ORIGINS

Part 1


The day began mostly like any other.

Adrien woke up sharply at 6:00 and began his morning routine. However, unlike the usual grumble of his thoughts, today, he had a plan. He was going to give his watchers the slip and attend school, even if it was just for a day. He needed that freedom desperately, and he was finally done sitting around and waiting for his father to notice! If this was what it took, he'd do it!

Letting out a tired sigh, he went downstairs from his grandiose room to the dining hall. It was, as usual, quite empty; several tall windows let in the early morning light, and up above the right-hand wall were several delicate paintings of members of the Agreste family. Adrien took a moment to mentally greet his mother's smiling portrait, then turned to the lonely breakfast left on the table. He was fairly certain that the Agreste family - reduced to two since his mother had vanished - did not need a table big enough for twenty, but then again, he didn't think they needed a mansion, either.

Nathalie, promptly at 6:30, arrived to inform him of his schedule. He listened with half an ear, rather apathetic about the majority of it, and uninspired by the rest. His mind was racing far too quickly with thoughts of his daring plan to even begin to care.

At 7:00, the car was waiting outside for him, and he sent the Gorilla a fond smile before sliding in. He'd need transportation, but only so far; if he asked to stop, he hoped he'd have enough time to sneak out of the car and make a dash for the school. From there, all he had to do was blend in. He felt a little bad deceiving Nathalie and the Gorilla about the whole mess, but he felt like today was going to be entirely worth it.


For Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the day began when the sun shone through her skylight onto her face, declaring that she needed to get dressed and get to school within the next fifteen minutes.

"AHH! I'M GOING TO BE LATE!"

Downstairs, Marinette's mother Sabine chuckled good-naturedly, already shuffling a croissant and a cup of tea over to the counter. Only a few minutes later, Marinette nearly toppled down the stairs, spinning wildly on a heel and stammering out a rushed goodbye, her hand snatching the croissant and tea from the table in the same breath that she thanked her mother for it. Before Sabine could so much as wave goodbye, her daughter was out the door and running down the street.

Shaking her head, she moved on to baking some more macarons.


Chloe did not want to go back to school.

It was a disappointing fact of life that she had to spend time at school, otherwise people would judge her and her daddy. Twirling in her room as she selected some good clothes, she finally settled on a little yellow number which showed off the gold of her hair. Her plan was to sit next to Sabrina and behind Adrien - she knew Sabrina would follow her obediently wherever she went, so the only complication was whether her sweet Adrikins managed to make it.

Of course, she had no doubt that Adrien would manage it. Her sweetheart was surprisingly resourceful when he put his pretty little head to it, so she wasn't concerned in the slightest. Checking her vanity one last time, she concluded she looked perfect and stepped out of her beautiful room to head for her driver's car.

Francois-Dupont was as depressingly plebian as ever, unfortunately, but her eye turned to see her Adrikins helping up an old man. She resisted the urge to tell him to get away from creepy old men and instead offered him her most beautiful smile as he raced for the steps where she stood.

"I'll see you inside, Adrikins," she said sweetly, turning and quickly walking away. She knew her Adrien would want a front seat spot, so she just needed to select one of the seats behind the front row and he would automatically follow along.

Suddenly, a girl whipped past her at incredible speed, almost knocking her over. Chloe glared at the familiar bobbing pigtails which raced away and flew into the classroom; no doubt, Marinette was out to destroy her chances with Adrien!

Determined, she leaped to her feet and stormed after her. Upon entering the classroom, she noticed that Marinette had just sat down beside her best friend Sabrina, laying her mug on the table and putting down a croissant.

Chloe wasted no time. She stomped up to the second row where Marinette had sat, and slammed a hand on the table. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng," she hissed. "Just what do you think you're doing in my seat?"

Marinette stared up at her with a crinkle in her forehead, sniffing at her. "Seats haven't even been chosen yet," she replied, batting her eyes at Chloe as if it might convince her she was innocent.

"Move over there," Chloe waved her away, but the bratty girl didn't move at all. "Go on! Shoo!"

"Oi," a new voice called from the front row. "Let her be. There aren't any pre-assigned seats."

"And what would you know, new girl?" Chloe replied sharply. "Don't bother defending Lame-inette if you want to survive around here."

the redhead's eyes narrowed, and the girl stood up, storming over, getting right in her face with a disgusting glare. "How about you move." she threatened.

"How dare you! Do you even know who I am?" Chloe asked incredulously. "My father is the Mayor! YOU sit next to her if you're so determined to defend Lame-inette!" Glaring at her one last time, the girl grabbed Marinette's arm and dragged her away. Marinette barely had the chance to grab her food before she was plopped down into the seat next to the new girl, falling over herself several times.

Chloe basked in her triumph over the vapid girl and the do-gooder by sitting elegantly in her acquired seat. Now, all she had to do was wait.


"Chillax, girl," Alya reassured Marinette, sitting her down beside her. "Don't let that bully get to you."

"Thanks," Marinette murmured into her tea, glancing to the unknown with a smile. "I wish I could handle Chloe like you just did."

"You mean like Majestia does?" Alya quickly brought up the superhero's picture on her phone. "I live and breathe this comic, girl! It's got so many great messages." She paused. "You should stand up to her, don't let her drag you down."

"That's easier said than done," Marinette sighed. "She's been trying to make me miserable for years."

"Well now I'm here," Alya patted her new friend on the back. "You and me, girl, we can take her on."

Marinette shot her a smile. Reaching for her food, she split it in half. "Croissant?" She offered.

Alya accepted with a smile.


A/N:

Welcome to Marigolds and Catnip! I was really inspired by the Scarlet Lady AU which has been floating around the community as of late, so I decided to write a bit of an 'alternate series' starring the concepts seen from the artists and users who inspired me most.

I'll cover my goals in more detail after I finish writing up Origins (split into 3 parts!); I want to finish off the origin story before I jump into writing the rest of the series, however. It should give me a point from which to judge how I'll divide chapters.

While I'd love to link directly to them, from what I recall FFN eliminates links, so instead I'll write out the usernames of some of the people on tumblr who inspired me. I highly advise you visit their pages or search up the 'scarlet lady au' tag on tumblr.

thescuttlebugg was, as I can tell, the originator of the scarlet lady AU concept.

zoe-oneesama is currently among the most active in the tag, writing out their headcanons and occasionally doing art for the AU. A ton of the ideas you'll see here are sourced from zoe's concepts and ideas.

kenechi-nor is an incredible artist who inspired some of the key concepts in this particular write-up of the AU, in particular Marigold's costume! They're an amazing artist with a cute, disney-like style who's been doing quite a lot of artwork of Marigold and others from the AU.

Those are all I can think of off the top of my head, but if I ever dig for inspiration again, I'll be sure to add them to the list!