2206/Time-Loops: Marinette

Time-Loops: Marinette
Date of Scene:	06 January 2025
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	During the time loops, Hinoiri ran into a young girl undergoing her own finale... and seeing Ladybug meet her end only drove the girl further and harder than she'd ever driven before. Fortunately, she has others reaching out to pull her into the future when she can no longer carry the burden herself.
Cast of Characters:	Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Hinoiri Kirara
Tinyplot:	Hinoiri's Endless Loop

---

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
On the Northeast of town there's a construction yard. You know, one of those sites where they're building a structure, probably an apartment complex or some multi-tiered businesses. With the metal beams and all that, and a huge crane that spans high into the sky! It's visible for quite a ways, once you get past the buildings surrounding it.

When it's sliced in half at the base, it also falls with a groan that's audible for some distance. Creaking, the entire crane's structure collapses in a dusty wreck, the lines that support it snapping like whips that cut across anything in their paths like knives.

Ladybug manages to avoid the collapse, but only barely. She gasps for oxygen, holding the wound on her left side with one hand. Her scalp is bleeding, and she keeps having to wipe her eyes to keep her hair from blocking her vision. As she staggers to one side, coughing due to the cloud of dust, she tries to see her opponent.

That was always the biggest issue. "Where...are you?" she mumbles, managing to speak around oxygen-laden gasps. Hearing something behind her, she turns.

And a moment later she's flung across the yard, slamming into a wooden safety wall. Into, and through it, as she crashes through and skids into the street beyond. She stares at the sky, not able to move well at all.

Then, she lifts her head. Because she has to. The cloud of dust rises, and it seems so natural.

It is not, and her entire body locks up in terror.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Mid-Loop:

Hinoiri was going mad. She'd been in this loop for... weeks now, hadn't she? Nothing she did seemed to matter. Heck, if her experiences with Riventon were anything to go by, she was possibly making things WORSE. She'd exhausted all the leads she could and now?

Now she was... uncertain. So she'd been running around, taking care of the problems she knew about, helping the people she knew how to help, avoiding the BUCK out of Riventon (he didn't know what he did). Now? She was searching the city... Had been for days.

And then she heard the creaking sound of destruction. Was that... probably nothing.

But maybe something new? She leaped from roof to roof, landed and...

Ladybug?

A moment later, there was a flurry of little gray blasts of magic, erupting all around her, to protect her.

She then landed on the ground besides her, kneeling. "Hey, Ladybug, you okay?" she asked, holding out a hand to help her up. "Sorry I'm late, its... been a day. Eh. I'll have a better one next time. Where's the youma?" she asked, glancing around. It had to be here... somewhere. Unfortunately, she didn't know what it was... and all she saw was a bunch of dust? Huh. Weird...

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Ladybug is trying to get up, trying and failing. She lifts her head, upper body straining, and it just won't do the job. She expects her head to hit the concrete again, to hurt all the more.

It does not. There's a hand there, and she's stopped from any more pain. The support is almost worse, one more thing she wasn't expecting to happen.

Coughing, the prone girl looks up, and the protection is...this is new. But beyond it, the air moves darkly. It swirls with malevolent intention. So when she looks up and meets Equivalence's eyes, she winces. And points.

"Behind you," she says. But that would also be the moment when Hinoiri would see the wound. And the sharp jagged metal sticking out of Ladybug's side.

"It's every.." she gags, coughing up something that shows red on her lips. "Everywhere. Run away."

Then she starts to get up again, since there's someone to protect. Clearly 'I'll handle this' is on her face. But just as clearly 'I need a hospital' is on everywhere else.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence blinked a few times, cocking an eye. "You're kidding, right? Listen. My name's Equivalence. You are beat to... you're hurt. I'll handle this. Just... ummm... where is it?" she askes, looking around. She then glanced down at the wound.

"... Listen, I know a healer. Trust me, okay? I'll get you to him, and he'll take care of this. Just..."

She looked around. There wasn't anything there! Just sand and... "Oh buck. Is it the sand?" she asked, before kneeling down to scoop her up. "Listen, this'll... this might hurt a lot. But I'm going to get you out of here, okay? If I can get you to the school, I'm sure someone there can help you. I just need you to hold on."

For the first time ever, Hinoiri felt no desire or need to mock Ladybug's outfit. If she got her out of this, she...

... She'd mock the outfit tomorrow. Once Ladybug was okay. Once Ladybug was safe.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Ladybug looks up, having failed her attempt to rise, once more and for the last time. She listens, but her eyes are darting around.

"You don't..." coughs interrupt, but she clearly needs to push through. "You don't underst.." Close enough, apparently, because she pushes on.

"Look."

Motioning, she directs Equivalence's eyes upward. The sand is clearly alive, but it's not the ..direct threat? Oh no. It's ...environmental. The sand doesn't attack -directly-. No, it slashes anything around them. And it all begins to fall.

The sand doesn't attack. It uses the world against you, instead. And the city of FULL of world. As a beam that was precariously placed, begins to fall down. Right at them both.

Time pauses.

WHAT THE #$#567!!!

Just enough time, for Ladybug to reach up, and touch Equivalence's cheeks. Then to grasp the earrings from her own ears, and press them onto her saviour.

"Take Tikki and run. Get her safe, she's the only important thing here."

Then she shifts, warping. Becoming someone else. And time starts to move once more.

Holy what the hell power was that??? And...there's a bug?

A ladybug.

Marinette. Eyes closing, Marinette.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence stared at her, preparing to argue and... and then there was... something... time?

Wait. no. It hadn't. Had it? Or had it just been the magic of whatever Ladybug had done and...

And the earrings?! "What do you think you're--"

And then it was Marinette. "M-Marinette?! What... how... you can't... you can't be..."

But there was no more magic. There wasn't any more... she... She slowly let Marinette fall. Her eyes wide.

It didn't matter. It didn't matter. It wasn't real. It wasn't real. It would all reset. Come tomorrow. It would all reset. It was all going to reset. It was goin to be fixed. Reset. Be fixed. Fixed. It'd be fixed. Reset and fixed. It had to. It--

She had only a second to realize she'd stalled too late. She leaped back as the metal fell and...

Before long, she was off on her own sitting on a rooftop overlooking the city. Her view dominated by the screens and displays down below... her focus... primarily on the clocks. How long did she have?

An hour?

Less?

Holding the earrings in her hand, Equivalence... let her magic go...

And the tears started to go down her eyes. She stared down at the earrings. "T-this... this doesn't... m-matter... it won't... t-tomorrow... it won't happen... I won't let it... I swear I... I won't let it... h-happen again... I swear... I swear..." she said. "T-Tikki?"

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
The little ladybug lands on Hinori's right hand. It seems to grow, but her magical eyes would let her see the truth. The bug was always more than it seemed to be. It looks up at her, so much more than just a bug.

And it puts a hand on Hinoiri's, looking just as sad. "It's nice to finally meet you, Hinoiri." But it twitches, the little body not quite right somehow. It has a nice voice though. For a ladybug.

It's patient. And old, so very old. As it flitters its wings, it looks up at the girl and waits for he to be ready.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times and stared at the kwami.

"I'll... be honest... uhhhh... Not... not exactly what... I expected when she said Tikki. I mean, ummmm... wow. You're... a big... ladybug... fairy. I... I'm a unicorn," she finally said.

"... Oh Sora... does this really mean the last thing I said to Marinette as myself is that she needs to fix her outfit? I..."

And then she closed her eyes. Slow, deep breath.

"How... does this work? Tomorrow... if things go poorly... how can... I use this to... to help Marinette and..."

A few more tears trickled down her cheeks. There likely wasn't much of what she said that made sense to Tikki, at least, not yet.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
It isn't smiling. It looks like it should be smiling, but it is not. "I know what you are," the little thing says. "You have a horn, to my eyes." She flis up and pats Hinoiri on the cheek, listening. It's a very good listener, the kwami. I suppose you'd develop that talent.

"I don't know," the littlest of the two says softly. "This is new to me, too. But I can feel the courage in your heart. True courage is there when you're crying, too." She twitches then, though, and falls out of the air to land in Hinoiri's hand.

"I...think you need to wear the earrings. If you're strong enough." She pulls in her wings, sitting up and rubbing her little head. "Something's wrong with me, something that's never happened before."

Then she looks up, at Hinoiri's eyes. and asks: "Can you fix this? If I help you, can you fix things?" You can tell that she's not used to asking for help. Usually she's the helper.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. She wasn't used to asking for help either, but...

But someone was asking her for help. And she'd be damned if she'd not help, now that she could. "Y-yes. Yes I can," she said. She, slowly, puts the earrings on. "I'll fix this. I promise. Even if... even if I have to do this a thousand times. I'll fix you. And I'll fix Marinette. I promise," she said.

"So, Tikki, what happens now?"

She glanced at the clock. Time would loop soon.

... Time had to loop soon. For the first time in weeks, she hoped, prayed, almost begged it would loop. As desperate as she was for something, anything, new...

She didn't want this. She'd never accept this...

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Tikki flitters her wings, going up to Hinoiri's shoulder. She settles there, as she's done for all of the previous Ladybugs. And it seems, Hinoiri is to be added to that list, of the protectors of the world. She has standards, it will be done right.

"Spots on," she says, standing on Hinoiri's shoulder. "And remember, your power is Lucky Charm, and once you use it you'll start to change back. Be strong." Then, she adds, on an impulse, "I believe in you. You can do this."

Then she waits. The earrings wait. The universe waits, for a new champion to arrive.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "Spots... Spots on."

Lights, red, dots. Oh... Oh gosh.

A moment later, Ladybug leaped off the rooftop, through the city. She saw her reflection in the windows as she passed...

It was fitting. The uniform she had? 'Her' Ladybug outfit?

It was the one that Marinette had in her little notebook. The one that Marinette had been drawing.

This was Marinette's power. Marinette was Ladybug. SHE was ladybug.

And Marinette would be that again. She glared at her reflection. "Don't worry, Tikki... I won't let Marinette down again." "Lucky--" she said.

But then it was a new day. A brand new day.

The biggest issue was that there was a lot to do. The fight with Marinette and this weird sand-monster? It was rough. It took her a few loops before she could get there in time to help. Seeing Marinette... get hurt each time? It didn't make it any better. It made her more determined. It made her try harder than ever. And, admittedly?

A part of her broke.

she had to stop this thing. She WOULD stop this thing. Whatever it was, as fierce as it was? She'd take it down.

So it was, many loops later, as a wrecking ball came swinging at Ladybug... it was instead kicked away, and a gray mahou backflipped and landed besides her. "Ladybug. Where is its core? Whatever is controlling the sand?" she asked.

She'd, finally, gotten here early enough...

Hopefully... hopefully early enough to make a difference.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
In a previous loop, Ladybug had been trying to say something. She doesn't recognize the person who kicked the wrecking ball, which by the way is very impressive. I mean, seriously. But more importantly she never had time.

"It's not here," she says.

Which turns out to not be true. And another failed attempt.

"The library, where this all started!"

Nope. That one also ends up with a lot of property damage.

"Maybe it's in the center of the thing!!"

That one's closer. In fact, Hinoiri may just have seen something, there. It's moving around, something glowing deep inside of the storm.

Time to get to work.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Countless loops. Countless efforts. Countless times watching the people she cared about getting hurt. Watching her friends get damaged. Times she almost wondered about turning to the powers of dark energy again.

If she was just faster.

If she was just quicker.

If she was just stronger.

If she just didn't have to do it all herself.

But why else would this loop be happening? Why else would she remember if nobody else did?

So she focused on efficiency. On her abilities. Running herself ragged in an attempt to get where she had to be. Dealing with the minor things, shoving others aside, rushing through the small stuff.

It wasn't easy. In some loops, Marinette got hurt. In others, she got hurt. Marinette had a plan. Marinette tried to help. Marinette got in the way. And, finally, Marinette...

But she wouldn't stop. She wouldn't give in... she wouldn't...

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Meanwhile, in the background.

Tikki is very old. Very old, and very powerful. For all her size. The Ladybug earrings weren't always earrings, long ago they were ...something else. And Tikki was always there.

Tikki has an odd relationship with time. So all of this has not gone unnoticed, every loop building on her awareness. She is there, watching, but there's one thing that Kwami don't do. They do not. Guide. Their heroes.

THIS IS REALLY PUSHING IT THOUGH. As she gets pulled into another loop, she's become fully aware of this happening. Grinding her little teeth, she acknowledges that this is progression. Patience will win, eventually. But if she gets the chance that other girl is totally not off-limits for giving a few choice words to!

Patience. You have all the time in the world. But seriously, you can be TOO single-minded. Look for other options!

Sheesh.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
The Perfect Loop:

How many times had she loops, now? Hundreds? Thousands? She'd long since given up on counting it. She'd done... so many things. She'd hurt people. Shoved them aside. Ignored them. Helped them. But... but for tomorrow? To ensure nobody else was hurt? To ensure nobody else caved? She'd spent the whole day dealing with everything. Alone. Equivalence wasn't even that strong, or at least she didn't think so. Compared to Sunbreaker... But she had fough these fights a hundred times. A thousand times. Ten thousand times. Who knew? But she knew what to do. When she arrived? She grabbed Ladybug's wrist. And it had been a perfect movement. Even as Ladybug tried to resist whoever this gray coated person was, her movements were deflected and she was thrown.

Then Equivalence dashed towards the sandstorm. She moved left, right, up, down. It was as if she knew where every strike would happen before it happened. It was a level of precoginance that would have made most bullet hell speedrunners jealous. And she was doing it with her whole body...

And then, in a single movement, she shattered it. Unleashing a powerful kick, she shattered the core, a foot breaking the strange, golden core...

And then, with barely a look back, she took off, dashing off to where she needed to be nice. Already five roofs away before she stopped only a second to down a granola bar, then taking off again.

Almost there... She... almost... had it... Finally... she'd break the loop...

She had to.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
It was Perfect. The sand faded away, dropping to the ground with a hiss of falling snow. Not really snow, but you know the sound. Pieces of severed attacking ..things...fall as well, dropped as if from empty hands.

The shattered piece sits, and Ladybug stares at the astounding event she's just seen. "That was..." She hasn't the words. She hasn't got a scratch on her body; in fact, this is early enough that Nobody was hurt!

It has to be enough! Now it's just...waiting, and not letting Ladybug's awful outfit ruin perfection.

"I'll try to do better, on my outfit, I swear." Oh Ponies, she's even going to do that! This has to be the best loop! "Maybe a scarf, to start?"

....it was not. It restarts again, with nothing having changed. Another failure.

However, Tikki's headache is getting worse, and Marinette is starting to notice. "We can stay home, if you're sick?" "No, we have to go. It's important."

"Okay."

And it begins again. But Tikki is waiting...less patiently, every loop-around.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Helping Loop:

How long had it been since she'd come here last? A few days, she supposed... but...

It felt like so much longer. A few days where nobody had been there for Marinette. Where Hinoiri had broken.

As Tikki had been forced to watch, helplessly, as her charge fell.

Now? When Ladybug was flung back, when she stumbled and fell, there was a flash and something dark and gray dashed by, catching her and leaping off the equipment, princess carrying her as she went.

Equivalence landed on the roof of a tractor, holding he other girl. Welp. She wasn't Cat Noir. But... she might do.

"So... in the center of that storm there seems to be the core..."

"I don't suppose you've got a plan, do you?" she asked, before gently placing the girl down.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Ladybug is...fine? For some reason she didn't expect to be fine. Wow, deja vu. "Thanks! You're really good at this." She scans the 'new' girl's face (new to her!) thoughtfully, then gives a firm nod.

"I can't use Lucky Charm," she says, her eyes looking out into the swirling mess. "But, I don't think I need it. Not so much."

She grins, eyes flicking around. This is new, this is NEW! YES! "Cat Noir told me, or I told him, doesn't matter. All it does is give me something I could find around anyway. And I have to figure it out, it's always on me. So all I need to do is add one more step."

She nods. "There!"

Lucky Charm. The ability to be given one thing, the right thing. Then the weilder must figure out how to use it themselves. It's an incredible weak ability, buffered by the strength of the mind behind it. She's right. This was always her power, Tikki barely is involved.

She bends over, then picks up a fallen cup. That some welder dropped. A paper cup. "I need you to..."

As she explains, this feels right. There's a power here, something more than before. And Ladybug sends Equivalence out to knock over a wall, causing a wind that'll...

It'll work.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence nodded and listened as Ladybug spoke. Can't use her lucky charm? Weird. Why would...

"... Wait, really?" she asked as the other girl spoke of her plan. A styrofoam cup, a broken wall, the turned over tractor, the bags of abandoned cement, the...

"... Okay, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, this time. But only this time," she said. Well. Ladybug... Ladybug had put up with her for long enough. This could fail and then she'd do it her way. How could a single cup make that big a difference?

She ran off, kicking the wall while Ladybug threw the cup at the tractor and--

"HOW THE BUCK DID THAT WORK?! HOW?! BY SORA'S RAINBOW COLORED MANE DID THAT BUCKING WORK?! NO! I just, I... I..." And then the yoyo was dropped on the ground...

As well as the fragments of the time device. When Ladybug went to grab them, she grabbed Ladybug's wrist, her eyes wide.

"Marinette... Marinette, where did this thing come from? Why was your yoyo in it? Why was THAT in it?" she asked, pointing towards the broken hourglass...

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
"That's..." She doesn't pull away. This kind of thing brings people together, and she feels more connected to Equivalance. Her partner was always why things worked. It's not about being alone. "That's why I couldn't use Lucky Charm. The magic is in the yo-yo."

The magic is in the yo-yo. The yo-yo was in the center of the storm.

The magic was in the center of the storm. Tikki's magic was there, the magic that, at the beginning of this, stopped time for an instant.

So as Ladybug/Marinette goes to pick up the little cup, mostly out of habit, and the yo-yo, she flips it onto her hip. Where it hasn't been, in any single loop til now.

"I think it got pulled in when I transformed. Honestly I didn't have time to watch, when it happened. Guess I was a bit busy at the time."

Oh, and the cup? No idea, really. Just kind of one of those moments.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Equivalence eye twitched. Stared at Ladybug. Her eye twitched.

How many. Times. Had she done this? How many loops?

She had grown so much. Learned so much. Been through so much. She had done the wrong thing... And she had reached out to so many people.

Finally... she pulled out her phone. She was getting Korma. And likely crying on Rashmi. "So... just in case... this doesn't fix it? These," she said, before nudging the fragments of the device. "How did they get mixed in with your yoyo?" Then paused. "I'm... Hinoiri, by the way. And these? Are the parts of a very, very dangerous temporal device. They're broken, not supposed to be tampered with. I was planning to take them back where they belong, but... how?" She tried to pick them up... only for them to disappear with a flash of pink light. "Oh... that... doesn't bode well. Marinette, where were you when this happened? I need to know when and where?" she asked.

She could feel it happening, but this time, the looping was... a little different. A little slower before it started, giving Ladybug enough time...

... Heh. And who would have thought? Sayaka was right. All she needed to do was trust others... and it worked.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
"Wait, you're Hinoiri???"
Slap. Pay attention.
"Right, sorry. But..right." Marinette, being Marinette. "Right. I was transforming, and Tikki was looking really sick, and she had this look in her eyes. Like something was wrong. And my yo-yo started vibrating, and I couldn't hold onto it. And I tried, but it pulled away so hard I couldn't hold on, and I was in the middle of my transformation and how do you know so much???"
Stay on topic.

"Library. I was in the library." She turns, to look. The ruins of the library, the first place. Where it had all begun.

Also, "So you say I can change my outfit how?"

Nevermind, she won't remember. Not until this is ended. THEN, she gets told. Oh yes. That outfit changes, if nothing else out of this.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Final Loop:

Hinoiri raced through the city, her phone in one hand. A flurry of texts sent out. 'I need you to be there for them.' 'I need your help.' 'I can't do this alone.'

The thing that Hinoiri learned, the thing that, after all of the loops, she knew more than anything?

Was that there were people she could depend on. For every time she pulled away, there were so many hands reaching out for her, to pull her back. It wasn't her job to do it alone. It wasn't her responsibility to make up for what she'd done. They hadn't saved her, helped her, because they needed her to pay back some imaginary 'debt'.

All she had to do, all she had to be, was the best her she could be. And right now? Being the best her she could be?

Involved practically TACKLING Marinette the moment she came into the library. And dragging the startled girl outside, putting her in a headlock and then *taking* her earrings. "Okay, Marinette, you and I are going to have a talk. Then you can have these back. You have something of mine, something that you really, really shouldn't be tampering with..." Then she smiled. "And... I owe you an apology. For thinking your plan was silly. But... my broken little hourglass? Give it, then you can have your miraculous back."

... And wait, she knew about the miraculous.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
So the items of power are returned to their respective people. It's that simple; actually, now you think about it, the further along Hinoiri got, the less she had to actually do. The last loop was, by FAR, the easiest. On her body, and her soul.

Tikki? She absolutely yells at Hinoiri, for a good ten minutes! So much yelling, and the fact that it came from someone with huge grandma vibes hidden in a tiny little bug? So much worse, while being...just a little comical, sure.

But when she's done, the little bug hugs them both. And Marinette gets told, verified by Tikki herself, that yes she can change her outfit. She just had to figure out how herself. Because, as Hinoiri has learned in spades, "The universe expects you to figure this stuff out yourself."

And Tikki's gaze has WEIGHT, when she says that.

Then, at the end, the little bug sits on Hinoiri's shoulder, as Marinette does ...something else. They're alone. And Tikki sighs. "You know I saw it. You wore the earrings." Yes, there's a lot in that. "That can't be taken back. So, if you need me, I'm here." And she kisses Hinoiri on the cheek. And she, of all of them, will remember.