"A replica? Of this?" The man asks, flabbergasted. "You're talking of making a perfect copy of an LF! The man was a legend for a reason!"
"This LF guy was just that, a guy. Whatever art style he had can be copied. You said you sculpt, you must've tried copying one of his works." Dimas says.
"I've tried but an expert would be able to tell the difference."
"But you're the leading expert around here aren't you?"
"Y-Yes. Yes, I am."
"Wait a minute, Dimas." Lilee is unable to figure out Dimas's plan. "Why do you want a replica?"
"To give to one of the towns. The other gets the real deal." Dimas studies the statue a little more. "I doubt anyone got a real good look at the thing if everyone started fighting right away. And as long as Mr. Expert here is in on the plan."
"Artie." The man looks troubled. "My name is Arthur Saint but you can call me Artie for short. And I'm in. I don't like the idea of lying to everyone but I have friends on both sides and I'll do whatever it takes to get them to stop fighting."
"Okay, Artie, who gets the real one?" Dimas asks.
"I don't know… I'm not from around here. Maybe you two can ask around, see if any of the residents can give you any compelling reasons." Artie chuckles awkwardly. "No one is really talking to me at the moment since they think I'm supporting the other side."
"Yeah, yeah." Dimas touches the statue. "What is this made out of?"
The statue, while definitely carved from stone, had a tar-like look to it that almost felt like it was painted on but had seeped into the stone.
"I'm not sure. I'm still reading through his journals, but I've noticed it doesn't feel like any paint I've ever used."
Dimas waves it off. "Probably nothing important. Still… Lilee, think you can make something like this?"
Lilee touches the statue. "Maybe?"
"Good enough." Dimas shrugs. "Let's go see this studio of yours."
Artie opens the door which is located on the side of a mountain. Artie says it once belonged to LF. LF had a large portion of the mountain emptied out as a means of being alone with nature without disrupting the beautiful landscape outside. It also provided LF with an almost unending amount of stone for his sculpting.
This LF guy sure knew how to be alone, I would kill to have had something like this back in Nuevo Paso.
Artie shows them around the studio. The entrance leads to a large area filled with finished and unfinished sculptures. Lilee doesn't like the ones modeled after people, she can feel their eyes on her. Next is the storage room which is on the floor below. This room is even more spacious despite the large blocks of stone scattered around the floor.
Perfect for training.
The final stop are the bedrooms which lie above the entrance area. The entire thing felt more like a kid's dream clubhouse than an actual artist's studio to Dimas.
"Artie, you get started on the replica. Lilee, me and you are going to ask around, see which town gets the real statue." Dimas says once they've returned to the lobby of the studio.
"What?!" Lilee exclaims. "We just got here! Can't we even rest for a bit?"
Dimas shakes his head. "No. Might as well get this out of the way. That way I can train without interruption."
"Okay…" Lilee grins. "Why don't we split up? I get Amon and you head to Emon?"
Dimas wanders around Emon for the next few hours. As much as he hates talking to others, it was an easy thing to do. Everyone always has an opinion on the hot topic of the day, even if they know almost nothing of it. Obviously, he knew he would only hear how Emon is the rightful place for the statue. Lilee and him will have to swap information later.
He heard a myriad of reasons why the statue deserves to go to Emon. Almost all of them stupid. Things like; LF was inspired to create the statue because Emon has a better view of the moon, LF once said his best ideas come to him after eating at an Emon bakery, and even because one of the residents dreamt the statue spoke to them and begged to be placed in Emon. In the end, Dimas only heard a single sensible reason, LF was born in Emon. It wasn't much but then again, Dimas didn't really care.
Click! Click! … Click!
Artie is chipping away at a large stone. He had made great headway in the few hours Dimas was gone, he already had the head and the star carved out. Although, that's entirely thanks to the Brío Art he is currently using.
Artie explained it when Dimas got too close earlier. Artie would create a small time bubble around the statue, the time bubble would distort time inside of it. For Artie, he was spending day after day inside the bubble but for everyone else, he was moving at lightning speed. He didn't need to eat or sleep, the bubble didn't speed up his body functions, they still moved at a normal pace. Artie had adopted the Brío Arts from his grandfather who was a doctor.
These Brío Arts would make a killing back on Earth.
A knock came from the door and Lilee peeked her head through. Her eyes scanned the room until they landed on Dimas. She gave an innocent smile.
"Dimas…" Lilee slowly entered the lobby, her hands behind her back. "You're here already."
"Yeah, the locals were starting to ignore me with their nonsense reasons for wanting the statue. What did you find out?" Dimas notices Lilee's strange behavior. Although, he says nothing. Whatever it was she was hiding, it was none of his business.
"Nothing much either." Lilee keeps facing Dimas as she makes her way across the room. "Just that LF's wife was born in Amon and since the statue was meant for her, they deserve it."
Dimas sighs, Lilee has the worst poker face he's ever seen. "Lilee, I don't care if you bought something. Just make sure it's not going to affect our travels."
Lilee's jaw drops open. "How'd you know? Are you a detective too?"
"Sure, world's best."
Lilee grins while looking away. "You're going to hate it, but…" Lilee shows Dimas her purchase. It's a drawing of Lilee and Dimas standing as champions in Onaq's stadium. "I think we look awesome!"
Dimas looks at the picture in annoyance.