"I'll handle this," you tell your friends before heading over to have a word with the gallery owner.
"I'm not sure what you and your friends are doing here, but it's clearly not to look at or buy art, so I think you ought to be going," the woman says.
"We came here looking for Robert McCloskey pieces. Is this not the correct gallery?" you ask.
"Robert McCloskey?" the woman asks.
You refuse to so much as blink in uncertainty.
"Yes, the children's book author and illustrator. He lived in Deer Isle. He's extremely famous, especially in Maine. I heard once that one of the local galleries carried some of his sketches."
"Oh right, of course," she says. You can tell she's pretending to know what you're talking about when really she has no idea.
"I see now though that this gallery specializes exclusively in modern realist works," you say, trying to make it sound a little like a compliment, though calling what's in the gallery "modern realism" is a bit like calling a greeting card poetry. It's technically true, but feels like it shouldn't be.
"We also have some pottery in the other room," the woman says. "And some photography. We'll have more, soon."
"Great. We'll go take a look at that, then," you tell her, then walk away with purpose back to your friends before she can protest.
Their voices are lowered, but they're still arguing.
"We're okay," you tell them.
"Good," Addy says, but they do so angrily and while staring at Diego. "Diego here is trying to get Anuja worked up even more, I could use another adult in this conversation, please."
"You really think we're all a bunch of idiots, don't you?" Diego asks.
Addy rolls their eyes. "I don't think you're an idiot, I think you happen to be acting like an idiot right now."
"We can't do this here," you try to tell them all, but they ignore you.
"Addy, I am not a child," Anuja says. "I know that what happened to me wasn't normal. It wasn't human. If you were there, you would understand."
"But I wasn't, and I don't," Addy says.
"Come on, this needs to wait until—" you try, but they're still ignoring you.
"I'm asking you to trust me!" Anuja says, desperation in her voice. "Can you at least do that for me? Trust me that I'm not going insane?"
Addy groans in their frustration.
"You'll never convince them," Diego tells Anuja. "Addy thinks they're the only sane person here."
"That's because I'm the only one who seems to care about reality anymore!" they say.
Kirill catches your eye with an overwhelmed and pleading look.