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ladylynse · 5 years

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Happy birthday, @queenofhearts7378! I managed to get it done in time. I wrote you a Secret Quartet ficlet.

Summons: The request to appear before the Dragon Council was...unexpected. And impossible to refuse. [FF | AO3]

“A summons?” Adrien repeated dumbly as he read over the mysterious letter in the relative safety of his bedroom. He’d found it stuffed in between sheets of piano music while practicing after lunch and had begged off to ‘study’ soon after. Fortunately for him, Nathalie had let him go. “Can they do that?”

“Dragons like to think they have authority over the entire magical world,” Plagg said. Adrien felt the kwami land on his shoulder. “They don’t, but enough people act like they do that they can get away with it.”

“This…. It says they want to evaluate my magical ability and assess the risk of exposure of the magical world.”

“Which just means Jake hasn’t told them about me and that they don’t believe you can keep a secret.” Plagg sniffed. “You better transform. They didn’t give you much warning.”

“What do you mean, they didn’t give me much warn—?” But the paper was turning to ash in his hands, and wind that shouldn’t exist inside his bedroom caused the remains to swirl around him. Adrien cried out for Plagg to transform him as the miniature whirlwind thickened, and then it closed off his view of his room completely.

XXXX

When the whirling ash cleared and the dizzying sensation of being caught inside it abated, Adrien found himself standing on the stone floor of some kind of open-air temple. A bright mosaic spread out around him, depicting a battle between two dragons whose names he didn’t know. Columns rose on either side, and between them….

Well, between the nearest pair of columns stood someone who looked very much like an elderly man dressed sharply in blue, but Adrien had no doubt that he was much more than he appeared to be.

“Chat Noir. Bienvenue.” The man inclined his head. “I am Councillor Kulde. Please, come with me.”

Adrien didn’t move. “This is the Isle of Draco.” It was more statement than question at this point; he didn’t know where else he could be. “Why am I here?”

“You are here because it is necessary for us to meet,” answered Kulde, “just as it is necessary for us to meet your friends.”

Kulde was a dragon, which meant the friends he was talking about were Randy and Danny. Adrien shifted his weight, readying himself to run if it proved necessary. He doubted he could outrun a dragon, but he might have a chance if he could make it to the trees where Kulde wouldn’t be able to easily follow him. “They’re here, too?”

“Councillors Andam and Omina are greeting them,” Kulde said, as if that explained anything. As if that made a difference.

“So you kidnapped us?”

“You answered our summons.”

“How is this a summons? I was hardly given a choice!” Anger wouldn’t win him any favours, but it was hard to keep his emotions out of his voice.

“The summons were enchanted to come only when you all would not be missed. You needn’t worry about being discovered. We are careful.”

Adrien wanted to run, to fight, to do anything but go along calmly, but diplomacy was the only thing that might help him—help them—right now. Randy was hopeless at it, Danny little better, and Jake…. Jake still had a lot to learn. If anyone was going to speak for them, it would have to be him.

He couldn’t afford to give Kulde any more than he already had.

“Very well.” Adrien was careful to keep his voice level. Reserved. He tried to emulate his father. That was easier than relaxing his stance. “Please lead the way.”

XXXX

“This is wonk,” Randy insisted as he trailed after the guy who’d introduced himself as Councillor Andam. “You don’t need to put us on trial!”

“No one is on trial,” Andam said calmly. He didn’t pause, and Randy had to run to keep up—not an easy task, given the rocky terrain at the base of the mountain. Or volcano? Whatever it was. Maybe a volcano, considering how much it looked like the base of Mt. Chuck. Either way, he didn’t want to get left behind here, especially not when he was pretty sure Jake had said something about sections of this island being booby-trapped.

“It’s not like Jake told us about the magical world. We found out on our own.”

“Many have discovered it on their own,” agreed Andam.

Randy waited, but Andam didn’t give any indication that that was okay.

And Jake had mentioned how he technically should’ve given some kind of mindwipe potion to Trixie and Spud.

Really, Randy already knew this was in his future when he was through being the Ninja; he didn’t want to get it prematurely. Again. Especially at the cost of his friendship with the others.

He kept talking, hoping something would get through to Andam, but if the councillor was moved by anything Randy said, he didn’t show it. His expression remained calm, composed, and closed. Randy had no idea what he was thinking. Which didn’t help matters.

His current rambling probably wasn’t helping matters, either, but he kept hoping he’d hit upon something.

Andam led him towards what might be some kind of training ground. Okay. Randy could deal with that. He’d brought his mask. He could show them that the Ninja wasn’t as incompetent as Jake’s stories might have painted him. He could show them that he had the right to defend Norrisville, that he’d been chosen as the Ninja for a reason, that they didn’t have any right to say he wasn’t fit to be the Ninja of Norrisville. He could prove himself and show off some bruce moves.

Probably.

Randy spotted Adrien, already masked as Chat Noir, but he couldn’t see Danny or Jake. To be fair, Randy wasn’t sure if he would see Jake. Their association with Jake must be why they were here, why this Dragon Council had used some teleportation magic Jake had never mentioned to bring them here, but these people trusted Jake, more or less. He was the American Dragon, and they hadn’t stripped him of that. And…and maybe they wouldn’t see Danny, either. Ghosts were technically magical creatures, and if Danny was half-ghost, he wasn’t any different from Jake, who was half-dragon.

But Randy was like Adrien: an ordinary kid who needed to use magic—someone else’s magic—to have any special powers.

Andam left him standing beside Adrien and moved to join the group of adults standing opposite them. It…it really felt like a trial, even if it wasn’t supposed to be. And of the people on the council….

Randy frowned and pointed at the sole woman. “What’s she doing here?”

“That’s Councillor Chang,” Adrien hissed.

“What the juice? Isn’t she the evil one?”

Adrien’s kick wasn’t very subtle, but Randy got the point: shut up. Making accusations wouldn’t help them, and if Chang was here, she must’ve been cleared of whatever charges had been against her.

Seriously, though. She was the evil one. Randy was not about to trust her. If he had known she’d be here, he’d have put on his mask so she couldn’t see his face. Which is probably what he should’ve done anyway, but it was Sunday, and he’d been in the middle of breakfast, and who would’ve thought opening the mail would require him to be masked? He was lucky he’d had it on him at all.

“Do you know if Danny’s coming or if it’s just us?” Randy asked, this time trying to keep his voice low.

“I think he’s here,” Adrien answered quietly. “You came with Councillor Andam, so Councillor Omina is supposed to be meeting him.”

Randy didn’t remember which one Omina was, but he hadn’t remembered which one Andam was, either. He only really remembered Chang, since Jake had gone into great detail about her so they all knew who to avoid in case she ever showed up on their turf.

Councillor Omina turned up about five minutes later—though it felt more like fifteen or twenty, Adrien didn’t look the least bit fidgety, so it couldn’t have been that long—from the direction of the beach, with Danny (as Phantom) trailing sourly behind her. He looked wet, which was weird, because he could just go intangible and dry off.

Randy wondered how much he was going to regret the Dragon Council knowing his real identity. Since magic had been involved in getting him here, they probably hadn’t needed to know who he was; the magic letter could have just been enchanted to find the Ninja. Sure, they still might not know his name, but now they knew his face, and—

“My apologies for the delay,” Omina said smoothly. “Phantom is stubborn.”

Danny wiped at the water dripping from his hair into his eyes. “Hey, I still came, so you can stop it with the water curse thing already.”

Omina just smiled. The other councillors nodded, and Randy didn’t see anything change, but all of a sudden Danny was dry, so Omina must have stopped whatever she’d been doing.

Danny was still scowling when he flew over to hover by Randy and Adrien, though. Randy knew he didn’t like remaining intangible for long periods of time—he claimed it was too tiring—and Randy could only guess that whatever magic Omina had done counted on that. That wasn’t entirely comforting. He’d thought, from the letter, that the Dragon Council didn’t know much about them, but….

“Thank you for joining us today,” said Andam. He introduced the councillors again and basically repeated what the letter had said about why they were here. As far as Randy could tell, Jake hadn’t told them much, if anything, and they wanted to know more.

Randy itched to sit down, but Adrien hadn’t moved, and Danny was cheating by floating cross-legged in the air.

No one offered them chairs, but Chang brought forward a selection of food and beverages from a table Randy hadn’t noticed earlier. (He wasn’t sure if it had actually been there earlier or if he just hadn’t noticed it. Hard to tell when magic was involved.) None of them took anything, and judging by Danny’s glare, he didn’t need Adrien’s confirmation that Chang was the evil councillor. She’d probably poison them as soon as drug them with something, just to distract Jake long enough for her to get whatever she wanted for whatever she was trying to do now.

Randy didn’t realize how much he’d zoned out the entire discussion until Danny burst out, “This is so stupid! You can’t keep us here. You had no right to bring us here. Chat Noir and the Ninja were entrusted with the secrets that allow them to be Chat Noir and the Ninja. They can keep a secret. They already are keeping secrets, theirs and yours. And I’m a ghost. Doesn’t that mean you’re supposed to protect me, too? Not interrogate me?”

Councillor Kukulkhan stepped forward. “The Panther once protected my people. My ancestors worked with him. Honoured him. And then he vanished, and the old ways faltered, and the Central American Dragons of the time were not enough to save them. The magical society was decimated, the common populace little better. How can I be sure that the same pattern will not be repeated here?”

Adrien swallowed. “You wish to hold me responsible for crimes committed generations past, ones of which I have little to no knowledge?”

“The fault is your own,” Councillor Omina retorted. “You cannot stand here and claim to uphold a legacy when you do not understand it or know its histories. My people were also visited by the Black Cat, and my land was lost to the waters because of it.”

Adrien winced, and Randy guessed he’d heard that story.

“The Norisu Nine are also not without fault,” Chang put in. “Were they competent, there would be no need for the Norrisville Ninja today.”

“Hey! The Sorcerer is one shnasty piece of work. And if you guys are so great, why didn’t you help them defeat the Sorcerer in the first place?”

Chang’s lip curled. “You would know that answer if you knew any of the history of the land in which you live.”

“We don’t intend to bring harm to the magical community any more than we do to the people we protect every day,” Adrien said. “The Ninja will protect Norrisville as long as is necessary. I will do the same in Paris, and Phantom in Amity Park. When needed, we will work together with the American Dragon, regardless of where that fight takes us. Because of what we do, you and the other dragons are free to deal with larger issues affecting the magical community. Is that not true?”

Chang smiled. “Then surely you will not protest proving your worth, as the American Dragon has?”

“Proving our worth how?” Danny asked suspiciously. “You know about us. You already know what we can do.”

“A more formal evaluation would not be amiss,” Kulde said quietly. “I would test your judgement in fire.”

“And I your wisdom in battle,” said Andam.

“And I your courage in flight,” added Chang.

“He’s the only one who can fly!” Randy protested, pointing at Danny.

Chang shrugged. “Your courage in fight, then.”

Danny crossed his arms. “Fine. When do we start?”

The dragons transformed. “Now,” cackled Chang, sending a wave of fire at them.

XXXXX

Danny bit back a curse and flew at Randy and Adrien, turning them all intangible before the flames hit. He hadn’t fought enough practice battles with Dora to be wholly comfortable with something like this, but he probably had more experience fighting dragons than the other two.

“We need a plan,” Adrien said.

“Don’t have time for plans!” Randy was digging through his pockets, trying to find his mask. “We need to move!”

Adrien grimaced. “Stay with Randy till he’s transformed. I’ll distract them.”

Danny didn’t argue. As the flames died down, Adrien rolled away from them and pulled out his staff, vaulting over the dragons and then spinning it to deflect further flames and— That was ice. Kulde could breathe ice.

Danny could handle ice.

“What do you think?” Randy asked once he was suited up. “Ninja Tengu Fireball or Ninja Hydro Hand or Ninja Air Fist or Ninja Earth Attack?”

“I think your all attacks have long names,” Danny retorted. “But if you go with your water fist, don’t waste your time around Omina.”

Randy groaned. “Fine. I’ll see how she likes a Ninja Electro-Ball and then fight fire with fire.” He broke off, taking the right flank since Adrien was coming more from the left.

Danny turned invisible and shot forward, shooting ghost rays or ice blasts in turn to buy his friends the time they needed. He didn’t think he’d win a battle of wills against any of the dragons if he tried to overshadow them, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t willing to use every other trick he had.

Including, if it came to it, his ghostly wail.

The island was uninhabited but for them, anyway.

And Adrien would use his Cataclysm if he needed to.

The dragons all had different fighting styles, none of which resembled Jake’s, which made predicting their moves difficult. But Adrien’s agility meant he wasn’t an easy target, and Randy called up an army of Sandjas to help them fight on the ground while tossing everything he had at the dragons. Danny stuck with protecting them from the air—and distracting the dragons from there, especially when he saw Adrien vault over to talk to Randy.

Those two began coordinating their attacks, trying to divide and conquer, and Danny helped out however he could.

By the time Andam called for the battle to halt, Danny was exhausted and headed immediately for the ground. Randy gave up and just lay down after pulling off his mask, and Adrien was hunched over, his hands on his knees as he took huge gulps of air. Danny had no idea how Adrien had gotten through the fight without using Cataclysm—he hadn’t been able to watch that closely—but he knew it wouldn’t have been easy.

The dragons themselves, back in human form, showed the occasional battle scar—a cut on the cheek, a favoured wrist, that sort of thing—and though they stood as straight as before, their fatigue was easier to see.

“Well fought,” said Andam. The admiration was clear in his voice. “You showed much wisdom in battle.”

“And excellent judgement in fire,” said Kulde.

Chang sniffed. “Your courage was adequate, I suppose.”

Danny raised an eyebrow, but at a warning look from Adrien, he didn’t open his mouth.

“We have proven our worth, as you requested,” Adrien said. “Now let us return home and—”

“Not so fast.” Chang raised a finger. “I said your courage was adequate, but that is not enough.”

“Councillor,” warned Andam.

“I agree with Councillor Chang,” Omina said, earning surprised looks from everyone, including Chang herself. “I believe that if you are to be protectors of the magical world, as you are by the very virtue of who you are—the Ninja, the Phantom, the Black Cat—you should understand what it is you are protecting.”

Randy sat up. “You want us to come here for history class?”

“Additional training also would not be amiss,” Kukulkhan pointed out, “particularly if you intend to work regularly with the American Dragon.”

“None of us have time for additional classes,” Danny said flatly. “History, training, whatever. We’re not coming here once a week or anything like that. We fight well as a team already.” He glanced at Adrien and then risked adding, “Besides, we’re not intending to tell you any more about our secrets, so don’t think you can bring us here on some excuse just to study us.”

He thought Adrien would rebuke him for that—silently, given that they were trying to make the point that they were a good team already—but instead, Adrien smiled. “Dragons,” he said, quite clearly, “do not have authority over the entire magical world. If our areas truly endangered yours, you would have sought us out long before we began working with the American Dragon.”

Danny shared a surprised look with Randy, but none of the dragons corrected Adrien, so he must have been right.

“If you wish to speak with us again,” added Adrien, “please inform the American Dragon. He will hereby act as our contact with the Dragon Council, and he will arrange any subsequent meetings in accordance to our schedules. We will not decline a meeting without good reason, so a summons like we all received today will be unnecessary. Is that clear?”

Kulde smiled. “Crystal,” he agreed. “Your demands are quite reasonable, Chat Noir, as are your concerns. Allow me to extend my apologies on behalf of the Dragon Council for your seemingly abrupt meeting with us all today. I can assure you we did not mean to cause alarm.”

Randy groaned. “Can we please just go home now? I really want to finish breakfast.”

Andam laughed, and the tension amongst the council members drained away. Well, except for Chang. She still looked more than unhappy, but she didn’t protest when Andam invited them to stay for lunch. Danny, Randy, and Adrien found themselves served from the same plates of food as the dragons themselves—which was just as well, since none of them trusted Chang as far as they could throw her, meaning they didn’t take anything until they saw the dragons partake freely. (If Chang was going to pull something, it wouldn’t be in front of the entire council, not after they’d agreed to play nice.) The food was good, some of the best Danny had ever had, though after growing up in a household with regularly contaminated food, his standards weren’t terribly high.

“Good job getting us through that,” Danny murmured to Adrien when he had the chance.

“Thank Plagg later,” Adrien whispered back, “though I wouldn’t have been able to do it if we hadn’t held up as well as we did in the fight. They wouldn’t have believed anything I said if we couldn’t back it up.”

Danny grinned and raised his glass. “To teamwork.”

Adrien smiled, raising his, and Randy hastily swallowed and clinked their glasses. “To teamwork,” they echoed.

(see more fics)

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abracazabka · 5 years

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Fictional Characters and Celebrities (Or Both At The Same Time) That Make Me Go *Lesbian Noises*

(anyone feel free to add on)

Stephanie Hsu/Christine Canigula

Melissa Benoist/Kara Danvers

Zendaya

Kate Blanchet

THAT COMPOSER GIRL FROM HIGHSCHOOL MUSICAL

Katie McGrath/Morgana Pendragon

Angel Coulby/Guinevere (sigh) Pendragon

Starfire

Miss Martian!!!

Maka Albarn

Carey Mulligan

Rooney Mara/Therese Belivet

Claire Danes/Juliet Capulet (we saw boobies in this movie in freshman year!!)

Molly Ringwald

Winona Ryder

Jessica Barden/Alyssa Foley

Angelina Jolie in Foxfire, like if I wasn’t a dyke before

Piper Perabo/Paulie in Lost and Delirious

Jennifer Lawrence/Katniss Everdeen/Mystique

Jena Malone/Johanna Mason

Mia Wasikowska

Scarlett Johansson ONLY as Black Widow

Margot Robbie

Alison Brie/Ruth Wilder

Gal Gadot/Diana Prince

Nathalie Emmanuel/Missandei

Zoey Deutch

Emmy Rossum

Ellen Ripley

Shane, Alice, Bette, Jenny, and most everyone on the L Word

Just...Harlivy

Luna Lovegood

Bonnie Wright/Ginny Weasley

Emma Watson

Lydia Martin (I think I like gingers)

Brook Lohst

Cassie Sandsmark (literally had a, uh, Dream)

Rose Wilson

Kim goddamned Possible

The mean girl from Barbie Fairy Secret

The mean mermaid girl from Mermaidia or Fairytopia whichever one it was wow this is pattern

Tatsuki Arisawa from like the maybe whole first season of Bleach I watched

Jodie Foster

Jane Asher (literally one of the Beatles’ ex’s is she even alive -oop)

Darryl Hannah

Barbara Gordon/Batgirl

And uh yeah I feel like that’s a lot but there’s also a lot more ??

#sapphic #pretty girls #sexy redhead girls #girls #girlswholikegirls #beautiful girls #actriz #girl crush #celebrity #sad lesbian #its one in the morning

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quicksilversquared · 6 years

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There’s No Camembert in Tibet: ch 2

The Plagg and the Butterfly Costume sequel!

With Hawkmoth defeated and school out for the summer, it’s time for Ladybug and Chat Noir plus their newly-assembled team of superheroes to head to Tibet to try to rescue Mrs. Agreste. Hiking, magic, and adventures await them, and hopefully at the end, they’ll be returning to Paris with Mrs. Agreste in tow.

(ch. 1)

(AO3) (FF.net)

Adrien shuffled in his seat, glancing out the plane windows at the clouds outside. He was glad that they had finally gotten on the plane and settled, because there had been a lot of staring going on in the airport. People recognized him and stared and pointed, some even going so far as to start heading in his direction before the twin disapproving glares from Marinette and her mother made them reconsider. He was sure that there were people trying to take his picture, too, so it had definitely been a good idea to have Master Fu, Nino, Alya, and Chloe keep away from the three of them. Nathalie was most definitely going to see at least one of those posts and it would be best if there weren't people with him that he hadn't told her about.

If they managed to recover his mother, Adrien would have to hope that she didn't look up any mentions of him on social media. He (well, mostly Nathalie, but also him, and Marinette's family as well) would get in trouble if his mother heard that he had been spotted at the airport.

But now that they were on the plane and in the air, everyone was seated and there were no stares. Adrien was free to twine his fingers with Marinette's and relax, but he couldn't keep from fidgeting as his mind raced. In a few hours- well, maybe more than a few, it was a really long flight- they would be in Tibet. They would take a day to rest up and buy grocery supplies, and then they would set out to try to rescue his mother.

The thought made him slightly ill from nerves. They wouldn't know for certain if they could free his mother from the booby trap at the temple until they were actually at the temple and had tried it, and Adrien had been doing his best not to get his hopes up. And even if they did get her back, there could be problems.

They would have to tell his mother that his father was in jail and would be there for years on charges of domestic terrorism and attempts to change the timeline. They would have to interrogate her with all of the questions they had come up with from reading all of the Agrestes' journals. There had been a lot of holes, a lot of things that conflicted or didn't quite make sense. At least one of the kwamis would have to be out when they told his mom- probably Nooroo, as the emotion-sensing kwami- to see if she was telling the truth. They would have to travel transformed back to civilization and then to the airport, all without getting their identities revealed, which would present all sorts of logistical problems.

It would be worth it, of course. If the spell worked, which still wasn't a for-certain thing.

"You're worrying again," Marinette murmured, squeezing his hand. "Remember what Fu said, about looking forward instead of back?"

"Yeah, but it's the forward that I'm worrying about." Adrien huffed and squeezed Marinette's hand back. "We don't know if the spell is going to work, and what happens if she comes back and she's not who I remembered? Like, I thought I knew my father, but look how well that turned out."

He didn't want the same thing to happen with his mother. He didn't think he would be able to handle it, not right now. Not even with his support network, even as strong it was.

Marinette just chewed on her lip, not answering. Adrien knew that she didn't want him to get his hopes up only to have them dashed later on. Right now, all signs pointed to his mother's interest in the Miraculous being entirely innocent- the journals said that his parents had just been looking for the missing Miraculous to recover them for a friend of his mother's who had a family member with a Miraculous- but if Adrien were going to have any ill intentions with a piece of magical jewelry, he wouldn't leave a paper trail, and most other people would be smart enough to do the same.

The friend was a woman that Madam Agreste had met while studying abroad and was the grandchild of the Rat Miraculous holder. Apparently their grandfather had always dreamed of recovering the two lost Miraculous and returning them to the Guardian. The Rat was a lower-level Miraculous and a support player in all of the battles that it had actually participated in, so recovering the Peacock and the Butterfly- two powerful upper-level Miraculous that had been lost for several generations- would be a great achievement for them. But the grandfather had gotten too old to look, and Mrs. Agreste had wanted to help him achieve his dream, and Mr. Agreste had been interested in helping, just for the sake of helping.

At least, that was what the entries in the journal claimed. They would only know the truth if they could save Mrs. Agreste and talk to her.

"It just occurred to me that maybe we should have asked my father before we left," Adrien admitted quietly, dipping close to Marinette's ear so that nobody else could hear. "We could have gone as Ladybug and Chat Noir and brought Nooroo along as a magical lie detector and asked why he was looking for the Miraculous in the first place, just to test him. I should have thought of it earlier."

"Would you have been okay with seeing him again?" Marinette asked. She slid her hand into Adrien's hair, pulling him close so she could pet him as she spoke. "I know it was hard, when we had to go and testify at the trial."

Adrien worried his lip, thinking about it as Marinette played with his hair. She had a point, he knew that. He had been so sure that the trial would be easy. He had had space from his father at that point, and prior to that had suffered through nearly a year of a cold, aloof parent. He hadn't thought that there would be any reason for this father to change.

But instead, Chat Noir arrived at the trial to find that his father seemed almost meek, the fight drained out of him. He had shown concern about what had happened to Adrien, and that alone made Chat Noir step back and take a minute to compose himself again. Thankfully the superheroes weren't required to attend all of the proceedings, because Chat Noir wouldn't have been able to handle it. They stepped back out almost as soon as they could, under the guise of needing to get back to their civilian lives before anyone noticed that they were missing.

Maybe it was a good thing that he hadn't had that idea while they were still in Paris. Having to face his father without the space and prying eyes of the courtroom might have been too much, especially if his father continued to act humbled and regretful. Having Ladybug go alone would have looked strange and wouldn't have been fair to her. Besides, Adrien was still protective. He wouldn't have wanted her to go see their former nemesis without backup- and specifically him as backup.

It wasn't that he didn't trust their friends to have her back, but... well, Adrien knew that he was a more experienced fighter than any of the newer members of their team. In case something did happen, he would want to be the one to be there.

"I wouldn't have wanted to actually see him in jail," Adrien confessed, face buried in Marinette's neck. "It's one thing to know that he's there, but to see it..."

"Of course," Marinette hugged him, and Adrien relished in the contact. He didn't think he would ever get tired of it.

As the plane flew on, Adrien and Marinette started in on their collection of in-flight games. It would be a long-haul flight, thankfully with two meals served on the plane.

It was one hell of a flight to be Adrien's first-ever plane ride. Only two hours in, and he was already getting restless.

"At least we can sleep for part of it," Marinette pointed out when Adrien grumbled about it. "It won't be comfortable, and I'm sure Chloe will complain about not having gotten a first-class seat for it, but it does make the time go faster."

Adrien perked up, grinning. "So you're suggesting that I take a catnap?"

Marinette groaned.

Three hours in, the smell of food filled Adrien's nose. He perked up, twisting in his seat to try to locate the source of the smell.

"They'll be serving lunch soon," Marinette explained when she spotted Adrien craning his neck around. "So they're warming everything up now."

"And then they'll come around with it?"

"They serve people with special requests first," Marinette explained. "People who are vegetarian or who can't have wheat or can't have dairy. Things like that. Then they just go up the aisles with the standard meals and feed everyone else."

Adrien was sorely tempted to claim that he was vegetarian the next time he was on a long flight like this. Getting food even a little bit earlier sounded amazing right now. He hadn't even realized that he was hungry before, but now he was ravenous.

"We probably should have brought snacks to tide us over," Marinette admitted when Adrien said what he was thinking. "More than just leftover cookies, I mean. But we would have had to finish everything fresh before landing, because otherwise we might run into some bumps with customs. And if we packed crackers, then we would eat far too many of them. Boredom eating, you know."

Adrien didn't particularly see a problem with that. After all, they would be eating fairly healthy when they were traveling, right? And they ate healthy at home, too. It would just be for the flight where they would be eating things that they maybe shouldn't be.

Their meal finally arrived, and Adrien eagerly dug in. It wasn't gourmet by any means- nowhere near as good as the food he got at home or anything Marinette's parents made- but it was food, and it was decent enough. He dug in, torn between eating quickly and drawing it out a bit, just so eating would take up a bit more time.

"It's better than some airplane food I've had," Marinette said as she dug into her own food. "It really varies."

Up a row, they could see Chloe making a face as she tasted the first few bites of her food. Thankfully she didn't comment at all, instead just huffing as she continued to eat.

All too soon, the meal was finished up and the flight attendants came around to collect the containers the food had come in. Adrien tried to go back to his crossword puzzles, but he was too fidgety to focus. He didn't particularly like sitting still in such a cramped space for such a long time.

And they weren't even halfway there yet.

"You can do a bit of walking up and down the aisle once the flight attendants are done with their rounds," Marinette told him. "So you can stretch your legs. I would recommend it, actually."

Over the next several hours, Adrien made several rounds up and down the plane, feeling like a trapped, prowling cat. He spent ten minutes with one of Chloe's magazines before deciding that trying to read through the pages and pages of celebrity gossip was worse than having nothing to read at all. They got another meal, and then the lights dimmed so that the passengers could sleep for a few hours before they landed.

Adrien yawned, wishing he could lay down in a proper bed or at least stretch out a little bit. The chair in front of him reclined, cutting into his already limited space, and Adrien was about to be irritated until Marinette showed him how he could do the same thing with his own chair.

It wasn't long before Marinette dozed off against his shoulder. Adrien let his head drop onto hers, relaxing and dozing off a bit himself, even as uncomfortable as the position was. He woke with a start when the roar of the engines changed slightly, becoming ever-so-slightly louder.

"We'll be landing shortly," Mrs. Cheng told Adrien as he blinked awake, leaning across the aisle and over her daughter so he could hear her. "You might want to make sure you have everything packed up and then wake Marinette up. She can sleep while we wait for the next flight."

Adrien nodded, leaning forward to tuck Chloe's magazine and his book of word games back in his backpack under the seat in front of him. He made sure that nothing had fallen out, then sat back up.

Or, rather, he tried to sit back up. But when he leaned forward, Marinette's head had slid off of his shoulder and behind him. Adrien couldn't sit all the way up without squishing his girlfriend's head.

How Marinette had actually managed to stay asleep, Adrien really didn't know. She was just talented that way. She was also probably pretty tired, considering that they really hadn't been asleep for that long.

Adrien twisted around as far as he could, pushing Marinette's head back up so he could lean back. He had just re-settled her head into place on his shoulder when Marinette's eyes blinked open blearily.

"Sorry for waking you up," Adrien said immediately. "We're going to be landing soon, though."

Marinette groaned and buried her face in Adrien's shoulder. "Nooo. I wanna sleep."

"Well, we're going to be in a different time zone, so maybe being a bit tired will help," Adrien suggested, though he really didn't know personally since he hadn't really been out of the country before. In fact, was lucky that he even had a up-to-date passport. On top of that, he rather agreed with Marinette. He wanted to sleep for several hours more. "We'll be getting up early every day, and that's even without the time change."

Marinette groaned louder. Adrien laughed and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, grinning down at her.

Maybe they were going on a trip to try to save his mother and they had no guarantee that it would work, but Marinette's familiar groaning was providing a sense of normalcy that he sorely needed.

The plane angled downwards, and Adrien clutched Marinette's hand nervously as the bottom of his stomach dropped out. Marinette looked perfectly calm, as did her mother, but Adrien had just decided that he didn't like the feeling of the plane coming in to land, just like he hadn't particularly liked takeoff.

And they had one more flight to do to get to their airport in Tibet, plus two flights to get back to Paris once they were done with their trip. Adrien was already not looking forward to it.

"Can I not have the window seat next time?" Adrien asked, cringing as the earth appeared in the window. They were so high up, higher up than he had ever gone even as Chat Noir, and it was making him queasy. "I just- I don't like seeing the descent. Or feeling it."

"We should have brought along some catnip to chill you out," Marinette said. She reached out to hug him. "Maybe we can find some in the airport."

"Why is it that we couldn't just get a direct flight?" Adrien grumbled. He pressed his face into Marinette's neck. "We're overshooting Tibet and then going back. That makes no sense."

"The airport in Tibet doesn't have any direct flights from Paris," Sabine told Adrien. "Yes, it's frustrating, but that's how it is."

It was Adrien's turn to groan.

"And then it's three days of travel by car to the point where we start hiking," Marinette added. "But there's no flying involved then. Just all seven of us jammed into a car."

"Two cars," Mrs. Cheng corrected her. "And two of Master Fu's contacts will be driving, so add them in, too."

Adrien honestly couldn't wait. He would prefer being cramped up in a car with his girlfriend over having to deal with more airplane descents. Besides, they would be passing all sorts of lovely landscapes, which would be great. They missed that part while flying, even if flying was faster.

The plane grew progressively closer to the ground, and Adrien did his best not to get sick. He could feel Plagg groaning in his pocket- his kwami was clearly in total agreement about planes and how ill they made him feel- and Marinette kept rubbing his back, keeping him as distracted as she could.

Finally the plane touched town, and Adrien kept his eyes squeezed shut until they had come to a stop. Once they had touched down Adrien wanted nothing more than to get off, to walk around and shake off the ill feeling that had come with flying, but their group had to sit tight as the rest of the passengers got off. Only once the aisle had cleared did Master Fu hop out of his seat and gesture that they should follow. Chloe glanced up and finally tucked the magazine that she had been perusing away in her backpack before following him. Alya and Nino were fast to follow, but Sabine waited for Adrien to extract himself from his seat. Marinette snagged their bags before following him up the aisle, and Adrien brought up the end.

"I can't believe that I'm the only one who got affected by that," Adrien said with a bit of a scoff as he got off the plane. He could tell that Alya and Nino hadn't been bothered at all- he had heard them giggling over something behind him and Marinette as the plane descended- and Master Fu hadn't seemed rattled at all either, though perhaps that was because he had slept straight through it. Adrien was meant to be some worldly model- that was what he had overheard his father tell the marketing people when they were developing his "image", whatever that meant- and here he was, ill from a simple plane ride.

"It's not your fault, kitty," Marinette assured him. Once she was off the plane, she linked her arm through his as they headed for Customs. She didn't look entirely awake, but she was making a valiant effort. "Some people just get more affected than others, and all of us have been on planes before, too. We'll try to find some tea in the airport that might help for the next flight."

"How soon do we have to get on that flight?" Adrien asked. He rested his head against Marinette's for a second as they walked, then realized that she was still carrying his backpack and scrambled to take it from her. "Can we just get it over with?"

"We have three hours before our next flight," Mrs. Cheng told him. "Which we'll need, to get through Customs and then to our next gate. I wouldn't want to cut it any closer."

Adrien made a face.

Going through Customs was slow, but not particularly difficult. Plagg inhaled what was left of his cheese stash before it could be confiscated, and then they were heading for their next gate. Master Fu got spotted by some helpful airport attendants and they got a little go-cart to drive him and his luggage to the next gate. The rest of them practically had to jog just to keep him in their sight, which wasn't much fun when they were all still yawning.

"We're a bit of an odd group," Mrs. Cheng said with a laugh as they claimed a section of chairs and a bit of floor for their backpacks. "We're attracting a bit of attention, I think. Adrien, would people recognize you here?"

"I hope not." He didn't know for sure, since he had never been to China before. "I don't know, though."

"Hmm." Mrs. Cheng looked thoughtful, then she popped up off of her chair. "Well, then perhaps the three of us should go sniff around for some teas for you until we need to be back here for the flight. Grab your backpacks, and let's go."

"I'm going to go try to find somewhere decent to eat for breakfast," Chloe announced. "Alya, let's go. You can take pictures while you help me look."

"Wait, how are we going to order anything?" Adrien heard Alya ask as they left. "I don't know if people here would speak any French."

Adrien and Marinette trailed after Mrs. Cheng as she strode through the airport. She checked a map before heading confidently off, weaving between other travelers. It wasn't long before they arrived at a small tea shop nestled between the other airport stores. They had only been in the store for a couple seconds when an assistant materialized out of mid-air at Mrs. Cheng's side. They immediately started discussing possible options.

"Uh-oh," Adrien said as he followed along with the conversation as best as he could. "Some of the things they're talking about are the same things we used to help me sleep right after my father was arrested. Valerian and catnip, too."

Marinette grinned around a yawn. "Well, you can't get air-sick if you're knocked out."

"Right, but then who's going to carry my unconscious body around once we get to the airport in Tibet?"

Mrs. Cheng was shaking her head, asking for more options. The sales associate pointed at a few more things and Mrs. Cheng nodded, smiling. She picked up two small boxes, then headed over to the counter to pay.

"Do you think we maybe should get valerian or catnip?" Adrien asked Marinette quietly. "I mean, I can definitely see myself getting really nervous and not being able to sleep once we get closer to the temple, or on the way back. I don't want to be relying on it again, not when I just got off of it, but-"

"I'm sure Mom is planning on buying some," Marinette assured him. "But airport prices are always ridiculous, and the product isn't always that quality. We'll probably go to a proper tea shop tomorrow morning and stock up there."

There was a giggle from Marinette's jacket, and Tikki peeped out. "Oh, we'll definitely go to a proper tea shop! Wayzz told me that Master Fu packed a camping tea set. He'll stock up on all sorts of teas, both for him and for Wayzz."

"He'll be a traveling turtle tea tray," Adrien joked, pleased to see Marinette giggle. Mrs. Cheng stepped away from the counter with her bag of purchases, thanking the worker, and the two of them jumped to follow her. "Wait, where are we going to get hot water for the tea?"

"That's what I was just asking the saleslady. There's a hot water tap just down the hall, in the food court." Mrs. Cheng led the way. "I've got a thermos in my pack that I'll fill, and then we can grab a cup for you to use right away."

By the time they finished that errand and got back to their gate, Chloe and Alya had returned with food for all of them. It smelled amazing, though Chloe didn't look entirely convinced as she picked at her serving.

Well, Chloe had always been a picky eater. At least she wasn't making a scene about it.

As they ate, Mrs. Cheng steeped some tea for Adrien. He downed almost the entire cup quickly since their flight had just started boarding, and almost immediately he knew that he was going to regret that later.

Hopefully the bathrooms on the plane were clean.

Adrien groaned as he fell face first into bed. Maybe it was technically still midafternoon in Lhasa, but he hadn't gotten that much sleep over the trip and he was ready to pass out for the rest of the day.

"I can't decide if I want to eat or if I want to sleep," Marinette said from where she was collapsed next to him on the bed. "I don't know how Mom and Master Fu have enough energy to go out shopping."

"They slept better than we did on the plane, I think," Adrien told her, his words muffled by the pillow. He felt ages better now that they were back on solid ground, less sick and jittery. The second landing had been no better than the first- the raspberry and ginger tea that Sabine had handed to him as the plane descended really hadn't helped much at all (in fact, all it accomplished was to make him really, really need the bathroom)- and Adrien was of the opinion that if he had had to do that again, he probably would have gotten sick. "And they need to stock up for the kwamis, too. And get food for us."

Plagg's head appeared from his backpack. "Food? Have you gotten me food?"

Adrien's head dropped back down onto the pillow and he groaned.

"Why don't you explore the hotel and see if you can find something?" Marinette suggested. "Just don't pig out."

"I never pig out!"

There was a whoosh as Plagg zipped out in search of food. Adrien thought about being concerned about it for all of ten seconds before deciding that he was too tired to be worried about Plagg. Seconds later, he was asleep.

The sound of a door opening woke both Adrien and Marinette up, and they sat up to see Mrs. Cheng stepping into the room, loaded down with grocery bags. She set the bags down next to her bed before stepping over to rouse the two teens.

"We're going out to dinner soon," Mrs. Cheng told them. "You might want to get up and freshen up a bit before we leave."

Adrien rolled out of bed obediently, heading for his backpacking pack to grab a change of clothes and his toothbrush and comb. He wished there was time to shower because he felt gross from the time spent on the plane, but that would have to wait. Marinette was definitely slower on the uptake, groaning her way out of bed. By the time Adrien had gotten into the bathroom, Marinette was only just rolling out.

With Mrs. Cheng hurrying them along, it didn't take long for the two of them to get ready and head out to the hallway to wait for the others. Master Fu and Nino were already there and waiting for them.

"Hey, the Snooze Room made it!" Nino joked as they joined him. "Now we're just waiting on the Shower Room."

Adrien blinked, puzzled. "The what now?"

"Chloe apparently couldn't stand to smell like an airport for another minute, so she hopped in the shower right away," Nino reported. "And then had to get her makeup back on, of course. And then Alya apparently thought it would be a great idea to freshen up, too."

Adrien couldn't help but grin. "And you know this how? Were you and Alya just texting back and forth all afternoon?"

"Only a little bit! We were trying to coordinate dinner. Besides, she only has Chloe to talk to when they're in their room."

They only had a few minutes to wait before Chloe and Alya emerged from their room. Alya's hair was still damp, but Chloe's looked like it had been blow-dried. She looked almost annoyingly fresh, even after presumably not having gotten any sleep since arriving at the hotel. Master Fu smiled at them and then led the way towards the entrance, the rest of them following. Adrien took the opportunity to glance around at the hotel, noting the narrow halls and old carpet.

It wasn't exactly the kind of place that Adrien would have thought Chloe would go for at all- and that wasn't to say that it was a seedy hotel at all. It was a rather nice place, if perhaps a bit generic, but Chloe didn't generally go for nice or generic. She usually went for fancy and one-of-a-kind, based on what he had seen in all of the vacation photos she had shown him over the years.

The fact that Chloe had decided to share a room was also a bit of a surprise. As far as Adrien could tell, the adults hadn't even had a hand in that decision.

"We found a nice place to eat while we were out shopping," Fu reported as they left the building. "The locals recommend it highly, but the prices aren't ridiculous, just as requested."

Adrien blinked and glanced over at Chloe. Just as requested? Who had made the request? Chloe looked satisfied, which suggested that she had been the one to ask for reasonable prices, which was... unlike her. Chloe enjoyed high-class, expensive dishes. Even if she was the one who would be paying for all of it, he wouldn't have thought she would be bothered by the cost. Her father was plenty able to pay, after all.

Maybe Pollen had said something about it being smart to save money or at least to spend wisely. She was the only one Chloe really seemed to listen to. Adrien wasn't going to say anything, though. He didn't want Chloe to get defensive and spend a ridiculous amount of money just to try to prove something.

Their group attracted a few stares as they headed up the street. Adrien couldn't blame the locals- after all, they were a group of mostly teens with a variety of heritages, led by a tiny Tibetan man in a Hawaiian-print t-shirt. He tried to hide in the middle of the group, just in case anyone recognized him.

(Adrien was pretty sure that his father's influence didn't extend here, but he wasn't willing to take any chances. After all, the news had more of an eye on him than usual these days, and if something got out, Nathalie was sure to hear about it.)

(It would be very hard to do any damage control from several countries away if that happened.)

Chloe's nose wrinkled as Master Fu led them into what looked like a bit of a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, but she didn't make any comments about the location. He got them all seated, and a waiter brought menus to pass around. Master Fu thanked him and cheerfully started to flip through his. The rest of them just stared down at the menus, exchanging looks.

The first problem: they couldn't read it. Apparently it was written entirely in Tibetan, with no Mandarin translation.

"I don't know what any of this is," Chloe complained loudly after a few seconds of flipping through the menu. "How am I supposed to find something I like to eat?"

Master Fu didn't look bothered as he glanced up. "Well, I would say that most everything on the menu would be tasty, but I know not everyone is as fond of the local flavors as I am. Now, Pollen-"

There was a flash of yellow as Pollen shot out of Chloe's bag and zipped over to Master Fu, hiding from the wait staff's view by hovering by his shoulder. The two of them perused through the menu, Pollen nodding or shaking her head as Master Fu pointed to different things. Next to Adrien, Marinette perked up.

"Oh! Tikki!" Marinette hissed, opening her little purse and peering inside. "Can you read the menu for me?"

Kwamis emerged all around the table as everyone else caught on. Adrien leaned closer to Marinette so he could hear Tikki as well since Plagg didn't seem interested in emerging and being helpful. Tikki was translating for Marinette, explaining the dishes in more detail whenever she or Adrien indicated interest in something.

Ordering was just as much as an ordeal. Even with the kwamis whispering the names in their ears, their pronunciation was by and large atrocious. Master Fu ended up being their go-between to make sure they all got what they wanted, and both their table and their waitress breathed a sigh of relief when it was over.

"I must admit, I'm looking forward to when we start camping," Master Fu said with a bit of a laugh as he sat back in his seat. "It's much more straightforward to cook our own food, even if that cooking is done over a camp stove or a fire."

Adrien grinned eagerly. He had already been warned that the food they would make on the stove wouldn't be fancy at all, but he thought it would be fun. Across the table, Chloe didn't look nearly as enthused at the thought.

"So, what stories did everyone tell people about why they're gone?" Nino asked as they waited for their food. "I know I told my parents that I was going to be on a trip with Marinette and Adrien and Alya. And Mrs. Cheng, of course," he added. "I didn't say where, and I maybe played up the getting Adrien away from the reporters."

"Same," Alya chimed in. "And I know Marinette and Mrs. Cheng didn't have to lie to anyone."

Master Fu chuckled. "I didn't have to lie to anyone either. I simply said that I would be visiting my home country for an undecided number of weeks. My customers were quite understanding."

"And you all know that I told Nathalie that Marinette and her mom invited me along to visit family," Adrien chimed in. "I'm still astounded that she didn't insist on the Gorilla coming along."

All eyes turned to Chloe. She looked up from inspecting her nails and rolled her eyes. "What?"

"We're wondering what you told your father," Adrien prodded. "So we know what kind of answers he'll be expecting and from who when we get back."

"I told him that I was going on a trip with Adrikins to get him away from the media, of course," Chloe told them, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "I didn't say where, and I didn't tell him that we were hauling a whole bunch of other people with, but I did say that poor Adrien's accounts were all frozen so we would be paying, of course. And he would assume that we would be flying first class, of course, and staying in the finest hotels and eating at the best restaurants. He's not as likely to notice if I go with middling hotels and eateries. Not that he'll ever look at the charges anyway, but just in case."

That was actually quite smart of Chloe, Adrien had to admit. Her father wouldn't look at the charges and immediately think seven people were responsible for them. For once, Chloe's expensive tastes worked to their advantage.

"And he'll be busy for a chunk of the trip," Chloe added. "He's got a whole bunch of meetings with different people- important people, of course- about policy stuff, and then there's some important diplomats staying at the hotel in two weeks, so he'll be busy entertaining them."

"I would have thought that you would want to be there for that," Alya commented. Her camera had come out and she was snapping photos of the restaurant. "Don't you like meeting all of the diplomats and famous people?"

Chloe sniffed. "Not the old dusty ones. I only care when it's people like Price Ali. Or properly famous people, like Jagged Stone. And I figured it would make sense for us to leave shortly after Mr. Agreste's trial wrapped up instead of waiting. I hadn't expected them to drag the decision out for quite so long, though. I thought there would be about half a week between the decision and us leaving, not one day."

They were gaping at her. Alya, though, was frowning in confusion. "Wait, why wait until the trial was over? Why not just leave before?"

"The police might have wanted to talk to Adrien again," Marinette pointed out. "Or they might have called him back into court for another round of testifying. They might have been fine with him not being available, but Mr. Agreste might have wondered what was up." The rest of her sentence- and he might mention it to Mrs. Agreste later on- went unsaid.

"Yes, yes, I suppose that might have been important, too," Chloe sniffed, waving a hand airily. "But it was so that reporters would see Adrien out and about after the verdict, so they couldn't start rumors that he was hiding away out of shame. But there wouldn't be enough time for them to really get much of a chance to bother him. It's a delicate balance. I wouldn't expect you to understand."

...well, okay. Adrien had honestly thought that Chloe had just chosen a date at random. He hadn't realized that she had been keeping an ear open to catch when his father's trial and sentencing would most likely be over. She hadn't said anything.

"And your dad was okay with you spending the money?" Mrs. Cheng asked. Adrien was sure that she had asked it before, probably every time Chloe pulled out her (well, her father's) credit card to pay for something.

Chloe waved off the question. "Of course. He insisted that I cover most of the costs because Adrien shouldn't have to."

"Won't he get suspicious when you suddenly stop spending money in the middle of the trip?"

Chloe didn't look at all bothered by the question. "Of course not. Why would he even check that? It's not like I would spend too much."

Now Alya was looking a bit dubious as well. "Right, but what about when he suddenly stops getting texts and emails from you because we've gone out of cell tower range? The first thing he's gonna turn to is the credit cards to see where you were last, and then we're going to have a manhunt after us and a ruckus in Paris."

Adrien was about to get worried- Alya was right, and even as distracted as Chloe's father could be sometimes he would notice if he hadn't gotten any texts from his beloved daughter for a couple days- when Chloe rolled her eyes. "I already thought of that and I bought a satellite sleeve for my phone. I can text Daddy whenever I want, so he won't even bother checking my spending. I can't do photos with it, but that's fine. He probably won't even notice."

Adrien wondered if Nathalie knew about extensions like that. Something told him probably not, considering that she hadn't bought him a satellite sleeve for his phone despite not being pleased about the possibility of him being out of reach.

"I know how to keep Daddy off of my trail," Chloe finished with a sniff. "I won't be the one causing problems. The question is, are the rest of you so positive that you aren't going to make your families suspicious?"

#Miraculous Ladybug #My writing #There's No Camembert in Tibet #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng

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artistopencalls · 2 years

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🖤 @deptfordx Come and work with us at Deptford X! 🖤 https://linktr.ee/deptfordx ⬅️ We are looking for a new team member to take up the post of Deputy Director of the organisation. The Deputy Director is integral to the management of Deptford X and the delivery and development of its ambitious programmes. We’re looking for someone with experience of managing organisational operations, preferably with an integrated approach to access and diversity, and an understanding and knowledge of financial development strategies. We would like to appoint someone with shared values: someone who understands the importance of difference, creativity, experimentation and learning within art; who has a commitment to local artistic ambition and making a positive contribution to local communities in the area; and who is committed to equity, accessibility and care. For more information and for how to apply, download the job pack from our website using the link in our bio where you can find out more about the organisation and see the full job description. We are holding an online open day for this post on Monday 23 January 2023 where you can sign up for a 20 minute slot to talk to our director, Nathalie Boobis, about the role and the organisation. Please book a slot via the link above. The deadline for applications is 9am, Monday 6th February 2023. We look forward to hearing from you. #jobopportunity #deptfordx #deptfordjobs #artjobs #artopps #job #deptford #deptfordjobs #se8 #hiringnow #communityjobs #londonjobs #hiring #artjobslondon #creativefacilitator #creativefacilitation (at Deptford , London , Great Britain) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cmo97M8oieW/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#jobopportunity #deptfordx #deptfordjobs #artjobs #artopps #job #deptford #se8 #hiringnow #communityjobs #londonjobs #hiring #artjobslondon #creativefacilitator #creativefacilitation

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referenceblog2017 · 8 years

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Hear My Voice and Answer Me (2015)

5th - 21st March 2015

A new, collaborative work by Rachael Finney and Anna FC Smith

Featuring Doreen Kutzke

Curated by Nathalie Boobis

Responding to the specific culture, architecture and use of the Swiss Church, the work uses the vocal act of yodelling to evoke the force of the voice without language and its powers of transcendence, communication and play.

By capturing the sound and visuals of Doreen Kutzke’s yodels in the Church, and re-presenting them in the space as recorded sound and filmed image, the work highlights the fundamental tie between voice and body; emanating from the mouth and returning back to the ear. Kutzke’s yodels have become both a trace and an echo of her existence and experience.

Attention is drawn to the power of the voice without language to transcend linguistic limitations and the body, and to reach beyond the self in order to assert the existence of the self, like a cow herder in the Swiss Mountains using his yodels and the mountains’echoes to assert his presence. The exhibition heralds the power of yodelling, an ancient mode of vocalisation to communicate existence, to connect with other beings, and to transform physical and mental space. These ideas are brought to life through the haunting power of yodelling and the physical and spiritual resonance of the Church.

Preview 5th March 2015, 6pm to 9pm.

#rachaelfinney #reference

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annafcsmith · 6 years

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Our House of Common Weeds

NewBridge Project, Gateshead. 2018.

The second showing of Our House of Common Weeds.

Verity Birt, Fourthland, Carl Gent, Anna FC Smith, Andrea Williamson

Curated by Nathalie Boobis

Opened 16th Nov 2018.

Round table discussion 17th Nov 2018.

#verity birt #Carl Gent #Anna FC Smith #Andrea Williamson #nathalie boobis #newbridge #gateshead #art #exhibition

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quicksilversquared · 6 years

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Plagg and the Butterfly Costume: Ch. 10

Plagg is willing to do a lot in order to get more cheese. When he’s spotted one too many times en route to the kitchen, he decides that a disguise is in order. One purple costume later, and Plagg is free to flit down to the kitchen without people thinking that he’s a rat.

And then he gets caught.

(1) (2) (3) (OT:1) (4) (5) (6) (OT: 2) (7) (OT: 3) (OT: 4) (OT: 5) (8) (OT: 6) (OT: 7) ( 9 ) (OT: 8) (OT: 9)

(AO3) (FF.net)

Friday seemed to go by too slowly and too fast all at once, even for Plagg. Adrien seemed unsure if he wanted to be in the middle of everything and hanging out with everyone or if he wanted to be alone. He was exhausting himself with the back-and-forth, and then ended sleeping through most of the lunch break, head pillowed in Marinette's lap.

"I'm tempted to tell him to transform and come over here to sleep tonight," Marinette told the kwamis quietly as Adrien slept. "He's going to be exhausted before we even start fighting."

"If he starts tossing around again I'll tell him to come over," Plagg promised. Normally he didn't do favors without being bribed first- it was too much effort- but he knew that a tired Chosen wasn't a Chosen that could fight very well. And then a Chosen who couldn't fight very well was more likely to get injured, and then an injured Chosen was less likely to give Plagg Camembert as often.

Marinette just gave him a small smile in thanks.

Dinner on Friday was a much more somber affair than it had been the previous day. Plagg tried to not let it affect him too much as he munched on a delicious baked cheese bread bowl up on the counter.

Worrying while eating just gave him indigestion, after all.

Adrien was barely eating, just pushing food around on his plate. Sabine and Tom were sending him concerned looks, and Marinette's free hand was resting lightly on his leg. Master Fu seemed rather unconcerned by the tension, and was busy enjoying the potstickers that Sabine had prepared.

Once everyone (except Adrien) had finished their food, they settled onto the couches in the living room to talk about what their plan was for the next day. Plagg didn't bother to listen- after all, he had heard absolutely all of the planning in the early stages, and the middle stages, and the later stages, too, and now he was 100% absolutely planning-ed out.

And yes, that was totally a word. He was a god. He could make up the rules if he wanted to.

"Sabine's Mirage is really convincing now," Tikki commented, coming to float down next to Plagg. A cookie dangled from her paws. "They aren't see-through at all, they don't have that noticeable funny glow unless you're in low light, and they move normally. She gave up on making Ladybug talk, but I think that was a bit of a futile effort in this amount of time."

Plagg nodded and stuffed another bite of cheese-soaked bread into his mouth as the temporary superheroes transformed.

As expected, a Tom Turtle was a formidable sight. The shell shield at its normal, base size was huge, wider than a doorway and taller than it was wide. Amusingly, it was also taller than Fu, and slightly taller than Sabine as well.

Tom seemed less than impressed by his superhero outfit, even as armored as it was. Plagg thought like Tom rather resembled a hulking green boulder and that no one in their right mind would step in his path as long as he kept a stern expression on his face, but Tom seemed more concerned with how tight the outfit was.

"You look fine," Sabine assured Tom as he plucked at the skintight outfit. "Very imposing."

"I suppose it'll be fine for one fight," Tom sighed, finally abandoning his inspection of the suit in favor of taking a closer look at his shield. "This is quite sturdy. I like it. You said that I could make it larger?"

"I don't know if you would need it much larger," Fu commented, looking at the giant shell shield. "But yes, you just will it larger and- oh my. That is large."

The shield had expanded, growing to nearly Tom's height and nearly the width of the back of a truck. Tom still held it up easily.

"No one would be able to break through that," Sabine said with a laugh. "Though you might end up not being able to see and end up tripping over a crack in the driveway."

Tom shrunk the shield back to normal size, which was still large. "Yeah, this seems more reasonable. Besides, if it's too big then it can look like I'm trying to hide behind it."

Plagg sniggered. He had remembered a few not-particularly-brave gentle giant Turtles in the past who had done just that. They expanded their shields to comically large proportions and charged blindly, hoping to plow over their enemies like that. It was always amusing to watch, though Plagg's Chosens rarely let him enjoy the scene for long before they transformed to go help their teammate out.

Adrien was clearly more relaxed now, laughing as Tom messed with the shield size. He shrunk it down into a size that Fu could wield, and it looked like a tiny toy in his hands, and then he made it grow into a size that even he struggled to hold.

"I'm pretty sure at least three or four people could sleep in that at that size," Sabine said with a laugh as she inspected the oversize shield. "Wow."

"The shield does fly," Fu added helpfully. "So if you wanted to fly while transporting an injured person or three, a shield that size could be helpful. I've had to do that before."

"Or if someone wanted to take a nap while you travel," Marinette added from her spot on the couch. "Though I suppose it wouldn't be very comfortable."

Adrien grinned at her. "Oh, I don't know. Toss in a couple pillows and some blankets, and it would be great for a cat-nap."

Marinette just groaned at him.

Adrien's phone went off then, and Plagg watched as the smile drained off of Adrien's face as he answered. Before he even said anything, though, Plagg knew that it was Nathalie, calling to summon Adrien home.

"Let me pack some food for you, dear," Sabine said as soon as Adrien hung up. "You barely ate anything at dinner. I think your kwami ate more than you did!"

Adrien only nodded silently and took the bag of bread that she offered him.

Plagg could tell that Adrien's nerves were piling up again as soon as he left the Dupain-Cheng house and slid into the waiting car. He fidgeted the whole way home, could barely hold a conversation with Nathalie, and only just managed to pull himself together long enough to bid his father good-night in a relatively normal-sounding voice.

Plagg wondered briefly how long he should wait before telling Adrien about Marinette's offer, and if Adrien would actually be able to sleep any better next to Marinette or if he would just end up keeping her awake as well.

"I can't believe this is all gonna be over tomorrow," Adrien said after he locked his doors and wandered into the bathroom. Like every night prior, the metal shutters were already down over his windows. Thankfully no one had discovered the broken shutter on the bathroom window that Adrien used to go in and out. He started washing his face. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

...okay, maybe telling Adrien sooner rather than later would be a good idea. It would maybe get his mind off of arresting his own father.

"I'm effectively going to be an orphan," Adrien continued. He reached for his toothbrush. "I didn't think that was ever going to happen before this year. I mean, I know I'll be safer with Father behind bars, and Paris will be, too, but..."

For a moment, Plagg was tempted to remind Adrien that Fu's theory about his mother being trapped was confirmed by Mr. Agreste's files. It was very possible that they would be able to recover her, alive, and bring her back. But he didn't want to make Adrien get his hopes up, not now. Fu still hadn't found the spell to release those trapped in the temple booby-traps in the scrolls, and it could be a while before he did.

If it was in those scrolls as all. It was still a pretty big if.

"Things are just gonna be really different," Adrien finished with a sigh. "And at least Nathalie has things arranged so that I could stay here in Paris with her and the Gorilla taking care of me, but I just... I don't know. I just want tomorrow to be over."

Plagg stayed quiet for a moment longer, then blurted, "Marinette said you could go over there to sleep if you didn't think that you could sleep here."

Adrien lit up, even as a heavy blush spread over his cheeks. "Really?"

"Uh-huh."

Much to Plagg's surprise, Adrien hesitated. "I don't know if I would be able to sleep any better over there. I would probably just keep Mari awake."

...great, now Adrien was starting up with the cutesy civilian nicknames. In fact, unless Plagg was very much mistaken (and he sorely hoped that he was), he had overheard Adrien call his girlfriend- er, partner and friend- 'Maribug' earlier, because apparently just the cutesy shortening of her name wasn't enough.

"I mean, I love being over there, but..." Adrien was still faltering. "I don't know."

"You slept over there during lunch break," Plagg reminded him. With your head in her lap, Plagg added silently. He could tell already that once Adrien got over his father getting imprisoned and the two superheroes started dating, they would be disgustingly cuddly.

"I mean, yeah, but I was exhausted," Adrien pointed out. He yawned widely. "And I'm tired now, but not tired enough to just fall asleep like I did at lunch."

Plagg waited.

"Though I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try," Adrien mused. "But I shouldn't go over until after I'm sure no one would check in on me. Eleven, maybe? Nathalie normally leaves before then, and Father never checks in on me."

Plagg checked the clock. He and Adrien had an hour to kill.

Adrien spent that time pacing, half of the time with his room lights on and the other half with lights off, to make anyone who came to check think that he was asleep.

Plagg hoped that no one who passed by Adrien's room would listen too closely, because he was pretty certain that people who were sound asleep didn't pace back and forth across their room.

"Okay, it's eleven," Adrien said as soon as he spotted his clock blink the time. "Plagg! Transform me!"

Plagg popped out of the ring only minutes later, only to find Marinette ushering a blanket-wrapped Adrien down into her parents' living room. Mr. Dupain and Mrs. Cheng were nowhere to be seen, and Fu had clearly headed home as well.

"I just don't know how I'll ever fall asleep," Adrien was admitting to Marinette. "And I don't know if being over here will help any or not, but Plagg said that you said I could and I figured that it couldn't hurt."

"I could make you some Valerian tea," Marinette suggested, and Plagg perked up and his whiskers twitched in amusement. "Maman makes it sometimes when one of us is having trouble sleeping and it helps make me tired enough to fall asleep."

Adrien shrugged. "It couldn't hurt, I suppose."

Marinette made the tea, and then the two of them curled up on the sofa to watch some cartoons while Adrien sipped at his tea. Plagg perched on the counter in a prime viewing position.

Adrien finished his cup after a few minutes, and then curled up against Marinette's side as the TV played quietly. A minute later, his head drooped onto her shoulder. Not long after, his eyes fluttered completely closed and his breathing evened out and deepened as he fell completely asleep. It didn't take long for Marinette to notice.

"Is he asleep already?" Marinette asked in a whisper as Adrien curled closer. "I've never seen someone react to that tea so fast! It usually takes me twenty minutes."

Plagg sniggered. "Miraculous tendencies. You just gave Valerian tea to a cat. It's like catnip, but more," he added when Marinette just looked confused. "He'll be out like a light until morning."

Marinette gaped at him. "You didn't warn us!"

"'Course not. This was funnier."

Marinette just sighed and turned the TV off.

The next few minutes were even more amusing. Marinette didn't want to leave Adrien on the couch by himself, and so she had to figure out how to get him up to her room by herself. She trotted upstairs to open her trapdoor and clear a path, and then she returned back to the living room to try to pick up Adrien to carry him upstairs.

She failed miserably.

"He won't even budge!" Marinette complained, straining as she tried to lift Adrien up bridal-style. "He's not this heavy normally!"

Plagg cackled. Tikki, who had been woken up by Marinette's rushing around and had come down to see what was going on, just sighed.

"I fling him around all the time as Ladybug," Marinette continued petulantly, pouting as she flopped down on the couch not occupied by Adrien. "And he barely weighs anything then, it seems."

Plagg waited. Tikki seemed about to say something, and he shushed her. It was much funnier to watch a tired Marinette try to puzzle out a solution on her own. Meanwhile, a thoroughly knocked-out Adrien slumbered on.

"Oh!" Marinette suddenly exclaimed, bolting upright. "I could just transform for a minute and bring him upstairs!"

...bugger, Plagg had been hoping that it would take her a little longer to puzzle out the answer.

Moments later, Marinette had transformed and had scooped Adrien up easily. She trotted upstairs with him, and Plagg watched as she deposited him in her bed. Before she headed back downstairs, she set an alarm on her phone.

"He has to be back to the mansion before anyone checks in on him in the morning," Marinette explained to Plagg, setting the phone next to her pillow. She took a moment to reach over and brush Adrien's bangs off of his face. "At least he'll be able to sleep in on Sunday."

Plagg settled down on a pile of fabric scraps next to Tikki and yawned loudly. Tomorrow was going to be a big day for his Chosen, and he had to be rested up.

Plagg whined loudly as an alarm pierced the air. He rolled over and peered down at the bed, where Adrien and Marinette were curled up next to each other. They both had curiously similar responses to the alarm- Marinette curled up and groaned, and Adrien was trying to pull the blankets over his head. Marinette's arm snaked out and tried to whack the alarm off, just as Adrien reached over as well. He frowned in confusion when his arm had to go around another body, and his eyes finally cracked open.

"Wha- Marinette?"

"Morning, Adrien," Marinette managed around a yawn. She pushed herself up and finally got the alarm shut off. "Wakey wakey."

"I fell asleep?"

Marinette shot an annoyed look at Plagg, who promptly feigned sleep. "Yeah. Someone forgot to tell us that you're more sensitive to Valerian because of your Miraculous. It only took you a couple minutes to fall asleep."

"Still tired," Adrien grumbled, but he pushed himself up. "Maybe less tea next time."

"You can nap at home, kid," Plagg said, giving up on the façade of sleep after a few seconds of consideration. "Ready?"

Adrien just grumbled.

Adrien was driven over to the Dupain-Cheng house mid-morning, after he had finally shaken off the last lingering effects of the Valerian. Nathalie had given him a look as he left and had briefly suggested that he invite his "girlfriend" over for once instead of always going to her house, making Adrien turn bright red, but otherwise she didn't try to stop him.

Once they arrived at the bakery, they were surprised to find it open. Adrien headed in to find Sabine at the counter, explaining something to a young woman behind the counter. She lit up when she spotted Adrien.

"Am I early?" Adrien asked nervously.

"Oh no, dear," Sabine assured him. "Sarah is just working the counter today, so I was making sure she knew what she was doing. Marinette and Master Fu are upstairs, and Tom will be up soon. Go on ahead, I'll be right behind you."

Adrien headed up.

"Hopefully this will be over soon so Tom and Sabine can get back to the bakery," Adrien said as he mounted the last few stairs. He was still frowning slightly. "I wasn't expecting them to be working today."

Plagg rolled his eyes. He seriously doubted that Tom and Sabine actually planned on doing any real work today. They needed to have the bakery open, sure, because otherwise it would look weird, but they seemed to have brought in extra help so they could be free for the morning- or more likely, for the day. Surely they knew that Adrien would be upset after his father's arrest and would want to be able to spend the time with him.

"Adrien!" Marinette exclaimed, popping out of the door. "Come in! My parents should be up soon, they just need to make sure that the staff can keep things running for the day without as much supervision as they're used to."

Plagg was almost knocked out of the air by the sheer amount of relief suddenly flooding out from Adrien.

"Greetings, Chat Noir," Fu called from inside the room. "Right on time."

Adrien just managed a weak smile.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Marinette asked as she pulled Adrien and Plagg inside. "Or something to drink? We have cheese for later," she added to Plagg.

"And some for now?" Plagg asked hopefully. Marinette sighed.

"Maybe just a little."

"I think I'll be sick if I eat anything," Adrien admitted. He perched on a stool next to the counter. "I just want to be done."

Marinette set a couple slices of cheese down on the counter for Plagg and headed around the counter to wrap Adrien up in a hug. Plagg perched on his shoulder and attempted a comforting purr around the cheese he had stuffed in his mouth.

"All right, we're ready," Sabine announced, pushing through the door with Tom following behind. Trixx darted around Sabine, clearly eager to get going. "We'll have to check in with Sarah and Jean periodically throughout the day to make sure they stay on track, but otherwise we're free."

Fu smiled, pushing himself off of the couch. He seemed far more relaxed than anyone else in the room. "Fabulous. Now Tom, I'll-"

He was cut off by a shrill sound as several phones around the room rang with an akuma alarm, and they all froze. Plagg bared his teeth and narrowly kept himself from destroying the phones to silence the alarms because really? An akuma attack now? Adrien was only just holding it together this morning, and now they would have an akuma to deal with before they could just get over what was bound to be the worst part of the day for Adrien.

"Great," Marinette complained. "Just when we were ready to go, too!"

"At least Mr. Agreste should be in the office for the rest of the day once you defeat the akuma," Fu pointed out. "We didn't consider what we might do if he were up in his lair before. Why don't the two of you go take care of that akuma, and we'll wait here. I brought some scrolls along that I can translate in the meantime."

All Adrien and Marinette could do was nod and call for their kwamis to transform.

As soon as Plagg popped out of the ring, hungry, tired, and drained, he knew that it hadn't been an easy fight. It was clearly no longer morning, and both Adrien and Marinette looked exhausted as they slouched at the Dupain-Cheng kitchen table.

"What a way to go out," Marinette commented as her mother slid a bowl of soup in front of them. "Final akuma fight, hopefully. At least Mr. Agreste really won't be expecting us to be out and about again today."

Adrien blinked at her. "We're still doing that today? I mean, I hoped, but then the fight took so long..."

"We don't have much of a choice," Tom told him. "Sabine and I brought in extra help just for today, and it might be difficult to do it again. Sarah and Jean normally work Monday through Wednesday, and while they were willing to do Saturday this week with our normal weekend workers I doubt they would be thrilled to do it two weeks in a row."

Adrien nodded.

While the two tired superheroes ate, Sabine fetched two petits fours for Tikki and a large hunk of Camembert for Plagg so they could recharge as well. By the time Adrien finally swallowed his last bite of broth-soaked bread, everyone was rested up a bit.

"I can go check to see if Mr. Agreste is back in his office yet," Sabine offered, calling up her transformation. "Or if he's still up sulking in his lair."

Fu nodded in approval. "Yes, that would be a good idea. And once you get into position out of sight of Mr. Agreste's office, you can send us a quick message to let us know if he's down or not."

Adrien started to look ill again as Sabine headed out across the rooftops.

(Plagg was really glad that it would be the illusions and not Ladybug and Chat Noir themselves meeting Mr. Agreste face-to-face at the door, because Mr. Agreste would pick up that something was wrong right away and target Chat Noir. Hopefully the man wouldn't even get a good look at Chat Noir's face during the scramble.)

"Are you going to be okay, Adrien?" Tom asked. He stepped forward to rest a hand on Adrien's shoulder. "We'll be right there with you, every step of the way."

"And no matter what, you're never going to be without a family," Marinette said firmly, sliding her hand up to cup Adrien's jaw. "We're here for you, kitty. Always."

Adrien nodded, eyes closed as he pressed his forehead to hers. Plagg watched as he took deep breaths, working to focus. After a moment, he flew up to perch on Adrien's shoulder and let out a small, comforting purr.

Barely a minute later, a small orange blob shot through the window and into the room. It swirled around, then announced, "Mr. Agreste is in his office. Call the police and come on over."

"Time to go," Tom announced. He fiddled with the bracelet wrapped around his wrist, then transformed. He smiled at the teens. "Ready?"

Marinette glanced at Adrien. He took one last deep breath, then stepped back and nodded.

"Let's go."

As soon as he popped out of the ring, Plagg turned to Adrien, frantically scanning for injuries. Adrien hadn't been transformed for long at all, which meant that either the fight hadn't gone for very long, Adrien had decided to back out last minute, or he had gotten injured and had to retreat.

Sometimes Plagg really hated not knowing what was going on when he was transformed.

Adrien's expression didn't tell him much. He looked tired, like he would like nothing better than a nap and a plate full of cookies. He didn't look like he was in pain, though, so that eliminated the possibility of him being injured. Marinette came up next to him, wrapping him in a hug and resting her cheek against his shoulder. The Butterfly Miraculous dangled from her fingers.

The fight was over.

"It went about as well as we could have hoped," Marinette told Tikki and Plagg quietly as Adrien buried his face in her hair. "He didn't spot Adrien or I hidden up above before he went to the door. Nathalie did, but she didn't say anything. Mr. Agreste did try to use his missiles, but they just kind of smoked and fizzled out. We had a bit of an incident with magic backlash after tearing off his Miraculous mid-transformation, but everything worked out in the end."

"I dug in too deep when I was shredding the necktie," Adrien mumbled, his words muffled by Marinette's hair. "I didn't cause any serious injury, I guess, but there was blood. I hurt him."

"He was wriggling around quite a bit," Marinette reminded Adrien quickly before either Plagg or Tikki could say anything. "If he hadn't, maybe he wouldn't have gotten hurt. And neck wounds always look worse than they actually are, I think. Mr. Raincomprix said that he thought that it would be fine, but someone more trained in medical stuff would take a look at it once they got back to the police station."

Adrien just nodded.

"And speaking of Mr. Raincomprix, we told him that Adrien was at a friend's house right now," Tom added. "I wouldn't be surprised if he shows up here shortly to, ah, 'break the news' about your father. He would want to do that before the media picks up the news at all."

Adrien made a face.

"Could you- I mean, if one of you is downstairs, could you tell Mr. Raincomprix that Ladybug and Chat Noir already came by to do that?" Marinette asked. She cast a worried look at Adrien, who didn't look like he was going to be able to act as though he hadn't yet heard about his father's arrest yet. "I'm sure he'll still want to come up and talk, but it might just be easier on us to not have to pretend like it's new news."

Tom and Sabine nodded immediately.

"I'll go down," Tom said before Sabine could offer. "I need to check in with how Jean is doing with the final batch of the day, anyway." He rested a gentle hand on Adrien's shoulder. "Do you guys want anything? Cookies? Muffins? Cheesecake? Some croissants?"

Plagg perked up. "Cheesecake?"

Adrien just shook his head. Plagg hastily suppressed the urge to ask if he could have Adrien's share, too. Something told him that this maybe wasn't the time.

Tom nodded, and with one more look at Adrien, he vanished downstairs.

It didn't take long for Officer Raincomprix to show up. He looked supremely uncomfortable as he caught sight of Adrien curled up next to Marinette on the couch, but Plagg could sense some underlying relief there. Clearly the man had been dreading breaking the news to Adrien that his father was a supervillain and had been arrested, and with that taken care of by the superheroes his job was that much easier.

"Adrien," the officer greeted him awkwardly. Plagg briefly wondered if they really didn't have anyone on the force better suited for this kind of thing. It seemed from what Plagg had seen that the man was stiff and not particularly good with kids, which was a bit odd considering that he had a kid of his own. "I, uh- Tom- er, Mr. Dupain- said you had already heard about your father?"

Adrien nodded.

"He's in police custody right now," Raincomprix continued, shifting back and forth. Plagg noticed that his eyes weren't quite resting on Adrien. In fact, the officer was looking almost anywhere but at Adrien. "He had some injuries in the final fight, but they were superficial and got cleaned up as soon as we got back to the station. There won't be any lasting damage from those."

Adrien's shoulders slumped in relief.

"We still have to look and see if there's a plan on file for who will take care of you now." Raincomprix seriously looked like he was about to bolt, and Plagg idly started wondering how long it would take. "But, um..."

"Adrien can stay with us for as long as needed," Sabine said firmly. She stepped over and laid a hand gently on Adrien's shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. "We'd be happy to have him here."

Raincomprix looked further relieved.

"Okay. That- that's good. Uh, we'll keep you updated, then," Raincomprix said. His eyes darted towards the door, and Plagg bet that he was about to leave. "And we haven't released a press statement of any sort yet because we want to gather as much information as we can first, but we were parked in front of the mansion for a bit and of course the superheroes were there so there will probably be some media attention."

Adrien cringed.

"It'll all be conjecture for a few days, but I wouldn't be surprised if people put it together," Raincomprix added. "So we're planning on having some police presence at the school on Monday to keep reporters from harassing you. And, uh, that's everything, unless you had questions?"

Adrien just shook his head.

Officer Raincomprix nodded, bade a very quick goodbye, and then was gone before they could blink.

"Just a tad uncomfortable, wasn't he?" Plagg sniggered as soon as the door closed behind the officer. "If he had actually had to 'break the news', he probably would have fidgeted a hole in the floor."

That got a smile out of Adrien, as he had known it would. It vanished a second later.

"Well, I'm sure this kind of thing isn't exactly a fun part of their job," Sabine said. She patted Adrien's shoulder lightly, then moved over to the counter. "We'll keep an eye on the news reports flying around for sure, so we can warn you about what people are saying. And if anyone tries bothering you, we'll either have Tom accompany you or we can ask for police escort until the fuss dies down."

"It's not going to take people long to figure out that Father was Hawkmoth," Adrien said, sighing as he sat up on the couch. "I saw people pointing at us when we left, and at the police cars. And if it doesn't click right away, it will when there aren't any more akuma attacks, and it's gonna be big news. I don't think it'll die down fast at all."

Plagg suspected that Adrien was probably right. Hawkmoth had been the biggest news in the city for a while, and his defeat would be big news as well, even without a spectacular battle to go along with it.

"The best I can hope for is people not bothering me too much," Adrien continued with a sigh. "And people at school not blaming me for Father's actions, too. So many of them got akumatized. I just don't know how they'll react."

"I'll bite them if they blame you," Plagg announced. "Even if they taste bad."

That got another small smile out of Adrien.

There was another knock at the door, and they all turned in time to see Fu stepping in the door. The Turtle Miraculous hung from his wrist again, and there was a small smile on his face. There was a sense of excitement coming from him as he beamed at Adrien and Marinette.

"Good job, you two. From what I could see, that was a near-perfect attack. It went fairly smoothly, and now Mr. Agreste is safely in police custody." His gaze slid to Adrien. "But this is not over. We still have to find your mother and return her to you."

Adrien's eyes snapped to Fu, suddenly focused. The old man smiled.

"I found something quite promising in the scrolls today. A spell, to free prisoners caught in the Tibetan temple traps."

#Miraculous Ladybug #My writing #Plagg and the Butterfly Costume #Outtakes 9 is set in the middle of this chapter

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