Marinette frowned. She had been trying for twenty minutes to create another outfit, just for fun. And it had been fun, for the first three minutes. After five she gave up. She decided seven minutes in that she would try again. After twelve minutes, irritation turned to frustration. The eighteen minute mark made frustration become anger. The teen crumpled up her papers and tossed them in the trash. She missed. Marinette slumped back in her chair.
"Uuuuugh," she groaned, "why is this so hard?"
Overlapping answers came from the various qwamis that hovered around her room. Mari scowled, and scolded herself for asking out loud. It never seemed to help. After the others quieted down, Tikki hovered next to Marinette's ear.
"Maybe you just need outside inspiration, Marinette," she said in her high voice.
"Maybe you're right," said Mari. She took her sketchbook in her purse and left. She hugged her parents as she left.
The clear air filled her lungs. Yes, this was just what she needed. A shady bench in the park was the perfect spot to find inspiration. Mari settled herself in so that she could people-watch. A man with a pink feather boa walked by, and she felt the inspiration flow. As soon as her pencil touched the paper, the inspiration withered. Mari threw her hands up.
"It's useless, Tikki!"
"It's not useless, Marinette!" Tikki exclaimed from her hiding spot in the purse.
"What's not useless?" A voice asked from behind her.
"AAH!" Marinette jumped. Her sketchbook tumbled to the ground. Kat picked it up with a smile. "Oh, you startled me!"
"Sorry," Kat said sheepishly. "I didn't mean to."
"It's all right, Kat." Mari took the book back. "I was just trying to find some inspiration."
Kat nodded knowingly. "And you have artist's block, right?"
"Yeah."
"Can I sit?"
Mari nodded.
"So…How's it going?" Kat asked.
"Good! Or as good as I can be with an art block."
"Fair enough. Can I see what you were drawing?"
Marinette flipped through the pages while Kat looked over her shoulder. There were many pages where she had started a design, scribbled it out, started another, then scribbled them out again. So many drawings. So many bad ideas. Kat hmmed, nodded, bit her lip, and nodded again. She tapped her finger on the corner of the page.
"These are all really good. Why did you scribble them all out?"
"I just…can't seem to draw what I want things to look like."
"What do you want it to look like?"
"Uh…Well…I don't actually know."
"Well, that's your problem!" Kat laughed. "You don't need inspiration, you need a goal."
"You're probably right," Marinette sighed. An idea began to form in her mind. "Thanks, Kat. I think I know what I want to draw now."
"Happy to help. Have fun." Kat walked away.
"You can stay if you want!" Marinette called after her.
"That's okay! Another time. I'm on my way to visit someone."
Marinette went back to her drawing. Kat was going to look fabulous in this design.
—-
Kat stood resolutely in front of the Agreste mansion. She rang the bell for the eighth time. Natalie answered for the eighth time.
"Young lady." Her voice was a bit tinny when it came through the speaker in the camera. "For the last time, Mr. Agreste said that you cannot come in."
"I'm not leaving until I see Adrien."
"Young lady, I assure you, as stubborn as you can be, Mr. Agreste is more stubborn."
"Oh, I know," Kat muttered. Then, in a louder voice, "I am not leaving until I speak to Adrien. I'm in his class, and I want to speak to him."
Another voice came through the speakers. Kat recognized it immediately. It was Mr. Agreste. Double memories flooded Kat's mind. The ones from the original show timeline pushed and shoved against the ones from her previous experiences. Her head ached horribly. Feelings of indignation bubbled in her gut. This Mr. Agreste was just as bad as he was before she had met him the first time. She pursed her lips. All that hard work had been wasted.
"Natalie, what time was my meeting today?"
"7:00, Mr. Agreste."
"Good. That means we have time to–"
"Mr. Agreste," Natalie interrupted, "There's a young lady outside at the gate."
"Tell her to go away."
"I've tried, sir."
"YO, you two realize I can still hear you, right?"
There was a momentary silence before they continued.
"Young lady," Mr. Agreste's voice said, "I suggest you leave. Now. Or else I will be forced to have you removed."
"Pft. I'd like to see you try," Kat leaned in close to the camera and whispered, "Shadowmoth."
"I am not Shadowmoth."
"And I'm not a teenage girl."
"Leave."
"No. Not until I talk to Adrien. If you don't let me in, I'll get in another way. It's not impossible. And, may I just say, you kinda suck, man. You should work on that."
A satisfied smile lit Kat's features when the gates swung open. Mr. Agreste met her at the door. Kat raised an eyebrow at the adult.
"Wow, you're actually answering your own door instead of sending Natalie to–wait…" The memories of Natalie using a flawed miraculous flitted through her thoughts. "...Right. Nevermind. I'm not going to go there. However, I will ask why you didn't send what's-his-face to escort me off the premises."
Mr. Agreste remained silent.
"Okay, am I talking to the actual Mr. Agreste, or am I talking to a Sentimonster?"
"I don't know what a Sentimonster is," Mr. Agreste said finally, "But I do need to have some words with you and your parents."
"Sorry," Kat said in a tone that didn't sound sorry at all. "I don't have any parents here."
"Come with me. We're going to have a discussion about the proper way to act when someone says to leave their premises. And we will be contacting your guardian."
"You're weird," Kat said, while following him to his atelier. He definitely wasn't the same Mr. Agreste she had known. That was too bad.
Mr. Agreste sat down in one of the black chairs and gestured for Kat to sit as well. Instead, Kat went to the portrait of Adrien's mother.
"This is a pretty painting," she said, running a finger over the surface.
"Don't touch that!" Mr. Agreste darted forward, just as Kat pressed the button for Shadowmoth's lair. Both of them were transported into the dome of butterflies. Kat smirked and turned with a knowing look at Mr. Agreste.
"You still want to tell me you're not Shadowmoth?"
Heeeeeyyyy. So…this took a turn that I didn't expect. It's interesting what your brain can come up with when you power through a bit of writer's block. Anyway…Let me know what you think, if you want. I really like what I'm writing, and I hope you all do too!