Delicate, Chapter 20
As Wayzz shepherded Nooroo through the portal to the Kwami village, he felt Nooroo stir slightly and close his mouth.
"Nooroo, can you hear me?" Wayzz asked, but got no immediate response and saw Nooroo's eyes remain closed.
Perhaps that's for the best, thought Wayzz. He just got the shock of a lifetime to his system; he's going to need some rest. And perhaps light psychotherapy.
That was absolutely remarkable back there, he marveled. I had long suspected that the upper bounds of Nooroo's power were yet to be tested... but that was a mystical projection for the ages! I should count my blessings that it was an overwhelmingly positive burst, not a negative one... or Tikki and I truly could have been endangered. Along with anyone else within a few kilometers...
And as for the ardor that produced it... yes, I can see why Nooroo and Tikki find it so entrancing, Wayzz chuckled.
I must remember to ask Marinette... and perhaps Adrien, too... to allow me to examine them afterwards, he mused. With that magnitude of raw magic at play... still at play, I would certainly wager... I am certain that they would want to know if any fertilization took place today. Marinette had said that she had taken chemical precautions, but magic plays by its own rules and laughs at science sometimes.
Especially since if two budding demigods created it, however inadvertently... who is to say that the product of their union would be entirely human? And if Marinette were carrying that as herself...
Or if ADRIEN found himself carrying it, instead...
Wayzz shuddered. That is exponentially unlikely in either case, and you know it, he told himself. But it goes on my to-do list once they've worn themselves out.
For now...
He emerged into the Kwami village and laid Nooroo down carefully. A few others were present; Daizzi was spinning like a top and giggling, Xuppu was bouncing like a superball from every rooftop and flat surface, and Sass appeared to be steadying himself somewhat. When he'd gathered his wits, Sass noted Wayzz's arrival and flew straight to him.
"Are you all right?" Sass worried. "Is Nooroo?"
"Yes, I think so," said Wayzz. "More overwhelmed than anything else. The, um... wave of emotion reached even here, I take it?"
"Something certainly did," sighed Sass. "It was like someone fired a rainbow through the portal and it tickled everyone out of their minds. Quite a rush!"
"I was in the room with them when it happened. Nooroo was its catalyst, so he was at point-blank range... ah, his eyes are opening," explained Wayzz. "Nooroo, can you hear us? Do you know where you are?"
"Blerf," exclaimed Nooroo, helpfully.
"Not just yet, I see," Wayzz noted. "At least he's talking now."
"What was it that he did?" wondered Sass. "For it to reach through the Miracle Box's protections..."
"...that had to be packing some MAJOR mojo!"
They turned and saw Plagg approaching from another direction, grinning but visibly startled as well. "Whatever it was, it was freakin' great!" he declared. "Is there any more?"
"There might be, so be prepared," smiled Wayzz. "Let me explain..."
As Wayzz relayed the mystical experiment and its results, Sass seemed more curious about the mechanics than concerned about their reach. Plagg, on the other hand, was too busy laughing to ponder the finer details.
"Bahahahahahaha!" he roared. "I knew that they were both kinda... well, pent up when I knew them before... but I figured that the most they would wreck would be her old boxspring."
"I do not think that they wrecked anything, so to speak. Tikki is checking on that, as well as she is able," said Wayzz. "She should meet us here shortly."
"Nnnnnnngh," moaned Nooroo, stirring a bit more.
"How were you affected?" Wayzz asked Plagg and Sass. "And the others in here?"
"Well... I can only speak for myself," Sass replied. "A brief and wonderful euphoria hit me, out of nowhere. Something impossible to resist. I regained my senses and composure shortly thereafter, after waking up on the floor. Some of the others..."
He pointed behind him, where Roaar and Ziggy could be seen taking turns rolling down a steep hill and laughing loudly, while Stompp appeared to be either teaching himself how to dance the Charleston or having a mild seizure.
"...Some of them got knocked for a loop," Plagg agreed. "Some of us are a little more innocent than others, I guess."
"If... you are..." murmured Nooroo.
"You're awake! Here, we'll help you," Wayzz declared. He and Plagg helped Nooroo to a more upright position.
"...if you are insin... insinuat... in... if you're thinkin' that I'm not so inn'cent today," Nooroo declared, his indignation rising feebly, "I 'ssure you, I is. Was. Mostly."
"We are not suggesting anything bad about you, Nooroo," Sass told him. "Catch your breath. Are you hurt at all?"
"Not at all!" he grinned. "I don't know... don't know if I've ever felt better!" he gasped. "That was off the charts! I did... I did that once before... the ol' KABOOM... a long, long time ago... how I knew it'd work."
"Really?" Wayzz wondered. "With whom?"
"Cl...Cleopatra and Marc Antony," Nooroo replied. "But compared to these two... they were cold fish!"
Plagg turned towards something that he saw coming their way, and the others followed his gaze towards an approaching, wobbly Tikki.
"H-hello, all," she managed. "Whoof!"
"Welcome back," Wayzz greeted her. "The wave that they generated reached even in here! What did you find on the outside?"
"People are... people are, um... how should I put this?" paused Tikki. "Bowled over by what just hit 'em. Dazed. Giddy. Inspired."
"Inspired?" wondered Sass.
"As in, people who were alone were just, like, wow. Happy and dazed. But people who were with their spouse, or boyfriend or girlfriend or whoever, and had the opportunity... like rabbits, I tell you," Tikki grinned. "I searched all over the neighborhood, and they were doing it everywhere that they could find privacy!"
That set Plagg off on a fresh wave of gutlaughing. "So they broadcast, 'Hey, everybody, it's horny time' all over town, basically?" he wheezed.
"Something like that," Tikki breathed. "I went as far and as fast as I could looking for people. Nobody seemed hurt or troubled. I didn't see that anyone had crashed their car or anything, and nobody hooked up with anyone random, as far as I could tell. But our young lovers were amazingly inspirational, it seems."
"I'll bet," Plagg cackled. "Nobody could tell where it came from, I hope?"
"I don't know how they could've," said Tikki. "What I felt didn't feel... personal; they weren't broadcasting thoughts or words or names. I don't think that they could've if they'd wanted to, at that moment... More like something intense and primal. Pure sensation."
She shuddered. "Unforgettable," she murmured, barely audible.
"Speaking of..." Nooroo interrupted, his eyes slightly glazed, focused on nothing in particular.
"Hmmm?" asked Wayzz.
"INCOMING!" bellowed Nooroo, closing his eyes and stretching his tiny arms out.
"What do you mean by-"
A sparkling wave of something unrecognizable washed over the Kwami village at that moment, less debilitating for them than the last but still stunningly pleasant, pausing the conversation for a couple of minutes.
Once the five of them settled themselves again, Nooroo grunted, "Round two."
"Two of how many, do you think?" asked Sass.
"I have no idea... but they're far from done," said Nooroo, wearily but happily, closing his eyes once more.
"In that case..."
Tikki hollered to a retreating Plagg, "What is it? Where are you going?"
"To get a lounge chair to stretch out on," Plagg grinned back. "If we're getting more of that, I'm laying out and enjoying myself properly."
It took about three hours for the situation to stabilize. The Kwamis braced themselves for (and enjoyed, they were happy to admit) a series of subsequent pulses; some seemingly at a reduced strength, presumably originating from one or the other, and some clearly from combined sensation due to their magnitude.
Nooroo recovered himself sufficiently to withstand further waves and to hold a steadier conversation with the other Kwamis, though it took him a little while. By the time that Tikki settled down next to him, watching the playful chaos that was currently consuming the village, he appeared substantially refreshed and back to his normal lucidity. In point of fact, he might have had even more clarity than usual.
"Amazing, isn't it?" he remarked to her.
"What's happened to everyone?" Tikki asked. "That humans can boost your power so high that even _we_ were affected this strongly? Yeah."
"I meant the sensations themselves," Nooroo grinned. "Unbelievable! It's no wonder that when we found Earth way back when, we decided to stay. We Kwamis may be far above humans in many ways... but they possess a purity of essence, an intensity of emotion that is simply astounding. And what we're feeling now is one of their strongest manifestations of that."
Tikki shivered slightly. "I... don't have a lot of basis for comparison," she replied. "I'm not quite sure what those sensations were, entirely. I mean, I think I kind of know..."
"Really?" wondered Nooroo. "Granted, I have much more experience visiting in others' minds than you do, but you have had many hosts over the years. You never... 'rode along' during affectionate moments? Not just with Marinette, but ever?"
"My Ladybugs have always put the job first, and everything else second," Tikki declared. "There has been kissing, perhaps some groping here or there... but very little beyond that. I played it cool when Marinette... pleasured Adrien as Ladybug that one time, but that was a bit different, even though her internal reactions while doing that got my full attention! Giving is one thing... but receiving, or both at once, is another matter entirely."
She looked down, seemingly embarrassed as she added, "I have watched Marinette from a distance during sex, but not experienced it firsthand. I have no idea how either of us would feel about even considering that! 'Turn crimson and scream' would be my guess."
Nooroo whistled. "You've been around for almost all of human history, and you've never felt for yourself what that's like for humans?" he marveled. "I'm a little surprised, I'll admit."
"Like I said... I've felt the rush in Marinette's mind, and in others, when they've been kissed! The adrenaline, the tingling, the heart-pounding. I assumed that that was much the same, just a bit more intense," said Tikki, quietly. "Not like... you know. This. It's one thing to understand what's happening when you see it... it's something else to understand this way."
"Let me assure you of something; it's not normally as intense as what you've felt tonight. Not even close," Nooroo told her. "That was a perfect storm, a combined climax with magic intensifying it beyond imagination! No human might have ever felt anything quite like it before."
He paused, then added, "And I am taking care to soften their memories of it, once they transform back. I want them to remember that they had the most intimate, caring, sensual experience that they've ever had... but not to remember just how high they went, and how intense it actually was. That can haunt someone... to touch utter perfection and to never be able to reach those same heights again. They could spend the rest of their lives chasing that and feeling disappointed."
"So they'll feel like that the next time they make love... that they are reaching those heights, if it goes well," Tikki mused. "That's very thoughtful of you."
"A kiss of godhood is quite a gift, until it's taken away," smiled Nooroo. "And then it can be quite a curse. I look out for those I care about."
"Now I just have to figure out how to get it out of my head," said Tikki, in a low voice and looking uncomfortable. "I have always joked with Marinette about her love life, about her sex life... about what drove her to pursue Adrien so intently, then and now. I used to tease and even chide her sometimes about self-control. I... I feel like I need to apologize to her now," she declared. "I've been making light of something that's amazingly important for her. That always has been."
"Can I give you some advice?" asked Nooroo.
"Please."
"You have watched humans for longer than any of us," said Nooroo. "You have seen every form of physical affection that they've invented. Soft or intense, playful or lusty or spiritual or all of the above... expressions of love, mindless pleasure-seeking, and everywhere in between. So you know better; I know you do. You have watched Marinette grow from a nervous, bashful, anxious teenager chasing her first crush into a confident, brave young woman who's not afraid to ask for what she wants. And what else have you seen along the way?"
"Pretty much everything that you just described," admitted Tikki. "Moments that she found satisfying... moments that fell short. Nights where she felt the need to scratch one itch, and the same acts on another night for a very different reason. The girl who shook like a leaf when Adrien touched her hand, now daring to give all of herself to him... and finding fulfillment at last."
"When Marinette first reached out for Adrien, she wasn't seeking sex," Nooroo noted. "She wouldn't have known what to do with it if he'd offered it, and vice versa! They were far too young and immature to obsess over that then. They knew what it was, but I think that they found Hawkmoth only a little bit scarier."
"Very true," Tikki agreed. "The simplest touches sent her flying."
"And she is not simply seeking sex from him now. Or vice versa," counseled Nooroo. "It is an important facet of their relationship, but far from its basis. Which you also know. And you are supportive of her no matter where her life leads her, whatever choices she makes. And she loves you for that."
"Now, as far as those sensations go, and what they mean," he continued, "that's best discussed with her some other time, when you're alone with her. Not tonight..."
"Certainly not!" gasped Tikki. "I can't imagine what she'll be like when she comes out of this. Or Adrien."
"We'll comfort and counsel them, like we always do. And they'll surprise us with their hidden depths... like they always do," Nooroo smiled. "Don't dwell on tonight too much. You've seen their physical responses to each other; now you've felt the emotional energy that those carry, and what kind of punch that can pack. That'll help you understand each other better."
"I'm sure that it will," Tikki smiled back. "Thank you, Nooroo. I think that helps."
A sparkly buzz chose that moment to fill the air around them, making Tikki's eyes widen once again as she rode the wave.
"Whoa," grinned Tikki. "No wonder they spend so much time doing this."
"Okay... that was much closer to normal sensation levels," chuckled Nooroo. "And, no, I have not experienced that often. Never before with Adrien in the mix, I assure you! I had some... adventurous hosts in the Han Dynasty and once or twice in the Middle Ages, though."
"I'm jealous," Tikki replied. "I actually am. I have no idea how to reproduce that feeling, once this wears off of them!"
"It's not like I've felt this way in a couple of centuries, myself," Nooroo reminded her. "I can't just... tap into someone and call it up any time I want to. I won't, I mean; it has to be their choice. And Adrien's father was about as sexual as a mailbox, at least with his wife ailing as she was."
"Thank heaven for small favors there," laughed Tikki.
"Indeed. And now that we've just felt that... I believe that we're winding down."
"You think that it's almost time?" asked Tikki.
"Yes. I'm going out there to... tug on the power gently and see if it releases," Nooroo replied. "I don't think that they'll argue much, and we may be needed soon after."
"Then let's go," Tikki declared. "I'll tell Wayzz to come along with us, once, uh... I can fly straight again."
"Take a moment," laughed Nooroo. "I know the feeling."
Once out of the portal, Nooroo gathered his willpower and closed his eyes... grunted loudly... then smiled. "It is done," he declared. "As are they, for the moment."
Tikki edged nervously out of the closet with Nooroo and Wayzz, wondering what the two of them would find.
The room was largely intact, surprising her, though the pillows and bedsheets were scattered randomly on the floor. Adrien was sprawled face-down across the narrow bed, nude and quivering. Marinette was on her back and staring at the ceiling, her legs touching his, one hand reaching for one of his aimlessly without knowing quite where it was.
"That was... was... I can't even," she murmured, a tear rolling down her cheek. Her expression and tone of voice assured Tikki that it was more of a happy tear than a traumatic moment, but her vulnerability was obvious.
"I can't move. I don't want to move. Are we still in your room?" asked Adrien, his voice slightly muffled by the mattress.
"Why, yes. Where else would you be?" Nooroo asked, alerting them to his presence.
"Died and gone to heaven was my next guess," Marinette answered. "Oh... my GOD."
Adrien rolled over slightly to face her, and in a flash she was in his arms, holding each other tightly.
"Drink it in," Tikki said, very gently. "Take all the time you need. I've never seen anything like that! Ever."
Looking over Marinette's shoulder, Adrien asked, "What... did you see, exactly?"
"Well, we were watching the two of you, of course," Wayzz stated. "You were making love... rather enthusiastically... and then Nooroo empowered you."
Marinette rolled onto her back, so that she could see the Kwamis without letting go of Adrien. "And what happened then?" she asked, nervously. "I mean, I remember us attempting to translate the Book... I remember Adrien and I making love after that... but a lot of that's fuzzy around the edges for me."
Adrien nodded, at Marinette's inquisitive look. "Me, too," he confirmed. "Were we... up in the air?"
"For a few hours, yes. Had you set up video cameras, your fortunes would now be made for life," grinned Nooroo.
"Nnnnnno, no, no, no," Marinette gasped, shaking her head. "It's not that there's anything wrong with being that kind of performer, but this is the only time I think I'll ever want an audience for that," she declared. "That's just me."
Adrien looked slightly pale. "My father would explode if video got out. Like, literally crack open the surface of the Earth," he gulped.
"You have nothing to worry about," Tikki said. "The two of you had complete privacy apart from us, and once the Book part was done and both of you seemed stable, the three of us went back to the Miracle Box... for our own good!"
Marinette frowned. "Wait. What do you mean by that, 'for our own good?'" she asked.
Nooroo coughed lightly. "I, er, did not witness all of it. I passed out cold from the energies that you were emitting," he told them. "But from what I understand, you spent the better part of three hours... radiating extremely positive energy..."
"...Radiating?" asked Adrien, trying to sit up.
At that moment, Marinette's phone buzzed on her nightstand. She rolled over to look at it, read the incoming message, then cried out, "Eep!" and dropped her phone onto the mattress.
"Marinette? Are you all right?" worried Adrien. He picked up her phone and gasped as he saw:
[Gabriel Agreste] What the DEVIL are the two of you playing at over there?
Adrien stared at Marinette, who stared back at him. "You... didn't tell him that we were going to... experiment... right?" he managed.
"Of course not!" she stammered. "He knows that I love you... so he could guess that this is a thing we do... but not that Kwamis were involved!"
"As I said... radiating," clarified Nooroo. "The two of you remained in this bedroom... floating about a meter above that bed, I'm told. But while your activities were not seen by anyone, Tikki can confirm that they were felt. And felt, and felt, and felt."
"You are kidding me right now," Marinette declared. "Right?"
"Not at all," Tikki shrugged. "I checked around the neighborhood, and there may be a baby boom in this part of Paris in about nine months. I don't know just how far it reached."
Marinette practiced her thousand-yard stare... then jumped as her phone began ringing. "It's him!" she yelped. "Adrien, get me my bathrobe, quick!"
"...I can't do anything quick right now," he mumbled, then looked up with relief as Nooroo and Wayzz flew over and picked it out of the closet, straining a little bit under its fluffy bulk.
"Thank you," Marinette gasped, throwing it on and grabbing for a nearby hand mirror. "Oh, God," she winced, "I'm a complete sweaty mess right now, I look horrible, he's going to know exactly what-"
"No," Adrien declared, turning her head gently to face his. "You're sweaty and exhausted, but you're absolutely beautiful. No matter what."
"And you have absolutely nothing to apologize for, not to that man or to anyone else," Nooroo added, flying close to them. "He doesn't control Adrien's life, or yours. If you two wanted to make love under the Eiffel Tower and invite the whole world to watch, it would be none of his concern." After a pause, he continued, "...Not that you would want to, of course. As you just said. For many reasons."
Marinette pondered that for a moment. "You know what, Nooroo? You are absolutely right about that," she smiled.
"So take a minute. Compose yourself, dress however you'd want to, and call him back. You don't have to jump if he snaps his fingers," Tikki soothed her. "Though I am curious... if he felt it, that far away from here..."
"Okay, okay! I'm moving," Marinette replied, making sure that her legs were mostly functional before trying to stand. "Has anyone seen where I put my blue brush?"
Wayzz gestured to her dresser. "Over here, I think," he pointed out. "I'm a little surprised that it didn't melt."
As she dressed herself, Marinette cast a glance Adrien's way. "...Wow. Maybe we should've set up cameras, if we were that good," she winked.
A couple of minutes later, Marinette hit the Redial button on her phone and prepared herself. Gabriel Agreste's image popped up promptly, looking more than a bit stressed-out.
"Good evening, Mr. Agreste. I saw your call too late to pick it up, but I didn't want to leave you hanging long," she began. "What can I do for you?"
"Miss Dupain-Cheng," Gabriel replied. "Do you have any idea where I am at this moment?"
"No, I don't..."
"I am locked in my bathroom. I have done this because waves of a strange energy have blanketed my home, my assistant is gazing at me with longing eyes while biting her bottom lip, I fear that she is fighting the urge to disrobe, and I am putting solid obstacles between her and myself because I am sorely tempted to respond in kind. I most certainly should not be; I am a married man! Meanwhile, my bodyguard is performing dainty dance steps out in my flower garden. Just what have you done to us?"
At her mental image of the prancing Gorilla, Marinette had to suppress a giggle. "First off, what feelings exist between you and your assistant are none of my business..." she stated. When Adrien's face lit up in alarm, she added, "Though, of course I'm pleased to hear that you've remained faithful to your wife! I am doing everything that I can to bring her back to you."
"I must note that when I had control of Nooroo... I did not delve into that side of the emotional world," Gabriel declared. "It seemed most improper."
"Oh, and turning babies into rampaging hulks and old ladies into supervillains, that was proper?" smirked Marinette. "Perhaps if you had dabbled on the positive side of the spectrum, things might have gone differently for you."
"Be that as it may, my own current state is not my primary complaint," snapped Gabriel. "Would you do me the favor of turning on TVi, please?"
"Okay..."
Marinette reached for the remote control, switched on her TV and turned to that channel, seeing Nadja Chamack appear on her screen. Nadja looked... well, it was hard to say, exactly. Visibly weary, her hair a bit mussed-up... but there was a buoyant tone to her voice and expression, almost to the point of suppressed giddiness.
"-coming to you LIVE from the Latin Quarter," Nadja announced, "one of the areas affected by what we are calling the Bliss Wave Phenomenon."
"Oh, my," Wayzz declared, watching it closely with them.
"There is no easy way to describe this, but I'll try," said Nadja. "Out of nowhere, eyewitnesses reported waves of a sparkling golden energy cascading through the streets of Paris. The energies seemed to cause no physical damage to anyone or anything... instead, inspiring intense feelings of euphoria and joy."
An older woman, standing by Nadja's side, leaned towards the microphone. "It was orgasmic, is what it was," she declared. "Especially that first one!"
Nadja looked at her cameraman with a Can we let her say that? expression, then shrugged. "Not everyone was affected the same way by it, according to witnesses... including Mrs. Ainsley, here. Some felt emotions that were, shall we say, tamer forms of happiness? Especially children and the innocent at heart. Others, of a more mature bent, have reported everything from playfulness to overwhelming arousal."
"I'll say," Mrs. Ainsley interrupted again. "I haven't felt that ready to go since the Great Blackout of '88... Jimmy was home with me that night, and we'd ordered Chinese takeaway..."
"Preying upon emotions was, of course, the trademark of the master villain Hawkmoth," Nadja continued, undeterred. "Many have painful memories of his battles with Ladybug and Chat Noir, the city's protectors. But Hawkmoth and his Akumas have been absent from Paris for some time. Is this an unusual announcement of his return? In the studio, we have our resident Hawkmothologist, Peter Alden. Peter?"
The screen split between Nadja and her group of witnesses, including Mrs. Ainsley leaning in to wave happily to the camera, and a bespectacled man standing next to a whiteboard with scribbled notes.
"Yes, I'm here. Nadja, we have studied patterns of past Akumas... and this doesn't seem to fit the profile, exactly," Peter declared. "For one, no villain has emerged to call out Ladybug and Chat Noir, as was Hawkmoth's usual modus operandi. For another... these waves have been distinctly positive in nature. They've been, for lack of a better term, charging people up with good feelings right up to their individual limitations."
"I'll say. I think I hit my own limitations about an hour ago," Nadja panted, catching herself before adding more to that line of thought. "So this could be some other force at work?"
"It's hard to say for sure. Hawkmoth may have changed his tactics; he is, after all, the usual suspect for phenomena involving emotions in Paris. More to come as we discover it."
As Peter signed off, the screen switched back to Nadja and her group.
"All right," she acknowledged. "So... no definitive answers yet on the cause. Those in the middle arrondissements of Paris are encouraged to be careful when driving or operating heavy machinery; while the waves have lessened and may have stopped for now, we do not know when or where they may flare up again."
"It won't be tonight, that's for sure," breathed Adrien, just low enough for Marinette to hear and giggle at.
"Meanwhile, there is no confirmation of Hawkmoth's involvement, but as always where he is concerned, be wary of purple butterflies and check on people you know who might be feeling negative emotions," Nadja added. "And if you check on someone who's rather fond of you... well, be prepared!"
She turned to the group behind her and asked, "You all had something that you wished to say to Hawkmoth, should this be his doing, yes?"
Mrs. Ainsley nodded. All together, the group of people called out, "Thank you, Hawkmoth!"
Marinette heard a derisive snort from the phone as Nadja signed off with, "Don't be bemused, it's just the news!"
"Now, I am no longer the villain of Paris. You and your boyfriend have seen to that," Gabriel replied, "and I do not expect to ever return to that line of work. I would prefer that my past alter ego remain in the shadows, a buried memory for most. Your pouring massive waves of emotion over square kilometers of downtown is not the way to make that happen."
"That... was not our intent at all," Marinette answered, a bit embarrassed. "We were experimenting with channeling the power of emotion towards translating the Book. Things took off a bit more than we'd expected."
"I would certainly hope it was not your intent," Gabriel muttered. "Though... I will not claim that no Akumas ever got away from my original intent, back in the day."
"You transformed the same baby at least four times," lectured Marinette. "Poor August. What did he ever do to you?"
"The first time was completely by... fine," sighed Gabriel. "Besides that... I do have some personal pride regarding my villainous reputation, you understand? I would not care to go down in history as 'the man who made Parisians' loins tingle.'"
"I've heard a lot worse," grinned Marinette.
"It is at least some comfort to know that this was not personally aimed at me. So..." he grunted back. "Did it work, at least?"
That drew a thoughtful expression from Marinette. "I... am not sure. I know that we had something of a breakthrough..."
"I do imagine that you did."
"A translation breakthrough," Marinette insisted, feeling herself turning red. "But we haven't had the, um... time and energy to go over it yet. I will let you know if we made progress that would interest you."
"Do that, please," Gabriel requested. "And, since I would know my favorite Kwami's handiwork anywhere, having utilized him so many times... do tell Nooroo that I said 'hello,' would you?"
Nooroo recoiled somewhat at the sound of his former master speaking his name... then steeled himself. Working up what courage he could, he flew directly in front of Marinette's phone.
"Thbbbbbpppppppppttttt!"
"You know that he can't see you doing that, right?" Marinette whispered, knowing how Kwamis couldn't be recorded or photographed.
"I don't care. That felt good," Nooroo grinned back at her.
"All right, then. Have a good evening, Mr. Agreste. And I hope that your bathroom door locks are sturdy," she grinned, enjoying his frown as she hung up the call.
"Distasteful as that man is, he did raise one good question," Wayzz pointed out. "Did our experiment succeed at what it set out to do?"
"Ah... yes," Marinette agreed, hastily. "I can't imagine how that slipped my mind," she added, grinning at Adrien.
On still-wobbly legs, Marinette went over to her dresser and retrieved the filled-in notebook. "Let's see what we managed to translate," she declared, sitting cross-legged on the bed next to Adrien. "Kwamis, you'll help us, of course?"
"There are things in the Book that I still insist that we should not read," Wayzz argued. "And things that you should not read aloud. I'll do my best to stop us short if we run into those."
"As will I," said Tikki. "We know what we're after... or at least I think we do... so let's try to find that."
The group pored over the notebook for the better part of an hour. By the end of it, Marinette felt even more exhausted than before - which was saying something, given the circumstances.
"Would you look at this?" marveled Wayzz, as the group examined the hero-history pages. "It seems that we have more than six possible transformations!"
"I had no idea about that, either," said Tikki. "Some have one secret one, some have two... huh, Daizzi can give her host wings!"
"I bet that's where the old saying about 'when pigs fly' came from," chuckled Nooroo.
"If she knows about that transformation, she's never told me," countered Tikki. "It looks like I have three! One related to active probability manipulation; I'll bet that would come in handy. One that can boost... fertility?"
"We won't be testing that one out any time soon," Marinette declared.
"Speaking of... Marinette, Adrien, would you give me permission to examine each of you for a moment?" Wayzz interjected. At their confused nods, he zipped into each of their bodies in turn, emerging with a smile.
"All clear," he stated. "I wanted to make sure that your magical couplings just now did not result in any... unwanted side effects."
"I am on a prescription for that," argued Marinette.
"Magic," countered Wayzz. "Best to be sure. Better safe than sorry."
"Give me a little credit, Wayzz?" Nooroo sighed. "I worked in some added protections as part of the transformation."
"Why, uh... would you be checking me for that?" wondered Adrien, looking quite confused.
"Magic," giggled Tikki. "It doesn't always have to make sense. Anyway..."
"I don't know that we need to worry about those new transformations now," Marinette pointed out. "I thought that the ingredients for the main six were strange and cryptic. But 'a soul of a sheep?' 'A son of a motherless goat?' 'The worst sound in the universe?' 'How many roads must a man walk down?' Even if we wanted to make these work, we'd have to figure the clues out first."
"Fair enough," Tikki agreed.
"There's one note there that's an obvious red herring," Nooroo said. He pointed it out to Tikki and Wayzz, who both got a good laugh from it.
"What does that phrase mean?" asked Adrien.
"It's a joke," explained Nooroo. "A modern equivalent would be something like 'Don't forget to drink your Ovaltine.'"
"Is there anything else in this section we can use?" Marinette wondered.
"Oh, there are definitely some things," Wayzz smiled. "A handful of potions that we can make if we need to; transformation-related things, plus more general remedies and protectants. Master Fu had or could get the herbal ingredients, so they should still be available. A couple of them refer to 'strengthening of spirit' for host and Kwami alike; I like the sound of that."
Browsing through the spells and incantations farther in was slower going. Marinette and Adrien were hesitant to read aloud what they had written without Wayzz's explicit direction, lest something nasty be called up that they couldn't put back down.
"This is amazingly complicated," worried Marinette. "Even some of the things that we translated here aren't in the form of words. Some look more like phonetic syllables, and some... like that one there... that's more like a pictograph?"
"Looks like hieroglyphics, almost. But those would be more like Egyptian, not Chinese," Adrien pondered. "Wouldn't they?"
"You are both right," Tikki clarified. "Magic isn't something that translates easily into spoken language. All of that 'hocus pocus' and 'close tight, ye bands of Cyttorak' stuff is stagecraft and fairy tales. You have to know how to say it just as much as what to say and do."
"Which makes sense," said Adrien. "Otherwise, anyone could do it."
"Anyone can, with years of training," Wayzz replied.
"...Guys?" Nooroo said, quietly, looking at one particular page in the notebook.
"I disagree," Tikki argued. "Some people are far more attuned to magic than others." Seeing Wayzz about to interject, she added, "And, no, I don't mean any kind of 'bloodlines' or Harry Potter nonsense, either."
"I wasn't going to say that," Wayzz countered. "I was going to say that it is surely a learnable skill; merely an intricate one."
"Precisely my point!" emphasized Tikki. "Some people are cut out for certain mental disciplines and others are not. For example, if I were to compare Marinette and Adrien's aptitude for that sort of thing, I would say-"
"GUYS!"
Four heads turned to an excited Nooroo.
"Maybe you ought to concentrate on this, instead," he noted.
The Kwamis peered at it closely. "Where did this come from?" asked Tikki. "I don't remember seeing anything like this when we glanced through the Book before."
"I don't know," Marinette said. "I feel like... maybe this entire page was hidden. A page-within-a-page, so to speak."
"That... is interesting," Wayzz marveled. "Both of you. This section here, on etheric patterns?"
"Just what I was thinking," smiled Nooroo. "And that bit there on crystal reinforcement."
"What did you find?" asked Marinette, excitedly. "In human terms?"
"A promising lead... but I fear that that is all it is," sighed Wayzz. "A fragment concerning the making of a Miraculous. The actual incantations necessary to create one... you can forget about that; not only are they not written here, but they would be too complex for anything other than some master wizard of yore to cast. You would blow your heads off by trying."
"Yeah. This is more like... the first steps of a similar process," Tikki explained further. "What kind of materials to use. How to prepare them to be able to contain a Kwami's energies, even just temporarily. Luring one in and convincing it to bind itself to your offering... that is another matter entirely. Among other things, you would need some sort of fine jewelry, preferably something with an overwhelming emotional resonance, and mystic crystals attuned to the type of Kwami you'd attract. And I haven't seen even a hint of the latter in thousands of years."
"Ah," Marinette said, a bit disappointed.
"Wait," Adrien added, thinking hard. "Marinette... you told me, that Wayzz told you, that Duusu fragmented herself to protect my mother's spirit. To shield her. Something about..."
Wayzz froze in mid-air. "'Magically crystalized around her' is probably as good of an analogy as any, I had said," he repeated.
"Next to impossible to get at from here..." worried Nooroo. "It's more of a metaphysical shell..."
"...but we'd have to break through it anyway to free the spirits trapped inside," Tikki gasped. "So why not try to put it to good use?"
They watched Wayzz close his eyes, concentrating as hard as he could for about a minute.
"Adrien," he asked, "do you own any jewelry that you associate very strongly with your mother? And, if so, is it available to you soon?"
"A silver locket," Adrien answered. "Mother gave it to me when I was much younger. It has her picture on one side and one of me when I was, oh, six or seven years old on the other. It should be in my dresser drawer in my room at Father's house, if that hasn't been disturbed."
"From what Trixx and I could tell... that room has barely been touched since you left. I'd bet that it's right where you left it," Tikki stated.
More concentrating followed... and then Wayzz opened his eyes.
"We have a path," he declared. "A dangerous, half-mad path is what I would call it in another time and place, but we are on our own and following our own guidance, and this is the best that I see so far. I would like to meditate further on the subject, preferably with this notebook to look through."
"Of course," Marinette told him. "What else can we do to help?"
"We will need buy-in from two others," said Wayzz, "and Adrien is key to each. One is his father, of course; we require access to Adrien's room for the locket, access to his mother's chamber, and permission to attempt our rescue mission. And he will need to know that it may result in her physical death before we begin."
"Adrien," said Marinette, turning to him quickly, "I can talk to him for you. If you tell me where to look, I can fetch the locket or have one of the Kwamis do it."
"...No," he replied, in a flat tone. "But thank you. This whole thing has been about fitting him back into my life, somehow... it's time for me to stop running from him."
"If you're sure," she repeated.
"I am."
"And the other," Wayzz continued, "is one of our own. I need to work out some of the finer points before you would confront him, but without his assistance... this cannot succeed."
"Somehow I knew that was coming," Adrien said, with a small smile that faded.
"Talk about it with me before you do that," Tikki told him. "I mean, you will want to have your sincerely apologetic pants on again, but... I've been talking with him about things."
"Is there anything that I should do in the meantime?" asked Marinette.
Nooroo paused, then replied, "Probably shower up and put on a fresh set of bedsheets. Unless I miss my guess."
The embarrassed blush only preceded the heartfelt laugh by a few seconds. "I'm on it," she grinned back.