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Varvatos never had any intention of acclimating to Earth. Akiridion-5 and it’s many satellites is where he had hardened into a warrior. The perfect instrument of death. To blend in was one thing, but to grow soft with the ways of such a mushy, fickle planet was another; let the children adapt. He would remain the same as ever. It was crucial to his duty now.But change didn’t seem to be optional on Earth; everything changed, from the position of the sun in the sky to where the stars in the night sky found their place. And now even the length of days and nights were changing, along with the weather. Something about axis and rotation meant that Earth had seasons; why nothing on this planet could stay constant for just two mekrons, Varvatos didn’t know.He was happy, at least, to be out of his sagging human skin for now- sweet Seklos, how he was beginning to hate skin- and when he was just getting used to it! But now the pathetic human body he wore was succumbing to this season- Fall, it was called- and how fitting. His feeble human bones ached, and he found himself begging to tremble. Tremble! The Great Varvatos Vex never trembled, for anything, for such a thing was a shameless displace of cowardice. Aja and Krel of course mocked him for it (they thought he didn’t know how they mimicked his voice, threw his words together in foolish slander. Teenagers.), but he had one source of understanding.“Oh, believe me- I totally understand what you mean,” Stuart had told him, when he had heard Vex’s- what did Jerry call it- ‘grousing’. “I remember my first fall on Earth. Winter, too. I tell you, I was absolutely miserable. Miserable!” Thinking on it, Vex suspected being a prisoner and subjected to continuous torture might have had something to do with that, but he decided not to say so. Obviously Stuart was trying to make him feel better.And he still was, in his own, over familiar way. Currently he was in the kitchen, having shooed the blanks off, not bothering to be in his human form for the time being. Whatever he was doing in there was covering up the stench anyways, and something about Stuart’s natural form had become… comforting. After the Arcadian Job, Vex noticed he had taken to wearing it less and less, in safety, of course. He could respect that. Perhaps the event had Stuart realizing that he, too, was tired of hiding.“Alright, here we are,” Stuart was suddenly beside him on the couch, two mugs in hand (very stealthy for someone so odorous. Vex would have to watch out for that). “Two cups of hot cider a la Stuey. Perfect fall remedy.” He handed Vex one of the mugs.Vex was in no doubt of Stuart’s cooking skills, or his intent of poisoning him, but he sniffed his cider apprehensively all the same. He took his first sip. Then he downed it all in one go.“Oh, you’re not supposed to- it’s hot and- up, yeah, yeah, there you go. Alright.”“A glorious concoction indeed!” Vex wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Varvatos must commend you on your culinary wisdom, Stuart.” He waited a beat. “Although it has not remedied Varvatos’s loathing of this ‘Fall’.”“Hah, well, thank you. Learned it from a little old lady in Vermont.” He nursed his own drink. “Though I’m a bit surprised, Vexy. Fall definitely seems like your type of season.”“Varvatos has no patience for this seemingly endless season of cold, damp drivel. It agitates his physical form.”“I mean sure, the weather isn’t for everyone, but- there’s plenty of other things about it. Just wait ‘til you and the kids have your first Halloween! And, I mean, just look outside-” Stuart pointed outside the window to the hardly-visible horizon, now that it was getting dark. A thick wall of trees framed themselves against the sky, still red and orange in the dimming light. “I mean, it’s beautiful, isn’t it?”Vex huffed. “Varvatos has seen much more impressive feats than a simple change in hue.”“I dunno. It’s like the leaves are changing colors, just for us.” Stuart gave him a sideways look, then wheezed and sorted in his usual, peculiar laugh. “Ah, just kidding. I mean- the real reason is that they’re rotting. Big part of fall, that.” He gestured out with his hand. “The rotting and the dying, I mean. Gotta make way for something new.”“Ah! Now that, Varvatos understands! Why did you not say so sooner?” He took another look out, watching the sun sink behind the trees, turning the leaves a brilliant red. “Yes. The beauty in death is something Varvatos understands very well.”“Thought you might feel that way,” Stuart huffed in amusement over his mug. Now it was Vex’s turn to give him a sideways look, feeling a bit of mischief tug the corner of his mouth into a smile.“Though generally, he prefers green.”Stuart snorted his cider up into his nose.