--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

[takesitall]

Nighttime? We can find a spot in the park and stargaze, if you want.

[ignoranceisblight]

[Veritas visibly perks up a little at that and he nods.]

I think I would enjoy that a lot.

[takesitall]

It'll be fun. We can even get a telescope if you don't mind it being cheap.

[ignoranceisblight]

I wouldn't mind at all. It... does sound fun.

[takesitall]

[The following evening sees Aventurine with a bottle of wine (and something so he doesn't drink it on an empty stomach), Veritas with a telescope, and a good mood as they walk through the park to find a place to stargaze.]

--and you got all of his assets. Even I didn't expect that one.

[ignoranceisblight]

I'm not sure what I'll do with all of it, but I have to admit, this makes it all the more satisfying. And it was already immensely satisfying. Especially the look on his face when he saw that I was there.

[The insults that the sculptor had thrown out at him after that still stung, but it just made the man look worse, which soothed over the worst of it.]

[takesitall]

He's lucky the judge was there to keep me from clawing his face off. Dick.

[ignoranceisblight]

[Veritas reaches over and carefully pats Aventurine's back.]

I appreciate your willingness to defend my honor. I think he was legitimately scared you might do worse than simply clawing his face off had it not been for the judge's presence.

[He actually sounds amused as he notes that. There's another feeling about that whole matter, and specifically about Aventurine's part in that, that he... knows is there, but he can't quite put a name to.]

[takesitall]

Oh, I've already done worse. But I could have topped it off with a kick to the groin, I guess.

[Aventurine is a high ranking official in the biggest company in the world. He doesn't flaunt it, but he can ruin someone's life so very easily. And he has!]

[ignoranceisblight]

Oh, I simply meant he seemed like he feared you might have severely maimed or killed him right there.

[takesitall]

It was tempting. Really, really tempting. Acting like you're not a person, fuck him.

[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.