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iatethepomegranate · 3 years

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Rating: Teen And Up Audiences (for now)

Relationship: Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast

Summary: After Aeor, Caleb buys a house in Rexxentrum with Beau and Yasha. For the first time in more than seventeen years, he has some semblance of stability. Caleb is not sure he's ready to handle it, but he's trying, and his friends are eager to see him live a good life, by force if necessary.

And then Soltryce Academy approaches him with a job offer, which could give Caleb the chance to protect the next generation of wizards the way he had needed at their age. Caleb's goal of preventing what happened to him from happening to anyone else, however, takes a far more personal turn than even he could have anticipated.

(In other words, here is a fic about Caleb settling down and learning how to be a person again. Also Professor Widogast will be a thing. Fic title is a lyric from I Have Made Mistakes by the Oh Hellos. Chapter title is a lyric from Mind by Sleeping At Last. More detailed tagging and notes are available on AO3.)

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Chapter 1: It's the first brush stroke of a self-portrait

Caleb had mixed feelings returning to Rexxentrum after spending so long in Aeor… and everywhere else he had been, including a fucking flesh city in the Astral Sea. Sure, he had popped back to Rexxentrum regularly to update the Cobalt Soul on his discoveries, and to testify at Trent’s trial, during the conclusion of which he had the satisfaction of turning down Da’leth’s offer to assume Trent’s position as the Archmage of Civil Influence. But now he was back on a more permanent basis.

He didn’t know what to do with that information. With this place, that was both so familiar and so foreign. Full of some of his best memories, and some of his worst.

Caleb had spent so long avoiding this place, or at least the challenging parts of it, and now Beauregard was dragging him and Yasha down the street, infodumping about a house she wanted the three of them to buy together.

“Caleb, don’t give me that look,” she said. “You’re gonna love this place. I know you like your space, dude, and this is the best of both worlds. It’s technically two houses, but there’s, like, a door between them so we can visit each other. Because you’re a fucking genius but you also forget to feed yourself.”

Yasha smiled at Caleb over Beau’s head. “She’s not wrong, Caleb.” Her soft tone made Caleb a little emotional, but he categorically refused to start crying in the street. “I like my space, too. This is a good balance. And there’s room for a garden.”

“Yasha’s not an Empire citizen,” said Beau. “It looks better if there’s two of us Empire kids on the deed so no one thinks any weird shit about her.”

Caleb sighed at her. “I will look at the house, Beauregard.”

Beau yanked them around the street corner. “It’s a great location. You can walk anywhere. I can get to the Archive, and you can get to the Academy.”

Caleb raised an eyebrow at her. “Do you know something I don’t?”

“Maybe. Astrid says hi.”

The implication that Astrid and Beauregard had been speaking to each other recently was of concern. Caleb was too tired to unpack it. He would find out what that was about eventually. It was not worth Beauregard’s sibling-level mockery if he tried to extract the information early.

“Oh, and Veth sent you this,” said Yasha, passing a wrapped package over Beau’s head.

“Yeah, I might’ve told her we’re buying a house together,” said Beau. “She made Yussa send that to the Soul so I could grab it for you.”

Caleb didn’t open the package, but he did shake and squeeze it a little. It felt like coins. A lot of coins. Oh, Veth. Still taking care of him from miles upon miles away. They’d both come so far from Veth sneaking coins into his pockets because he had felt strange about taking her money even when he desperately needed it.

“Danke,” he said softly. That was all he could say, before he risked bursting into tears again. That was happening to him a lot lately. It… wasn’t the worst thing. More of an inconvenience. He chose not to unpack it.

Beauregard was looking at him strangely. He elbowed her. It probably hurt his elbow more than it hurt her, but she was successfully distracted from his bullshit. She punched his arm. Even holding back like she did, his arm did go numb for a few seconds.

Yasha sighed. “Children, we’re almost there.”

Caleb had been down this street before. Rarely, as it was entirely residential. But sometimes he, Astrid and Eadwulf would explore the city to find excuses to get away from the Academy, especially after they had commenced their training with Trent. But, with Caleb’s memory, he could call upon the map he had drawn in his mind. This was a middle-income area on the southern edge of The Tangles, home to mostly professionals--well-off storeowners, any researchers who did not live in the Shimmer Ward or have access to quarters with the Cobalt Soul, some teachers, architects. Largely people looking to settle down with the money to stay out of the Mudtop Ward.

It was close to the Shimmer Ward, a little southwest from the gate, but not so close that Caleb felt an itch on the back of his neck. The Tangles were the oldest part of the city, with narrow looping streets with little logic to them. This area was slightly newer than most of The Tangles, but still old. Regardless, The Tangles were fairly central to the city and an easy starting point for any travel. If you didn’t get lost on the way out.

This far south in the area, the houses were a little more spaced out. A little more green space, more gardens. Duplex-style houses were common, mostly built of old stone or lumpy brick on the first floor and clay bolstered by wooden frames above that. Children were out in force, running and screaming through the narrow streets while their parents watched from the porch of their homes. Well, for those who had porches.

“There she is,” said Beauregard. They had stopped in front of another duplex-style building, newer than some of the others but still respectable in age. The first floor was made from dark reddish brick and the upper two floors panelled with dark wood to bolster the white clay walls. The first two floors were full in width, and the third consisted of two dormers peeking through the darkly thatched roof.

There were two entrance doors on the ground floor, each spaced a third of the house’s width from the outer corners. The rectangular windows were framed in white-painted wood, dividing the glass on each window into six little squares.

Before the three of them was a low wooden fence, also painted white. The paint was chipping a little, revealing the deep brown heartwood that Caleb suspected was oak. There were a number of oak trees in the Pearlbow Wilderness. Caleb had slept under them several times in worse days. Oak was rather expensive, if he remembered correctly. He usually remembered correctly.

“She’s pretty hot, right, Caleb?” Beau said, snapping out of his hyperfocus on the history of timber in the Zemni Fields.

“Oh… ja.”

“Cool, so the owner will be here in a few minutes to let us in so we can have a look. She wants to sell the place as a package deal.”

Caleb had, in some ways, trained himself out of being too attached to places or most material things (with a few exceptions such as his spell components, spellbook, and the letters he had written to his parents). Unless there was something horrifically wrong inside, he didn’t care where Beauregard and Yasha wanted to live. It was practical that they live together, after all. Caleb had healed immensely this past year, but he was self-aware enough to understand he probably shouldn’t live alone. Of the Nein, Beauregard knew how to call him on his bullshit and Yasha understood him pretty well and knew he needed space sometimes, so it was a reasonable arrangement.

“I am really not picky, Beauregard.”

“Yeah, because you still don’t care enough about yourself to give a fuck about this. We know.” Beauregard looped her arm around his neck, dragging him down to her level so she could rub her knuckles across his scalp, ruining the two narrow braids Essek had worked from Caleb’s hairline to his messy ponytail that morning before they had parted ways beside the secret entrance to Aeor. Caleb talked himself out of getting upset with Beauregard over it. She couldn’t have known, and she was being affectionate like he really was her brother.

Once he was free, Yasha fixed the braids, and Caleb had to stop himself from crying again because she had noticed it bothered him and just… fixed it without making it a thing. Beau straightened her expositor’s garb, clearing her throat.

“Sorry, dude.”

Caleb conjured a mage hand to tug on her ponytail. Beau swatted at it, but her hand went right through it. She gave him the finger. Yasha finished fixing the braids. Everything was normal again.

The owner, a half-elf woman with long blonde hair coiled into a bun that looked like a cinnamon scroll, arrived and immediately shook Caleb’s hand.

“Mr Widogast, a pleasure. These ladies have told me a lot about you. My name is Alphira Winterheart. I teach evocation at the Soltryce Academy.”

Caleb still felt a spike of anxiety when he heard the name of that place. At this point it was ingrained, even if he held out a small amount of hope he would get to teach there one day. It would be easier to fight corruption if he had some say over what the Academy put into those children’s heads.

“A pleasure,” Caleb replied, a little flatter than he had intended. He mentally shook himself, remembering to actually grip her hand for a proper handshake. “Evocation? I used to specialise in that area.”

“Ja, Ms Lionett told me you are now a Transmutation specialist but still frequently partake in the Evocation school in your travels. I’m glad to hear you intend to put down roots here in Rexxentrum. I would love to exchange theories over coffee.”

Beauregard smirked. Caleb remembered a conversation with Essek where they had agreed to return to Aeor and exchange theories. They had meant that literally. But it had indeed sounded like a euphemism to someone like Beauregard. Well, she hadn’t been wrong in the end, but certainly the intent at the time had been more about a meeting of minds than a meeting of…

Caleb concentrated on the conversation in front of him instead.

“Ja, I would enjoy that,” he replied. “What level of Evocation do you teach?”

“Oh, I teach the beginners.”

“And you live here in the Tangles?”

“I did,” said Alphira. “Archmage Beck has offered me lodging on her estate, so I am selling this house. It was always a little large for one person, and it seems you three could make better use of it than I did.” She leaned closer to Caleb, as if to tell him a secret. “The place on the left is where I prefer to experiment and study. I would recommend you look at that one in particular. The dormer is slightly larger. You could even put a teleportation circle up there if you were so inclined, given your need to travel.”

“Danke.” Caleb still felt a little weird about Rexxentrum mages not wanting to kill him, but he didn’t sense any untoward motives from this woman. She seemed genuinely friendly. “How… is the new Archmage settling in?”

“I have no complaints. She seems competent, if a little terrifying. I am uncertain if that is her past as a Volstrucker, or a necessity of the job. She has been nothing but kind to me, and I would certainly prefer to be her friend than her enemy.”

“Ja, we are familiar with her,” said Caleb.

“Caleb most of all,” said Yasha.

Beauregard had to turn away before she burst out laughing.

“We should look at the house,” Caleb said before the conversation could go anywhere strange. Gods, he missed Aeor already.

Alphira unlocked both front doors. They checked the one on the right first.

“This one has a larger living area,” said Alphira, leading them through the entrance. “I am offering the furniture as part of the sale. I have already taken everything I need.”

Beauregard threw herself onto the large couch in the centre of the room. “Yasha and I call dibs on this side of the house. Since you’re gonna spend so much time here with us anyway. We’re taking the larger living area.”

“Beauregard, we have already established that I do not mind.”

The floor underfoot was a pleasant hardwood, probably more oak, and a large rug occupied much of the space. They would have to purchase candles for the evening, but it was well-lit during the day. Caleb followed the women through each of the rooms on the ground floor on this side, largely going through the motions. The kitchen was equally large, and had a good oven for Yasha to practice baking. They would need to purchase a larger dining table.

There was one large bedroom upstairs and two smaller ones, alongside private areas for bathing and other such activities. This was where they found the door between the two houses. The top floor dormer was full of assorted furniture and household items Alphira didn’t need, but they would likely use. Beauregard and Yasha discussed the possibility of turning this into another bedroom for when they had friends over. Or perhaps converting one of the lower bedrooms into a workout space and using this as a replacement. Caleb did not need to contribute much to the conversation, aside from promising he would help move furniture with telekinesis.

Truth be told, Caleb was having a hard time concentrating on the whole thing. He hadn’t really had a home in a long time, and he could not wrangle his mind into understanding the change. The Xhorhaus had been easier to stomach, as nobody had expected to live there forever. But this? Putting down roots? Real , long-term roots?

Maybe Caleb had been homeless for too long. It was beyond his comprehension at this point. And maybe it frightened him a little. He could not afford to inspect those feelings, not right now.

He pulled himself together in time to inspect the other side of the building. His side. His house. Scheisse .

The living area was a little smaller, but could still easily welcome the Nein (just in rather cosy quarters). The kitchen, also smaller but still respectable--a little larger than his childhood home in Blumenthal. There was less furniture on this side; Alphira had evidently used this side more and therefore had more furniture to take. There were two bedrooms on the second floor, one slightly larger than the other. Caleb found himself thinking that he would probably take the larger one just so there was enough room when Essek was over, or maybe he would take the smaller one so Veth could bring her family with her. Fuck. He didn’t know what to do.

And then they visited the dormer. It was indeed larger than the other one. There was a table in front of the window, with a few dark ink stains, and plenty of floorspace to spread out notes or create a teleportation circle. A few chairs were stacked in the corner, seemingly in good condition, and one wall was lined with empty shelves.

Caleb had always been partial to a tower, and this was pretty close. It would make a great study.

He was genuinely excited over a house. In Rexxentrum. A short journey from where his childhood home once stood. He was going to hyperventilate if he thought about this too hard.

“There are already plenty of shelves in my new house,” Alphira said. “These are all yours.”

Caleb nodded slowly, pulling his mind back into his skull. “Wundervoll, danke.” He took a calming breath. “This is a nice place, Professor.”

Alphira smiled. “Yes, I did not make nearly enough use out of it. But I hear you three have a lot of friends from out of town.”

“Ja, we do not see them enough.”

“Perhaps you will see them more once you have a place to welcome them.” Alphira led them back downstairs, and into the other side of the house where they could sit around the small dining table. Alphira already had the paperwork they needed to sign; Caleb got the impression Beau and Yasha had already decided to buy the house before they spoke to him about it. He was glad the decision was out of his hands.

He signed the paperwork, using both his legal name and the name he now wore (Alphira had apparently been briefed on this, and had consulted a contract lawyer on how to make it work on a binding document). Caleb had needed to sign various statements as part of Trent’s trial, so signing in Bren’s name was not as strange as he feared it would be. He was relieved. Beau and Yasha had insisted on finding a way that his new name would also be included, given he had not gone through any legal name-change process. The money Veth gave him more than covered his part of the cost. He needed to hug her. He needed to hug all of them.

Alphira gave them three copies of the contract and handed over the deed to the property. “I will head to the housing authority and file the paperwork immediately.” She slid the keys over the table to them. “Congratulations on your new home.”

She left. Caleb traced the shapes of the letters on his copy of the contract, over and over, letting reality sink in. He had a house. A house in Rexxentrum. A house in Rexxentrum with two of his best friends. It wasn’t at all what he imagined he would have when he was seventeen, when he thought he and Astrid and Wulf would one day have done their duty for the empire and settled down together.

But this was good. This was right .

He cried. Yasha was probably crying, too, but he couldn't see. The three of them hugged across the table, the edges jabbing their ribs.

#critical role #caleb widogast #shadowgast #not a lot in this chapter but there will be #fanfiction #ao3 #my fics #the pomegranate's professor widogast fic

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ambiguoslyambitious · 3 years

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Chapter Three: (Overdue) Introductions PT. I

Author: ambiguoslyambitious (me!)

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 3,839

Summary: Today's the day that Bela will finally make her debut in Pelican Town and meet some of the townspeople. Will she be able to salvage her reputation or has her fresh start already began to expire?

“Wait, so you’re telling me that the townspeople have been trying to welcome me all week?” Bela lowered her eyes in shame, her face reddening once again. Yoba, they must think I’m some stuck up city bitch.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Victor answered reassuringly. “However, none of us knew that you were...hearing impaired.” Victor rubbed the back of his neck, a sheepish look sweeping across his face. Something Mayor Lewis failed to mention. Thanks a lot.

“Oh, Yoba,” Bela shook her head. “The whole town must think that I’m so rude.” So much for a fresh start. Maybe I should just become a hermit. No socialization. Just me and Mother Nature.

“Don’t worry! I’m sure we can clear this all up.” Suddenly, Victor’s dark eyes brightened. “Would you like to accompany me into town? I know that my mother wanted to invite you over to our residence for dinner. I-if you aren’t too busy, that is.” He quickly looked away, cheeks flooded with pink.

“Oh, uh,” Bela also averted her gaze briefly. “T-that would be lovely.” Shit, meeting the mom already.

Victor shot her a sheepish grin. “Splendid! Hopefully, we’ll be able to run into a few of the townspeople and try to salvage your reputation.”

The pair proceeded to exit the farmhouse.

“I must say, Bela,” Victor said, sweeping his gaze across the farm. “You’ve done a magnificent job so far.”

“Thank you,” Bela responded shyly. "I admit, I hadn't realized how much this old farm had gone into ruin." She stared out sadly out towards the other islands she hadn't reached yet, remembering when the farm was bustling with activity. And I still have so much work left to do.

Sensing her sadness, Victor tried to lighten the mood. "You used to visit this farm, right?"

"Yeah," Bela gave a sad smile. "When I was a kid, I used to spend the entire summer here, helping Grandfather tend to the chickens and cows, and watering the crops each morning."

"Sounds like you two were close."

"Not really," Bela admitted. "Summertime was the only time I got to see Grandfather. He and my father weren't very close. The last summer I spent here was ten years ago. Before he got sick and..." Her eyes welled up with tears.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Victor apologized, looking over at her worried. "I don't mean to remind you of such sorrowful things."

"It's fine," Bela offered a half-smile. She brought her gaze up to the bright afternoon sky, taking in the sweet scent of grass and the warm spring breeze. "Not all of my memories of him are sad. I know that there were really great times that are just easy to forget now that he's gone."

This time, Victor was the one to offer a half-smile. "I suppose it is easier to remember the bad times. Remembering the good times forces you to remember how much you miss the ones you've lost."

“HELLO, VICTOR!” called out a frantic, yet cheerful voice. “OH MY YOBA, IS THAT THE NEW FARMER? HI!” A bubbly young woman, adorn in bubblegum pink rushed over to meet them on the dirt path across from the defunct bus stop heading towards town.

“Tabitha, this is Bela.” Victor smiled, knowing that Tabitha was one of the friendliest people in town to meet. She had a habit of making even the grumpiest people smile. Thank Yoba, we've run into Tabitha. She can quickly turn around this somber conversation.

“Hi, Bela! It’s so nice to meet you!” Tabitha giggled, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “My twin brother Theo and I moved here a year ago and run The Stray Café across from the bus stop. Hopefully, you’ll be able to meet him soon, though he isn’t much of a socializer.”

“Hi, Tabitha.” Bela smiled unconsciously, the young woman’s happy energy was infectious.

“Those are cool headphones!” Tabitha said, taking notice of the devices in Bela’s ears. “Listening to any good music?”

Victor quickly glanced over at Bela before responding. “Um, Tabitha. Those aren’t headph-”

“These are actually hearing aids.” Bela interrupted.

Suddenly, Tabitha’s face fell. “I’m so sorry! I hope that I didn’t offend you!” The poor woman looked close to tears. Yoba, how can I be so stupid and insensitive?! Theo always tells me to never assume. I'm sure she hates me now.

“It’s ok!” Bela quickly reassured the young lady. “It’s an honest mistake.”

Tabitha visibly relaxed at Bela's words, letting out a sigh of relief. "Good, I'm glad that I didn't ruin our chances of becoming best friends."

"Hold on," Victor laughed. "Who says that I'm not already Bela's best friend?"

Tabitha rolled her eyes playfully. "I guess then we will all just have to be besties."

Bela let out a laugh, with the pair soon joining in. Maybe meeting the townspeople will go more smoothly than I thought. At least I 've managed to make friends with these two.

"So, besties," Tabitha glanced between Victor and Bela. "Where are you guys headed?"

"I was just bringing Bela into town to meet everyone." Victor responded. "My mother invited her over for dinner and I figured that I would take her to the saloon afterwards."

"That's a good idea. Why don't you guys come with me to Pierre's first?"

"Sure," Victor nodded. Then he looked over at Bela sheepishly. "That is, if it's ok with you."

Bela smiled at them. "Yeah, that's fine. You guys know the town better than me."

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The trio continued their way into town, heading east towards Pierre’s General Store. As they entered the store, Pierre looked up from the catalogue he was reading at the register.

“It’s farmer Bela!” Pierre greets excitedly. “Welcome to Pierre’s! If you’re looking to buy seeds, my shop is the place to go.” Finally, a new customer.

Bela offered a small smile. “Thank you, I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.” Bela’s eyes swung around the small shop, taking note of the tall shelves filled with different kinds of seeds. Small containers held fresh produce with labels containing the names of all the local farms.

“I’ll also purchase whatever produce you make on your farm for a good price.” Pierre’s grin became slightly more forced as he continued making his sales pitch. Hopefully, this city kid will be able to produce crops worth selling. Can't be any worse than anything Andy brings.

“Hopefully, I’ll have something worthy to sell soon.” Bela awkwardly joked. “ Yoba, this guy is intense.

To the right of the counter, a door suddenly slammed open. Pierre rolled his eyes as a purple-headed figure stepped out looking annoyed.

“Really, Abigail?” Pierre glared at her.

Abigail shot back a similarly annoyed look. “What? You know the door gets stuck. It’s not a big deal.”

She dramatically rolled her eyes, walking towards the exit. She shot a quick glance at Victor and nodded, coming to a stop once she laid eyes on the new farmer, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“Who are you?”

Victor smiled, seemingly unperturbed by the young woman’s rudeness. “Abigail, this is Bela, the new farmer.”

“Hi,” Bela waved awkwardly. Well, she definitely doesn’t like me.

“Oh, I heard someone was moving into that old farm,” Abigail said, looking Bela up and down without meeting her eyes. “A shame, I liked exploring around there.” Without another word, Abigail walked out of the store.

“Ms. Rivers?” called out a small, quiet voice from the right. Bela could barely hear the man even with her hearing aids turned on. She turned to look over and was surprised to see a tall man, with thick glasses and an even thicker moustache. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Harvey Hickey, the local doctor.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Hickey.”

“Please, call me Dr. Harvey.” He offered an awkward smile. “I work, well and live, in the clinic next door with Paul, the town’s optometrist.” Suddenly his ears burned red. “A-as roommates of course!”

Bela just smiled politely. And they were roommates.

“Uh,” Harvey rubbed the back of his head nervously. “Well, um, please, uh, make sure to, uh, schedule your annual check up at, uh, some point. It was, uh, nice to meet you.” He awkwardly made his way up the register, a simple protein bar in hand.

"Well, I've got to pick up some things for the café," Tabitha said with a smile. "I'll see you guys around!"

"You're not coming to the saloon?" Bela furrowed her eyebrows.

"Oh, uh," Tabitha started stammering nervously. "T-that's not, uh, really my scene." I hope Bela doesn't think I'm lame.

"That's fine," Bela replied reassuringly. "Since we're neighbors, I'm sure we'll be seeing each other often. I'll try and visit the café soon."

"Oh, you should! I can't wait to introduce you to my brother!" Tabitha's eyes lit up once again. “Bye. Bela! Bye, Victor!” Tabitha waved goodbye, as she proceeded to gather supplies for the café.

"Well," Victor said, a hint of nervousness creeping into his usually calm voice. "Now it's time to meet my mother."

_____________________________________________________________

Bela and Victor exited the store, making their way east to the Jenkins’ Residence, which happened to be located directly next to Pierre's General Store.

“I told you this would be a short walk.” Victor smiled as they approached the giant, two-story manor which was painted a beautiful shade of robin’s egg blue. Bela’s eyes widened at the vastness of the manor, whose front entrance was guarded by a set of beautiful bronze gates.

Victor pushed the gate open and gestured for Bela to head inside. She followed the ornate crystal path until she reached a set of giant oak doors.

“Allow me.” Victor again held open the door for Bela, who stood in the entryway desperately trying to take in all the grandeur. Directly across from her was a beautiful wooden staircase, hinting that more beauty was yet to be seen. To her left was the living room, adorned in rich red and gold curtains and rugs. To her right, a kitchen with a large mahogany table sat with matching chairs.

“Wow, it’s so beautiful in here.” Bela’s eyes glowed with wonder.

“Why, thank you.” called out a sultry, yet sophisticated voice. An elegantly dressed woman appeared to cascade down the stairs effortlessly. “You must be Ms. Bela Rivers.” The woman extended a hand in greeting, which Bela immediately took.

“Yes, it is nice to meet you, Mrs. Jenkins.” Bela smiled nervously. I can’t believe this is Victor’s mother.

“Please, call me Olivia.” She gave a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. Is this really the same girl who ignored Caroline and Jodi? She seems polite enough.

“Well, Olivia,” Bela said awkwardly. “Thank you for inviting me over. I appreciate your hospitality.”

“Don’t worry, Bela.” Victor chimed in. “My mother loves any opportunity to entertain guests.”

”Well, I wouldn’t want this manor to go to waste!” Olivia gives a dry laugh. “Let’s head over to the kitchen.” She quickly turned on her heels and elegantly strutted away. Victor offered a small smile to Bela before following his mother.

As the pair took their seats, Olivia brought a large platter with a covering on top of it.

“What fine dish have you prepared this time, Mother?”

“Well, since, I heard that our guest used to live in Zuzu City,” Olivia smiled coyly as she lifted the top. “ I decided to prepare pan-seared butterfish over a plate of assorted vegetables from the garden.”

Both Bela and Victor stared at the platter in absolute wonder. The butterfish was a brilliant shade of gold, contrasting the rich greens of the cabbage and lettuce underneath.

“This looks amazing!” Bela exclaimed, remembering the holidays when her mother would prepare this. Her heart tinged with sadness, as her eyes began burning with unshed tears. I need to think about something else.

“Is something troubling you dear?” Olivia asked inquisitively, eyes narrowing as she glanced over the newcomer. She noticed a faint glint emitting from Bela’s ear, eyes widening in realization. She's deaf! That's why no one's been able to get in contact with her. Can't wait to clear that up with the ladies.

“Oh, i-it’s nothing.” Bela offered a flicker of a smile before lowering her gaze.

Olivia shot her son a look, to which Victor responded by shrugging.

“Perhaps,” Victor looked between his mother and Bela. “I should pour us each a glass of wine.”

Olivia nodded, stealing another glance at Bela. “Why don’t you grab some pomegranate wine from the cellar? I’m sure the tartness will compliment the sweetness of the butterfish wonderfully.” The young woman also nodded in agreement. Oh, Victor, please don't leave me alone with your mom. There's just something scary about her.

Victor glanced over at Bela once more. “Of course. I’ll be just a moment.” He gracefully walked away from the table, disappearing down the stairs of the cellar.

“So, Bela,” Olivia clasped her hands together. “What brings you to Pelican Town?”

“Well,” Bela nervously met the older woman’s gaze. “I decided that I wanted a fresh start.” Bela purposely kept her answer vague. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to talk about her parents just yet.

“A fresh start?” Olivia’s gaze hardened. There must be something this girl is running from. Why else would she need a fresh start so young?

“Yes,” Bela responded, meeting her gaze. “I found that life in Zuzu City just wasn’t for me anymore.”

Olivia’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “But, what about your career? If I’m not mistaken, I heard that you had a very promising job at Joja in their corporate office.”

“I did.” Bela responded. “However, I’ve found the work to be...unfulfilling.”

Olivia’s eyes widened and she leaned back in surprise, a hand raised up against her chest. “Unfulfilling? By Yoba, I spent thirty years working my way to become an accounting manager and accumulating all of this.” She gestured with her hand carelessly.

“Mother,” Victor chided, walking up the stairs from the cellar with a dark red bottle. “Not everyone wants to be a corporate monkey.”

“Didn’t this corporate monkey earn enough to give you a full-ride to one of the finest universities in the entirety of the Ferngill Republic?” Olivia shot back, her tone icy.

“Yes, Mother,” Victor’s tone softened considerably, as he began pouring the wine, “But, money shouldn’t be the only thing you work for.” Why can't she understand that money isn't everything?

“Oh, really?” Olivia retorted, condescendingly taking a sip. “But was it not money that afforded you this life of privilege?”

The room suddenly went silent. Well, this has gotten awkward, Bela thought to herself, her fork lazily moving some of the greens in front of her.

Victor's jaw clenched, struggling to maintain his composure. Why can't my mother just realize that I'm not trying to be ungrateful. I just want to be happy.

"I recently lost my parents," Bela said quietly, interrupting the momentary silence. "A-and I didn't know what to do with myself. One day, I just found this envelope from my grandfather that said that one day I'd be in need of change and that I had this farm for when I needed it."

Victor gently placed a hand on her shoulder, as she fought to keep tears from streaming down her face. "I'm sorry for your loss, Bela."

"I'm sorry." Olivia said, glassy-eyed as well. She quickly grabbed a napkin, dabbing her eyes delicately. "Part of the reason why Victor and I moved to Pelican Town was due to my husband's...passing." Yoba, I should've been more sympathetic instead of interrogating this poor girl. I should've recognized that she was also going through loss.

Victor exchanged a somber look with his mother before looking back over at Bela. He reached over and grabbed his glass, raising it up in a toast. "To new beginnings."

Bela and Olivia followed in suit, each taking a long gulp of wine to help assuage some of the emotional pain caused by their respective grief.

_____________________________________________________________

"Well, that could have gone more smoothly," Victor shook his head as he and Bela left the manor for the saloon.

"It certainly was an interesting dinner," Bela responded gently. The rest of the dinner had been eaten in an awkward silence. "Your mom is a really good cook." And an even better interrogator. Maybe she volunteered part-time at the Zuzu City PD?

"Yeah, well she's usually an even better host." His eyes looked apologetic as they met Bela's. "I'm really sorry for the way dinner turned out. My mother can be...a lot."

Bela gave him a smile, playfully pushing his arm, "Don't even worry about it. I'm already making memories in this town."

Victor pushed open the thick oak door of The Stardrop Saloon, a barrage of sounds and smells overwhelming the new farmer. Bela was hit with the warm, bitter scent of beer as a jaunty folk tune played in the background, accompanied by the sounds of glasses clinking and laughter.

“Why if it isn’t the new farmer, Ms. Bela Rivers,” a kind voice greeted. “Welcome to The Stardrop Saloon! What can I get for ya?”

“Hello, Gus,” Victor smiled, taking a seat at the bar and gesturing for Bela to join him. “Why don’t we just take two glasses of wine to start?” The mustached man glanced over at Bela.

“Uh, yes,” Bela smiled. “Thank you.”

Victor leaned closer and whispered in her ear, his breath warm and gentle, “I hope you don’t mind me ordering for you. I figured you’d want to still be coherent while meeting some more of the townspeople.” He let out a small chuckle as he pulled away.

“What,” Bela teased, as her cheeks turned pink. “You think I can’t handle more than a couple glasses of wine?”

Before he could respond, a perky blue-haired woman arrived back with the two glasses of wine in hand. “Here you go!” She gently placed them before the pair. As Victor reached for his wallet, Emily gently shook her head, “This one’s on the house.”

She turned to face Bela, her blue eyes glowing with kindness. “Hello, Bela, I’m Emily!” Ooh, she has a nice aura. I'm sure we'll be good friends.

Bela smiled. “Nice to meet you.”

“Well, if it isn’t the new farmer,” came a sultry voice from the right of the bar. A beautiful woman slid onto the barstool next to Bela, while Emily placed a glass of wine in front of her.

“Yeah, I’m Bela,” Bela responded, still taking in the woman’s striking appearance. Her face was like a porcelain doll’s, smooth and pale with only a single mole marking her otherwise unblemished skin. Something about her seems familiar, but I can’t put my finger on it.

The woman extended her hand, a mischievous glint in her dark eyes. “Pleasure to meet you. I’m Shiko.”

Bela’s eyes widened in partial recognition. “Shiko? Shiko Takahashi?”

Shiko smiled back dryly. “Ah, so you have heard of me. Makes sense since I heard you’re from the city.”

“What's a model doing here?” Bela’s jaw dropped.

“ Former model,” Shiko flipped her dark locks over her shoulder carelessly. “I decided to retire and live the simple life.” She smiled at Bela, a hint of sadness in her eyes. “Kind of like you, huh?”

Bela returned the smile. “Something like that.”

Victor raised his glass, taking a careful sip before looking over at Bela. “Well, it’s always a pleasure seeing you, Shiko. If you don’t mind, I’d like to introduce Bela to some of my friends.”

The pair got up from their stools, heading over to what appeared to be a game room. Two old school arcade games greeted them at the entrance, where the angsty, purple haired teen was violently shaking the joysticks and shooting out creative combos of curse words.

“Obviously, you’ve already met Abigail.”

The girl shot a dirty look at Bela. “Victor, you done showing the new girl around? I need your help. I can’t get past this damn level.”

Victor rolled his eyes. “I was just bringing BELA over to meet everyone.” Why does Abigail ALWAYS have to be so fucking rude?

Bela gave an awkward smile as Abigail turned her attention back to the game in front of her. What is this girl’s problem with me?

“Bela?” Suddenly, a messy-haired blonde was standing right in front of her, his eyes gleaming with recognition. “Yo, Sebby, it's really her!” His arms quickly enveloped Bela into a tight hug, lifting her off the ground. It took everything in her to not spill any wine as the young man gently rocked her.

When he finally put her down, Bela was overcome with memories of her young self playing at the beach with a pair of blonde and black-haired boys. “Sam?”

His green eyes glowed with happiness. “Wow, I can’t believe it’s been, what, like ten years?” He looked over to the pool table where the raven-haired fellow was still poised with a billiards stick. “Fuck the game, Seb, come over here, it’s our Bela!”

Sebastian flinched when Sam said “our Bela”. Abigail’s head whipped over, shooting a venomous glare at Bela. “What do you mean, ‘our Bela’? I thought she just got here.”

Sam shook his head. “Don’t you remember? Bela used to visit every summer when we were kids.” Suddenly, Sam burst out into laughter.

Abigail’s eyes narrowed defensively, “What’s so funny?”

“Of course you don’t remember,” Sam managed to choke out. “You were too busy being besties with Haley.”

Even Sebastian let out a small laugh as Abigail’s pale face turned beet red. “Whatever, that was a long time ago.”

“Well,” Victor smiled, breaking the awkward tension that was beginning to form. “I hadn’t realized that you already knew each other.”

“Oh, yeah,” Sam smirked mischievously. “Bela and Seb knew each other REALLY well.”

Both Bela and Sebastian flushed red, ears burning hot. Abigail looked over in curiosity, annoyance written all over her face. What the fuck does that mean?

Victor raised an eyebrow quizzically, glancing between the two. “Really?”

“Sam,” Sebastian rolled his eyes, the red refusing to leave his face. “Why do you have to be such an ass?” I bet she doesn't even remember.

Bela looked over at Victor sheepishly. “It was just a middle school fling. We were kids.” I doubt Seb even remembers.

Victor burst out into laughter, while Bela and Sebastian bore similar mortified expressions. Sam joined Victor in laughter, with Abigail continuing to shoot death glares at Bela.

"So," Bela said in an attempt to break the awkwardness. "How've you been, Seb?" Yoba, I don't know what to say to him.

Sebastian avoided Bela's gaze, preferring to maintain eye contact with the wooden floors. "Oh, you know, nothing's new." Dammit Sam! Why'd you have to bring THAT up?

"Seems like there's been quite a few changes since I've been here."

"Yeah," Sebastian nodded, stealing a glance at her. "But, most things are still the same." Like how much I've missed you.

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earth-ambassador-jim · 4 years

Text

A Bad Reaction: Chapter 2

Summary:

“Changelings call it "Gravesand”. Derived from the pulverized bones of fallen Gumm-Gumms, gravesand aids us changelings in shedding our human form and embracing our more trollish nature…“

Strickler is a little off in his calculations and the gravesand draws out an unexpected response from Jim. Hopefully he can figure out what is wrong and how to fix it before it is too late.

AO3 - Fanfiction

~~~~

Barbara wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting when the pink rock monster had kidnapped her and brought her to an underground bunker but meeting her ex-boyfriend had not been it.

The moment she set eyes on him anger had eclipsed fear as the ever growing feeling of betrayal she’d been brooding on for the past few weeks reared its head in full force.

“What. The. Hell.” Barbara said slowly -but with great feeling- as her hands clenched at her sides.

The sharp pain in her skull that had just started up was not helping. For some reason the painting she had been working on surfaced in her memory.

“Sorry to interrupt,” The pink monster said in what sounded like an amused tone. Barbara jumped. She’d forgotten about it for a second. “As much as I want to see you beat up Strickler, there are more important things to deal with right now.”

It was then that Barbara saw who was in the table in the middle of the room. A sharp gasp escaped her and she rushed to her son’s side.

Her fingers immediately went to his throat, feeling for his pulse, and then to his forehead before she turned around to stare at Walt. She had been angry before, but it was nothing compared to what she was feeling now.

“What have you done to my son?” Barbara practically growled.

Walt… Strickler swallowed audibly and held his hands out, open and palms facing her, in from of him.

“It was an accident…” He started to say slowly.

“An accident?!” She yelled. “Is that why you have him tucked away in this secret base? You lured me out here with his phone! And what’s that?!” She added pointing at the monster.

And why did she feel like she should know the answer? Barbara drew in a sharp breath as pain lanced through her skull again.

“Please let me explain. You may yell at me all you wish later,” Strickler said.

Barbara grit her teeth and drew in a breath to start yelling again.

She never got a word out.

At that moment Jim jerked upright on the table. Barbara turned toward him and felt her heart skip a beat. His eyes, now open, were glowing a sickly red and gold. He made a low guttural sound in his throat and his lips pulled back in a snarl. She stumbled back a step.

He drew in a shallow gasping breath. His still glowing eyes widened and he clawed as his chest for a moment before collapsing back on the table.

For a sickening moment Barbara couldn’t move, then the symptoms she had just seen registered and she lunged forward with a string of curses. She pressed two fingers to his neck and felt a calm fall over her as her years working in the ER asserted themselves.

“Is there an AED here?” She asked Strickler sharply as she pulled Jim’s shirt up.

Some part of her mind vaguely registered a series of branching scars that she hadn’t seen before but, as they were currently unimportant, she mentally filed them away for later. Strickler ripped something off the wall and hurried over to her. She received the machine, noting that it was an older model than the hospital’s, and then with quick efficient movements placed the pads on her son’s skin.

“Get clear,” She said sharply.

Jim’s body jerked as the electricity coursed through him. Barbara checked his pulse. It was weak but the rhythm was now regular again.

She let out a sigh of relief before turning back to Strickler. The underlying protective rage layered over with her professional calm made her feel like she was floating outside her body.

“Explain what is going on now,” She said coldly.

~~~~

And so her ex-boyfriend explained how humans weren’t really the only intelligent species on earth, that magic was real, and that her son had been drafted to fight giant rock creatures.

It turned out there was a bit more to those images and dreams that had been flickering through her mind since the accident than she thought.

“Let me get this straight,” Barbara said as she kneaded the skin of her forehead. “You decided that it was a good idea to give my son, a minor, some sort of troll heroin to ‘hone his feral instincts’… you didn’t see any way that could go wrong.”

She was also rather disappointed in Jim for going along with this. They’d had the drug talk. Just because it was magic did not make it any less of a drug.

“How do you still have your teaching degree?” She wondered out loud.

Off to the side the pink changeling snickered.

“That’s not important right now,” Walt… Strickler said. “Right now I need your help to keep Jim stable while I figure out what exactly is causing this.”

Barbara really wanted to argue that Jim should go to a hospital to receive proper treatment, but she doubted they would know what to do with gravesand poisoning, or whatever was going on. She was also not foolish enough to expect that they would just let her leave. Not without a fight that she couldn’t hope to win. She drew in a slow breath and counted to ten before blowing it out through her nose.

“So you haven’t found anything in your files about why this might be happening yet?” She asked.

“No,” Strickler responded. “But I still have a few more to go through.”

“And these other trolls that Jim is helping can’t help?” Barbara would really like to have someone else here. Wal… Strickler had dropped completely off the bottom of her trust list. She wasn’t sure how she felt about the other changeling. “There isn’t any kind of troll-doctor?”

“Unfortunately Trollmarket’s healer was one of the first casualties according to Young… Jim. There might be other healers but it’s unlikely they will know how to take care of a human and even if they did they would not be familiar with gravesand.”

Barbara sighed.

“Okay, you keep searching your files.” She turned to the pink changeling. “I’ll need you to…”

She paused eying the changeling’s sharp claws with trepidation. It seemed to catch on and in a flash of pink transformed into the museum curator Ms. Nomura. Barbara jumped but otherwise didn’t react.

“Okay,” She said with a sharp, shaky breath. This was fine. She was fine. She could do this. “I’m going to need you to assist me. Follow my instructions exactly.”

Ms. Nomura moved to stand beside her and they got to work.

~~~~

“Any progress?” Barbara’s voice was something that could have loosely been described as professional.

Strickler looked up from the file he was currently reading.

“Nothing yet I’m afraid,” He said shoving down a pang of longing.

Barbara made a quiet frustrated sound and turned away. She and Nomura started talking in low voices. Strickler rubbed his eyes and glanced around the room. How long had they been here now?

Jim was now hooked up to a heart monitor and oxygen. He looked bad. Rashes had appeared on his skin and he was sweating profusely. Something in Strickler’s chest twisted involuntarily.

He had done this. He should have known better. Humans reacted differently to even regular medications. Why did he think having a child inhale magic sand was going to be okay?

What if they couldn’t save him? What then?

The more analytical side of his mind was already trying to come up with contingencies for dealing with a new Trollhunter this late in the game. The more pessimistic side suggested that between Barbara and Nomura he wouldn’t live long enough to have to worry about that. He’d deserve it too, he supposed.

He grimaced and pulled out his pen to fiddle with.

Focus.

He needed to save Jim. Failure was not an option.

He opened the next set of files, a series of experiments that had been ran by a changeling scientist back during the Cold War.

He started reading and froze for a moment before reading faster.

It wasn’t possible…

~~~~

“A question Barbara,” Strickler said. There was something stiff and deliberately level about his tone that made Barbara wary.

“Yes?” She asked without turning around.

“Do you have any pictures of your… of Jim’s father?”

That did make her turn around.

“Why would you need that?” She asked suspiciously.

“I will explain if my hunch proves correct.”

Oh she didn’t like that at all…

She studied his face. The lines around his mouth and eyes were tense.

“Please… it’s important.”

She made an irritated noise and glanced at his computer.

“Can that connect to the internet?”

“Yes…”

She wasn’t really in the habit of carrying pictures of James around. In fact, she’d gotten rid of most of the ones in the house as well. Both she and Jim generally preferred to pretend he didn’t exist when they could.

She brushed past Strickler and started tapping away. In a few minutes she’d pulled up an old finished projects page from a company website.

“That’s him,” She said pointing at one of the men in the picture. She pushed down the old ache in her chest as well as the strange feeling that rose when she realized how much Jim as starting to resemble him.

Barbara moved out of the way and Strickler settled down into the chair. In a few quick moves he’d downloaded the image and cropped it down to just James Senor’s face. Then he opened the image in another program. Immediately the computer pinged. The word “match” appeared on the screen.

A few more clicks and a new window was opened up on the screen.

“Barbara? Is this him?”

Barbara leaned over his shoulder. He twisted slightly in his seat to watch her expression. Her eyes tracked across the page and her lips moved slightly as she read through the words before she froze.

“Why…”

“It would appear that your ex is a changeling,”

“What?!”

Strickler moved back as she pushed forward to read the file more thoroughly.

“This explains Jim’s unusual reaction to the gravesand,” He continued. She could just barely hear him through the roaring in her ears. “Normally, in humans gravesand would only serves to draw out their feral instincts. It makes them angrier and their eyes glow. Long term use may have other side effects, but one use should not result in something like this.”

“So why is it causing this?”

“Because the gravesand is trying to activate Jim’s dormant changeling traits.”

“His changeling traits?” She echoed.

Strickler nodded and pushed a hand through his hair.

“Yes, but since Jim was… I assume he was conceived while James was in human form?” Barbara didn’t appreciate the question there but nodded anyway. “The only genes he has from his father are the ones that would allow him to shift not the biological template he needs to have a trollish form to shift into.”

“Which means..?”

Strickler grimaced.

“To put it simply the gravesand’s magic is causing Jim’s latent shifter magic activate, but as there is nothing to shift into his cells are basically tearing themselves apart.”

That wasn’t good. Understanding, mixed with new fear, settled in Barbara’s chest.

She turned away from him back toward her son frowning as she took off her glasses and polished them on her scrubs. This seemed to be one of the situations were knowing what was happening was not going to make thing easier…

She wasn’t even sure if she could use conventional medicines on Jim with the gravesand in his system.

Strickler was frowning as he continued to leaf through the file.

“It looks like all recorded cases have been fatal…”

Barbara whipped around, her heart lurching sickeningly in her chest. Across the room Nomura stiffened.

“But!” Strickler said before either of them could say or do anything. “The scientist in charge of the trails theorized that if a sample of changeling blood and stone was enchanted and then injected into the hybrid it would give the sifting magic something to latch onto and pattern a trollish form off of.”

“Did they test this?”

“No,” Strickler said. “It seems that the changeling in charge of the tests met an untimely death before he could find anymore test subjects.” There was an odd tone to his voice that Barbara could not quite pin down. It vanished quickly as he moved on. “I do however have the groundwork and necessary ingredients listed for the spell here.”

“What are the chances of success?”

Strickler sighed.

“I can’t really say. I doubt they are high… but what choice do we have?”

“You said that none of the… half-changelings… survived the gravesand?”

“None recorded.”

“Did they try removing the sand from the lungs? Or any similar measures to stop the reaction?”

“Yes and they all failed.”

Barbara stood quiet for a moment, acutely aware of the two changelings waiting for her response. She hated everything about this situation. She had a short moment of time to make a decision for her son that would at best be life altering and at worst fatal and the only information she had was from shady people that she didn’t trust.

But if she didn’t do anything…

Barbara glanced at Jim. She clenched her jaw and sucked in a breath through her teeth.

“Then I think we should take the route that still has a chance even if it is slim,” She said finally. “What do we need to do?”

Strickler took in her straightened posture and determined expression with a wistful expression. A jolt of bitterness passed through her.

“I am going to start running over the runes and layout for the spell to make sure there are no errors. Nomura…” The magenta changeling straightened up. “I will need you to retrieve some things from my office.” He pulled his pen out of his pocket and hesitated a moment before tossing it to her. “The lock is behind Landmark Thucydides.”

He paused for a moment and then pulled out his notepad and quickly scribbled out a list of what he would need and where she could find it.

“I’m also going to take a quick run to my apartment and retrieve the rest of my magic supplies.” He turned to Barbara. “I should be about a half hour. Can you handle that?”

She nodded.

“Good. Let us go.”

Barbara watched as they left.

Gradually their footsteps faded from hearing.

It was just her and Jim now.

She walked over to him and gently smoothed his fair out of his sweaty face. Even without touching his skin, she could feel the heat radiating off of him.

His eyes remained closed.

Barbara blinked furiously as a lump began to form in her throat.

How had it come to this? She’d known something was wrong.

Her vision blurred and she sucked in a harsh breath.

Why didn’t he tell her? Why hadn’t she…

Barbara’s hands clenched around the edges of the metal table as the first sob broke free.

~~~~

Author Notes:

I am going to go into a little more into the specifics about what is going on with Jim's reaction to the Gravesand in the notes next chapter, so be sure to read those!

We’ll get a little more on Barbara’s thoughts on the situation next chapter, but right now she really just needs a good cry.

I was a little rushed on editing this chapter (Just started a new job this week!) so let me know if anything needs clarification.

#Trollhunters #Tales of Arcadia #Trollhunters Fanfiction #A Bad Reaction #walter strickler #Nomura #Barbara Lake #jim lake jr #james lake jr #james lake sr #(mentioned)#gravesand #grave sand #my posts #my writing

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noirewrites · 4 years

Text

For You, I Will Cross Any Waters

Fandom: Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Warnings: No Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Pairing: Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain Cheng

@art-the-f-up sorry this comes a lot late!

I live! Okay, well, I know you guys know I live given I updated United as well as started with a Lukanette shot anddddd this fic is to blame for the Lukanette one, I swear! You will see why in the next chapter. Also, this is the chapter where the story finally develops — aka, where I diverge from the plot list for Ladynoir July 2020 as well. I wanted to put this along with Day 6 prompt, but the chapter got twice the usual length and seemed so awkward that I now have one finished and one half written chapter now xD

Thanks for bearing with me, hope you guys enjoy! <3

Chapter 6: Meeting the Future Bride

A beautiful melody echoed through the wide room. As the final chord was struck, the door opened.

“Adrien, your Father wishes to meet you,” the woman at the door said in a monotone, causing the blond at the piano to turn his attention to her.

“Is it about yesterday, Nathalie?” He asked nonchalantly.

“He didn’t disclose the purpose of the meeting.”

Adrien sighed. “Fine, I will be down in five minutes.”

As Nathalie left, Adrien distractedly pressed the piano keys again. Suddenly, the top of his black piano moved a bit and acid green eyes morphed into the instrument, blinking at him. Adrien suppressed a bark of laughter before shaking his head lightly. Reaching over, he moved his hand over the shiny surface, causing the piano to purr a bit. Finally, he got hold of something firm, and plucked the black cat out of the piano.

The cat hissed a bit at the sudden interruption from its relaxation, letting out a small yowl as Adrien cuddled it in his arms. But as the blond stroked his fur, the yowling died down to give way for purring.

“Say, Plagg, you have a knack of spooking me out, don’t you?” Adrien chuckled, dodging his finger away from the cat’s reach as it tried to bite him.

“Whatever kid, I am angry that you disturbed my peaceful catnap,” the cat snarked.

“But you are liking the cuddles~~”

The feline chose not to reply, opting to cuddle closer to his owner.

As he stroked Plagg absentmindedly, Adrien quietly asked, “What do you think Father wants to talk about?”

“Would bet my entire cheese stash this is about last night’s shenanigans,” came the reply.

Adrien sighed and put the cat down, “Guess I brought this upon myself. Stay hidden while I am gone, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know the drill,” Plagg said as he waved a dismissive paw in the air.

Shaking his head lightly, the blond walked out of his room in the direction of the atelier. The atelier where his father was waiting for him, probably to deliver to him another lecture on maturity and responsibility.

Reaching the grand doors, Adrien felt a bout of uneasiness pass over him. Years of subjugation to his father’s wishes had still left their impressions in adulthood. No matter how independent he wished to be, he sometimes couldn’t help but feel as if he was still held under Gabriel’s iron grip.

Knocking on the giant doors, the blond took a deep breath in, trying to calm his racing heart. A monotonous “Come in” came from the inside, prompting him to reach forward and enter the room.

Gabriel Agreste stood behind his desk, his eyes sifting through some random sketches. He spent a good moment or two at his task before turning his attention to Adrien, his neutral expression giving way to a slight frown.

“Hello, Father,” the blond greeted.

“Hello, Adrien. Can I have the pleasure of knowing where you were last night? For my reputation at the ball was severely compromised thanks to your frolicking,” Gabriel asked, cutting to the chase immediately.

Something in Adrien bristled. It had been a long time since his Father had had a proper conversation with him. Still, when they met again, the first thing the older Agreste cared about was Adrien’s whereabouts, and that too just because the Agreste reputation had been compromised?

Doing his best to not let his frustrations seep into his tone, Adrien replied in a cold monotone, “I was away from the ball, Father, to escape the clutches of all those high-class women who apparently were stickier than the stickiest glue we have.”

The older Agreste cocked an eyebrow as he held his chin thoughtfully, his mouth upturned in a slight smile. “Hmm, I guess you have got a point there, young man. Those ladies certainly didn’t care about your personal space, did they?”

The statement baffled Adrien. Was his Father actually agreeing with him for once?

Gabriel walked towards Adrien, clapping his hand on the younger Agreste’s shoulder as he proudly said, “Well, don’t worry son. You won’t have to encounter those ladies again.”

He turned his head up, looking in the direction of the doors before calling out, “Nathalie, please bring our guest in.”

The doors opened and someone walked in. Adrien turned around, only for his gaze to land on the strange new girl who stood in the atelier.

She wore a black satin evening dress with bell sleeves, overlaid in dark orange chiffon and black lace. The sweetheart neckline was a bit too deep for his liking. But what really unnerved the young man was the twinkle in her olive green eyes and the smile etched on her red-painted lips.

“Adrien, meet Ms. Lila Rossi. She has been eager to meet you since yesterday,” Gabriel informed.

“Um, hello?” Adrien greeted her, confused. “You have some news for me?”

He hoped against hope she hadn’t been present at yesterday’s ball, for that would only mean —

The young woman let out a shrill chuckle as she held his shoulder. “I now see what Monsieur Agreste meant by you being a ray of sunshine. Oh dear, I am your fiancée!”

On hearing her claim, Adrien immediately shrank away from her touch, “But—But I don’t even know you!”

He turned to his Father, eyes sparking in rage. “You said I could choose my bride!”

“And you refused that offer by running away, young man. That is no excuse to delay your wedding day.”

The young man tried hard not to grit his teeth at his Father’s words.

“As Adrien stated,” Gabriel turned to Lila, smiling, “You both don’t know each other. Then how about you young people solve that?” Gabriel suggested, heading for the door. “I have an important meeting I need to attend. Hope you two enjoy each other’s company.”

Saying what he needed to, the older Agreste left, leaving a shy Lila and a flabbergasted Adrien behind.

“So,” Lila spoke in a coy tone, “how about we go somewhere private and get to know each other?”

She subtly hooked her arm on his elbow, her fingers lightly trailing up his arms, causing him to cringe. “Somewhere like your ro—”

“The river side!” Adrien interrupted her, much to her chagrin. “The riverside’s a cool idea, Ms. Rossi. Fresh air with much needed quiet.”

And open space , he mentally added sourly.

Putting on his best grin as he approached the door, Adrien asked in a faux cheerful tone, “So, shall we go?”

Lila blinked stupidly for a moment, then broke into a coy smile of her own. “Sure, Adrien.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“And my uncle was a student of the great Beethoven, oh! I wish I had learnt some piano from him before he passed away,” the brunette said in a simpering tone, dabbing at her eyes to wipe away the non-existent tears.

Beside her, Adrien plastered a sympathetic look on his face as he fought the urge to roll his eyes. In the fifteen minutes he had spent with her, this Rossi girl had just bragged on and on about her family and her charity work.

According to her, she personally knew many famous people around the globe. Surprisingly, even though he was an Agreste, Adrien had never heard someone mention the title Rossi in any influential circle, let alone specifically name Lila.

Though he had to commend her on one thing. The woman had a fabulous ability to weave false stories and lie through her teeth.

“Oh, Adrien,” Lila cooed, holding his arm in what was meant to be a soft gesture but certainly was not, causing him to lean back a bit, “I have been talking only about myself all this time. Why don’t you tell me something about yourself?”

He nervously chuckled, rubbing at the nape of his neck in anxiety, “I—uh, you already know much about me, I am not someone unknown in the high-class, right? Uhm, how about you ask me yourself?”

The brunette held her chin in a thoughtful look, apparently thinking of some topic to converse on. Adrien took the beat of silence as a chance to gaze at the river that flowed beside him, his heart calming down a bit on seeing the sparkling waters. Thoughts about the masked beauty who lived underneath the surface helped his anxiety, too.

“Oh! I know what to ask!” Lila suddenly exclaimed, jerking him back to reality. “Is there anything about you that no one knows?”

“Something about me that no one knows?” the blond echoed her question.

“Yes,” she affirmed, leaning into his personal space and causing him to stagger back a little, “you know, since we are soon going to be married, there better be no secrets between us!”

He couldn’t help but stammer. “I, uh—”

Know what? I have a magical cheese-loving black cat who gives me the power to transform into Chat Noir and ALSO! I already have a love interest, a mermaid called Ladybug who is far more beautiful and truthful than you! And woe to me if I am going to tell you anything about this!

Pausing his internal thoughts, Adrien looked towards the river in an attempt to calm himself down. And then an answer came to him.

“Well, since you asked,” he turned to catch Lila’s attention, before looking back at the river again, “I have always felt connected to water.”

“Connected to… water?” Lila echoed his words, disbelief evident in her tone.

“Yes.” The man’s eyes sparkled as he walked to the riverbank and bent down, slightly gliding his hand on the water surface and bringing his wet hand to his eyes, immediately feeling a shiver of pleasure run down his spine. “I feel like the water’s calling out to me, asking me to be one with it.”

There was a pregnant silence between the two, before it was broken by the sound of stifled chuckles. Confused, Adrien turned his head to see the brunette holding a palm over her mouth to prevent laughter from escaping her.

“Did I say something funny, Miss Rossi?” the man asked, his cold tone poorly masking the offense he felt.

“Oh, I-I am sorry Adrien, but…” her voice trailed off as she stifled another laughter, before continuing, “Your thoughts match with the pests of the water.”

“And?” He prompted her, an eyebrow raised in challenge.

“Well—” the young woman looked at him as if he had asked her about why water existed. Coughing a bit to regain her composure, she continued, “—uhm, you are an Agres—”

“I know who I am and let me tell you, Lila Rossi, my Father’s name does not define my thoughts. I am an independent individual with my own thoughts and feelings, and even if they match with the mermaids or what you call the ‘pests of the water’; I am actually glad they do.”

Getting up, he reached towards Lila, his acidic green eyes causing her to stagger back a bit.

“I-I really didn’t mea-mean to off—” she stammered.

“Save it.”

Saying so, the blond walked off, leaving behind a shocked, yet fuming Rossi girl.

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“Okay, so she’s just like your Father. And?” Plagg nonchalantly asked, pawing at the ball of yarn that Adrien had tossed to him and completely ignoring his human who laid in his bed, face buried in the pillows.

Adrien lifted his head and exclaimed, “She’s my fiancée, Plagg!”

And plopped his face back into the pillows, muffling his screams.

The cat sighed, pushing the yarn ball away and shaking his head remorsefully. He strutted over to the bed and jumped on his chosen’s back.

“You humans and your melodrama.”

“Whatever, it’s not like you have a secret love interest, you cheese monster,” came the muffled reply.

The cat bounced on the man’s back, before lightly scratching him with a claw and causing him to yelp. “Mind you, my love interest is your Bug’s guardian.”

Adrien turned his head to the side, glancing at his animal friend as a smirk adorned his face.

“Wasn’t Camembert the first and last love of your life?”

“Shush you,” Plagg nudged him on the face, causing the blond to giggle. “Now, if you have stopped moping about your currently messed up civilian life, what plans do you have for wooing your Lady fish tonight?”

Adrien blushed a bit, before his gaze turned to the piano that still stood in the middle of the room. He thought for a moment, then an idea dawned on him.

“I guess I have just the perfect plan, Plagg.”

#mlb fanfic #mermaid marinette dupain cheng #lila #adrien #mermaid au

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sassyduckqueen · 5 years

Text

30 Days of Lukanette- Baked Goods

Be warned! This is a sad chapter!! Also based on Kwami Buster!

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Marionette made a turn on her bike as she cycled to the Liberty. She had some freshly baked goods in her bag that she had made just for the occasion. Rose and Juleka invited her around along with a few other students so they could watch their teacher, Ms. Mendeleiev on the TV show, Alternative Truth. Alya and Nino were also going so she was really excited to be hanging out with them. Everyone in class had agreed to tune in to support their teacher as she had always dreamt of discovering science. Marinette came to a stop as she came to a boat and gently climbed off her bike. She walked onto it and placed her bike against the side of the deck. She walked over to the doorway and knocked lightly.

"Hello, anyone home?" She asks, looking around. She saw Ms Couffaine working on a new guitar before she looked up and smiled as she saw Marinette.

"Hello, Marinette. Luka's in his bedroom if you want to go say hi. You're the first to arrive by the way," She replied, before getting up and heading outside. She always did this after painting a guitar. The air helps the paint dry quicker.

"Really?" She asked as she moved closer towards the bedrooms to say hi to Luka. As she got closer, she could hear him talking to someone, who she assumed was his sister.

"I'm writing a song for her," His voice echoed but she didn't her Juleka reply. "Yeah, yeah. I know I'm a sap. I just really like her... she's amazing.. I honestly wouldn't be surprise if she was Ladybug, S-"

At that point, she fell flat on her face as she failed to notice the coffee table. Instantly, Luka rushed out and as soon as he saw it was Marinette, he smiled and helped her up.

"Are you ok?" He asked, gently pushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Y-Yeah," She blushed as Juleka walked in with Rose. She rose an eyebrow as she assumed Luka was talking to her but if he wasn't talking to her then who was he talking to? She narrowed her eyes.

"You sure you're ok?" He asked, making her look at him. "Actually... you look kind of angry..."

"Wa-what?! No..." She gasped, making him frown as she fanned herself. "Ok... maybe a little but only at the coffee table... it hurt walking into that,"

He laughed softly as Juleka rolled her eyes and walked off with Rose in toll. Marinette smiled a little before turning to him once the two of them were out of earshot.

"Um... I overheard you talk to someone in your room but ... Juleka just came from the deck...." She mumbled, causing him to rub the back of his neck nervously.

"I was talking to myself!" He gasped, knowing he wouldn't be able to tell her that he was in fact talking to Sass about a song he was writing for her. She rose an eyebrow as he smiled nervously. "It helps with the music and I was kind of practicing for when I talk to Penny..."

"She actually messaged you?!" She gasped, excited.

"Yeah. Jagged wants to talk to me about guesting on one of his songs... possibly...." He mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "And I figured I'd mention that I've wrote some new material... you know to see what he thinks..."

"Yes!!" Marinette gasped in an excited way as she looked at him. "You're amazing and he would totally love your stuff!!"

"Thank you," He smiled, glad she believed him. It wasn't a complete lie though. Penny had contacted him about working with Jagged and he was working on a new song. He just wasn't practicing a speech when she overheard him but he couldn't exactly say that he was talking to a little snake who had magical powers and could totally give him the power of second chance and transform him into a superhero. Though he suspected she would understand that better then anyone. "Um... about that song I'm writing... I'm actually..."

He got nervous all of a sudden as she looked at him. He took a deep breathe as he thought of the words.

"It's your tuneage," That was not what he was trying to say. What he was trying to say was the song I'm writing, it's about you. In fact, I've based it off your own heart song but that's not what he said.

"Huh?" Marinette asked, confused. He face palmed himself.

"What i mean is that it's based on your heart beat..." Again with the words. He shook his head. "Heart rate... urg no! I mean... your... thing..."

Marinette giggled slightly as he sighed before she smiled softly at him as she gently took his hands.

"You mean my heart song?" She asks, understanding him.

"Yeah... it's going to be your melody... I just have to work it out... i got a rough idea but i need to listen to more of you... if that makes sense," He smiled, linking his fingers with hers. She smiled back but before either them could say anything, everyone else joined them, including Adrien and Kagami. Luka frowned as he saw the pain clear in Marinette's eyes as she looked over at them. He knew she still had feelings for the blonde haired boy. He gently pulled his hands from hers and smiled. "I'm gonna head back to my room. Science isn't really my finger and besides this is Juleka's gathering,"

"You sure?" She asked but he smiled and nodded. "Well... um... ok,"

He turned on his heel and went to walk away but stopped.

"Marinette..." He stated, making her look at him. He gave her a painful smile. "You should talk to Adrien,"

With that, he walked back into his part of the room and closed the door. As soon as he was out of sight, he closed his eyes as if in pain. Sass flew up and looked at him as they heard the group chatter with excitement. Luka picked up his guitar and moved across to his bed, where he sat down and stumbled a light but sad tune. Sass flew over and sat on his knee.

"Why did you tell her to talk to him?"

"She still loves him," He mumbled.

"But you love her... and aren't you two... you know dating?"

"Not really. We're just been... seeing more of each other outside our friendship circle..."

"Courting..." Sass nodded. "But if you love her, why tell her to talk to him?"

"It's because I love her..." He mumbled sadly. "And sometimes when you love someone, you have to let them go..."

"I see," Sass replied but he didn't fail to notice the silent tears that rolled down Luka's cheeks. He flew up and gently placed his hand on his holder's cheeks as the boy allowed his emotions to flow from him. He finally put down his guitar and curled up on the bed. "Maybe we could go out for a run?"

"I ca-can't risk it..." He muttered. "Hawkmoth could try and akumatize me at any point and an akumatized Luka is a lot safer then an akumatized Viperion..."

"Luka..." The little snake sighed as the boy closed his eyes. He admired how selfless the boy was. Nothing like that Adrien boy but before he could think anything else, he sensed another kwami... no... two.

"I wonder if there is any cheese in here..." The familiar voice of Plagg asked as he floated through the wall. Tikki followed seconds later and lightly grabbed his arm.

"Plagg, you can't keep disappearing!" She gasped as a third kwami floated through the wall. The little dragon crossed it's arms as it stared at them. "Longg... i can explain,"

"I hope so," The dragon stated.

"Tikki, Plagg, Longg... what are you two doing here?" He asked, trying to be quiet as Luka had fallen asleep.

"Sass?!" The three of them gasped as he shushed them before nodding to Luka.

"That is your Holder?!" Plagg gasped, a little shocked. Sass gave him an annoyed look.

"He is an excellent hero... unlike yours,"

"Oh please!"

"How rude of you, Plagg," Longg gasped, shaking his head. Plagg rolled his eyes.

".... Is an excellent Cat Noir and you're just jealous," He hiccuped as he tried to say his owner's name.

"Boys, please. Plagg, you need to back to Cat Noir, I need to get back to Ladybug and Longg needs to get back to Ryuko. What if an akuma attacks?"

"Relax, sugercube,"

"Plagg, Tikki is correct. We must return post haste,"

"Yesss... leave quickly," Sass hissed but Luka groaned and opened his eyes before he sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Sass... who are you- Oh..." He mumbled, tiredly before he fully looked at his friend. To his surprise, there were three other kwamis, causing him to stare. "I'm guessing they're friends of yours?"

"Yesss," Sass groaned, shaking his head at the stupidity of Plagg. Tikki floated over to Luka and bowed slightly as Longg did the same.

"Wait aren't you... Ladybug's Kwami?" He asked, confused before looking at Plagg. "And you're Cat Noir's... which makes you Ryuko's... but what are you three doing on my boat? Unless Cat Noir, Ladybug and Ryuko are on the boat as well... which means they are people I know..."

"Luka," Sass warned but Tikki flew over to him.

"Please, you can't work out who any of our holders are or you'll have to give up your miraculous," She pleaded, making him frown before turning to Plagg. "This is all your fault. If you hadn't gone looking for more cheese then we wouldn't be here now! You're completely irresponsible! How are we going to get back to our holders without anyone seeing?"

"You just don't know how to have fun, sugarcube,"

"Tikki is right. Anyone could see!" The little dragon gasped as Luka moved to look at it. It gasped and hid behind Sass.

"Sorry," Luka grinned. "Dragons are my favorite mythological creature. No offense, Sass,"

"None taken," He replied before turning to the others. "Tikki is right. You all need to return to your owners without been seen,"

"Maybe I can help," Luka smiled a little. They all look at him. "Just hide in the hood of my jacket and I'll walk into the kitchen. I live here so if anyone asks, I'll just say I'm getting a drink,"

Tikki bit her lip before nodding and dragging Plagg over to Luka before setting inside his hood. Longg floated over and joined them, along with Sass before Luka got up and headed over to the door before looking out, with the four Kwamis doing the same. It looked like the whole of Juleka's class was here, including Chloe and Lila. Luka carefully existed the room and walked quietly into the kitchen as his sister's teacher was introduced on the tv. He wasn't paying much attention to what she was saying as he poured himself a drink. He turned away from the tv as he filled up the cup with water.

"Coast is clear," He whispered in a voice so quiet that only the kwamis could hear him.

"Thank you," Tikki whispered before she floated over to Marinette but before she disappeared into her purse, she turned around to check that Luka wasn't looking. He kept his back to the tv, taking a slow slip from his drink and making sure he couldn't see them. Knowing he wasn't going to look, she signalled to the other two and headed into Marinette's purse. Once Longg and Plagg were back with their holders, Sass cleared his throat a little.

"You can look now," He whispered as Luka refilled his drink. He turned around but as soon as he did, he dropped the glass onto the floor as he stared in shock at the tv. Literally on it were too very bad drawings of the creatures he just met. He shook his head and quickly cleaned up the drink before rushing into the back of the boat, away from ear shot. Sass flew out.

"What the hell?" He gasped.

"I didn't realize anyone else had seen Tikki or Plagg..." Sass admitted, frowning. "This is not good. We have to tell the Guardian about it,"

"I'll have to come up with a reason as to why I just broke a glass in the middle of that show," He mumbled as he heard someone walking towards the door. Sass hid in his shirt as the door opened and Marinette walked in, looking worried. "Marinette?"

"I didn't realize you were back here..." She gasped, blushing before she shook her head. "Are you ok? You broke a glass... it didn't cut you-"

"Luka, Marinette?" Adrien asked as he suddenly opened the door. He looked flustered and confused, similar to Marinette. Luka couldn't help but think about the possible identities of Ladybug and Cat Noir. Could Adrien be Cat Noir and Marinette be Ladybug? "I just... um... needed to use the bathroom?"

"It's over there," Luka pointed out as Adrien disappeared, before grabbing his jacket. "I was just grabbing this. I noticed we were out of milk and bread so I thought I'd take a walk to clear my head and get those while I was at it... um... yeah..."

"Are you ok?" Marinette asked as he pulled it on and began to walk out.

"I'm fine..." He mumbled, a little colder then he meant to. "Just tired. I haven't been sleeping well..."

"Oh..." She mumbled but he needed to get out of there.

"We'll talk later... I promise..." He mumbled, lightly kissing her cheek before heading out. He frowned as he noticed Kagami had disappeared too but he shook his head. He couldn't know the identities of the holders. He rushed off the Liberty and began to run as fast as he could. Sass looked out from his pocket.

"Take a left turn..." He hissed, causing Luka to do that before he followed more instructions. He stopped outside a familiar place. The old man who he had helped like here. He rang the door bell.

"Hello,"

"Master Fuu," Sass spoke.

"Sass, are you here on your own?"

"No. I'm with Viperion. Can we come in please?" The doorbell buzzed and Luka pushed it open before walking inside. The small old man greeted him as Sass flew out.

"Master, I wouldn't normally do such a thing but the identities of all our holders is at risk and -"

"It's ok. Longg had the same idea..." Master Fuu admitted as Kagami came out, followed by the litte dragon. Luka looked at her in surprise.

"Viperion..." She nodded.

"Ryuko..." He mumbled before sighing and looking at the guardian. "I guess I have to give this back,"

He went to take off the bracelet but Master Fuu stopped him.

"It's ok," He smiled. "The usual rules will not apply to you two. I chose you both so Cat Noir and Ladybug have team mates they can always rely on but also as a back up plan,"

"Sass told me you intend for us to fight Ladybug and Cat Noir should they ever become akumatized," Luka mumbled.

"This is correct," He replies. "Knowing each other's identities may be an advantage if it comes to that but for now, let's focus on the problem at hand. I would do as you normally do. Do not act like anything is wrong and trust in Ladybug. She will fix this,"

"So you're not taking away their abilities?" Luka asked.

"Goodness no," He gasped as Luka took a deep breathe and sighed. "Like I said... act like nothing has happened ok?"

"Yes, Master," Kagami nodded before turning to Luka. "We should transform never the less. That teacher was humiliated live on TV so she's bound to be a perfect victim for an akuma,"

"Good point," He smiled. "Sass, Scales Slither,"

"Longg, bring the storm!" She shouted as her necklace glowed. Within minutes, they were both transformed. Ryuko jumped out the window before Luka followed.

(***)

Luka took a deep breathe as he hid from sight. Somehow, the battle had taken a turn for the worst. He, Ryuko and Ladybug's kwamis had been captured by this new villain, Kwami Buster. Cat Noir, at the moment, was the only one who hadn't. He looked from his hiding place to see Cat Noir getting caught in the ray. He jumped aside into the a metal window lift to hide his de-transformation as Kwami Buster laughed before using her powers to knock stuff down. Seeing a chance to escape, Luka slipped through the fire door and runs down the stairs as fast as he can. Taking a sharp turn, he headed into one of the dress rooms and closed the door. He kept quiet as he heard someone else running before another door shut. He bit his lip as he tried to think off a plan. Ladybug had disappeared already but he suspected she had a plan, which meant he needed to keep Kwami Buster busy but he couldn't do it as Luka. It would reveal his identity to the world. Looking around, he noticed the dressing room he was in was actually Jagged Stone. Smiling to himself, he began to search through the stuff to see if he could find anything that he could use to make a makeshift disguise. He grinned to himself as he found the mask that Jagged had wore when he worked with his mum. He continued looking and found some color chalks and a leather jacket. He quickly put on the jacket and used the chalks to change his hair from blue to green before putting on the mask. Looking around, he found a spare guitar. Grabbing the guitar, he swung it over his back before exiting the room.

"Viperion?" Cat Noir's voice stated but to his surprise, he was faced with Mr Banana.

"Nice disguise, Kitty Cat or should I call you Banana Noir?" He laughed before they hear the sound of Kwami Buster's voice. "Come on. We need to find Ryuko,"

"What Ladybug?"

"I have the feeling she's already on a plan," He states as they run off. A few seconds later, they bumped into a girl in a white fencing outfit. "Ryuko?"

"Viperion... I'm guessing that's Cat Noir..." She mumbled as he nodded. "What's with the guitar?"

"Well I- Watch out!" He shouted, pushing her out the way as Kwami Buster aims at him. He grabbed their hands before running into one of the studios before slamming the door shut. "Blockage it,"

"What about you?" She asked but he looked around before rushing over to the set. He began to hook up different wires to the systems as the other two tried to hold the door. "Viperion! You better have a plan!"

"Yeah! We can't hold it!" Cat shouted before the doors burst open as if to confirm his words. Kwami Buster walked in and laughed.

"Pathetic!" She grinned as Ryuko charged at her. She hit her with a beam and used it to throw her into Cat Noir as Luka finished up what he was doing. "You're all hopeless without Ladybug!"

"You like science right?" He asked, surprising her. "Got an experiment for you,"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. How about we find out how many decibel a Kwami Buster can handle?" He asked, causing her to notice the guitar he was holding. Striking down on the strings, a wave of sound sent her flying into the wall, knocking the wind out of her. He threw the guitar aside and ran out the room with Cat Noir and Ruyko.

"What did you do?"

"Amplified the sound using the tech they had so it would create a sonic wave," He replied, as they made a turn. "We should split up. She can't chase all of us if we do,"

"Good point," Cat Noir agreed, going left. Ruyko took the right and Luka headed straight ahead. He hid behind a desk as Kwami Buster walked back in, barely injured.

"Where are you, you brat?!" She growled, pissed off. He kept silence. "I'm going to find you,"

He prayed that she got bored and when to look for the others but then he found himself face to face with her gun.

"Found you," She grinned, evilly. "How about we do another experience? How much energy can a Viperion withstand?!"

She hit him with the ray but before she could do anything, he heard someone shouting charge and she stopped aiming at him before chasing stuff outside.

"Viperion, is that you?" A voice asked, making him look around. He was sure it was either Marinette or Ladybug but he couldn't see her. "Over here,"

He looked around and saw a kwami. This one was a bee and it had it's mouth open. To his surprise, there was a tiny girl sat in it in a mouse like suit. It looked like Marinette but also Ladybug at the same. He couldn't help but notice the similarities between the two.

"Ladybug?" He questioned, guessing it was the same option but she shook her head.

"I'm Multi-mouse. Ladybug sent me to help you guys,"

"Oh, hello there, Multi-mouse," He smiled, making her giggle.

"I need your miraculous. I know-" She started but he took it off and handed it to her but it did seem a little big for her. "You trust me?"

"Ladybug obviously does and that's good enough for me," He smiled as she smiled back.

"Ok, meet Ladybug on the roof and I'll go get your kwami back," She smiled before the bee flew off. He watched it for a second before running up to the roof. He hid as Kwami Buster tried to capture the new Kwamis that had turned up. He saw Cat Noir and Ruyko find hiding places before he watched as Kwami Buster capture a few before her back pack suddenly exploded, freeing them. Suddenly, a small bowl appeared out of thin air and captured the newly freed akuma. Luka rose an eyebrow. As far as he knew, Ladybug wasn't here so how was a Lucky charm summoned? A few seconds later, the bee appeared and dropped off Multi-Mouse but her outfit had green detail and scales on it.

"Sass, Mullo, Divide!" She shouted, causing Sass to reappear before she handed him back the bracelet. "As promised,"

"Thank you, Squeaks," He grinned as she blushed at the nickname. She then smiled back and ran off as he put the bracelet back.

"As a precaution, we should try and convince them that Viperion wasn't on the Liberty,"

"Agreed," Luka replied before holding his hand out. "Sass, Scales Slither!"

Once transformed, he jumped up on the roof, followed by Ryuko and Cat Noir.

"Been Cat Noir is more appealing then a banana suit," Cat grinned.

"Really, Cat? You're driving me bananas with these jokes," Luka grinned, causing Ryuko roll her eyes as Ladybug swung in. Multimouse walked over to her as she knelt down. Cat Noir looked shock to see her.

"Good job, Multi-Mouse. Thanks to you, we got our kwamis back," She smiled, looking towards them.

"Awesome plan, girls!" Cat yelled as Ladybug purified the akuma before restoring everything. Multi-Mouse returned to her normal size.

"We came, we saw and we kicked her hat," She smiled before taking off the miraculous, turning her back into Marinette. Luka, Cat Noir and Ryuko all looked on with shock as Ladybug gasped.

"No! Not here!" She gasped before taking it sadly. "Marinette, you shouldn't have given the miraculous back to me here... in front of-"

She looked over at the three of them with a sad look.

"But I didn't think you kept any secrets from each other," She frowned, signing. "Oh! I'm so clumsy!"

"I'm sorry but now you're idenity is no longer a secret," Ladybug sighed. "I won't be able to give you a miraculous again. I'll take Marinette back home. Cat, can you take care of Ms Mendeleiev? Viperion, Ryuko, I'll see you next time,"

"Always a pleasure," Ryuko grinned before disappearing. Viperion nodded before running towards the edge of the building. He jumped down but climbed back up before hiding away from Ladybug and Cat Noir. While he wanted to trust them, something felt off plus this way he could easily get back to the boat as Luka.

"Ladybug, I just wanted to apologize for what my kwami. I don't know what he was doing in that elementary school,"

"It was a high school," Ladybug stated before swinging off wiht Marinette. Luka wanted to let a sigh of relief. Neither of them knew they had been on his boat which was good, which meant he could still be Viperion. Marinette couldn't be Ladybug as there was no way Ladybug and her could be in the same place at the same time. And there was no way Cat Noir was Adrien. Though that one he wasn't sure about but he would leave it be. Noticing Cat Noir had left with Ms Mendeleiev, he went to get up.

"Reality!" A voice suddenly shouted and he ducked by down. Instantly, the scene changed, revealing that the ladybugs hadn't cleared up and that it was an illusion. "Mullo, Trixx... divide!"

He frowned as he noticed Multi-Mouse reappear to her right height but this time, she was in a suit crossed between hers and Ladybug's.

"Mullo, divide," She shouted, turning back into Ladybug. He almost shouted but covered his mouth as he watched. She purified the akuma and fixed everything for real this time before she fell to the floor. "Tikki... spots off..."

Her ladybug costume disappeared and in her place, Marinette sat as she breathed in. The Kwamis surrounded her as Tikki moved over.

"Are you ok?" She asked as Marinette gave her some food.

"Yeah... that was just tiring," She mumbled before smiling. "But we pulled it off... Cat Noir doesn't know my identity now and neither does Viperion or Ryuko,"

Luka felt bad for spying on her. He didn't meant to. Should he tell her? She got up and stretched before transforming back into Ladybug. He realized she was about to leave but he wasn't sure if he should stop her. However, before he could make a choice, she jumped off the building with the other kwamis. Waiting a few minutes so she was gone, he jumped off and headed home. He landed in an alleyway.

"Scales rest," He mumbled as Sass appeared.

"Luka!" He hissed. "What on earth!?"

"I didn't mean to see that,"

"You could lose been Viperion!" Sass gasped. "You know now who Ladybug is and-"

"I know... but I can keep a secret... I know it's selfish of me to know but-"

"But what?"

"I already knew," He admitted, causing Sass to look at him surprised.

"Since when?"

"Since we first met," He admitted. "Today just confirmed it,"

"You need to keep this to yourself and make sure no matter what you do not get akumatized!"

"I won't,"

"Luka. I'm serious. You're keeping her identity secret as well as yours,"

"I know! I won't tell. I'll do anything to protect her," He mumbled. "Even if that means..."

He went quiet and shook his head.

"I still need to talk to her about Adrien," He replied, walking towards the bakery. He pushed open the door.

"Oh hello, Luka," Sabine smiled. He smiled weakly.

"Is Marinette in?"

"She just got back. She's upstairs," She smiled. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah... I'm just tired..." He mumbled before heading upstairs. He knocked on the trapdoor.

"Come in!" She shouted. He climbed in and half expected to see Tikki but of course, Marinette didn't know he knew. "Luka?"

"Hey..." He tried to smile but she could tell something was wrong.

"What's up?" She asked, smiling but he looked down.

"We need to talk..." He mumbled, making her frown. She sat down and he sat down next to her. "I know..."

"Know what?" She asked, nervously.

That you're Ladybug....

"That you're still in love with Adrien..." He mumbled, making her frown a little.

"I... I'm sorry, Luka..." She mumbled, looking down. "I do really like you but-"

"You really like him too?" He asked, looking at her. She frowned but nodded. He gently took her hands in his. "Marinette, I love you... but I know you don't feel the same way..."

"Luka-"

"I just want to live in these moments with you. Even if you decide I'm not the one for you..." He mumbled. "I'm happy to be your friend if that's what you want and if you decide you want something more with me, I will be there but it's not fair on either of us to try while your heart is with another person,"

"Luka..." She mumbled as she noticed tears slid down his face. "Please don't-"

"I'm sorry. I'll get to going..." He mumbled, getting up. "I'll message you later.."

With that, he left her room. Marinette frowned to herself before Tikki appeared.

"He seemed really hurt, Marinette," She mumbled but Marinette frowned.

"He's right. I am still in love with Adrien..." She mumbled, frowning. "But I like Luka a lot too..."

"You're gonna have to pick," Tikki frowned, causing her to frown as well.

#luka couffaine #lukanette #miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #cat noir #captain hardrock #lukanette is endgame #lukacouffaine #sad #it gets worst before it gets better #hurt #sadluka #sass #viperion #banana noir #ryuko #ladybug #multimouse #Pro LukaMari

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madpanda75 · 5 years

Note

I have one for Sonny too if that's ok? “Shut up and kiss me already.” Love that talkative daddy long legs. 😅Thank you!

I’m with you, love me some Sonny! That sweet sexy bean pole does things to me! Thanks for the request, I hope you like it ❤️ Also I believe it is canon that Sonny Carisi loves games (especially Twister 😉)

“Classroom Kisses”

The first grade students at P.S.19 quietly read in their seats while you were writing out math problems on the board. You sighed, slightly shaking your head when a small familiar voice cut through the silence. Without even looking, you already knew who was disrupting the class.

“Dominick,” you turned around and crossed your arms, a stern look on your face. “This is quiet reading time.”

The blue eyed boy looked up at you sheepishly, “Sorry, Ms. Y/L/N, I was just telling Caroline a joke.

“Save it for recess, Dominick,” you said before turning back to the board. Unfortunately, Dominick didn’t save his joke for recess. For the remainder of the day, the little boy continued to talk, trying to get the attention of his classmates. You had scolded Dominick more times than you could count. In a way you almost felt sorry for him. It was as if he couldn’t stop himself from talking.

Dominick was a handful, but you had a soft spot in your heart for the little boy. He was bright and incredibly sweet, one of your favorite students. He just couldn’t stop talking.

After school, the two of you sat in your classroom working on an art project while waiting for the little boy’s mom to pick him up. You smiled, watching as he painted a rainbow on poster board, “You’re a good artist, Dom!”

The little boy beamed at your compliment, “Thanks, art’s my favorite subject!”

“Mine too,” you replied, painting a fluffy white cloud next to his rainbow. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. Looking up, you saw a tall handsome man with the cutest dimples you had ever seen.

“Uncle Sonny!” Dominick exclaimed, running to the older man.

Sonny gave Dominick a high five, “Hey, little man! What’s up? Ya’ have a good day at school?”

“Yep! The best! I got to help Ms. Y/L/N with her art project!” Dominick took his uncle by the hand, pulling him over to you. “Ms. Y/L/N, this is my Uncle Sonny!”

Sonny’s heart skipped a beat when he saw you. He had heard his nephew talk about his favorite teacher, but he had no idea how beautiful you were.

“The famous Uncle Sonny. I’ve heard a lot about you,” you said with a smile.

“Likewise, Dominick talks about ya’ all the time. I hope it’s ok that I’m picking him up, his mom had to work an extra shift.”

“That’s fine, Mr.?”

“Carisi, but please call me, Sonny,” he replied.

“Only if you call me, Y/N,” you shook his hand, drinking in his bright blue eyes and sweet smile.

He leaned in, studying your face. “You..uh…got some paint on your forehead,” he said, motioning to a spot on his own head.

“Oh, I do?” You touched your forehead, trying to wipe off the paint, but only making it worse.

He bit back a laugh, reaching into his jacket for a handkerchief, “May I?”

“Thanks,” you bit your lip and blushed as he cupped your face with one hand while gently wiping the paint off.

Dominick looked between his uncle and teacher, “Are you two gonna kiss?”

“Dominick!” You and Sonny both said at the same time, catching each other’s eye and laughing.

“Dominick, why don’t you go to the restroom and clean the paint brushes for me,” you ruffled his hair a bit, handing him the dirty brushes.

Sonny chuckled to himself, watching his little nephew walk into the bathroom, “He’s a character.”

You nodded your head, “Dominick is a great student, but he’s a social butterfly, talks a bit too much in class.”

Sonny walked over and helped you put the paints away, “I was the same way when I was his age. Always talking. I mean I could just talk and talk and talk. My ma says I was worse than my sisters. Every report card I got always said the same thing, Dominick Carisi Jr. is a smart boy but chats too much in class.” He stopped talking and rubbed the back of his neck, a little embarrassed when he realized he was rambling on. “Looks like I’m still a talker.”

You giggled, “Must be family trait.”

“All done!” Dominick came running back into the classroom, handing you the clean brushes, looking expectantly at his uncle. “Can we go home now?”

“Sure thing, pal. You’re driving right?” Sonny teased.

“Uncle Sonny, you’re silly!” The little boy ran out the room. “Meet you at the car!”

“Wait for me, Dom!” Sonny called out before turning back to you. “It was nice to meet ya’, Y/N. Hope to see ya’ around sometime.”

“Well, now you know where to find me,” you winked at him, sitting back at your desk.

Over the next few weeks, Sonny began picking up his nephew more and more. You didn’t mind one bit. Apart from being sweet and gorgeous, you and Sonny really hit it off, becoming good friends.

Even if Dominick’s mom would pick him up from school, Sonny would still stop by with a cup of coffee or a donut, just to talk. You would tell him about all the crazy antics his nephew or another student tried to pull on you that day. His line of work was always dark and depressing. Visiting you was an escape for him.

One day you asked if Sonny wouldn’t mind stopping by after school to help you put up some decorations for Saint Patrick’s Day. Every month you would choose a theme, transforming your room into a whole other world for your students. The kids loved it, but decorating an entire classroom was a big job for one person to do alone.

Sonny was happy to help. He strode into the room, pizza box in hand watching as you stood on your tiptoes on top of your desk, struggling to hang up a fluffy cotton ball cloud from the ceiling, “Hey, be careful up there.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve done this a million times,” you replied, hanging a pot of gold next to the cloud. “Thanks for helping me with this. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem,” Sonny set the pizza box down on a nearby desk. He cleared his throat, unable to look away as your skirt rode up, revealing your shapely legs. “I brought pizza from that place you were telling me about.”

“You went to Lombardi’s?!” You turned towards him, momentarily forgetting where you were standing. One misstep and you were falling to the floor. Sonny was quick to action, moving to catch you in his arms.

You both stared at each other for a moment, a flush creeping up on your face, “Betcha haven’t met a girl who would tumble to her death just for a slice of pizza,” you mumbled.

“You’d be surprised,” he smirked, setting you down on your feet. “Almost forgot, I brought ya’ this,” he opened a bag, holding out a shiny red apple.

You quirked an eyebrow at him, “Are you trying to be teacher’s pet?”

“Maybe,” he winked at you before looking at the assortment of decorations on your desk. “Tell ya’ what. Why don’t we eat and then you can leave the ceiling decorations to the tall guy,” he rolled up his sleeves and hung up a green shamrock with ease.

After pizza, you and Sonny continued to decorate your classroom. By the time you finished, the place looked like a lush green fairyland, covered in clouds, rainbows, and pots of gold. Sonny half expected a leprechaun to leap out of a desk. “Wow,” he whistled, taking in the state of the room. “This place looks amazing. Wish my teachers did stuff like this when I was in school.”

“Thanks! It’s a win-win. I love arts and crafts and the kids flip when they see the room like this,” you stamped the last of your leprechaun footprints with green paint as Sonny walked around the room, surveying all the books and games you had. Some of them he remembered from when he was a kid. A smirk tugged at his lips when one game in particular caught his eye.

“Hey, Y/N, what do ya’ think?” He asked, holding up Twister. “Up for a little fun?”

You sauntered over to him, a playful expression on your face, “Hmm, you sure you’re up for that, my long limbed friend? I am the Twister champion around here.”

Sonny scoffed, “Do not underestimate these long limbs.” He leaned in closer to you, “I can move in ways you’ve never seen.”

A shiver shot down your spine at his words. Narrowing your eyes, you looked between the game and Sonny, “You’re on. I hope you’re prepared to lose.” You grabbed the game to begin setting up as he pushed some chairs out of the way.

By the fourth spin, you and Sonny were a tangle of limbs, your hands and feet all over the mat, looking like one giant human pretzel.

“Sonny…stop making me laugh! I’m trying to concentrate!” You gasped between fits of giggles.

“Sorry, doll,” he laughed.

You stretched and reached for the spinner, the board instructing you to move left hand, green. “Ok, how am, I going to do this,” you said to yourself, looking around the mat for a free green space within reach. Biting your lip in concentration, you leaned closer to Sonny, your arm snaking under his. “Aha! I did it!” You exclaimed.

“It’s…ummm…it’s your turn,” you murmured, glancing down at his bubblegum pink lips. You tried to maintain your position even though the scent of his cologne and his crystal blue eyes were causing you to lose your focus on the game.

With your free foot, you pushed the spinner towards him. Sonny got a left foot, blue. He let out a deep breath, slowly inching his foot around your leg so he could hit his spot. Stretched out his leg, he moved even closer to you until his foot landed on a blue spot.

“Y/N?” He stared into your eyes, your noses practically brushed up against each other.

“Sonny,” you whispered, no longer caring about the game. All you wanted in that moment was his mouth on yours.

“It’s your turn,” he licked his lips, eyes darting down to your cherry red pout.

“Sonny?” You interjected again, but he wasn’t listening.

“Can ya’….uh.. reach the spinner or do ya’ need help reaching it. Cause I can uhhh….get it for ya’ or I can just say a color or something. There has to be some rule for when only two people play and can’t reach the spinner,” he nervously rambled on.

“Sonny!”

“Yeah, doll,” his eyes locked with yours, your bodies entwined, breaths mingling as your chest rose and fell rapidly.

“Shut up and kiss me already,” you softly said.

A smirk tugged at his lips as he craned his neck, “I can do that.” His lips softly brushed up against yours, kissing you slow and sweet. His tongue tentatively moved against your own. Your legs and arms were shaking from holding such an awkward position, but you didn’t care. You moaned, tilting your head to deepen the kiss, so caught up in Sonny and his tender touch, that you lost your balance and fell, taking him down with you.

You both laughed, his body perched on top of yours. “Wait, so does that mean I won?” He chuckled.

“No! You distracted me, Sonny Carisi!” You smacked him on the shoulder. “That game was a draw.”

“Wanna have a rematch?” He said in a husky voice, running a hand through your hair.

“I’m game,” you tugged on his tie, bringing his mouth back to yours. He kissed you with such passion, it took your breath away. You wrapped your arms around his neck, gently nipping on his bottom lip when you heard someone clear their throat. Turning your head, you saw your coworker, Tony, standing in the doorway.

“Sorry! Just wanted to stop by and see if you needed help with your room but it looks like you got it covered,” Tony blushed, quickly scampering away, leaving you and Sonny alone again.

“That was embarrassing,” you cringed and covered your face.

“Yeah, guess we shouldn’t be making out in the middle of a first grade classroom,” he sat up, offering his hand to help you to your feet as you both put your shoes back on. “I should get going but I would like to take ya’ out on a date. Maybe Saturday night?”

“I’d love that. After all I owe you a rematch in Twister,” your hand found his as he pulled you into another feverish kiss. “You’re a good kisser,” you whispered against his lips, teasingly darting your tongue in his mouth.

“So are you,” he purred. Since your first meeting, Sonny had often wondered what it would be like to kiss you. Now standing there, your lips locked with his, it was better than he ever could have imagined. You were luscious and sweet, intoxicating to him. He kissed you all the way to the door, blindly bumping into desks, until finally letting you go. “Have fun tomorrow. Hopefully Dom will keep the chatter down.”

You snorted a laugh, “From your lips to God’s ears.” He smiled, cupping your face and kissing you one last time before leaving.

You put the game away, moving back to your desk to pack up your things. Your coworker slyly poked his head back into your room, “So does your friend have a brother?”

You playfully rolled your eyes, “Good night, Tony! I’ll fill you in tomorrow at lunch.”

“You better!” He sang down the hallway.

Finally alone in your room, you leaned back in your chair. Spying the red apple, you smiled to yourself, your lips tingling. If Sonny’s kisses were any indication, then you were going to have an incredible date.

@amirightcounsellor @obfuscateyummy @beltzboys2015-blog @southern-magnolia @letty-o @sweetsummertime99 @sonnysdoll @lyssa1385 @burningsorr0ws @katmstanton @gibbs274 @izzythefanfreak @riodallas @eclecticminded @delia26 @glimmerglittergirl @sweetcannolicarisi @babypink224221 @livxrafa

#sonny carisi #Dominick Carisi JR #sonny carisi imagine #sonny carisi x reader #sonny carisi fanfic #sonny carisi fanfiction #carisi #carisi x reader #carisi imagine #law and order svu imagine #law and order svu fic

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quicksilversquared · 5 years

Text

Lost Heart: Chapter 19

The Past Peafowl

Magic can be a dangerous thing to play around with, particularly when that magic is tangled up in a curse. When Nathalie Sancoeur experiments with magic that she doesn’t fully understand, it sends her on a path to become Paris’ most dangerous supervillain and tips the balance between superheroes and supervillain.

But which way will the balance fall?

links in the reblog

"I still can't believe you fell asleep."

"Oh, shush you," Ladybug muttered, cheeks flaming red as she landed on a still-dark rooftop, hastily muffling another yawn as she did. Something told her that Chat Noir would never stop teasing her if he spotted it. Not that he wasn't already teasing her. "The lights were off and Master Fu's chanting was like one of those soundtracks people use to relax."

"And yet you were standing up. Were, of course, being the operative word."

Ladybug pouted. Her partner giggled.

So what if she had maybe been a little tired the previous night and ended up falling asleep on Chat Noir? So what if he had had to scoop her up to keep her from hitting the floor and had ended up holding her until Master Fu needed her to wake up and produce a Lucky Charm for part of the cure for the curse before sending her and Chat Noir on their way for the night? It was just something that happened sometimes.

Ladybug really, really hoped that they could wrap this whole thing up during break. Then she could relax and sleep and catch up on everything she had pushed aside before school started up again. If she could manage that, she wouldn't be falling asleep at weird times.

She also wouldn't be getting up before sunrise to run superhero errands, like she was doing now. As much as she enjoyed being Ladybug, there were definitely some parts that she could do without.

It didn't take long to reach Master Fu's apartment. Ladybug only ran into the side of a building once (because the sun that was barely peeking over the horizon was in her eyes, Chat), and she was still muffling yawns as their mentor ushered them in through the window at the back of his apartment, looking cheerful. They followed him towards the front, where his shop was, then came to an abrupt halt when they came face-to-face with a very blue, very sparkly kwami blearily floating through the hallway, bumping into the walls as it went.

"Duusu is free!" Chat Noir exclaimed, delighted. Then he frowned, taking a closer look at the kwami. "...but I take it that he's not quite back to normal yet."

"Correct on both counts," Master Fu said cheerfully. "The potion was successful, the curse was broken, and Duusu has been freed. We're working on recovery at the moment. It's a slow process, considering how long his Miraculous has been cursed and how heavily it had been used, but I hope to have him at least a bit more responsive by this evening."

"Is that more of the same potion that we gave to my- to Mrs. Agreste?" Chat Noir asked, leaning closer to inspect the sparkle on the almost zombie-like kwami. "Her skin looked sparkly like that after we gave her the potion."

Master Fu sighed. "Yes, it is. We ran out of fruit partway through the night and I had some of that potion left over, so I gave it to Duusu to help him recover faster. Any energy is good energy at the moment, though of course other foods won't give him quite as much of a boost as fruit will. I will be monitoring him closely until he is more stable again."

Ladybug nodded, frowning at Duusu. She wasn't used to seeing a kwami look so listless, and it was really disturbing. There was an empty look to his eyes that was giving her the creeps.

Chat Noir frowned. "So... are we not returning the Miraculous to Mr. Agreste so that he can fool Mayura in case she orders him to transform and help her? I thought that was the plan last night."

"It was, and we are not. I would have to fix the bond in his presence, which would be difficult to do with him under such close supervision, and dangerous still for him to know who I am." Master Fu snagged Duusu out of the air and placed him on his shoulder, headed for the kitchen as he spoke. "I had planned on it, of course. I thought it would be our only option going forward. But when I contacted Mr. Agreste early this morning- yes, Ladybug, earlier than this, some people naturally rise before the sun- he told me that he had started the process of getting a fake Miraculous made back when his wife started getting better, because he had a feeling that it would come in handy. He sent me a picture of the pin that he has now. It's been molded and painted, then chemically treated to look as though it burned out and cracked from magical overuse. It's very convincing. He just forgot to mention it last night."

Ladybug blinked, impressed. She had wanted to suggest something similar, actually, but she hadn't thought that they would have the time or the resources to get something like that made.

"He's pleased to hear that we have Duusu freed, though, and he's ordered quite a large fruit basket to be sent," Master Fu told them. "And will be submitting a grocery order to be delivered here later this afternoon- well, not here, neither of them will be since I have no intention of giving him my address, but to a friend of mine who will then deliver it to me. We'll be positively drowning in fruit, but I'm sure Duusu will polish it off fast enough. He has quite a lot of energy to replenish."

The two superheroes nodded. Ladybug could relate. She had a lot of lost sleep to catch up on, which wasn't the same but was similar. Probably. Maybe.

"Did you get to ask Mr. Agreste about the third bond?" Ladybug asked, pushing past the fog in her mind to try to focus on the situation at hand instead of her warm, cozy bed. It was calling to her, but she had to ignore it. "Or did you not get the chance?"

Master Fu frowned. "I didn't get the chance. Madam Sancoeur arrived and he had to hang up. So we'll need to go to Mrs. Agreste and ask her. She might be more likely to know, actually. She clearly told her husband as little as possible about that part of her life."

Ladybug nodded. She couldn't blame Mrs. Agreste for that- Mr. Agreste seemed like the type of person to use information to try to control a situation, and he no doubt hadn't been entirely supportive of his wife's superhero activities because of the effects that the Miraculous had had on her. Previous Peacocks could be approached for more information than Mrs. Agreste was willing to share, either using an angle of the concerned husband or via monetary bribes.

Still, if Mrs. Agreste had gotten her Miraculous directly from the previous user, there was absolutely no way that Mr. Agreste or Ms. Sancoeur hadn't figured out who it was. They had the resources to figure it out, either with Nathalie doing the research herself or by hiring a private detective to figure it out. While it was important to keep information about the Miraculous under wraps, Ladybug was sure that there were detectives that would be willing to keep the secret, given the right incentive.

As a very, very successful fashion designer, Mr. Agreste had plenty of good incentive at his fingertips, and he was clearly more than willing to go to any lengths to protect his wife.

...Ladybug had been about to say any lengths to protect his family, but she remembered all too well the number of times that Adrien had been in danger because of an attack- and even the number of times when he had been the one that the akuma was after- and yeah, clearly Mr. Agreste had no problem with his son being in danger if it might bring him one step closer to his goal.

Father of the Year he most certainly was not. If Adrien wanted to get in line after Chloe to punch his father, she certainly wasn't going to stop him. In fact, she would be his cheering squad.

"So what's the next step?" Chat Noir wanted to know, breaking Ladybug out of her (minorly violent) thoughts. "Besides visiting Mrs. Agreste, that is?"

Master Fu laughed. "That's all you two need to worry about at the moment. She will be the key to finding out who else we have to cure. After that- well, once Duusu gets better, we'll have to find a temporary holder, in order to cure the effects of Heart on Mr. Agreste and Ms. Sancoeur. But that will be later on."

Ladybug muffled another yawn. The siren song from her bed was getting progressively louder, and she couldn't ignore it any longer. "Sounds good. Uh, so is there anything else, or are we free to go?"

"That's it!" Master Fu said cheerfully. He was clearly hiding a smile as he set Duusu down on the counter and leaned over to the fridge, pulling out a handful of tomatoes and handing it to the kwami, who grabbed the largest one and ate it in a single bite, jaw practically unhinging to get it in. "I would have texted you- that is the right term, correct?- so that you didn't need to wake up and come over, but I only heard from Mr. Agreste right before you arrived."

"Thank you, Master Fu," Chat Noir told him, taking Ladybug by the arm and steering her back towards the back entrance. "We'll go by Mrs. Agreste's room this afternoon, after school lets out."

"Oh! Before I forget-" Master Fu hurried across the kitchen to pick up a bag sitting further down the counter. "More potions for Mrs. Agreste. She'll be getting her energy back naturally now, but she has still lost some muscle tone and still needs a bit of a boost to shake off the effects of the coma. I put in a note for her telling her how to take the potions. Just give her the entire bag."

"Of course."

Minutes later, the superheroes were slipping back out the window and onto the street, taking advantage of the light traffic so early in the morning to slip out without a problem. Ladybug groaned when she spotted the sun barely peeking over the horizon, only slightly higher than it had been when they came in.

"It is still too early to be up," she groaned, pressing her face into her hands. "I am going straight back to bed. I didn't even change out of my pajamas before I transformed, so I don't have to bother with changing back."

"And obviously your pajamas are cat-patterned, am I right?" Chat Noir teased. "Or black and green?"

"No, but I've got a cat pillow," Ladybug said around a yawn. "Which is currently calling my name. Good-night."

With that, Ladybug wasted no time in hauling herself up and away, leaving her spluttering partner on the rooftop.

"Wait, Ladybug! Do you actually have a cat pillow, or were you kidding? Ladybug!"

Adrien honestly couldn't wait until school let out for the holidays. It felt strange to be going to school just like normal when he had superhero business to take care of, and he would much prefer to be actually getting that finished up instead of sitting through exams and working on endless packets.

At least there were only a couple more days. Today and tomorrow, and then a day of fun and his and Marinette's class party. Then he would be free to run around the city, getting done what needed to be done without other things getting in the way.

"Are you doing holiday dates with Marinette?" Nino asked as he and Adrien waited for Ms. Bustier to hand out exams. "You must be, right? It's absolutely the best time of the year for that, since there's so much to do. There's a Christmas market across the river near Notre Dame, and there's a stall there- well, I hope they'll come back, at least, they've been there for the past couple years- and they make the most amazing spiced hot chocolate. Alya and I went there on a date last year."

Even though going out on dates- or one date, rather- meant time taken away from wrapping up the fight with Nathalie, Adrien couldn't help but smile at the idea. His father hadn't let him go out to the festivals last year, and it was something that he really wanted to do. It would be a nice break, and he would enjoy getting to spend a bit more time with Marinette. Even though their relationship was fake, it was a lot of fun.

"Have you heard that they're considering cancelling that?" Alya asked, leaning over her desk and sticking her head between the two of them before Adrien could answer. "Because of the Purple Lady. Some officials think that it would be too dangerous, because then there's a ton of people congregated in a small area with not many exits and she's super dangerous. But everybody loves it, so some people might get upset and akumatized because it was canceled, so there's no easy answer."

Adrien slumped, discouraged. Maybe Nino had only just mentioned the market, but he had already started getting excited about it. "Oh." Then he perked up, because he had some inside information that the rest of Paris didn't have. Ladybug and Chat Noir knew who the Purple Lady was, and they were working towards wrapping the whole mess up. With Duusu freed and starting the recovery process, they were one step closer to achieving that. "What if the fight ends before then? What if they take the Purple Lady down before Christmas?"

Nino looked supremely dubious. "You really think they're going to manage it between now and next week? The market is meant to be Wednesday and Thursday. That's... a week."

"Well, they do have Dragoness now," Alya pointed out. "Have you seen the footage? First day as a superhero and they threw her up against the Purple Lady. And she kicked butt."

"Okay, I guess that's fair."

"She must have had a serious amount of training before," Alya continued. "And it really, really showed. I wish I could be that kickass, but it would probably take more dedication than I would be willing to give."

Adrien nodded. He had, of course, gotten a front-row seat to how impressive Dragoness was, and the level of training- and cross-training- there was incredible. There was some fencing there for sure- a lot of fencing, just as much as he had if not more- and karate, and judo, and probably some other stuff, too. He had to wonder how Ladybug knew her. Or knew of her, since Ladybug had admitted that she and Dragoness's civilian selves didn't exactly get along.

(He could kind of understand why- Ladybug seemed like an open, friendly person, whereas Dragoness seemed laser-focused and a little shut off. There was a reason why she was more effective with the sword than Ladybug was, and it was because she was willing to go in for the harder blows, the ones that could do some real harm, whereas Ladybug tended to have a lot of compassion even for her enemies. Those kinds of personalities... well, they could clash pretty easily.)

"And with all of the superheroes, that last fight was fast and pretty contained," Marinette chimed in. "If they can do that again, then it shouldn't be dangerous, right?"

"The Purple Lady is pretty unpredictable, though," Nino pointed out. "She's not Hawkmoth. He just did the same thing over and over and over, until he didn't. I'd bet that she had something to do with even that. And so far, we've only seen two of her akumas. One battle was super hard, the other went well enough once the superheroes finally showed up- those aren't great odds. And while Dragoness fought really well, she and Chat Noir still couldn't take the Purple Lady down. If they tried getting any of the other users to try to help- I don't think that it would work. No one else would be able to get in to fight next to them without getting in their way. And there's still Mayura to worry about, even if she hasn't sent out any monsters for the past couple fights."

Adrien tried not to frown. That was rather unfair to his and Ladybug's superhero team, he thought. With six of them- and their latest teammate being a seriously good fighter- they weren't going to get taken off guard like they had with their first fight with the Purple Lady. And with the Dragon assigned and her contact information programmed into Ladybug's yo-yo, it wouldn't take Ladybug so long to get her next time. The Purple Lady's element of surprise had worn off. The next time, the superheroes would strike back fast.

Well, as long as she could refrain from akumatizing anyone during their final days of school. Adrien would rather not have to reveal his identity to his teachers to keep himself from failing the semester because he had to leave mid-test to keep the city from falling into flames or something.

"Anyway, there are a lot of things that might be getting canceled, not just the market," Alya said quickly, before Marinette (who was opening her mouth to say something) could object. "It's sad, really, especially because it's the holidays, but the mayor doesn't want people to be congregating in one place, because that could make a really tempting target for the Purple Lady."

"How do you know all of this?" Marinette wanted to know. "Was it a report this morning that we all just missed or something?"

Alya laughed. "The serving staff at the Grand Paris gossip with the kitchen staff about stuff that they overhear, and then mom tells us over dinner."

"All right, phones and notebooks away and back to your seats!" Ms. Bustier called, bringing an end to their conversation. She waved the stack of exams in her hand at them. "Have a pencil out plus an extra- and yes, Kim, you can have a water bottle on your desk, too, you know it's school policy by now and you don't have to ask every time. Best of luck to all of you on your exams and don't forget- take your time!"

The morning crept by. Between classes, Adrien anxiously checked his phone, hoping that there hadn't been any signs of any akuma. It wasn't likely, not with the extra surprise of Dragoness that they had pulled out yesterday. Nathalie would need time to consider everything that she had seen and formulate a new plan of attack.

A new plan of attack which, hopefully, would fall flat on its face.

With the last class of the morning finished, the class headed as one large, excited mass down to the locker room to get coats and head either home or to the cafeteria for lunch. Snatches of conversation floated through the air- Rose was going caroling along with Juleka and Luka and she was trying to persuade some other people to go along; Mylène and Ivan were going on a date to the ballet to watch the Nutcracker, which was a favorite of both of theirs; Nathaniel was getting together with some extended family and wasn't looking forward to it at all; Lila was going to celebrate the holidays with Swedish royalty and then take a week in January to go to Hollywood again and visit some of her friends and connections there-

Adrien rolled his eyes, dropping to the back of the group to join Marinette as Nino and Alya pushed closer to hear the story that Lila was spinning this time. He hadn't been that bothered about her lies at first- they would come out eventually, and then she couldn't get upset at any one person. But now that she was getting people's hopes up about connections that she didn't have, she was actively hurting people. He had heard Nino talk about those connections before, wondering if he should maybe put together a portfolio for Lila to pass on, and it had taken so much for Adrien not to just sit his friend down and present all of his and Marinette's evidence that Lila was lying about absolutely everything. And it would take a comprehensive presentation of his evidence at this point, considering the number of times that Marinette- and Adrien too, admittedly- had made comments about things that didn't add up, only to be ignored.

After the Purple Lady was taken care of and both she and his father were in jail, maybe he could do something about that whole situation. Lila couldn't get akumatized anymore then.

"I'm interpreting that pile of lies as she's either staying inside with her poster backgrounds for the entire break, or she's going back to Italy and using her posters there," Marinette told Adrien as he joined her. "And no one is going to question her, as per usual."

Adrien made a face. "Yeah. I was thinking that- well, this has gone on long enough. After the break, maybe, we could think up some way to call her out and end her whole charade. I just don't know how. Whenever we point anything out that doesn't fit, she has a million excuses at the ready."

Marinette smiled, linking her arm through his and slowing down to separate them from the rest of the group right before they reached the locker room. "I'm glad you think so, because I had gotten fed up with her and- well, you know how we have a foreign relations unit coming up in Civics after the holidays?"

"I- we do? How do you know that?"

"Adrien, we got a units schedule at the start of the year," Marinette told him, the fond exasperation clear in her voice. "We're about a week behind right now because of the akuma attacks, but that makes things work better because then that unit doesn't get split up. But anyway, foreign relations unit. So I suggested to Madam Mendeleev that we might visit the Italian embassy after the break, to kick the unit off-"

Adrien perked up. "Oh, that's perfect! We can ask about how often they travel and meeting famous people and-"

A finger against his lips stopped him mid-sentence, and he raised an eyebrow at the impish look at Marinette's face. "It gets better."

"Oh?" Adrien came to a complete stop and pulled Marinette to the side so that they weren't blocking traffic. "Do tell."

"Well, Madam Mendeleev went for it right away. I think she suspects something is up with Lila's stories, to be honest. She told me that she was thinking of having it be a surprise field trip. And she called up the embassy, and Lila's mom is going to do the presentation. But- get this- she wants it to be a surprise for Lila, so she's keeping it secret, too. Lila won't find out until we get there and then it'll be too late for her to weasel her way out. And of course everyone else is going to want to ask about the celebrities and everything." Marinette smirked- and wow was that ever a dangerous look on her- and crossed her arms. "So she can't blame us for outing her. And the teachers and her mom will learn about everything at the same time."

"That- Marinette, that's brilliant!" Adrien exclaimed, absolutely thrilled. That- that was perfect. Lila couldn't trace the idea back to Marinette to try to retaliate, the two of them wouldn't have to be the ones to ask the questions that would bring her down or deal with their classmates' confusion about why they were questioning Lila, it would be after the Purple Lady was taken care of (though Marinette didn't know that bit, of course), everything would come out all at once, and with her mom right there, Lila wouldn't be able to pull out her usual list of excuses. They wouldn't need to do any dirty work or pull the whole thing into a big confrontation with the two of them at the front, which was what he had been most nervous about. "That's absolutely brilliant- you're brilliant, has anyone ever told you that?" Grinning, Adrien leaned forward, catching Marinette's chin in one hand so he could press a kiss to one cheek- and then, just because he was there and giddy and he could, he added two more for good measure.

Marinette laughed, ducking away from him. Naturally, that just spurred him on. "Adrien!"

"What? I'm just showing my appreciation for your genius planning skills!" Adrien captured Marinette around the waist and pressed another kiss to her cheek, grinning at her laughter. "Gotcha!"

Marinette responded with a groan and a playful swat, squirming but clearly not that interested in getting away. Adrien grinned and then did what any sensible (fake) boyfriend would do when faced with a giggling, protesting (fake) girlfriend in his arms.

He started peppering Marinette's face with playful kisses, dodging her halfhearted swats as he did. His fingers closed around her wrists as she swatted him again, keeping them still as he went in for a kiss to the tip of Marinette's nose.

He hadn't been expecting her to move.

Adrien's lips connected with Marinette's, and he froze partway thought the kiss. The two of them had decided during a note-passing conversation recently that they would probably have to kiss at some point during their fake relationship to keep it believable, but they hadn't exactly discussed when and they definitely hadn't talked about kissing now-

And Marinette was kissing him back.

Mentally shrugging his shoulders, Adrien went along with it, unfreezing and returning the kiss, unable to help smiling into it as he did. It didn't last long, and then they broke apart. Neither went far, though, only separating far enough to press their foreheads together. Adrien blinked his eyes open and was pleased to see that Marinette didn't look upset at all by the unexpected kiss. She looked a little shy, though, so Adrien leaned forward for long enough to press a light kiss to his original target- that was, the tip of Marinette's nose- before releasing her and taking a small step back.

Marinette laughed. "You're a dweeb."

Relieved- he hadn't messed things up between them, thank goodness- Adrien grinned at her. "Yeah, but am I at least a cute dweeb?"

"Oh, I suppose."

"Are you two done being gross?" a loud voice demanded, and Adrien startled and spun around to see Chloe standing there. She didn't look impressed, but Adrien refused to feel sheepish. They hadn't been doing anything wrong. "I did not need to see that before lunch."

"We were just kissing, Chloe," Adrien pointed out. He glanced behind her and was surprised to not see Sabrina. Maybe she was still in the group hovering around Lila. "And we weren't in the way of the door or anything, you didn't have to look."

"I did! I come with a message." Chloe glanced around to make sure that no one was listening, then leaned in closer, lowering her voice. "Your mom wanted to have lunch with you today at the Grand Paris. You could come too, I suppose," she added in Marinette's direction. "If you really had to."

Marinette looked like she was resisting the urge to laugh. "I'll pass today, thanks. I have a few Christmas presents that I still need to finish up and then I have some studying to do."

"And you need to remember to eat between all of that," Adrien reminded her, catching her arm to steer her into the locker room so they could grab their coats. "I know what you get like when you get caught up in a project, and listening to your stomach growling all afternoon makes me hungry."

"It does not, Adrien, you just like exaggerating."

With Chloe hovering behind them hurrying him on, it didn't take him long to gather up his things and head out to Chloe's waiting limo. Once they were inside and on their way back to the hotel, Adrien couldn't help but let his mind wander back to the kiss.

They had just been messing around. Part of it- he couldn't deny it- had been because he was a bit tired and lacking any impulse control. Part of it was because he could be his goofiest self around Marinette and she was goofy right back, instead of judging him like Chloe or his father would. And part of it...

Well, Adrien couldn't deny that he had really enjoyed their date together, even if it had technically been fake. He enjoyed all of his time together with her. And he had enjoyed their kiss, too.

So maybe he had a bit of a crush on her.

But he couldn't do anything about it, not now. Not when they were in the hectic final days of the semester and- in his superhero life- the frantic planning leading up to the final battle. Adding real dates to that...

Well, it wouldn't be fair to Marinette, because he might have to leave their dates to go fight a dangerous supervillain. And it also wouldn't be fair to Marinette to start dating her when he was still in love with Ladybug. It seemed like that could easily end up sinking their fledgling relationship before it had a chance and, well... Adrien didn't want to lose Marinette.

He could wait. Wait until all of the craziness had passed and things had settled down, wait until his feelings for Ladybug subsided a bit, and wait for a better time to start the relationship.

It didn't take Chat Noir long to transform and race over to the Grand Paris after school let out, joining Ladybug on the rooftop before they dropped down onto Mrs. Agreste's balcony. He had told Marinette that he had something going on for a bit after school and would let her know when he was free, and she had nodded, as understanding as ever. As it turned out, she had something that she needed to do, too, so she would also text him when she was done so that he could come over and they could do a bit more studying together.

It was funny how those coincidences worked out, really, but he couldn't deny that he was grateful for them.

As usual, the superheroes wasted no time once they were waved into Mrs. Agreste's room. Ladybug handed over the bag of potions at once, then moved immediately into explaining what else they were there for.

"We were wondering- well, last night, we took the curse off of the Peacock Miraculous," Ladybug started. "And we noticed that there were more connections than we expected- three still active before we cut them, instead of just one."

Mrs. Agreste frowned. "Three? Who...?"

"Well, Nathalie, obviously. Then Mr. Agreste, because he apparently used the Peacock with Heart a couple times to try to get a better feel for the curse or something-"

Mrs. Agreste muttered something that Chat Noir didn't quite catch but he didn't doubt that it wasn't particularly complimentary towards his father.

"-and then a third one," Ladybug finished, clearly trying to hide a smile. "Yours we had already cut, as you know. So we were wondering- was there someone who used the Peacock before you? Where did you get it from?"

"I got it from a friend of mine," Mrs. Agreste said at once. "Tomoe Tsurugi. She had used it before me for the same purpose, but she renounced it, I thought. She didn't want to use it anymore but an active Peacock was still needed, so she gave it up and gave it to me." The frown deepened. "And I would have thought that she at least would have figured out Gabriel and gone to you to stop him."

"Renouncing it didn't work completely with Duusu in limbo," Chat Noir told her. "The bond had to be cut." Then he frowned as the familiarity of the name hit him. "Wait, Tsurugi? The fencer?"

Mrs. Agreste nodded, a frown on her face. "Right. She knew where the Peacock had gone, of course, and I had told her that I had managed to track down the Butterfly. I hadn't ever used it because after I learned about the Butterfly's powers, I couldn't see how they would work for fighting the demons. I didn't want to send actual, breakable people up against them, and I didn't know if it would have the same effect as the Peacock, to mend the rift between the worlds once the demons had been chased back. But she knew. She had to know who had the Butterfly once I was gone."

"Another mystery," Ladybug commented to Chat Noir. "They never end, do they?"

"It's a tangled mess," Chat Noir agreed. Then he re-focused his attention on Mrs. Agreste. "But how did she keep fencing if she had the Peacock draining her energy? I mean, she used Body, right?"

"Correct." Mrs. Agreste's smile had turned a little sad. "It had a very different effect on Tomoe than it did on me, though."

"Can you explain that bit more?" Chat Noir requested, exchanging a puzzled look with Ladybug. "We thought that the body option of the curse always manifested as drained energy."

Mrs. Agreste nodded, then shrugged, then sighed. "I mean, no one can really understand how magic and curses work, can they? For some reason, it latched onto a preexisting condition: her deteriorating eyesight." She sighed, slumping into a chair. "Tomoe used to be able to see. It took a lot of serious correction, though. Then, before she had even gotten the Peacock, the darkness started creeping in, from the outside in. It moved in slowly, enough that she knew that she would go completely blind eventually but not for a while. She adapted, learning how to fight just as well as before with her somewhat limited field of vision. Then she got the Miraculous- I believe from a relative- and she took on the responsibility of using it."

Ladybug and Chat Noir exchanged a look, unwilling to chime in and interrupt the story.

"It sped up the progression of her condition- retinitis pigmentosa, I believe it's called- but she refused to let that slow her down," Mrs. Agreste continued. "Her job was important in keeping the world safe, after all, and she had worked for her entire life to get where she was with fencing, so she didn't want to give either one up. We figured out that feeding the Miraculous helped minimize the effects, and she kept fencing, practicing harder and harder. It's so hard to do when missing the peripheral vision, but she figured out how to adapt and overcome. It helped that she never told anyone, I think. If no one knew, then no one could exploit it."

"Didn't she have to tell someone eventually?" Chat Noir wanted to know. "Her coach, at least?"

"He knew about her condition from the start, but he didn't know that it had progressed so quickly. No one did." Mrs. Agreste sighed. "She finally decided to give up the responsibility when it was clear that continued use of the Miraculous would cut her career far too short. I took on the Miraculous, then, and spent a large chunk of time trying how to figure out how to break the curse, with no luck. And by then, Tomoe had enough of a connection to the Peacock that her blindness continued to progress at an accelerated rate. She had to give up competitive fencing for good several years back, and a year after that, the last of her vision went, all at once. As it turned out, she also had another eye condition, but it was just slower to appear. That took her vision from the center of her eyes, and the two blind areas converged."

Chat Noir couldn't help but cringe in sympathy. That was awful, but also pretty incredible. It was obvious that Madam Tsurugi would still be winning championships now if she could still see at all. He had seen her fencing tapes from near the end of her fencing career, when she would have lost a lot of her vision and what remained had to have been heavily corrected, and he never would have guessed that she had any handicaps at all.

She must have trained really hard to stay in the championships at all, and to win them? Chat Noir wished that he could be that good.

"Could you heal her, like you healed me?" Mrs. Agreste asked anxiously. "I know she would appreciate it so much."

Chat Noir glanced over at Ladybug, glad to see that she looked as uncertain as he felt. "Uh..."

"We can ask our mentor," Ladybug promised. "It might be difficult, though, since the curse got tangled up in a preexisting condition."

"Right," Mrs. Agreste said at once. "I can understand that. Fully restored sight would be impossible, since it was poor even before she got the Miraculous, but even a bit of improvement from what she has now- I don't doubt that it would be much appreciated. She thought that she would have more time with at least partial vision before losing it all. Even if she has adapted now…"

Chat Noir nodded, glancing at Ladybug again. They would have to visit Madam Tsurugi soon, then, and figure out not only what was going on with her knowledge about the Miraculous, but also what they could do (if anything) about the effects that the curse had had on her.

"What else do you need to do before you can take down the Purple Lady and help Nathalie?" Mrs. Agreste asked after several seconds had passed. "Is there any way that I can help that along? It's not that I don't appreciate the Grand Paris providing me with this room, really, but I'd love to be able to go back home. And I'm sure that you would appreciate not having your holidays interrupted by akuma attacks."

"Right," Chat Noir agreed. He glanced over at Ladybug, hoping that she would be fine with him sharing information with Mrs. Agreste. She nodded in encouragement. "Well, the curse has been broken on the Peacock Miraculous, and Duusu is currently recovering. We want him to be recovered before we do the final battle because, uh..." He frowned. "Actually, I'm not sure why."

"For the surprise element," Ladybug filled in. She grinned at his puzzled look, because seriously, when had Master Fu mentioned that? And- the bigger question- how had Ladybug caught that when he hadn't, when she had been the one practically sleepwalking when Master Fu got Duusu out? "If the Purple Lady sees the Peacock in action, she'll be thrown off enough for us to get an opening to take her down."

"Couldn't we get Rena to do that with an illusion?"

Ladybug made a face. "I don't know how convincing it would be, though. And her illusions don't last long. The Purple Lady is smart. I can see where it would be better to have the actual Peacock back in action. And Mr. Agreste said that he would send a ton of fruit, so hopefully it won't take more than a couple days to get Duusu fully recovered."

Mrs. Agreste nodded, leaning forward. "That's smart. But may I make a suggestion?"

"Go for it."

"Having the Peacock out and about would throw Nathalie off some," Mrs. Agreste started, straightening. "There's no doubt about that. But she knew what I looked like when transformed. And she thinks that I'm still deep in a coma underground. So what would you think about me becoming Paon again?"

#Miraculous Ladybug #My writing #Lost Heart #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng

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arbodyworks-blog · 4 years

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Girls with guns, why women should lift weights

… From experience, talking to women in the gym brings about a number of common themes. This one is the most confusing

“When I workout, I don’t lift weights because I don’t want to look like a bodybuilder”

I see time and time again, women emerge from the changing rooms, wander aimlessly over to the juice bar, fill up a water bottle and head to the cardio zone for a monotonous 20 – 40 minute hell, which they wholly believe will be enough to extract the choc au pain from their hips that they had for breakfast. In addition, they then head to the mats and work out their hip flexors for a couple of sets thinking that poorly executed crunches will make their abs just pop up one day out of the mire of their stubborn tummy bulge.

6 months later and the SAME women doing the SAME workouts day in day out weigh and look the SAME and decide something needs to change.

When I challenge these women on the subject of resistance training, many of them either don’t know how to train any differently or don’t want to because they believe they will end up looking like Jodie Marsh if they pick up weights any heavier than 2 KG. (I must add at this point I think the transformation Ms Marsh has achieved is remarkable, however not to my taste, and in no way was that last comment meant in a derogatory way)

The truth begins to become apparent.

I find the best way to try and change this thinking is to make women aware of the differences between themselves and the guys they see in the free weights room.

The reason men grow is testosterone and the reason women don’t is a lack of testosterone. Sorry ladies you just don’t have the testicles for it!

Women just don’t eat enough to get big!

Getting out of your comfort zone, Men can do it better!

Expanding on number 1:

Men create testosterone in their testes and it is the principle sex hormone and incidentally an anabolic steroid. Secondary effects include increased muscle mass and the growth of body hair! (Ladies, if either of those are appealing go right ahead and supplement). Testosterone also promotes aggression which helps with number 3. Women also produce testosterone but at such low levels that muscle growth is much more difficult.

Expanding on number 2.

Most women simply do not consume enough calories on a daily basis to grow. In fact most women do not even consume enough calories to maintain their weight as it is. Most people are under misconceptions that they will get big from weightlifting without eating any more than they currently do. It is very hard to put on weight!!! The internet is full of formulas and numbers for the amount of calories needed to get big, but really could you see a normal size women chowing down on 3000 or more calories a day mostly from protein? That’s 6 x 500 calorie meals!!! Most men looking to gain muscle would struggle with that! How many women do you know that would even consider INCREASING their calorie intake when they are trying to lose weight? The simple answer is very few.

Expanding on number 3.

A close friend of mine and mentor told me once that when assessing a clients RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) women over exaggerate and men under exaggerate. Meaning a woman will tell you that she is working at a level of 8/10 (Exertion wise) when in fact she is closer to 6-7 and men will say 6/10 when in fact it will be closer to 8. Being able to push past your comfort zone and continue to train is what good athletes do and building muscle is very hard to do if you don’t go further and harder than you ever thought you could. Men are much better at this (apparently), they push and push, sometimes to injury and it is this drive that makes it easier for men to build muscle. Another point to tie in at this juncture is aggression, created partly by levels of testosterone. This aggression can be used to push past comfort zones and carry on. It stands to reason therefore, that it would be unlikely for women however determined to be as aggressive as their male counterparts.

So physiologically you won’t become Jodie Marsh unless you force feed yourself, supplement to the eyeballs and train so hard that you can barely move. So why should you lift weights?

BECAUSE IT IS BENEFICIAL!!!

In my opinion the best way to lose weight, get abs, tone up, lose your bingo wings etc. Is to increase the rate at which your body burns calories, lifting heavier does this by increasing your metabolic rate. The trauma to the muscles caused by lifting heavier weights enables you to burn calories even while sitting in the sauna after your workout and beyond. All body fat consists of is extra calories which you’ve eaten that your body has stored.

So doesn’t doing something that makes you burn more calories, more quickly sound appealing to ladies that are trying to lose weight????

Not only will lifting weights help you burn more calories it will also help to define the muscles underneath. When you lift a heavy weight the muscle fibres involved tear very slightly each time (It’s why you feel like crap for a day or two after a HEAVY weights workout). Now when those fibres repair they repair stronger and slightly bigger, so the muscles look better. You won’t get big as I’ve explained; you will look more toned and feminine! Look at the pictures below and tell me you wouldn’t want your arms, shoulders and back to look like that…

ALL THESE WOMEN I CAN GUARANTEE YOU LIFT WEIGHTS AS PART OF THEIR DAILY WORKOUTS!

Not only will you melt body fat and look great, your clothes will all fit better and you will also be able to perform better functionally day to day. Lifting the shopping from the car to the house without having to take 2 trips, moving the sofa, performing overhead tasks like painting, lifting kids… All of these things you won’t need help with if you just add a few weights sessions into your weekly schedule.

What now?

Now that you know that the incredible hulk isn’t going to pop out of your gym bag, how do you get started? You have a choice. You can YouTube exercise videos and try (unsuccessfully) to copy the creator doing their squats presses etc, with little to no knowledge of what your actually trying to do or what you should feel… OR, you can contact me at [email protected] and book in a session.

Or if you want to follow from afar then I recommend you get in my exclusive email club here >>> bit.ly/ARB14Ebook

(Free gift offer when you join at the moment)

or follow me on the socials

Facebook >>> www.facebook.com/arbodyworks

Instagram >>> www.instagram.com/arbodyworkscoaching

Until next time...

Andy

#coach life coaching onlinecoach personaltraining hampshire berkshire dorset mindset happiness focus success fitness performance positive mot

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rainbowdragon117 · 7 years

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There Will Always Be Hope (IV)

Fandom: RWBY

Faunus Weiss AU

From a young age, Weiss knew she wasn't normal. Having a tragic past she prefers not to think about, she tries to live her life, helping her surrogate dad work the club.

She never really thought about pursuing her dream of becoming a huntress, that is until she helps the world famous Glynda Goodwitch, helps stop a robbery, saves a couple Faunus and stops a couple of Grimm from destroying the neighbourhood.

Now she's been given the chance to attend Beacon Academy, she has to choose between hiding herself from the world or living her dream?

Also posted on AO3 (X)

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The first thing Weiss noticed when she came to was the unbearable heat.

Taking a breath, she couldn't help the coughing fit as she choked on fumes, using one hand to push herself up and the other to clear the smoke from her face she looked around at her surroundings with unfocused eyes. The bomb had destroyed most of the East wing and started a huge fire, expensive paintings and other flammables had already been burnt to a crisp as the flames grew along the walls, to her left the security room door had been blown into itself, trapping people in the control room. Hearing rubble shift Weiss looked to see her mother freeing herself from the fallen debris, once she was free Elizabeth took in the damage caused before spotting and limping over to her daughter,

"Weiss dear, we need to leave!" Using some of the last reserves of her aura, Elizabeth used the rubble to create two giant molten groundhogs, she commanded one to break the door to the control room whilst the other began clearing the blocked off path that led to the rest of the house. Weiss watched in amazement as her mother's creation got to work, tearing through the weakened metal as if it was made of plastic, within minutes the door was gone and the beast stood to the side as its creator walked past to inspect the damage to the room. Thought the metal aligned in the walls had saved most of the security team from the damage the roof had still caved in, crushing one of the staff and destroying most of the consoles.

Coughing to her left dragged Elizabeth away from the destruction in front of her, Alison supported himself on the only functioning console, trying to clear the dust and smoke from his lungs, opening one eye - the one not filled with blood - he gave the room a once over before addressing his employer,

"What the devil is happening?! Code 7 Ms Schnee?" His heavy Mistrial accent bleeding in between gasps, limping over he began helping clear his colleagues out one by one, handing the most injured over towards the giant Groundhog statue. With a flick of her wrist, Elizabeth transformed it into a dire wolf before commanding it to take its injured load to the nearest hospital. The summon nodded before exiting the hole in the side of the building and heading downhill towards the nearest town. Watching her summon go Elizabeth knew the people on board would get the best help and turned towards Alison and her daughter,

"We need to regroup with everyone else that's still here, I know my husband is awake and most likely with Winter, that explosion rattled the whole building hopefully it's the only one," kneeling down she brushed a few loss strands of hair that clung to Weiss' face before kissing her forehead and smiling, "I'm sorry I didn't believe you earlier snowflake, we're going to find your sister and get out of here okay?" She waited for Weiss to nod before heading over to whatever console was left working, "Where did you run into the White Fang? Hopefully, I can find out if they're still here"

White Fang? Weiss didn’t know what her mother was talking about, seeing the confusion on her face Elizabeth elaborated, "The scary people in the masks" she quickly explained. Keying in the coordinates she wasn't surprised to find the main cameras had been disconnected, using a special password only her husband knew she quickly changed the feed to the three hidden cameras they used to keep an eye on their children, turning it to the centre of the room she watched as a tall slightly muscled woman grabbed the head of an equally tall man with cat ears before tilting his head and staring straight into his eyes, after a few seconds he ceased struggling before standing upright and walking over to his comrades.

Typing in a new command she quickly flicked through the cameras stationed throughout the house, most of the mansion was clear except the backyard and gardens were three trucks with the horrid White Fang logo on the sides, "How the hell did they not set off the perimeter alarms and how did your men not spot this?!" Elizabeth turned to Alison motion in to the security feeds.

Stepping past her and using the other have of the console, Alison typed in his clearance codes before flicking through the cameras, unlike Mrs Schnee footage however his feed showed up clean, checking the video logs however he noticed that the video was stuck on a loop between 8 pm to 11 pm, "They've sabotaged most of the cameras Ma'am, as far as the others knew the garden and the backyard leading to the forest was clear, I'm terribly sorry we should have been more vigilant." Alison lowered his head before smashing the side of the console with is a fist, feeling something around his leg he looked down to see Weiss hugging his leg, tail happily swaying behind her. Smiling he gently patted her head before steeling his nerves, he needed to get both these people to safety, no matter the cost.

∞∞∞

Weiss rode on top of the remaining rubble summon, Elizabeth had felt some of her aura gently return to her earlier letting her know her summon had gotten its injured cargo to safety. They were now walking around the empty mansion seeing if they could find anyone, friend or foe, they’d already bumped into a few staff along the way telling them that there were a few White Fang members running around killing staff and most of the staff had evacuated to the downstairs carpark and were loading into the emergency armoured vehicles. With his pistol raised, Alison peered around another corner, checking it was clear before beckoning the others forward, so far they had only found three dead corpses, one of them being a white fang member. Elizabeth made sure to keep her daughter preoccupied so she didn’t have to see the horrific sights. Walking deeper towards the kitchen, Weiss’ ears began to flicker as she picked up the sound of movement up ahead, noticing Elizabeth signalled Alison back only for a door to his left to slam open and a White Fang guard to come crashing out. Raising his gun, he aimed at the door only for the body to drop to the floor lifeless, aiming his pistol again when he heard more footsteps he quickly let out a lengthy breath when a familiar face came into view. Jensen, the Schnee’s loyal butler limbed of the body before all but collapsing into the unprepared security guard, holstering his weapon in record time he grabbed the shofar before he could collide into the floor,

“I am so glad to see you Mrs and Miss Schnee, after we saw your husband run off with Winter without you, we feared the worst.” Trying to stand on his own. Jensen buckled again before being caught by both Ms Schnee and Alison, looking over his tatted and ripped clothes, Elizabeth knew the butler wouldn’t be able to walk on his own, making eye contact with her trusted head of security, she easily conveyed the message that she wanted. Shifting his weight so he was fully leaning on Alison, Elizabeth walked around so she could face Jensen,

“Jensen? I need you to hold on for me okay? Alison is going to escort you and Weiss to the emergency carpark while I continue to look for survivors.” Jensen tried to shift his wait onto his own legs, pushing off his colleague, he opened his mouth to argue but saw the look in woman’s eyes stopped, sighing he leaded back onto Alison. Elizabeth nodded and turned around went to call her summon over, only to notice it wasn’t there, figuring out what their friend was looking for they too began to look around for the youngest Schnee only to find she wasn’t there.

∞∞∞

Weiss continued to ride on top of her mother summon through the mansion, when they had stopped earlier, she had been so scared when the door crashed open and the White Fang appeared she had grabbed the summon around its neck and closed her eyes, for a second she felt weird before the summon turned white and left the room. Now they were in the second Kitchen further down the estate, timidly looking around each corner and avoiding areas where Weiss could smell blood and smoke. Entering the Piano room, Weiss was struck by fear causing the summon to freeze; two White Fang grunts were currently sweeping the room looking for any humans whilst the third had his back turned, scowling at a giant-sized family portrait. Deciding he had had enough of the picture he extended his clawed hand and slashed at the photo, effectively beheading the two adult Schnee and defacing the eldest daughter but missing the youngest, looking towards the two made noises of approval whilst the vandal looked over his work to turn and face his two comrades only to notice the new arrival, he looked at the destroyed picture just to confirm he was seeing it with his own eyes before looking back at the child with a sinister smile,

“I missed that time, I won’t miss again.”

Stalking towards the terrified child, he heard his companions cocking their weapons ready to fire if someone else came. Just as the terrorist was about to lung, however, he was blinded as the room filled bright blue flash before he felt something slam him across his side, sending him flying and crashing on the other side of the room, coughing up blood as he didn’t have enough time to draw up his aura, he shakily looked to were his two clanmates were and saw what looked like a glowing white bear standing where he once was, glaring at the image he let out a gurgled growl before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he slumped down against the wall. Looking at their dead-squad leader, the two remaining terrorists looked at each other before raising their weapons and firing at the creature in front of them, two shots rang out and then the firing stopped.

Uncurling from a ball, the now giant blue rubble armadillo summon released Weiss from its protective shell before transforming back into a rather large canine of some kind, before Weiss could process what was happening she was quickly engulfed in a strong hug, looking up she could see the crying face of her mother, closing her eyes as she kissed her wherever she could get hold, “Don’t you ever run off like that again!” watching her daughter nod she stayed crouched and hugging her daughter for a while longer. Hearing heavy footsteps, Elizabeth looked up to see her husband barge into the other side of the tarnished main dining room, he looked around spotting his wife before having to step back to avoid a flaming support beam from crashing into him, covering his to stop the ash and smoke getting into his face he tried to peer throw to make sure his wife was okay. Unable to he yelled at his wife to meet him in the foyer before making his way there himself, decapitating the head of a fallen Faunus that was trapped under what he guessed was he great great grandfather’s statue, sneering in disgust before flicking the blood off his sword, he made his way through the passage and around the corner, in the distance he could see Elizabeth’s summon holding up a wall that had been knocked down from one of the many bomb explosions earlier, glancing at the wall he wondered how such an uncivilized group of animals were not only able to penetrate the perimeter of his home but able to plan and execute an attack of this magnitude, deciding to question it later, he decided to head back around and wait for the pair near the entrance.

Distracted, he didn’t notice the Snake Faunus come hobbling up the left corridor.

∞∞∞

The snake commander limped down the corridor, one hand holding her empty pistol and the other holding a cloth to a wound on her side as she waited for her Aura to heal the wound. That nurse had proven to put up more of a fight than she had expected, refusing to tell her where those blasted Schnee basterds had run off to, instead drawing a shard and slitting the throat of one her subordinates and then trying to stab her, she’d managed to embed her with the makeshift weapon before Snake grabbed the offending wrist and snapped it, her scream was cut short with a bullet to the head and Snake was on the move again, trying to find at least one Schnee before she called for a retreat, the higher ranks would be more forgiving if she hadn’t completely wasted their original plan.

Rounding a corner in this maze of a house, she heard faint footsteps up a head, sticking to the shadows she made her way to what was properly another fancy room. Getting closer she saw that wretched freak Faunus child from earlier standing with its back towards her, looking towards what looked like a glowing bear made up of rock. Removing the red cloth, she inspected her wound to find her Aura had finally closed it up, testing her arm and rips she felt a light tingle but that’s it. Dropping the useless gun, she unsheathed a small blade from underneath her coat, and stalked towards her oblivious prey.

∞∞∞

Watching her Summon hold the wall up, Elizabeth moved over to where her daughter stood admiring the Kodiak bear as it pushed and held up a wall that would have sealed them in earlier. Kneeling, she cleaned the dry tears off her face and picked a few pieces of rubble from her face, looking at her she couldn’t help but smile at her little survivor,

“I love you dear, don’t ever forget that.” She kissed her on the forehead, and smiled before going to scoop Weiss up in her arms, “Love you too Mumma.” Releasing the hug, she was about to say something when she felt a hand on her shoulder and a burning hot pain in her chest. Looking down she saw a blade covered in blood – her blood her dying mind realised – sticking from her chest, looking up she saw Weiss frozen with fear, her face and clothes also covered with her blood as well,

“Well that was touching.” Snake whispered in the dying Schnee’s ear, all while staring into the face of the little, “and a little pathetic.” Hissing she pulled the blade out of her stomach, and flung the body off to the side, bringing the blade up she flicked her tongue out to lick some of the droplets on her hand, “If it makes you feel better, you just saved that creature you call an offspring’s life!” Shell shocked, Weiss crawled over to her mother’s body, tears streaming down she took her mother’s outstretched hand and put it towards her check, closing her eyes she felt her mother raise her other hand to her chest before a warm sensation took over her, in her dying breaths her mother quickly chanted,

“For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. *cough* Through this, we become a paragon of v-virtue and glory to rise above all. I-Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I *cough* I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee.” Elizabeth watched as she fully unlocked her daughter’s Aura and began channelling the last remaining reserves she had, “I love you Weiss, remember that, when-whenever you feel alone, I’ll be watching.” Looking over she gave her Summon one last command to protect her youngest daughter, before changing it from a Bear into a Beowulf. Due to its change of size, the Summon couldn’t hold the wall in place so went for the next best thing and quickly cocooned itself around its new charge, without the support the wall began to crumble and eventually collapsed. Seeing the impending doom, Snake quickly dived out of the way, covering her face as dust and rubble began to fall near.

∞∞∞

Eric felt the mansion shift, bracing himself against a wall he turned around to see dust and rubble traveling up the hallway he had just come, looking around he couldn’t see his wife or the Faunus child anywhere. Pulling a handkerchief from his inside pocket, he holstered his weapon and covered his mouth, using his free hand to wave the dust from his eyes he quickly jogged back into the room to find that it had collapsed in on itself, peering through the dust he saw something twinkling from the corner of his eye. Peering through the dust he recognised his wife face, bloodied and lifeless as well as he favourite bracelet and her wedding ring glistening on her exposed hand. Knowing she was dead, he quickly bowed his head in respect before heading back to the garage, there was nothing left for him here, the best thing he could do was regroup with his only daughter and leave this place before it buried them all.

Watching the Schnee scum slip away, Snake looked at the corpse of his wife with a little satisfaction, she felt better having killed her like they killed her wife, looking at the rubble next to her she contemplated whether she should dig up the little Schnee mutant child to show the higher ranks before dismissing it and making her way out herself, she sent a message to the remaining White Fang troops to retreat and head back to HQ.

Though it wasn’t the plan, she was sure the Alphas would be happy with the fall of the White Mansion and the death of two Schnees, even if they didn’t know about the child.

∞∞∞

Hours later, when the fires had died out and what remained of the building had stopped falling, a pile of rubble began to stir. Brick, ruined furniture, and wood moved until finally the Beowulf freed itself from its tomb, sensing no danger it quickly picked up its charge and started making its way away from the young Schnee’s home and towards the nearest town.

∞∞∞

Hei Xiong hated quite a few things; he hated cheap alcohol, he hated Grimm infested forests, he hated the cold and he hated waiting, but most of all he hated being stood up. One of his current contacts had set up a meeting to have someone meeting him here whilst he was on a trip to Atlas in the hopes of doing some business in exchange for Hei clearing a debt he had racked up at one of his bars. Stubbing out his cigar, he pulled his fur lined coat to try and keep warm and began heading back to car, messaging one of his thugs to “take care” of their little money leech. Looking up, he stopped when he saw something over his car in the distance coming towards him, putting away his scroll he pulled out his weapon Ontario and held it to his side, as it came more into view he could make out the shape of a Beowulf but the colour was all wrong. Deciding to see what the creature was he made his way around the all-terrain vehicle towards it, changing Ontario into its bazooka form and being ready to blast it away when it noticed something in its arm. Putting the weapon away he quickly made his way over when he saw the small child, checking her over, he saw she was still alive but unconscious, her clothes were tattered and there was dried blood and rubble everywhere, her face was the worst, with a gash across her forehead and another going across her right eye to her check.

Searching around, he saw smoke polluting the early morning far to East, hearing something crack he looked over to the Beowulf to see chunks of it falling apart, swiftly he grabbed the cataleptic child before taking a step back and watching the Summon break apart into a pile of rubble, a small orange orb slowly evaporating into the sky. Sighing, he looked down at the buddle in his arms, having a closer view he noticed one of her lion ears sticking out from the matted hair, readjusting the girl he made his way back to his car, deciding to go home and call it a night, he made a mental note to get one of his nurse contacts in Atlas to stop by and check her out for any injuries. After making sure she was safely buckled into the passenger seat and that her tail – wait tail? – didn’t almost get trapped in the door again he jogged over to the driver’s seat and got in and started the car, looking over one more time to make sure the girl was still okay he chuckled to himself before putting the care into drive and heading into the city,

“Well, Miltia and Melanie did say they wanted a younger sister.”

#set me free #there will always be hope #rwby #rwby fanfiction #rwby fic #rwby fanfic #rwby fandom #faunus weiss schnee #weiss schnee #oc #rwby volume 4 #hei xiong #Rooster Teeth #fanfiction #fanfic #AO3 rwby

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biofunmy · 4 years

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That Ugly Fireplace Isn’t as Bad as You Think

“The fireplace must be the focus of every rational scheme of arrangement,” Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman Jr. wrote in their 1897 design classic, “The Decoration of Houses.”

Not much has changed since then. Fireplaces are usually the dominant element in rooms lucky enough to have them, and the anchor around which furnishings are organized. In fact, most fireplaces refuse to be ignored, whether they’re beautiful or ugly. And therein lies the problem: What if your fireplace is clad in dated tile or discolored brick, or your mantel looks out of proportion or out of place?

Giving a fireplace a new look may seem daunting, but it’s not as hard as it sounds.

“It’s an architectural ornament that’s changeable,” said Thomas Jayne, an interior designer in New York and the author of “Classical Principles for Modern Design,” a book on applying Wharton and Codman’s ideas to contemporary interiors.

Transforming the appearance of a fireplace is usually well worth the time and expense, he said, because “if you like your fireplace, you’ll like your whole room a lot better.”

We asked Mr. Jayne and other designers for advice on how to deal with a problematic fireplace.

Consider What You Have

It’s easy to write off old mantels and surrounds as unappealing when they’re damaged from years of abuse or covered in layers of soot, grime or caked paint.

But don’t automatically assume that you need to rip out or cover up what you’ve got. Instead, try to imagine what your fireplace would look like if it were restored.

“In a lot of projects, we start with ugly-looking fireplaces” that are actually beautiful underneath, said Andrea Fisk, who founded the Brooklyn-based architecture firm Shapeless Studio with Jess Thomas Hinshaw.

“A lot of them have just been painted over and over and over,” Ms. Thomas Hinshaw said, “so that they’ve lost a lot of the detailing and character.”

When Ms. Fisk and her life partner bought a rundown townhouse of their own in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, it had a dreary-looking living room fireplace covered in dirty cream-colored paint. But rather than immediately removing the mantel, Ms. Fisk performed a careful investigation.

“We really had no idea what was under there,” she said. They couldn’t even tell whether the mantel was stone or wood. With a chemical paint remover, she stripped away layers of paint and was astonished by what she found: a stunning mantel of green and gray slate with hints of pink and carved floral details.

“That was a wonderful surprise,” she said.

Not only did she keep it — after removing every trace of the old paint, of course — she also based the color palette of the room on it.

Paint It

There’s a reason old mantels are often thick with layers of paint: It’s one of the easiest and least expensive ways to change the look of a fireplace. When done well, with an appropriate amount of paint — not gobs, which can clump, drip and look unsightly — painting can be surprisingly effective.

Susana Simonpietri, owner and creative director of the Brooklyn-based design firm Chango & Co., occasionally paints brick fireplaces white for a crisp, fresh look. Recently, she did so while renovating a 1970s house in East Hampton, N.Y., which had a two-sided fireplace between the living and dining rooms made from orangy brick that neither she nor her clients liked.

“We painted the outside white and the inside of the fireplace black, for a lot of contrast,” she said.

It was as simple as covering the brick with a sealing primer, she said, and then applying several coats of Decorator’s White paint from Benjamin Moore. “The priming is very important,” she said. “If you don’t prime, the color from the bricks will bleed through.”

Almost any type of paint can be used on the outside of a fireplace, Ms. Simonpietri said, though she prefers an exterior-grade paint for durability. But inside the firebox, it’s important to use a special high-temperature paint that can withstand the heat.

A painted brick fireplace is easy to maintain, she said, even when it’s white: “All you have to do is hit it with another coat of paint when it gets dirty, over time, from the smoke.”

Change the Mantel

Replacing an existing mantel or chimney piece, or adding one where there was previously none, can immediately change the character of a fireplace.

A traditional fireplace can be made to look modern with the addition of a mantel composed of simple marble slabs, and a contemporary fireplace can be given a sense of age with a traditional wood mantel that has classical details.

“Changing the mantel itself is not that big a deal,” Ms. Simonpietri said, noting that they can usually be pried off the wall like trim. “Essentially, you are left with walls that need to be healed. If you’re a handy person, it’s a do-it-yourself project.”

Replacement mantels are widely available at a range of prices, from home improvement stores like the Home Depot to specialty manufacturers like Chesneys. And reclaimed mantels can be found at architectural salvage stores like Big Reuse, Olde Good Things and Demolition Depot and Irreplaceable Artifacts.

You can also build a custom mantel, like Vincent DiSalvo, a principal of DiSalvo Contracting in New York, frequently does for his clients.

Installing a new mantel is fairly straightforward, Mr. DiSalvo said, “as long as you work within the parameters of code requirements,” and size it properly to fit the existing opening. Combustible materials — like a wood mantel — must be at least six inches back from the sides of a wood-burning firebox, he said, and “the horizontal piece that runs across the top of the firebox should be around 12 inches” above the opening, depending on how far the mantel projects off the wall.

The resulting gap between the firebox and mantel creates another design opportunity, he noted, and can be finished with distinctive ceramic tile or stone.

Install a Creative Surround

Of course, not every fireplace needs to be finished with a conventional mantel. There are countless creative alternatives.

When Mr. Jayne renovated a house for clients in Oyster Bay, N.Y., he designed a tall box clad in Delft tiles to surround the fireplace.

“Rather than just having a fireplace with a row of Delft tiles and a pretty 19th-century wood molding around it, we tried to modernize it and make it more contemporary,” he said.

Sometimes, Mr. Jayne eliminates a ledge or shelf above the fireplace altogether, as he did in the library of an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. There, he removed the existing “pseudo Georgian Revival” mantel and clad the wall around the fireplace in colorful mosaic tile — a design loosely inspired by a fireplace in a dining room designed by Stanford White at Kingscote, a 19th-century house in Newport, R.I.

For a more monolithic appearance, a fireplace can be resurfaced in concrete or natural stone in the same way. If you use natural stone, though, choose a dark one, like slate, rather than a light one, like white marble, Mr. DiSalvo advised: “You want to select a stone that isn’t easily stained by soot. A darker-colored stone holds up better over time.”

Or Transform the Whole Wall

Attacking the mantel or the area immediately around the fireplace sometimes isn’t enough. In that case, the whole wall that houses the fireplace may need attention.

When Shapeless Studio renovated a Brooklyn apartment that had an especially unappealing brick wall with a fireplace, they built a new wall with drywall in front of it, floor to ceiling, to conceal the entire expanse.

That slightly reduced the footprint of the living room, but it created a cleaner look and the opportunity to add a beefy custom limestone mantel. The architects also used the thickness of the new wall to create recessed storage nooks on either side of the fireplace.

Linc Thelen, a Chicago-based designer, used a similar strategy to conceal a dated-looking rubble-stone feature wall with a fireplace when he renovated a house in rural Indiana.

“We had to reframe it,” he said, because there was no other reasonable way to remove or conceal the stone. After adding cement board to the framing for a smooth surface, he installed a linear arrangement of buff-colored manufactured stone veneer from Eldorado Stone on top.

“I wanted something that was minimal, but also warm and modern,” he said.

Building a second wall may seem somewhat extreme, but transforming the appearance of an unloved fireplace can pay big dividends. “The fireplace can help tie the whole house together,” Mr. Thelen said. “And it can say a lot about the personality of the person.”

There are also family traditions to consider, he added: “You can have Santa Claus coming down a stylish chimney.”

For weekly email updates on residential real estate news, sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @nytrealestate.

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sliding-down-the-mountain-blog · 6 years

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Wordless

One day, Joseph and Stacey had no more words.

They had long ago agreed, with good intentions, to leave their loaded words behind. To stop using them. Cold turkey. Neither judged the other. They came to realize that some words simply couldn't work for the two of them.

That over time, some definitions had been eclipsed by collections of moments. That these words had slowly surrendered themselves to sadness, anger, joy, contentment or fear. That there were words they didn't - and couldn't - understand in the same way the other understood them. Eventually, they decided to just stop fighting it.

Joseph explained it to his friend, Carl.

"Once or twice a year I hear "Keep on Loving You" by REO Speedwagon on the radio. Every single time, I think about trading notes with Jill Davis in sixth period study hall in tenth grade.

"Or every time I see a Mercedes Benz on the highway my mind goes to the Janice Joplin documentary I watched with my son, and how affected I was that Janice kept going home. No matter what. Janice always went home.

"I know," Joseph said, "'Keep on Loving You' is objectively not about Jill or high school or notes in study hall. A Mercedes Benz driving down the highway is objectively not about the fear of losing my children.

"Objectively not. But completely so."

Carl couldn't make the connection between a German luxury automobile brand and the fear of losing one's son, or what any of it had to do with words. Joseph talked in puzzles all the time, and Carl found it more than a little off-putting. But he didn't say so. He simply nodded like he understood, and took a sip of his IPA.

Even though they attended the same university, Joseph and Stacey didn't meet until a few months after graduating, when each began working for Congressmen Dean. Joseph in DC as a part-time volunteer while he attended Georgetown Law. Stacey as a poorly paid staffer in one of the congressman's district offices in Hamilton, Ohio. Even then they only occasionally spoke, usually when Joseph called Stacey for more information when he was drafting a response to a constituent's letter for Mr. Dean.

But they worked closely together on 1990 campaign. They fell in love. Dean lost the election, but Stacey found a position on the staff of a member from an adjacent district. She moved to DC. Eventually they bought a condo together in Old Town, and they married in May, 1992 - shortly after Joseph graduated from law school and began his clerkship.

By May 2002 they realized they had a word problem.

For a while, they thought their shared experiences might help salvage some of the loaded words. That perhaps a transformed word or two might have the same meaning for both of them. That they could use a loaded word in its new form, and there would be no misunderstanding.

But it never worked. There was always just enough light between the way they experienced these moments - in how they felt - that they never arrived at the same place together. She couldn’t quite understand what he meant by "Sunday School," even though they had both attended regularly through sixth grade. She loved Sunday School. But to him, "Sunday School" was believing too hard and not fitting in with those who didn't - even if he would never have said it in those terms.

They had both grown up in the country. but he would often infer precisely what she didn’t intend when she spoke. It wasn't his fault that when she said, "goose," he didn't, and couldn't, know about the time she had been attacked by an actual goose at a roadside farmer's market when she was four. In fact, even Stacey didn't remember the incident. But it left a mark just the same.

"Goose" brought Joseph back to sitting on his mom's lap and falling asleep to the sound of her voice as she read aloud some book about Canadian Geese whose title had long ago faded from his memory.

"Goose" certainly didn't suggest existential childhood terror to Joseph.

Their inability to connect frustrated them. It made each wonder, despite their deep affection and determination to be good partners, whether they had rushed into their marriage. They spoke the same language, and yet they didn't hear the same thing - even when they heard the same thing. How had this little-big thing failed to surface during their extended engagement - during their weekly dinners in cheap Southeast DC restaurants, through their shared appreciation of Coen Brothers films and John Irving novels? Had they ever understood what the other was saying? Did they even know one another? Neither could say for sure.

No one could.

So ten years ago, at the suggestion of a counselor who came very highly recommended by Stacey's friend, Jean, they decided first to find, and after trying to reconcile them for a few months, then to leave the loaded words behind. It seemed sensible. And they wanted to believe they loved each other, so they were willing to give it a shot.

In the first couple of months, they discarded hundreds of words. Words like "ignorant", "uneducated", "math", "choose", "basketball", "alien", "viola", "dance", "cheerleader", and so many more that, without the moments each had collected over decades, independently or together, were harmless really. But with experience, they had become sources of endless confusion and conflict.

Together, they simply dumped them on the side of the road, got back in the car, and drove away.

Once the initial purge was complete, they were happier than they had ever been. Freer than they had ever thought possible, with no fear of unintentional offenses. Not only had they discarded the loaded words, but they also left behind the collections of moments that had overtaken their objective meanings. Without these memories, both remembered and forgotten, they were free to be more curious than they had been since their first few dates.

Joseph asked questions he once believed he knew the answers to. He was usually surprised. And he always fell a little more deeply in love with Stacey when she was so fearlessly candid in her responses. He discovered the complete contentment of being trusted by the one you trust.

As did Stacey.

They discovered they liked one another. Joseph and Stacey talked about money and religion and food and sex. They spent hours sharing their dreams and secret desires that they never dared to share with anyone. Yearnings that sounded ridiculous even when they remained locked away in the deepest part of their minds, but somehow less so when they spoke them with one another.

One night as they lay in bed, Joseph confessed that he thought he might have been a slightly psychic as a child. He told her the story of the day in the Spring of his senior year in high school when something told him to leave his baseball gear at home. That something deep inside him was adamant that afternoon's game would be rained out, and was determined that he should listen. He told Stacey how he checked the forecast in the morning paper and saw there was zero chance of rain. How he ignored the voice and packed his glove, cleats and uniform into his gym bag, and then a rogue thunderstorm had blown though the area an hour before the game was supposed to begin. How the game had been rained out.

Joseph often wondered if that was some sort of inflection point of his life. If his life might have taken on a completely different arc had he listened to whatever it was that told him to leave his gear at home. Instead of a real estate attorney, might he have become a moderately successful graphics designer living in SoMa who occasional got asked to paint murals?

Not only did she understand, she joined him in San Francisco, at least for that one night. She added most of the important details about their pet vizsla, whom she named Freddie - "after Nietzsche", she said.

In fact, Stacey had her own stories of near psychic-ness - and though the specifics were different, the stories followed a path similar to Joseph's. She had also wondered how her life might be different had she the courage to listen to her inner voice. Until then, she had never shared these thoughts with anyone. She had been embarrassed by them. Even when she kept them hidden away.

Six months later they left their next set of words behind. These weren’t words that had become more loaded. Rather, these were words that were loaded before they even met one another, and they simply hadn’t thought to dump them because they hadn’t used them in a while. But the words had resurfaced as replacements for those they dumped the first time. Dumping them was really just finishing the first round of the word purge, and just like the first time, they found freedom and joy. And they still had so many words.

And so it went. Words transformed. Words left behind.

Until three years ago.

One morning Stacey woke cold and restless, like she hadn’t slept. She looked down on the floor and was startled to see a pile of moments she had unceremoniously dumped over the years, along with the loaded words. She wondered if she was still sleeping and whether the moments were simply phantasms. But when she saw the dog stir in his bed, she convinced herself that she was not, and they were not.

There was the unkind and completely undeserved note that her algebra teacher, Ms. Ganz had written to her in the eighth grade suggesting she missed class because she wasn't prepared for the test that was to be given that day, when in fact, Stacey had been at home with a dangerously high fever. There was Judge Powers asking twelve-year-old Stacey which of her parents she chose to live with, and her wondering if that meant her parents hadn't fought for custody. She saw herself in the hallway of her school reading the cast list for "Hello Dolly" after she had auditioned for the role of Ernestina, who doesn't dance, at the urging of her mother, but found her name on the stage crew list instead.

Those were the ones on the top of the pile. There were countless layers underneath.

The moments she had left behind had somehow found her. She instinctively knew that every moment and every memory needed words to survive. She suspected, incorrectly as it turned out, that every moment was a survivor. Every memory timeless.

Stacey wrapped herself tightly in the comforter. Joseph lay sleeping beside her. Silently.

A few months later, she began to learn to live with the pile beside her bed. She simply stepped over it in the morning, and got on with her day.

As far as Stacey could tell, Joseph never noticed it, so there was no point in discussing the pile with him. And he was growing increasingly difficult to talk to, anyway.

And curiously, the pile shrank. Imperceptibly at first, but it was definitely getting smaller. It never completely disappeared, but almost.

Still, some mornings she would wake up to find a particularly menacing moment staring up at her - one that hadn't been there the night before. On those mornings, she'd usually call into work, then go to a yoga class or to an afternoon matinee. Within a day or two, it was gone.

But the point is, she learned how to deal with these increasingly infrequent visitors.

Suppose they had actually spent the years since 2002 driving down a long straight road and tossing words out of the window when they became a problem. Imagine yourself rising above the pavement and looking back over time.

You would see just how many words Joseph and Stacey had abandoned. It was a lot of words. Hundreds of thousands of them, in fact. It was every word that they had ever known, including those they had begun making up to fill in the gaps left by the discarded words.

You would also know precisely when their son had been diagnosed with bacterial meningitis. You could see where Stacey had switched jobs, and when they had taken on a complete remodel of their dated home in Burke. You knew when her father had died, and when they had been on the cruise together. You could tell these things simply by finding the piles of words they had left to decay in the hot sun. It wouldn't be hard.

You'd also notice that recently there were fewer and fewer piles. Instead, they had discarded words one or two at a time, at increasingly longer intervals. Not in response to anything in particular. Simply as a matter of course.

Today, they were out of words. She was certain of that.

On the one hand, Stacey was relieved. She knew the terrible moments needed words to survive, so she was guardedly optimistic that they would finally leave her alone. (She suspected that she was thinking out of both sides of her mouth. She didn't care.)

On the other hand, there were no words left for her and Joseph.

Joseph slept.

Stacey knew her son wouldn't pick up if she called him.

She had changed her Facebook profile picture before coming to bed. She sat up, reached for her phone, and read through the names of friends who had liked it.

#marriage #loss #sad

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