The Traveler 3/5 (GYWO Yahtzee 2025)

[reneescarted]

Title: The Traveler - Part 3
Fandom or Original Universe: original
Rating: General
Word count: 994
Summary: A traveling alien lifeform lands on a curious, water-filled planet. Here he meets a woman with dreams who, for the first time, will make him want to stay.
Warnings/triggers: -
Writing Prompt: pp065

Despite some differences during their discourse, Arios and Edith exchanged many ideas and experiences, to the point they were disturbed in their conversation by the closing of the café.

"Do you have anywhere to stay?" Edith asked once they exited the building.

"No. But don't worry about me - I will be fine anywhere," Arios reassured her.

"That's still just not right for me, you out on the street. Come. I'm sure my couch will be more comfortable."

And with that, Arios found a place with Edith. The first few days, everything was a new wonder: going with Edith to the school and basking in the curiousity of the children, for whom experiences were new much like they were to Arios. Of all the creatures in the universe, they were the ones he felt the most kinship to. With Edith, he explored the city, learning about the history, the technology, and the endless resilience that made it possible to make a home on Neptunis.

But then, Arios became restless, exploring on his own when Edith wasn't with him, usually at night or when she was busy at work. For him, sleep was just another experience, and not a necessity, so he explored the planet far and wide, moving between forms according to what was needed. And still, no matter how far he ventured, he noticed himself circling back, each day just in time to make it to the morning and greet Edith at the beginning of her day.

Each day, she brought on some kind of new experience, too. The various meals she liked, the songs she enjoyed, how she made her coffee or breakfast, or reacted to a piece of news. Her impressions kept beating against his own heart, and while normally he would've craved more and more variety, Arios found himself being curious about her specific origins. Her family, her childhood, people she met, people she had beean close to. Her first fragile attempts at love, and experiences that shaped and guided her into who she was. Her dreams for the future, and the desires she so desperately wanted to fulfill, no matter how impossible they seemed.

"I really want to see the beach one day. I know it's a futile dream, but who knows? It's something to work towards, and I have time," she explained. They were sipping a warm, sweet drink in her backyard, looking up at the mirroring lights as if they were looking at stars.

"I hope you get to do that," Arios answered, not out of politeness, but actually meaning it. Edith sighed and looked up, as if she could see through the lights, the vast ocean, all the way to the surface, where there was sand and seashells and an endless, unimaginably blue sky.

By then, Arios has noticed the stirring in himself. A warm feeling in his chest, and how his need for wandering became less and less. Where experiences of a thousand worlds were needed to fill out his being, now he needed those experiences to be of Edith, with Edith. The first time she left him a note, the first festival they attended together, singing songs well into the night that Arios had never known. Quiet evenings reading or watching something, Edith reading poetry, or the two of them trying to paint on the same canvas. Weeks passed, and in those weeks, everything she was branded itself onto his soul, drawing him in further to explore more.

That night, however, he still ventured out, not to explore, but sheerly to fulfill at least part of her wish and make her happy. He swam until he hit land, a small island that seemed dark and desolate after the dazzling underwater cities, and he walked its shore in his human form, looking for something to take back with him. There was sand, of course, but in the end, it was only dirt, meaningless and boring, and wouldn't do. Then there were the conches, and when Arios lifted them to his ear, he could hear the slow, rhythmic beating of the ocean, a sound that didn't, couldn't exist below the surface. Smiling, Arios held onto his new trinket as he waded back among the waves, transforming his body yet anew and shooting through the depths like an arrow, straight back for Edith.

He presented the conch to her in the evening as they were sitting in the backyard yet again.

"I brought you something," he announced, and Edith cocked her head in curiousity. Arios pulled the conch out, placing it between the two of them on the table.

"What is this?" she asked, turning it around, the shapes unfamiliar in her hands.

"It's a conch, from a beach. An actual beach. In it, you can hear the sound of the waves, so you will always be able to hear what it's like to be on the surface," he explained.

Edith stared at the conch in disbelief, then she slowly raised it to her ear. Arios saw the moment she heard it, a sound unfamiliar and yet comforting, and her eyes filled with happy, touched tears.

"This is the most beautiful present I've ever got," she said, taking his hand in hers. "Thank you."

Arios squeezed her hand, finding it warm and soft in his own, and then she locked eyes with him and tentatively leaned forward, her eyes forming a question that she wasn't quite sure how to word. He almost held his breath as he leaned into her, their lips softly touching for the first time, and then again, braver this time. His free hand came up to frame her cheek, and he was reeling from the sensation, the feelings in his own heart, the impressions from Edith, and the power of sharing a first experience together.

Putting the conch down as if she had found a more wonderful thing in the world, Edith pulled Arios from the chair and led him inside the house.