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littlemisssquiggles · 4 years

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Pinehead Headcanons: Oscar's Longest Memory

I’ve been meaning to share this headcanon ever since I discussed it with @miki-13 a couple weeks back. So in light of the highly anticipated Schnee Dinner Party episode tomorrow, I figured now is a good time as any to share this new theory of mine for my favourite freckled farm boy turned little barn prince.

One thing I've been curious about for this season (or the Atlas Arc in general) is how exactly the PLOT is going to reintroduce Ozpin returning from his isolation. Speaking for myself, I don’t wish for Oz’s return to be just be him randomly coming to Oscar’s aid again when he’s in danger. Nor do I wish for Oz to just magically pop back into the story and instead of having everyone taking responsibility for the negative consequences their past and recent actions have done while using that to make amends with each other and start anew---it’s just Oz alone apologizing for what he’s done while the heroes get away with not even a slap on the wrist.

I don’t think it would be fair if Oz is the only one to apologize. While I understand that Oz made mistakes in his past, our heroes aren’t exactly innocent themselves. On the contrary, this season alone proves that the heroes are no different than Oz in their current predicament with Ironwood. Thus I’m still banking on this leading into the heroes realizing that they too were in the wrong for how they chose to treat Oz following the revelation of the whole truth. I’m still hoping that this experience with Ironwood is enough to finally help everyone understand why Oz chose to handle things the way he did after spending some time in his shoes. That way, once everyone reunites, they’ll be on the same page with one another and as I said, be able to start fresh and rebuild their previous trust in one another based on what they all learnt from this experience.

That being said, in regards to Oscar---one thing that I’ve been saying is that I believe Oscar is the key to repairing the severed bonds between Ozpin and his team. Right now, Oscar is caught in the middle of all this conflict. He seems to be the lone mutual party who isn’t biased towards one side. Meaning that in spite of his growing good rapport with the rest of his team, that doesn’t mean he isn’t willing to trust Oz again. His remark of “Oz looking out for everyone in his isolation” back in V6 sparked my certainty in this regard.

My theory has always been for Oscar to reconcile with Ozpin first within his mind. From there, Oscar would bring Ozpin out of his isolation and be prepared to speak on his behalf to help convince the others towards all of them making peace.

I still believe in this hunch. However for most of V7, there hasn’t really been much indication of Oscar attempting to reach out to Oz within his mind. So again I’m left pondering on what could be an interesting way to do this given the current plot development we have so far for season.

This brings me to my discussion with Miki. We both shared the same idea of perhaps…Oscar will have an unfortunate run-in with Tyrian Callows. Tyrian will sting Oscar and fall into a comatose state which will then lead to Oscar going on a journey to find Oz within his mind.

Since I’ve been quoting plot threads from the Little Prince tale in reference to Oscar’s story for RWBY, there is a part in the story where the Prince was stung by a snake before he could reunite with his beloved rose on his home planet. The presumption is that the Prince was killed by the snake; though according to my research, the story more alludes to the Prince’s death rather than directly saying it.

So all that in mind, here’s my idea for the next episode and the episode afterwards:

I think something detrimental needs to happen to Oscar again in order for to heroes to realize how wrong they've been about Ozpin.

The last time we had a CH8 episode as the last episode of the year, it concluded on Oscar disappearing as a result of Jaune’s outburst after he had learnt the truth.

So imagine if …there is a major attack at the Schnee Dinner Party during which Oscar ends up mortally injured from an attack meant to kill Ironwood. Let’s say…Jacques planned to have Tyrian murder all the members of the Atlesian Council who had been invited to the party. That way, in the end, Jacques will be the only surviving Council member and will no longer have anyone standing in his way of getting what he wants. All of Atlas will be under Jacques’ reign.

Let’s say…Tyrian successfully manages to slaughter all the Council members except Ironwood. All because at the last minute, Oscar had saved James by pushing him out the way allowing himself to be Tyrians’ target instead.

Speaking of the General, I’m also curious as to what it will take to set Ironwood off and go into his own downward spiral. Despite implying that he wasn't going to end up like Lionheart, I think we can all come to same conclusion that this part of the General’s story is definitely in the cards at this point.

Leonardo gave into his fears and betrayed his allies to join Salem. And while Ironwood won't sink so low as to join Salem, I think he's more in danger of becoming more like her and losing his own humanity if he honestly considered a 'lack of humanity' as an asset to Salem's conquests.

The last time Salem struck, Ironwood lost Ozpin. CH7 is the second time Ironwood has hinted at wishing Oz was still around. It's very evident that James misses his old friend and I'm wondering if there is a part of him that low-key blames himself for Ozpin's death too.

Just as how if anything were to happen to Oscar on the General’s watch with the poor boy being placed at death's doorstep in an attack that was meant for James, I think that would devastate James just as much as Oz's death did since he has been spending more time with Oscar; getting to know him personally.

Not to mention, Ironwood did promise Oscar back in the second episode that, quote, “He will be safe in Atlas”. So imagine how distraught Ironwood would feel if that promise were to be broken yet again.

I have a feeling that Oscar may be used once again as a catalyst to advance the third act of the plot. I could be wrong about that but I can't help but feel like one of our main heroes will be a victim to whatever Jacques had planned with Watts.

Last time for V6, I was right on the money with Oscar running away. So…will I be right again about something big happening at the party and Oscar being an unfortunate victim caught in the crossfire?

Only time will tell. However I actually wouldn’t mind if something that were to happen for the episode. Mainly because I feel like should Oscar were to get seriously hurt, it could lead to the following things:

Ruby realizing the error of her actions: The idea I had with this was that, while at the party, Oscar will once again confront Ruby on the matter of revealing the whole truth to Ironwood. However Ruby once again shows reluctance with this and she and Oscar end up arguing over the right call. During their heated quarrel, Ruby says something to Oscar that she will ultimately regret. Let’s say…Ruby reveals that her distrust in Ozpin, blaming him for everything which then leads to her confessing that she may never trust him again.

This revelation greatly upsets Oscar since, Oz is a part of him and there is a chance that he may even become him someday. So by extension, Ruby saying that she distrusts Oz and will never trust him again meant that she doesn’t trust Oscar either. Although Ruby tries to take back what she says, the damage had already been done.

The Little Prince had officially had enough his little red rose’s behaviour and just like in the original fairy-tale, Oscar leaves Ruby with her last words to him being that she doesn’t trust him…right before Oscar gets seriously hurt and on the verge of death. As far as I know, the Prince’s true rose never got the chance to see him again since he died before he could return to his home by the fangs of the Snake character.

And similar to how the Rose didn’t realize her true feelings for her Prince until he departed from their planet, what if…Ruby didn’t realize how much faith she did have in Oscar until he was mortally wounded by Tyrian and on the verge of death?

Oscar’s Journey to Oz in the form of him going to find Oz in his mind. Now we can get into the real meat of my post. Let’s discuss Oscar’s Longest Memory:

Okay, so as I mentioned before, my concept is that Oscar is mortally wounded by Tyrian Callows in a killing blow that was meant for Ironwood. After that, Oscar falls into a coma with all of his allies worrying whether or not he will ever wake up again.

While in his comatose state, Oscar finds himself trapped in a continuous loop where he keeps reliving the very last days he spent back home on the farm with his family---all leading up to the day he was supposed to leave with Ozpin to begin his journey to Mistral.

Let’s say…in the memory, Oscar never met Oz. As we all know, Oscar wouldn’t gotten the encouragement to leave the farm if Oz hadn’t spoken to him that first time. And with Oz presumably still in isolation and his presence no longer there to guide Oscar towards his true destiny, Oscar just goes about his days like normal. But the entire time, while Oscar is reliving his final days at home, the way its depicted is that, despite being home behaving like he’s never left, Oscar couldn’t help but feel the entire time like he was forgetting something. Forgetting something important that he was supposed to do. Or rather, meet someone he was supposed to?

I even have this idea of Oscar having a similar experience to Ozma in the Lost Fable during his lifetime with Salem as Diggs.

Remember that scene from the episode where Ozma is looking at a reflection of himself in the window of his and Salem’s home castle when his other half---I believe it was Diggs speaking to Ozma here---asked him “What are we doing?” which in turn snaps Ozma out of his confliction.

I’m imagining a moment similar to that Oscar is looking at himself in the mirror---the very same mirror down in his barn where he had first heard Ozpin speak to him. I’m picturing Oscar looking at his reflection, back in his old farm boy threads, wracking his brain to figure out what’s happening to him and why he felt so strange---like he was forgetting something very, very important. At first, all Oscar saw was his own reflection only for his mirror copy to suddenly ask him “What are we doing?”

Since Oscar’s current qualm seems to be his conflicting feelings regarding the Merge, I’m imagining a moment where Oscar is standing almost at a crossroads within himself. Like picture Oscar coming face to face with his past self---his old farmhand self.

Let’s say…in his longest memory, the one sure-fire way for Oscar to wake up from his comatose state is for him to leave the farm and start his journey.

Perhaps even in the real world, there is this conflict going on where if Oscar doesn’t wake up from his unconsciousness soon, he could potentially die or something along those lines, just to amp up the stakes. So the others---his teammates, his friends are desperately trying to do whatever they can to wake Oscar up. To make him open his eyes.

Meanwhile in Oscar’s mind, he’s fighting his own internal battles on whether or not he should leave. In his mind, Oscar trapped home on the farm wondering if leaving was the right choice. Because that’s how this all started. With Oscar leaving the farm.

So it’s a scenario where Oscar has to leave but this time, rather than it being Ozpin telling Oscar he has to leave (and not really giving him much of a choice), it’s Oscar telling himself that he has to leave. Like maybe at first, Oscar believes that the person telling him to leave all the time---this boy in the mirror who looks exactly like him---is probably Oz trying to communicate with Oscar and help him escape this memory. But to Oscar’s surprise. It isn’t Oz. It’s Oscar himself---the part of him that made up his mind that he was going to see through on his promise to help his team no matter what---that was telling him to leave. This time, it’s Oscar’s own choice that he made on his own. Not just because it felt like the right thing to do. But because it was a choice he now believed in.

With this idea, I’m envisioning a scene where Oscar is standing face to face with his past ---Farm Boy Oscar back in his old farm boy threads who is actively chastising Oscar for even wanting to leave home since there was no good for him outside.

Basically imagine …Oscar’s past self being the embodiment of all of his concerns for the future; his doubts about himself, his doubts in his place on the team, his worries whether or not anyone actually trusts or even cares about him, his worries about just being ‘another one of Ozma’s lives’ to live and die in vain.

Here is this version of Oscar---with his own face and in his own voice, practically screaming every negative thought he’s been silently holding back from admitting to himself for so long.

“…We were a fool for leaving home. You think they actually care about you. You heard them. They never saw you for who you are. Of course they never trusted you!

They don’t know you! They never knew you! You didn’t really think they’d accepted you into their group. You never had your own place. To them, you’re just another one of his lives and pretty soon, they’ll forget all about you.

Stay home Oscar! Don’t leave! This is where you belong. At least this way, you get to stay and be yourself again. This is what you truly want. Trust me. Because who knows you better than you…”

And somehow by doing that, by facing himself and hearing himself admit his own fears, it what makes Oscar’s choice all the more significant. He needed to leave. So basically, in a nutshell, Oscar yells back at his old self that this wasn’t who he was. I mean, it used to be and that part of him will always be there because it is a part of him. However Oscar has also accepted the other side of him---the side that he shares with Oz.

So in the end, Oscar makes up his mind to leave home. But not without Oz. So after dealing with past, Oscar goes and finds Oz. The two souls reunite deep within Oscar’s mind. They even have a chat and ultimately, Oscar convinces Oz to return to the others with him. Even extends his hand to Oz---as neat little call-back to what Oz had told him back in V4.

Because while the farm with his family and his old memories of his past was Oscar’s home back then (and not even the Merge was going to take that away from him) he eventually also comes to terms with the fact that his new home was with his team and he needed to reunite with them to fulfil his duties to humanity by working to stop Salem and her forces. So basically the memory ends with both Oscar and Ozpin walking through the gates of Oscar’s old home, returning to the real world.

And when next Oscar finally regains consciousness---as he opens his eyes, he awakens to find himself surrounded by everyone who had all eagerly been awaiting his return. And it is from this moment, folks where the reconciliation begins.

That’s my idea.

I know the likelihood of something like this happening in the canon is not really there. Nonetheless, I’d still like to think that something like this could’ve been cool to see done in the show. Especially for Oscar and Ozpin.

Most of all, I was hoping for a future moment where the audience could’ve seen Oscar meet Oz for the first time within his mind. We never exactly got an interpretation of what the inside of Oscar’s mind looks like.

Somehow, this squiggle meister is envisioning Oscar’s mental dreamscape being an endless plane of grassy fields overlooking a beautiful sunrise since that time of the day seems to be most associated with Oscar.

It was a sunrise during the first scene we were introduced to Oscar’s character back in V4 and it was also sunrise when he left home and began his journey.

Now I’m imagining Oscar and Oz just sitting in a field watching the sunrise since this was Oscar’s lingering memory of his home. It’s a memory that Oscar shares with Oz, all before the little barn prince takes the old wizard’s hand and leads him back to reality where their friends were all waiting for them.

I think something like would’ve been real sweet for Oscar and Ozpin’s story. Like I said, I don’t think we’ll really get something like this for show. But nonetheless, it would’ve nice and for what it’s worth, I hope you all at least like it as a headcanon.

More Squiggles’ Pinehead Headcanons

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

#rwby #oscar pine #professor ozpin #oscar and ozpin #rwby theories #rwby volume 7 theories #rwby volume 7 spoilers #squiggles pinehead headcanons #pinehead headcanons

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quicksilversquared · 6 years

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How to Fake a Marriage Ch. 14

(AO3) (FF.net)

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The day before Christmas Eve, Adrien finally got enough of a break to be able to hang out with his friends- well, with Alya and Nino, at least. Marinette was still helping her parents weather the last of the holiday rush.

"Photoshoots all done, then?" Nino asked as they settled into a booth at a cafe. "Are you actually going to be free for the rest of your break?"

Adrien's nose wrinkled. "No such luck," he admitted. "The worst of it's done, since the rush photoshoots for the tight deadlines had to be all packed together and they figured that they might as well get most of the fittings done at the same time, but my father still wants some late winter-spring shoots done and there was no point in doing a rush job for them, so they'll be after the holidays are over."

"Dude."

"It'll only be a couple days, really," Adrien said quickly. "Because they will try to get as much done as possible, but for shoots with a completely different theme, it would be hard to get the make-up completely off everyone and redo it from scratch. It just takes forever, and it's easier to just have people in another day. That way, Father doesn't have to always have major set-changers on standby for the entire shoot and he doesn't have to pay the photographer for the time where he's just waiting around during make-up changes and set switches. He only does that when he needs shoots all done really fast."

"Like when you only come back home for a couple weeks," Alya filled in.

"Or when Hawkmoth was active, he just wanted to get things over with so a last-minute akuma attack wouldn't keep things from getting to press," Adrien added. He frowned over that for a second. "...actually, I think that was something Nathalie insisted on. She got tired of having to reschedule shoots in a really cramped time frame- y'know, because models are busy, and so are the good photographers and staff, so she couldn't just say 'Hey, show up tomorrow at two-fifteen' and expect people to actually be able to make it."

"I think a lot of people ended up shifting how they did things while Hawkmoth was active," Alya pointed out. "I've heard a lot of stories when I was poking around. And speaking of supervillains and superheroes- did you hear? Ladybug and Chat Noir were spotted last night!"

"Here in Paris?" Adrien asked, playing dumb. He had checked the Ladyblog this morning, of course, and had seen Alya's excited post and the links to some of the videos and pictures that people had taken of him and his superhero partner. But he had supposedly been busy in his father's presence the night before and he had had photoshoots that morning, which in theory meant that he shouldn't have a clue. It also meant that he had an alibi. "Really? That's great!"

"Yes! Here in the city! You guys were right, they did come back for the holidays. I need to see if I can flag them down before they take off again and see if they have any hints for my research." She looked determined, and Adrien suddenly guessed that she would probably be out trawling the city until she found and waved down the two superheroes.

Hopefully Ladybug would be able to go out that night so Alya wouldn't be trying to go out on Christmas itself. He could definitely sneak out- he would be expected home for a late dinner with his father, but then didn't have anything scheduled for after that. He could have a few minutes to sit down and interrogate Plagg more properly about some past users and where (and when) they had been active. His kwami hadn't been as forthcoming as he had expected during his first somewhat absentminded questioning, which was something Adrien had to figure out before he headed out to (hopefully) catch Alya.

Nino looked somewhat exasperated at the change in topic, which made Adrien guess that he probably was worried about Alya skipping out on their planned holiday activities to try to find the superhero duo. It was a problem the two of them had had when Hawkmoth was active and Alya sometimes was late to (or altogether missed) dates with Nino because of akuma attacks that she wanted to cover, and Nino had been thrilled when Hawkmoth had finally been taken down because it meant that Alya wouldn't be missing as many dates as before (and, of course, because she wouldn't be putting herself in danger on a daily basis. That was also a bonus).

Somehow Adrien suspected that Alya hadn't told her boyfriend about the potential six-month trip around the world to research past Miraculous holders yet. He wouldn't try to stop her, not at all- Nino wouldn't stand in Alya's way, and he was nothing if not a supportive boyfriend- but he would probably look a bit more apprehensive about the topic. Everyone in their group knew that if Alya was determined to do something- which, in this case, she definitely was- she would get to do it.

"I wonder if they'll still be doing their old patrol routes," Alya continued, apparently oblivious to the slightly wary expressions on both boys' faces. "I could find them super-easily then, but based on the photos I could track down from last night- I can't believe that Ladybug and Chat Noir were out for over an hour and I didn't catch it-they were just all over the place, but then they did spend a bunch of time at the Eiffel Tower. So maybe I could just, like, hang out there-"

"Babe, don't you think that Ladybug and Chat Noir might spend most of their time hanging out with their family on Christmas?" Nino pointed out. "I know they've shown up on Christmas in the past, but that was when Hawkmoth was still active and there was an akuma that they had to fight."

Alya pondered over that for several moments before letting out a long sigh as her shoulders slumped. "Okay, okay. If I don't find them tonight, then I'll wait until after Christmas is over to go out again. I just really want to catch them before they go back to wherever they've been again."

Adrien really hoped that Ladybug was planning on going out that night, because he didn't know how long she was going to stick around in Paris. Considering that she had a job that she, like Marinette, would have to return to, she might be heading back right away after Christmas, or maybe she would be sticking around until New Years, like Marinette was. If she headed back right away, Alya might not have the chance to talk to his partner.

...darn it, they definitely needed to get better at communicating.

"So, do you think that Marinette will get free soon?" Alya asked, glancing at her watch and then at Adrien. "I know the bakery is closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but she's mostly been helping with baking and decorating. They finish up with that part of the work by early afternoon, right?"

Adrien checked his phone, but he didn't have any new messages from Marinette. "She might be helping with clean-up once the baking and decorating gets finished. And if there's a lot of customers, she might be helping her mother at the front counter. When I went past earlier, there was a line out the door."

"And didn't Marinette say something about an order for the mayor's holiday party? They might still be doing the work for that after they finish up with the normal baking for the day," Nino pointed out. "It would be hard to keep all of that separate during a normal day's operations. You've seen the inside of the bakery kitchen during the day before, right? The place is chaos. Organized chaos, but chaos."

"They probably have a couple orders," Alya admitted. "And yeah, I can see where they would want to get stuff from the daily work cleaned up first. Pretty much every flat space in that kitchen is spoken for during the day." She made a face, presumably at the thought of her best friend having to do so much work during what was supposed to be her vacation. "At least their workload will go back to normal after the holidays, right?"

"Not if they have New Years' parties to cater for," Nino pointed out. "Adrien, did Marinette say anything about that?"

Adrien could only shrug. He didn't know any better than they did what Marinette might be doing, right now or in several days. For all he knew, she could be buried under a mountain of pastries right now.

"But why can't we know more about past holders?" Marinette asked Tikki in confusion as she worked to decorate the veritable mountain of cookies and other pastries she was practically buried under. It was growing steadily smaller as she worked, but she still had a couple hours of work left to do before she finished up all of the orders for the holidays. "Should Chat Noir and I not be helping Alya?"

"It's not that I don't want you knowing about past holders, Marinette," Tikki assured her, even as she eyed the tempting pile of cookies in front of her. "But in the past, the Miraculous generally worked secretly, out of the public eye- and for good reason. We didn't want potential supervillains to find out about the powers we have at our disposal. Obviously staying completely secret isn't possible anymore. I'm just trying to determine how much I can tell you to pass on without giving too much away. I think I can give you locations and general times, but then it's up to Alya to research the rest. Then I'm not risking exposing more knowledge than the world already knows."

Marinette frowned, setting her icing piping tip aside for the moment. "But how is telling me just location and time any different than telling me who the users were?"

"Because sometimes the users were really good at blending in, and the only evidence that Alya would have would be your word. If she can find the users when she knows when and where to look, then that's one thing. I'm kind of curious myself to see what people noticed and remembered, or how much might link them with the Miraculous in hindsight. But too much guidance can sometimes be a bad thing." Tikki landed on Marinette's hand and blinked up at her. "I know you want to help Alya as much as possible, Marinette. But sometimes it's better if Miraculous users stay secret, or at least as unconfirmed users."

Marinette was still a little puzzled, but she shrugged and acquiesced. If Tikki said that she had reasons for not being specific about users, then she shouldn't push. Maybe she didn't understand fully, but she didn't know the situations that Tikki was thinking of. Maybe there were powers that the Ladybug and Chat Noir Miraculous had that past users had had but she didn't, and Tikki wanted those powers to stay secret. Maybe there would be some users that fought in a war and the Miraculous didn't want to seem like they were taking sides.

Maybe past holders fought some sort of Great Evil that Tikki didn't want Alya finding out about and spreading around, in case it caused some sort of panic in the general population.

Several hours later, Ladybug jumped off of her balcony and headed for the center of the city, list of time periods and locations clutched in her hand. Tikki had finally decided to scratch a couple off the list because of unrevealed reasons, but most of the past holders had stayed on. They were all Ladybug holders, because she and Tikki had decided that unless Alya discovered that there were other Miraculous out there, they weren't going to say anything else.

Tikki was guessing (and Marinette agreed) that Alya would probably figure it out, if not right away then eventually. The fact that Hawkmoth existed and was obviously another Miraculous user was a pretty good hint that she and Chat Noir weren't the only users out there, and apparently some of the historical Ladybug and Chat Noir duos had worked with other Miraculous users. Still, they weren't going to give Alya too much right away.

"I think Alya will feel a larger sense of accomplishment if she figures that out by herself anyway," Tikki had concluded when they discussed it earlier. "If you give her too much, there's not much for her to figure out. No big discoveries, you know. After all, most past users worked from the shadows."

"Will you tell me more about the users after I give Alya the list?" Marinette had asked hopefully. Now that Alya had brought the subject up and Marinette had had time to think about it, she was intensely curious. Were there any historical figures that she had heard of before that were Ladybugs or other Miraculous users? Had they changed history in big ways? She was curious, darn it.

Tikki had giggled and promised to fill Marinette in on more details as Alya figured out past users. Still, there were things that even Marinette wouldn't be able know unless a... situation arose.

Marinette hadn't asked, and Tikki hadn't elaborated.

It didn't take long for her to find Chat Noir once she got close to the Eiffel Tower. Her partner had apparently been waiting for her, since he popped out of the shadows he had been lurking in the second she got close. He bounded up to meet her and, without any greeting, announced, "The Ladyblogger is headed for the Eiffel Tower, I just spotted her three minutes ago."

Ladybug could have guessed that. Alya had texted her several hours earlier, informing her that until further notice, she wouldn't be available evenings except on Christmas. "Because I need to talk to Ladybug and Chat Noir before they go back to wherever they've been," Alya had texted. "So guess who's staking out at the Eiffel Tower until they show up?"

At least it was nice of Alya to make herself very easy to find.

"What did your kwami tell you to tell her?" Ladybug asked as they set off for the Eiffel Tower at a more sedate pace. She was curious about whether or not Chat Noir's kwami, who she had heard was a bit less cautious than Tikki, would have had the same concerns as her kwami. "Mine just gave me general time periods and locations."

Chat Noir looked surprised. "Really? Mine, too! He said that he didn't want to make it too easy for Alya, and then he snickered for a while. I told him to stop being a snarky ass, but he refused to give me any more. But I thought that you said that your kwami was more cooperative!"

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Chat Noir's kwami had probably had the same concerns as Tikki, but had decided to just give the same more information in a more flippant manner. "She is. She has some reservations about certain holders being found out, though, and she said that there really isn't much information out there about past holders- or at least there shouldn't be- so if I give Alya too much information, then there won't be anything for her to discover. Besides, Tikki said it was a good test to see how good Miraculous users were at blending in."

Chat Noir frowned. "Is she okay with giving Alya any information at all, then? Because if Alya finds something, she'll publish it. There's no take-backs then."

"She pulled a couple dates for users that she didn't want Alya digging around. The rest she said would be fine."

"We should double-check our lists against each other, then," Chat Noir decided, opening a pocket and digging out a sheet of paper. "I mean, I bet that was what Plagg was thinking, too, but he has a reputation as a uncooperative ass to keep."

Ladybug couldn't help the splutter of laughter that left her. "Chat Noir! That's no way to talk about your kwami!"

He laughed too, loud and deep. "Plagg deserves it, though! He's a little cheese-eating monster. He could have just told me that some users had to be kept secret and, y'know, the other stuff that your kwami told you, and he would have gotten out of a solid hour of interrogation. But noooo, he just had to make it difficult for both of us. You have no idea. I never told you about how he was trying to make things weird for my friend and I, did I?" One look at the puzzled look on her face told him that no, he hadn't ever said anything. "Right. We had to kiss each other once for this, ah, thing, and anyway, there were photos. And Plagg just had to go and blow them up and print a bunch out and hide them all over my apartment. They were under pillows, in the kitchen cabinets, in the freezer- it's been months, and I'm not even sure that I've found everything!"

Ladybug's shoulders shook as she tried to hold in her laughter and then she positively exploded cackling. She ended up sitting on the rooftop, snickering away as Chat Noir shook his head in exasperated acceptance next to her.

Of course Ladybug would find Plagg's antics funny. If the two of them ever met...

Well, if they ever met, they would either be best buddies or drive each other insane. She probably wouldn't find the kwami's stubborn attitude so charming if she was the one trying to reason with Plagg.

Ladybug took several minutes to calm down, and Chat Noir took the time to carefully tug the list she was clutching in her hand free and compare it to the one Plagg had given to him. All of the dates and places were the same, which made Chat Noir wonder if his kwami and Ladybug's perhaps had some way to communicate wordlessly when they were apart, or if whatever users they had excluded were somehow so very obvious for some unspoken reason.

"It looks like our Miraculous have always been active at the same time," he commented over the sound of a still-snickering Ladybug. "And it looks like my kwami excluded the same users that yours did. I wonder what made them so different?"

"From what I could tell, it sounded like we would only be told that on a need-to-know basis," Ladybug finally said, pushing herself to her feet even as a stray giggle escaped her. "Maybe it would be dangerous to know somehow, or maybe it would make us unnecessarily worried about an evil that's not even active right now."

Chat Noir grinned and extended a hand to help pull her all the way up. "Well, you know what they say about cats and curiosity..."

"That they need their inquisitive little noses squirted with water?" Ladybug asked teasingly, poking his nose lightly with a wide grin. He automatically wrinkled his nose and nipped at her finger. "Should we go find that Ladyblogger now?"

It really didn't take long. Even with the crowds out enjoying the holiday cheer, Alya was easy enough to pick out. Instead of admiring the holiday decorations, she was scanning the rooflines of the buildings around her. The superhero duo barely paused before bounding right through her line of sight and then heading for a quieter road. They knew full well that Alya would have spotted them, and then they could have their discussion in a little more privacy.

Sure enough, it only took a minute for Alya to come charging around the end of the block. She slipped a little on the ice but regained her balance almost immediately. True to character, she didn't let it slow her down at all.

"Did you know that I was looking for you guys?" Alya demanded as she skidded to a stop in front of them. They nodded, and she looked flabbergasted. "How?"

"Well, you posted something about wanting to do research on past Miraculous holders on the Ladyblog," Ladybug pointed out right away. "And we figured that we might be one of the first places you looked for information. So we did some poking around, and we came up with locations and general dates of activity. We just compared notes, and it looks like our Miraculous were always active at about the same time."

"But not always in exactly the same place," Chat Noir added, and Ladybug shot him a startled look. She hadn't really done more than glance at the sheet he carried so she hadn't noticed any differences, but if Chat Noir said that there were, then she trusted him.

Alya's eyes positively lit up and she reached for the sheets that Chat Noir was holding out to her. "Really? Oh, wow, this is- this is more than I hoped for! I wasn't even positive that you guys would know about past users, or if you did that you'd be willing to share since, y'know, you once claimed that you were 2000 years old." She gave Ladybug a look. "Which I believed for, like, two years, but then I got smarter."

"How did you figure that out, buy the way?" Chat Noir asked curiously. "We thought we were pretty convincing."

Alya gave them such a clear I-can't-believe-you're-this-dumb look so clear that even strangers couldn't have misinterpreted it. "Uh, you obviously got older. And you got older at a normal rate. I compared photos of you when you first started to ones that I had just taken then, and by comparing your heights to the grown-ups around you- you know, the mayor and the police officers- I could tell that you had gotten taller. Someone who had been alive since Ancient Egypt wouldn't be growing now."

"Betrayed by the meter stick," Chat Noir said with a exaggerated sigh. "Bugger. That probably means that everyone in Paris noticed too."

"Probably," Alya admitted. "...and I don't know how much it helps, but I did hide that video with the, y'know, the history book. Anyone who remembers it would probably be able to remember that the video was from your first year of crime fighting, but hopefully they wouldn't remember which history book it was or from what year in school it was from. And I looked for plagiarized versions of it too," she added hastily. "Just to make sure that it wasn't floating around. But that wasn't one of my best recordings of a fight ever, so no one really bothered ripping it off." She shrugged. "I just figured, if you guys ever have to face a supervillain that's, uh, more competent than Hawkmoth was, that maybe I shouldn't just leave a trail of crumbs online that would help them find you guys."

"Good thought," Chat Noir praised after a moment's pause, when Ladybug didn't seem like she was going to reply. He guessed that she was just as startled as he was- Alya, removing something from the Ladyblog? This wasn't something small like a troll's comment in the forum section, it was actual fight footage. She was all about reporting integrity and getting the truth out, and for her to think of how an old video could affect the superheroes in the long run was, well, new.

New and a very good sign. That meant that she might be more likely to edit out anything she discovered about past heroes that could be dangerous for the public to know.

"This is a really long list," Alya said a moment later, surprise evident in her voice. "Like...wow. Okay. Okay, I definitely have a lot of work to do."

"There might be quite a few of them that don't have anything recorded about them," Ladybug warned her. "Most Miraculous holders weren't as visible as Chat Noir and I are. Some might not have used their powers in obvious ways. Some weren't active for very long at all. So don't be surprised if there's nothing there to find."

"If there's something to find, I'll find it," Alya promised, the gleam of a challenge evident in her eyes. "Thank you guys so much, I would have had so much material to dig through otherwise. And I still have a bunch to dig through, but not, like, as much. And I can spend more time where I need to, so that's great." She gave the papers another gleeful look and then carefully tucked the papers away in her purse, latching it shut and double-checking that it was properly closed. Then she glanced up. "...I don't suppose you'd give me any clues about where you guys have been the past few months?"

The only reply she got was a dual snort.

By the next day, Alya was still running high on the excitement of having the superheroes giving her such good leads. She was practically vibrating still when Marinette arrived at the apartment Alya and Nino shared, and it took her nearly a minute to realize that her best friend had shown up. It looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep at all- which, Marinette soon learned, was not far off.

"Ladybug and Chat Noir gave her a list of when past holders had been active and she decided that she had to start research right away," Nino said, a hint of fond exasperation in his tone. "So she got maybe two hours of sleep last night, and she only got that much because she was so tired that she couldn't read the words on the page anymore. That, and the holders she decided to research first were British and so, y'know, all of the sources were in English, and it's harder to translate while tired and- why am I telling you that, you know that already. Because you've been living in London. Obviously."

Marinette smothered a laugh. It sounded like Alya wasn't the only one to not get a whole lot of sleep.

"That's great that they did that for her!" Marinette exclaimed, pretending that it was news to her. She mentally ran through the list that she had given Alya and wondered which of the British holders Alya had investigated first. There were a couple that she remembered, and there easily could have been a few more. "Did she find anything?"

Unsurprisingly, Nino shook his head. "Nothing concrete. I think she said that there were a few possible leads in the last thing she read, but she was so exhausted that she just decided to recheck them later, when she could actually understand what they were saying." He glanced over at his girlfriend, who was talking to a somewhat concerned-looking Adrien over by their kitchen. "...I think she might need a lot more sleep before she tackles it again, though."

"Weren't there any French users she could have started with?" Marinette asked, knowing full well that yes, there had been. There weren't many- holders tended to pop up when needed, not just willy-nilly- but there had been a couple other pairs that had been active in surrounding countries as well that could have easily gone through France at some point.

"Not super recently. Alya wanted to start with more recent users, since it would in theory be easier to find information on them." Nino glanced over at Alya again. "So far, not much luck. But maybe she's looking for the wrong signs. Like, with our Ladybug and Chat Noir- it's impossible to miss that they're superheroes, right? You can't just say that they're, say, normal people who are just super good at what they do. But I kind of wonder if most of the past users that just passed as just that- normal people who just happened to be super-good at doing something."

Marinette tried not to react to that too much. Nino had hit it right on the head, which maybe shouldn't have been as surprising as it was. Nino could be startlingly perceptive at times, probably because he tended to be able to get some distance from situations with his laid-back personality. Of course he would be able to pick out the reasoning behind why Miraculous users like Ladybug and Chat Noir had been active before but (aside from the Egyptian exhibit) never heard of. It was one of the (many) reasons why Alya and Nino worked well together- Alya had a tendency to charge into things, while Nino held back and got a better idea of what was going on first. He tended to join in wholeheartedly once he had gotten a better idea of what was going on, of course, but that pause had helped them on more than a few occasions.

And, it appeared, it would probably serve as a great help to Alya's research.

"So, have you guys run into any of your other friends yet?" Nino asked as Adrien joined them in the living room. "I mean, you haven't seen them since you pulled that wedding prank."

"I ran into Rose, actually," Marinette volunteered. The two of them had talked with each other for a while, actually- though perhaps saying that they talked with each other was a bit of an exaggeration. Rose had talked at Marinette for a while, cooing over the wedding prank and how cute Adrien and Marinette had been together. She had wanted to know if the two of them were dating, then why they weren't dating, then had tried grilling Marinette over whether or not she still like-liked Adrien before rattling off a whole list of reasons why Marinette and Adrien should be dating. Marinette wasn't exactly going to volunteer all of that, though.

Adrien grinned. "Let me guess, she just wanted to talk about how the wedding looked and she didn't even care that it was all a prank."

Marinette couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Rose is the best. You saw the comment she left on the initial post, right?" Adrien shook his head, smiling slightly to himself. "She totally believed us."

"Heh heh, yeah." Marinette's smile turned slightly strained. Had she seen Rose's comment? She definitely had, and she definitely remembered it. Rose had gushed about 'all of the signs!', and she had definitely referenced Marinette having liked Adrien when they were younger.

(Thankfully Adrien was apparently still somewhat socially clueless when it came to girls, because he had somehow completely missed that.)

"Well, you guys were very convincing," Nino commented as Alya came up to join them. "I mean, there was no other reasonable explanation for you doing a wedding that elaborate."

"Are you guys talking about the fake wedding again?" Alya asked as she finally set her laptop aside and joined them. "Nino had to keep me from flying over there and killing you guys for that stunt."

"So you've told us before," Marinette said somewhat dryly. "By text, and in messages on our phones, and when you visited before break. But I think you secretly found it funny."

Nino snickered. Alya tried to look disapproving, but even she couldn't help but smile and shake her head at the memory of the prank.

"But that's old news," Adrien said, thankfully cutting off further discussion of their fake wedding. "So...you guys said you had some holiday movies for us to binge-watch?"

"Yeah, if Alya can step away from her research for a bit," Nino joked. Behind him, Alya stuck her tongue out and rolled her eyes before going over to shut her computer down as Nino stepped over to his own computer, hooked up to the TV so they could all watch. "So I've pulled up a few that I think we'll all enjoy, and then a cat-themed one for Adrien. I figured you might want to do something fun over your break, since you couldn't come to dinner with Alya and I's families."

"I wanted to, but I can't exactly skip out on my dad," Adrien said, sounding a bit regretful. Marinette glanced over at him in confusion- that was the first time she had heard about Nino and Alya's offer, and she had to wonder what Adrien had said to make Nino decide to invite Adrien over for Christmas dinner. "It really did sound great, but..."

"No worries, man," Nino assured him with a shrug. "I get it. Family dinner is family dinner. And I wouldn't want to upset your father, either."

"It's tradition," Adrien said with a sigh. "It's not that fun most years, but at least he hasn't invited business partners this year." He paused. "...actually, on second thought, that might make it more enjoyable. Then he wouldn't be able to grill me about how things are going in London."

Alya looked surprised. "He hasn't already done that?"

"I've been busy, he's been busy," Adrien explained simply. "...and I've been avoiding him a bit, just so he can't try to persuade me to drop things there and come back, but I can't exactly do that forever. And if I missed Christmas dinner, then he would be eating it alone and that's just...kind of sad."

"What about Nathalie and the Gorilla? Couldn't they eat with you guys?" Nino wanted to know.

Adrien shook his head. "Most of the household staff have Christmas off these days, so they both have gone back to join their families. Gorilla's sister has a family just outside of Paris that he joins, and Nathalie has some friends from school that invited her for dinner. I heard her saying that she was going to bring some side dishes, and then a day later she was complaining about everything burning. She apparently did a test run and it hadn't gone so well."

Marinette couldn't help but laugh. "So what is she doing instead?"

"She probably bought something from a store, just like she's done every other year that she's joined them."

They all laughed.

"She seems so put-together normally, so it's hilarious to think that she can't cook," Alya chuckled as they settled in on the couch in front of the TV. "How does she manage normally?"

"She normally eats at the mansion," Adrien admitted. "She might as well, she spends all of her time there anyway."

"All right all of you, pipe down now," Nino announced as the TV screen lit up and music started playing. "Let's have some Christmas fun!"

Adrien straightened his collar in the mirror and considered the tie sitting on the bathroom counter in front of him. He wanted to put his best foot forward, of course, but he didn't want to look too formal, even if it was Christmas dinner with his father.

Tie on...or no tie on?

"Do you have any holiday ties?" Nino asked, his voice coming over the speakerphone a bit scratchy. Adrien had called him for a second opinion since Plagg was useless, but he was fast finding that Nino wasn't particularly helpful when it came to fashion. He was much better at hosting holiday movie-watching parties, even if he had forgotten about the prepared refreshments until halfway through their movie-watching spree. "Maybe that would be the perfect middle ground."

Adrien snorted. "Holiday ties bring down the formality. Father considers them garish. I don't think I even own any."

Nino huffed. "Okay, fine. Don't listen to me, then. How-"

"Who're you talking to?" Alya's voice came through, a bit faint. "We need to leave for dinner with our families soon."

Nino's voice faded as he pulled back the phone to talk to his girlfriend. "Adrien. He wants to know if he should wear a tie to dinner with his dad."

There was a sudden shuffling, and then Alya's voice came clearly over the phone. "Are you going out to a restaurant?"

"No."

"Is it usually a formal meal?"

"Pretty formal, yeah." There were years when they hadn't even had the dinner- they had bypassed the tradition for three years following Adrien's mother's disappearance- but all of the other years, they had had a rather formal dinner.

"And what are you wearing right now?"

Adrien clamped down the snarky response that question immediately brought to mind. "Uh. Black slacks, green long-sleeved button-up. Black dress shoes."

"Maybe have a suitcoat but no tie," Alya suggested. "How does that look?"

"I don't know yet, I can't make suitcoats appear out of thin air," Adrien said dryly, picking up his phone as he headed back into his room to dig in his closet for one of his suitcoats. "But it should look good. Thanks, Alya. I don't know why I didn't think of that."

"No problem," Alya responded cheerfully. She paused for a moment, then added, "But I don't know why you didn't just call Marinette. Like, I love Nino and all, but even I know that my boy isn't the best person to come to for fashion questions."

There was a muted "HEY!" from the other end of the line. Alya ignored it.

"Or even better, you could have asked her to come over and dress you," Alya continued. "That way you could be sure to get it right."

"I can dress myself, thanks," Adrien said, letting his voice go dryer yet. His friends were just as bad as the tabloid reporters when it came to hinting that he and Marinette were more involved than just friends. Worse, even, because Adrien couldn't avoid them. "Been doing it since I was a kid."

Alya just snickered.

Ten minutes later, the suitcoat was properly buttoned up and Adrien headed down to the dining room. It really was ridiculous to dress up like this for a family meal- a meal with just his father, actually- but it was tradition. A tradition that had become more and more frustrating as he learned about how his friends and classmates spent their Christmas dinners. Most did dress up a bit more than usual, of course, just to get into the festive spirit, but none reached the level of formality that the Agrestes did even if they had rarely-seen family members over.

If Adrien wasn't still worried about his father changing his mind about helping him with tuition, Adrien would have been very, very tempted to dress up at Santa and stroll into dinner that way, just to lighten things up a bit. His father wouldn't be at all amused, though.

Gabriel Agreste was already seated at the table when Adrien arrived. The cook was setting out dishes on the table. While there was definitely enough for both Gabriel and Adrien, there wasn't a huge abundance. The cook knew from experience that while the Agrestes would eat leftovers once or twice, they didn't want to have leftovers every meal for a week. The cook would make just enough for two people to have two meals and that meant that, well...

The dishes weren't exactly heaping and they weren't really screaming Christmas feast. It looked tasty, of course- their cook was absolutely fabulous- but not that festive.

"Adrien," Gabriel greeted him. "Just on time. Sit, sit."

Adrien sat.

They both fell silent as they dished up their food. Adrien made sure to not pile his plate too much, since experience told him that it would just lead to stomachache and feeling ill, no matter how delicious the food was. Once he had what he wanted, Adrien dug in. It was tasty, but it was a bit awkward to eat in silence. He had gotten used to eating with Marinette, joking and swapping stories about their days. It could take them forever to eat with all of the talking they did, but it was fun. Comfortable. Relaxing.

Dinner with his father was none of those things.

"How are your studies going?" Gabriel asked after a few minutes of silent chewing. "Have you decided to continue for all three years, or will you be returning home at the end of the year?"

Adrien raised an incredulous eyebrow. Surely his father wasn't serious? "I'll be continuing, just as planned."

Gabriel took a small sip of wine. Adrien noticed, with no small amount of exasperation, that he had not gotten wine like his father; instead, he had water in his second glass. "Surely your business degree will be more helpful in the long run. There's more opportunities, and business has more potential for financial success."

"But I enjoy physics more," Adrien pointed out, doing his best not to snap back. "And doing something that I'm interested in and enjoy is more important to me than making a boatload of money. Money doesn't buy happiness."

"But money does prevent financial instability, which causes unhappiness," Gabriel retorted.

Adrien couldn't hold back the snort. While it was true, that was also a ridiculous argument. "You're acting as though positions in physics barely pay anything. That's hardly true."

Gabriel only shrugged, which made Adrien guess that he perhaps hadn't actually bothered to look up how much physicists normally made on average. He shouldn't have been surprised, really, since his father apparently was still under the impression that he would drop the Physics program, but it was still frustrating, to say the least.

A few more minutes passed in silence. Adrien tried not to fidget as he continued eating. The silence was growing increasingly uncomfortable, but his father didn't seem terribly concerned. Gabriel was probably used to uncomfortable silences, since he caused so many of them on a regular basis.

"I heard that you've gotten plenty of attention from the British tabloids," Mr. Agreste commented after another minute. "It seems like there's something new every other week."

"They're very persistent," Adrien agreed. It was frustrating to no end; it seemed that every time he and Marinette were seen out together was fuel for the fire, and then he had to give another interview saying that no, he and Marinette weren't dating, and yes, the constant questions about it were very annoying. The only upside was that in recent weeks, the hounding seemed to be dipping, just a bit. After all, there was only so many times that tabloids could try to use their supposed relationship as a headline (and subsequently have it refuted, again) before it stopped selling. "But I think they'll drop it after another month or so. They're trying to sell it as some big scoop and I think it's really falling flat."

"Very well." Gabriel reached across the table and served himself up more ham. "But this is why I've banned dating while you're abroad. The tabloids would sink their teeth into that, and if you were actually dating someone, there would be endless fodder for them."

Adrien hmmmmed in way of response, still dubious of his father's explanation. He was just a model, son to the founder of Gabriel or no, and most people didn't know him and didn't care about him enough to read articles about him and his boring, normal relationship week after week. Most of the tabloids had been more focused on the supposed "scandal" of a fashion designer's son "dating" an aspiring fashion designer, and if Adrien dated just an average woman off the street, there wouldn't be that so-called scandalous aspect to it. They might do an article or two about it, but then they would leave him alone. Of course, if he dated someone from London now they might eke out a few more articles claiming that Adrien had cheated on Marinette or spinning sob stories about Marinette being "tossed aside" for a new love, even despite all of their earlier interviews, but Adrien really doubted that news coverage was what had driven his father to banning dating.

"Nathalie reported that you said your apartment was working out well," Gabriel commented after another few minutes of eating. He didn't look particularly pleased, even though 'the apartment was working well' meant that Adrien could actually be a functioning adult. It was probably because Adrien might be able to live on his own once he got back to Paris. "I am... pleasantly surprised."

Yeah, you really sound like it's a pleasant surprise, all right, Adrien thought a bit sarcastically. He managed to swallow that particular thought back. "Yeah, it's going pretty well. Marinette helped teach me everything that I hadn't already known about living on my own. It's been really nice to have her nearby if I have any questions."

Gabriel's expression twitched; to anyone who didn't know him as well as Adrien did, it would have looked like a neutral expression. But Adrien knew that his father wasn't pleased. If Gabriel had his way, he would probably move Adrien to a different building away from Marinette so that Adrien might be more likely to move back to Paris. Thankfully, the apartment lease was in Adrien's name and while his father (well, Nathalie) was still paying the rent, only Adrien could re-sign or break the lease.

"And taking the bus to school?"

Adrien worked to school his expression. Surely his father wasn't going to try to revisit the possibility of trying to get a chauffeur? That would be absolutely ridiculous. "I enjoy it. I've had some very nice conversations with other regulars on the bus."

"It's not as convenient as having a chauffeur, especially if it or you are running behind schedule," Gabriel commented. "Are you sure-"

"It makes me more responsible if I have to keep an eye on the time," Adrien said firmly before his father could make his mind up to order Nathalie to look into private drivers in London again. "And I rarely take the bus late in the day, and if I do, Marinette is with me."

Gabriel snorted at that. "Yes, because that's definitely much safer, having a tiny girl that comes up to your shoulder with you."

Adrien frowned at his dismissive tone. "Marinette isn't that short. And she's fierce. Someone tried to steal her purse a few weeks ago, and they ended up unconscious on the sidewalk and missing a few teeth to boot. Marinette wasn't even ruffled."

Even Gabriel couldn't hide all of his amusement at that. His lips twitched, and he promptly sipped from his glass of wine to try to hide his smile. "Really."

"Yeah. I had turned around for a minute, and then next thing I know Marinette was kicking this guy, yanking her purse back from him, and then very thoroughly beating him up. Apparently she took some self-defense classes when she was in university." Adrien grinned at the memory. He had barely taken a step forward towards Marinette, ready to help, when the man fell to the sidewalk unconscious. Marinette had dusted off her shirt, scowled down at the unconscious form, and then turned to stalk off. She hadn't gotten far, though, before a policewoman trotted over, wanting to know what was going on. Adrien and Marinette had had to answer a few questions before they left, and the would-be thief was hauled away to the police station.

It had been quite the exciting evening out.

"And I've heard that you've been exploring the area with Marinette," Gabriel said after another few minutes. "How is that impacting your studies? I'm sure it's a bit of a distraction."

Adrien couldn't keep from frowning at that. If his father was seriously concerned about distractions from school, then he was hypocrisy central. "It's no different than having time taken up by photoshoots or other activities during the school year. I have all the time in the world to study during the week, and if I'm going to need more time to study for finals or something, then we don't do anything that weekend. It's good to have a break every once in a while, and if I'm gonna be over there, then it makes sense to explore."

"Wandering around the city for entire days at a time is hardly the same thing as an occasional photoshoot."

Adrien had to do his best to keep a lid on his temper, but his father really wasn't making it easy. "I am fully capable of managing my own time wisely. I got great marks last semester, all solid As. The professors used my work as examples several times throughout the semester." He had been rather proud of that, actually, and he had texted Marinette in glee every time it happened. She had made cookies to celebrate every time.

(Marinette was the actual best, and no one could deny that.)

"Just don't get too carried away," Gabriel warned, and Adrien only just refrained from rolling his eyes. If anyone was guilty of getting too carried away, it was his father. Adrien had had to get ask Nathalie to back off on the activities and photoshoots when he was in lycée so he could stay on top of his assignments, and he had had to do the same thing during his first degree when there were too many photoshoots right before finals. His father had questioned it both times, probably because he hadn't been pleased about having to reschedule photoshoots.

The rest of the dinner passed in a combination of awkward silences, the sound of forks and spoons scraping across plates, and the occasional attempt at conversation. Following dessert, they quickly exchanged a few presents before each retiring to their own rooms. Adrien slumped against his door and sighed as soon as it closed behind him.

"Long dinner?" Plagg asked from over on Adrien's desk. The kwami was flat on his back among the remains of a giant wheel of Brie and he didn't make any attempt to move. "You were gone for forever."

"Father was being ridiculous. He wants me to come back to Paris, so he complained about everything from me taking the bus to me daring to spend some time on weekends exploring." Adrien let out a frustrated huff. "...and I got a set of fancy pens as a Christmas gift. Yay."

"...didn't you get him a tie?"

Adrien pushed himself off the door and headed over to the desk to join Plagg. There was no reason to have to yell their conversation across the room, after all. "Yeah, but I didn't know what else to get him."

"Maybe he didn't know what else to get you," Plagg suggested.

"Maybe," Adrien agreed. "But he got me that scarf before, and that was the best gift he's given me in a while. I'd love another scarf, or maybe a coat or something. Anything but more pens." He huffed, tossing the package of pens onto his desk. "...I'm never gonna need to buy a pen in my life. I'm gonna have to start donating them soon."

There was a pause, and then Plagg spoke up. "Wanna go out and crash one of your friends' Christmas dinners?"

"Not as Chat Noir," Adrien objected immediately, frowning. "I don't want to have to interact with people as a superhero tonight."

"So just be Chat Noir to get out of your room and to their house, then." Plagg pushed himself off of the desk and lazily floated over to Adrien. "I'm sure they'd be happy to have you."

Still, Adrien hesitated. "But it would be rude to just show up. It's late, for one. And I don't think anyone really wants to answer their door when they're spending time with their family."

"So text someone and ask first, then," Plagg suggested, just as Adrien's phone dinged. "Maybe whoever just texted you."

"It might just be an email," Adrien pointed out, but he pulled his phone out anyway to check. As it turned out, Plagg was right. He did have a text. "Oh. Marinette wants to know how dinner with my dad went."

"Tell her it was awful. She'll probably invite you over and then you can join then and I can look for cheese bread while you play Mega Strike with them," Plagg suggested. He floated over to perch on Adrien's shoulder and watch as Adrien typed out a response. "I don't think you even need to ask if you can come over. I think your wife will just invite you on her own."

"She probably would," Adrien agreed, sending the text- an then he froze and turned his head to scowl at Plagg. "And she is not my wife. How many times do we need to go over this?"

Plagg just snickered.

Ten minutes later, Adrien found himself drowning in an oversized holiday sweater on the Dupain-Cheng's living room couch. as Tom offered his a plate of cookies. Marinette had invited him right over, just as both Plagg and Adrien had guessed she might, and her family was just as welcoming. Marinette even had a couple presents for Adrien that she had been planning to give to him when their group of friends got together the next day.

"You might as well open them now," Marinette had told him when Adrien protested. "There's no point in waiting if you're here and I have them- and no, I don't care that you don't have anything for me with you, Adrien! Just open the darn present already!"

Laughing, Adrien had opened his presents. Marinette had made a quilt for him and knit a lovely warm hat. He exclaimed over both, feeling warm and loved as he pulled the hat on and wrapped himself up in the quilt.

(Ten minutes later, he had to set both aside as he was feeling a little too warm. Marinette, who had warned him about such an outcome, snickered at him when he admitted defeat. He had pretended to complain about her being mean to him, but Marinette had only laughed at him more. Adrien couldn't do anything but smile at her amusement.)

As the night came to an end, Adrien headed home with full arms, a light heart, and a spring in his step, whistling Christmas carols all the way. It was a pity that he couldn't spend the entire break with Marinette and his other friends, but the time he did spend with them was great. He still had the next day's get-together to look forward to, where he and his friends would exchange gifts properly and he could give Marinette the present he had ordered just for her, and probably several other get-togethers before Nino and Alya had to go back to work and he and Marinette had to head back to London.

Maybe his holiday wasn't what other people would consider perfect, but for Adrien, it was enough.

#Miraculous Ladybug #My writing #How to Fake a Marriage #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng

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dotswap-blog · 5 years

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Anatomy Of A comic book Reserve

In my line of labor, I invest lots of time outlining significant, business-extensive assignments for senior management. Plainly outlining initiatives by using a focus on price is definitely the distinction between successful projects and those that hardly ever begin. My inspiration for sensible, very simple, and detailed overviews comes from comic guides. But as a fantasy fiction writer, I also use exactly the same procedures when outlining literary works also.

The key reason why that comic publications make fantastic define illustrations is that there is no description of action or scenery. You have raw Tale in a very compact, 32-web site installment. It consists of characterization, plot equipment, dialog, viewpoint, and most importantly conflict (from time to time even resolution).

Comic textbooks are Tale outlines but with pictures that lend depth. When comedian ebook writers produce the story, they've got specific policies they adhere to. A person rule is the fact surroundings and action are still left for the artist. The artist is supplied with a brief description on the motion and surroundings that the writer outlined for each body, but the artists are still left to build the imagery by themselves. Plot, dialogue, and characterization, nevertheless, are The author's personalized area. The artists embellish every little thing The author outlines.

If you are taking this very same components and apply it to your very own do the job, pondering on your own as The author to start with, and also the artist only when you've produced the Tale define, your perform will flourish as an alternative to flounder.

To comprehend what I signify, you can expect to initially must head out and purchase a comic book guide. Decide some thing with only one hero as an alternative to a collection of heroes since it is going to be simpler to dissect. I suggest Inexperienced Lantern or Captain The usa. Take a look at Every single frame to extract its Tale parts. For instance, placing is what ever is drawn. For those who have been to explain a body in primary terms, it might be a thing like "town street with hero crashing backwards through a window, shards exploding outward, villain crying '...just as I killed your father!'". That is the overall body, described in just one sentence. The dialog is always restricted, and nonetheless conveys plot and emotion efficiently and specifically.

Within a structure just like an define, the comedian e book author develops the story in its entirety applying choppy descriptions like this:

Atop higher-rise, hero and villain sq. off.

Villain: "I don't desire to obtain to destroy you, hero. Even so the Senator will have to die for what he did!"

Hero closes on villain.

Hero: "He'll fork out, I am going to see to it. But you're not the regulation. The law enforcement are going to be in this article before long."

Villain pulls gun and shoots wildly.

Villain: "No! He will die at my palms so that each one see what results in being of evil."

As it is possible to see, within an outline dialogue plays an essential function in the development of the story, while landscapes is simply a cursory look that sets the phase and frees you to take a position in what your reader will finally enjoy the most, your characters. It may be raining, or ice may well protect the roof top, building for treacherous footing. There can be birds perched atop the building, seeing the two Gentlemen in wonder, poised for flight at their slightest shift. When it arrives time to write down the story, these things will expose on their own - but Will not be also hasty to outline them inside your define.

When you think that in these phrases, as a comic book book writer first and artist next, it turns into clear that you need to deal with your figures and plot. Script the occasions with only the surroundings important to help them. Give the define to your internal artist only once you might be performed. Your map will guidebook the artist in you to definitely produce a story rich in surroundings and bursting with daily life if the time will come.

one. Cut out Surroundings

Do not exhibit anything as part of your outline, simply tell about it. For those who have precise descriptions you intend to use in your story, compose them in An additional document and help you save them for whenever you get to that Portion of the story. In some cases pressure-fitting a preconceived description in the get-go limitations what could normally blossom into spectacular prose. You could uncover the Tale will not need The outline in the least, and you continue to have material for one more operate.

2. Eliminate the Description of Characters

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Your define only demands to explain Each individual character after and in just one area. I get in touch with this scorecards. It will give you all their Actual physical characteristics and quirks so that you can wield them in your producing without the get worried that you will be transforming eye color or adding a limp. After getting the figures described, use them as part of your define with only their names. Even when you intend to omit the character's title in precise scenes, nevertheless produce it with Best Air purifier "James (omit title) entered the room". Description of your respective people as well as their steps is one thing You merely should do inside the concluded item Except if It's a crucial for the plot.

three. Explain the Scene

For every chapter or section of one's story, briefly explain what you imagine the scene to appear to be - a park location, a residence on the edge of the lake, a crowded subway station, or The within of a car or truck. In case your chapter moves by quite a few scenes, crack up the chapter into sections. Focus on Every single segment separately, and give each segment its very own landscapes, but Really don't dwell there. You will discover in comic publications which the huge scenes acquire up the most Area, like total webpages, although scaled-down scenes split the web site. Use the same procedure. After you require to explain loads of data in a single scene, Will not be afraid to fill it up. But be cognizant of guidelines 1 and a pair of higher than. Really don't let the artist get started taking up as well early.

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four. Outline Intention

Each and every scene in your story should further the Tale, enhance your figures, create the plot, or explain an function or location of relevance. Anything is unwanted. If You can't clarify the purpose of a scene to on your own, it is best to in all probability omit it. More importantly, telling on your own why a scene is crucial will turn out to be useful once the artist in you requires more than. An easy note like "foreshadowing below the Conference with hero's really like curiosity by exposing his lonely household lifetime" will rekindle your intention at enough time you produce the first draft.

5. Interact with People

Your final objective is to elucidate the conversation of your respective characters using pieces of dialog which have been significant on the Tale. This is not to convey you happen to be creating the exact words and phrases that should be spoken if the scene is ultimately drafted. You needn't even concern on your own with how a certain topic is broached, though it can help. Key in this article is always that the subject matter is handled and also your people remain in character through the dialog, and either create or minimize conflict. If your characters have certain reactions with each other, for instance a fist battle, Here is the place to elucidate why it happens and what the end result is - or does it go unresolved?

6. Preserve it Quick

Above outlining a Tale signifies you're allowing the artist in. The one time a protracted outline is appropriate is when you are working with a need for conveying points or putting research notes. These kinds of circumstances are greatest handled by managing the specifics as characters them selves. Make a scorecard concerning the analysis and facts that could be Employed in the Tale and describe them by reference. You shouldn't involve lengthy prose that contains the particular investigate in-line Along with the Tale define as it's going to weigh down your artist when you set him/her no cost.

Your objective in outlining would be to determine a transparent route together which the story should really journey in an effort to acquire you from its commence, in the making of conflict, to the climax, its resolution, and ultimately the top. When you believe yourself accomplished, review your outline and ask by yourself if you have succeeded in this objective. Preserve revising the define till you'll be able to Truthfully say you determine what you need to publish so that you can do well.

Building your define usually takes some time. It's tiresome largely due to the fact all writers are 50 % artist, and the artist wants to enable. It will require a Unique emphasis to maintain the artist at bay. I like comedian book writers for their self-discipline. We will all master from their get the job done.

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persuadedproject-blog · 7 years

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Chapter 11

Anne was interrupted from her light morning reading of The Yellow Wallpaper by a gentle tapping on the hotel door. Swinging the door open, she found Hazel, hair plopped on top of her head in a top knot, feet bare.

“I thought you might be up!” she stage whispered. “Do you want to go walk on the beach?” Anne decided that for a bit of friendship and the ocean, her reading could wait. Hazel curled up on the bed while Anne changed out of her pajamas.

“What are you doing up anyways,” she called in the direction of the bathroom. Anne’s head popped around the corner.

“Just geeky research stuff.” Hazel flopped back on the bed.

“I won’t do another second of it once I get out of college,” she groaned. “If I have to learn one more way to cite a source I’ll scream Right there in class, I’ll just stand on my desk and scream. They’ve already made me learn MLA, APA, And Turabian - there can’t be many more, can there? Oh, Anne. No! You can’t wear a cardigan.” Anne tugged at the offending sweater.

“Why not?” she asked, tilting her head in the mirror.

“First of all, it’s summer. The season of pumpkin spice lattes is a long ways away. Secondly, we’re at the beach. Thirdly, that’s a perfectly nice shirt you have under it, and Lauren Conrad says not to layer just for the sake of layering. Fourthly -”

“Cease and desist!” Anne was cracking up. “Look, I’m putting the cardigan away. Does that make you happy?”

Once they were padding through the hotel hallway, Anne asked quietly,

“What got you up this early? You normally need more rest than this.” This was a tactful way of saying that they never usually had a Hazel sighting until ten or eleven.

“I’ve just been thinking,” her usually carefree face drew into a small frown. Anne nodded wisely. Thinking could be a troublesome thing. “About Chuck and me,” Hazel clarified. “I think being around Ben and seeing him be so miserable after losing Faith, it made me wonder what would happen if Chuck - went away.” They were outside now, so they could talk at normal volumes (for Anne, still quiet, for Hazel sincere and a little loud). “If anything happened, Anne, I’d just die. Whatever Chuck and I have, it’s good, and I would be an idiot to let it go.” Anne smiled, glad to see that Hazel’s own ponderings had brought her around to this conclusion. Both Hazel and Louise stood a chance to grow into their parents; good, kind people with their heads screwed on straight. Once they were on the sand, the topic pivoted.

“I think the beach is good for everyone!” Hazel declared. “The sunshine, fresh air - even the salt water is good. If you’re sick, it helps you get well, and if you’re healthy, it only makes you better! I really think Doc Shirley should retire to the beach, sooner rather than later. His arthritis is only getting worse. He and Miz Shirley have spent their lives working and doing good, but it’s sort of depressing to think of them living out their last days in tiny Uppercross, isn’t it? We should suggest that they retire here. I just doubt we could convince him to stop work, but we really shouldn’t glorify the ‘work til you drop’ philosophy, should we? Chuck could do his job just as well, I bet. And he shouldn’t run himself ragged, that would just break Miz Shirley’s heart.” Anne just smiled and nodded, with an occasional,

“I think so,” or “Definitely.” It was clear Hazel needed to get her thoughts out in the open, and since it seemed to the advantage of everyone in question, Anne tried to be as encouraging as she could.

“I wish Mrs. Russell were around Uppercross. I’ve always heard she had great sway over everyone, and she’s able to convince anyone of anything! Of course, I’m a little afraid of her, because she’s so smart and so influential, but I respect her a lot. I wish we had a neighbor like her. She could convince Doc to retire.” Anne thought it was funny how the things that advance our plans suddenly become the best option for other people - and how anyone who can help bring the plan to reality became valuable. She only had time to say,

“She has been a wonderful neighbor,” before Hazel spotted Wentworth and Louise coming toward them. They had also decided to go for a walk before breakfast, but as soon as the four were all walking together, Louise remembered that she needed to buy something in Beaufort. They were all invited to go along, and they all did.

When they came up to the narrow wooden steps that ran up and over the dunes, a guy who had been planning to walk down at the same time politely stood aside, to let them come up. As they passed him, Anne’s face caught his eye and he looked at her with a sincere admiration she could not brush off. Anne was looking attractive; time outside had restored a bloom to her face, and her eyes had sprung back to life, as if reflecting the movement and energy of the water. It was clear that this stranger took notice, but not in an ogling way. Wentworth looked back at her immediately in a way that showed the stranger’s admiration had not gone unobserved. He gave her a quick glance, that seemed to say even he could see some of the old Anne Elliot again. Louise led the still somewhat sleepy band of people into town, and picked up her necessities at a gas station. Hazel and Anne had to wait outside, because of the faded ‘No shirt, no shoes, no service’ sign that was peeling on the door. After that, they meandered back to the hotel for a continental breakfast. Anne slipped upstairs to slip on some shoes, and nearly bumped into the stranger from the steps on her way off the elevator. She had wondered if they were staying in the same hotel. Once again, he seemed happy to see her, and to think of her - well, Anne could see that he thought she was beautiful. He apologized quickly, and when she tried to blame it on her absent-mindedness he would not allow any of the fault to be hers. He was about Anne’s age, maybe a little older. Although he was not strikingly handsome (certainly not a movie star in the making), he wasn’t an eyesore either. He carried himself well. When the elevator doors shut, and Anne was alone with the sleepy jazz music, she wished she had gotten his name for future stalking (when admirers are few and far between, you have to make the most of them).

Breakfast was the usual free hotel fare: burnt coffee and watery orange juice, stale bagels, cereal that had lost its crunch, thin yogurt, and waxy fruit for the health conscious. The company was what made breakfast nice, and from her past five years in and out of conference centers, Anne knew how to make the buffet offerings into a decent breakfast. Toasted bagels don’t taste nearly as old, especially when slathered with whatever butter substitute they are serving. Drink as much of the orange juice as you can stand, and eat a banana - at least the fake skin comes off of that. Since they were in the breakfast nook alone, they could spread out however they liked. The whole room was brought to the window when the owner of the beautiful red convertible parked by the window loaded his suitcase, and started up the engine.

“That’s a classic car, isn’t it?” and the purr of the engine was enough to bring Charles bounding over to the window, and Wentworth’s seemingly off-handed,

“Oh! That’s the exact same guy we passed this morning,” was enough to bring everyone else. He said it with a quick look at Anne, so she made sure to take her time walking over. The Musgrove girls agreed that it had to be him, and they all watched until he disappeared around the corner. They all returned to their seats and stale breakfasts. Soon enough a disinterested college student in an oversized uniform wandered over to the buffet to check on the stockpiles of food. As soon as he spotted him, Wentworth asked,

“Do you know who the man who just checked out was?”

“Since it’s only me on duty on this floor, yeah.”

“Just you? That’s rough.”

“I guess.”

“But who was he?”

“Um, a Sam Beckett? Wait, that wasn’t a breach of client confidentiality, was it?”

“Since you are neither a doctor nor lawyer, I don’t think so. Thanks!” Wentworth clapped him reassuringly on the shoulder, and the kid looked longingly at his desk.

“Sam Beckett?” Mary, usually the most clueless person in the room (or maybe the state), for some unfortunate reason remembered this name. “I thought I recognized his face! He was friends with our sister Liz. Anne, Charles, don’t you think it was him? He almost was going to take over the firm - did he say anything about Elliot Political Consulting?”

“No, but I think he’s planning to get a good job soon enough. Like, big money. He was talking about moving into a new house and getting new business cards made. His old card said something about waffles, I think?”

“That has to be him!” Mary said triumphantly. “How bizarre is it that we see him after all these years! I wish I had looked at him more closely, I was just looking at the car. How amazing!” The employee retreated to the safe haven of his desk as soon as Mary’s interrogation had finished.

“The chances of meeting an old friend in a town like this are small enough, it has to be predestined that you didn’t actually meet him.” Wentworth said amusedly. When she could finally wrangle Mary’s attention, Anne quietly tried to convince her that running into this particular Mr. Beckett would not be a good thing.

“Our dad hasn’t spoken to him since everything happened,” she informed her. “Not to mention Liz would be furious if we were friendly to him.”

“Well now she’s found her zen or whatever, surely she’s over it be now. It’s not like a breakup years ago is worth losing the connection. You’ll have to mention seeing him when you hear from the Hyannis crowd.” Anne did not respond - convincing Mary she was wrong at this point would be about like having a debate with a sand dune. While Mary was in the habit of sharing any and all information, Anne censored information to avoid irritation, conflict, and possible damage to the Hyannis Elliot’s ego. Mary never communicated with them herself, so it was up to Anne to keep up a sporadic and unsatisfactory talks with Liz.

Just as they were finishing up breakfast, the Harvilles and Ben Wick walked through the lazily sliding doors. They had gotten a babysitter, and were going to show the Uppercross contingent the sights. Thanks to a trolley-style bus, they could leave their cars behind and see the town mostly by foot. The plan was to see all the highlights, have a late lunch, and then get back to Uppercross. Wentworth had a meeting in D.C. the next morning, and Mary wanted to make sure Mrs. Musgrove was not feeding the boys all junk processed food. Once they started walking, Anne found Ben gravitating towards her. Much to her delight, their conversation the night before had not driven him away. She got to see the town with Ben at her side, comparing notes on Byron (interesting poetry, rather awful human). They walked by the house where Blackbeard the pirate had supposedly hung his wife and killed her lover on the stairs.

“They say the blood stain still seeps through the stairs, no matter how much they clean it, or what carpet they put over it,” Ben said, seeming to relish the macabre interest of it all. Most of the highlights of Beaufort were admittedly pirate related - the Maritime Museum (in an old ship builder’s shed) was centered around artifacts dredged up from his old ship, sunk just off the coast. In the church graveyard, surrounded by rough old stones and Spanish Moss, Ben provided more ghost stories. Most of the other sights involved food: legendary fudge, ice cream, and craft beer at The Queen Anne’s Revenge - local bar and sandwich shoppe.

When they were walking along the main street boardwalk, she found Ben replaced by Will.

“Anne,” he said quietly, “I can’t tell you how much good you’ve done Wick, getting him to talk that much. It can’t be good for him to be shut away here, I know, but what can we do? We have to stick together.”

“Time will give some distance to everything that will help,” Anne encouraged him. “He is still a young mourner. Give him more time, he’ll come around to himself if you give him the chance to. I understand you lost Faith last winter.”

“Last November,” Will nodded painfully. “And I didn’t have the heart to tell him. Plus he was...unavailable at the time, due to work. Wentworth was the only one who could get to him. He stayed with Ben for the week, flew home with him, and supported all of us through the funeral. I don’t know what his superiors thought, but we were all so busy with arranging - everything. It feels like Ben is the last part of Faith left. We loved him for his own sake of course, but you can imagine how important he is to us now.” He was clearly overwhelmed by the subject, and after abruptly clearing his throat he changed the subject. Anne went along the rabbit trail with him, and helped him by pointing out a boat inscribed with the name Thanks a Yacht.

After lunch they were all supposed to go their separate ways, but Will mentioned that there was one more sight to be seen, if they could find the time: Fort Macon. Mary and Charles were not sure if they had the time, but after hearing about the views, Louise became determined. And now once she was set on something, she was a force to be reckoned with.

“It won’t take long,” she argued. “We’ll just walk through the fort, take another quick walk on the beach, then we can go. We checked out this morning, so we can just leave straight from the fort.” The group agreed, and in half an hour they were all at the old Civil War fort. The fort was mostly brick and cement, with iron intertwined and an occasional well-groomed patch of grass. All of the old passages were open to the public. The hallways all connected in an off-kilter pentagon, kitchens led to mess halls, to bedrooms that would have been packed with bunks, to long stables. The Uppercross tourists and their hosts spread out into pairs, some taking in everything in at a glance, others wandering slowly and reading the plaques. Anne found herself bringing up the rear with Ben. Considering the location, where you could see the ocean and flyers for the Marlin Festival were everywhere, The Old Man and the Sea simply had to be discussed. Anne was glad to have his company, and gave him her full attention. She told him about dusting off work on her thesis, and his eyes lit up. He offered to review it, once she was finished.

“Not that I could teach you anything, obviously,” he added quickly. “But if you want another set of eyes on it.”

After they had climbed fifty shallow steps to the lookout, they soaked in the sun and wind for as long as practical time constraints would allow, when they filed back down. Everyone else was happy to walk quietly, except for Louise. Spotting Wentworth solidly on the ground, she said,

“Look out, Captain!” and jumped the rest of the way down. Thinking quickly, Wentworth caught her outstretched arms and swung her safely to the fort’s brick floor. They were in the habit of exchanging playful, affectionate contact, so this did not surprise anyone in the group. Anne wondered if he could feel the eye roll she wanted to release. Louise thought this little thrill was fun, and to show her admiration for the catcher, ran back up the stairs, stopping higher than before.

“That’s too high, Louise,” he said offhandedly. “You can’t even jump that far, much less have me catch you. Louise just gave him a cocky grin and said,

“I’m determined, so I will!” and launched herself off the steps. A second too late, he started after her, arms outstretched again. Her jump had been thrown off by catching her foot on the step. With a thud that reverberated off the walls of the fort, her head hit the bottom step. Her body went limp, her eyes closed as her head lolled to the side. For a split second, they all stood still and silent, trying to process the horrible sight. Then all was movement and noise. Wentworth, who was closest, gathered her up, trying to wake her up, searching her suddenly pale face for signs of life.

“She is dead! She is dead!” Mary wailed. Hazel panicked, and would have tripped herself on the steps if Anne and Ben had not caught her between them, and lowered her to sit.

“Just stay put,” Anne instructed with a gentle squeeze of her shoulder.

“Can no one help me?” Wentworth burst forth desperately. Ben and Anne rushed down the steps, and Charles disentangled himself from his panicking wife. Fearful of too many cooks in the kitchen, Anne stood on the periphery, calling out prompts to help take care of Louise.

“Is she breathing?” Anne asked.

“Yes, very shallowly.”

“Just - keep her head very still.” Anne whipped out her phone and with trembling hands dialed 911. While it rang, Anne caught Ben’s eye.

“See if they have a medic on call at the visitor’s center. Or ask around for a nurse, anyone with medical training.” He went sprinting across the grounds and over the drawbridge. Seconds were flying by. Of the three rational forces there, it was hard to tell who was the most distressed: Anne, Wentworth, or Charles, who was really a loving brother, hanging over his sister’s face, rogue tears running down his ruddy face. Anne was trying to quiet Mary, comfort Hazel, and rack her brain for anything they could do.

“Anne, what next? What next?” Charles asked brokenly. Wentworth, in a daze, also looked to her.

“Check gently for other wounds than that one on her forehead, and try to get a read on her pulse. We can’t move her, but try to elevate her head just a little.”

By the time the ambulance showed up, a small group of concerned onlookers had gathered. With dread they retraced their steps of just an hour ago, Louise on a stretcher, Anne and Wentworth on either side. Charles rode with her in the ambulance and the rest of them followed in the entourage. They were all resigned to the waiting room to sit and hope for the best. After the sun and warmth all day, the blasting AC felt frigid. It was difficult to keep track of time - ER waiting rooms have their own logic and time, florescent lights flickering, and nurses in all matching scrubs passing - how could they stand short sleeves? The TV looped local news over and over again. During one of the commercial breaks, Wentworth came over and sat beside Anne.

“Someone needs to call her parents,” he said in a hushed voice that excluded all of the other waiters from their conversation.

“We shouldn’t call anyone until we’ve seen the doctor, and know more about what is going on - what good could calling them with no conclusions and a passed out daughter do?”

“We can’t keep it from them.”

“Just not now. If we haven’t talked to anyone in another half hour, one of us can call Mr. Musgrove. He’ll know the best way to break it to her mom.” Wentworth nodded, and Charles poked his head out of the swinging door, waving to them.

“Anne! Wentworth!” They walked over, leaving the rest with a reassuring thumbs-up from Charles. “She came back to, but hasn’t talked much since. The doctor seems to be hopeful.”

“She has a small fracture in her skull,” the doctor said, pointing to a small line on the X-ray. “Fortunately, her brain is mostly untouched. There is a small concussion, but no bleeding.” Wentworth leaned against the door frame, as if all the energy he had been using to keep himself together had just left him. “We will need to monitor her carefully for several days, and keep her for a week, just to make sure she doesn’t show any signs that will make me rethink the diagnosis.”

“And after that?” Anne asked.

“She’ll be recovering for six to twelve months. The worst of it will be in the first weeks, after that she’ll just have to be careful.”

The anxious group waiting in the emergency room stood up when Anne reappeared, then flopped back on the chairs in relief. All of their worst fears - permanent damage, hours to live, paralysis, all of them were quelled. The Harvilles had rounded up food from a nearby McDonald’s, and the whole group inhaled it in the parking lot, heat radiating from the pavement. Emergencies have a tendency to steal your appetite, then eventually make you ravenous. The pressure had been released, and they could start working out the logistics. Louise obviously had to stay put. Charles refused to leave Beaufort - they had barely been able to drag him away from the hospital bed for food. Wentworth positively had to go back to Washington for the mandatory meeting. Hazel was, in her own words, virtually useless. She couldn’t stand still in the hospital room, and the sight of her still sister made her nervous. Anne accidentally walked into the pow-wow happening behind Charles’ car.

“So I will take Hazel home,” Wentworth was saying, “And Mary - I assume she’s wanting to get back to CJ and Walter now. If anyone’s going to stay and help you look after Louise, it should be Anne. No one could take care of someone like her. She’s capable, and has a good mind for it.” Anne stumbled to a halt at the trunk, trying to process his words and the emotions that came with them. Then she rounded the corner, and Wentworth immediately turned and said,

“You would stay, I know. Will you stay and help Charles take care of her?” His tone was urgent but gentle, in a way that can only be understood with years of relationship groundwork. She felt blood rush to her face, and he seemed to remember the situation and take a step back.

“Of course, I am happy to be here as long as I need to be,” she said, noticing the relief and a flicker of admiration in his eyes. It all seemed to be arranged. Suitcases were shuffled to the correct car, hotel reservations made. Wentworth’s car made a coughing, sputtery sound when he tried to start it, and no degree of coaxing or jumper cables would get the engine to start. Anne offered her car, and after another game of musical chairs with the luggage, everything seemed finished until Mary got wind of the plan. All of the created peace was thrown to the wind.

“Why on earth would Anne stay?” she demanded, tears pooling in her already red eyes. “Anne is nothing to Louise, and I am her sister. It’s not fair! I can be just as useful as her, probably more because of all my medical research.” Anne could not be sure, but she thought she heard a snort from Ben’s direction. Maybe it was just a cough. Mary carried on her torrent of words for as long as Charles could stand, then her husband caved. Anne had never yielded more reluctantly to the insistent bad plans of her sister, but there was nothing to be done. Everyone was saying their goodbyes while Wentworth drove the car off to fill it with gas. Anne stuck her hand out to Ben,

“Goodbye for now.”

“Goodbye for now,” he repeated. “You should know that I will find you on Facebook. I expect lots of vague posts about wrestling with that thesis.”

“You can count on it.”

Hazel wanted to be in the back seat, to try and sleep, which left Anne hopping in the passenger side with a bewildered and obviously dismayed Wentworth.

“I - thought Mary was going back,” he spluttered, trying to politely filter his thoughts and explain his almost horrified expression.

“Mary wanted to stay,” Anne explained simply.

“And what Mary wants, Mary gets,” he added in frustration. This cool reception was humiliating to Anne. Apparently she was only valuable when useful to Louise. Anne tried to bring her mind, whirling at a thousand thoughts per minute, in check. She needed to be fair. Everyone was under a great deal of pressure. Then again, his job was being under pressure all the time. Anne could not help but wonder if he was rethinking the opinion that a decided will was some great universal good. Like all other things, ti could turn into a monster if it was not balanced out. It could not escape him that a flexible will is sometimes more conducive to happiness than an iron one.

They both set themselves looking straight ahead, and this was the way they left Beaufort, with all of their emotions turned inside, eyes focused on the road. Anne was not sure how four hours on the road would go, but it was surprisingly natural. Both of them were focused on taking care of Hazel, whose eyes had not returned from the hundred yard stare since Louise’s head made contact with the ground. Whenever Wentworth talked, it was with the goal of making her feel better. After recovering from the jolt of Anne joining them in the car, his voice was even, quiet. Everything was set in order to keep Hazel from working herself back up. Only once she had been snoring quietly for a long time did Anne venture to quietly say,

“I wish we had never gone to that fort -”

“Please don’t talk about it!” Hazel startled, and he lowered his voice again. “If only I had not given in to her that one split second. If I had done what was right - but she looked at me, so eager, this sweet look in her eyes -” his hands tightened on the steering wheel.

“We all agreed to go,” Anne reminded him. “And I’m not sure you could dissuade Louise from doing anything right now, whether it’s putting her hair in braids, or - well, you know.” Soft classical music filled in the silence that hung in the car. He revved the engine, and the car pulled away from the ocean and towards Uppercross, hugging the curves of the winding back roads and pulling California stops at all the stop signs until they pulled into the Great House driveway.

When they crawled up the driveway, Hazel was still fast asleep, her hoodie pulled over her face.

“I have been thinking about what would be best for us to do. She shouldn’t hear the long term risks, at least not tonight, but I don’t want her to wake up alone and get confused. Will you wait with her, while i go in and talk to the musgroves? Does that sound like an okay plan?”

“Affirmative,” she said, a half smile tugging at her mouth. He started to get out of the car, looked back at her like he wanted to say something, then changing his mind quietly shut the door. The question made her happy, as a sign of friendship- but even better, a respect for her thoughts. It became a proof she hung onto that the old respect was still there, even if the love was not. Once the parents were brought up to speed and pulled back together, Hazel was brought in and put to bed. With everything settled, Wentworth drove to D.C. in one of the musgrove’s cars, which he would return to them in Beaufort as soon as the morning meetings were over.

Chapter 12 : http://bit.ly/2uEfqy5

#persuadedproject #persuasion #janeausten

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