voidtreckerexpress | Catnapping

Entry tags:

spark [crau]

Catnapping - OTA

Who: Spark and whomever
Where: All around the train
When: After the mission, before the platform
What: Spark being introspective while trying to pretend he's still just... Spark
Warnings: Angst, possible violence mentions.

Spark often claimed that he slept through missions to explain why he was absent from them, so he was free to have Gar or Privateer Pirate show up. But this time he actually had slept. He'd been sleeping a lot since that world with the fake lives, that one that felt so much like a storm from Nautilus.

But he was....

Lonely. That was it. He was lonely.

He was more settled now than he had been after the fish world, but he was still barely eating and avoiding people. Or had been. He just...

He wished Adrien would show up here. Or The Doctor would know who he was. Rose. Nino. Connie. Nita. Kirika. Dominic. Greg. Donovan. Luna. He'd even take Jacob or Gabriel at this point, though each had their issues. Of course if he was bothering with wishing... Quilt.

He shook himself and walked through the train, looking for someone who needed a cat to snuggle with, or tell their problems to. Or a friendly face from Nautilus, since none from his real home or Paris were here...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"You... you spoke to da.... to Gabriel?" he said, startled.

"On the local network, yes," Leia said. "I explained the situation to him, and he complained about being interdimensionally kidnapped again, which to be fair, is a reasonable complaint. Before I disconnected I told him to keep his head down and try not to cause trouble, for his sake and Adrien's."

Figuring that explaining exactly what she'd meant by that would be a bad idea just then, she added, "I didn't expect that he would, mind you, but with his sort of personality, it's better to be safe than sorry." Because whatever else might be the case about him, he was absolutely the sort who would apply his usual attitude to a crazed chaos entity if he felt it warranted.

"I... avoided him once everyone started remembering. Though to be fair... I avoid him a lot," he admitted looking down at his hands.

No, that was not what he needed to talk about. Focus, Gar. He took a deep breath then looked at her again.

"Did you see Chat Noir while you were there? I did. Got to talk to him for a while..." he said, trying to figure out how to say what he needed to say. What he had been given permission to say.

"Not exactly," Leia said. "I did see Plagg, though he looked like a house cat at the time, and I returned him to Adrien. If I'm not mistaken, I think Adrien was also in the class I taught too. I didn't spend a great deal of time talking to him in the few days we were there though, and there wasn't time to seek them out again once we remembered ourselves and the illusion began to fall apart." She didn't directly mention that she already knew exactly who Chat Noir was, but the descriptions of her interactions all but said it anyway.

"What did you two talk about?" She sipped her tea, and moved the second cup so that it was more directly in front of Gar. Long talks were nearly always easier with tea.

"You... you met PLAGG?!" he asked, sitting straight up. "What do you mean at the time? What did you think he was supposed to look like?" How much did she already know? He needed to know!

"I say at the time because I was still under the influence of the illusion when I met him," Leia said. "So anything that didn't fit the illusion- like, say, a kwami- was glossed over. To me, he looked like a black housecat just then, albeit one with unusual powers."

"As for what he's supposed to look like... Adrien and I accidentally shared memories during one particular storm, and the one I saw included Plagg. He apparently wasn't in the best shape at the time, but to me, he looked like a small, black doll with vaguely feline features who happened to be alive."

"And before you ask, no, that's not how I found out Adrien's secret. Under most circumstances, being powerfully Force-sensitive gives one a bit of an unfair advantage when it comes to seeing past illusions. It is possible to temporarily overcome that- as the business with the false Diagad proved-, but it's still more than enough to negate whatever glamour effect the Miraculous transformations provide, at least in person. So the first time I met Chat Noir, I wondered why Adrien was wearing a cat suit." And also why he was sleeping on a bush, but that wasn't really relevant to the discussion at hand.

"Really it's a good thing they have those glamours though. Otherwise I highly doubt anyone who actually knows them would be fooled. Ladybug's costume was especially bad about that; without magical help, a little domino mask barely even qualifies as a disguise."

Give him a moment to process that shock. That... That she's known all along. All of it.

Because then it will occour to him...

"Then... Then you know who Papillon is?! We can stop him?!" Why didn't she tell them sooner? When they had all been there together and could have DONE SOMETHING ABOUT IT. "You're ascended. Everything else can wait, we have to go to Paris! We can save everyone!"

Leia held up a hand for a moment, a gesture of calm to give herself room to speak. "Unfortunately there are a few problems with that plan," she said. "First of all, that particular Force ability only works in person. Unlike the other Miraculous wielders, I never met Papillion face to face, so I wasn't able to discern his identity with the Force." Careful wording so that she wouldn't be caught in a lie when the eventual conversation about Papillion did happen. A certain point of view indeed.

"Second, I'm not Ascended. Our overall Bending power may have been greatly enhanced when Nautilus released us all, but that didn't mean we were given all the additional abilities that come with specific levels of Ascension. I don't have any more way of willingly leaving this dimension than anyone else here does."

"And third, even if I were ascended, popping into that particular version of Paris and using powers completely out of its context to settle a personal grudge is just asking for trouble. Even here, I'm careful of how much Bending I use; we don't know what affect excessive use of Bending might have outside the context of and unconnected to Nautilus, and I don't want to risk causing a Flaw. The train itself only interferes when a particular world can't handle a crisis on their own, and as much as I dislike the necessity of them being involved to begin with, I believe that Adrien and his friends are quite capable of handling him."

"Besides..." She took a sip of her tea. "If I were to go to that version of Paris, there would be far too many other things I'd be tempted to change. And a few of those changes would almost certainly trigger a Flaw."

"Link is Ascended! We'll get him to take us. We'll pick up Miranda and Donovan first. If anyone can stop a flaw, it is Miranda." Or Dominic before he lost his powers. "Then we can fix everything in Paris so Adrien and them can live safely!" And... then maybe Adrien could come back with them onto the train?

Leia sighed, resisting the urge to face-palm. "Spark, did you actually listen to any of what I just said?", she said. "Do you want to cause a Flaw in Adrien's world? This isn't Nautilus; we can't just brute-force our way through problems with Bending or magic."

Her tone softened a bit. "I know you miss Adrien and the others and want to help them. But that isn't the way to do it. Trust me when I say that trying to impose your own will on other worlds to that degree- however good your intentions are going in- never ends well. For anyone."

"That's why I said we'd get Miranda. Fixing that sort of stuff is exactly what she does. All the time. It'll be fine!"

He slumped. He was just...

So tired of feeling so alone.

"I'm sure Miranda is quite capable," Leia said. "But just by her being there we'd be introducing even more alien elements to Adrien's world. We have no idea how all those elements would interest with each other and with that world's native magic, and we could end up doing far more harm than good."

She wrapped a gentle arm around Spark's shoulders, letting him lean on her if he wanted. "And besides all that, I doubt Adrien and the others would appreciate our interfering. They are that world's heroes, not us. Have faith in them, and trust that they'll solve their own problems in their own time."

"There is nothing wrong with getting help from friends," he mumbled, leaning into her.

"No there isn't," Leia said. "But having lived and worked with combat pilots for many years, I've learned that there's a definite line between 'helping' and 'kill-stealing'. Adrien and the others have worked hard and risked a lot fighting Papillion. They deserve for their victory, when it comes, to be theirs and theirs alone."

"Besides, in all of this you're forgetting one thing; Adrien and all his friends returned to Sleep. Even if we were to go to Paris in their world, the versions of them there would be the versions who'd never Woken in Nautilus. They wouldn't know us, or anyone from outside their world. Not like we know them."

"We... we could get to know them again. They're still our friends, he's still my brother... even if they don't know us anymore..."

"We could, if we had enough time," Leia said. "But we could really only go there to visit, not to live. For better or worse, none of us belong there. Me more than most."

"But we could certainly get to know them again if they came here. And I know I'd like to meet the Kwamis properly, if only because I have some questions I'd like to ask them."

"But the train doesn't let us request who comes here. They're never going to, are they?" He closed his eyes. "I miss them.." he whispered. "And the Deegans. So much."

"I know," Leia said. "I know. And I know how much that hurts, believe me." She had so many people to miss. So many.

"We can't request for them to come here. But we can hope for them to come. And in the meantime, we can forge new connections, make new bonds. Not to replace those who can't be with us, but to honor and support them. It's alright to miss them, but they wouldn't want you to be lonely and miserable forever for their sakes. You made new friends in Nautilus; you're allowed to make them here too."

"But I didn't have to keep secrets then," he mumbled. "I was just a cat. Cats can make friends with anyone. It was all so much easier..."

Leia smiled gently. "You were never 'just' a cat," she said. "But just because circumstances have changed, doesn't mean that making new friends is an impossible task. Get to know people. Find out what they're like, and who you want to be friends with. And if you feel those people are trustworthy? Share your secrets with them."

"It's fine to be cautious. But don't let caution become paranoia and keep you from connecting to those who might be of help. Trust your instincts regarding people; they're likely better than you think."

"But they're not my secrets. My secrets were which shoes I left hairballs in and where I hid Dominic's crystal balls. My secrets never put anyone in danger. I trust the wrong person and people I love could be hurt or worse..." His shoulders slumped.

"Those are the hardest secrets to know when to share," Leia said. "Believe me, I know. But there are people who are worthy of them, and of your trust. And honestly? They're the ones you need to share with someone the most. If only so you don't drive yourself crazy with the stress of carrying them."

"If Adrien was here, he knows them all, I could just share them with him...."

"And that would be what we in the secret-keeping game call 'cheating'," Leia said, but her tone was gentle. "Think of it this way; if you find people to trust with your secrets here, then if Adrien does arrive on the train, you'll have lightened his burden too." Not that secret identities like theirs would likely survive long on board, of course, but it would still be a help.

"Unless he's upset that I spilled his secrets. Or someone I trust then trusts someone who trusts Papillon!"

Re: Closed to Leia

Kinda handwaving the end of that convo. X3

Re: Kinda handwaving the end of that convo. X3

Re: Kinda handwaving the end of that convo. X3

Re: Kinda handwaving the end of that convo. X3

Re: Kinda handwaving the end of that convo. X3

Re: Kinda handwaving the end of that convo. X3

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