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This was the first time Varja was at an art gallery. Strangely, the thought of ever visiting one had never crossed her mind before, even though she usually liked art of all kinds. Now that she was here, she decided she would have to come more often. Not only was it a new experience, but also a chance to see art of a different style than what she would usually look at on her own accord.

Yet she had to admit that the place was also somewhat eerie to her. The whole building was properly lit and looked nice, but it was already quite late at night and barely anyone was in the art gallery at all. It reminded Varja of a video game she played a while ago. About a young girl, visiting an art gallery, when suddenly all other people vanished. After which the girl ended up in the world of paintings and had to find a way out. Looking at the paintings, she tried to imagine how such a world of paintings might look like. But the paintings at display here lacked the strangeness and the mystical feeling of those in the game. If anything, she thought, the world behind the paintings in this room would probably be similar to a 70s or 80s disco. The thought of many different pictures all dancing in a disco, the people on them partially sticking out of the frames, made her chuckle.

After a few more moments, Varja decided to head over to the next room, curious what might be at display there. However, after getting halfway to the door, everything suddenly went black. In surprise, Varja stopped moving. What was this about? It couldn't be that they had closed the gallery without checking if there still were visitors inside, right? Maybe the power went out? With a slight rustle of cloth in the dark, she took her phone out of her pocket, pushing the on button. Nothing lit up. Of course, now of all times the battery had to be dead. Having lost all sense of direction, Varja started walking in the direction she expected the nearest wall to be. She did actually run into something, but it most certainly was no wall.

Ah art, it is one of the greatest gifts of this dark and terrible world. Mason looked at one particular one of them. The detail, the images. The way that somehow this particular artist had managed to make a completely 2 dimensional image somehow feel like it was alive. As if it could actually move and look around. She heard that it was supposed to be in the sun, unlike now. And that it would look completely different throughout the day, as if the painting itself was aging. Unfortunately, the sun can also seriously damage things over time. So now it was behind a special glass. A lot of these other paintings were a bit more recent, this one had just caught particular interest from her. Mainly because it had images of mythology.

Vampires existed, she knew that. She had unfortunately ended up as one. But so did many other things, demi-fae, fae, mooncalves, wendigos, sorcerers, so many beings of powerful origins. Just how many myths were actually real? Mason had always had an interest in art, the woman was practically draped in tattoos stopping mostly just to not fill in her head. And yet for someone who appreciated something that was so known for thought and sometimes even peace, she regularly went to battle. Because while Mason may have had her troubles, what she did not have trouble with was hunting down the undead. Her opinion on vampires themselves had grown a bit more permiting, but she was still far from completely forgiving.

Suddenly, the lights went out. She glanced around uncertainly, also only now realizing there was almost nobody else in here until-, "Oh dear" She nearly toppled over as she was run into by someone, she could somewhat make them out, "Maybe running around in the dark isn't the wisest of choices?" she commented with both a joking, and slightly judge-mental, response.

She narrowed her eyes to try and see who had run into her, "Think they cut a breaker or something? This is definitely not normal for this place. Anyway what's the rush, a little darkness won't kill ya. Well...I guess generally that's not what people are afraid of but this is an art museum how many boogy men can you find in here."

„Ah, sorry.“ After hearing the voice of someone and realising she had run into them, it was more a reflex than anything else. Varja took a step back, trying to see who she had run into, but was unable to see much in the darkness. “I was afraid they might have closed the place, not knowing I am still inside.” she said, a bit embarrassed. But if someone else was still here, that meant they probably weren't closing. The thought of being stuck in this place until morning was a scary one. Though for a moment the mental picture of the disco of pictures returned to her mind. A silly idea, but it managed to cheer her up.

Still, she was wondering what to do now. Maybe the power would be back soon, maybe not. Either way, waiting for a moment and heading for the exit if the lights wouldn't turn back on was her best idea so far. Though the woman she had run into was right, stumbling around in the dark probably wasn't the best idea. “Um, do you maybe have a phone or something else to make light with?”

Mason shrugged as she heard an apology, "Is alright, guess it might have spooked you a bit." Then especially believing that as she mentioned she was afraid they might have been closing it, "You know I don't think they close this place often, and I'm quite sure they wouldn't lock someone inside with the paintings without a very thorough check."

Mason glanced around uncertainly, so the lights were out, she heard the woman ask about a phone, she checked her pockets finally pulling one out and trying to get the flashlight to work, it wasn't particularly bright, but they could see a little at list. Mason chuckled and held it under her chin to cast an eery shadow on her face as she chuckled. "Boo." she joked.

While it might not be seen well in this light, Mason was one of the vampires who actually appeared very human. She was not pale like many of them were and had somehow retained her living appearance, she had also retained her tattoos through a very different ability. Though they could only barely be seen on her neck in this lighting.

Varja couldn't help but laugh when the woman in front of her lit her face with the light of the phone and said boo. It was both surreal and fitting at the same time. “This would be the perfect atmosphere for scary stories. Imagine telling stories of haunted paintings while in an art gallery.” She was almost tempted to suggest exactly that. After all, Varja rarely had the chance to sit down and tell stories to someone. Given the situation they were in, however, she decided against it. Neither did she know why the lights went out, nor who the woman in front of her even was.

The second problem was one she was able to do something about, at least partially. “I'm Varja.” she said, holding out her hand for a handshake. “Just in case we get stuck in the darkness again and I'm trying not to run into you again.” These words were accompanied by a slightly embarrassed smile.

Mason chuckled a little again as Varja seemed to be quite fine with the type of joking about she'd gone with. Perfect time for scary stories. Oh, Mason had those. She'd had one recently, one that was very true. Though it hadn't taken place here. She let out a little bit of a chuckle, "Oh I have some stories. I imagine most people in Harper Rock do."

Mason glanced around thoughtfully trying to see if she could see anyone else, and then she heard the woman introduce herself, "Varja" she said, and reached a hand for a handshake with another comment about the dark "Mason, or Macy, pleasure to meet you!"

She glanced into the darkness, "Man, this would definitely be the type of place you'd see ghosts in wouldn't it? A painting gallery, at night, in utter darkness. Either that or a serial killer, but they would have some seriously awful aesthetic choices if they were killing in a place like this but that's just my opinion. Then again a ghost wouldn't really be that scary here either." She paused in thought, "Or maybe that's just me."

It was true that most people in Harper Rock had their fair share of stories. So far, Varja had – remarkably – managed to avoid getting into any really dangerous or scary situations. A circumstance she was mostly glad about, although she wondered if she had missed out on things she might have learned from that.

“I generally think ghosts are scarier than serial killers. The killer is corporeal, meaning you can run away or try to fight him. But doing something about an incorporeal ghost sounds a lot more difficult to me.” Varja said, a thoughtful expression on her face. It was a topic she had thought about often in the past, even though it was a rather meaningless comparison. Then again, with the last revelations, there might as well also be ghosts out there.

“Though since ghosts are dead people, there are probably dangerous and not dangerous ones. And if there was one at an art gallery, it would most likely be discussing the art here with us.” Saying this, she chuckled slightly. “Imagine the ghost of a painter in old-fashioned garb suddenly appearing, starting to critique the paintings here.”

Mason cocked her head in thought at the comment on the woman believing ghosts to be scarier than serial killers. And her explanation. Well, she had had that one experience with a ghost which was...absolutely disturbing. Well for one she'd completely lost her clothes in that debacle, the ghost having stolen them for the purpose of attention she thought. She'd run into someone during that too. They returned to a child something of her mother, and then the two were gone. It was all-together an...unusual experience. Bittersweet in some ways. She couldn't bring herself to completely fear them, she felt pity for them. Because that child only had a desire for something of her mother. And then she was free.

Her distanced thoughts were brought back as Varja mentioned that, if it were just a dead person and they were in an art gallery, they'd probably just discuss it with them. Mason chuckled and shined the light on her face to make it a little eerie, making a face and saying while adjusting an invisible monocle with a terrible mockery of an exaggerated Italian accent: "I quite'a like'a dis'a painting, but I find'a the blue's to be uhh a bit too much like'a the sky and not like'a the sea."

She shook her head chuckling at it again, "Seriously though I'm not really afraid of ghosts so much, fae though, those freak me out. Believe it or not I've run into ghosts, and after that. It's hard to fear them, not because they weren't powerful, but because...they just needed something, and wanted help to get it. Fae though, they're just like fake gods playing with toys."

"Well, guess we should figure out either how to leave or turn the lights on. I'm surprised nothing's been done yet you'd think there'd be a back up or something for a place as big as this." she commented.

Varja couldn't help but laugh when Mason put on the act of an old painter. Joking with someone like this was fun. Maybe she should be around at the art gallery more often if such interesting people were to be found here.

What Mason told about ghosts and fae was interesting though. It seemed like Mason had experienced quite a lot of interesting things. She had heard the term fae before, but she didn't know anything about them. Maybe she could ask Mason about this later. For now, the second part of what Mason said was more relevant. “Yes, it's strange. A backup would be normal, and it is unlikely that the backup would die at the same time as the main power.”

At this point, it seemed waiting for the power to go back on didn't seem to make sense. “I would be interested in what has happened. So I would opt for turning the lights back on.” She looked around at the darkness surrounding them. “My first guess would be to check the distribution board. Only question is where to find it.”

Mason smiled as she laughed, well it looked like the mood was at least pretty light even if the gallery no longer was. Mason clicked her tongue looking around as Varja agreed on the backup. And also mentioning she'd like to see what happened, she said something about something that Mason was definitely not familiar with.

"A...distribution board? Sorry I really don't know what that is. Unless that's like a breaker board? It kind of sounds like that." She asked furrowing her brow and turning her camera around trying to see what all could be seen, not that it was much with this particular light, but it was much better than nothing, "Although if it is a breaker board, I doubt we'll be allowed to go there. Also kind of surprised we haven't heard anyone trying to find other people in the building, unless they think it's down."

She grunted, furrowing her brow rather seriously. "Or they're dead." before breathing and and shutting her mouth as she realized she'd just said that out loud, "Sorry, not meaning to put you on edge It's just kind of...instinct to assume the worst around here."