“Don’t expect me to start focusing on this stuff, this was a one off type deal and not something I intend to make a habit of creating.” I said and Ptah looked horribly sad at that.

“Such a shame! Ah well I know better than to force an artist to do something they don’t want to, ruins the feel of the art you see.” he said with a sigh.

I could understand what he meant as unconsciously ones emotions bled over into ones movements and thus got sent into whatever you were working on.-

If you were painting your brush strokes got more aggressive or messy. If you were fighting you lost some of your discipline usually and put more weight behind your strikes. Over all it was mostly small things but when stacked up throughout a period of time it could totally change the way the final product came across. I myself was no different and in fact could even be considered worse as if I was upset my cursed energy literally carried that over to my creations. Even a benign effect on an item could be twisted to a bad one as a result.-

This was why I tried to remain calm when I was crafting as then the final result is neutral and performs exactly how it was supposed to. 

“As much as I’d like nothing more than to stay here and chat with you I am on a date and it won’t do to neglect my partner here.” I said calmly.

Ptah just chuckled good naturedly “Of course my apologies my lady, I didn’t mean to intrude. Please enjoy your time at the gallery!” he said with a slight apologetic bow to Freya before leaving.

“As passionate as always I see.” she commented after he left earshot and we walked into the building proper.

I shrugged “It’s in his nature. I find it quite refreshing personally as he brings a sort of childlike excitement with him whenever he’s around.” I say frankly.

“I prefer more quiet company but I can at least understand the appeal. His energy is hard not to get swept up in.” she says and I nod in agreement.

“Where to first? Music? Painting? Sculpture? or perhaps crafting?” I asked curious about her choice.

“Lets look at the paintings first.” she said and I started leading the way to the area marked for that.

As we entered the hall of the gallery for paintings I couldn’t help but be amazed at the sheer variety of colors, styles and subjects that the paintings depicted. The first painting we saw was of the view of the surrounding plains from the top of Orario’s walls at sunset. The artist put detail into the wave of the grasses in the wind, the vibrant hues of the sun fading behind the horizon and even the distant hills that cast shadows in the fading light.-

Freya was not really all that impressed with this piece though I can understand why since she literally lived at the top of Babel and had a WAY better view than the mere top of the cities walls. The next piece was a stylized painting of Demeter that was less than child friendly, not exactly erotic but on the verge of it. Freya snorted at this and dragged me away from it before I could get more than a glance at it. We came across many different paintings of gods or goddesses with some being R18 and others being more wholesome in nature.-

Surprisingly there was only a single painting of Freya herself sitting at the edge of a window looking out longingly at the city. She was NOT happy when we came across this work. I sorta understood why too as it showed her more vulnerable side which she kept to herself and maybe Ottar since she trusted him completely. Even I had barely seen even a hint of this side of her myself and that was with her trying to woo me in her own odd way. –

“I’ll send Ottar to remove this tomorrow before finding out who dared paint this image.” she said with a sharp look.

I just shook my head “I think it’s a good look for you, makes you seem more real and less artificial. Besides even you have to admit that the artist did a fantastic job.” I said with a smile.

“I suppose…” she said with a small almost shy voice.

My personal favorite painting in the entire exhibit however had to go to the depiction of the war game with the Apollo familia. Specifically the moment I unleashed the eclipse on them though painted to be more symbolic than how it actually happened.-

We moved on to the sculptures but spent even less time there than we did in the painting section due to a large part of the area being filled with my own work. The music section turned out to be the most embarrassing however as it was almost entirely empty save for a single ornate box that was playing music, the jukebox.-

“You never told me you made something like this.” Freya said with a playful glare as she immediately recognized my handiwork.

“To be fair it was a commission Ptah put in and I assumed he would keep it to himself, I probably should have known better.” I said with an awkward chuckle.

“I want one.” she said firmly and that pretty much sealed that matter as she tended to get what she wanted, other than me of course. Then again we WERE on a date so maybe not.

We both ignored the crafting section as neither of us cared for looking at others work on the matter. Leaving the gallery I reactivated our clothes enchantment and led the way to our next destination, the bazar. 

“The gallery I can understand by why the bazar?” she asked confused.

“It’s a rare opportunity for you no? As Syr you have no interest or need to visit it and as yourself you would get ogled by everyone if you tried to visit. Most of your experience of this place is second hand from Ottar or your other familia members right? Theres a difference between that and the real thing so this can be considered a gift for you from me.” I said with a grin.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep