Mark comes onto the stage, shuffling through a couple pieces of paper, picking up a microphone on his way to the middle.
A spotlight fell on him, and he grinned and waved at the audience. "Hi, hello everybody! I'm Mark, and I'm going to be telling you ten reasons why Gabriel Agreste is NOT Hawkmoth. That's the title of this story, right? Gosh I hope I'm right!"
A few people snicker in the audience, and he chuckles.
"Reason number one," he said into the microphone, setting his papers on the wooden table in front of him while holding one finger in the air. "Gabriel Agreste is targeted during one of the akuma attacks; Simon Says. Any of you who have not watched that episode, I recommend you stop here if you don't want spoilers."
Some people got up and left, murmuring about how they were going to watch that episode soon.
"Right! Well, Simon nearly made Gabriel kill himself with one of his cards, which was thrown at him with the order to act like an airplane, or whatever the exact words were, I don't care to be perfectly precise."
Someone chuckled, but quickly silenced upon hearing no one else laugh with them.
"Reason number two," he said this while holding up two fingers. "Hawkmoth needs to stay transformed to continue giving out orders to his akuma, which can cause conflict with the theory, being that Gabriel is almost always in sight during Simon Says."
The audience nods politely, some murmuring their agreement to this logic.
"Glad you agree, guys and girls." Mark said, and smoothly moved on. "Reason number three. Gabriel Agreste and Hawkmoth behave differently. I get that behaviors might be altered when transformed, but I can't imagine Gabriel, the strict and overprotective father to Adrien, acting like Hawkmoth, who often makes jokes and puns. Also, when have we ever seen Gabriel Agreste smile (aside from that one episode)? Name a few times, go on, name them."
Nobody speaks up, some knocking the side of their heads, hurrying to find examples.
"Exactly. Moving on to reason number four, they have different eyes. For one, Hawkmoth's eyes are sharper and raised a bit, while Gabriel's are almond-shaped and normal-looking. Also, have you noticed that in some lights, Hawkmoth's eyes seem to be a gray-ish blue while Gabriel's are ice-blue?"
Mark chuckled when everybody murmured curiously and looked at one another, slowly coming to shake their heads. "Well, okay, that's fine, I guess it's just me."
Clearing his throat, he glanced at the papers, before trucking on. "Reason number five, they have different builds. Gabriel's build is thin and tall, shoulders broad, high forehead, sharp chin, long legs and fuller cheeks. While Hawkmoth is kind of similar to Gabriel, he's a bit different. Hawkmoth has a squared chin, thinner shoulders and thin cheeks."
A few people nodded, but they didn't have the chance to do much else.
"Reason number six, Gabriel wears glasses, and Hawkmoth, even in his civilian form, does not. Look back on the Origins episodes and you'll probably find what I mean."
He grins at the audience, who nod to him, returning his grin. "Good, great. Reason number seven, they have different noses. This should probably be apart of different builds, but I don't really care. Anyway, Gabriel's nose is rounded at the bottom, and a bit longer than Hawkmoth's, whose nose is sharp and short."
From the audience, someone yells out to him. "How do you know all of this?!"
Mark laughed. "Detective skills, of course! And a lot of searching on the web, that kinda helps too." he responded cheekily to the person, who rolled their eyes, not quite unkindly, and sat back down.
"And that brings us to reason number eight, Hawkmoth is a little paler than Gabriel, and I assume it's because he probably doesn't get much sun from that dark lair of his." he smirked and shifted his weight to his other foot.
Some people snicker.
"Reason number nine, Gabriel is obviously very protective of his son, so if he was Hawkmoth, why would he akumatize someone in the same place as him? Wouldn't that be very dangerous? Also, in Volpina, if they were the same person, our favorite butterfly villain would have been unhappy at Lila for using a copy of his son as bait. That may sound stupid, being he knew it wasn't really him, but it looked exactly like him, so it would probably still shock him a bit."
Mark takes a deep breath, and mock-glares at someone off-stage. "Darn it, Peachy, I'm not done yet!"
A muffled "Fine!" is heard, as well as a door slamming shut in obvious irritation.
He smirks and goes on. "And finally, reason number ten."
The brunet throws his arms out. "Marinette and Adrien wear disguised versions of their miraculouses, and if Gabriel was Hawkmoth, then wouldn't he? As you know, the Butterfly miraculous is a pin, which means you wear it. And people, I haven't seen ANYTHING related to a miraculous on Gabriel. The antagonist's pin is in plain view below his neck, but on Gabriel, that's replaced by a tie."
Mark bows, then kicks over the table with the papers, scattering them all over the stage. "I'm so outta here!"
Samantha falls from out of nowhere, landing on Mark's shoulders, balancing haphazardly as she waved to the audience, who were laughing at her dramatic entrance.
"That brings this little one-shot to an end, everybody! I hope you liked it, and we will see you guys later!"
She gasped and tumbled off Mark, but he caught her in his arms, grinning deviously at her, opening his mouth to make a remark.
Her face turning pink, she interrupted him. "Don't you dare say it!"
Mark chuckled and stomped his foot, making an open door on the ground to appear. Samantha, eyes wide, screams at the brunet as he jumps inside the door, dragging her along with him.
After a moment, Mark's hand raised out of the door and closed it, making it disappear again.
The audience shared amused looks, slowly dispersing.
I'm betting you're thinking; What a freaking waste of my time!
Well, I agree with you.
Toooodles!~