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°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
Veritas didn’t like the Space Station very much.
Sure, it was very grand and there were multiple vacant rooms available for him to operate in (as The Herta considered him an honorary guest, reason unspecified), but almost everyone who worked there was an absolute fool.
And Doctor Veritas Ratio doesn’t have to set his eyes on incredible idiots.
No offense to Herta or her puppets, they truly are geniuses. It’s just.. the employees that she hires, or more so Asta hires, aren’t the smartest bunch of people. Ratio thinks most of them definitely need much more schooling on different topics.
An interaction that he once had to face, truly horrible.
He was casually doing his own research on what updates he and Screwllum should add to Divergent Universe in a room (that he had reserved) and had specifically put a sign onto the door that clearly stated that no one without permission was allowed.
One of the Space Station’s staff had entered with a bunch of heavy-seeming boxes. They then proceeded to act as if they had reserved this room. In the end, Ratio had to calmly explain that they were intruding on his quiet time and he ended up carrying the boxes to a room more than 5km away.
Another reason why he particularly dislikes the Space Station is due to the weird group of people who consider themselves a part of the “Dr. Ratio Fan Club(Insane Version)”. Though they are everywhere online(trust me, he’s seen the comments.), he knows for certain that the majority of them operate in Herta’s Space Station specifically.
He cannot have a peaceful day whenever he comes around here. Most of the time, workers are trying to snap pictures of him when he’s off guard. Ratio also notices (despite having an alabaster sculpture over his head) whenever people are making posts about him. They will continuously glance at him, then write on their phone, and repeat.
How many fangirls and fanboys he’s had to ward off, he cannot count. It’s truly a horror story.
Though, he always continues to visit. He himself doesn’t quite grasp why. There’s nothing interesting to do there besides research that he could do at his own place.
Well, there was something. Or, someone.
Genius Society member #81 - Scholar Ruan Mei.
Ratio had seen her research numerous times beforehand. He had seen countless rumours about her, none that seemed believable enough to be true. (The gossip about her was truly egregious. Ruan Mei, a ”Mad Scientist”? Truly blasphemous in his opinion.) Rarely did he see her in real life, however. Despite these obstacles, he never failed to admire her.
Her research was simply genius. You could explain it to someone who had never even touched science or biology and they’d get it. Her intelligence drew him in the most. The second thing to draw him in was her ambitious personality. Her beauty was a whole separate thing, he thought.
How she put up with all of this was insanely confusing to him. Ratio was a patient man. But not patient when it came to this specific Space Station and its people. Ruan Mei effortlessly was able to drive people from anger to calmness in the blink of an eye. Ratio, at first, didn’t get how. Though he later learned that the secret was her pastries. He thought he should try them, but then reconsidered. There was no need to waste his energy making pastries for a bunch of idiots.
Ratio had coincidentally been at the Space Station when Ruan Mei decided to visit. Apparently, something had gone wrong in the Simulated Universe, and the Trailblazer had gotten stuck inside. How this happened, he didn’t know. None of the details matter to him due to him not caring about the project.
He was walking down the hallway when suddenly he heard a familiar voice - her voice. Veritas instantly stopped and turned to look at the woman walking towards him. How did she even know his name?
“Veritas Ratio, it is awfully good to meet you at a time like this.” She calmly said, looking up at him with a relaxed smile. Her hands were full of fancy cups of delicious looking parfait. Each parfait was decorated differently yet all were clearly watermelon flavoured.
Ratio assumed that was for Stephen. In passing, he had heard about Stephen’s parfait preferences. Pumpkin was a no-go, that was only used in warding him off, and watermelon was if you needed him.
Slightly suspicious of this rushing, he looked down at her and nodded: “Likewise, Miss Ruan Mei of the Genius Society. What brings you to the Station though, I wonder?”
Ratio could tell she was in a rush. He also knew that this must have had something to do with the mess-up that was currently happening over at Herta’s office with the Trailblazer, though he decided to play clueless (not dumb. There certainly is a difference). He also noticed she still had her lab coat on. Can a Simulated Universe run be so difficult to be in..?
Ruan Mei had a slight flush on her cheeks. “Ah, well, I had originally not planned to visit yet, but [Trailblazer] got stuck in the Simulated Universe. Though then another problem arose and I need your help until we help [Trailblazer] out. If that’s alright, of course.”
She needed help from him? Oh, Aeons, he must’ve been dreaming. Did she notice her genius? A miniscule part of him got excited, but on the outside he was completely nonchalant. He gestured to her to go on with talking about the favour she needed from him.
“As you know, a bunch of my creations reside here currently. I decided recently that I wanted to take some of them back with me after this whole incident gets resolved. The problem is that I have no one, for lack of a better word, to babysit them for a bit. I wanted to know if you’re okay with doing this for me, Dr. Veritas Ratio?”
..He was being reduced to a babysitter? His genius all going to waste just to babysit some half-sentient, unintelligent creations? Oh, how much he wanted to reject this favour and move on with his day.
Ratio’s problem was that he had just been noticed by a person he really admired and, to be honest, he would never forgive himself if he refused her.
“Do I get anything out of…” he hesitated for a moment. This was all so dumb, he wanted to scream at himself, “..babysitting your creations?”
“Of course. I don’t leave anyone without their paycheck, per se. You can count on me. If you don’t have a specific thing you need in return, I will obviously muster something up for using your time.”
Veritas didn’t really need anything. Honestly, just talking to her was enough at this point. He nodded and closed his eyes for mere seconds before reopening them.
“Alright. I accept. Where are these.. creations located currently?”
“Thank you, Veritas, truly for this. They are currently resting at the Breeding Grounds in the Seclusion Zone. Now, if you don’t mind, I must go.” She replied quickly, shaking his hand, and then hurrying off to Herta’s office.
“..This situation would be really humiliating if some fangirl were to catch wind of it.” He thought.
Ratio could already imagine the posts.
Veritasswife5ever | XX/XX/XX
AHHHH (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)(´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)(´▽`ʃ♡ƪ) look at this picture of Ratio with Ms. Ruan Mei’s cuties~
[FILE ATTACHED]
Ratiosdirtysock | XX/XX/XX
omg…. he’s so adorable… I’m literally gonna add this to my shrine????
ILoveVeritas | XX/XX/XX
I’m so making this into a photocard. I need him to sign this ASAP!
OneMustImagineSisyphus | XX/XX/XX
HOW does this FINE ASH man look so CUTE while HAVING CATS on his CHEST i need to be that CAT
NumberOneWine | XX/XX/XX
-> OneMustImagineSisyphus
why do you type like Hreg Greffley??
Oh, he was about to throw up from the mere thought of it.
But.. the cat cakes really weren’t that horrible, he must admit. Ratio sat with them on his lap, he tried petting them but he was confused on how he was supposed to actually pet them. What places are comfortable and which aren’t..?
To be fair, he did a really great job babysitting. Far better job than he expected.
Ratio even tried to teach the cat cakes and buns a bit of math, however that idea quickly went south because he realised that on a report Ruan Mei made about them - about their intelligence - she had written that they were ”lacking genius. FAIL.”.
Though, he tried, and somehow got them to be able to divide with food. Don’t ask how that works, it does.
Meanwhile, with the Simulated Universe directors…
“.... Miss Herta, I think the communication device is broken. We are not able to send messages to the Simulation and they are not able to be sent from there either. I'm assuming that communication got cut off due to low power.”
Screwllum said, slightly zoned out due to thinking of how to actually get the Trailblazer out of the Simulated Plane:
“My calculations state that the chances of activating communication is indubitably very low. Should we activate power savings mode?”
Herta was sitting on her chair, one leg over the other, wondering what to do as well. She glanced over at Screwllum and sighed. “I suppose so. We need to get them out without a limb or anything missing. Though since they can't pass the level and we seem to be unable to spawn anything… I'm confused about what caused this.”
Screwllum nodded. He went back to trying to figure out how much the Trailblazer had progressed before the game stopped entirely and to also turn on power savings. Herta’s gaze went to the door.
“Gosh, Ruan Mei and Stephen.. Where are those two?” She thought. Stephen was someone they didn't really need, Herta honestly didn't think Stephen was of much use but Screwllum had insisted on getting Ruan Mei to get him. “Truly, I don't see how we're supposed to manage under these condi-”
Ruan Mei came rushing in, still elegant as always, with the parfaits and Stephen now behind her. She quickly went to put them down on a pop-up table Herta brought and then went over to the others.
“I apologise for being so late. I needed to talk to Veritas about a certain thing.”
“At least you showed up, Ruan Mei! I was certainly missing you. Now, help us out.” The Herta complained, wrapping an arm around Ruan Mei's.
“Miss Ruan Mei, we are glad you're here. The Trailblazer got stuck in the Simulated Universe, specifically the Swarm Disaster. We tried to communicate with them, but communications have been terminated - the signal is flat lining.”
“Oh, gosh.” Ruan Mei said flatly, though concerned either way. She turned to look at the screen which showed the Trailblazer frantically running around in circles. “I see you've turned on low power. Are we able to spawn anything in?”
Screwllum shook his head. “Negative. Everything glitches out once we try.” He demonstrated by trying to summon one of their avatars in and failing. The screen glitched up entirely and lagged.
“I suggested that we take over the shop NPCs, but the Trailblazer can't progress any levels, so it's no use.” Herta mentioned, rolling her eyes and sighing. “All of this is so complicated.. Screwllum, what if we change the maps? Try to teleport with the Trailblazer.”
Ruan Mei was silent for a bit before putting in again.
“What if that affects the Trailblazer, Herta? Changing maps during an expedition and exposure to glitches and game bugs can be dangerous. Screwllum, what is the percentage of something happening to the Trailblazer if we do that?”
“Oh, Ruan Mei, stop butting in!” Herta mumbled, to which Ruan Mei mumbled a small apology.
Screwllum, not minding the slight quarrel, started to calculate the mathematics. Honestly it felt like a millisecond and he already had it:
“Due to the current severity, I assume that there is a 45% chance that the Trailblazer will come back with no abnormalities: these abnormalities or “side effects” could either be, like Madam Herta said, a missing limb, a curio teleporting alongside the Trailblazer, mental confusion, or slight amnesia. The amnesia, however, will possibly only be loss of memory of playing the last run.”
A harmonious hum came from all three of them- Herta, Ruan Mei, and Stephen. Stephen had particularly stopped eating his second parfait just to hum.
“Are we not able to spawn in a Chronocognative Anchor? I've heard the Trailblazer is familiar with that technology.” Ruan Mei questioned out loud.
“No, as I quite literally just said earlier, we can't! It'll glitch out.” The Herta mumbled bitterly. “If anything, the smartest thing to do would be to try and teleport them to another, less glitched map.”
“I suppose so… But are we okay with risking 55% of abnormalities? These percentages are incredibly unhelpful.” The dark haired lady muttered, trying to push Herta off of her arm. “What about calling Silver Wo-”
Herta loudly cut Ruan Mei's sentence short:
“NO! I will not have that young lady hack into any of the Space Station accounts yet again! Do you remember what happened last time?!”
“..Indeed I do not.”
…
Ratio had already fallen asleep with a book covering his face when Ruan Mei finally got back to him. She entered the Breeding Grounds carefully, skeptical of the silence.
Usually the creations were way more hyper, which made zero sense for them to be this calm.
As soon as she walked in, she noticed Ratio slightly leaning back on the chair, a book on his face, a few creations on his lap and others near his legs. What a sight.
Most of the creations definitely looked a bit fatter, she was glad to know he actually tried to feed them something.
Ruan Mei glanced over to the desks and saw a bunch of books on mathematics, a few carryable whiteboards and chalk. Had he really tried to teach these failed creations math?
She quickly took her notepad out and grabbed the pen from her lab coat’s chest pocket and started jotting a few things down.
Veritas Ratio fed the creations, tried to teach them maths. Yet to be decided if fail or success.
Creations seem to be at peace. Very affectionate and love-hungry.
Food made them chubbier. Creations possibly eat fast? Are they able to feel hunger?
Friendly.
When she finally looked up from her notes, she saw Veritas looking at her from his chair. Ruan Mei quickly approached him and began asking more questions and hitting his answers down.
“Are they able to read?”
“..No, Miss Ruan Mei. Have you finally got the Trailblazer out of the Simulated Universe?”
“If not able to read, are they able to do some sort of imitating? Perhaps how a human talks?”
“..A.. Yes. Not like a human, but they're able to imitate how I pronounced letters. Why are you avoiding my question-”
Not able to read, able to imitate how vowels and consonants sound(?)
“Okay. Are they able to do any kind of maths?”
“.. Division..?”
“Alright. Thank you, Veritas.”
Able to do division. Expand on that later.
Possibly not as unintelligent as before?
Veritas slowly sat back up straight, making sure the creations didn't fall off of his lap and slightly dusted himself off.
“Were you able to get the Trailblazer out of the Simulated Universe?”
“Yes. Albeit, it was hard. The Trailblazer was very adamant on having their blessings and curios back on the next run."
He didn't feel like asking more questions. Ratio decided to ask them later, if the Trailblazer ever were to get stuck in the Divergent Universe.
Ruan Mei nodded and watched the creations who sat by his leg start to wake up and marvel at her. They immediately went to snuggle up to her legs.
“Ah!” She perked up and stared at him now. “Your pay. I almost forgot.”
Ratio stared at her, visibly confused. He hoped it would be something useful, at least, and not some weird trinket used for only a specific thing.
Ruan Mei pulled out a small dark purple box of chocolates. It had white lace tied in a bow wrapped around it and a small tag with all the nutritional information. “I made them myself. If you wish to report back to me on how they taste, I would appreciate it.”
It looked a bit too big for simple chocolates. Ratio frowned slightly when all he got were chocolates although it was better than nothing. “Thank you, Ruan Mei.”
And better yet, she made them herself. Ratio had heard from Herta once that Ruan Mei likes only fresh ingredients and seasonal fruits, so this must be good.
And so, both of them went their separate ways.
Back at home, when Veritas finally made it there, he sat down on his chair and placed the box on his desk after shoving his keyboard away.
He carefully untied the lace and opened the box to see a bracelet in the box as well as a small note and a number on the cover's underside. Ratio took the accessory and carefully examined it before noticing all the small duck embroidered on it.
“What kind of gift is this?” He thought. Ratio had to admit that it wasn't all bad, maybe he'd actually use it(he definitely will, no doubts) since the bracelet was a nice rose gold colour as well. “Hm. Pretty.. cute, I guess."
Setting it aside, he took the note out and read it.
Hello, Veritas.
Unfortunately we did not have time to converse a bit longer this time around. For your hard work, I managed to embroider a quick something onto a bracelet that's perhaps your wrist size. I hope I will see you around wearing it.
I also left you my number and chocolates. I hope you will send me a report back of how they all taste and what I should improve.
Lots of luck on your projects,
Ruan Mei.
Ah. So she actually put thought into it? How did she even manage to make the accessory in time..?
However she managed to finish it, it was still cute and it's the thought that counts.
Ratio was pretty embarrassed to message her after this gift.