Museum Studies

Talk to me

The museum was crowded as ever, and Roberta was glad for it. Mark had agreed to come and look around it today, and she was on cloud nine about this. He was finally going to see why it was so special to her! As she busied herself writing a set of new labels for some throwing knives, Kakyoin walked through the door holding a box.

"These arrowheads are getting a bit tatty, as the haven't been properly cleaned for a few years. Could you restore them?" He asked. The empty case which they had come from had been marked with a sign explaining that they were off being conserved, and the collection of little weapons was now in a plastic tray in the box Kakyoin was holding.

"Sure, I'd be happy to do that. When do they need to be done for?" Roberta asked.

"Preferably by the end of the week. I know that you're doing a guided tour today, though, so no pressure."

"I'll stay overtime to do them." She replied. She had the code for the staff entrance, and she didn't need to worry about the security systems because they didn't operate in the restoration room. However, all of the items were tagged, so if they were moved without permission the alarms would go off and the bomb-proof doors would go down. She looked into the tray, to see several arrows. Amongst them was one with an ornate engraved gold head, connected to a scrap of the arrow's wooden shaft.

"That's the one Joseph gets all funny about. He insisted that Caesar make it protocol that it should only be handled by the shaft, and that you need to wear cut-proof gloves when handling the head." Kakyoin shook his head at this, but with an air of curiosity.

"Chances are that the arrow came from a culture where they dipped their arrowheads in poison. But it doesn't match any of the arrows in our database, or in our archives. Joseph always theorised that it was from prehistoric Mesoamerica, but any carbon-dating tests always come back inconclusive. It's weird... But I guess that's just to be expected of such an object." Kakyoin carefully picked up the arrow, and lay it on the mat where Roberta would restore it at her workbench.

"Make sure to wear the gloves. Joseph really loved Caesar, and it'd break him if he knew that we were ignoring the rules Caesar made before he died. It was only a few years ago, but Joseph's still broken over it." He sighed, his red hair drooping.

"He was such a good man too. He was witty, clever, charming- he and Joseph had travelled the world together."

"I'm so sorry." Roberta gave Kakyoin a look of sympathy, her perspective on Joseph changing. He wasn't mad- he was just sad. A lonely man who'd lost the man he loved. Just then, her phone buzzed. Roberta checked it, and was greeted by seven new messages.

I'm here at the museum

Wait why aren't you answering me?

Are you ok?

Roberta?

Are you IGNORING me?!

Don't ignore me like this!

Don't you care about me?!

"It's Mark!" She cried. "He's here for his tour."

"He was booked in for half twelve, why's he here at noon? He's way too early." Kakyoin said. Roberta quickly messaged an apology to her boyfriend, before pulling on her guide's lanyard.

"Got to go, boss. I'm scheduled for this tour and I can't miss it."

As she walked off, Kakyoin felt weird. Something about Mark spamming her with messages and accusing her of ignoring him because she didn't immediately reply- whilst she was at work, mind you- rubbed him the wrong way. But before he could do anything the phone on his desk ran, and he had to take the call.