Marinette's hands found their way hard at work, tweaking the design a little, and admiring the fruits of her labor that was still much, too much for her to place upon her head; it would be sold, but lovingly in her father's namesake.
She paused briefly when she was called to attention by an older woman that worked in her father's old hat shop that Marinette had taken over easily as she was the oldest daughter, oldest of three children, and wouldn't want to let her father down though rightfully, her mother, Sabine, technically owned it as well.
"I'm going to finish up here." Marinette sent a somewhat shy smile the older woman's way, Tikki's way, as she probably could pause her work to have a little fun and partake in celebrating for now, she definitely felt the pressing need to finish up work here like her father, Tom, would have wanted.
"You should join us sometime." Her older face crinkled in gentle concern, and Marinette felt the small pressure of slight guilt over her heart and denying to spend some time with the other women she worked with after work and close the shop up a bit early for once.
"Thank you." Marinette murmured, feeling suddenly that Tikki should know how grateful she is and yet she still didn't move to get up to leave with those that she worked with, just sent a pleasant smile and wave their way as they left.
She stood up with the ease of a woman on a mission shortly later and tried on a hat before moving to shut the shop up and head off to see her sister, Juleka, who worked at a bakery in town.
Marinette was the more reserved or rather more determined to help out her father's old passions out of the three of them, and it really was her responsibility as the oldest;Juleka was the middle child with Rose being the youngest.
Juleka is smart and a hard worker though working in the bakery was very unlike the woman as far as anyone knew, but she'd been receiving a ton of success, and Marinette wondered how she was faring as it clearly was not quite the vision that she'd imagined for her future.
Her youngest sister had been sent to learn magic and spells from a woman much farther off though Rose while energetic didn't fit the part of what anyone imagined a witch or a sorceress to be like.
If anything, it felt almost like their roles were reversed, but they both wrote back exclaiming that they were happy where they were regardless.
Rose definitely is passionate and easy going for the most part though she'd always been a bit of a worrier regardless.
She followed back alleys to avoid the heavy crowding on the streets as people left work for even a few moments' peace to enjoy their day though Marinette pushed back her worry when a guard noticed her and kept going.
Often enough, guards could not be trusted as they were susceptible to letting passing fancies hold their attention when they were working or pretending to be civil gentlemen while not really being them at all.
Marinette liked to believe that she could talk herself out of any situation of that sort or in the end even wrestle them away from her; she'd learned to defend herself years ago and yet to this day had never really used the training in the least bit.
She walked briskly already preparing for what exactly she'd tell her sister, who had always been adamant that Marinette should chase her own dreams; she'd enjoyed the steady work in her father's hat shop though often times found inspiration fleeting, and her mind often wondered to other fashions while she worked even when she tried to pull herself out of that stupor.
Marinette found herself forced to stop when two guards caught her at a bend, already preparing words that were not as honey sweet as they thought them to be even though she felt her stomach burn in faint fear and slight disgust.
She was trying to be civil and worm herself out of the conversation when a man's hand over top her shoulders and soft voice drew her attention, increasing the nervous fear ten fold as he told the guards off.
When she turned slightly to take him in, she half startled at how handsome he was; his eyes glowed brighter than any tree's leaves, his blond hair was a tad on the messy side though still more neat than not, and his smile though a warning was both taunting towards the guards and almost charming.
A certain grace and ease just melded to his features as if it belonged there, and Marinette could not help the nervous stutter of her breathing for a brief, brief moment or the way her mind casually drunk this whole situation in as if it were destined to.
Marinette blinked though when he guided her away, guards safely intimidated.