Imagine: Michiru gets roped into an art exhibit at the last moment. There isn’t enough time to paint enough pieces from scratch, and she isn’t really happy with anything she managed to finish in a while. She forces herself to choose several, then looks at them again, and rejects at least half. Then drags herself through choosing again. Then rejects at least half again. The pattern repeats until she’s either so frustrated or so time-pressed that she enlists help from her family.
Setsuna really wants to say something nice. The most encouraging words that come to her mind are “this one reminds me of the time when I fought a lizard-monster who manipulated time to make itself move faster or to slow its enemies down”. She can’t explain why it reminds her of the lizard-monster. Setsuna stays silent.
Haruka has never felt more out of place than in that moment. All she manages for the longest time is a weak gesture towards one piece and “Michiru, what even is that?”
She expects a coy look and an explanation that stops making sense halfway through. But with Michiru at the end of her wits, all that she receives is: “I don’t know. I was drunk.”
Haruka attempts to process, and judging from the look on her face, she’s not doing well. And then Hotaru clears her throat.
“This piece is called A Study of Evanescent Fortune. The strokes of ochre and charcoal speak of the hardships all of us are faced with, while the swirls of russet and Prussian blue bring to mind the grim reality that we only enjoy our blessings for as long as fate sees fit to bestow them upon us. The golden light permeating the foreground, however, represents the inevitably coming turn of the wheel of fortune, akin to the myth of Pandora; after misfortunes and plague, Hope spreads its delicate wings to soar among the humankind.”
The trio of her parents stare. Haruka tries to find a difference between what Hotaru just said and what the art critics do. Setsuna wonders who taught this child to bullshit so smoothly. And Michiru just bursts out laughing.
Then Hotaru moves to the next piece.
“This one is henceforth titled Temporal Barrier, and represents the ephemeral nature of the illusionary walls separating human hearts.”
By the time she’s finished that sentence, Michiru is wiping tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes. She had painted it in the middle of the night, opting to paint by moonlight instead of a lamp, and woken everyone up when she realized she had used dark blue paint instead of dark red. Hotaru had learned so many swear words that morning. Just, so many.
“This one is called The Gateway of Sealing. The clear divide between its upper and lower part symbollizes the path of life itself, while the halves shaped like elaborate doors form seal on the scroll in which our fate has been written. It is, quite clearly, a marvellous study of paradox.”
Michiru can’t breathe. A more truthful title would be “I Put The Canvas Upside Down And Noticed Too Late”. She can’t stop laughing for long enough to say that.
Temporal Barrier sells for an unspeakable amount of money. A Study of Evanescent Fortune sells for twice that. There is a flood of press articles praising the philosophical depth of Michiru’s art.
From that day onwards, Michiru enlists Hotaru’s help every time she has trouble naming her paintings, and buys her a lamp every time a piece sells.
I did it! I’ve caught up with Inktober! Anyone remember the Redwall series? That was the shit. I still have all the books. I’ve drawn Redwall stuff before but I def think I improved since last time. I’d really like to draw more from this series…
F.D.C. Willard (fl.1975–1980) was the pen name of a Siamese cat named Chester, who internationally published under this name on physics in scientific journals, one as co-author and the other time as the sole author.
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