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Fiorina sighed as she looked in the floor-length mirror in front of her. She felt ambivalently; she was wearing a simple but elegant black gown with white opera gloves and dress shoes, and a large gold Art Deco-style necklace; the necklace had several rectangular panels on it in shades of red and orange from dark red in the outside panels to orange in the innermost panel, and red-orange in between. Her earrings were gold with a red rectangular panel on each of them. On a table was a purse she was borrowing; it was black with golden geometric trim on it.
"Rita recommended this and let me borrow her jewelry and purse, but this is making me the star of the show instead of our art piece." She said, concerned; Felicity and Melody stepped into Fiorina's room to take a look at her outfit. Visiting Felicity's house, where Fiorina has been staying lately was just a short detour from the garage of Alfbern's family's machine shop to the art center.
Melody was wearing a light orange blouse with a knee-length pleated blue skirt with a light blue flower pattern on it. She wore a purple sash tied along her waist into a bow. Her hair was in a ponytail and she wasn't wearing a hat, but she adorned her hair with a few silver hair clips. Her prosthetic lower right leg was visible and she wore brown dress shoes. Felicity was wearing a white blouse with a beige vest and gray pencil skirt with patterned stockings and silver dress shoes. Her stockings were gray with multi-color polka dots. She wore her hair in a ponytail with a magenta ribbon, and wore earrings and a large necklace with colorful geometric shapes that contrasted with the neutral pieces of her outfit.
"It looks great on you!" Melody said, and Felicity agreed. Both of them smiled.
"This isn't how I thought I'd do this, but I want to show up Chelsea and this is what Rita recommended." Fiorina said more confidently but still a little unsure.
"Art Deco is timeless. It can be fancy or simple but still be elegant." Melody said.
"The rich girls are likely to show up in full-on ballgowns which will be overkill for this event!" Felicity said and chuckled. "The visitors might not even notice their art piece and forget to vote for theirs!"
"Yeah! Maybe that'll happen!" Fiorina said; she and Melody laughed.
They arrived at the art center with some time to spare before the exhibit was ready to start. The building had sleek Bauhaus-style architecture with rounded corners, and the interior had a semi-formal atmosphere; it had a polished wood floor and its stark white walls highlighted each art piece, but the warm lighting and the presence of large potted plants in the corners gave the room an inviting look.
The front lobby had a reception desk and cash register near the entrance, and there were framed paintings and photographs along the walls with plaques about them. Along one of the side walls was the entrance to the souvenir shop which also sold art that was for sale.
A large open entrance at the back of the lobby led into the next exhibit area. Rita and Alfbern hauled the art installation onto the dolly they used to get to it; the onlooking visitors looked in awe and curiosity since a large cloth covered the installation. The dolly's broken lift mechanism wasn't a hindrance this time; Rita and Alfbern hauled it to the Architect Deco House's designated spot. A large standalone sign next to the entrance read "Visitors, please wait for the show to start before entering" and listed the time the show would start.
"There we go!" Rita cheerfully said as she placed the installation off of the dolly and to the floor, with enough caution and precision to keep the cover on the installation from slipping. Her smile faded when she noticed someone arriving. "I'll need to step away and talk with Nick about what I missed." She said and started to walk off to look for him.
In the next spot in the exhibit over were Chelsea and Claudia, the two rich girls chatting with each other. Their art piece was also covered with a large cloth.
They arrived with a small entourage of butlers who stood nearby. As Felicity expected, the two rich girls who are about a year older than us were wearing ballgowns in a historical style; they had long gloves, with puffy sleeves, lace and buttons on the bodice. Their gowns had skirts with two layers; the top layer matched the bodice and the skirt underneath was a lighter shade. Their sleeves had lace in a darker shade, which matched the buttons on the bodice and the bows that the two rich girls wore in their hair.
Chelsea looked like a younger but taller Rita with a paler complexion, mint green hair and blue eyes. She wore a pink bow on the back of her head. She was wearing a pink dress with large gold teardrop-shaped earrings and was carrying an expensive handbag.
Claudia was slightly taller than her, had a medium skin tone with rosy pink hair that reached to her waist, had brown eyes and was wearing a mint green dress with white bows on it. She had her hair in a ponytail, had a large green bow on top of her head and was wearing round gold earrings.
"Now that I've seen Rita again, I swear she and Chelsea look like they're related." Felicity remarked. Melody, Fiorina and Alfbern nodded in agreement.
"I feel bad for Rita if that's true." Melody said.
"Woooow!" Chelsea said when she approached us, slowly clapping her hands. "Fiorina, you look very stylish, but you know what they say. You can take the girl out of the trash, but you can't take the trash out of the girl but you certainly tried before."
"I'll tell Kayla that you were here." Fiorina said flatly but with clear indignation. She quickly pulled out her phone and looked threateningly at Chelsea.
"You-- you wouldn't!" Chelsea said and took a step back. Her fear worsened when she saw Claudia approaching.
"Chelsea, your remark is tasteless." Claudia sternly said, but then directed her gaze at the Architect Deco House members. "However, we're still going to win. We have more than the sculpture that we brought with us." She boasted. Just as she did, another competitor walked by, a shorter stocky woman dressed in a chef jacket and hat with a knee-length skirt, stockings and dress shoes. The competitor was pushing a large cart with a large rectangular metal lid on top when she stopped to boast.
"You're promising competitors, but lemme tell ya- lemme tell ya! I'll win if I can capture e'ryone's hearts an' tastebuds with this!" Ella Claire, the culinary school graduate playfully boasted and waved to the rival groups. She had a stocky build on the shorter side; she was taller than Melody but shorter than Felicity. She had two-toned light brown and blonde hair, hazel eyes, and a slight tan.
She grabbed the handle on top of the lid and lifted it to briefly unveil her art piece. Felicity was the first to walk over to look at Ella's creation. The centerpiece of it was a house made from skewers of barbecue chicken, which Felicity and Ella Claire were standing close enough to smell its rich aroma. The "lawn" surrounding the house was made from microgreens and shredded kale with heaps of lettuce artfully arranged into bushes, and the path in front of the house was made from pieces of semi-hard and hard cheeses.
"Wow! I think charcuterie is an art form with beautifully arranged platters, but this is like next level!" Felicity said. Her friends also looked in amazement.
"It looks very tasteful, ma'am!" Claudia said.
"Awww thank ya! I'd like to stay an' chat but I gotta keep this cool." Ella Claire said.
"What? It's food." Chelsea flippantly said and with that remark, the atmosphere got tense. She could feel a chill down her spine when she and Ella Claire made eye contact.
"Oh miss, bless yer heart." Ella Claire said with an unnerving calm cheerfulness. She placed the lid back on top of her cart, and pushed it to the kitchen.
"Uhh-- thanks?" Chelsea said. Claudia shook her head in disappointment, which Chelsea noticed. "What? Don't you think she was thanking me for being rude?"
"She wasn't thanking you." Claudia said and sighed.
"Well, that country lady is going to pay for messing with Chelsea Daisy Mallory the third! She needs to know that! She might not have known she crossed paths with me, but she'd regret it if she knew! Come on, Claudia! An insult on me is an insult to you too!" Chelsea huffed then silently walked across the room to blow some steam.
As soon as Chelsea had her back turned, Fiorina approached the exasperated friend of the spoiled would-be princess. "I can sense your secondhand embarrassment." Fiorina flatly said.
"Ehh? Am I a bad friend for that?" Claudia asked.
"Nah."
"Really?"
"Yeah." Fiorina glanced in each direction of the room. Chelsea was still looking through a window, her back was still facing everyone. "Alright. I don't want to tell you this to help out a rival team, but you seem humble enough that I'll tell you anyways. If you're a close enough friend to her, you might be the only peer with enough leverage to convince her to stop. Acting. Like. An. Ass." Fiorina whispered. Claudia nodded to what she was told, but still looked wary.
"The audience might not just vote on the art. The artist's attitude might help, or hinder it." Fiorina added. Claudia's eyes widened.
"Right-- I'll try. Thank you. That should be a good motivator." Claudia said, sounding somewhat assured. As she thought about it, Fiorina walked back to her own group, just in time before Chelsea walked back and would've noticed.
"You look worried about something, but we'll do great!" Chelsea cheerfully said to Claudia.
As the time drew near, visitors gathered along the front entrance of the art building and into the front lobby. There was a table of refreshments in the front lobby, and the event host was there greeting the visitors and telling them of the event in the back room that was about to start.
The host, Camelia, had brown hair in a bob cut, had gray eyes and medium dark skin. Her hair had brass hair clips on each side, and she wore brass earrings with geometric shapes. She was dressed in an indigo Art Deco-style knee-length dress with white stockings, white opera gloves, black dress shoes, and a black and white scarf that was modeled after a strip of film.
As the clock drew closer to showtime, Alfbern brought out his phone again to check for any new messages or missed calls.
"Did you get anything from Kayla yet?" Felicity asked.
"Not yet. Where is she?" He said, and sighed.
The wind felt great rushing through my hair which is long and a light blue-green like the water's edges of the beach, but fades to the blue of the deep. It billows while I ran from the cove and towards my destination. I usually would've taken my hoverboard, but as my mage alter-ego- as a Magical Revolutionary, I can jump so much higher and further and see a perspective that I usually can't.
I ran along the shore of the beach, and jumped on top of palm trees when they started to appear; my long sky blue and white overcoat billowed out from behind me. Hopping from one tree to another when they became close enough to each other is the closest I can get to flying by myself. It almost has the same thrill, yet it could be relaxing to casually hop across the trees at sunset. Glimpses of the purple clouds caught the rays, and turned their edges a glowing orange.
"Whoa!" I screamed- I missed my footing on a large tree branch that I landed on that I slipped, and I grabbed it with both of my hands just in time to avoid falling. "I got too relaxed." I sighed and I carefully climbed down to the lower branches. With each step I checked that my overcoat, skirt, the straps on my boots didn't get caught on anything, nor the bows on my boots, nor the large bow on the back of my overcoat, nor the large bow on my head. Who said this outfit would be practical?
How much further did I have to go? I looked around me when I made my way to the ground; I was near the entrance of a forest with lush purple grass and palm trees with turquoise leaves, and walked towards the entrance for a sign when I found it.
"Skog Forest Park" read the large sign at the entrance in big letters and with a detailed map below it. This is where I wanted to be, and this was a good time to stop and check my phone. I pulled it out from hammerspace; a nice perk that comes with being a mage. I flipped it open and saw new messages from my friends.
"We made it but the show will be starting soon. Will you make it?" The latest message read. "I'm glad you could but I'm sorry I can't make it. Something suddenly came up." I replied, put away my phone and looked at the sign again. It had a map that listed trails, their distances, camp sites and markers for landmarks. "Still a ways to go." I thought.
I did more experimenting with styles in this chapter. The illustration of Fiorina and Melody is in an Art Deco style, which I haven't done in a long time and I was excited to draw in again!
Among the last times I drew something in this style were from 2020-2022:
The first illustration of Chelsea and Claudia and the first one of Ella Claire are drawn in a 1990's-2000's shoujo manga style. I wasn't aiming for to perfectly replicate a specific style and they still have traces of my usual style for MR, but I took the most inspiration for this one from "Gals!".
Depending on how I shaded this illustration, it could've looked more like a scene from a manga panel or cover in color, or from the anime adaptation of that scene. Between the two, I went more towards the manga look with soft shading since that's different from what I usually do.
The background of the first illustration of Ella is Art Deco-inspired but I tried to blend it with the soft backgrounds of shoujo manga.
I made drawings loosely inspired by this style before, but these two are more closely inspired due to having more of the hallmarks associated with the genre; adjusted facial proportions and wispy hair. My usual style has a blockier hairstyle because shading them with vectors is far easier. The other illustration of Ella uses cel shading to look more like a scene from an anime since I thought the scene of Ella saying "Bless yer heart" would be perfect for a fake anime screen cap!
The last two are inspired by the styles of UPA (United Productions of America) from the 1950's. I like their styles for their simplicity and expressiveness, and are flat styles that look good!
Aside from the sketches I started with, these illustrations were made entirely with Inkscape.
I really wanted to draw Camelia in this chapter and would have in an Art Deco style, but I already spent a lot of time on the other illustrations. Maybe I might draw that idea later and add it to this chapter, but I could also draw her for the next time she appears. I also realized I was wrong when I said Alfbern was going to be drawn in this chapter 😔. I mistakenly thought the first illustration of him for this story would be in this chapter but it's for chapter 3.