Starlit Samsara (on hiatus)

Inspiration

Over the cyanite sea, an average-sized, extravagant boat docked the shore, before a group of people from different isles stepped foot onto the sand, which seemed to radiate heat itself. The sun was shining brilliantly onto the small island, awakening all different kinds of fascinating life. A feather-like breeze brushed the skin of the visitors as they all went their separate ways. Vibrant flowers bloomed magnificently.

"This place... better than I imagined, huh?" a young man, around 20 years old, with somewhat messy, fawn-coloured hair and eyes to match turned around toward another person around his age, "Well? What do you think, Simon? Does this qualify as "inspiration" for your paintings?".

Even though his face barely showed it, Simon was still silently awestruck by the pleasant scenery and humid atmosphere around him. His friend waited, anticipating this sort of reaction from the slightly smaller and younger man.

Simon, a 19-year-old with coal-coloured and sea-like eyes, had always been a person who kept to himself and only interacted properly with a select few others, such as the person he arrived in Hawaii with, Joachim. They both shared a love for art, and that's how they met. Joachim always snickered to himself whenever he remembered how reserved Simon was, and to a great extent, still is.

As a matter of fact, both of their work (Simon's especially) had been gaining some attention recently, and so, this brings us to our current situation.

"Yes, I suppose I may find inspiration here for my next work." He finally replied, looking over to his friend.

"You suppose? Christ, you're picky." Joachim remarked, a half surprised, half "I sort of guessed this would happen" look on his face.

"Yes. And I also suppose I'll enjoy my time here, too. Where to next?" he asked, looking around the small area of the island again.

"The hotel. We can go out later, after dinner. For now we should just unpack all our belongings. We can't do much hauling our things with us all the time.".

Simon, knowing how weak he was, nodded in agreement, and off they went.

———

The day so far had been uneventful. Simon and Joachim unpacked their things, walked and talked, visited the seemingly infinite sea, bought some ice cream, and relaxed in their hotel room for a bit.

Now, after walking through the resort for a little while, they went back to their room to get themselves freshened up before they went to have dinner, and since it was cooler, just relax on the balcony for as long as they felt like.

"So," Joachim started, "You found anything inspiring yet?"

Simon would put his head in his hands, but he was too polite for that. Instead, he replied with a simple "No".

His reasoning was rather simple too; he had only been here for a couple of hours, and for the most part, he wasn't even entirely sure how he'd paint it. His usual paintings involved lots of focus on one object or being, with the background being less detailed. The scenery here was amazing, there was no doubt about that; but it certainly felt more to Joachim's style than his own.

"Fair enough. We still have a couple weeks left here, anyways." Joachim reasoned, taking a drag out of a cigarette.

"How many, to be exact?" Simon asked, looking down at the forest below in a way not dissimilar to a cat staring down at something it doesn't understand.