12243/Hellenic statues, persian cats and american soil

Hellenic statues, persian cats and american soil
Date of Scene:	26 September 2020
Location:	The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Synopsis:	Alice eyes some statues, when Professr Minerva starts a discussion about statues, cats and culture.
Cast of Characters:	Ivory, Athena

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Ivory has posed:
    Saturday afternoons are culture days for Ivory. Which meant, they'd grab a ticket to one of the museums in town and do a tour around, taking in whatever was on display. Today, it was the Met. Or, in full, "The Metropolitan Museum of Art", 1000 5th Ave, New York, NY 10028, United States, Earth, Sol system, Milky way. Incidently, the very museum that houses one of the largest collections of greek and roman art on the american continents.

After having taken a longer stroll through the hallways, it was that display area in which Ivory ended up, sitting under the high roof held up by classicistic pillars that took a rather huge part of Dorian architecture and mixed in some dashes of the pillars found in the temple of Athene in Athens in their bases. So here thez were, the ailiuranthrophic genomorph, persian cat sub type, in the presence of a lot of hellenistic statues on american soil. The only thing missing that could make the scene into a total clichee from an upper amazon prime flick would be the appearance of something like.... the god of advertisement? Teh thought brought a litte smile over their face as they looked to a few headless statues before snorting at the sight of one statue that was apparenty on loan because it hadn't been there before. "Wow, who knew the old greeks did depict that..."

Athena has posed:
Ivory isn't the only one in the museum, of course, and certainly not in the Hellenic wing. A blonde-haired with brown eyes behind big, chunky glasses is pacing slowly through the exhibit. Dressed in tweed earth tones, the woman seems lost in thought. She paces around one of the pillars, fingers trailing lightly over the ridges.

Then she hears the sound of another voice in the room, turning to offer a smile at the statue in question. "You are surprised that the Ancients would depict it in a statue? Theirs was a very free society, of course."

Ivory has posed:
    As someone actually answers their surprise about the loan statue from LA, Ivory spins around, their white hair flying behind them for a moment. "Well, depends on what you call free, right? I mean, in Athens, only men could vote and they owned slaves from pretty much the next town over that was not part of Athens or so I was told in my junior year. Somtheing good old Abe Lincold got rid of entirely when he kicked the butt of Davis and his bigot buddies in the south. But yep, seeing a staute of a male-female hybird beating up a human-goat hybrid is kinda surprising. Or is the goatman winning here?"

Athena has posed:
The woman's head tilts, blonde brows lifting as she turns to face Ivory more fully. "The Ancient Greeks did not have as perfect a society as many would like to think." she replies, nodding in agreement. "But neither was Mister Lincoln's society. Outright slavery was replaced by Jim Crow laws, and the Nineteenth Amendment wasn't passed until 1920." The woman pauses, then, as if reluctant to draw her hand away from the pillar. "I'm sorry, but I'm a Professor of Ancient History. Mildred Minerva, and it's a pleasure to meet you." She offers the hand.

Ivory has posed:
    "Ivory Valentine." the white haired one answers as they grab the hand. "Minerva... I know that surname. Somehow related to B-A Minerva who owns Cat's Eye Cosmetics? I mean, that's not a common surname... Eh, yes, back to topic, right? It took King in the 60s to get the whole world better, but the world gets better in steps. Step by step. Lincoln was the first step on the road that lead us here... no wait, that first step was the attempt to make the Atlantic tasty. But the first serious step to the whole equalitarian game."

Athena has posed:
Ms. Minerva's grip is firm and professional, her nails short and neatly manicured. "B-A Minerva? No relation, I'm afraid." She holds Ivory's hand in her own for more than a moment, her gaze openly curious as she regards the young... woman. Yes, young woman. The hand is released and she gestures towards the statue. "So who is your favorite? The satyr wins, of course. It's the horns." Mildred smiles and adds a wink.

Ivory has posed:
    "Barbara-Ann Minerva of course. She's like totally a large name in fashion. Too bad, because she seems to be a nice person. At least from what I could gather meeting her on that charity gala some weeks ago. But even with horns, I doubt Mr. Satyr there will get whatever he is out for in that battle." Ivory smiles a little. "What kind of favorite?"

Athena has posed:
The Professor looks from Ivory to the statue, and she chuckles softly. "He certainly won't get what he wants by taking -that- approach. But you identify with the other on some level, don't you?" she replies wryly. "I'm afraid I don't follow the latest fashion too closely." she admits, gesturing along her plain, if comfortable, outfit. "My sister was always the fashionista of the family. But it's a pleasant surprise do see young minds interested in the Ancients."

Ivory has posed:
    "Well, I try to go for a rather specific look that's neiher here nor there, if you follow the gist. But on some level, yea, whatever the artist there went for, I try to get done with clothing." Ivory notes. "On the rainbow I'm all over. But as I mentioned, how you mean my favorite?"

Athena has posed:
Minerva's eyes sparkle and the woman chuckles as well. "Yes, I certainly follow your gist." she replies somewhat knowingly. "My intention was merely to ask who you favored in the wrestling match, of course. But the Ancients would have been quite fond of the rainbow philosophy, as I'm sure you are aware."

Ivory has posed:
    "Wait, you mean that, besides the stuff they say about Plato being so mad that Socrates didn't want to be his lover and so he invented platonic love because he was like totally blueballed, that they were like flowerpower all over? Or was Flowerpower ancient greece all over again?"

Athena has posed:
Professor Minerva purses her lips at first, then she laughs. "Flowerpower was a product of LSD, rock music, and a lot of mud." she declares. "But yes, love and sex in Ancient Greece were not bound by what we would consider traditional gender roles today."

Ivory has posed:
    "Never knew, but then again, all I know about that episode is that Sparta was a hell of a police state, Athens invented democracy and that Socrates was publicly suicided. Oh, and that 300 Spartans held the line against some three millian faceless guys so that people at home could make art like this. Not the best face he managed, but who was it supposed to be anyway? At least the artist knew not to overload either size like japanese artists draw their inbetweens." Ivory comments, pondering abotu the whole thing a little. "I think Floerpower was also mushrooms and a hell lot of other stuff."

Athena has posed:
"Persians. King Leonidas and his Spartans held a narrow pass against the Persians, who were assholes." Minerva quips back with a playful smile. "Athens invented a -form- of democracy. And yes. A lot of... hemp... was involved in Flowerpower. Pot, Hash, Cannabis, or whatever you want to call it. But I'm not an expert in art, although sometimes our best view into history came from art."

Ivory has posed:
    "Hey, Persians are super nice! They are like totally fluffy and adorable and if you don't brush them they become helpless and only look at how adorable the kittens are..." Ivory complains, possibly oblivious that Xerxes I once was King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, which colloquially was called First Persian Empire. "And whatever they could get their fingers on. Lead to some of the best songs."

Athena has posed:
"Not Persian cats, but Persian-Persians." Mildred replies. Then she pauses, giving Ivory another look that carries with it some new revelation. "You are fond of cats aren't you?" she declares. "You are one of a kind, Ivory Valentine. Or perhaps more than one?"

Ivory has posed:
    "Of course I am fond of cats. I named my label White Persian Cat after all." Ivory notes, chuckling some. "And isn't every human being unique? I mean, safe for identical twins, everybody is like a unique combination and such and some are even more unique. I mean, those mutants on the news and such."

Athena has posed:
"Yes, those mutants on the news." Mildred replies. "I hear quite a lot about them. All unique, but none more or less unique than the others." The Professor looks thoughtful, then adds. "Humans would do well to realize that they aren't so different from mutants, at the end of the day."

Ivory has posed:
    "Well, technically speaking, isn't each human a mutant of his own species?" Ivory notes, shrugging a moment. "But I meant that some people have extra unique powers and such. Stuff that sets them apart even more."

Athena has posed:
"Yes." the Professor replies, with that knowing smile again. "I couldn't agree with you more." Reaching out, she points generally towards Ivory's face. Then her fingertip lowers towards Ivory's throat before withdrawing. "We are all unique." she declares. "But humans tend to be afraid of anyone who they THINK is different."

Ivory has posed:
    With a forced smile, Ivory nods at the claim of the Professor that humans fear the unknown. "Oh I know. I have been on the recieving end of bigots back home. New York is much more open in that regards. But then again, being someone that marches in PRIDE parades openly and who decorates their flat with rainbow flags I do kind of invite some of that."

Athena has posed:
    "You wouldn't be the first, and unfortunately you won't likely be the last." Professor Minerva replies. "It's interesting that in some ways, human society has become less inclusive and less tolerant with time. A backward step, if you will." And yes, the Professor continues talking about humans in the third person. "So long as we have those who promote fear, we will continue to step backward." She smiles, then adds. "But ultimately everything becomes 'retro', right?"

Ivory has posed:
    "Wait, the society has become more open since Woodstock and such! It was literally illegall to have a homosexual relationship everywhere in the US before 1962 and the last states only had their Sodomy laws made unconstitutial by Lawrence v Texas in 2003. And US v Windsor in 2013 enforced the right for anyone to marry." Ivory's response shows they know at least one aspect of history well.

Athena has posed:
    "It was both popular and accepted for Ancient Greeks to have homosexual relationships, especially between older men and younger proteges. And we won't even BEGIN to talk about the Romans." Here, Ms. Minerva rolls her eyes. "But while human acceptance does move forward, it's two steps forward followed by one step back. Being accepted as someone with gender fluidity is one thing, but now the arrows of discrimination are mostly aimed at mutants."

Ivory has posed:
    "Both males and females or just men, hm?" Ivory inquires, tilting the head some. "I mean, didn't both also keep slaves and such? And yes, we're not perfect, but I bet the Greeks weren't perfect either."

Athena has posed:
    "The Ancient civilizations all fell, of course. Every Empire sought to be greater than the last, yet each one ultimately fell for their own reasons." the Professor replies. "And yet the morality pendulum swung back and forth, throughout all this time. The hedonism of Rome was followed by the Holy Roman Empire of Charlemagne. None was perfect, just as society today is not perfect."

Ivory has posed:
    "I'm not sure if 'falling' applies to that Cat city. I mean, they venerated some cat goddess there and isn't that what they say about this african country too? But I guess the morality pendulum is a good description for what had happened. But can't we just pin it in place?"

Athena has posed:
    Professor Minerva chuckles at that, shaking her head slowly. "That, my dear, is part of the Evolution of Man. Changes in political beliefs, morality, and even spirituality. And yet it seems that everything runs in cycles, to some degree. What was out of style two decades ago becomes en vogue next week."