In the days following Riposte's akumatization and the later akumatization of Robostus on Wednesday, things were once again quiet in the city of Paris. Granted, Marinette and Adrien's days were filled with school assignments and training sessions, but it was a nice break after the killer akuma they recently faced. But unknown to either of the teens, the quiet would be broken up when a certain Changeling magic user and her Half-TrollDragon ward were doing an inventory check on their potion ingredients.

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Up in their highrise apartment near the Seine, Artemis and Rayla were currently in their home using their Friday afternoon to do inventory. It was actually one of their quiet days after Artemis needed to kill off the fifth... no... sixth Changeling spy that was sent after Marinette. But that one was even more satisfying to kill, seeing that they almost caught Adrien when he was in mid-transformation into his civilian form when she found them. Just like the ones before, the spy was easy to kill and dispose of, freeing up the caretaker and ward duo's weekend for their chores... specifically in their hidden library and ingredient storage.

Thanks to an expansion spell Artemis stumbled onto a few years back, she was able to keep the majority of her ancient tomes, spell and potion books, and more rare ingredients close at hand. All it took was a concealing spell to keep the newly created library hidden from the naked eye, only accessible by Artemis and Rayla themselves. The enchanted space sat between Artemis's bedroom and the second spare bedroom, the usually locked dark mahogany door hidden from sight. Behind the door, the library and ingredient storage room was easily bigger than the entire apartment combined, taking on a cave-dwelling appearance that resembled Artemis's stall in Stone Arc.

Only one-third of the room was taken up by ingredient storage, comprised of long rows of mahogany shelves and moving ladders attached to them. The rest of the space was the vast amount of books, tomes, texts and other artifacts Artemis collected over her years on the run. Every single one of the acquired items sat on beautifully intricate shelves carved out of the room's cave-like walls, with tall mahogany shelves in between them. The floor of the room was covered in long bright-colored carpets that stretched to the back of the room, giving the room a bit of color under the raw crystal chandeliers hung on the ceiling above.

There was also a study area in front of the library, filled with long desks of dark mahogany and cushioned chairs of the same wood. In the middle of this space sat a glowing white crystal, surrounded by stone masonry to provide another place to sit while being near another source of light. Flanking the space were cushioned seating areas carved into the cave-like walls, the assorted throw pillows adding another touch of comfort to the space since Rayla often occupied those spaces when reading. But at the moment, Artemis was up on a ladder connected to the numerous rows of ingredients, in her true form and comfy clothes sans the socks as she looked through the shelves in her monthly inventory.

"Any luck up there, Artemis?" Rayla called up to her caretaker, also in her true form and dressed in her comfy clothes as she stood at the base of the ladder while holding a list of depleted ingredients.

"No, unfortunately." Artemis replied as she took two vials of ingredients from a basket, only to find them empty of any content. "And you can put powdered Nadder spines and Speed Stinger venom on the list, too." the sorceress reported, leaning back from the shelves with a groan while Rayla did just that.

"Everything okay?" Rayla asked her caretaker, looking up from her writing and at the frustrated Artemis.

"Yes, everything is fine. Just... It looks like I might be completely out of ingredients." Artemis sighed as leaned back to the shelf and continued her search, finding herself running her hand on top of her hair in her exasperation. But after taking a moment, she looked back down at Rayla, a tired smile on her face. "Throw the list up here please?" the Changeling asked, causing Rayla to toss the clipboard and list to Artemis, who caught it with ease before looking over it to confirm her conclusion.

"Well, that settles it..." Artemis began before she slid down the ladder, landing right next to Rayla with a sigh. "I'll need to go on that supply run after all." the graying-haired woman declared, earning an eager look from her ward at her words.

"And mayhaps you'll let me come with you this time?" Rayla asked, an impish look appearing on her face as she clasped her hands and leaned toward Artemis in the hopes of her answer being 'yes'.

"Rayla... we've talked about this. While I've decided to let you come with me to certain places now, you know the rules about this particular location." Artemis reminded her ward, causing the Half-Troll's eager posture to drop like a rock.

"Yeah, yeah... 'not until my 14th birthday'. I know." Rayla replied, hunching over herself in disappointment. "But I know everything there is to know about that place! I'm dying to go there!" the white-haired girl whined, looking back up to her caretaker amidst her begging.

"Knowing everything about a place is different to applying that knowledge to your survival, Rayla." Artemis lectured the eight-year-old, placing a comforting hand on Rayla's shoulder as she knelt next to her. "And while your books depict its inhabitants as approachable, they can be a little hostile at times. So until you're older, you're not coming with me on my monthly supply runs." the sorceress concluded as she moved Rayla to stand in front of her, holding both of her shoulders as she looked at the girl with concern.

"... Fine. I'll wait." Rayla relented, looking off to the side with a frown.

"Look on the bright side..." Artemis said as she placed a hand under Rayla's chin, moving her ward's gaze back onto her. "You'll get to spend the weekend with Marinette." the Changeling announced, to which Rayla immediately perked up at the news as she looked at Artemis with wide eyes.

"Really!?" Rayla exclaimed with a smile, only for her face to suddenly fall into confusion. "Wait, I thought you said that you wanted to see how she'd do on a trial run first." the Half-Troll added, recalling what Artemis had told her after she picked her up after Chloé's party.

"I'm willing to make an exception for this." Artemis replied with a sly smirk, prompting Rayla to wrap her into a bear hug.

"Thank you!" Rayla squealed while a fond-smiling Artemis hugged her back, glad to see her so happy.

"You're welcome, Rayla." Artemis said before they pulled away from their hug, followed by her lifting a hand to ruffle Rayla's hair much to her ward's dismay. "Now, care to help me get ready to go so that I call Marinette to come over tomorrow to care for you this weekend?" the graying-haired woman questioned Rayla, watching as the eight-year-old fixed her hair from the ruffling. Once that was done, Rayla immediately nodded 'yes' in reply to her caretaker's idea.

"Sounds good to me!!" Rayla cheered before she grabbed Artemis's arm and dragged her out of the library, the Changeling chuckling at her excitement as she followed behind and closed the library door as they left.

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It took a while, but Artemis and Rayla got everything ready for the magic wielder's supply run, packing an enchanted satchel with all she needed. But now came to the part where Artemis would contact the one person taking care of her most precious possession, her ward. This is how Marinette found herself being pulled out of her before-dinner design frenzy by the sound of her phone vibrating, interrupting her work and nearly causing her to mess up on the stitching. With practiced ease, Marinette placed her current project; Toby's Geode Hat, off to the side of her desk and picked up her phone to answer it.

"Hello, Marinette Dupain-Cheng speaking." Marinette absentmindedly greeted the caller, not seeing who it was before picking up the call and raising it to her ear.

"Hello there, Marinette. I don't know if you remember me, but this is Artemis Queen." the caller; now revealed as Artemis, replied, bringing Marinette out of her absentmindedness and becoming fully alert to who she was speaking to.

"Chloé's aunt from her 'I'm sorry' party? Yeah, I remember you." Marinette recalled, now eager to talk to the intriguing woman on the other end of the call.

"Good to hear!" Artemis exclaimed, her voice carrying a note of relief. "How've you been by the way? Is your day going well?" the older woman asked, sparking a bit of small talk before getting to the main reason for her call.

"It's going well, thank you for asking. How about yours?" Marinette questioned, returning the banter.

"Same here, thank you for asking. But since you've asked, it's part of why I'm calling you." Artemis admitted, hoping to get down to business now that pleasantries were taken care of. "Remember how you offered to babysit my ward at Chloé's party?" the Changeling-in-disguise inquired, earning a smile from Marinette at the reminder.

"Of course!" Marinette cheered.

"Well, something has come up and I need to go out of town for the weekend. I know it's a little last-minute, but I'm taking you up on the offer." Artemis revealed, leaving Marinette shocked by the news.

"Oh... so soon? I would have thought you'd want to do a practice run before a full weekend. No offense, but after you told me that your ward is a little... wild... I thought that you'd want to see how things would go." Marinette remarked, a little surprised that Artemis was going head first into babysitting her ward.

"Usually, that would be the case. But even if we've only met once, I feel like you are a very trustworthy person. And my judgment of someone's character is always spot on." Artemis stated, once again causing Marinette to smile at her words.

"That's good to hear." Marinette replied, glad to hear that she trusted her already.

"Thank you. So, are you free this weekend to watch over Rayla?" Artemis asked, her hopes of such a thing happening bleeding into her voice.

"Absolutely! I'd love to look after your ward!" Marinette exclaimed, catching Tikki's attention from her nap in her little doll bed on Marinette's headboard shelf.

"Wonderful! I'll text you the address for my apartment and I'll expect you here at 7:30 am tomorrow." Artemis replied, giving Marinette the details of how and when to meet her before she left for her trip.

"I'll be there! See you then, Ms Queen." Marinette happily responded, rising from her chair amidst her eager reply to Artemis's request.

"See you tomorrow, then. And thank you again!" Artemis farewelled before she hung up, cutting the call off and letting Marinette place her phone on her desk with a sigh before Tikki flew over to her.

"Sounds like your weekend is going to be entertaining." Tikki remarked as she floated next to her wielder, intrigued by the new child Marinette was going to be looking after.

"Yeah... entertaining." Marinette trailed off, looking to the side as she thought about her new job.

"Is everything okay?" Tikki asked, her earlier excitement for Marinette turning into concern with the reaction she received.

"Everything's fine Tikki. I just..." Marinette began, only to come short of the right words to describe her currently warring emotions. "After Ms Queen told me how smart her ward, Rayla, is... I've kind of been suspecting that she's Changeling. Especially after Jim's first encounter with NotEnrique." the designer finally admitted, managing to figure out how to put her thoughts into words.

"Oh... When you put it like that, it makes sense why you'd be nervous about this." Tikki noted, now understanding her holder's dilemma. "But then, why did you say 'yes' to begin with?" the red kwami asked Marinette, confused as to what Marinette had to gain from this if she put her suspicions on the back burner.

"I said 'yes' because it's the perfect opportunity to see if she is." Marinette explained as she walked to the end of her desk and reached for her bag, pulling out the Gaggltack she got from Styx. "It's a good thing I got this from Styx when I did, otherwise I wouldn't be able to do so." the pigtailed girl stated as she turned the horseshoe around in her grip, inspecting the artifact with a critical eye.

"And what if she isn't a Changeling? What then?" Tikki questioned, wondering what Marinette had planned if her suspicions were proven incorrect.

"Then at least I don't have to worry about one being so close." Marinette replied before her phone buzzed, prompting her to pick it up and saw that Artemis had texted her the address. "One way or another, we'll find out the truth tomorrow." the red-tipped-haired girl declared, now glad to have the chance to settle the dreaded possibility that had been plaguing her for the past few weeks for good.

"Marinette! Dinner's ready!" Sabine called from downstairs, catching Marinette and Tikki's attention from their conversation.

"Coming Mom!" Marinette hollered back, quickly putting the Gaggletack and her phone onto her desk before she headed to her trapdoor to go downstairs for dinner. As she did, Tikki went back up to her pillow to take a nap, eager to pass the time before her holder came back and laid out her game plan for the coming day.

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(Time skip)

Well after dinner at the Dupain-Cheng household and Marinette's daily video call to Jim, Friday night soon turned into Saturday morning. And in true Marinette fashion, she ended up sleeping in till 8:00, leading to her racing around to get dressed for the day and run to Artemis's apartment after plugging in her address into her map app. By the time she arrived at the apartment's door, out of breath and leaning against the doorframe in exhaustion, it was already 8:30. Seeing that she was an hour late, Marinette's head hung low as she cleaned herself up and knocked on the door, alerting those inside that she had arrived. No sooner than she did, the door opened up to reveal a smiling Artemis.

"Ah, right on time!" Artemis greeted after she opened the door, leaving Marinette to gawk at the older woman as she backed away from the door to let her in.

"Wait, I thought you said to be here at 7:30. I'm an hour late!" Marinette exclaimed as she walked into the apartment, observing Artemis's current attire out of habit from her design work. Said attire that Artemis was wearing was a simple sea-green dress shirt with the sleeves rolled to her elbows and tucked into black pants, with black boots and a gold buckled black belt.

"I might have overheard some of your classmates mention you have a habit of being late. So I made accommodations for it." Artemis replied as Marinette stopped just at the edge of the living room and turned to face her as she closed the door, amused by her reaction.

"Oh... well, thank you for being so understanding." Marinette replied in her miffed state, surprised that Artemis was being so calm about her habit of being late.

"It's no problem. Besides, you are doing me a huge favor so it's the least I could do." Artemis said as she waved off Marinette's concern with her hand, leaving Marinette to smile at her.

"My pleasure." Marinette cheerfully stated, happy that she didn't make a bad impression already. "So... how long are you going to be gone, if I may ask?" the designer questioned as she saw Artemis walking to the living room and pulling a small suitcase from behind the couch.

"I'll only be gone for the weekend, but I'll be back late Sunday night." Artemis explained, kneeling next to her bag to make sure she had all that she needed for the trip.

"Got it." Marinette responded with a nod, only to bashfully look off to the side out of reluctance to continue her questioning for a few seconds. "Are there any rules or guidelines I need to know?" the pigtailed girl continued, now finding her voice to learn all she needed to take care of her future charge.

"A few, yes." Artemis replied, gesturing to the couch as she rose to her feet. "Have a seat, this might take a few minutes." the Changeling said as they both went to sit on the couch, followed by Artemis pulling out a layout of the apartment and what looks to be the roof of the building from the table.

"As I've already told you before, Rayla has a habit of sneaking out when she's bored. But while I believe she won't be so inclined to do so this time, you should know her usual escape routes." Artemis began, now turning her focus onto her layout plan and causing Marinette to do the same. "The one she uses the most is the front door at the time when her sitters have gone home after the first day." the graying-haired woman explained as she pointed to the corresponding spots, Marinette nodding as she took in the information.

"But since our apartment is on the top floor, she is just as partial to the rooftop access hatch at the end of the upstairs hallway. From there, Rayla goes down the fire escape to the ground level. If she does sneak out that way while you're still here, you have about 6-7 minutes to get to the bottom before her, via elevator." Artemis went on, leaving Marinette surprised by the news while neither of them heard the sound of tiny footsteps coming towards them.

"Rayla's that quick?" Marinette squawked, in awe and concerned by the time estimation before a pair of amber eyes peeked out from behind the couch.

"You know it!!!" A voice behind Marinette speaks up, causing her to jump and land on the floor before she saw Rayla poking her head from behind the couch. "Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you." Rayla cried as she came out of her hiding place, worried that her little prank had caused Marinette to get hurt.

"I'm fine. You just surprised me." Marinette said as got up from the floor, Rayla coming around the couch and sitting on Artemis's right. "So you must be Rayla." the red-tipped-haired girl remarked as she sat back onto the couch, dusting herself off with a small smile.

"That's me! It's nice to meet you, Marinette!" Rayla happily cheered as she held out her hand to her new babysitter, trying to not make any more of a bad first impression.

"You too, Rayla." Marinette responded, taking the eight-year-old's hand and shaking it. "So your caretaker here says you're quite the troublemaker. Should I be worried?" the designer teasingly asked.

"You'll be fine, don't worry." Artemis assured, prompting Marinette to nod in reply before she continued. "As I was saying, the upper spare room is off-limits. That's where my office is and I'd rather not have anyone going in there while I'm gone." the greying-brown-haired woman began, pointing to the corresponding spots on the floor map.

"Understood. Anything else?" Marinette asked as she looked up from the paper, wanting to know everything.

"Up on the roof, there is our building's community garden. So if Rayla does want to go up there, be careful of the other resident's crops. But she normally likes to do that on our balcony/patio area over there." Artemis continued, now pointing to the balcony behind her as she spoke. "If you do decide to spend time out of the house, I ask that you refrain from going to sketchy places. It's not that I think you would, I usually say that to every babysitter I leave with my ward." the Changeling lectured, once again causing Marinette to nod in understanding.

"In terms of schedule, we like to play things by ear. But lunchtime is at noon, dinner is at 6:30, and breakfast tomorrow is at 8:00." Artemis went on, now getting into the more personal things of Marinette's duties. "Meal-wise, Rayla is a picky eater and usually has cereal for breakfast when I'm out of town. For lunch and dinner, there is a folder of recipes and the ingredients to make them in the kitchen." the older woman outlined, gesturing to the kitchen behind Marinette and causing her to turn to see where she was pointing.

"In the kitchen. Got it!" Marinette replied, turning her attention back to Artemis and Rayla.

"After that, Rayla tends to go to bed at 8:00. And while she doesn't admit it, Rayla likes to hear a story before falling asleep. Her preference is nothing cliche, only stories of real-life instances that have happened to you." Artemis concluded with a smirk, giving Rayla a teasing side-eye while she looked off to the side to avoid anyone seeing her reddening cheeks.

"I can do that." Marinette assured her, leaning to see past Artemis's side and look at Rayla with a soft smile, the eight-year-old seeing the gesture and returning it in kind. "Is there anything else I need to know?" the designer questioned, straightening herself and focusing on Artemis again.

"One last thing, yes." Artemis said as she pulled out a paper with a key attached to it from her black purse, handing it to Marinette. "Here is the emergency contact if things get out of hand, my number on speed dial, and Rayla's number if she does sneak off. And here is the key to the apartment for tomorrow." the Changeling stated, listing off the contents of the list while Marinette read it over and detached the key from the paper.

"Got it. Is that everything I need to know?" Marinette inquired as she put the paper and key into her purse, hoping to keep them safe until they were needed.

"The most important things, yes." Artemis confirmed before an alarm from her phone went off, causing her to check it to see what the noise was about. "And I need to get going before I'm late for my flight." the Changeling nearly yelped when she saw that it was her departure alarm going off, Rayla winking at her before she sneakily returned it in kind. With the little message sent between them, Artemis stood up from the couch and closed her purse, Marinette and Rayla following suit before they walked to the front door. But when Artemis reached the door, she turned around and Rayla came running over to hug her goodbye.

"See you soon, Artemis." Rayla farewelled, hugging her caretaker tight while Artemis knelt to wrap her arms around her too.

"You too, Rayla. And remember from this point on, Marinette is in charge." Artemis reminded her ward before pulling back from the hug. "So no tricks, no lies, no trouble, and please no sneaking out, okay?" she lectured Rayla, earning an eye roll from the half-Troll in mock annoyance.

"I promise." Rayla replied, holding her hand over her heart and raising the other into the air as she made her swear.

"That's my little spitfire." Artemis praised with a smile before they hugged again, only for the older woman to pull back and stand up to leave, followed by her placing a kiss on the top of Rayla's head. "Alright, I'm off. You are officially in charge for the weekend, Marinette." she declared, turning her attention to the 14-year-old one last time before she left.

"Understood. And don't worry, I'll make sure no disasters happen." Marinette promised, walking up to the pair to place a hand on Rayla's shoulder as a means to reassure Artemis was making the right call.

"I have every confidence you will." Artemis announced as she opened the front door, taking a back step to exit the apartment. "See you Sunday night." she farewelled, closing the door behind her after she left the apartment.

Once the door was closed, Artemis quickly used her magic to transform her suitcase and purse, turning them back into her mission satchel before walking away to the elevator. Upon Artemis's arrival at the elevator, she pushed the down button and caused the doors to open before she stepped into the carriage, turning to face the open doorway and gaze at her front door out of slight hesitation. But she pushed those thoughts down and pressed the close door button, knowing her ward was in safe hands.

"Good luck, Ladybug." Artemis whispered as the elevator doors closed, her worries easing a bit more the closer she got to the bottom floor.

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Seconds after Artemis closed the apartment door, Rayla and Marinette awkwardly turned to face each other, unsure of how to proceed now that Artemis was gone. Marinette was especially hesitant to interact with Rayla due to her suspicions of the eight-year-old being a Changeling. But she was looking after her for the weekend, so she needed to make an effort... whether she was Changeling or not.

"So... How has your day been so far?" Marinette asked, hoping to make conversation and break the ice a little bit.

"Well, pretty good, thanks for asking. Even though I wanted to go with Artemis this time." Rayla replied, her posture adopting a more annoyed demeanour as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked off to her left with a pout.

"How come you wanted to go with her?" Marinette questioned, intrigued by the new tidbit as she looked down at the eight-year-old in front of her.

"Oh, I usually want to go with her on her trips. It's half the reason why I sneak out from home." Rayla explained as she reverted her gaze up to Marinette, her arms dropping back to her sides. "But she's going on her monthly trip, and it's to a place I've always been fascinated about." the half-Troll huffed, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"Really?" Marinette wondered.

"Yep. And between you and me, that's the most interesting place she's travelled to." Rayla replied, leaving Marinette intrigued by the comment.

"Just how many places has she been to?" Marinette asked, curious about someone who seemed to share her grandmother's interest in world travel.

"Tons! I've actually got an album in my room to document where she's gone." Rayla recalled before she grabbed Marinette's hand. "Come on! I'll show you!" the eight-year-old exclaimed before she took her new babysitter to her room, only letting Marinette's hand go long enough to head over to her bookshelf and search for her album.

"Your room is so cool, Rayla. It reminds me of my friend Adrien's room, but... cosy and warm." Marinette remarked as she looked around, walking into the middle of the room and spinning to take it in while Rayla searched for her book.

"Thanks!" Rayla squealed, turning her attention away from her search and onto Marinette for the moment it took to reply. "And that album should be here somewhere. I just need to remember where I put it last." the Half-Troll reported as she turned back to her shelf, resuming her searching and using her loft staircase to try and reach for the higher shelves in case she put it up there and forgot she had.

"Take your time, we have all day." Marinette assured her charge, quickly pulling out her Gaggletack from out of her jacket when she was sure Rayla wasn't looking. 'Time to see if I'm right.' the pigtailed girl internally declared before she started walking towards Rayla, holding the horseshoe out at her as she drew nearer. But as soon as she was close enough to her target, Rayla finally found the book she was looking for.

"Here it is!" Rayla announced before she pulled out the book from the shelf above her, only to accidentally hit Marinette in the face when the weight of the book nearly dragged her to the ground. Upon impact, Marinette was sent to the floor with a groan, the Gaggletack skidding across the floor to the windows while Rayla managed to catch herself and the book, only to see Marinette's condition.

"Oh my gosh! I am so sorry!! Are you alright?!" the white-haired girl worriedly rambled as she dropped the book and raced down the staircase to help Marinette sit up.

"I'm okay, don't worry. I've had worse hits." Marinette replied, hoping to assure Rayla that she knew it was an accident. But a wipe of her face with the back of her hand had found that her nose was now bleeding, concerning both girls. "Okay, now that might be a small problem." the red-tipped-haired girl observed in an unsettled tone, leaving Rayla panicked when she saw the blood.

"Oh god! I am SO SORRY!! I'll go get the first-aid kit!" Rayla cried before running off to the bathroom, hoping to help fix the mess she caused.

"You don't need to... and she's gone." Marinette trailed off, pinching her nose to stop the blood flow while Tikki flew out of her purse to hover over her.

"Are you okay, Marinette!" Tikki asked, concerned for her holder.

"I'm fine, Tikki. It's just a nosebleed. It could have been avoided if I was more patient." Marinette said as she tilted her head back, trying to avoid blood dropping onto her clothes while taking note of what she could have done better.

"Still, getting hurt shouldn't have happened." Tikki countered seconds before they heard footsteps coming towards the room.

"We'll talk about this later. Hide Tikki!" Marinette yelped in a horse whisper, prompting Tikki to hide back in her purse just as Rayla came back into the room, a red first-aid kit in hand. "Rayla, I'm okay. I just need to clean up the blood and-" the designer began, hoping to ease some of Rayla's guilt.

"No! It's my fault you're hurt and I need to help!" Rayla interrupted as she knelt next to her, placing the kit onto the ground and opening it to pull out a box of NasalCease bandaids. Following the instructions, Rayla prepped the dressings for Marinette to stick up her nose to stop the bleeding, having some experience with using them from her own previous nose bleeds. "There! Now keep those in for thirty minutes and the blood should stop." the eight-year-old instructed Marinette, handing them to her babysitter.

"Got it. Thank you, Rayla." Marinette replied before she did as she was told, Rayla smiling before she started putting the first-aid kit away. "You're surprisingly really good at first aid." the pigtailed girl observed, watching Rayla work once her bandages were set properly.

"Thanks. Artemis owns and operates a dojo and taught me how to care for injuries in case of emergencies. Plus it helped that I begged her to learn when she came home with a really bad cut from a weapons training accident." Rayla explained, closing the first-aid kit and putting it onto her bookshelf to put away later.

"You know... the more I learn about Artemis, the more she is a mystery to me." Marinette noted, looking at the ground as she tried to process all she'd learned about Rayla's caretaker.

"Yeah, she has that effect on people. But once she lets you get to know her, she's a total softy." Rayla said, smiling when remembering how Artemis's first impressions usually went.

"I'll take your word for it." Marinette replied as he rose to her feet, just seconds before Rayla saw the Gaggletack on the other side of the room.

"Oh, did you drop this?" Rayla asked as she walked over and picked up the Gaggletack, only for nothing to happen when she touched it, leaving Marinette both surprised and relieved.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry about that." Marinette apologized as she took the horseshoe from her, hiding it away in her jacket again. "But how about we put this little accident behind us and have a look through that album you mentioned?" the red-tipped-haired girl inquired, causing Rayla to perk up and rapidly nod 'Yes'.

"Absolutely!" Rayla happily responded before she grabbed the album from the floor, followed by her dragging Marinette to sit next to her on her bed.

Soon enough, Rayla started to flip through the album Artemis used to document her travels, showing pictures she took of the places she visited. However, when they were towards the end of the book, there were pictures with Rayla in them too, some of which had both of them shown together.

"Looks like you've been going with her on some of her trips." Marinette pointed out as she looked at a picture of Artemis and Rayla at the pyramids, happy to see a change in the pattern.

"That's only been recent. But yeah, I've gone with her on some of her trips and it's been a nice change from staying home all the time when Artemis needs to travel." Rayla stated as she continued flipping through, landing on the last photo of the album that depicted the eight-year-old mimicking the 'Christ The Redeemer' statue in Brazil.

"That's... really cool." Marinette replied, a little concerned as to why Artemis had only now started taking Rayla along with her on her seemingly frequent business trips. "You know, I think she would get along with my grandmother, Gina. She's a world traveler too." the designer remarked, trying to distract herself from those thoughts before they led to her running her mouth off.

"Wait, really?! Awesome!! How many places has she been to?" Rayla rapidly asked, gently taking the album to place it on her right so that she could turn her body to fully face Marinette and listen to her with rapt attention.

"Probably not as many as Artemis, but quite a few." Marinette replied with a smile, amused by Rayla's curious nature. "And she sends me and my brother all sorts of cool trinkets from the places she visits when she can." the pigtailed girl added, earning an intrigued stare from Rayla at her words.

"Is that where you got that horseshoe from, if you don't mind me asking?" Rayla questioned, which had Marinette immediately sidelined by the question and quickly went quiet.

"Uh... no. It's not." Marinette stammered, not sure of how to play off her earlier suspensions. "It was for... a... failed design concept I had." the red-tipped-haired girl finally answered, hoping that it would be enough to satiate Rayla's curiosity.

"A failed design concept? Are you a designer?" Rayla inquired, which relieved Marinette that she seemed to have believed her response.

"Yeah, I am." Marinette replied, a smile on her face as she spoke.

"No way! THAT'S SO COOL!!!" Rayla squealed, her hands clenching in her excitement as she held them close to her chest. "Do you have any designs I could see?" the white-haired girl excitedly questioned Marinette, a wide smile appearing on her face.

"I actually do! My sketchbook is in my bag in the living room." Marinette replied in equal excitement, leading to the two of them heading out of Rayla's room and back to the living room so that Marinette could get her bag. Once Marinette had her bag in hand, the two girls sat on the living room's loveseat couch so that she could pull out her book to show her designs to Rayla.

"Whoa!! These are so cool!" Rayla gushed as she watched Marinette flip through the pages, her eyes lighting up at the designs within. "OH! Is that dress inspired by a geode cavern?!" the Half-Troll asked as she pointed to one of Marinette's Stone Arc and Heartstone-inspired designs.

"Yeah... you could say that." Marinette confirmed, trying to keep the true origins of the design inspiration a secret despite her amusement at Rayla's reaction. "You seem to have a lot of knowledge of nature. Not many kids your age have that much interest in the earth." the designer noted, impressed by Rayla's delight in the subject.

"Thank you! I've always loved the beauty of nature, so seeing someone else be inspired by it is always cool to see." Rayla explained, a fond smile on her face before it was filled with sudden realization. "Oh, wait!" the eight-year-old exclaimed, only to run off to her room a second later and quickly came back with a book in her hands before sitting down next to Marinette again.

"I'm a little bit of an artist myself." Rayla admitted as she opened the book she grabbed, showing it off as her sketchbook to Marinette and leaving her speechless. "What do you think? It's not much, but based on what my last babysitter said, I'm a good artist for my age." The white-haired girl rambled as Marinette looked through the pages, bashfully looking away from her babysitter in an attempt to avoid any negative critique.

"They were right. Your work is amazing!" Marinette exclaimed, amazed by the artwork Rayla was showing her. "May I?" the pigtailed girl asked as she gestured to the book, to which Rayla nodded and handed the book to her.

"Not even my friend Nathaniel is this good! Your detailing is so intricate." Marinette complimented as she flipped through the book and suddenly landed on Rayla's recent portrait of Artemis in her training gear, now in the last stages of completion. "Whoa... This looks so life-like!" the red-tipped-haired girl gushed, raising the book to her eyes to get a closer look at the piece-in-progress.

"Oh! That one's not finished yet. It's a dabble in watercolors that I've been working on." Rayla shyly admitted, rubbing the back of her head amid her nervousness,

"This is watercolors? You are really good at this! It's so detailed and beautiful that I thought it was normal paint!" Marinette squealed, still looking through the book while Rayla started looking through her sketchbook in return.

"So, if this was a dabble in watercolors... what does your normal paintwork look like?" Marinette asked, looking up from Rayla's book and prompting the younger girl to do the same with hers.

"I got one in here that I used my go-to paints for." Rayla replied as she reached over to flip through the pages. "Any other time I use normal paints, I use them on canvas. But this painting was small enough to fit into my book." the Half-Troll explained, soon landing on a painted picture of a dragon.

At first glance, the dragon was of eastern origin and lacked any wings while its body was a beautiful red-orange color, its eyes a piercing glowing gold. It had whisker tendrils coming out from above its lip and dark red horns sitting on its head, a beautiful white pearl resting in the black claws of its right upper paw. The base color of its body scales was metallic red-orange, but they had a beautiful gradient to metallic gold with the gradient being swapped with black in some scattered places. To finish the look, dark gray fur went along its back to its tail, around its neck and on the back of its four elbows, adding to the majesty of the beast.

"Whoa! This is amazing!" Marinette breathed in amazement, lifting her hand to gently run her fingers along the painting.

"Thank you! It's my second favorite to date." Rayla responded, happy that her work was being enjoyed by her babysitter.

"I can see why! It looks so real!" Marinette gushed. "You have so much talent, Rayla! I know you'll make it far in the art world if you choose to." the designer stated, leaving Rayla in awe of her supportive words.

"Thank you, Marinette!" Rayla squealed. "Um, could I see your favorite designs?" the eight-year-old asked, bashfully twiddling her fingers as she waited for a response.

"It would be my pleasure!" Marinette happily answered, followed by her flipping through her book to show Rayla her favorite design. From there, they found themselves going into a spiral of sharing their creative work.

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After finding common ground with each other, Rayla and Marinette found themselves enjoying their time together immensely. Most of their time before lunch was spent sharing how they first started practicing their artistic talents, which left Marinette surprised when she was told where and whom Rayla first learned from. When going into sharing more of the creative hobbies they did, it led to both Marinette and Rayla introducing new mediums to each other. Such an exchange was Marinette teaching Rayla how to knit, while Rayla taught her how to weave metal rods and glass into jewelry, their crafting filling the main area of the apartment with their creations.

When lunch passed, Marinette asked Rayla if she wanted to try teaching her how to paint like her, to which the half-Troll immediately said yes and raced to her room to bring out her art supplies. The remaining time before dinner was spent with Rayla and Marinette finding themselves painting the Paris skyline from the apartment balcony. It wasn't until it was 5:00 that they needed to take a break so that Marinette could get dinner started, which would give their paintings time to dry for the next layer of paint. After taking a picture of their subject for later reference use, Marinette and Rayla headed to the kitchen.

At first, Rayla was content to watch as Marinette worked. But she was surprised when her babysitter asked if she wanted to help her. Rayla immediately said yes and raced to Marinette's side, becoming her sous-chef as they made dinner together. With two people on the task, the meal of a ratatouille stew was made a good 5 minutes before 6:30, giving Marinette and Rayla time to set the table before serving. After the two girls sat down to eat, the whole pot was empty in no time at all with how well the recipe turned out. But that still left clean-up for them to do now that their meal was done.

"That was delicious! I hadn't had ratatouille in a long time, but Artemis has a really good recipe." Marinette announced as she put away the plates, Rayla putting the cooking pot away in the lower cabinets in the meantime.

"I'll let her know that you liked it. Maybe she'll let you borrow it." Rayla said with a smile as she closed the cabinet door, followed by her rising to her full height.

"Thank you, but I think I'll be okay." Marinette assured Rayla as she finished putting the dishes away, now turning to face her charge with her chore completed. "But I am interested to see how dry our paintings are." the pigtailed girl admitted, a smile appearing on her lips at the thought.

"Let's go and see!!" Rayla squealed, running over to grab Marinette's hand and pulling her back out to the balcony. Once past the doorway out, the two of them went to the balcony railing and reached their paintings, the canvases drying in the dusk wind. "Looks like the first layer is almost done drying!" the eight-year-old cheered, jumping up and down in her excitement.

"I'm still in awe of how you make your own paints. While I know it's possible to do so, I've never seen the process in person." Marinette remarked as she looked over at the paints Rayla had in her supplies, all of them in frosted bell jars before looking back at the paintings. "Their color is still so vibrant even as it dries! It's incredible!" the red-tipped-haired girl gushes as she walked over to the art supplies and picked up the jar of red paint, lifting it to her eyes to better look at it.

"Thank you! I did try using the paint you find in stores, but it just didn't feel right using those. Too unoriginal, if you know what I mean?" Rayla asked, gathering her supplies to put them back into the wagon she brought them out in.

"Totally get it. I know if I could make my own fabrics, I'd only use those in my designs." Marinette admitted, knowing exactly how Rayla felt in terms of creative freedom. "Though I have to ask, where do you get the materials to make your paints?" the designer queried, her curiosity on the subject growing as she helped put the supplies away.

"After I started showing off my artistic talents and Artemis helped me develop them, she started bringing back things from her monthly trip that I could use to make paints when normal paints wouldn't cut it. She was even the one to teach me how to make them into paint." Rayla explained, grabbing the last of her brushes and putting them into their designated area of the wagon's basket before turning to face Marinette again. "I know Artemis may be peculiar to most, but she's always been supportive of my passions and cares about those around her more than herself." the white-haired girl added, revealing the hidden soft side she knew her caretaker tends to keep to herself most of the time.

"It clearly shows. Even if she seems a little overprotective of you, it obviously comes from a place of love." Marinette noted as she placed another jar into the wagon, knowing that Artemis's actions spoke volumes about how true Rayla's words were.

"Yeah, I know. But that doesn't mean it doesn't get boring." Rayla admitted with a sigh, watching as Marinette picked up the last jar of paint. "Especially when she goes on business trips and sticks me with babysitters who bore me to death." the Half-Troll added, a pout replacing her earlier smile as she crossed her arms over her chest in her annoyance at the subject.

"You're the first babysitter I've had that's been interested in what I would like to do. All the others either only pretended to be interested or only had little experience with my hobbies." Rayla admitted, not shy to say that she didn't like her past babysitters. "Not to mention you let me help you in the kitchen! Before you, Artemis was the only one that let me do that!" the eight-year-old gushed, her arms dropping to her sides again as her smile returned while Marinette finished loading the wagon.

"Well, they probably didn't want you to get hurt. The kitchen can be a dangerous spot if you're not careful." Marinette theorized, hoping to cushion some of Rayla's ire to her previous babysitters. "But I started learning how to cook when I was a little younger than you, so I'm more lenient about it." the pigtailed girl admitted as she picked up the wagon handle, getting ready to pull the cart back into the apartment.

"Look, all I'm trying to say is that you're the best babysitter I've had to date! I've never really connected with the otherones like I did with you." Rayla admitted, the two of them walking alongside each other to go back into the apartment while Marinette pulled the wagon behind them.

"And I can say for certainty that you're the most interesting kid I've babysat for. I hope that your caretaker keeps me on so that we can keep having fun together." Marinette replied as they passed through the balcony doorway, making their way through the back of the living room towards the bedrooms.

"I'm sure we will. That way we can keep doing things like this." Rayla said, already imagining how great it would be for that to happen. "Speaking of doing cool stuff... are you still doing that 'Geode Hat' design you showed me?" the white-haired girl asked, the two of them arriving at her bedroom door.

"Yeah, I am. Though I need to make a fake geode crystal for the decorative piece on the side." Marinette admitted as they entered Rayla's room, the two of them walking towards the younger girl's closet. "I'm planning on going to this geode store I found to get the right crystals I need to make a mold of them to make from resin. But I don't know when a good time would be." the red-tipped-haired girl mused aloud, her mind trying to think of some way to eventually go to the shop.

"Why not tomorrow? Artemis did say you can take me out as long as the places are on the up and up." Rayla offered as she opened her closet door, revealing the similar set-up it had to Artemis's walk-in before they headed inside. And while the two of them walked to the back of the walk-in closet; which housed all of Rayla's art supplies away from her clothes and shoes, Marinette thought it through and came to her conclusion.

"Well, I don't see why not. It's just a geode shop so I'm sure it'll be fine." Marinette decided as she parked the wagon, causing Rayla to squeal and pull Marinette into a hug.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!" Rayla squealed, wrapping her arms around Marinette's waist and tightening them around her like a vice.

"Okay, okay, I know you're excited, but could you not crush my waist into a pancake?" Marinette asked, starting to feel pain from Rayla's tight hug but still happy to see her so joyful too.

"Sorry! I'm just glad that you're including me in the process." Rayla apologised, quickly letting Marinette go.

"Of course! It's the least I could do after you helped me inspire some new designs." Marinette replied, knowing Rayla would help pick out the right geodes due to her vast knowledge of nature. "But how about we finish cleaning up our crafting frenzy so that nothing is lost? Sound good?" the designer asked, hoping to finish that next chore before heading home for the night.

"Sounds good to me." Rayla replied, followed by the two of them leaving Rayla's room to go and clean up their mess in the apartment's main area.

It turned out to be quite a lot more than they thought, soon seeing that they had done a lot of experimenting in their crafting frenzy. The time passed by so quickly and it was already 8:00. But just when Marinette finished her part of the cleanup, she turned to check on Rayla and found her already asleep on the couch midway through clearing the last bits of her share. Smiling fondly at Rayla, Marinette walked over to her charge and gently shook her shoulder to awaken her, causing Rayla to stir enough to open her eyes.

"Huh... wha?" Rayla muttered, sleep filling her voice as she wearily looked up at her babysitter.

"You nodded off there. How about I finish up here and you get ready for bed?" Marinette softly asked Rayla, hoping that the eight-year-old would choose to go to bed.

"Nooo... I want to..." Rayla protested as she started to lift herself from the couch, rubbing her eyes a bit to clear her sleepiness. But it did little to help wake Rayla up from her sleepiness.

"No buts. You need to go to bed." Marinette lightly argued, knowing she needed to go to sleep as soon as possible.

"Okay..." Rayla groaned in relent, slowly getting up and making her way to her room while Marinette finished up.

Seeing as it was the last stretch, it didn't take long for Marinette to finish cleaning up, concluding the task by taking the nearly completed pair of portraits inside the living room. After she did, Marinette went to check on Rayla and found her changed into her pyjamas and sacked out on top of her covers. Smiling at how cute Rayla was, Marinette crept over to her and lifted her from her bed to pull the covers back, followed by her tucking Rayla under them.

"Sweet dreams, Rayla. See you tomorrow." Marinette whispered before reaching for the lamp, turning the light off before sneaking out of the room and closing the door behind her. With that, she exited the apartment, eager to tell Jim about how well her day had gone after she got home.