Lydia Deetz

During the second week of October 2019, a mausoleum appeared on Liberty Street, tucked quietly at the edge of the coffee house gardens. It blends in with the architecture, but is still easy to find. No person's name is carved above, however, but three words: GRAVEN IMAGE GALLERY.

Upon opening the door, the visitor goes down a small flight of steps into a wide, open space lit with candles and gold-flickering hanging chandeliers. There is a small desk off to one side where admission tickets can be bought, and slips of paper are offered with pencils. Each photograph is numbered, and if patrons wish to purchase a print on the way out, they are politely encouraged to give the number to the desk attendant, who brings the orders to the artist herself for processing in her darkroom.

What visitors may have thought to be a very small gallery indeed has several rooms, and one doorway cut off by a wrought iron railing and a sign that says "Do Not Cross: DANGER". Anyone peering over the fence will find themselves looking down into interminable darkness. THat is because the gallery is, in fact, a tent converted by magic by the Twelfth Doctor during the Apprentices' first mission to mimic the dimension-bending properties of the TARDIS.

The walls have been painted in simple neutral tones, and Lydia's black-and-white photography is the main focus, in frames of all shapes and sizes. Here and there, bits of Mal's graffiti art give things a pop of color - usually in green, purple, and red renditions of landmarks around Main Street, or motifs like poison apples, purple ravens painted to perch on the corners of frames, or glowing green will-o-wisps that drift from portrait to portrait, leading the viewer through the gallery. Comfortable seating is available throughout so that people can linger and enjoy the art, or converse quietly. Most pieces of places of objects around the Kingdom are priced to sell, though a sign repeated politely throughout asks that anyone interested in purchasing portraits of an Apprentice should seek them out and ask their permission first, as Lydia did before including it in the gallery.

The final room in The Graven Image is sparse but worth a look: the graffiti here is swirling shadow shot through with bare hints of light, and only a single fireplace flanks the rear wall, with a red Queen Anne couch sitting in front for visitors. Above the mantel hangs a large portrait (Currently of Eleanor Shellstrop, the winner of the 2019 Halloween Costume Contest, dressed as a sexy Oscar the Grouch and looking surprisingly contrite), below a missive painted steadily in Lydia's own hand.

In our nightmares, we find the strength to be ourselves. I hope you leave your fear of the dark at the door on your way out into the light.

( Visual Inspiration Under Cut - Image Heavy )

Everyone seemed to be leaving, Lydia realized. They were wearing out their welcome with the natives, and her brand new boyfriend's grandfather was running out of patience with it all before they'd even gone on a single date. It was enough to make a teenager lose her mind... unless that teenager was clever. And knew how to deal with crazy, egotistical people. So she'd bribed Rick with a few bottles of good Pantropan wine she'd bought from her friend Elliot, and had him reconfigure her portal band so that it had five settings: home, C-137, Corona, Duckburg, and Pantropa. If she ever needed more, she knew where and how to get them.

For now, though, she was ready to go home for a bit... and she had company, which made it even better. She only hoped her traveling companion would be able to see her best friends, too, or it wouldn't be half as fun. She checked her bag to make sure she'd packed everything she wanted to bring home, then smiled as she activated the wide, glowing, green portal.

"Ready?"