A Delicate Balance of Flavors

Winners Get the Girl Part II

Marinette found herself deposited, without word or ceremony, in the girls' locker room, steam and the thin white noise of cascading water from the nearby showers wafting into the changing area. A wide array of fencing equipment – a padded suit, gauntlets, mesh mask, and assorted items that Marinette could not hope to name – lay in a regimented line along the bench beside her.

Stitch-work was clean and effective – nothing popped or strained. Fabric coloration was a uniform vibrant red, Kagami and Ladybug's colour; no sun-bleaching or weathering. Folding the suit itself onto her lap to trail a palm down the surface of the stomach and chest, Marinette met rough but even padding, free from indentations or deformations.

Marinette turned to place the thick uniform back on the bench beside her, nose wrinkling at the lingering chemical odour that wafted upwards from the suit.

Her tongue clucked against the roof of her mouth as she cast her gaze towards the locker wherein she had stored her handbag and a Kwami who was, no doubt, silently munching on a collection of oatmeal-raisin cookies, each one larger than her head, scattering crumbs throughout Marinette's purse. Tikki, for all her childish affectations, possessed a sagacity that Marinette envied. She could certainly use some of that wisdom right now, but there was no time to consult her Kwami; Kagami could reappear at any moment.

Perhaps the little demi-god would advise her to leave, though it had grown increasingly difficult to extract any meaningful advice from the Kwami these days.

Tikki, obviously failing to understand the nuances of human romantic relationships, had only giggled when Marinette had informed her earlier that week that Adrien and Kagami had invited her along on yet another one of their dates.

Despite Marinette's extensive lamentations, the little goddess had flitted about the room, humming idly to herself while ducking in and out of Marinette's potted flowers and offering exaggerated assurances that everything with Kagami and Adrien would work out "perfectly fine," which was really rather insensitive in Marinette's view. Though she wanted her friends to be happy, she had hoped that Tikki would be a little bit more sensitive to her feelings and conscious of the implications of the date and its impact on Marinette herself. Yes, Adrien and Kagami were "so cute" together – or separately – but Tikki didn't have to flit around mumbling it, occasionally staring in Marinette's direction while doing so, as if enraptured by the prospect of them being so.

For all the little goddess' attempts to offer advice when Marinette was pursuing Adrien, it seemed that Tikki just didn't understand human relationships.

Before diving into Marinette's purse, she had merely clapped her nubby hands together in excitement at the pile of cookies before her and told the young girl to "have fun on her date," without even giving Marinette the time to explain that it was far from herdate; she was accompanying Adrien and Kagami on their date.

Tikki was, in fact, so utterly lost that she had counselled Marinette against trying to forget Adrien, frowning and flicking cookie fragments about Marintte's desk like a petulant child playing with the Brussel sprouts he refused to eat, throughout the entire phone conversation that Marinette held with Luka before their first date a few weeks earlier.

The lecture that followed, wherein a stern-faced Tikki advised Marinette to guard the secrets of the Miraculous carefully and maintain proper distance from those outside of her coterie, had been utterly unexpected.

Not that Tikki had anything to worry about, as it turned out.

She had tried to spend time with Luka, who was painfully patient, understanding and sweet, moving at her pace and giving her space at the slightest hesitation or mere suggestion of discomfort.