The Rain'll Be Gone In The MorningGabriel's first question when he opened his eyes that morning was why the world looked so strange? The second was, why was he apparently outside on the grass rather than in his bed or even at his desk? The second question helped answer the first; he'd fallen asleep in his glasses and said glasses were now covered with water droplets. Sitting up, he removed them and gently shook much of the water from them before fishing in his pocket for a cleaning cloth, hoping that it, at least, was dry after noticing that his glasses weren't the only part of him that was damp.
Fortunately only the rain hadn't penetrated his clothes in most places, and so the cleaning cloth was able to clear up the lenses quite easily allowing him to look around properly once he put them back on. Tucking the cloth back away, he noticed Nooroo curled up in a little patch of clover next to him, still asleep and looking absolutely adorable. He smiled, taking a moment to appreciate the sight before gently scooping up the little kwami.
Nooroo stirred, yawning and flicking water from his wings with a little flutter. "Gabriel?", he said. "Did we fall asleep outside?"
"Apparently so," Gabriel replied quietly. "Though I couldn't tell you why. Much less how we apparently slept through a rain shower." They were both a bit too damp for dew to account for it, after all.
"I don't know either, but...", he took a deep breath, sniffing the air a bit, "...there's still a bit of magic lingering in the air. Maybe you should have a look around."
"Probably a good idea," Gabriel agreed, getting to his feet and stretching a bit. "I need to stretch my legs a bit after sleeping on the ground all night anyway." It wasn't something he was accustomed to, after all, and a bit less easy to bounce back from than it would have been in his college days. Thus, after Nooroo ducked into his customary hiding place in Gabriel's pocket, he set out to do just that, looking for anyone else who may have fallen asleep on the lawn.
Bittersweet MemoriesGabriel had returned to his room and was most of the way through changing into dry clothes before he noticed something on the nightstand. A DVD case, bearing a familiar title and the image of an even more familiar woman holding an umbrella. The image was in black and white, but his memory easily supplied the colors. The soft gold of her hair. The green of her eyes. Even the shade of coral-pink of the lipstick she always preferred. Emilie. "But how...?", he asked aloud as he picked it up.
He heard something shift faintly inside the case and carefully opened it up, wanting to be sure the disc hadn't come loose from its holder. The disc proved to still be securely in place, however, and instead, several photographs fell out and landed on the bed. The first was of Emilie, seated in an opulent looking chair, wearing a long gown that he recognized as one he himself had designed for her. But not even the floor-length gown could completely disguise the elaborate braces on her legs, nor could her perfectly done makeup hide the weariness in her eyes and her posture. Every bit as beautiful as ever, but a stark reminder of what his hubris and misuse of power had cost. He smiled as he dabbed away the tears that welled up in his eyes before looking at the next one.
Adrien. His Adrien. He recognized the specific photo as one that had been taken as part of a shoot for an ad campaign, and though he'd ultimately chosen a different pose for the posters, he'd kept this one for himself because he'd liked the somewhat cheeky expression Adrien had in it. It reminded hm of simpler times, when there wasn't quite so much distance between them. The smile that accompanied this one was softer, more genuine.
The next was another picture of Adrien, but clearly not his Adrien, and accompanied by Garfield. Both of them grinning cheerfully under an oddly colored sky with- was that a heart-shaped moon?- overhead. This must be the Adrien Gar knew and perhaps that chaos world he'd mentioned. He'd have to show it to him later. In fact he'd probably show him all the photos; he deserved to see them after all.
Next was a photo of Nathalie. Unlike the others so far, this one was clearly a candid photo. Nathalie was sitting in an armchair, sunlight coming in one of the mansion's windows as she examined her tablet thoughtfully, a stylus in her other hand with its tip resting lightly on her chin. A wisp of blue dyed hair had escaped her usually prim style to fall down over her forehead, doubtless to be brush away and tucked back in the moment it was noticed. She wore her usual stylish blue pants suit, but her sitting position, leaning bit to her left with her legs crossed had allowed one shoe to come partway off. Still professional, much more relaxed than she typically allowed herself while working, it captured Nathalie very well, and he wondered, perhaps, if it was one that Emilie had taken. He smiled fondly as he moved on to the last photo.
Compared to the others, however, the last photo was surprising. A young man and woman, she in a red and black leotard and domino mask, and he in a black leather cat suit that under other circumstances would look perhaps ta bit inappropriate for someone of his apparent age to be wearing, standing on top of the Arc De Triumph, of all places. A watermark in the corner identified the image as the property of 'the Ladyblog' whatever that might be.
Unlike the others, this one caught Nooroo's attention as well. "Gabriel, those two are holders of the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous!", he said. "I'd know Tikki and Plaag's work anywhere."
"Really?," he said. "Can you tell me anything more about them? Does this image have anything to do with those strange signals we started picking up before we were brought here."
Nooroo shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I don't know. There's billions of parallel universes out there and there's really no way to tell which one this is from from just a photo. Maybe you could ask Garfield? It's clearly taken in Paris, so he might know something, even if it's not specifically his universe."
Gabriel nodded, gazing thoughtfully at the image, before tucking it and the other photos back into the DVD case. He'd have to find some frames for the other ones later, but this would at least keep them together. "I'll do that, thank you," he said. "For now though, you'd best hide. Once I talk to Ben we can set things in motion but for now, we can't let anyone see you. I'll bring you up something from breakfast a bit later."
Nooroo nodded and flew off to find a comfortable place to settle in as Gabriel finished dressing. Soon enough it would be time for Betterfly to 'arrive', but for now he needed to find out if anyone else had gotten any mysterious gifts. Which he could likely do at breakfast.
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timeasmymeasure
Gabriel- OTA
Date: 2025-05-04 11:39 pm (UTC)The Rain'll Be Gone In The Morning
Gabriel's first question when he opened his eyes that morning was why the world looked so strange? The second was, why was he apparently outside on the grass rather than in his bed or even at his desk? The second question helped answer the first; he'd fallen asleep in his glasses and said glasses were now covered with water droplets. Sitting up, he removed them and gently shook much of the water from them before fishing in his pocket for a cleaning cloth, hoping that it, at least, was dry after noticing that his glasses weren't the only part of him that was damp.Fortunately only the rain hadn't penetrated his clothes in most places, and so the cleaning cloth was able to clear up the lenses quite easily allowing him to look around properly once he put them back on. Tucking the cloth back away, he noticed Nooroo curled up in a little patch of clover next to him, still asleep and looking absolutely adorable. He smiled, taking a moment to appreciate the sight before gently scooping up the little kwami.
Nooroo stirred, yawning and flicking water from his wings with a little flutter. "Gabriel?", he said. "Did we fall asleep outside?"
"Apparently so," Gabriel replied quietly. "Though I couldn't tell you why. Much less how we apparently slept through a rain shower." They were both a bit too damp for dew to account for it, after all.
"I don't know either, but...", he took a deep breath, sniffing the air a bit, "...there's still a bit of magic lingering in the air. Maybe you should have a look around."
"Probably a good idea," Gabriel agreed, getting to his feet and stretching a bit. "I need to stretch my legs a bit after sleeping on the ground all night anyway." It wasn't something he was accustomed to, after all, and a bit less easy to bounce back from than it would have been in his college days. Thus, after Nooroo ducked into his customary hiding place in Gabriel's pocket, he set out to do just that, looking for anyone else who may have fallen asleep on the lawn.
Bittersweet Memories
Gabriel had returned to his room and was most of the way through changing into dry clothes before he noticed something on the nightstand. A DVD case, bearing a familiar title and the image of an even more familiar woman holding an umbrella. The image was in black and white, but his memory easily supplied the colors. The soft gold of her hair. The green of her eyes. Even the shade of coral-pink of the lipstick she always preferred. Emilie. "But how...?", he asked aloud as he picked it up.He heard something shift faintly inside the case and carefully opened it up, wanting to be sure the disc hadn't come loose from its holder. The disc proved to still be securely in place, however, and instead, several photographs fell out and landed on the bed. The first was of Emilie, seated in an opulent looking chair, wearing a long gown that he recognized as one he himself had designed for her. But not even the floor-length gown could completely disguise the elaborate braces on her legs, nor could her perfectly done makeup hide the weariness in her eyes and her posture. Every bit as beautiful as ever, but a stark reminder of what his hubris and misuse of power had cost. He smiled as he dabbed away the tears that welled up in his eyes before looking at the next one.
Adrien. His Adrien. He recognized the specific photo as one that had been taken as part of a shoot for an ad campaign, and though he'd ultimately chosen a different pose for the posters, he'd kept this one for himself because he'd liked the somewhat cheeky expression Adrien had in it. It reminded hm of simpler times, when there wasn't quite so much distance between them. The smile that accompanied this one was softer, more genuine.
The next was another picture of Adrien, but clearly not his Adrien, and accompanied by Garfield. Both of them grinning cheerfully under an oddly colored sky with- was that a heart-shaped moon?- overhead. This must be the Adrien Gar knew and perhaps that chaos world he'd mentioned. He'd have to show it to him later. In fact he'd probably show him all the photos; he deserved to see them after all.
Next was a photo of Nathalie. Unlike the others so far, this one was clearly a candid photo. Nathalie was sitting in an armchair, sunlight coming in one of the mansion's windows as she examined her tablet thoughtfully, a stylus in her other hand with its tip resting lightly on her chin. A wisp of blue dyed hair had escaped her usually prim style to fall down over her forehead, doubtless to be brush away and tucked back in the moment it was noticed. She wore her usual stylish blue pants suit, but her sitting position, leaning bit to her left with her legs crossed had allowed one shoe to come partway off. Still professional, much more relaxed than she typically allowed herself while working, it captured Nathalie very well, and he wondered, perhaps, if it was one that Emilie had taken. He smiled fondly as he moved on to the last photo.
Compared to the others, however, the last photo was surprising. A young man and woman, she in a red and black leotard and domino mask, and he in a black leather cat suit that under other circumstances would look perhaps ta bit inappropriate for someone of his apparent age to be wearing, standing on top of the Arc De Triumph, of all places. A watermark in the corner identified the image as the property of 'the Ladyblog' whatever that might be.
Unlike the others, this one caught Nooroo's attention as well. "Gabriel, those two are holders of the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous!", he said. "I'd know Tikki and Plaag's work anywhere."
"Really?," he said. "Can you tell me anything more about them? Does this image have anything to do with those strange signals we started picking up before we were brought here."
Nooroo shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I don't know. There's billions of parallel universes out there and there's really no way to tell which one this is from from just a photo. Maybe you could ask Garfield? It's clearly taken in Paris, so he might know something, even if it's not specifically his universe."
Gabriel nodded, gazing thoughtfully at the image, before tucking it and the other photos back into the DVD case. He'd have to find some frames for the other ones later, but this would at least keep them together. "I'll do that, thank you," he said. "For now though, you'd best hide. Once I talk to Ben we can set things in motion but for now, we can't let anyone see you. I'll bring you up something from breakfast a bit later."
Nooroo nodded and flew off to find a comfortable place to settle in as Gabriel finished dressing. Soon enough it would be time for Betterfly to 'arrive', but for now he needed to find out if anyone else had gotten any mysterious gifts. Which he could likely do at breakfast.