When You Live Forever...
Inside jokes become a common
''Anytime you see a turtle up on the top of a fence post, you know he had some help.'
-Alex Haley
Marinette
I had Alya spend the night, to make sure she was okay. I hadn't been able to check on Nino, but I wanted to check on Alya.
"Sooo…." she smirked as she came out of the bathroom, in pjs, "this is the place you share with Adrian. Which one of you has this much money?"
"That'll be me." Adrian barged into the room, even though the door was open. He had his phone in hand as he ended a call. I was guessing the kwami were in Adrian's room. "The photoshoot scheduled for Tuesday has been postponed for tomorrow since I was 'sick' for the entire week. My boss wants you there as well. He even sent something for you to wear."
"See!" Alya almost screamed. "Even his boss ships it!!"
A bright blush appeared on my face as Adrian just looked confused. "Ship what? Who has a ship?"
Alya blinked, before busting out in a fit of giggles. "Such nativity…" she wipes a tear from her eyes. "You act like you're a thousand years old, but you're as gullible as a 2 year old."
"As I told Nino." He grumbled. "I'm almost 3 thousand. Not 1."
She gave him a look with a strange smile, before laughing some more. "Sure, grandpa. And my ancestor's a god."
"Immortal." I said with a joking grin.
"Right." Alya smiled. "I'm all powerful." She paused. "Funny you say immortal."
Adrian plopped onto my bed next to me, taking on the hands behind head posture. I leaned against the headboard, subtly placing my hand on the back of his head to scratch it. I don't think Alya could see. Adrian almost purred. "Why's it funny?"
Alya took a chair and moved it to the front of the bed. "See, my family's cursed."
I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, cursed?" Did Gabriel do something?
"For as long as my family documents go, every single one of my ancestors died on their 100'th birthday." She wiggles her fingers, giving the story a spooky vibe as she flicked the lights off. A second later, she turned on the phone's flashlight. "Except for one person…"
Did she know? "Who?" Adrian asked, as intrigued as me.
"He's the farthest ancestor that we can trace back, and surprisingly, the one with the most tales. They say he was an alchemist, trying to find out the way of immortality."
I shared a look with Adrian in the dark. "What was his name?"
Alya shrugged. "Don't remember. Starts with an F, I think."
"Felix?"
"Ferb?"
"Fabian?"
"Fred?"
"Ah!" She snapped her fingers. "Fred, it was Fred. I think the story is where the name got its popularity from. Anyway." She took a breath, getting back into the vibe. "It was said he achieved it, but at a steep price. His descendants would all die at the age of 100. For us now, it's not to bad, but back when people were living with the Black Plague, it was torture. A rumor is passed down our family. 'The eldest is watching from the shadows, always. He's the protector we will never see.'"
"That paints Fred in a very… weird light." I whispered lowly, and Adrian nodded slightly. Louder, I said. "That's strangely cool. You have a guardian."
Alya looked slightly proud, before tossing her phone to Adrian, settling on the foot of the bed. "Your turn! Scary story or real story, doesn't really matter."
Adrian picked up the phone, scratching his head. "Thousands of years ago… there was a… goddess named Paris. She was a being of order and tranquillity. She, along with lesser gods, helped gift humans with superhuman powers."
"Like Ladybug And Chat Noir?" I asked, as if confused. Adrian gave me a look, which I gave back even more fake cluelessness. He nodded with a chuckle.
"Everything was in peace, when another being showed up, one of Chaos and disharmony. Sirap, the complete opposite of Paris.
"They were attracted to each other, because you can't have order without chaos, or chaos without order. The love that Paris had made her turn a blind eye towards Sirap's wrong doings. While she wasn't looking, he plunged the world into chaos.
"To this day, Paris is still trying to bring back order to this world, but Sirap is strong. He's the boogie monster that hides in closets and underneath beds. The part of you that says, 'go on, steal that, hurt that, no one will stop you…'. He's probably in this room right now."
"Meow."
Alya screamed, jumping onto us, muffling the light. In the dark, I could see Mari the cat climb on top of the desk, where a pillow was kept. Her blue eyes almost glowed.
Alya got up, and in the new light, turned to look at the cat. She blushed. "Oh…"
It was the most I laughed in awhile.
I just realized that I can't do a line cut because my laptop is broken so sorryyyyyyy...
The outfit I had to wear was cute. A simple red blouse with black leggings and brown boots, going with a long black cardigan. Adrian had a grey parka, black jeans and boots, which fit him well.
Alya squealed at the both of us. "Is it okay for me to come along and watch?"
Adrian nodded. "Mr Gracestone would be fantastic with it. He's been meaning to get more of the younger generation in."
"We're gonna be models gurl!" Alya jumped slightly, her happiness contagious. I started bouncing with her.
"I know right!"
Adrian chuckled at the both of us. "Get ready for the life of healthy eating."
We deflated in sync. "Never mind."
I got my purse, discreetly hiding Tikki and Plagg in it. I fed Mari, before we left. Luckily, we grabbed a cab easily and the fee to the park wasn't even five dollars. Adrian gave him a ten cause he's generous and we got out.
The place was already set up, an older model has the stage in a winter dress. A man I assumed to be Mr, Gracestone pranced up. "Adrian! I hope you are feeling better… the company had sent you a gift basket. Oh! Are these your friends?"
He examined us with a sparkling eye. "This is Alya, my friend from school, and Marinette, a childhood friend. She just moved here."
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Gracestone." I said, bowing slightly.
He gave a chuckle, which seems to twinkle. "Pleasure is all mine, Marinette. I see you are wearing the outfit I picked out." He smiled, turning to Alya. "You are a perfect youth outlet for our clothes. Would you model one for us?"
Alya giggled. "I would love to." She tried her best not to squeal. An assistant carried her away, while another took Adrian and I to another set. Immediately, two hair stylist were on us, one combing Adrian's hair while the other braided my bangs, finishing the braid at the back of my hair and clipping it. With a few brush strokes, she was done.
Mr Gracestone stepped up, lanky legs surprisingly graceful. "I think some co photos while be good, since we have Ms Alya doing some as well. And we don't want to overexert Adrian." He paused, waiting for people to agree with him. They all did, quiet sincerely too. "These designs are more for the teenage demographic, which explains the hair style. Give us big smiles!"
The whole thing was pretty fun. At a point, we did a group picture with Alya, as well. We only had to change once.
After I changed, I blinked at myself. Oh gosh.
I stepped out of the dressing room, not at all surprised to see what Adrian was wearing. Black pants and a black hoodie with a large green paw print on the back. Black cat ears on the hood. I had black leggings, with a red and black hoodie, which wasn't as bad.
He looked at me. "Oh Paris."
I giggled, messing with his hoodie ears. "Look at my kitty."
"All you need is the mask, and you're all set, bugaboo." Adrian laughed. There was no hair stylists, just someone that made the hoodies fit perfectly on our head.
The pictures weren't to bad, just somewhat silly pictures to show off the look. They gave Adrian another outfit for tomorrow, and after I asked, me one as well. Adrian had packed extra clothes, thankfully, so we all changed back, and Alya treated us to coffee. Adrian was all over that idea.
Overall, it was a nice day.
