Summary: After Story time with Master Fu, Marinette and Adrien leave to finish their day at the festival
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“I knew Ladybug could be found in Egyptian mythology,” Marinette commented, “but I never knew she was in the beginning of Chinese mythology, too.”
“Who is to say that Ladybug cannot be found elsewhere? I am sure there are stories of their history that even I do not know,” Master Fu replied.
“Thank you for the story,” Adrien said with a kind smile.
“It was my pleasure. Knowing our history is important,” he said, standing up with the help of his cane. “Now if you wait just a moment before you both go rushing off, I think I may have something for you.”
As he disappeared into the second room of the tent, the two teenagers glanced at each other.
“That was such an interesting tale. Ladybug turned out to be just the person to balance out Chat Noir,” Adrien commented.
“Yes, and just as Ladybug is the balance to Chat Noir,” Master Fu commented as he emerged from the back room with something draped over his arm, “Chat Noir is the balance to Ladybug; yin and yang.”
The two teenagers blushed at the implications as their minds flashed to their partners for a moment. Marinette shook herself out of it quickly, sneaking a glance at Adrien before returning her attention to Master Fu.
Master Fu chuckled lightly before unfolding the fabric over his arm.
“Now this old jacket was given to me many a year ago, and I do believe you’ll put it to much better use,” he said to Adrien. “Sate an old man’s curiosity and try it on, would you?”
Adrien blinked at the offered jacket, a little bewildered, before gingerly accepting the garment and carefully shrugging it on. Adrien was amazed at how smooth the silky red fabric felt and while doing up the buttons on the front he was amazed at how well the jacket fit. Of course, most of his clothes were fitted, but this jacket hadn’t been tailored to him yet it still seamed like it was. Adrien held back the chuckle at his own pun. Feeling rather giddy at receiving such a wonderful gift, he held out his arms after doing up the last button.
“Well, how does it look?” he asked with a wide grin.
Poor Marinette was at loss for words.
“It looks like you both match now,” Master Fu commented with a pleased smile.
The kids blushed not making eye contact.
“You should go and enjoy the rest of the festivities now,” Master Fu insisted, making shooing motions at the two.
Adrien nodded and smiled, turning and offering his arm to Marinette.
“Shall we depart, Marinette?”
Marinette paused, feeling an odd sense of deja vu. She reached out to take the offer before reaching out and grabbing his hand instead, taking Adrien by surprise.
She nodded before turning to Master Fu once more.
“Thank you again for the story,” she said before dragging Adrien out of the tent.
Adrien waved on his way out, also giving his thanks.
“An intriguing pair, Master.”
“Yes indeed, Wayzz. A pair to watch. I’m sure they’ll do great things.”
“Marinette, look, they’re selling paper lanterns over there, let’s go have a look!”
It was nearing the end of the festival day and Marinette was finally getting used to this very excitable Adrien.
“Of course, of course, slow down!” Marinette laughed as she was dragged to the paper lantern display. There were lanterns of all different shapes and sizes. Some Lanterns were to float on water and some for floating in the sky or hanging on strings. Red and gold were predominant but there were a few colourful ones for the young children.
“We should get one to send out,” Adrien suggested.
“Sure,” Marinette agreed as she peered at the wide selection of lanterns in front of them. “There are a lot to choose from, though! Which one do you want?”
Adrien thought for a moment, looking at the display, before grinning and pointing at a particular design. It looked like it was selling really well, and Marinette could see why when she spotted the polka dots.
“How about this one?” Adrien asked, picking it up for a closer look. Marinette leaned over his arm and saw that it wasn’t just a Ladybug lantern, as she had kind of feared. It was red with black dots, but it also apparently had two black ears and a tail. She found herself smiling.
“How much is it?” she asked, reaching for her money. “We can split it.”
“No, it’s my treat!” Adrien announced, shaking his head. “Your mom gave us all those pastries, remember?”
“And she’d kill me if I let you pay me back for them!”
With a slightly mischievous grin, Adrien sang, “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her!”
Before Marinette could protest anymore, Adrien had already handed over the money for the paper lantern and she sighed, letting her purse fall back to her side. If it made him happy to buy the lantern, then she’d let him get away with it.
“If you’ve bought a lantern, they’re setting them out down by the Seine,” a woman told them from the next lantern stall, smiling at them. “I think they’ve got someone waiting to photograph them when they go past the Eiffel Tower, too. Why don’t you guys head down that way and check it out?”
“Thank you!” Adrien was practically beaming by now, and he reached for Marinette’s hand. “Come on, Marinette, let’s go!”
Laughing, Marinette called, “Adrien, slow down!” but allowed herself to be pulled toward the riverbank.
It had taken the pair a little while to find an empty bench by the Seine that wasn’t being crowded by the many family and friends gathered to release lanterns. Already a few of the water lanterns were drifting out towards the middle of the river.
Releasing their lantern the two sat side by side on the bench overlooking over Seine, watching as the lantern floated off. They tracked it with their eyes as it bobbed on the water surface before drifting off with the other lanterns that had been released. As the lantern floated among its peers and was lost to the crowd of lanterns making their way down the Seine and towards the Eiffel tower the two turned to smile at each other. Feeling content, the pair stayed silent and watched the dance of the lanterns.
Summary: Master Fu begins to explain the origins of the Lunar New Year Festival, telling the tale of a man called Nian, who made a deal with a black cat and later, fell under a curse.
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Marinette and Adrien shared a glance, but obliged Master Fu, settling into the cushions under his canopy. As they got comfortable, Marinette commented on some of the embroidery on various cushions, including a hanging tapestry that was at the rear of the area.
“Is that…Ladybug?” she asked curiously, gesturing. Adrien followed her hand and saw the classical Chinese style and cloaked and armored person standing proud before another human shrouded in darker colors. The one that almost seemed like Ladybug was offering a hand to the other, which the other had taken. It was…interesting, to say the least, but Adrien failed to see what it had to do with the origins of the Lunar New Year Festival.
Instead of giving a straight answer, Master Fu just smiled and said, “It will all be explained in due time, Miss Dupain-Cheng. And it all begins with a foolish creature known as Nian.”
Marinette turned her full attention to Master Fu at the somewhat familiar name. “Nian was the monster, right?”
“Some say that, but the truth is very, very different,” his tone was somber. “Long ago in China, there was a man called Nian.”
Nian had lived a rough life and had fallen on hard times. Food was scarce, well-paying work was hard to come by, and he had a reputation for ill luck. Times were especially rough, and this was when he was approached by a black cat.
“Nian,” the cat spoke, “I can give you the power to change your fate.”
As a man with nothing, Nian had little to lose and much, much more to gain. He was afraid, of course, because making a deal with a spirit could turn out very poorly. But Nian was only human, and he was hungry.
Nian struck a bargain with the black cat.
At first, he was careful with when and where he used his power. With the deal, he had gained powers of sight in the dark, hearing better than that of the average person, and even acquired some feline tendencies, but with these powers also came the dark one.
Nian had the power of destruction at his fingertips.
He was terrified of this power. It ate away at trees and plants and could even make stone and steel crumble before him. But with time came confidence; he had been given these powers for a reason. The cat had chosen him, of all people, so he must have the strength to wield this magnificent power.
Eventually, this confidence turned into a desire for more power, and this desire allowed the darkness to fall over him.
Nian was changing, falling prey to this misfortune. He was tired of being poor, exhausted, and hungry, so he started to take. At first, he fell to petty thievery, but the thrill and the chase urged him to new heights. He started to kill livestock and take the meat for himself. He would hunger no more, not when he had this power.
There came a day when the only village he had ever known banished him. He fell into a rage; why? How? It was the only place he knew, the only home he’d ever had, and they dismissed him. But he left an exile, as they demanded, leaving behind chaos in his wake. He poisoned the crops with a single pass of his finger, slipping off into the forests before they could notice and chase him down.
It was there that he discovered why.
Nian did not recognize himself. When he caught sight of himself in the stream, he understood why. His visage hardly bore any resemblance to the man he once was; Nian had the face of a lion, and when he dug his fingers into the soil, he noticed that they were tipped with claws. He scrambled back, and he realized that he was walking and had been walking on all fours, though he had no idea how long he had done so.
He ran. Nian ran far away from the village he had known, and far away from the face that haunted him in the stream. And eventually, he ran away from the memories of humanity that remained in his mind, too.
Livestock in the countryside was not enough for Nian. With time, he had returned to his old village, though he did not remember why it drew his ire or how he knew it by then. All he knew was that killing their animals was not enough to satisfy his hunger or his anger. Scaring their children and chasing them through the forest tided him over, for a time, but the guards they began to post prevented his fun and only fueled his rage.
They tried to kill him, but they always failed.
One night a year, Nian would slip into the village. He would prowl the streets and attack those who wandered around outside, or growl at locked doors. The villagers started to recognize his pattern, and they bolted their doors. Food was left outside, as if they believed giving up their food to Nian would convince him to leave them alone. And for a few years, it did. That one night a year was his, and he would do as he pleased in the streets.
The villagers feared him, and Nian reveled in this.
As the years passed, Nian grew bolder. If an offering left outside didn’t satisfy him, he would scratch at the door, allowing a trail of darkness to eat away at the wood. It was his warning, and the only warning they would get: if they didn’t provide an ample offering the following year, Nian would not be lenient.
But there came a year that no food awaited him. There were no guards posted, and he could sense no one residing in the village. He grew angry. Nian spent the night searching and searching, destroying doors to enter homes and sniff out the villagers, to no avail. When the light started to streak across the sky, Nian was forced to leave empty-handed and with an empty stomach. In his rage, he left destruction in his wake and left disease in the crops. And then he was left to wait, prowling the countryside and preparing for the next year. And when it came, he was met with the same result—an empty village, empty pantries, and missing livestock. It was the same for the next several years, and each time his ire only grew. The destruction he left in his wake increased with each passing year.
Word began to spread, and soon the entire countryside knew of the beast that wreaked havoc in the small village. The people were sturdy and stubborn, and even if they lived in fear of that one night a year, that their refuge in the mountains would eventually be discovered, they still remained.
This drew a brave young warrior to town. She wore the guise of an old man, and she came when the village was empty. The villagers had already escaped to the mountains in preparation for Nian’s yearly arrival, but this suited her.
With her cloak and her unnecessary cane, she waited, determined to face down the creature that struck terror in the hearts of men.
“Now, my children, it’s time for a break,” Master Fu unraveled the storytelling air, rolling his shoulders with a smile. “I need to stretch my old bones for a moment, so go. Grab a small snack and some tea, and when you come back, we will continue discussing the origins of the festival.”
“Master Fu!” Marinette and Adrien protested in unison. Adrien caught himself, but Marinette forged onwards. “Master Fu, you can’t just take a break here! What about Ch—Nian? And the person that’s disguised as an old man? I still don’t see how this is the origin of the Lunar New Year Festival!”
“All in good time,” Master Fu said sagely, stepping forward to pat her on the head. With a gentle smile he repeated, “The two of you should go find something to eat and some tea. We’ll meet back here in ten minutes to finish the tale.”
Marinette pouted, but Adrien sighed, pushing himself to his feet and bowing politely. He said something softly in Chinese that included a thank you, as far as Marinette could tell, and then turned to her. “I’ve been wanting to try tangyuan and I heard there’s probably some here…somewhere. Want to help me find it before we have to come back?”
He had to do something to keep his mind off of everything. The way that Plagg had curled up in his pocket, as close to a fetal position as he could get, was only lending validity to the suspicions that Adrien had about Nian and a deal with a certain black cat kwami.
He seemed a little off to her, so Marinette wondered if he had picked up the same idea as she had, about Nian being like Chat Noir. But Adrien smiled at her as if nothing was wrong, despite how pale he looked, and she let her shoulders drop, sighing.
