In a dinky cafe that doubled as a greengrocers, a sketchbook was closed and held down with an eraser on a table. Beside the closed sketchbook was a cold cup of coffee, only half-finished. More finished than any of the sketches between the covers of the art journal though. To the man at the table, the eraser could have weighed ten thousand pounds. The bearing down of depression on his shoulders was even heavier again.

The door to the store swished open and fell back against the jamb with a crash. The man started slightly, as he had for the last 2 hours he’d spent sitting there, but he didn’t look away from the window. A murmured conversation carried on nearby, washing around him like smoke.

“Uh, excuse me?” A voice startled him from his glare. “Are you Ravi?”

The questioner was standing near the table, head tilted slightly to one side and leaning forward as though they were peering around from an invisible door frame. His eyes were wide and long-lashed, something a little bit pretty in his face. Perhaps the elfin chin, or the pouty lips? Ravi stared at him, trying to dismantle the face and put it back together again. The lips flattened a little and irises twitched to the corners of the eyes before Ravi realised he was staring and making this person uncomfortable.

“Uh, yes,” Ravi tore his eyes away from the face and turned back to the window.

“Sorry.” The man hadn’t moved despite Ravi’s scowl and intense staring. “I’m just… I’m kind of a fan. Real.Eyez was one of my favourite exhibitions ever. I went at least three times. I…” The confident tone was beginning to fade now as Ravi continued to glare out the window. “I just wanted to introduce myself. I’m Lee Ken.”

Ravi let his cool eyes sweep back to Ken, rising from feet to crown before giving a curt nod with a mumbled thanks and turning away again.

“Well, anyway… It was nice to meet you.”

There was a slight sigh before the screen door swished open and crashed closed once more. Ravi jumped in his seat at the noise.

A year ago that introduction would have gone a lot differently. A year ago Ravi probably would have invited him to sit, implored the impressionable young artist to tell him exactly what his favourite moment from Real.Eyez was. He would have puffed and preened beneath the adoration. There would have been wine and cigarettes, raucous laughter and flirtatious 'accidental' touching. He would have taken his fill of and attention and moved on the next morning to his private studio.

A year can change many things. Especially the heart of an artist.

Teeth gritted and mental tirade in full swing, Ken strode up the steep hill out of town with his bag of fruit and vegetables in one hand. In the other was another bag, this one meat and essentials from the supermarket. He was tall and lean, the almost daily hill climb keeping him fit and healthy. Usually he enjoyed the walk, despite the incline; he would watch the scenery, thinking and painting in his mind, trying to remember each shade before he got home.

Today was different. Today he was left bitter by the lack luster introduction to one of his favourite modern artists. Those cold eyes, narrowed and unimpressed by the lanky thing Ken was. Who did he think he was? Looking at another person like that? Not to mention the staring; a good minute or two of staring straight at Ken’s face, without ever really seeing him.

A sigh escaped him, only to be back in as the hill was still steep and there was another 300 metres to climb before his cottage. So meeting Ravi wasn’t exactly what he thought it would be, what in his life lately was? He should have known better by now. If anything, Ken could be grateful that Ravi hadn’t responded in the other direction becoming unbearably arrogant and smug about being recognised. Or worse, as some of his old art school friends had warned him, coerced into sleeping with the artist and tossed away the next day. There were some truly toxic people on the art scene, being rebuffed and ignored was probably one of the nicer responses he could have gotten.

Despite knowing all of that, he was still irritated by the meeting. Ken was still a human being, worth more than a sneer and monosyllabic responses. By the time he made it to the gate he was gasping for breath and wiping sweat away from his eyes. He stopped in the shade and stared back down at the small town. After another moment he let go of the emotion, pulled the splinter from his mind and left it in the grass beside him.

Ken gave a huff of bitter laughter and shook his head; nothing was what he expected anymore. That was why he had come here; to learn how to live with the unexpected.

Glaring sunlight made the colours scream as Ravi walked back up the gravel path from the lake. His brow was heavy with a scowl as he kept his eyes on the path beneath his feet. Walking in nature, a suggestion from a hokey self-help book. If anyone ever found out he was not only reading it but following the asinine advice on how to 'recapture his inspiration', he would die of shame.

He could see it now; cigarettes or wine glasses held aloft with barely concealed pretencion as they pronounced each authour as ‘pathetic followers of crowds they weren’t even aware they were part of’. Followers were the worst sinners. Normals living their day-to-day lives, rotting souls trapped in shells and husks that would never live up to what they wanted them to be. Ravi’s scowl deepened. How pathetic they were themselves. More pathetic than the normal people they so despised, at least followers and normals admitted what they were.

His brood was interrupted by the sound of footsteps crunching along the gravel ahead of him. Someone was climbing down the steep path towards him. As he rounded the bend he found them.

A wide brimmed hat and dark glasses protected their face from the sun. Over one shoulder, weighing him down slightly, was a canvas bag, strangely lumpy in places. In the other arm, as though to keep balance, was a compacted easel. Both men on the path petered to a stop, one above and the other below. The easel was set down to rest a moment.

“Hello again,” A familiar voice perhaps, but not one Ravi actually knew.

Ravi’s face was still marred by the scowl from his thoughts, but this time the man was unperturbed.

“I didn’t know you were staying around town,” Ken smiled, a bright grin that was obscured by the dark glasses over his eyes. “Although, why would I really?” He humm