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Chapter Text

The sun's rays slowly penetrate more and more into the dusty room. Outside, you can hear the cheerful chirping of toucans and parrots who boldly make their presence known, and one of them even flies into the architect's room, sits on the bedside table and starts chirping to wake up the sleepy blonde from his sleep. The man frowns, making a sour face, muttering something under his breath, with his other hand trying to reach the annoying "alarm clock" and turn it off. However, the bird deftly flies up and lands on the sleepyhead's head. The blonde finally opens his eyes wider, feeling something strange on his head and immediately jumps up, looking up. He blinks a few times as he sees the exotic bird on his ruffled head staring back at him, which looked quite funny.

'...What is a bird like that doing in my room and sitting on my head?' thinks. 'Huh... And why is it so... bright and hot here?' he starts to wake up, looking around the unfamiliar room. Which tells him something.

'Wait a minute - This isn't my room??!!' he thinks for a moment, panicked, as he gets out of bed. "It all looks pretty dated..." he mutters to himself, trying to stay calm in this rather strange situation. He's probably not kidnapped, after all, he doesn't see any bars here and he's not tied up. The room also looks really cozy, although there was a lot of mess in it and many unfinished drawings and projects scattered on the floor, on the desk, and there are also a few on the bed where he slept earlier.

"Come on, sho sho!" He skillfully shoos the bird away from his hair with his hand, starting to plan what to do. 'Think, Aventurine... This isn't the first time you've had to act in an awkward situation like this...' He starts tapping his foot on the wooden floor, finally looking at the old-fashioned clothes closet and then looking at the pajamas he's currently wearing. 

'Hmm, I should change into some clothes first so I can do anything' He walks to the wardrobe, opening it smoothly, looking at the clothes from top to bottom, sighing softly. They are totally not to his taste. Unfortunately, he can't be picky in this situation and he needs to find out what's actually going on here as quickly as possible. He takes a ready-made set of clothes from the wardrobe and puts them on, looking at himself in the long mirror. It was a set consisting of a thin white shirt. black protruding trousers with a blue material imitating a belt wrapped around them and something like a red double scarf that hung behind his back.

"Not bad, although I definitely prefer the green color palette, it suits me better," he says to himself and then notices a blue feather in his hair left by an unwelcome guest. He begins to fix his hair, leaving the feather elegantly behind his ear, which surprisingly matched his clothes, which made him smile slightly to himself. 'It reminds me of my feather earring which I usually wear on the same side,'he thinks happily.

'Okay now I can finally move on to the next thing.' After checking the entire room to make sure he hadn't missed anything, he came across a hidden diary that was cleverly hidden under the bed. He blew away the faint traces of dust from it and opened it, beginning to read it. He immediately learned some important information about the owner of this room, whose name is "Kaveh", as well as about his friends and his annoying roommate who was Kaveh's good friend in the past. He also learned more about the place where he is located and its name is "Sumeru". However, he omitted many pages because they were devoted to the architecture of this place, which Aventurine knew nothing about, and also about complaining about Alhaitham, to whom he is in debt and has outstanding rent to pay, to which Aventrine burst out laughing.

'He hates him so much and yet his roommate treats him with great kindness, ahh I can only envy him,' he said in his thoughts, turning to the next page of the diary. The further he read, the more he understood this alien world and the owner of the diary. It is clear that he is hypersensitive to teasing and playing cat and mouse, which is why Alhaitham's person irritated him so much. For himself, Alhaitham seemed understandable because he loved to tease impatient people, and he especially took a liking to Dr. Ratio, whom he had known for two months. Despite the constant teasing, Dr. Ratio still agreed to meet with him, and although it was obvious that he often almost lost his patience with Aventurine, he still (probably) enjoyed these petty arguments to some extent.

After finishing his "reading", Aventurine closed the diary and put it back in the same place from which he took it out. It was exactly what he needed and he was really lucky to find it quite quickly. If there was nothing more he could learn from this room, he had to finally leave it. He was ready for the possibility of meeting an unwanted roommate and other adversities, so he took a deep breath and then let it out, clenching his hand hidden behind his back into a fist to relax. He tightened his other hand on the doorknob and pushed the wooden door, which opened with a slight creaking sound.

The next room in front of him was definitely a living room and the whole thing was also designed in a similar style to the room he was in, but the difference was that the one in front of him was definitely clean. However, his eyes quickly caught sight of the exit door, and his body automatically relaxed for a glimmer of hope that he wouldn't be caught staying in a strange apartment. He began to walk confidently, but still silently, towards the door, feeling his fingers tingle with the desire to open it and run out of here. He placed his hand on the doorknob, already feeling the taste of freedom, when suddenly he heard a voice behind him.

"Kaveh? Are you going somewhere?" asked a low and calm voice behind him, and Aventurine's heart froze, feeling like he had been caught red-handed.

'Kaveh...?' he thought surprised, feeling that he had some way out of this situation. 'So he thinks I'm Kaveh... Maybe that has something to do with why I'm here? Maybe I look like him... Well, I'll try to take advantage of this opportunity,' he thinks. He turns smoothly towards him, showing no sign of any uncertainty.

"Ah Alhaitham, I didn't know you were still at home at this time. Why are you curious? Usually you don't ask me about such trivial things as where I'm going," he asks in an unintelligible tone of voice, trying to react appropriately, as if Kaveh himself had done it in his diary. He tries to sound not too malicious and not too gentle so as not to arouse suspicion. At the same time, he could also examine the man in front of him who reminded him of Dr. Ratio, although not exactly, but some aspects were correct. He suddenly felt a subtle scrutiny from Alhaitham, who narrowed his eyes slightly distrustfully at him. His face remained unchanged, with a stony and indifferent expression.

"Hmm, you're right," Alhaitham replied, sitting on the sofa with the book he was holding and opening it, "I was just surprised because I thought you wouldn't go anywhere today after your drinking yesterday, that's all," he shrugged, shifting his earlier glare towards Aventurine to the book, "But I see that you feel good, although your voice... hmm, is a little different," he said.

'Mhm So it's a game of wolf and Little Red Riding Hood who asks "Grandma, why do you have such big teeth?" Yes? Well okay' he thinks.

"My voice? Apparently it hasn't recovered yet from yesterday's drinking, as you can see, unfortunately, the effects are visible," he said, pretending to reluctantly admit to (not) his mistake from last night. "That's why I decided to go out for a bit and take care of a few things while I'm at it," he turned back towards the door.

"...Let it be," he muttered briefly. Aventurine could feel a note of distrust towards him, but since he still treats him as "Kaveh", he hasn't made a reprehensible mistake yet to raise appropriate doubts.

"See you later then, I'll probably come back in the evening since it's already noon" he assured to lower his guard even more. As he was leaving, he heard a quiet murmur of agreement behind him, to which he smiled deviously at his perfect game.

Checkmate.

'Hmm... I just wonder where the Kaveh guy I'm replacing is?' A thought crossed his mind that he didn't care much about yet as he walked around his new surroundings.

'Uhh What a headache... I shouldn't have drank so much... Cyno, you're going to pay for this,' he curses him in his mind, sighing painfully. However, while sucking in air, he noticed a strange moist air and a specific metal smell. He opened his surprised eyes and they didn't sting him from the too bright light, instead it was a soft light that gently penetrated from outside the window. He immediately jumped up from the bed, seeing a man with purple hair sitting in front of him, his arms crossed, looking at him with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Um.. Who are you?" Kaveh asked a hesitant question to a stranger who somehow reminded him of Alhaitham, "And where am I anyway? he added, slowly moving closer and closer to the wall that blocked his escape. He felt his heart starting to beat faster and faster out of fear of a possible kidnapping.

'Was it possible that I was kidnapped on my way home when I was drunk and now they are holding me to extort money???' he thought in panic, thinking up worst-case scenarios in his head. However, before he could do anything, the man finally decided to speak.

"I want to ask you the same thing, but first I can answer your question," he replies, slowly examining his slightest movement like a lion staring at its prey. He felt cold shivers running down his back, feeling that if he said something inappropriate, it might end badly for him. Alhaitham had a similar view towards the people he started working with, as Kaveh had well noted earlier: "My name is Dr. Ratio and you are currently in my apartment, at one point when we were talking about some things with my um... friend, he felt bad and immediately fainted. The next thing was to put him on the bed and when I went back to check if he was awake, I saw you lying there in his clothes where I put him. Will you then explain to me what you are doing here and where is the person who was lying here earlier? And... why are you look like him?" he said, looking at him closely.

With each word, Kaveh woke up more and more from his drowsy state to a fully awake and sober state, even his head stopped hurting from the shock and information he had heard. After a while, he looked at the clothes he was wearing and everything that Dr. Ratio said was true. He wore clothes like those that reminded him of Fontaine, but they weren't exactly that style. 'Green...? I hate green...' he thought, a bit irritated, looking at the person in front of him. '..I'm Kaveh, and to be honest, I'm not sure myself.. Just yesterday I was on my way home and then I don't quite remember what happened, but I could have sworn that I came to my apartment" he replied, unsure of his words, looking at the window, suddenly something caught his attention, something that was completely alien to him "I'm sorry, but... I have to go to the window" he stood up, still looking at the window, at which Dr. Ratio also looked uncertainly at the same side as Kaveh, seeing nothing out of the ordinary in the view behind him. As soon as the blonde got close enough, his eyes widened even more, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"This.. What is this? It's so shiny and shows moving pictures..?" he asked with a dazed look on his face, pointing at the large screen.

"Um... Do you mean the ad...? What's weird about it?" he asks, as stunned as he is.

"I mean... How is it moving? Is it some kind of magic? I've never seen anything like it" he says, enchanted by the view, starting to look around at what's outside the window like a little child, completely forgetting that he's in a strange apartment with a man he doesn't know.

"Pff You say it as if you've never seen anything like that" he says ironically, rolling his eyes in amusement, but when he notices Kaveha's delighted face, he slowly begins to doubt his words "Because... It's impossible for you not to know about such things... right?" he asks, feeling that this case with the missing Aventurine is deeper than it might seem.

"Hm? Is this a normal here? We don't have anything like this in Sumeru... And where exactly are we? Because it's definitely not Sumeru," says the blond, suddenly feeling the seriousness of the whole situation.

'Oh shit...' Dr. Ratio thinks, feeling he's in big trouble.

I hope that I have captured the character well so far, although this is just the beginning! Please leave kudos and comments are welcome <3

See you soon in the next chapter!

Chapter Text

Kaveh couldn't believe it, after a long conversation with the Doctor, he and the person talking to him realized that he was not currently in Sumer, much less in Teyvat. He was now sitting at the table drinking a strange drink that had bubbles in it and that tickled his tongue funny, making him funny faces as he drank every sip like a child slowly becoming addicted to soda. His interlocutor walked around the room with a thoughtful expression, every few moments looking at Kaveh out of the corner of his eye, involuntarily refraining from laughing at the blond's crooked expression.

"Yhm.." He cleared his throat after a long moment, breaking the silence, thus drawing Kaveh's attention towards him.

"So... To sum up our entire conversation, a certain 'factor' most likely had to be met for you both to switch places, there is no more logical explanation," he stated in a calm voice, tapping his cheek with his fingertip, still analyzing this strange situation. "My theory regarding this factor may be your very similar appearance, although it's stupid, but it's my only clue for now" he shook his head helplessly.

"Though I'm not sure what this whole Aventurine thing might look like, if you say so, are we also similar in terms of character? Or behavior?" Kaveh asked curiously, unable to believe that he could even have his doppelganger somewhere outside Teyvat. Dr. Ratio blinked his eyes in surprise and then burst into involuntary laughter, waving his hands in denial.

"You look like that idiot? Pff! Don't make me laugh. If you were even a little bit like him in personality, you would have started irritating me with your stupid words a long time ago. But this fact makes me happy, you seem to be quite a calm person Kaveh, am I right? Apart of that, during our conversation you showed quite sophisticated vocabulary," he said, slightly impressed.

"Ah, I'm glad you noticed that, well I graduated from the highest academy in all of Teyvat which is located in Sumeru, I studied interior design there," he said with a gentle smile, and Ratio's eyes lit up with curiosity at this information.

"Oh, really? So you must know a lot about architecture, literature and also mathematics," he said with a slightly excited voice. "Do you perhaps know... Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini?" he asked with a twinkle in his eyes, to which Kaveh also reacted similarly to Dr. Ratio having the same expression.

"Of course, I'm good at mathematics and Bernini is my favorite artist..." said the blonde, feeling the joy slowly filling him inside, and they both smiled at each other, knowing that it would be a really interesting acquaintance. Return to home can wait, after all, when will there be another opportunity for such a wonderful companion to talk about his favorite topics of art and mathematics?

A few hours later...

"... and at the very end he just reads the book like he doesn't care at all! And that's why he irritates me so much..." he said irritably while walking around the city with the Doctor by his side.

"I can see that this Alhaitahama is really quite an ignoramus, he should probably read more psychology books considering his behavior," the purple-haired man immediately stated. "Although I understand some of his behavior, I think that he is quite a closed person and it is difficult for him to get used to the prevailing social norms. Some people react in a shy way, while others, like me or Alhaitham, react with silence, closing ourselves in our own world. Although there is no forgiveness for his actions, but you should pay attention to it, maybe it will help," he advised honestly.

"Huh.. I never thought about it like that... Thank you Ratio, you are a really smart person. Even though you consider yourself similar to Alhaitham, I see the differences between him and you, although I don't know how to put it into words" Kaveh smiled friendly in his side. 'Even though he seemed threatening at first, he turned out to be a really friendly person to talk to,' he thought, happy to know that he had made a friend.

"At your service," he said with a gentle smile upon hearing the compliment about his knowledge, which made him straighten up more. Kaveh laughed at his words and then started looking around, examining the city's charms with curious eyes. Previously, he hadn't looked around so carefully because he was focused on the conversation with the Doctor. Looking at the image surrounding him now, he couldn't focus his eyes on one thing because something was happening everywhere. At the top there were electronic billboards, from the shops that pass by they play numerous songs of some famous singer that he heard about from Dr. Ratio, although he didn't complain because she had a really nice voice to listen to, and at the very end, under the lamppost, you could see kids laughing and recording phones to a man who was vomiting under a lamppost. Kaveh also quickly learned about the so-called "telephones" from Ratio as they are basic inventions that are an everyday part of their lives.

'What a strange place I've found myself in... Maybe it's supposed to teach me something? I've read something like this before in a famous novel from Inazuma. The hero goes to an unknown place to understand his mistakes and appreciate what he has lost. But have I done anything wrong? Hmm..' Kaveh thought, wandering in his thoughts. However, he still observed unknown things in front of him. His companion walked next to him in silence, just as he was in his own thoughts. As you could see, both men did not mind the silence between them and it actually made the time during the walk more pleasant. Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by Ratio's hand pulling him into a side street. He widened his eyes in surprise and was about to say something, but then Ratio quickly dealt with the situation.

"Calm down, I didn't mean to scare you," the Doctor whispered, slightly tense, "I noticed a few familiar faces who would have noticed that there was something wrong with you and the fewer people who knew about our secret, the better," he said, releasing his wrist. "I know a workaround to get back to my apartment so we don't run into unwanted people--"

"Can I be involved in this too?" said a mysterious voice that came from inside the alley they entered. They both turned their heads towards him, seeing the figure of a slim man with gray-blue hair and small wings on his head. The man was wearing his trademark smile and his voice seemed innocent, as if he was asking what the weather would be like tomorrow.

'Do I see correctly that this is an angel?' Kaveh thought in surprise, not knowing how to react to this, but when he saw the Doctor's face and the thick atmosphere between them, he felt quite uncomfortable.

Minewhile in Teyvat...

'How wonderful this place is!' thought Aventurine delightedly, feeling that now he can do whatever he wants. Compared to the cold and polluted Penacona, the atmosphere in Sumeru was much freer and healthier, the kids were normal and played numerous active games instead of sitting on the phone, clean and pleasant air that smelled sweet from the blooming tropical flowers, warm weather where you could sunbathe every day... Aventurine could confidently say that he could live here for life. He felt like he was on vacation and also had positive opinions among people, which is why many of them greet him in a friendly way on the street, kids stop him on the way to help an injured kitten, and he also receives compliments from older ladies about what a boy he is. It all really was a daydream, unlike the dreams in Penacona which were not so colorful and real. However, despite these positive emotions, Aventurine knew that he had to return home, he could not pretend and take the place of the person he was now replacing. During his tour of what he considered an "old-fashioned" city, he came to two conclusions. First of all, he is in the old days where there is no electricity, which irritated him very much because he felt without his phone like without a hand. Secondly, he must find someone who will help him return to his home and restore its rightful owner. As he was wandering around with his thoughts, he was approached by a short girl who looked about 12 years old, had pink hair and looked like a genie from a lamp thanks to her outfit.

"Kaveh, my friend! Wouldn't you like to be tempted by the discount on new drawing tools? I recently had a delivery from Fontaine and from there only the highest quality artistic products come! What do you say? Once I know it, I will give you 20% off! That is, for every single product only 500 mora! So what do you say? she said encouragingly, involuntarily rubbing her hands. Aventurine immediately sensed an attempt to cheat and extort money on her part from a mile away.

'Oh Kaveh, what friends do you have... I feel a little sorry for you,' he thought with a nice smile on his face. "Hmm, that sounds really tempting, but I have to refuse this time, my dear! You see, I didn't take my wallet from home today, so next time," he replied friendly, turning his back to her, wanting to leave. He doesn't like people extorting money from innocent people, even though he himself is not innocent. Dori became irritated at his words, scanning him with her eyes.

"Ohh come on, Kaveh, are you still offended about that building plan? It was your fault for not going into the details of our contract, so if you're going to be offended at someone, it's better to be offended at yourself! Better don't test my patience or maybe I'll reconsider this promotion for you" she said maliciously towards him and Aventurine stopped his steps, already knowing who this stupid girl was. This is the Dori that Kaveh wrote about in his diary. She tricked him into making a plan of a building from which he was supposed to earn a large sum of money, but unfortunately she took most of the money for herself and only a measly 10% was given to Kaveh. He saw that these pages in the diary were slightly wrinkled, which could indicate tears that fell on the page while writing. This thought made Aventurine feel strangely angry and want to take revenge on this little trickster. He had never felt the need to solve other people's problems before, but this time it was different. Maybe it was because of reading the diary or maybe his own will to tease others that made the blonde decide to scare this little dwarf.

"Well Dori... You're right!" he turned on his heel and slowly walking towards her with an innocent smile. "I'm angry and why shouldn't I be hmm? I was the one who worked for hours, devoting all my ideas to the plan of this building and YOU didn't even lift a finger to do anything in this project" with each step his face became less and less friendly and Dori slowly came to terms with she came to the conclusion that she had made a mistake with the choice of words, and she began to back away, concerned about "Kaveh's" strange behavior. Aventurine quickly noticed this and, knowing that there was no one nearby, he grabbed her wrist tightly and pulled her towards him, leaning over her.

"You better listen to me carefully because I will only repeat it once, don't you ever dare to talk to me like that again and you better quickly find me the right order for a project where 100% of the money will be for me and not a single penny for you, do we understand each other? Don't ever try to cheat me again because it will end badly for you and your business..." he said in an icy voice, waiting for an answer.

"Y-yes, sir! I promise I will never question y-your payments again," the pink-haired girl said in fear, shaking slightly beneath him. She felt that she should be submissive because one move could cost her life.

"Good," he replied shortly, releasing her wrist. "And before I go, it's best if you don't tell anyone what happened here, okay?" he asked coldly, to which the girl quickly nodded her head, showing that she understood everything thoroughly. Aventurine only grunted at this answer and walked away as if nothing had happened, leaving the shocked girl alone with her thoughts.

'Maybe I should give him at least half of what he was owed, just in case... Yes, that's definitely a good idea!' she thought in a panic, running to her shop so she could count the money and give it to "Kaveh".

Aventurine was pleased with himself, feeling a certain satisfaction of himself. 'Since I'm already here, why not put some people on the right track towards Kaveh,' he thought, humming a melody under his breath. However, he did not know that he was being watched all this time. It was only when he heard the rustling of leaves and a strange blue streak that passed by that he realized this fact a little too late.

'That thing was definitely too big to be a parrot... It looked more like a human of short stature to me... Can people here fly?' he looked in that direction for a moment and then moved on, paying more attention to the surroundings. A boy with navy blue hair and a large round hat was sitting on a branch, looking at him with distrustful eyes.

'Weird... Kaveh doesn't normally behave like this, I need to investigate this matter further and more carefully,' thought the boy, already knowing what he would be doing for the rest of the day.