Marinette's Fateful Trip To Gotham (~Damienette~)

Chapter 10

The next couple of days seemed to pass in a blur, and Marinette and the others soon worked themselves into a steady routine. The various landmarks and museums they visited deepened Marinette's desire to soon call Gotham her home, and to start a new chapter of her life.

It was Saturday, meaning they had been in Gotham for almost a week now. Yet despite being here for such a short time, Marinette was already beginning to forget the colourful streets of Paris, quickly becoming accustomed to Gotham's cloudy grey, yet oddly comforting streets.

The change in scenery, although typically seen as depressing, sparked new artistic ideas from Marinette. Everywhere she looked, inspiration hit her. As one would expect, Marinette's designs changed with her surroundings. Her designs, whilst still displaying various colours, had developed a somewhat mature undertone, with many of her designs incorporating greys and blacks intertwined with splashes of Parisian inspired colours.

Marinette was currently laying on a small picnic blanket at Gotham Botanical Gardens, gazing around at the myriads of flowers and plants, a few of which she had not seen before in Paris. This was one of the few places that held such overwhelming amounts of colour to remind Marinette of Paris.

Yet despite the numerous beds of flowers laying around her, it seemed as though there were a slight filter on everything before her. Everything seemed slightly muted - the colours, the people, the streets. To most, this would have been off putting - sad even. But to Marinette, it was wondrous.

Marinette was tired of the bright colours of Paris; however beautiful they were. Their blinding vibrancy had always matched her ever busy life - her childish eagerness to overcome whatever challenge lay before her.

But now, with Hawkmoth defeated, her life was no longer a hurried mess. It was quiet - well, except for Lila. But all in all, Marinette was finally calm. Her thoughts no longer trying to decipher Hawkmoth's plan or stressed over when the next Akuma Attack may take place.

Marinette's life was finally peaceful, and the calmness of Gotham complemented her newfound contentment.

Marinette sat comfortably and basked in this peacefulness, when all of a sudden she was thrown onto her back and slobbered over by a large dog.

"Hey!" she laughed, throwing her hands up to cover her face in a spurt of giggles, "Come on, get off". The dog, seemingly well trained, relented, and instead sat besides her, tail wagging. Marinette smiled, although inside she began to worry. How had she not heart it coming? Were her senses weakening because of she had stopped transforming so frequently? If her senses were weakening, was her strength and agility too?

Marinette sat up, casting those thoughts aside - she would ask Tikki later, she had turned a new leaf, a leaf of peace, and she planned on keeping true to that change.

She turned to the dog, who almost seemed to smile at her, and checked it's collar. "Titus" she murmured, "why does that sound familiar..."

She smiled and scratched the Titus's ear, who in turn panted leaned into her hand.

"Awww" Marinette soothed, "Don't worry Titus, I'll find your owner for you, before you can say woof".

She laughed at her own terrible joked, and looked around the garden. Just as she was about to get up to search for Titus's owner, a familiar voice called out in the distance "Titus! Titus boy where are you?".

Marinette called back out "Over here!" and waved her arms.

In a matter of seconds, Damien 20 or so metres away. When he spotted Marinette, the corners of his mouth perked up. He jogged over, and knelt down in front of Titus.