Chat Noir's blonde hair swung into his face as he leaned in closeto Marinette. Her heart skipped a beat, and she stepped a footcloser, feeling her hot cheeks, and she reached out a hand to hisface.
He looked down suddenly and gave her a confused look. She followedhis gaze. Her heart dropped when she realized she was still in herlight pink pyjamas, and her Ladybug costumer had somehow felt confused, and as she looked back up at her new friend,he stepped away. But his face didn't look disappointed. Instead, helooked a bit too excited about finding out who she was. Marinettetook a step back, this time hitting her back against the wall behindher. Chat opened his mouth to speak.
"It's time to wake up, Miss," he said.
Except, it wasn't his voice. Marinette cocked her head, confused.
"Miss!"
Chat's awe-struck figure disappeared and her bedroom replaced thescene, the early morning light streaming in from the wide openwindow. Marinette lay in confusion until she heard, "It's timeto wake up," from the corner. She swiveled in her bed and sawBrianna placing a few sugars in her cup of coffee.
"Oh," said Marinette, sitting up slowly. She felt likesomeone had drugged her with a bottle of Niquil and then sent asandman curse on her. Marinette's exhaustion was overwhelming, andshe was grateful for the coffee she picked up and sipped. It was theperfect amount of sweet, and the smell wafted gently into her sighed contentedly, despite struggling to keep her eyes open."Good morning, Brianna."
Brianna let a slight chuckle. "Did you sleep alright, yourhighness?"
Marinette trailed a sleepy eye on Brianna, who stood on the sideof her bed, smiling kindly.
Brianna was a kind, middle aged lady that had been born in Spainand came to Catarina as a young adult to get married. Marinettewanted to know more, but every time she asked, Brianna spoke gentlyto Marinette in Spanish, never telling her story. Marinette likedwhen Brianna worked, because she was the only one of the servants whomade little jokes and seemed to like Marinette for her, not justfulfilling a duty.
She shook her head. "I struggled to sleep last night."
Brianna observed her for a second. "I see you weren't tooawake to take a shower."
Marinette grinned sheepishly. "I'll hop in now."
"Great!" said Brianna, proudly, eliciting a silent eyeroll from the younger girl. "In the mean time, I'll wash yoursheets since you went to bed so dirty."
She started walking towards the linen closet. The linen closetthat Marinette did NOT want anyone to go into. The one where she hadstuffed knotted up bedsheets in without a second thought.
Marinette was up in a second.
"Actually!" she said too loudly, already standing infront of the linen closet with a too-wide grin. "My bed's justfine the way it is! I slept on top of the blanket, so you couldchange the cover, but too bad there's no covers in this room! Thatwould be ridiculous. No sheets are necessary."
Brianna narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Qué hicisteanoche?" she whispered. Marinette had no idea what she said, butshe grinned wider, knowing that she had no answer to satisfyBrianna's suspicion. They played a staring contest until Briannaclicked her tongue and said, "Ay, Dios Mio. Go take a quickshower. I woke you up a bit early so you could get ready for your newadvisor. I'll be back up with a new... bed cover."
As soon as the door closed behind the woman who repeatedly glancedback with a humorous tight-lipped smile, Marinette ran to the shower,washed herself as quick as she could - not even waiting for the waterto warm - and she ran out so quickly Marinette prayed she wouldn'tslip over the puddles she formed with each step. She pulled a lightpurple dress out of her closet and set it on the bed before standingin the mirror to dry her hair. She flexed in the mirror while the hotair flew across her scalp, appreciating the new muscles that hadformed on her arms in the past few months.
A knock on the door. "I'm coming in, Miss!" Briannasaid, pulling in a cart behind her.
Marinette cocked her head at the white boxes on the cart. "What'sthat?"
"Today's clothes. And new bedspread." She stood by thedoor, waiting for Marinette to direct her.
"But I picked out an outfit already," said theraven-haired girl, pointing to the lilac dress on the bed.
Brianna moved to put the dress from the bed into Marinette'scloset. "No, Miss, I have been given orders by Ms. Tikki to giveyou this dress." She strode back to the cart and pulledsomething dark red out of the box and carried it over.
Marrinette blushed. "Red? Why red?" Marinette never worered.
"It's good luck." Then she winked at Marinette, with aknowing smile. "I heard you'll be meeting with someone importanttoday."
The 17-year-old girl turned back to the mirror. Her face fell. Oh,yeah. Adrien Agreste.
"Don't look so crestfallen, Miss. You're lovely," shecomforted, completely misreading the raeson behind her expression."Let's get up, now, we can't waste any time!"
Before she knew it, Marinette was waltzing down the long corridoron her way to meet Ms. Tikki, Luka trailing a few feet behind her.
It wasn't rare that she felt nervous meeting someone new,especially with the expectations set on her - by herself as well asothers - to be perfect, but knowing that her temporary guardian wasaround the corner made her palms and armpits sweat, heart poundintensely, and Marinette just knew that her face was whiteas snow.
"Are you alright?" said Luka's calm voice. She felt thestress on her shoulders lighten slightly just from his familiar softtone.
"Yes," she lied. "I'm just a bit nervous."
"Did you get enough to eat?"
Marinette thought back to the coffee she'd taken sips of,decidedly ignoring the buttered bread on her plate. Her stomachgrowled in response.
Luka chuckled. "You should take care of yourself a littlebetter, don't you think, Your Highness?"
Marinette looked back at him briefly, asking him with her eyes tocall her by her name, but with a shake of his head, she turned backto the front. "I'll be fine," she said, a little sad. "Ihave brunch at 11, so I just have to get through two hours."
Luka took a breath to say something, but a loud sound interruptedhim.
They heard Ms. Tikki before seeing her. Before coming into contactwith the woman with short dyed-white fluffy hair, dark skin withlight splotches (Marinette had heard of that before... Was itvitiligo?), and a fancy black suit, the woman gave a high-pitched,"Hello!"
Marinette was tempted to back away immediately but forced herselfto walk forward and stand in front of the woman. Ms. Tikkiimmediately gave a bow and then started speaking so quickly that theprincess had a hard time keeping it up. The speed mixed with her highvoice reminded Marinette of a little girl who ate 20 lollies beforedowning two energy drinks.
"- and although today is going to be busy, please know thatwe will have plenty of time to get to know each other," she saidbefore taking a deep breath and smiling kindly at a blank-gazedteen.
The girl nodded absentmindedly, trying to remember off the top ofher head what the day plans were since she couldn't understand 's review. "Yes, ma'am."
Ms. Tikki waved her hand away. "Please call me Tikki. I'mhere to serve you. Although you will need to listen to me, everythingwe do."
Marinette nodded again, ringing her hands behind her. "Yes,Tikki."
Tikki smiled widely. "Let's go into the courseroom. We needto go over some rules for courtship before you two meet. Obviously,Adrien should already know these rules, so we won't wait for him."She let out a little giggle and walked quickly out the room and downthe hall, her heels clopping behind her.
Marinette nodded, feeling Luka's gaze on her back, and the twofollowed the short woman as she practically ran to the other gave Luka a look of surprise at the short woman's speed,who looked like he was trying to not laugh, and she looked awaybefore she could burst into giggles.
"So, this is the room!" Tikki declared, Marinettearriving, slightly huffing, seconds later. "I'm not sure why Ithought it would be bigger. Hm. No matter, where do you guys keep thecookies?"
Marinette raised an eyebrow. "Um, Tutor Plagg says the smallspace helps me stay focused on him. Also, we don't have cookies forstudying."
"No cookies for studying?" Tikki looked off-put. "Well,I guess I'll have to bring some myself tomorrow," she chuffed.
Marinette let out a small giggle.
Tikki grabbed a book out of a bag on the counter. Obviously she'dalready been in the room, or maybe a servant helped bring her thingsin. "So the first thing..."
Two hours of reviewing rules felt longer than Marinette would havepreferred. But she did learn a few new rules, such as not being alonein a room with them, the third official date will be public,and, heavens forbid she'd ever even want to, no kissing until theywere officially together, which had to be formally approved by bothparents.
"Well, you're a smart girl. You catch on quickly. I'm sograteful to be here with you, specifically," said Tikki, warmingMarinette's heart that, seconds prior, was feeling frustrated. Maybeshe could like working with Tikki.
"Well!" She continued as she stood. "Let's go meet Adrien."
I was having uploading issues, but here you go! 3