Two worlds become one

Sprout walks up to Belle's cart, looking rather distraught and tired. She greets the perfaunt, looking as sweet as ever, and starts to explain why she's so distressed.

< I've travelled from quite afar, and only upon arriving I realized my coin case was gone... I'm not sure if I've dropped it or... )

Belle promptly starts comforting the Maze, and while she felt bad for the girl who had unfortunately lost some of her money, she explained there was the option of offering something else in exchange of her wares. That way, she could at least not go back home empty-handed.

Sprout seems to perk up, thanking Belle for her kindness; she had only her bag on her, with her travelling ticket and notebook inside, so the best she could offer was the best story she could think of, and also her favorite.

"This is the story of when I met this one guy in the human world. I went to Brazil during my identity trial, wanting to study more about plants and botanic, so I naturally was headed to Rio de Janeiro, the place where the Botanical Garden is located. I spent some months there, got myself a job and a bike, so I could afford my own studies.

Everything was pretty much the same everyday, I worked from monday to friday, and visited the places of my interest during weekend. One day, it was different; I met someone. He was seemingly lost - both in his thoughts and without knowing where to go -, and carried only a few encyclopedias tucked under his arm, a piggy bank and a banana. The sight of him got me really curious, and when he caught me staring, he approached, asking for directions.

'Hello, could you tell me where the National Museum is?'

'Yes, but I hope you don't intend on going there...'

Unfortunately, some days before, there had been a fire which destroyed the museum he was talking about almost entirely; what was left from it and its artifacts was in shambles. The man looked truly disheartened with such news, and even though he was a complete stranger, I felt bad for him...

...so I naturally invited him out to eat something. I don't know, I feel better about something that made me sad when I eat something tasty. I took him to my favorite place on Earth, a fast food restaurant called McDonald's.

We chatted while we were eating, and he explained me he was in the middle of a big travel aiming to study ancient Egypt and everything related to it, and that was the reason he went looking for the biggest museums and libraries he had heard about, even if they were scattered around the globe. Regardless of being really knowledgeable, he seemed really foreign; and I thought so not just because he was unaware the meat and spices inside a hamburger were also food, he just had this mysterious air around him.
_{But I did tell him the other stuff were edible. hahaha}

Ever since coming to Earth, I haven't made any friend. And still, we spent the afternoon together, chatting as if we had known each other for a long time. It might sound like it was too fast, but we became friends on that day. When the sun was starting to set, I told him I had to get going; that city was beautiful, but sadly very dangerous at night. What made me wonder... did he have a place to stay?

'I've been sleeping on the bus station's benches ever since I started travelling', he simply answered. 'There are showers there too, so I-'

He stopped talking when I let out a hearty 'GASP' and started dragging him along to my place. Confused, he tried to talk his way out of it, but... something just made me feel that I shouldn't let this not-so-stranger-anymore alone. Not sure if it was common sense, or something else. In the end, he agreed and awkwardly thanked me for doing that for him.

I was staying at a lodging since it's cheaper than rent, so the room was a bit small, but enough for the two of us. The first night we spent together was really fun; he had all kinds of stories and experiences from his travels, mostly from Egypt itself. It sounded like a really interesting country! The ancient civilization was really interesting too.
I showed him my annotations and photos I took for my studies too, and regardless it being all plants and stuff he didn't intend on learning more about, he did lend me an ear. We shared lots of interesting and fun things that night.

We spent some time like this. I would often get worried with the feeling I was forceably making him stay, but at least he had something to do in Brazil; he would look for places worth seeing and visiting while I was out working, sometimes, I'd go with him. Sometimes, he'd go with me on my botanical study sessions too. I had the impression he was lonely just like me, so... that's what's a friend's for, right?

I knew not much about the humans and was unsure if the way things developed would be seen as normal to them. But he didn't seem to mind one bit. Like that, we shared so much, and did so much together. I don't know when - I don't remember exactly when - I started feeling different about him. The moment I realized something was amiss was when he said he would leave to United States, next on to a museum of his interest.

I promptly said, I was going with him. I knew that didn't possibly mean we would stop being friends or lose contact, but I... panicked a little. He seemed confused and asked me why.

'I like being with you.'

He then agreed, but probably didn't 'understand' that time. He's so smart, but so... dense. Anyways, the place he intended to go - New York City - had beautiful gardens, I could easily resume my studies there. Sounded like a plan to me. I had came searching for my identity, just so I could understand myself better and be back to Griffia someday, but until then, I had some studying left to do.

Different place, but same plan to go; we stayed together in a room, and would go out, sometimes together, sometimes separated, to visit and see places and things. We chatted a lot whenever we were going together, and if we were to go by ourselves, we'd chat when the two of us were back in the room, and share what we had seen and learnt.
Other than the plants, I started taking pictures of us and the museums I went to when I accompanied him. These would do for great mementos!

But then, one day, I panicked again... hahaha I needed him to know. Maybe I was leaning towards staying in the human world because of him now, but he had the right to know regardless, at least, I thought he had. One night, I sat beside him inside our room, and started explaining; someone who valued knowledge as much as him wouldn't possibly think I was crazy, right?

So I said it as normally as I could, that Griffia was a place really far away and almost unreachable, which I knew of because I was part of it, it was my homeland. And when I was ready to explain him that Griffia was nothing like another country or something that actually exists in the Earth of humans, he was already laughing.

'Well... This is really awkward', he said, between giggles. 'But yeah, Griffia... I'm from there, too.'

This is the time of the story on which you hear, mentally, a truck driving past a railway and crashing with the train. No passengers were harmed, and everyone in the metaphor is safe, though...! I was just... really shocked.

'I'm a Haze. You?'

'Maze. Identity Trial?'

'Mmhm', he nodded.

We sat in silence for a while, until I spoke up again.

'I should have known there was something fishy on the way you ate that fast food stuff.'

'Oh, hey! I study the ancients, not the contemporaneous! There was no fast food in Ancient Egypt.'

We laughed together.

'Are you ever returning?'

'Likely, yes. My goal was to personally see the things I had read about and seen in my books. Don't think Earth's museums and historical places are limitless. Though I was starting to worry a bit about coming back, I guess.'

'Why so?'

'I like your company. I'd probably miss you when I came back, since, well, I though you were human.'

'Been there, done that. I was contemplating the idea of staying, to be honest.'

'What's your goal here?'

'I came to better understand and find myself. From where I come, all griffians can grow plants and flowers but looks like I'm in 'late blooming'. So I came to study about botanic and maybe find out why. After that, I'd go back home.'

'And why would you go so far as to stay?'

'I like you. I really, really like you.'

I looked into his eyes, heart beating fast, trying to get my point across. Surprisingly, he seemed to understand, given the way he smiled back at me; restrained, but honest. He's always been like that.

'I do, too. It's great that you decided to come along.'

Feeling somewhat lighter, I slowly leaned onto his shoulder, and he followed suit. I hadn't realized, I didn't know when it had 'clicked' for him because, as I said, he was really dense with some things... but I was just glad we could be together in the end. I certainly wasn't expecting any of that, I wasn't expecting that we could have something else either, but I was happy."

To finish off her story, Sprout gets her notebook out of her bag, and shows it to Belle. There were tons of photos of plants, but some photos of two humans together in the middle of the museum photos and, on the remaining pages, some photos of the Maze who was standing in front of Belle right now, accompanied by a Haze in egyptian inspired attire.

< I hope this makes up for your time, miss Belle... I always get carried away when I tell someone else this story. I still can't believe how lucky I was to run into him like that. )

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