an opawn post, if mew please--

[meouch]

This is a voice test post and also an open post because I need more losers. Leave a prompt ( picture, text, opener, anything-- ) or a blank comment and I'll get back to you! ( and if you have a preference for the lame superhero or lame teenager variety ) sigh

Comments

i actually yelled at my screen for that

[spotson]

[He's not fooling her even for a minute. What he doesn't know is that she knows him better than he realizes, because she knows him twice. She's spent the last God only knew how long saving Paris with him, she knows him and she knows when he's off.]

[And he was very off tonight.]

[The pause between her vague dismissal and his speaking, and the halting way he spoke in the first place was the biggest indicator. It was like a blinking neon sign above his head reading "I'm Not Okay", and she had no time for his pretending. He was tense in a way she wasn't used to, stiff in the forced way he set his hands on his hips. His smile looked strained. She rolled her eyes with a vague sort of fondness and picked up her water jug, shaking her head and moving past him to commence her task.]

Just now, you did.

[She poured water into a potted rose bush and then watched the plant suck it away before pouring a little more and moving onto the next one.]

It is late, but I forgot earlier. What puts you in this part of the city tonight, Chat Noir? Is everything all right?

[She phrased it carefully-- everything, which included him. She left it open for him to explain, knowing full well he probably wasn't going to without more pressing.]

high fives myself tbh

[meouch]

[ he moves over smoothly to give her some room to do her thing, looking over her towards the flowers as she does what she came up on the roof to do (and as he avoids what he came on her roof to do). adrien's admittedly not very good at lying straight to people's faces, and now, he feels as if his act'll fall apart if he looks to marinette.

fortunately, she's occupied.

unfortunately, she goes straight to the hard question — is everything all right — which gets him shrugging his shoulders somewhat as he crosses his arms. ]

I'm not sure about that. [ that might sound a little too honest, until he continues with a muted upbeat tone. "i'm here because i have no idea what to do" is not a very appealing thing to say to a civilian, even one like marinette, who he feels probably figures this is more than just a random visit. ] Er, that's what I'm out here to find out. Kind of doing some flower watering of my own, you see, patrol — one of many duties.

[ one of many duties, which dictate that he should be back home confronting hawkmoth right now or at least plan to tell ladybug that they have a chance to end everything, but he can't do either. ]

You'll be very glad to know there's no pawroblems yet.

throws shoes at your head

[spotson]

[She kept about her business until all the flowers on the terrace we watered, setting the jug, still half-full of water, down in the corner. She dusted her hands off and crossed the trap door to settle on the edge of the striped lawn chair in the opposite corner and clasped her hands over her knees, crossing her ankles neatly and giving him a placid smile.]

[She was glad, at least, that he didn't flat-out lie to her. She rolled her eyes at the first pun of the evening, shaking her head and shifting backward in the chair.]

Oh, very. Were you just dropping by to give me a progress report, though? That seems like a tall order for someone saving Paris.

[Come on, Kitty. Spill the beans. You wouldn't have come over with a problem if you didn't need someone to share it with.]

catches them and treasures them forever :>

[meouch]

[ —well. whether or not he can actually look her in the eye and say there's nothing wrong isn't really a concern, because he was now more than one hundred percent sure he's far too obvious with the "actually, there are pawroblems" part of his night.

she was settling down and chat's dreadfully obvious with his hesitation again, as he followed her actions but avoided looking at her directly when her attention was off the flowers and instead on him. a moment where he looked to lean back on her railing, and he does, but his slight fidgeting ruined any chance he had of seeming relaxed regardless.

he tried so hard. ]

I prefer to call it a pawgress... [ he started, stubborn, until he trailed off weakly, his lips pressed together in thought. then, after a somewhat tired sigh: ] ... Am I that obvious?

[ said chat, master of subtlety, wryly. ]

bad kitty >C

[spotson]

[She drew her knees up, ankles still crossed, and wrapped her arms around them so she took up about a third of the chair, wedged in its corner. His stiff attempt at lounging against the railing wasn't even funny in how uneasy it was, and somewhere in the back of her mind she tutted oh, Kitty.]

[She pursed her own lips in response, smiling apologetically at him and reaching out to pat the corner of the chair.]

Now what on earth could Ladybug's partner, the great and paw-erful Chat Noir, have troubling him enough to bring it to a passing fancy?

[She figured maybe rising to him and meeting him with a pun might improve his mood. Or at least prompt a smile slightly less forced than what he'd already afforded her.]

C:

[meouch]

[ he blinked.

that was unexpected. that marinette, who would normally roll her eyes or shrug off his excessive... everything, would both flatter and partake in his Shitty Humor? it was simple to see that his heart was on his sleeve regardless of her perceptiveness, and that heart must've shown something very poor to have her pun.

but he chuckled. not as strongly as he would have, were this a regular night, but genuinely. he pushed himself off the railing slowly, steps hesitant as he made his way to her and the place she offered him, feeling something like a gratitude at the base of his chest but also a horrid anxiety.

and he smiled as he brought himself to sit down, more like a bit of a defeated kind of smile, as he gripped his tail to swing off the edge of the lawn chair he occupied idly. ]

A great and paw-erful problem. [ a pause. this time he looked at her from the corner of his gaze, as he continued to fiddle with his tail. ] Sorry, I lied on my progress report.

[ of course. he mulled over his words again, carefully, and then when he spoke again it was no longer dry or wry, but very serious. ]

... Princess, [ ugh, words, where are you ] if someone you trusted was doing something bad--no, terrible, what would you do?

yells also what the fuck this got long???

[spotson]

[It was a once in a life time oppawrtunity, really. Enjoy that you were given it, you silly kitty. She doesn't afford these sorts of favors to just anyone-- especially not when she's in Ladybug Mode like she habitually was around Chat Noir. She was so, so very fond of him, she loved him in a way she couldn't put words to. It was different than her pining for Adrien and it was not entirely unlike her love for her parents, while still being entirely its own. Even as Marinette, where it couldn't be known that he was also her partner beyond being an unexpected friend, even with her frustration and outward annoyed tolerance of him, behind the mask and not. Chat Noir was absolutely and entirely precious and irreplaceable to her, and if slipping him a dose of his own over the top behavior was enough to get a smile from him when he was clearly down, she would afford that just this once.]

[But she had an appearance to maintain, so once she'd earned that chuckle and the smile, defeated as it was, and he sat down to fidget, she folded her wrists back over one another with her arms around her knees and set her chin on them to listen.]

[It was a challenge to keep from reacting too strongly to his question. Someone he trusted? This arose a possibly singular instance of her wishing she knew more about Chat Noir, and potentially anything about who he was in the daytime. She had no idea who beyond Ladybug he trusted, and she was relatively sure that she hadn't done anything he would consider bad, much less terrible. She managed to just squint and frown thoughtfully, tilting her head and looking at the shade above them.]

Well, that would depend a lot on who it was and what they'd done, I think. Which is probably not something you can tell me, what with the whole superhero identity clause in place.

[A beat of silence, and she looked startled, dropping her gaze sharply to him. She'd always been the one to enforce that, he'd always seemed pretty mellow about potentially knowing her identity or her knowing his. She certainly wasn't about to let him just tell her, but concern won over the knee-jerk reaction to say no before he even thought about thinking about it. She shifted, looking for a moment like she was considering reaching out to him.]

...are you in trouble?

it's beautiful it's ok

[meouch]

[ it was hard to get the sense of direction he felt marinette or ladybug could give him when he was either purposely too vague with his problem (he really does have no other choice due to the reasoning she outlined herself. the superhero identity clause) or completely unwilling to bring forth the problem to the latter (again, due to the superhero identity clause, as willing as he'd be to share his identity if she so much as asked — but also some complications, too).

marinette hadn't allowed him much time to linger on that "it depends", nor did she give him enough time to deliberate ways on how to elaborate on his situation without spilling his name all over the place. his immediate response to her worry was to placate it, both hands raised up in a gesture of reassurance.

it occurred to him to play off the question with something ridiculous ( i am trouble, actually; trouble? schmouble— ). instead: ]

I'll fix it.

[ in other words, yes, he was in trouble. this is said more in a "i'll have to fix it" kind of way, as that was the truth. adrien's biggest problem had become chat noir's biggest problem, and the implications of his situation kept rolling in as chat settled his hands on his knees.

his father hadn't approved of nino, but nino was still adrien's best friend. even then, he'd become the bubbler; his father had done that fully aware of that fact. with a lot of his classmates, too. the thought was... beyond unpleasant, and soured the trust and love adrien couldn't help feeling more than gabriel's constant absence ever did.

marinette's safety wasn't even guaranteed with his vagueness, was it? ]

I just... I don't know how yet. [ he looked at her again, one hand tapping lightly against his knee. ] But I'll fix it.

stage yodeling

[spotson]

[She knew him better than he thought she did, so it was more than intentional that she moved immediately from "it depends" to zeroing in on the fact that he wasn't subtle and she saw straight through him. And even if his response came a little too quickly, with that same placating hand thing he'd done a ridiculous number of times before, that he acknowledged it mollified her somewhat.]

[He'd fix it. That meant he knew something was wrong, which was the first step to fixing it, and he was willing to, even if not in as many words, admit to her there was something wrong. It was a start.]

[She smiled, just enough to be seen, and shifted to sit cross-legged, resting her hands on her ankles.]

Surely you didn't come to me just to say you'd fix something you can't, or possibly just won't tell me about. What about your partner? Could she help?