MariChat: Soul Link (SoulMates AU)

Date Prep Two

Marinette had to consider herself fortunate that someone like Alya existed in this world, and that she was best friends with such an amazing person. She didn't have any sort of problems when it came to keeping a level head in stressful situations. Where Marinette was sweating buckets at the prospect of meeting the fashion designer she admired and respected most, but not as a fan of his work, but as the girl his son was bringing home to meet his father. Just thinking about that being the real prospect here made Marinette shiver in anticipation.

The first thing that Alya had helped her in doing was getting her to a frame of mind that she could compose herself in. Despite the clear exasperation that she emitted, Alya was patient and understanding of her friend's plight. She seemed to find some amusement, at least, in Marinette's frantic paranoia.

It was heavily justified though. A lot more than Alya even realised. Even if she knew about the total disconnect Marinette had gone through from the rest of the world, the fact of the matter was, if this went especially poorly... Would it affect the partnership between her and Chat Noir? Marinette couldn't see Adrien being that sort of person, and mentally punched herself for even considering that idea... But again, her frantic paranoia was in control right now. Only once she was sufficiently calmed did her brainwaves cease to think this way.

In terms of clothing, the blue haired fashion designer knew what smart casual meant, of course, when she wasn't panicking. It was sort of the exact opposite of what Alya had suggested, smart clothing worn casually. It helped keep up that feeling of formality, while at the same time, allowed some extent of self expression. Since Gabriel was a fashion designer, he had probably suggested this choice intentionally, to help gauge an idea of the sort of person she was just from looking at her clothes, as an underhanded trick.

Pulling her phone from her back pocket and searching up a few examples, Alya helped with picking out some of Marinette's most formal clothes, most of which she had designed herself, from scratch. The blogger had persisted on Marinette going in blue, saying it went with both her hair and eyes. While Marinette wanted to mention that she had worn that colour on the first date she had gone on with Adrien, she reminded herself at the last moment that since Spite had done his Link altering, she didn't remember that. Far as Alya was concerned, this was the first time she had helped her friend in this situation. It was for that reason that Marinette agreed with most of her assessments. Hopefully, Adrien would understand. She'd explain it to him once she saw him.

The outfit she ended up with was a long, dark navy-blue skirt that went down to cover her knees before the cut off point. Neatly ironed and pressed, she also wore a regular white shirt, akin to the one she typically wore at school, except this one was totally plain. Finishing off her outfit, was a dark coloured crop jacket, similar to, again, the one she wore at school, except this one had long sleeves, and was the same shade of blue as the skirt she was wearing. There was so much blue on her,

Marinette wondered if she would be able to blend in with the sky if it fell the same shade her clothes and hair were. She had to give it to Alya, under stress, she was a lot better at selecting clothes than she was, and considering her talent for fashion, that spoke volumes.

Doing a twirl to see her outfit from all angles, Marinette came back from the whole dress up rather satisfied. Instead of being kept in buns, or curled, her hair was just allowed to freely flow around her, reaching her shoulders. Brushed to an almost obsessive degree, it was far from unkempt, running silkily across her skin where it met it. Coupled with her outfit, it was probably as, quote, smart casual as she was going to get. All there really was left to do was wait for Adrien.

"Lookin' good, M." Alya said, positioning her index finger and thumb on both her hands, and standing back, using her digits to frame Marinette like she was taking a photograph. "Yep, you look killer. If Adrien isn't drooling over you on the ride to his place, then there's something wrong with him."