FSE

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Being a bat in an inland city means not having the opportunity to live with other species for most of your life. Everyone who lives in a small town goes through the acceptance process that they may not have much company. Even more if you have to sleep during the day. I came from a military family and this made me a bat who knows how to accept unchanging things. But, sometimes, it's lonely.

My wooden mini studio crackled while I wiped my paws parched of charcoal. I had finished the last drawing I needed to sell at the night fair in the capital. The dry feeling the coal left in my paws gave me a delicious agony: the dryness made me nervous, but it anticipated the monthly exposure of my work.

"Your drawings bring out the saddest part inside me" - said Lana, the only owl of our city who was willing to fly with me all night in search of new scenario.

"I don't get very inspired when I'm happy" - I replied, fixing the charcoal drawn on the paper with the last few drops of my fixer.

"I thought about staying in the capital after the night fair is over. We could spend the weekend there" - Lana proposed quickly as she looked away. She always did that when she got nervous to say something.

"Promise me we will not do anything I don't want to..."- I started.

"We won't. I just need to spend a few nights out of here. The anxiety of flying every night in this city we already know from beginning to end with these strong yellow lights of the poles is taking my sleep days"

"I never flew through the tallest buildings of the capital. They say it's the most beautiful view in the state" - I commented after a while.

"The sky of various lights that look like small stars from the ground. We drew a graffiti with this phrase on a school project remember? "- Lana asked as she helped me to put away the last drawing.

"Watch out for the easels, Lana!" - I repeated for the third time, a little louder than necessary. I had already walked around the fair and the artists were very good. I wish everything could be perfect.

"Kora, unless you ask me to do otherwise, I'll always be careful" - She replied with raised eyebrows.

"Sorry" - I said feeling boring.

"Do you know what I'm going to do for you? The pot of rudeness. You're going to put 50 cents in the pot each time you are rude. And, hopefully, a year from now, I can buy a new house" - Lana said as she arranged the easels side by side.

"Or... buy Henry a one-way ticket to the place geographically farthest from here" - I smiled teasingly.

Lana lightly punched me on the shoulder.

"Last weekend, he spent an hour telling me about the different types of seeds that exist and which ones he is allergic to" - I said.

Lana laughed.

"It's his way of socializing, Kora"

"He doesn't even care about making a conversation, Lana. He behaves like a speaker every time someone tries to chat with him" - I replied as I just put the last drawing on the stand.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm inside a youtube documentary at the slowest speed" - Lana said, laughing.

"If you dated a daytime animal it would work out better than that"

"Alright, alright ... So, are you really going to raise prices this time?"

Over time, I learned that insisting on a subject with Lana in which she didn't want to delve into only pushed her away.

"Yes. If I can't open a gallery and make a hell of an art exhibition for people to pay to see my work and, in the end, still keep my works with me, I'll increase the value and honor the drawings that I can't keep" - I replied as I bent down a little and made sure that each drawing was aligned on the easel.

"Your turn to go for a walk" - Lana said sitting up.

"Don't forget to write down the sales you make"

"Kora, we do it every month" - she said looking at me monotonously.

"I'll start putting 25 cents in the pot whenever I ask for something obvious you already know" - I said as I walked away.

"I can already smell the new house" - Lana shouted.

The best part of the night fairs it was being able to see the work of the other animals and imagine in sequence each of them working in their studios, like a short film of their artistic process in my mind.

The arts of nocturnal animals that were not able to fly called more my attention. Their perspective of the world was always from the ground. They are restricted to this view and this restriction creates feelings that only these animals can feel and pass into the paper. These are feelings I have never felt, but I almost can feel when I see their drawings, paintings and poems.

Feeling something that doesn't belong to me through another's art makes me feel like I could be more than just one animal.

"Did you like this one?" - one animal asked behind me.

I didn't realize I was staring at a single painting.

"I don't know, sorry, I was distracted" - I said, turning around.

"Take a look now and tell me what you think" - the only wolf in the exhibit asked me.

It is unusual to find artists wolves. It isn't a very popular profession among the pack. Wolves were made for tougher activities - that's what they tell.

"I don't understand much about classic paintings, but the realism is impressive. It's almost a photograph"

"You're very technical, right? But, what do you think of the concept? Did you like it?" - He asked as if waiting for me to say what he wanted to hear.

"I think I liked it. I work with charcoal and like some smudges that get in the drawing. I'm not such a fan of realistic paintings. But I can imagine myself lying in this field and I almost taste the juice" - I replied, somewhat annoyed by his analytical stance toward me.

"May I take a look at your work?" - He asked, staring at me.

"You can. It's on the other side" - I answered already walking ahead and hoping that he would quickly see my work and get out.

I heard his quick footsteps behind me.

"Here it is" - I said as soon as I got close to Lana.

"This is one of the fair's artists" - I introduced him coldly.

"I'm Lana" - my friend said with a handshake.

The wolf smiled.

"Wow, they're sad" - he said as he quickly scanned my drawings.

"They are landscapes. But they interpret the monotony of my city" - I said defensively.

"You don't make a good advertisement of your city, huh?" - he said smiling.

"I would if I was paid for it" - I said sarcastically.

I really didn't feel comfortable around him. I didn't like how he speaks and the looks he gave me.

"Would you like to meet a place after the fair?" - he asked.

"It is a place created to meet the creative needs of artists. It is very cool. There are works by various night and day artists from various eras. It's very inspiring - the wolf added.

"Like a gallery?" - Lana asked with a suspicious look.

"More or less. There is a space with sofas and tables for artists to exchange experiences. It's small but cozy" - he said.

"What's the name of the place?" - I asked as I grabbed my cell phone to search for it.

Lana began to store the easels and the only drawing that wasn't sold while I searched for the name on my cellphone.

"We will stop by sometime" - I said, cutting off the idea that we were going with him. The place looked beautiful but we wouldn't risk going with a stranger.

"Hope to see you there then" - he said giving a wave and then walking away.

"Strange" - Lana said and I nodded.

"THE CREATION OF A NEW WORLD DEPENDS ON THE DETERMINATION OF THE ARTIST THAT IMAGINES IT"

That was the phrase written in bold letters at the entrance to the place.

I felt like I was going through a portal when I walked through the door. A sense of entering a world unknown to those outside it.

"Hi, girls" - The wolf from before approached us a few minutes after we entered the place.

"Hi" - We answered together and surprised.

"I forgot to tell you that I work here" - He said smiling.

We smiled embarrassedly.

"Do you want to take a look at the arts? I can guide you. We have a new interactive exhibition" - He asked enthusiastically.

"Ah... okay" - I answered after Lana nodded positively at me.

We accompanied the wolf to the exhibition. I realized that until now we had not asked his name as he had not asked ours. But, I was not in the mood to change that.

"This exhibit was idealized by a bat decades ago. But, he didn't have the resources at that time to make it come true" - he explained as we entered a room lit with white lights.

"It's beautiful here" - Lana commented absorbed.

"It's a place planned for years to be as comfortable as possible for artists" - the wolf commented.

"Mission accomplished" - Lana replied, smiling.

It was really a very nice place. The lighting, the decor, the colors of the walls, the arts. Everything fitted perfectly. Everything seemed to caress our eyes.

We stopped in front of a painting.

"This flower field was painted by a bat a few weeks ago" - the wolf explained.

"He based on an open field in a French inland city" - he said.

"And he was never there. This is the magic of our exhibition. Here, artists have the possibility to embark anywhere in the world through the art of other painters and illustrators without being subordinated to any vulnerability of the body. You don't feel hunger, sleep, pain ..."- The wolf explained enthusiastically.

"Impossible" - Lara reacted instantly.

"How would this be possible?" - I asked quickly.

"With technology. It is as if you become part of the painting. It is something that has been developed for a long time. It's totally safe."

"Can we test?" - Luna asked ecstatic.

"Of course. We just have to do it quickly because we are almost closing"

The wolf walked until he was in front of a painting of England's field of a few decades ago and gave us some explanations.

"Position yourself in front of the painting" - he asked us as he moved aside.

We position ourselves and then waited until suddenly we were somewhere else at another time. We were facing a scenario that until a few hours ago would be impossible for me to access. For an animal that never expected the impossible, I was ecstatic and confused.

How was that even possible?

We entered the painting and left it as if we had never entered. The time was exactly the same as when we entered. The same people were in exactly the same places.

The wolf explained to us that this was the first prototype and belonged to the bat's family. The heirs had decided that the "Place" - name given to the technology - would be tested in some small places around the world before being marketed to other artistic institutions.

Lana and I decided to extend our stay in the capital. The Place would not be available much longer and we wanted to enjoy it as long as possible. Who knows how much we would have to pay to have this experience when it was officially released.

Experiencing the world of another animal so palpably, suddenly made the loneliness of being a nocturnal animal seem small to me. The possibility of being able to enter the creative mind of animals that not only weren't able to fly but also were daytime animals left me in awe. I was able to live possibilities that would never fit my natural conditions.

Could we interact with the painting? With the grass, the people? It was so fast.

I was dying for the next time.