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[geophile]

"You've reached Steven Stone. Leave a message, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

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[buginette]

[ BUT ADRIEN THO. ]

i've loked everywere!! not at home, not at school, not at work!! what if something happned to him and hes been abductd by another crazy copycat robot and cant contact anyone becuase theyre trying to kll him and hes all alone and in danger then adrien'll be gone forever when I didnt even get to tell him anything?!

[ there goes that overactive doom and gloom imagination again. but given recent events, can you honestly blame her? ]

[geophile]

Try to relax, Marinette. Take a deep breath.

[ that's the first thing that she needs to do - having one missing kid and one panicked kid on his hands isn't ideal, so the least he can do is try to solve one of them.

but he acts on his word, sending metagross on ground search and skarmory in the air. the latter knows adrien quite well, and his advantage of a bird's eye view means that he can comb the colony with ease. ]

I'm sending the search out now - in the meantime, I'll ask around about disappearances under this particular set of circumstances. I can tell you right now that I don't think he's in any danger.

[buginette]

but it isnt like him to act like this!

[ easier said than done. telling marinette to calm down is like forcing a cat into water, even more so given that her beloved adrien could be— well, therein lies the problem, looping back to her initial dread and amplifying it tenfold. casually adjusts adrien!blinders . . .

still, despite that small hiccup with the whole chat noir biz (totally chat's fault btw), steven—and by extension, his pokémon—have certainly proven loyalty on multiple occasions. she may not be calm per se, but there is a slight improvement, kicking her more logical side back into gear. ]

Okay, me too. I'll ask around town one more time and check when he last logged into ViViD just in case. Please contact me as soon as you and your team find anything!

[ and now for her alter ego to make another sweep of cerealia! ]

/2

[geophile]

I know. That's why we'll get to the bottom of it.

[ any improvement is good in his books, and he's happy to see her typing return to (relative) normalcy. that's progress! ]

I will. You do the same.

[ and he's off to ask his friends, acquaintances and informants about any strange colony goings-on. ]

[geophile]

[ ]

Have you found anything?

→ voice.

[buginette]

[ at this point, marinette phones him in response so as to facilitate their efforts. ... well, not after a brief slip-up of pressing the "call" button as ladybug first, though she is almost positive (?) it did not connect. why is she so clumsy, bless.

take no. two: she detransforms and crouches down on the rooftop she had been parkouring upon receiving his text, shielding the receiver from the light summer gust that picks up due to the altitude and trying to keep panic from rising in her voice when he answers. ]

—No one I've talked to has seen him at all day and he's not in ViViD. ... oh! It's Marinette by the way, hi. So, what about you? Any news?

[ for once, ladybug luck has failed her. she hopes the opposite for steven, however... ]

→ voice.

[geophile]

[ oh. well, he certainly isn't opposed to switching to voice - if anything, it keeps his hands free. but that unfortunately also means that breaking the news to her will be a little less emotionally isolated. he sighs. ]

There is news... though I'm afraid it's both good and bad. [ a pause. ] The bad news is that Adrien doesn't appear to be in the colony. The good news is that I've explained the circumstances to an acquaintance of mine that's been here for awhile now. She says that isolated disappearances like this aren't uncommon; he isn't in danger if this is such a case. He should return to the colony in three days' time.

[buginette]

[ and here marinette waits with bated breath... literally. without even realizing it, she had began holding her breath in sync with steven's pause, only to let out a garbled, squealy gasp to learn of adrien's complete absence. "bad news" was quite the understatement; but, nevertheless, she does hang tight enough for steven to continue his explanation, body squirming as questions (and more panic) fill her head and totally not registering the fact that there is some semblence of good news, just... not what she wants to hear. and, whether he is finished or not, she blurts out— ]

— three days?!

[ that's like... one day longer than a weekend away from school how can she handle this absolute torture?! ] Wait, so where is he then? Why is it just Adrien? Can we get him back any faster? What's going on??

[ whoa, slow down there girl. sorry, steven. ]

[geophile]

From how I understand it, he's back in your world. I'm not sure if you were told, but the concept of our worlds being destroyed is completely false. People have disappeared and returned with full memories of their previous time here. However, an instance like this, where a name still remains on the network, means that the disappearance is temporary.

[ yeah, he doesn't really get it either. he had plenty of questions for athena when she explained it, so he's just rewording what she said about it. ]

However, the flow of time between Cerealia and our worlds has discrepancies - what will be three days for us here could be any possible length of time for him in your world. When he returns, he may have some new memories of events that took place there. Unfortunately, there is no way to speed up the process on our end.

[buginette]

[ huh, that certainly is news— fantastic news, no less!—to marinette, though she hates to revel in it during such a situation. it does, however, further fuel her desire with coals of hope to find a way out for everyone, but one thing at a time, yeah? besides, a consideration comes to mind. ]

Wait, if that's true, then wouldn't staying back home be better? [ hella sad she got left behind, but for adrien's sake, at least he is home away from cerealia's crazy. ] Unless... what you're saying is, this place just pulls you right back in again after three days? That is, some...times? It's random then?

[ before she can fully get her brain wrapped around that concept, here comes the next bombshell. ]

Wha—?! So you mean, he could be home for years and it'll only be three days for us still stuck here?!

[ nooo! what if adrien becomes an old man without her?! ]

[geophile]

That's right. He won't have a say in whether he stays or leaves - from how I understand it, it is CERES who makes that decision.

[ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wakarimasen ]

It's possible, yes. We'll only know for sure when he returns.

[buginette]

[ well, that is a whole lot of suck. ]

Ughhhhhhh.

[ because really, what other response is there. ]

[geophile]

I'm sorry. I wish I could do more to help, but patience is our only option at the moment.

[ he sighs, because he really does mean that apology. it's the first time that he's seen marinette so down, and he feels somewhat responsible for breaking the news to her. ]

[buginette]

[ she tries to be genki, but... yeah. adrien. sigh. ]

It's okay, Steven... Thanks for all of your help anyway.

[geophile]

There's no need to thank me. I'm as concerned as you are.

[ he knows, honey, he knows... but he still feels bad about it.

there's a pause in his words for a moment as he mulls an idea over. if he can't bring adrien back, he at least wants to do something for her to pass the time a little; maybe take her mind off of the situation, if only for a moment. time to be a good dad and step up, steven. ]

Though in the meantime, may I treat you to lunch? I can imagine it's been a rough morning for you.

[ who knows. it might help ease his worries, too. ]

[buginette]

[ cue marinette's stomach growling at the mention of food. oh right, eating is a thing no matter how upset she is. she exchanges a brief glance with her familiar who has her ear? uh, head squished against the other side of her phone and gives a nod. if marinette is hungry, then she can only imagine how tikki must feel. after all, they did spend a good chunk of the morning running around as ladybug. ]

Actually, that sounds great. We'd— er, I'd love to.

[geophile]

[ he's about to question her little slip-up, but decides not to. he'll remember it, though - he's not sure for what, but he always makes sure to make note of small details like that.

either way, he's glad. ]

Wonderful. I have a nice place in mind; I'll send you the coordinates. We'll meet in an hour if that works for you.

[buginette]

[ shush. that never happened, steven. NEVER HAPPENED. ]

Yeah, no problem. Thanks! I'll see you then.

Bye! [ click. ]