#av-agent

Hmm...everything didn’t seem the way it was before. Her vision had to be playing tricks with her, because there was no way she was at the familiar place she would call home. The buildings appeared differently, the smell was foreign, and even the sky mocked her in a way of being trapped. Standing still for a few seconds to collect herself, she reacted to the first person who happened to walk by her.

Marinette beamed as she took up the phone in her hands,feeling the weight of it fully. Not particularly heavy, but also not fullylightweight, it would be hard to misplace or ignore in her hands. Breaking itseemed virtually impossible. Opening it up, all of her apps were there,everything that she wanted to see, except one very important thing.

“There’s no pictures on this.” She murmured thoughtfully,before an idea sprung in her head. “I know! Let’s test the camera!” Marinetteinstantly clicked on the proper button, opening the front facing camera,holding it up so she could take a picture of the two of them. “We’ll have thisbe the first picture on this phone.”

But, as she tried to adjust it, she found she disliked theway it looked from the upward angle, causing her to pout. “No…That’s notright.” Looking around, a smooth railing that held the barrier between theSeine and the pavement was only a few feet from them. “That will work!”Marinette happily walked over to it, her mind focused on setting up the camerato snap a picture of the two of them with a timer.

So focused, she did not notice the uneven stepping just bythe railing.

Tripping up, suddenly gravity took hold of the girl, pullingher down to the ground. Her elbows thudded against the ground, causing herhands to open, sending the phone sailing from her hands. Everything seemed toslow down in that instant, her gaze watching as fingers slipped away from theelectronic, it skating across the pavement, sliding beneath the bar of therailing, and a loud plopping from the river could be heard as the water swallowedit up.

“Oh, hey Vale. What brings you to th’ wide world of the Internet?”

The littlest Slaughter Racer may have looked a little battered, a little dishevelled... but honestly, Vanellope could hardly care less. It had been a pretty rough day in Slaughter Race; but over here, rough meant great. When every day was different, with new challenges, and new players to mess with?

What were a few scrapes and bruises compared to that?

A group of players today had seemed to be more interested in causing chaos and doing damage to anything and everything in sight rather than actually following the given tasks, and the girl had got caught up in the middle of that. Her car had got rammed about and pretty scraped up, and she had her fair share of bruises...

But it had been an adventure! It had been exciting!

...plus, she’d eventually got to ram two of ‘em off a bridge in return, which had also been really neat.

Now that the game had quieted down a little, and she had a few moments to herself, Vanellope had stepped outside for a little breather... and the last thing she had expected to see, when she did, was a familiar face.

Send in 🎁 + an item to give my muse a Christmas present! || Still accepting/Specify Muse

Surprise crossed her features as she observed the scarf before her. Store bought, but still made with a soft fabric that brushed against her fingers with a comfort that she had not felt in a way like this before. Of course she had breezed through people before, occasionally sweeping past the warm clothing of people that were just out of her reach. 

But this was different. 

All of her clothes were nothing but white. White tattered dress, the ripped apart sleeves, even the strips of cloth that crisscrossed across her legs and the strip around her neck. Aside from the blue of her eyes, everything of her was drained of color. The scarf was a beautiful shades that moved from the alabaster color that made up the fabric of everything she had, to the very blue she clutched onto. 

Pulling it to her chest, Lucille shook a little, the edges of her eyes glistening with droplets that formed. A smile grew across her face as she gave a silent hiccup, unfolding it and placing it around the back of her neck above her silver tresses. With her hands free they instead moved around Vale, the girl squeezing him tightly around his shoulders, her face burying in the gap between her arm and his neck. 

A note appeared above her shoulder, she mouthing the words as they wrote out along the page. 

no. 34

She tilted her head slightly, her expression not-quite one of concern, but that certainly suggested she didn’t think all was completely right with what she was seeing.

Or at least, it wasn’t your everyday sight in this part of the arcade.

She opened her mouth to call out, to say something. Closed it again thoughtfully, and instead stuffed her hands in her hoodie pockets and ventured closer to the scene.

Yep, it was Vale alright. The question, of course, was...

Marinette’s birthday!

A small sound against the hatch above her bed stirred her attention from the sketchbook she had gotten from her mother. Large and well bounded with folder pockets on the inside, it had been one of her prized gifts for her birthday. However, the odd timing of the sound proved enough to ignite a flare of curiosity within her. 

Closing her book, she stood upon her high rise bed and opening the door. No person seemed to be about, but a small package fell down into her arms as she quickly caught it. 

A quick thrust of her head through the portal and nothing but the crisp night sky to welcome her. A small blink, and Marinette retreated back within, closing the hatch behind her. 

Seating herself down, the girl was cautious as she unwrapped the gift. No rose in sight, so it wasn’t the handiwork of Chat Noir, but getting a present upon her roof was no easy task. As she tugged on the ribbon, the package unfurled, revealing the charm within. 

“Oh…” She marveled, lifting up the piece by the chain. Just by feeling it, it felt warm, almost akin to her Miraculous, when it was activated. “Wow…” Admiring the piece, it was nearly flawless in it’s cut. Gingerly lifting it and placing it around her neck, she felt a small ripple across her skin. 

‘What do you–?’ for my muse to kiss yours || Still accepting

Lucille knew she shouldn’t grow attached to humans. Afterall, they were fleeting, unable to be more than just a momentary passing in herown afterlife. They would end, wilting like flowers, only to never regrow thenext spring.

But Vale was so different, the way he had something more tohim. Like he belonged in this world and yet did not all at once. He was anenigma to her, even as he tried to explain it, it was beyond her commoncomprehension. But he drew her in, causing her laughter, giving her a voice,and making all of the loneliness seemingly disappear.

So, as they sat, merely conversing about frivolous things,such as the day, what things they could do out and about, and other suchtrivial small talk. However, her gaze continued to flicker from his own eyes tohis lips more frequently.

The last time she had touched them, it was to offer him someof her own power. A gift of energy to replenish his own. But they had beensweet, warm, something she craved more of and the thoughts began to circlearound until her fingers were on the sides of his cheeks and she was pullingin, pressing herself against him wholly.

Sliding her lips against his own, she lingered, quietlyasking for more with her motions, the soft nibble of his lower lip, the softbreath that escaped her, a quiet sound rumbling in her throat. All melding intoless than a minute of intimacy that was broken quickly with the realizationthat perhaps she was going too far.

Vale was her friend. Her believer. This was not how someonewas supposed to act with someone who was nothing more than those two facts.