736/Explanations Due

Explanations Due
Date of Scene:	09 November 2023
Location:	Dorms #1
Synopsis:	Adrien meets Naru for burgers, and some explanations about her favorite Cheeky Kitty.
Cast of Characters:	Adrien Agreste, Naru Osaka

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Adrien Agreste has posed:
With the promise of both food and explanations given, it's not long at all before Adrien arrives at Naru's dorm so that they can speak in private. Part of him was more than a bit nervous. Another part was... Kind of relieved that he would have at least one person that really knew. Even Chrono only sort of knew, without any details given.

"Are you suuure this is a good idea, Adrien?" Plagg asks from the confines of the messenger bag slung over his shoulder. Adrien tips his head down to grin at the kwami only to give a nod.

"She already kind of knows. It's better that I explain so that there's no issues in the future. Besides. Out of all my friends, she's probably one of the most trustworthy. She also knows others like me so it's not as if she's not used to keeping secrets."

Plagg squints at Adrien only to hum thoughtfully. "Well, all right. So long as you're not just telling her so you can look cool and win her heart."

Adrien nudges Plagg down into the bag again with a fingertip. "I wouldn't do that and you know it. Hide for now."

With that he finally reaches up to knock on the dorm of Naru and Usagi.

Naru Osaka has posed:
There's the smell of fast food emerging from the dorm room that Naru shares with Usagi, clearly Naru is making good on her promise of burgers for the pair of them.

"C'mon in! It's open!" Naru calls from where she is in the room, and once the pair of them step inside, Naru has set up a feast on the coffee table. She make some guesses on what Adrien might want to eat, she knows he's a carnivoire after all, and its hardly their first meal together. There's even some cheese for Plagg, and fries and a veggie burger for her.

Naru smiles brightly to Adrien as he arrives. "It occured to me after I told you to meet me here that I could have shown you the shed.. but we're here now and the seats are more comfortable. We dont have a couch in there yet."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste steps inside drawing a deep breath of the burgers quite glad that he was at leaest in comfortable surroundings. At least until Naru mentions The Shed which earns a lift of an eyebrow. "Secret meeting place?" he gathers while making sure the door was shut behind him. Never could be too careful.

It only takes a moment to jion her at the table and he sets his bag aside next to him so that it was within easy reach in case he needed it for anything. Like the phone, or Plagg. "I'm all right with here, especially since... Well. Chrono knows I'm ..." He falters finding the words hard. "Uh, 'gifted' in that way but he doesn't know my identity." A little ducking of his head comes as well as a guilty look peering up at her from beneath is lashes. "Which you do. Because of the other day. Sorry if I bothered you while transformed. I guess I get a bit more excitable in that mindset."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Meeting spot for the light side magical folks is exactly right." Naru confirms as he makes the guess. "New enough that probably only about half a dozen people know about it yet, and well.. we dont even have a coffee maker in there." Which speaks to just how new, really.

"Well, provided no one literally appears out of nowhere, it's just us here. Luna is off, I have no idea where, and I'm pretty sure Usagi is off with Darien being adorable." Naru reassures him as she settles down and gestures for him to do the same. "Oh, there's pop and water in the fridge if you want something, or coffee."

Naru giggles softly. "Cheeky Kitty makes me smile, you have no need to apologize at all for that flavour of fun. I'm rather fond of you in both of your guises."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"What about cheese?"

Adrien is just about to speak but THAT is not what he was going to say. His eyes roll upward with a good natured grin at least, along with a chuckle. "Come on out, Plagg. You should meet Naru, too. It'll be easier to answer questions from both of us." With that said Adrien gives a simple nod as he moves to the fridge for a pop. "Much as I love coffee I'll go with the standard for fast food. Thank you, Naru, for understanding."

For Plagg's part, the little black cat Kwami comes flitting out of the bag to bob up in front of Naru with a little paw lifting to wave. "Hi! I'm Plagg, Kwami of the Cat Miraculous. The most awesome one there is," he adds a bit full of himself. Maybe that's where 'Cheeky Kitty' gets some of it from?

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Hi Plagg." Naru waggles her fingers at him, her other hand already has picked up a fry. "We met very very briefly when we were feeding deer, enough for me to know you were fond of cheese. I hoped I picked something you liked." She tucks herself in cross-legged on the couch, trusting in Adrien's ability to go dig into the fridge himself. It's just a bar fridge, he can't get too lost in it.

"You are, indeed, the most awesome tiny black cat I've met. Although Luna is a pretty amazing black cat as well, but she's much bigger than you are, and she doens't tend to float." Although at this point, Naru wouldn't put it past Luna.

Naru's smile is warm to Adrien. "You are, for the record, not the only one who is cagey about their alter ego. We've quite a mix of comfort levels around this place."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste chuckles a bit nervously though he heads back to sit down. "I don't mean to be. It's just necessary given the particular situation I'm in. I don't even know the identity of Ladybug, the one I work with most often." For just a moment he sits there untwisting the bottle cap of his soda with a dreamy expression as he sighs. "Maybe someday she'll tell me."

Plagg groans a bit. "Give it up, Adrien. There's other girls. I like this one," he adds with a little cross of his arms over his tiny chest and a bob of his head apparently giving Naru the Plagg stamp of approval. Right after he floats down to examine the offerings finding the cheese. "Well it's not my favorite, but cheese is cheese!" With that he gobbles up a peice opening his mouth wider than any cat hsa a right to do. "Gnomf!"

Adrien chuckles a bit as he opts to snag his own fries before they get cold. "Plagg is the Kwami of Destruction while Ladybug is Creation. Apparently if someone were to get ahold of both our Miraculouses, they can make a Wish."

"Which is very, very dangerous to do," he adds as Plagg, mouth full, nods in complete agreement.

"That's why I'm so cagey about my identity. You saw how Hawkmoth can take over people in a way when he empowers them. All it would take is one person who knows the real us and he could come after us easily."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"omg, you are /adorable/." Naru teases him lightly on the dreamy expression and sigh, waggling a fry at him. "Thank you Plagg." Just a touch of colour hits her cheeks, but she takes it in good humour that she's apparently 'Plagg approved'.

"Its my experience at this point, that Wishes are unendingly dangerous and usually do not turn out how people expect them to, but that's neither here nor there." Naru comments thoughtfully and nods a little. "Right. He's presumably coming after your alter ego, but you're not him all the time, and now you only have to be cagey some of the time." She nods a little, thoughtfully. "I mean, it was mostly still Usagi, but she was certainly devoted to getting a hold of your, and Ladybug's, miraculous."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste turns a bit red at Plagg's remark, as well as Naru's reaction. He ducks his head reaching up to run a hand back through his blonde hair sheepishly. "Sorry. I just... She's amazing." There's a pause as he adds, quietly, "I mean, so are you, too, I'm not saying you're not, just..." It's kind of obvious now who he had such a crush on.

Opting to just shut himself up for now he pops another few fries in his mouth before taking a gulp of soda. "That's what he does, usually. He doesn't come out to fight us directly. He promises power to others in exchange for them getting our Miraculous." His hand lifts to show off the silver ring he wore which, on inspection, had the outline of a cat paw on it. Almost like a signet ring.

"Anyone can use a Miraculous so it's important that they not fall into the wrong hands."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"The heart wants what the heart wants.. I get it." Naru's smile is gentle. "Although only knowing her alter ego and not who she is all the time has to make things /super/ awkward."

"Alright, so he's kinda a coward if he makes other people do his dirty work for him." Naru rolls her eyes as she leans over to look more closely at the ring in question. Her tone is surprised at that last though. "Really? That's unusual." Naru is distracted from her fries to consider that. "Most magic granting items are very person specific. Or at least require a certain level of permission granting, but not just universal. Fascinating."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste ducks his head again. "She's told me she has someone else she likes to begin with. I'm trying to respect that and just be her friend," he explains about the whole situation. Thankfully the topic shifts.

"They are guarded usually, by the Guardian," Plagg pipes up between cheeses that he has steadily decimated. He's currently lounging with a very full belly looking quite happy with himself. "The Guardian chooses who gets to use them. Otherwise we're locked up somewhere safe until then."

Adrien grins at Naru's surprise. "Yeah. It's the item itself that's powered by the Kwami. I used the Snake Miraculous once as well. Right now Ladybug is the Guardian because the old one retired after a fight. That's about all I know though."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru pats her lap in offer to Plagg for his over-full lounging, if he's interested.

"I'm struggling to picture you as a snake, but that might be just because I met you as a kitty first." Naru comments, finally getting to her burger.

"So normally you'd have to get them every time? How does that work when a fight comes up?" Naru considers. "Or do you have like a term? Six months and then hand it back in?"

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"I don't really ever get to look at myself in a mirror most of the time, but I have at least seen myself as Chat Noir," Adrien remarks with a chuckle. "A lot of green for the snake. Very useful though."

Plagg pipes up with a bit of a jealous tone, "Not as useful as meee."

Adrien drops his hand down to offer a fist toward Plagg. "Of course not. We're partners, too," he assures which earns a little tiny-Kwami fist bump in return. "It was just what the situation needed at the time."

He reaches for his own burger to carefully fold the paper back so that it reveals it but has a proper bit of wrapping to keep any toppings from falling out while eating. "Not in our case. We have ours all the time. The others are loaned out and returned after being used so that their identities can be kept secret, too. Maybe that will change at some point but so far that's worked out for us."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Ahhh, that makes more sense." Naru nods as he notes that there's at least a couple who are consistent. "Having to sign out your powers like a library book seems really inconvenient."

Says she who has no powers at all, but that's besides the point.

"So how long have you been prowling the streets being awesome?" Naru asks, curious. She's managed only a couple bites of burger before she's back to fries. For someone who works out as much as she does, the girl apparently exists mostly on air and caffeine. "Most people I talk to are really new to the whole weird and powers. Only a few have more than a few months worth of experience."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"Really?" Adrien's a little surprised at that news. He takes a bite of the burger which is chewed thoughtfully as he considers the question. "About a year now give or take. It was start of the school year last year that I got the Miraculous. I don't know who gave it to me, I just found it slipped in my bag."

Plagg remarks idly, "The last Guardian was always pretty sneaky."

"Though it's a bit different here than in Paris."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Are you saying you didn't have multiple ways the world was trying to end itself like every week in Paris?" Naru quips lightly with a laugh. "Or a school that feels about half magical, and of that about half aliens?" Hyperbole, for certain, the magical kids are not half of RHA, it only feels that way sometimes.

"Okay that really /is/ sneaky. Did you know what it was, or did you put it on and then woosh.. big surprise?" Naru asks with a blink of surprise.

"I've only started remembering the weird since like.. late June, early July." Naru pauses a moment. "Wow. Four months. It feels like so much longer than that. Hunh."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste chuckles at the very thought of just putting something on and getting surprised. It wasn't too far off from the truth though. "Oh, Plagg showed up and explained things, and told me how to use it. There's phrases to activate it and turn it off, too."

A highly amused look flashes over his face though. "Nothing like this school at all, no. Though a lot of my classmates did end up Akumatized at some point.. but a lot of Paris did, too. When the powers feed off of strong emotions it's just a matter of waiting for the right situation I guess."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Good job, Plagg." Naru reaches a hand out to offer a pat to the sleepy kitty. "That sounds much more civilized than just 'surprise! Good luck!'"

Naru twists a wry grin. "If I ever get Akumatized at any point.. I am so sorry. I sincerely doubt I will rampage by turning people to plushies." Naru coughs softly. "Granted, last time I went evil I was also up to my eyeballs in dark energy and a little.. overwrought.. but I did throw youmas like.. literally threw youmas at friends."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"It's not easy, but you *can* avoid being Akumatized by changing how you feel at the moment. Once that emotion fades it can't take hold. So... I guess if you see any dark butterflies coming toward you, think about puppies or something?" Adrien suggests trying to be helpful, but also not entirely sure what might help himself.

"It's happened once before. I'm sure knowing how it works might give you an upper hand. Hopefully."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I mean..if its drawn to strong emotions, those are not usually the ones that are super easy to just zen you way out of really quickly when a butterfly is coming at you." Naru chuckles softly. "And with my luck, I'd think of like.. cerebus, rather than rolly polly good natured goofy puppies and then I'd have three heads to chew people with."

"Still, it's a good theory, that experience would give people an upper hand." Naru speculates. "I like to think that I'd cope better next time, but honestly.. I should probably just hope there isn't a next time."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste glances at the full and sleepy Plagg who was doing his best impression of a little kid trying to convince the adults he was not, in fact, sleepy. Which is to say he's failing miserably at it.

"I did say it wasn't easy to overcome the Akuma that way. I know I'm not great at suddenly changing my feelings at the drop of a hat, too. Though I admit Plagg is usually good at talking me out of dwelling on them too much."

Plagg pipes up sleepily, "Mostly when he's mooning over Laaaadybug," in a sing-song way. "I keep telling him, there's more types of cheese in the cheese drawer!"

Adrien just grimaces a little turning pink. "People aren't cheese, Plagg."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Hey c'mon Plagg.. he's /adorable/ when he's mooning over Ladybug." Naru clearly isn't wholly immune to helping the wee kitty mascot tease his partner, although she does give the blushing Adrien a wink where Plagg cant' entirely see.

"I'm not sure anyone's great at suddently changing their feelings." Naru agrees. "Mascot or not.. and I'm glad that he's helpful in getting you out of your own head. That's totally a thing." She pops another fry into her mouth. "Usually I'm good at calming myself down.. right up until I'm very very not. Which is probably right when an Akuma would be like 'heeey.. go for that one!'"

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste ducks his head a little to focus on eating the burger he had. It gave him a moment to recover from the teasing though he's taking it with good nature. Grabbing a napkin to dab at his mouth he continues, "On the bright side? The Akuma seem to need to be given orders from Hawkmoth. It's not just going after the most opportune target, but ones that he thinks are going to be of the most use to him. So if the Akuma is brushed off, it won't find a new target unless he tells it to."

A little sigh comes. "Though to be fair we're really not sure how he manages to monitor so much without being *there* too. I half believe he can see things through the Akuma's eyes. That would make sense." He had to discuss that possibility with Ladybug when they spoke next.

Regarding Naru a moment he considers. "Do you have any questions for me, then? Now that you know."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Are you sure Hawkmouth isn't in Japan?" Naru asks curiously. "Although I am glad that it isn't just bouncing from high emotion to high emotion. Because then examtime would be even more insanity than it already is."

Somehow Naru has already abandoned her burger, only having eaten half, but the temptation of fries has her still nibbling there.

"Do you enjoy it?" Naru asks simply enough. "Being Chat Noir?"

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"Oh, he most certainly is at this point. As far as I'm aware he still has to be in the proximity of his Akuma," Adrien remarks with a frown. "I don't know. Maybe he found out we were here, or there's some other reason he came here. He'd gone quiet for awhile in Paris before I transfered."

The question though? That causes him to smile brightly whiel he looks toward Plagg with a fond expression. "I love it. My father's been very strict since my mother..." He rakes a hand up through his hair to smooth it back over his head. "Ah. I know he means well, and he's trying to protect me. He's just been so distant and so strict. I wasn't allowed to have any friends outside of the children of people he worked with. Since I've become Chat Noir I've at least got some freedom."

A grin is flashed across toward Naru. "And more friends, like Plagg, and Marinette, and you."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"For all we know, he's working with Obsidian." Naru points out with a wrinkle of her nose. "It feels like everyone obnoxious is.. and a great many not obnoxious people who have just gotten caught up in it all."

Naru beams back to him. "I'm so glad that you have freedom, and friends and get to do stupid and silly stuff with us. Not just trying to keep the world from ending.." As if that's a normal teen task. "But eating burgers and fries and feeding deer and staying up too late drinking coffee and playing video games. Like.. it's /good/. And I'm glad you're here."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"Obsidian?" Adrien sits up a bit straighter looking quite taken aback at hearing that name. Mucnh less followed by the rest of what Naru shares. He opens his mouth, closes it, then frowns.

"Thanks, Naru, but... What was that about Obsidian?" This it seems was something he didn't know anything about. He knew some people that worked there of course, and his own father was working with them now. Not for, but with. His father would never work FOR someone. "Could you tell me more about Obsidian? I know Darien is an intern and has a boss that's apparently... weird. My father is working with Obsidian to help bring the Gabriel brand to Japan, though."

Suddenly concerned, he asks, "Do you think he's in danger?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru pauses holiding a fry and blinks at Adrien. Twice.

"That depends." Naru answers honestly. "If he's just working for them, and not in the weird stuff, he's probably fine." She quirks her head. "But Obsidian is the evil mega corporation that is behind the soul stealing gun, a lot of dark energy projects, Midnight Tokyo. There's.. it's pretty evil top to bottom." She mms. "Like more so than most corporations."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste stares intently at Naru while allowing this new information to turn over in his head a few times. His breath was held all the while which he doesn't seem to realize. He just lets it out in a small relieved sigh. "Okay, good. I mean it's not good but I can't imagine my father doing anything evil. He may not always be the nicest person, but that's just because he's always busy." A little smile is offered back. "He'd never work *for* anyone either. Just a merger of one of his branches to expand the business. I'm sure... even if it's an evil corporation... They still have to have legitimate work to exist."

"Though now I am *way more* worried about Darien telling his boss I may be a Prince. Apparently she was looking for one and he suggested to her I'm the most Princely person he knows."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I will hope that he's found a legit branch of Obsidian to work with." Naru agrees with a little nod. "But generalized statements.. they're pretty bad."

Naru flashes a smile. "I mean.. better you be a distraction on the Princely side of things because you can actually take cake of yourself. And ideally, it wont actually come up. I mean.. she hasn't come hunting for you or anything? If she doens't think you're much of a prince, then we can distract her with yet another princely dude of some sort." Not, to be fair, that Radiant Heart is all that full of Princely types, but there's a few at least.

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste holds up his hands quickly with a laugh. "Oh, no, so far nothing has happened. I'm fine with that. If I need to be a decoy, I can be one easily. Just so long as the ring is protected." He glances toward Plagg at that, and lowers one hand to show off the silver paw-print signet ring. "That's the important part. Otherwise I'm open to being bait. It wouldn't be the first time."

A grin comes over him. "I'm smart but I admit I'm not the planning guy. Usually it's Ladybug so I usually offer to distract while she does the heavy lifting."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru can't help but giggle. "You're mostly just the pretty face and let Ladybug do your thinking for you?" She teases, tossing the usual sexist attitude on its head and then shakes her head. "Naw, you are too clever for that, by half."

Naru nods. "Exactly. Decoy prince." She reaches over to the table and a piece of card that's underneath the junk food. A paper crown, that she makes into its circle and tucks the tabs in. "See? Decoy Prince." She giggles and reaches over to crown him with it.

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste winks at Naru's assumption of the issue with a grin. "Well her power is a bit more useful for solving things, whereas mine is just destruction. Other than the fighting and being awesome part." For just a moment a bit of the Cheeky Kitty shines through even if he's no where near as bad while out of costume. "Her Lucky Charm turns into whatever is needed at the time to solve things. Just she has to figure out how to use it sometimes if it's not immediately obvious. So..." He spreads his hands with a shrug. "I distract and buy time. I'm not bad on my own, I just can't do what she does."

When the paper crown is fished out he blinks in surprise, only for his eyes to light up with a broad grin. He ducks his head to accept the crown sitting up straight after looking quite happy to have even the fake thing. "I always saw these in movies! This is so neat!"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"That IS a useful power." Naru agrees on the topic of Ladybug's powers. "I mean.. you do the awesome pretty well."

There's a giggle at Adrien's reaction and Naru beams at him. "It looks good on you. Oh Princely one." She giggles and waggles her fry at him. "What are you going to do with the papery power thrust upon you?"

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste reaches up to adjust his paper crown so that it tips back at a jaunty angle atop his head. The fact that his hair was usually swept to one side made that rather easy to keep it up, too. "I suppose I should make some proclaimations. Like..."

He has to think on this. His gaze drops down to Plagg a moment only to find him honk-shoooing away peacefully on his back with a belly full of cheese. He grins, and looks back up.

"Probably declare that we should get to bed and be rested for school tomorrow. Being responsible sucks."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru laughs. "Adrien.. we are so boring." Says one semi-magical kid to another. "You're probably right, but being responsible /sucks/." She mmms softly. "How about when we're /not/ getting up for school in the morning? Or saving the world. Or anythign else. When things are calm.. if that ever happens."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste grins brightly. "Oh, well then! I think we should probably hit that vegan ramen place you mentioned. Koji and Darien treated me to ramen in their room which was great, but I think eating out would be a good experience, too."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Let's try for ramen on the weekend." Naru proposes. "As a reward for getting homework done for the week. Sounds good, your princelyness?" She grins at him, teasing even still.

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste clears his throat lightly, and lifts his head in a playfully hoity way. "We find this acceptable." The royal We even. It causes him to devolve into a little snort of laughter at his own antics though, his head shaking. "I know the mannerisms and I could do them, but if I had to talk like that all the time I don't think I could take myself seriously."

"This weekend sounds great. Thanks for the burgers tonight, Naru. Also," he hesitates before adding, "Thanks for being cool about things, and understanding why I had to keep it a secret."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru giggles softly at the Royal We. "I expect it makes most royals pretty crazy too, but I wouldnt actually know."

"You're welcome. We should do it more oftne. But ramen this weekend is a good thing to look forward to." Her smile is warm. "I understand the secrecy. I am glad to be able to tease both of you."