sao paulo ♔ see her tail lights vanish in the dark

[starprince]

Thief- The Fratellis

WHO || Poe, Natasha, Ward, Amy, Miles, Peter [closed]
WHAT || The Knights investigate a bizarre clue in an art theft
WHERE || Nara Roesler Gallery, Brazil
WHEN || Before the concert, time-line wise
HOW || Actionspam 

The Knights are met by the sun elf curator of the exhibit at the Gallery in Sao Paulo, a golden skinned man named Elluin, who wears an expensively tailored suit with a skinny black tie, his long white hair tied up in a man bun. Yep. He walks them to the place where the piece had been on the wall, now vacant. A balustrade blocks off the area from the public, and a small placard hangs beside the blank space.

"It is the strangest thing. The pages were actually tacked to the wall in place of the painting. There can be no doubt that they were left on purpose."

Comments

[behindcloseddoors]

[ he shakes his head ]

It was an isolated item, not part of a greater location. It changed hands a few times before finding its way here.

[betrayed]

Who else had ownership before it ended up here? [A beat]

Also, is it possible to see the results of any of those tests?

[behindcloseddoors]

I can send them to you, but there's not much to be seen, other than verifying what I've told you. The last owner was a private collector of elven descendant.

[newgenwraith]

Did that owner ever mention having had attempted thefts or threats of it before he gave it to you?

[behindcloseddoors]

[ he shakes his head ] Not at all. If there were anything further to report that was suspicious, I assure you, I would tell you. But unfortunately, this case is somewhat baffling.

[betrayed]

Alright, so where are the pages that were left behind in its place?

[Enough 20 Questions that don't seem to be helping them, lets get to the "clue" that was left behind.]

[behindcloseddoors]

Of course. Follow me. [ he leads them back to an office, where the pages have been sealed under a glass case, flicking on a light to better illuminate them.

several images of the buddha are present: each of them rather old, but there is also an image of this broken piece as well.

each is labeled in the book -

the first is "Buddha attended by 2 Bodhisattvas, Mathura, 2nd Century CE"

the second: "Standing Buddha Offering Protection

Period: Gupta period (4th–6th century)
Date: late 5th century
Culture: India (Uttar Pradesh, Mathura)
Medium: Red sandstone",

and the final "Statue of Kanishka I, 2nd century CE, Mathura Museum." ]

[keptbiting]

[ aww buddha's head is gone, sad. amy peers at the pages but.... they still mean nothing to her. ]

What's Mathura?

[behindcloseddoors]

Ah, yes. A city in India. There was a particular school of Buddhist art that flourished there.

[newgenwraith]

[Poe hasn't learned anymore basic since 5 minutes ago, so the words mean nothing. But he just looks at the pictures]

Any of those students happen to be around here now with their own schools?

[betrayed]

And -- do these images have anything to do with the original art piece that was stolen? [Since, the narration, just realized no one really asked what exactly was stolen.]

Do you have a copy of the original piece -- so we might be able to see if there's anything that's referenced?

[starprince]

[ the guy shakes his head at poe's question.

"The school in question is centuries old," he says, before turning to ward. "Nothing that we've been able to ascertain. But yes, we can show you a picture of the image." he directs them to an office, where he pulls out a large book with glossy pages. the piece is a landscape that shows a beautiful elven city at sunset. ]

Someone bothered to steal that?

[betrayed]

[Ward glaces to the photo of the painting and tries to recall the pages that were left behind. He tries to see if he can see anything that might connect them or might leave something as to what exactly those pages mean in relation to this painting. (IDEK... Knowledge Art 17??)]

[starprince]

[ nope there literally seems to be no connection ]

[keptbiting]

[ amy peers at ward before shrugging helplessly. she honestly doesn't know what else they're supposed to ask or look for or inquire about. the clue wasn't even a clue, wtf. she's mission leader and it's going to suck going back to the castle a failure but amy doesn't know what they're supposed to do if every avenue they go down leads to a dead end.

anyway she elbows peter because RUDE. ]

[starprince]

[ the curator notices the look on amy's face, and says:

"You can see why we had to go beyond the police. This is... not a normal case. We are all somewhat baffled."

peter rubs his arm and says: ] Hey, you've got us on the case now. We'll figure it out. [ he looks back at the others, his voice a little strained from the forced enthusiasm ] Right gang?

Let's... figure it out.

[keptbiting]

Er, right, yeah, totally.

[ amy nods too enthusiastically. ] You mind if we have the room to discuss. Amongst ourselves?

[ give me ur office. ]

[krasnayapautina]

Right. [She speaks up again with a firm nod. MMmmm dead ends, her fave (not).]

[starprince]

[ he nods and leads them to his office for some privacy. as the door clicks shut behind him, peter says: ] We're screwed, aren't we.

[newgenwraith]

Yeah, I'm totally out of my element here. I got no clue what any of this is about.

hi yall it's still tessa - i'm just too fucking lazy to sign out of this account rn sry

[vdov]

Well, that was a fan-fucking-tastic start to boost morale. [dudes pls.] So help me god I will find pom poms in here and start cheerleading if I have to.

[dat sarcasm tho.

Anyway she's going to direct her attention to Amy, because Amy's the team leader here.]

you fine <3

[starprince]

Has anyone ever... not solved one of these missions before? I mean... what's the protocol for us just walking back in like "Sorry Chief, we gave it all we had"?

[newgenwraith]

[yeah, that's a confused look]

Pom poms?

[like that's of any importance to this mission but you've gone and confused the pilot]

[vdov]

[She glances over at Poe again.] Sparkly things held in the hand and waved around cheerfully. Usually at sporting events, attractive women in tight uniforms use them, while preforming athletic feats. [Context in case Poe has ever caught a game on TV.] You can leave that last part out of any mental images of me with pop poms here. But yeah, those are what those are.

[betrayed]

[He frowns, why are they talking about Pom Poms instead of trying to figure out this whole... weird unsolvable mission.]

Does anyone know anyone in the black market for art? I mean, maybe we shouldn't be trying to solve the who stole it part and instead just try to find the painting. [If only his nefarious dealings had been closer to the art world instead of foreign and domestic intelligence.]