djbubbles | IC Inbox (The Wake)

[Well that certainly makes him feel a lot better.]

It's what friends do, bro.

[He smiled at that.] True. You're a really good friend.

[He paused, expression failing, hands clasping together in his lap, looking away again.]

I don't....I don't want to be....dishonest, I guess. This Renard thing....the thing that's messing me up so much is I...I get how I got there. A little more bitter, a little less kind, a lot more hurt. And....

[He closed his eyes, and let out a deep sigh.] And keyed into one of the few things that have....have led to that dark temptation. I don't want to hurt people, I don't want to kill anyone, but there's been moments, when I thought I almost lost Ladybug, when Papillon had my father, and suddenly the idea didn't seem so impossible I'd cross a line.

I would never go after people I love.

But when it comes to the people I love being in danger or being taken, there...there's enough anger and fear there.

[His hands were clenched together tightly, claws digging into the material on the back of his hands.] I don't know if that changes your thoughts, but if it did, I can't....I can't just say I would never, ever cross a line.

[Nino frowns and looks at him with concern. He places a hand on Chat's shoulder.]

We all have our bad sides and the ability to do bad things. Remember Bubbler? The important thing is choosing not to fall into that temptation, and being a good person. You're a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for, man.

I already said I forgive you and that's not changing.

Edited 2017-11-28 03:29 (UTC)

[Things like that were always hard to hear. Hard to believe that it could be so simple.]

[But...it was Nino. Nino who went Bubbler for him. He supposed he would understand.]

[He sighs and then unclenches his hands, putting one over Nino's.] Sometimes you feel too good to be true. You know that?

[He can't help but laugh a little at that.]

Well there's always thinking about the Bubbler to fix that.

[He's half joking though there's always the fear that he could become the Bubbler again as long as Papillion is still around.]

I don't know about that. I always thought it was touching, in a kind of demented way. Pretty effectively negated a lot of anxiety I'd mess up our friendship too.

[He shrugs.] I guess so.

Then again, you and your Lady have Miraculouses so you're safe from getting Akumatized.

[At least he assumes that's the case. After all, both back home and in that AU, Papillion had yet to try Akumaizing either Ladybugs or Chat Noirs.]

...I'm...not actually sure that's true? I mean, its possible, but Ladybug and I have bad personalities for Akumas.

Not that we're too good. But Ladybug is pretty quick to solve problems, Papillon has a short time to offer her anything. And I quickly lose anything for Papillon to burn.

With Tikki and Plagg to be immediate support, the window doesn't last long.

That's also a good point. Let's hope we never find out.

[So much for that idea of making himself Chat again if he feels too bad to protect himself.]

He's certainly tried here. Fought him twice during the Endos thing. But the rules are different. People can resist, so it might be he wants to test my willpower.

....

[Nudges his side.] You got the worried look.

And we know people can resist getting Akumaized so who knows how it works now?

[That surprises him and he tries his best to force a smile.]

I-I'm fine. As long as I keep my chin up, he can't get to me.

....

[There is a looooong moment where Chat stares at him.]

[Then he sighs.]

[And immediately drapes his arms over his shoulders and flops against him, letting Nino either hold him up or fall over.]

[Oh geez. He was not expecting that. Nino manages to catch him and hold him up. He's not sure if it's a sign Chat needs to lay down or he just wants a hug.]

Bro...?

[And then. He starts purring. And when he speaks, his voice is shaking from the vibrations, but otherwise calm.]

Gonna try and pull that on me, I will require purr therapy. Its the right frequency to help relieve stress.

[He's actually purring? Yeah he did that too when he was high on cat nip, but this is a first. If the situation weren't so awkward, it would be funny.]

Cat instincts...

[Should he tell him to avoid the forge in case Adela hasn't cleared the cap nip yet?]

And being touch starved makes it real easy to start. There's a reason Chat is touchy.

Seriously though, you have that.... [He purses his lips.] The not dealing and pretending you are look people get. [He sees it a lot.]

Good to know. I'll make sure never to use any laser pointers then.

[Guess he really can't hide anything from his best bud. Should have expected as much.] Remember when I accidentally made you and nearly everyone else deaf trying to make that music CD with bending? Papillion kind of made a threat to me under a lock.

[He has his phone so he can show him if needed.]

Edited 2017-11-28 08:00 (UTC)

....shut up. [He might be blushing. Stupid pointers.]

Still, I am serious about the touchy. Tell me if its too much, I only want to actually annoy you if you start making a bad habit.

[He growls, frowning.] Of course he did. Let me see?

[Again, he grins at that. He's so gonna tease him about that later. He does get serious again though.]

Okay.

Sure, just a sec. [He removes an arm so he can reach for his pocket. He takes out his phone and searches for his old post. Once he has that post on his phone, it only takes a couple seconds to find the thread in question. Hope Chat enjoys the middle finger emoji he sent Papillion.]

[Chat takes the phone, snickering at the emoji, but reading over the thread.]

Hmmm....

[He's still leaning against Nino, purring away as he looks it over.] So, how much did he get into your head and how quickly did you notice?

Not very far, but I got unnerved enough to just stop replying.

10 said the walls in the box should be able to shield against Akumas, but I'm not sure I believe that. Even if an Ashura are creating a shielding around it, I'm not sure how much that would protect against magic.

[He wants to believe 10, but 10's not from their world and he doesn't wanna underestimate Papillion.]

We're working from the same source here, and Endos completely overtook Papillon's mind when he tried to...I don't know, probably make a deal. But if you want, I can Cataclysm the front door?

[He holds up his hand with the ring.] To be honest? I have no idea if this is not just a chunk of stone. Metal. Whatever. There are two reasons I treat like it is the actual Miraculous. One, I'm not risking Plagg, no matter how small.

And two, it...might? Be a body part? Technically? Bound to Plagg and me. Kwami's are certainly not normal physical beings, so this might be less magic item as actually part of his very existence.

And I don't know if you had an incident like I did with Lady Wifi, but when I take it off while transformed, it just spits out Plagg, so it does have a reaction if it's not on me and the magic regularly fuses to my actual body and not just the suit.

So it might be enough of a 'body' and 'soul' thing to actually make the transfer to Nautilus.

That's assuminmg the Akuma would be coming from the front door and I'm pretty sure 10 and the other doctors would get mad at you for doing that.

Treat like it's the actual Miraculous? Do you have a bunch of those rings made?

[Which would come in handy, especially if Nino himself needs to be Chat.]

Nope. Lady Wifi and Bubbler never happened in that other life, though I do recall throwing you a birthday party anyway.

It works on a pocket dimension principle. The doorway is the stable way through. If it tries going through the walls, it's gonna hit a lot more than just shielding even if it's capable of phasing without empowering an item.

But if the door is fine, then Papillon definitely isn't getting through. [He's pretty sure the door would be fine. That's why he has a key.] And he doesn't have Miraculous magic. The kwamis are the power source. No kwami, no proper magic. If he had the kwami, we'd know by now.

I do have a couple of copies from last December. We handed over fakes for my father. Used a hologram to make it look like I detransformed. Then I poker faced through the entire complicated exchange, had a whole conversation. Never had I been so glad to both be a model and extremely used to manipulative, control issue laden adults.

I do too. We actually got to enjoy it too, Garfield and I had a lot of feelings about it.

Yeah. Kind of a shame Plagg's not here either, even if him being here would mean having to give him Camembert.

[Which would be so annoying.]

It's a good idea especially to throw off Papillion. [He shakes his head at the mention of Adrien's dad. He really wishes there was something he could do about him. It's frustrating how poorly Gabriel treats Adrien.]

I'm glad you two had a blast. Speaking of which, I wonder where Garfield is now or if he even still exists. I don't remember him being around before the storm.

[He doesn't know or remember that Spark's Garfield.]

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