--Galatea--

[takesitall]

[Aventurine watches as the movers bring his new statue into his garden. He recently bought a new house with a garden and it seemed a shame to keep it empty like it was. He'll figure out if he wants a statue or not later, but this one was decently priced for the quality and he is never going to say no to art of a pretty man where he can see it.

As the statue is placed down, Aventurine notices an odd device stuck on the back.]

Take that off, what the hell.

Comments

[ignoranceisblight]

[Veritas pauses for a moment, looking over at Aventurine.

After a few more moments, he reaches out and carefully takes Aventurine's free hand in his. He realizes it's not... soothing, in the way a human's hand would be, with stone instead of flesh, but it feels like it's the right thing to do.]

It... means a lot, that you were tempted to.

[takesitall]

[Aventurine starts, surprised, but he smiles and rubs his thumb over Veritas's hand.]

I hate people like that. They don't deserve anything in life, if you ask me.

[ignoranceisblight]

Well, that sculptor was thoroughly ruined, at least, so you did personally see to making that happen for at least one case.

[He falls quiet, thoughtful.]

[takesitall]

[Aventurine says nothing, not inclined to interrupt Veritas's thoughts if he doesn't need to. He just keeps walking until they find a place that's pretty dark for stargazing.

[ignoranceisblight]

[... The train of thought leads nowhere Veritas wants to pursue further, so he lets it go, focusing instead on the extremely faint sensation of Aventurine's hand in his as they walk.]

This appears to be a good spot.

[takesitall]

I think so, too. Here, let's set this up.

[He sets the bottle down and takes the telescope from Veritas to start setting it up.]

It's been ages since I last did something like this.

[ignoranceisblight]

[Veritas helps where he can with setting the telescope up, but mostly leaves that to Aventurine.]

Has it?

[takesitall]

Yeah. After my family died, there wasn't much of a reason for me to spend time doing this.

[He's never mentioned this before.]

[ignoranceisblight]

... Oh. I see... my apologies, I... didn't realize...

[He pauses, before putting a hand on Aventurine's back.]

[takesitall]

It's fine. I never talk about it, after all, so how could you know? It was years ago now, anyway.

[ignoranceisblight]

[It doesn't really feel fine, but Veritas doesn't want to bring the mood down any further, so he lets it go.]

... Obviously, I've never done anything like this before, so... I'm glad I get to share this experience with you.

[takesitall]

[A smile.]

Yeah? Me, too. I even found a star map on my phone so we can try to identify things, if you want.

[ignoranceisblight]

[He perks up a bit at that.]

I'd like that a lot.

[takesitall]

[They pull up the map and figure out their location so they can start trying to figure out what they're looking at. At some point:]

Oh, I recognize that constellation.

[ignoranceisblight]

Oh? What is it?

[takesitall]

[He gestures.]

The Immortals. When one was going to die, the other offered half of his immortality so he didn't have to live without the man he loved.

[ignoranceisblight]

Ah, now I remember coming across that story once. It was my favorite in that collection...

[takesitall]

Same. To love someone that much? To change yourself like that? Goddess.

[ignoranceisblight]

... A love like that... If I could dream, I'm sure I'd dream of something like that.

[Perhaps it sounds strange coming from him, but...]

[takesitall]

Sis was a romantic. She loved that story.

[And so did he.]

It's just...yeah. You know?

[ignoranceisblight]

[He nods. Idly, he starts unthinkingly reaching for Aventurine's hand.]

[takesitall]

[And Aventurine takes it without thinking.]

It'd be something else.

[ignoranceisblight]

It would.

[... He can't feel very much, but what he can feel of Aventurine's hand in his... he likes it.

They have fun spending that night stargazing.

A couple months pass, seeing Veritas open up more and start taking interest and enjoying more things. They start going stargazing regularly. Veritas loves it.

It takes a while to start figuring out what to do with the sculptor's assets, but the first thing Veritas decides on is something he thinks up on a whim and decides to go through with. Today, he tracks down Aventurine, a couple of bags in hand.]

Aventurine? There's something I'd appreciate your help with.

[takesitall]

[Aventurine looks up from his computer, pulling his blue-light blocking glasses down.]

What is it?

[ignoranceisblight]

[Hm, how long has Aventurine been at that? Perhaps he picked a good time...]

It's... I decided I wanted to paint myself, but I can't do a complete job on my own.