“Ethan, come on!” Ativ whined, pulling at the arm of his inventor friend. “It’s autumn! Don’t you want to go outside?”
“Ativ, I’m trying to grab my goggles! It’s too bright outside for me to be without them.” Ethan was very lucky that his seat could lock to the floor; otherwise his friend would have pulled him right along, chair and all.
“Then hurry up! Just because I cannot enjoy the colors of the world, does not mean you should be deprived of them!” Ativ ceased his tugging, waiting for the sound of Ethan’s goggles snapping into place. Once the inventor’s eyes were well protected and he’d stood up, Ativ wasted no time in pulling his much taller friend out of his dark warehouse.
Ethan had only been in the human world for a few months. This would be his first autumn and he was interested in seeing the colors Ativ had spoken of. Ethan was not prepared for the multicolored trees; he was not ready for the pigments that varied from leaf to leaf. The reds, yellows, and even purples were so beautiful to him, one who had known only shades of black until his entrance into the human world. Then, he believed that the trees stayed green year round. Now, he was very happy that they didn’t.
“It’s amazing, yes?” Ativ murmured after some time. The warehouse door, which opened into random dimensions when not set to a specific location, had dropped them into a forest. “I can hear the leaves rustling. It reminds me of fall on my home planet. The Ageless held a festival every year. Nothing particularly grand, but it was celebrated all over the world. I composed special music every year and played for my hometown.”
“My world had no seasons. But it was still beautiful, in its own way.” The two friends stood side by side, finding their similar longings a greater binding than the jobs that forced them to spend so much time together. The rest of the day passed in comfortable and watchful silence.