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Marinette’s small legs trembled with the strain of holding her body over the flower’s bush, the twig tightly held between her fingers touching the branch where a tiny mud-colored snail unhurriedly slid over. Her tongue stuck out between her teeth when her torso began to bend sideways, a whine escaping her lips.
She held her breath as the snail approached the twig’s tip, clutching the bark in a shaky fist as her eyes flicked from the approaching grass to the snail slowly snailing from the bush to her twig.
Then something knocked over her leg, leveling her to the bushes, back smashing the flowers and leaves as she clutched her wood wand to her chest. She spluttered leaves and petals out of her mouth, wiping a hand at her hair and clothes as she sat up.
The snail disappeared from the bushes. Maybe it fell on Grassland, or Twig Town, or splattered on the ground and died.
Marinette hopped to her feet and threw the twig over her shoulder, peeking over the shrubs a torpedo smacked through.
“Hi, Félix.” She waved to the blond torpedo, who whipped his head around, eyes wide. “Are you looking for snails?”
“W-wha–?” He blinked his haze blue eyes back into focus and frowned. “No. I’m–” They widened again at something past Marinette’s shoulder and he dove back to the shrubs, hissing, “You don’t know me!”
The shrill shriek vaguely resembling Félix’s name didn’t give Marinette the time to properly mull over this course of events as she turned to the hooter buzzing out for Félix to stop running away and come play with her.
“Hey! You!”
Marinette startled and almost stumbled back as the hooter—no! A kid, just like her. Calling others hooters would be rude—snapped her head to her, short slick hair pulled back by a hairband whipping at her cheeks, a finger pointed at Marinette.
“Félix ran here, didn’t he? Where did he go?”
Marinette opened her mouth to answer, then quickly shut it, remembering Félix’s words, and blurt out, “You don’t know me!”
“Of course not.” Marinette stared in awe as she flipped her hair and looked away, humphing exactly like the mean girl on the TV. “I’m only friends with others, well-regarded, kids.” She grinned proudly, a hand to her chest. “Like me.”
How many ‘well-regarded kids’ were around here? Marinette decided to ask the blond girl since she seemed to know, “How many friends do you have?”
Bright red overtook her pale face and she turned to glare at Marinette, hands balled into fists. “Where’s he?” she asked in that shrill voice that Marinette was sure Félix was covering his ears because of.
Oh! That was why he was hiding. She couldn’t tell the girl he was in the shrubs behind her then– OH NO! She almost turned to it. Marinette clamped her arms by her sides and stared at the heated blond, trying not to move in any suspicious way till she went away. Wait. She asked Marinette something, so she was waiting for a response. She needed to say something then, so she’d go away. What did she ask–
A loud groan brought Marinette’s attention back to the blond girl, who had her face at a normal shade again.
“Forget it.” She turned to storm away. “I don’t need any peasants’ help anyway.”
Marinette lifted her hand to wave bye to the girl when something occurred to her.
“You should lower your voice!” she shouted, hands cupping her mouth.
The blond sputtered as she whirled back. “E-excuse me!”
“Your voice hurt ears! You should talk more quietly.”
More sputters, stammers, her face turned red again, something about how utterly ridiculous Marinette was, and then the blond was off again at heavier paces and voice shriller than ever as she cried out Félix’s name.
Oh, well, Marinette tried.
“Hi, Félix,” she said after pushing the shrubs away to reveal the small frame between them—and, sure enough, he was covering his ears. “I’m looking for snails, wanna help me?”
He didn’t answer right away, which was normal; what wasn’t normal was that he was looking directly at Marinette’s face as he lowered his hands from his ears, eyes sparkling and mouth agape in what almost looked like a grin.
“Soooooo–” Marinette hunched her shoulders, face averted as her cheeks heated up—was that girl’s temper contagious? “Do you wanna look for snails, or–”
Félix nodded and he was still grinning as he stood up, which was also very weird, but Marinette wouldn’t call it that, it’d be rude.
