Banner rubbed his temples, smearing charcoal over his face.
"Headache? Poor baby," RJ teased.
Rina was out on the daily patrol to make sure the camp was still safe. Banner and RJ were the only ones in the leaders' area.
Banner wiped his hands off on the grass next to him, and set his picture aside.
"Rudolph, you realize that the only reason we keep you around is because you're the best at organizing as well as figuring out technology, correct?"
RJ rolled his eyes. "Obviously." He paused. "You know, for a scary looking guy with face piercings, you're surprisingly tame. Usually by this time, everyone's trying to suffocate me."
"Then consider yourself lucky we have such outstanding self-control."
RJ unleashed a nasally laugh. "Watcha drawing?"
Banner lifted the picture up. "The town Luther and Martha Jane saw. I've been drawing it from various angles all day."
When one of the scouts, Martha Jane, had found the town, she radioed Banner. The leaders immediately announced the news to the camp. They told her to start making her way back right away, and to find Luther, a middle-aged man with a picture memory. The two journeyed back to the town, and when they returned, Luther described in great detail what he saw.
"That's dedication."
"This is me trying to get us home. When Rina returns I want to have this ready so she can create a plan of attack."
"What if no one wants to help kill innocent alien villagers?"
"They will," Banner said quietly.
"How d'you know?"
Banner placed the unfinished drawing on the ground and picked up the charcoal. He painstakingly drew the smallest detail, checked his notes, and moved to the next.
Banner loved art. He loved art more than he loved the idea of getting back to Earth. His ex-wife had wanted to divorce, only two months into their speedy marriage after high school, because he spent majority of his time in his studio — a trait she had previously found attractive.
Banner smiled to himself as he outlined the huge sun. The tentacles of burning light were more important than Kendra. He loved how they were graceful and deadly, but looked feeble around the edges. Sometimes, Banner remembered, the most lovely things can kill you. He placed the charcoal in its designated spot in his art kit, and took out his pastels. The black and white picture came to life, and once again Banner marveled at the sun. He loved that the world seemed flipped. The green-filled sky was more vibrant than grass, but the dirt ground was unhealthy and dusty. There were no plants on the ground by the town, none at all, and Banner figured it reminded him of the smog-filled sky of his city back home.
Truthfully, Banner admitted as he rubbed excess color off his red pastel, he wasn't all too excited to go home. After all, there was nothing there for him, except art supplies. Banner didn't need companionship or love, he just needed something to love. Like art. Ninety percent of the belongings he brought with him were supplies to draw, paint, and sculpt. He could get by on two pairs of pants, shirts and socks, his most durable shoes, and a water bottle.
It was impossible to tell that hours had passed. The man kneeling on the ground was covered in a rainbow of dust, his masterpieces resting on a long, foldable metal plank on the ground.
"Banner! Hello? You alive there?"
Banner jolted and dropped his latest picture. "Rudolph."
"R. J. It's not that hard to just call me RJ," RJ said.
"We've been trying to get your attention for the past ten minutes," Rina said with a tiny smirk.
"I'm sorry. I was...sidetracked." And he was already sidetracked again. Rina's hazelnut skin seemed to glow faintly in the dim light. While Banner had painted such a color before, Rina's complexion was unique somehow. The artist wished that he could spend hours finding the exact tone and cover a whole canvas with it. He loved the way the color formed around her cheeks, stretched over her collar bone, and ran across her muscles.
"You're ogling her, bro," RJ mock-whispered.
"I'm not ogling her, no." Banner didn't elaborate even when given an odd look.
"It's almost dinner," Rina said, unfazed. "You're, a mess, Banner. Clean up."
"I'm not done."
Rina glanced at the pictures. "You did beautifully. I will be able to work with these. But, you're the only one of us three that can convince those people to help, and you're not going to be allowed to eat looking like that."
RJ dug in Banner's backpack and pulled out his spare change of clothes. "Let's go down to the river so you can clean off," he grumbled. "Freaking buddy system...."
When they got to the river, Banner could not help but marvel at how beautifully the stars twinkled on the water. There were no moons orbiting the planet, but there were so many beautiful, shimmering orbs in the sky, that if made up for that. The days were longer — Doc said by approximately six hours — and the world never seemed to cool down. Even at night, when dry heat was replaced with humidity, did the temperature stay in the high 80's.
"Who do you have to return to? Back home," Banner asked as he waded into the water. He heard RJ rustle from the bush he was sitting behind.
"Uh," RJ thought, "my ma. She's has no one now, since my dad and brother died in a car accident. How about you?"
"No one," Banner said simply. "Except the art I left. I did this absolutely beautiful painting of the dying pine tree in my front yard that I wish I had wth me."
"Sounds like a sad pic."
"It was very happy actually. It was something dying, sitting in a yard I hadn't bothered to touch in a year, with my house falling apart behind it. While the grass and house were severely dimmed, and the pine tree was shaded and colored to perfection, it was the blue sky I hoped to focus on."
"Lemme guess. It was a hopeful sunrise."
"No. It was a sunset. It meant that everything dies."
"You're right. That is...happy."
Banner laughed. "I wasn't finished. In the corner of the painting, partially obscured by another tree, was a sunrise."
"Two...suns?"
"Yes."
"I don't get it."
"One sun showed the end, and the other showed a beginning."
"But...the two suns were out at the same time. And what's a dying pine tree mean? I don't get this painting."
"That's alright."
RJ sighed. "Alright...."
"Finished yet?"
"Almost." Banner waded out of the water and dressed. "We should go. I can already smell Chartreuse burning the beans."
