Women's best companion

Author: Miyoshi Akachi

Original post:

Entry for the YC119 Pod and Planet Fiction Contest in the A Thousand Suns for the Very Short Fiction category.

It was said women's best companions were diamonds. Shiny and beautiful like them.

Someone had to disagree.

There was a man, a handsome specimen of Gallente birth. He was women's best companion.

Little is known of his past before he grew famous. There were many voices and many bits of truth spread around but nothing concrete. Someone said he was born as an experiment, someone said he was a capsuleer in disguise, someone said he was just a nobody with enough luck and cunning.

What remained was his story, his ascent and downfall.

His handsome features were made to be caressed, his eyes were deep and always had the right light for the right moment. His touch… was soft and polite, loving and warm, even hard and gripping when needed, but always, always with style.

He was fashion. He always dressed immaculately, he followed the latest fashion while retaining the classy appearance. Each dress felt perfect on him, even if on many others wasn’t good at all. He was the Man.

If the eyes weren’t satisfied enough, then his voice would satisfy the ears. His tone was always polite, with a warm undertone that was said it always warmed women deep inside. It was never heard he raised his voice.

But what about his mind? He was intelligent. He could show wit or just let his presence talk. He was the master in good manners and gallantry. Nothing out of place on him and always the right word or action for the moment.

At first not many women could say they had tasted him but the more his reputation grew, the more they came for him. For each he had time, for each he did his best, for each he made sure they wouldn’t leave unsatisfied.

He had become women's best companion.

Better than diamonds, better than any other living man.

Many men were of course envious of his status. He had so many women around, so much beauty surrounding only one men. Why he had so much while many others had nothing? Why women were all for him?

Many would have acted but his reputation was his shield. They knew if something happened, many women would risk a rebellion all in his name, in the name of women’s best companion.

However, downfall was to come and not by hand of another men.

Many tales had been told but the truth lies in the sky. In the people living between the shining stars, reaching further than any other men or woman.

One day, a woman appeared at his door. She had jet black hairs going down straight and framing a proportionate face. She had almond green eyes like emeralds. Her skin was tanned, like the color of bronze, her proportions were the dream of many men and the envy of as many women. But more importantly, she was a capsuleer.

A capsuleer! An immortal! An immortal coming to the mortals’ world. No one knew why she came to him, the women's best companion. What she was looking for? Companionship? A feel of humanity? A warm touch to chase away the cold of empty space? What was known was that they stayed together for more than he had with any other woman. Day after day, a week was spent together.

He was all for her, unreachable for anyone else. Other women were getting impatient, they wanted him too, why was the capsuleer monopolizing his time that way? Hadn’t she other handsome capsuleers of her kind to go with?

Finally, she left and they rejoiced, they could spend time again with women’s best companion! Only that when she went away, he too went away. If she went back to the stars, he disappeared in the darkness of a cluster-wide civilization, unreachable, untraceable.

There were whispers of a curse, of a curse she laid on him. Whispers about promises made in heated moments. The same promises destroyed when it was done. No names were ever given but mouth by mouth, she grew a name: the Witch.

The Witch that had destroyed women’s best companion.

“She was more than you could dream of. She was perfect, in body and mind. After her, it was like seeing her only in color while everyone else was in monochrome, black and white…”