Museum Studies (theme 90: Treasure) (original) (raw)

Museum Studies (theme 90: Treasure)

| | Title: Museum Studies. Universe: DC Comics standard until yesterday, set in the time of Batman and Robin Reborn. Genre: Family dynamics. Rating: G. Characters/Pairings: Unnamed museum assistant curator, Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson. Word Count: 499. Warnings: 1) None of the details about medieval Japan has been researched in the least, so I apologize for those in advance. 2) I rarely like this type of story. Summary: Even home-schooled kids go on field trips.Museum StudiesI want people to treasure beautiful artifacts as much as I do. So, even though I’m an assistant curator, not a docent, I couldn’t help stopping the boy striding through the Medieval Japan room as if he planned to view the whole Gotham City Museum in six minutes.“Hi,” I said. “Are you looking for your school group?”“>tt< I don’t need sch—”“He’s home-schooled.” A dark-haired man appeared from Ancient Japan and laid his arm across the boy’s shoulders. “I thought he’d like the armor.”“Well, I’m glad you brought your…” The man looked too young for me to say “son.”He grinned. “Brother.”“Not really,” muttered the boy.I guessed they were in a Big Brother program. Though the boy didn’t seem deprived—nice clothes, big for his age.He was peering at the Meiji guard armor. “A blade could slip right under that helmet.”A teachable moment, my professor would say. “We think the guards wore leather bands around their necks, and that would protect against cuts.”“You think so?” The boy stared me down with a smirk. This is why I never wanted to be a docent.“Check this out,” the man called from another corner. The boy walked over sullenly, and I left them alone.“The warrior prince Komoko. Before he turned fourteen, he’d led his army in three battles.”The boy gazed at the figurine. “I want it.”“We’ll see if the gift shop has a postcar—”“No, I want the real one.”“And I want world peace. But a museum’s designed not to let people walk off with stuff.”“Not designed very well,” the boy grumbled, looking up at the ceiling. “That motion detector’s ten-year-old technology.”“Look who’s talking. Plus, that’s the system you can see. I bet there are more detectors in those old vents.”I edged their way. Museum professionals really don’t like to hear people talking about how to steal.The man glanced over. “I was director at the Cloisters.”“For five months.” The boy’s eyes stayed on the figurine.“Interim director,” the man agreed. “Mostly overseeing construction.”That’s where I’d recognized him—the trade magazines had been full of articles about this appointee with no background, not even a college degree. What was his name?“I knew better than to get in the curators’ way.” He smiled and crinkled his eyes. Were there any administrative openings here at the Gotham?“If my father were alive,” the boy stated, “he’d find a way to get me this.”“Maybe,” the man replied. “Have you read the label?”The boy peered at the text on the wall for a minute. “Hmmph,” he said, for the first time without sounding patronizing. The pair walked on to the next gallery.The art had gotten through to the boy, I thought, rereading the label myself. I guess that’s what the Wayne Foundation had hoped for when it bought this treasure for the Gotham five years ago.Tags:character: damian wayne, character: dick grayson, theme 90: treasure | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |