I Don't Own Miraculous or Avatar.
Thirty-Four: More Tales of Ba Sing Se.
The Tale of Jeng and Adin.
Adrien smiled. He tested his foot out carefully. He was certain he was ready to try and walk without the crutches. He then smiled and went to the kitchen for breakfast.
"Aidn!" Seng said in surprise, "Your up early. Isn't this your day off?"
"Well, yes. But I'm practically off my crutches now, and I am desperate to actually walk again."
"Well, don't stretch yourself too far. You don't want to hurt yourself again because you did too much too soon." Seng warned.
"I know, Mrs. Seng. I actually was considering going to the market today."
"Well, in that case, would you take Jeng with you… that is if you are willing. Lately she's been getting restless and has been in the house way more than a child should be. I would let her play outside more, but it's dangerous in the big city for a young girl to running about by herself. If I lend you some extra money, could you go with her to purchase summer clothes? I know you already have the money I paid you… but this is for Jeng and I wouldn't want you to…"
"Of course I'll take Miss Jeng. She is always fun to have around. Like a little sister I never had." Adrien chuckled.
"Well good. She's in her room if you would fetch her. I'll expect to see the two of you by dinner."
"Yes Mrs. Seng." Adrien went and got Jeng, who was more than excited. They two immediately set out into the city. They did lots of things, like explore the market, purchase a wooden yo-yo (For sentimental reasons), they got Jeng some summer clothes. When lunch time came around, they went to Pao's Tea Shop to introduce Jeng to Lee and pester the teen. After lunch, they visited the fountain in the neighborhood square where the two had first met and Jeng introduced Adrien to her favorite hand games. Once that was completed the walked around admiring the wares of the market while having an insightful conversation about the latest play Jeng was reading. The day slowly came to an end and Adrien brought Jeng home. She ate dinner before quickly going to bed, completely exhausted from her eventful day. Adrien peered at her lovingly from the doorway. Seng came up behind him.
"It must've been quite a day you to had." Seng chuckled.
"It was. You have an amazing daughter, Mrs. Seng." Adrien said.
"She is a good girl, and very smart. I wish I could give her more than what we have." Seng said softly. Adin shook his head.
"Mrs. Seng, you don't realise it, but you just being there for her and raising her has already given her the world. She'll turn out alright, Mrs. Seng. You've done well." Adin said softly.
"Thanks." Seng whispered, "Goodnight Adin."
"Goodnight Mrs. Seng." Adrien, he paused before he returned to his room, gazing back to where Jeng slept, "Goodnight, little sis."
The Tale of Rin.
Marinette finished her designs for the missing posters for Cat Noir and Appa. She was incredibly excited, because she's found a printer willing to show her how to mass produce the designs instead of doing them by hand. Katara had already helpfully written out the words needed on the posters. Now all she had to do was find the printer's shop. She marched through the streets of Ba Sing Se happily.
Once at the shop, a printer named Kino who was an expert in xylography, aka, woodcut printing.
"You must be the young Miss Rin who requested that she learn my practice so she could make posters for her missing friends, yes?" Kino ased.
"Hehe… yeah. That's me. What do I owe you?"
"Only the money for the inks, wood, and paper, ma'am. You are a friend of the Avatar and I don't want to charge you extra. I will do the blocks for the missing bison if you will do the blocks for this Cat Noir person." Marinette's smile widened.
"Gee! Thanks." Kino nodded, motioning for her to sit down.
"May I see the posters you drew up?" The printmaker asked.
"Of course, here."
"Mmm. You are a talented artist, young Rin. I see you want three different inks on each? The Cat one with black, green, and gold and the bison with blue, brown, and red?"
"Er… That is correct. Will that be a problem?"
"No. It just means we will need eight blocks. One for each color we plan on using and two for the out lines." The Printer pulled the blocks from his cabinets along with a jar of a yellowish fluid. Glue.
"Glue the posters onto the blocks." Kino instructed.
"Okay." She painted the glue onto the block, sticking her poster on. He took Appa's, which was the more complex one, and showed her the next step.
"Now, carve out any white on your design. Any color, leave untouched." Kino instructed. Marinette nodded and took the carving tools and set to work. It was tedious and took all morning, but she finally finished the outline block for her posters. Kino told her to paint the block with and even coat of ink and they used it to print three black and white copies for each block. Then, they passed those onto the remaining six blocks. Marinette spent the rest of the day carving out the three color ink blocks. Gold for Cat's bell and blonde hair. Green for his eyes. Black for his outfit. Finally, as it was getting dark, the pair finished. Kino examined her blocks with pride.
"You did well for your very first time, Miss Rin."
"Really?"
"Yes. You have a craftsman's hands and an artist's eyes. I haven't seen a carving so well done but a non-printer done in years. If we hurry, we can get a few hundred of each printed for today. Tomorrow we can come back and print off a few more, then I will give you the blocks."
"Give them to me?" She asked, "Are you sure?"
"Well, you are the artist. I think you should hold onto a token like this." Marinette smiled, surprising the printer by hugging him.
"Thank you Kino. I'll keep them in my porfilio when I get back home to my village!" Kino chuckled.
"Anything for the Avatar's close friend, Miss Rin." Marinette smiled. She couldn't wait to show Team Avatar the finished products of her hard work.
The Tale of Gabriel and Nooroo.
Long Feng was annoying. The day before he had been ranting to Gabriel's alter ego about Team Avatar's continued attempts to find Cat Noir and Appa. He was tired of the man already. Unfortunately, he couldn't go back now. Gabriel decided to suggest letting Team Avatar at least locate Cat Noir. Of course, he knew the second Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste reunited, all battles against the Dai Li would likely be in their favor and not Long Feng's, but Long Feng didn't know that. He didn't know the cat brought bad luck to his foes and himself while the ladybug brought her and her allies good luck ing a battle, as a result, Long Feng decided the idea was brilliant. Using Ladybug to find Cat Noir would help the Dai Li capture the pair much faster, or so Long Feng thought. He didn't know what Gabriel did. He didn't know Gabriel was setting Long Feng up for failure.
After spending the entirety of his morning dealing with Long Feng as Hawkmoth, Gabriel was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to retreat to his workshop at the tailor's place where he could work properly in solitude. He sat down, prepared to work on the pattern the Tailor had assigned to him that day when he realized in absolute terror that the pattern was gone.
"Nooroo!" Gabriel yelled, "Did you move my pattern?" The Kwami poked his head out from the tiny alcove he had begun hiding in on the shelf of fabric.
"Which one, Master?"
"The very important one that the tailor told me to work on today! I need was on my desk and now it's gone."
"Well, I don't recall moving a pattern on your desk. Are you sure it didn't fall off our you misplaced it?"
"I would have remembered doing that." Gabriel replied confidently.
"Are you sure? You get pretty distracted when you are working."
"... Why must you be right!?" Gabriel yelled. The Kami flinched.
"Should I help you look for it?" Nooroo asked.
"Yes!" The two tore apart the workshop looking for the pattern. Hours later, when the Tailor came in, he was met with a messy room where Gabriel was practically tangled in yards of green fabric and trying to get out.
"Uh, Gabriel?" The Miraculous holder looked up in surprise.
"There is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. I seemed to have misplaced that pattern you left me."
"Gabriel, that was yesterday. You finished that already. I gave you the day off, remember?"
"Oh." Gabriel missed having Nathile.
The Tale of Plagg.
Plagg was tired of bread. He loved food, sure, but it was not his camembert. He knew Adrien wasn't planning on transforming that night and made very important plans to visit the upper ring in search for his lovely gooeyness. Once the kid was definitely asleep, the Kwami was off.
Things like wall didn't restrain a being like him as he flew through the walls with ease. He was careful to make sure no one saw him, darting to and fro between stores and ducking under carriages and carts. The further he went the more he could smell Camembert. He seriously hoped the people in this world had a variation of Camembert. He knew on the other world, Camembert came from some French place called Normandy, Camembert by a wonderful girl named Marie in 1791 under the advice from some priest guy. Camembert was not Chinese. He was terrified that this world wouldn't have it, but he was determined to find something at least close. They at least had to have Shosha cheese, which was a Tibetan favorite of his. Tibet was an Asian culture and everything in that world was seemingly based off of some Asian culture.
Finally, he arrived at the upper ring where the most expensive and smelliest cheeses would surely be. Plagg hoped they had the smelliest and gooeyest cheeses he could get; he was hungry. He darted from restaurant to restaurant. Market square to market square in sure for the best, smelliest cheese in town.
Suddenly he felt the tiniest tug in a certain direction. A feeling he hadn't felt for over a month. The feeling that his other half was somewhere nearby. Immediately, cheese was forgotten. After all, only one thing, other than his kitten's safety, held priority in his heart over food and smelly cheeses.
"Tikki?" He asked aloud in a small voice. There was no response. As quickly as the feeling that his other half was near came, it was gone. The Kwami became much smaller in the realization it was probably a false alarm. He missed Tikki. He missed feeling her nearby in school or playing with her in the miracle box, or even just knowing that she was okay. The pain Adrien felt for being away from his Ladybug was nothing compared to how Plagg felt without his Tikki.
"Don't worry, Sugar Cube. I'll find you yet. And then we'll both all the Camembert and cheese this world has to offer." Plagg promised before he continued on his quest for cheese.
The Tale of Tikki.
Tikki gasped as she felt Plagg's presence nearby. Immediately, she flew out of the house, her eyes darting frantically back and forth in search for the Cat Kwami.
"Plagg?" She asked. There was no response. It was probably just a false alarm. She sighed. Although Plagg was annoying and lazy, he was her other half, and she'd been separated from him far too long. Tikki was missing so much that she had begun to feel his presence when he wasn't even near. It was awful.
Sadly, Tikki returned to the house, the feeling quickly vanishing. She dug the Miraculous Book out of Marinette's satchel and turned to the page where it showed Plagg and Cat Noir. She admired the drawing and wished it were real, but it was all she had of him until Tikki found Plagg. She glanced back over at her sleeping mistress.
"Hurry up and find him Ladybug. I can't wait for him much longer." Tikki said softly. Of course, Marinette didn't hear her, because she was asleep. But someone did stir. A certain Avatar.
"Tikki, why are you still up?" Aang asked in sleepy voice.
"I-I wa just thinking about Plagg, The Spirit of Destruction and Bad Luck." Tikki replied timibly, "I miss him terribly. He's my other half, and we aren't meant to be separated. I'm his Day and he's my Night. We are two halves of the same coin, and keeping us apart is painful for us both."
"Plagg… Cat Noir's spirit?" Aang guessed.
"Yes. Plagg and I are very old. I have existed since the dawn of time itself. He came next, bringing destruction and chaos to my worlds of order and creation. I was glad for it, for he brought balance to the world. Now, he is gone. In a world without balance, where destruction rules all… well, he is needed." Tikki explained. The Avatar sat up, sifting next to Tikki to look at the book.
"It that him?" He said, pointing.
"Yes. That is Plagg." Avatar Aang smiled.
"Don't worry, we will find him." Tikki nodded.
"I know that Ladybug and the Avatar can. That doesn't mean I don't worry." The two sat in silence for an instant.
"Tikki, I've met lots of spirits before, be none are quite like you." Aang said, "Why is that?"
"Not many spirit's care about humans. They just think humans are only capable of destroying. Plagg and I know better. Humans can create. They are really good at it too. I made the Miraculouses so that people would have the power to do just that: create. The Miraculous wielders are each meant to protect and help make the world better. Me and my friends each gave up much to serve humans, but I don't regret it. No of us do. We've met some of the bravest and kindest people in history. Rin and the current Cat Noir are two of the bravest yet. My gift to humans was never made to be used the way Hawkmoth uses them. He was supposed to be a wielder of generosity and change. Instead, he has only selfishly used his Miraculouses, and Rin and Cat have had to reap the consequences for this. They are the closest I've ever seen Miraculous wielders who've chosen to keep their true names secret. Because of that, Plagg and I have felt as close as the day he first appeared."
"Wow. That's amazing." Aang said.
"It really is. I can't wait to see him again so that the connection we had can be resumed." Tikki replied, "And hopefully it will grow even stronger when our holders revealed each other's true names. It's only a matter of time…"