2130/Study Hall Fangirl

Study Hall Fangirl
Date of Scene:	04 December 2024
Location:	School Library
Synopsis:	Hinoiri agrees to help Marinette study... and they, unfortunately, get sidelined with Marinette's hobby. And find out that Marinette is a little bit of a Ladybug fangirl. Fortunately, Hinoiri warns her to keep it on the down low, you never know how crazy some fans can get about totally fictional characters.
Cast of Characters:	Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Hinoiri Kirara

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Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
It's supposed to be studying time, but Hinoiri has already learned why Marinette is doing poorly in her classes. It's not even hard; she's just...

Not.

"This is a drawing I did last summer, it's a wedding dress with room to move. I don't get why people would let themselves be belted into something that they couldn't breathe in," she says, sliding over another of several sketch books. The picture is a white with hidden leaves, under one layer of fabric, just coloured enough to accent. They follow the figure of the drawn female it was upon. There are no belts.

Being French, Marinette needs work with English just like many of the Japanese students. Her textbook isn't doing her much good, sadly pushed aside for more sketching. Like, the one she's clearly been working on, with flashes of red, in her lap. She isn't pushing that one forward.

Is that a drawing of Ladybug? More importantly, this 'study time' is fail.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was, unfortunately... the worst at helping in this kind of situation. Namely, for all of her flaws? A lack of encouraging was not one of them. When she saw someone who had a true talent that she didn't, who could do something she could never dream of herself?

She tended to love it. And designing was NOT something she was good at, nor that she had any idea HOW to perform. She liked what she liked and, past that? She had no clue.

But seeing Marinette get so excited, her eyes lighting up? Well... it was a joy. Especially since, as far as Hinoiri knew? Marinette was one of her few NOT magic friends. She was just one of Adrien's friends.

So their books shoved aside, she was more than happy to take the pictures and eye them. "Huh. Yeah, so kind of a more... airy, easy to breathe in piece? I imagine it'd be very nice during the hotter months, perhaps an outdoor wedding?" she asked.

She'd be going through them, eying them and offering what critique she could as she went, though mostly... it was just praise. "So, what is the purpose of like... the leg strap thing when it comes to wedding dresses? Also, what's that?" she asked, motioning to her lap. "New project you're working on?"

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
"I'd definitely think summer, or fall. Because of the tree concept." Marinette slides closer, indicating the falling leaves. "They could go any colour. Depends on the person who's ordering it made. Easy peasy."

The blue-haired nonmagical girl (?) has this distracted air, when she's focused on her passion. "I'd go for an outdoor wedding anyway, I never liked being cooped up. But that's just me, it's always a thing you'd discuss with your partner."

Eyes flicking, Marinette slides the book she's been working on further into her lap. "Oh that's nothing, nothing! The..." Pause, clearly covering for something. "I mean, the leg strap? That's mostly just traditional, now. It used to be needed to keep leggings in place, but now we have a lot more options. And people's legs aren't as unhealthy now, we don't need to hide them as harshly."

Her fingers nudge the book lower, but her fingers catch on her own sweater and it falls. Between her legs, to the floor, where it falls open.

Revealing a picture of Ladybug, wearing what appears to be a shortened chinese dress, with leggings and bell sleeves on the arms. She's drawing superheroes!

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod as she listened. "Really? Outdoor does seem nice, at least. You can get the sun on your face, feel the wind in your hair, spread your wings if you... have... them..." Hinoiri said, blinking a few times. Right. Humans didn't have those. "Metaphorically, of course."

Of course, as Marinette tried to hide what she was working on, it only resulted in the poor girl being exposed! And when it was dropped, well... Hinoiri was quick. Far quicker than she should be. She ducked down, swiping it before the other girl could hide it, then yanked it up and... "AH HA! I *knew* it." Uh oh.

She gave Marinette a knowing smirk. "You've been holding out on me, did you really think I wouldn't find out?" she asked, before placing it on the table and...

"I told that girl like, months ago to go to you for some work on her outfit. It was a bucking disaster."

... Wait. Was... Marinette... magic? If she wasn't, she might not even know what... no. She had this. "The cosplayer. Yeah. Did she come to you for some advice? Cause, like, let me tell you. The outfit she was wearing? It was not doing her *any* favors. Just... all red and some dots. Nothing to break it up. I don't really get fashion but, come on. Even I can see that was a bad idea. Like running around in your pajamas."

... Nevermind if she was a cosplayer she'd... need... to like.... have someone to cosplay AS. But with the veil, maybe that helped?

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Marinette reaches for her book, both hands stretching! To no avail! Nooo! "Hey!" she exclaims, but it's too late. Her face falls, the smile replaced with disaster! And then, she listens.

Marinette's face goes through several iterations then. Clearly 'Oh god I'm such a loser, she's gonna laugh' face, then moves to 'I'm confused and don't know how to react right now.'

I told that girl like, months ago to go to you...

"That was you?" NO WAIT you can't say that! "I mean, that was...y...you?" She smiles, her smile absolutely plastered on. "Who...she...told me about?" Marinette's lying skills are only held together by the Veil, she's useless.

"I mean, she ...nobody's coming to me! I didn't..no, I mean..." She looks around, clearly trying to make sure nobody can hear them right now oh god this is bad!

WOW, she's no good at all at this. If she's magical, she's the worst magical girl in existence. Which is possibly true but eh. We get by.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a light chuckle, but it wasn't... well, okay. IT was laughing at her a bit. But it was affectionate. "Yeah. Like, she was doing a good job, but..." She then blinked. Oh. Wait. She was... Sunbreaker then. "She... uhhhhh... might not have... recognized me though. I ummmm... I was... kind of cosplaying myself, you know? For... a... thing. And... was... kind of being a jerk. I'm... through that now," Hinoiri said, the smile on her face melting away. Replaced by one of sadness. "Yeah... I guess you... were probably... still out of town during a lot of that, huh? Sorry. I uhhh... really went through a jerk-phase for a bit. I'm over it now, though. Still think Adrien is kind of miffed at me, though. He's a great guy, just... kind of uptight sometimes."

She then flipped through it and gave a light snort. "Uh huh. Sure. It... oh. Wow. You uhhhh..." She trailed off and kept flipping through it. And then looked concerned. Very concerned. "Oh. Ohhhh wow. You're... are... are you a fangirl?" she asked before groaning. "Oh buck. You're not... no. You wouldn't be some creepy stalker girl, Adrien wouldn't have recommended you if you were that kind of girl. But seriously. There's a lot of these here."

"... It's okay, you know. If she came to you for advice? I'm... in the know, as it were. Of... cosplay. Wink." She did, in fact, say wink. "Don't... have any of my own now... but I can at least appreciate the... huh. Wow. Some of these are really good. Pfft. A shame you weren't like this. Cause let me tell you, that girl?"

"Absolutely *no* fashion sense at all."

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Marinette doesn't interrupt. She does blow her cheeks full of air when she's accused of having no fashion sense, at all, but she can't say what she wants to. I had no control over it. The look was less important than the job. It looked fine! Well, no, even she doesn't believe that one.

Leaning closer, voice lower than before, Marinette says, "Look, I can't really give away any secrets." She looks left, then right, then adds, "But I mean, what if, Ladybug didn't get any choice in her 'style'? She might have, maybe, mentioned something about that. In...passing."

She screws her eyes closed, not liking the way this is going. "And no, I'm not a stalker. Ladybug and Cat Noir are heroes, back home. We didn't have a lot of them, and I kinda...you know, it's nice to dream? I draw a lot."

Pause. "Like, seriously, this is nothing. My parents had to store my sketchbooks after they started falling over and breaking stuff, there wasn't enough room in the closet and I couldn't draw all of the ideas in my head without running out of paper and pencils and you have to go to school sometime and eat and your friends start talking..."

Pausing to breathe, she shakes her head. "I grew out of that, though. This stuff is just doodles."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a light shudder. "If that girl had no say in her style? Then she... was done dirty and she needs to talk to her mascot. Err. Manager. Someone. Cause that? That is something I wouldn't even do to the people I dislike. And I can be pretty nasty to people I don't like..."

She then flipped through it and... "Girl, you got some talent. Like, buck. Seriously. These are really good. Don't give up on these. But ummmm... so... maybe... don't carry these around with you? If you're just a fangirl? There's... a guy. I'm sure... uhhhhh... let's just say there's... a weird guy... who is a *mega* fan of those two. Like. Obsessed, even. But in the worst possible way. And if he thought you were connected to them in some way... he... you ever hear of... fan... rage?"

... She wished she could feel out if this girl was magic or not. UGh. This was so much easier when she could just DO magic...

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Pause. "Should I be worried?" No, that's not what I need to ask. "I mean, who is it? I get that...I mean, you don't want to tell, but ...should I be asking? Or just like, avoiding everybody?"

She does reach out then, to take her book back, but as per usual she's awkward about everything. Her knit sweater catches on something, and she leans too far. Then both her and her book fall past Hinoiri to the floor.

"Or I should just avoid going outside entirely," he says from beneath. "I'm a menace."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara sighed and... oh, how to explain Hawkmoth to this girl. "Ehhhh. Only if you go around announcing you know Ladybug... cosplayers... or something. Or are a fan. It--"

Only for Marinette to lean too far forward, taking the book, herself, Hinoiri's chair and her bag to the ground with a shriek. Some of the contents spilled out, including an assortment of little trinkets. A small, metal wing, a little tiny brush, a small little glass horn, what looked like a keychain or charm of half an hourglass, half a metal dice, a small little plate with a sun-symbol on it...

"... Yeah. Hey, so, um. If you see a little cat with really, really, really long years? And offers you a wish? Do not make one. Call me immediately, okay? And it's evil, so don't," Hinoiri said, her voice flat. "Buck I hope Hawkmoth never thinks you're connected to those two, you'll trip down the stairs and get yourself killed..." she muttered, trying to start picking up her stuff.

She then gave a shrug. "Whatever. You creative types are always a bit... special, huh? I guess it comes with the territory. But yeah, you helped me with that outfit when I first got here, so I suggested the cosplayer come and see you. You've got a real eye for that kind of stuff, I figured it could do her some good."

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Sitting up, Marinette rubs her head with one hand. She says, "Sorry," as she notices how much mess she's made. Then she gets down to try and help, whacking her head on the chair.

And falling over again.

Laying on her back, Marinette looks up at the ceiling, and likely Hinoiri's face. "I wouldn't worry. The way I'm going, no magical creature -should- pick me. Maybe I should wear a helmet."

Then, more carefully, she sits up again. And something said earlier percolates through her skull. "Hey. Um. So...you know Adrien?" Her eyes are saying all of the things, though she's trying to be nonchalant. "I mean, not that I'm asking for any...you know. Reason or anything."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times, before opening her mouth. Finally, she closed it. "... How... how hard did you hit your head? Oh... wow... did the veil do a number on you?" Yup, this has to be the magic or something messing with her. Nobody was THIS awkward and... this. "Adrien was the one who introduced us. And... maybe invest in that helmet. Cause like... you're one bad concussion away from dropping out of here..."

She started scooping up things as well, grabbing the wings and... "C-careful with those. They're... things from my home. They're... not the kinds of things I can replace if they get damaged," Hinoiri mumbled, not noticing as the small charm got caught in Marinette's sweater.

"And yeah, Adrien's cool. He and Naru were two of the first... friends I made when I started coming to school here. I wasn't really the best friend, though. I was... actually kind of a jerk."

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Marinette is kneeling, then. She presses a charm she's picked up into Hinoiri's hands, but looks into the girl's eyes. And smiles, just a little. It's something different from earlier, and more real. Maybe it's the concussion talking.

"Hey. I know what it's like to be far from home." Probabl does, paris isn't here. But it's not the same, not that marinette would know that. Still, she's reaching out. Actually literally at the moment.

"He'll forgive you. He's pretty special, like that. And honestly, compared to me? How bad could it be?" She sighs, then adds, "He still puts up with me. Even if that's..not what I want."

Then she starts to gather her books. "I should probably study though. You're right, I might actually fail out at this rate. My grades are .."

She can't even say it. That bad? yeah, that bad.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times, taking the charm and putting it back into its little box, sliding it into her bag. "Yeah... I guess, well... you're not from here either, huh? It's... a little different, though. My... place is... nevermind. Close enough."

She gave a light snort at the forgive her part. "Yeah... here's hoping. He is kind of a push over. And... wait, what?"

"... Oh. OH! I get it... you know... if you want him to leave you alone? I can talk with him, tell him he's bothering you. Does he like... ask you to do outfits for him and stuff all the time? The whole 'Model and the designer' argument thing? I get it." She started to get up... completely missing what Marinette was talking about... and then holding out her hand to help her up.

"Come on, little clumsy deisgner. Before you hurt yourself, or your grades, anymore."

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Rising to her feet with Hinoiri's help, Marinette says, "I get it. No place is quite like home, is it." It's not really a question. It's also not relly understanding, but that's not something she could pick up from context. Other worlds, other realities. Possibly never going back.

No, Marinette just rights her chair, then sits in it. Flumph. She looks at Hinoiri, then sighs. Then she just looks at her books, like they're the least interesting thing in the world.

And flips to the wedding dress, and looks at it. Then she whispers something inaudible. And puts her arms on the table, head cradled on them. "It's okay," she says, more easy to hear now. "Want to try this again? Maybe actually learn something?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "Yeah... sometimes... sometimes home isn't even home, either. So... yeah..." she mumbled. She then gave a shrug, pulling over her work book.

"Right, studying, the whole reason we're here. Okay, so I think you just need to work through memorizing these functions, and..." And then Marinette would learn another reason that Hinoiri was a... rough study budy at times.

She really didn't seem to struggle with memorizing all the formulas and bits and pieces people needed to memorize. The symbols, the sounds. Her memory for those kinds of things were... good. Very good. Not perfect, but compared to poor Marinette, who'd likely rather be making outfits? Oof... Poor girl.