I think I lost my head (can you make me a new one)

ch.4 the man who fought a dragon

♤

after leaving his crate with amelia and making sure he was out of sight, nathaniel briskly made his rounds through the halls, before turning back to his office.

he did feel kind of bad for the new secretary, she really didn't ask for all the batshit insane things the museum dealt with, the kind you wouldn't normally associate with a gallery. though she really couldn't afford to be so squeamish when deciding to work at a place which obviously practiced taxidermy.

one could only hope the dead things would infact want to stay dead.

the museum in question was officially known as the gallery of national and historical treasure, though hardly anyone ever called it that. to the people, this place was simply the town museum.

to a select few however, the elaborate storage and filing system with a mind of its own served a second purpose; that of covering up the quote unquote supernatural.

now of course there wasn't actually anything supernatural out there, but living in an age of great discovery and industrialisation, there were more than enough people with a screw or two loose, deciding to try their hands at alchemy.

most of it was some innocent playing around trying to change lead to gold, but there were a few exceptions who drastically crossed the line between ethical study and self serving atrocities.

they were to be observed, and if deemed unfit for the public, quietly eviscerated.

after all, who knew the scale of panic that would erupt if the city folk discovered there was some failed scientific experiment on the loose.

causing a huge explosion for all to see certainty wasn't a good business tactic, and nathaniel was grateful for the fact that it was not his department to deal with.

not my circus, not my monkeys.

.

nathaniel theodores worked at the gallery as a tour guide and osteologist, hence the occasional overlap with the cover up crew.
the other reason was that the cover up crew in question had the bad habit of doing shitty management jobs and then expecting nathaniel to just magically fix everything for them.

which he did.

wouldn't want to lose his job at their hands after all.

.

being a museum first and foremost meant having to put up a front, and that included giving visitors a tour around the gallery.

it was a menial task, but it was entertaining enough to distract him from the loop of thoughts that had been running through his brain like a fly zooming circles round a candle flame.

.

nathaniel grabbed the keychain from his desk and slung it around his neck, straightened his shirt and scoured the desk drawers in search of his notes, finding they had been happily gnawed at by resident silverfish,
before making is way to the entrance to greet the next group of visitors.

he worked through most of the tour on autopilot, lost in thought, until he felt a tugging on his sleeve, the discomfort of physical contact yanking him back to reality.
the offender appeared to be a small child, wide-eyed looking up at him. "sir?" she asked, "what happened to your face?"

the child's mother immediately pulled her back, fervently whispering that this really wasn't a polite thing to ask, and that she shouldn't just blurt out everything the thought, but nathaniel shook his head, indicating he didn't really mind.

he knelt down next to the girl and have her a smile.
"i fought a dragon." he dramatically whispered. the girl gasped, immediately enthralled.

"really? did you win?"

nathan grinned. "of course i won. as you can see, i'm still here to tell the tale."
"that is so cool!" the kid exclaimed, "i want to fight dragons when i grow up, just like you! can i?" nathaniel gave her a pat on the head.

"you can be whatever you want to be. keep that in mind, okay?" the girl happily nodded as nathan brushed off his clothes and prepared to continue the tour.

the paintings on the wall eyed him with contempt. nataniel made a mental note to have someone replace them. he had always thought potted plants would be much more charming to have around.

.

nathaniel had never fought a dragon.

dragons did not exist, and even if they did, he was unfit to fight any of them.

the burn scar tracing his face was the result of a fire in his childhood home, one that did not just burn away his hope and the skin on one side of his body, but took with it the wonderful people who raised him as well.

nathaniel hardly ever talked about the incident, and though at some point everyone would bend and dare ask him, he enjoyed making up grandiose tales about scaling fiery mountains and fighting dragons. he never told the same story twice, leaving the people around him with even more questions rather than answers.

(not that anyone would mind. nathaniel could entertain the kids and keep the public happy, so who were they to complain?)

.

he watched the group leave with a sigh, lighting up the lanterns flanking the heavy double doors, as it was starting to get dark out already.

for a second he debated staying the night at the gallery instead of making the unpleasant trip home, even more so with the entire city's population out on the streets this evening, celebrating all hallows eve.

regardless, he did need to get some new candles as the museum supply was running low, and the halls needed to be illuminated at all cost.
so, he locked up and descended the stairs that led up to the front door, to the city below.

01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100100 01110010 01100101 01100001 01101101

the street lights blinked at him as he walked by. nathaniel politely winked back.