#but mostly nino focused ))

[vyndicta]

The image of your mother fades day after day. Details escape you, no matter how hard you try to remember— but you could never forget her kind smile.

Even on days where you misbehaved, or when you and your brother caused mischief as children often do, your mother could never properly scold you. Still she wore that smile as she ushered her children into her arms, speaking softly. Never would your mother raise her voice at either of you— and when your father tried to discipline, he would be the only one to experience the might of his wife.

For those four first years of your life you were apart of a happy family, even if you can no longer remember the specific moments.

—————

There were nights where nightmares plagued your rest.

Nightmares where you find yourself in your room, your brother’s eyes shut tight…and yet you cannot see his chest rise and fall. Before you can even try to shake him awake, the scent of smoke filters through the bottom of your bedroom door. In your panic you call for your parents— ‘mama…! papa…!’— but they never arrive. You’re all alone as the heat creeps forward…

…And only when you opened your eyes did you realize you were safe. Your parents rush by your side (though your brother seemed to be fast asleep despite your cries), immediately checking to see what was wrong. And as your mother held you in her arms she smiles, reassuring you that everything would be alright.

You remember that smile. It was different than her usual…it was as if she had been trying to convince herself, rather than her son. But back then you never noticed the actual fear in her eyes, or the way her smile faltered. You fell asleep against her chest, the warmth of flames replaced with the warmth of a mother’s love.

You know now that your nightmares were more like premonitions. You still have that dream from time to time, though you no longer have your mother to hold you tight.

—————

The last time you see your mother, there is a sadness behind her smile. She holds you and your brother’s hands tight as she tells you she’ll return one day. It was only a small errand— that was all she said— and until she would return, she lamented how she wouldn’t be able to hold her babies until her return. You were once so hopeful that she would return, that your mother loved you both too much to just walk away.

That night she sleeps alongside you, though when you woke up she was already on her way.

Your father stays behind. And no matter how hard he tried…nothing could replace the feeling of her hand in your own, or the way she smiled at you and your brother as if you were her entire world.

Your mother was gone longer than she said she would be. Your father worries, and in time you and your brother were brought to an orphanage run by the church. He tried to tell you that you would be safe here, that he would return with your mother in no time.

All you can remember of him is the way he looked over his shoulder as he walked away.

—————

You stare in the mirror in your new room. Years have passed since those happy days. Without a doubt your parents have died. That loving family you once had was torn apart by one nation’s greed— you were never even allowed to pick up the pieces on your own.

Fingers press against the corners of your lips, pulling them up into a mockery of a grin. No matter how hard you tried, you could never replicate just how wide your mother’s smile was. You let go, a blank expression staring right back at you.

There are days where you wonder what type of woman your mother truly was— if what you saw was really all there was…though you doubt there is anyone left who would be able to tell you. ‘I wonder if they’d recognize me as her son,’ you think to yourself, and such a simple thought brings a smile to your face.

‘Maybe they’d say…’you have your mother’s smile’.’

#[ smoulder ] #fe7 did something bad to me )) #and i have a lot of thoughts about how nino would be as a mother considering her own experience with sonia )) #being vague abt dear papa but i dooo have some hcs dw abt it )) #but mostly nino focused )) #[ on fire ] #this makes less sense as i write AAAAAA )) #not to tell and not show but lugh’s ability to act polite and smile personally feels forced at times )) #and i think he learned that practiced smile from his mother’s memory oough ))

[bigfatbreak]

I laughed way to hard for way to long on your supernatural Au. Is this AU gonna focuse on Adrien and Nino's bromance? Are there others in class who are also supernatural? Oh! Does like everyone know Adrien is supernatural but think they only know about it? And the class is reason is some variation of " Adrien is my good friend, I'll keep his secret no problemo"

the fun part of the supernatural au is everyone has Something going on but they think they're the only ones that do. like being gay in school

it would mostly focus on the nino/adrien bromance and the two of them finding out everyone else has something insane going on. Luka is a siren and his songs are soothing bc of it. Ivan is a troll and turns to stone if sunlight hits him. Nathaniel is a headless horseman but he lost his horse so he's really just a guy with a skull issue. Marc is a unicorn. Emelie is also a vampire but wasn't waking up in her coffin bc she wanted to avoid Gabe bc they had an argument 2 years ago and she's petty. Gabe was human but Nathalie is a witch. She's not good at being a witch. She keeps hexing her computer on accident.

Oh, Lila is also a normal human, but she doesn't last long in class.

#replies #vampire au #im calling it that so ppl dont think im trying to winchester these kids

[tumblingxelian]

I doubt I have the time or focus to write it but legit fascinated of an "Adrien never went to school" AU thanks to re-reading the Enemies to Lovers Bakers AU.

I imagine the sequence of how this happens would be:

The first day happens as canon. But on the second day, Adrien is better contained at home until Stoneheat 2.0 lets him slip away to do hero stuff. Despite this, the fact the mayors daughter was nearly killed is used as Gabriel as a pretext as to why Adrien will be staying home. This nixes any plans, arguments or work arounds he or Chloe could come up with.

So, with Adrien contained to the manor, work & slightly more occasional Chloe hang outs, what becomes of the story overall? Well let's look at the season 1 plot from the main 2's perspective:

Marinette:

Off the cuff her story doesn't change much.

She doesn't befriend or start crushing on Adrien and because Chloe's distracted there's no seat dispute. With no Adrien, she may instead have a crush on Alya & Chat, but is not willing to act on or even necessarily aware of this at first. Though she may end up feeling heartbroken 'for some reason' when or IF, Alya & Nino start dating, but with no Adrien it may not happen, or could happen differently.

On a more long term level, I imagine some of the school Akuma don't come up, like there's no 'reason' for Chloe to try and steal Juleka's spot on photo day. & Chloe in general is probably bit more distracted & the two have slightly less reasons to butt heads, so the stories focusing on that would be stuff like the class election.

Her relationship with Chat would be largely unchanged given little has actually changed on that front. Though he may be a bit clingier and more overtly lonely so they may talk more. Adrien to her is just a pretty face who she sometimes sees hanging around Chloe.

I think the big divergence would really happen because of Lila. Mostly because without the Adrien factor she may handle the lies with a cooler head, this plot could manifest in two ways, but I will handle that lower down.

Adrien:

So, Adrien has been denied the chance to go to school because of the Akuma. He definitely resents his father and Hawk Moth a bit more overtly in this version and is even more inclined to use Chat Noir as an escape. What little freedom he did manage to claw out of the shift is usually spent hanging out with Chloe. This would also be easily used for comedy juxtaposition what she tells him of school with what we see.

As noted he also tries to spend more time around Ladybug and is perhaps a bit more fast and loose with details about his life, for good and ill. This could also lead him to slipping the truth to Chloe on accident or by intent shifting her dynamic with Chat, or there's still the fun contrast in how she treats the two.

Beyond that, and as established he spends a decent chunk of his off time with Chloe. In this context he is likely the one doing cosplay, which could may Lady Wifi notably hilarious if very stressful for him. He may also briefly connect with the class during the student election.

But again, he's otherwise very cut off from other kids. Though through this we do get to see a, if not softer, then "Trying to be a good friend" Chloe which is as awkward and clumsy as one would expect.

The main big divergence comes with his discovery of the book, likely born from a bit of rebellious snooping in his fathers office. As with the Lila piece above, this deserves its own segment.

Season 1 Finale:

The Book & the Story Teller would likely be the name. It'd be a dual story with Adrien uncovering the tome and realizing its importance and Marinette grappling with how to handle Lila's deceptions. I forsee 2 main varients.

1: Closer to canon. Adrien hears about Ladybug's "bff" from the Ladyblog and goes to give her the book to see if she can get it to Ladybug. It ends up with Marinette who suspects Adrien or his dad of being Hawk Moth. When the book is discovered lost, Adrien is barred from any outings or visits.

Chloe goes on a rampage to try and find it & to get Adrien to reveal Lila lied about them dating, causing her to Akumatize. Marinette does return the book at the sight of Chloe hiding somewhere sobbing over not being able to see her friend but not before making a photo copy version.

2: Very non canon. Adrien still discovered the book but is told to sneak off with it to tell Master Fu, and he does so. Gabriel is distracted by word of Ladybug's BFF and sends an Akuma after Lila. Because Marinette was already keeping an eye on her to reveal the truth she appears and quickly saves her, which makes it look like the lies are true, much to her annoyance.

Lila is now aware that this lie being believed is not good at all, she assumed Hawk Moth wouldn't notice or buy it. But she doesn't want to admit she lied either because then everyone would question everything so she's kind of stuck and ends up as the more common damsel essentially usurping Chloe's position as nominal Akuma target.

While all this was happening, Adrien was grappling with worries regarding his father and Fu and the Hawk Moth situation. He may also briefly lose the book when helping with Lila and it gets picked up by Ladybug so they both get to meet Fu. This sets up the Collector & also the return of the book via the above method.

I think I rather the latter as it feels more natural.

It also does something different with Lila with her still being a presence in class that irks Marinette and draws Akuma into everyday life.

It also lets her potentially be taken in a different direction with her being the target of attacks meaning she's sure as hell not going to work for Hawk Moth. Plus with no Adrien she likely fixates on different would be famous kids, be they:

Chloe (Hilarious because Chloe is as friendly as a porcupine), Marinette (Self starter designer who has to be polite through gritted teeth) General socializing (The Class) different targets of the week (Such as Luka) or a greater focus on Ladybug and trying to use her for social media fame, while also dealing with the stress of constantly being under attack.

Conclusion

It is harder to say what happens in season 2, but I imagine as changes would begin to pile up more things would diverge.

Kagami might make Adrien & Chloe a trio, or a quartet if Sabrina's been brought in more. She'd also potentially have a friendship episode with Marinette sooner if that was still to be a thing.

Chloe might not reveal herself as Queen Bee, or she might actually get picked by Adrien as a temporary hero, possibly along with Kagami, or Sabrina, so both he and Ladybug have a pair of friends.

It may be Nooroo's birthday that reinvigorates Hawk Moth, or he just can't quit in general. Less focus on school as the story heads into a "school break" period so more room for unexpected encounters & events.

Some version of Heroes Day and the Crimson Army is probably still the season finale. Or that could be the season 3 finale given its scale.

As said, unsure.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous au #Fanfic concept #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #chloe bourgeois

[flightfoot]

Underrated Miraculous Fic writers

So I read a crapton of miraculous fanfics, and I often end up gravitating towards particular fic writers over and over. Most of the time a lot of other people have clearly noticed the same thing, as their stories tend to get tons of kudos - but not always. Some of the fic writers I read most reliably get very little attention, for one reason or another. Usually because they tend to write for a particular niche that I like but isn't overwhelmingly popular throughout the fandom, but other times I have no idea why their stories aren't more popular.

Anyway, I wanted to spotlight a few of those authors here!

---

Generalluxun (@generalluxun)

If you're a fan of fics that really explore Chloe's character, look into her mindset and try to redeem her without relying on shortcuts or making other characters look worse in comparison, then you've probably at least dabbled in his fics before. I'm especially partial to his newest fic "In Direct Opposition", as Alya's the main POV character and is looking to reform Chloe while navigating this whole akuma situation, and Control, a Senti!Chloe fic where Marinette accidentally stumbles across Chloe's Amok and has to decide what to do with it.

---

linerle (@liiinerle)

Linerle specializes in Marigami fics, with a more general bend towards queer romance. If you like those, then you're in for a real treat! Accidents Are Also Miracles is particularly noteworthy, as it's the single longest completed Marigami-centric fic in the fandom. It's a fantastic story that I highly recommend checking out!

---

BecomingButterflies (@bbutterflies)

They specialize in Adrino fics, so if you want to read some Adrino goodness, their author page is a great place to stop by! I've especially enjoyed "I'll give myself a name (something stupid and pretentious)", where Adrien leaves town after finding out Monarch was Gabriel, and only returns years later, to find that Nino has missed him quite a lot...

---

TrishaCollins (@consistent-chaos-corporation)

Trisha often writes Felix-focused fics, delving into his trauma with being raised by Colt, and him trying to be a better person. Not that it's just introspective pieces, a lot of their fics are pretty action-based with serious stakes and villains who are only too willing to hurt the heroes and innocent bystanders, and even kill them. I'm especially partial to their Madness series, which is a sprawling AU, touching on Felix's and Adrien's childhood, but soon fast-forwarding to the present-day, with Chat Noir and Ladybug confronting Felix about Monarch's Miraculous theft, and him seeing the errors of his ways and helping them. I particularly appreciate how viscerally Felix comes to understand how his actions hurt others, particularly the Kwamis, who he put in a similar position to what he himself had been in with Colt.

---

TheChatatonicOne (@rosie-b)

I love a lot of their fics dearly, they're well-written and scratch just the right itch! They mostly write Lovesquare fics, often with a more angsty bent.

I especially adore their enemies au fics:

Stealing Freedom, where Adrien's long been puppeted about using his ring by his father as Cat Walker, who, thankfully, Ladybug and Co. know is a Senti who has no choice in the matter - with Marinette then discovering that her fiance, Adrien, IS Cat Walker.

home is where the fight is, A short glimpse into a Ladrien enemies au, where Adrien's being controlled by his father into fighting her, but is dating Ladybug as a civilian - and Ladybug's secret identity has just been revealed to the world.

True Blue, Chatatonic's ongoing enemies au which I have recced numerous times, which takes the more unusual (and difficult) approach of having MARINETTE side with Gabriel instead of Adrien, and doing so while keeping her in-character by having Gabriel lean into his manipulation skills, telling her half-truths about how Adrien will be happier once his mother's back, and that ultimately the heroes are the ones being greedy and reticent in all this, and that the akumas all agree to help him, even if they don't remember afterwards. It's among the best Miraculous fics I've read this year so far!

Not that she only writes enemies au of course, she's written many other Lovesquare fics. I particularly enjoyed The Mer-Human Race, in which sailors and merfolk would have friendly competitions on who was faster in the water, with the winner being able to ask for some sort of prize. Marinette had been looking for a merman to race for awhile so that she could be granted a vessel of her own at a younger age than was normally permitted. Luckily, a Merman named Chat Noir showed up suddenly and offered to race her. Pity that her friend Adrien wasn't there to watch it...

#miraculous ladybug #ml fanfic rec #generalluxun #bbutterflies #liiinerle #rosie-b #consistent-chaos-corporation

[idollandhero]

I think in a year we'll look back at our time with Idol Land and think of it like a weird dream. A time when there wasn't a Pretty Series show announced and everything was in limbo. A time where King of Prism was a dead franchise. A time when songs were performed at Pretty Series live shows that wouldn't premier in the anime for years. The game teaser in every single Pretty Series announcement only for it to be delayed again. The YEARS long gap between episodes 2 and 3. The DISASTROUS launch. When we realized it was just a reskinned version of the switch game. Or when we discovered that it was mostly made by some unrelated dev who had only made one failed mobile otome game before Idol Land.

The Pretty Series' pivot to focusing on AiPri & KinPri instead of Idol Land & DanPri makes the past few years of Idol Land content, and the past less than a year of Idol Land actually being out, feel like an illusion.

It's frustrating because the concept of a PriPara mobile game sounds fantastic! When I play games like SIF2 or Idolish7 or whatever I think about what could have been. Was it money problems? or time problems? Or some combination of both. Regardless I can't help but yearn for a game with a budget that this franchise deserves.

And the web anime was great! But only 12 episodes, and its own budget problems, plus the games delay keeping it finished and in limbo for 2 years! (+ the lack of any western fansubs picking it up, seriously how is do we still only have subs for up to episode 6) meant that it never got the place in the spotlight it deserved. Some people speculated that it was meant to air on TV because the episodes are formatted as such, but with AiPri starting in that slot the same month the show is ending that doesn't seem to be true.

It's hard to say where PriPara is going from here. It's the series 10th anniversary and the arcade game is being shuttered to push players towards AiPri Verse instead. Idol Land's anime finale is going to air to little applause because it's stuck on an app with less than 20,000 active users, and in the same month as the launch of the new series that's slated to be a real PreCure competitor.

Idol Land's EOS hasn't been announced yet, but the missing Nino birthday coord, the April monthly update with entirely rerun coords, and the fact that Idol Land is getting very VERY close to running out of content from the switch game. Well, if not EOS I expect this game to go into maintenance mode pretty soon.

Yeah idk what my point here was exactly, but man Idol Land really was a blur. Sometimes I think we understate exactly how inexperienced the devs really were. The game doesn't have any type of Google Play integration, and when the game launched the account recovery only lasted 15 minutes. I have a newer phone and the game isn't compatible with my hole punch front camera. There's just a black bar there. I only have this problem with older games, anything made in the last 4 years doesn't have this problem except for Idol Land. I honestly think the lack of region locking is because the dev doesn't know how to turn it on. Someone on discord reported that they've been buying gold, and then contacting Google and asking for a Play Store refund. It's worked multiple times and they are not banned. How is a ban for chargebacks not something they implemented day one. Also this game doesn't have any deals or discounts, ever. It's hard to believe that, like every game I've ever played has a buy two and get 50% off the second one bundle. But it's like the devs don't know how to implement anything past basic gacha mechanics. I could also ramble about how expensive the prices are, but I've done it before I won't do it again. Also the photo room, it's implemented pretty badly. You upload a photo for the background and it crops it weird and squishes it and makes it blurry. I didn't know this at launch because it was a paid feature for like six months. The pass itself was a horrible value unless you were buying it specifically to get the episodes early, you got exactly how the amount of gold you paid for. Why not just buy the gold then. But they either realized that, or were preparing for end of service; because they took it down. I'm rambling about things the devs messed up but I haven't even mentioned the first three months of the game. There's been so many points in this game's history where playing a promise was borderline impossible for one reason or another. This game didn't feel finished until that November update that included immediate promises. God there's so much more. The photo competitions just being about editing for some reason. Also they went away, so clearly those didn't work. The amount of coords they've implemented that were broken in some way. Sometimes it was the wrong coord entirely, sometimes the cylume didn't work. It's like the dev team is so small that there's no QA people. Also on that note, Open Dream Land was just fixed in the mid March update. The game went more than 6 months where one of its two unique charts was off sync. Also remember the voice bug, that lasted forever.

I'm sorry I just started rambling lmao. This is the problem when I write posts with speech to text, I say way too much. Ultimately I enjoyed my time with Idol Land, but it's existence feels surreal. Especially because 80% of the features from this game I can turn on my switch after end of service and play, and it's free because I already paid once and never have to pay again. I even have Waku Waku O'Clock on Switch. One day, probably soon from the way things are going, I'm going to wake up and not be able to play Idol Land on my phone ever again. But instead of reminiscing of this game, I will think about the game that could have been if Idol Land got as much love as Prism Rush did.

KASHIKOMA ✌️

#hero text posting

[aihoshiino]

chapter 132 thoughts!

I FORGOT WE WERE GETTING THE CHAPTER THIS EARLY. OSHI NO JUMPSCARE!!

All joking aside, seeing some of this new movie material is very interesting. Given her focus on smiles, I wonder if Nino is at all inspired by the similarly named Nico from Love Live?

And holy crap, it's the real Takamine and Nino! Seeing them here was a bit of a surprise but it does sew up some internal logic that some folks had been questioning for a while - such as the fact that you, uh, can't make a movie about real people without their permission! This seems to confirm that the B-Komachi members included in the movie, at least, were fine with their portrayal even with it being relatively negative. Indeed, Takamine seems to be taking things in good humor even if her bossiness hasn't gone anywhere in the intervening years…

That said, I think this does highlight one of the emerging issues of the Movie Arc which is just that things are feeling so… truncated, I guess. Given that OnK is supposed to be about the entertainment industry and how closely it has focused on this sort of behind the scenes technical stuff, it feels really weird that we're just blasting past anything that could be inconvenient or slow down the filming even if it would be interesting to see. Like, how did Himekawa feel about this script, that portrays his mother (presumably) as a child abuser? Was there any legal red tape involve in portraying these real people? What did the old B-Komachi think about this movie proposal? It's just weird that we're not getting any focus on these sorts of details when they're otherwise Onk's bread and butter,

And speaking of things that feel weird… is it just me or is it kind of bizarre to see the twins having such a lowkey, understated conversation? This is the first time they've had an extended on screen exchange since the big reveal and it's kind of… nothing. In general, there has been a really baffling lack of focus on Aqua with regards to Ruby in the last chunk of chapters (seriously, no reaction at all to Ai!Ruby?? For real???) and Ruby similarly was in such a loved up haze about him it's weird to see her being so chilled out.

That said… Ruby calling him 'Sensei' is interesting. It confirms more or less that she is essentially projecting/overriding Aqua with Gorou and seeing him entirely as the latter and I can't help but wonder if our relative lack of insight into Aqua's thoughts and feelings since this reveal dropped are because he's having a very different set of emotions to this recontextualization of their dynamic than Ruby would like…

Moving on to Kana and Nino, I think this is a super interesting conversation for a whole lot of reasons I'll get into shortly but mostly for how it characterizes Kana and the KanKane rivalry in contrast to Nino and B-Komachi. To paraphrase a friend, the main tension that fuels KanKane's animosity towards each other is the pedestal Akane put Kana up when she was young and the way she continues to characterize Kana largely only in relation to that pedestal, whether she's on or off it. Akane has not, however, fallen as far as the B-Komachi members and in turn, Kana refuses to do the same. Regardless of her idolization of Kana, Akane acknowledges her as a rival who can be beaten — and therefore, implicitly, a flawed human. That the two of them can have victories and losses in their relationship means they recognize each other as equals. And as Nino puts it, that simply didn't exist in B-Komachi because 'nobody could rival Ai'. The process of idolization is also a process of dehumanization.

And this process, IMO, reveals something incredibly exciting I've been wondering for months. This chapter almost without a doubt confirms Nino as the narrator of 45510, one of the canon short stories written by Aka. The tangle of hatred, desire, jealousy, admiration, animosity and idolization are all things expressed both by Nino and the 45510 narrator who we know to be one of the founding B-Komachi members. Not only that, but her destructive vindictiveness towards anything that could tarnish her image of the perfect idol, Ai, as expressed in 45510 also surfaces here… but I'm getting ahead of myself.

evil gay women huge w miss nino i'm free thursday night and would like to hang out please respond to th

The moment between Ruby-as-Ai and Nino is both sweet and a little disconcerting for a variety of reasons. Ruby's intentions here are undeniably kind and it was, ironically, incredible like Ai of her to see someone in pain and immediately decide she wanted to reach out and do her best to help. Even so, it's a little eerie to see Ruby so confidently put words in Ai's mouth when we ourselves know just how deeply Ai was hurt by the animosity thrown her way by the other girls.

And Nino… whoa boy.

This exchange more than anything else confirms 100% for me that Nino is the 45510 narrator. Her disgust and immediate rejection of Ai's humanity and the possibility that she could be vulnerable and hurt is exactly the same as the one that leads the 45510 narrator to delete Ai's final cry for help. She clings to the image of Ai's perfection in her mind, unable to conceptualize her as anything other than a shining, invincible, untouchable goddess because then she might have to take responsibility for the fact that Ai was just a human who was in pain and that Nino exacerbated that pain.

thank god kana is here to say what we're all thinking. she's right, too. gen 1 b-komachi is a freakshow and i don't respect literally any of these people

And the last page…

I honestly don't know what to make of it, really. It's exciting to see Hikaru potentially finally getting involved in the story and to confirm a connection between him and Nino. This raises a whole armada's worth of flags about her involvement in and knowledge of the events that lead to Ai's murder but with so little info to go on, it's hard to make a guess either way. It's also, admittedly, a little hard to get too excited about this just because the manga has been so unfocused lately, bouncing around from topic to topic and even things that seem to be gearing up to have a major impact on the story and characters have just breezed by without any long term changes. I hope that this means the movie arc is finally really getting into gear but… man, I don't think I'll know what to make of it until we're on the other side and can review it in hindsight.

#oshi no ko #oshi no posting #onk spoilers

[princess-of-the-corner]

https://www.tumblr.com/onlyvinegar/730713750547660800

YEAH NO BASICALLY???

The Alt!Adrien stuff doesn't make sense because it's /Adrien/. Canon!Adrien was able to move on from his mom's death in a mostly-healthy manner despite having the biggest cheesewheel of DICK for a dad. How was Alt!Adrien not able to do so despite having a Good Dad who would have been there for him and helped him move on?? Why is an Adrien who would have been taught good morals by his Heroic dad down to kill anyone who gets in his way??

The Alt!Mari stuff doesn't make sense either because of most of the things that Derision doesn't make sense for. And even with the retcons, Marinette /had friends/ and the Ladybug confidence boost shut down her fear of Chloé so why would Shadybug still have cared once she got her powers? Just gonna go 'this one person was mean to me so i get to commit mass murder'???

Not to mention bigger questions like

Why did Shadybug and Claw Noir get their Miraculous? In Canon LB and CN were chosen to fight Hawkmoth. Is Fu also evil in this universe and he just went 'you know what let's let some teenagers murder half the population instead of going to therapy!'? Even if he intended for them to be Heroes and they went rogue, why did he give them the Miraculous if there wasn't a villain??

Why are they going after the Butterfly Miraculous? Sure, it has some power. But Shadybug already has plenty of power to do whatever the hell she wants to get her revenge, and clearly the Butterfly can't help Claw Noir get his mom back or else Canon!Gabe would've used it to fix Emilie before the whole show even started!! At best it would make more sense for them to either not go after the Butterfly at all and have just Hesperia happens to be the Hero fighting them, or they should be focused on taking out each other while Hesperia is doing damage control.

"Marinette never met Alya"??? Despite Alt!Alya being in the special and a major player character and presumably dating Alt!Nino, she never met her???

Even if that WAS the case, Marinette meeting Alya and Mari getting her Miraculous happened the same damn day, so what happened in like a few hours to make Alt!Mari decide 'you know what? GOing full evil villain is a great idea actually!'.

How are we once again saying that the kids that commit murders are more redeemable than the kid who was just mean???? Like granted the kids are still more redeemable than Canon!Gabe but FUCK man????

And like. Re: the reasons for Shadynoir being evil: I am trying my best to not do the victim blame-y 'but these two handled it well so why can't you?' because I hate that shit. But when I am comparing them to themfuckingselves where they had VERY little changes between their worlds, and the changes that are bigger would be less likely to add to their mentality!!

[nemaliwrites]

roommate and i took a pottery class last night and, as is usual for me, i proceeded to make it about Miraculous.

imagine with me, for a moment, an aged up Adrinette-never-met AU. adrien is a tired, overworked college student desperately using his few free hours to hang out with his friends nino and alya (he'll even put up with third-wheeling! anything to be a good friend!). one way they do this is by taking a pottery class.

'the instructor's a friend of mine,' says alya, 'and she can give us a discount!'

ignoring the fact that adrien most definitely does Not need a discount, he says yes.

the instructor (marinette, obviously) is the prettiest girl he's ever seen, and she's making it really hard to concentrate on the clay in front of him. and the other thing holding him back is that pottery is really fucking hard, apparently! alya and nino are more preoccupied with laughing and throwing clay at each other, but adrien is focused on making the best pot possible (mostly to impress the cute instructor!)

time's running out, though, and all he's left with are messy hands and a lump of clay that is decidedly Not pot-shaped. perfectionism rears its ugly head, and he's about two seconds from just giving up and calling it quits - after all, how did he think he'd be able to impress marinette as a complete and utter beginner?

fortunately for him, she has a soft spot for beginners.

'it's okay,' she says to him. 'here, let me help you.'

he is not expecting her to reach her arms around him from behind. she places her hands over his, and even through the layer of clay covering him, she is warm. her hair tickles the back of his neck, and she smells like sugar and vanilla. it's more than a little distracting.

he tries his best to listen to what she's saying about throwing and pressure and texture, hoping she can't see the way his cheeks are surely flaming a bright red.

he's too nervous, though; his foot presses down on the pottery wheel's foot pedal unconsciously. the wheel speeds up faster and faster until adrien's creation is splattered all over his face. he can't even bring himself to care, though, when he hears how pretty marinette's laugh is.

he might not have learned anything about pottery, but he still gains something: he leaves that night with her number plugged into his phone.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #miraculous fic idea #fic idea #marinette dupain cheng #adrinette #adrienette #adrien agreste #to be clear #my instructor was nothing like this #but pottery is indeed hard #i literally ended up smushing my wip like ten times #and the closer we got to the end of the session roommate and i were literally so anxious #they said they'll fire one piece for us in the kiln - that was WAY too much pressure #but it was still really fun! 10/10 would recommend #nemali speaks

[miraculous-magicalconnections]

The Dupain-Cheng Family (and friends) Rewritten

Below are my rewritten backstories for Marinette, Marc, Socqueline, Alya, Nora, and Nino

Marinette Dupain-Cheng:

Marinette was born on November 20th to her parents Tom and Sabine Dupain-Cheng Since she was born, Marinette was always weirdly intertwined with anything and everything that had to do with creating, which, according to her mom, ran in the family She always had a knack for baking, and she loved fashion so she was quick to pick that up too, she also had a habit of helping with things like scheduling or math or other things that had to do with organization With those things, it wasn't much of a surprise to her that she was neurodivergent, having both ADHD and autism Her friends, Alya and Nino, often told her how awesome her clothes were and that even their families liked them, and the constant praise she got from something she adored doing was what birthed MDCDesigns

Marc Anciel:

Marc was born on January 2nd to his parents Séverin and Diane Anciel Being autistic and narcoleptic made Marc's early years of life difficult, just one would make it difficult, let alone both, so for most of their life they didn't have friends, falling into their family for support They loved their family, of course they did, but it didn't help their case of being the weird kid who passed out like a scared goat, and it was even worse when they realized they were gay and a demi-boy as well Thankfully for them, they met Alix, another person who didn't fall into the gender binary society placed around them from a young age and the two became quick friends Marc didn't like talking to new people, so it was a surprise at how easy it came to them with Alix, but unsurprisingly, Alix's friend Nathaniel was hard to talk to, not just because he was a new person but also because Marc had a stupidly huge crush on him…

Socqueline Cheng:

Socqueline was born on June 1st and adopted by Cosette Cheng when she was 10 Going from no family and few friends to an entire extended family with two cousins, two aunts, two uncles, and a bunch of other family members was like whiplash to Socqueline, but she loved it and she'd never trade her family for anything Despite not being blood related, Socqueline would do anything for Marinette and Marc, often being the first to offer a hand, and in some cases a fist, whenever either needed it When she went to université, her first thought was if her cousins would be fine on their own, but once her homesickness wore off, she began to live her life, meeting her best friend Allan and even beginning to date someone she adored

Alya Césaire:

Alya was born on February 26th to her parents Otis and Marlena Césaire and is the younger sister to Nora and the older sister to twins Etta and Ella. Throughout Alya's life she had always been obsessed with superheroes, so much so that for every party she had it was a different superhero depending on which she was most obsessed with at the time, her room was decorated with all the superhero merch her family could afford, and she'd also gush about the heroes all over the world whenever the news of whatever they did reached Paris. Her love never changed for heroes, never once faltered, and her love of superheroes was what led her to meeting her friends Nino and Marinette, as they also loved the heroes, specifically the United Heroez in New York. When she was 15, she started a blog that focused mostly on the United Heroez, but also updated people on heroes all around the world. She did her best to keep it as updated as possible but her main focus was keeping places who didn't have heroes such as Paris in the loop of what the worlds heroes were up to. She's not exactly friends with Aurore and Mireille but since the three of them run the school blog, Alya does run into them from time to time and the three tend to rant about things on Alya's blog

Nora Césaire:

Nora is a professional kickboxer, who has gone through multiple tournaments at her young age Over the last few years she began to train others in kickboxing and self-defense

Nino Lahiffe:

Nino was born on July 5th to his parents Philbert and Jeanne Lahiffe and is the older brother to Chris. From the moment he was born, Nino loved music, so much so that many of his presents (once he could use them) were music related. He got headphones, a record player, a laptop to make music, and so on. Nino's parents were friends with Marinette's, so since the two were born only a few months apart from each other, their parents made constant playdates between the two, and they had been friends ever since. Sometime during their first year of Lycée, the two had met Alya and became an unstoppable and inseparable trio of friends.

#marinette dupain cheng #marc anciel #socqueline wang #socqueline cheng #alya cesaire #nora cesaire #nino lahiffe #character backstory #backstory #character rewrite #miraculous: magical connections #miraculous: magical connections backstories

[generalluxun]

My Hero -MLBFemSlash Feb Fic

Full Text below the cut. Link to AO3 in my bio.

Ship: Chloé Bourgeois x Alya Cesaire

One shot, Fluff!, Established Relationship, reformed(in progress) Chloé Bourgeois.

This fic is posted in full on AO3, as is the chapterfic that contains the context for how things got here from Canon.

tl;dr: Something seemingly insignificant changed on the first day of school, and things snowballed from there. The two became seatmates, then friends, then girlfriends, while tackling a threat that by its very nature Ladybug and Cat Noir could not even confront. The threat was ended, and this is just a cute little post-threat slice of life.

“She’s the smartest person I know; also sometimes, the dumbest. She’s brave like you wouldn’t believe. Paris owes her so much. She’s kind, confident, and a horrible dresser. On the surface she seems too good to be true, and when you dig down you realize that no, this is just who she is. She’s been putting others first ever since Hawkmoth first attacked, and probably even before. She’ll work herself to collapse. She just cares so much about everyone, except the one person who matters most.

“I owe her a lot, probably even my life at this point. She was the first person to believe in me, even before I did. She’s scary at times. She’s not mean, she’s just… so much. That’s what heroes are supposed to be though, right? They’re bigger, stronger, faster, brighter. They’re amazing, but you also just feel a little nervous in their presence too, just a kind of ticklish energy that makes you want to do your best too. That’s really what it boils down to I guess. She makes me want to be a better me. I can’t think of anything more ‘hero’ than that.”

Chloé raised her gaze from the paper, fifteen pairs of eyes stared back. Thirteen burned. Stupid, ridiculous, looking at me like I’m stupid. Judging me, like they have any right! I did this ALL myself, and it’s better than any of their dumb presentations. Oh look, another speech about Ladybug.

Waspish thoughts circled and buzzed in her head. She focused on the one thing, the one pair, that mattered above all others. It helped quiet the buzzing. Chloé gripped the paper and read the last line.

“That’s why… my hero is Alya Cesaire.”

Silence. Deafening silence followed for what felt like an eternity inside. Fear turned to uncertainty turned to anger in a familiar parade. Chloé bit down on her lip to keep venom from spewing venomous barbs in self defense. She bit harder and harder. The paper crinkled, she was going to-

Loud clapping from a single pair of hands broke her spiral. Sabrina was sitting proudly, hands working overtime to make up for in enthusiasm what was lacking in support. That support did follow, though, First Dupain-Cheng began to clap, sidelong glances showing it was more peer pressure than real affection. Then is spread down to Nino and Adrien, and across the class. It was mostly intermittent, but no one said anything, and that was just enough to allow Chloé to wobble back to her front row seat when Ms. Bustier’s ‘That was… very nice… Chloé. Thank you.’ dismissed her.

Chloé immediately sprawled across her desk, face down.

The object of her presentation laid an arm across her shoulders, “Oh it wasn’t that bad was it?”

Sweat. Just a light hint of the smell always came with her closeness. Sweat was something icky, unfashionable, unladylike, anathema to everything Chloé had been raised to value. Yet that scent was inextricably linked to Alya Cesaire in Chloé’s mind, and the feelings that flowed from it were warmth, safety, and something deep inside that Chloé didn’t have a name for. Maybe it was because much of their first physical contact was Alya putting Chloé into headlocks, or the fact that Alya never stopped moving, never stopped working. Whatever the reason, Alya’s sweat-scent didn’t feel icky, it felt… honest.

Chloé had stolen one of Alya’s shirts from her laundry basket during a visit. She put it on Mr. Cuddly. She hid him whenever Alya came to visit now. Not that she really expected Alya to not figure it out, but if it wasn’t just… out there… she wouldn’t have to be embarrassed.

Taking a deep breath through her mouth, Chloé tasted that light tang along with a hint of citrus and cayenne. Those wouldn’t come from perfume, they would come from home. It was Au de Cesaire in its purest form. “You could have clapped, you know,” she murmured.

Alya laid her head against Chloé’s, Auburn cloak a shield against the eyes Chloé could still feel, real or not. “If it was about anyone else, I would have. How would it look, clapping for something that praised me though? I’ll let you know exactly how it made me feel, later.”

Chloé had an answer for that. Not an answer, she corrected herself, an insecurity. She just absorbed some of Alya’s warmth for a few seconds, letting it build up her nerves. “They’re all going to laugh, after class.”

Alya snorted, “No, they won’t. If anyone does though, Sabrina will give them a stern talking to… then I’ll punch them.”

Habit made Chloé try to stifle a laugh. When she was feeling miserable, she tended to want to stay that way. Old habits died hard, and tried to take you down with them. It was still new, having friends. No, it was new letting people be her friends. She’d had Sabrina forever, without letting her in. Alya didn’t wait to be let in though. She had kicked down the door and shoved all Chloé’s Gucci baggage right out the window. Habit meant Chloé kept trying to bring it back in. Though she hoped, a little less each time.

She shifted, just enough to let Alya know the collapse was past. Alya would lay on Chloe until she felt better otherwise, Ms. Bustier be damned. “You would.”

Alya let her up. Both girls touched themselves up. Juleka was walking down to the front of the class to deliver her speech. Alya murmured under her breath, “What else are girlfriends for?”

Chloé melted a little inside.

--------------

The time between classes still had Chloé feeling raw and exposed. She was sure people were waiting, ready to ridicule her speech. It’s what she would have done in their place. Stomp on the first sign of weakness. Chloé followed in Alya’s wake, envious of the easy way she chatted up everyone she passed. She exuded that simple strength that was so…

I need to do something. I can be strong too. Show them I’m not scared. Show them I pay attention too. Show her I’m not lame. Show them I’m strong.

A target presented herself, dark and quiet while waiting for a blonde of her own.

“ You !” Chloé stopped in front of Julka and transfixed her with one sharp nailed fingertip. “Your presentation was severely lacking…”

Juleka cringed.

Too strong! Too strong!

Chloé kept her face even, that mask of calm even as she panicked inside. Don’t let them see. She held out her other hand, even as attentions turned towards her. “Sabrina! Clip!”

A hairclip appeared from Sabrina’s oversized bag and was pressed into Chloé’s hand. Frowns were forming around her. She didn’t dare look to see if one was Alya’s, she couldn’t handle even the thought of  that right now.

Chloé moved with a viper’s speed. Thrust, slide, snap, she caught the curtain that hid half of Juleka’s face and drew it back, trapping it over her ear, revealing her hidden eye. Juleka was a deer in headlights.

Chloé spoke in a rush, “You only gave half of yourself. Always use every bit you have. Don’t hide, be proud. Otherwise you’re just telling people they’re not worth your best.”

Juleka’s two eyes presented twice the shock. She started to shrink. Chloé was acutely aware of how this would look. She tried to glare strength into the other girl. For once, it seemed to work. Juleka stopped mid-shrink and slowly unfolded, raising herself silently up to her full height, daring to be taller than Chloé. After one more hesitation her chin lifted too, rising to the challenge.

Now what? Chloé hadn’t planned this out. What did you say next after something like this? A heavy arm across her shoulders made Chloé stumble and break the stare off.

“You’ve been in my comics again haven’t you?” Alya drawled, the  planted a kiss on Chloé’s cheek.

“I ah- what? No- I mean yes but you brought them-”

Alya dragged her out of the tableau before giving her another kiss, this one below the ear, then whispering, “That was sweet. You know you don’t have to try and impress me every day, right?”

Again, the panic receded before Alya like the tide. A shiver ran through Chloé from the warmth breath against her ear, and she felt brave enough to admit. “I have to impress them though.”

“Mmmm,” Alya purred, “I can see why you’d think so. Don’t feel like you have to do it all at once though.”

Chloé sighed, leaning into the other girl, “It was easier when that stupid Director was messing with everyone. I had an excuse for why no one liked me. Now it’s just me.”

Alya loosened her grip, turning to lock eyes with her. “Not quite correct. It was you. It’s was that is the problem, not is. Is is just fine. You need to believe in is and not let was get in the way of letting you be is.”

Chloé stared, “I have no idea what you just said. Who’s ‘is’?”

Alya grinned, “You is.”

“Me is what?”

Alya kissed her on the nose, “You is my girlfriend, and also cute when you’re confused, and doing a better job than you give yourself credit for.” She caught Chloé’s hand and laced their fingers. “I know it can be hard, but don’t confuse struggling with failing.”

Chloé still didn’t quite understand it all, but she understood enough to squeeze Alya’s hand, “Thank you.”

They were at Ms. Mendeleiev’s room when Alya piped up, “Hey, I think you need some of that relaxation time you pushed on me, remember?”

How could I ever forget that night? Chloé bit the tip of her tongue, “What? I do what I want all the time.”

“Kind of. Don’t think I haven't noticed how each of our little excursions lately have had someone else at the center. Gaulywood tours for Nino and Sabrina, Le Figaro for me, inside a Gabriel factory with Marinette dragged along… you’re not all that subtle.”

Chloé blushed and fussed. She had thought she came up with good enough excuses for the little outings.

Alya shoulder bumped her in their way to their lab desk, “It’s cute. Seriously though, what’s something fun we can do, just you and me, that you haven’t done in a while? Something you miss.”

“Well, I haven’t had a yoga night in forever.”

“Yoga night?” Alya’s voice rose in a startled crack that tickled right up Chloé’s spine and grabbed hold of her animal-brain.

“Yoga night.” She confirmed with a growing smile.

Alya was suddenly interested in her bag, “I didn’t know you did Yoga.”

Chloé was forever tuned into the nervousness of others. It had been a weapon in the past. Now however… She scooted onto her stool and leaned over, dancing her fingers across the top of the bag Alya was seeking refuge in.

“For years. It  helped with ballet. You have to be limber…”

Alya swallowed audibly, “Is it really that relaxing though?”

Others were funneling in. Chloé couldn’t have cared less. She ducked her head, putting herself in Alya’s skittish line of sight. It was her turn to purr, “oh very. Candles, incense, music, warm oils, and of course, being deliciously wrung out.”

Alya’s eyes darted away again.

“Oh uhm, that sounds nice but, I haven’t ever done um, yoga.”

Her hands gripped the edge of her bag and as Chloé watched her face… the subtlest change. Most people would miss it. A lifetime of working with more hues than all the artists in the Louvre combined had left Chloé specially equipped to appreciate the ever so slight darkening of the cheeks that was Alya Cesaire’s blush.

It was intoxicating. It was the flash of a red tail before a hound. It was the skitter of a mouse before a cat. It was this wonderful,  powerful woman, undone.

Chloé reached out. She caught Alya’s chin with the tip of one finger and turned her gaze back. “Oh, don’t worry. You’ll be safe in my hands. I’ll bend you in ways you didn’t know you could… but I won't hurt you.”

Alya let out a barely audible whine, “You’re doing that on purpose.”

Chloé leaned further, blue eyes to hazel, lips in a full smirk, inches from Alya’s. “You did say, ‘fun’.“

She could feel the ragged breath Alya let out as it washed over her skin. Alya’s first word turned into a hoarse sound. She wet her lips. “Okay, you’re on.”

And with that the prey became the partner again. Both girls took a cleansing breath as something akin to a laugh passed between them. Chloé spoke first, as she settled back into her seat. “Don’t worry, no armada of tailors this time.”

Alya blew out another breath and settled in her own seat, asking, “Don’t want to squeeze me into designer yoga pants?”

Chloé dropped her phone. Scooping it up quickly she conceded, “One tailor,” and began composing an email to book an appointment.

Alya’s gentle nudge to her elbow was the simplest of affections, “Hey, feeling better about yourself?”

Chloé lowered her phone. That warmth rippled along her limbs and back into her chest again. It was a feeling she felt she should know, something long forgotten, but coming alive again. She still couldn’t name it, but she could very much enjoy it.

She looked Alya in the eyes again as Ms. Mendeleiev called the class to order.

Chloé answered, “With you around, it’s hard not to.”

@mlbfemslashfebruary

#mlbfemslashfebruary #ml fanfic #chloe bourgeois #alya cesaire #Chloalya #ao3 fanfic #fluff #so much fluff #these two

[bbutterflies]

all my fics! 💕

my ao3

organized by ship and then chronologically with most recent works on top. I tag everything related to my fics with their title! if you search my blog for the fic name any updates/art/etc I've posted should come up 💕

(there's so many I thought maybe it's time to put these under a cut so my page isn't overwhelmed with this post, you can see them all with brief summaries below!)

Adrino - multichapter

Everything I've wanted (wip) 13k/4 of 12 chapters After Nino kisses a stranger in a bar who turns out to be Adrien Agreste, he gets swept up in the media storm and agrees to fake date him until things calm down. Except neither of them plan on developing real feelings. Fake dating, idiots (affectionate) to lovers, lots of mutual pining.

If I hold you too close (wip) 51k/15 of 21 chapters Adrien gave up his Miraculous in the chaos of the end of season 5, leaving him in London for years and Nino taking his place with the ring. Lots of angst and comfort as Adrien tries to come home again and reconnect with everyone he'd left behind.

Chemistry with him 52k/30 chapters Written for Ninovember 2023! Super fluffy Adrino meet cute in chemistry class, learning to love each other along the way.

The moment I knew (I'd no choice but to love you) 36k/12 chapters It's totally possible to pretend to date your best friend and not fall in love, right? Fake dating with plenty of fluff and mutual pining.

promise me forever 62k/23 chapters Adrino-focused, mostly fluff, they're in love and domestic and happy, college-aged au

I'll give myself a name (something stupid and pretentious) 31k/7 chapters Adrino-focused, post Hawkmoth defeat with a hefty dose of angst/comfort, mutual pining, and identity reveal

Adrino - oneshots

love you in the dark 5k words Friends with benefits except it's tragic. Emotional hurt (a lot of it)/comfort.

Love you snow much 1k words Ice skating date and some fluffy winter fun.

Not much of a cat person 3.2k words Adrien is trying to catch a stray cat outside his apartment, and gets his (really cute) neighbor's help.

The memories we (don't) make 3.4k words Adrino except they're drunk and they make out (a lot) and that's, like, totally normal. For sure. Definitely.

ways to say I love you 600 words Adrino where Adrien purrs. That's it <3

Falling into place 2.6k words You know when you're queer and a teenager and in love with your best friend? That but it's Adrino

Lovesquare

fine line 5k words What happens if you try to be someone you're not on a superhero scale? Loveybug/Catwalker angst

Meant to be and Intertwined 45k/14 chapters and 21k/9 chapters Lovesquare college au with different heroes, where Marinette and Adrien still find each other; and a few post-story drabbles

I'd fall in love with you a thousand times 52k/13 chapters Lovesquare memory loss au post Hawkmoth defeat, falling in love again

Out of Step 41k/8 chapters Lovesquare kwami swap au with some angst/comfort thrown in

#miraculous ladybug #my writing #ml fic

[wawamouse]

Oz Rewatch 3: S2E01: The Tip

During opening titles, Sister asked “Does Mr. Mouse ever come back?”, which confirmed my suspicion that she did not register the he had died off screen. With Nino dead, Sister declared that she would simply have to keep tabs on “the little fava bean” (Rebadow). At the end of the episode when I asked if she had any new favorite characters, she said she would “have to fly her little [Sister] wings over to watch over the guy whose baby died”.

Me: Do you remember what his name is? Sister: …Is he Italian or Latino? Wait, what name does he look like… Hm…. Johnny boy! … Ernesto… Rodrigo? (*holding her temples*) Does it start with an A? Not a C name… Something like Domingo… Alvarez. Me: That’s his last name! Sister: Derek Alvarez. (after several minutes of alphabetical guessing, having reached H names) Me: It starts with an M Sister: Matt. Matteo. McManus…. Matthew… Michael? Michelangelo. Me: I think Michael is gonna be the closest you’re gonna get to it. Sister: Mikhail. Mitchell. Megan. Me: It’s somewhere around Michael and Mikhail. Sister: ........Mi...............Miguel! (cheering) Me: So Miguel is going to be your new favorite character? Sister: Yes. Mostly because I remember one of your little screencaps of him from a part we haven't gotten to yet, so I know he’s going to last. So I’m just going to put all my eggs in that basket and watch him start his little drug empire.

Anyway, time will tell if Sister turns into a Miguel fan or simply remains a Miguel observer, haha!

More on the episode itself... I really like the way this season starts! I think framing it as sort of a whodunnit/mystery investigation keeps the episode really focused throughout the runtime. Alvah Case is one of the more rational characters to come through the show, so it's really fun to see him actually trying to poke holes in people's lies and sift through the bullshit, even if ultimately no one is really held accountable for anything (although that turns out to be a save for the riot leaders, so I guess it evens out!).

Overall, I think episode 1 serves as a very good start to season 2, although I feel like the mystery of who killed Ross gets a bit tired in the middle. It's pretty obvious that it was Diane, so the red herrings that get thrown in over the course of the episode feel a little flimsy. That said, the interview style of the chase is still fun (visiting all the different characters), so I find I don't mind it.

Sister also seemed to like this episode. She liked Case, although she said he reminded her of a college admissions counselor and she was confused as to why he agreed to investigate if he's the dean of a college and presumably very busy with that. Much like S1E1, she managed to guess a lot of lines/plot points ahead of time.

Sister: Haha, surrounded by ghosts of girlfriends past.

Sister: By the lady? (Diane)

Sister, laughing: Weren't they all murdered??

Sister: He gonna bite it off… don’t do it! He gonna bite it off.

Case to Diane: And you…? Sister: Cradled him like a baby! Diane: Cradled him in my arms.

Robson's hallucination reminded me of this:

Stray/Final thoughts: Sister has been upholding the grand tradition of roasting McManus at every turn (“he’s been deteriorating rapidly. Usually when someone lands in the hospital, you say 'wow he looks terrible', but he looks the same. Didn't he used to wear suits?”, “he dresses like a 90s deadbeat dad”, “you’d think he’d try and clean up what with two ex girlfriend coworkers but he doesn’t… he’s just making it known that this is as good as it gets”)

Sister is surprised Gloria is still in the show because she doesn’t think Gloria has any story lines and her only purpose in the show seems to be shit talking the inmates and saying how bad they are at every staff meeting ("so like, why are you even here? Go open a private practice and make more money, girl, because you don't even seem to be here for the love of helping people")(me: *staring into the camera like Jim from the Office*)

Sister remains inexplicably suspicious of Sister Pete's character

I really thought Heim was going to do more in the show

Sister's out here thinking s2 is going to focus on the Latinos building and expanding their role in the tits trade by cornering the pharmaceuticals market. Oh how I would love to watch the version of the show in her mind where it's a prison business drama about Miguel making big money moves for El Norte 💀

Sister: People are very bald in this show

#oz hbo #oz rewatch #text

[sasuhinasno1fan]

A wish come true - Adrien AUGreste Day 1+2

@adrienaugust  Day 1! I decided to continue from last year's story 'A wish for a different life' but with a new twist, Adrien doesn't have the cat Miraculous just yet. You can go back and check out the 3 new chapters I posted on the previous story so it connects to this one. Since Lukadrien June didn't happen this year, I just wanted the excuse to have those two be adorable. Now, this isn't gonna be compliant past S3, so no Lila with a way to confusing life, or Jagged Dad or Sentimonster of main charaecters.

Feather

“Adrien? Sole, why is there a massive package from the craft store at our door?” Viola Rossi, Italian diplomat assigned to France to help with the Hawkmoth situation, struggled to close the door to the apartment she lived in with her son. “Caro, are you here?” it wouldn’t surprise her if he wasn’t. unlike usual times where Adrien was in a new location, he had a massive amount of people he hung out with, so normally he was home later. She herself was usually in the office, but she’d been allowed home early today. “Adrien?”

She walked into his room and found him asleep on the floor with 3 of his classmates. Marinette, Alya and Nino if she remembered correctly. Homework was strewn around the floor, looking mostly done. They’d formed an odd square, each using another person as a pillow; Adrien on Nino’s stomach, Alya resting on Nino’s outstretched arm, Marinette on Alya’s legs and Adrien’s own legs thrown over Marinette’s lap. She meant to leave them when Nino started to move, pulling his arm from under Alya. Like a domino effect, the four woke up, stretching and whining like a pile of kittens.

“Mama?” Adrien asked, noticing her by the door. “When did you get here? What time is it?”

“Only 5. I was able to leave early. If you kids aren’t needed at home right away, how about I make dinner for everyone?”

It took a second for everyone to actually focus but they all agreed. Adrien left his friends to continue waking up and cleaning up their mess and joined his mother in the kitchen.

“I think we have enough pasta for Carbonara. I’ve still got all the garlic one of my coworkers gave me, it’s a shame I don’t have the time to make focaccia. I guess I’ll just do garlic bread. Oh, Adrien, what was this package the front desk had me pick up?”

“Hmm?” Adrien asked, pulling down the bagged pasta, trying to remember where the pot disappeared to. “Oh, I had an order. Since Gabriel Agreste sent money to buy a whole new jacket his daughter ruined before it even got sent to the cleaners, I decided to use the money for my biggest cosplay yet.”

“And what is that?”

“It’s one I got Max to help me out with.”

Viola turned and looked at her son who seemed oh so focused on anything but her. He was hiding something. Not any normal teenager stuff, oh no. this had to do with his health. Adrien had a habit of hiding how he felt when he thought his parents were too busy. They’d gotten good at catching him early, but this wasn’t him hiding being sick.

“What’s in the box Adrien?”

The Italian boy flinched at the tone and turned to his mother. “About, 1000 feathers?”

“Adrien!”

                                              __________________

It was definitely one of the odder allergies his parents had heard of. Pigeons were in abundance in Italian streets, not to mention other birds. The smallest feather or one too close to him and Adrien would descend into a sneezing storm. Usually, an allergy pill would take care of the worst of it but all his doctors recommended he avoided feathers. As he got into cosplay, he learned that also meant most fake feathers. He tried to avoid using them in cosplays, sometimes not having a choice like for his Cardcaptor Sakura shoots, but with meds, a lot of eyedrops to hide the red eyes and copious amounts of tissues, he could get through them. dealing with nearly 1000 of them to create opening and closing wings for a Queen Serenity cosplay? Adrien was going to count his luck if he didn’t die.

                                                __________________

“Achoo!” Adrien blew his nose, turning the fan in his room to face him, as Max set up the backpack for him. Only the first row of both wings had been finished and today was to check if they could open without them getting tangled.

“Alright. Here’s the backpack.” Max said, handing him the metal box with straps. It was missing the wing pieces, which Adrien was fine with. Anything to keep from dying quicker. Once he had it on his shoulders and secured around his waist, he held his breath as Max fit the poles into the back, listening to them click in place. Once he found his centre again with the new weight, Max clicked something on his laptop and after a moment and some mechanical wiring, the wings started to move, unfurling. The movement of it wasn’t as opulent yet with only a row of feathers each, but still. Adrien could just imagine how it would look with his white gown and wig.

“Achoo! Oh, fuck!” his sneeze tilted him forward and with the wings, there was no stopping it. he landed on a squishy surface instead of his bedroom floor. It took a bit of finagling to get the wings out of his way, but he saw he landed on one of his beanbags.

“Sorry. There was no way I was going to be able to catch you so I did something else.” Max said, patting the end of the beanbag.

“No, you’re – achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Oh god, get these off of me!”

Adrien wasn’t waving the white flag just yet, he just needed to breath air for a second. He could do this. he would do this.

He could tell his friends were going to judge him so hard at the end of this.

                                         __________________

Luka smiled as the door to Adrien’s apartment opened and there he stood. His boyfriend flashed him a smile and moved back to let him in. He stepped inside, ready to press a kiss on Adrien’s cheek, if only to see him turn red like he did the first time when Adrien sneezed, turning his head so he didn’t sneeze on him. 

“You ok?” Luka asked, slightly concerned.

“Yep.” he said, nodding before sneezing again at least 3 times in a row. Luka raised an eyebrow with a look on his face that said he didn’t believe him. “Maybe. I might have a minor allergy to feathers.”

Luka looked down at the bag he was asked to pick up on his way over of white feathers.

“Adrien,” he started.

“You sound like my mama.” he said before he sneezed again. “The wings are almost done and Marinette agreed to keep them at her place. Achoo!” Adrien sniffed, taking in the raised brow of Luka. “I swear it’s not nearly as bad as you think.” he sneezed once more, sniffing and groaning.

“You make a compelling case.” Luka said sarcastically. 

Adrien stuck his tongue out, before sneezing again, covering his mouth and yelping when he bit his tongue. “Not a word.” he spoke from behind his hands, watching Luka’s brow raise again.

“You’re cute.” Luka couldn’t help but laugh. “Come on, I'll put this in your room and we can take a walk so you can breathe.”

“Fine.” but Adrien wasn’t going to complain. He was getting to the point of needing to scratch his eyes out. But it was fine. He could do this.

                                            ________________

He could not do this. He was half hanging out of his window, as far as he could get from the wings. Why did he think he could do this? He should have just commissioned Max and Marinette to make them and deal with fittings and then the final photoshoot.

“Hello?” Marinette answered from the other end of the phone.

“Mari.” he whined.

“Oh boy. Waving the flag huh?”

“Can you please help me finish them? I will pay you; I just can’t do this anymore.”

Marinette sighed, “If anything, you actually won me money. I bet Alya you last until this week. She thought you would have given up before.”

He’d be insulted but after sneezing again and struggling to not drop his phone, he didn’t care.

“You poor thing. I’ll be over soon and I'll have some of my dad’s cookies.”

“Thank you.” he whimpered, near tears.

“But what the heck are you going to do come shoot day?”

“I…don’t know. Suffer?”

“Adrien.” she groaned. 

That was starting to get insulting. Everyone kept saying his name like he was supposed to know better. Ok, yeah, he did but they also knew how he got when making cosplays. Marinette acted the same with her designs.

“Don’t lecture me, just, please come quick.”

“Alright, alright. I’m on my way.” 

she hung up and Adrien dropped his phone on the floor of his room before hiding his face in his arms. He hadn’t mentioned to others he had planned a cosplay of the Wind Card, who was covered in feathers. He was really going to need to come up with an alternative. Which involved research that he’d totally do after his head stopped spinning.

The final product had better be perfect.

                                        ___________________

“Remind me to thank Chloe.” Adrien said, tugging at his wig, trying to fix it.

Chloe, in an attempt to be nicer, had heard Adrien trying to finalize a location for his shoot and offered to get him half an hour in front of Notre Dame before construction continued for the day. He was confused as to why she was going out of her way to be nicer on her own, as she hadn’t really been even after the Naruto shoot, but he decided to not question it.

His friends had given up part of their morning, early morning to be more accurate, to help him in exchange for food. Max just wanted him to be a beta player for his new video game. 

“Ok, we’re at 20 minutes and those construction workers keep giving us looks so let’s work quick.”

“Hold your breath,” Max ordered, pushing the blonde locks away from the backpack Adrien had worn under his gown. With Marinette’s help, he managed to disguise it with extra fabric from the bow. Max slid them into place and adjusted them, not noticing them brushing Adrien’s face. “Ok, we’re good!”

“And dress is good!” Marinette called from the back

“Achoo!”

“Nino, keep pressing the shutter button!” Alya ordered.

“Achoo!”

“Repeat purple elephant! It’ll stop you from sneezing.” Max called.

Adrien was willing to try anything. With Nino moving around him like he was attached to a camera jib, he muttered the words under his breath, knowing his eyes had to be getting red. His eyes started to sting as the natural wind moved the feathers closer to him, even worse as Max opened them.

“Purple - achoo! Achoo!”

“Last ones!”

“Hey kids, hurry up. We’ve got work to do!”

                                     ________________________

“You know,” Nino said, leaning against Adrien, who once again had his head in his arms, “some of these are pretty good for only 20 minutes and construction workers yelling at us.”

Pulling his head out enough to look at Nino’s camera, he had to admit he was right. Nino had gotten a side profile just as Adrien had sneezed. With his eyes closed, mouth covered and tears starting to pool, he looked like he was in anguish. All they had to do was erase the redness from his eyes and no one would know it was allergy induced anguish he was in.

“Alright, four flat whites, one tea infusion, two French toasts and two pancakes all with fruit. Sweetie, are you sure I can’t get you anything to eat?” their waitress asked Adrien as she dropped off the orders for the others.

“Not unless you have a sharp object, I can use to rip my eyes out with.”

“He’s got allergies.” Nino said in reply to the scared waitress.

“So, I'm guessing no Cardcaptor characters?” Alya teased, cutting into her French toast. When Adrien didn’t answer, she poked him, watching his shoulders pull in. “Oh my god! Adrien!”

“I already spent the money on the outfit, leave me alone!” Let it not be said that Adrien wasn’t a glutton for punishment.

#adrien augreste #adrien augreste 2023 #lila wins and wishes for adrien's life #lila's mom is now adrien's mom #cannon divergence

[intercoursefluids]

WDIB Chapter 16

Marinette groaned, her head was pounding and she wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep.

Unfortunately for her, it seemed that her body decided she had gotten enough rest and refused to let her go back to sleep.

Marinette shifted slightly, feeling her knee bump into something solid.

She opened her eyes carefully, catching sight of a boy, fast asleep, and very close to her.

Marinette was also half-draped over him.

Marinette scrambled back, scooting away from him only for her arm to jerk from where the boy was holding her hand.

The movement seemed to wake him as he opened his eyes, glaring at the light momentarily before focusing on her.

His eyes widened and he immediately let go of her, he scrambled back as well, holding his hands up in what she assumed was a surrender.

Unfortunately for him, he moved to far back.

His eyes went wide as his hand flailed out, trying to catch his balance before he went backwards over the edge of the bed.

Marinette reached out her hand, moving to catch him when someone beat her to it.

Another boy was behind the first one, holding him up.

He looked ruffled, his hair was a mess and he had a red mark on his cheek. He glared at the boy he was holding up, who gave him a nervous smile in return.

The boy with the mark on his face gave nothing away, shoving the first boy up roughly before walking away.

He took a seat in a chair, resting his head on his hand as he closed his eyes.

Marinette assumed that was where the mark came from.

The first boy shifted on the bed, rubbing his hands over his face before staring at her.

Marinette stared back, something about him bothering her.

He seemed familiar, but she couldn’t place why.

“Do I… Do I know you?” She asked.

She raised a hand to her throat, noticing how dry it felt.

The boy went to respond before coughing slightly.

He looked around them before his gaze settled on the boy from earlier.

“Damian!” He whisper-shouted.

Apparently, he wasn’t quiet enough as several “SHH!”es sounded out around the room.

Marinette looked around the room, spotting Alya’s sleeping form and Nino’s hat. She assumed he was somewhere nearby and tried to relax.

They would never let anything happen to her.

The boy flinched apologetically before turning back to the one he called Damian.

He didn’t call out to him again, instead opting to grab a pillow off the bed and launch it at him.

The supposedly sleeping Damian surprised Marinette by catching the pillow, sending a sleepy glare to the boy.

Said boy made a drinking motion with his hand, deciding against words just in case he got shushed again.

Damian huffed, throwing the pillow back with surprising accuracy before reaching beside him, into the hotel’s minifridge.

He grabbed two water bottles, throwing them both to the boy before he resumed his previous position, going back to sleep and ignoring the boy’s quiet “Thanks”.

The boy turned to Marinette, passing her one of the water bottles as he took a sip from his own.

“My name’s Jon.” He whispered, holding out his hand to shake.

Marinette accepted the handshake, blinking blearily as she sipped on her water.

The boy, Jon, moved to lean back against the headboard of the bed and Marinette joined him.

They sat in silence for a while, sipping on their individual waters.

Marinette took the opportunity to survey the room she was in.

She didn’t recognize it, but the decorations and layout gave her the sneaking impression that it was a hotel room.

She surveyed the people inside the room as well.

Alya was near the boy named Damian, sitting at the table with him, her face buried in her arms.

Just past her was Nino, mostly hidden behind Alya’s sleeping form. Which explained why she hadn’t seen him at first.

His hat was sitting on the table in front of him, looking like it had fallen directly off his head. Which honestly wouldn’t be all that surprising.

There were three more people in the room, but Marinette didn’t know who they were.

There were two large men, neither of which she knew the names of.

And there was another person curled up on the only cushioned armchair in the room. They were almost completely buried under a blanket, giving Marinette no hope of identifying him.

Marinette turned her attention back to the only other person awake in the room.

She stared at his face, not bothering to hide it. Even though he politely acted like he didn’t notice.

The longer she stared the more little things about him started to stand out as familiar.

Namely his eyes.

She swore she knew those eyes from somewhere but couldn’t quiet place where.

Marinette rubbed her face before clearing her throat.

“Can you tell me what’s going on? Where are we and why can’t I remember anything?” She asked, slouching back against the bed and wrapping her arms around her knees.

Jon grimaced, giving up his act of pretending she wasn’t staring a hole into the side of his face to look at her.

“Well, um… We are in a hotel room? And that’s my best friend-” He pointed to Damian. “-and they are our dads.” He said, pointing to the two men.

Marinette nodded, accepting the information.

“And who is that?” She asked, pointing to the person curled up in the armchair.

Jon stared at them, blinking quickly before turning back to her.

“I… Don’t know.” He admitted with a wince.

They stared at each other for a long moment, neither one sure where to go from there.

The boy named Damian sighed, startling them both when he got up and made his way over to the bed.

“May I?” He asked gesturing to the bed.

Jon nodded immediately, scooting over to make space but he didn’t budge until Marinette gave him a nod.

Damian climbed onto the bed, keeping a respectful distance as he settled in.

“Seeing as how you both are missing information; I will update you both. Where do you want me to begin?”

Come Find Me In The Maribat Discord!<3

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#maribat #ml x dc #dc x mlb #mlb x dc #marinette x damian #maridami #siblings jonette #damian x marinette #Bio-Dad Clark #Brothers Damian and Adrien

[disorganizedkitten]

Bursting Bubbles of Bad Luck Chapter 4

Miraculous Ladybug | 2019 | 2,727 | Ao3 | Prev | Masterlist | Next

 The night before the first day of school had Plagg just as anxious as Felix, so they sat down and made what would hopefully be a foolproof plan to not get anyone hurt. And on the first day of school, they followed it.

 They had gotten up early, gotten to school just as early despite a flat tire on the way there, and Felix was expecting to have to skirt around hugs from his friends in class. Except they weren’t in homeroom together.

 Instead, he had the Mayor’s daughter, the daughter of a diplomat he had never heard of, the Lahiffe kid, and the Agreste boy.

 He was unamused, to say the least.

 “They can’t be that bad,” Plagg drawled lazily, perching unworridly on Felix’s shoulder. He ducked behind Felix’s neck when the Rossi girl turned in her seat to wink at him.

 “She looks like a snake, Chloe outright is a hornet, and Adrien… admittedly I have nothing on him, but I don’t need more friends, and he seems the type.” At least Nino was chill. He had never tried to use his status, and few even realized he had any.

 Plagg sighed, sticky breath hot on the back of his neck. “I have met zero of your friends. I don’t believe you.”

 Felix rolled his eyes. Another classmate turned around, reaching for her bag. She pulled out her tablet, set the bag back down, and looked up. Her eyes widened when they met his. She squeaked, and spun back around, clicking haphazardly.

 Felix groaned to himself. Just what he needed, a fan in his class.

***

 They made it to the end of First Hour, literature, before something blew up. Rossi’s seatmate (Ivan) had gotten sent to the principal's office after getting upset at one of the other kids across the aisle (Kim).  The rest of the class had dispersed, heading off to their next classes. Felix had a study hall. He took a seat in the back of the room and logged into his computer.

 “Hey Fe.”

 “Allegra!” He smiled, and held up his hand for a high-five. She returned the gesture and took the seat beside him. “What class are you working on?”

 “Criminology. You?”

 “History.” Felix pointedly didn’t make a face at that. History was actually relatively cool, but nothing had fallen apart yet, and he was still worried.

 “Fun,” Allegra grinned and leaned over, probably about to spill some tea, but was cut off by the building shaking. She jumped back, bracing against the table. Felix did the same, searching the walls and ceiling for weak points.

 The screams petered out for a moment before another tremor shook the school. It seemed less dangerous.

 “Kid.” 

 Felix ignored Plagg, more focused on the bookshelves that were probably going to come down on his head soon. “Legs, we gotta get to the courtyard.”

 “I know,” Allegra hissed back, sliding her bag back over her shoulder. She grabbed his hand and they started down towards the door, mostly calm around the screaming.

 Most were treating it half like a fire alarm and half like- well, he didn’t know, but it included panicking and screaming.

 “Kid!”

 “What?” Felix hissed, twisting around a student he didn’t know. They were closer to the entryway, so he could see the security cameras. There was a golem in the courtyard. Had been, since they just broke an entire wall and stepped outside. Felix braced himself against Allegra as the school shook.

 “You gotta get out there!”

 “I what?”

 Plagg huffed through his nose, anger and annoyance coming through all at once. “You have to get out there and help fight the akuma!”

 “Is that what the actual name for the golem is?” Felix asked. There was another tremor, this was causing something to actually come off the wall. They yelped in unison as he pulled Allegra back as it hit the ground and shattered.

 “Yes!”

 “Why do I have to go?” Felix followed Allegra out of the library at last, and was met with utter chaos on the other floors. No way was this safe.

 “Because someone has to help the Coccinelle!”

 “The what?”

 Allegra turned to look at Felix in confusion. Apparently he had said that too loudly. Felix shrugged, unable to play it off around the adrenaline and questioning how much good any of the drills had been. Most of the surrounding students were running like headless chickens.

 Plagg must have decided he didn’t care at this point either, because he dug tiny claws into Felix’s shoulder. “The Miraculous of Creation and purification. My opposite.” Another few students ran past, Felix noted dimly. “Something you should be near to head off the curse, and hopefully something who can take it off, even through editing. You have to get out there!”

 So his one chance at undoing this curse was to go fight a monster, akuma apparently, and hope the person with the miraculous would be nice enough to set him free. And this was all happening while an akuma (which meant what?) was rampaging and destroying the neighborhood?

 Felix officially hated this.

 “How do you expect me to do that?”

 “Get away from everyone and say Claws Out. Your weapon will have an instruction manual, and if you can find them, the coccinelle will probably help too.”

 “What is going on?” Allegra asked. The ground shook harder, and she bent her knees. “Actually, I don’t care. Fe, you cannot actually be entertaining the idea of going out there! We have drills for this! A large part is get to safety, not run into danger!”

 “He has to!” Plagg snarled.

 Felix took advantage of being attached to Allegra and started pulling her towards the stairs. There was a new noise, and suddenly the ba-dum ba-dum footstep tremors were drowned out by screaming and the heart-stopping noise of displaced air. A skyscraper started to crumble a few blocks away.

 Felix covered his mouth with his free hand. This was sick. Insane. Mass murder. Beside him, Allegra stopped supporting her weight, causing them both to go down in the middle of the walkway. “Oh my gosh. That-” she shook her head. “Fe?” her voice cracked. Felix leaned over and hugged her.

 “C’mon. The ground isn’t safe.” He was going to throw up. He knew things like this happened, but Felix had never witnessed it before.

 Plagg pulled Felix up by the hair. “Right you are. Anyway, they’re only humans, move on.”

 All of the grudging respect and ally moments from the past week died in a moment, replaced with horror. “What?” He managed.

 “How can you say that?” Allegra hissed, chest heaving. Her grip on Felix’s fingers was painful.

 “Humans die,” Plagg said seriously. “It’s what happens. Other humans move on. If it worries you so much, transform and go help.”

 “Absolutely not!”

 “Legs-” Felix started. He couldn’t- if he didn’t try then he was responsible for more dying. “If I have-” Allegra cut him off, which was okay because Felix didn’t know what he was trying to say anyway.

 “That’s the job of the police! The Government! The Magic Council! Not that of an untrained teenager!” She was shaking. Felix felt vaguely like he should be too.

 “For this teenager it is,” Plagg snarled. “He has my powers, he needs to use them.”

 “Legs.”

 “Fine! Fine!” She snarled. “But if you don’t come back I’ll- I’ll desecrate your grave.” And then she hugged him. Felix returned it. His chest felt off, stuck in a loop of panic-anger-fear fuelled by adrenaline.

 “I’ll do my best. Ready, Plagg? Claws out.”

 He was still as Plagg zipped into the ring, and a green layer of sparkles enveloped him. What sort of magical girl anime had his life become? Oh yeah, not one, because they didn’t really get cursed.

 When the light faded, he was wearing a black bodysuit, with a silver cat-shaped belt buckle, similar to the cat face of his ring. Two high boots, and thick gloves. Felix couldn’t see the rest of himself, but he imagined it was along the same vein. Allegra was watching him tensely. They looked at each other for a few seconds.

 “Your baton is on your back,” Allegra said softly, eventually.

He felt around and found a stick the length of his forearm.There was a button in the middle. He pressed it. “Thanks, Legs.” It flicked open, revealing a screen. Okay, he could work with this. Probably.

 The ground shook as another building collapsed. Felix flinched.

***

 He found the coccinelle, or who he hoped was her, trading blows with the monster on the other side of the city. As loathe as he was to admit it, even after speed-reading the manual, Felix didn’t know what he was doing, which meant he was going to have to defer to her. Teamwork, yay!

 “Can I help at all?”

 She barely looked towards him, instead flipping away from a giant fist. “Black cat, right?”

 ..He didn’t have a name yet. “Sure.” Felix realized a moment later she was talking about his miraculous and not his name. Ugh.

 The monster got a lucky hit in, and she went flying to his side of the repurposed stadium. No one should survive that. He was at her side in an instant, ready to do… something.

 Her face was scrunched as though in pain, but she used him to stagger to her feet anyway. “I’m good.” Even with that said, she held his arm for balance for a few moments. “I think I know where his object is, but not what it is. Do you know how to look?”

 Felix shook his head, despite himself. He had to be honest here, as much as he hated being inferior to anyone, especially strangers. "My kwami told me I needed to get out and help you, and told me where the instruction manual is. Nothing else."

 She nodded, blue eyes trained on the monster. Or purple eyes, apparently. Felix tensed as they changed colors. That wasn’t normal. He was pulled out of his panic by her continuing to talk.

 "I can work with that. The object is important, it's the link between the Miraculous itself and the person being used. It's something connected to the champion, and usually it's something to protect in battle. Since it's been corrupted though, we need to break it. That'll cut the connection, and then I can purify it."

 Félix nodded. That was relatively simple. "Seems almost straightforward."

 She scoffed. “Almost. I can hold him still if you can search for the object. It should be in his left hand.”

 “I can.” He left out the try. He wouldn’t be trying.

 “Ready?” she asked. He didn’t have time to respond because her weapon - he hadn’t seen it before, but it had a string and a weight on it - was already flying back out to the battleground. “Hey rockhead! One on one seems a bit unfair considering your size, doesn’t it?”

 The golem bent slightly, and started talking slowly. “What, did you bring a friend?”

 She smiled. “Made one, actually.” Her weapon shot out again, wrapping around the golem’s arm. She braced the string around her elbow, digging her heels into the ground. “Now!”

 Felix jumped forward, landing on top of the clenched fist. He started by trying to pry it open with his hands, but it wasn't budging. He hissed, glancing around the area while he dug his claws into the rock as the monster tried to throw him off. There had to be a way to get inside, without dusting the guy. Wait a minute. Dusting was one of his special powers. He also had a far-range one and a teleportation one. Just what he needed.

 He grinned, and called for the attack, thinking about where he wanted to go on the other side. “Black hole!” A black smoky disc appeared in midair, and Felix reached inside.

 It worked.

 He felt around the inside of the clenched hand, finding a bunched up paper flopping around. He pulled it out through the vortex.

 "Would this be an object?" he called, swallowing a scream as the Monster shook his hand again and Felix lost his grip. He landed against the rows of seats, and understood what the coccinelle girl had felt earlier. That hurt.

  “Break it!” She called, her yo-yo unravelling from around the akuma’s arm. She threw it out again, wrapping the villain up like a mummy.

 "Just crumble it?" he asked, rolling onto all fours despite the pain. He shouldn’t be alive after that, or at least not able to move.

 "Yes!"

 Felix did so, crushing the paper for all it was worth. It started to dissolve, and a butterfly materialised among the dust.

 His companion started to say something, but her voice was drowned out by what sounded like a rock slide. Felix looked back in time to see their foe start to, quite literally, come apart at the seams. Rocks started to rain around them, crashing loudly against the turf. “Get out of there!”

 Red emerged from the dust in a flip, pulling one of his homeroom classmates out with her. How did he get there?

 She turned to look at him. “Grab the Akuma!”

 “He’s a pile of rocks!” Felix called back.

 Above his head, a corrupted butterfly flapped languidly away. Her yo-yo shot out towards it, swinging past his head and then back. “Crap!”

 “What was that?” Felix asked, jumping back defensively.

 “The akuma butterfly!” Red yelled back. “It got away!”

 “What?”

***

 After they’d gotten Ivan to the ambulance with shock therapy, and Red explained it was a case of possession and there had better not be any repercussions against him, she jumped to a roof.

 Without the chaos, Felix could appreciate her suit better. It was mostly red and spotted, but she had black patches under her arms and on her legs, and a black casing on her back with a pink butterfly printed on it. Her mask was a light purple domino, and the ribbons tying her hair back into pigtails were mismatched and changing colors passively.

 “Are you okay?” Chat asked her carefully. He definitely wasn't.

 She glared up at him, eyes a blazing purple. “No! They're using my magic to terrorize my city, and- I still haven't fixed it." The last part of the sentence was subdued.

 Felix blinked. He looked over the city, crumbled with sirens and flashing lights blinking through the streets. It was barely midday, but felt much later. He sighed. "I don't understand what most of that means," Felix admitted softly. He could give her a little honesty. "But I'm willing to help."

 Red smiled sadly. "Thank you. But it isn't your battle."

 Felix scoffed. "Plagg would beg to differ."

 Red flinched. "Yeah, the Kwami do that." She opened her weapon like a flip phone and stuck her arm into it. After a few minutes of rummaging around, she pulled out a spotted piece of paper. Sickly black and purple bubbles started oozing from her gloves. Felix watched in fascinated wonder, terror creeping up his throat for no reason. The bubbles faded out, as did the feeling, leaving a red and black throwing disc in her hands. "I'll catch them. Whoever this is, whoever is behind this, I will catch them. And I will make them pay." She took a breath, the eyes under her mask a bright red. She tossed the disc in her hand once, twice, and then she threw it off the roof. "Miraculous Cure!!"

 It glowed. And then it split into a buzz of tiny, tiny sparkling bugs that split off and swirled across the city.

 Felix gasped as the buildings in view were pulled back up into their original placements. "How?"

 "Restoration," Red said quietly. "I'm borrowing their Miracle Stone."

 Felix hummed, not fully listening. This was… a lot better than he had hoped for.

 “You should head home.” Red said softly. “I’ll figure something out for this abuser.”

 “Will you be okay?” The question was a formality. Felix couldn’t do much to help, and he desperately wanted to get home and see his family. He should check in on Allegra too, and Claude and Allan.

 “Of course,” Red grinned, her eyes turning blue and open. Felix didn’t trust it, but he didn’t question it either.

 “Goodbye.” 

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[flightfoot]

Yeah, that’s one of the few problems I have with S5. It’s not like they need to give Alya multiple centric episodes or something, but all she’s really done for the last 9 episodes is be a soundboard for Marinette’s love life problems and provide emotional support. It just kinda rubs me the wrong way, and I’m not quite sure why. Of course, we’re only nine episodes in (and we know Scarabella comes back for the Kwamis’ Choice two-parter), but so far I’ve been super disappointed by how they’ve used Alya so far. If they’re gonna have Alya play the emotional support so frequently, they could at least make it two-sided by letting her get to share something too at least once, y’know? Anyway, thanks for listening to me ramble! :)

I'm betting it rubs you the wrong way because it plays into the Black Best Friend trope, where the Black best friend (though granted, Marinette's biracial) mostly revolves around the White lead, often being their sounding board and emotional support, but without much reciprocation. They exist to be there for the lead character, not to have lives of their own. They're usually seen in a positive light by the characters and the narrative, but exist more as props than anything. When you ask "What is this character's own personal story, what are their personal goals, what are their obstacles, and what are they feeling as they encounter those obstacles”, just generally look at their personal plotline... it’s pretty close to nonexistent.

Alya sometimes trends towards these tropes, but avoids falling fully into them by virtue of having a life and interests of her own, even if she does still tend to function as Marinette's emotional support a lot. Season 4 in particular, she got to have a lot of screentime and focus, with Gang of Secrets, Mr. Pigeon 72, Optigami, Sentibubbler, Hack-san, and Rocketear all prominently featuring or majorly focusing on who Alya is as a person, even if she was still mostly helping Marinette - she was largely doing so through her superheroing, which was something she enjoyed and wanted even independently of Marinette, it wasn't JUST for her sake (though that was a major bonus). Alya's own feelings and relationships were important.

Season 5... yeah it's fallen down on the Alya focus. I love her being there for Marinette after Monarch stole the Miraculous, but I want some answers about her seemingly endlessly sleeping over at Marinette's place. She's had a role in several episodes, but it's mostly just been to listen to Marinette lament about her problems, not to drive the plot or to do anything for her own personal story. So far, the best episode in season 5 for Alya has been Illusion, since she got to really be her own independent character (and the voice of reason) in that episode - she wasn't just there for Marinette to bounce her own problems and concerns off of. And while I loved Exaltation, I don't much care for how Marinette just up and left Alya in her room for like, an hour, with no word on what was going on. Alya later helping to distract Glaciator before he could take Chat's Miraculous was pretty great though.

I'm hoping that with Kwami's Choice coming up, we get some more Alya focus, maybe something delving into her own emotions and problems, which we haven't gotten yet this season.

On the bright side, at least Nino has consistently avoided falling into the Black Best Friend trope. He and Adrien are friends and Nino would like to help Adrien with his terrible father, but Nino has a lot of interests and personality and screentime and focus that isn't associated with helping Adrien - actually, that's only Nino's main role in two episodes I think? The Bubbler and Party Crasher, and in both of those Nino is a very active participant in a way that lets you see his personality and viewpoint. Adrien also listens to Nino's own emotional problems and tries to help him with them, like in Animan and Rocketear, and helps out with plans that Nino comes up with, like in Illusion. Nino and Adrien are on fairly equal terms when they interact, it's not just Nino revolving around Adrien - actually you could make the argument that Adrien tends to revolve around Nino more when you see them together, than the other way around.

#ask #ml salt #I love season 5 but it hasn't been great for Alya #alya cesaire #miraculous ladybug #ml spoilers #nino lahiffe #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #ml analysis