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immaturityofthomasastruc · 11 months

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IOTA Reviews: Derision

Well, here we are. This is the episode you've all been waiting for me to cover. The one people claim is the cream of the crop when it comes to badness, not just for the insane amount of retcons and cases of character assassination, but for how it retroactively makes one of the most criticized parts of the entire show worse by comparison. If you've seen the episode, you know what I'm talking about.

Let's get into the fourteenth episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Derision

We start off with Marinette waking up for the day before getting a call from Adrien, who gives one of the clunkiest pieces of exposition I've ever heard on this show, and that's saying something.

Adrien: I was just going to tell you how excited I am that we're meeting at the swimming pool later, and to wake you up just in case you were still sleeping.

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Just as she hangs up, Marinette's hands start to tremble, having visions of a locker, hinting at some old memories resurfacing. Just to get this out of the way, but one thing I want to give this episode props for is the way these panic attacks are portrayed. The colors change, the environments warp around, and it gives off a very uneasy feeling. It kind of reminds me of this one episode of The Twilight Zone, “Little Girl Lost”, which used similar visuals to depict the otherworldly atmosphere of another dimension.

Marinette meets up with Adrien at the local pool, and has another panic attack. Kim and Ondine seem to notice this.

Kim: Woah, Adrien. That must've been some prank you pulled to make Marinette freak out like that. What did you do to her?

Ondine: It's not funny, Kim! Can't you see Marinette's not okay?

Kim: Oh, come on. She always reacts like that when someone pranks her.

Kim then proceeds to tell Adrien and Ondine (and by extension, the audience) about what he means. I'm going to talk a lot about this, so to make things easier for all of us, I'll give you the short version so you have an idea of what happened.

About a year before the events of “Origins”, we see Chloe was bullying Marinette even more than she did before then, constantly pulling sadistic pranks Megan from Drake & Josh would find to be overkill, while making her late to class. To make things worse, none of her teachers believed her and took Chloe's side all the time, giving her detention on the weekends. Mylene, Rose, and Juleka try to help Marinette, but apparently, Chloe orders them to not talk with her before saying that “she'll be there to make Marinette's life a nightmare”.

The only person with the common sense to help out Marinette is Socqueline, that girl from “Jubiliation”. Socqueline learns that Marinette has a crush on Kim, who is even more of a jerk than he was during the first half of Season 1, and when Marinette thinks about asking him out to the swimming pool after school, Socqueline advises Marinette to be careful. Sabrina tips off Chloe to Marinette's plan, so Chloe goes to give Kim advice to pull a prank on Marinette. At the pool, just as Marinette confesses her feelings to Kim, Kim gives her a box full of spiders, causing her to panic and fall backwards into the pool. Chloe films the thing with the intent to make it go viral, but Socqueline stops her plan before she can upload it. Kim doesn't seem to see what he did was wrong, seeing it as a harmless joke as Socqueline tells him to piss off.

It's here that Marinette determines that if she ever has feelings for a boy ever again, she'll need to be super prepared, explaining how much she knows about Adrien and his schedule in later episodes. Chloe then gets Socqueline expelled from school just a few weeks before the end of the school year. Marinette blames herself for what happened, but Socqueline tells her that sometimes, no matter how dire the odds seem, she needs to muster up the courage to fight the good fight.

Oh, and Marinette was almost akumatized by Monarch again, but it's really just an excuse to keep her away while Kim tells the story.

So... let's talk about this flashback. Clocking in at about ten minutes, almost half of the episode's runtime, this is easily the part everyone (myself included) seems to have problems with, for all kinds of reasons. Let's break down each and everything wrong with this flashback.

#1: The Portrayal of Chloe

Surprisingly, this is the least of my problems. Compared to Kim (who I'll get to later), Chloe is mostly in character with how she's usually portrayed by this point in the series. She's egotistical, she orders Sabrina around, she hates Marinette, and throws her father's name around over and over again like it's a boomerang. My feelings on the wasted opportunities with her character aside, this does make sense seeing how this takes place before Season 1.

But there's the problem. This takes place before Season 1, and Chloe does things she never did in Season 1, or any of the other seasons for that matter. She clearly has the teachers and principal doing what she wants, she can boss the other students around (which I'll also get to later), she pulls sadistic practical jokes on Marinette, and even uses her dad's name to get Socqueline expelled. In the show, she doesn't really do any of this. Sure, she can occasionally use her dad's influence to get what she wants (Lady Wifi, Rogercop, Frightningale, Determination), but it was never to this extent. While she also tried to act like she was better than the rest of her peers, barring Sabrina, nobody ever listened to her or took her seriously. Chloe also tended to focus on bullying Marinette, but she didn't do these kinds of practical jokes. Usually, it was either sabotage (Mr. Pigeon, Despair Bear, Gabriel Agreste) or just general name calling, and she picked on other students too (Dark Cupid, Reflekta, Antibug, Sole Crusher, Penalteam, Deflagration).

The point I'm trying to make is why the hell did Chloe stop acting this way? What caused her to stop being as bad as she is here? I get the whole point of this episode is to show how terrible Chloe is, but you're showing off all her bad moments in a flashback and never considering the other things she's done that would be just as effective. Wasn't the main idea behind Chloe's “damnation arc” that she started to change, but went back on her ways and became worse than before? If that's the case, I have to reiterate, why was she even worse in this flashback?

I also have an issue with making the cause of all of Marinette's trauma because of this prank by Chloe. Yes, the prank was terrible, and trust me this isn't me once again going “GRR! CHLOE STAN ANGRY BECAUSE RICH GIRL IS EVIL IN FLASHBACK!”. It's more along the lines of “Really? We're really doing this?”. While I'm glad that after Chloe's betrayal at the end of Season 3, the show is finally considering the idea of making her more than just comic relief as a villain, it feels like a case of too little, too late.

After so many years of making Chloe out to be harmless unless she screams her daddy's name, now you're treating her like a serious threat who traumatized Marinette for life? Chloe is the cause of Marinette's trauma? This is like if the person who killed Bruce Wayne's parents turned out to be a joke character like Egghead or Crazy Quilt. Just because a serious villain does something important to the story, it doesn't automatically make their prior unfunny antics go away.

But my main gripe with the portrayal of Chloe here is that this flashback fails to do something that still hasn't been done in almost five seasons and eight years: Explain just why Chloe hates Marinette so much. Chloe is unusually cruel here, and doesn't even have a reason to torture Marinette like this. Usually, Marinette gets in the way of what she wants, but here? Marinette doesn't do anything to warrant this level of dedication. You would think for a flashback sequence focusing on her and Marinette's history, they would actually explain why Chloe likes to single out Marinette, but they don't. The writers would rather take time out of the episode to remind the audience of why Chloe is the way she is, and why it isn't acceptable, than clarify what Chloe's deal with Marinette is.

Rose: She’s this way because her mother left her when she was young.

Mylene: So did mine, and you don't see me having fun bullying Marinette.

Gee, I wonder if Astruc himself had a part in writing that exchange or not.

If you're willing to acknowledge previous episodes while also discussing how poorly Chloe treats Marinette, it would help if you finally did something to inform the audience about why Chloe likes to torture Marinette in the first place. Did Marinette show Chloe up at a fashion show? Did Marinette impress Chloe's dad one time? Did Marinette just spill coffee on Chloe's shoes? I will take literally anything, no matter how stupid the explanation is, over getting nothing after eight years.

It's also pretty rich that that scene was trying to say that what happened to Chloe doesn't justify her actions when not only do we never get a scene like that pointing out how creepy Marinette obsesing over Adrien was, but later in the episode, Marinette specifically pins all the blame on Chloe in one line.

Marinette: Adrien! I know what's wrong with me! It's not my fault, and it's not your fault, either! It's all Chloe's fault!

So remember kids, just because bad things happen to you, it doesn't excuse your unflattering actions... except when it does, and in that case, it's all the fault of the person who wronged you in the first place.

#2: The Portrayal of Kim

I'll admit, I'm not really the biggest fan of Kim as a character. I don't hate him, but it feels like after Season 2, he just became that guy who really loves to swim, where even characters like Max, Marc, and Nathaniel had more depth to them. This episode however? Yeah, I couldn't stand Kim here.

Just like with Chloe, Kim is sort of in character as the same eccentric dude who has a habit of being insensitive and accidentally upsetting people (Animan, Syren), and I need to emphasize the “sort of”. Just like Chloe, this goes against his characterization in Season 1, where he was shown to be a bully like Chloe was (Lady Wifi, Timetagger, Origins) before later episodes made him a nicer person. However, unlike Chloe, the show sort of tries to retcon Kim's rude behavior to be more in line with his Season 5 self by portraying him as more of a bully who simply isn't aware of how harmful his jokes are, but it doesn't work because of how cruel he seems, and he doesn't have the excuse of knowing how terrible he is like Chloe does.

There's also how easily he goes along with Chloe's prank when she literally insults him and Marinette to his face.

Chloe: I heard Marinette asked you to go with her to the swimming pool.

Kim: Yeah, we’re going swimming together. Cool! 'Cause I love to swim!

Chloe: That’s not why she asked you, dummy!

Kim: It's not? Then, what are we going to do? Chloe: She wants to declare her feelings for you! Kim: For me? But why?

Chloe: Probably because she's utterly ridiculous, and so are you, which makes you two perfect for each other!

Kim: Oh? You think so?

There's not being aware of how insensitive of how you are to others, and then there's not being able to comprehend basic insults. Chloe doesn't even try to give Kim a backhanded compliment or secretly insult him (“You really like swimming, don't you? Good thing you can swim better than you do in class.”). She just calls him a dummy, and Kim still falls for her trick. If you want to have Kim fall for Chloe's plan, don't make her so obviously cruel. For God's sake, you're making the class in the Lila episodes look smart by comparison.

And even after retelling the story, Kim still thinks Chloe highly, not only saying how pretty she is right in front of his girlfriend, but he still thinks the joke was the funniest thing ever. After five seasons, Kim of all people should know about how mean Chloe is, given he was literally kidnapped and brainwashed into serving her while she sided with Hawkmoth (Miracle Queen).

The worst part is that Kim has nothing to do with this story at all. You could literally replace him with any other guy, even a nameless background character with no lines, and nothing would change. Hell, I'd argue it'd be even better as having Marinette be embarrassed in front of some rando would highlight the impact it had on her self-esteem when she tries to go after someone of a higher social class. It would also better justify the spider prank if someone else pulled it because “Darkblade” established that Kim was afraid of spiders.

And if you think I'm talking about Kim after this part, believe me, there's more to this schmuck than meets the eye.

#3: The Way Everyone Just... Lets This All Happen

Look, I get what the episode is trying to go for, narratively, and realistically. Sometimes, teachers and other authority figures just don't do their jobs when someone gets bullied. Hell, I was bullied for years by someone who liked to take advantage of my anger issues, and it wasn't until my last year of middle school that the faculty finally decided to do something about it. I also get that this entire flashback wouldn't happen if the teachers realized how cruel Chloe was and got her expelled. What I don't get is how the flashback portrays anyone who was there as unwilling to do anything to help.

First off, Marinette claims that the reason none of the teachers believed her was because they're all too afraid to stand up to Chloe, since she can call her dad and cost them their jobs, but that's far from the truth. The only time we see anyone actually being afraid of Chloe was when Mr. Damocles went back on refusing to expel Socqueline before Chloe threatened to call her dad and get him fired. Other than that, while we only see Ms. Mendeleiev and Mr. Damocles in this flashback, neither of them really show any signs of being afraid of Chloe. They just go along with what she says, and they don't even try to take Marinette's side. Just like Kim, this would be more understandable if these were different characters who were never shown to be this cruel to Marinette in earlier episodes.

Second, while I can sort of buy the teachers not caring about Marinette, the fact that her classmates don't do anything is another story. We saw Mylene, Rose, and Juleka trying to help Marinette, but right after they talk to her, Chloe just orders them to go away, and it's never explained why. Marinette said the teachers were afraid of Chloe, but does that mean the students are too? Again, later episodes would establish nobody takes Chloe seriously as a bully, so this part of the flashback makes no sense. What changed to make them stop being afraid of Chloe anyway? Once again, if these were a bunch of nameless characters who were more apathetic to Marinette's situation, that would make sense, retroactively showing how much Marinette's friends care for her. Instead, it's like that scene in RWBY where the main characters watch a student being bullied by a racist classmate, and all they do is say “Wow, racism really sucks, huh? Anyway, not our problem.”

Third, you're telling me that Marinette came up with multiple excuses not to go to school even with a few weeks left in the year, and Marinette's parents didn't see anything weird about it? They didn't think that something must be making Marinette want to do anything but go to school? I don't think they were even informed about the situation at school, unless you want to be generous and say they knew Marinette got detention. You can't even make the excuse that it would work if these were different characters, but these are Marinette's parents. You know, the same characters the show portrays as loving and affectionate to their daughter? You're telling me they didn't even think to look into the situation, much less talk to Marinette about school?

The problem with all the other characters in this flashback is in order to make what happens possible, they have to be as apathetic as possible. There's being unaware of a situation or being too afraid to stand up (which is unfortunately something that happens when people bullied sometimes), and then there's just not caring about the bully victim at all. It's ironic how even though a big part of the flashback was to show how awful Chloe was, it unintentionally make everyone else in Marinette's life seem just as cruel to let her suffer like that.

But I know what you're thinking. “What about Socqueline? She was there to help Marinette, so why didn't you mention her?” Well...

#4: Where the Hell Has Socqueline Been All This Time?

Like I mentioned in my “Jubilation” review, Socqueline is yet another unnecessary addition to the already overcrowded cast of characters in this show, and it seemed like this episode was meant to justify her inclusion, but it only raised more questions.

Just to remind you, this flashback establishes that Marinette was constantly bullied by Chloe until a nice girl in glasses stood up for her, and inspired Marinette to be more confident.

SOUND FAMILIAR?

Yeah, this flashback is pretty much the same as Marinette's arc in “Origins” was, only with Socqueline in Alya's place. We get it, writers, Season 1 was good. Constantly repeating stuff like what happened in “Mr. Pigeon 72” isn't going to win you any favors.

This really highlights how pointless of a character Socqueline is, as despite supposedly being a really important person in Marinette's life, Marinette herself never thought to tell anyone about her, and judging from how Marinette described her to Tikki in “Jubilation”, I don't think she even stayed in contact with Socqueline after she was expelled. It's not like left Paris afterwards. All we know is that she went to another school and got a job at a local arts and crafts store, so why did Marinette just stop talking with her? Even with Felix and Zoe, they had the excuse of being in different countries, but you can't say that with Socqueline.

Also, this was something I just realized, but if Mr. Damocles got her expelled, why the hell did Socqueline treat him like he was any other customer at her job, much less compliment him as a principal?

#5: The Handling of Trauma in General, and How This Impacts Marinette as a Character

Like pretty much every other serious issue it tries to tackle, Miraculous Ladybug has always had a poor understanding of mental health. When it comes to portraying characters who struggle with some form of grief of trauma, like Adrien, Felix, Chloe, Zoe, and even Marinette, the responses usually amount to some variation of “Grow a pair and get over it, you big baby!”.

With Felix, Chloe, and Marinette, even if their actions are partially motivated as a response to either losing a loved one, trying to emulate their neglectful parent, or as a defense mechanism to avoid repeating an already traumatic experience, they're all proven to be in the wrong, and it's not to teach a lesson about alternative coping mechanisms or support systems. The show just says that they're automatically wrong for what they do, what causes them to act the way they do is never acknowledged, and instead, we're supposed to just act like they're being jerks for no reason. Compare this to Adrien and Zoe, who both had rough lives losing their mother at a young age or living with an abusive mother respectively, and rather than go into detail how it affected them or how they managed to become decent human beings in spite of it, the show just says that they're nice people, so people like Felix, Chloe, and Marinette have no reason to be mean to others.

This is honestly why I feel like this episode's depiction of mental health and dealing with trauma falls flat. In case you didn't know, I asked my followers who had to deal with some form of trauma to share their experiences and how it compared to what Marinette went through in the episode. For the most part, the common consensus seems to be that while the symptoms of Marinette's trauma and her reactions to it are very believable, a lot of it is contradicted by previous episodes, and it seems like it was only there to do a story about dealing with trauma.

So many episodes across Seasons 1 through 4 show Marinette dealing with Kim and Chloe without really any issue, and she showed no problem with starting relationships with Luka and Cat Noir, to say nothing about Nathaniel's brief crush on her in “The Evillustrator”. If Marinette was so traumatized by this prank, why did she want to go swimming in episodes like “Gorizilla” and “Mr. Pigeon 72”? Why did she bother to help Kim confess to Chloe in “Dark Cupid”? Why did she team up with Chloe to sabotage Kagami in “Animaestro”? Why did she suggest Chloe could change for the better throughout Seasons 2 and 3? Why did she continue to let Chloe and Kim use the Bee and Monkey Miraculous respectively, even after they got them from outside sources? This flashback is desperately trying to tie previous events of the series together together, but it only works if you ignore all the times Marinette has interacted with Kim and Chloe without having a panic attack.

Then there's how the flashback tries to connect this to Marinette memorizing all of Adrien's schedule to make sure he won't hurt her, an obvious attempt to rebuff one of the biggest criticisms of her as a character. Here's why it doesn't work.

First off, the setup doesn't work because while Marinette vows to do a better job getting to know the next person she falls in love with and how, in her words mind you, “He isn't friends with Chloe”. Putting aside the kindness he's shown her in “Origins”, she kind of failed to really consider her choice to pursue him if he stayed friends with Chloe if we're going to believe Chloe traumatized Marinette so much.

It also doesn't really explain the more predatory actions Marinette has taken whenever another girl tries to get close to Adrien (The Bubbler, Volpina, Animaestro, Oni-Chan, Heart Hunter), or how she tries to rig up situations to get closer to him (The Gamer, Gigantitan, Backwarder, Party Crasher, Felix, Psycomedian, Glaciator 2, Simpleman). And that's not even getting into how obsessive she is with him in other areas, like repeatedly playing a commercial he was in (Gorizilla), making a bunch of presents for him in advance (Christmaster), trying to kiss a wax statue of him (The Puppeteer 2), sniffing his pillow (Cat Blanc), or all the other times she's creepily obsessed over him.

But of course, you've probably noticed that I've forgotten to mention one key thing about what this flashback means: You know how Marinette tends to act nervously and stumbles a lot around Adrien when she isn't meticulously documenting his schedule? Yeah, they were essentially panic attacks brought on by her PTSD, and the episode tries to act like Kim did to her wasn't funny afterwards. Here's the problem with this.

YOU MADE MARINETTE'S TRAUMA YOUR PRIMARY SOURCE OF COMEDY FOR THE PAST FIVE FUCKING SEASONS!

You do NOT have the right to act like what happened to Marinette was bad when you were constantly playing her anxiety up for laughs for almost EIGHT YEARS at this point!

In addition to all the other examples I mentioned, we had episodes like “Psycomedian”, which confirmed that the same behavior that this episode is trying to say is connected to her trauma was hilarious to Adrien, as well as “Backwarder”, which thrived on playing up Marinette's anxiety towards Adrien and was said to be one of the funniest episodes of the show to work on by Astruc himself.

THIS IS WHAT THOMAS ASTRUC ACTUALLY BELIEVES

#6: Why This Flashback Is Ultimately Pointless

But above all, the biggest problem I have with this flashback is because of how pointless it is. It's trying to better go into detail about why Marinette acts the way she does around Adrien, but did we really need to do that?

This flashback doesn't really reveal anything that we didn't know already. We know Marinette was bullied by Chloe, we know she was a lot more meek and needed others to stand up for her, and we definitely know that we're not supposed to like Chloe. Adding to my earlier point, if we actually got more insight into the origin of Chloe's obsession with Marinette, that would have at least made this flashback important to watch, but once again, despite being a flashback episode, we learn nothing about the characters that we don't already know.

But this flashback is also meant to explain why Marinette is so hesitant to embrace her new relationship with Adrien when we already got a reason for that last season. The first half of the season has made a big deal about how much her feelings for Adrien cost her the Miraculous, so why not focus on that? This flashback just feels like it's here to give more Marinette angst instead of focusing on the things they've already established. And that's not even getting into what she saw during “Cat Blanc”.

Why couldn't we just have a story about Marinette's own insecurities causing her to doubt she can make her relationship with Adrien work, seeing how poorly things ended with Luka? Have her worry that something could go wrong as a result of her need to overcompensate, or worry that Adrien could betray her. That way, you could have Adrien supporting Marinette in a way that reflects their partnership as Cat Noir and Ladybug respectively.

But no. Instead we have this flashback that's taken me about ten pages to fully dissect. And the worst part is that I still have the rest of the episode to talk about. God help me...

So after Adrien and Ondine explain how this prank could have done a lot of damage to Marinette's psyche, Kim decides to find Marinette, and apologize for being so—Ah, I'm just messing with you guys. After all, that would actually make Kim likable. So what does he say instead?

Kim: Come on! Loosen up, you guys! It's like you can't even speak your mind these days.

Ondine: That doesn't give you permission to hurt other people!

Kim: Whatever! I'm the way I am and I'm fine that way! It's not my fault you guys have no sense of humor!

Yep, rather than having Kim realize the error of his ways and maybe be akumatized out of guilt, Kim just whines about how everyone else is just a humorless pansy these days. The writers pretty much made Kim's motivation boil down to “It's just a prank, bro!”. Even Monarch seems to go along with this, as he refers to Kim as “A free spirit feeling unjustly rejected”, when this was right after he called Chloe the prettiest girl in front of his own girlfriend's face. So Monarch sends his Akuma to Kim's goggles, akumatizing him into Dark Humor. Yes, that's really the name they're going with.

Dark Humor is a pretty forgettable recolor of Dark Cupid. Other than inverting the red and black color scheme and giving him a targeting scope on his right eye, there's not much else to say other than the incredibly on the nose name they gave him. His powers are sort of like Dark Cupid's, only now, instead of turning people heartless, they now share his soulless brand of “humor”. At least, I think it is. His Alliance power is the Monkey Miraculous's Uproar, but it's not really clarified if he's only using Uproar arrows or not, judging from the use of the rubber ducky that we've seen King Monkey use before.

Marinette and Adrien transform into Ladybug and Cat Noir respectively, but once they meet up, we get the most controversial part of the episode that isn't connected to the flashback scene: Cat Noir gives Dark Humor the beatdown of his life and is about to Cataclysm him, for pulling a bad prank on Marinette a year ago. Yeah, a lot of people have pointed out that Adrien felt a lot of remorse for Cataclysming Monarch earlier in this season, yet here, Cat Noir looks like someone told him that Kim just shot the Pope. For God's sake, writers, you're five seasons in! How hard is it to determine whether or not you want your hero to be okay with killing people or not?

And of course, this bites him in the ass, as Dark Humor stabs Cat Noir with an arrow, not only changing his Cataclysm into something that creates a bunch of balls from his hand, but also making him just as insane as the rest of Dark Humor's victims. You know, I'm this close to starting a “Remember Season 1” counter, because this is just glorified fanservice.

Ladybug tries to summon her Lucky Charm, but is stopped by Dark Humor, so Ladybug transforms back into Marinette, transforms into Ladybug again, and summons her Lucky Charm for real this time, getting... a toilet. Of course, the only way to combat Dark Humor's bad jokes is by using even worse jokes! Genius! Ladybug places the toilet over Dark Humor's head and breaks it along with the goggles, freeing the Akuma.

Ladybug de-evilizes the Akuma, uses Miraculous Ladybug to fix the damage, gives Kim a useless Magical Charm, and Cat Noir apologizes for murdering Kim by saying his emotions got the better of him, which is like saying OJ Simpson and his wife had a minor disagreement.

Kim apologizes to Marinette for traumatizing her, and I guess that's enough for Ondine to forgive him for saying another girl is prettier than her.

After Marinette sort of explains what happened to Adrien, he goes over to tell Chloe to apologize, and we get... this scene.

Adrien: I know about everything that you did to Marinette last year, Chloe. You're going to go and apologize to her and prove to everyone that you can change. I'm sure she'll forgive you.

Chloe: (laughs) Forgive me? What do I care about her forgiveness? I couldn't care less about Dupain-Cheng's feelings! She and the likes of her only exist to suffer for my entertainment. Why bother having power if you can’t use it against those who don’t have any? You’re the one who’s getting things wrong, with your baker girl! You’re a prince! You belong with me, the princess! You’re in this world to shine! To make fun of all the losers who are only good enough to be used as doormats!

Adrien: You're nothing like a princess, Chloe. I supported you. I gave you multiple chances to become a better person. Everyone reached out to you, including Ladybug and Cat Noir when they gave you the Miraculous of the Bee again. But all you ever think about is yourself.

Chloe: And what else IS there to think about? Losers and nobodies? The little bees? The planet?

Adrien: We will never be friends again, Chloe. You and I are done.

Chloe: Traitor.

Okay, first off, “She and the likes of her only exist to suffer for my entertainment.”? That's the line you're going with? She sounds like a dark lord in an RPG game. How is this the closest thing we ever get to an explanation to why Chloe hates Marinette so much?

Second, ignoring the fact that we already had Chloe end her friendship with Adrien last season (Queen Banana), it's pretty weird that this is the breaking point in their friendship. Adrien doesn't mention all the other times she's bullied people or when she sided with Hawkmoth even when he brought up her time as Queen Bee. He saw her being mean to so many people over five seasons, yet only when he learns Chloe did something to his girlfriend that he decides to finally confront her. If we at least got a line where Adrien acknowledged that he essentially enabled Chloe for so long by thinking she could change, that would have at least sort of worked. Instead, he makes it about how she refused to change herself. Dude, you had the chance to stand up to her for years, and you even did so in one episode before you went back on it (Despair Bear). You have nobody to blame but yourself.

Finally, Chloe is pretty out of character here. She's way too calm about ending her friendship with Adrien compared to what happened in “Despair Bear” and “Queen Banana”. You'd think if the writers wanted this to be a big moment of catharsis for the audience, Chloe would at least beg Adrien to stay a little. But no, Chloe brushes it off when it could easily justify her getting worse in later episodes, and even Adrien doesn't even consider how much he thought Chloe's friendship meant to him. Because these writers are dedicated to making sure that any identifiable trait Chloe once had is removed so you have no choice but to hate her.

But hey, at least the episode's over. What did I think of it?

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Yeah, it wasn't very good.

I just... what else do you even want me to say here? I spent about ten pages going over why the flashback sequence doesn't work, I've already ranted about Cat Noir trying to kill someone with his Cataclysm in previous episodes (Hack-San, Jubilation), and I think you all know what my feelings on the portrayal of Chloe and Kim are.

I guess I can answer one question you may have: Is this episode worse than either “Penalteam” or “Queen Banana”? Eh, not really. Let me explain.

The problems with “Queen Banana” and “Penalteam” went beyond the treatment of Chloe with the way the stories were handled, with “Queen Banana” being a cheap jab at critics and TV executives while propping up their new character Zoe, and “Penalteam” being an excuse to have a soccer episode while making Cat Noir look like a buffoon right before the finale. Most of the problems with this episode have more to do with how they affect the way we see previous episodes, and why some scenes that were already unfunny are even less funny now.

With this episode, you can at least tell there was some effort being made to tell a more serious story here that went into what made Marinette tick. Yeah, it and the themes of mental health and trauma were handled about as gracefully as a ballet dancer trying to get a bear trap off their leg, but there's at least an attempt here.

Of course, this episode is still awful. The conflict with Kim not getting how much of a jerk he was after a year was dumb (as was him being even more of a jerk as Dark Humor), the fact that Marinette's trauma seemed to come and go when the plot needed it to really showed off how forced it is, and it only ends with you having more questions about Marinette and Chloe's rivalry rather than answering them.

While I'm still not a fan of this episode, and would still place it in my top five least favorites, I don't think it's the absolute worst. Although it's still the worst one so far this season from a technical standpoint.

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS...KIM

It says a lot when Cat Noir actually tried to murder someone in this episode, yet not only is he not even considered for the award this episode, the person he tried to kill ends up being the bigger idiot. Not only did he easily fall for Chloe's plan when she insulted him to his face, he failed to understand how it affected Marinette for a year, and when he was told about how bad it was, he refused to take responsibility for his actions, blamed it on other people not being able to take a joke, and only gave the smallest apology after he was almost killed for his attitude. It's honestly funny how he somehow comes across as more unlikable than Chloe, the character this episode was made to make you hate even more.

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flightfoot · 5 months

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i think you rec fics if i'm wrong i'm so sorry. any fluffy fics with all 4 lovesquare sides? - though just ladynoir/adrienette would work too.

Yep I give those recs! This is actually one of the tricker cases, because on the one hand there's a lot of them and on the other hand they're interwoven with a lot of other things and often don't have specific tags to search with, so I'll see what I can do. I'm mostly just looking for fluff fics that have more than one side of the Lovesquare represented.

I Put A Spell On You by dazaimaru

Friday, October 25. 6 days until Halloween. It’s their first high school Halloween dance, and Marinette and Adrien are ready to throw on some non-superhero costumes for once--that is, until an akumatized witch spoils the party and threatens to reveal what lies underneath everyone’s disguise. With Hawkmoth taking full advantage of the spooky season, the days leading up to Halloween are certainly going to be thrilling! Especially considering Marinette’s growing feelings for a certain black cat…

---

Fate, Destiny... A Hamster by @mostmagical

After finally moving into his very first apartment per Ladybug’s suggestion, Adrien stumbles upon something no movie or TV show could have ever prepared him for: someone else's hamster. At least now there’s an excuse to talk to the new neighbor. (Adrinette Never Met AU)

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Villainous Matchmaking by @nedjsmlfavs

When Chat Noir is tragically unable to attend an event with Ladybug, the mayor calls in a favor from a designer ‘friend’. Now she’s attending in style, on the arm of the hottest male model in Paris. Which would be fine if it weren’t for one, tiny issue: Paris’ favorite domestic terrorist now knows how Ladybug feels about his son. This leads him to his greatest plan yet, using Ladybug’s extremely obvious crush on Adrien Agreste to akumatize Chat Noir. A Ladrien/“platonic” Ladynoir fic

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Painted Canvas by @wehadabondingmoment

And then, Adrien would send her a selfie, acting as if he was some secret agent trying to not get caught and he was so ridiculous that Marinette’s heart ached at the thought of being away from him. Hushed phone calls, his voice sounding like honey; in moments like these, she wasn’t Ladybug, only a teenage girl drunk on love. Or: Adrien and Marinette are soulmates and it still takes them years until they finally meet. Also fencing.

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Professeure (of your love) by @mostmagical

“We should do it.” Her voice came out in a screech. “What?” “Just a fake wedding at graduation,” he said, like it wasn’t completely crazy. . . After ages of letting Paris believe their beloved superheroes are married and in love, Marinette's superhero partner turned fellow teacher wants to apply the same logic to their civilian lives and put on a fake wedding for their students. Only problem is, for Marinette, the being in love part is very much not an act.

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From School Bells to Wedding Bells by @linnieluna

When the superhero duo takes on another exhausting fight against an akuma, Chat Noir does what he never hesitates to do and takes a hit for his partner. The problem being: neither of them knew what power the akuma possessed. That is... until he is transported into the future. More specifically, to his friend Marinette's wedding.

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The Power of Love by @nedjsmlfavs

In which Ladybug announces that she’s pregnant via her long term boyfriend and Chat Noir is a supportive partner. After all, he can hardly be upset when he’s been dating his Princess for years! A different take on the show’s tagline (“The Power of Love Always so Strong”) written for Valentine’s day 2023.

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The Rules of Engagement by underworkedoverwhelmed

When tragedy sends Adrien Agreste racing back to Paris to run his father’s fashion house, Marinette doesn’t expect much from her very new, very rich boss. At least not until she is set up on a blind date with a very familiar face. Much to her surprise, Adrien Agreste was hiding far more secrets behind his stoic business-like mask of temporary CEO. Maybe as many secrets as she had been trying to hide for years. As they grow closer, Marinette fears her mask isn’t nearly as foolproof. Day after day, it gets harder for her to keep all her secrets well hidden from the surprisingly sweet man who insisted on staying by her side as often as possible. Only she couldn’t afford to fail. Not when her biggest secret could spell the end of the job she’d dreamed about for years.

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Dreams of You by @chocoluckchipz

Dreams had long been his only escape. Dreams of Ladybug, the girl who had always been there for him. If only in his dreams. And only while she was also sleeping. Because with the first rays of sunshine gliding over her skin, with the first fluttering of her eyelashes, from the moment she opened her eyes in the morning, memories of Adrien would vanish from her mind. She would go on living her life. He would always be the only one who remembered. At least until they meet in the real world and fall in love all over again, something that would’ve been easier to do if Adrien wasn't a prisoner in his own home.

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Tell Me Why You Love Me by @linnieluna

“Anyway, that piece of paper contains the name of this texting app. It’s completely anonymous, so you can download it, make your account with no attachments to your personal life, and communicate with me outside our suits. I included my username on the paper, too, so you can add me once you’re done." Her partner skimmed through the words on the paper and nodded his head. “Brilliant as always, M’lady. I’m surprised we didn’t figure this out sooner within our superhero careers.” “Yeah, it would’ve been nice to have this before, but hey, better late than never. Make sure not to have your phone screen on the messages if you’re going to leave it somewhere. We don’t want anyone reading our texts. Also, this is for emergencies only. No jokes or puns. I can only deal with you for so long.” “I don’t know if I can agree to that last one,” he said. Now 22 and working full-time, Marinette and Adrien seem to be getting busier and busier, which means fewer opportunities to keep track of akumas and show up on time. With the idea of using a messaging app to communicate with each other without revealing their identities, their lives immediately grew to be easier... until it wasn't.

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Soul Searching by LiquefiedStars

Marinette was devastated when her soulmate turned out to be Adrien Agreste and not her sweet, loving partner Chat Noir. Despite their misunderstandings, she is willing to give Adrien a chance, even if he doesn’t seem all that interested in her. After all, they are soulmates and the universe says they are meant to be together. A Soulmate AU.

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Love is Blind by @jennagrinsoverml

Tired of all of his potential girlfriends being blinded by his face, his fame and his name, Adrien takes a chance to compete on Love Is Blind: France, where he hopes that dating without seeing each other—or learning each other’s names—will finally help him to be lucky in love. What will he do when he realizes that his Lady is one of the contestants, however? And will he be able to win her heart where he’s never succeeded before? Meanwhile, Marinette is looking to meet the right guy after years of pining away for someone who has only ever seen her as a friend. She’s not entirely sure if she can fall in love with someone without seeing them, but the things that have always mattered to her most are the kinds of things that can’t be seen. What will she do when she realizes her heart is being pulled in two directions? And will she be ready to make a decision in time?

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Over and Over by stcrsquad

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has had the worst day possible. She's failed to confess to Adrien (again), made an embarrassment of herself, and got into a fight with Chat Noir. Adrien Agreste has had the worst day possible. He is tired of being pushed aside by everyone, including his crime-fighting partner Ladybug. Luckily, fate (and Bunnyx) works in mysterious ways because they wake up again on the same day. A do-over. Except it keeps happening. Can the two figure out what they need to fix to break the loop, or will they be stuck forever?

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Graine de toi by MireilleTanaka

Ladybug and Chat Noir think they’re close, until they begin waking up in one another’s skin. AU: Adrien is homeschooled, and he and Marinette have never met. Written for Adrinette April 2020, Day 17: Life Swap. The one prompt snowballed into a multi-chapter fic. Loosely inspired by Your Name (Kimi no na wa), but no need to have watched it to read, since there's no actual plot connection except the premise of swapping lives.

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Knight in Shining Amour by Cakedecorator

Marinette is the daughter of the castle bakers, and she herself is the royal seamstress. She lives her life making clothes, helping her parents, and generally living a simple life. However, she also laments the loss of her childhood friendship with Prince Adrien, and remembers the promise they made when they were five years old. Resigning herself to the reality that she would never be able to marry the prince, and assuming he'd forgotten their promise, Marinette tries to live her life without letting loss get to her. However, her love story begins a new chapter when she's approached by Cat Noir, a debonair new knight in the castle.

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Evergreen by tanyatakaishi

Everything was gone. The entire cityscape had been obliterated, leaving them in a valley of trees. Blue mountains, peaks dressed in snow, stretched tall in the distance and at their foot lay an array of vineyards, miles wide with no civilization in sight. AKA: two heroes lost alone in the woods with no cheese.

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Someone to Watch Over Me by @dfcfanfics

Adrien is used to his father taking him for granted and treating him poorly, especially since his mother's disappearance... but it's never been anywhere _near_ this bad before. Between that and trouble at school, his life is in quite the downward spiral. He's been putting on a brave face, but he's struggling... and his friends are starting to notice. One special friend in particular. Marinette is determined to help him, any way that she can -- with _and_ without her mask. But when Akumas fly towards Adrien, he soon finds himself more deeply entwined in Marinette's life AND Ladybug's private life than he'd ever imagined. Can Adrien possibly decide between the two angels who are making his life worth living again? Can Marinette process Adrien's crush on Ladybug AND his growing feelings for her? And can Gabriel stop laughing long enough to launch his master plan? A fluffy DFC - buggachat Ladrienette jam. 10/15: Our story is now complete with the posting of Chapter 24, the epilogue. Thank you so much for reading, as always.

#ask #miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #ml fanfic rec #adrienette #ladynoir #marichat #ladrien

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gale-gentlepenguin · 10 months

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ML What if:

(What if Movie! Gabriel was the villain in the Show?)

Now to those that have seen the movie and the show.

All the powers and rules of the show apply. The only difference is Gabriel’s Personality is the same as the one in the movie.

(How much will be different)

____________________________________________

-So for starters, I don’t think this version of Adrien would not need to sneak out to try and go to school. Since this Gabriel never became a hermit. He actually threw himself into his work instead of isolating himself. And as such Adrien would not have the hang up of being trapped in his home. Or if he does it’s more from empathy than actual restraint.

-But even so, Adrien is still a good boy and still ends up tested by Fu and gets approved.

-I think Adrien models but isn’t the only model. I can see Adrien being the one to ask as a way of spending time with his father since his mother passed, and Gabriel not refusing. At least in photos he could see the boy smile.

-Everything with Marinette in origins is identical.

-Gabriel finally caves into his loneliness and desperation and uses the butterfly. Where he learns the rules and how they work. Since this Gabriel had seen the peacock in action he was worried that using the butterfly would yield the same result, but Nooroo assured him that it’s only with broken miraculous.

-Now, Gabriel would still akumatize stoneheart and start the incident that would bring out the ladybug and cat miraculous.

-Gabriel is still lost in grief and even though he mainly used criminals in the film, he would probably use people anyway (see the movie!stoneheart)

-This Gabriel would probably still pull a lot of the stunts show Gabriel would pull. Theatrics included.

-So I do think show Origins would be relatively the same.

-Honestly most of season 1 would be the same. I can see Gabriel setting up his fashion designer contest in Mr.Pigeon.

- Movie!Gabriel would remember his sons birthday and have Nathalie get him a gift while he’s focused on work.

-Nino never meets Gabriel face to face as he is far too busy to meet him. Thus bubbler.

-Gabriel never shows up on the show to get Simon says akumatized, but likely sent a response insulting enough it akumatized him.

- Gabriel would send a text or call to have Adrien leave an area that he knew an akuma was in. Something he did in the movie.

-I would say close to season 2 we start seeing Gabriel look disheveled. I also see Movie! Gabriel not akumatizing a baby. Mainly because it would not help his situation.

-Gabriel wouldn’t Akumatize Kagami since she was after Adrien, which would be a no no.

-Gorizilla wouldn’t happen because This Gabriel would never put his son in harms way intentionally. Plus I would say this Gabriel wouldn’t have noticed the ring on his sons finger as he is avoiding his boy more out of his own emotional survivors guilt.

-Gabriel would akumatize Style queen, but he would be there in person initially. He would be the one that got turned into a glitter statue protecting his son.

-After this. Gabriel questioned if this was the right call? He put his son in danger? Was it right?!

-And I think unlike Show Gabriel, Heroes day would be his last Hurrah, but he would be much more brutal. And that result.

#miraculous ladybug #ml #ml au #Different Gabriel AU #ml what if #miraculous movie #ml awakening #miraculous awakening

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theerurishipper · 6 months

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Idk I always find it bizarre when people shocked that Marinette just let rubble and whatever fell down to Emilie's coffin just so Gabriel move to protect it as if it's smt new. Miraculous can be inconsistent with it's characterization sometimes, but not for Marinette. Her characterization is still strong and constant from s1. Her let the rubble fell to the coffin is her s1 equivalent of taking down Eiffel tower at the Mime episode or s2 when she baited anansi to punch the arc de triomphe so she'd be buried under it's rubble.

What bizzare is the amount of what Marinette destroyed is far exceed what Adrien, as the holder of desruction ever did. Chat Blanc excluded because he was akumatized while Marinette did all that intentionally.

Can't imagine just how much destruction she caused if she were the holder of black cat miraculous instead. Must be terrifying.

I feel like those other two were different because The Mime and Anansi were akumatized villains with superpowers, so they wouldn't die from that or anything, and they could defend themselves just fine. But it's not the same with Emilie Agreste. This is an innocent woman who as far as she knows wanted no part of this. This is the mother of the boy she supposedly loves and is fighting for. And she drops a whole elevator onto her body without a single second of hesitation. That's so cruel. That's awful.

This literally proves why Marinette is so unsuited for the role she occupied in the finale. She has no connection to any of this. The whole Agreste arc was built on their family drama and the emotions they have for each other. We're supposed to feel something for Emilie Agreste, regardless of her lacking presence in the story. And here comes Marinette, who cares fuck all for any of them, treating this innocent woman like a prop in her fight, literally dehumanizing her in order to get an advantage over Gabe. There's no consideration for Emilie, from the narrative or the characters. Gabriel had to be the one to save her from Marinette.

And I am a proud "Emilie Agreste was an abusive parent" truther, but that doesn't excuse this. At the end of the day, she was an innocent in Gabriel's supervillainy, and Marinette threatening her life as part of a strategy to defeat Gabe is awful. And like I said, this shows why it's so counterproductive to have her take the central role in the resolution of this conflict. We're supposed to watch Emilie's heartfelt words reach Gabriel, as if she matters, when Marinette just treated her like an object and almost killed her (not sure if she's already dead or just in a coma, but my point still stands). The emotions are all gone. Nothing matters expect Marinette being a girlboss (which is literally the stated reason for why Bug Noire happened, so that Marinette could look cool).

Like, can you imagine if Adrien was here? Could you imagine how he'd feel watching his partner who supposedly loves him using his mother as a tool to defeat his father? Could you imagine how he'd feel to see his mother's body be almost destroyed, to see his mother be killed because Ladybug wanted to beat Gabe's ass? How would it feel to see that Marinette doesn't consider his mother a person more than she thought of her as a prop to get an advantage over Gabriel?

But no, treating Emilie Agreste with any kind of dignity is secondary to letting Marinette be awesome and cool ig. Removing the character who is the emotional core of the story removes all emotion from the finale, who woulda thunk it.

Thank you for your ask!

#Meta #My meta #Asks #ML Salt #ML Writing Salt #ML Writers Salt #Marinette Salt #Ladybug Salt #S5 Finale

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mc-lukanette · 6 months

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Luka tapped a melody on his leg while he waited for class to end. Having a girlfriend who saved Paris every few days or so, he knew she could handle himself, but there wasn't any support he could provide when he was stuck somewhere and unable to look at his texts.

Not that the risk of getting into trouble would've stopped him, but Marinette would be upset if he got in trouble over her.

She'd sent him the simplest of texts just before his current class, telling him:

One of the students in our class got akumatized... again. Don't worry about sneaking out, I can handle this.

He wanted to be able to look up how it went himself, as well as send her texts of encouragement and congratulations, but now he could only wait.

As he was lamenting his temporary "failures" as a good boyfriend, Luka was brought out of his thoughts, not by the teacher talking but by a small tug on his pant leg.

"...Luka!" a tiny, extremely familiar voice called in a hushed but thrilled whisper.

Being certain that he hadn't gone that crazy (yet) to start hallucinating Marinette's voice only made him more confused. He dropped his gaze to his pant leg to check the source of the voice, and his heart promptly caught in his throat.

Standing there was a miniature version of Marinette, roughly the size of his hand. She was decked out in a gray, black, and pink bodysuit, along with double buns rather than her usual pigtails. The latter, along with the rope "tail" around her waist, made her faintly resemble a mouse. It was an absurd level of adorable even for her.

Luka subtly looked around the room, making sure that no one was looking his way. He couldn't even begin to imagine how she'd gotten there, nor how she avoided being seen, but he did know that he should hide her as soon as possible.

Faking like he'd dropped a utensil of his, he leaned down. Marinette bounced excitedly in response, arms going up the instant his hand was within reach. His skin tingled where her tiny fingers touched, her body smoothly moving along with his movements so he could scoop her up.

He'd chosen to wear a hoodie that day, but dropping her into the hood itself was risky. Someone could easily catch the movement and she'd have to stay perfectly still so as to not puzzle anyone who might sit behind him.

The choice of the pocket at the stomach of his hoodie was the obvious and safest decision, so he slipped his hand into the open slot at one of the pocket's sides to let her go. Unfortunately, he hadn't realized that he was ticklish there until Marinette squirmed about to try and get comfortable.

His poker face saved him from outing his tiny girlfriend's cruelty to the class, though he must've at least gone stiff since he swore he could hear her giggling in realization. What did he do to deserve this?

——

"Not that I'm not happy to see you," Luka began the moment he was able to get away from everyone, "but why are you here?"

He held Marinette in both hands, letting her sit on one and lean against the other. She looked absolutely comfy and proud of herself, crossing one leg over the other as she replied, "I finished the akuma pretty fast, but since the school was already evacuated, we got to go home for the day."

He looked her up and down in a show of but you're not home, you're here, and also the much more obvious, you're pocket-sized.

She chuckled. "Well, after someone told me how unfair it was that I couldn't use my miraculous to make up for all the time I lose being Ladybug, I may have convinced the guardian to let me have the mouse miraculous."

"It lets you shrink?"

She nodded. "Sort of. It divides me." She counted off with her fingers, though not to any particular number. "You can divide yourself into multiple, um, selves? Or versions of yourself? So there are actually a few other Marinette back home taking care of some of my—" She squinted, having confused herself. "—or is it our? Our projects."

Like a fool, he'd truly thought that the whole "adorable tiny mouse girlfriend" thing couldn't get better, but apparently there were multiple of her now.

"Anyway," she said dismissively, brushing off the conundrum, "we figured out how to divide up what we should do, and I was the luckiest." She giggled, clasping her hands together and beaming up at him affectionately. "Sorry if I scared you a little bit, but I really wanted to come. I've always wanted to go to school with you."

"Oh, Marinette..." His voice wavered, touched. "Me too."

He used his thumb to stroke her cheek. Even as tiny as she was, his hearing fixated entirely on the delighted hums she let out at the contact. She leaned her face into his touch, running her hand along the rest of his thumb to return the caresses.

The walk from Marinette's house to his school was excessive for her to walk normally: feasible, but it was never realistic for her to transfer even if they were in the same grade. Ladybug had her yoyo to swing from, but the mouse clearly didn't have anything similar to use, so Luka couldn't imagine a tiny thing like her going all the way from her own house to his school just to see him.

He sighed blissfully, insisting, "I'm the lucky one."

He was sure they'd never be able to agree which of them was luckier, but that wouldn't stop him from voicing his opinion.

——

Unwilling to miss out on an opportunity to have lunch - even if it was just a school lunch - with his girlfriend, he made an excuse to his friends about "his muse acting up." It wasn’t technically a lie, though he still had to bring a notebook to fake like he was working. That was the convenience of having the school he did, meaning that there were a lot of creatively-inclined students who often did the same and thus not a single odd look would be shot his way.

He'd planned it out well enough to get a small table by himself in the corner, allowing him to easily talk to Marinette so long they were careful. There was another notebook opened and propped up behind her, allowing her to hide whilst still having some mobility atop the napkin he'd placed down for her to sit on.

Plus, the one thing he could count on was for teenagers to be teenagers: getting lost in their own conversations and ignoring everything else around them.

"I want to meet your friends properly someday," Marinette admitted while she watched him sort the food he'd put hastily onto his tray. "They sounded nice."

"I'm sure they'd love you," Luka assured, talking softly so to avoid drawing attention. Most people would probably think he was mumbling lyrics to himself. "They already ask about you."

"Wait—" Panic took over her face. "A-and you answered?!" She threw her arms up, gesturing wildly at him. "But you're too biased. What if their expectations are too high?!"

He picked up the apple from his tray, turning it a few times with a critical eye. Unphased by the accusation, he asserted, "I don't exaggerate, Marinette. I just told them exactly how you are."

Once he found what he determined to be the best part of the apple, he broke off a piece to offer to his pouting girlfriend.

"Thank you," she made sure to say, before getting right back to their conversation. "I'm just... nervous. Since I have to deal with hero stuff, I don't have as many chances to prove that I'm a good girlfriend. My DPS has been really bad lately."

"DP—" Luka's face scrunched up in thought. "...That's something from the video games you play, right? Damage... Per Second?"

"I can't believe you remember something like that!" She giggled, delighted. "But yeah, that's what it means, only for this it's Dates Per Strike, as in Hawk Moth striking Paris."

He frowned disapprovingly. "Marinette..."

"I know!" She bit into the apple piece almost aggressively, then swallowed so she could continue, "You don't care about that, but I do. I don't want people to think that I'm not treating you right."

"Let them think whatever they want," he huffed, biting into the apple actually aggressively. He didn't blame Marinette for the mindset that she had to take on as Ladybug - that public opinion was incredibly important - but he hated the idea of her stressing herself out over something so unimportant in her civilian life. She had enough stress as it was and he wouldn't ask her to do anything different even for his own friends.

"Still. I want to do it for me too," she argued. "We can't plan around Hawk Moth. I didn't have much of a life before I became Ladybug, but now..."

He chewed while he considered that, the bad taste in his mouth at how troubled she was overpowering the sweetness of the apple. Even the sticky sensation on his lips was suddenly unpleasant, but as he licked his lips to remove it, an idea struck.

He surveyed the cafeteria, noting that the predictability of the average teenager remained true: they were entirely disinterested in him. It was good, because he'd have no way to explain what he was about to look like.

"Luka?" Marinette called in curiosity, setting her apple piece aside and watching his hand grip the top of the notebook to slide it closer to her. He didn't want to corner her, but he needed the coverage.

His forearm opposite of the hand on the notebook rested on the table for support, allowing him to lean down. Then, bringing his face as close to her as he could, he closed his eyes and placed a kiss against Marinette's shoulder.

"A-ah~!" She squeaked, flailing in surprise. "Luka! W-we're in public!"

It was bold of her to say that after traveling all the way to his school and sneaking into his class just to see him. Doubly bold was her acting as if she was concerned about it when she was audibly buzzing with excitement.

Undeterred, he placed another kiss at the side of her head. Two tiny hands weakly attempted to push his lips away, so he kissed them too, earning another squeak as Marinette recoiled.

Leaning back just enough to look at her without crossing his eyes, he reminded her, "We don't need to plan for that."

She was blushing up to her ears, her words coming out only as sounds while she attempted to calm herself down. He wasn't sure how memories worked out when all the Marinette joined back together, but he'd happily kiss each one of them in the same way just to make sure it stuck.

Taking a deep breath, Marinette tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, looking away as she admitted, "Y...you're right. I guess we don't need to p-plan for what matters."

Luka smirked, triumphant.

——

The rest of lunch went on uneventfully. Marinette eventually calmed down enough to ask for a bit more of Luka's lunch and he was happy to oblige. It really did feel like they were on a date, and the mental image of her bragging to the other Marinette about it made him chuckle.

When it was time to head out, Luka started cleaning up the table. Marinette stepped off the napkin so he could put it on the tray, and he stashed his inspiration notebook (that actually did end up having some new melodies in it, courtesy of his tiny muse) back in his bag. He only put the other notebook away once Marinette had safely dropped down onto his lap.

"Can I stay in your hood for the rest of the day?" she asked while he was zipping up his bag. "If you put it up, I should be able to hide where it's dark."

He nodded. He wasn't sure why she wanted it, but supposed that it was boring laying in his hoodie pocket and only being able to hear things. At least this way, she could peek out when she was certain no one was looking at him.

He ducked down, feigning that he was picking up his bag from the floor as he brought Marinette up to his shoulder. He waited for her weight to leave his hand, then went and pulled his hood up.

Standing up slowly to allow her time to get into position, he grabbed his bag and put the strap around his shoulder. He was about to pick up his tray as well to take it away, but froze as he felt a tingling sensation against the back of his neck, sending a shiver up his spine.

The giggle that followed led to one conclusion: Marinette must've kissed him there, and it was that moment where he understood her true motives.

"Sorry," he heard her say, not at all apologetically. "I promised the other Marinette that I would give you one for each of us. I'll make sure to spread them out over the rest of our school day though."

He supposed he deserved it this time.

#queuekanette #lukaneventte: No Context November #Flower Arrangement Shipping #Pro LukaMari #Lukamouse #((Yes there are no timers in this.))

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lara-prism-light · 10 months

Text

Redesign(and rewrite) of Alya and Rena Rouge for my Miraculous rewrite.

The original design was too generic for me and didn't look like a girl who has a blog. I know a Ladybug themed t-shirt that she would start wearing after the heroes' popularity kicked in, She wears a plaid jacket, jeans and boots. I chose this style because I thought it suited her a lot, and yes, I made her hair curlier, and a thousand apologies if it turned out bad, I'm still trying to learn how to draw curly hair TwT

As you can see I also moved the mole a little above her eyebrow, the original position would be covered with her hair. And yes, I decided to dye her hair orange at the ends, I don't know, I thought it would look cool, let me know what you think.

Alya is still Marinette's classmate, and in the beginning she has a very empty blog with very few followers (who would be her closest friends) but before the Ladyblog she would talk about heroes about heroes from other countries, since at the moment Paris would not have heroes yet. She takes a liking to Marinette after helping and defending her from Chloe and showing off the rest of the school (in this rewrite Marinette is a new student at the school as well as Adrian).

She and Nino are very close and she likes superheroes a lot and wants to be a journalist when she grows up. As soon as Ladybug and Chat Noir arrive, she begins to document everything about them, to the point of becoming an obsession of hers that ends up consuming part of her life. Her family and friends, especially Marinette would try to bring her back to reality but she would be trapped in her obsession of discovering who her beloved heroes were.

That was the perfect motivation for Hawkmoth to send an akuma to her, turning her into lady wi-fi, which would go after the heroes looking for their dear answers. She would be defeated and Ladybug would explain how important their identities were, which Alya, after learning that her best friend Marinette was very dejected by her selfish actions, realizes how wrong she was, almost giving up on her dream but being motivated by ladybug to keep dreaming, and that one day she would be an amazing journalist.

Even more inspired by Ladybug, and even more affected by her amortization, Alya begins to change her investigation focus, she no longer wanted to know the identity of the heroes, but that of the villain. She would start balancing her normal life with her little investigations into where the villains came from and who was behind them, and seeing her family, friends and boyfriend being akumatized, She grew to hate Hawkmoth, and wanting to bring justice to those he hurt and manipulated. This attracted the attention of the curious and treacherous Trixx, who felt curious about the number of times he saw her close to danger looking for clues, but he could also feel a desire for justice coming from Her. And then one night, during an akuma attack, she got tired of being useless and tried to help, even though she knew it would be dangerous, but was told to stay out by Ladybug and Chat Noir. Trixx appeared to her and gave her the Miraculous of Illusion, so that she could help her idols and protect her beloved city as Rena Rouge!

I didn't change much in the design, out of all the designs on the show this is one of my favorites but I still added road details. She now has an orange jacket, her knees have white diamonds, and her wrists and heels have fur. The ears are now like a bow for her ponytail, and the cream colored part of the ear contains a dark tone in the middle. Other than that, everything else is the same, just with some additions of different shades of orange.

Trixx gets a tuft of hair too, I thought it would look cute :3

Her flute still has the power to create illusions, mirage is still her main and strongest power, but now she needs to focus on the illusion to keep it as realistic as possible. Her illusions are now much more realistic, when using her illusions she can almost warp reality enough to make her illusions semi-physical(like the phantom ruby from Sonic forces) The more intense the illusion the more she needs to maintain focus.

She can also use camouflage, it's practically the ability to become invisible, but for that she would need to hold her breath. I based it on the fact that foxes are known to be sneaky, and with that Rena would be able to sneak past enemies without being noticed.

Like ladybug and Chat Noir, it also contains a special effect, this effect would be the hallucination effect, With that effect she would play a melody on her flute that would cause a mental confusion in the akumatized that would make them hallucinate for a few minutes until the music stopped. It's more of a distraction but depending on the akumatized it could very well be dangerous. More additions to powers can be added, like a Ktsune-based power or something like that. Tell me what other powers she could have.

As a character, Rena Rouge would be the type to play pranks on other heroes in her spare time such as on patrols and important meetings. She would be close to Ladybug and Chat Noir and would follow any of their orders, but at the same time respect their privacy when she could. She would always go out at night to investigate Hawkmoth alone, but would start to be accompanied by Chat Noir who would also go out at night to patrol alone.

She was always going to interrogate the akumatized about their conversations with Hawkmoth but didn't get much out of them. That is, until a whole group of villains appeared who seemed to be much stronger and had a greater connection to Hawkmoth, filling her with even more questions and leaving her exhausted from investigating.to the point that she couldn't even post anything on the blog, seeing it as something not very important anymore.

Much more is yet to be rewritten about Alya and Rena Rouge, stay tuned!

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snitchesnsneeds · 2 months

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After too much stalling, I finally finished the other half of Miraculous Season 2. Here's my thoughts episode-by-episode:

Zombizou: The episode focused on Ms. Bustier. Honestly I get where she's coming from in that statement to Marinette. This is a world where people can become butt-ugly abominations because they felt upset, although I think Chloe still needs consequences for her actions as well as something like positive reinforcement. She had plenty consequences in season 1. Speaking of Chloe, That Asshole was wrong. There was clear intent for Chloedemption. Also could we at least have seen all that stuff Ms. Bustier does in previous episodes?

Syren: This was an episode the salters talked loads about, and honestly, I get where Adrien's coming from here. On a fundamental level the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculi aren't equals due to the Ladybug's magic reset button, but as one of the first Miraculous users, Adrien should've still been let in on the loop. Kid felt like he was useless, that Ladybug could save the day without his help. At the very least have Master Fu go one-on-one or have both kids show up while transformed or blindfolded. Also the water voices ticked me off, but that's relatively minor.

Frightningale: A fun character-of-the-week episode, especially since I'm fond of Clara Nightingale's constant rhymes and rhythm. She's dedicated to it and I love it. It's also good to see Chloe be an exceptional and talented dancer! It's good to see her having talents and interests that aren't just making people suffer!

Troublemaker: Another episode showing why I think Marinette and Adrien shouldn't date in any of their forms. I don't know enough about stalker shrines but I think Marinette's room is getting close enough to be one for Adrien. Though I'm pretty sure Adrien's seen worse or has been conditioned to not care, based on his reaction at the end. Still a shame that the local TV show had to live-film Marinette's room and beach her privacy in the local city-town of Paris while the real Paris has been converted to an amusement park for tourists. You got any other reasons why the population is so low? One more thing: I'm pretty sure the lack of ladybug-vision was more due to anxiety over losing one of her earrings and the difficulty of the villain more than anything else.

Anansi: I find the new heroes good, personally. They give more screentime to other characters. Also again with Adrien's insecurity about being useful. And I think this episode would've been over sooner if they noticed that Anansi was going to get herself akumatized over the stress and maybe just let her come or something. Or if they got Marinette to arm-wrestle her instead. Marinette has muscles, right?

Sandboy: A lore episode, mostly. The nightmares were funny for a second and I was a bit annoyed by the Akuma's voice, but that's small potatoes. I like how compared to season 1, where we would be given a bunch of development for Sandboy it's just explained to us afterwards while we instead get more time for lore.

Style Queen: Hawkmoth has a contender for the most evil character in the show. Audrey Bourgeois is the kind of person that would be made fun of in those Karen freakout videos. She cheats on her husband, neglects her daughter to the point of not remembering her name, fires people over the most minor inconveniences, and starts G-rated killing people over getting a seat in the second row. She needs to be cancelled, deplatformed, and Chloe needs a therapist and better role models. I really liked the split-second of Adrien looking shocked after Marinette told him he had the catwalk down, btw. Did he think his identity was outed there?

Queen Wasp: This is why teenagers shouldn't get superpowers. I get secondhand embarrassment watching them. Also Marinette What The Fuck why the Hell are you getting Chloe to bond with the Absolute Worst Person For Her

Maledictator: This is what happens when you make Chloe bond with a Chernobyl-level toxic influence, Marinette. In general this episode was funny, both intentionally and unintentionally. Everyone starts celebrating Chloe ditching Paris with her mother except Adrien because Chloe was her only friend even though she was a detriment to everyone else and suddenly Marinette feels bad because she worships Adrien. The first thing the villain of the week does is make Audrey stop being such a horrible person and later he made Chat Noir reach the limit of catboyness. It's like a Smiling Friends episode. Also it was cool to see Chloe's depths and self-loathing. Surely that won't be forgotten and Chloe will be given therapy so she can become a better person, right?

Reverser (Put here so it makes sense timeline-wise): It's Yaoi time. Except that Nathaniel is into Ladybug (who I assume he knows is Marinette) here and Marc is fine with that. Overall a good episode. Some nice humor, and Reverser's probably the best akuma design so far I love the paper stuff. Plus more info on the side characters and a spot of good humor, excellent!

Frozer: Ah, there's the Nathmarc. And explicit Julerose. And Marinette getting some idea that her fantasy of Adrien is unhealthy and shouldn't be followed. And Adrigami, albeit a bit one-sided. Quit pining over someone who doesn't love you and get with someone who does, kid. And a smidgeon of Marigami. And Adrien's bodyguard being his daddy in place of his father. And a pinch of me seeing what the salters were talking about with the girlsquad and them forcing Marinette and Adrien together. Or at least Alya and Mylene. I couldn't hear what Alix, Juleka, and Rose were saying, but they disagreed, right? At least one of them had to disagree, right?

Heroes' Day Two-Parter: Marinette you're being too hotheaded against Lila no you gotta be like Columbo. Also yet another Marinette Costanza moment. Otherwise not much to say here. It's the boss rush episode, it's the series finale, Alya managed to catch onto Nino being Carapace but still can't seem to connect the dots between Ladybug and Marinette, the Peacock Miraculous is introduced, and Natalie is on my suslist.

I might procrastinate again on the first half of season 3. The first episode deserves a post of it's own. It's the salt episode.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #marinette dupain cheng #miraculous marinette #adrien agreste #miraculous adrien #ml salt #chloe bourgeois #miraculous chloe #alya cesaire #miraculous alya #miraculous #lukanette #adrigami #nathmarc

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mcheang · 7 months

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Do you really love me?

Just finished watching Adoration and cannot believe how everyone believed Chloe of all people over Marinette! I mean come on!

Marinette could not forget how easily everyone believed Chloe over her. Chloe!

I mean, she gets Damocles. He won’t stand up to the mayor’s daughter.

But her own parents? (I was angry at Anarka too but at least she didn’t sound angry or that disappointed. More like a confused disappointment)

Going back home, Tom and Sabine sighed in relief about how glad they were things went alright in the end.

Marinette fidgeted. “Mum, dad. How could you believe Chloe, the school bully, over me?”

Time froze.

Tom: we were caught up in the moment, that’s all…

His excuse was weak and they all knew it.

Marinette: really? I remember you coming to my defense when Lila framed me. I remember dad defending me when it was Chloe who accused me of stealing her bracelet.

Sabine: Marinette is right, Tom. We failed you. And we’re deeply sorry, we hope to be able to prove ourselves to you again.

Marinette said in a quiet voice. “Then maybe try not believing every thing you hear from questionable sources.”

That night, Sabine and Tom tried to keep themselves calm as they mourned their grave mistake.

Tom: there must be something we can do. Perhaps we can get back at that Chloe girl

Sabine: her father’s the mayor, the principal won’t even punish her. I was thinking about someone else. Lila.

Tom: that poor girl with the lying disease?

Sabine: yes, her. She’s in my class, and while she is very sweet, now that I think about it, the comments she makes about Marinette aren’t that nice, once you think about them. She was trying to turn me against my own daughter.

Tom: uh, are you sure you’re not letting your guilt try to imagine scenarios where you can make things up to Marinette?

Sabine: here are some of the things she said to me.

“I’m surprised Marinette didn’t tell me you had a class. Oh, I do hope she isn’t holding a grudge against me.”

“I’m not going on the girls’ night out, I think I still make Marinette uncomfortable.”

“Have you heard the news about Adrien and Marinette, Sabine? Isn’t it romantic? And Marinette has finally given up on her extensive planning, which is a relief, because some of them were kind of alarming. Can you believe she once stole his phone to delete her voice message?”

Sabine: That last one was just yesterday, how coincidental to remind me of Marinette’s…strange phone thievery just when Chloe should frame her for it. Tom thought back through these quotes. “Upon first impression, it all sounds innocent and sweet. But if we really think about it, it sounds like Lila is trying to make Marinette look bad.”

Sabine: Right? If Lila is not so innocent as we believed at first, perhaps this is a chance to make amends to Marinette.

Tom: And…how do we do that?

Sabine: I still have Isabella’s number after the parent-teacher conference. How coincidental that Lila told me in our following class how her mother prefers solitude and prefers relaxing at home to making new friends.

Tom: and if Isabella says no anyway?

Sabine: then we find another way to see if Lila is a liar. But first things first, Alliance! Message Isabella asking if she would like to join me for an afternoon tea.

Ten minutes later, Isabella sent her reply: yes. It would be a delight to sightsee in Paris, I haven’t done much of that because of all the akumas.

Tom raised an eyebrow. “She sure doesn’t sound like someone who likes to stay at home, but maybe it’s a reaction to the akumas.”

Sabine: that’s what I’m going to find out

And boy was that afternoon tea something!

From Isabella, Sabine was shocked to hear the woman dismiss Ladybug and Chat Noir as incompetent for not defeating Hawkmoth sooner, even asking how Sabine can support them when it was all those akumatizations that got the school closed down.

Sabine: closed down? I admit, whenever the akuma attacks, the school will end for the day, but the students are always given their assignments and lessons online instead. And they always go back to school the next day.

Mrs Rossi: I’m sorry, what? Maybe Lila is a special case. My poor bella, she’s been unable to attend class all semester, probably terrified she will be akumatized again.

Sabine smiled understandingly, her mind working furiously. How interesting. Lila missed so much school and instead took online classes. And yet, Sabine distinctly recalled Lila bragging about how the reason Sabine didn’t see her before was because she was visiting Achu with her mother.

Sabine: it’s so good that you’ve been getting her out of Paris then. I’ve never been to Achu but I know someone who just adores the prince for his charity work.

Isabella blinked again. “Achu? No, I’ve never been there. Perhaps it was one of the places Lila told me she wanted to visit. Not that I can help there,” Isabelle sighed. “Work keeps me busy, so I don’t really have time for an extended vacation to take her there.”

Sabine kept her expression controlled. So Lila had been lying after all.

After some more scones and tea, Isabella left Sabine with her thanks for showing her such an amazing cafe, and some unintentionally given information about her daughter.

Later at night, as Sabine told Tom what she found out, Tom frowned. “What if this can all be traced back to her lying disease? And Isabella is trying to protect her daughter?”

Sabine: I considered that but I think Isabelle really is that sheltered. She doesn’t know how akumas work if she thinks a school is shut down for months!

Tom: so what do we do now then? We don’t actually have proof and we can’t record someone without their permission.

Sabine: no, but we can force the principal to expose Lila’s lying disease after he tried to expel Marinette.

Tom: have you met Damocles? He won’t take kindly to our demands, and even he was moved by Lila’s story

Sabine: no, but I know where the Owl likes to hang out. And in front of so many people, I’m sure the Owl will promise to expose Lila’s disease if only to stop everyone from doubting Marinette!

Sabine’s plan worked. With the right wording and fake tears, the sympathy of everyone and feeling the crowd pressure that Sabine might be akumatized, Damocles quickly agreed to announce Lila’s disease, if only so no one gets akumatized by her false promises. To make matters more satisfactory, some students from Marinette’s class were there to witness their own principal admit to knowing about Lila’s lying disease and that he kept it a secret out of fear that everyone would treat Lila differently. He sees now that he is wrong. Lila’s friends are good people, they won’t isolate her because she can’t stop lying.

The next day, Marinette came home with a spring in her step. Sabine smiled happily.

“Good news, dear?”

“Principal Damocles finally exposed Lila’s lying habit. Now everyone is taking her words with a grain of salt.” Marinette turned to her mother, “And I have you to thank for that mom.”

Sabine was surprised. “Me. What do you mean?”

Marinette: Alix told me about the incident with the Owl yesterday. You were totally faking weren’t you?

Sabine: your father and I realized we were wrong and wanted to make it up to you. We thought about what you said, and while we couldn’t get the principal to punish Chloe, we could make him expose Lila. What you said about blind belief made me question everyone you might have a conflict with. Chloe, Sabrina, Felix, Lila, just to name a few. Chloe protects Sabrina. Felix is awol. That just made me think of Lila, and how you two are still at odds with each other. And as I tried to think about what makes you unwilling to forgive Lila, I thought over my own interactions with her, and I saw how subtle her words were against you. I am sorry, Marinette, for not believing you about her either.

Tom stepped up. “So am I”

Marinette got teary eyed. “You guys…” she ran to gave them a hug.

Lila was not akumatized that day, but she found out why the principal was suddenly exposing her supposed disease. She doesn’t entirely suspect Sabine of intentionally antagonizing her, but it doesn’t matter. The whole Dupain-Cheng family is now on Lila’s hit list.

#miraculous ladybug fanfic #miraculous ladybug fic #ml fanfic #ml fanfiction #ml fic #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #post adoration #ml salt fic

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justrandomfanfictionskh · 1 year

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We should Have Stayed in Gotham ch3

(Almost every Maribat fic I read has the akuma class going to Gotham. But tell me which is more likely, a class touring the city of crime, or a class touring the city of lights? So here it is, the Daminette fic that only I asked for, where Gotham goes to Paris, and the poor students have to grapple with the fact that they have competition for the most dangerous city in the world. I wonder what will happen?)

ao3 Beginning Previous

The moment Damian had learned that he had a roommate, he knew that he would have trouble sleeping. Granted, the Gotham High student, Will, was quiet and unobtrusive, so at first Damian thought that it wouldn’t be too much of a sacrifice to share a room with him (but only if he kept a knife under his pillow). However, after seeing the giant baby trying to eat the Eiffel Tower all thoughts of sleep were quickly thrown away in favor of hours upon hours of research while his roommate slept.

So it should have come as no surprise to anyone, that Damian walked up to the Louvre with bags under his eyes and a scowl to curdle milk. He sipped his hotel coffee in distaste as his peers gave him a wide berth, as they waited for their French guides. Yet despite his exhaustion, and the distance of his peers, he was able to overhear their conversations and gauge their intentions for the rest of the trip.

“You can’t be serious!” Kathryn was yelling, “After what we saw yesterday you’re not freaking out? I’m freaking out! We almost died!”

“You live three blocks away from Crime Alley!” A Gotham High student who was on the “Parisian’s are overreacting” side exclaimed. “You almost die every day!”

“Yeah,” Kathryn said, “From muggers and henchmen. You know, people I can kick in the family jewels. Not magic giant babies! I can’t kick magic giant babies! And if you had bothered too even read the survival guide, you would know that that particular akuma happens like, a lot!”

“But it doesn’t matter!” Chad cried, “I mean their hero has a magic reset button, so…”

“Ok,” Alice said sardonically, all of the "Who cares" Gothamites were now firmly on the "It's a big deal" side, “So you’re suicidal. Great.”

“I’m not—”

“Students!” Mr. Robinson, their chaperone and French teacher, called. “Our liaison class is here, so be on our best behavior!”

Damian took a swig of his coffee as they moved towards the glass pyramid in the center of the courtyard. He was tired, and he did not want to deal with whichever idiotic child they pared him up with, but he needed to know more. He had been researching all night, but he still didn’t know why the Justice League hadn’t been called in yet. And considering how many akumas had almost ended the world, he had a feeling that they should definitely know about this.

But there was one more thing that was bugging him unceasingly, Hawkmoth. His motivation was clear, he wanted a wish, but he didn’t know the reason behind that motivation. And his strategy was baffling. Just from reading the blogs, it looked like Hawkmoth’s plan was to akumatize as many different people as possible and then hope one of them would be able to defeat Ladybug and Chat Noir. It was ridiculous, idiotic, and completely ineffectual…And yet Ladybug had not been able to catch him. It made no sense. From the videos it was clear that even when Ladybug had been at her least skilled, she had always been competent and efficient. Now two years later, she had experience, training, and competent and effective team members. So why hadn’t she eliminated the threat?

His thoughts were aggravatingly interrupted when they reached the chattering group of teenagers in front of the pyramid. When they saw the Gothamites, the Parisians instantly quieted and lined up with plastered smiles, and bright, scanning eyes. It was…disturbing and pulled all of the Gothamites up short and had them frowning and scanning for any hidden dangers. It was almost comical, the line of bright, colorful Parisians facing off of the dark, scowling Gothamites. Damian just sipped his coffee and began memorizing the faces. He paused when he was the small group of people not joining the lineup.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Sabrina Raincomprix, and Chloe Bourgeois, and two other girls stood on the opposite side of the line from the teachers and little apart from their class despite the fact that two of their members were the class leaders. Marinette was sipping on a large cup, but her small welcoming smile seemed a hundred times more genuine than the toothy grins of her classmates. Sabrina was standing beside her, and she seemed to be fidgeting with excitement as she waited for the teachers to finish talking. Chloe was the only one who was not smiling, instead she was completely consumed with her phone and only huffing when her friends spoke to her. Damian couldn’t get a good idea of the other two girls, as one of them was hidden behind Marinette, and the other was…roller blading around the courtyard completely ignoring everyone.

Eventually, Mlle. Mendeliev cleared her thought as she began handing out papers to her class, with the Gotham teachers mirroring her with Damian and his peers. “Now,” she said sternly yet not harshly in English, “It has come to our attention that you all were caught up in the akuma attack yesterday. That is good, perhaps now you will take this threat seriously, and do everything in your power to avoid creating or becoming akumatized.”

“That being said,” Mlle. Bustier said quickly with a pointed look at her coworker, “We are glad none of you were harmed, and hope that it never happens again!”

“Hm,” Mendeliev said before snapping her attention to both classes commanding their attention like a general surveying their troops. “You have each been paired up according to those whom we have deemed least likely to cause akumas. French students will speak in English. English students will speak in French. Complete your work sheets by the end of the day to receive full marks. There will be no switching!”

Damian noticed her sharp eyes falling on a girl dressed in an awful shade of orange, with sausages disguised as hair framing her face. Said girl just smiled innocently, before her eyes fell on him, and he groaned. The sudden flash of predatory glee that she had eyed him with made his skin crawl. He wanted nothing to do with that girl, but he knew her type far too well. She was like his mother, desperate for power and willing to do anything to get it. At that moment Damian was the most powerful person there, and she knew it.

He prepared himself for an aggravating and unsatisfactory morning as he waited for the opportunist to corner whoever he had been partnered with him and “convince” them to switch partners despite the teacher’s mandate. Needless to say, he was surprised when the person who had extracted themselves from the mass of congregating students to find him, was not the sausage girl, but Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Her smile when she saw him was so bright and genuine, it had Damian squinting his eyes in suspicion as she moved toward him. But she maintained a respective distance and spoke formally in English as she said, “Hello, I’m Marinette. You must be Damian.”

“I am,” Damian said in perfect French straightening as he looked at his work sheet for the first time. Sure enough, Marinette’s name was right beside his at the top of the page. “Although, I should warn you that this exercise will not be very beneficial for me. As you can see, I am already quiet fluent in your language.”

Damian expected the girl to become annoyed or aggravated at his briskness, but apparently dealing with an emotional terrorist everyday gave her a higher tolerance for his behaviors than the majority of his peers. She just tilted her head with a cocked eyebrow and said in Mandarin,

“I understand. If I’m being honest, I’m in the same boat. As I am fluent in more languages than I’ll probably ever use.”

Damian raised his eyebrows in surprised, but he couldn’t help the smirk playing on his lips as he slipped into Arabic saying, “Well, that is unfortunate. But if you do not think you will use them, then why learn?”

“I plan to travel,” Marinette said in perfect Hindi. “I plan to go into fashion, and I wish to be able to reach as many people as possible. What about you? Why do you know so many languages?”

“I am expected to take over my father’s business,” Damian said in Russian. “It is an international company and possibly intergalactic if the treaty with Mars and Tameran goes through.”

“I hope it does!” Marinette said in Spanish, “I believe that intergalactic relations will improve international ones, as we will have to be united in order to effectively interact with the greater galaxy.”

“Interesting,” Damian said in Africans, “Not everyone has such an optimistic view of human nature.”

Marinette said something in Greek, and Damian winced. Her smile grew in victory as she found perhaps the only Earth language he had yet to fully master, but Damian would not be quelled. So, before she could capitalize on her victory, he switched to German and said, “Unfortunately I have yet to master Greek. It seems you have the advantage of me.”

Damian’s smirk returned as Marinette winced. But her smile remained as she said in perfect Japanese, “My German is almost non-existent. So I guess that makes us even unless…”

“I speak Japanese,” Damian said in the same language. “Perhaps this enterprise, will not be as fruitless as I thought. If you are willing to assist me in Greek, then you might even be an adequate companion.”

The moment the words left his lips, Damian knew that he had probably offended her, which would have been awful. She seemed to be the only person here who wasn’t a complete imbecile, and brushing up on his Greek was the only way this exercise wouldn’t be a waste of time. But instead Marinette just laughed bright and clear, and said,

“Adequate. That’s a new one, but I’ll take it. You know you remind me of Chloe, she doesn’t complement…well anyone.”

“Considering she is your friend; I will assume you meant the comparison to also be complementary.”

Marinette shrugged with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Why don’t you meet her first, and then you can decide if it’s a compliment?”

Damian nodded in appreciation and a little wariness before they were interrupted by a shrill voice crying, “Marinette!”

The unwavering class president wavered, which sent a shrill line of tension through Damian. He scanned the crowd for the person responsible for causing such a steadfast presence to flinch and found an overly excitable girl with round glasses running up to them with a too bright smile. Damian recognized the Gotham Academy student following her as one of the students who had retained very little of the French lessons, and could barely introduce herself in the language. This newcomer must have been under the impression that all of the Gotham students had a similar level of incompetence because she began to speak in rapid-fire French as if Damian couldn’t understand a word she was saying.

“Marinette,” the newcomer said, “You have to switch partners with Lila. She’s desperate.”

Marinette took a deep breath as if she was actively steeling herself against something unpleasant and said, “Alya, that’s not going to happen. Mlle. Mendeliev, and Sabrina spent hours on these partners so that there would be as few akumas as possible.”

“But Lila—”

“Is a liar!”

“I know! But seriously Marinette, Adrien’s right. It’s not like she does any harm saying she save Jagged’s cat. No body actually believes her. Besides she has a disease! She can’t help it!”

“Yeah!” Marinette said perhaps a little snappishly, “A disease she is doing nothing to cure, and all you're doing is enabling her!”

“What?! I am not enabling her! I am trying to help a fellow student who is suffering from a mental illness, and trying to prevent akumas! Which you used to care about. Honestly Marinette, it’s almost as if you want this conference to be ruined. I think you’ve been spending too much time with Chloe.”

“Well, at least Chloe is trying to make amends! What does Lila do whenever she causes an akuma?”

Alya shook her head in disappointment, as if Marinette was the blind one here. “She’s just trying to get her Miraculous back. That girl couldn’t be genuinely kind even if she was hit by a personality reversal akuma. Just switch partners with Lila! It will be best for the whole class.”

“But not best for me,” Damian said in French with as much sternness as he could master. He did not miss the suppressed vindictive smirk from Marinette as Alya stared at him in shock. But Damian simply tilted his chin to the interloper with as much distain he could manage. “Now what ‘illness’ does this Lila claim to have that we must cater to her every whim.”

“She’s a compulsive liar,” Marinette said hiding her satisfaction under a lecturing tone, and a gentle smile. “To quote her words exactly, ‘It’s a disease and I can’t help it. So please be kind. I don’t intentionally want to hurt anyone, but there’s something wrong with me, and I need help!’”

Damian growled in distaste. He assumed that Lila was the girl with the sausages for hair. She had obviously seen the situation in Paris and decided to use it to her advantage. Whether she actually had a mental illness or not, was clearly not the issue, because she was using it to convince her class to cater to her ever whim. “Do everything I say or else I will call a supervillain to curse us all," she was basically saying, "But don’t blame me, I’m sick and can’t help it.” It was something his mother would do and immediately put bad taste in his mouth.

“Alya,” he said giving her the full weight of his “Ice Prince” persona. He took no small amount of satisfaction from her almost fearful reaction. “I can guarantee, that if I was to be paired with this Lie-la, then I will be akumatized within five minutes of our meeting. And if you ask any of my peers, I think you will find that me being akumatized is the last thing you want. So please return to your…friend, and tell her that under no circumstances will I take any partner other than Marinette. Now leave us alone, you aren’t wanted here.”

Alya turned to the other girl with a sort of desperate pleading, but Marinette just sighed and said gently, “I’m sorry Alya. But after that speech, I think we can all agree that it’s for the best.”

Alya shook her head in disappointment, and there was nothing but pure disappointment in her voice when she said, “And to think you used to be our ‘Everyday Ladybug.’ Now…now your just selfish.” She spun and marched off before they could respond.

Damian glanced at Marinette and froze. She looked as if she had just been stabbed. The words had meant nothing to Damian, but they had clearly meant everything to her. But before Damian could offer his support, Marinette closed her eyes and began taking deep breaths. An expression of complete and total calm passed over her. It was as if every negative emotion the confrontation had caused was melting away through her figure tips.

When she opened her eyes, she turned back to Damian with her gentle smile. But there was now a new sense of exhaustion in her clear blue bell eyes that said this was not the first time her “friends” had hurt her, and it would not be the last.

In that moment, Damian came to some very important conclusions about this Marinette. One, she was strong. She lived in a city under constant siege, and she still stood tall and genuine, with a smile that breathed kindness and compassion with every laugh and word. And two, these people did not deserve her. It was obvious that they were sheep, from the way a large group of them gathered around Lila and were now pandering to her to stop her from lashing out. They had traded a kind and gentle leader, for a mountain of fool’s gold. Pretty to look at but ultimately useless. And they had done it with their eyes open. It would have been better if they had fallen for her lies.

“I’m sorry about that,” Marinette said in English with what Damian assumed was her signature cheerfulness, just as he addressed people with his signature superiority, “Things…well, let’s just say that the akumas have caused a lot of damage, not all of it physical. Make’s it hard to know how to…interact with people, and behave rationally. I hope you understand.”

Damian nodded as he said, “I can not say that I understand completely. But I can say that I know what you mean. I have some experience with liars and manipulators, and I can see how this situation could be very beneficial to them. However, if you’re classmates had any form of actual intelligence then they would not pander to that girl the way that they do. So, I cannot garner too much sympathy for them.”

A light returned to Marinette’s eyes as he said this, as if he had amused her instead of insulting the people she probably knew and trusted far more than him. “Ok, I have to keep you and Chloe apart. It’s the only way, I’m going to be able to prevent actual murder from happening!”

“Hm,” Damian said, his smirk returning. Perhaps a little brighter than he intended, but still too small to communicate any actual pleasure. “Now I must insist on meeting her. Perhaps we can cull the herd and bring some intelligence back into this city.”

Marinette laughed, and Damian thought it sounded like bells. But they were interrupted when the red haired girl on rollerblades zoomed up to them with a worried expression. “Hey Mari,” she said gently, “I saw you talking to Alya. Are you ok?”

“Yeah, thanks Alix,” Marinette said her smile brightening even more at her friend. “All good here. But where’s your partner?

"Oh, she’s over there!” Alix gestured to the side and Damian saw Kathryn leaning against a statue while she played with her phone. “I’m so glad her French is better than my English. But if you’re ok, then I’ve got to go. I promised to get her my extra blades from my dad’s office. We’re going to have so much fun!”

“I am already regretting the fact that you two were paired together,” Marinette said with a fond shake of her head. But Alix just laughed and raced off. Kathryn running beside her through what appeared to be an employee’s entrance to the Louvre.

“Her dad’s the curator,” Marinette explained. “She’s been racing through there since she was five. They’ll be fine as long as they don’t break anything important.”

Damian nodded, as the teachers called the students to order. It was time for the first activity to begin. A Louvre scavenger hunt, which will end with lunch and then a "getting to know you party" back at the school. “I hope you know you’re artifacts as well as you know languages," he said openly studying her compitence.

A playful smile spread across Marinette’s face, as if she had some great hidden secret that she was daring him to discover. “Oh, don’t worry,” she said, “As long as luck’s on my side, we can’t possibly fail. Our biggest competition will be Alix.”

“Because of her father?”

“Sure,” Marinette said still with that playful smile brightening her face, “Let’s go with that.”

@night-ngale @annastasha @ev-cupcake @hammalammadamdam @laydeekrayzee @itsemmylie @when-no-wings-do-broomsticks

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verfound · 10 months

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"For all the times I still wanted to punch Adrien in the face, it's still better than S4/5 at least? 😂"

What did he do in the movie?

It's honestly more of the same, so truthfully speaking I don't know why I was surprised.

(Spoilers for the Miraculous Movie below the cut.)

When he first meets Ladybug, it's immediately nothing but flirting and going off about how she's his "sidekick". I can't entirely blame him for that, because there's a scene with Plagg later on where it seems like that's the rhetoric Plagg's feeding him, so ok? Not entirely his fault.

He's still running hard with the pity parties and the "no one has it as bad as me woe woe what to do?" thing. I will never be able to hear Careless Whisper again without laughing my ass off. So. Thanks for that, Zag. 😂

And in the movie's defense, they do try to show more interactions between Adrien and Marinette. There's double dates (or at least hangouts) with Nino and Alya. Marinette and Adrien are actually shown talking about his mother on a bench/spending time together alone. She's still awkward around him, but she can at least hold a conversation? So there's interaction. There's a BASIS for Adrien feasibly liking Marinette AND Ladybug (though, to be perfectly clear, he is still very much 100% "Ladybug or nothing" - and don't even get me started on his "The girl behind the mask saved my heart" bullshit). I still don't think Adrien would be a good long-term boyfriend/spouse material, but as a first boyfriend at 13-15? I could see it.

But then you get the Confession and Final Battle, and the little bit of "ok maybe I can see it" was lost again. Chat sets up this big elaborate "I like you" scene, and Ladybug flatout tells him in the song "I like you, I could like you, but I love someone else" - and whoops, there's Adrichat again. He immediately starts with the "BUT WHAT ABOUT ME?!" shit, handling the rejection with all the grace of a bowlegged bullfrog. And maybe I could forgive him for that - he's just been rejected, he's allowed to be hurt - if it wasn't so painfully On Brand for Chat and I didn't have five seasons of baggage making me dislike this guy?

Cut to the next day (or whenever), when Marinette asks Adrien to the school dance. And Adrien just...rejects her. Because "he's in love with someone else". And sure, that's fair, she did the same thing, but he does this in the middle of the hall at school? And maybe that's on Marinette for asking in such a public place, but it immediately sets it up for everyone in the hall to be snickering/mocking this already crazy insecure girl (let's not even touch the vaguely suicidal themes they gave her that I'm praying are just poor translation choices) - and of fucking course Chloé is right there to pounce. I honestly don't know who I was more frustrated with in this scene - Marinette, Adrien, or the writers - because it just smacks of more "Let's beat Marinette into the ground, shall we?" (See: lying facedown in a rainy New York street chasing after Sunshine's limo.)

So Hawkmoth, meanwhile, has decided that "If I can't bring Emilie back, I will join her!" and akumatizes himself? Because that's a great idea? And kicks off Apocalypse Now. Paris is burning, magical bombs going off all over, Hakwmoth on the Rampage. Ladybug runs into the fight and is getting her ass handed to her. She needs Chat. She's calling Chat. Where the fuck is Chat, you ask?

Lying on his fucking bed whimpering while he listens to Careless Whisper and Paris burns right outside his bedroom windows.

I wish I was lying. This is your hero. This is the guy the show is painting as Absolute Perfection, Sunshine of My Soul.

I should note that a device the movie worked in is that the Miraculous will glow/pulse? I'm still unsure if it's just when an akuma's on the loose or if it's a sign that their partner is calling them on the comms, but either way Adrien could see from his glowing ring that he needed to get his ass up and go fight. But his feelings were hurt, and holding a pity party was more important than saving the city.

So after Plagg forces him to get his ass up and do his job, he swings in to save Ladybug from Imminent Smooshing, and immediately starts a snit. "Oh, your boyfriend too busy to lend a hand?" (I'm not even paraphrasing. That's the actual line.) And, once again showing he really can't learn and ignoring everything they've set up for the "we're stronger together/we're partners" thing, Chat tells her "I've got this - stand down" and barrels ahead to fight Hawkmoth himself.

Now, up until this point, I'd like to note that we have seen NOTHING of their powers. There have been no Cataclysms, no Lucky Charm, no Miracle Cure. They've used the yoyo and staff, but it looks like the extent of their powers is enhanced abilities and weapons? While Chat's fighting, he DOES power up a Cataclysm. It's unclear if he knew about this power/used it beforehand or if this was the first time he was using it.

Regardless, he swings, misses, and accidentally Cataclysms the Eiffel - which is immediately destroyed.

And that's kind of where I just lost it with Chat? I was screaming at Min while I watched this, and she reminded me we don't know about the Miracle Cure yet. So Movie!Chat is doing all of this without the reassurance/confidence that Ladybug can Fix It. At least in the show he's seen her powers and knows it will be all right? It's no less reckless, but he knows it'll be all right in the end. He has no reassurances here.

What's even worse, when it's all said and done and Ladybug DOES cast the Miracle Cure? We're clearly shown this is the first time she is using this power. So she didn't even know she could fix it in the moment. So Chat's here, letting the city burn, destroying national monuments, and it's all cool. No plan - just nine lives, night vision, and more puns than you can swing a stick at. Cool. Cool cool cool. 🙃

It's just...Adrien. He's perfectly on brand - I should not have been surprised. All of this shit he did in the movie he's done before in the show. (See: all his fans clutching their pearls and going "My boi would NEVER!", and now their fucking boi fucking did twice. In two separate canons. I'm sure if I read any of the comics/novelizations he'd do it there, too.)

I cheered when the Eiffel debris knocked him out in the Seine. LB should have let the lava get him. 🙄

Basically, I'm not entirely mad I watched the movie. It had some great moments. Guardian School Dropout Fu screeching in Marinette's face the first time they meet how "EVERYONE WILL DIE" was excellent. Hawkmoth in a top hat? Loved it. Hawkmoth's villain song was hilarious - I want to know if Juleka knows about the Mountain of Skulls and regularly petitions Kitty Section to rehearse there (and please let's discuss the Supervillain Prison already waiting in the catacombs?). Luka being RIGHT THERE - Juleka telling him all about the girl that blew up the chem lab the first day of school, be still his Boat Kid heart. I'm sure I still enjoyed it more than S4-5.

But no, it did not sway me to the Sunshine side. 0/10 would not recommend this kid again.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous movie #miraculous movie spoilers #spoilers #adrien agreste #adrien salt #cry in the notes you won't change my mind #he needs the ring taken from him #we need a new chat'#chat noir salt #adrienne would never #ml salt #ver asks #nonny asks

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iwasbored777 · 2 years

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Just as I promised, a sugar analysis on Ladybug side of Marinette's character:

Now I know that after Strikeback there are some of you saying that she is a bad guardian and all but I want to break it in pieces starting from Marinette's role as Ladybug. Is she really as bad as you say she is?

Is Marinette a bad Ladybug?

Is that even a question?! This is the girl who thought she was not good enough until the girl she just met was in danger and this girl just swooped in and saved her. And after that the girl who bullied her for years was also in a life or death situation and Marinette saved her a$$ because she put her emotions behind. Other person's life was her priority regardless of who that was - the girl who was nice to her or the girl who wasn't. This is the girl who didn't take credit for the gift she gave to her crush because he would be crushed if he found out his father didn't give him a birthday gift that year. This is the girl who ALWAYS has to be everywhere and help everyone and do everything for everyone because she wants to. She is selfless and brave and generous.

This is also the girl who always no matter what happens can figure out what her lucky charm is for. Or she used it properly. I know I already talked about episodes when she calculates time and space (Backwarder, Timetagger), or episodes where she breaks the plot with her big brain (The Night Owl, Optigami), or when she unified every miraculous in Kwamibuster and pretend to be two people at the same time, but we don't give her enough credit for Strikeback. Because everyone is talking about "Ladybug failed oh no" but can we talk about how she recruit Adrien because he was presumably the only one who didn't have a tattoo (akuma) on his neck and she knew choosing someone like that would be safe AND she was careful not to cause a time paradox?! Even me, who was a hardcore Doctor Who, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow fan, always forget how time paradox works.

Here's the deal: She didn't go back in time to prevent the akumatization, she went back in time to figure out what the akumatized object is. Because if she caught the akuma in the past that same akuma would not exist in present day and she wouldn't have had the reason to go back in time so she wouldn't. And that's how time paradox works.

But like she knew it! She did it! She travelled through time once with Bunnyx and she immediately knew what to do the second time all by herself. I mean

!!! She's so clever and she thinks everything till the last detail like c'mon!

This also the girl who doesn't go like "I'm right you're wrong" when she knows she's not right, when she does something wrong, she will admit it, she will apologise. Those are not common traits. She KNEW Chloé is not a saint, she still decided to help her, she KNEW both her and Kagami are wrong, she stepped back, she KNEW both Lila and her were wrong, she offered Lila peace. That's not what everyone else would do. I'm talking only about Miraculous Ladybug, I'm talking about people. She's only a kid and she's alright better than at least 90% of adults in that show and about 2/3 people I know. If she was a bad person she wouldn't be able to be good Ladybug but she is the best Ladybug. We already had two other characters who tired to use her miraculous and they couldn't be as good as her. Marinette is the best and the only Ladybug. The og Ladybug of her generation.

She got the whole Paris to cheer for her when she messed up! She is THAT powerful.

Is Marinette a bad guardian?

From what can be seen in this picture clearly - and from this scene if you know the context - kwamis adore her. On her first day of being the guardian, Marinette was learning about kwamis and powers and she was worried if kwamis don't have enough space in the box so she let them fly around in her room. It's risky if someone sees them, but it's good for kwamis. She also put paper on her window so no would see kwamis when they walk pass her house. As someone a pet owner, they can be REALLY annoying when you're trying to sleep and if I had kwamis too I would lock them up while I sleep but she let them be free. Probably because she doesn't sleep a lot anyway. She brings kwamis different snacks and she even put the phone in the miracle box for emergencies! That is good. And I know I said this MILION times but THE HANDMADE SAFE WITH A LOCK!!! Gurl, I'm older than you but you're the one who taught me a lot of great things! Everyone can be a guardian but not everyone can be a good guardian. Marinette really cares about kwamis. She makes them tiny accessories...

This is cute af! 😍😍😍

She also took kwamis to see Fu again, because they asked her to. She helped Tikki with her chocolate cravings, something Tikki was ashamed of, and she shouldn't because that's relatable. I too go chocolate crazy sometimes. Not as crazy as her but a lot of us loves chocolate. And Marinette didn't blame her for it or lectured her, she offered her help and support. No one can say that Marinette treats kwamis badly and that's something that's really important for the role of the guardian. And all this is more than what Fu was doing for these little ones.

When Marinette revealed her identity to another miraculous holder she did it a) because she was desperate, b) because she knew she can trust Alya and c) because revealing her identity to Chat Noir or anyone who knows Chat's identity already would mean that once this person is akumatized, Hawk Moth will find out both of their identities in the same time. Marinette knew Hawk Moth knows Alya's identity already so she and Alya had a deal for Alya to go undercover so that not only Hawk Moth but also no one except for Ladybug would find out. That was responsible. You can't say it's not.

And she gave every superhero a miraculous after she knew them for a long time and knew she can trust them, she also asked them if they want to. She gave them a choice. Fu didn't do any of this.

She has a lot of potential but this is too early and she's too young. And it's not her fault that it's too early. She's in the wrong place at the wrong time and she needed more training and more studying and more practice and more experience as a hero first before she took the role of the guardian. Of course, for that, look at the man who gave her that responsibility and taught her that her life needs to depend on it, not her. She's trying.

Is Ladybug treating Chat Noir badly?

I put this here because Ladynoir dynamic is one of major things for Ladybug's autobiography and I got T-I-R-E-D of this salt take! And the reason for that is lame. "sHe DoEsN't NoTiCe He Is SaD" even this sentence is incorrect! She noticed, she asked him, and every time she asked he said everything is alright. She doesn't want to push and she doesn't read minds. She is doing her part of the job and only when she can and only when he lets her she's going to help him. And btw whenever she rejected his feelings it's because she doesn't feel the same way. Even in Glaciator 2 when she threw him - yes it was harsh, I love him too, I don't like to see him hurt - but do you're remember the episode Félix? When she punched Félix BEFORE she figured out it's not Adrien, when he tried to kiss her forcefully. She's gonna react like this to ANYONE when they want to kiss her without her consent, that's the line you should not cross not just Marinette, but with every person ever. That Glaciator 2 scene was annoying me to death bc people tell me my favourite character is abuser. Because she demands personal space, right? And don't get me started on "she's gaslighting Chat Noir" cuz do you even understand what "gaslighting" means?

You do realize that Ladybug not telling Chat Noir about Rena Rouge is not the same as Ladybug emotionally abusing him and manipulating him?

Ladybug was protecting Rena and herself here too. If she told Chat and he got akumatized, her biggest nightmare, remember? Remember when she got traumatised for life?

If Chat knew and got akumatized, he would've told Hawk Moth about Rena and Rena knows who Ladybug is so Ladybug would be toast and so will the whole world. I hope this clears it up.

And Kuro Neko? Chat Noir didn't show up and she doesn't know why, an episode earlier she argued with Su-Han that Chat Noir is reliable, and then Chat Noir disappeared after one argument. Same with NY special. What do you mean "Ladybug should've been nicer cuz he has abandonment issues". A) how is she supposed to know that and b) she has emotions and she should react. If someone didn't listen to her, if they made a deal and he didn't follow it, if it was important and it was, she should be angry. It doesn't matter who that is. Why do you always want her to adjust to everyone's childhood trauma, why is it never "this character should be nicer to Marinette as well, she's not the only one who needs to change, she deserves people to treat her better too". And since when do the same people who say "they should be equal" want Ladynoir dynamic to be only beneficial to one of them? Because that's not Ladynoir is about! We should totally just stab salters!

(I have to explain the last part is the Mean Girls reference for those who didn't get it because I got accused of slander against Marinette salters for saying it so just in case).

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princess-of-the-corner · 8 days

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Queens Second Chance thought but I imagine Hawk Moth's plans alter because of the heroes "Stepping up their game".

Like, it makes no sense not to try and prepare for Heroes Day and maybe try and ensure some key Akumatization don't happen (Kim) While still letting there be enough to lure Hawk Moth out to try and take him down.

This likely fails due to butterfly effect, but they probably don't run into the same issues and maybe HK even realizes they were prepared for this. He can't imagine a leak so while he may not deduce the exact reasons, he may try and adjust his plans to be more unpredictable.

Anyway, with Sass around there is likely no attempt to summon Nooroo, so Fu is still hidden. But given him, its likely that Ladybug & maybe Chat are still going back and forth for reinforcements. Or otherwise make it clear there is somewhere other Miraculous are stored by sometimes having them sometimes not.

Chances are, Kagami's whole thing with her mother likely goes the same.

Even if she & Adrien are together, I can't see Marinette passing up on the competition and Tomoe being well, Tomoe. Plus Chloe may have mentioned Kagami uses the dragon in a id not to be petty.

If her identity is still revealed then HK likely zeroes in on her.

This is both bad and good. On one hand he doesn't have as much insight or access to her as he does Chloe, nor is Kagami of the same mindset as Chloe.

On the other hand, she is rather like stone, you can strike her hundreds of times and nothing happens but hit a fault line and she crumbles & Hawk Moth & Mayura have empathy powers.

Thus one avenue would likely be trying to foster negative emotions in Kagami and generally spying in a bid to see where the Miraculous come from, hell likely even scouting.

Lila also likely gets a "Promotion" in that she as Chameleon & a stealth Sentimonster are sent around town to try & uncover a key location. Or are otherwise watching in secret during battles to gather intel.

There's no logical way Miracle Queen would even be attempted though Heart Hunter might work like Oblivio and just be another big Akuma. Though Chloe would be paranoid as hell on the day itself.

All in all, he likely tries to rely more on spying and his ideas for a MIracle Queen Scenario likely involve finding an identity, then engineering a scenario to Akumatize a Miraculous Wielder.

Either while they are using their power, or to have them transform after the fact.

OH TERRIFYING

#queen's second chance

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tenebraevesper · 9 months

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Analyzer - Félix & Emotion, Part 3 (Miraculous Ladybug)

So, yeah... We have reached the final two episodes of Félix being relevant in Miraculous Ladybug, and I'm not counting Episode 26: Re-creation (The Last Day - Part 2), mainly because it was just a cameo. So, Part 3 would only cover Episode 19: Pretension and Episode 24: Representation, fulfilling two roles: Kagami's Love Interest and Exposition Fairy.

For this, I will do a quick recap of the events that occur in these two episodes, as well add what I would've written instead.

So, let's finish this!

Episode 19: Pretension starts off... sometime after the events of Emotion and apparently, Maribug and Adrichat are not interested in pursuing Félix, who is currently spying on Kagami. Kagami in turn is trying to convince her mother to not see her and Adrien as a couple (why am I getting flashbacks to all those secret eugenics cult theories?), with Tomoe scolding her for being "a slave to her emotions". Have I mentioned that I hate this woman?

Argos gets pissed off by seeing Kagami being treated like that, breaks the roof of the car and kidnaps Kagami. I suppose that's one way of escaping a toxic parent. Once they're gone, Tomoe quickly calls Gabriel to recover the Miraculous of the Peacock, because apparently, Gabriel still has no clue where Félix is hiding (hint: his own house in London), so I suppose he was keeping an eye out for him. In classic villain speech, Monarch claims how Félix is a monster who was the one endangering their children - you got no right speaking, you terrorist - and Tomoe gets akumatized and goes after Argos and Kagami.

Speaking of the two, they're at the top of the Eiffel Tower, and Kagami's first instinct is to go for the chair.

You go girl!

Argos quickly de-transforms to show her he's harmless, and as Félix, tells her he's not his enemy, and that he just wants to talk to her. Kagami is still on guard, wondering what he wants to tell her, and then we get this conversation:

Kagami: What is it you want to tell me?! Félix: I... I don't know. But ever since I saw you, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. I've felt that... you and I... were the same. (Kagami looks surprised.) Félix: We have so much in common, and yet, you're also so different. I've never met someone like you. Kagami: We don't even know each other! Félix: I know you. I've been following you non-stop. Kagami: Even better! You follow me, you spy on me and now you've kidnapped me to get to know me?! Félix: Uh... yes? Kagami: You are utterly incompetent at social relations. (Sighs.) You can't take someone away against their will! Félix: Sorry, I won't do it again, I... just wanted to protect you from your mother. She can't talk to you like that. (Kagami stares at him in awe and confusion.)

Yeah, this is the moment where the Féligami ship starts sailing. I will talk about it, but I gotta admire how Félix went from cunning to awkward the moment he opened his mouth to talk to Kagami.

Let's hope those puppy dog eyes will win her over.

To address the ship itself, I honestly have nothing against it, and it is a cute ship (especially when Féligami fans get their hands on it), but it's not my favorite (that one still goes to Brilix/Cursed Charm). However, I will address some of the obvious issues the writing itself created.

First of all, we do know Kagami's type being someone who is a rebel and who has the will to stand up for themselves, and Félix's penchant for mischief fits. I suppose it also helps that he looks like Adrien, whom Kagami still has feelings for... which, uh... okay, it really feels awkward, because out of context (and maybe even in context) it makes it appear as if Kagami just replaced Adrien with Félix. They look the same, and this one actually has a spine.

I do like that Kagami actually calls Félix out on how they don't know each other, and how he stalked her and kidnapped her. Now, that's a realistic reaction! However, I will address Kagami's point of them not knowing each other, and I don't blame Félix for this one, but the writing staff for thinking they can speedrun Féligami and no one will notice.

Like said, I'm cool with Féligami happening, but goddamnit, couldn't the writers have put more effort into having Kagami and Félix interact (aside from their glare in Season 4?). For example, have Kagami talk to Félix way earlier and have her realize that, while appearance-wise he and Adrien are look the same, personality-wise, they're completely different and have her question which one's she's falling for - the guy whom her mother and Gabriel set her up with, or the one who actually has the qualities she likes. Hell, that could be part of her own rebellion against her mother and the reason she breaks up with Adrien.

But yeah, this is Miraculous Ladybug we're talking about. Good character writing is almost non-existent.

As for Félix...

I'll just use the words my friend used to describe him - he's a S.I.M.P.

It's clear that he deeply admires Kagami and is so socially awkward that he thought it would be a good idea to learn more about her by stalking her and kidnapping her. *sigh* Félix, you're a lovable idiot. However, the moment he realizes that he really messed up, he apologizes, telling her how he just wanted to protect her from her mother.

Okay, before I continue, I will address that there is one glaring issues I had with this confession, and spoilers, it's not the kidnapping.

Anyways, before the conversation can continue, Matagi Gozen finds them, alongside Maribug and Adrichat, and everyone wants to save Kagami. Félix quickly transforms into Argos, dragging Kagami along for the ride and is chased by Matagi Gozen, Maribug and Adrichat, leading to a fight between the three. Kagami wants to reveal her hideout to calm down her mother, arguing with Argos how she can set herself free.

Matagi Gozen finds them, shooting an arrow at Kagami, with Argos saving her. Kagami is stunned her mother would hurt her, with Argos responding how his own father was much worse. He then breaks his fan, telling Kagami how her safety is his priority, showing once again his cunning side by spreading out the pieces of the fan to confuse Matagi Gozen. Nice job, Argos!

He and Kagami enter the sewers, with Argos de-transforming and having another conversation with her:

Kagami: I don't understand. You have the Miraculous of the peacock, why don't you create a Sentimonster to get us out of here? Félix: First of all, don't call them that. (Throws his cufflink into the sewage.) I refuse to create a being to manipulate them, control them, abuse them, and end up destroying them. (Kagami looks surprised at him) Cat Noir:(through his earpiece) I found Kagami and Félix. Félix transformed back. Now's the time. Félix: When you bring a living being into this world, you have a responsibility towards them. Your duty is to protect them, love them, help them discover the true meaning of their existence. To deprive them of that... is monstrous. Kagami: Are you talking about... yourself? Félix: I'm talking about... us. Ladybug: Félix, set Kagami free! Cat Noir: And this time, you're giving us back the Miraculous of the peacock! Kagami:(puts her arm in front of Félix, defending him) I am nobody's prisoner! Félix is not your enemy! He's like me! He doesn't know how to express himself. Everyone is wrong about him! Including me. (They smile at each other)

Okay, have you followed this conversation so far? Good, because here's my take on it.

We know now that Félix is a Sentimonster, and given how he described his own father as thousand times worse, it's clear that he suffered a lot. He hates being controlled, and after seeing someone else who is controlled just as him, he lashes out in a misguided attempt to protect Kagami. He does all the wrong things for the right reasons. It really shows just how much depth his character is.

However, remember the issue I mentioned? Yeah, the fact that Félix is suddenly in love with Kagami, AFTER discovering she's also a Sentimonster? It's a huge "yikes" moment. Like I said before, the writers decided to clearly speedrun Féligami while making a lot of unfortunate implications. I will say, it is not the worst writing I saw, but seriously, did no one think about this?

Matagi Gozen attacks them, with Félix transforming into Argos again and trusting Maribug and Adrichat to keep Kagami safe as he escapes. He later appears at Sorbonne, giving Kagami the real ring back after she gave her mother a fake one, telling her how she's now free to make her own choices. Yep, the amok is in the family ring, and from the shot of them holding hands together, they're a couple.

So, before I move on to Episode 24: Representation, I have one more observation to make. I said it before and I'll say it again, Féligami was really the writers' attempt at a speedrun and, as cute as they are together, it feels rushed, especially on Félix's end. Kagami was a complete stranger to him, but the moment he finds out she's also a Sentimonster, he obsesses over her? Yeah, Houston, we got a problem.

It appears that they're getting along quite well, though, with Kagami laughing when Argos draws a heart on her window.

I guess they spent a lot of time together off screen. Anyways, remember how I mentioned Félix also taking the role of the Exposition Fairy?

Welcome to the actual highlight of this episode! Félix and Kagami have learned that Marinette is Ladybug and decide to ask for her help. Félix cosplays as Adrien to lure her away from the party.

Honestly, I don't really think that's wonderful, because what they did is mainly breaking Marinette's heart by making her think Adrien is still around. Félix transforms into Argos again, and actually creates a Sentimonster, despite his earlier rant about how he'd never do anything like that.

Did... did the writers just sleep on that episode? Or did they decide "eh, character depth is overrated, we'll do whatever we want for the plot".

Admittedly, the Sentimonster is a tripod camera, so there is a question how "sentient" that thing is.

I'll just quickly go over the next part, which is basically Félix and Kagami doing a play in regards to all the Graham de Vanily/Agreste history.

Skipping my complaints about this being an exposition dump that could've been done during the show's early Seasons and not in one episode in Season 5, I do love how Marinette is really into the play.

We learn how Amelie married some rich heartless cowboy dude (or maybe that was just a visual to show that he was American? *shrugs*), and after her sister got pregnant (with the visual of peacock feathers in the background), her husband got pissed off.

So, after some convincing from Emilie, Gabriel gave the Amelie's husband, Colt Fathom, the Peacock Miraculous, and Félix was created out of jealousy, with the amok being placed in Félix's ring. Félix's father then falls ill, aware this was the price he was paying for Félix's existence, and sees him as a monster.

Félix himself explains how he didn't understand why his father didn't love him and why he felt obligated to do whatever Colt demanded, no matter how unfair they were. If he became fond of someone who displeased his father, Colt would tear them away from him, or rather, order Félix to end things. Eventually, he realized that his life was connected to the ring when it cracked and almost destroyed him, and he could only recover it after his father died, along with his freedom.

That's when he understood that the Miraculous gave him life and it could take it away, so he made it his mission to recover it, even saying how he went to Gabriel to retrieve it and describe the events of Season 4 and Season 5.

Honestly, it's genuinely tragic and sad just through how much stuff Félix had to go through, day by day fearing for his own life, being hated by his own father and learning not to trust anyone until he met Kagami. It explains his behavior in the past Seasons, even why he only took one ring from Gabriel, because apparently, Adrien's amok was in both of the rings, something Félix wouldn't know.

Anyways, we leave these two lovebirds doing what they want, and myself with my final thoughts.

In my personal opinion, Félix is a really solid character, who does undergo character development, even if it's rushed. He's also a tragic character, who was doing the wrong thing for the right reasons and messed up in execution. He's also a deeply traumatized teenager who had to deal with an identity crisis on his own and the fact that he might cease to exist with a snap of a finger. He's intelligent and cunning, but also socially awkward and has a sweet and theatric side, and he also moves the plot forward every time he appears.

SO WHY THE HELL ISN'T HE THE MAIN CHARACTER?!

*sighs*

I went over how bad the Miraculous Ladybug writing is several times, and I'm not gonna repeat myself here. I will add my own version of how I would've written the events Post-Emotion.

For starters, after Félix learns that he can trust Maribug and Adrichat, he seeks them out to talk to them in private, revealing that Gabriel Agreste is Monarch. Hell, he could even pull another switcheroo to infiltrate the Agreste mansion as Adrien to gather more information. Even if Gabriel is more alert, he'd still be fooled by that. Instead of making it a battle royale where the heroes react to Gabriel's attack, have it be them the ones who go confront Monarch head on. At least, that way, Adrichat would participate in the final battle.

Anyways, these were my thoughts on Félix, and if you want to see how I'd write his character... well, his PV Ladybug self, then check out my story Up Ladybug and leave a comment.

Until next time!

Links:

#Analyzer - Félix & Emotion, Part 2 (Miraculous Ladybug)

#Up Ladybug (Masterlist)

#Ten's Thoughts #Up Ladybug Analyzer #felix agreste #felix graham de vanily #felix fathom #duusu #kagami tsurugi #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #gabriel agreste #ml salt #ml writing salt #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug pv #gabriel salt #feligami #ladybug #chat noir #argos

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gale-gentlepenguin · 7 months

Text

Gale Reviews: Miraculous World Paris: Tales of Shadybug and Claw Noir

Spoilers below

-OH S*** NEW THEME SONG AND WHY DOES IT KIND OF SLAP

(The image of Gabriel's life. Damn)

-Gabriel is a good guy and working with his version of the Resistance. DAMN

-NINO! RUN BABY BOY RUN

-Kamiko? so that is the good version of akuma?!

-Ubiquity is the Kamiko's name. Okay neat

-BETTERFLY! THAT GOOD!HAWKMOTH'S NAME. IM DEAD

-And the villains just arrived

-Damn this is going hard.

-Love the Miraculous world intro

-And back to our world

-Okay so this is taking place AFTER destruction, since the miraculous are not rings yet

-Gabriel almost went into his son's room. almost. Adrien processing a long day (likely the fact that he CATACLYSMED SOMEONE) This would make for a good au later

-Could we be getting ADRIEN CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! -Adrien having legit concerns over his power that actually makes sense? Good to see

-Plagg doing his best to help Adrien cope.

-Alyanette is good as usual

-tikki no!

-Cute little Tom Sabine moment. (LUCKY TOM)

-Alya's in pain (cause of the oh no)

-Seriously this all happened in the span of one night!

-Betterfly arrives,

-Also, seems the Kamiko in this case can impact MULTIPLE version. At least in alya's case

-That costume is dope

-Betterfly not knowing in this world HE'S the asshole

-Also Betterfly's design isnt bad. I accept it. Still weird cause its gabe tho

-THEY KILLED MAX? WAIT IS MAX THE AI. I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS

-OH NO CLAW NOIR AND SHADYBUG SLAY

-Nice to know Alynino is canon in that verse

-Shadyclaw arguements.

-Shadybug hates Adrien in this world

-Clawnoir loves being destructive, a nice contrast to adrien's current dilemma

-Alya covering for marinette like always

-Oh right, her phone is broken

-Smart move

-GASP THE LUCKY CHARMS ARENT ALL WEAPONS!

-Shadybug and Clawnoir should make out (the tension is so thick you can cut it with a knife) they are constantly arguing and its great

-CATACLYSM CAN GET BIG!!! OH F*** THATS SO COOL! (Adrien/Chat noir be holding back by a f*** ton)

-Tikki just sitting on this knowledge. BILLIONS OF UNIVERSE. (welp that is only half the amount of au's and what ifs I made lol)

-Tikki demonstrating what its like being a nigh omnipotent deity. (this is the first time outside of seeing their true forms did I feel this)

-The Supreme? Wait, the logos at the begining. Does that mean? the order of guardians is actually evil? Or is it like an Evil Fu?!

-Wait, so it isnt just an adult thing, if you are evil you can multi-use the miraculous but at a cost. SEE THIS RIGHT HERE WOULD HAVE BEEN A BETTER SYSTEM THAN THE ADULT THING! WTF?!

-So Shadybug and Claw noir ARENT the big bads they are just... lackeys? That is kind of lame, but if they are going to get redeemed it does make sense

-Ladybug out here being funny

-Claw noir got numb-chucks

-SHE SUMMONED A CAR AND KICKED IT AT THEM!

-CHAT NOIR FOR THE SAVE!!!!

-CLAW NOIR JUST TOOK A CATACLYSM...

-(Me with Claw noir right now)

-Chat noir making solid points right now

-Villains really do get all the cool s***

-OH S*** KAMIKO CHAT NOIR

-Damn so akumatization can be like in the blink of an eye. time slows down conveniently.

-Celesticat?!

-OMG ITS AN ANGEL CHAT BLANC (Marinette's ptsd should be kicking in now)

-The puns were great, and by by shadybug

-Claw noir litterally pretended to try and catch her then let her fall. Thats hilarious

-He was going to take her miraculous, that is amazing. They really hate eachother. She broke his finger lol

-Gabriel venting to his dead wife again

-Oh no, he is going to cataclysm the villains

-"As black as my heart?" Dude you are WAY underselling how evil you are

-The Supreme spares? So basically they are forced to do this or they perish. I see

-I love their arguements

-They went back to search the room, Alya really going through it now

-The Supreme, it must be Evil fu.

-Oh this is interesting, Gabriel was evil but turned it around after seeing the consequences of his actions.

-Shadybug found Ladybug's diary. Oh snap, she sees she was friends with Alya!

-Claw noir playing with dolls

-She read the diary and is like "That buffoon? REALLY ALTERNATE ME?!"

-Oh wow, Gabriel that is good is actually a better mentor then su han. (a low bar but still)

-Reminder that Plagg can be that insightful and also just as omnipotent as Tikki

-Adrien figuring it out

-The diary is cheesy for exposition, BUT shadybug's reaction to it is actually sweet. Marinette in any universe wants friends and to care for others. (my headcanon is that this is shadybug summarizing what her alternate self is thinking/writing)

-SHE FOUND OUT ABOUT THE WISH POWERS! OF S***

-shadybug going to double cross her Claw noir

-SHADYBUG GOT HIM!

-and she found out he's adrien.

-Emo!Adrien lol

-PLAGG IS GAGGED! The supreme is really evil

-Alya trying to get sabine's phone

-OHHH, he is wearing make up because of the effects of over using the miraculous! Damn thats a nice touch

-Emo!Adrien recognizes Emo!Mari

-Also Gorilla in white is so weird to me

-WAS EMO!ADRIEN SIMPING FOR EMO GIRL! THIS IS AMAZING

-This IS AMAZING

-Ironic that this is how we get the reveal.

-She can wish to swap places! oh s*** that is a hell of a plot twist!

-Wait something is wrong, that logo... Can they not use the wish?

-"Only The supreme defines reality." DUDE! DUDE!!!!!!!! The supreme is officially the most competent villain in miraculous.

-Marinette realizing she cant be an angsty bitch right now.

-Seems the miraculous is taking their toll on both of them. Damn this is dark and I love it

-Tikki blots on.

-Welp this is probably the best writing I have seen from ML in a while. I legit buy this saddness.

-Even Emo! Adrien is sympathetic and he hardly said anything as adrien

-Plagg Dagger's out

-They are both dying and desperate

-Monarch has shown up and he is up to no good

-And just like that Monarch shows why he is an unrepentant asshole.

-Oh look, Chat noir's nightvision is useful again. (It just took 5 seasons)

-MONARCH MADE THEM GIANTS! HOW DID HE EVEN!?

-I knew they werent akumatized,

-Alya being the MVP today

-Illusions, of course.

-I MISSED LADYNOIR SO F***ING MUCH (devours the ladynoir moment)

-Ladyfly looks really cool

-That is a brilliant plan

-The tactical brilliance

-Ladyfly was planning this

-Chat noir mocking Claw noir's puns is everything i needed in life

-Chat noir lost one of his ears

-AND countered, Nice try monarch. Nice akuma trick

-Took monarch long enough

-"There are no awesome girlfriends to inspire me every day" Rip to Shadybug

-Damn, Shadybug, that is a LOT to unpack there

-No matter the universe Chloé is always a bitch. (Theres the astruc stamp in the writing I expected. But honestly still a valid villain reason)

-This is pretty emotional

-Chat noir is playing Claw noir like a fiddle

-Claw noir is the adrien that never moved on from losing his mother. Yep, Like I have said, adrien has a valid reason to be evil

-A hero feels pain and wants to make sure no one else feels that way, a Villain feels pain and wants to hurt the thing that caused them pain

-"I dont want to be cringe." "Embrace the cringe"

-Adrien out here saving himself.

-Adrien talking about his friends because he DOES know them. THANK YOU. THIS IS WHAT I wanted.

-Shadybug, "I dont want to be cringe." Claw noir "It sounds cringe Im in"

-Shadybug fixed everything AND HER COSTUME CHANGED. I kind of love it

-THE COSTUME CAN BE ALTERED AT WILL.

-Claw noir's new design is officially my favorite. Chat noir iteration

-I think the good versions of shadybug and Claw noir might be my favorite costumes for them

-Okay so they going back now

-Also I just realize that these version actually KNOW the other's identities. yet their canon ones dont

-Monarch discovered the multiverse

-GASP! KAMIKO TIZED LADYBUG!

-My reaction

-Scarabella and Kitty noire universe

-Kitty noire's reaction is so lesbian

-ANIME UNIVERSE (this officially my favorite special)

-Comic book universe

-A Misterbug and Lady noir universe

-Betterfly being the mentor Ladybug and Chat noir really needed

-Omg the day is finally over

-You know one big plot hole is Monarch could have simply deakumatized Ladybug so she couldnt stop him but didnt. Cause he is an idiot

-And cute little alyanette

-LITTLE KISSES. Damn the Alyanette fandom is eating good tonight

______________________________________________________________

I stand by what I said, this is the best Miraculous world special done.

Honestly If I included it in my episode rankings this is easily a top 5 contender.

I now want a sequel in which Shadybug and Claw noir fight the supreme, because the Supreme sounds f***ing epic and evil.

Maybe season 6 plays into it. (That would be one hell of a season)

10/10 in terms of ML specials and episodes

It is a bit cheesy but I loved what I watched

#ml #miraculous ladybug #ml paris spoilers #ml paris #miraculous world #gale reviews

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artzychic27 · 7 months

Note

I’m not really good at giving out ideas because I’m not really a fanfic writer, for a Halloween fan fiction, what if Nathaniel turns into a ghost like Akuma due to all the times he’s been forgotten? Like, he can get revenge on the Akuma class, with the exception of the Science Kids and a selective few.

It's been two days since Nathaniel went missing. His mom, the Science Kids, and the Akuma Class are especially worried

Louis, though?... Not so much. In fact, he's been messing with the Akuma Class ever since it was officially announced that Nathaniel had gone missing

"I'm surprised you lot even noticed he was gone!"

"Oh, it's probably because his mom told you, right? Otherwise, you'd never notice until someone eventually said his name."

"Just give it a minute. You all will forget about him in about an hour or two and go on about yourselves per usual.”

The Akuma Class tries to ignore him because they’d never forget Nathaniel!… They wouldn’t

Other than that, some strange occurrences have happened in the school, primarily to the Akuma Class. The lights in their classroom flicker on and off, their belongings go missing, and the room temperature drops a few degrees. Many play it off as the school being old and students simply losing their things, though

However, after classes were over, a few students went into the locker room to find Nathaniel’s locker forced open with the photos of the Akuma Class scratched out, but the pictures of the Science Kids were left alone

On top of that, the day Nathaniel went missing was also the day that strange occurrences have been happening in famous Paris landmarks. Ladybug and Chat Noir were called to investigate a strange crack found in one of the walls of Notre Dame Cathedral, and the next day, the Catacombs

It rolls into day three of Nathaniel’s disappearance, and Simon points out that they’ve noticed a few more strange occurrences not just in DuPont, but around the city, as well. They pull up a video on their phone to show the others what they mean

The video shows an overhead shot from a building of the streets, but then a strange shadowy appears and moves swiftly through the streets

Jean: It's a ghost. I'm calling it.

Simon: Or an Akuma with ghost powers.

Lacey: Well, if you're so sure it's a ghost, then explain why the walls are oozing ectoplasm! *Points to purple slime oozing from the walls*

Simon: Looks like jelly.

Lacey: It's not jelly!

Just to prove them wrong, Simon proposes that over the weekend, they all go out at night and search for the alleged ghost

Since the alleged ghost can be caught on video, they keep their phones on as they record. Cosette and Zoé walking by the Louvre when the street lamps suddenly rappidly flicker until the bulbs burst

Zoé and Cosette run away, but Cosette managed to get a partial video, and the others won't believe what they're about to see

Science Kids: NATHANIEL?!

Marc: HE'S DEAD?!

Ismael: Looks like it.

Marc: *Starts crying loudly*

Aurore: No! No, sweetie, no. No, he's probably just... Akumatized, like Simon said.

Simon: Called it. Akuma with ghost powers.

Cosette: Let it go, man.

They gather the Akuma Class on the Liberty the next day, and saying they're in disbelief when they see the video is an understatement

Alya: No way that's Nathaniel!

Kim: Yeah. When I went to the pool, the water started boiling. Why would he do that to me?

Rose: And scratch out his photos of us?

Nino: And trip me in front of a bunch of poeplewhile I was walking?

Alya: Sure, babe. Sure.

Louis: *Walks by* Because he hates you all!

Marc: Go home, Louis!

They still aren't entirely convinced that the ghost is Nathaniel and think it's just an Akuma who can take on different forms

But then, a strange purple mist emerges from Cosette's phone

Kim: It IS a ghost! And it's beautiful! *The mist lifts him into the air...* Oh! It's chosen me! I've been chosen! *... Before throwing him against the floor* That hurt, beautiful specter!

The Science Kids urge them to think back to before Nathaniel went missing and try to remember if he seemed off to them

They're drawing blanks until Alix suddenly turns pale

Marc: ... Alix...

Alix: ... So, last week's Akuma had us all running to shelter as a class... Nathaniel tripped and fell, and I went back to help him up, but then, debris fell on his leg. I couldn't get it up, and the others were long gone, so he told me to run.

Akuma Class: ...

Ismael: Denise, how do you say 'You gonna get it' in Spanish?

Denise: Lo vas a conseguir.

Ismael: ... What they said.

As the Akuma Class students are trying to convince themselves that they didn't mean to leave Nathaniel behind and that it was an honest mistake he doesn't need to get worked up over, the boat begins to rock

They clammor off of The Liberty to avoid any more disaster, but suddenly, the ground beneath them starts to crack as ghost-like hands emerge from the cracks and try grabbing at them

Adrien: This is getting out hand! There's only one group of people who can fix this! *Dials a number on his phone*

Rose: Who you gonna call?

Adrien: Ghostbusters!

Jean: Adrien, that's stupid... They've been out of business for years.

Denise suggests a seance, figuring if Nathaniel has ghost powers, then he can be summoned

Nino: Then we can get our stories straight, tell Nath we didn't mean anything by it, and that it was all just a- *Purple ectoplasm splatters all over his face* ... He slimed me.

Later that evening, the Akuma Class (Sans Chloé and Sabrina) and Science Kids gather back on The Liberty

Denise pours some salt into a circle while Juleka draws a few symbols

Adrien: Juleka, I know that you're into the occult and stuff, but Denise? I thought Astrology was more your thing.

Denise: Well, parts of mi familia practice santería. I joined in a bit up until I was twelve and became more interested in astrology. I still remember a few things, though.

Juleka reads a few texts from a book she got from Books-A-Million, and the symbols she drew begin to glow. As the clouds somehow turn darker, Nathaniel appears in the salt circle, only with all-white eyes, he's dressed in tattered clothes and has chains hanging off of him... Oh, and he's see-through and purple. (Let's just call him Poltergeist)

Zoé: ... Be gone, ghost of Nathaniel Kurtzberg. Go towards the light~

Marc: ZOÉ!

Zoé: Yeah, I'm done.

Poltergeist doesn't say anything for a while, only blankly staring at them with his soulless eyes. It's not until Adrien takes a step forward that he lets out a banshee-like scream and tries to escape the salt circle

Any attempts to calm him down only seem to make him angrier until Marinette stumbles back when he slams his hands against the invisible barrier, causing her foot to move some of the salt, and allowing him to escape

Poltergeist possesses Denise and uses their body to chase after and try and attack the Akuma Class. And his Akuma strength combined with Denise's natural strength leaves no one safe

Marinette and Adrien sneak off to transform while Poltergeist continues to chase after his classmates. It's not until Nino questions Marinette and Adrien's whereabouts that Poltergeist becomes angrier

Still possessing Denise, Poltergeist makes his way to the third floor of the Eiffel Tower and murmurs some weird ghost stuff. Remembers those cracks I mentioned earlier? Yeah, hundreds of ghosts slip out through them, along with a crack in the wall of the remains of La Bastille prison

Poltergeist unpossesses Denise and now has full control over the ghosts, so... Yeah, everyone's fucked.

And, since they're facing ghosts, Ladybug and Chat Noir can't use their weapons on them. Meaning, they have to call on some temporary holders!

They manage to gather Marc, Denise, Jean, and Cosette, and Rooster Bold uses Sublimation to give their weapons the capabilities of Proton Packs to capture and/or stun ghosts

Wyvern: Oh, Lord, have mercy! *A ghost possessing an inflatable mascot falls on top of them, Leonardo, Rooster Bold, and Hamlet*

Leonardo: This is just wrong!

Rooster Bold: I can't reach my knife!

Hamlet: You guys, this is exactly how I imagined my death!

And that is all I shall share. Have yourselves a great October!

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #nathaniel kurtzberg #ao3fic #answered ask #ask me stuff #halloween fic #Halloween #mlb ocs #angst #mlb fic #fanfic

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