Since I was the first and so far only citizen, reporter or otherwise, to interact with Jade Turtle I feel like it would be best to record my first impressions and what not in a blog post for others to see. My interview with him is now publicly available but this would be good to read too. I've got a few thoughts to share of the new super on the block.
I would say overwhelmingly the interaction was positive, which didn't surprise me much. Sure he was annoying me for a while there but he seemed to be doing it on purpose, and when I watched the interview back later it was pretty clear that he was just messing around. I caught on quick that he was uncomfortable doing an interview but he went ahead with it anyways which is something I thought was cool. I guess he knew being a superhero getting away from press was going to be pretty hard, and he also was already aware of who I was and what my intentions were. As I mentioned in another post Ladybug mentioned me specifically to Jade Turtle beforehand.
Right off the bat he was reserved and uneasy but the more we talked the more he loosened up. He was comfortable enough to mess around and tease me a bit, and surprisingly it felt pretty natural. I'd say that was the most surprising thing about him. He was very easy to talk to. I don't know if that's because he's new or what, but I'll admit I had been a bit star struck at first. I mean, it's a new superhero. However the more we talked I was eventually about as relaxed as he was. I'd say that's my main take away, he is really approachable. Even as he gets more adjusted and is in the public eye a lot more I can really easily see him being the most approachable of the three heroes. Now that isn't to say the other two aren't, no way, what I mean is that he isn't quite as intimidating. I've had loads of people send me messages saying they had an opportunity to talk to Ladybug and Cat Noir but were too nervous to. This isn't really something I can see being true for Jade. Ladybug and Cat Noir always have been and always will be heroes of the people, but I anticipate Jade Turtle having a special and slightly different connection with the people of Paris, however that's just my guess. I know I felt comfortable enough to tease him back and even give him a hard time fairly soon after meeting him. I know I handle social things different then a lot of people though, so I'll leave further speculations up to you guys.
So in conclusion I'd say that Jade came off as a very natural and humble guy who took his responsibilities very seriously but also was willing to have fun with it. I'd say, in all honesty, if you are looking for a better image of how Jade is just imagine a fusion between the behaviors and ideals of Ladybug and Cat Noir. He's committed and trustworthy like them both, aware of his responsibilities to the city and his interactions with the people like Ladybug but also willing to crack jokes, have fun, and flirt like Cat Noir. Haha, that's something worth mentioning too, watch out ladies. Cat Noir isn't the only hero with a penchant for compliments and dashing smiles.
So that's my take away from the new guy. He's humble, approachable, friendly, flirty and a little lame, but in a good way. He's the sort of guy it would be easy to be friends with, even if he did drive you up a wall sometimes just for a laugh. I hope I get to meet him again sometime soon.
Until next time!
Nino read over Alya's blog post with a slightly red face as he waited for Adrien in front of the school before class started. When he looked up pretty much everyone had their phone out, talking about Alya's latest updates. Everyone was blown away that she had gotten so much information one on one, even local news channels were running her interview with him in place of any official ones.
It seemed good, everyone's reactions were positive and the city seemed excited to have him on board which was kind of... crazy. And awesome. He was pretty happy with it to be honest, she had essentially given him a glowing review, but it was one aspect in particular that was making him want to hide behind something.
Alright, no one knew that it had actually been him talking to Alya last night, so when she had blatantly declared that he had been flirting with her it wasn't a big deal. Except, saying that no one knew was inaccurate. To be more exact, two people knew, and dealing with them was going to beawful.
Nino squirmed in place, twisting the strap of his messenger bag as he tried to stop being so embarrassed. Even Wayzz's comfort pats did nothing to soothe him.
He hadn't been flirty, honestly it wasn't- ugh. He had just sort of said it, that she was pretty but to him it hadn't even occurred to him that it might be flirtatious to say that because... he felt his face heat a bit more at his reasoning.
His reasoning was that it was true so it shouldn't have been a big deal for him to say it. To be totally honest he had been pretty entertained by how excited she was to talk to him, knowing he was just Nino and that Alya would never ever treat him like that normally. They were just friends, but in that instance he was a superhero worth interviewing and it had been funny to him. He was having fun, being Jade Turtle instead of being Nino for a second. He hadn't actually gotten to experience that yet because the only two people he had interacted with as Jade up to that point had known him as Nino beforehand so nothing was different. Alya was the first person who saw him as a totally different guy.
So had he been a little more confident, yes. Did he walk her home? Yes he did, but that was a safety thing more than anything else but now he knew how that looked. He wasn't a flirt, even associating that word with him was laughable. He was a mess with girls he couldn't get it together ever to even say hello let alone anything that could be described as flirting. But... then again.
He remembered his recovery, saying, "Are you saying you aren't?" in order to shield himself somewhat and play it off but hadn't that been... smooth? Okay probably not, smooth was probably generous but it was better than nothing. And if Alya saw it as flirtatious then she hadn't exactly rebuffed him, which is something he always saw as practically guaranteed if he were to ever try. On the contrary she had seemed... flattered by it? And surprised definitely, but not mad or weirded out.
Oh man.
Nino really wanted to go home, even being in the same classroom as her was going to be crazy awkward for him, but she wouldn't even know why. Well actually, the main reason he wanted to go and hide is because he could just see Adrien's grin. Oh god and Marinette's too, he could picture them so easily.
Nino swallowed as he saw Adrien's car pull up, bracing himself for whatever amount of hell his day was going to include.
"Stand strong," was Wayzz could offer, along with a final comforting pat from his hat before Adrien's car door opened.
When Adrien stepped out he immediately looked towards Nino's usual spot, that grin he had been anticipating already on his face. To Nino's dismay Adrien had his phone in his hand, quickly shutting the car door and sprinting over to where Nino was waiting for him.
"Well," Adrien started, waggling his phone as he approached with a raised eyebrow, "you got a nice review."
"Mm," Nino hummed dismissively, looking away but already feeling the heat crawling up his neck.
"Humble..." Adrien listed, scrolling through the post, "approachable. Friendly."
"That's not the part you're talking about and we both know it," Nino said with a sigh, resigning himself to his fate and meeting Adrien's ecstaticexpression. "Just say it."
"You were flirting with her?" Adrien immediately asked, voice low and leaning on the same space of wall Nino usually did. "Wasted no time!"
"I wasn't," Nino denied uselessly. "I complimented her that's it."
"Uh, no," Adrien pushed, waving his phone again. "I saw that video, those smiles? Nuh uh, don't even lie to me. You looked at her like she put the stars in the sky."
Nino blanched, feeling like someone lit a fire underneath him as he vehemently said "I did not!"
Adrien's grin just grew, enjoying Nino's reaction as he said, "Okay maybe not quite that far but come on man, you should watch that video back yourself if you haven't yet."
Nino was stewing, grumbling a little under his breath before he said, "I paid her a compliment, walked her home-"
"-you walked her home?"
"And that's it," Nino soldiered on. "Don't look for something where there's nothing."
"Didn't seem like nothing to me-" Adrien caught Nino's glare and just chuckled, tucking away his phone and holding up one hand in surrender, "but okay, okay if you say so. Hey man, you've got a mask, there's no risk if that's what you're scared of. And from the way she was leaning into you I'd say she was receptive."
Nino's expression said very clearly, 'I'm going to turtle bash your face in if you don't stop,' so Adrien just laughed, grabbing him by the shoulder and guiding him inside. Adrien's humor couldn't be dampened even by Nino's embarrassment fueled irritation, so Nino eventually asked, "What's got you so chipper?"
"Seeing my buddy thrive with his new life isn't enough?" Adrien joked, smiling at him before giving in, a little bashfully admitting "Alright well. I didn't watch the interview alone. Lady came over last night."
Nino's first reaction was to huff and say, "Oh good she's seen it too," before he shook his head, elbowing Adrien lightly as they walked. "Well that's good man. Are you guys good?"
"We're great," he said quickly, his face splitting in a huge smile again and Nino bit back a chuckle.
What a doof.
"Better than great. It's finally not... weird. We could just hang out and talk. It was really cool, and we had a good time talking about the interview. I'm not just ribbing you man, it was good. You left a really good impression. The whole city is pumped now."
Nino hesitated a little with responding, fidgeting with his miraculous before saying, "That's good. That's what I was going for."
Adrien clapped him on the shoulder, saying genuinely, "You're doing great man. Don't stress."
"Mm," Nino hummed, walking into the classroom with a set expression. He wasn't trying to brush him off, he was just more focused on dealing with what came next.
Nino wasn't surprised to find Alya surrounded by their classmates, everyone asking about her interview with Jade Turtle. As he moved to sit down it was incredibly surreal to hear everyone talking about him.
"So did he seem cool?" Alix was asking, one foot up on Alya's seat. "The fact that he can skate on his shield is so awesome."
"Yeah," Alya said surprisingly, flipping through stuff on her phone he couldn't see when he and Adrien turned in their seats. "He was cool, but easy to talk to. He seemed the most like a normal guy but I still wouldn't pick a fight with him. I'm excited to see what tricks he can pull when a fight comes."
Nino looked over to see Marinette smiling at him so he quickly looked away again, however she still managed to tease him without even talking to him directly.
"So Alya, I was going to ask you about this before but you said he was flirty?" Marinette asked, leaning forward on one elbow. Alya looked up from her phone but didn't seem too caught out (where as Nino wanted to die), smirking easily.
"Yeah, but nothing crazy. It was mostly cute to be honest, not nearly as bad as Cat Noir."
Nino had to keep from smirking too much himself, still pretty embarrassed but enjoying the flash of a pout he caught on Adrien's face.
God this was awful but at least he got to take Adrien down with him.
"What did he say to you?" Rose asked in her high pleading voice, giant baby doll blue eyes begging for a romance story.
Alya waved her hand dismissively, but to Nino's confusion she was still smiling a little. "He complimented me, said I was pretty. Walked me home, gentlemanly type stuff."
A lot of the girls in class were talking about how cute that was or charming or what have you, but Nino was silently defending himself in his brain as he turned back around.
'It was DANGEROUS for her to go alone, that's it. Geeze man... I was just worried about her.'
It was the next thing that really caught him off guard.
"Oh he's really handsome isn't he?" Rose was saying, giggling to herself. "I don't know what I would say if a hero paid attention to me like that!"
Nino was staring at his desk, heat spreading up his neck as Alix sort of agreed in passing. Ah man this was weird, this was weird and embarrassing. How did they deal with people talking about them all the time when they were right there?
Oh shit hadn't he said Ladybug was hot once?
Had he thought that or said it out loud? When was that? Oh man. That must have been weird for everybody.
"Don't fawn over him yet," Kim said tersely, arms crossed. "We don't know if he's some useless pushover. We'll see when an akuma pops up what he's really made of."
Nino felt his stomach drop at those words, acutely aware of both Marinette and Adrien shifting in their seats as well as Wayzz fidgeting in his hat.
'Guess we will...' he thought to himself, wanting to go home even more than before.
He was tense, hoping against hope one of the duo wouldn't speak up to defend him he just wanted the subject to drop, but surprisingly him once again it was Alya who spoke.
"Just you wait," Alya said, looking at Kim with a smirk. "Jade is going to show everybody what he's got. I've been obsessed with heroes since I was a little girl, I follow every comic series and run the biggest superhero blog there is, and just talking to him? If he's not a hero I don't know who is, you can just tell."
With that Nino's alter ego finally fell from conversation, everyone separating and going back to their desks. Adrien had attempted to gain his attention but he didn't acknowledge him, pulling out his notebook to get ready for the morning lecture, or at least make it look that way. Even as Ms. B walked in and greeted everyone he didn't actually get a pencil.
Nino stared blankly at his notebook, occasionally looking towards the board in an equally as distracted manner so his teacher didn't call on him.
'If he's not a hero I don't know who is.'
Nino ran his thumb nervously over his bracelet, feeling the lines making up the turtle shell design as he moved it. Now was one of those times where it felt heavy to him.
Sometimes now he didn't notice it at all, which was strange. Seeing Wayzz float by wasn't weird or startling, it didn't even look out of place. Other times he might notice it shift on his wrist, like it didn't quite fit him, and something in his chest would feel cold. And sometimes he couldn't not think about it, constantly aware of how heavy the jade felt.
It was a bit different though then all those times it had felt that way before. Whenever it had felt heavy it was like it was crushing him.
Now it felt like he was holding it.
It was still heavy, don't get him wrong it was still overwhelming and insane but it wasn't crushing him like it had before. Part of him felt like it was thanks to Wayzz, and another part thought it was thanks to Marinette and Adrien. And since last night, he sort of felt like he owed it to Alya too.
She had looked at him like he was a superhero, she was the first person to see him that way, and to her he didn't look out of place at all. He recalled the glimpse of himself he had caught when he first transformed, reflected in a store front window. For that one second he hadn't known it was him that stranger seemed tall and powerful, he looked at someone who could stand next to Ladybug and Cat Noir on not look scared out of his mind.
Nino was still scared... but he was also Jade Turtle. He was a hero now and when the city called out he would answer. He didn't know how he would do it, he wasn't even totally sure he could, but he knew he would try.
That made him feel better than anything else had.
Across Paris in a small room with mats across the floors and screens along the walls, an old man ambled towards a phonograph.
It didn't play music, or perhaps it did, but he had never used it for that. As he approached he reached back into the horn like shape of the music player and very gently removed an old match box.
Fu settled the matchbox in his palm, smiling at the old spool of thread that had acted as a pillow once for an old friend of his. Slowly, he set it down on the surface next to the phonograph, old eyes dragging across the innocent looking item that held great secrets before walking away, limping towards a cup of tea left to steam on a low table.
The limp irritated him but it was unavoidable. While the cane he usually carried with him had originally been for show, for the first time in his long life he actually needed it from time to time. Not always, oh no he wasn't frail, but sometimes in moments like this where he was on his feet for too long old wounds would start to ache and his hip would protest.
Not bad for a man who was almost two centuries old.
Fu settled down onto the floor, pulling his cup of tea into his hands before looking back at the now empty matchbox some distance behind him.
"I know you are happy," he said aloud, voice calm and heavy. "Nino is a good lad, I have faith that he will do well. I have no doubt he will pursue the path I once did. I hope you will guide him on that path as you did for me."
Fu fell silent, his words meeting no one's ears but feeling good to say none the less.
"A storm is brewing Wayzz," he murmured after a while, looking down at the swirling steam rising from his cup. "And when it breaks it will be dark... and it will be violent. He's made an enemy of Hawkmoth more potently than the others have managed, and I fear what such personal ties can bring to his doorstep. While the fate of Paris might rest with Ladybug and Cat Noir... it will be young Nino who holds the key pieces to victory. I detest that something like this is necessary... saying any kind of suffering is necessary has never sat well with me. Perhaps I'm just old."
The old man hummed quietly, his eyes heavy.
"I have faith... I do not believe he will make the same mistakes I have. I have said before that turtles only move slowly because it is how they chose to live their lives, but I wonder too if it is because their shells are too heavy. There are legends of great turtles carrying whole nations on their backs, perhaps slowed but never stopped."
Fu paused, feeling his age more in that moment than any limp could have managed.
He turned, looking again at the disguised resting place of the miraculous stones that remained. The ladybug and black cat miraculous had found suitable homes with worthy heroes. The butterfly had been poisoned and stolen, the turtle was finally active again. The bee and the fox still lay dormant, and the peacock remained caged, vibrant feathers dying one by one.
"I'm too old dear friend..." he said quietly, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Too old... But a new guardian, once trained and strengthened... I have faith he can do what I could not. And though he never should have had to, he can bear greater weights then any have ever borne before."
Fu opened his eyes, ancient and wise, tired yet still showing mirth. And the old man breathed deeply, well aware of how silent the room was when he was alone.
"Stand strong young guardian. You are stronger than you think."