Marinette practically hyperventilates as she waits for their class to get called for the class photo - she's going to be in a picture with Adrien!
Bloom elbows her in the ribs, saying "Mari, it's a class photo. And we're both in the same class as Adrien."
"Yeah, amazing, isn't it?!"
Bloom mentally facepalms, and says "No, not really. Pretty standard, actually." Marinette's calm about Adrien has well and truly vanished after Marinette signing that album for him. Her crush on the boy actually went through the roof, something Bloom didn't think possible.
And then a quiet voice says "At least you know you'll be in the photo." When the two girls look back, they see Rose and Juleka standing there.
Rose says "It's not true, Juleka, you're not jinxed! This time it's gonna work out, I can feel it!"
Bloom raises an eyebrow, and asks "What's this about being jinxed?" Because she'd be able to tell if Juleka was jinxed - at least, she thinks so given the detail that she's got magic herself! - and Juleka doesn't have anything on her that would indicate anything magical whatsoever. Even the camouflaged Miraculous' have a faint buzz she can detect if she really focuses - and the active ones are much more noticeable - but Juleka has nothing coming from her of any magical nature.
Her ghost is saying she'll not be seen once again, even if she's in the picture, but that's not new - depressing, yes, but not new. And the series of incidents she describes - Max's hand covering her face last year, a pigeon flying in front of her face in a photo with Rose, and even her face getting cut off in a group picture - sounds more like bad luck rather than a jinx.
Marinette says "We'll do everything we can to make sure it goes perfect this year, Juleka!"
Bloom adds "You're not jinxed or cursed, Juleka. And we're going to break that run of bad luck today. Just smile for the camera, alright?"
Juleka smiles, her entire demeanor actually lightening as she starts hoping, and Bloom asks "How's your brother doing, anyway? Haven't seen him since that fiasco with Nino's movie project."
Juleka gives Bloom a smile, saying "He's good, thanks for asking." He's in the class after them, but hopefully they can meet up for lunch.
The photographer calls up Marinette, Max, Rose, and Alix for the front row, and Chloe catcalls them calling it the 'baby row' - Bloom just lets out a slow breath, even as Longg murmurs to her to breathe and not set something on fire. He's right, she knows he's right, but when even a millennia-old Kwami is getting fed up with someone's behavior it really says something about the situation.
And then he has Bloom, Nathaniel, Sabrina and Chloe go to the back row - Chloe, unfortunately, immediately makes a fuss because she's not beside Adrien. And then she nearly blows a gasket when Vincent, the photographer, tells her to go 'behind the rest.' She very nearly has a fit when her father gets subtly roasted, Vincent saying he could use an assistant, but shuts up with a growl.
It takes a solid ten tries after Juleka takes a spot in the middle - after Marinette pointed her out to Vincent, because he somehow missed her - but they finally get ready for the picture…but the camera battery died, no thanks to Chloe disrupting the entire thing whining endlessly about how she's not next to Adrien.
If Bloom didn't know for sure that there's no magic working on Juleka, she'd think for just a minute that there was something to this photo-jinx of hers. Unfortunately, she knows there were three classes to get right before theirs, and Chloe's being an absolute brat as per usual - no magic involved here. She almost wishes there was - magic would certainly explain Chloe's terrible attitude.
Once Vincent leaves to get a new battery, Juleka heads to the bathroom - Sabrina heads after, and Bloom scowls after the other girl. She moves to head after her, but Principal Damocles practically orders her to stay put. Which means she can't sneak out and go free Juleka, given the detail that she'd lose any mirage she made maybe halfway to the bathroom tops.
As soon as Vincent gets back, Chloe jumps down to Juleka's spot. The photo's an absolute disaster, with Chloe turning Adrien's face so he's looking at the camera with her, Marinette caught mid-call to Vincent, and everybody else looking at Chloe. In Bloom's case, she's glaring at her.
Marinette tries to get them to re-take the photo - with Juleka, who Principle Damocles doesn't even remember - but Chloe reminds the spineless man that they need to head to lunch and they're paying Vincent by the hour.
Bloom barely manages to bite back a very real growl, and says "Rose, follow me. We're going to find Juleka." They find her trapped in a bathroom stall, a wooden chair wedged under the door.
Bloom furiously hisses "Sabrina, you sycophantic little…"
Rose quickly gets the chair out from under the door handle, and Bloom nearly rips the door from its hinges yanking the door open. Juleka looks up, her eyes red and cheeks wet with tears, and asks "I missed the photo, didn't I?"
Rose nods sadly, saying "Another one of Chloe's mean tricks."
Juleka walks out while wiping at her face, asking "Why should I expect it to be any different? Nobody ever hears me, or sees me. I'm invisible, even in photos."
The stall door suddenly slams shut, and the two girls see Bloom standing there - honestly, with the drama, they'd forgotten she was there. Even though she's got their back to them, they can tell she's absolutely furious. So furious, in fact, that she's currently staring at a blank wall to keep from giving away the detail that her eyes are a fiery orange instead of bright blue. If she weren't so worried about accidentally blowing up a sink or stall, she'd be worried about getting Akumatized right then and there - as it is, she'd probably burn the damn butterfly without even realizing it was there, right now. After taking a long minute to calm down, Bloom says "Rose, stay with Juleka. Mari and I will figure something out. We will get you that photo, Juleka, I promise."
Juleka just shakes her head, and says "Forget it, as long as Chloe's in the picture, she'll find a way to keep me out of it." She then runs out of the bathroom before either Bloom or Rose can stop her.
Marinette takes one look at the look on Bloom's face, and quickly pulls the red-head to the side to ask what's wrong - because, honestly, she's amazed Bloom isn't going full-Dragon-Fyre on Chloe right now. And then, once she's gotten the entire explanation, Marinette tries to think. "Alright…if the photo disappeared, then Vincent would have no choice but to retake the picture."
Bloom shakes her head, saying "Juleka's already left the school, Marinette. No point in that. Plus, Chloe would try to throw her weight around and push Juleka out of the way once more."
Marinette says "Well…then what about after school?"
Bloom relaxes some, and says "Now that sounds good. I'll go find Juleka, you go talk to Vincent."
Marinette's just gotten the man to agree to set up in the park after school is done when they hear a voice scream "WHERE IS CHLOE BOURGEOIS?!"
Marinette groans, and says "Uh-oh…"
Reflekta laughs as she lands on the other side of the crowd of her reflections, and says "You're no match for me, Ladybug! Soon, this will all be over for you!" She moves to leap away, only to come crashing back down hard. "What?!"
Another copy of Reflekta seems to shimmer into sight, a smirk on their face. "Surprise. Recognize me?"
Ladybug incredulously asks "Dragon Fyre?!" She'd thought Bloom was going to go find Juleka, not...what happened?!
Reflekta snarls and tries to scratch at the newly-revealed superhero, only for her wrist to be grabbed and twisted back and Dragon Fyre's foot to connect with her side in a strong kick.
One of the copies grins, and says "Yep, that's my sister alright."
Ladybug gasps "Cat Noir?!"
Cat Noir shrugs, saying "Yeah. She got me as I was going to Cataclysm the lockers blocking the door."
Reflekta goes crashing into the wall, and all of her copies dogpile her so she can't go anywhere. Dragon Fyre walks over, and says "Brother, your looking really uncomfortable in those shoes."
Ladybug asks "You can tell its him?! How?!"
Dragon Fyre grins, and says "I cheat, that's how. As for my little make-over story, I ran into Bloom Peters coming here, and she explained everything. So, to get brother dearest here off my case about waiting for backup, I disguised myself as Bloom to go scout things out. One moment I look like her, the next I look like a bad remake of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland."
Yeah, neither Ladybug nor Cat Noir are believing most of that for even a minute. Bar the part where Reflekta surprised her, that is. The thing is, she probably needs that cover story - if they're right, she wasn't in uniform when she was zapped, ergo she's going to need a good reason why Bloom Peters was using Dragon Fyre's magic. Hence, the supposed switch.
'Dragon Fyre' smirks as the Ladybugs change everyone back, and says "Good to be back. But…later, you two. I'll let Bloom know it's safe to come back, and everything's been sorted."
Her 'disguise' shimmers away in the familiar haze of her mirages, revealing the usual outfit…with a few minor alterations to her features. It's hard to spot if you didn't know exactly what to look for, but Cat Noir and Ladybug have each other memorized down to the smallest detail - and, they've discovered, when you know their identity it makes all the difference in spotting the similarities. Her nose and jaw are a little sharper, her cheekbones more angled, hair a few shades darker, and her eyes are a little more slanted - the irises are also orange instead of blue, which helps quite a bit.
It helps even more when Bloom runs past, only skidding to a stop as she sees the pile of bodies picking themselves up off Juleka.
Dragon Fyre smirks, and says "I'm out. Longg, Wind Dragon." And, when Bloom comes back after going to get her stuff from where she left them, she's bombarded with questions of how in the world she found Dragon Fyre. Good thing she's got that worked out to - ran into her in the park, explained everything, she decided it'd be safer to come disguised as a school student.
In the park after school, Vincent gets everyone - bar Chloe and Sabrina, who aren't even in the picture this time - in place and Juleka whispers "Thank you, you two."
Marinette says "No problem, Juleka."
Bloom shares a quiet fist-bump with Marinette and then they get into what can only be described as a photoshoot. Pictures of everyone, in all different scenarios. Single photos, group photos, scenes, the whole nine yards - even Vincent seems to be having fun, saying he hasn't enjoyed his job like this in ages. Apparently, most of his jobs are for boring, uncreative photoshoots strictly supervised by unreasonable bosses.
He even lets everyone have a copy of the photos they like the most, as a thank-you for the fun time - he can just delete the pictures off his camera's memory afterwards, after all, so putting them onto a flash drive of Max's is no trouble.
AN: Hey, everyone! Next chapter is up as a pre-birthday gift from me! Can't wait to get to Season 2, since that's where I really look at canon and say 'screw it!' Though, writing the scene where Chloe kept whining about how she wasn't next to Adrien was actually painful - how anyone can be such a brat is beyond me. Though, having seen Audrey Bourgeois, Chloe can say she comes by it naturally. And, at least Chloe can say she was trying to get her mother's approval - because, dang, that woman is like Chloe amped up to twenty. And, it's not going to be fun to write her. Having Bloom go off on her, though...that'll be fun. A lot of fun.
Enjoy! More updates coming soon!