As we traveled back to Earth on the passenger ship Homusenjk, named after a Thylus mythological figure, my roommate and I were snuggled under the infrared light he needed to maintain homeostatic temperatures. I couldn't wait to show him rain, after all the times he'd mocked me for talking about water, rain and snow.

"You humans sure have a strange sense of humour. Sure, your planet totally has huge bodies of water that cover most of the surface."

"As if something so scarce would just be found falling from the sky!"

"I guess when we reach your E'arth, you can show us all these fantasies in person!"

He'd always had this smug look on his albino-pink face as he said it, his fronds always jiggling in laughter. But tomorrow, he would see who has the last laugh.

/. /. /. /. /. /.

I awoke at around 7am, Galactic Greenwich Mean Time, and my roommate had paralyzed me by accident with his frond spines in his sleep.

Bless him.

I let the paralytic fade for a few minutes, before my roommate's maw yawned, showing rows of spiky teeth spiraling in his maw. He chuckled afterwards, grinning. "Sorry about that, Josh, I didn't mean to spine you."

I shrugged, the numbness slowly fading. We got up and got dressed before going to the transwarp deck for viewing my home system, in preparation for deceleration outside Neptune's orbit. The number of tourists on the Homusenjk that started showing up on the deck was impressive, as they all came to see the Blue Planet.

It took around six hours for us to decelerate to the point we could be shot towards the landing port near the York Isles, and then another six before we were put into G-sleep pods. My roommate and I shared a pod, because his skeleton needed something to attach to, so that he wouldn't turn to jelly under G-strain.

/. /. /. /. /. /.

It was raining as we were taken out of G-sleep when the pod opened. The droplets fell from the sky in increasing frequency, as my roommate just gaped. The look of shocked amazement was worth it alone; but then he broke down and started weeping his vinegar tears.

I smiled at him, and offered my hand. "If you think this is wild, wait until you see snow."

He took it like it was a life raft.