doesntsing | open post

"Am I not the one supposed to do that?" he teases. "You're making me look like a bad gentleman."

Jaskier decides to let Midge sit in the middle when they take over the back seat. Usually, that's a spot for the smallest person, but he can tell Ciri is eager to chat, and he doesn't want to let go of his new girlfriend. So he keeps an arm around Midge's shoulders and lets his favorite girls sit together. Ciri showers Midge with questions about her clothes and makeup, the classic teenager that wishes to be as pretty and grownup as the women in the magazines. It's very cute and Jaskier smiles the whole ride, but part of him still worries about Ciri struggling with her identity.

Soon they arrive at the museum, and Jaskier lets Midge takes his arm while Ciri walks ahead of them. He realizes what they look like and hopes that Midge's age stops anyone from thinking that Ciri's their daughter.

"Do you promise this is a good place and I am not about to see a bunch of paint stains on canvas?"

“Just showcasing the unconventional nature of our relationship,” she replies with a smile. “Besides, they’re more likely to stop for a beautiful woman.”

Midge is happy to sit in the middle so that she and Ciri can talk, especially because she still gets to hold Jaskier’s hand. Makeup and fashion are two of Midge’s favorite topics, and it’s nice to get to talk about them. She promises Ciri that she’ll take her to the makeup counter at B Altman one day. All teenagers struggle with their identities. They have to explore different things in order to figure things out.

People might think that Ciri is one of their younger sisters. It depends on how complimentary the person wishes to be.

“I promise,” Midge says. “Most of that stuff is at MOMA.”

They stop inside to pick up a map. “Do you want to see paintings from the time on Earth that corresponds most to the place you two came from?”

The unconventional nature of our relationship makes him laugh. Oh, he loves that.

"I want to see everything!"

And he means it.

Jaskier just follows the map in order - usually, he's more of an agent of chaos, but he doesn't want to miss a single thing. He stops at every painting and every statue, always spending several seconds to admire the details and make some commentary on them. Ciri does enjoy the art itself, but thinks Jaskier stays too long at each piece.

When they reach 'their' time period, Jaskier can help but freeze and stare.

"This is... uncanny, to say the least."

This is slower than Midge would prefer to progress through the museum, but she’s trying to let Jaskier experience what he wants to experience. The ancient Egyptian works are interesting. The early European art, less so. A lot of religious scenes. She’s sure they’re not Jaskier’s favorites either.

Things start to change when they get to the Renaissance. Jaskier’s reaction makes Midge smile.

“Hmm…” she leans in to look at the dates of the paintings. “1600s. Yep. That’s about right.”

Turning a corner, Midge comes face to face with this painting and calls Jaskier and Ciri over. “See? I told you we had bards.”

Since the art isn't preaching at him, Jaskier can still appreciate the religious paintings. He knows that getting funds from the church is the only way for many artists to survive; the same happened in his world. And in many cases here, he doesn't even recognize them as religious scenes - some of them aren't as obvious if you don't know the myths.

Cirilla giggles at the painting of the bard, but Jaskier is absolutely delighted. After the initial gasp, he gets as close as possible to take in every detail.

"Oh, look at him! That grin, he looks so happy! And he's actually wearing colors, too! The lute--"

He has a lot to say about the lute. Stop him while you can.

Eh, Midge doesn’t stop him. It’s cute how excited he is. Once it seems like he’s winding down, she points at another painting across the room.

“There’s us at the gig.” Midge squints at the painting. “Really weird proportions on that. The woman seems like kind of an afterthought.”

The next one makes both Jaskier and Cirilla laugh.

"What happened to her chest?" Ciri asks, unsure if being amused or weirded out.

"She reminds me of the Duchess of Attre," Jaskier replies between chuckles. "Did you get to meet her?"

Ciri nods. "We didn't talk much. Grandmother didn't like her."

Jaskie snorts. "Your grandmother didn't like anybody." Ciri's eyes get a bit sad, but she still chuckles.

“Her tits look very uncomfortable,” Midge agrees. “Bras and girdles are bad enough. Corsets are torture.”

She turns to Ciri as they walk to the next gallery. “Sounds like my Bubbe, or grandmother. She wasn’t very nice towards the end, but I think she was in a lot of pain.”

That’s not quite the same situation as Ciri’s grandmother, but Midge is trying to sympathize.

This conversation has definitely taken a turn. Jakier wonders if he should've brought up Cirilla's childhood at all, but it's not like she minded answering his question. She comes closer and searches for his hand, so Jaskier holds it gently and gives it a comforting squeeze.

"So she got sick? And before that, she was nice?" Ciri asks Midge while staying glued to Jaskier. "Do you have good memories of her?"

Poor thing. The way she reaches for Jaskier’s hand is so sweet.

“I do,” Midge replies. “She taught me to cook some things, and she always used to tell me Russian folk tales. That’s how I got interested in Russian Literature.”

"Aww, that's really nice," Ciri says, and Jaskier nods to agree. "Geralt wants me to learn to cook, too. I'm not sure if it's my thing."

"You just want to avoid chores," Jaskier teases.

"That's not true!" Ciri pouts and pulls at Jaskier's arm, but he only laughs.

“Cooking is fun sometimes,” Midge says. “It’s nice that you have a lot of other people in your house to help with it.” Thats not the case for most housewives.

She gives Jaskier a pointed look. “Do you know how to cook?”

Jaskier raises his eyebrows at that pointed look.

"What's with all the judging?" he asks, his offence clearly exaggerated for the sake of dramatics. "I know SOME stuff! I told you about my stew and Geralt teaching me how to clean a fish and rabbits. And don't get me started on the squirrels."

Ciri groans in frustration. "Not the squirrel story again..."

“That’s right, you did tell me that, and I requested that you cook for me one day. No squirrel, please.”

They move on to Impressionism and Midge smiles.

“Aren’t these beautiful? I’m going to show you one of the most famous paintings in the world.”

Moments later, they’re standing in front of Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

"That shall be our next date, then. No squirrel, I can't even think about those little fuckers anymore." Ciri rolls her eyes, since clearly he doesn't mind thinking about them if it means sharing the fucking story.

The Impressionism section is indeed beautiful and they don't know where to put their eyes first. Luckily, Midge knows exactly what to do. Jaskier stares at the painting in pure amazement and miraculously stays silent for a few minutes, taking it in.

"...stunning," he finally says. "That starry night - you painted stars that, like you, are light years away from anyone else. Looking on the serene village scene from an insurmountable distance for you saw things, like no one before, nor since."

“So poetic.” Midge smiles. “You really do get inspired by looking at other art.”

She only recently began to think of herself as an artist, thanks to him. It remains to be seen if anything today will inspire her. Comedy seems different than the other arts.

"Fuck, you're right, I should've been--"

Jaskier pats his pockets until he finds his notebook and pulls it out to take a bunch of notes, his eyes going from the pages to the Starry Night over and over. He repeats the process with the other paintings, truly falling in love with the Impressionism section. You know he's 'in the zone' because his tongue keeps peeking out while he writes.

"What does it make you feel?" he asks Ciri.

"Like you're trying to give me homework," Ciri replies, half serious, half joking. But she does like the paintings.

Jaskier turns to Midge. "What about you, love?"

Impressionism is very nice. Midge likes a lot of the paintings in this section, though she likes surrealism too. They’ll go check some of those out next.

Jaskier’s writing a lot of notes and Midge is glad that he likes what he sees so much. Hearing him call her ‘love’ makes her so happy.

“What does it make me feel?” she asks. “Hmm… warm, in a way. I guess I feel like it’s a cold night but I’m looking up at the stars from a warm place, maybe with a fire or a blanket.”

"So you saw a cold night, but you still let your mind find the warm spot - you don't see it, but you feel it." Grinning from ear to ear, he puts an arm around her waist and kisses her cheek. "You let the piece fill your imagination and interpret what is beyond your eyes. I'm so proud of you."

"If you're going to make out, you have to warn me so I can go into a different room," Ciri teases.

“For that?” Midge asks. “You’re easy to please.” She kisses him lightly on the lips. “But then I already know that.”

She glances over her shoulder at Ciri. “Sorry. This is us behaving ourselves.”

Truly.

Jaskier laughs, but Ciri pulls a face. "I know. Geralt has told me the stories."

"Oi! Your father has no right to complain about walking in on me - he's the one with the enhanced senses, yet I walk in on him so many fucking times--" He shakes his head. "Yennefer has this stuffed unicorn..."

"Lalala, I can't hear you!" Ciri exclaims as she covers her ears and walks to the next exhibition.

A grinning Jaskier kisses Midge's cheek again. "Let's ditch her and find a closet."

He's kidding. ~~Maybe.~~

Thankfully, Geralt has never walked in on the two of them, though with this being her first night in their house, there’s always a possibility. He probably knows better than to walk into Jaskier’s bedroom tonight.

Midge smiles at Jaskier and Ciri’s banter. She puts an arm around Jaskier’s waist and rests her head on his shoulder as they walk.

“Did you want to think about your parents having sex?” She asks pointedly.

Knowing Jaskier’s history with his family, that’s probably a loaded question.

"Depends on how you define 'my parents'," he explains with a wrinkled nose. "I've seen them fuck. Just not each other." Meaning, he saw them fuck the servants.

Jaskier keeps an arm around Midge as they follow Ciri to the Surrealism section. The poor girl looks really confused by the paintings here, but Jaskier is delighted - and greatly amused.

"Now see, this I recognize - it's what happens after a night of mushrooms."

He jokes, but it's clear that he likes them - once again, he lets go of Midge to take notes in his notebook in front of every painting.

"The artist evokes his tormented psyche / Through gestural abstraction / a systematic colorfield emerges / The blurring of dreamworld and reality."

Midge also wrinkles her nose. “That’s… worse.” Terrible childhood confirmed.

She gives a laugh when Jaskier says that this is what he sees while on mushrooms. She’s never partaken, so she’ll take his word for it.

They stop in front of this. “Are those some kind of eggs? Hard to tell. I still think this requires more talent than what passes for art these days.”

"I don't get it," Cirilla admits with a tilted head.

Jaskier, on the other hand, is in thrall. He keeps his eyes on the painting, but he still raises a finger and shakes it in Midge's direction. "Don't you dare compare this to the stains," he says with obvious disapproval.

"They're rocks. And look at the people in the back - this man is in despair yet still clinging to that other person, and the lion comes out of his chest - his feelings, mayhaps? Yes, yes. The rocks are all his struggles." He searches for the name of the painting and laughs. "The Accommodations of Desire? Ha! Someone was definitely struggling with some complex emotions."

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(by John Watt)

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(by B Young)

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