Bloom gets down to the first floor of her warehouse, careful not to leave any footprints - she's so glad she can just move the dust how she wants, and taking a picture of the boxes of clothes before opening them helps a lot for if the police ever come looking in the warehouse - and grabs a few pieces of clothing that look easy enough to alter to something she likes before heading back up to her magically-inserted attic.
Longg stares at her in contemplation, watching as she lays out the out-of-style shirt that's a size too big for her on the floorboards, and finally asks "What are you doing, hatchling?" He's seen her do quite a few different things, but he's never seen her do this. For someone who's entirely self-taught when it comes to magic - reshaping reality, much like Tikki actually - she's very good. And she's only been doing magic for close to five years now, as opposed to Tikki's millennia of experience.
Bloom studies it for a moment, trying to think of some of Marinette's designs she's liked, and says "Making a new outfit or two. People tend to get suspicious if you wear the same few outfits for a few months at a time, and I don't like stealing if I don't have to." Stealing the food she does weighs on her enough, and she doesn't steal things from people...that they'll miss, anyway. A few bags of beefjerky from a superstore? Yes. Someone's cellphone or wallet? No.
Longg nods, not going to fault his latest Hatchling for her circumstances - when you've lived as long as the Kwamis have, you learn to judge people by their intentions and what choices they choose to make, rather than those they have to make out of desperation. His Hatchling has to steal bags of dried fruits, beef jerky, granola bars, and water bottles to have something to eat and drink, for instance, but she chooses to repurpose the out-of-date clothes down there instead of raiding clothing stores for shirts and pants.
That doesn't mean she likes any of it, that's one reason why she can usually be found at Marinette's place if there's no Akuma after school - she doesn't have to steal snacks, or glasses of water or juice, when she's hanging out with Marinette helping with a project or doing homework together. That thought gives Longg an idea, if there were a lightbulb above his head it'd be blinding. "What if you went and modeled a few of Marinette's designs? You could wear them around school for her, and you'd have a few new outfits."
Bloom thinks about it for a moment, then shakes her head and says "No, I couldn't. I don't have any way to pay for those, and I can't just take an entire outfit that she made like that."
Longg sighs, then nods - his Hatchling has a heart of gold, despite everything she's had to do just to survive day to day. He's helped her sneak into gyms and Chloe's father's hotel to get cleaned up, because she can't exactly use the River Seine on a regular basis - it's illegal, after all, as well as most likely filthy - and she's stocked up on a few cans of dry shampoo lately to keep her hair from looking like it's a massive greaseball. It's a combination of magic, dry shampoo, and a filched body spray and deodorant here and there that's kept her from giving herself away in that department.
Pulling herself out of her thoroughly depressing thoughts, Bloom imagines Marinette's sketch from two weeks ago, makes a few alterations to it such as color and length, along with collar style and decoration - she wouldn't usually care whether she's wearing something old or not, seeing as the outfits she currently has are still in good shape, but Chloe's favorite jab at her is how she doesn't have enough money to get new things. And it's becoming a legitimate problem, people are starting to take notice! Alix, Juleka, and Rose are all giving her odd looks, even though Chloe wouldn't know what's in a department store if she looked through the website since everything she wears is made by her father's personal tailor, and Miss Bustier has called her outside more than once to ask if everything's alright at home - ergo, she needs to find a way to throw Chloe off…or at least make her find something else to insult her with.
This keeps up, she'll probably just have to find a homeschooling program altogether - she took every online course she needed between getting stranded during that summer break and this year - and she was just lucky it was summer, honestly - but that was because she was a walking fire-hazard at first, and wasn't completely confident in her ability to keep her very literal cool and not give herself away. And then she was in the library for hours on end, so long that they had to throw her out a few times a week. Now that she's sure she can be around people safely…she doesn't want to go back to staking out a table with her five-years-old laptop someone threw out her first Christmas here - she's pretty sure it was Max Kante's old computer that year, actually. Which means it's still perfectly alright to use for schoolwork…just not in school, since she doesn't want him recognizing it.
Kwamis, her life is depressing.
Pulling her thoughts from that dark spiral again, Bloom quickly focuses and makes an altered version of the outfit she saw Marinette sketch - undecorated, and with different colors and styles, but close enough that she can keep the clothing she's using fairly intact. If not, she can usually repair it - hence why she's using clothes that are too big, rather than too small. Easy to sacrifice a bit of fabric and make it look like it was never damaged at all, hard to make it look like there was originally more fabric than there was. She's just got the finished product on - not too bad, hopefully it'll give Chloe some different ammunition if nothing else - when her phone from Master Fu beeps to let her know it's time to get going if she doesn't want to be late for school.
Luckily, her new outfit has Chloe remarking on how plain and 'utterly ridiculous' it is - and Miss Bustier looks relieved to see her in something different than the seven outfits she's been wearing ever since the one before them got a hole the size of her head in the shirt thanks to a popped seam in the side. Marinette sits down next to Bloom, saying "Like the outfit, Bloom. You coming over to hang out today?"
Bloom nods, and says "Yeah, thanks. We can finish up that latest project of yours after homework."
Adrien turns and glances at Bloom, worry evident in his gaze for a moment - one downside about her partner/brother/classmate knowing she's living on her own, he's eternally worried about her. It's in the little things, the way he'll occasionally glance at her or how he'll ask how her day's going - he can't be obvious about it, for a number of reasons such as she doesn't want anyone to know she's homeless, but he does what he can. He's also offered to take her back home a number of times, either to his or to where she stays, but she's turned that particular offer down every time - they can't explain her presence at his house away to his father and Nathalie if either ever noticed, or if Agreste Sr. ever went into his son's room more than once a month or two, and she definitely doesn't want to admit she's living in one of his own warehouses. Not only would that be supremely embarrassing - oh, yeah, I'm just squatting in your dad's old warehouse, don't mind me among all the dust and old clothes he's never going to do anything else with! - but Adrien would almost certainly use the detail that it's his father's warehouse to check on her regularly.
Or he'd come over every night he's not on Patrl as Cat Noir and fuss over her to no end.
Just have to wait until I can get a job somewhere…maybe Marinette's parents would like a helper in the Bakery? Or Marinette and I could start a brand, who knows…
Ladybug looks around at her, Cat Noir, and Dragon Fyre's meeting spot - they decided they'd go on Patrol together tonight, after Cat Noir pulled her aside and said he was worried about his sister. Mainly…how hungry he said she sounded at the Akuma fight earlier - she played it off as the Akuma happening during dinner, but their feline-themed partner was less than convinced.
Given the detail that he told her she didn't have regular access to food when she asked why he didn't believe her, not nearly enough anyway, she can understand his skepticism. He didn't tell her everything, just that she's very much on her own, but she said she'd bring something to eat during Patrol.
Cat Noir looks around quietly, and says "This isn't gonna be easy, Ladybug, but I can't just sit back knowing she needs help…" His sister doesn't do charity, or pity, but she doesn't steal anymore than absolutely necessary either. Heart of gold, meet stubborn pride. Add in magic that lets her reshape the world around her if she focuses enough, and you have Bloom Peters/Dragon Fyre and her approach to her current circumstances.
Ladybug shakes her head, and says "Neither can I. And we're not going to, Cat Noir." She's been getting worried to no end about both of her best friends - half the time, Bloom shows up at school hungry, saying she had a light breakfast, and today's new outfit was the first she'd seen...well, ever, actually. She might not be able to do anything for Bloom beyond constantly inviting her over to hang out - since she keeps refusing to model clothes they make at school, saying she couldn't take the clothes Mari worked on so hard - but at least
Dragon Fyre lands on the rooftop, asking "Did I miss something, guys? I thought we were doing a rotation deal for Patrol…" She trails off upon noticing the bag of Croissants in Ladybug's hand, eyes snapping up towards Cat Noir in something very much like betrayal.
Ladybug clears her throat gently, and says "Before you say anything, Dragon Fyre, I'm the one who asked Cat Noir. You sounded really hungry during the Akuma attack-"
Dragon Fyre immediately goes defensive, saying "It was dinnertime, Spots. All three of us were hungry, remember?"
"Not to the point our stomachs were growling like there were actual dragons in them!" As if to prove her point, Dragon Fyre's stomach growls again - though, not nearly as loud as before. Dragon Fyre curses internally, she knew she should've drank another water bottle dry - but she's running low on her already-small stock of food. She'll have to go to the store and raid the place again after school, then.
A hand on her shoulder brings her out of her thoughts, and she sees Cat Noir standing there with an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face. "Let us help you, Sis, please?" He gives her a pleading look, coupled with his cat-irises widening and a pout.
"You know the big eyes don't work on me, Brother." Even still, she can't look him in the eye - Cat Noir takes it as a win, when she didn't explicitly say no. And then she shakes her head and takes a step backwards, not meeting either of their gazes as she says "I can't, I can't take this. I get enough for the two of us to get by. It's not an ideal situation, but I've got it handled-"
Cat Noir suddenly pulls her forward, wrapping his arms around her so she can't escape, saying "Please, Sis, do it for us if not for yourself. Please?"
Dammit. The big eyes might not work on her…but hugs do and he damn well knows it. Maybe because it works on him to.
Finally, after what feels like a small eternity to Cat Noir, he hears a small "Ok…" Cat Noir lets out a sigh of utter relief, hugging his sister close and burying his face in her hair. After a minute spent thanking whatever deity - probably Longg, honestly - contributed to her change of mind, he pulls back and says "I need to see you eat some of that, Sis."
She would, but the lump in her throat is making it pretty difficult to do much of anything. Also, she can't see because she's fighting off tears. Master Fu gives her tea until she'd float in the Seine when she visits his shop, and the Dupain-Chengs send so much food up to Mari's room she'd explode if Mari insisted she eat it all, but nobody's actively tried to help her like this before.
She hears the bag get opened, and a Croissant gets pressed into her hand - at this point, she figures she'll actually be held down and force-fed if she doesn't actually make some kind of effort. She manages to get a few small bites past the lump in her throat, and it's when the dry pastry hits her stomach that she remembers just how hungry she really is - the granola bars take the edge off, tend to last her about an hour on their own, but she's hungry. Then she manages to get more down her throat without feeling like she's choking on it. Another gets held up in front of her, and then a third, and her two partners finally stop guilt-force-feeding her after the fourth.
And then Ladybug says "Dragon Fyre, listen. There's a girl I know about, she's really nice, alright? Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I'll talk to her, and she can, I don't know, save the leftover pastries and stuff from the bakery." She's just realized exactly who her partner fiery is, the dozens of excuses of 'had a light breakfast' or 'woke up late, had to skip breakfast today' and all the times Bloom's come to hang with her and has literally never turned down a snack from her parents running through her mind, and the thought of Bloom being homeless is…almost too hard to believe, actually.
The detail that they're currently dressed in magic spandex and leather helps, though - between Kwamis, Miraculous', Akumas, and their own powers, the idea of Dragon Fyre - Bloom - surviving on the streets on nothing but her wits, imagination, magic, and stubbornness sounds a lot more believable. Especially with her magic.
It takes another minute of Cat Noir working his charm on Dragon Fyre, along with another hug he doesn't let up until she agrees, but they manage to coax a promise out of her to head to the Dupain-Cheng bakery if she needs something to eat. And Mari fully plans on dragging her to her house as much as possible - she'll make up excuses if it comes to it, from design-days to 'I didn't get Mendeleiev's lecture today, want to go over it over a plate of cookies?'
And then half the Patrol is spent with Dragon Fyre trying not to cry her eyes out - she's gone a little too long relying on only herself, it seems. The looks her partners keep giving her don't help that particular fight, though. Neither does Longg's commentary.
AN: Hey, everyone! I know, there's no battle, sorry! But, at least it's an early update, right? Posting this now because I'll be working this weekend.
Anyway, enjoy! More updates coming soon!