#allegra kent

[inthedarktrees]

Allegra Kent in Balancine’s production of The Seven Deadly Sins

Gordon Parks, “The Master of Ballet,“ Life, Dec 22, 1958

#dance #ballet #1950s #life magazine #gordon parks #allegra kent #george balanchine #new york city ballet #the seven deadly sins #kurt weill #50s #black and white #photography #vintage

[balanchine-ballet-master]

The First Lincoln Center Nutcracker

The Waltz of the Snowflakes. Photo: Andrea Mohin for the NY Times

On December 11, 1964, the New York City Ballet danced the first Nutcracker in its new home at Lincoln Center.

A 2015 article by Laura Jacobs in Vanity Fair gave a lengthy account of that first performance. Here are some excerpts:

“I recall sitting in the chair right before the curtain going up,” says Jean-Pierre Frohlich, who 50 years ago danced the role of bratty little boy Fritz in that afternoon's performance. "It's strange to explain, but in the overture you're between the angel curtain and the scrim, and for some reason that angel drop was moving forward, moving forward, moving forward—because of all the air. There's a lot of air in that theater."

Shaun O'Brien as Drosselmeyer, Judith Fugate as Clara (as she was then called), and Jean-Pierre Frolich as the Nutcracker Prince. Photo: Martha Swope via NYPL

“It was very exciting,” says Gloria Govrin, who that day unveiled a sinuous new version of the Arabian Coffee dance in Act Two. A "mini-Salome," Balanchine called it. Previously the piece had been for a man with a hookah and four little-girl parrots. But Balanchine decided, "We're going to wake up the fathers," and so for glamorous Govrin, all five foot ten of her, he fashioned a seductive solo of Georgian Orientalism. "I remember the reception of doing it," says Govrin, "because nobody knew there was going to be a change. It got a huge ovation, several bows. In the middle of Nutcracker it's kind of unusual to have one or two more bows."

Allegra Kent, who was just returning from the birth of her second child when she danced the Sugarplum Fairy, recalls, "It was thrilling! Bigger stage, farther to run, farther to jump, more expansive, more magic, more exultation in your blood."

“I remember [Balanchine] rehearsing the Waltz of the Flowers,” says Frohlich, “and just telling them to ‘move big, you’re young, move ... ’"

The Waltz of the Flowers, led by Tiler Peck. Photo: Andrea Mohin for the NY Times

Down in the orchestra pit, the timpanist Arnold Goldberg was positioned, as always, to see Balanchine in his usual place, downstage right. What Goldberg hasn't forgotten in five decades of State Theater Nutcrackers is the first time the Christmas tree—this one bigger, better, and more beautiful than before—began its inexorable growth upward. It wasn't the 4:45 performance but the dress rehearsal, and Goldberg was watching not the tree but Balanchine. "He's standing with his hands in his jeans pockets, looking around," says Goldberg. "And it came up. He was breathless. It was priceless, the joy of watching Mr. B.'s face . . . I mean, he'd dreamt about it. He had the stage built so that the tree could be one piece. That tree meant everything to The Nutcracker."

The Nutcracker Prince (Leighton Ho) battles the Mouse King (Justin Peck) in front of the tree. Photo: Andrea Mohin for the NY Times

“He used to love to rehearse the mice,” says Govrin. “There were always his pet pieces in a ballet, parts he was constantly either tinkering with or just in there doing it with people.” Also, says Barbara Horgan, “the dancers were holding back because they felt silly doing little mice steps.”

“What I heard him say a number of times,” says [Patricia] Wilde, “aside from his own recollections of being a child in The Nutcracker and how much he loved it, he was thinking of it as a gift to American children. A lovely Christmas experience.”

“What makes his Nutcracker so fantastic for children,” says Robert Weiss, “is it’s about them.”

#The Nutcracker #Balanchine #George Balanchine #NYCB #New York City Ballet #Jean-Pierre Frolich #Gloria Govrin #Allegra Kent #Arnold Goldberg #Patricia Wilde #ballet #Robert Weiss #Christmas #Lincoln Center #Andrea Mohin #Martha Swope #Judith Fugate #Shaun O'Brien

[cyndeliat]

Allegra Kent and Edward Villella in Jeux, 1966 ph. Martha Swope

#allegra kent #edward villella #ballet #nypl

[boricuacherry-blog]

Bugaku

#Youtube #allegra kent #bugaku #ballet #dance #balanchine

[lisamarie-vee]

#arthur mitchell #allegra kent #ballet #dancers #1960s #b&w

[katatty]

Allegra Gorey is one of the newest recruits to the laboratory, and comes home with Kent, who’s full of career advice. He just got promoted to Top Secret Researcher, so I’m sure he knows his stuff!

#Pleasantview Plus #Hood: Strangetown #Household: MontyCapp #PP: Kent Capp #PP: Allegra Gorey

[plumbogs]

All three of the household members here work during similar hours. Jane woke up early to do some stargazing before work.

The kitten has to go without attention for most of the day, but he got his affection filled by everyone bringing work friends home. Including Martin bringing Kent home. And then ACR pulled shenanigans with them that I did not catch on screenshots because I was busy directing Allegra to cook a meal, which is so sad.

#sims 2 gameplay #jane stacks #allegra gorey #martin ruben #kent capp is back on his bullshit apparently... this is why he hasn't committed yet i guess

[milksockets]

new york city ballet dancers allegra kent + edward villella in george balanchine's 'bugaku,' 1963 in ballerina: fashion's modern muse - patricia mears (2019)

#my scan #costume #dance

[rosepompadour]

A sparkling swirl of pink tulle studded with jewels, a slender rainbow of a girl.

Allegra Kent on Tanaquil Le Clercq

#i lent my friend my afternoon of a faun dvd and i don't feel whole without it #tanaquil le clercq #ballet

[favevoiceactorbracket]

Meet the Competing Voice Actors!

After the preliminaries and days of deliberating, here are you VOICE ACTORS COMPETING! One will take home the spot of Tumblr's Favorite Voice Actor!

A note before they are introduced! If you would like to support any of them send in an ask or make propaganda, any propaganda you make and post yourself should have me tagged! As well using the tags #favevabracket or #favevabracket2023!

And a quick reminder about the two rules that will be staying active!

No harrassment, hate, or vitriol will be tolerated. We are here to celebrate the work of voice actors not tear each other down

This is all for fun! Do not take it super seriously!

Good luck to all of our competitors!

Kirby Morrow

Rob Paulsen

Robbie Daymond

Tiana Camacho

Alex Hirsch

Khoi Dao

Megumi Ogata

Ray Chase

Sungwon Cho

tara strong

Yuri Lowenthal

Alejandro Saab

Billy Kametz

Billy West

bryce papenbrook

Cree Summer

Grey DeLisle-Griffin

Kevin Conroy

Phil Lamar

Zach Aguilar

Zeno Robinson

AJ Michalka

Alex Brightman

Allegra Clark

Ashley Johnson

Christopher R. Sabat

Daws Butler

Eartha Kitt

Erika Harlacher-Stone

Frank Welker

J. Michael Tatum

Jack De Sena

Jason Griffith

JK Simmons

John DiMaggio

June Foray

Kristen Schaal

Mark Hamill

Richard Horvitz

Steve Blum

Tom Kenny

Wendie Malick

Aaron Dismuke

Aaron Paul

Aimee Carrero

Alison Brie

Ami Koshimizu

Angela Bassett

Ashley Ball

ashly burch

Avi Roque

Ayumu Murase

Ben Schwartz, baby!

BETH MAY

bill farmer

Bill Scott

brandon rogers

Caitlin Glass

Casey Kasem

Cassandra Lee Morris

Cecil Baldwin

Christine Cavanaugh

Clark Duke

Colleen Clinkenbeard

Daman Mills

Dan Castellaneta

Dan Provenmire

Dani Chambers

Dante Basco

Dave Fennoy

David Tennant

Deedee Magno Hall

Deven Mack

Doris Grau

Doug Boyd

Dylan Marron

Elizabeth Maxwell

EG Daily

Elijah Wood

Ellen McLain

Eric Vale

Erin Fitzgerald

Josey Montana McCoy

Greg Chun

Gu Jiangshan

Guilherme Briggs (brazilian)

Haley Tju

Harry Shearer

Haruka tomatsu

Helen Gould

Hynden Walch

Jack McBrayer

Jackson Publick

Jaime Lynn Marchi

Jason Griffith

Jason Liebrecht

jason marsden

Jennifer Hale

Jerry Jewell

Jim Cummings

Jim Ward

John Burgmeier

John Swasey

Johnny Yong Bosch

Julie Kavner

Justin Cook

Kaiji Tang

Katey Sagal

Kdin Jenzen

Keith David

Ken Sansom

Kent William

Kevin Brighting

Kevin R Free

Kieran Reagan

Kimberly Brooks

Kimiko glenn

Kyle Igneczi

Kyle McCarley

Laura Bailey

Lauren Tom

Leah Clark

Liam O’Brien

Lorenzo Music

Lucien Dodge

Lucille Bliss

Lydia Mackay

Lydia Nicholas

Maddie Blaustein

Mae Questel

Mae Whitman

Maggie Robertson

Mara Wilson

Mark Oliver

Matthew Mercer

Matthew Zahnzinger

Maurice LaMarche

Max Mittelman

Mel Blanc

Melissa Hutchinson

Michael Adamthwaite

Micheal Sinterniklaas

Mike Judge

Monical rial

Natsuki Hanae

Nicole Tompkins

Olivia Olson

Olivia Wilde

P.M. Seymour

Parker Simmons

Patricia Ja Lee

Patrick Pedraza

Paul Castro Jr

Paul Frees

Penny Parker

Pete Gustin ( i think thats how it's spelled)

Peter Cullen

Phil Harris

Phil Hartman

Ricco Fajardo

Roger Craig Smith

Roz Ryan

Sandra Oh

Sarah Miller-Crews

Sayaka Ohara

Scatman Crothers

Scott Adsit

Scott Mcneil

Stanley Tucci

Stephanie Beatriz

Stephen Merchant

Steve Whitmore

Tabitha st Germain

Takaya Kuroda

Tom Kane

Tress McNeil

Veronica Taylor

Vincent Tong

Will Arnett

Yasuo Yamada

Zach Callison

Bobbie Moyinhan

Josh Brener

Andrew Francis

Brent Millar

Sebastian Todd

Kestin Howard

Lizzy Hofe

Andy Cowley

Todd Haberkorn

Yoshimasa Hosoya

Russi Taylor

#your competitors! | masterpost #favevabracket2023 #favevabracket #other competitions #masterpost #polls #fandom polls #tumblr polls #tournament #poll society

[mask131]

The evolution of Ophelia Addams (3)

And here is actually my last post about Ophelia (for now - I know the prototype-Ophelia of Charles Addams appears in the 2019 animated movie but there isn’t really much to say about her there to make a whole post?). HOWEVER what there is enough to talk about to make a whole post is Ophelia’s appearance in the 90s movie. What? You say you never knew Ophelia was in the two classics live-action movie? You say you only thought she was in the 60s sitcom? Well get ready to REDISCOVER IT ALL!

I present to you: Cousin Ophelia Addams. The picture above was taken from the 1991 “The Addams Family” movie. This character, as identified by the credits, is Cousin Ophelia Addams (not Frump, Addams), played by the ballet dancer Allegra Kent. You can actually see her during the grand Addams family reunion dancing alone with a candle in her hand (or rather dancing WITH a lit-up candle as her partner). She also appears during the Mamushka scene: she is part of the line-up of Addams women that play the tambourines. 

You might think “Oh that’s just a little visual cameo...” WELL NO! 

  If you look at the script for the Addams Family movie (script which is nowadays available online, thanks Internet) you actually can find in there a full description of Ophelia AND small deleted dialogues she was supposed to have - before they were cut from the film. This precious behind-the-scenes and deleted content reveals to us that the movie-makers decided to go back to the original drawing of Charles Addams, and completely reinvent the sitcom character. Fully reusing the Shakespearian Ophelia reference, but by adding a modern American touch.

Here is how she was described: “COUSIN OPHELIA  ADDAMS, who looks like a Tennessee Williams heroine who’s just been fished out of the Mississipi. Later, when Morticia entertains the guests, there was supposed to be a small exchange between her and Ophelia.

Her mind water-logged and bleary, Ophelia adresses Morticia with a spacy Thorazine smile.

OPHELIA: Where is Fester?

MORTICIA: Soon, Ophelia. Soon.

OPHELIA: Where am I?

And you might be even more surprised to learn that Ophelia Addams also appears in the sequel, the “Addams Family Values” movie!

However in it she is played by a different actress, Laura Esterman. Once more, in the movie itself she just makes a visual appearance without any actual line. She is part of the numerous guests for Fester’s wedding, and when Wednesday catches the bouquet, she is one of the two women siding her (alongside Aphasia). [In the picture above you can see Ophelia on the right, biting her nails upon seeing Wednesday caught the bouquet]. 

     Once more the wonders of the Internet allow us to look into the shooting script for the movie. Here are unveiled MORE deleted scenes of the Cousin. Poor Ophelia seems to have her lines cut every time. Interestingly, originally Ophelia was intended to form a sort of comical duo alongside Countess Aphasia. Described as a “faded, demented Southern Belle”, Ophelia was supposed to have an exchange with Debby during the gift-shower.

MORTICIA: And this is Cousin Ophelia Addams, all the way from Memphis.

OPHELIA: Good afternoon, and congratulations. I was married once, you know. And for a time, I was so very happy.

DEBBY: And what happened?

OPHELIA (trying to recall, through a fog): I don’t know. (She looks around the room). Am I dead?

Later, at the wedding proper, she was also supposed to have this brief exchange with Aphasia.

ANGLE on Ophelia and Aphasia, among the guests. Ophelia dabs at her eyes with a lace hanky.

OPHELIA: I do love weddings. Have you ever been married?

APHASIA: Oh yes.

OPHELIA: In white?

APHASIA: In Berlin.

#the addams family #addams family #ophelia #ophelia frump #ophelia addams #movie #1991 #1993 #the addams family values #movies #deleted scenes #deleted content #shooting script #script #cousin #aphasia #tennesee williams

[midcenturypage]

Ballerina Allegra Kent – Navy blue wool pullover cut like a t-shirt by Geist & Geist. $12. Glamour July 1959.

#vintage #vintage photography #vintage fashion #1950's fashion

[balanchine-ballet-master]

Allegra Kent Rehearsing La Sonnambula

Allegra Kent rehearsing Unity Phelan in La Sonnambula. Photo: Amir Hamja for The New York Times

Happily for all of us, Jonathan Stafford and Wendy Whelan are bringing back dancers who worked with Balanchine to coach today's company members. This article about Allegra Kent, the original NYCB Sleepwalker in La Sonnambula, coaching Unity Phelan in the role, is from today's New York Times.

Allegra Kent Conjures ‘Messages From the Air, the Atmosphere’

The iridescent Balanchine ballerina returns to New York City Ballet this season to coach for “La Sonnambula.” What does she want? Mystery.

By Gia Kourlas Oct. 3, 2023

It was the first ballet that made sense to her. There was mystery, passion, pain. The music, by Vittorio Rieti, after themes from Bellini operas, swept her into another world.

“I was 11,” said Allegra Kent. “My heart was broken.”

Kent, the former New York City Ballet principal, was just a child when she attended a performance by Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in Los Angeles. The final work on the program was “Night Shadow,” George Balanchine’s 1946 ballet, later called “La Sonnambula.”

Kent had no idea who Balanchine was. But just four years later, she would join New York City Ballet, the company he had formed with Lincoln Kirstein. And not long after that, in 1960, Balanchine revived the ballet, casting Kent as its mysterious Sleepwalker.

Allegra Kent working with Phelan as the Sleepwalker and Taylor Stanley as the Poet. Photo: Amir Hamja for The New York Times

This season, as part of the company’s 75th anniversary, Kent, 86, was brought in as a guest coach for “La Sonnambula,” which returns Wednesday for four performances, and for “The Unanswered Question,” the gripping second movement of “Ivesiana.”

Kent wasn’t with the company from its 1948 start, but she was still a part of its early days and one of Balanchine’s most important muses.

She joined City Ballet at 15, just a year after she arrived in New York from California to study at the company-affiliated School of American Ballet. Balanchine gave her a scholarship, and soon after, she began attending performances.

“The first ballet I saw on the first program was 'Serenade,'” she said, referring to the Balanchine masterpiece in an interview at her Manhattan apartment. “I can’t remember the other ballets because it was like, 'Serenade'—the whole world is open.”

Eventually La Sonnambula, with its magic and tragedy, came her way. In this haunting ballet, the Poet hero romances a woman, the Coquette, before discovering a Sleepwalker at a masked ball. Holding a candle, the Sleepwalker skims across the stage in close-knit bourrée steps on pointe wearing a flowing dress. Its diaphanous sleeves, like wings, catch the air as they stream behind her.

The Coquette’s jealousy leads the Baron, the host of the ball, to stab the Poet; the Sleepwalker, devastated, carries him away. With the right dancers, the ballet is gut-wrenching, but it takes imagination born from almost psychic sensations. The heroine may be walking in her sleep, but “she’s not expressionless,” Kent said. “You can’t come in like a zombie.”

In the pas de deux, the Sleepwalker glides past the Poet, who ducks underneath her candle; he waves his hand in front of her face to see if she is awake; he falls to the floor in her path, but she steps over his outstretched body, unruffled, and continues on her way. There should be daring, too: on tour in Moscow, Balanchine demonstrated one of the Sleepwalker’s crossings on a stage that Kent said was like a football field.

“She’s not expressionless,” Kent said of the Sleepwalker. “You can’t come in like a zombie.” Photo: Amir Hamja for The New York Times

“He took the candle and ran on the diagonal,” she said. “In those days, they had footlights. He stepped over the footlight and stopped. I thought, Oh, my God, he’s going to die” — plunging off the stage. “But he didn’t die. He stepped back and gave the candle to me.”

He was showing her, in essence, how the Sleepwalker possesses a layer of extrasensory perception; that what can’t be seen can be felt, and that even in a sudden stop — as he did himself on that stage — there should be no physical reverberation.

“Balanchine loved danger,” Kent said. “In the step in ‘The Unanswered Question’ when she slowly goes back” — the ballerina, again in white and held aloft, falls into the arms of four men obscured by darkness — “the audience is terrified for a moment. So this is the genius of Balanchine. Ah! She’s going to run off the stage! She’s going to fall over backward! Is anyone going to catch her?”

The original Sleepwalker — and the one Kent first saw all those many years ago — was the great ballerina Alexandra Danilova. Kent herself was briefly coached by Danilova not in the studio, but in a chance meeting, waiting for the 104 bus on Broadway. “She stood up and started demonstrating at the bus stop,” Kent said. “Gosh, what a moment.”

This is a ‘Sleeping Beauty’ in the Balanchine style,” Kent said. “The kiss does not wake her up.” Photo: Amir Hamja for The New York Times

Rehearsing at City Ballet’s studios with Unity Phelan and Taylor Stanley, who will perform the Sleepwalker and the Poet in one cast, Kent was intensely ethereal, acutely focused, with fingers full of life. She said, “You’re getting messages from the air, the atmosphere.”

Kent turned to the mirror to study their reflection as if it were a painting. With her elbows raised, her fingertips curving toward her chest, she worked on details — as many as she could. She was trying, it seemed, to penetrate below the surface of the skin, to draw raw emotion into the movement. Details are important to Kent, as they were to Balanchine. He would come backstage and say, “‘Oh, your crown is half an inch too far back,’” she said. “‘Bring it forward.’ I mean, it’s not even the hair, it’s just the crown. Details.”

Kent stood in front of Phelan, who held the candle with a curved arm as the other extended to the side. Kent rested her elegant fingers on Phelan’s shoulders — just a whisper of pressure — and stared at their reflection in the mirror. “Don’t look up,” she said, releasing her hands.

“You are sleepwalking, but you’re aware,” Kent said. “You’re in another realm but there’s something going on within you. A great tragedy that is not explained.”

Phelan, who danced the Sleepwalker in a previous season, is approaching the role differently now. Her Sleepwalker moved too forward from the chest, but with Kent’s help, she is working on relaxing, softening. “You can still be active, but if it gets all tense then it looks like you’re putting on a show instead of it coming from a genuine place,” Phelan said later. “If I’m just being myself and actively doing something, I’m not sensing everything in my body. So that’s what I’m trying to bring it back to.”

When she first danced the Sleepwalker, Phelan wanted to prove that she could be ghostly, waiflike, light. “What I’ve discovered from Allegra is that I may have been going too far with that,” she said. “You let yourself be involved emotionally. I think I was trying to stay so disassociated.”

“You are sleepwalking, but you’re aware,” Kent said. “You’re in another realm but there’s something going on within you. A great tragedy that is not explained.” Photo: Amir Hamja for The New York Times

When the Sleepwalker comes onstage, she’s not just taking brisk walks on pointe. She’s searching. “We don’t know what it is — if it’s a child, if it’s a love,” Kent said. “But it’s a huge thing missing. It’s a huge urgency. But beyond that, there’s so much mystery. There is a huge lack in her life.”

Stanley, rehearsing the moment when the Poet waves his hand in front of the Sleepwalker’s face to see if she is awake, was too dynamic. Kent stepped in to demonstrate.“ Just the tiny back and forth over my eyes,” Phelan said, “with her hand being that close to my face, I saw all the energy. She wasn’t shaking. Nothing was happening. But everything was alive in her hand. I was like, that’s what she means.”

There’s nothing casual about “La Sonnambula,” which Kent says is like no other Balanchine ballet. “I used to do this night after night in my living room just to get that despair and the subtleties,” Kent said. “That search. This is a ‘Sleeping Beauty’ in the Balanchine style. The kiss does not wake her up.”

Kent, with her cheerful wit, summed up her own “Sonnambula” experience: “This is what I’d say: Thank you, Balanchine,” she said. “Thank you, Madame Danilova. And I thank the M.T.A., the metropolitan transit authority. The generosity of her and the generosity of the bus being late.”

#Balanchine #La Sonnambula #Allegra Kent #Night Shadow #Unity Phelan #Taylor Stanley #rehearsing #rehearsal #ballet #NYCB #New York City Ballet #NYC Ballet #NYCB@75

[cyndeliat]

Allegra Kent in Scotch Symphony, 1965 ph. Martha Swope

#allegra kent #ballet #nypl

[virtualmemoriespodcast]

Episode 551 - Jerome Charyn

"The word is far more real than the world": Jerome Charyn rejoins the show to celebrate his new novel, RAVAGE & SON (Bellevue Literary Press), a fantastic noir about the Lower East Side in 1913. We talk about his love for the LES and the Bintel Briefs in The Forward, why he wanted to write a Jewish Jekyll & Hyde story, and how adopting a cat changed the course of this amazing novel. We also get into life on the page, the music of the sentence, and the self-revelation of writing, why so many of his characters attend Harvard, the holiness of books and why he reads so little of others' books nowadays, treating writing as an apprenticeship rather than a career, and how he got overwhelmed for a year after writing in Abe Lincoln's voice. Plus we discuss his reverence of Joyce Carol Oates and Cormac McCarthy (and ambivalence toward Henry James, who makes an appearance in Ravage & Son), the reason so many of his characters attend Harvard, the sense of being transported by the ballet performances of Allegra Kent, how it felt to write a character who's in love with destruction, why gender fluidity is essential to human nature, and the one advantage to living long enough: understanding that nothing remains and everything disappears. Follow Jerome on Twitter, and listen to our 2019, 2021, and 2022 conversations • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal and via our Substack

Check out the new episode of The Virtual Memories Show

#podcast #books

[tinybriewrites]

A Soul’s Glow - 1

Marinette had always known that her soul bond was a little out of the ordinary. Her soul guide, an adorable golden retriever she calls Soleil, would have its irises turn ice blue or fire red or grass green, among other colors, from time to time. She had thought that they only had a stronger soul connection, which manifested into an additional emotions bond. It was rare, but not unheard of. She thought wrong.

Just last night, Marinette had finally succeeded at tapping into the truest creation magic humanly possible - pure soul magic. More specifically, its first level, the Windows to the Soul. It was a power held by only the most in-tune Ladybugs. It allowed them to see the essence of the soul of any living thing around them, with or without the mask. The connection brought an intense burst of magic that promptly caused her to pass out.

Which was why she was now panicking in a flurry all over her hotel room the morning after. Marinette just can't believe what she's seeing.

"Tikki, I think I'm still dreaming." Her soul guide was surrounded by a gem-like glow that she knew instinctively signaled something non-human.

"Well, at least, he's still partially human..?" was Tikki's very unsuccessful attempt to stop Marinette's panic.

"But that still means he's part non-human! What if he hates me for just being human? Oh no, or worse, what if he hates magic? I can't give up my responsibilities as the Guardian, and what if h-"

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Marinette, we'll be late!" came a voice from across the door.

Marinette and Mireille Caquet rushed into a bus in front of the hotel. Mireille had introduced her to the Ten Youths Taking on the World essay challenge released by the Martha Wayne Foundation. Marinette had become fast friends with the students from the class next door after most of Mme. Bustier's class cut off any amicable relationship with her. Mireille and she were two of the ten finalists of the contest. The winners were to be interviewed today by the Foundation's partner newspaper, The Daily Planet, for a feature article.

"Hi, I'm Claude and this is Allegra," said a tall slender blonde with a fennec fox in his lap. "We're a prima ballerina and danseur soulmate pair from a dance company based in England."

"Hello, I'm Mireille, a weather forecaster for the local news."

"Nice to meet you! I'm Marinette, aspiring fashion designer."

"Both of your dresses look lovely," said Allegra, another willowy blonde with a hummingbird resting on her shoulder.

"Thanks, Marinette made both of our outfits herself!"

"Woah, you're very talented. Makes sense since you won, but just, wow. It looks so professional, especially for someone probably in sixth form."

"Says the youngest principal dancer ever."

"Shut up."

And just like that, the ride to the Daily Planet passed by in a blink for Marinette in between the bickering of her new acquaintances.

Stepping off the bus, Marinette marveled at the towering building topped by a giant bronze planet.

"Impressive, isn't it?" said a bespectacled man next to a pacing lion. "Welcome to the Daily Planet! I'm Clark Kent, I'll be interviewing each of you later today. But for now, we'll have a tour around the premises."

For the next two hours, the reporter brought the ten teens around the bustling newspaper company. Marinette was enjoying the trip, but of course, that meant the universe had to interrupt it somehow. For all her luck as Ladybug, she had equal misfortune as Marinette.

"BRRRIIING. BRRRIIING. AKUMA ALERT. AKUMA ALERT." loudly chimed from the phones of the two Parisians in the middle of the lunch break at the cafeteria. Everyone turned to look at them, the source of the jarring blare.

"I'm really sorry, everyone! I'll go outside to watch the live stream, Mir," Marinette shouted in a panic as she rushed off with Soleil right at her heels.

"Sorry! Paris alert, we forgot to switch on the abroad option." Mireille apologized. "We're understandably a little jittery from the Level 4 announcement mode."

"Level 4?" Clark asked the remaining Parisian in the room.

"It's a new classification the Akuma App introduced last week. Level 1 for low-danger repeat akumas. 2A for property hazard and 2B for injury hazard, evacuate from surrounding areas. 3 for new akuma, remain indoors. 4 for deadly, prepare for the worst."

"Deadly? Aren't you worried?" Allegra asked.

"Worrying is useless; it only makes you a target for Hawkmoth. No damage is permanent, in any case," she said while nuzzling her palm civet soul guide.

After four years of continuous emotional terrorism, Parisians were quite hardcore.

---

Okay so in this AU, everyone has a piece of their soul (the truest part of themselves) expressed as an animal, called their soul split. This animal doesn't stay with them. Instead, it stays with their soulmate (in which they're called soul guide) until the moment the pair physically touch wherein the soul splits will then stay with their original soul instead of the soulmate. So basically, people gradually fall in love (romantically/platonically) with their soulmate before they even meet, which would explain the easy trust between soulmates even if it seems quick.

---

@maribat-calendar-events

Also on AO3!

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#tinybriewrites #mlb x dc #mlb x batman #ml x dc #dc x mlb #dc x ml #marijon #jonette #marinette x jon kent #fluff #supermari may #supermari may 2022