Chloe sits behind the bar, a glass of Sparkling Juice in her hand that she dearly wishes was actually wine - maybe it would help with the embarrassment flooding her entire body, more than pulling a 'mother' and telling Butler Jean he was fired did anyway. The detail that he isn't actually fired, since he's on her father's payroll and all, doesn't help matters.
Sabrina puts another glass of juice in front of her, not saying anything at the moment - Chloe's just been heavily embarrassed in front of the entire school, she's more likely to go off on Sabrina as well rather than appreciate the attempt at comforting her. And then Bloom Peters sits down, not a hint of amusement on her face as she silently stares at Chloe for a moment.
Feeling irritated by the girl's unnerving gaze - seriously, it's like she can read her down to her very soul! - Chloe snaps "What do you want, Peters? Come to laugh at me to? Make fun of me for not having thrown that old thing out years ago?" Her father gave it to her when her mother left, and that teddy bear's been more of a comfort to her in the past decade or so than anyone else around her - despite being a 'grown-up young lady' as her father says, she simply can't toss Mr. Cuddly like he thinks she did years ago.
To her utter surprise, Bloom shakes her head and says "No. I'm not. I'm here to ask a question or two." She thinks she's figured out Chloe's split-personality, and...it explains a few things about the spoiled girl. Not an excuse, much less a valid reason for her behavior...but an explanation.
Well, Chloe admits, it's a lot better than laughing at her, making fun of her, or ridiculing her for having a stuffed teddy bear in the first place. "Well? What is it?"
Bloom takes a swallow from her own glass, then looks her dead in the eye and asks "Have you seriously been pretending to be just like your mother for so long that you can't remember how to be anything else?"
Chloe stares at Bloom in total shock, there's no way she could possibly know that. Even Adrien didn't know that, and he knew about the mask she wore - wears - in public.
So how did she know?!
That's been her problem the entire night, she's spent so long trying to be just like her mother, trying to measure up to the woman's standards of 'exceptional' that…she doesn't know how to be anything else. Even Sabrina's looking shocked, and she's the only other person that knows about her mask - Chloe lets it slip a bit in private, during tickle fights with Sabrina and cosplaying as Ladybug and Cat Noir, which ended up necessitating the explanation of the mask in the first place.
After a few difficult swallows, Chloe manages to say "Something like that…" At Bloom's look that clearly states 'Go on…' Chloe says "It's a mask, of sorts. My mother is a very…exceptional person. And I want to be as exceptional as her, so…" She fiddles with the end of her ponytail, staring down at her juice as she does - the last thing she wants is to see anything like pity from Bloom Peters of all people.
"So…you forgot who you were, then. Or, at least, how to be anyone other than a copy of your mother."
Chloe nods, then says "And Adrien's forcing me to take off my public mask tonight…" And it is a kind of agony, needing to ignore the habits she worked so hard to make come naturally. She spent months observing and copying her mother's habits, how she acted around everyone, and she made herself be the same. And now, she has to make herself be different.
Bloom, Chloe just now notices, is staring at her in undisguised shock, one eyebrow so high on her forehead that it's legitimately in danger of disappearing into her hair altogether.
And then, before anyone can say anything about the bombshell Chloe just dropped, Sabrina gasps and points down to the floor, asking "What the heck is that?!" The entire room stops dancing, even as Chloe leans forward to get a look over the counter at what Sabrina's backing away from before promptly yanking her behind the counter with her at the sight. Bloom picks up the cause of Sabrina's alarm for everyone to see, and it's…a stuffed teddy bear that's moving on its own. Which was repeatedly hugging her ankle, attempting to apparently take control of her mind that way.
Mr. Cuddly, but black instead of yellow and with neon-green lights for eyes. And they can hear a little voice coming from inside it, saying "Why isn't this working?! Unhand me, you cretin! I am Despair Bear, and Chloe Bourgeois shall feel my despair! Hawk Moth, why didn't it work on her?!" All the while, struggling and waving its tiny little limbs around helplessly.
The only sound is the music that was already playing for a moment, everyone frozen in shock at the foot-tall Akuma Bloom's casually holding…until Bloom snickers, then starts full-blown laughing. Hugging her stomach with one arm, the other hand not letting go of Despair Bear as he thrashes around trying to hit her.
After her laughter dies down some, Bloom holds the moving bear up for everyone to see, asking "Would someone like to explain the reasoning behind this? Because, considering some of the Akumas we've seen…" This is simply hysterical.
Hawk Moth, meanwhile, feels nothing but an inordinate amount of shock at the detail that, not only is Bloom Peters apparently simply immune to Akumas…there's an entire ballroom of teenagers laughing at him. At HIM!
Why, oh why, did Despair Bear have to target the girl that's too stubborn to be affected by an Akuma's controlling abilities?!
Despair Bear's eyes turn Akuma-purple, and Hawk Moth's voice snarls out "When I get my hands on you, you insolent little girl, you're going to wish you'd never been born!"
Bloom just snorts, lifting the now-still stuffed animal up so she's staring it in the face, and says "News flash, Hawk-butt, next time you want to make threats to someone while hiding behind one of your victims…don't do it through a teddy bear, you coward. It's laughably pathetic."
"What did you just call me?!" Correct him if he's wrong, by all means, but he's rather certain it's not smart to threaten someone who can create and control supervillains through one of their supervillains. Maybe she has a death wish? Or a cocky, overconfident, thrill-seeker complex of some sort?
Bloom glares, all good humor gone, and says "A coward, that's what. You hide behind your victims, having them fight for you when you're the adult. You're hiding from three teenagers, all because you're scared they'll kick your butt just like all the other Akumas. What's wrong, scared Dragon Fyre will go off on you? Or that she'll give you the same kind of beatdown she gave Animan when he swallowed Ladybug?" Because she punched a dino's teeth in, repeatedly, after watching it swallow her best friend.
Adrien can only watch in something like a mix of amazement and amusement as his sister - Bloom, Dragon Fyre, all sass, fight, and spirit - goes off on his father and tears a few strips off his hide through the medium…of a teddy bear. He's never been embarrassed of his father before - angry, upset, disgusted, shocked, and literally every emotion in between…but never embarrassed until now.
Well, first time for everything.
And he fully applauds his siter saying the man needs a kick in the head, and a second to the teeth. Now that is something to be proud of.
Bloom smirks at Despair Bear viciously, not even paying attention to the detail that she's drawn a massive crowd - or that Alya's videotaping the whole thing for the Ladyblog, and says "Are you a grown man or a five-year-old throwing a tantrum because he didn't get what he wants? Honestly, it's getting ridiculous at this point. The only reason you've yet to be declared a national terrorist is because that would end with every crime-fighting group flooding Paris, putting the place on total lockdown, and hunting you down, you know that?" And potentially getting Akumatized at some point, one of the reasons Mayor Bourgeois imposed an information-block on the entire situation. Aside from the detail that it would look ridiculous and would potentially destroy the tourism part of Paris.
"At what point do you think you went wrong? Was it turning people into supervillains against their will? Maybe the rampant destruction said supervillains cause? Oh, wait, maybe it was when you first got your butt handed to you by a trio of teenagers? Honestly, you're pathetic. A pathetic little coward who prefers to hide behind the anonymity of a purple mask and butterflies that come out of nowhere. You won't even try to take the Miraculous' yourself, instead doing the same old thing again and again hoping you get lucky enough that an Akuma will maybe get a Miraculous and get away before Dragon Fyre goes off. I'd say 'better luck tomorrow' except…we'd both know that'd be a lie." She then drains the last of her glass, dumps the ice on the counter, rips the teddy bear apart, and traps the Akuma under the glass. And then she looks around, seeing everyone frozen in utter shock, and asks "What? Relax, I'm not getting Akumatized tonight. Keep dancing, enjoy the party and all."
Juleka snickers, shutting her brother's mouth as he stares at Bloom in shock - pencil and notepad forgotten entirely at her casual display of 'come try me, Hawk Moth, I dare you!'
Ladybug and Cat Noir show up maybe twenty seconds later, with Cat Noir casually explaining their appearance away as 'we heard there was a party here, wanted to keep an eye out for any Akumas.'
Ladybug sighs at Bloom, having to keep an act up to protect their identities, and asks "Why is it always you? Pharaoh, Officer Roger, Mylene Haprele, Simon Says…"
Bloom just shrugs, and says "Don't ask me, it's not my fault I'm at ground zero for some of these."
Cat Noir snickers, and says "And here I thought I was supposed to be the unlucky one." One purified Akuma later, and Cat Noir gets a fantastic idea. "You know, seeing as neither of us are going to timeout…may I have this dance, M'Lady?"
Ladybug just can't say no, not with how earnest her partner looks - ever since Valentine's Day, what happened has been sitting in the back of her mind - the backhanded revelation of Cat Noir's feelings for her, just waiting for a good moment to make itself known. Like right now, Dragon Fyre's words of 'he's got it BAD' ringing in her ears again.
And then Bloom cuts through her thoughts, pseudo-casually saying "Oh, throw the boy a bone, so to speak, and have a dance with him. He adores you and all of Paris knows it."
You're not helping, Bloom. After a moment, Ladybug shrugs and says "You know what? Sure, why not? It's a party, after all."
The smile that instantly blooms on Cat Noir's face is so big Bloom's worried his face might split open, and then he's dragging Ladybug to the dance floor. When Cat Noir looks across at Bloom - his absolutely wonderful, miracle-working sister who he wouldn't trade for anything in the world - she's got a delighted smile on her face and raises her new half-full glass of juice in a silent salute.
Ladybug pulls him out of his musings when she asks "Since when do you know how to dance, Kitty?"
Cat Noir grins, giving her a Cheshire smile as he spins her around by the hand and saying "I know how to do more than fight Akumas and run across roofs, Bugaboo." Truth be told, he was in dancing lessons for five years straight, in preparation for the day his father finally let him attend a formal event.
He quickly focuses on Ladybug's blush, not wanting to spoil a dance with his Lady with thoughts on Gabriel Agreste. The two heroes finish the slow dance - which Nino actually scrambled to play upon Cat Noir's question to Ladybug, much to the blonde's gratitude - have a glass of Sparkling Juice each with Bloom - under the cover of making sure she's alright, as well as asking how she ended up with that Akuma as well - and then leave to change back to civilian forms.
And, if anyone notices Adrien's got the biggest smile on his face ever…well, he can say he's had a good time at the party. Both Marinette and Adrien are on cloud TWENTY after the party ends, And Bloom just counts herself lucky the hotel is in walking distance of the Agreste Mansion, because Adrien clearly has no idea what's going on anymore.
Bloom, meanwhile, is steering Marinette in the right direction, since she's equally out-of-it after slow-dancing with Adrien.
And then, the next morning, Marinette and Bloom check the Ladyblog on the way to school only to find out Bloom's got a massive fanbase overnight for calling out Hawk Moth so thoroughly. And she's been dubbed the 'Everyday Dragon Fyre' by...literally half of Paris. Which is heavily apparent on the way to school, as she keeps getting stares from everyone they pass. And one guy wants an autograph.
AN: Was that hysterical or what? Just couldn't resist having Bloom tell Hawk Moth to eat it. Or having Alya record it for the Blog, for that matter.
Anyway, enjoy! More updates coming soon!