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Some promises are greater than others, and Marinette was beginning to feel the weight of expectations crushing her with every passing moment as she unwillingly stood outside Le Grand Paris Hotel.
After barely managing to convince Plagg not to devour all the tempered sandwiches within her tote bag, the blue haired girl was starting to get cold feet as she stared at the massive hotel building with worried eyes.
"What are you waiting for?" Plagg said as his voice emitted through the fabric.
Marinette gave the kwami a harsh shush as she shook the bag.
"You are supposed to be mute, Plagg," she warned.
"But I want to see what's going on," he whined before Marinette hurriedly strode towards the bicycle rack and hid behind it. "I hate not being able to see things. It's killing me!"
"Curiosity might have killed the last cat so you need to stay in the bag for your own safety," she harshly whispered, promptly a short but annoyed whine.
This mission of theirs was supposed to start an hour ago and Marinette was feeling just as impatient as Plagg.
She pulled out her cellphone and sent out a flurry of frantic texts.
'Where RU?!?!???!!!'
'Calm down gurl, Give me 30 more minutes.'
'WHAT! Alya? ALYAAAAAAAAA?!'
The sudden silence of her text notifications was making her feel more isolated. Hopefully, she wasn't grounded for trying to sneak out of her house again.
The teenage girl was already halfway through a text that was meant for Damian before she repeatedly pressed on the backspace key. Should she really be using the new phone he gave to her for this? She hadn't even begun looking into the Gotham Prince's enquiry over her Parisian rogue gallery and she still needed to call him.
The city being in danger was more important than
Marinette stood up and sighed. She really needed to get her priorities in line. Running around hotel lobbies and giving out spiked sandwiches at a toy design conference would really serve as a bad look. Even if it was all in the name of journalism, she wasn't even the journalist in question, and she was beginning to suspect that she wasn't going to gain much in the first place. If she really cared about design in any form or manner, she would have entered into the competition herself.
So, she strode into the hotel with every intention of finding the event organizer and pulling out of the competition. It was the honorable thing to do. Alya was just going to accept an I.O.U and book her for another career driving scheme another time.
Now there she was in the ever so vibrant main hall, and it was packed to the brim. All she could see on the walls were toy sets and dolls littered across the room, admired by the sea of people that were gathered. She didn't realize how serious this competition is. Everyone here seemed to be in it to win it. Most of the contraptions were automated, bright, and shiny, no wonder it attracted a crowd.
The teen squeezed her way to the center of the room, where most of the crowd seemed to congregate. The moment her mind registered the invention, her eyes bulged out. It was Tikki! A life-sized version of her, to say the least. This was way worse than she could imagine.
"Eww, what is that thing?" One of the crowd goers said.
"It's weird," another person said. " How did it even get through the prelims?"
"You should be asking why they even mustered out the courage to make their submission in the first place."
As the onlookers laughed, Marinette's mouth was trying to figure out what to make of the kwami exhibition. It was then when a short figure approached her and tapped her shoulder.
Marinette yelped with a jump as she turned around to face a younger teenage boy with long black hair dressed in a white lab, which was clearly too big for his small frame.
"So, what do you think? " The boy grinned as his brown eyes twinkled in search of approval.
"It's...a lot," she breathed out and put on her best fake smile as the rest of her face fought off a grimace.
"I managed to get everything down to the last detail, I even replicated your designer tag and hid it in one of the spots with thin silk threads," he said proudly as he placed his hands on his hips. "Gotta say that this is the quirkiest entry I came across. It reminded me so much of the mascots back in Japan that it made me a little homesick."
Marinette's face went stern as she finally gave the short-ling attention he seemed to be craving. If he called Japan home, then she must have been standing before Hiro Okamaru.
He definitely did not meet her own expectations. His vibe gave off 'Eccentric Child Genius' with a little 'Evil Scientist' hidden behind his glimmering eyes.
"Woah, you did have to go through all this trouble, but it's certainly a pleasant surprise," Marinette nervously said as she nodded, hoping the kid would lose interest in her and run off.
"I know," he beamed, "With a vision as other worldly as yours, I might just have to pack up the competition and have everyone else go home."
Marinette let out a nervous sigh and scratched the back of her neck. Now he's too interested. She really needed to cut this off and fast.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm withdrawing from the competition. "
"You're what?!"
His exclamation was so loud that it ripped through the air, making a few individuals in the crowd whip their heads and see the celebrity they were here for. Before she knew it, they were surrounded, more like he was surrounded and she was pushed out of the limelight by a bunch of strangers. Grateful for the power of fandom and fame, Marinette attempted to make a beeline for the exit before she got grabbed by the collar and dragged towards the lady's room.
"Wow, hold up!" The girl yelped as she grabbed her assailant by the wrist and pulled them towards her.
Marinette's eyes followed the honey tanned arm up to an ice-cold glare and permanent scowl aimed towards her.
"What the hell is going through your head, Chloé?"
"I could ask you the exact same thing, Flour-girl."
