn't change their outlook. They start different; wooden angels want to grow, stone angels are haughty... porcelain angels are terrified of touch. But after a few years, the veneration they receive assured all of them of their purpose."
He glances at Grace.
"You had family here then?"

[Lady Grace]

'Yet these Angels have been restored to their former glory.
Long may they endure'

Yes, I had family here but I can never really say it was my city.

[Valentina Audley]

Dukes statement makes Valentina very curious. She has several questions but settles on one.

"Please Sheriff, why are porcelain angels afraid of touch?"

[alanwrotethis]

He replies immediately, not needing time to think.
"Because when they're first born, all they know is how to break."

[Valentina Audley]

The swiftness of the reply startles her into another question.

"But do they not know how beautiful they are?"

Valentina feels, much like Alice, that she has fallen down a rabbit hole, but she's quite enjoying the sensation.

[L .]

Aurelia has fallen silent during their conversation, her eyes on the angels.

“Of course they do,” she says eventually, but quietly. “But that’s why everybody likes to break them. What better to warp to your own tastes, than something that is already beautiful.”

[Laurence]

Laurence moves with the group, knowing that although Valentina was jesting it wasn’t an impossibility that an ankle would be turned in the cobbles of the square. Looking up at the architecture of the Abbey, one hundred years was a long time to spend amidst the wooden shanty’s of the frontier.

“I rather took it for granted when I made my haven here how beautiful this city truly is. The new world is...a poor substitute in terms of the craftsmanship.”

Tilting his head, Laurence turns one ear to what Grace is saying. Keeping a careful eye out on all the members of the tour. The discussion about angels peaks his curiosity.

“I always liked ceramic to make statuettes out of.”

[Lady Grace]

Grace smiles
'Self restraint, self awareness, to strive against the corruption'she pauses not entirely sure how to express her meaning, 'why break a thing just because you can?'

'As to the beauty question. That would require evolution of thought and reflection.
They don't often see themselves from afar.
They are too busy being and I am not sure if that is the right or wrong approach'

'Is that what you meant Sheriff?'

[alanwrotethis]

"Quite right Grace, items don't have foresight, they just are."
He scratched his nose.
"There are exceptions. Swords, actually, overthink a lot. It's because they cut and shield, they have to learn when to hurt and when to protect."
A shrug.
"The average suit of armour is a self important ass, in comparison."

[Valentina Audley]

Valentina's eyes are wide with curiosity at this point.

"Please, how do you know these things? About, well, things?" Valentina is used to using objects to find out about people, but this is a new and exceptionally interesting area of knowledge she seems to have wandered into.