I wake early, enjoying the coziness of my blanket. I hear a rustling sound coming from the next tent, and I wonder if Ladybug is possibly awake too. I get a ping on my cat-phone and I chuckle when I look at it.
Ladybug: You awake? Or are you in the process of grooming?
Cat: My love, for grooming to happen, I need a mirror.
Ladybug: You are so vain.
Cat: Yep, and proud of it.
Ladybug: Coffee.
Cat: Aren't you forgetting something?
Ladybug: I don't think so.
Cat: Good morning, I love you, I'll make you breakfast….shall I go on?
Ladybug: Whoops. But see, if I had my coffee I would have thought of that.
Cat: Who do you love more, hm? Me or my Starbucks app.
Ladybug: Oh, Adrien for sure. No contest.
Cat: What? Not the adorable ball of fluff that kept you safe during the night?
Ladybug: You snore.
Cat: I'm going to marry you soon, and you worry about me snoring.
Ladybug: Keep this up, and you'll have more to worry about then snoring.
I laugh, getting out of my warm sleeping bag and sliding out into the fresh chilly air and head over to Bugaboo's tent. "You decent?" I ask. "Yeah, come on in, Kitty." I clamber in, and she catches me in a hug. "Good morning. And yes, I love you. But why would ask if I'm decent?" I blush. "Well, I wouldn't want to walk in on any surprises, and we did see the Emperor's New Groove not that long ago where Kronk opens the tent flap." Ladybug is laughing already. "Oh, yeah, and she has the worst crinkles and cucumber eyes. Don't worry, the only thing you could catch with is a bad hair day." She's still burrowed in sleeping bag, and hands me the Miraculous. "I'll have breakfast ready when you return," she promises.
Before I go, I brush my fingers down her cheek, causing her blush fiercely.
True to her word, when I get back she's at the cooking pot stirring something, but I freeze in terror at the sight.
"Cat, sweetie, what's wrong?" Ladybug drops the spoon in the pot, leaping up and coming to tug on my arm. Of course, I'm not actually terrified, only poking the bug. I stay frozen as if she has actually frightened me out of my wits. "Cat? Cat, answer me!" Finally, I unfreeze and give her a reproving look. "My Lady, you told me you were decent yet your Medusa hair almost turned me to stone!" "Ha-ha, it just needs a good brush. Hey, what's that smell? The spoon!" she rushes back to the fire, saving the precious spoon from a fiery death. "And here I thought I was the only one who set things on fire," I mumble and she looks up at me sharply. "What was that?" "I'll help with your hair, after breakfast."
I help her clean up, and we head back into her tent. She sighs in contentment as I brush her long hair. "So, berry picking after breakfast? Crumb gave me a map." "When it comes to food, do you even need to ask?" I joke, giving her a kiss. "Its not the berries I'm worried about, its your tummy. Can I leave you unsupervised with a pail and a bush?" "Not one berry will enter this berry until I have been granted paw-merison." "Your nose is growing," she giggles.
Finally, we set we set out and she shows me the map, handing me a pail. "Here's the fork in the path," she points to the snow-covered path we're standing on. "My bushes are to the left, yours to the right. Let's meet back here in one hour and see how we're doing." We do our signature pound it, and I walk down the trail, whistling.
The bushes aren't hard to find as they stick out against the white snow. Brushing them down, I wonder if I can go back on my promise to M'lady. Purple and red plump berries stare it, daring me to plop one in my mouth. But no, a promise is a promise.
I tug at the berries, staining my fingers and I listen to the whistling wind and the plump, plump, plump! Of berries hitting my pail. Mother and I loved picking berries and she would always make a delicious treat for after supper when Father would join us for meals. Suddenly, my eyes aren't watering from the cold wind anymore, but then I look up sharply when I hear a new sound. A wind-chime of a laugh, a laugh that seems to be calling me.
My knees protest a bit as I stand, gasping when I see a figure all dressed in blue just a little ways down the path. Is that my Mother? Picking my pail in a trace, I begin to follow the dancing, laughing person but they always stay just out of my reach.
"Mother, please wait up!" I run, shuffling in the powdery snow, meowing in alarm when I tumble into a deep hole. At last, I see the figure up close, even her skin is radiating a bluish light.
Its cold and its starting to get dusky on the path, and I'm afraid. I don't want to be out in here in the cold, and I don't want to be alone. Loneliness, even more then I feared Hawkmoth or now Scorpius, I fear Loneliness.
The thought of me thinking I saw Mother sends hot tears sliding down my cheeks. Before I know it, I'm curled up and sobbing. I wish I could detransform and cuddle Plagg, but I dare not with the below freezing temptares.
My eyes eventually run dry and I curl into a protective ball, staring up upward. I hear more laughter, and more colors drift by, red, green, even purple drift past my line of sight.
My cat-phone! Surely Ladybug would know I'm missing by now, but I groan as I check. No signal. For the moment, I'm a Black Cat who seems to have run into a spot of bad luck.