#i know i make a lot of posts about ivans darker side and his more problematic traits | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

myupostsheadcanons · 3 years

Text

Books “Read” in 2020

Previous entries: 2019, 2018, 2017

I don’t rank these based on actual literary quality, but by how much i enjoyed reading/listening to them. Hopefully with Audible’s new “Premium Included” feature it would cut down on so many Average/Below Average books next year, it’ll give me more of a choice on what kind of books/podcasts i want to listen to rather than given a handful to pick from a month.

The “Top 10″

Forging Hephaestus / Bones of the Past: Villains' Code Series - Drew Hayes has became one of my fav authors over the past couple years, from his Vampire Accountant series, 5-min Sherlock, and his Spells, Swords, and Stealth books. FH is one of the few times he wrote Adult Fiction. This is the second time Drew created a world of super heroes (the YA Superpowereds), thus previous experience in dealing with the nuisances and meta of super meta dynamics. I love the main character, Tori, and especially love many of the side characters (like Ivan) and the comedy is the right tone of dark and not-in-your-face (not quite as well -written as something like The Venture Bros or The Tick, but being adult fiction you can get away with having characters named Johnny Three-Dicks and Captain Bullshit)

Dreadnought / Sovereign - the second super hero series I’ve placed on my top list this year, this one is Young Adult. This one is far more serious and deals heavily in issues like trans and women’s rights, mental abuse, and social acceptance. The main character is full of angst, but that should be a given for a 15 yo with lots of mental baggage and new social pressures. The main character is the main draw, most of the side characters are a bit more one-dimensional.

The Trouble with Peace: Age of Madness, Book 2. It isn’t a “First Law” book if you don’t want to strangle half of the main characters. Many are stepping outside of the shadow of the previous generation and finding themselves falling flat on their faces. If they aren’t at each other’s throats, they would soon have to deal with rebellion in the streets and the constant looming presence of Bayaz, who waits to sweep the board clear and rearrange the pieces the way he sees fit.

Michael J. Sullivan’s: The Riyria and Legend of the First Empire Books.

Riyria Revelations: Theft of Swords / Rise of Empire / Heir of Novron

Riyria Chronicles: The Crown Tower / The Rose and Thorn / The Death of Dulgath

Age of Death / Age of Empyre, Pile of Bones

After finishing the Legend of the First Empire books that came out earlier this year, I went ahead and read the prior series that takes place in the same world. I would suggest reading the entire series by Publish order, but they can be read Chronologically. I read the Legends books first, and it helped me see where Sullivan was heading and when he started to plan out the Legends books in more detail. (The early cameo of the Main characters from Legends in a mural in Heir of Novron, and knowing who is behind the events in Dulgath)

The Dresden Files: Peace Talks / Battle Grounds - They really should be read as one book, because that was how they were written. It is a Feast of Crows / Dances with Dragons situation, where the book got too long and got split up. The fans are pretty divided by the book(s) ending and how some of the main characters are handled, but these are Jim Butcher’s characters not theirs and he can drop bridges on whom ever he wants.

What Lies Beyond: Cycle of Galand, Book 6 - This is a “mythology” book (like Sullivan’s Age of Death was) where it introduces most of the Pantheon of their religion and corrects much of the mythology that had been lost over the decades. They seek a weapon to vanquish the Litch and save their world and the afterlife from oblivion, but not all of their Gods are happy about it.

Will Destroy the Galaxy for Cash - Yahtzee (Zero Punctuation!) has to be one of my favorite internet personalities for the past 10+ years, and I eat up every book he puts out and because he wrote the books, and is an actor himself, he could deliver the lines as they are intended to be. The sequel to Will Save the Galaxy for Food does not disappoint and even ups the stakes from the previous book.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon - This has to be one of the most charming books I’ve read. It is magic and wonder at it’s finest, no need for long explanations on how the world works. If you like Ghibli movies, you’ll be interested in this book. It has its dark moments but isn’t outside of what you’ll find in something like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Nausicca.

The Goblin Emperor - the youngest son of the Elf King finds himself emperor after the death of his father and brothers in an assassination. The only problem is, that he is only half-elf... his late mother was a Goblin, and he had been in exile as an embarrassment to the family for most of his life. He knows nothing of how the courts work and what’s left of his own family work against him just for being who he is.

Lost Gods: Brom - I liked this book more than I did American Gods (which I read a few years ago). It is darker and bleaker by the bucket loads. One of the few books with a downer ending that I actually liked. I would compare this book to books like All the Pretty Horses and No Country for Old Men-- but it is a Fantasy!

Above Average.

Siege Tactics (Spells, Swords, & Stealth. Book 4) - What happens to adventurers after they retire? A fun concept that is explored with our party of NPCs running across a town full of epic-level characters that no longer have a player.

The Arthurian Saga - The Crystal Cave / The Hollow Hills / The Last Enchantment / The Wicked Day - A more realistic version of the Arthurian tales, taking the POV of Merlin, bastard son of a princess, as he earns notoriety as a scholar and wizard. The Wicked Day takes the POV of Mordred, making him far more sympathetic than other iterations of his character.

Arc of a Scythe - Scythe / Thunderhead / The Toll - Science and Technology eliminates death and in order to prevent over population and complacency an order of grim reapers are chosen to randomly deal out quotas of permanent deaths. An example of what happens when every need and want is satisfied by a higher force and the apathy that causes rot in human society and the superiority complex of those in charge of life and death.

The Diviners / Lair of Dreams / Before the Devil Breaks You / The King of Crows - Horror during the Roaring 20′s. Tackles issues as Racism, Poverty, Government Secrecy, Christian-Evangelical Cults, Nationalism Cult Mentality, Communism, Labor Unions, Eugenics, Post-WW1 trauma... It could almost pass as an adult fiction book. I wouldn’t recommend giving it to someone under High school age.

Ancillary Justice / Ancillary Sword / Ancillary Mercy - Artificial Intelligence takes over human bodies as a form of capital punishment, controlling ships and space stations. The dominate human empire outgrew the need to label any gender, using “she” to refer to everyone rather than the vaguer “them/they” pronouns, and only outlying colonies stick to the binary ideals. Think of “The Left Hand of Darkness” but on a more broader scale and as the default majority/ruling empire. Toss in a solid military action novel on top and it isn’t nearly as boring as Left Hand.

Children of Time / Children of Ruin - War destroys the human population of Earth and those that remain are the ones that headed out to the stars on tera-forming missions. A virus created to advance life forms to prepare a world for human habitation runs amuck with out its overseers, creating intelligent arachnids, crustaceans, and squid.

The Licanius Trilogy - The Shadow of What Was Lost / An Echo of Things to Come / The Light of all that Falls - It is very heavy on info overload, there is a lot to keep track of, so much so there is a summary of book one and two at the start of the third. I like the twist at the end of the first book and that the villain is actually trying to help save the world, and you spend most of the second stuck between who thinks they are doing the right thing and who is actually doing the right thing - a lot to talk about doing the lesser of two evils.

Mythos - Steven Fry - A humorous retelling of Greek mythology. I read Mythology - by Edith Hamilton prior to this book, which is a more scholarly take on the myths, and helps if you are unfamiliar with classical mythology prior to reading Fry’s take on it.

Iron, Fire and Ice: The Real History That Inspired Game of Thrones - a nice history book about Iron Age royalty. It is actually refreshing to read after going through so much faux fiction that is in Philippa Gregory’s books.

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? - Children ask questions to a Mortician about death and what happens to bodies after people die. I listened to her autobiography last year/year before and it is worth picking up this one along with it.

Average, but still good.

Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet Universe: Triumphant (Genesis Fleet, Book 3) / Tarnished Knight: Lost Stars, book 1 - The realistic space battles just drag me back in each and every time.

The Case of the Damaged Detective: 5-Minute Sherlock - Drew Hayes can’t write a boring book. It isn’t quite on point as his other series, but still fun to read. Hayes is really good at making YA books with Adult Protagonists. It is a road-trip book, the main character is a washed-out operative that is getting his second chance playing bodyguard and future assistant to the 5-minute Sherlock.

Locked In / Head On - Do you remember “Surrogates”? that Bruce Willis movie where people walk around in robotic avatars, well... it’s almost the same thing. A virus kills millions, save for a select few that experience “lock in” syndrome and are able to connect to robots via their brains and the internet. The main character is gender neutral and you get a choice to listen to the book with a male or female reader.

Murder by Other Means: The Dispatcher Book 2 - more John Scalzi! The first book was in my top list a few years ago, and i enjoyed the sequel just as much. Between Scalzi’s The Dispatcher and Locked In series, i like the Dispatcher more.

The Shattered Sea Trilogy: Half a King / Half the World / Half a War - Joe Abercrombie’s attempt to make Young Adult books. It keeps all the grim dark, but lacks all the swearing and humor that made The First Law books more enjoyable. Many of Joe’s favorite character tropes are still present and is one of the better “Fall to Darkness” stories I’ve read. It also has different POV characters each book and is one of those “faux fantasy” settings.

Mage Errant: Books 1, 2 & A Traitor in Skyhold: Book 3 - If you are wanting to get away from Harry Potter, pick up this book series. It takes place in magic school, but it is its own world and setting and not just a hidden world within our own. The main group of kids are misfits among the school, unable to master their powers, that get taken up by the badass librarian to be trained in more unconventional ways.

Dawn of Wonder: The Wakening Book 1 - the main character has ptsd from growing up in an abusive household, and i thought it was handled rather well. He would be rather competent and cleaver most of the time until he gets triggered into an episode, he fights really hard to overcome this short-falling of his. Standard classic affair else wise, family leaves home because the local authority figure doesn’t want them around anymore, goes to big city, kid wants to do good and avenge the deaths he was accused of, joins the badass school of hard knocks... big powerful evil thing trying to consume the world.

The Rage of Dragons - It shares a lot of tropes and story points with Red Rising... just in a fantasy setting, not in space. If you are wanting fantasy with POC main characters and a non-European-centric culture, that doesn’t pull any punches, give it a shot.

Earthsea - Tehanu and Tales from Earthsea - I had read the first three books several years back, and i did re-read them in order to refresh myself prior to reading the final two.

The Secret Garden - I absolutely loved the movie from the 90′s as a kid, and finally got around to listening to the book.

Six of Crows - A heist book in fantasy world with the magic users being heavily “Jewish / Slavic” coded by how they are treated and persecuted. I might have thought more favorably about the book if i hadn’t read other books with “street rat slum” main characters. (Seriously, after spending six books with Royce in Riyria someone like Kas is just second bananas)

Unconventional Heroes / Two Necromancers - Comedic Fantasy, the humor’s not on par with say MogWorld, and has more jokes than Fred The Vampire Accountant. It is still a parody of villains and heroes in fantasy worlds. I would find it safe for a 12/13yo to read, cursing and all, though they might not be aware of many of the tropes that are being deconstructed. The reader of the book did better in this one then he did with Six of Crows and Beezer, still the audio needed some editing because it repeats itself a few times.

Once More Upon A Time (Free Audio Book) - I don’t always care to read romance stories. I like the idea behind it however, to trade their love for each other in order to save their partner’s life, then learn to re-love one another again.

Monster Hunter International - If you think Dresden is too liberal, this takes a hard turn to the right.. replace the magic with GUNS, lots and lots of GUNS. An organization that hates the government but hunts monsters for government bounties. The main cast is multi-ethnic and they do make fun of that at one point. There isn’t a lot of thought into the plot, because action is #1, but it is fun enough to ignore the politicking.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Collection - i bitched about there not being an omnibus last year, and then Audible uploaded one. The ending is still one big clusterfuck.

Stephen King’s Insomnia - this book is the bridge between Steven King’s two universes. It is a sequel to IT and brings up the Darktower often. IT dealt mainly with childhood fears, Insomnia deals with Elderly and feminine fears.

D’Arc / Culdesac: War with No Name - I liked D’Arc more than i did Mort-e, and Culdesac is more on track with Mort-e. The virus that mutated the ants and animals reminded me of the virus from Children of Time/Ruin, even though i read Mort-e first, reading D’Arc after CoT let me notice it.

Michael McDowell’s: The Amulet / The Elementals / Gilded Needles / Blackwater - From the guy that wrote the screenplay of Beetlejuice, and the pioneer of the Southern Gothic Horror. Gilded Needles is a bit out of place, taking place in 1890′s, and is more of a social horror rather than a super natural horror the other books are.

Gardens of the Moon: The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 1 - high fantasy dark fiction. if you really want some CHONKY door stoppers, there’s over 10 of them in this series. Could’ve done less with the manipulative bastard mage that speaks in 3rd person. I had read The Willful Child, an attempted comedy science fiction novel by the same author, and it showed that the author was unfamiliar with that kind of genera and should stick to grim fantasy.

The Knife’s Edge / Citadel of Fire: The Ronin Saga - This is one of those series that I’m always going “oh, that reminds me of [insert another better series]” At times it reminded me of The Licanius Trilogy, Shades of Magic, Arc of Scythe, Riyria, Korra... It is just shy of being as good as them, and is rather firmly in that Sci-Fi Fantasy Ghetto and has a bit of “anime” feel to it with their magic users having ‘power levels’ and the power creep.

In Calabria - My only problem with the book is the massive age-gap between the Main character and his love interest. Outside of that, the whole Unicorns in the modern world concept is done very well.

Pout Neuf (Audible Free Book) - Journalism and romance during WW2. A quick read and the book really shows that research had been done about the setting and time period.

Nut Jobs: Cracking California's Strangest $10 Million Dollar Heist: An Audible Original - Not only does it talk about the heist, it actually touches on the subject of migrant farmers and slave labor, as well as the desertification of the California Valley.

The Science of Sci-Fi: From Warp Speed to Interstellar Travel (Free Audio Book) - a neat little informative podcast if you are looking for an introduction to some of the harder science fiction.

Mythology - by Edith Hamilton - Text book about Greek Mythology. Like “used in schools” text book. It is a good read if you don’t want to go through Ovid, Virgil, Homer, and all the other classical writers on your own.

The Space Race: An Audible Original - America didn’t win the Space Race. Russia did just about everything first. The only thing we did first was put people on the moon. It also goes into detail about how the inventor of the Nazi’s V2 rockets became employed with the US Space program. As well as the government’s announcement to let space travel become privatized.

Pale Blue Dot / Cosmos: A Personal Voyage - It’s Carl Sagan. Come on! Everyone should be reading them. Pale Blue Dot was being turned into an Audiobook in the 90′s but with Sagan’s death, only the first few chapters were read by him and his partner reads the rest of it (she does a decent job, and i understand why they wanted her to read it, it should’ve been done similarly to Cosmos, with guest readers doing each chapter)

Thicker Than Water (Free Audio Book) - start up pharmaceutical company scams people out of millions with promises of a miracle machine that was ahead of its time. Story told from the whistleblower himself as he recounts what his job was within the company and how he knew the owner/founder of the company and how coming out about what was going on ruined his relationship with his family and friends.

Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - biography on Douglas Adams and the history behind the creative process behind the Hitchhiker’s Guide series.

The Genius of Birds - It reminded me a lot of “The Soul of an Octopus” in quality. It is rather informative about birds, how they behave, and how we judge intelligence in non-human animals.

It’s “ok.”

Les Miserabes - I can see why people favor movies and theater versions because of how dense the book is, getting the cliff notes version of the book instead of reading several chapters about the Battle of Waterloo.

Viva Durant and the Secret of the Silver Buttons (Audible Free Book) - It’s cute, and I spent the next several weeks humming that freaking song.

Challenger Deep - A book about mental illness by the same person that brought us The Arc of a Scythe series. It isn’t a bad read, but if you are prone to get panic attacks and have mental illness yourself, you might get too into it and make you uneasy. It can help with neurotypical people with understanding how some illnesses work.

Into the Wilds (Warriors, Book 1) - Ah, the cat book. It is prob because there are soooo many books in this series that it over-saturates the kids impressionable minds.

House of Teeth (Audible Free Book) - I read this book prior to Monster Hunter International, and thinking back on this one, i am reminded about the other. Save for this one is PG. So... the kid friendly version.

The Martian Chronicles - Space Horror, on Mars. If you like old science fiction, like Classic Trek, Wells, or Forbidden Planet stuff. There is a lot of zerust.

Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection - The third superhero series I’ve read this past year. It is not as ground breaking nor subversive as Villain’s Code or Dreadnought. The humor is a bit too forced and parts of it falls into “we can be more offensive because it is an adult book” category.

Interview with the Robot - Don’t really care for books or programs that are set up in the “interview” format where it is two people talking to one another. (I have no fucking idea how this book got top Kids book of the year on Audible, it is more of a YA book... it must been because it was Free and lots of people picked it because the rest of the choices that month were complete garbage)

Micromegas - perhaps one of the oldest examples of Speculative Science Fiction. Written by Voltaire, it is about a giant from another solar system that is so big that humans and life on Earth are microscopic. “what value are the lives of ants to a man?”

The Three Musketeers - i had forgotten how much espionage there was in this book. I would say this is a good companion book to Don Quixote, as it takes its fair share of inspiration from and even name-drops the character a couple times.

Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist / David Copperfield / A Tale of Two Cities - DC is the standout IMO among the three, it is Dickens’ Magnum Opus. Les Mis did a far better job with the Revolution than Tale did as well. I felt rather obligated to reading these books because of the subplot in the Age of Madness books being about Poverty during the Industrial Revolution and Workers Revolts against the Ruling Class.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - the version i listened too made most of the Americans sound like GWB... which is funny because one of them is Canadian, and the Comic Relief character about how boorish Americans are.

Stuck (Free Audio Book) - it is a neat idea, getting jarred free of time but everybody else isn’t and doesn’t remember. It gets a little heavy for a kids book near the end, edging into YA territory as the character gets older mentally and the people around him age physically.

Phreaks (Free Audio Book) - i knew a lot about Captain Crunch and other phone hackers of the 60′s. There is a subplot of the big radioactive corporation covering up causing cancer to their workers, and the father (voiced by Christian Slater) being in the closet but still homophobic about it.

Silverswift (Free Audio Book) - If you like fairy tales set in modern times, it is worth a look. It is similar to In Calabira in that way. The mom being the nonbeliever and thinking grandma is off her rocker, but the granddaughter knows it in her bones that grandma is telling the truth.

Sleeping Giants - alien mechs from the distant past, once mistaken as the titans and gods form mythology, now being studied and experimented on by the government. This is another “interview style” story telling.

Celtic Mythology: Tales of Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes - there is a lot of names and stories, it is worth prob getting a physical copy of the book to keep things straight and to use as a reference.

How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps - A love letter to The Legend of Zelda’s Ocarina of Time and other RPG games.

Casino Royal: James Bond - the movie was rather faithful, including the part of being tied to a chair. I do wish they kept more of the book’s ending where Bond was ready to retire prior to his secret-spy love interest gets killed.

Aliens: Bug Hunt - a compilation of Alien stores about people landing on various planets and encountering aliens, not always the Xenomorphs we know, but the term “Bug” came synonymous to any dangerous alien lifeforms encountered.

Macbeth: A Novel - retelling the story of Macbeth but in a novel form. If you can’t get past the language of the original play, this would help. It sets it more firmly in historical fiction.

Hannibal: A Novel - I went ahead and re watched the tv show after finishing the book. I’ve seen the movie a dozen times, and i understand why they changed the ending to the movie. The book is the main one that characterizes Hannibal and the show uses a lot of the plot. Hannibal Rising wasn’t really needed because Hannibal (in this book) does think/talk about what happened to his sister and home, and i can see why Harris didn’t want to write that book either. The audiobook is rather poor quality, they talked too fast in places and i don’t really care for their acting...

The Power of Six - I read I am Number 4 several years back and this one popped up on sale so i nabbed it. I like Neil Kaplan, and i think this one is better than the first one and actually gets into the meat of the story.

Cut and Run: A Light-Hearted Dark Comedy - body parts harvesting.... mmmm.

Calypso - non-Fiction, biography of the author. Talks about his family, his life with his partner, and what he does. Much of it is charming and it is read by the author. this was prior to him loosing his marbles about retail workers and becoming a karen.

Our Harlem: Seven Days of Cooking, Music and Soul at the Red Rooster - the history of Harlem and the Harlem Renaissance. I didn’t mind this podcast so much because i was reading The Diviners during the same time.

Malcolm and Me - another biographical book. one of the free books i got during Feb’ Black History Month.

History of Bourbon (Free Audio Book) - Informative about the liqueur industry in America.

Junkyard Cats: Shining Smith Book 1 - post apocalyptic action science fiction novel. the moment that guy showed up i was “that’s your bf.” and it was so... the plot wasn’t hard to figure out, it’s all about the action and setting.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - One of the better Heinlein books. The man can’t write romance and he is rather big on casual polygamy and open marriages. An anarchist-revolution book written by someone that is more on the Libertarian side of the aisle. Mycroft (the computer) comes off as rather antiquated, an AI that runs on a closed server, communicating through the telephone lines and printed paper, makes me wonder what Heinlein would’ve done if he was told about the internet and Deep Fake tech. (the book takes place in like 2075, but written in 1966)

Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World - the production of coffee and it’s prevalence around the world.

The Life and Times of Prince Albert - Exactly what it says on the can. *rimshot*

The Real Sherlock: An Audible Original - a biography of Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle.

The Design of Everyday Things - using psychology to improve the design of systems, products, and the modern business model. It gives proper terminology for several common design features and how to improve on existing structures.

Bottom of the Barrel.

The Pagan World: Ancient Religions before Christianity. I was hoping there would have been something in there about European Religions, there isn’t, and the book was mostly Greek and Roman life styles and how gods are worshiped. It let me know where the word “auger” came from and why it was used in the Licanius Trilogy.

Life Ever After - disjointed at best. a couple that aren’t good for each other spend the next several hundred years in a crappy relationship.

Beyond Strange Lands: An Audible Original - The audio was complete crap on half of the voices. Which is bad because this could’ve been better. It is a Pod Cast Show and the director couldn’t make sure everybody had decent recording equipment and the sound effects often drown out the actors.

Henrietta & Eleanor: A Retelling of Jekyll and Hyde: An Audible Original Drama - They were going for a modern telling, but the language used is archaic. They speak like Dickens characters even though they talk about cellphones and computers.

A Crazy Inheritance: The Ghostsitter book 1 - The concept is there, but it is too nerfed. It was made for the 8-12yo crowd in mind by people that don’t know how to write for children.

Tell Me Lies (Free Audio Book) - It really wants to be smart. Who’s playing who and who is the actual villain of this story? If you want a quick “who done it?” maybe look into it.

Evil Eye (Free on Audible Plus) - told through phone calls between a mother and daughter. The whole genera of evil boyfriends/husbands isn’t really my cup of tea, and the boyfriend’s actor was too fake and the set up to the meat of the story was annoying.

The Half-life of Marie Curie - I didn’t mind learning stuff about Marie Curie... falls squarely in “made for TV lifetime movie” quality though. You should not carry around a vile of uranium where ever you go.

Alone with the Stars - A girl in Florida hears the call for help from Amelia Earhart, but nobody listens to her. Part fiction, part biographical. It would’ve been better as a biography and talking about various conspiracy theories about what happened to her and finding the pieces of the airplane.

Beezer - The son of the Devil learning to become a good person with a found family... however, most of the characters are annoying.

The Year of Magical Thinking (Free Audio Book) - very heavy on the subjects about loss and death.

Complete Garbage.

The Getaway (Free Audio Book) - A man being a POS by stalking and abducting women. It broadcasts just about everything that is going to happen.

Agent 355 (Free Audio Book) - Do you like “American Mythology?” Like the whole “the founders are the greatest people in the world” kind of vibe? I don’t. I also hate the main character for being one of those “i’m smart, because i read books that women aren’t supposed to” girls when she doesn’t really think for herself at all.

#myu reads #books read in 2020 #audiobooks #booklr #Audible #long post

3 notes · View notes

hetaliatxtpostz · 4 years

Note

This is Late as the Americans to space but uh,,, Our boy Ivan?

RUSSIA! Also not one of mine, but one of my favorites. I would like to start by saying, first of all Anon, rude. Wow. Whose flag is on the moon? (When the Soviet Union doesn't exist anymore, who really won the space race, I say ;) Seriously tho, I love Russia as a character.

Personality: Okay, it seems like the fandom goes two ways on this, right? You've got your softer version of Russia who's cuter, and your harder version of Russia who is cold and jaded. I go the second way. I think of Russia as one of the most mature characters in the fandom. He has no illusions about how cruel the world is, how dark human nature is. He is so, so very tired. It isn't that he isn't good, it's that he has tried to be good and learned that it is not pragmatic. Always honest about everything, Russia is not manipulative: if he is going to hurt you, he will tell you. He values respect, and his is hard to earn. He's a quiet person (if he has to raise his voice it's either .... Extremly bad or you're just America). He is very deadpan, and has a dry sense of humor that intimidates a lot of people who can't tell he's joking.

Headcanons: Russia's house is extremely cozy; he spends hours doing crafts like knitting and embroidery. He likes bright colors, even if he doesn't wear them. Sunflowers are his favorite flower (I think this is just canon, maybe)? He has a scar across his throat in just about ever version of him I use, and he wears the scarf to cover it. (His neck is also a very sensitive place for him). It is extremely difficult to make him laugh, or even genuinely smile. He is extremely intelligent, and very cultured, but he doesn't care much to discuss these things with most people. He is an excellent figure skater, and is in general more graceful than his size would indicate.

Ships: Well. RusAme is my OTP. I think that America is a a good beam of sunshine into Russia's darker worldview. He lightens Russia's mood, he makes him laugh, and he is so damn hopeful and optimistic. I also think America has the steel to match and fight Russia's sadistic side. (I love in RusAme to think that America is the only person who has never been afraid of Russia). I do also ship Russia and Prussia (see earlier post about that lol) and Russia and Canada (who I like to make friends).

Favorite AUs: Oh, I have so many for Russia!! I like to make him a student of astrophysics with America. I like to make him a criminal, many times one who was born into it and has left the life. I also like him as a soldier, or some kind of evil being-- YES, like a demon-- that is so old and tired, he's just over it despite his power. I also like to make him a figure skater, hockey player, or ballerina. I like to give him powers and specifically make them ice powers.

Other Relationships: Mainly I have him interacting with America and Canada, and being friends with Canada. Normally, he has a lot of tension with (and even actively dislikes) Prussia. His sisters remain a soft spot in his life, and he is always more emotional than his normal stoicism when they are involved. He and England can get along fairly well. He is also friends with China, who he feels a kinship with for many reasons. (They're both tired).

How well do I know Russia?: The best I know Russia is during the Stalinist period, which is what I've studied most. I also know what went down during the Cold War. I think I have a decent idea of what's going on in modern day Russia, but I wouldn't call myself in as any sort of refrence for it, no. Especially since what I get is filtered through an American media.

#nation asks #aph russia #ivan braginski #hetalia

58 notes · View notes

cara-terra-pace · 5 years

Text

Evelyn Gossamer

A popular dancer and singer among teens, she was supposed to be the holder of the Butterfly Miraculous, but because Hawkmoth has it, she is left feeling a part of her is missing. She never ends up getting the miraculous, but she never knew she needed it in the first place, so it’s cool.

Headcanons:

-Imagine Marinette and Alya adoring Evelyn’s soft songs about the flutter of butterfly wings and the positivity you feel when everything is slowed down and you can enjoy the moment.

-Adrien has worked with Evelyn before, since they had a butterfly themed photo shoot for her new album cover.

-Nino can respect the girl. Sure, he isn’t into that sort of music, but she’s pouring her heart out in her songs and she’s apparently very helpful in keeping people positive, and that’s a musician he can get behind.

-Rose ADORES Evelyn Gossamer. She is basically her idol. She writes fan mail, and once, Evelyn responded and Juleka didn’t stop hearing about it for months.

-Juleka and Luka are related to Evelyn. On their father’s side, but they are still related. They’ve met her, and she seems just as sweet and positive as they had heard. Luka showed her his new song, but when he couldn’t figure out the ending chords she suggested something and it actually worked really well. Juleka actually asked for an autograph for Rose and Evelyn’s eyes lit up.

-“Rose? Oh, she sends me lovely fanmail all the time! I recognize her envelopes and always try to save them! Tell her hello from me, and I simply must meet her!”

-Evelyn may be soft and positive, but she also loves dying her hair different pastel colors. She usually keeps it a pale blonde with purple streaks, but once she met Alix, she just had to ask what color dye she used. Alix was flattered and even offered to do some art for her (she did. It was on a huge canvas and there were spray painted butterflies surrounding a girl with longish pink hair)

-Chloé and Sabrina are casual fans. They’ve both met her when she stayed at the hotel and Sabrina was staying over. It was still a cool experience and Chloé brags about it all the time.

-Kim, Max, and Nathaniel... they secretly think her songs are kind of sweet, Nathaniel being more obvious about his opinion than the other two.

-Ivan and Mylene has their first slow dance to Evelyn’s song “Flight” and now they love her songs, especially Mylene.

-Lila claims she’s met Evelyn and is a very good friend of hers. Everyone believes her except for Marinette, Adrien, Chloé, Sabrina, and Juleka (Luka doesn’t hear about it).

-Evelyn has a concert in Paris and she decides to visit their school.

-She heard Chloé, Sabrina, and Adrien were there from Juleka and figured, why not?

-She meets Rose, who very excitedly says that Lila is also there and Evelyn asks who Lila is.

-She walks in to find Lila bragging about knowing her again

-Evelyn taps on her shoulder and Lila has a slight look of horror before letting it drift off.

-Everyone starts to talk all at once, so Evelyn pulls Lila to the side and trys to clarify things.

-Lila gets defensive and since they are around the corner from everybody and no one can see them, she lets out an ear piercing scream.

-Everyone runs to find out what happened and they find Lila being a complete and utter brat crying on the ground saying that Evelyn slapped her for no reason. She had slapped herself really hard so it looked like she had been slapped.

-You would think they would believe the celebrity but some famous people are horrible in real life, and Evelyn was the one to bring Lila to the side so it sounds plausible.

-Evelyn is insisting that she didn’t do anything (she didn’t) and no one believes her.

-Alya is disappointed in her idol and puts on the Ladyblog that no one should listen to her music anymore

-Rose is crying, a lot. Juleka is trying to calm her down but also frantically texting Luka to get down here because she knew it was his free period next.

-Marinette is confused and is trying to lead Evelyn away from all her angry classmates.

-Lila is still fake crying on the ground when Luka rushes in, sweeps up Juleka, Evelyn and Marinette, who are now being yelled at for defending Evelyn and brings them outside.

-Evelyn starts sobbing once they’re outside and she’s inconsolable. She runs away and hides in an alley, and the group isn’t able to find her. They keep looking for her so they can find out what actually happened.

-Hawkmoth takes advantage of the situation and she gets akumatized into Papillon Vérité (Truth Butterfly) and she makes little akuma like butterflies that make people uncontrollably tell the truth. They will say every lie they’ve ever said and once they’re done, their butterfly sucks in all the energy and they turn into statues, leaving Paris with a bunch of statues laying everywhere.

Truth Butterfly

-Truth Butterfly had light purple hair that was tied in a bun on the back of her head. She had butterfly wings that helped her hover slightly off the ground. Her dress was a deep purple with pinkish accents that billowed around her and hit just below her knees. Her eyes were purple and her shoes were gaudy pinkish white shoes with purple stained glasslike features and a purple and white butterfly on the back. Anytime she opened her hands, butterflies would appear and land on people, getting them to tell the truth. They suck our all their energy, leaving them standing there like statues, though they were not actually stone statues.

-She flew from the alley she was crying in to her first targets. She saw Kim and Max talking to Juleka, Marinette and Luka, attempting to convince them to stop looking for her. She opened her hands and two white butterflies flew out, landing on their shoulders without them even noticing.

-All of a sudden they start spewing out truths. Small things like “I broke the vase” “I ate the candy” “I didn’t finish my homework” and then bigger things like “I have a crush on Odine” and “I feel like I don’t have any friends and I feel so lonely all the time” to “I stole Max’s homework for Chloé so she could get a good grade” and “I have a plan for world domination”.

-Every little lie they’ve ever told is corrected and the butterfly glows a darker and darker purple as they speak. All of a sudden, Max stops talking. He freezes in place, unable to move, speak, or think. All of the energy he has been sucked out of him. The same thing happens to Kim a few seconds later. They turn into purple statues.

-The butterflies fly back to Truth Butterfly and she smirks and says “Justice is served”.

-Marinette, Juleka and Luka are all standing there, horrified.

-Truth Butterfly grabs Juleka’s shoulder and Juleka’s hair is tied up in a ponytail and she sprouts wings. Her outfit changes colors to become the same as Truth Butterfly’s.

-“Go, my butterfly. Bring me all the liars, all of the manipulators, all of the people who sit there and watch horrible people do horrible things. Let’s see how they feel when they are forced to admit their wrongdoings!”

-*cue horrible evil laugh which really just sounds kind of adorable but NO SHE INSISTS ITS EVIL*

-Marinette SPRINTS AWAY AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT

-She transforms and scoops Luka up and basically yeets throws him in a safe place.

-Truth Butterfly permantely has tears dripping down her face, even when she smiles.

-It’s unnerving.

-Juleka is floating around, putting people in trances and distracting them enough so they can get caught by the butterflies.

-The best people, who don’t tell many lies, get turned into Truth Seekers, which is what Juleka is.

-Truth Butterfly is at the school now and she is REVELING IN THE CHAOS.

-Lila is still sobbing when she comes floating in with fake sympathy woven into her tone.

-Everyone snaps around and Lila gets SO angry.

-SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AKUMATIZED AND THEN SHE COULD BLAME EVELYN AND MARINETTE.

-SHE COULD SLANDER A BIG STAR!

-WHAT A JUICY LIE!

-Truth Butterfly, being Evelyn Gossamer underneath it all, sang a power ballad.

(I have the lyrics if you want me to actually post them)

-During that power ballad, she flies around, her butterflies attaching themselves to half of the student body while the other half escapes.

-She grabs Lila and flies her to the Eiffel Tower.

-CUE POWER BALLAD REPRISE AS SHE SHOOTS HER HAND INTO THE AIR AND MORE BUTTERFLIES START SOARING OUT AND TAKING OVER THE CITY

-Marinette has to admit, it’s pretty cool. She’s glad she was able to remember the lyrics, Evelyn might want them later.

-LB has Chat and Chloe as the fox with her and she recruits Kagami and Luka as the Bee and the turtle.

-they fight really hard.

-SECOND REPRISE FOR THE POWER BALLAD???

-JEEZ BUTTERFLY YOUR SINGER ROOTS ARE SHOWING.

-Lila has so many butterflies on her, only her eyes are visible.

-Truth starts sobbing as Hawkmoth starts yelling at her to get the miraculous. She sends a butterfly to him and after 15 minutes of fighting, the mask around her eyes flickers out.

-She gets Chloe, who jumps in front of Kagami and Chloe is SOBBING.

-Luka is hit next after using his shield to protect everyone. He sees Juleka and is frozen for a second, staring at his poor little sister. He gets hit, all of it being mumbled before he is turned to a Truth Seeker.

-Chat is turned next, getting close to Truth Butterfly and her not liking it.

-Kagami and LB are the only ones left.

-LB talks to TB.

-“Maybe I can help you!”

-“NOOOOOOOO!”

-She screams it so loud and so high that it shocks them a bit.

-Lila is still telling her lies.

-It’s been a long battle, and Truth Butterfly is so tired but she won’t give up.

-She is so upset and there’s no one to rein her in on Hawkmoth’s end.

-the whole city is either frozen or turned into Truth Seekers besides the two heroes.

-Truth Butterfly lets them leave when she suddenly makes the butterflies from Lila come back to her.

-Lila is angry. She doesn’t actually cry. It’s just her anger at being called at and not actual sadness.

-Truth Butterfly flies her around the city, dropping her then diving down and catching her.

-She screams everytime.

-Ladybug and Kagami are figuring out a plan.

-First, they have to lure Truth Butterfly In.

-Truth is finally back at the Eiffel, and Lila, who had been telling the truths to her lies for over an hour started getting to her last lies. The big ones.

-“I’m working with Hawkmoth”

-“I tried to turn everyone against Marinette so I could feel more powerful”

-“I tried to slander Evelyn Gossamer’s name”

-That is the one she was waiting for.

-Lila stiffens, her anger still apparent in her face as she turns purple and freezes.

-Truth Butterfly is so happy that she flies into the air and does a few tricks.

-It’s over.

-But not yet.

-“EVELYN GOSSAMER HATES PARISIANS!”

-Truth’s head snaps to the source of the sound.

-It’s the stupid Bee.

-She follows her, the butterflies soaring after her and scaring Kagami just a little bit with her angry high notes.

-She gets trapped by Kagami and a complicated trap.

-She reaches Ladybug and the tears that flow down Truth Butterfly’s face start flowing more rapidly.

-“I just want everyone to know the Truth”

-Ladybug softens a bit. She knows this is an akuma. But underneath the transformation is a girl who is scared that the entire world will now hate her.

-“The Truth is good. But not when it’s forced out of someone.”

-She devilizes Truth Butterfly’s akuma and uses her lucky charm to reverse all the damage.

-Sitting on the ground, clearly very upset, is Evelyn Gossamer and none of the heroes are very good at comforting her.

-Ladybug sits next to her to get the story.

-Evelyn tells her exactly what happened, and Ladybug nods.

-Nadja Chamack is filming below them and she gestures for her to come over and Ladybug announces that the rumors about Miss Evelyn Gossamer was just one big misunderstanding. In the chaos, she was accidentally slammed into another girl and people thought she’d done it on purpose.

-The explaination was accepted, but Evelyn was still very upset.

-She walked next to the heroes who brought her back to Juleka who took her cousin in her arms and led her into a cafe.

-after that, the heroes detransformed and handed their borrowed Miraculouses back to LB and Chat left before Ladybug detransformed.

-Luka met up with Evelyn and Juleka and they were able to get the story. Luka was understandably angry, but Evelyn insisted he shouldn’t get so angry.

-She now knew the power of strong emotions.

-she started sketching out a path from the Eiffel Tower to a big square, representing something she couldn’t quite remember.

-They went back to the school and the students all apologized for jumping to conclusions.

-Lila almost got away with it.

-Until Evelyn remembered her phone in her pocket.

-IT HAD BEEN RECORDING SINCE BEFORE SHE WAS AKUMATIZED.

-She had proof of what Lila did and she finally got what she deserved.

-She was expelled and her mother was called to be briefed on the situation.

-Evelyn offers to do a concert for the school.

-The last scene is of Evelyn singing her newest song, her power ballad named “Truth Needs Three” and killing it. Kagami is standing in the audience, bobbing her head along to the beat, and Luka is standing in the front row with his sister and mother, cheering for her louder than anyone else.

-The end card is Evelyn belting out her final note with various people and things faded in, some bolder than others. The butterflies are the boldest thing besides Evelyn, and the order of most bold to least is like this: Luka and Juleka, Kagami and Chloe, Marinette and Adrien, and Lila is the most faded.

(That’s basically what the end card would look like according to my brain, just less scribble and more full out drawing)

That’s it! Wow, this took A REALLY LONG TIME TO FINISH! But now that it is, I’m pretty happy.

Hope you guys liked it!

-Bee 🐝

#miraculous ladybug #chat noir #ladybug #miraculous #adrien agreste #chloe bourgeois #marinette dupain cheng #luka couffaine #kagami tsurugi #truth butterfly #evelyn gossamer

5 notes · View notes

feynavaley · 6 years

Text

@morning-gloree21 replied to your post:

Okay but this sounds super interesting? :P I wanna hear more

Thanks for the interest! 😊 And it’s nothing special, really, not really much different from the movie save for some points, but I won’t object to rambling about this a bit, haha.

Characters:

Elsa: Nyo!Canada (Marguerite/Maggie – I guess that being a royal most people would call her with her full name ‘Marguerite’, but her family, ‘Maggie’)

Anna: Nyo!America (Amelia) – but, since Hell will freeze over before I write any incarnation of America younger than Canada, she’s Maggie’s half-sister, born out of a previous marriage of the Queen (with a nobleman). She doesn’t remember her father and the King (Maggie’s father) has always treated her as his own daughter, however, she’s not the first in line for the throne, even if she’s two years older than Maggie.

Kristoff: Russia (Ivan)

Hans: Prussia (Gilbert) – but, he’s not evil. I’ll explain in a moment.

There isn’t Olaf, because Maggie can’t create life, she just has a ice powers. However, Kumajiro might cover a similar role.

No Sven, either.

The role of the Trolls is covered by General Winter, who is an ancient Winter Spirit.

Arthur is Amelia and Maggie’s cousin from their mother’s side (four years older than Amelia). His mother is the royal mage, and he has inherited her powers.

Plot:

The beginning would be very similar to Frozen, with Maggie accidentally hurting Amelia while they’re playing. Arthur’s mother can’t do anything about it, so she summons this powerful winter spirit who heals Amelia and erases her memories of Maggie’s powers. The only ones who remember them are her parents, Arthur’s mother, and Arthur. General Winter also gives Maggie Kumajiro, a magical polar bear cub who can talk and won’t be hurt by her powers. Over the following years, Maggie completely isolates herself (she insists on not even seeing Arthur, even if he knows about her powers, because she’s afraid of hurting him) while Amelia carries on her normal life (she’s not as isolated and lonely as Anna was, she still has Arthur, but she does miss Maggie, and there’s the problem that she doesn’t fit well in court, with her active personality and directness, being too loud, preferring traditionally masculine activities to feminine ones... Many potential suitors are driven away by that). Then, not long before Maggie’s eighteenth birthday, the King, the Queen and Arthur’s mother die while on a journey. Maggie does attend the funeral, but after that, she once again isolates herself after making sure that Arthur will look after Amelia. Edit: In general, Maggie isn’t as isolated as Elsa. She does appear in public at times (because... completely disappearing would just raise questions), she just doesn’t get close to anybody and ends up creating the picture of this ethereal, perfect and untouchable princess. She’s also the very picture of politeness and grace in her brief interactions with people. Many are in love with this image she has created and praise her as the perfect royal, but they don’t dare to get close and don’t realize that, aside from brief social interactions, she’s essentially relegated to her rooms. Court-life also goes on as usual, with the only exception of Maggie’s room being accessible only to her parents, Arthur’s mother and Arthur.

The coronation happens in a similar way to the movie. Amelia meets Gilbert, a foreign prince, and falls madly in love with him when he doesn't put her down for her personality but instead seems to like her, he even agrees to a sword duel and shows admiration when Amelia beats him. Amelia wants to marry Gilbert, Maggie and Arthur disagree, there’s the argument where Maggie accidentally freezes the town, and Maggie flees. Arthur stays at the castle to find a way to revert the spell, Gilbert helps to organize the town to handle the unexpected winter, and Amelia, with the help of Kumajiro, sneaks out to go after Maggie. She meets Ivan, a hunter who has always lived on his own at the outskirts of the town, (more likely, he saves her from some troubles), and convinces/coerces him to help her find Maggie. The two of them bond over the journey, and Ivan is attracted by Amelia’s strength, physical prowess, and even her direct attitude, something she has been always criticized for at court because it was ‘un-ladylike’ but Ivan prefers because it makes her less fake.

Like Elsa, Maggie has convinced herself that the kingdom is better off without her and doesn’t know that it’s still frozen. When Amelia eventually tells her, she panics and, once again, loses control of her powers, accidentally striking Amelia in the chest. Ivan immediately recognizes what’s going to happen and brings Amelia to General Winter (always aided by Kumajiro), revealing that his parents abandoned him and General Winter saved him when he was a child. They get told that Amelia can be saved by an ‘act of true love’ and head back to the city because Amelia immediately thinks about Gilbert.

This is where things start diverging for real. It turns out that Gilbert isn’t in love with Amelia (and he’s horrified by the turn of events) but pretended to because he was desperate to get close to Maggie. Gilbert’s little brother, Ludwig, had been kidnapped years before and is being held prisoner by a witch. They know the location, but any attempt to save him has always failed because nothing can match the witch’s power. Then, Gilbert heard rumours about Maggie’s powers, and he was desperate enough that he had to check. He didn’t truly mean to make Amelia fall in love with him, he just wanted to befriend her first because she seemed more approachable than Maggie. His main urgency was to check the extent of Maggie’s power, however, so, when he realized that Amelia was in love with him, he decided to clear the misconception only later and use it in the meantime – also because he was afraid of pushing Amelia (and consequently, his chance of gaining Maggie’s favour) away if he admitted he didn’t reciprocate her feelings, and he desperately needed that not to happen. He likes Amelia, but he’s not in love with her. With that plan out of the window, Arthur decides to attempt a spell that would most likely kill him, but he doesn’t care, if this would keep Amelia alive (maybe it’s something like him transferring his vital energy to her, trading his life for hers?). In spite of Arthur trying to hide it, Amelia figures out at the last minute the consequence the ritual would have on Arthur and stops him as he’s about to start (like, she uses her last strength to knock something over/burn something so the ritual can’t be completed). This basically counts as her being willing to die to keep Arthur alive, and she’s cured.

In the meantime, Ivan realizes that he has fallen in love with Amelia and, urged by Kumajiro, goes after her, while Kumajiro goes back to Maggie. Kumajiro wants to comfort Maggie, who doesn’t have any idea of how to lift the spell, but he ends up revealing what happened to Amelia (he doesn’t know she has been healed). He’s convinced that Maggie could control her magic and heal Amelia, but Maggie doesn’t have so much faith in herself. She thinks that the only way to save Amelia (and the kingdom, too) would be killing herself. (obviously, this would be elaborated on a lot better in a fic, portraying how Maggie has struggled with self-loathing since she hurt Amelia so many years ago, she thinks she’s responsible for their parents’ death because there were rumours of that journey being dictated by them needing to check something that had to do with magic…) She’s about to do that when Amelia, Arthur, Ivan and Gilbert reach her. Seeing Amelia alive and well doesn’t sway Maggie because she still cannot control her powers, so she’s afraid that she would just hurt somebody again, and there’s still the issue of the kingdom to solve. Gilbert is the one who stops Maggie from killing herself, yelling that she’s the only hope he has to save his brother. This stops her long enough to listen and let the others reach her, and Ivan then knocks her out. (Ivan is a practical man. You’re afraid this girl is going to do something drastic like harming or even killing herself? Knock her out. She can’t do anything, if she’s knocked out. What do you mean with ‘that’s not how you treat a Queen?’) He summons General Winter, and along with Kumajiro he forces/convinces him to teach Maggie how to control her powers, which he does. Maggie doesn’t magically learn control like Elsa did, but the thing is that the winter depends on her powers, even if she can’t control them. Adrenaline and fear kept her going for days, but she’s running on fumes, at that point. (Maggie’s not as all-powerful as Elsa is. I really feel like Elsa’s powers were too much.) As soon as the tension is lifted, she collapses from exhaustion and the winter stops as well, letting the kingdom return to the original climate. (so, on a darker note... yeah, killing herself would have worked as well, for the ‘perennial winter’ issue. Not for Amelia, though, as it was a different issue.) After recovering, Maggie agrees to help Gilbert and she starts learning how to control her powers instead of just hiding them.

Not long later, Francis (or Francine… I really want to use Fem!France somewhere, but I don’t know if this would be the best story) and Antonio arrive to retrieve Gilbert (it turns out that he had run away without telling anybody). They’re both nobles who were friends with Gilbert, and Antonio is married to Lavinia (Fem!Romano), the crown princess of another kingdom (next to the one ruled by Gilbert’s father). They also bring the news that Lavinia’s younger sister, Felicia (Fem!Italy), has been kidnapped as well. Maggie, Amelia, Arthur, and Ivan leave with them to save everybody. After that… I don’t really know, I haven’t thought too much about it yet, but it will turn out that the witch was kidnapping members of various royal families because she needed their blood for a spell that would make her immortal. So far, she has Ludwig, Felicia, and Sakura (Nyo!Japan), princess of an eastern kingdom, (who are trying to stage an escape on their own). The witch was the one who let the rumour about Maggie’s powers reach Gilbert in the hope of luring Maggie as well, but she had underestimated the extent of Maggie’s powers. It also turns out that Ivan is the prince of a Northern Kingdom, the first who had been kidnapped. General Winter saved him thanks to the prayers of his older sister, but Ivan lost his memory in the process.

This is all I have for now. Not as original as I had made it look like from my previous post, I apologize for this. 😅 I don’t think I’m ever going to write it, but this story was really bugging me…

45 notes · View notes

hellyeahomeland · 6 years

Photo

“Lies, Amplifiers, Fucking Twitter” | Directed by Tucker Gates

After checking in on Carrie and Franny (poor Franny…), we move to the White House. What stands out here is the muted color scheme and lighting. Despite the light streaming in from behind her, the scene overall is dimly lit. In contrast to everyone’s dark suits, the American flag stands out sharply, the battle for power of the country unfolding in front of it. Keane is seated and leaning back casually, while the committee members stand before her, defiant, almost like soldiers.

The choreography of this scene is reminiscent of what we saw in “Species Jump” between Ivan in Yevgeny. Keane stays seated throughout their pitch for her to resign and she only stands later to demonstrate her authority. In close-up here, she’s stoic, almost regal, the American flag (again) in the background. Did Keane become backdoor heroic without us even realizing it?

As Carrie walks into Saul’s growing ops room, it’s hard to miss his own conspiracy-driven bulletin board. As she takes in the information, the camera frames her in the center. We can feel the weight of her realization. She’s not just involved this year, she’s actually in it--the center--as an “active measure.”

There is lots to parse here, but this is a nicely assembled board by the art department! We love the irony of Saul co-opting Carrie’s bulletin board tactics while placing her at the center of his, especially after he found her hidden room last year and beamed, knowing she was still whom he always believed she was. (Do you think he assembled this knowing she’d eventually come into his op and this would help her piece the information together better? He even used the same color post-it notes as she did last year!)

These are just incredible shots. Again, Carrie is in the center things, both physically in this shot and thematically. As the focus shifts to the board, her body becomes blurred, and we instead see the array of information, its lines connecting out from her image like a web.

Sara is obsessed with this shot of Wellington and Keane in light of the revealed romantic feelings between them (or at least from Wellington). The placement of the two characters, Keane staring out the window, blurred behind him, is like something out of a period romance. Obsessed.

And while at first glance it might seem as if she’s turned her back on Wellington, we actually think her body language here reveals just how much she trusts him. When you turn your back on someone like this, in such close proximity to you, you’re indicating a deep, implicit level of trust. It’s a rare moment of vulnerability from her, at one of the most vulnerable moments in her presidency.

The “Q&A” parallels in this episode are pretty blatant, but we’re gonna talk about 'em anyway! First, we have Saul surveying Carrie and Dante, just as he did with Carrie and Brody in season two.

Or what about this shot? That’s the same arrangement as in “Q&A” -- Carrie to the right of the door, Dante to the left, and the barrier behind him. (Sorry guys, but they were making a point.)

On the podcast we talked about Carrie’s failure to crack Dante, and how she assumed the role of both Bad Cop and Good Cop in this episode. Here, she’s playing Bad Cop, and the direction of this scene captures that adversarial nature. Whether it’s positioning them on opposite ends of the table, or above in close-up shot/reverse shot, to heighten the distance and differences between them.

And here is lil’ ol’ David Wellington, on his journey to Fuck Up Everything. A quick note about the set decoration: we think the set decoration is meant not to resemble the Red Room (though of course that is apt for a meeting with the Russian ambassador) but the Roosevelt Room (and, yep, we have another Roosevelt reference. Remember Saul has a portrait in his office too). This was Teddy Roosevelt’s first West Wing office. According to tradition, a portrait of Franklin Roosevelt is meant to hang on the wall during the administration of a Democratic president, and a portrait of Teddy Roosevelt is meant to hang on the wall during a Republican administration. Bill Clinton (whose portrait we also saw… wonder if that possibly foreshadows an impeachment?) was the first President to buck that tradition when he kept Teddy Roosevelt on the wall. Obviously, Keane has opted to do the same.

Back in Mathison land, it’s Good Cop time. Note that they’re not seated anymore and she walks over to him in an attempt to show that they’re on the same side.

Carrie does her best “You’re a good man, Brody” routine with Dante, and for a moment it seems like it might work.

He’s literally backed against a wall when he says he’ll be honest.

After Carrie loses control, Dante walks away and sits back down, and the space between them is again restored. Note that when he sits back down, he’s seated in her former seat. He literally turns the tables on her. (They were being super literal this episode, y’all.)

This is the first of four aerial shots of Carrie in this episode and it comes right after her moment of vulnerability in the interrogation room with Dante. There, she admits, “I know how it happens, how things derail. You think, ‘No, I can manage this.’ But, step by step, somehow, you end up very far from where you ever wanted to be.” This aerial shot, then, coming on the heels of that admission, renders Carrie a small figure in a sea of black. Thematically, like most birds eye views, it asks us to look at the big picture. Where is Carrie now? And where does she want to be?

We just love this scene because Paley is literally stoking the flames. Like we said. Literal af.

OK OK OK Sara has to talk about this moment very quickly. As Carrie enters Maggie’s house, she shuts the door a little too loudly, and this is her wincing at the loud sound (we’ve all been there). I don’t know if this was scripted or improvised but can Claire Danes get an Emmy ASAP? Thanks in advance.

Here’s another shot from above. So we have one of Carrie exiting Saul’s op room (work), and now one in Maggie’s house (home), so we can observe the person (or people?) she is in these two environments. One of the biggest themes of this season--and for the last few actually--for Carrie is her struggle to reconcile these two halves of herself: her work self and her mother self. Are they even compatible? Again, where is Carrie now? And where does she want to be?

The way Carrie’s denial of the situation Maggie lays out before her manifests as her actually shutting her eyes is devastating. If she can’t see it, is it really happening?

And now we’ve got another aerial shot, this time of Carrie leaving Maggie’s house (where her mother self resides). This crane shot is actually pretty great, especially since it leads to this…

The unmitigated rage on display as she exits the world that self inhabits is a thing to behold. We’ve all been there, Carrie.

This shot reminds us of the end of “Long Time Coming,” as Carrie drives away from Dar’s house after learning of Saul’s betrayal. The major difference of course being that she’s not leaving her work self behind now--she is driving toward it, her choice clear.

WJLTP

WJLPT, part II. Yevgeny really does have a thing about casual posture, doesn’t he? He must be ~one cool guy.

The choreography here is very similar in style to what happened to McClendon, which is ironic of course because that’s kinda what started all this. We’re also going to invoke “Q&A” again and note that both Dante and Brody had stuff happen to their hands. (Sara cannot believe that Carrie’s Bad Cop is “let’s poison him!” Gail thinks it’s funny that Carrie’s vagina is a death trap. Sara would like to point out that Dante has not died yet.)

This is the last aerial shot of Carrie this episode, this time showing her work self.

In case you haven’t been keeping track, we got four aerial shots of Carrie after she admits she’s far from where she ever wanted to be:

Departing work, on the way to home

At home

Departing home, on the way to work

At work

Each reveals something unique about these two halves, these two selves Carrie is harboring inside of her, and how she transitions from one to the other. Whether it’s sneaking meds to appear less manic in front of her family; getting in an actual physical altercation with her sister; yelling without reservation after leaving home; or tending to a man she poisoned but pretended she hadn’t, in her relentless search for the truth, it’s clear the toll this split is having on her. Eventually she’ll either have to pick a side, or she’ll have to reconcile these parts of herself into something whole.

This is such a great shot, and it reminds us of Saul’s scenes in “The Choice,” calling Carrie and Mira, after the Langley bomb had gone off. It’s only a metaphorical bomb here, but the result is the same. He’s shown smaller in frame, and his tone is soft, more resigned.

The episode’s final moments are extremely interesting. As Carrie is pushed out of the ER, she turns around and observes the destruction in her wake.

It wasn’t even a year ago she was in almost this same position with Quinn, and we think her expression above is one of the worst kind of deja vu. This episode is all about Carrie taking stock of where she is, who she is, and what she’s doing. It’s about her both accepting she went down a much different, much darker path than she’d ever envisioned, and how that’s all wrapped up in her personal and professional failings, on bright display for us throughout the entire episode (leaving a distraught Franny at school, being at the center of a conspiracy she didn’t detect sooner, failing to crack Dante, leaving her daughter behind, and having her last-ditch effort to crack Dante backfire spectacularly).

For a second, she’s in sharp, brilliant focus. Yes, this is where Carrie is now. And this is who she is.

Then she turns, her face obscured, and she’s blurred again.

#homeland #homelandedit #in the director's chair #lies amplifiers fucking twitter #homeland meta #up the WAZOO #*#by: sara #by: gail #tucker gates

11 notes · View notes

tansystar · 7 years

Photo

Warning! Major spoilers shown and discussed in this post!

Something I found very interesting about the new pan-upward images of Marinette and her classmates in Season 2′s opening is the sticker details.

The bottom image includes two cute but notable stickers on the image with Marinette, Alya, Adrien, and Nino. On the left side is a sea turtle sticker, and on the right side is a fox sticker. Considering what we know for this season, I think those are cute details that foreshadow Nino and Alya’s futures.

However, what I really want to look at is the image with Marinette, Alya, and other girls in the class. All of them have animal-themed stickers, but most of them are hugely notable based on other huge spoilers that leaked out. Marinette has panda ears and panda nose stickers, which reflect her Chinese heritage, and Alya appears to have fox ear stickers, referencing her future promotion to Rena Rouge. Meanwhile, Rose has a pig ears and a pig snout (I failed at catching a screenshot of the snout, but you can see it there if you pause it at the right post), Mylène has mouse ears, and Alix has has rabbit ears and a rabbit mouth. Juleka is harder to tell, but she has an orange tail with a brown stripe, orange ears with stripes, a sharp tooth, and the text “GRRR” over her, so I think her stickers are based on a tiger.

The reason why I find the four girls’ animal stickers interesting is that they are animals of the Chinese zodiac. From the TFOU video in late August, we also learned that there are kwamis based off the Chinse zodiac animals, the rabbit being the only animal not represented with the other animals’ kwamis but probably existing if the other eleven do. Here is a comparison I did:

Even without the stickers there are some similarities that can be argued. Rose is pink like the pig kwami. Even the wing design on her back makes me think of the phrase “when pigs fly” in relation the kwami. Rose doesn’t really have tiger-based colors, but at least in concept art, neither does the tiger kwami. Both have darker purplish colors, and both have orange eyes. The rat kwami’s pink eyes remind me of Mylène’s design’s use of pink, like her bandana and some of her locks. Alix is a different one for sure, as we don’t have any images of a rabbit kwami yet. However, considering how rabbits are symbols of speed, I could see how this matches up with Alix.

Of course, if Carapace proved anything, it’s that there isn’t always that huge a connection between designs, but as it has been the case for a few others, it might be possible for some similarities to exist with other pairs of humans and kwamis.

I think this could mean a few things. First of all, it could just be a fun reference. We weren’t supposed to know about the Chinese zodiac kwamis yet (I’m sorry, Thomas and crew), so for those who caught, it’s a sweet hint of things to come.

The second meaning is the one I’m not eager for, but it could be possible as far as I know right now. These pair-ups indicate that in the future, these characters will be matched up with these Miraculouses for an unknown reason. It could mean that other people related to them somehow have these Miraculouses, but from what little we know right now, it seems to mean more by speculation that these characters will get the Miraculouses, like Rose getting the Pig Miraculous and Mylène getting the Rat Miraculous.

By extension of this, this could mean at the most the entire class will get Miraculouses. Subtracting the main five from the class group from the majority of Season 1, we have nine students. However, if they are in the same class, Lila, Kagami, and Luka would push that number up the twelve, or there could be other students meant in those slots. A lot of them could arguably line up with them. For example, considering Ivan’s supportive yet tough nature, his crush on Mylène, and how the Chinese story connects the rat and the ox, he could get the Ox Miraculous. Honestly, once Kagami and Luka are revealed, it would be fun to try to connect them and the CZ Miraculouses based on what info we have.

Do I want this to happen? Well, if the show pulls it off with excellent writing, absolutely, but as it stands, not really. One huge event where all the students are required to help as Miraculous holders would be awesome, but then they’re just back to normal, which is kind of disappointing. Two superheroes appear to be more than enough for Paris, and if the three upcoming superheroes for Season 2 are only part-timers, it seems especially insane to add a lot more part-time superheroes on top of that. And, of course, there’s the common joke of the entire class suddenly excusing themselves to go fight a villain – it’s totally not suspicious at all. If we get more Miraculous holder superheroes, I would want them to be from around the world and only guest-appearing, maybe all of them coming together to help the Parisian heroes stop the bad guys in the Season 3 finale. While I love all of the students, no matter how good or bad they lie on the moral spectrum, all or most of them being superheroes sounds like overkill.

Once again, though, I’m not entirely against the idea. In-show, it just needs a lot of talent by the crew to make this kind of thing feel right for the series. Honestly, though, as an AU of sorts outside the show, I’m all for it. I’m already wishing I could draw up art of these girls in superhero forms based on these stickers in the Season 2 opening, along with assigning other CZ Miraculouses to others (I need Rat!Mylène and Ox!Ivan being cute and fantastic superheroes together). The students are fun characters, so giving any of them Miraculouses and seeing what they would do with them is great, whether they use them wisely, irresponsibly, for good, or for evil.

In conclusion, who knows what any of this means, but no matter what it turns out as, I appreciate the fun Easter egg details of the Chinese zodiac animal stickers in the opening. Nothing or anything can come from it, but for the time being, I just think it’s cool to have those details in there, and I’m very curious to see how the Chinese zodiac-themed Miraculouses come into play, with a lot or very little importance, in the series’ future.

#miraculous ladybug #zagspoilers #ml spoilers #ml season 2 #miss bustier's class #kwamis #miraculouses #chinese zodiac kwamis #rose lavillant #juleka couffaine #mylene haprele #alix kubdel

397 notes · View notes

fuckingchatnoir · 7 years

Text

Fanboy

Ao3 Link

Summary: After discovering the wonders of Ladynoir fanfiction, Adrien sets out to start his own with his classmate Marinette helping him along the way. But when does fiction start becoming reality?

This story is also beta'd by the wonderful @serendipitousReckonings here on archive, @dickerdoodlez on tumblr.

Chapter 1

Adrien was never the writing type. He did write well - written papers and essays – at least according to his teachers – and was even occasionally asked by a few of his classmates for some writing tips. But, it was for educational purposes only. He‘d never had any sort of passion to write an actual story and he never thought of himself as the imaginative kind anyway. His mind was almost always focused on school, his responsibilities set by his father, and his masked identity. He never really had that luxury of being able to think about anything else. Well, except for his Lady, but that was something entirely different.

That was, until one morning when he arrived at school earlier than usual. It was stormy, the sky was four shades darker than normal, the atmosphere was chilly, and his father didn’t want to risk him catching a cold. So there Adrien was in his homeroom nice and early, but dreadfully exhausted. He was already planning to ask Ladybug later that day if they could shorten patrol since he knew he needed to recharge. The akuma from the night before had taken a lot out of him and his Lady. Dodging sharp shuriken made from CDs for a few hours wasn’t the easiest thing. And to top it all off, his biceps and thighs were feeling pretty sore as well. He knew he should’ve iced them.

“Look who decided to show up early for once!”

Adrien looked over to see Nino enter the room. His friend immediately slid his headphones down from his ears to his shoulders as a bright smile grew on his face. Adrien tried to mirror his friend’s enthusiasm but yawned instead, rubbing his eyes soon after.

“Hey, Nino.”

“Bro, you look terrible.”

“Thanks man, you always know the right things to say.”

Nino placed his bag on the ground before he sat down next to the blond. The late bell then rang and a few students rushed into the classroom, a few breathless from running.

“You know what I mean. How much sleep did you get last night?”

Adrien shrugged. To be honest, he didn’t even remember what time he‘d gotten home. All he remembered was the sound of Ladybug’s voice when she said goodnight to him. Well, that and waking up.

“Don’t remember.”

“Broooo. You gotta take better care of yourself. I’m telling you, it’s all those photoshoots you’re always doing. Your old man needs to chill with that.”

Adrien just yawned again and shrugged in response, not having the energy to make up some lie. He just wanted the day to end already so he could see Ladybug and go back to sleep. Maybe, if he was lucky, the storm would be so bad that his fencing practice would get canceled that afternoon. One could only hope.

Nino and Adrien talked for a few minutes about this teen club that Nino wanted to perform in. The brunette told his friend how awesome the opportunity would be if they would give him a chance and Adrien genuinely agreed. Nino then, however, remembered that he needed to finish a worksheet and occupied himself with finishing that. Adrien decided to use the rest of the time to rest his eyes until homeroom was over. Plagg must’ve been pretty tired too since the blond hadn’t heard one whisper from him in a while. Adrien was trying to keep his eyes open, not wanting to drift off and miss the bell like last time. However, it was getting harder and harder for him as the minutes passed. So, he decided to listen in on a few conversations to keep his mind occupied.

Since there were so few students in his class, it wasn’t too hard to hear what they were saying. Kim and Max were talking about basketball – Max was trying to approximate the height Kim would have to be in order to make a perfect shot five - hundred feet from the net. Ivan and Alix were trying to convince Mylene to go along with them to some horror movie festival, Mylene making several nervous gasps at the descriptions of the monsters. Sabrina and Chloe were on their phones. Chloe was making a few complaints about some shoes online. He heard nothing from Nathanael as always – the boy was probably sleeping again. And then there were Rose, Juleka, and Alya who were speaking right behind him.

“Yeah, Marinette just texted me. She’s gonna come in late today. She overslept as usual.” Alya said.

“I hope she’s okay.” Rose responded.

“Don’t worry, girl. She’s fine. She just stays up to work on designs. No big deal.”

“Oh! Do you think she’s working on anything with that pink fabric she showed me last week? It was so pretty!”

“Or with that fabric that has those dark purple stripes. It was wicked.” Juleka joined in.

“I’m not sure. Why don’t you two ask her later today? I’m sure she’ll be excited to show us her designs.”

They agreed and Adrien wondered curiously what his missing classmate could be working on as well. Whenever Alya would show him her designs, he was always so impressed with her work. Even though he was a model, he didn’t really know much about fashion. However, he still found Marinette’s work as good as the clothes he had to wear during those professional photoshoots.

“By the way, did you guys read the new update from last night? It was so cute!” Rose spoke, the subject changing abruptly.

Alya groaned.

“Sadly, I did.”

“Sadly? What, you didn’t like it?”

“You seriously think Ladybug would let an akuma get away to make out with Chat Noir? She’s not selfish!”

Adrien’s head shot up so quickly that his mind went dizzy.

“Dude, you okay?” Nino questioned, glancing up from his work to look over at his friend who tried to conceal the sudden blush on his cheeks.

He‘d moved too fast.

He hoped the girls didn’t notice.

“Yeah. Yeah. Um, I just… I thought I… um… saw a spider.”

Nino stared at him a while longer before chuckling.

“This is what happens when you don’t sleep, man.”

Adrien nodded and smiled forcefully before his friend chuckled again and went back to the worksheet. Luckily, the girls didn’t notice and continued on with their conversation that confused Adrien in more ways than one.

“But it was sooooo romantic! Chat and Ladybug kissing for the first time under the moonlight like they were the only people in the world. I wish someone loved me that much!”

Adrien sunk more into his seat, his right hand running through his hair as he was trying to figure out what they were talking about. He‘d never kissed Ladybug, much less kiss her during an akuma attack. He agreed with Alya. That would be very careless.

Where were they getting this information? Did someone spot the two superheroes last night and think they saw them kissing? The more he thought about it, the more lost he felt. He didn’t think anyone could’ve gotten the wrong idea since he was too busy saving lives the previous night to focus on anything else. He and Ladybug didn’t even make any physical contact with one another until their routine fist bump, so he wasn’t really sure what to think. He was going to have to check the Ladyblog during lunch.

“I didn’t mind the kissing thing, but I wish the villain was scarier.”

Adrien almost looked back when he heard Juleka’s comment.

Scarier?

She wished the villain was scarier?! How does she not find a person that could make shuriken out of CDs scary?!

“I thought she was scary! She made food come to life. Imagine a cupcake trying to eat you! Cupcakes are supposed to be cute and tasty, not ferocious!”

Was there an akuma attack Adrien didn’t know about?

He couldn’t take it anymore. He had to find out what the hell they were talking about. Nothing was making any sense and his head was starting to hurt. He plastered on his nicest smile and finally turned around.

“Good morning, guys.” He greeted as softly as he could, trying to conceal his slight edge.

All three pairs of eyes landed on him. Small smiles grew on each of their faces.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but I overheard you three talking about someone bringing food to life yesterday. Didn’t the akuma throw CD shuriken and create earthquakes?”

The girls all looked at each other once again before bursting into a fit of giggles. Was there something he didn’t get? Was the whole conversation some weird inside joke?

“Oh no! We weren’t talking about the akuma from yesterday! This all happened in a LadyNoir fanfiction that we all read. The author posted a new chapter last night and there was a scene with an attack.” Alya finally answered. Adrien raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“LadyNoir? Fanfiction? I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

He’d heard Alya mention those terms before, but he‘d never really questioned them. He just thought it was some inside thing between her and Marinette. But hearing those words in that context, he couldn’t help but be curious.

“Don’t even bother asking bro. You don’t want to get into...that.” He heard Nino say beside him, his friend still looking down at his homework.

Adrien glanced over at him, but quickly looked back at the girls when he heard Alya mumble something angrily under her breath.

“It’s nothing bad, Nino. Everyone’s read fanfiction.” She defended.

“Yeah, well not me. And not my boy, Adrien over here.”

Alya rolled her eyes dramatically before turning her attention back on the blond.

“Don’t listen to him. Nino marathons Back to the Future almost every weekend and calls that fun.”

Adrien raised his eyebrows at her remark and felt a small, tired laugh escape him.

“That is true.” He said.

“Whose side are you on!?”

Alya glared at the boy once more before looking back at Adrien.

“So, what I was trying to say was that fanfictions are like stories about two people, whether fictional or nonfictional, getting together. Like the one we’re reading now. It’s a story about Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

Adrien felt his face heat up again.

“So, um, like a love story?”

“Yeah!” Rose chimed in. Juleka smiled in agreement right beside her.

“A love story... about Ladybug and Chat Noir?”

“Yup.”

“And you guys want them to be together?”

“Who doesn’t want them together? I mean, don’t you think they would make such a great couple?”

Adrien glanced over at Nino for some guidance – for anything really – but he saw how preoccupied the other teen was and instead sighed internally. Would he and Ladybug make a great couple? Well, he liked to think so. Even though they didn’t know each other’s identities, he thought he loved her and that he would do anything for her… However, he also knew that this love was only one-sided.

He didn’t really know how to answer.

“I-I’m not sure. I’ve never really thought about it to tell you the truth.”

Rose leaned against Juleka’s side as she clasped her hands together and brought them near the side of her face, looking up dreamily.

“I think they absolutely love each other.”

Oh, if only you knew.

“Yeah, I don’t know about Ladybug, but Chat totally has the hots for her.” Juleka added.

You have no idea.

“I think Ladybug has a thing for that slick cat too. I’ve seen their sexual tension up close, trust me.”

A weird sound left Adrien’s lips, and he quickly covered his mouth as his whole face reddened. He could practically feel Plagg’s laughter coming from his bag and quickly cleared his throat loudly to drown out the sound just in case anyone else heard.

“Um sorry, I swallowed wrong. Sexual tension you say?”

Alya gave Adrien a weird look before she shrugged.

“Yeah, like the way they just flirt with each other. I mean, none of us can really hear any of it since they’re always too far away, but we can all just tell.”

“It’s so frustrating.” Juleka added.

Adrien almost laughed at that.

You find it frustrating? Just imagine how frustrating it must be for me.

“What’s the story called?” He heard himself ask, his mind having tried to change the subject but also having failed when he realized that he showed more interest on the subject.

And maybe he was interested, but he didn’t want to admit that to himself yet. Wanting to read something about yourself was probably considered creepy. He avoided the magazines with his face plastered on the pages for that same reason, but he couldn’t help his curiosity with this fanfiction thing. Did they get his personality right? Did they portray him as strong and independent or as some dorky sidekick? What about his Lady? How do they think his Lady feels when she sees him?

How does she feel?

He definitely needed to take a pill for his headache when he got home.

Rose’s smile widened at his question and it looked as if she were holding in a squeal.

“You want to actually read it?! That’s so great!”

Nino sighed beside him and Adrien tried to ignore the judgement hidden underneath it.

He laughed awkwardly.

“I’m not sure about actually reading it. I just want to get more of an understanding of this whole fanfiction and LadyNote thing.”

Alya giggled.

“You mean LadyNoir.”

“Yeah, that thing.”

Whatever that is.

They all gave him each a smile of approval before Alya wrote the story info down on a ripped piece of line paper and handed it to him.

“Have fun researching.” The girl then said, giving him a quick wink and another laugh before the homeroom bell rang and everyone left to their next class.

_________________

Luckily, Ladybug was just as tired as he was, so their patrol only lasted about half an hour – just a quick check around the city. Yawns filled up the quiet night sky as they both jumped and swung from building to building. Chat was a little more rested than his partner since he had gotten to nap as soon as he‘d gotten home. His wish had been granted. A huge storm had rolled in and all his practices had been cancelled for the remainder of the day. He’d taken that opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep. Neither of them were really as social as they usually were with one another. It was one of those lazy, tired patrols where they cracked a few remarks here and there but remained quiet for the most part. He didn’t really mind that though. Sometimes he found the silence to be calming. Everything in his life was always so structured and crazy, so having some peace and quiet with the love of his life from time-to-time helped him feel more at ease.

With one last goodbye, they both separated and retreated back to their homes, a tired smile playing across the blond’s face. As soon as he de-transformed in his bedroom, he fed Plagg the camembert he had waiting for him on his desk and immediately changed into his sweats.

“Wow. It’s only ten-forty.” He commented aloud as he checked his phone, quickly answering Nino’s texts about some song he heard on the radio.

“That’s good. Now you can finally go to sleep early and I don’t have to hear your constant complaints about how tired you are.” He heard his kwami say as he stuffed another bite of that smelly cheese into his mouth.

“I’ve only complained to you twice!”

Plagg scoffed.

“Yeah, twice an hour.”

Adrien rolled his eyes as he walked himself to his computers.

“Whatever. Just finish your cheese. I’m going to sleep soon, but I want to check something first.”

Plagg didn’t speak for a while and the teenager sat himself down in front of the several screens, typing in the name of the story Alya had told him about in google. Apparently this fanfiction was called Late Night Hour by someone named FrenchBeauty95. He didn’t know what to think of it at that moment. The summary explained the plot to be about Ladybug screwing up an akuma attack and Chat Noir having to fix everything – that thought did not really sit well in his stomach. He of course knew that this was fiction – a completely made up scenario – but just thinking about the possibility of having to handle an akuma by himself without his Lady sent a horrible chill down his spine. However, he sucked it up and continued scrolling through the webpage.

Apparently, thousands of people had read that story already, and his mouth practically flew open. Thousands of people read about him and Ladybug – wanted to read about him and Ladybug – being together. His cheeks flushed once again and he quickly shook his head before he spun his chair away from the screens, trying to conceal the embarrassment evident on his face.

“What’s got you all worked up now?” Plagg said, done with his meal and floating over to his friend who seemed to be having a mental breakdown.

“Thousands of people read about me and Ladybug.”

“And? Isn’t that the point of the blog thing, for everyone to read about you two?”

Plagg signaled Adrien to open his hands that were rested on his lap and the blond quickly obliged. The kwami floated down to rest himself against his palms.

“Groooooss. Your hands are sweaty!”

He did not, however, leave his resting place.

“Plagg, this isn’t about Alya’s blog, this is- they read-”

He groaned.

“Wait. Is this about that story thing they were telling you about earlier?”

Adrien just nodded.

“You humans and your weird problems. Just don’t read the thing! Who cares!”

“I do! Alya told me that in this story Chat Noir and Ladybug kiss.”

“Okay, but it’s not like it’ll actually happen!”

Adrien scowled down at the kwami.

Plagg groaned.

“Just go and read it since you want to so bad. I’m going to sleep.”

The teen’s eyes widened.

“I-I don’t! Why would I?! That’s weird and-”

Plagg groaned yet again before floating away to Adrien’s bed.

“Plagg, I don’t want to!”

“Sure, and I hate camembert. Goodnight.”

Adrien was about to say something else but the words got lost in his throat when he turned back to face the screens. He reread the summary a few more times and tried to even listen to some music on another tab to keep himself distracted to prove to Plagg that he would never read something like that. However, he only lasted about four minutes before he returned to the webpage and started the first chapter.

I’m only reading this to make sure they don’t know any personal details about me. That’s the only reason. Just a few lines and I’ll be done.

He read all twenty-three chapters.

__________________

After having read up to the most recent updated chapter of Late Night Hour, Adrien found that he couldn’t go back to sleep. The last chapter still had his heart beating fast in his chest, his hands still sweaty from his own nervousness and excitement. The kiss scene that the three girls spoke of was very descriptive, to the point where Adrien could imagine the whole scenario vividly in his head as if it had played out in front of him. His face was red, so red and he couldn’t help but look up at the ceiling in thought.

Ladybug kissed Chat back in the story. She yanked his bell and pulled him closer to her so she could reassure him that she felt the same way. Adrien melted. It was as if someone wrote down one of his dreams and made it seem so much more real. He couldn’t help himself, he wanted to know what people thought about this kind of stuff, what they thought about LadyNoir (which he also found out was the combination of his and his Lady’s names), why everyone chooses to call him and his lady Felix and Bridgette when they’re in their civilian form, and why he hadn’t known about this sooner.

He wanted to ask the three girls all kinds of questions that he now had, since he felt that they would know the answer to them, but he couldn’t. He didn’t want to admit his new guilty pleasure. What if others found out? What if they would judge him for it? He knew Nino would never let him live it down and he also didn’t want to be labeled as that guy that reads stories about Ladybug and Chat Noir making out. He felt that he would be seen as some kind of pervert or something. And what if Ladybug found out somehow? He would probably die from embarrassment.

He finally decided to keep the whole thing to himself, at least publicly that is. In the privacy of his own home, however, he would talk about it online with other people. Under the account name FelineGood16 he began to comment on stories, post his thoughts on chapters in blog threads, and gained all the answers he had been wanting without anyone knowing who he really was. It wasn’t necessarily the most productive thing he could’ve been doing with his time, but it was one of the more exciting options.

__________________

“Guys, last night’s update got me pretty pissed, not gonna lie.” Alya, said behind him, Adrien nodding in silent agreement. His fists were clenched on his lap and Nino was trying to explain how he was a living, human magnet for pigeon crap, Adrien nodding slowly, trying very hard to focus on his friend’s rant. However, he couldn’t find the strength to do so – the update still fresh in his mind.

He‘d read it only minutes before, in his car, while the Gorilla drove him to school. It was short, angsty, and made him curse the day he ever decided reading the thing would be a good idea. It was the reveal chapter and he didn’t think it could’ve gone any worse even if it were written by a new born baby. In the chapter, Ladybug revealed herself to Chat, wanting to pursue a real romantic relationship with him with no secrets holding them back. Reading the chapter in the beginning, Adrien felt his heart racing, his hands sweating, and had hope blooming in his chest so intensely that he felt like a whole field of flowers was going to sprout from it any minute. This was the day where his wildest dream was going to be written in front of him. Where he was finally going to get a possible outcome of what could happen if his Lady were to share her identity with him. He knew that, in real life, he would probably cry from elation, his arms immediately embracing the girl before him, no matter who she was. However, instead, the author decided that Chat Noir rejecting her and disregarding all of their intimate past moments was the more realistic route, and hell, was Adrien pissed. To think, he even put up with those horrible puns too.

Having to read the love of his life feel such pain due to his own unrealistic response was absolutely killing him inside and he wasn’t sure how to hold in his opinions on the matter. He was already in the process of creating a long argument along with proof on why that chapter was completely impractical and unjustified for his Tumblr later on.

“Alya, breathe. It’s just a story. The author wanted to rile you guys up like this for shock value. They’ll probably resolve things next chapter. No biggy.” Marinette said.

“It is a biggy, Mari! If you actually read these fics, you’d totally understand why we’re so mad. I for one hate how dependent they write Ladybug in these stories. Like girl almost caused an akuma attack in this chapter because the dude rejected her! I’m just tired of it!”

Exactly!

“And Chat Noir always monologues about how he’d always love Ladybug, no matter who she was behind the mask. But, when she finally finds the courage, he rejects her? Totally not cool.” Juleka adds, Adrien nodding his head in agreement once again.

Even they understand!

“What I’m saying is that it would be awesome to finally have a story where they end up happy for once, where their relationship isn’t so forced, and where it just feels more real.”

Adrien found his fists unclenching slightly under his desk, his eyebrows furrowed.

More real. Yeah.

“Well, if you crave that so much then why don’t you write your own?”

Adrien’s eyes widened and he felt his face heat up immediately, Marinette’s words echoing in his mind repeatedly.

Write your own.

“Yeah,” Adrien muttered under his breath, a small smile growing on his lips, “Maybe I wi-“

“Dude. Have you even been listening to me?”

The blond shook his head slightly and turned to face his best friend who looked at him like he grew a second head. He chuckled awkwardly.

“Yeah, dude! Of course, pigeon crap is the worst.”

Nino continued to stare at the boy, his lips formed in a small frown.

“I wasn’t talking about that anymore.”

“I’m sorry, man. Kind of zoned out a bit. And not because of what you were saying but I…”

What was he supposed to say? I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention to you, I couldn’t stop hearing about the updated chapter of one of my favorite fanfictions because it seriously pissed me off since I’m the real Chat Noir and find it ridiculous that the author wrote me as some careless, self-absorbed douche that only thinks about himself?

“I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Nino’s expression softened and he sighed before patting his buddy on the shoulder lightly.

“I swear, if you don’t start getting your snooze on, I’m gonna barge into your house myself and make sure your old man changes your schedule up or else.”

Adrien smiled, amused.

“Or else what? You’ll DJ him to death?”

“Dude, I make some good ass tunes, but trust me if I need to make a torture mix, I can and will. And it won’t be pretty. Just imagine a twenty-four-hour loop of Pen Pineapple Apple Pen except every time he says apple, it speeds up.”

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes.”

“I’ll try to get some more sleep then for my father’s sake.”

Nino laughed and nudged the other boy with his elbow.

“I’m serious, you need to start taking better care of yourself.”

“Yeah, I know.”

He thought about Marinette’s words the rest of the day.

____________________

“I’m a disgusting human being.” Adrien said, his body turned away from his screens in his swivel chair. His eyelids were droopy and his yawns were beginning to sound more powerful than before, however, all he could think about was the plot he‘d thought up in his head.

Plagg floated over to him, landing on his shoulder with his piece of cheese almost finished.

“While that is completely true, what made you come to that realization?”

“You’re hilarious.”

“And you’re dramatic. What happened, kid?”

Adrien sighed and turned back to his screens, the opened document on all three staring at him judgmentally.

“I’m going to write a story about one of my best friends…ending up with me and they have no idea.”

“Yeah, that is pretty disgusting.”

“Plagg!”

“Well what do you want me to say?!”

“That I’m not disgusting! T-that it’s not weird and that it’s not like I’m going to reveal anything personal about us anyway so there’s no real harm? I don’t know! Humor me!”

“I don’t see why you have to involve me in your creepy romance issues. If you want to do it then just do it!”

Adrien groaned and sunk into his seat, Plagg popping the last bit of his camembert in his mouth before sighing.

“She’s going to hate me if she finds out. I shouldn’t. I really shouldn’t.”

“Look kid, you’re always busy doing things that other people want you to do. You never really have time for yourself and if this is what will make you happy and hopefully change that around, then go for it. She’s probably never going to find out unless you tell her. And either way, I don’t think she’d be mad.”

“You really think so?”

“Yes, now please turn down the brightness of those things so I can sleep in peace for once.”

Adrien sat up in his seat, his smile genuine and his feet scooting himself closer to his floating kwami.

“Ah, you do care,” Adrien opened his hands on his lap. “Come here.”

“No, gross. I can smell your putrid, human stench from here. But, if you do want to show your appreciation, another piece of camembert would suffice.”

Adrien snorted.

“Yeah, and have you vomit all over my sheets again? No way. Father still thinks the chef tried poisoning me.”

“Last time I ever give you advice,” Plagg floated to his spot on Adrien’s bed soon after. “Goodnight. And remember about the brightness.”

A few minutes later Adrien turned off the lights and retreated to his computers, his eyes staring down at the keyboard in front of him like it was forbidden to touch it. His cheeks flushed as he thought about his plot and he shook his head a little when he heard Plagg’s small snores arise from behind him.

If Plagg says it’s okay then it must be, right?

After a few more seconds of contemplation he nodded and began typing, a small smile on his face as Marinette’s words appeared in his mind again. He tried to make his words sound as genuine as possible when describing his Lady, not wanting to hold back his admiration for her courage, strength, intelligence, and beauty.

___________________

Chapter 1 of “The Empty Streets of Paris”

--by FelineGood16 on FanWorkz.net

He sees her sitting on the edge of the building, her legs swinging back and forth as she stares at their city beneath her spotted feet. Her right cheek is cut from the akuma they fought earlier, the bit of skin revealed under her bangs bruised too. She’s injured yet she’s smiling as if all the happiness in the world is being held in her small hands. He can’t stop looking, not really knowing what to say to the person that saved his life only a few minutes ago. Chat Noir remains standing behind her, wondering how the world looks in the eyes of his knight.

She looks over her shoulder and meets his gaze, her smile still intact and his heart filling the night sky with the sounds of its rapid beating.

“Come here.” She says, patting the empty spot next to her.

She isn’t bleeding anymore, but Chat Noir still feels guilty about the whole situation. She’s hurt because of his own carelessness. He wants to sit next to her, but he can’t shake off that feeling, like it was all his fault. Besides, they both don’t have that much time left until they transform back and he knows how protective she is of her identity.

“Don’t you have to go?” He asks, his voice barely a whisper. He didn’t want her to leave.

She chuckles.

“Just sit next to me, you silly cat.”

_________________

Adrien didn’t really know what to expect when he posted his first chapter. He posted the link on his blog so his online acquaintances could see, so they could give him some feedback. But he never in his right mind expected all the attention his chapter got in the next few days.

He posted it on a Wednesday night, receiving a few likes the next morning from the other blogs he had chatted with before along with a few positive comments that made his day much brighter. And that’s all he really expected. However, the likes and reblogs on his tumblr post started growing. Emails slowly and then quickly began to come through to notify him of all the reads, comments, subscribers, and votes he was getting on his three-thousand-word chapter.

Apparently, a popular blog had reblogged him one day, complimenting his writing and potential and it was history from then on (at least for him that is). He wasn’t really sure how to react for a while, finding himself frozen whenever he stared at his phone screen and saw a new notification.

Do I respond to each comment?

Do I update today or next week?

Do they like the characterization?

Do I make the next chapter longer than the first?

He wasn’t sure what to do in his situation, not having anybody to talk to about it. He couldn’t ask Nino since he felt that his friend would only tease him and ask about his mental state. He felt that if he told Alya, the rest of the class would find out and he couldn’t have that. His online buddies weren’t really much help, only nagging him to just update already. And he really didn’t want to bother Plagg about it since he felt that the Kwami would just give him the whole “You humans and your dumb issues” spiel again, but he couldn’t take it anymore. He needed guidance. And even though he was absolutely certain that Plagg knew crap about anything relating to fanfiction, his kwami was still a small god and still very wise (when he wanted to be at least), so he sucked it up and finally asked him.

“I say live it up my friend.” Plagg simply responded.

Adrien smirked and nodded in both determination and agreement, giving Plagg extra camembert that afternoon. The kwami was right. Why was he freaking out about people liking his writing? He shouldn’t take positive feedback as something to be feared but instead as a challenge to do better, to write something that the people will never forget. His read count was growing by the day. Going from three hundred to eight hundred to a thousand to three thousand. It was almost astonishing, but as he reread his own work and compared it to fanfictions he’s read, he knew that his would end up ranking even higher. He had what they were all lacking. Actual experiences. And yes, he knew that his story was fictional and that what happened in the story never had and or probably never would happen between him and his Lady in real life. But he saw her mannerisms up close. He knew how she used her yoyo and her Lucky Charm – how truly amazing she was. He’d explored almost every inch of Paris thousands of times and knew how the blows from those akumas felt right to his bones.

His story wasn’t nonfictional, of course, but it was going to have that real feeling he’d heard so many desiring and he couldn’t wait to show it to them.

________________

“Did you read the update last night?” Rose asked from behind, Adrien’s head rested in his arms as he grew a small tired smile. They were talking about his story again. A few weeks had passed since he posted the first chapter and now he had almost twelve thousand reads, five thousand votes, and a lot of overwhelming exhaustion. He had finally finished his fourth chapter the day before, staying up till almost two in the morning to post it. He was tired, and his body seemed to desire sleep more than air, but he didn’t care. Everyone was liking his writing – something he did for himself – and he was cherishing every minute of it.

“Of course, I almost wept when I read that Ladybug saved all those policemen from that fire! It was so intense, but I knew my girl would pull through! So badass!” Alya said.

“And when she dodged that left hook from behind! Super awesome.” Juleka added, the three girls continuing to admire the fight scene between Ladybug and Human Flare (the fire creating akuma Adrien made up).

He‘d gotten the idea for the villain from a conversation him and Ladybug had one day about akumas. They had just fought one that could create tornadoes from blended smoothies and Ladybug couldn’t help but comment on Hawkmoth’s creativity soon after.

“I swear, these akumas are starting to get ridiculous. I mean smoothie tornadoes? Really!? Why doesn’t he ever give them a normal power like teleportation or telepathy?” She complained, the two of them laying on top of some vacant office building that had too many windows to count.

“Or the ability to control any element! Now that would be interesting to see.”

Ladybug snorted.

“I see someone watches Avatar.”

“Hey, that show was purrfect and you know it!” He defended, turning to face her. She did the same.

“Fine! I will admit that you have a point there. Even though you could’ve made it without the horrible pun.”

“My puns are cat-tastic and I know that you secretly enjoy them.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

“Your affection and approval always does the trick, my Lady.”

She rolled her eyes before looking back up at the sky, her gaze turned away from him.

“Then it looks like you’re going to have trouble sleeping, Chaton.”

“Meow-ch,”

Ladybug giggled and Chat felt warmth spread throughout his body. They stayed silent for a while, the two of them staring at the birds flying above them, the color in the sky beginning to turn from blue to dark shades of red.

“Yeah, controlling fire would be neat, huh?” She said.

Chat hummed peacefully in response and Adrien smiled at the memory as he continued listening in on the girls’ conversation.

“The fight scenes were very descriptive. But I think the akuma’s costume needed more pink!”

Juleka snorted.

“Rose, you think everything needs more pink.”

“Because it does!”

The three of them laughed and Adrien had to suppress his own chuckle. Rose was so innocent.

“What about Chat Noir?” Adrien’s eyes widened a little at Marinette’s abrupt words. Whenever the three others would talk about fanfiction, the blue-eyed girl would usually remain quiet since she didn’t seem so interested in the subject. However, there she was behind him, asking about his story with her tone sounding a bit serious and Adrien was honestly surprised and curious as to what she was going to say.

“What about him?” Alya asked, sounding a bit surprised herself.

“I’ve heard you guys discuss these updates but I never really hear you guys talk about Chat Noir in this amazing story as an individual. Did he do anything in this chapter during the attack or was it all just Ladybug?”

Marinette’s emphasis on that certain adjective made Adrien nervous.

“Well, he did use his Cataclysm, but Ladybug mostly did all the work.” Alya answered.

“Hmm,” Marinette simply said, the blond not knowing what to think of that vague response.

Does she find something wrong with that?

What does she mean?

“Well, looks like amazing writer here doesn’t really know how to write them well then, huh?” She elaborated.

Adrien felt his heart stop.

What?

“Mari, you haven’t even read it yet. This person has got their personalities on point.” Alya defended.

“In what way? Because it sounds like they think Chat Noir is just some useless sidekick. And that’s not very realistic, is it?”

Adrien felt his body stiffen for a reason unknown to him and his cheeks began to warm up. He didn’t understand what he was hearing or why he was acting that way.

Nino seemed to notice his sudden shift in behavior since Adrien felt his friend’s hand rest on his shoulder.

“Hey, dude everything alright?”

Adrien brought up his head slightly enough so to give his best friend a small nod and a forced reassuring smile.

“Yeah, I’m fine. My phone vibrated in my pocket and it just startled me a bit.”

“Ah, okay. Well, go back to sleep dude. Homeroom’s almost done and you look dead.”

Adrien nodded again before laying his head back down, concealing his tense expression.

Not realistic? How was he not realistic? The fight sequences were written based on his own experiences. The moves he wrote for both of them were what usually happened. He wanted so badly to ask Marinette what she thought Chat actually did in a fight to get her take on things, to see what she sees. But, he couldn’t and it was frustrating him.

However, Alya ended up asking her for him.

“What do you mean useless? The writer wrote him using Cataclysm, his signature move.”

“But that’s not all he does, Alya. He helps plan. He hides civilians from danger. He’s saved Ladybug plenty of times! He risks his life almost every damn akuma attack! This author is pretty much saying that all he does is cause destruction when he actually stops it from happening. Yeah, Ladybug does work and helps a lot, but without Chat Noir, she wouldn’t be able to succeed. They’re equals and the writer just doesn’t seem to understand that. That’s all I’m saying.”

So that’s what she sees.

Adrien was honestly touched by his classmate’s words. Even though she‘d ragged on his story, he truly appreciated her reasoning for it. It wasn’t every day that he heard a civilian defend him like that, especially not as passionately as Marinette had.

He wanted to hug her.

“Damn girl. I didn’t know you felt so deeply about this.”

“Yeah, Marinette! Your speech was so sweet! I hope the writer writes more about Chat Noir like you said!” Rose chimed.

Juleka didn’t say anything, most likely nodding in response. Adrien was tired and although he’d promised himself the day before that he wouldn’t start writing the next chapter for a few days to catch up on sleep, after hearing Marinette’s words, he wanted to write it immediately. He wanted to impress the girl that thought he was more than what he’s worth, even if he had to suffer through a few more sleepless nights in order to do so.

#Fanboy #ml #miraculous ladybug #ml fanfiction #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #ml fanfic #miraculous ladybug fanfic #marichat #chat noir #marinette cheng #ladybug #adrien agreste #ml au #miraculous ladybug au #ladynoir #adrinette #adrienette #marichat fic

2K notes · View notes