Checkmate - Chapter 40: Chapter 40

Althea headed towards the corner in her art room where all her yet unfinished self-indulgent works rested, covered by rags, to not allow Hana to even get a glimpse of them. She sat on her chair and unraveled one of the paintings, hoping to get some inspiration and finish it by nightfall. She picked up her brushes, dipped one of them into the muddy liquid of blue, and started dyeing the night sky that surrounded Hana on a broom.
She heard a knock on the door and with a quick movement, Althea covered the painting and allowed whom she knew to be Hana, inside.
"Hey," she said upon noticing her entering. Hana leaned over to her side and kissed Althea while arduously clutching some files.
"What are you painting this time?" Hana asked as she sat on the couch, her bare feet dangling.
"The one with you, which is still a secret," Althea replied and then lifted to join her. "How's the color on print?"
"Beautifully vibrant," Hana said, showing her the printed examples. "Do you think your acrylic paint can hold onto the canvas's surface?"
"If it's matte instead of glossy, yes," Althea said. "My acrylic paint can hold onto the printed canvas."
"Thank goodness then! Hildegard will have the acrylic prints done by tomorrow. Samantha's group will personally deliver the canvases here."
"How awfully generous of them, I will be sure to thank them then."
The scheduled delivery came with Althea repeatedly thanking Samantha and the company. After that, it's all brushes and the smell of acrylic paints upon the print, sunlight streaming in through the blinds, five-minute breaks which Hana insisted for Althea to take, consisting of eating leftover cake, turkey, and pies from the photoshoot that Natalya insisted they should bring, and stretching. Hours that melted into each other almost lazily, as if they have all the time in the world and not just a week and a half.
The colors come together but don't really blend, and under Althea's delicate brushwork, she calculated everything, always aware of how her next move fits into the greater picture. Her focus was almost scary, but every once in a while her whole face changed. She paused, looked back on what she has done, and lets herself smile for a couple of seconds before going back to her usual self.
The contrasts come to life. Althea lost herself in the colors and the shapes.
Hana fell asleep in the middle of the afternoon, right on the spare couch, and Althea let her. It brought a smile to Althea's face that Hana hasn't even bothered to clean up her fingers caked with crumbs or the streaks of paint on her face, too tired to do so.
Althea used the solitude to work on the painting, cleaning up the small errors they have made in their haste, going over places with a second coat of paint, refining shapes, and making sure that what they have so far matches up with the expectations.
Her eyes start to droop, and Althea puts her paintbrush down, can't afford to lose her focus at such a pivotal point in the competition. She lay on the other side of the couch, next to Hana, wrapping her arms around the smaller girl. Hana sunk into her embrace and they both fell asleep and dreamed of colors.
When they woke up, all their energy's been put into that painting, spending the entire day and night to finish, adding finishing touches, and fixing up mistakes.
"Finished," Althea whispered before Hana can say anything like she can't believe it.
"Holy, we're actually finished!" Hana echoed in disbelief, staring at all seven artworks that surrounded them
They both stood back and watched it from a distance. A humming in Hana's chest told her that with these masterpieces, they will win.
"This is the best thing I have ever painted," Althea said, and it's the truth.
It amazed Hana to see them like this. She saw how much she accomplished with Althea in so little time.
"It all fits," she sighed in relief.
All the flaws and perfection of the other artworks were tied. All the elements were together into one hell of a whole.
"We're amazing," Hana said. "We are fucking amazing."
"Hana, in my decision not to take your freedom of speech I, however, would like you to minimize your unsavory words."
"You turn weirdly formal after painting, did you know that?"
"I have no idea what you're conveying."
It may be conceited to say that Althea's paintings and Hana's photography combined showed signs of true artistry and a great deal of creative ingenuity. Their composition was balanced, yet it had rhythm, style... and charm that had brought tears to Professors Andromeda and Tosca's eyes when they showed it to them. Andromeda had to turn her back so Althea and Hana, too, wouldn't cry. By far these seven pieces of mixed media was the incredibly best piece of artwork they had as yet turned out.
The first work was Althea's photography because it was of Hana standing in the sunlight, beaming down through the windows, and paused halfway down the staircase. Her brown hair was haloed by an aura of silver light from camera effects. Althea painted her a pair of golden wings that sprang out from behind her small back. The air around her began to twirl into a whiff of golden fire, burning brighter than ever. Hana's beautiful wings extended almost two meters long. They were coated with sleek brilliant feathers; each sparkled dazzlingly against the sunlight.
Hana was so beautiful, not just pretty, but beautiful. There's a difference. Real beauty radiates from the inside out, and she had that
The second work was with Professor Oakley. This one and from then on are Hana's photographs. The old woman wore a long silky forest green dress that fitted her curvy body and a pure white fur collaret that might have once been an arctic fox. She was strutted on a forest path towards a purple piano Althea painted.
Fallon and Liezel stood side by side at the third work. Fallon was sitting on the low stone wall that bordered a front garden; her orange hair was bright under the light of the nearest streetlamp. Liezel's long hair was braided with mushrooms and flowers, connected by delicate green tendrils of vines. Behind them were strokes and splashes of paint made to look like a fireworks display of red and glittering sparks.
Madeline and Heather were holding hands and smiling at the camera on the fourth one. Heather was elegant in a dark blue silk suit, her hair tied back from her severe face with a thick silver band while Madeline was in an incredible red satin dress that hugged her body like the closed petals of a flower. Althea thought of medieval paintings of saints consumed in the blaze of holy ecstasy when she painted the fire around them. Their bodies shimmered into white flame.
On her throne, Althea herself sat like a queen on the fifth work. Her surroundings were filled watched the dismal décor, the high mirrors covering most of the walls, the many paintings belonging to the Lancaster artists—whether portraits or their own works—some of them quite luxurious, or so it seemed, and the crystal chandelier hanging above the entry hall. Hana specifically showed Althea how to draw the crown on her head and she followed her lover's instructions.
Andromeda was included too; appearing at the sixth work as a tall, beautiful woman, accompanied by a polar bear with a fleur-de-lis on his forehead. Althea had painted him lifelike that the animal seemed to be rather peaceful. The collar around his neck was encrusted with rubies that matched the sparkling red eyes that Andromeda possessed. It was so realistic-looking that viewers might have to take a double look.
And lastly, Samantha, Hildegard, and Natalya shared the limelight. Samantha was clutching a sword in both hands; Natalya was holding a Holy Grail cup while munching on a donut, and Hildegard was holding Mikebot shaped into a gun. Their objects exuded an aura which was painted in. To make them glow with a dull dark light and a pattern of stars was etched into its surfaces; as if it caught the true starlight.
Hana glanced at her reflection in the mirror and all of the sudden she felt like a new, different person; yet it did not frighten her as such thought or mere impression would have made her feel regularly. It was refreshing, just like the stare in Althea's eyes as she ogled her or the assurance that Althea's hand clasping hers always provided.
She had done something to her hair, her eyes seemed to beam even more powerful from the pit and her lips wore a delicate shade of pink that only outlined the perfect contour. Her pink ball gown dress with multiple ribbons complemented her skin and figure. She thought she looked nice, almost too good than she would have ever thought she would. She hoped Althea would think the same.
As Hana heard some footsteps, she gazed up, and at the sight of Althea's angelic facial features and the dainty manner in which her legs crossed as she descended, she gaped. She had never seen anyone looking half as beautiful as Althea looked tonight. She had some of her hair in plaits. She wore a short blue dress that revealed a pair of fit legs, whose shimmering skin seemed to be so soft that Hana could hardly control her eagerness to run her fingers over them, with bare shoulders and a rather tempting cleavage.
Hana smiled, curiously analyzing the winged eyeliner and pink shade on her eyelid. Realizing too late that she zoned out if not for the gentle touch of Althea on her cheeks all this time looking straight into her big eyes that seemed to have lost their fearsome and dreaminess and all of the sudden had gained a peculiar aura of anxiety.
"Hey..." she mumbled trying to reassure her lover. "It's going to be alright."
"It's not that," Hana replied. "It's them actually that could not like me. I could be a bit wild sometimes."
"Who isn't?" Althea asked, chuckling. "You have greatly improved for the past few weeks."
She smiled and Althea returned the gesture.
"Now let's go inside, our friends are waiting for us," Althea spoke again as she opened the door. Althea squeezed Hana's hand and she smiled again, this time actually feeling it like a natural mimic.
They strolled along a long corridor towards the end of which, voices could be heard. He pushed the mahogany door open, revealing the most impressing gallery room Hana had ever seen. It was rectangular; the walls were covered by colorful paintings and photographs, emblazoning people, animals, structures, and nature. There were luxurious pieces of sculptures and other abstract art that Hana had never even seen together put.
There was also a big round table on which certain waiters were still placing full-to-brim dishes. With a huge gathering of people young and old, Neos Athens and the Ainsley Fine Art International Competition had done well to accommodate everything.
Some of the people sat on the antique sofas or the comfortable-looking armchairs, others were leaning on the counter of the bar, while the majority of people were standing up, appreciating the arts and engaging the artists in vivid conversations.
"Here we are, folks, at this year's Ainsley Fine Art International Competition being held in the art gallery of Neos Athens!" Wafiqah's reporter voice boomed throughout the area.
"As expected, Wafiqah's hosting the event," Hana murmured.
"Not hosting per se, she is reporting. It is her life and blood. One of the AFAI members will be hosting." Althea said as she noticed two of Wafiqah's teammates roam around, note taking and documenting.
"Many of the artists in this exhibition have turned this event's seeming limitation to their advantage, and engage mixed media from a variety of angles." Wafiqah's voice continued casually as everyone's—artists, supporters, friends, and art enthusiast's hearts beat together as one. "What these artists also accomplish is to cause us to become self-conscious when looking at both two different art majors used into one, and to understand that what we see in both is a flat field of elaborately but narrowly represented information that combined may lead us to truths not present in either individually."
When Althea and Hana reached their designated area, they found that multiple people were already staring at them. Two of those were familiar faces.
"Judging by the paint's texture on the canvas, the painting is likely oil." They heard a certain blond young man muttering.
"Because it's highly textured and looks much layered, the painting is likely an oil painting?"
There he was, Joshua Cohen was, with his black hair and striking green eyes. He wore a smart robe and the goblet he held in his hand shone in the candlelight.
"Yes, because from what I know acrylic paint dries smooth and somewhat rubbery-looking."
"You are correct, Charles, but if you look at it closely, Althea used an additive to give the acrylic paint a thicker texture."
"Geez Joshua!" Charles groaned. "How can you tell?"
"I have seen Althea paint too much that it became easy for me as the parliamentary sovereignty."
"Hello, guys!" Hana called after them. The boys glanced at her and she noticed the flabbergasted expression plastered to Charles's face.
"Good evening ladies." Joshua greeted.
Charles already knew them but he still stretched his hand briefly meeting each one of them. "I love your photo-paintings! They are beautiful! I'm really impressed with what you do and all so simple. It demystifies all the 'big studio, big team things'"
"Tell us something about your artworks," Joshua said.
"How did you two achieve this?" Charles asked.
"We photographed everything, printed it then painting directly on the photographic surface," Hana said without missing a beat.
"You made it sound so easy," Charles said.
"I, for one, think your technique is impeccable, ladies," Joshua observed. "However we do desperately want to know how you achieved all this."
Althea giggled heartily. "You see, gentlemen. Hana and I manipulated each image so that the various photo and paint elements interact in unexpected ways. As a result, what is seemingly a dull, monochromatic background becomes alive with vibrant paint splattered across the photographs."
"So these images are an ongoing series?"
"We could have gotten you two as well, if not for our topic to be about women."
"We are not offended we were not included," Joshua said.
"Quite positive," Charles said. "We fear we might be destroying the thematic meaning if we barged in."
Their conversation was cut short when Wafiqah and her team approached them. One might say they had a bias towards them. "Here we see artists Althea Lancaster and Hanako Yoshida create their beautiful narratives in their mixed-media artworks by combining self-portraits with realistically drawn ethereal objects surrounding their subjects: ranging from splashes of colors to realistic drawings to produce strange and mystifying images that cannot fully be explained. The beautifully thoughtful moments seem perfectly planned out so that the components can be naturally blended into meaningful stories."
After she said all of those, they moved onto explaining the next competitor's works.
Hana and Althea send each other a knowing look before turning back to their canvas, which was neatly propped up on their display stands. Hana examined them a dozen times now.
They were good, Hana knew that. They were dynamic, clashing, and beautiful all at once, a physical, tangible record of how far she and Althea have come. The colors from the paint and the original photograph filled up her vision. It came together but rarely blended, and the contrast of paint and photo and fantasy and realism was dizzying and mesmerizing all at once.
Joshua and Charles wished them luck before continuing their tour around. Hana's friends as well as Althea's came by and went, giving them their support and wishes of luck.
A few people approached them, and they spend the next few hours talking to them, answering their questions. There are many different faces in the crowd today, Hana noticed, thinking that some are just showing up for today. It's a lot more crowded as well, and it became hard to breathe sometimes, standing under the artificial, old-fashioned light with the too-high ceiling and the layer of people and paintings covering the room.
Althea and Hana met quite a few artists. Hana knew they were competing against are kind of interesting, talented, but she wasn't prepared for how competitive and friendly they were and they ended their conversations with an exchange of social media accounts.
Somehow, Althea told Hana to be wary of an overly friendly girl from another school. She really couldn't figure out why.
Nothing much happens for the next half hour, and Hana spent most of it reassuring herself that even if she will lose it won't be the end of the world. Hana knew she will still be an artist no matter what.
The possibility of failure, both in this and in everything else Hana wanted to do, was present like it always was, but telling herself things will be okay regardless of whether the outcome was. Hana had still created seven entire mixed media art with Althea, one of which is probably one of her best.
It's a constant battle in her mind throughout those last minutes, the thoughts of where she has to win, make her friends, teachers, and parents proud. She kept repeating it in her head like a broken record.
There was a loud thud making everyone cease their rambling and avert their gazes towards the entrance door, through which a set of five people came through.
"Althea," Hana whispered, as she squeezed her hand. "Do you know them?"
"Those are the judges," Althea explained, leaning over whispering to her ear.
"Good evening, darlings," the oldest woman in the group who stood at the center spoke and some of the guests lifted their glasses as though they were drinking in her honor.
Some of the artists rushed to greet her to which the old woman smiled casually, but everyone could guess by the look on her face that she did not think them as worthy enough to even stay in the same room as she did. She then noticed Althea with what seemed like a peculiar girl at one side of the room and headed straight to them.
"Althea," she addressed her lovingly while extending her hand to caress her face. "I haven't seen you in quite a while."
"I have been busy Ma'am Ingrid," she replied courteously. "Let me introduce you to my girlfriend. Madam, this is Hanako Yoshida. Darling, this is the woman who earned the epithet of the Great Muse."
Hana stretched her hand meeting the woman's but this time Madam Ingrid did not make any gesture, which needless to say would allow anyone to affirm that Hana had made a good first impression.
"Ingrid Clementine Marie Rutherford Chatsworth Huxley Derwentwater," the woman recommended herself and Hana smiled.
"That it's a rather long name, Madam Ingrid," she replied and everyone stared at her as though she had said a blasphemy.
Madam Ingrid laughed heartedly and the atmosphere seemed to have lightened up along with her raging giggle. "She's an honest girl, Althea," she said while brushing her shoulder affectionately. She glanced at their artwork and just stared, and it made Hana's heart inflate and swell until it threatened to burst like a balloon.
"I especially love the titles. You named the artworks with the Seven Virtues.
"We have to showcase our journey in every possible way," Hana said with a sudden gush of bravery.
Madam Ingrid stared at Althea who nodded happily "I see," she whispered. With a knowing smirk, Madam Ingrid then marched off.
Guests stopped by their canvases to inspect what caught Madam Ingrid's eyes.
Even when the old woman went away, Hana's heartbeat didn't slow down. It's been going on and on she felt as if she was going to have a panic attack right here and now. The rest of AFAIC's judges and its administrators roamed around.
In two hours, the judges will announce the results. In two hours, the course of Hana's life will be changed. The impact was of it pulsed in her veins.
The room became silent at the voice that suddenly came through the speakers. She hadn't expected the time would come too soon. It felt like time flew by too fast, Hana wasn't ready.
No matter how many times people put Hana in a parade, she never got used to it. Not so for Althea, she stood next to Hana, arranging the falling folds of her dress with a flick of her hands. She raised an eyebrow, imperious, a living painting. Althea was born for moments like this, and if she was afraid of them, she will never show it.
"Kill that fear, Hana." She muttered, fixing her with an electric stare. "It's not like you have not done this before."
"True," Hana whispered back, remembering the past gallery. This will be easy in comparison. This won't rip her apart.
Hana inclined her head to look over at the crowd of people towards the front of the room, and Hana spotted a man towards the front, untangling himself from microphone wires and flashing a smile at the crowd.
His speech went on for a long time. He was like a child, too excited for his own good even when he rehearsed his speech beforehand. Hana can tell by the way it dragged on with fits of glee, the odd pauses between his words, and it grated against me.
She cared about art, she cared about the AFIAC, and about how the organization came to be but the more he droned on, the less composed she was. Minutes felt like months.
"So, now, without further ado, it's time to announce the winners! But first, I'd just like to thank all of you, yes, every single one, for taking the time to participate in this competition. We never expected to see so much talent just in this room alone and let me tell you, choosing only three winners was not easy. For the judges to review every single one of the art submissions in less than a day wasn't easy either, so let's give a big round of applause to our judges, who've made it all possible!"
Everyone applauded, but Hana's hands were too busy being clenched at her sides. Her fingernails dug into her skin because there's nowhere else she can let it out. Get to the point; she wanted to scream at him.
Hana was surprised when a familiar handheld hers. She looked at Althea's hand—the ones that had held hers, that had caressed the soft skin. Althea's hand was clammy with apprehension as well, and Hana gripped it tighter. Everyone applauded but them.
The man whose name went over her head continued for another minute or so about more things that weren't relevant to her. Like talking about the importance of teamwork and artistic collaboration, how he's so glad this has been such an excellent learning experience for everyone involved, and she wanted to scream the longer it took.
The room was hot and stuffy. As if the ventilation stopped working with the number of people. The gallery room was too small but too large at the same time, confining, so many artworks the judges could have deemed as better than theirs.
Hana's head spun fuzzily from the anticipation, and she had to grab onto Althea's so that she doesn't fall over.
Althea tore her eyes away from the front of the room, the look on her face was so similar to the turbulence in Hana's head that she thought she was looking at herself for a split second.
The man at the front proceeded to repeat the prizes for first and second and third place as if everyone present who worked so hard to be here wasn't informed. As if everyone has not spent sleepless nights reading that prize list and imagining how different their lives would be if they came in the first place.
Hana was so dizzy and nauseous that she missed something he said, and panic washed over her once the room exploded into applause.
"What happened? I couldn't—"
Althea leaned over. "Third place: your newfound friends, I told you to be wary about."
Her pulse was a drumbeat bursting through her head. The applause stopped, and for once, the announcer doesn't hesitate in moving on to the next relevant thing.
"In second place comes the brother-sister duo from India who stood out with their unique use of the elements in their paintings... ladies and gentlemen for their beautiful mash-up of sculpture or iron and clay—" His words turn into nothing but a mess of syllables and sounds in Hana's ears, a broken, warbled noise, similar to being submerged underwater.
It had been forever before the applause died down and he starts speaking again. "And now," he lowered his voice. "In the first place, for the grand prize of scholarships, we have the girls from Neos Athens and their incredible canvases showcasing not only the contrasts between the themes—"
"Holy—" Hana's breath hitched, and they stared at each other. A million emotions are flashing across her face all at once. The thing in her chest grew at an exponential rate. Althea's gaze melted into her own. Hana's fingers were cut off the circulation to Althea. Nothing exists but her and her lover, and the sound of their lives shifting into place.
"—a masterpiece everyone needs to see, let's give a huge round of applause for our first place winners, the young artists the world needs to watch out for, Althea Lancaster and Hanako Yoshida!"
The contents from Hana's chest tumbled out of her all at once. Hana was getting dizzy, dizzier, disoriented, but most beautiful, and she started laughing. Althea laughed along with her. They were laughing more freely than they have in years.
Hana almost fell over, and that's because Althea ran into her, all limbs and grins and hair that smelled like flowers. Hana felt Althea shaking against her; they crashed together in a messy tangle of arms, and hair, maddening like the acrylic paint that complemented the photographs and nothing short of the divine.
Then it fell away, the reality of the situation, the fact that they have won; it became a distant thing, an afterthought, and the present moment molded itself around them. Hana had no idea how she and Althea were wrenched apart but they were and their friends, even their mentors surrounded them into a big pile of a hug as they all shouted their names.
Althea and Hana, Hana and Althea, photo and paint, and all the other things they created together.
"Girls come up here please!"