#the RAMIFICATIONS of the possibility for Adrien

[yunyin]

Gotta love Disney+ spoiling Hawky's identity via subtitles

#I mean it was pretty clear already but will the kids ever know the way we debated over Hawky's identity? #the THEORIES we had #the twin brothers created #the physical comparisons made #the RAMIFICATIONS of the possibility for Adrien #Maybe by this point it's no secret anyway #like Darth Vader's identity #everyone knows now #miraculous rewatch #miraculous ladybug #ml origins

[spotted-kittens]

I need to rant a bit about the repercussions of the seminal episode that is Chat Blanc. What Marinette experiences during that episode is the key to a lot of her subsequent choices, as is clearly demonstrated by her reaction in Strikeback when Chat is so confident they will not be akumatized and should therefore share secret identities.

When she is feeling overwhelmed at the beginning of season 4, Marinette chooses to tell Alya about her secret identity instead of confiding in Chat Noir because of Chat Blanc. This is, in my opinion, the same reason why she never shared any information regarding other holders or her Guardianship duties with him, leading to trust issues between them. (If Adrien hadn't been so used to people not sharing information with him and expecting him to do as told without explanations, I feel this would have been a bigger issue, but this is a story for another post.)

Marinette has no way of knowing what caused Chat Noir to be akumatized, the only thing she knows to be different between this reality and her own is that Chat Blanc calls her by her real name when she is transformed as Ladybug.

That same, damning name that she erases from her card to Adrien to fix the whole timeline and erase Chat Blanc from the future.

From Marinette's point of view, not discovering her identity keeps Chat Noir from being akumatized. This is the only thing she knows, and the only thing she can do to prevent Chat Blanc from happening, having no other information.

Incidentally, this could also has another important ramification: Marinette would never voluntarily tell Adrien her secret identity, because in her mind he has proven untrustworthy already (in other words has caused Chat Noir to find out her identity, which in this case amounts to the same thing). This implies that as much as Adrinette is my favourite thing ever, they are doomed to not be able to be sincere with one another. Ever. In this context, even if a partial truth came out, imagine how much Marinette would lie through her teeth to keep the truth as much as possible from Adrien (even more so after what she found out about him and his family at the end of season 5).

One last thing that in my mind partially explains the distress Marinette was under when she realized she was falling for Chat Noir at the beginning of season 5:

Chat Blanc told Ladybug, in so many words, that their love is responsible for the destruction of the world, literally. After all that she has already done to keep that future from happening (including nearly estranging her partner), how likely is it that she will now forget this?

I could go on, but I believe this is enough for now. Please feel free to rant right back at me.

#mlb spoilers #miraculous ladybug #mlb #adrien agreste #ladybug #miraculous chat noir #chat blanc #ml season 5 spoilers #ml season 5 #ramblings #marinette dupain cheng

[generalluxun]

Fanfic Author 20 Questions

Thanks to @erisluna35 for sending this along! 1. How many works do you have on AO3?

On AO3? Right now 63, soon to be 64(tomorrow probably) and a couple on FF.net

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

1,020,860 on AO3 plus another ~86K fic I never ported over to AO3, as my 'recent' stuff, starting back in 2021

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Miraculous Ladybug, I did others a long time ago before joining AO3, but that was a long time ago. I've considered a couple others recently too, but nothing yet.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

At The Gala- A Chlonette fic inspired by fanart, and actually the sequel to my #2 by Kudos. This is just a cute series of strange interactions with Chloe from Marinette's PoV, culminating in understanding and discovery on a fated evening.

Slippery slope- Little Chlonette ficlet inspired by a fanart. Very short, it's about how a single unexpected moment can change someone's entire world.

Ever After- A long chapter fic set more than a decade post-canon that looks into the idea that 'Ever After' can be a long time, and that expecting life to be solved at 14 is a recipe for eventual disaster. Yet at the same time life continues to offer new experiences, new possibilities, and new ways to grow. Ships include Adrienette, Chloadrien, and Felinette.

Showing Love- An alternate ending to Queen Wasp, where instead of reuniting Chloé with her horrible mother by highlighting everything horrible about her (seriously, what?) Marinette comes face to face with the reality that a mother really *can* not love a child. Being Marinette she can't let such a thing stand, even if it is Chloé. Marinette&Dupain-Cheng family goodness.

What Do you See?- Adrigami fic that kicks off right in the middle of Kuro Neko. While Adrien is struggling with the pain of giving up Cat Noir, one thing crosses his mind. He can finally give one important person the truth she deserves. After all, he *Was* Cat Noir, not *is*. The two both struggle to navigate the ramifications of this revelation, especially when Plagg shows up once more with the ring. (there's a little bit of eventual Lukanette)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to respond to most, especially any questions or curiosities. I love engagement.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh heck this is so not fair. I am in love with bittersweet ending, and have a couple of doozies.

I can't decide between three.

What Happened- The 'real reason' Chloé Bourgeois's redemption arc failed. What do you di when you do everything right, only to find out your happiness causes the end of the world, in every timeline?

A Modest Proposal- Marinette is happily impatient for Adrien to finally propose to her. Little does she know, a secret long kept is going to come back to haunt her. It's worse than you think.

The Risk Outweighs- A look into someone else's life during the episode 'Risk'. The courage to do anything finally gives Chloé the strength to break from the cycle. But the Ladybugs must set things right, and a few moments of clarity weigh nothing against a lifetime.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Again, lots with happy endings, though I prefer 'open' endings, so...hmmm

Cafe Noir- has an unambiguously happy ending, but I specifically set out to write a romcom so that feels like cheating.

Dog Daze- probably has the most comprehensively happy ending, Adrien's dad even managed to try to parent. They do go through a lot on the way to the happy ending though.

In Direct Opposition- My latest work, seems to end on a solidly happy note for all involved.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Ever After drew some upset people that expected their OTP to be the main ship. I never tried to deceive anyone, but a few people were just really upset.

I also had this weird thing where someone thought I was someone else, and stalked my comments for a while. That's why I use moderation now.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I've done M rated fics. I'm not sure 'smut' works for them, even if there's lots of sex narratively, it's usually mentioned rather than being detailed. I did one single 'this will be a smut fic' fic. And even that ended up with like, 5K words mostly plot, and about 2 paragraphs of (I think emotional and important) sex.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Nah, I've never had the crossover itch. I generally find each world intriguing enough on their own.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of...

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yep! I had someone ask if they could translate one of my fics to Russian.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope. Talked about it before, but never went through with it. Not against the idea. I do a lot of rubber ducking for my friends though, so some of my ideas can end up in their finished fics.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

I'm going ot have to go with adribrina, my goobers. I like exploring all kinds of ships, and these two I threw together on a whim but Oh, they're so comfy! I wrote Puppy Love to see how they would work, and then that evolved into Dog Daze, my Largest work to date. I had *intended* for them to amicably break up and Sabrina to be a wing-woman to Adrien in the canon ship of Adrienette.... but they just did not want to break up. Even if they wouldn't admit they were dating, they were just too *comfy* together. These two make me happy. (Marinette ended up okay though, she's happy!)

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

A third fic in my Senti-Sentai AU. 'Worlds Collide'. It was set in 'vague eastern Europe country in the middle of violent conflict' and then that suddenly got too real, too quickly.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Character voice. I write third person limited, and I've been told many times that I do a very good job of writing characters as their canonical selves, just in different situations that bring about different outcomes or changes in them. I consider that a high compliment, because the characters are what I am here for.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Brevity. Even simplistic plots 'enemies to friends road trip' become detailed 'Marinette manipulates Chloé into chasing Adien and Lila across the globe to prevent Lila from wheedling an arranged Marriage out of Gabriel' and then that blossoms into a 98K fic.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I feel like my last of understanding grammar and colloquialisms for another language would have me sounding like bad google translate. Singular words used? Viable.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

SWATKats. My first ever fanfic was a 30K fic about that show.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

They are all my babies! This is so not fair. I've spoken about some of my favorites earlier though, so I'll use this spot to mention some other ones :)

He's Perfect- Gothic Horror Adrienette! It even has a sequel and an entire AU in my head if I can circle back.

The Orphan and the Marionette- Written to feel like one of Grimm's fairy tales. Chlonette(kind of) with a heavy dose of magic and a surprise appearance from Marianne.

There are so many more but I'll plug Dog Daze again, because I to like how it flows and the alternate S5 we get from it. It also inspired a raft of 'post story' one shots, and I have another chapter fic waiting in the wings to continue the AU. There's plenty of stories to tell here.

@taketwoinink Tag, if you would like to play.

#ask #fan fiction #fanfiction #writing #miraculous ladybug #adrienette #adribrina #chlonette #so many ships

[judyhopps934-mt-zd]

After watching Miraculous Ladybug’s season 5 finale, I can only sum up my thoughts into three words:

What the fuck????

If everyone is right about seasons 6 and 7 being tacked on after season 5 was done and there have been no revisions, then the ending would feel very weird. Which was the reason why it left a bitter taste in my mouth because nothing would have been resolved if season 5 was the end, especially since they could not work around Adrien being away from the fight since he was IMPRISONED BY HIS FATHER!

(To which I also say what the fuck were Gabriel and Tomoe thinking, but that is a whole other post of its own)

I understand people not wanting to continue watching the show because of how the ending turned out. However, if people are right about the finale setting the background and ramifications for season 6, then I will still be here. Once I read through everyone’s Tumblr posts pointing this out, I realized that they have a point, especially knowing how seasons 3 and 4 ended with my heart being shredded to pieces but knowing that this is the best way (best not being synonymous with ideal) to wrap up the season and set the new challenges for the upcoming season. 

It is all coming together(ish) in the most bizarre way possible.

And I will still be baffled yet intrigued.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous spoilers #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #the last day #the last day spoilers #revelation #ml revelation spoilers #ml revelation #ml recreation #ml recreation spoilers #recreation #recreation spoilers #ml season 5 finale #ml season 5 #ml season 5 finale salt #kind of salt but not really to some extent #im kinda salty mainly because i dont understand it but now i see that its just very bizzare and its supposed to be like that #mlb #ml #ml ladybug #ml season 5 spoilers #ml season 5 finale spoilers #ml rants #ml vents #ml fandom #miraculous fandom #miraculous season 5 #miraculous season five #miraculous season 5 finale #ml the last day

[jesuis-melodrama]

I never knew how to feel about Gabriel's parenting, in a show like Miraculous, obviously, characterisation and personality varies episode by episode, depending on the situation, the specific genre, and the purpose they had to fulfil.

From Season 1-2, I had always seen Gabriel as someone who loves Adrien, but never shows it. Convinced on the idea that he'll always have time, that Adrien would never want to branch out from him, that Adrien would one day want to leave him.

I certainly never saw him as a father in the physically-abusive spectrum, his negligence and emotional degradation isn't out of a malicious intention or need to hurt Adrien, but more because Gabriel Agreste is an innately callous man and cannot realise the depths or ramifications of his actions. And if he does – he'll simply think that everyone around him, including his young son, is simply being oversensitive.

So this scene in Chat Blanc – was a bit unexpected.

It was set in an alternative dimension, a reality that never happened and was rewritten. But even so, it came out of nowhere for me. Following a popular law in alternative dimensions, a new world is created because of a choice made in a timeline, in this case, Marinette signing her name on the gift she left for Adrien caused Chat Blanc's appearance.

Although, Chat Blanc was never Marinette's fault, and like all issues in Miraculous is caused by the obsessive pursuit of one man.

This event in Chat Blanc pushes me to inspect Gabriel's perception of Adrien a bit more critically. Does he really love his son?

He says he does, and through audience-lens we can see what the on-screen character doesn't, that Gabriel does think about Adrien more than Adrien knows, but no matter what Gabriel thinks, if he doesn't show his love, than his own feeling matters very little in comparison to what the other person knows.

While I still don't believe that Gabriel has any malicious intentions towards Adrien or wishes him harm, I am starting to realise that Gabriel would willingly allow Adrien to be harmed, in certain contexts, if it means he is in control, if it gains him benefits.

In Gorizilla, for example, Gabriel as Papillon waits until the last possible moment to release Ladybug so that she may rescue free-falling Adrien, for the chance to uncover the possible secret identity of his son.

But in the special Miraculous Shanghai, Gabriel as Papillon who had been gleeful up until that very moment is horrified at the implication that YanLuoShi would destroy Shanghai, the very city his son is in, and his attempts to halt YanLuoShi in their moments resulted in his temporary vanquishment.

In Season 5, there is a new development.

As all humans are when they are on their death-bed, they are suddenly faced with regret, remorse, and a need to enjoy the things they do one last time, to right old wrongs, and to impart a kindness they had denied themselves and others their whole life.

Gabriel is no exception, and for the first time, Miraculous audience sees him committing actions that is frankly astonishing, something as simple as spending time with his son.

It was comedic to watch Nathalie and Gabriel struggle over their mutual goal, taking care of Adrien, but with very different mindsets on how to approach the goal. While Gabriel is clearly asserting his dominance as Adrien's birth father, Nathalie remains adamant on her truthful statement that Gabriel knows little about Adrien now, and has no right to be suddenly so paternal and caring after all the difficulties he had placed Adrien through.

Non sequitur: Congratulations to Nathalie for being one of the most competent Akuma; having a genuine goal, as well as being linked to Monarch himself and with someone dear to protect, her battle with Ladybug and Chat Noir, later Mister Bug and Lady Noire, had pushed them to their edges. And it is only because Chat Noir/Mister Bug knows Nathalie intimately that Safari was able to be defeated. Otherwise, a less familiar Ladybug and Chat Noir would've met their doom that day.

I also immensely enjoyed the segment of Chat Noir protecting Venomed-Ladybug, a sequence of pure action that has grown in increasing scarcity since the conclusion of Season 1 and 2.

Gabriel did not start off Season 5 as the most rewarding of fathers, his blatant disregard of Adrien's wellbeing for four seasons reaches its peak when the audience is forced to confront with the fact that while Gabriel most certainly views Adrien as an extension of himself, he does not seem to see Adrien as an autonomous being and only as a commodity. And with new Tsurugi technology at his disposal, what he requires from Adrien is not even his action but simply his image.

Discussions of dystopian futures, imaging rights, and self-possession aside, this kind of callousness culminates in Adrien's state of disarray in episode Jubilation, a slump which he is only shot out of with the arrival of a new villain.

In this season, Gabriel is climatically advancing towards his doom, with multiple subjects such as the end of his goal, his loss of long-standing allies, and his new Cataclysm-ed body in the mix, perhaps the long standing fan-theory that Lila Rossi will become the next evil wielder of the Butterfly Miraculous may be finally confirmed with the finale of this season. Nevertheless, it is clear that Gabriel's time is coming up, and he seems to be ticking off all the boxes of his bucket-list before doing so, including spending time with his son, and enforcing all his might into finally gaining the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous, not only to revive Emilie, save himself and Nathalie, but to ensure that Adrien does not end up alone at the end of it all.

#miraculous #season 5 #gabriel agreste #nathalie sancœur #adrien agreste #analysis

[tsuki-chibi]

Adrinette April Day 11: Truth or Dare

This is a direct continuation of my Marinette March entry, which can be read on AO3.

You can also read this story on AO3: Tempest

---

Adrien might have felt guilty about eating as much as he did – he put a sizeable dent in the bread basket – but it didn’t seem like Marinette noticed. She had made them both cups of tea, perhaps realizing that Adrien wouldn’t want water since that’s all he’d had to consume over the past couple days, and she was now staring pensively into her tea like it held the answers to the universe.

Or maybe just the answers to what they had to do next.

But of course, there wasn’t even a question, was there? They had to get their miraculouses back. They couldn’t let Émilie or Nathalie make another wish. Every warning that Marinette had uttered was rattling around in his head, and he knew that all of them were true. The potential ramifications were enough to make Adrien feel cold down to his core. They were lucky that Gabriel was the only person affected by the first wish.

That meant leaving his father dead though. Adrien didn’t know how to feel about that. Despite all of the terrible things that Gabriel had done – and make no mistake, there were plenty of truly terrible things – that was still his father they were talking about. He had just started to get used to life without his mother and now he was going to have to do the total opposite.

He took a sip of his tea and sighed, deciding to break the awkward silence. “All things considered, this is the last way I thought we would find out.”

Marinette looked over at him, startled. “Find out? Oh. You mean about…” She trailed off, and Adrien nodded.

He thought that Marinette was probably having a hard time see Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir. Because when he was Adrien, he always had to be aware of the fact that everything he did could get back to his father. But when he was Chat Noir, he didn’t have to worry about familial obligations. So he went as hard the other way as he could, putting everything he had into being the most extra dork possible.

The real him was probably somewhere in between, and was someone that only Plagg had ever really seen.

And maybe it was the same for Marinette… but gosh, it was so easy to see her as Ladybug anyway that Adrien couldn’t believe he hadn’t figured it out before. The miraculous magic had kept him from being able to recognize her by appearance, but it went beyond that. They were both exceedingly kind and always willing to help out whoever needed them. But they were also both stubborn and opinionated and, sometimes, a little bit reckless.

“How did you think it would happen?” she asked. Adrien blinked at her in surprise. She blushed and dropped her gaze, which was unfairly adorable.

“Hmm. I knew Ladybug wanted to wait until after Hawkmoth was defeated, but I didn’t know if she’d be okay with just detransforming in front of me. So I thought we’d play truth or dare, or twenty questions, or something along those lines. See if we could figure it out,” Adrien explained. Now that he knew who Ladybug was, he absolutely knew that they would’ve figured it out fairly quickly.

He’d never forgive Hawkmoth for ripping that chance away from them, though.

“Truth or dare…” Marinette smiled and shook her head.

“It would’ve been fun,” Adrien said, pouting a bit.

“I’m sure it would’ve been,” she said kindly, and he could tell that she was patronizing him which just made him pout harder.

“Well, how did you think it would happen?” he asked.

“I always thought that we’d decide on a time and place to meet somewhere as civilians,” she said. “Though in retrospect, I’m not sure how I would’ve reacted if I’d showed up and Adrien Agreste had been there waiting for me.”

Uncertainty mingled with fear pooled in Adrien’s stomach and he set his cup down. That sounded a little bit too much like Marinette would have been - was disappointed that he was Chat Noir.

It had always been one of his deepest fears, that Ladybug would be disappointed in the boy behind Chat Noir’s mask.

And now it felt like it was happening in real time.

He suddenly wished he hadn’t eaten quite so much bread.

“It would’ve been a shock, I’m sure,” he said quietly.

“A shock for both of us,” Marinette said with an awkward smile.

Adrien didn’t have anything to say to that. Because while it was a shock, it was also a very happy shock. He couldn’t think of anyone he wanted to be Ladybug more than Marinette.

But he was almost positive Marinette didn’t feel the same way.

Not only did she have to put up with Adrien Agreste being Chat Noir, she had to put up with Hawkmoth’s son being her partner.

He couldn’t help feeling like he had failed in every way possible.

#miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #marinette dupain-cheng #adrinetteapril2021 #post-reveal pre-relationship #storm verse #tempest

[currentfandomkick]

Marinette did not sign up for this part 10: Mari plots plotting

So long time no post. I live. Ish. Also finally figured out readmore on mobile, so yay. Will take forever to edit posts now though. Explanation at the bottom First part here previous part here. Ao3 here

Marinette wanted to go on record that Mandeliev did not, in fact, give her an extra day or so to study for the test. Why? Instead, she was told she may do a paper on the application of physics in gymnastics and principles of evasion in urban areas and how to combine the two to maximize one’s ability to run away from akumas and other dangers.

Or as Nino put it: “I am tormenting you into running better, the eight page essay.”

Alya dubbed it the “Run Better Paper.”

Aurore said it should include more formulas when Marinette showed her the draft. (as Adrien would complain about lack of theories and how she should have used this advanced formula she’d never heard of instead and then Marinette would have to forcibly stop him from taking over her paper. Again.)

Kim had taken to keeping her in his hoodie, escorting her to the bakery and didn’t leave her alone until Adrien said it was his “Marinette Anxiety Watch” shift.

Which she would like to go on record, is just plain mean to say. She has Liar 100% under control when world ending things and metaphorical bomb drops aren’t happening to her constantly.

—-

Bruce tried to contact Diana and Arthur again. Hal was off world, and therefore useless.

Why?

As his missing son hadn’t contacted them yet. Was still in the Miraculous team’s custody. And he saw the footage of Robin—Damian—being hunted by a lving shadow, an element casting swordswoman, and a strategist that seemed to know exactly what to do to keep Robin cornered in battle. The living shadows—Chat Noir—tried to kill his son with Cataclysm.

That was when they were in public, and had Hal watching over them.

He didn’t want to think about what the kids might do unsupervised to someone that tried to kill Ladybug, openly stalked her civilian self, and apparently tried stalk her again, in broad daylight. And possibly may have revealed her secret identity…

From the comments, it seemed that the Parisians hadn’t connected his sons aliases to the pair, writing it off as “Copy-cat Vigilantes” thankfully. And none of them were revealing more than “so the Fashion Disaster tried to go after Chat and Ryuko’s civvie… Not A Smart CopyBird” was the most he was able to get.

His children, on the other hand…

——

“I Fucking KNEW IT!” Tim yelled. “I knew it was her!”

“But,” Jason smirked. “You didn’t tell us.”

“Soup girl, baby bat!” Cass said gleefully.

“Wait, we both talked to her—and you didn’t say you thought it was her either Cass!”

“So what I’m hearing, if my ears don’t deceive me,” Jason continued. “Is that you all lost too.”

“What—“

“Wait a minute!”

“No way—”

Cass shrugged. She was the least invested in winning. She got to meet soup girl, who is very nice and her parents are safe for Baby Bat.

“We don’t have proof,” Dick pointed out. “Didn’t you say something about her being a mouse?”

“I—”

“Well—”

“Yes.” Cass cut through Tim and Stephanie’s waffling. “She is.”

Dick rubbed his forehead. “How many secrets can one kid have?”

“Five?” Jason said without much thought. “Limit is definitely five.”

—-

“Let me get this straight,” Miss Sting began, watching Ladybug very, very carefully. Rena and Carapace were busy that night and couldn’t act as the team’s Common Sense Filter in person. and texts only went so far.

So the job fell to Aurore. To talk (probably Marinette) Ladybug out of a Very, Stupendously, Inconceivably Bad Idea.

“You want to trust Robin—the kid who tried to kill you—to contact his mother—an assassin—to talk strategy about how to take down Hawkmoth’s civilian life’s business, not kill him, and trust that they won’t kill you?”

“…I’m bringing Chat with me.”

“Ladybug.”

“What, do you want me to use a Lucky Charm to prove this is our best bet?”

“You know what?” Miss Sting threw her hands up. “Yes, yes I do.”

“Fine.” Ladybug threw her yoyo skyward. “Lucky Charm!”

A red, spotted ball with an 8 on it came down.

“… you have got to be kidding me.”

Ladybug shrugged. “Uh, Magic Eightball, is it okay to trust Robin with this?”

One shake later and the floating die window read “Without a Doubt.”

“Give me that.” Miss Sting scowled, shaking as she asked. “Should she bring someone besides Chat and Robin—like someone from our team or Wonder Woman or Aquaman?”

The ball answered “Outlook not so good.”

Miss Sting glared at the magic eight ball. “I can’t believe this!”

Ladybug shrugged. “Lucky Charms are Lucky Charms—and I gotta go.”

Miss Sting checked her beeping spinning top. Someone was just akumatized.

“Re-charge first!” Miss Sting yelled before swinging ahead.

—-

“Oh, hey, when’s Demon Spawn going to contact us?” Jason asked as other bats calmed down.

“He’s not answering his communicator.” Bruce growled. “Hal took it earlier.”

The bats paused at that.

“Well then. Trackers?”

“Disabled—what? We didn’t need anyone crashing the apology and he ran off before I could stop him,” Dick defended. He is not Damian’s keeper. Just his Batman (as yes Bruce, he is Damian’s Batman and Damian is his Robin. Current masks not-withstanding).

“Then how are we supposed to find him?” Stephanie asked as the room grew uneasy.

No one answered that.

“How’s this,” Tim began. “Me, Steph and Cass agreed on who Hawkmoth probably is, each of us has a different set of evidence for it—and I’m counting breaking into his evil Liar and the cameras catching him mid-act a few minutes ago as absolute proof.”

“I’m sorry, you did what!” Stephanie leaned over Tim’s shoulder to see. “Oh shit. Isn’t that guy—”

“One of her friends? According to their private Instagram accounts, more like partner in crime and possible Chat Noir. I mean, he’s the one that calls her his “everyday Ladybug” and voices Chat Noir in everything." Tim answered idly. “My money’s on him not knowing at all.”

Bruce twitched. Then began to add ‘stalking social media feeds’ to his to-do list tonight.

“So,” Tim stepped forward. “I suggest we send this to the Wonder Woman and ask for Robin’s comm to be returned, and failing that, I bugged the video so anything they play it on, we get access to its IP and can find where they are.”

“Have Oracle go over the bug, just in case,” Bruce told them. “In the mean time, the rest of you suit up for the night. Gotham needs its vigilantes.”

—-

Marinette wanted to go on the record that her plan (to keep the bats away) was going well. Deciding what to do with Mu—R—Damian. Damian. Damian and his offer, was a challenge.

For obvious reasons, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Aquaman were against her asking a bunch of assassins for their help. Chat has more than a few reservations. Carapace, Rena and Miss Sting gave her looks for that plan.

But.

But it would work. She needs more information on how to make the plan burning in the back of her mind work. It’s a lot of chaos (and she may thrive in chaotic battles but this wasn’t her usual battlefield, and her team didn’t know who they were going up against for once). And Marinette? She needs to know its not just her doing this when its so out of her depths.

So despite literally everyone and their disagreements she had Chat on her right side with Damian on her left, meeting up with his Crazy, Semi-Immortal mother. And possibly his Immortal, former Black Cat candidate, grandfather.

Why?

As Marinette isn’t trusting the likely cult that makes up the Gotham Ghost Gang (Batfam if you like them) when she can get real advice and vague directions to immortal and allied (loyal and terrifying) assassins.

And yes, she wasn’t sure if Liar was wrong or right when they said it was a bad idea too.

But fuckit she’s already got Kaalki at her shoulder, looking a bit bored at the deserted rooftop that Kaalki chose for their meeting.

“داميان*,” the woman smiled at her son. “It’s good to see you.”

“Mother,” Robin greeted. “This is Ladybug and Chat Noir. Ladybug wished to speak to you about potential strategies to take down an enemy outside of battle without violence,” Damian stressed.

“I am well-aware of the Kwami and their Chosen, اِبْن.**” The woman spoke calmly. “The League of Assassins formed to act as the Black Cat to restore the world to balance and un-burden the Order with its maintenance.” The woman offer Ladybug her hand. “I am Talia al Ghul, and I am at your service, with or without violence Ladybug.”

Marinette took her hand. “Thank you Talia. Our target being directly exposed like I planned would have…” Ladybug trailed off, thinking over the ramifications not only to Adrien, but to the whole of Gabriel’s brand, workers and all that worked with them. “Some intense ramifications I’d rather avoid.”

Talia nodded her head, waiting for more information.

“I believe its possible to topple them without affecting their employees by uncoupling them from their business, but doing so is, well, stocks and economics isn’t my strongest point.” Ladybug admitted a bit sheepishly.

“I would suggest,” Talia began, “to create a bit of chaos in the stock market. Perhaps a rumor here and there, let investors pull out and grab the abandoned stocks quickly. Consolidate them under one owner and become the company’s owner.”

Marinette twitched a bit at that. “That… sounds complicated.”

“Oh, but it isn’t. My son knows just how to that, or did you forget our lessons?” Talia asked coolly.

Damian twitched at Marinette’s side. “I did not.”

“You know,” Chat chimed in. “I do know a few things about those things. If its general chaos, well…” Chat’s face twisted in a way Marinette forgot he could do after that Chat Blanc episode.

“… I will take that into consideration.”

“Anything else?” Talia asked, watching Ladybug and her son. Specifically, how her son seemed glued to the girl’s side. “I am certain my son is able to take out your target, if all else fails.”

Damian scowled at Marinette’s side.

“However, I do believe that whatever is happening, whatever has you active, might require a more… experience hand.”

Damian brushed against her side. Code for ‘Possible Danger.’

“Thank you for the offer,” Chat moved in front of Marinette. “But mi’lady and the Guardians have that much handled.”

Talia’s eyes shifted from Chat to Ladybug, staying on her. “Is that so?”

“Yes. I merely needed more information on how to execute this type of plan, that’s all!” Ladybug almost, almost slipped into Marinette while Liar, while silenced for the moment, prodded the back of her mind. “I want to minimize collateral damage as much as I can, to everyone. The kwami already said they get to chose the target’s punishment.”

“Ah, I see.” Talia relaxed then. “You are following the kwami’s wishes. I will respect their wishes as well, Chosen.”

Marinette categorized this interaction as one of the “not too horrible, but will avoid a repeat” once they left.

—

*Damian in arabic

**son

so we have Talia now as a Player, sort of. she plays by her word pretty well so hopefully its a cameo more than anything else.

any ideas on how JL will handle the video, and if Miraculous Team should see it and freak out or only LB and keep on the dl while JL assissts in her Chaos Plot?

End of update. Will have to repost from ao3 on my phone now as desktop tumblr is being exceptionally rude. Tags always open, just takes me a bit to do—sorry to vixen for vanishing from tags

TAGS:  @heldtogetherbysafetypins @laurcad123 @raisuke06 @chaosace @jeminiikrystal @toodaloo-kangaroo @kris-pines04 @bisha43rbs @izang @dreamykitty25 @emu-lumberjack @vixen-uchiha

#maribat #marinette did not sign up for this #part 10 #updated at last #my writing #long post #my writings #bio!dad bruce

[forgottenyogurtgods]

Author stuff: Alright, picking up right where we left off! Sorry this took so long. I couldn’t find a bit of research ANYWHERE and it’s super annoying, so I eventually gave up and decided to omit it until I can actually slip it in at some point.

Also, Alya is now actively involved!

no body, no crime

by forgottenyogurtgods

Summary: [I think he did it but I just can’t prove it. No, no body, no crime But I ain’t letting up until the day I die.]

Adrien is a Swiftie. To be fair, who isn’t? And her Evermore album? Chef’s kiss! Except… one song put an idea in his head and now he can’t get it out.

Inspired by this tumblr post.

Chapter 3/?

[First chapter] [Last Chapter]

Episode 3

Two years ago, Emilie Agreste vanished without a trace. Her car was found abandoned on the side of the road, just outside of Paris. All of her things were still inside.

No one has seen or heard from her since that night. 

The police are officially calling it a missing person’s case.

I am your host, Adrian Agreste, and I plan to use this podcast docu-series to find out what happened to my mother and prove to the world that my father killed her.

The investigation on my mother’s disappearance wasn’t that deep of an investigation. It barely scratched the surface. It was all for show.

No one was putting in any effort to find out what happened to her. But why?

Well, that’s actually pretty easy to figure out. My father has a lot of influence here in Paris. There’s no getting around that. He… he can pay off people or threaten them, if it comes to it, to keep their silence or to make sure things never get out.

Which is why he’s my number one suspect. 

Okay, okay. I know what you’re thinking: Adrien, why would you blame your father if you don’t have any proof?

That’s the thing, there is no proof. We have very little beyond what was released to the press. Which is why I, ahem, got Chat Noir involved.

[I still can’t believe that you asked them without consulting me first. I do have ways to get a hold of them, you know.]

I, uh, I was going to introduce you, you know.

[It’s fine. I can introduce myself.

Hey, ladybloggers and listeners! I’m Alya Cesaire. Most of you living here in Paris know me for running the Ladyblog — which has every possible scoop on the dynamic duo, Ladybug and Chat Noir.]

As well as Rena Rouge and the rest of the gang.

[Yeah, Rena Rouge is cool and everything, but have you seen Carapice in action?]

[Uh, dudes, can you not?]

Aw, what’s wrong, Nino? Don’t want to hear your girlfriend talk about a superhero?

[Not that I mind it or anything, but not on the podcast. Okay, Alya?]

[Sure, babe.

Anyway! Where was I?]

Talking about the superhero gang that roams Paris and saves it from Hawkmoth.

[Yeah, still working on unmasking him.]

It’ll happen soon enough.

[Oh, how do you know?]

Eh, it’s just something that I feel. 

So, back to what we were talking about?

[Right, so I run the Ladyblog. Which means I should have been told that Chat Noir was helping with the investigation.]

Uh… Sorry?

[Yeah, yeah.]

So, want to tell my listeners how you figured out how little investigating went into the, uh, investigation?

[Okay, so, me and my girl Marinette got recruited pretty early on in this project. As in, before Adrien even decided to make this into a podcast. Great idea, by the way.]

Thanks.

[So, she and I were printing out as many news articles that we could find. And going to different libraries and going through the newspaper archives. There wasn’t much that hadn’t been digitized, but we did notice some… things, I guess you can say, in wording.

That was kind of my biggest clue. 

In journalism, we have to use certain wording for certain things. It’s pretty standard for the wording to change throughout the investigation as more information is uncovered. In fact, you tend to expect it. This is normal in any missing persons or murder case.

…You okay?]

Yeah. I’m fine. Just, um, yeah. Just continue.

[With Emilie’s case, your mom’s case, the wording never changed. It actually hasn’t changed at all. Except for when your dad held the, um, the funeral service. For her.]

And that… that got you thinking?

[Yeah. It got me thinking.

Why weren’t there any changes? Why wasn’t a whole lot of new info being given out? It’s true that only so much could be said, but there was nothing. No motivation for her running away of being kidnapped, no motivation for murder, no suspects list, no evidence found in her car or in the area surrounding it, no nothing.

She simply disappeared.

This big investigation for a woman — a pretty, white socialite, who would normally garner the biggest investigation you could ever possibly imagine. And you know it’s true. This investigation wasn’t going anywhere. It was stagnant.

Why? Why was that? Why has nothing been put out in the years since?]

You have a theory?

[I have two.

The first: Someone’s being paid off and big time. Someone knows something or someone did something and now we’re all being kept in the dark.]

I hate to ask, but any ideas?

[None that you would like, and I don’t want to point fingers because I wouldn’t be able to afford the legal ramifications if I said who.]

Right.

And the next theory?

[The reason that there’s no new information is because nothing new has been found. It’s… sad, to say the least, but it’s true. 

There is so little evidence, so little motive, so little everything. It’s not difficult to believe that everything is already in police custody. There’s nothing else for them to collect.]

Hm.

[Not exactly what you wanted to hear, is it?]

It’s that obvious?

[It’s understandable. She’s your mom. I don’t think… I don’t think I would be able to handle it if my mom or any of my sisters or my dad ever went missing and nothing new came up.]

Yeah.

[So, I have a question.]

Okay. 

[What makes you think that your dad killed your mom?]

Author stuff cont’d.: Going to have to relisten to the true crime podcast that really got me into them.

Also available on

[Ao3]

[FanFiction.Net]

[Wattpad]

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #miraculous fanfic #miraculous ladybug fanfic #mlb fanfic #mlb no body no crime

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML What if (submitted idea)

(What if, Master Fu gave Adrien the responsibility of the Guardian and not Marinette?)

Adrien finding the book in Volpina had a lot of different ramifications. Plagg actually realized it might be important.

“Fu might want to see this.”

“Who?”

“We have some free time after school. We can handle it then.

“Okay...”

Adrien was now much more attentive of the book.

Lila never managed to snag the book because Adrien was more cautious of it and Adrien declined to meet after school since he was busy

Lila still got enough of a look at Volpina to know what to look for to fake a miraculous. She could also have more time to do more research.

Marinette was still snooping so Tikki saw the book. Though Marinette argued to focus on Lila as she seemed up to something. Tikki still pestered about the book but couldn’t get through Marinette’s focus.

Marinette took notes of Lila but did not do a direct confrontation like in Volpina, because She wasn’t pushed by Lila’s lies and advances on Adrien. She had proof so she decided to go home and she can ask Adrien tomorrow if she could see the book. Tikki was iffy but at least it didn’t mean stealing it. So she was fine with it.

Adrien took the book to fu, thanks to Plagg’s directions. This allowed for Adrien to learn what Ladybug learned in The collector.

Adrien tells Fu he needs to bring the book back since it’s his father’s. This gets Fu speculating that Hawkmoth might be Adrien’s father.

“You want me to investigate my father!?”

“We need to be certain that he is not the one who is causing trouble. It is also possible he could be an ally.” Fu explained to get Adrien to consider looking into it.

Before Adrien left with the book. Fu took pictures of each page, and then Fu instructed him not to tell Ladybug of his existence. “She will know in time.”

_________________________________________

Now it’s time to vote for what happens next time: comment the number you want to see:

Adrien decides to investigate his father secretly. To try and gather proof

Chat noir tells Ladybug about the theory of who Hawkmoth is and asks for her thoughts on it

Chat noir ignores Fu’s theory, obviously it’s nuts

Adrien goes direct confrontation mode on his father.

#miraculous ladybug #ml #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #ml au #ml what if au #submission

[itsmeevie01]

MLB Secret Santa 2020!

Hey, @kaijuusandkryptids! I’m your secret santa this year. A little identity reaveal is heading your way! :)

@mlsecretsanta

a side note, to clear it up a lil, in this everyone is aged up and in University. Marinette (in this . i’m not sure how realistic this is...) skipped a few grades because i wanted her to...

Marinette flopped down into her bed, exhaustion taking over as she sunk into the mattress. It was just after the sun had gone down, and the teen had been up for over 24 hours, hunting the never-ending flow of Akumas that had started a week ago.

Enjoy!

At first, she had thought that it was just Hawkmoth being petty, but now the girl had a different idea. Now, she had a feeling that two people were using the Butterfly Miraculous. The differences had been small at first, obviously the second person had been given instructions. Then they had started to understand the miraculous the way the first Hawkmoth never could. Akumas were getting stronger, faster, and smarter. This change in MO, however, had led Marinette to narrowing down her search fields for the magic villain(s).

Marinette’s brain protested at the idea of adding what she had figured out to her list. Groaning, the girl patted the comforter around her until she found her phone. Sending a text to herself, making sure that she used the guardian language, Marinette let her exhaustion take over. Sleep was the only thing that would help her now.

The next morning, Marinette tumbled out of bed close to 10. Her eyes squinted against the bright light coming in from her skylight, and she pulled a pillow over her head to try to go back to sleep before giving up. When her feet touched the floor, she cringed in pain. She may not have been without her suit for much of the last week, but when she was using the miraculous so intensely as often as she had, Marinette knew that it was taking a toll on her body. She also knew that the healing properties that Paris relied on, had started to pass over her, leaving the noirette with more and more injuries after each akuma battle. With a week straight of fights, the teen was aching for a vacation that she had been unable to take for three years.

After pulling on a skirt and switching her sleep shirt for a top that sat just off one shoulder, the 17-year-old reached for her phone. She knew she had plans at some point this summer, and they were going to be…oh. Her plans were for today. Knocking on her desk for good luck, even when you carry luck herself in your purse, it never hurts to be too careful, Marinette pulled her hair into a ponytail and curled the ends, trying to at least pretend to try today. When the teen took a glance in the mirror, for the first time really looking at her face, she froze. There, on her face, was a sunburn. A sunburn that looked a little too much like it followed the outline of her mask to be anything else. Shit.

For the most part, this wouldn’t be a problem, if Marinette wasn’t getting ready to go meet Chloe and Kagami. If she was going to see almost anyone else, it would be fine, but the girls, her best friends, also happened to be Empress Honey and Ryuko. These girls were her team.

The scream that had rocked the Grand Paris Hotel had scared many of the patrons. The girl that the cry of distress had originated from was standing in her bathroom, enjoying the first morning in over a week that she had to herself, until she looked in the mirror. The blonde’s eyes went huge as she gaped at the sunburn that was sitting rudely on her cheeks. The sun freckles were cute, the heiress could deal with them. She could handle the natural highlights she got from being outside all the time, but the teen hero could not handle the sunburn that would immediately out her as being one of the kids running over the rooftops in colorful costumes. This. This was not good.

Kagami knew that being out in the sun would cause a sunburn and had made sure to carry sunscreen at first. After the first day, however, the fencer had decided that it would be easier to just change her suit. Now, the girl had a hood that used magic to keep her entire face in shadow. The girl had a feeling that the others hadn’t thought about the ramifications of the sun, and she knew that the reactions and aftermath would be entertaining in the least.

The Agreste Mansion was quiet, as it had been all summer. Adrien had seen two other people in his father’s house. The Gorilla, who was taking him to all of the commitments that his father had planned for him, and Natalie’s new assistant Kirra. The quite brunette was kind to him and would sneak the (too) skinny teen extra helpings when she could. Besides the two adults that the 19-year-old knew were tasked with his care, Adrien had lost all Gabriel sanctioned contact after he had moved on to university the year before. With so many online courses, the model had become a prisoner in his own home.

Of course, Gabriel Agreste didn’t know that his son was Chat Noir. He also didn’t know that the boy had been sneaking out since he was 15. As Adrien stretched and stumbled towards his bathroom, his feet protested. The hero had been active for almost a week with no reprieve. Now, he just hoped that he hadn’t missed to many events, or his father might start to take notice. When he opened the door and fumbled for the lights, the blonde froze. Staring back at him was his reflection. His very sunburnt reflection.

When the heroes saw the akuma alert show up on their phones, they all groaned. For just one day, they wanted to be able to relax. It would be nice to follow through with commitments and see their friends and family. Instead they found themselves, once again, making excuses to go transform and continue a battle that was starting to feel endless.

When Marinette, Adrien, Chloe, Kagami, and Luka met up for coffee later that week, three out of the five were sporting very telling sunburns. It didn’t help that the Miraculous team had finished a fight less than an hour before. All of the young heroes were exhausted but had promised themselves that they would push through their exhaustion to see their friends. When they had collapsed at their table, each clutching a cup of coffee like it was the last thing keeping them standing (it was). The security that came with being around friends, people that they trust, led to the group collectively letting their guard down. Their delayed reactions to the matching sunburns was expected but would embarrass them for years to come.

Marinette had just shaken her head at Chloe, muttering a “of course we both goofed.”. Chloe had gapped at the youngest of the group, shock obvious on her face as she connected the dots. Adrien had seen Chloe’s face, the bright red that the heiress had tried to hide, and practically squealed. The unintelligible onslaught of excitement from the model had caused Chloe to look over at her friend and screech. It was at this point that Kagami and Marinette agreed to move their get together to Luka’s apartment.

As soon as the door shut, Chloe turned to Marinette. “You. You are Ladybug.” The complete confidence in the statement made Marinette smile slightly. She knew there was a reason she had chosen Chloe for her bee. The way both Kagami and Adrien whipped their heads to look at the girl, it was clear that they hadn’t put it together. Luka just chuckled and shook his head.

“It took you long enough, Chloe. I’ve know Mari was Ladybug since the first time I met her.” The looks of shock that his friends sent him made the oldest shrug. “I can hear everyone’s soul song. It isn’t that hard to figure it out.” Kagami blinked as she processed the information. The realization that Luka must know her secret identity as well made the girl freeze. Next to her, Adrien was looking back and forth between Marinette and Luka, confused.

“Wait, but, no, I…How?” Marinette laughed slightly at the look of shock on her friend’s face. As the boy gaped at her, she studied him, before shaking her head. She had started to suspect that Chat Noir was her only friend that she didn’t think would suit the miraculous in her box, but the confusion and shock, paired with his matching sunburn, had sealed the deal for her.

“I picked Luka to be Viperion years ago”. The response was quiet. Her words however, made them all fall silent. “He was the first one that I made permanent. I needed the ability to have another set of hands. And,” here, the girl sends Luka a glare, “I needed someone to tell me when I was dying. Someone just happens to be exceptionally bad at remembering to tell me.” The musician scowled in response, the expression out of place on his face in his friends’ minds. Marinette simply raise an eyebrow, obviously very used to his reaction. Chloe was the first to break the silence.

“wait, Marinette. YOU chose the other holders?” the shock in her voice shook Kagami and Adrien from their shocked stupor. While Kagami narrowed her eyes, Adrien shook his head.

“that’s…that’s not possible.” Chloe’s head snapped to look at her oldest friend.

“what do you mean, it’s not possible?”

“Marinette. You. Ladybug. Couldn’t have chosen me. Right? It. That just doesn’t line up?” the uncertainty in the boy’s voice made Chloe pause, and Marinette wince.

“I…no. Adrien. You are one of three wielders that are currently active that I didn’t choose. If. If it makes you feel better? The other two are the reason that we are fighting.” Chloe stomped her foot in frustration, her blue eyes blazing.

“How are you so calm? Your secret identity was just outed! Because of a sunburn! And it was outed to people who have been akumatized before!” Marinette simply smiled and shook her head.

“I was going to tell you, all of you, soon anyways. Because we are close to Hawkmoth’s identity, and I wanted you to know.” The looks of shock on everyone’s faces made her smile. “Adrien would have been the first to know though.” Luka looked at her in confusion.

“Mari, wait. I thought you said Chat was- oh.” The guardian smiled as she watched her friends digest what they had heard and put the rest of the pieces together.

Three weeks later

Marinette smiled as Adrien settled into to his normal spot on her floor, a book in front of him. even before the accidental sunburn fiasco, the two had taken to hanging out when the model could get away. Now though, there was no pretense. The blonde would drop down the girl’s skylight and settle on her chaise while she finished whatever she was working on. Earlier that day, Adrien had appeared toting a bag of books. The bag was huge and was obviously straining under the weight of the textbooks the boy had come to drop off for his friend. The girl had spent the last few weeks working diligently with Kagami to piece together the clues on Hawkmoth’s identity. As their list continued to be narrowed down, Marinette had started sending Adrien worried looks, but the teen had resigned himself to what he suspected was coming. While his friend worked to organize the proof they needed, he had started to run errands for her. If he accidentally left her money behind and used is instead when he did things like pick up her university textbooks for the fall semester, well. Marinette was a little busy right now.

I may go back and add a part two, but as of now, this is a stand alone...

#mlb secret santa #mlb #identity reveal #chloe b redemption #my writing

[smittenvixen13]

Kore Complex (11)

Chapter 11: Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing ~ “The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.”  ― Omar Khayyám

~ “Again!” She laughs breathlessly, eyes twinkling in the starlight as she jumps from their current stopping point, weaving her yoyo to catch on a light post, swinging away from his claw tipped fingers. Damn! She was a harder target to track now, with her darker design, but red tended to stand out in their city-especially with her arrival. Grin sharp, Claude doubled his efforts, chasing after Ladybug as they ran through Paris, his claws digging into tile and metal alike, tracking her movements as he stuck close to the shadows; even with the heat threatening them in the supposed coolness of night, summer sucked, they wanted to continue their training on speed. Speed and evasiveness was tonight’s lesson, and in a week it would be on strength endurance and sparring in general, and the following week would be to talk about the possibility of Hawkmoth’s direction of akumas as of late. Earlier, she had promised him some crepes from his favorite café if he managed to catch her three times that night. He WAS going to catch her this second time. He was close. Her laughter rings through the air, freefalling for a moment before safely landing on her feet on the next roof, never needing to look back to know she was being tracked. With a growl tickling his throat, he vaulted over the ledge, running on all fours once more, eyes narrowed on his prey. He was getting his bloody crepes, mark his words.

~ Paris slept; the serene lull of shadows denoted the sleeping figures hidden behind doors. Paris was awake; the light of the crescent moon, the brilliant lights of the city displaying the night life of the City of Love. Steadily moving through the city, he navigated the path towards the looming, pale mansion to watch the worrying case of Adrien Agreste. It had been nearly a month since the blond has been replaced and still the young man dealt with the ramifications of his loss of memory, gaps seemingly filled that proved to hold little foundation, but the ghost of what once was haunted him through all these trials. It cruelly twisted his mind, bent it towards its will. It was worrying. “Master, perhaps we should discuss this with Tikki and Plagg, they would know how to handle this.” Wayzz was worryingly flitting about once on the safety of a roof, his eyes trained to the situation across the way. Tikki and Plagg were the eldest, they would know what was ailing him, wouldn’t they? “Perhaps we should,” he paused, looking back to his old holder, “perhaps we should see about…eliminating his memories, this will only torture him further.” Chat Noir had messed up, for that there was no question, but he was still just a child. No child deserved this torture. The old master was worried, able to see the boy pacing his room, tears in his eyes as he struggled to handle his need to speak but no one there. As if he knew that there WAS supposed to be someone there, a constant presence, but one now gone. No kwami there. “We will wait to see what happens. But we will bring about Tikki’s and Plagg’s opinions, we do not need a child to break so harshly.” Even after millennia with Kwami roaming the earth, so to say, the mysteries of the miraculous were just of their own design, not even the Kwami knew all the mysteries left. Perhaps he should also discuss this with his young apprentice, she was to take over once she completed her training, he would not fail as he had when he was younger. ~ Adrien could feel his head throbbing as memories(memories?) festered within his mind; building and building as they plagued him with nothing but confusion and pain. They weren’t memories, what was he thinking? They were dreams, dreams that meant nothing and were only the fantasies of a lonely model, one now without friends. “Get a grip, Agreste, you’re fine.” He was not, in fact, fine; Adrien fought often between his desire to speak to a would be presence at his side and the infernal desire to seek out a warmth only some broken part of him remembered, something so wonderfully safe and yet it escaped all of his urgent sweeps of the mind. Looking down to his naked hand (why did it feel so naked now?), he wondered if he maybe got hit by some akuma and wasn’t properly healed? But…but Miraculous Ladybug would’ve cured him by now, would’ve healed whatever had been wrong with him. No, no, it had to be something else. Or someone else. Why did he think of pink when he thought of that? “Uuuugh!” The bed creaked under his weight, sullen emeralds glaring above him as he tried to reach for what eluded his grasp. He was missing something, but what was he missing? Pink. He frowned, his mind once more directed back to the image of pink. Warmth. But WHY was it warm? Turning onto his side, he spied the glass carelessly left on his desk, little beads filling it up. “Oh….” Marinette… Honestly, he hadn’t thought of her in a while, now that he thought about it, not with what’s been going on. Definitely not since the truth came out, and his plain brain fuckery at the moment. His heart clenched at the thought of her; he missed her, god he missed her, even during the moments when he still thought she was stubborn one-though that looked less and less likely by the day- and missed how she lit up a room, filled it with warmth, a bubbly energy that was hard not to love. He clutched a pillow closer, regret bubbling up within him. God, he had been such an asshole. She hadn’t deserved that, not with all the crap happening back then, why had he been? He saw they alienated her, he alienated her, stepped back from his word and focused on chasing after Ladybug like Alya, and yet he stubbornly, blindly, believed she would stay? Maybe he got too obsessive with his Ladybug crush, maybe he thought she was invincible- their everyday ladybug- and had decided she could never be akumatized, and maybe his stupid obsession with Ladybug, the one that made him end up in weird places and fogged up his memories, had translated it over to her, making him act “Stupid.” He had been greedy for her presence back then, he still kind of was NOW, as if he always expected to find her there at his side, ready to talk with him, a bright face to smile at him at school. She had kept silent about Lila, she had kept to the plan, and she suffered for it, but he should’ve talked to her much more than he did, instead of focusing on Ladybug. Fuck, he told her he didn’t need her, acted like some version of Chloe and Lila mixed together in some fucked up concoction. No wonder she even stood in front of her new friends, as if guarding them from the words he spat at her, her set expression chilling as he and Alya just acted horrible. They deserved not having her in their world, deserved it for their words alone. He deserved it. His fingers crept up, moving to massage a headache from his brow but…but no headache? He was thinking up of the most revolting thing he’s done and he didn’t have a throbbing skull? His mind felt at ease, calmed almost, but it figures, she was always doing good, even for bastards like him. A flurry of red crossed his vision before it vanished again, his memories starting and ending just as fast. “What the hell…?” Why the RED? That’s it, he needed to take a stupid sleeping pill and go to bed, he didn’t need to wonder why he went from Pink to Red in a matter of minutes, he was done. “Stupid color spectrum.” ~ Ruined! All that hard work, those months of progress, dealing with such insufferable idiots, all of it gone in an instant because of some deadbeat Rock-wannabe! Her screech echoes across the empty apartment as she hurls an ornate mask against her bedroom wall, the remains scattering through the room, chaos all around her, before pacing away from the bed to snarl out a foul curse. It was working perfectly! If she worked this correctly she could maybe work this for the better, those idiots didn’t have a brain in them like that, all those brains left with that nobody baker girl. At least it had been entertaining when she was there, she at least played the role of broken doll very well or she would fight back, resulting in the noose of alienation to tighten further around her spindly neck. Marinette. That fucking girl just had to be a goody-goody, had to have everyone kiss the ground she walked on. No flutter of butterfly wings had come to her, no matter how much she snarled for Hawkmoth to hurry up and akumatize her, it seemed she was to be left to her own devices. “They’ll pay, they’ll all pay. Mark my words, Marinette, you’re going to wish you joined me….” She wouldn’t go down quietly. Her phone began to chime, a slow smirk coming to her face at the sight of texts coming from her ‘best friend’. And it seems she wouldn’t be going down alone. ~ ‘Up, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,’ her body relaxed, following the pattern it had long since been acquainted with as the weeks passed, ‘hold. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,’ stilling, she held her legs up in the air, pointed to the roof, concentrating on keeping her balance, muscles tensed and poised, ‘down. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,’ down her legs went, steady and slow, only the slightest tremble. “Finished”, Marinette breathed out a relieved sigh, the workout complete, “Allegra’s right, that does help.” Checking her phone, she found she still had plenty of time until she had to dash over to Saranya’s to review the video of their fashion shoot, as well as short interviews and commentary with the creator of MDC. “Tikki, grab yourself a few cookies, I’m going to go water the plants!” “Okay, Marinette! Want anything?” The goddess questioned, flittering near the nook made specially for her to use as storage of sweets. Her chosen was growing stronger, she had seen it in the way more of the Ladybug grace and strength began to aid in Marinette’s civilian work, in how Ladybug was able to almost glide as she jumped. “I’m good! Get yourself plenty, we’ll be awhile with Saranya and Allen on editing, then we have the live premier we’re going to watch at Félix’s house, and Luka wanted to get us all together with his band for an idea he had. You’ll need plenty of energy,” she reminded the Kwami, humming softly to herself as she gave her sweet dahlias some extra love, whispering to them the days’ plans. To think, her brand was going to hit the web on Saranya’s website! She couldn’t thank the other enough. Once all was finished, she made sure to double check over the flowers, ensuring each one was watered properly, leaves plucked where needed, when she felt eyes on her; her skin prickled, but nothing in the gaze felt ominous, nothing harsh and cynical. Looking around, none of the other balconies or windows were opened, so no one at sky level was watching her. Peering downward proved more fruitful. Down near the entrance of the park stood her former partner, just outside of the current modeling shoot, looking so lost as he gazed up to her, as if she held all the meaning in the world. He looked…not good, had he always been that pale? “Tikki…,” Marinette began, biting her lip as she reentered her room, “I…I think something’s wrong with Adrien.” As much as he hurt her in the past, even during the unintentional times, he was still someone who had been her best friend, and she wasn’t Lila. Decision made, she hoisted her bag over her shoulder, “Come on, I want to see if he’s okay.” The goddess wanted to protest, to keep her chosen away from what had once been a wielder, but she kept quiet as she zipped into her bag. Marinette was worried for a reason, she’ll trust her chosen on this issue. And she’d stop the would be kitten if he tried anything funny. He was still standing there when she exited the bakery, fingers twitching at his side before he crossed his arms, to hide them; his expression looked terrified, as if he couldn’t believe he was doing this, but a hopeful glint in his gaze is what drew her in, he looked so pained. “Adrien, um, how are you?” Yeah, not the smoothest words to say when the last words between them had been under the guise of a mask, memories he was supposed to have lost. “I’m,” he paused, as if unsure, before releasing a heavy sigh, “I’m not good. I just…you were right, about everything.” He shrunk in on himself, the admission no doubt hurting him; Uncle Jagged had said he found the little leech lying backstage of his concert, said ‘Sunshine’ had bought the tickets for everyone to enjoy. “I should have never have told you to do all that stupid stuff regarding Lila, I should’ve had your back, should’ve told Nino and Alya from the start. And now…now I’m alone, no one wants a liar’s enabler.” He gave a bitter smile, green eyes peering down to her, remorseful, “But I deserve it, for making you so alone. Besides, this’ll help me. I needed those ‘lessons in life’ people always talked about in movies.” “Adrien,” she sighs, tongue clicking in disapproval, placing a hand on his arm, his arm jerking a little, surprised, yearning, “No one deserves a life of loneliness. Not even that bully, Lila. I’m still hurt over what you did; you hurt me a lot, Adrien, you left me to drown in all that hate they crashed over me. You called me selfish, you called my friends nasty things, you called me a lot of nasty things too.” He twitched under her touch, shying away now, wanting to hide away from the truth. He stayed though; he took his punishment. But he trembled. “I may not want to be friends anymore, I may never want to be friends again, but that doesn’t mean you deserve to be abandoned. I care about you even if we’re not friends. You fucked up, but so did they. They decided not to look it up. They decided not to at least take my word with a grain of salt and be wary. They decided not to go to you and ask if Ladybug really did yell at her in the park. Everyone makes their bed, and eventually we all have to sleep in them.” A halting laugh escaped him, lips pulling into a wistful smile, “You know, you really are an everyday Ladybug,” his voice wet from emotion, bottom lip trembling, “hell, maybe even better. But I wanted to apologize to you while I had the chance; you deserve the apology, especially for all the hell we put you through.” Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he held a hand out to her, “I hope you get all you deserve, Marinette, and you deserve a lot,” he didn’t look as pained as before, wistful even, “I hope you kick my dad and Audrey from their high horses. Jagged already got Lila. You show the world who you are, o-okay?” She giggles at that, heart aching at seeing the glimpses of her kitty, the one Adrien used to be, before something twisted took hold, “I hope you get what you deserve too, Adrien. Try and build towards better, after all, ‘when you hit the bottom, the only place left to go is up’.” She took a step away, a piece of her shutting away with her cherished memories of her Chaton, before waving good-bye. She had a project to go do. Adrien watched her walk away, his heart clenching longingly, wanting so desperately to go to her, to beg her to take him back, but he had lost that right. All he had to do now was get out of the hole he dug himself into. Maybe, if he was lucky, he could one day earn that right back? Who knows what the future holds. ‘I promise to try better, for you, Princess.’ “Princess?” ~ His morning had seemed so relaxing in his bed. His morning had been so nice, his bed warm, his dreams full of future possibilities-the melding of melodies had been so beautiful. What had happened? “Luka, please, you need to let us talk to Marinette!” Rose simpers, gazing up to him with those wide eyes of hers, tears practically spilling down her cheeks in rivers. That’s right. Seems his little sister’s class finally realized the truth. So much for peaceful mornings, wait, make that peaceful mid-mornings. At the sound of their continual begging, he rose his gaze back up, watching Nino nod his head to more of Rose’s whimpering, his eyes boring imploringly into Luka’s carefully blank face, “Yeah, dude! We need to apologize to her, for like, a lot. Right everyone?” Their nods were seemingly earnest, each pair of eyes wanting to see if he would bend to their wants and take them to Marinette, let them apologize to her and get into her good graces. As if they themselves couldn’t go to the bakery, as if they couldn’t ask for Marinette, ask her parents could send an apology to the girl. Yeah no, he wasn’t bending to their wants. “No. Marinette already asked me to not to do that,” he carefully steps around the others, tying his hair away from his neck, “she wants to be left alone. I get it, you’re sorry, I’ll tell her you are, but it’s up to her if she’ll see you.” He packed away his guitar, checking over his mental list that he had all that he needed. “And don’t go trying to follow her so she’ll forgive you.” “Luka? But-” “No, Jules,” he kept his voice a little gentler, calmer, but protective over his melody, “you-you guys kicked me to the side when that girl claimed I would only drag you guys down, you guys decided to believe someone new instead of your friend. Instead of me. You guys need to live with what you did, she is the only one who can decide if you’re in her life again or not. Not me. I love you Jules, but it hurt that you just kicked me to the side because she said I would be a bad image for Kitty Section.” Pushing through the crowd, Luka strides away from the boat, gaze steady as he reminded himself of the plan to come. After all, they always said that the best revenge was by being successful and happy, right? Buuuuut, a little pettiness couldn’t hurt. ~ “And…there! Video posted, credits given, and links for any outside source placed in the description!” Saranya chirped before releasing a loud groan as she stretched, cracking her back with a satisfied sigh. Marinette’s and Allen’s groans were heard behind her, both slumped over each other; editing had taken a little longer than planned, Claude interrupting them in the middle so they could all get some hydration and nutrition, the mother hen. Though that break had been too LONG, but they weren’t bitter for taking longer, nope. Claude wouldn’t be paying for their coffees, nope. Allen was the first to sit-up, barely containing a snort as Marinette just slumped against his back, pretending to sleep, “Since it’s finally done,” he drones, blearily shifting his focus to her and not just Marinette slumped against him, “why don’t we head to Fe’s like we promised? So we can have that premier party.” “Seconded,” Marinette mumbles, blinking blurry, blue eyes towards her far more alert friends-Allen had a very comfy back, very warm, perfect for napping against, would recommend to their friends-before making an effort to sit up and stretch her limbs out. Oh yeah, five hours of editing and filming was a bitch and a half. She had no idea how VuTubers did it, but the three of them somehow managed to do it! Saranya chuckles, setting her laptop aside so she could help the drowsy pair up from their sitting spot, “Alright you two, call the others and I’ll get us some waters to rehydrate. Muthe, why don’t you let Luka and his lot know we’re heading to Fé’s, Kagami and all them too. Al, you handle the others, I think Allegra and Félix should be finished with their dance class.” “Yeah, yeah,” he paused to yawn, failing to hide his grin at their giggles, “madam~. Right on it. I need to make sure EVERYTHING is fine on the laptop first.” Missing videos were not a fun thing after spending hours working on one. Just because it was PLANNED to be loaded up onto VuTube and her Blog in an hour, doesn’t mean it WOULD be.

He'd rather avoid that headache. Standing, she gave her body a full stretch, rocking on her tip toes, before grabbing her bag; it took everything in her not to coo at the sight of Tikki sleeping as the goddess clutched a pink macaron to her, only smiling as she grabbed her cell to make the needed calls. ~ Marinette headed towards “La Vie En Noir”, humming softly as she merrily thinks of the sweet Chai she was going to order, along with her round of people’s orders. It was planned that Marinette, Luka, and Félix would be the ones to get the drinks and desserts while everyone else got actual food and got a giant blanket fort to be made. It wasn’t like everyone planned to set the three up, nope, not at all. Nothing you could prove in court. Take them to imaginary court, they won’t. Félix was waiting outside for her, his cool gaze warming as he took her in, his expression softening, “Marinette. It’s lovely to see you’re well after all this afternoon.” He took her hand, pressing a soft kiss to it, “I trust Luka is on the way?” “F-Félix-!” She squeaked, melting at the sight of his smirk. Oh that ass, he knew exactly what he was doing. “He’s already here,” A voice chuckled from behind him, the guitarist smirking at their flaming faces, “and I see my sweet melody and graceful tune are here.” He, in turn, took Félix’s hand and brushed a kiss over his knuckles, “And it’s not fair to tease her like that~.” Oh yeah, sending the three smitten friends was totally not done on purpose. Marinette grins, giggling at the besotted looks the pair gave each other, opening the door for the two, “Well, we shouldn’t keep everyone waiting too long. After you.” They grinned, entering with an air of glee as she follows swiftly behind. “Why thank you, Ma-Ma-Marinette, so gallant of you,” Luka swoons, Marinette biting back a snort as she caught the taller male, “and look, you caught me. See, Félix? She can sweep us off our feet.” The blond hums, biting back a smirk as he faces forward to look over the menu, “She only caught you because you’re her damsel, it would seem. I am no damsel.” “And she’s strong. Come on, handsome, we know you want to be held too~,” Luka croons, standing back up to drape himself over the other now, Marinette giggling as she joined in; they didn’t need to look at the menu, Marinette had the text messages of what people wanted with their drinks. “Besides, I’m fairly certain a certain someone said he rather liked the challenge she gave as a fellow swordsman.” Félix scoffs, trying to fight down his blush as he avoided their eyes, “It’s difficult to find a suitable partner in such an art, you must feel the same way, what with your complaints over no dance partner.” He managed to challenge to the rocker, outing the secret. Marinette paused, glancing over to Luka, “You dance?” He hums softly, shrugging a little, cheeks coloring, “A bit? Mom had me learn dancing from places she used to travel to. I really liked the Latin dances the most, they’re expressive in their movements. It also helps to dance out the tune to see if it goes with dancing or jamming.” He shifted a bit off of the blond, seeing as their turn was approaching, before returning his focus to her, “Besides, you never told me you were into sword fighting.” “I picked it up because of a passing interest of mine,” Marinette wouldn’t admit it had been because of Adrien, but she had long before been taking lessons from her Nonna on the art of knife fighting, which they didn’t know either. “And he saw me practicing one day after school, recommended a better fencing sword for me, and we practiced together after that.” Félix chuckles, recalling their first fight, “She should’ve been taking lessons long ago, she’s a natural at it. I wonder if she could take on the dancing world as well….” He hints, their turn finally up. Marinette took charge in ordering what was needed, reassuring the worker that they wouldn’t mind a wait at all. They had time still, especially if Félix’s driver was outside at the ready. Luka found them a spot to wait out their order, before continuing their conversation, “Would you like to take up dancing? It helps ease the nerves by getting energy out.” “I’m…I’m not sure. I mean, yeah I had ballet lessons until maybe four years ago,” and that had been because of Chloe’s meddling, “but I’m a bit of a klutz. I’ve never tried ballroom or any kind of other dances.” Hell, Adrien had to take the lead when he waltzed with her at Chloe’s party. “Why not just give it a try, you know we got your back, cara mia,” Félix reassures, his typically composed face gentled for the pair before him. They weren’t too sure what they were yet, but they knew enough from past experiences that they were more than friends. “I’ll even see if Couffaine can manage to get us both to dance~.” Said Couffaine hums softly, smiling as he thought over their melding song and what dances would suit them all. ~ War was a violent creature, it ravaged over generations and societies, tore landscapes apart and made enemies from friendships. “No! These are MY cookies, you Mutt!” Allegra growls at Claude, tugging at the container holding her favorite cookies from Marinette’s parents. “You got your own dozen last week!” Claude growls right back, knowing they were utterly being ignored by the others, probably welcoming Luka’s and Marinette’s friends, “You stole eight of them! Fair is FAIR!” War tore apart even friendships built over years, there were no prisoners. Huffing softly, Allegra conceded defeat as she handed the container to Claude, ignoring the cheer of victory as she grumbles under her breath; Allen shook his head fondly before turning back to the shorter person, “And that’s normal, sorry for their antics…Marc, right?” They nodded their head, fiddling with a charm in their pocket, something Marinette made for them to mess with to ease their anxiety, “Yeah! A-And it’s fine, Marinette told me ahead of time and they seem more like siblings than anything.” They chuckle softly, smiling as Claude feeds Allegra a cookie “Yeah, just about, though Claude’s closer to Mari and Fé. They get the sibling title, but I just need to pass the next exam to get my degree for the Siblings of Claude.” Allen joked, grinning as he got the other to laugh. “So you were a friend of Mari’s in her old school?” “Mmhm, she helped me get out of my shy side, just a bit,” even he could admit he was still a bit nervous with some people, “and she was there when Nath broke up with me. She’s pretty awesome.” Allen could easily agree with that assessment, watching as Saranya talked with Kagami and Aurore, and Asher and David tried to cheer on another battle between Claude and Allegra. “How’s she been? She’s been busy to hang out lately, but she always made sure to stop by me and Aurore to bring us cheering up cookies for the week,” they chuckled, grinning a bit. “She’s better…she was like a scared mouse at first, but she’s gotten better over time. She’s not class representative, but she seemed relieved over that.” Allen chuckled, so glad Marinette was blooming. “And we did this! I’m just sad you, Kagami, and Aurore weren’t able to model!” Marc shrugs, “Aurore had her internship application to think of, Kagami I believe had a family thing in Japan, and I was in Venice to visit my Grandpa.” Saranya looked up from her phone as she got a ping, grinning as she looked over to Claude, “Claude! Fé said to go open the door, I’ll get the tv set up, find your seats guys, it’s nearly show time!” It was a relief to them all, everyone cheering the trio as they entered inside with twelve drink orders, two boxes of pastries from Marinette’s, and one from the café. “We bring offerings!” “Proceed!” David called, drawing out laughter as everyone situated themselves to sitting in their wanted seats, thanking the three for the food and drink run. Marinette giggles, handing out the drinks before she hugged and greeted each one of them, being sure to quickly check on Asher, she wanted to ensure his commission fit well enough underneath his shirt. “I know you say it’s fine but I’ve only just measured you and I want to make sure it’s perfect, ya know?” Asher shook his head fondly, letting her ramble, “It’s perfect, Mari, I couldn’t thank you enough. I wanted to get one online but they were expensive and-.” “Hey…no thanks needed. I’ll always support my friends when and if I can.” She reassures softly. Once everyone was all settled down, it was time for the big premier. Saranya watched as her and Marinette’s followers tuned into the VuTube live stream; watching the camera pan through the historic sight, being sure to capture the intricacies of the architecture, Saranya couldn’t help but squeal a ‘Thank you!’ to Allen. He was a damn hero. The modeling was simple, all of them having just practiced in front of each other and mimicking famous models so they wouldn’t look too foolish on the web. Marinette’s voice could be heard as a voiceover, describing the inspiration for each look and the uniqueness tailored to the individual. People were raining praises on everyone, sure there were some who had favorites and least favorites, but everyone over all was excited and awed by the sheer talent of the designer. Towards the end, the whole group had come to do a bow for the audience, her phone pinging with notifications of likes and reblogs, of thumbs ups and new followers. Looking over to Marinette, she knew they both knew their careers were just starting. ~ With a relieved sigh, she turned the sign to the door for a much needed afternoon break, smiling as she locked the front doors before retreating to upstairs where her husband already was. “Tom, are the sandwiches ready?” “Just about, dear! Go on and sit, you were decorating the Biggs’ wedding cake all morning.” He insisted, smiling towards his wife gently before continuing the task of making them a late lunch. “Did you remind our cupcake that we won’t be home until tomorrow?” She nods, resting her legs as she sat at the counter, “I did. She already had some plans with her friends, but she told me she’ll call when she gets home.” It relieved her to know her daughter was out and about, hanging out with her friends and moving forward in her career. It made her heart ache to watch their little girl wilt under all the toxicity of Dupont, but now she was healthy and blooming again. She still hurt, but it was better. He nods, setting her plate down first before finishing off his own, “That’s good. Is she training with that Félix boy? Or off with Luka?” Sabine remembered the earlier conversation she had with her daughter when the trio were on the way to Félix’s home, “She’ll be with both. Luka wants to teach them how to dance.” “Dance? She hasn’t tried that in years.” Tom set his plate down before reaching for some waters for them to drink. “Our baby wants to learn, I think it’s good for her.” Sabine also knew the two boys in particular were good for her. ~

Luka bit his lip, grinning to Allen as he finished explaining his video idea, the one based off of the American song he heard, “So? Do you think you could help with editing? Asher and David are already ready to go, as am I, we just need to record it.” They had stepped off to the side, everyone slowly parting from Fé’s home to head back to their own homes or go wander the city. “I gotta admit, man, this sounds awesome. And you’re SURE, you want to do this in English?” He nods, grinning excitedly, “It’s a good song and the original is in English. I don’t know if it’ll hold the same ‘umph’ to it if it goes to French.” Adjusting his cap, he held out a hand, “You got it man, I’ll help you out. And you got a place to do this?” “Yeah, I just need someone to record and edit it. And no worries, I know how much Mari and Sara paid you, I’ll get your dough by Tuesday.” Allen chuckles, bidding the punk-rocker good bye as he leaves the home at last, thinking up already which equipment he would need to record the whole music video idea. Luka couldn’t help the grin of victory on his lips as he went back to helping clean up. “I got it!” “You did?! Allen’s up to helping out?” Marinette set away the left over pastries in a container on the counter, to be dealt with later. “He is! I definitely need you both there for support and to make sure we look and sound our best.” Luka jokes, tossing away a few bottles into the recycle container. They were the last ones there, the mess mostly cleaned up and all sorted as it should be. “It’ll be an American cover though.” “American? Are you following in the footsteps of that Rockstar you’re both enamored with?” Fé teases with a raised brow, smirking at Marinette’s over dramatic gasp. Marinette glares playfully at the other, trying to fight off a smile. If she smiled, he won. “You know damn well that Jagged is an amazing Rockstar. Be nice to my Uncle.” Félix rose his hands in defeat, grinning lazily to her, “I admit defeat, I do know the Rockstar’s name.” Luka rolled his eyes, the symphony around them purely blissful to his ears, each of their chords in a playful ebb and flow of each other, “Come on you two, you /both/ promised me we could dance. I want to show you swordsmen how to really move.” ~ “And Nino wants me the apologize to them! To her!” Alya scoffs, slumping down onto the couch next to her bestie. “Like, yeah, maybe you flubbed some of the truth, but who doesn’t? I mean, you’re pretty awesome but maybe Jagged was a far stretch?” Lila wanted to snarl at the comment, but schooled her features to look remorseful, “I know, but…everyone loves Jagged Stone around here. I figured you’d all like me more if I knew more people to help you all.” The journalist drew in the other into a hug, squeezing her close before letting her go, “Hey, it’s fine. It hurt that you lied, but you’re admitting it. Marinette always bailed on us and had flimsy excuses at best.” She pardoned. “And she doesn’t have a lying disease like you.” “Doctor’s think it may be genetic, they think my dad had it too before he left my mom.” Even if her court was gone, she had her loyal soldier ready to defend her. She could work with that, she’s worked with less before. ~ “So for dancing, the key to it is balance and trust, and sometimes faith. Balance is obvious, you need to keep rhythm somehow and not fall on your arse,” he jokes, grinning as he removed his shoes. “Trust is next. You need to trust yourself or your partner or partners. Need to trust they’ll be just in sync with your movements when you move as a team. You need to trust yourself when you’re ballet dancer performing a solo and all you have is your practice and pointe shoes to save you. And faith because well…dancing can be dangerous depending on the dance itself. You should SEE some dances, I have no idea how their bodies aren’t more injured.” The blond rolls his eyes as he gets his shoes removed as well, humoring the other as he rattled on. “You speak as if you’re a professional.” “You don’t need to be a professional to know that the stuff Ballet dancers do is insane. Don’t EVEN get me started on the Georgian Ballet or the Sayaw sa Bangko.” Luka reminds him. “Besides, music’s in my blood and it helps to dance something if I can’t think of lyrics or the right chord to go with it.” Marinette nods as she stretched a little bit, Tikki safely watching from a distance, on alert in case an Akuma made itself known, “I think it may be good for my balance, I haven’t danced since I took ballet with Madam Sophia at seven.” “You used to dance?” Luka asks, moving some cushioned mats off to the sides. She shrugs, “A little, mama always talked about how graceful ballet dancers were and I wanted to be graceful too.” Félix chuckles at the image, able to imagine just how graceful she was. Some of her old lessons did occasionally shine through. “Well, let’s get started?” “Let’s~.” Luka grinned. ~ “You know, when I asked for help to improve my balance,” she found herself drawn closer, the music gliding over them as he urged her to dance, “this isn’t what I was expecting.” His smile was slow, charming, as he guided their movements across the expanse of room the studio offered, glittering topaz blue eyes gazing down to her, “I said I knew just the dance to help you with it, you never asked which kind.” He smiles, dipping her, “Are you protesting?“ She shook her head, fighting off a blush as he guided her through steps, each movement unique and new, but she didn’t falter, not when she placed her trust in him, “I never knew you danced like this.” “Mom had a ballroom teacher friend when we were younger, he helped to teach us and I really liked it.” He shrugged, giving a shyer smile, gazing down to her, “I wanted to be able to sweep my future love off their feet with my dancing skills. Or, in my case,” his gaze landed on the blond not too far from them, seemingly as entranced as she was, “loves.” “You certainly seem to be doing a fine job of it, Couffaine, but you’re holding her too far away. I’m not even an ‘expert’ like you.” A hand took hers and she was stolen from Luka, only to find herself in Félix’s hold, never seeming to miss a beat to the music, “This is how you hold them, to guide them, to display all of their power and beauty.” Seems someone was done waiting in the wings. Luka watches it all, serene as always but the beat of his heart kicking up in tempo at the sight, “You should teach me then.” Marinette watched as their gazes locked, the air tickling with brimming emotions as Luka moved behind her, “There are rarely three person tangoes, it’s not a norm. But who needs that when we have each other.” “I certainly don’t mind,” Marinette felt weightless as she was spun, now facing Luka once more as Félix handled dancing in the back, “But maybe we should have someone else in the middle too.” Félix blushed as he was switched into said position by Marinette, the petite noirette smiling, “Well…I’ve always been for trying new things. And I welcome whatever occurs between us.” Luka smiles, taking the lead with the other teens, guiding them both through the rest of the song, “Does that mean we’re boyfriends and girlfriend?” Marinette snorts, it was a mouthful, but nods, relieved that it was out in the open now. “It means we’re boyfriends and girlfriend now.” “Excellent, we have no need to doddle about like penguins then.” Félix gruffed out, his put-out expression hampered by the red in his cheeks. ~ Luka sits back, Allegra’s magic decorating his face in make up that would make any Rockstar or Punk proud. He grins as he listened to Marinette mutter to herself under her breath, no doubt adjusting little details to the clothing they had chosen for the shoot. It was finally the day, he was going to DO it. And boy, was everyone in for a surprise. “Alright, handsome, all done. Let me just get some setting spray and you’re finished, sit tight.” He nods, looking around at the location they had decided on. It was in an older building, someplace his mother took him on occasion to scream out his frustrations when he was younger because the building was old enough to contain the shouts, and the grungy look was ideal for his wants. He wanted an edge to the video and he was getting it. “Alright, everyone’s about set, we’re just waiting on you to be checked out by Marinette, although what else is new?” Claude informs him, ignoring the indigent squeak, “After that, we’re set to record you, dude.” “Sounds good man.” Allegra returned with the setting spray, giving him the good to go as he was permitted to finally step in front of Marinette’s gaze. They had went for more punk vibes with their clothes, street punk that bordered on the edge of emo, but he liked it. Marinette had wanted to design something, but he reminded her that he would’ve asked over a MONTH prior if he needed that, and she had enough on her plate at the time. Her edits to their clothes were all he needed. “Let me just…that’s it and this should be, yep! Alright and move this…,” she was back to muttering, adjusting his outfit carefully, looking absolutely adorable while she was in the zone. He couldn’t resist pecking her lips when she adjusting his collar. “L-Luka!” “Sorry, couldn’t resist,” he openly admits, looking just a bit sorry, but he knew surprise kisses were beginning to become their favorite things to do to each other. “W-Well resist better,” she half scolds, smoothing a hand over his shirt, “and you’re ready, good luck.” “Thank you, love,” he hugs her close before parting to get his instrument for the video. Allen got his camera ready, everyone quieted down, Saranya and Claude working on lighting, “Alright, quiet on the set, and….go.” Exhaling slowly, Luka grinned to the camera, taking on the character singing the song,“Ha ha ha, this is about you,” He pointed to the camera, Asher and David already beginning the beats, “Beware, beware, be skeptical, of their smiles, their smiles of plated gold. Deceit so natural, but a wolf in sheep's clothing is more than a warning!” He smirks, feeling the music carry through him.

“Bla-bla-black sheep, have you any soul? No sir, by the way, what the hell are morals?” He shrugs his shoulders, as if making fun of the one who didn’t know about morals. “Jack, be nimble, Jack, be quick, Jill's a little whore and her alibis are dirty tricks, so could you,” He bangs his head, moving with the beat of the drums as Asher hit them, the other two singing as back up now, “Tell me how you're sleeping easy, How you're only thinking of yourself. Show me how you justify, telling all your lies like second nature!” He bores down his gaze to the camera, as if he were brooding at the person who was “Jill” in the song. “Listen, mark my words, one day, you will pay, you will pay, Karma's gonna come collect your debt.” So focused, Luka never saw his two loves practically melt in the back, unused to this new side of music.

“Aware, aware, you stalk your prey, with criminal mentality. You sink your teeth into the people you depend on, infecting everyone, you're quite the problem! Feefifofum, you better run and hide!” He tosses a smirking laugh, grinning like a wolf, “I smell the blood of a petty little coward. Jack, be lethal, Jack, be slick, Jill will leave you lonely dying in a filthy ditch!”

He moves towards David, fingers moving over the strings as he recalled every moment he felt anger towards Rossi, to the others, letting it melt out of him and away from harming his loved ones, “So could you tell me how you're sleeping easy, how you're only thinking of yourself. Show me how you justify, telling all your lies like second nature! Listen, mark my words, one day, you will pay, you will pay. Karma's gonna come collect your debt.”

The tone shifted, to hopeful, even a bit yearning, “Maybe you'll change. Abandon all your wicked ways! Make amends and start anew again, maybe you'll see all the wrongs you did to me! And start all over, start all over again” He grips his head, as if hopeful.

“Who am I kidding,” he laughs, glaring at the camera, “Now, let's not get overzealous here! You've always been a huge piece of /shit/.” Okay so maaaybe he had a bit of Anarka’s temper peak out. “If I could kill you I would, but it's frowned upon in all fifty states. Having said that, burn in hell!”

He laughs, knowing they were nearing the end now. “So tell me how you're sleeping easy, how you're only thinking of yourself. Show me how you justify, telling all your lies like second nature! Listen, mark my words, one day, you will pay, you will pay. Karma's gonna come collect your debt!”

He works the strings, wanting to be sure he hit all the cords right, it was a perfect session, “Karma's gonna come collect your debt. Karma's gonna come collect your debt!” He truly hoped Rossi watched the video. ~ Masterlist: link Chapter 1: link AO3: link

#kore complex #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #Adrien agreste #luka couffaine #pv felix #quantic kids #miraculous au #ml #ml salt #ml salt fic #ml salt fanfic #ml salt fanfiction #fic #fanfic #fanfiction #ladybug #plagg #tikki #sorry for the long wait!!! #enjoy!

[nomolosk]

Adrien challenges the status quo

King Hawkmoth sat on his throne, imperturbable as always. Prince Adrien didn’t let it bother him, though. His father had been this way almost since he could remember, and his isolation training had taught him to adopt any outward expression with ease. Of course, controlling his inner emotions was still a battle sometimes, but at twenty years of age, he knew it would not be getting better. It was time- more than time, really- for him to assume his rightful place as the holder of the black cat miraculous.

“You asked to speak with me, Prince Adrien,” King Hawkmoth said, his tone conveying a certain level of annoyance, but again, Adrien did not rise to the bait. His father had gained a new advisor some years back, and thereafter anyone who wished to see the King had to arrange it through Madame Sancour. It had not escaped Adrien’s notice that her name literally meant ‘Lady Heartless,’ but he supposed it was par for the course where his father’s court was concerned.

“Yes, father, I did,” he said now, forgoing the more formal address. This was a family matter, after all, and his use of informality should signal that. Indeed, King Hawkmoth shifted slightly in his seat before stilling again.

“I came to discuss the matter of the black cat miraculous,” he said, coming straight to the point. He kept any hint of accusation or impatience out of his tone, though. He knew this audience was as much a test as a conversation. In all honesty, every audience with his father ended up being a test of some kind.

“Speak then.”

Hawkmoth’s tone was not encouraging, but Adrien pressed ahead with what he wanted- needed- to say. 

“I am a full knight of the realm now, as well as your son, and it has been years since I received any criticisms from you on my emotional control. Yet you have not granted me the miraculous you promised me years ago. Now, I am willing to continue waiting if there is some specific event you are waiting for, or if there is some scheme you have in motion that will provide for the best time to introduce the black cat to our enemies, but… frankly, patience is only a virtue if there is an end to waiting in sight. Nor do I believe keeping up with the isolation training at all beneficial anymore. That training has taught me all it is likely to in the twelve years I have adhered to it.”

Adrien knew his tone was growing confrontational, and paused to take a measured breath. Hawkmoth’s expression hadn’t changed by so much as a twitch.

“In short, father, if the time is not yet right to grant me my miraculous permanently, I believe I should at least begin to train with it. An untested wielder with such a powerful miraculous could prove a significant liability in the heat of battle, after all, and if you still worry about my emotional control, this would be the best way to test it.”

Adrien stopped, waiting for his father’s response. Outwardly, he remained impassive, but inwardly he was hoping against hope that his father would agree at least to his training with the miraculous. Having watched Carapace learning the ins and outs of his miraculous, Adrien knew that it could take some time to become truly comfortable with having the enhancements a miraculous granted, and every weapon was specific to each miraculous. There was no real way to train for a specific miraculous weapon in all it’s respects with non-miraculous counterparts.

King Hawkmoth remained silent a moment longer before saying, “I am not entirely convinced that this… outburst, doesn’t come from an emotional overreaction on your part, Adrien.”

“Hardly an outburst, father,” Adrien said, still maintaining his impassivity. It wasn’t like he hadn’t expected this response. The King had always resisted discussing when Adrien would receive the miraculous promised him in his youth. And in the years before, Adrien could admit that his occasional requests had indeed come from a place of impatience. It had been hard indeed to watch all his noble peers form relationships with each other, even marrying and becoming independent from their parents, while he was denied those same experiences in the name of solidifying his control over his emotions.

“Yet you do not deny the emotional aspect of this demand,” Hawkmoth countered, and Adrien forced back a grimace before it could do more than make his mouth twitch.

“I am not a sentimonster, father,” he said firmly. “Emotions are both the bane and the gift of humanity, as well you should know. Without them, it would be impossible for you to imbue your Champions, after all. I am, however, in control of my emotional reactions. I admit, I am beginning to chafe at the restrictions I am still subject to. As I said before, I am not a child any longer, and my knighting signaled my entrance into manhood to the whole kingdom. I am not asking for you to grant me the miraculous if there is truly a reason not to, but I do think training with it can only benefit the kingdom.” Adrien paused for a moment before adding, “Regardless of your decision on this matter, I will no longer be isolating myself from my peers to the extent I have before. There is no more benefit to such a course. In fact, I believe it can only harm the court and the kingdom for me to continue to do so. I am your Heir, and yet the nobles know almost nothing about me. How can they have any confidence in my fitness to rule?”

Hawkmoth’s eyes narrowed further, and he shifted again. Adrien took absent note of it, but at the moment he was too focused on gaining his objective to think of the ramifications. 

“Our court and kingdom need the strength of mind borne of confidence in their rulers, father, surely you can see that. Of course I know it will be many, many years before I take the throne, but confidence in the succession will allow the nobles to concentrate on supporting you and your objectives rather than fighting among themselves for a chance at the crown. We have been at war with our neighbors for so long father… the last thing we need is infighting here at home.”

King Hawkmoth put up more objections, but they seemed flimsy to Adrien- less a test, and more an attempt to delay the inevitable, which he pointed out toward the end of the audience. In the end, his father allowed him to begin training with the miraculous at the very least. Yet he did not give it to him immediately, promising instead to meet him for a training session the next day. Adrien left feeling that he had accomplished very nearly all of what he had had in mind.

----

King Hawkmoth watched his son leave, waiting until he had left before rising himself and exiting through the private- and always heavily guarded- door behind the dias. Madame Sancoeur bowed as he came through, then fell into step just behind him without saying anything. It was only once they reached his personal office that she dropped the formality they maintained in public.

“He did make good points, sire,” she said wryly. And since Hawkmoth could sense her emotions through the brooch of his miraculous, he knew she knew how much it went against the grain for him to give up this control over his son. Yet, she was right. And Adrien had been right, too… damn him.

“Yes, he did,” Hawkmoth replied, his tone as wry as hers had been. “I could wish he had not found the courage to make them, though. It has been so very useful to my rule to have the succession only vaguely settled on him. And I can’t very well grant him such a powerful miraculous without solidifying my trust in him in the minds of the court and kingdom.”

Madame Sancoeur made a sound of dubious agreement. “Perhaps,” she said. “But perhaps your display of trust will only serve to make them more nervous, sire.”

Hawkmoth stiffened and turned toward her. “What do you mean? Surely the granting of a miraculous can only banish any doubts?”

“In normal cases, yes, I believe it would. However this is a matter of grave import. Adrien will one day be their King, and they know next to nothing about him. Seeing him at dinner and interacting only superficially at scattered entertainments has not made them at all confident in his abilities. Add in the vague doubts you have yourself expressed when it has been… expedient to do so, and you have a situation where granting him such a powerful miraculous can only make them doubt his fitness to wield it. They will not trust him fully until they know him better and he has had time to prove himself.”

She raised an eyebrow at him, and Hawkmoth allowed himself a small smile. “Truly, it was a fortuitous day when I made you my chief advisor, Madame Sancoeur. Of course, I had not considered the situation in that light.” He turned to the window, contemplating the private garden where the statue of his beautiful Emilie sat in repose amongst the roses. He ruminated on the possibilities, his smile growing wider as ideas began to emerge.

“Yes, I think you are right. I will allow him to train in strict secrecy for a time- perhaps a week or two. It would not do to have him be more comfortable and confident in his mastery. Then I will have a public ceremony where I grant him the miraculous, and then… then I will send him off to war. That will both allay any extreme fears of how he may act, and prevent the nobles from getting to know him better. He cannot begin making his own alliances if he is not here to do so. Of course, I will have to make sure he is not granted much opportunity to make alliances among the nobles currently serving in the army, but that won’t be hard to arrange. All it will take will be one dubious use of the cataclysm, and they will shy away from any attempts on his part to make friends. In fact, I believe I should encourage him to use it as often as possible. Let him be seen as a power-mad monster- useful on the battlefield, but not to be trusted in any other setting.”

Hawkmoth nodded to himself. He had long grown used to thinking of Adrien as a pawn, completely under his control and not worth much thought. It was true that this had begun as an attempt to bring Emilie out of her magical sleep, but it had long since ceased to be solely about that. Conquest was… very addictive. And the collection of miraculouses at his disposal gave him a sense of invulnerability. At this point, he was sure he could conquer all of Europe in time.

The last thing he needed now was for his son to wake up to the situation. He was too much like his mother, and though Hawkmoth told himself that Emilie would appreciate waking up one day to find herself an Empress rather than a Queen, he knew deep down that she would not have supported his quest to unite all the miraculouses under his own control. He soothed what was left of his conscience with the thought that once it was done, there would be nothing for her to object to, and that Adrien would enjoy being an Emperor… eventually… and left it at that.

#royalty AU #miraculous ladybug #miraculous fanfiction #wip

[overworkedunderwhelmed]

It seems like there are several proactive takeaways we’re going to get out of Chat Blanc that we will need to have happen in canon (otherwise boom Apocalypse):

1)  Marinette’s confession (or some other revelation of her feelings) will probably need to be in a scenario where she cannot run away or be prone to Akumatization.

2)  Adrien’s support system will need to be strong and deep.  Very possibly, if the team is strengthened and built out in Season 4, we might actually start to see signs of them going on the offensive and tapping into more of Alya’s knowledge pool.  But as there can be no doubt from the trailer, Adrien cannot process the ramifications on his own.  As he was transformed as he saw for certain the true nature of his peril and what all he couldn’t see of his own situation, he didn’t even have Plagg beside him to help him come to terms with that.

3)  The LadyNoir friendship will need to step up its game as Chat’s deepest, most understanding source of support.  Luckily, we’re already seeing the hints of this.  But I suspect we might really need to get to a point where Ladybug can and does understand just how bad Chat Noir’s home life is, and is more active in helping to fill that gap.

#chat blanc #chat blanc spoilers #ml spoilers #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #chat noir

[lycorogue]

Fanfic ask meme: U!

Aww, Cy! And you said *I* ask the hard questions…

U: Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

Well, peeps, IT’S PROMOTION TIME!!!!!(Fair warning, these are going to be in the Miraculous Ladybug fandom, sorry if you’re looking for a good author outside that fandom.)

1.    @baneismydragon, you can find her on AO3 here.

First of all, Bane has a LOT of stories, and it’s fantastic to find an author with a lot of content to consume. Secondly, the stories have fun and unique concepts with them, and a nice level of snark. I love me some playful snarkiness. Plus, just such amazing fluff. Something about Bane’s writing voice always gets my heart racing during the action or romance scenes. Wonderful! My personal favorite is “And The Name For Your Order Is?”

2. @edendaphne, you can find her on AO3 here.

I was first drawn to her - excuse the pun - because of her illustrations. She was doing collabs with some great writers, such as Maerynn, and her illustrations always added an extra layer to the writing. But then Eden started writing on her own, and it’s just as fantastic. In her first solo story - Discordant Sonata - actually includes a sort of playlist within the writing, since the story focuses on music. She starts each scene with a link to mood music, and it really enhances the experience.

3. @midnightstarlightwrites, you can find her on AO3 here.

I actually found her via fanart drawn for her story Smoulder, and it is very much deserved. She tends to write aged-up ML stories so she can also include more adult themes. And let me tell you, she’s suuuuuper good at getting that heart racing with some steamy scenes ranging from major pent up tension up to softcore foreplay. The humor is also pretty on-point as well, which is great way to break the tension.

So those are officially my three, but you didn’t really think I’d end there, do you?

4. @thetauruspixie, you can find her on FFN here, and she’s starting to build up stories over on AO3 here.

She tends to write darker themes in her stories. She also has multiple projects going at the same time, so it’s fairly easy to find one that you’ll like and will update fairly regularly. She also writes epics, so you can enjoy your favorite story for a while. The one I’m currently following is Chat Vert, which is about Chat Noir’s jealousy once Luka comes onto the scene.

5. @buggachat, you can find her on AO3 here.

I started following her here on Tumblr after seeing the wonderful mini-stories she shared via her fancomics. Just like with Bane, Bug has fantastic comedic timing and just the right level of snark. Bug is still fairly new with the non-visual storytelling element of fanfics, but the concepts are so delightfully unique and truly delves into character exploration. I’m following her multi-chapter story Curiosity Wrote a Comic, which explores the emotional ramifications to Marinette and Adrien reading a fancomic that takes a fairly dark turn.

6. @chibisunnie, you can find her on AO3 here.

Finally moving away from my fandom, I met Chibi when we collabed on a (sadly abandoned) “Hey, Arnold!: The Jungle Movie” fanscript as a means to help encourage Nickelodeon to greenlight the project. Since then, we’ve kind of moved away from each other’s fandoms, but I still love reading Chibi’s works. Even though I don’t know the stories or the characters, I’m still emotionally invested. She focuses on the sort of background couples of stories; the ones that tend to be forgotten about in fanfics. She also keeps her writing fairly clean, so it’s just wonderfully wholesome. Finally, she usually focuses on gay relationships, including the struggles of finally coming out of the closet. Along those lines, I really enjoyed her Andi Mack story “Aren’t You Happy For Andi?” (It does include a spoiler from the season 2 premiere) 

7. @cyhyr, you can find her on AO3 here.

Even though she’s the one who asked, how could I forget my girl Cyhyr? Just like Chibi, Cy doesn’t write in any of my fandoms, but that’s fine. She writes the characters in a way that you don’t need to know the fandom to care about the story. The characters are real and raw and in such need of cuddles all the time. She does like her some hurt/comfort. She mostly writes in the FFXV fandom, rotating between the Big Four: Ignis, Prompto, Noctis, and Gladiolus. I think my favorite story is Choice, mostly because of the subversion of the Soulmates trope.

Now, can I be a little self-indulgent here and include myself? Does that sound arrogant? I dunno, I just think you should enjoy your own work, ya know? “Write for you” and all that?

You can find me on FFN here, and on AO3 here (and if you’re truly desperate, I even post on DA here).

Of course, my pride and joy is my first completed multi-chapter story: Peeping Tomcat. However, I also really love my one-shot Build Your Own Luck, simply because this is now my headcanon as to where The BraceletTM came from. My Lukanette story I Was Thinking Of You also has a special spot in my heart.

I tend to write as close to true-to-show as possible, and I’ve had a lot of reviews telling me it’s like reading an episode script. I am kind of obsessive with keeping the characters as in-character as possible, and keeping the facts as canonical as I can.

OKAY! Long post is long! Thanks for the ask, Cyhyr! And thanks for everyone for indulging me. Love you all, and feel free to drop me an ask.

#ask #LycoRogue ask #ask me #Cyhyr #favorite fic writers #baneismydragon #edendaphne #midnightstarlightwrites #thetauruspixie #buggachat #chibisunnie #shameless plug #self-promotion #Tumblr games

[agrestenoir]

tbh i'd be really pissed if they fleshed out chat blanc really well and then made it so that virtually nothing in the overall plot changed so i'm pretty much fine with the episode the way it is

With the way it stands, Chat Blanc does fine on its own in the overarching story. Don’t get me wrong: I loved the episode!

Saying that, though, I do think that it’s a matter of perspective because Chat Blanc could’ve changed virtually everything in the plot if it’d been done a bit differently.

If we’re still going from the Danny Phantom: The Ultimate Enemy example, that’s how Chat Blanc could’ve been structured in a way that fundamentally changed Marinette as a character. Like the two biggest takeaways from Chat Blanc was that 1) she knows that her and Chat Noir’s love basically destroyed the world, and that 2) Adrien Agreste is untrustworthy of her secret. Those lessons and assumptions can have lasting ramifications on who she is and what choices she makes (see: you can see a glimpse of it in the finale. See Miracle Queen and Heart Hunter/Love Eater for further context). 

But Chat Blanc could have also gone to show what risks Marinette is willing to take to protect her identity, or what happens if someone discovers it. Like from her perspective, her true identity getting out was the reason Paris fell, and that’s a lesson that should be absorbed as heavily as possible, and with a few changes, Chat Blanc could’ve really cemented that fact and hit it out of the park.

Making it more of a “lesson learned” type of trope like TUE was, versus making her suffer for the greater good like the episode portrayed. Even throwing in a scene between Tikki and Marinette after Chat Blanc, discussing the weight of a secret identity and how really important it is to keep it hidden, even from those you love (re: Adrien). We’ve always seen Marinette steadfast about keeping her identity hidden to protect her loved ones, but I would’ve loved to see more about her reaction to Adrien discovering it, how she feels that Chat Noir did, just what the ramifications are from it. Because that’s some fundamental stuff that I think Chat Blanc touched upon but didn’t flesh out in a way that could have made it even more impactful.

Sorry, I’m totally rambling and talking to myself in circles here. My point is: as is, I’m glad that Chat Blanc wasn’t fleshed out because of how little it seemed to impact the show and Season 3 as a whole. But if they had decided to flesh it out, it would’ve been SOO IMPORTANT to who Marinette is as a character, her actions and decisions as Ladybug, and her relationships with both Adrien and Chat Noir.

That’s why I say that Chat Blanc has so much potential, and I’m already seeing content creators tackle the odds and ends and fleshing them out themselves. And it’s so amazing! Like Chat Blanc could’ve been out of this world if approached differently, but from a single episodic perspective, the episode was still amazing. 

#Nonny #ask away #chat blanc #ml spoilers

[flightfoot]

Addressing Syren Salt

Okay look. So sometimes I see Adrien salted for his actions for Syren. For him sitting around while he waits for Ladybug to get back, finally getting fed up with being left in the dark (though notably, he does NOT take it out on Ladybug, he’s more annoyed at whoever’s telling her not to share), and finally threatening to give up the ring.

Just to remind everyone of the actual exchange:

Cat Noir: This is so dumb! (stands up) Claws in. (detransforms) Plagg: (groans) What's taking her so long? (Adrien holds up his hands to Plagg, and starts to pull off his ring a little bit) Whoa, easy! W-What are you doing?! Adrien: (grimly) If you don't tell me what Ladybug is hiding from me, I'm done! Plagg: You can't do that! Adrien: (bitterly) Why not? No one'll know if I quit. No one'll care! Plagg: I will! Adrien: Why? (cynically) Because you won't have anyone to give you Camembert? Plagg: Oh, I'm sure there'll be another Cat Noir to give me cheese... (pauses, and turns to Adrien) ...but he won't be you. (Adrien's expression softens) Master Fu: (suddenly appears next to Adrien) Hello, Cat Noir. (Adrien turns and gasps in shock)

A few things to note here: His reason for getting rid of the ring isn’t just a childish tantrum to try and get what he wants. He genuinely doesn’t think he matters here, that his absence will harm anyone. It’s not like he’s needed for the Miraculous Cure or for purifying akumas, he technically doesn’t HAVE to be there, especially since Ladybug now has other allies (or well, just one ally at this point in the show) that she can call on. So it’s not like this is some huge ultimatum that will doom Paris if he goes through with it, at least to his perception.

Also honestly I’m pretty sure he’d just give Plagg to someone else so they can be the new Chat, though it’s hard to know for sure with so little canon material to draw from for that kind of thing.

Yeah, he’s upset for being left out of the loop, and honestly I can’t blame him. I think that’s just being human. Especially since they ARE supposed to be partners, not Hero and Sidekick. It makes more sense when Ladybug starts training to become a Guardian I think, but Chat doesn’t even know the Guardian EXISTS, so he has no idea why his partner, his equal, suddenly HAS more secrets concerning the Miraculous than he does. And not even knowing WHY she suddenly knows where to get more Miraculous, why she’s allowed to know more than he is... yeah that would bother me too.

It kinda makes me wonder; if Marinette was in his position, with Chat suddenly pulling more allies out of nowhere, being allowed to know their identities, and just generally knowing more about the Miraculous and not being allowed to share, would she be bothered by that at all? At repeatedly being told to wait for Chat to go do something somewhere, but not being allowed to know what it is or why, when previously they were pretty much equal partners, at least as far as knowledge and experience goes? Do you think that would bother her at all with it happening repeatedly?

That’s not really the crux of the MAIN salt I see concerning Syren though. The major salt seems to be centered around him threatening to quit while Paris was underwater, under the assumption that he’s thinking about quitting while many, many Parisians are dead or drowning, and that he needs to suck it up.

If this was a more serious, gritty show, I’d probably agree. Like most live-action superhero movies? Sure. Or grittier superhero shows that have major, potentially life-ending consequences for supervillain attacks, like season 3 of Young Justice? Absolutely!

But Miraculous Ladybug IS. NOT. ONE. OF. THOSE. SHOWS. It’s fairly lighthearted and the world was pretty much engineered so that no matter what horrific devastation and consequences is visited on the people of the ML universe, it doesn’t have major negative consequences. That’s part of why the Miraculous Cure exists, which is something that those other more serious shows DON’T have. Even in situations where the Miraculous Cure ISN’T brought out to play the actual logical negative ramifications of the events of ML episodes are glossed over, to say the least. Adrien should have had some MUCH more obvious negative effects from going through several months of just rushing out and attempting to take down Desperada with Ladybug every five minutes, for instance.

And as far as death and destruction from akuma attacks go? The general rule seems to be “if you’re not actively, currently seeing people being harmed, then no civilians are currently in major peril, even if they logically would be. And even if they ARE shown as being in peril, they’re only background dressing really UNLESS they’re an actual character and not just a stock background model.”

For example, in Origins - Part 1, StoneHeart leveled a skyscraper. Logically it would have been FILLED with people, so everyone in it would have died, along with anyone it fell on. That would have been hundreds, if not thousands of people dead, with (at that point) no reason to believe that they would recover, AND Parisians weren’t used to this kind of thing yet so they weren’t just jaded to it.

Yet, neither Adrien or Marinette seemed to be horrified at so many people dying, nor mourning their deaths. And as for the news coverage afterwards? (And remember, Ladybug didn’t use her Miraculous Cure until AFTER Stoneheart was defeated the second time, so there was a good 24 hours or so to assess and count the dead).

But the news didn’t talk about those people’s deaths, only the people who were turned into statues:

Nadja: (standing to the side of a picture of one of Stoneheart's minions, tablet in hand) The stone beings are scattered all over Paris, and for the time being, they are showing no signs of movement. (a variety of pictures is shown) Police have cordoned off the area. André: (on television alongside officer Roger) We won't stop until we find a way to get these people back to their normal selves, but for now, we're not making much headway. (The camera flips backs to Nadja standing next to a photo of Ladybug and Cat Noir.) Nadja: Paris is relying on our new guardian angels, Ladybug and Cat Noir, to save us all. Our lives depend on them.

Miraculous Ladybug just doesn’t have people be seriously physically or psychologically harmed by akumas in a way that lasts.

Now the show can be REINTERPRETED in such a way that these things DO matter and have lasting effects, but if so, then this isn’t the only episode that would apply to. It would apply to the WHOLE SERIES. Which means that in say, the Bubbler, Ladybug used up her charm and delayed fighting Bubbler for several minutes KNOWING that adults were floating up into the sky while children and babies were wandering around and getting into who-knows-what trouble, possibly getting injured or killed.

Just in general, the whole series would have to be reinterpreted, and unless their canon personalities were altered in that scenario, I’m pretty sure they’d act a bit differently if people were dying or being seriously injured all around them and it MATTERED. Like they’d be WAY more stressed for one thing, and both of them would have some pretty severe PTSD from watching and listening to other people die or be badly wounded, and so would a lot of other Parisians.

Also pretty sure that if there were drowning civilians in need of help that we’re supposed to consider in canon, then Ladybug would have said something like “I need to go, you help the civilians until I get back!” or something, just to establish roles.

#miraculous ladybug #ml salt #syren #syren salt