546/Catching-up-ucinno

Catching-up-ucinno
Date of Scene:	03 October 2023
Location:	Dorms #2
Synopsis:	Naru and Adrien chat over a cappucino. They know each other is 'in the know' now but Adrien is still keeping his identity of Cat Noir secret. That doesn't mean they're not friends though!
Cast of Characters:	Adrien Agreste, Naru Osaka

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Adrien Agreste has posed:
It was Sunday evening and Adrien was enjoying the last bit of his day off as he could. Though he'd had to work earlier in a small photoshoot to just put something up about his 'time in Japan' to keep the fans interested and updated. It wasn't too hard though he had a feeling it wasn't exactly 'actual tourist stuff' like he wanted to do at times.

Now the espresso machine is rolled out of it's little tucked away spot, fired up, and the scent of a few freshly pulled shots to be mixed into some steamed milk for cappucino is easily wafting down the hall. All the more to lure in his current guest, Naru.

"I've got some biscotti if you'd like as well to nibble on. It's a bit crumbly though," he has to admit of the dry cookie.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Homework. A light work out. It's not the most exciting of Sundays, but it does get things on track for the week ahead, so that's something?

Naru and her sketchbook have taken over one of the comfortable chairs in Adrien and Chrono's room, her legs tucked up under her.

"Its biscotti, it's supposed to be crumbly." Naru points out and then considers. "Sure.. need any help over there?" she offers, even if it's not her room, or her machine, but it feels polite to offer at least.

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste can only chuckle quietly as he finishes up the drinks. Good for a nice relaxing evening. There was a bit of a chill in the air tonight so this would be good. The large cup and dish is carried over to offer out to Naru.

"Already done, but thank you. It's hot of course," he points out perhaps needlessly so. He's doing a lot of those remarks tonight.

Once the drink is taken he moves to get the plate with biscotti laid out to set down on a flat surface near Naru only to claim a seat himself. Carefully so as to not spill his own cappucino.

"What are you drawing?" Curiosity fills his gaze though he doesn't outright peek without asking. That would be rude. "That's one thing I'm not good at."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"If it wasn't hot, I'd be worried." Naru points out as she watches him set the drink down. She lets it sit to let it cool some before she reaches for it.

Naru waits for him to get settled before leaning closer to him, and tipping her sketchbook towards him. "Tonight, just doodles." And it is just doodles on the page for now. A quick sketch of him at the espresso machine, all lines and angles for the moment, not yet fleshed out into a full drawing. A coffee cup, with highly decorative steam emerging from it. A spikey star or crystal sort of shape.

"I figured when I came to Radiant Heart, that I'd get to focus on my art as I wasn't working anymore. Instead, I ended up a jock." Naru comments with a half smile.

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste leans in toward Naru when she leans his way to show off the sketchbook better. It's done naturally, and without thinking, as he felt rather comfortable around her. Not akward or uncertain. "Wow, that *is* really good though," he assures with a broad grin. "At least you're healthy? Fresh air and all that?"

"It is amazing how priorities can change unexpectedly. I always used to think I'd be playing piano more than I do now. ... Usually I fake practice these days when my father checks so I can have more time to relax." Something he hadn't admitted to anyone except maybe Nino, his best friend from Paris.

"... Are you... mostly being a jock because of the... You know. Stuff?" A little uncertain look crosses his face even as he asks, and a sigh is exhaled. "I'm not used to talking openly about this. Even with Chrono."

Naru Osaka has posed:
The lean is comfortable, and Naru isn't in a rush to leave the gentle comfort of having someone nearby. So she doesn't, just gently resettling that close. She can still reach her coffee, it's fine. "I didn't know you played piano. Under duress it sounds like, so perhaps not surprisingly that I didn't know." She smiles a little. "I won't ask you to play sometime."

"I'm generally healthy, unless I've ended up drained. Then I'm just tired." Naru is pretty comfortable talking about the Stuff. Clearly. "We can not talk about it if you want, but it's just so entwined in our lives, to me it feels weird not to." Naru twists a little to look at him. "We can not, if you dont want to though. And I don't need to knwo who your alter ego is. I'm just always me, Stuff and Weird and things and all."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"It's not that I dislike it..." Adrien trails off a moment considering, as if he had to really consider that or not. "I can do it. I don't think I'll ever be professional. It was something my mother liked. After she... Disapeared... It just didn't feel the same." Adrien wraps both his hands around the cappucino mug to take a long, slow sip ignoring the heat. Or maybe he was just familiar with it.

"No, it's okay. We can talk about it," he assures glancing toward the side with a soft smile. "I knew about it since Paris. Not all of it, but we had our own heroes there. I've been saved more than a few times by them," he admits looking down to his coffee again.

It would be nice to tell the whole truth, but this would do for now. It was nice just being able to talk about it.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Maybe at some point, it'll feel like a nice connection with your mother, rather than a bit of a pinch of sadness." Naru comments.

She leans over to collect her own cup, her sketchbook in her lap, but she's settled in to take a sip and then hold it with both hands. Unconsciously a mimic of how Adrien's holding his cup.

"I've only known since.. early July, I suppose. That's when I started remembering things." Naru wrinkles her nose. "I get rescued a lot. I don't have powers of my own."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"It's been a bit longer for me. I feel like it's a bit hard to figure out *exactly* when it started." Adrien has to pause and think a moment before he smiles again recalling finally. "I never thought about it. I think shortly after I talked my father into letting me attend school again. Almost a year?"

Green eyes fix on Naru as he continues to grin a bit. "I think, if you had powers, they'd need rescuing from you. You're already pretty formidable as it is," he points out with a chuckle that trails off thoughtfully. "Would you want powers if you could have them?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I'm a trouble magnet.. I started remembering when I got attacked. So it wasn't the most gentle of introductions to it all." Naru notes thoughtfully. She wriggles just a touch, to be able to lean lightly on him, shoulder to shoulder.

"Not so much." Naru shakes her head at the notion of being formitable. "I literally had to just wait and hope to get found when I got kidnapped. I couldn't do anything to save myself." Not, to be fair, there would have been much for her to do, even with powers, but the sentiment remains.

"I don't know." Naru answers honestly, with a frown. "I did, briefly. Although I was evil and rampaging at the time, and fairly out of my mind, so perhaps not exactly a relevant comparison."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"Well that... That happens a lot with the guy that our heroes fought," Adrien has to admit, blinking a few times staring at a spot on the wall. Partially lost in thought, partially just... relaxing. Shoulder to shoulder with Naru, comfortably. A breif thought of HOW they were sitting crosses his mind causing a little pang of ... guilt? That he was sitting like this with someone other than Ladybug.

Then again she wouldn't sit with him like this. Maybe there was nothing to feel guilty over.

He takes another sip of his coffee ignoring the biscotti that wasn't far off. At least for now.

"Turning people evil I mean. It's happened to a lot of my friends in Paris. Apparently, he likes to target those who are having a hard time, either angry or hurt or the like. Even my fencing teacher at one point. THAT was... tough."

A gentle little nudge to her arm is given. Not to move away, but to just kind of bump her lightly, close as they were. "I'm glad you're all right. If you want I can try to teach you what I learned in my classes about kidnapping. I really did have those. I don't know if it'll help completely. It's better than feeling helpless though."

Naru Osaka has posed:
It's been a long week. A long month really, and settled quietly, with gentle touch. It's nice. A balm to a tired soul. Naru doens't wholly realize that Adrien is grappling with niggles of guilt.

"That sounds like it would be rough." Naru mmms softly. "I was doing pretty well, until I got overhwelmed with dark energy. That I coped with poorly."

Naru is nudged, and she nudges lightly right back. "I'm also glad I'm alright, and other than horrific new toys Obsidian has come up with, I've not really been in many fights of late. I cant' call it quiet, but it's a different sort of crazy."

"Not feeling helpless is how I took up self defense classes, and weapon classes, and everything else." Naru takes a sip from her coffee before it gets cold while they chat. "So that even wihtout powers, I don't feel wholly helpless."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"Good. I don't think you're helpless. Just sometimes there's things out there that are hard to handle alone. Also," Adrien hesitates to gather his thoughts just a moment. "Ah, I'm sorry if I might have seemed like I was insinuating you were a 'delicate flower' the other day. I just wanted to help." Sheepishly he adds, "That's on me, not you. I hope I didn't offend you. Or Miss Kino," he has to add since she was there too that evening. He hadn't run into her yet since then though.

A lot had changed in his life lately. He had friends, though many were far away. He'd moved. He was still a hero (secretly so), and now he was making new friends again while dealing with even more villains and craziness than before. He lifts his mug toward Naru. "To surviving this new, crazy life and not giving in?" he suggests as a toast.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"There are all sorts of things that are hard to handle alone." Naru agrees wholeheartedly. "Few of us are any good alone, powers or not. A reality that some dark side folks don't really grasp."

The mention of the delicate flower makes Naru start to giggle softly and she nudges his shoulder gently. "I know, and it was sweet. No offense taken, but I reserve the right to tease you about it." The giggles and gesture are fond, there's no hint of harboured resentment in the reaction or gesture.

Naru lifts her mug in a toast with him. "To surviving this new crazy life. No giving up." The cups are clinked, to make it official.

"I dont generally want to give in. Or give up." Naru comments. "But sometimes, it feels like everything is happening at once."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"Good. I'm glad you're not upset," Adrien lets out with a little sigh of relief before joining in the chuckling. "All right that's fair." He couldn't really say he wasn't open to teasing. Sometimes he deserved it.

The talk of everything hitting at once earns a small hum of agreement. "Like school, and tests, and training, and then whatever else is thrown in? You're right though: Everything is easier with some friends. ... I'm glad you're one of mine. I never had a chance to have many before these last few years. If you ever need help, or an ear, or even just an escape for awhile, I'm here."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"School, research, the current apocolypse, friends who are currently evil, feeling spectacularly out resourced, and researched and Yeah.." Naru sighs after the litany and leans. "It's a lot."

"Thank you. I'm glad you're here." Naru agrees with the sentiment. "I appreciate coming to hide a little while with you." She grins. "Not just for your espresso machine either. It is an escape and I'm really glad that you're alright with me talking about the Weird with you. It was hard not to, when I didn't think I could."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"I get that. I was told I shouldn't talk about such things for my own safety and the safety of those around me. It gets kind of lonely though." Adrien has to admit. Not a half truth there, it was just what exactly he was talking about. His gaze drops to regard the ring on his hand while he holds onto his half-drunk cappucino. It's tapped lightly to the side of the cup earning a little clink from the movement of his finger.

"Chrono sort of blew that out of the water. A lot. I know he's nice and probably trustworthy, too, but it's different talking to him about it since he grew up with it. Going from... Normal to this... It's different."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"It's very different." Naru agrees. "I like Chrono a lot, but it's really different perspective." She considers a moment, giving her cappuchino a little swirl in the cup, watching the foam catch and move in term. "He's given me no reason to distrust him, and he's been a good source of information. I'd call him trustworthy."

Naru pauses a moment and then mmm. "I'm not always the best judge though, I give a lot of questionable people the benefit of the doubt. Longer than I should, probably. But still."

Naru is thoughtful a moment. "I didn't have anyone really tell me anything. I just didn't talk about it with too many people, because they woulnd't have believed me. I didn't entirely believe me all of the time. The attacks when I just started to remember seemed more like dreams, or hallucinations. I wasn't wholly sure they were reality."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"That must have been difficult." Was it like that for them all? It seemed so many of the same people kept being Akumatized back in Paris that it was likely they would remember too after awhile. At least they would get a break with Hawkmoth here instead of there.

He lifts his head again to speak, but finds nothing else he can immediately add. Instead he clears his throat a bit awkwardly. "I don't think giving people a chance is a bad thing. Sometimes people just have bad things happen, and need to see that there's other ways to handle it. Knowing someone cares about them, and is willing to give them a chance... It's kind of heroic in it's own way."

"Though, I guess there's also something to be said for being cautious and knowing where to draw the line. Maybe we'll both get better at learning that someday." Like with his father. There were so many times he felt like a prisoner in his own home due to his father's wishes. He knew he was worried and meant well, but he kept himself so distant. It was worrisome.

"Heh. Well, I guess it's getting late. School tomorrow. Would you like me to walk you back to your dorm?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"That fine line, between giving chances.. but not so many that you get your butt handed to you." Naru sits up, slowly and nods. "Hopefully we can both figure out that line."

Naru drinks the last of her coffee, giving a little shake of her head. "You don't need to, unless you want the walk." She stretches, sleepy and lazy. "Early run before school too, because otherwise I rarely get one in." She smiles at him, turning to face him. "Thank you."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste rises to at least see her to the door. His own cup is set aside for now. It was mostly finished anyway. "Of course, Naru. You're my friend. You're always welcome," he assures with a warm smile.

Talk of early morning runs earns a chuckle. "I have my own morning routine, but never got into running. You've got me beat on that one." Still grinning he adds, "Have a good night."