legionworld | Ladybuggin' Out

Entry tags:

Ladybuggin' Out

Who| Marinette and YOU
What| Marinette exploring Legion World after waking up
Where| All around Legion World, you can pick a location
When| After Whistling in the Dark plot
Warnings/Notes| N/A

Marinette had been shown around the ship already but that was when she was still in the wide-eyed stages of denial one found themselves in when they were spirited to another universe. She'd gone along with it, listened to the descriptions of different places, talked to them about that whole swearing an oath thing and had done it all pretty much on automatic.

Just because she was a superhero back home didn't mean she was prepared for all this so she'd spent her days in the Medbay and her days right after in a quiet state of shock, one that had apparently been mistaken for calm because of her capacity to still talk to people despite it.

It was only now after she was free to wander around alone that she started to come out of it a little, looking at everything with new eyes the second time.

"Wooow."

She had no one to really say it to but she was used to Tikki always being with her so thinking out loud was a force of habit.

"Woooooow."

That was really all she could say as she wandered from place to place and from thing to scientific-looking...thing. She put her hands on her cheeks and stared and let out a "woooow" at no one, and then walked onto the next thing. Whether it was the threshold gate hub, or the science labs, or the many habitats that had been built for everyone on board -- including one that had the Champ De Mars and the entire Eiffel Tower for her -- all she could do was stare wide-eyed and "woooow" at herself.

And maybe touch things she probably shouldn't touch. In a few places she even smushed her face against windows to look at the view of Earth or space outside.

"Woooooooow!"

People might possibly notice the new girl in any number of places and given all the 'wow'ing and the flight ring on her finger she was very obviously new.

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"Whoops!"

He had to learn to watch where he was going. Tadashi shifted his weight back on his heel and pivoted so that he didn't accidentally smack right into a teenage girl whose only crime was being right around a corner he'd been turning.

Whoa, she had wings. Fortunately, his manners were on autopilot.

"Sorry. I didn't drip on you, did I?"

He wasn't really dripping anymore, having thoroughly toweled off after he finished surfing in the section of Legion World that the Legion had set up for him. The Athramites had thoughtfully made him a wetsuit that looked like his Legion uniform - he wasn't sure if it was standard practice or anything, but the white was on the sides where nothing inappropriate would be seen even if it hadn't remained opaque.

Her instinct when she almost ran into him was to take to the air. It was a new instinct. It was definitely a new instinct. Considering she still was awkward at flying, it wasn't really the greatest new instinct to have because all she did was flutter a few feet and bounce off a wall to the floor.

"No," she said from the floor. "No, I'm fine."

Everything was fine. She has wings now and it was aaalll fine.

Edited 2016-02-13 10:00 (UTC)

Tadashi cracked a smile, leaning down to offer her a hand up.

"Well, I hope I didn't startle you too badly. How's your head? I'm not a doctor, but I've studied a bit of medical science and I have a brother about your age, so I'm good at handling bumps and bruises."

"No, I'm definitely, definitely fine," she said, letting him help her to her feet, then rubbing her head. "I'm...a little clumsy. I'm used to doing that."

Falling. On her butt. Like an idiot.

"Iii'm Marinette! I'm new."

She held out her hand to shake his and gave him an awkward little smile.

"At all of this," she added. "With the superheroing. And -- and space."

Totally new at the hero thing yep. Look at how flustered she is, she totally is not used to weird things happening in her life, nope. Just an ordinary girl.

Edited 2016-02-18 17:10 (UTC)

"Nice to meet you, Marinette," Tadashi said, shaking her hand. "I'm Tadashi. I'm also pretty new to all of this, but a bit less new than you. So if you have any questions, let me know. Either I can answer them, or we can both go to someone who grew up here and get them to explain it."

Asking questions when everyone else seemed to know what was going on could be intimidating, but Tadashi was willing to take some of the heat off the other newbies if he could.

"Space is pretty cool though, huh?" he asked with a grin. "I didn't really plan on being an astronaut, but life is full of surprises."

"It's amazing!"

It really was. It wasn't really something she'd ever thought about either, but now that she was here...

"I don't think I've ever seen as many stars before! Every time you look out a window." She added, "I'm from Paris. And it's pretty much the most beautiful city in the world but it is the city of light. Which actually has to do with it being the city of enlightment in history and not the lights, but it does still have a lot of lights and that means light pollution."

She loved her city but you couldn't exactly get a good view of the stars.

"And then there's the view of Earth, it's just so beautiful."

"I've never been to Paris, but I hear you on the light pollution," Tadashi commiserated with a smile. "I've never seen this many stars in San Fransokyo either, even when I was looking for them."

Mostly, he was indoors at night. And if he was outdoors, he was most focused on finding where Hiro had gotten off to than he was with looking up.

"It's a pretty great view," he agreed. "Makes me wish I was more of an artist."

"I am an artist. Kind of. I mostly draw for the fashion I design but I'm pretty good in general. I guess. But I don't think I'd ever be good enough to make art of all this. It's just so..." She looked out the window at the countless stars. "At the same time, I feel so..."

Urgh, it was hard to find the words.

"Lost?" She paused. "Not lost, that sounds sad. More like when you're stuck in a big crowd that's shoving you around and you don't know where they're going to shove you."

Another pause.

"No, that isn't it, either. Everything's so...different. Alien. Except I guess we're more alien here than the people that are from this universe."

" 'Small'?" Tadashi suggested. "I've been going with 'small'. It's a big universe out there, and it's apparently inside an even bigger multiverse. And there are things in it that can grab people and drag them through, and give them super powers in the process."

He wanted to go home so bad it ached sometimes. He tried to shake it off, no reason to inflict his homesickness on a teenager who was still reeling from her own unexpected journey.

"On the other hand, my friends are going to flip their lids when they found out I got to be an actual super hero and meet aliens and play with advanced technology, so..." He grinned and tilted his hand back and forth. "It evens out."

"That still sounds too sad," she said. "It feels like the opposite. Like the universe is bigger."

That wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It meant there was so much more that she was aware and even though it made her feel a little smaller, it was still beautiful. The bigness of the universe was beautiful.

"Does that make any sense?"

Edited 2016-03-07 09:08 (UTC)

"I'm following the gist, if not the exact details," Tadashi said. "We might be running into translation problems. The telepathic ear-plugs translate everything so we're mutually intelligible, but I don't know how well they do it. I'm guessing that you meant 'Paris, France' rather than 'Paris, Texas'; there might be words in French that just don't translate well into English and vice versa."

"I don't think it's the language difference," Marinette said with a sheepish smile. "I think it's just too big of an idea and that words are too small and I can't find the right ones."

She pressed her fingers up against the window.

"In any case, it's beautiful. And I'm almost glad I'm here. I just hope they're right that we'll probably go back to the moment we left. I don't want my parents and friends to worry."

Her parents would be worried sick if time actually passed while she was gone.

The habitat that she has wandered into consists mostly of a lightly forested area that seems very peaceful. The only exception is a large shed in a small clearing. The light is strange, both natural and very clearly not emanating from a sun or moon - it rather seems to come from one of the walls and to be a mingling of silver and golden light, as if someone had hid both sun and moon behind that wall.

Someone is cooking inside the shed or perhaps behind it - a quite delicious scent is wafting towards the entrance of the habitat.

Marinette had really been enjoying the forest as she'd quietly walked through it. There were plenty of green places in Paris but none that really gave the illusion that you were somewhere untamed and wild. The city was forever creeping in at the edges -- and that was fine! She loved her city.

But it was still a nice change. She felt like she'd stepped into the pages of a book of fairy tales.

Then she saw the shed and the light. She had to take a look at that. How could she not? Her life pretty much had her trained to poke her nose into strange things, if only because strange things possibly meant akumatized people wreaking havoc that she had to stop.

Also, that food smelled really good! She wasn't someone that was easily tempted by the smell of good food -- that was what happened when the house you grew up in was over your parents' bakery -- but it was good enough for her to want to peak around and see what was cooking.

But was she even supposed to be here? These places were supposed to be habitats that belonged to people, just like one had been designed for her. Did that mean she was trespassing?

It can't hurt to take a look, right? she almost said the words aloud before remembering that Tikki wasn't with her. Just one teeny, tiny peek...

She crept over very slowly and carefully, pressing against the wall of the shed and peeking around to see what was there. If it seemed like it was a situation she wouldn't be welcome in, she planned on just leaving before she was seen.

Inside, the shed is a forge for the most part, or rather a workshop that also has a forge in it. In a corner, a bed can be spotted, and a small kitchenette is occupied by a tall man with long, dark hair, dressed in simple pants and a tunic, currently cooking up something.

There is nothing hostile about the environment, but as the only occupant is busy with something else and hasn't noticed her yet, he isn't inviting her inside, either.

Now that was strange. Why would the man want to live in a shack in the middle of the habitats instead of in the crew quarters where you could have a TV?

It was nice out here though, she had to give it that.

It felt wrong to spy on the man, or sneak up on him, so she decided that it was best to maybe leave -- but then she noticed something that made her eyes pop open wide.

Wait, did he have pointed ears? Like an elf?

She leaned a little more around the wall she was pressed against to try to get a closer peek and that was when she lost her balance and flopped down pretty noisily to the ground, half of her body visible to Feanor.

"Aaaoomph!" was the noise she made and then she stared up at him with wide eyes, wincing.

"Um. Hiii?"

She could practically hear her best friend Alya laughing at her for being ridiculous.

Moving through the science labs, head buried down in his omnicom and poking at some data, there was a short (but still rather oversized, for his species) turtle with a purple bandana pushed low around his neck, a pair of some kind of goggles pushed up high on his forehead, and an unfortunately chosen path that he didn't seem to realize was actually going to intersect with anyone.

(Look, spatial and situational awareness was absolutely a thing for ninja, but sometimes, Donatello got a little single-minded when there was science to do.)

And so he plowed right into her with a brief exclamation of surprise. "- whoa!"

Marinette bounced off Donnie and landed on her butt, her wings automatically unfurling and buzzing a little due to her alarm, though they didn't do it enough for her to get any lift. It was mostly a fight or flight instinct that, well, leaned a little more towards flight, apparently -- one the seemed to come part and parcel with the whole insect wing package.

For a moment, it looked like she was going to frown at him and then she saw that he was not just some random, normal human person that hadn't watched where he was going.

He was a turtle! Person! A turtle-person!

How weird was that? No, maybe not weird. Cool? That was probably more cool than weird. (It wasn't really nice to think of someone as weird.)

"You're a turtle-person!" Why did she say that? "I mean. Um. I didn't mean that like it was a baaad thing? I just mean -- it's kind of neat to see different types of people. Here. Is what I mean."

She gestured to her wings.

"Like check these out! I have wings! I didn't have them before I got here."

And yes, they were weird, but it was still kind of cool.

On one hand: yes, way to state the obvious -

But she seemed so sunny and pleased about everything that the brief flash of irritation didn't last long. Better reaction than he was used to getting at home, for sure.

"You didn't have them until here? I know most of us have been getting powers out of the ether, but I hadn't seen anyone with a physical change like that yet."

...fascinating!

"I woke up with them in the Medbay. I think I had them down on the planet because it wouldn't make sense if I didn't, but I passed out so fast I don't even remember. I just remember that my back felt itchy."

She couldn't tell if it was because they'd grown right then or because the awareness of suddenly having wings meant they'd felt itchy.

She stretched them all the way out and fluttered them a bit, slowly.

"It's kind of a funny coincidence, actually--"

Wait. She was still not sure about the Ladybug thing here. She wanted to be honest about it -- all of this seemed so serious-- but it was her big secret. It was strange to think about letting it go. And what if the worst happened, and someone from home got pulled here, too? Like Alya?

"--because I...like bugs." A pause. "Ladybugs."

Okay, that made no sense. She tried to rally.

"There's a superhero back home in Paris named Ladybug that keeps everyone safe and I think she's really cool. My friend Alya runs a blog that's all about her. So, it's just a funny coincidence that I became like an actual Ladybug like her when I'm, um, such a fan!"

Just a fan.

"I've wondered about that, really. I mean, I guess to get a better idea I'd need to get some statements from everyone to see if there's really a pattern or just some confirmation bias at work here, but my own power seems to be awfully well-matched to my interests, which doesn't seem like the odds ought to be that great if we're pulling out of a random selection of every possible superpower in the universe."

Uh-oh.

There he goes.

"- of course, maybe if whatever's responsible is playing off of natural tendencies, it might just be that I'm already smart and I've got the synapses for a power that plays off that, as opposed to having to actually develop whatever makes a good pyro from scratch, or something like that..." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "But even that wouldn't necessarily explain a case like yours where it's not necessarily an inclination so much as just an...interest? But I'd be surprised if it's completely random."

Okay, not only was this guy a turtle but clearly he was some kind of scientist turtle. Marinette had to admit that she was curious about the powers, too -- and especially worried about her missing earrings and the fact that Tikki hadn't been pulled in with her.

But she definitely could tell that the turtle boy's interests in it had a bit more of a scientific edge to it.

He kind of reminded her of her classmate Max.

"Does anyone know if what brought us is a something or a someone?"

If it was someone, her earrings and Tikki being missing would be extra alarming.

"Not really. I've been crunching some of the data since I got here, but most of it hasn't been much help for figuring out what - or who - got us here. It's been easier to focus on what keeps us here, but that hasn't exactly been easy to work with either."

Or he possibly just needed a better grounding in quantum physics.

That could also be it.

"They tried to explain that to me when I woke up," she said. "Something something big worlds, quantum something. They said that something was tying us to this universe. That even if they could open a door home -- and that they probably eventually could -- if we went that we'd probably get pulled back anyway."

She wasn't quite sure if she believed that. She wasn't exactly a genius but she was shrewd. And she had noticed a few interesting things about their situation.

Marinette dropped her voice to a whisper to talk about them.

"How do we know they didn't just bring us and give us powers themselves?" she asked. "It seems awfully convenient that they needed help and all of a sudden we started getting pulled here."

She didn't really want to think they did it on purpose themselves. They seemed nice and they were definitely fighting for something important if they wanted to protect people.

Buuuut she was a little worried.

"It's a fair question." His voice was low, but not quite as quiet as hers - he'd been around long enough to conclude that the Legion were fairly understanding of the fact that everyone had reason to ask these kinds of questions, after all. "But the more I'm around them, the less likely that seems to be the case."

He held up his omnicom, the data he'd been looking over still on the screen. "I've been looking over everything since I got here. I don't have extensive experience with interdimensional physics, but the quantum tether theory seems pretty solid so far. They've been very helpful about getting me all of the data and the equipment I'd need to crunch the numbers, and all I've had to do is ask - which isn't solid proof of anything, but it's a good point towards sincerity."

"But how can we be sure they weren't the ones doing the...um, tethering. Or...whatever it is?"

She couldn't confess to knowing what exactly the science was. This was way beyond her.

"Or is it the kind of thing that would need someone or something really powerful to do it?"

It did sound like something that went...deep. if something was quantum that meant it had to do with fundamental particles, right? That went all the way down to people atoms and things.

"Admittedly, I've been playing catch-up on a lot of science since I got here, so this may just be a function of that, but -"

That part was spat out a little quickly. Donnie never liked admitting he might not be smart enough to get something, even if he was realistic enough to know that sometimes, it might be the truth.

"- I'm not seeing any feasible way of recreating that effect. Figuring out how to take it apart has already been tough, and destroying anything is easier than replicating it."

"That sounds like it must have taken something big to cause it to happen in the first place," Marinette said thoughtfully. "I guess the best thing to do is help them and just be careful. Make sure they always do what they promise and tell us the truth."

Even if they weren't behind all this, there was still a risk that they were taking advantage of it somehow.

"But I hope all this is what it looks like. It sounds like there are a lot of people that need help." And if time was supposedly frozen back home, she was fine with helping until they didn't need help anymore.

"Not that I really know anything about this," she lied, "but who doesn't dream sometimes about being a superhero?"

"I get a good feeling when I talk to these people. And yeah, you can't base everything on that, or at least I wouldn't call it at all advisable -"

(You obviously could, since Leo did it all the damned time and Donnie was never going to get that.)

"We just have to watch ourselves, and watch for anything weird."

Her question, though, got a slightly awkward headtilt. "Well, uh...maybe a little, but most of the time, my life's been eventful enough without the help."

"You must deal with a lot of excitement back home then."

God knows her life was pretty much a never-ending thrill ride, but she still couldn't really imagine a life that was so eventful that superheroing was a 'thanks but no thanks' situation because it was just too much.

"Where are you even from anyway? Some kind of...turtle world?"

Planet of the turtles?

"Excitement is one way to put it."

Probably not the way he'd have chosen, but a way, sure.

"Nah, humans are the dominant species of my world, turtles are the non-sentient pet store variety, and the number of mutants like myself derived from any animal species numbers at less than two dozen."

"That sounds like something out of a movie. Mutants."

She paused.

"But I guess back home probably sounds like something out of a movie, too," she admitted, shrugging. "There's a supervillain back home that turns people into villains. With evil butterflies called akuma."

A pause.

"At least, my friend Alya thinks that's what Ladybug said they're called. Ladybug is one of the heroes that fights them."

She raised her eyebrows.

"Anyway, people seem to get changed into akuma every other day, with these weird powers and ridiculous costumes... Most of our class has been akumatized at one point. So I probably shouldn't be thinking about other worlds as weird when mine's so strange."

A long pause.

Look, Donnie didn't just fall off the turnip truck. Those suspiciously quick backpedals sound like a suspiciously specific denial, and -

"Ladybug, huh."

Nice wings, Marinette?

"I decided since my powers seem to be a little like hers and because of the wings that I'd go by that superhero name here. Hopefully, she wouldn't be mad."

Haha, just some friendly homage, right?

"If she ever showed up, I'd give the name back to her. Of course. I just figure if I look like a Ladybug, it fits, right? And it feels right that there'd be a Ladybug in this world, too."

Reaching. Reeeaching. But it really was the best she could do. She wasn't always the best liar. She tried, certainly, but no one could say she was particularly smooth or gifted at it.

Edited 2016-03-20 04:00 (UTC)

It was a worse lie than Mikey trying to make excuses about what happened to the last slice of pizza, to be honest.

But if it seemed that important to her to keep the secret, Donnie wasn't about to call her on it. He knew something of what it was like to have to hide something that big. An identity. A family's entire existence. Whichever.

"Right. So, what can you do?"

"I'm not really sure how it works, but I can fly! Obviously." She fluttered up into the air and accidentally bounced off a wall. "Ow. I'm still...working on that."

She fluttered down again, folding the wings away.

"And I'm really fast and agile. Like a gymnast, I guess? And a little sturdier." It was a lot like she'd been back home, although she had more strength and durability with the powers her kwami Tikki gave her. "And they said I have -- I have no idea what this means -- but a 'probability manipulation field'? Which I think is just good luck! I guess!"

In general, that seemed to be something she had back home, but it was definitely channeled a different way. Her lucky charm was something a lot more solid and concrete, a specific rabbit she got to pull out of her hat.

"It doesn't seem like something I can control. It just...happens."

"Well, good luck sounds like a simplistic way of putting it."

Heaven knew Donnie wasn't one to take the simplistic approach to anything.

"But from the name they're giving it, that'd be a space around you that affects the statistical likelihood of certain outcomes coming to pass, which could slant positive or negative or neither, but if it goes positive, then yes, you could just sum it up by saying it's good luck."

Grif was out of uniform at the time, because Grif was usually out of uniform. The civvies of the future weren't exactly what he was used to, but they were comfortable and semi-anonymizing. He appreciated that about them.

He was poking around on his omnicomm as he walked, leaving a trail of sarcastic low-effort shitposts in his wake, when he noticed the kid gazing intently out at the star field.

He stopped, wondering what some kid was doing out here, when he noticed that she had a flight ring. Of course there were more kids coming in here.

"You never seen space before or something?" he asked.

It was, by Grif standards, a polite and friendly greeting.

That earned him a genuinely scandalized look. Teenage girls were good at those. She gestured with both hands at the window.

"It's space but we're in it."

Can you not recognize the difference, random old guy stranger? Get with it.

Edited 2016-02-18 17:20 (UTC)

"That's what space does. It has things in it," Grif replied. "And a lot of those things are people."

Transitioning from one space future to another had, all things considered, been a bit less exciting for him.

Marinette rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips.

"You can't stop trying to rain on my parade, can you," she said. "I don't care what you say, it's still exciting."

It's space!

"Why are you so unimpressed?"

You're the weird one, Grif. You weird, unexcited weirdo.

Edited 2016-03-14 03:38 (UTC)

"All the good stuff is on Earth," Grif said, looking out at the stars with perfect nonchalance as he continued to rain on the space parade.

"I mean, when you're from Earth it's kind of exciting for the first day or so but then you figure out it's all just rocks and aliens."

It wasn't like he'd ever been a kid who got excited about things, right? That'd be hypocritical!

"Have you even been to another planet?" Marinette asked skeptically. "Because how do you know that other planets don't have great stuff? Maybe they have stuff as good as the stuff on Earth."

Like fashion! She wanted to see the kinds of clothes other worlds had. Maybe she could crib some ideas and take them home and they'd be so amazing and different than she'd become a world-famous designer just like she wanted.

"Maybe they have even better stuff than Earth!"

Edited 2016-03-20 04:07 (UTC)

"I was on a planet. It was just rocks and aliens, I promise," Grif said. He paused, then amended, "Well, just one alien, but he was a dick and no one liked him."

The fact that nobody liked the alien was an important detail.

"I guess here is kind of better?" he admitted. "But take it from me, kid: The aliens are still dicks. Mostly. Probably nine out of ten."

Grif was, as ever, a shining beacon of tolerance and appropriate language choices.

Edited 2016-03-23 04:39 (UTC)

"I don't think that's possible," said Marinette, putting her hands on her hips. "And if it is possible, it's only because lots of people in general can be jerks, not just aliens."

She really didn't think that the statistical ratios of di--jerks to nice people was really all that different for other species.

"Have you met every alien ever?"

You can't say that unless you've met every alien ever, Grif. Every. Alien. Ever.

Edited 2016-03-27 04:24 (UTC)

"Well, you're right about most people," Grif admitted, "But it doesn't really change anything about that, does it? Aliens at home are all dicks, aliens here are sometimes dicks, and I don't need to meet every guy with five arms for five different guns to point at me to know it's statistically a thing. That's how science works."

That is not how science works.

Grif shrugged, a lazy and unconcerned motion. "Either way, you don't have to take my advice," he said. Which, all in all, was probably a good thing to not do anyway. "Make all the alien buddies you want. Prove science wrong or something." He sounded doubtful.

"That's really not how science works. It's really, really not."

But that this man thought it did was pretty funny and the fact he was funny and slightly ridiculous made her at least want to know who he was. She was used to having funny and slightly ridiculous people in her life.

"What's your name? I'd like a name to go with all your being bad at science," she said, leaning her face on her hand and her elbow on the little ledge at the window. "I'm Marinette."

"I'm Grif," he said. "Or Doubletime," he added, still not entirely used to that bit.

"And you should be careful if you're going to offend science, Marinette. It'll screw you big time. I know." He tapped one temple with a finger to try and emphasize that he was a smart person with more life experience and knowledge and a basic level of competence.

Or at least most of those things.

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Ladybuggin' Out

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