Work Text:
Ratio stood in front of a door. The shop, with a cursive sign that said 'Desire Parlor', didn’t offer the sort of entertainment he'd usually enjoy. This time, however, he came with a mission of retrieving his work partner from its clutches that left him with no other choice but to enter.
Aventurine knew they were busy. He knew, and yet, he insisted on checking out this shop's Dreamweaving technology, and the task of getting their mission back on track fell on Ratio's shoulders.
He pushed the door open. It smoothly moved out of his way, uncovering a corridor draped in black and red and gold, all colors pointing to the kind of uncouth 'desire' regulars fulfilled within the premises.
It wasn’t created for this purpose. The creator simply realized their interest in weaving algorithmic approximation with memoria. A computer dynamically referred to the memory of the most important parts of one's inner world, whilst extrapolating the rest based on the patron's general preferences. It showed the patron whatever they desired. This impressive feat of technology wasted its potential in the Moment of Stars.
Walking along the corridor, Ratio hoped that Aventurine had more efficient ways of quenching lust. Entering his space would be awkward otherwise.
The entrances to all dreamscapes manifested as a set of doors on both sides of the corridor, keeping its uniform feeling. It didn't take Ratio long to arrive at his destination. Without much hesitation, he entered the room.
It adjusted to the patron's will and as its door closed behind Ratio, he found himself on a field of yellow flowers. Very pleasing to the eye, but...
He looked around, searching for the horizon, but the flowers spread as far as he could see. He crouched to pick one and analyze its structure. Fascinatingly, its stalk resembled a Calutha palstris, despite them preferring wetlands to the crisp ground of the simulation, but its prominent corona indicated a naricuss variety. A flower like this didn't exist outside of this space. The only thing the patron knew well was their color.
Too deep into his thoughts, he didn't notice somebody leaning over his shoulder, until she said "Beautiful!" Ratio dropped the flower. The voice didn’t belong to Aventurine.
He stood back up, keeping a reasonable distance between himself and the woman. She was small, around thirty centimeters shorter than him, her body bony and sharp, of arms that could be snapped by the slightest gust of wind. Her robes entwined her body in an undecipherable mess; her face, though emanating a soft aura, changed its features by the millisecond. The program referred to a piece of memory that Ratio didn't possess, leaving him with the distortion. The only characteristic of her that wasn't distorted was her hair, falling over her shoulders in long streaks. Its color was similar to the color of the flowers, but more subdued, a natural blond.
She smiled. He knew she smiled, though he wasn't sure how. Her face certainly didn't show it.
"Those are my favorite: ."
She said a word that Ratio's mind couldn't refer to, leaving it blank.
She turned away from him, looking far into the distance. He followed her line of sight and as he did, the ground under their feet shifted upwards, forming a hill. Despite looking from a vantage point, Ratio still couldn't see the horizon. Outside of the woman, Aventurine's 'desire' seemed rather abstract.
Ratio noticed something in the sea of flowers below the hill. A man in a green and brown coat, with gaudy patterns and tacky fur, had his back turned to them, looking in the same direction while placed on the lower ground. Maybe he didn't want to see the horizon.
The woman ran down the hill with cheerful laughter and stopped at Aventurine, hugging him from behind. As he turned to look at her, the sky changed. From an empty space, the day-night cycle was brought to life with a single falling sun. The flowers turned their heads towards it. Even the flower that Ratio plucked and dropped stood on its snapped stalk, joining in with the rest.
Aventurine took the woman in his arms and she replied by saying something. Through the lack of air, Ratio couldn't hear them from the top of the hill. He sat down and let them talk.
It took ages. In the meanwhile, the sky darkened. The sun faded out in favor of an aurora, blue and green lights illuminating the night sky. The woman pointed at it and both of them watched the lights traverse through the sky.
All three of them watched. Ratio, on his hill, wasn't any closer to the aurora than the ones below him.
The lights morphed and flickered, changing colors and shapes before making way for the morning. Finally, with one last hug, Aventurine left the woman on the lower ground and turned to Ratio.
Despite it being his world, he struggled to climb up the steep hill. The flowers caught his feet and he stumbled, only catching himself right before falling down.
They didn't have to do this. They could simply manifest the door and walk out of the space at any time they desired. Nevertheless, Ratio watched patiently as the gambler traversed the hill.
Aventurine arrived at the top and stood next to him, dusting his hands off.
"Hey, Doctor, I didn't expect you to be here as well."
Did he assume Ratio was a part of the room, an entity made up by the computer to reflect his desire?
"I'm here to retrieve you for the mission. You've wasted enough of my time," he clarified, standing up.
Aventurine laughed. The sound bounced between them in the airless space. He often laughed in a jarring display of fake amiability, but this time was different. He turned his head backwards and entirely closed his eyes, something he never allowed himself otherwise. When he opened them, the crow's feet in the corners didn't disappear like they did when he pushed up his lower eyelid to make up a perception of a smile reaching the eyes. Ratio didn't think Aventurine was generally good looking, but in the moment he looked stunning.
"The mission, right! Very, very important. I wouldn't dare waste any more of my dear Doctor's time." Aventurine winked. "I can't believe I got stuck in this space for so long you had to come save me!"
With a beautiful smile, he opened his arms. It made Ratio raise a brow. The gesture looked more like an invitation to hug rather than an attempt to leave the room.
"Come on! You're making me flustered. Well, I guess that's a part of the experience, haha!"
Aventurine was just another student of Ratio's, a business partner with a clever streak and a tendency to put himself in danger. Ratio didn't like him that much. On the other hand, another voice pushed him towards his arms. To fulfill the desire in the space designated for it; to not reject him in a moment of vulnerability.
The voices fought like two sand hyenas, trying to outscreech each other. Finally, Ratio caved in.
He stepped towards Aventurine and fit himself in his arms, grabbing his body and pressing it against himself. Aventurine was warm. His hold on Ratio's back threatened to snap him in half.
The sun traveled through the sky until it positioned itself behind Ratio's back, where he couldn't see it anymore. Aventurine stayed in the embrace. From time to time he moved to change the body weight from one leg to the other.
The sun stopped moving. Maybe it was the time itself that stopped moving until Aventurine raised himself on the tiptoes to reach Ratio's ear.
"Thank you," Aventurine whispered.
A shiver ran down Ratio's spine. The woman's face, the lack of air, the eerie flowers, the horizon, Aventurine's words, it almost made him think that he, too, wasn't real. Except, he remembered walking the corridor leading to the room, he knew why he was here. They had a mission.
"Let's go," Ratio said and Aventurine nodded, unwrapping himself from the embrace.
He stood in front of Ratio, close, for a few seconds longer, pondering on something. Then, he turned away. An exit materialized before him and with one last smile behind his shoulder, he left.
When Ratio decided to follow, the door behind him reappeared. He took the handle and clicked it. The opened frame showed the corridor behind.
As he walked through, his senses numbed, nerves disintegrating into a million pieces. He disappeared.
***
"Doctor, I think I got myself in trouble!" Aventurine wailed, entering Ratio's office.
Ratio, reading a voluminous tome in his chair, sighed without looking up at the intruder. "What do you need me to do?"
Those who cursed the Avgin beauty must've never met Dr. Veritas Ratio. His body was perfectly sculpted, his hair thick and healthy, framing his face worthy of a thousand poems. In the center of it sat his eyes. Smart, with a glint of curiosity, sometimes gazing sternly when Aventurine did something stupid. Aventurine wanted them to look.
"Ah, nothing. This time, the trouble is more... metaphysical."
"Metaphysical?" Ratio raised his eyes, closed the book and put it on the desk. Understanding washed over his face. "Is this your crooked way of starting a discussion?"
Aventurine could take it and run with it. After all, he only came to bask in the Doctor's attention.
He sat down in the office chair opposite Ratio.
"Is there a goal to being alive?" he asked. It sounded metaphysical enough.
"Not inherently, I suppose. It depends on the person."
"If there isn't an inherent goal, that means we're inherently useless." At those words, Ratio's brows furrowed, but Aventurine continued: "Why then would you leave me with the words to live? Why would you save somebody useless?"
Ratio's fingers moved up to his temples, his face twitching like he was suddenly hit with the most debilitating of headaches.
"Zero points. You've fallen for a fallacy — a lack of goal doesn't necessarily imply uselessness. It's painfully clear you didn't spend enough time studying logic." His stern voice admonished Aventurine. "But... That doesn't matter within the constraints of your question. It wasn't metaphysical, but rather personal, and I ought to answer it as a human more so than a scholar," Ratio continued, this time without the bitter undertone. "I didn't save you. I merely pushed you forward to a decision. You came back on your own volition, which I commend you on. I refuse to take the credit."
"That doesn't answer the question, though."
"A teacher's role isn't to provide you with answers. You'll have to do it yourself."
"Excuse me, Doctor, but by your standards I'm a very stupid man." Aventurine shrugged, shaking his head. "If I continue like this, you might have to save me over and over again."
The sun outside peeked out from the side of a skyscraper it was hiding behind and long, afternoon shadows fell across the office. With the window behind him, Ratio's face dressed in soft grey.
His eyes stared at Aventurine in silence, their yellow iris rings shining in the shade of the flowers.
He nodded dutifully. "Of course."