Seeking Perfection

Posted on Mon May 13th, 2024 @ 5:46pm by Raven Mattel & Ignatius

Mission: The Only Thing Left Was Hope
Location: Earth - New York
Timeline: Night

ON:

Across the other side of the little blue-green planet was an entirely different city altogether. New York was alive with activity - the neon city that still never slept. It was nighttime but the buildings and streets were lit up and sparkling like only NY could. Transporters were taking people out to some fabulous dinner party, to the historic Broadway district, to see those famous sights. The city pulsed to a heartbeat that you couldn't find anywhere on Earth, or the rest of the galaxy.

In a small factory overlooking the Hudson in Chelsea, things were not so fabulous.

"Again." Ignatius sighed into his palm, feeling a headache coming.

He was surrounded by a group of engineers and design students, all wearing black as required by Ignatius, huddled together with PADDS, tools, circuitry, and a fading sense of hope. In the middle of the building was a makeshift catwalk, with a simple black curtain at the rear. They were rehearsing for the clothier's return show for Fashion Week. Ignatius had spent the last few months locked away with his engineers and designers hoping to create the "new sensation", his dream dress, but so far it had not sensationalized their boss.

As instructed, one of the workers tapped his PADD and the large industrial lights hanging across the beams of the factory started to gently fade away to black.

"Cue the model." Ignatius called out in the darkness.

A small strip of lights illuminated the catwalk as Raven Mattel stepped out from behind the black curtain. Strutting her long, slender legs forwards in the dim light, she was the epitome of glamour, strength, and beauty. Her confident strides hit the catwalk like a cheetah stalking her prey. As she reached the end of the runway, she raised up her right arm and struck an elegant pose.

"Now!" Ignatius instructed.

The engineer hit their PADD and from the darkness, Raven's dress began to glow. A shimmering rainbow of incandescent colors began to swirl and beam from the dress. The fabric was made from a woven soft polymer, allowing the light to refract around the curvatures of Raven's body, giving the bright, glowing effect. Soon Raven was shining like a distant star in vacant space, her face illuminated in joyous color. The workers all applauded and she gave a knowing smile.

"Oh honey!" Raven beamed.

"NO! NO! NO!" Ignatius cried, throwing his hands into the air. "The colors aren't right!"

"Darling, look at me." Raven replied, trying to reason with her unhappy friend. "I am an angel amongst mortals."

"It's still not there yet!" Ignatius protested, shaking his head.

"Honey, I hope someone is recording this." Raven called out to the crowd of workers. "I want to send the video to my friend Mindo. He MUST see me like this."

One of the designers quickly retrieved a PADD and began to record diligently. Raven moved her body around, striking various poses. Every time she moved, the colors likewise moved and swirled around, changing tone and brilliance at every new pose.

"I'm about to reinvent religion in this dress, Iggy." Raven cooed, "How can you be so unhappy?!"

Ignatius sighed and walked up to the stage. The dress was so bright he pulled the sunglasses off his head and put them over his eyes.

"It lacks depth." He replied, looking over his creation. "It's too bright and the colors... they just aren't it."

"We have the full spectrum of known colors programmed into the light emitters." An engineer offered. "We can tweak them however you wish, sir."

Raven leaned over and blew a kiss into the recording PADD. "Mindo darling, you must come see this. Iggy has his knickers in a twist but we all think this is simply stunning. Send a message back and tell Iggy he's being silly."

Ignatius rolled his eyes. "Raven, you remember the Indigo Sky, right?"

"The what?" Raven asked, too busy posing into the camera. "Oh... on the Pandora? Yes, when half the crew disappeared?"

"Well, before that bit." Ignatius replied, "We all saw how beautiful the Indigo Sky was. The colors were amazing. The sparkling purples, the fluorescent blues. I still see them in my mind. But this... it's not it."

"Of course not, this is pixels from a program." Raven shrugged. "That was some kind of astronomical phenomenon. Or something, I wasn't paying attention."

"Okay, what about Hesiod Blue?" Ignatius continued, "That lush turquoise of the waters?"

"Hmmm." Raven smiled, thinking back. "That was nice."

"Or the fires in the nebula from our final crossing back home?" Ignatius added, "How they danced off the hull of the ship with that vibrance? That ferocity."

Raven nodded, starting to understand his point of view. "I get it."

"I want that!" Ignatius cried out, throwing his hands into the air. "Why is that so hard?"

"These folks weren't there; they don't know what that looked like." Raven attempted a reply. She waved to the PADD. "Mindo darling, let's do lunch soon, okay?" She looked back at the worker still diligently recording, "And cut, honey. Send that off."

"To who?" He asked, tapping away at the PADD.

"Mindo, honey." Raven casually shrugged, "Lieutenant, or Commander. I don't know. He's in Starfleet."

"Last name?" He frowned.

"That is... I think.. is it?" Raven grew perplexed. "Iggy, is Mindo his first or last name?"

"Both." Ignatius, the also famously one-named person replied. "Can you please be of assistance here, Raven?"

Raven clapped her hands together and addressed the crowd. "Let's call it a night folks! Thank you, go see your families."

The dress was powered down and the lights in the room returned to normal, as the group of workers thankfully began to pack up. The dress was carefully lifted over Raven's slender figure to put on charge and a red satin dressing gown was quickly supplied. She slipped into it as Ignatius sat down glumly onto the catwalk. Raven sauntered next to him and sat down too, placing an arm around her friend.

"You need dinner." Raven suggested. "I'm sure my friend K'Ra can squeeze us in for a sitting if we ask nicely."

"I'm a failure." Ignatius whispered. "All these months with my impossible idea for the new sensation dress and I have nothing."

"Not nothing, you have a remarkable achievement in melding fashion with technology." Raven said firmly. "It will be a show stopper at Fashion Week."

"Ugh, I don't think I want to show it." Ignatius scrunched up his face, "Not unless it's perfect."

Raven thought about this for a moment, as she watched the last of the workers collect their things. She frowned for a moment before looking to Ignatius with a curious gaze.

"Why do you want the colors to look like your experiences on the Pandora?" She asked carefully.

"Because the things we saw will stay with me forever." Ignatius replied, "As dangerous and daunting as it was, we saw things that few civilians would ever dream of seeing. I want to capture all the marvels of life that the Expanse has shown us."

Raven smiled a little, "I see."

Ignatius said goodbye to the team as they departed, hoping he hadn't alienated them all through his temper tantrum. The door closed firmly as the last team member left, the door giving that familiar hiss as it locked closed. Finally, it was just him and Raven sitting side by side in the factory.

"I miss it." He finally said. "The ship, the traveling, the danger."

Raven nodded, "I didn't think I would, but I do too."

"I felt... alive, Raven." Ignatius smiled, "I thought I was ready to come back to Earth and start my fashion line here but it just doesn't feel the same. Why try to recreate something somewhere else when I can just go and live the real thing?"

"I found myself there, too." Raven said gently, glancing down at herself. "It allowed me to figure out that I wanted to transition. Now that I have, I want to find out more about myself and I've started to think that maybe I won't find that here."

Ignatius reached out and held onto Raven's hand, squeezing it tightly.

"You were always an angel amongst mortals." He said softly, "I'm just glad everyone else gets to see the real you now."

"Thank you," Raven smiled, "So what do we do now?"

Suddenly the overhead lights turned off again, plunging the two into complete darkness. Raven and Ignatius stirred with confusion in the black.

"Go back." Came a voice.

"Who is that?" Ignatius demanded. He initially believed it was one of his employees pulling a prank, or possible revenge for his behavior. "Computer, lights on!"

There was no response from the system.

"I'm a friend of the Pandora. I mean you no harm." The voice replied. "It's time you both went back."

Raven couldn't see anything in the darkness, but she swiveled her head around trying to figure out where the voice came from.

"Darling, we don't take orders from a strange voice." She called out.

There was silence.

"Hello?" Ignatius shouted, "Who is that?"

More silence.

"This is ridiculous." Ignatius scoffed. "Computer, lights!"

This time the lights came back on, illuminating the factory once more. Raven and Ignatius looked around and saw the room was empty apart from them. The door was closed, as it were when the last worker left. The two friends looked at each other.

"What the hell was that?" Ignatius grumbled, confused.

"An invitation." Raven replied, a smile forming on her lips.

OFF