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#this has been an audrey post
platypusinplaid · 7 months
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Who else got their mind consumed by god-killing homosexual war criminals this year?
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lesbitorte · 10 months
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Me thinking of the Nino/Alya and Andre/Audrey parallels while thinking of the Adrien/Marinette and Émilie/Gabriel parallels while also thinking of the Marinette & Adrien & Alya & Nino friendship and Gabriel & Émilie & Audrey & André frienship parallels:
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I love how this show does everything in pairs 🙂
André and Nino are both into film direction. André never truly followed his dream but Nino has a chance to.
Audrey and Alya both working on media by Audrey being the head of her fashion magazine while Alya is head of the Ladyblog.
André/Audrey clearly in an unhappy relationship (that might be full of secrets cough ZOE cough) vs. Alya/Nino being completely honest with each other and resolving their issues rather quickly and maturely for being 14 year olds.
Gabriel and Marinette mirror each other by: being into fashion design, coming from a middle class/poor (in contrast with Adrien and Émilie) background, being disapproved by their love interest's parent/s. Gabriel taints his victims with the power the butterfly grants while Marinette cleanses them with the ladybug.
Émilie and Adrien are both kids with strict parents in a higher class status, sunshines that desire to see the world on their own. Émilie created with the peacock while Adrien destroys with the cat.
Gabriel & Émilie & Audrey & André have been friends since before the kids were born
Émilie starred in André's film while Adrien starred in Nino's project back on s1
Audrey discovered Gabriel and befriended him while Alya found Marinette and befriended her
It is very likely that Audrey knows that Gabriel is Monarque while Alya was told by Marinette herself that she's Ladybug
And right now i don't remember anything else lol
BONUS ROUND!
Luka and Nathalie are both the couple's friend and confidant that knows their secrets and tries to help as best as they can.
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glamfellens · 5 months
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me only ever messing around in blender and photo mode and never playing: man i love mass effect
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stfuimprojecting · 1 year
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Evie likes to count her ribs. It’s soothing. She’ll run her fingers down her left side first, feeling carefully from top to bottom before moving on to her right. She’ll dig her fingers into each divot, hook them underneath her rib cage as she sucks in a breath. It’s her morning ritual. Before taking a shower but after her first weigh in of the day. And at night, in the quiet moonlight that sneaks its way through their room's tiny bathroom window, Evie measures herself. She hides the tape measure with her skincare, which she keeps neatly organized in a bin that Mal never touches. She begins with her arms, then her waist, then her hips, and always ends with her thighs. It’s something her mother taught her how to do. They used to do it together, her mom standing by her side as they measured themselves in tandem. They would stand in front of their bathroom mirror, which had a crack in it that split it into two. Sometimes, Evie would line herself up with the fissure, watch as it made her face go wonky. She was uneven and disassembled, just like her insides.
Doing the nightly ritual without her mother is lonely. Evie is almost tempted to invite Mal to join her. She thinks that Mal could keep her on track - the way her mother did - make sure that Evie stays slim and perfectly princess-esque. She thinks that Mal would be kind about it. Unlike her mother, swinging like a pendulum, simultaneously angry when Evie was fatter than her and then even more angry when Evie was thinner than her. But Evie knows that Mal would disapprove. Mal would narrow her eyes, grab her by her wrist and show Evie just how easily her thumb and pinkie wraps around it. Unbearably tiny. She’s done it before. Like back when they were on the Isle and Evie would refuse to eat her share of the rations. Mal does it here too. She'll hold Evie's wrist underneath the cafeteria table whenever Evie is merely moving her food around and not actually eating it. Mal is kind like that. And even if others might think of Mal's grip as too tight, Evie knows better. Mal's touch is the only thing preventing the rot.
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a descendants wip for my series. i've been working on this since february, which ik isn't actually that long ago but i've been stuck ever since, which is soooooo :(((((
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epicflyingtaco17 · 1 year
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Audrey from the new Bendy game. I was not a big fan of the first one, but I was pleasantly surprised by the sequel! 
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sotogalmo · 7 months
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8:27
Ganymede .... I think he would like Error Sans. Think about it (error's fear of touch, and how he's the destroyer of AUs).
"For My Own Survival"by WinchiFrost is a Ganymede song. To me. Yeah 👍 ("I can't tell if it's unreal my mind is so unsteady" *crying alone in a room *. "for my own survival. Doubting you is vital/Trusting you is vital". "Look where that got us! — mistakes are made.")
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singinprincess · 2 years
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If anyone still watches The Good Doctor, someone PLEASE spoil me on what happened because people on instagram are worried about Lim, my beloved?!?!
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cultreslut · 2 years
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ngl idk abt anyone else but i find the whole ""c*quette"" aesthetic ......weird......the amount of times iv seen an actress or female artist or filmmaker feels disrespectful
isnt the entire aesthetic abt being ~aesthetically~ innocent and childish, self destruction, and attracting the attention of older men ?
dont ppl think that labeling or tagging a female artist as ""c*quette"" or whatever variation reductive ? recentering their work away from their own experiences and lives away from men to an aesthetic ?
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choppedupnotkilled · 5 months
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(In a modern AU) Before her egg cracked and she was able to start recovering from her internalized transphobia, Audrey would frequently doomscroll with Ovarit, r/arethecisokay (and the transphobic subs that are now banned), and Youtube and Reddit comments sections.
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shadowcat222 · 10 months
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Dumb thing but my refreshed indie game phase is just, youtubers making me uncomfortable. Markiplier's jokes abt Wilson unable to overshadow the context and upsetting nature of his presence, people enjoying doing things wrong in Amanda the Adventurer as she grows more and more distressed.
With the latter especially it's like, you're bullying a child and laughing about it, it's not even cartoonish or unreal to the point I can laugh at this point because Amanda is written REALLY FCKIN WELL-
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platypusinplaid · 2 months
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I love the Animorphs cover where he transforms from a boy... to a MAN
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gezelligs-world · 7 months
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I Won't Stop Until That Girl Is Mine
(Bada Lee x Jam Republic!Reader)
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"She is just so- argh!" I said while pacing back and forth frustratedly. Ling and Audrey just watched me with amused expressions.
"Why not just give her a chance? She's already showing a consistent effort towards you." Ling said, and Audrey agreed with Kirsten's statement.
"The word 'no' is not in her vocabulary!" I exclaimed. Just then a knock is heard, Audrey opens the door revealing Tatter.
"Hi Y/n unnie! Bada unnie said to give you this." She handed me a jacket with a number '22' in it.
"What is she planning now?" I asked Tatter but she just shrugged her shoulders.
"Just tell her I said thank you." Tatter nodded and left the room.
"See? Consistent." Ling said after Audrey closed the door.
"I call it obsession. She copied some of my poses on my Instagram posts, when I post a story she will post the same thing, she will even copy my captions?!" I said angrily.
"Shouldn't you be feeling lucky? Everybody has their eyes on her but her eyes are set on you." Audrey said making me sigh. Kirsten comes in, looks like their done.
"How was it?" I asked.
"Yeah, we're doing Bada's." Kirsten said and looked at me with a teasing face.
"Stop that."
"You lose your bet." Kirsten said while chuckling.
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"Come on! Just one date?" Bada said while watching me practice with arms crossed.
"I told you, I'm busy throughout the week." I said and stopped dancing. I grabbed my water which is beside Bada and drank it.
"Aren't you mean enough towards me? Just one date and done." Bada said while staring at me.
"Alright then..." I said making Bada surprised that she straightened her back.
"On one condition..." I turned towards Bada and smirked.
"I will agree to be on a date with you if your choreography gets picked and you got selected as the main dancer." Bada smirked while shaking her head. She cupped my chin and her other hand on my waist. This woman knows my weaknesses.
"You underestimated me, babe." Bada said.
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"Is it already starting?" I said indicating the main dancer competition for the leaders.
"I think, yeah." Ling said.
"I'll follow you there." Ling nodded and went ahead. I was about to close the door when my eyes landed on the jacket that was given by Bada. I sighed, grabbed the jacket and put it on. The jacket even has a 'Lee' on it at the back above the '22'.
I went to the set and saw the leaders warming up. I saw Tatter pointing towards me with her eyes at Bada, Bada turned her head and smiled at me as I went down the stairs.
I sat beside Latrice and she smirked while analyzing the jacket.
"Nice jacket." I rolled my eyes and slapped her shoulders.
"It's a gift." I said.
"I know, I can tell from the surname at the back." Latrice chuckled at my flustered state. I covered my face and leaned down.
"Who's choreography has been chosen?" Shownu asked through the mic.
"It's mine, Bada." Bada's students cheered making me smile in admiration.
"As the leader, I wanted to show our physical strength and aura. The powerful side of us. I considered what I think is the most important, which is the dance you want to try. There's a move of lightning a lighter. I tried to put those kinds of things in the choreography." Bada said with a lot of confidence.
"And Kirsten, was there anything hard during the practice?" I looked at my leader in curiosity.
"Dance, again, is the universal language. There weren't any difficulties, I think." I clapped lightly, satisfied with her answer.
The showdown begins and as expected from the leaders, all of them are good. My eyes somehow always come back at Bada's figure, her body control screams ownership of her choreography. Part of me wants Kirsten to steal it but at the same time, it sucks when someone stole the choreo you worked hard for, right?
The time came where Kirsten and Bada. The judges chose Bada and she immediately turned towards me and smirked. Kirsten and Bada hugged and even kissed Kirsten's cheeks which surprised me. Some of the dancers glanced at me as they know that Bada is pursuing me.
"Alexa, play 'jealous' by Nick Jonas." I nudge Latrice's shoulders. Bada's members went to hug her to congratulate her. Me and the rest also went Kirsten and hugged her tightly.
"It's alright Leader, you still slayed." I winked at her and Kirsten chuckled.
"Yah! Y/n L/n!" I turned towards where the voice came from and saw that it's Bada.
"You still owe me a date!" All of the people in the room began to scream, including the judges. Bada's members and mine make us go forward to be close at each other. Bada opened her arms for me but I got a little hesitant. Emma pushes me instead, making me crash at Bada. Bada gives Emma a thumbs up while laughing.
"Why bother announcing it when you know I have no choice?" I looked up and our eyes met.
"Just in case you forgot about it." She said and pecked my cheeks. The crowd went wild again, some even jumped. I cover my face with my hands and bury my face on Bada's chest. Bada just lets me, enjoying the situation I'm in.
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hotvintagepoll · 21 days
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Propaganda
Eleanor Parker (Scaramouche, The Sound of Music)— Eulogized as a ravishing beauty whose looks were merely ornamental to her craft, feast your eyes on Eleanor Parker. Listen! I know you're thinking of the Baroness in Sound of Music and saying NO I won't protect the woman who tried to steal him from Maria but forget about that (like you personally wouldn't shoot your shot with Plummer)! The trailer for Scaramouche describes her character Lenore as "The glamourous queen of the nightlife of Paris. A flame-haired wildcat" and this is a woman who was able to pull off that role, and you get the vibe she was like that irl too. There's a story about her changing hair colors that never fails to make me laugh. Take note of her stunning eyes! Her amazing legs! And to see her in motion is to make note of the aura about her, she has an amazing presence. Fall in love with Eleanor Parker today, and make your vote count!
Audrey Hepburn (My Fair Lady, Sabrina, Roman Holiday)—Growing up, Audrey Hepburn desperately wanting to be a professional ballerina, but she was starved during WWII and couldn't pursue her dream due to the effects of malnourishment. After she was cast in Roman Holiday, she skyrocketed to fame, and appeared in classics like My Fair Lady and Breakfast at Tiffany's. She's gorgeous, and mixes humor and class in all of her performances. After the majority of her acting career came to close, she became a UNICEF ambassador.
This is round 3 of the tournament. (yes I know it says round 2 in the poll. sometimes I post these when I’m sleepy.) All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.
[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]
Eleanor Parker:
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“When I’m spotted somewhere, it means that my characterizations haven’t covered up Eleanor Parker the person. I prefer it the other way around.” So shy she was actively nervous about winning awards in person, her personal life remains mostly behind the scenes. But on screen? she was a force majeure. It's a shame the role most people remember her in is the Baroness in The Sound of Music, but then again, it did make Christopher Plummer reminisce upon her passing “I was sure she was enchanted and would live forever.”
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Listen we all know Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews had insane chemistry but the Baroness deserves some love too! She has such a glamorous presence but not in a hard way
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She will be known as the fabulous baroness in TSOM, but she was so much more than that. Just as comfortable in westerns or melodrama, the scheming other woman, and the beauty that wins the heart of every man in town.
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Audrey Hepburn propaganda:
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"She may be a wispy, thin little thing, but when you see that girl, you know you're really in the presence of something. In that league there's only ever been Garbo, and the other Hepburn, and maybe Bergman. It's a rare quality, but boy, do you know when you've found it." - Billy Wilder
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Raised money for the resistance in nazi occupied Hungary. Became a humanitarian after retiring. Two very sexy things to do!
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where to begin......... i wont her so bad. i literally dont know what to say.
My dude. The big doe eyes, the cheekbones, the voice. The flawless way she carried herself. She was never in a movie where she wasn't drop dead gorgeous. Oh, also the fact she raised funds against the Nazis doing BALLET and she won the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her humanitarian work.
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"It’s as if she dropped out of the sky into the ’50s, half wood-nymph, half princess, and then disappeared in her golden coach, wearing her glass slippers and leaving no footprints." - Molly Haskell
"All I want for Christmas is to make another movie with Audrey Hepburn." - Cary Grant
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I know people nowadays are probably sick of seeing her with all the beauty and fashion merch around that depicts her and/or Marilyn Monroe but she is considered a classic Hollywood beauty for a reason. Ironically in her day she was more of the alternative beauty when compared to many of her contemporaries. She always came off with such elegance and grace, and she was so charming. Apparently she was a delight to work with considering how many of her co-stars had wonderful things to say about her. Outside of her beauty and acting ability she was immensely kind. She helped raise funds for the Dutch resistance during WWII by putting on underground dance performances as well as volunteering at hospitals and other small things to help the resistance. During her Hollywood career and later years she worked with UNICEF a lot. Just an all around beautiful person both inside and out.
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No one could wear clothes in this era like she could. She was every major designer's favorite star and as such her films are time capsules of high fashion at the time. But beyond that, she had such an elegance in her screen presence that belied a broad range of ability. From a naive princess, to a confused widow, to a loving and mischievous daughter, she could play it all.
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Look at that woman's neck. Don't you want to bite it?
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aroceu · 9 months
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what's been happening at the otw?
so it seems that on twitter and possibly tumblr, people have been hearing things about the otw board/election stuff without really knowing what's going on. a lot of the different issues get conflated and confused with each other, and things that aren't related get connected while things that are related don't. i'm making this post to make things clear, since i've been following some of it (primarily the otw board stuff) from the outside so that people know exactly what is going on, and to reduce the spread of misinformation.
a lot of this information comes from this dreamwidth journal, which has been documenting many testimonies and receipts, for full context.
an earlier timeline of the csem and insensitive treatment of policy and abuse committee volunteers is documented at @221loislane, on this post.
the election season
every year — for anyone out of touch with how the organization of transformative works (otw) politics go, yes this occurs every year as seats can be held for 3 years maximum but resignations happen, leading to staggering — the org has an election season for the main board of directors. they oversee all of the otw's fan projects, including ao3 and fanlore. there are 7 seats, one of whom is the president (kari dayton).
if a chair resigns, then their seat may remain empty to the end of the term or to the next election season, depending on when they resign. if they resign early, a runner-up from the previous election may take their seat.
elections generally take place every summer, but the actual changing of hands occurs in in the fall. board directors are known by their real life name; this has always been the policy. prior to this year, when candidacies were announced, it was with their full name. however, due to the csem attack emails that were targeting volunteers last may, it seems that they added a layer of protection for the candidates this year, and initially announced them with their first name and last initial.
this election season, there were originally 4 chairs that were going to be vacant and needed to be filled. there were also originally 7 candidates, some of whom applied for candidacy last minute. one of the candidates withdrew early (mid june), so this came down to 6.
in order to vote in an election, you must donate a minimum $10usd prior to a certain date in june (this year being june 30) and tick the box that says you want to become a member.
the republican candidate
on july 24, people started spreading the fact that one of the otw board candidates, audrey richards, is a republican. this is true: she ran for a republican seat for the us house of reps in 2022 (and prior to that, as an independent in 2020.) this can be seen on her ballotpedia. we know that she is the same audrey richards, because her ballotpedia page also connects her with the otw.
let me be clear: this is still in line with org policy, in terms of her real name getting released. their full names were going to be released to the public at some point, and as far as i know the org did not state that they would hide their full names until after the election.
many people, especially americans on the ao3 (full disclosure: i am one of the americans on ao3) were very wary about this, because the republican party has been endorsing increasingly dangerous laws and policies along the lines of fascism and transphobia. audrey running as a republican does not necessarily mean that she agrees with these values; however, because she, as a white woman, felt comfortable enough to align herself with a party that does, many lgbt people and people of color had every right to have reservations about her. her statements about ukraine (disagreeing with biden sending arms) and her involvement with "children and screens" was also brought under scrutiny: see this post by discluded. (i am not endorsing discluded's post; it simply cites some concerns with audrey)
due to claims of harassment (i am also not saying whether or not they occurred), she resigned from candidacy and from the org as a whole on july 25, declaring "congrats on the witch hunt." (x)
the otw then released a statement dissuading people from harassing board candidates. this was not taken well, as they were completely silent last year regarding unsubstantiated rumors about tiffany g, a previous election candidate who's chinese, with views that many were not comfortable with, to the point of saying that she might be a spy for the chinese government. this was spread by chinese- and english-speaking users alike. the otw was silent about this. however, this year, many volunteers internally have said that the otw's silence towards harassment is damning, and in any case, even in audrey's, they should speak up against it, resulting in their public statement.
reprimanding a volunteer of color
also on july 24, coincidentally enough, a volunteer of color made a post about receiving a letter about constructive corrective action procedure (ccap) from the tag wrangling team, due to making volunteers uncomfortable by speaking up about racism in the org.
the tl;dr of why they received the letter boiled down to:
talking about the org's racism in a ~certain way~ in public channels where volunteers could not leave made some vols uncomfortable
sharing internal chatlogs and correspondences to the public. EXCEPT THE THINGS SHE SHARED WERE HER OWN MESSAGES. and before july 25, the only OTHER thing she had shared to the public was the otw's direction on how volunteers should approach getting csem, from the spam attack last year, on a comment in a news post - which is an email that ALL VOLUNTEERS GOT. because none of that was public! no one knew what the org's approach to the spam attack in order to protect the volunteers was! she disclosed it so randoms who are not volunteers would know!
"outing" a volunteer, except she DIDN'T, because the volunteer had outed THEMSELVES in the chat program previously and repeatedly, then changed their icon at some point to indicate they didn't want to link the identities anymore. but there had never been a formal announcement or request not to link the identities, and who was supposed to take an icon change as an indicator of that, so IN THE CHAT PROGRAM (not in public!) kutti made a reference to something that person (under their real name) said in public (under their fannish handle/icon) and got reprimanded for it
emyn a has since made a post about how kutti's general behavior in the chat has made him uncomfortable and was one of the reasons why he withdrew his candidacy, and that he supported the fact that she received the ccap. he stated that alex tischer's abrasiveness (see below) was probably because of where alex is from, in europe. he also said that kutti outed a withdrawn candidate (probably audrey) in the chat program, which was not public information prior to his post. the rest of his claims are presently not substantiated, and most of what i have read about his accusations boil down to tone policing.
EDIT: kutti clarified that emyn got her mixed up with another volunteer of color in one of these claims. she says that she has never talked about audrey either internally nor externally, and does not know what other handles she would link audrey to. she also specified that emyn's accusation of her using "provocative descriptors, such as 'disgusting'" was in context of her criticizing the org's handling of azarias — a volunteer who handled many csem tickets last year, then got their account suspended without warning, and then got implicated for distribution in an org-wide letter, which, yeah, is pretty fucking disgusting!
the alex problem
i mentioned the ccap above because kutti references it in her post about alex tischer here, and when i linked to it on twitter people were confused as to what ccap meant and why it was significant. and i don't think kutti's treatment should go ignored either, because i think it signifies a larger problem that the org has.
and one of these very glaring problems is alex tischer. alex tischer was on the board this year, being their last year of their current term. they were on the board previously too, from 2015-2018. tischer has been called a "missing stair" by multiple volunteers, and a huge problem in the org's function.
more specifically, and as confirmed by a former volunteer i talked to on an ao3 post (wherein they corrected me for conflating two incidents), some incidents that occurred with tischer were:
in 2020, when mainland chinese vols were encouraged to do more recruitment for volunteers on weibo (a mainland china site), the otw had added two new language tags on ao3: tai-gi (taiwanese) and cantonese. the vols were also encouraged to endorse this — not specifically by alex — on weibo. china and taiwan have VERY high geopolitical tensions, and the vols endorsing the addition of the taiwanese language on a mainland chinese site could potentially put them in danger. when they expressed this, alex had told them to "not appease a shitty government," or something along those lines — indicating alex did not care for their safety in a heavily censored country, over sticking it to the man or whatever. (alex is white/german and lives in the uk.)
in 2023, separate from this issue, the otw had decided to shut down the transformative works weibo page without consulting the chinese volunteers. the chinese vols were very pissed and protested, first in english. and then, when their concerns weren't being heard, they started in protesting in chinese. this prompted alex to reply to them, in german, "We can throw all sorts of things at each other, but if we don't agree on a lingua franca, we won't achieve much" (Wir können uns gegenseitig alle möglichen Dinge an den Kopf werfen aber wenn wir uns nicht auf eine Lingua Franca einigen erreichen wir nicht viel.) which, in my opinion, is pretty fucking irrelevant to chinese volunteers not getting their voices heard for something that they had every right to get their voice heard on, and basically told them to "speak english" when they had been speaking english previously and getting ignored!!!
a discussion from the otw slack in 2020 was leaked, wherein a black volunteer asked a question and expressed interest in knowing the diversity of the board of directors. not the diversity of all volunteers. they immediately got dogpiled on by multiple volunteers, alex included, saying that asking for such a thing could endanger the safety of volunteers (which is pretty fucking ironic considering alex's treatment of the chinese vols), the black volunteer should've backread a day's worth of chatlogs, saying that asking about diversity was chilling, etc. i cannot summarize in full how furious this chatlog makes me, so if you are capable i do recommend you to read it to see how utterly defensive everyone got at a simple question about diversity.
these things are relevant because on july 25, kutti made a post about alex — because other volunteers had been asking in the otw slack about kutti's situation, and a volunteer compared how kutti was treated, for speaking up about racism, to how alex was treated, who was consistently xenophobic and as far as anyone knew, did not receive a reprimand for it. alex then doubled down on their previous comments.
this prompted kutti's post, both to publicize this incident and to call for alex's immediate suspension.
board directors resign
there were, at the time, five chairs on board, due to the fact that two had resigned previously (heather in may 2023, jess in nov 2022; neither were replaced). after this incident, volunteers were furious and backed kutti up and also called for alex to resign, or for the other chairs to kick alex out.
two chairs in particular, antonius and natalia, were already on hiatus. they were also pressured to kick alex out, due to the fact that they were only standing chairs, not active, so volunteers wanted them to either come off hiatus and start the process to get alex out, or if they could not do their chair duties, resign. i believe the board needs a 2/3rds vote to kick someone off as a chair, which is why they were brought into the conversation — 2/5 chairs would not be enough.
on july 26, natalia did reprimand alex's behavior in the chat according to some sources. an anonymous source said that both natalia and antonius had started their resignation process prior to the alex-kutti incident; they made this public and official after/during this conversation.
on july 27, alex also said that they had resigned "yesterday." it is unclear if they only resigned from the board, or the org as a whole, considering they were still the webs chair, a tag wrangler, and on the translation and support committees.
all three board resignations were made public in an official announcement on july 27; natalia and antonius's were made first, with alex's as an add-on shortly afterward. however, as alex and antonius's spots were already outgoing, this has only opened up ONE slot for the election: a fifth one. and there are five candidates.
what happens next?
with five vacant seats and five candidates, this means that the election is uncontested. however, two of the five candidates will serve partial terms (the ones who get less votes; 2 years each), while three of the five candidates will serve full terms (3 years each.) if you've donated at least $10 to the otw in the past year, you're eligible to vote. a comprehensive schedule can be found here.
all candidate platforms/q&as can be found here in individual posts, and here as a spreadsheet.
by the way, this is not the first time most of, if not a full board has resigned almost all at once. this occurred previously in 2015, due to some of the following incidents (these may not be all of the reasons for the mass resignation, but definitely for many of them):
insanely incompetent financial handling wherein they had donations up to six figures held in paypal accounts
the removal of sanders, a candidate during that election season, because she had resigned from her role as treasurer recently, thus supposedly making her ineligible to run (candidates must have served as a volunteer in any position for 2 years), even though she was still on the dev committee. she did not resign from the candidacy herself. the election committee had objected to this but was overridden by the board. sanders is black.
a board chair had gone under a sockpuppet account during multiple candidate chats asking questions "as a concerned member," even though she was board chair, indicating a conflict of interest.
during the open board meeting in november (after the election), without warning the board decided to appoint andrea, the candidate who got the least number of votes that election year, to a spot that was vacated a whole year before. it was hard for me to find context around this situation but from what i've gathered, andrea was already friends with the present board and the newly appointed board had not yet settled in. when this was met with appropriate backlash and accusations of power grabbing, this is when the entire board at the time — minus the new elects — resigned.
i bring this up to show that the otw has never been a perfect organization — rather, it has always had its problems. i did not pay much attention to these incidents previously, but considering how the current election season has become more and more prominent on my social media, i feel that it's important for me to be in the know now, and to spread this information to others.
i am not a volunteer (although i used to be a tag wrangler for a brief time.) i am not speaking on behalf of anyone mentioned or linked in this post except for myself. i strongly believe in making an organization's policies public and for as much information to be accessible as possible, for a site that i'm an active member on and love to use. i believe in ensuring the safety, comfort, and consideration of volunteers of color. i am making this post because i believe the otw deserves to be transparent like any other organization. please feel free to share and discuss as you see fit; and if any of this information is incorrect, please let me know asap!
edit: follow-up incidents
this post by @fandomantiracism writes a detailed timeline of the mishandling of chinese volunteers (including the below incidents), and explains exactly why the environment in which otw volunteers in china must be handled with a modicum of more care than they do currently. please read it to fully understand the cvols' situation! (disclaimer: i am not affiliated with this blog.)
during the candidate chats, a chinese candidate got an extremely inappropriate question from a present chair/former or present board member, breaching on org privacy (even though kutti got a ccap for less), a clear attempt to attack the candidate by making them appear unsafe and immature, and with a lie that put their ACTUAL SAFETY at risk. see this post, and this thread on twitter
an aforementioned former volunteer detailed another incident where the treatment of chinese volunteers was severely mishandled; see here
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kabartmatzu · 9 months
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I wanted to redesing and rewrite Miraculous for a while. Then thought why not share my ideas so here is Chloé Bourgeois. (Duddeee I forgor the wingss?? 💀)
In my rewriting, power system is different. I will explain it on my further posts. Here I want to tell you more about my version of Chloé aka Queen Bee.
Chloé’s character is similar to show version. (First two seasons) Mommy issues, struggling with social relationships, bully… The difference is I keep the redemption arc :D In my version Ladybug and Chat Noir get their miraculouses when they were in high school. But show will take place at their twenties when they are in university. We will have flashbacks about high school years and how they got their miraculouses. Chloé also gets her miraculous in high school but it will be taken from her by Ladybug. This events will be similar to show too. Chloé won’t reveal her identity to everyone but will do wrong things to fix and seem like a hero. Her plan was to impress her mother as Queen Bee so later she can reveal her identity to her and make her mother proud of her for once :’) (Damn you Audrey)
Her only friend was Adrian for her whole childhood (same goes for Adrian) thanks to Audrey’s business with Gabriel. I thought her whole feelings towards Adrian is platonic but in her high school times she thought she has romantic feelings towards him because she never had friends other than Adrian and never had romantic interest. That’s why she will be clingy towards Adrian in high school.
In last year of high school after Ladybug took Bee miraculous from her, Marinette will try to fix her relationship with Audrey like in the show but it won’t work and Audrey probably say some really heartbreaking things and this will make Chloé angrier. She will blame Marinette and will be ruder to everyone (espacially to Marinette) at school, Sabrina will dump her (yaaay), Ladybug won’t trust her about an akuma attack (there are no akuma in my story tho but i want you to know what i am referring to rn) and Adrian will talk with her about her actions and how he doesn’t want to keep being friends with her anymore if she continues. She will get akumatized too and hurt her teacher (forgor her name) and Sabrina. She will collapse and leave Paris. I am not sure where she will go, probably i will make her go another country at Europe.
She will change her contacts so Adrian won’t be able to reach her. She will go therapy there and will be emotionally better. I feel like she would study child psychology maybe become a teacher or something. I also thought she will take self defense classes too since Ladybug told that she doesn’t have enough experience on fighting and they ve been getting educated for years to hold a miraculous, when she took bee miraculous from her. ( thats a lie tho it has only been a few months not years lmao)
After 2 or 3 years she will return to Paris (when show takes time at)for a few days just to see her father and apologize to Sabrina, Adrian and Marinette. I thought Sabrina won’t even wanna listen her. So she will decide not to see Adrian because she will think he doesn’t want to see her either. Then she will find herself in the middle of akuma attack. She will see where the akumatized item is. Ladybug and Chatnoir will be surprised to see her there of course but they are in the middle of fight. Chloé will try to tell where the akuma is but Ladybug will immediately tell Chatnoir to take her somewhere safe and he will. Chloé will tell Chatnoir that she knows how to defeat the akuma and she is sorry for being a bad holder back than. Adrian is so confused seeing her friend after years of course but can’t say anything (you know ,secret identity 🤷). Akuma will be defeated and he will go to Chloé to thank.
So then she will go to bakery hoping Marinette will be there in university break and hoping at least Marinette would like to listen her like back then. And as she hoped, Marinette wants to listen her. I might make a comic with this scene later. Right now I don’t have the words to describe the dialogue in here. But it will be about how she came to apologize and she is now a different person but how she doesn’t expect to be forgiven since Sabrina didn’t. And I thought Marinette would hug her seeing how in the edge she is and she might cry :’’(
I know I know it is so plane but i am not good at writing. I just tell what my ideas are. It is not the end. I will write about what happens later but first I should make posts about other holders and power system. Powers are different in my version so story might be confusing without knowing them. Bee miraculous also has slightly a different power. So first I will tell about them. Then I might try harder and write the story better hehe.
About Zoe btw I don’t even know if I want her to exit lmaoo. No hate don’t get me wrong but she is not even a character in the show. I am not sure what to do about her yet.
Thank you for reading, I appreciate that. 🪐🌟
=====Turkish translate======
Bir süredir Mucize’yi tekrar tasarlamak ve yazmak istiyordum. Kendi kendime dedim ki neden fikirlerimi paylaşmayayım ve paylaşmaya karar verdim. Ta daa Chloé Bourgeois! ( kanatlarını çizmeyi unutmuşum ama çaktırmayın)
Benim alternatifimde güç sistemi farklı. İlerki postlarımda açıklayacağım. Burada daha çok benim tasarladığım Chloe’den diğer adıyla Kraliçe Arı’dan bahsetmek istiyorum.
Aslında Chloe’nin karakteri dizidekine yakın. (İlk iki sezondaki) Annesi ile sorunları, sosyal ilişkilerde sıkıntılar, zorba biri olması… Fark ise ‘redemtion arc’ ını çöpe atmadım. :D Benim versiyonumda Uğur Böceği ve Kara Kedi mucizelerini lise okurken alıyorlar ama hikaye üniversite yıllarında, yirmili yaşlarında geçiyor. Lise yıllarında yaşadıklarına arada ‘flashback’lerle değinmeyi düşünüyorum. Chloe de mucizesini lisede alıyor ancak Uğur Böceği ondan geri alıyor. Bu olaylar da dizidekine benziyor. Chloe kimliğini herkese açıklamak yerine önce Kraliçe Arı olarak annesini etkileyip sonra ona kimliğini açıklamayı düşünüyor. Böylelikle sonunda annesinin onunla gurur duyacağını düşünüyor. Dizideki gibi sorunlar çıkarıp sonra kahraman gibi davranıp insanları kurtarmış gibi gösteriyor kendisini.
Küçüklüğünde tek arkadaşı Adriandı. O da annesi Audrey’in Gabriel ile olan işi sayesinde. Aslında Adrian’a karşı tamamen platonik sevgi (arkadaş olarak seviyor yani karşılıksız sevgi anlamında değil) beslediğini düşünüyorum. Hiç bir zaman romantik hisleri olmadı ama Adrian’dan başka arkadaşı olmadığı için ve daha önce hiç romantik duygular hissetmediğinden Adrian’a olan duygularını romantik sevgi ile karıştırdığını düşünüyorum.
Lisenin son yılında Uğur Böceği, arı mucizesini ondan alıyor; Marinette Chloe’nin annesi ile olan ilişkisini düzeltmeye yardım ederken işler ters gidiyor ve Audrey, Chloe’ye kalp kırıcı şeyler söylüyor. Bu Chloe’yi ilerki günlerde daha agresif yapıyor, Marinette’i her zamankinden daha fazla aşağılayıp olanlar yüzünden onu suçluyor, Sabrina dayanamayıp onunla ilişkisini kesiyor (yürü be Sabrina), Uğur Böceği akuma saldırısı konusunda Chloe’ye güvenmiyor( akumalar benim versiyonumda yok ama şimdilik anlaşılmak için akuma diyeceğim) ve Adrian böyle biri olmaya devam ederse onunla arkadaş olmak istemediğini söylüyor. Bunların hepsi Chloe’nin duygusal olarak yıkılmasına hatta belki akumalanarak sevdiği insanlara, şu adını unuttuğum öğretmenleri ve belki Sabrina’ya, zarar vermesine yol açıyor. Tüm bunlar Chloe’nin Paris’ten ayrılarak başka bir Avrupa ülkesine gitmesiyle sonuçlanıyor.
Burda Chloe iletişim bilgilerini bile değiştiriyor ve Adrian dahil kimse ona ulaşamıyor. Terapi alıyor. Üniversitede çocuk psikolojisi okuyor belki de öğretmen olmak istiyor diye düşündüm. Hatta bazı dövüş sanatlarını da öğreniyor çünkü Uğur Böceği mucizeyi alırken ona yeterli savaş deneyimi olmadığını ve kendilerinin yıllardır eğitim aldığını söylüyor. ( Yalan tabii. Sadece bir kaç aydır çalışıyorlar yıllardır değil.)
2 ya da 3 yıl içinde ( hikayenin geçtiği zaman ) Paris’e dönüyor. Sadece bir kaç günlüğüne babasını görmeye; Sabrina, Adrian ve Marinette’den özür dilemeye geliyor. Sabrina onu dinlemek bile istemeyince Adrian’ın da aynı tepkiyi vereceğini düşündüğünden onu görmekten vazgeçiyor. Marinette’i görmeye giderken kendisini akuma saldırının ortasında buluyor ve Uğur Böceği ile Kara Kediye yardım etmeye çalışıyor. Kahramanlar Chloe’yi gördüklerine çok şaşırıyorlar ama savaşın tam ortasındalar bu yüzden Kara Kedi onu alıp daha güvenli bir yere götürüyor. Chloe, Kara Kedi’ye akumanın nerde olduğunu söylüyor ve önceden kötü bir kahraman olduğu için özür diliyor. Adrian eski arkadaşını gördüğüne çok mutlu oluyor tabii ama hiç bir şey söyleyemiyor çünkü gizli kimlik şeysinden. Akumayı yeniyorlar tabii ve Chloe ye teşekkür ediyor.
Daha sonra Chloe Marinette’ i görmeyi umarak pastanelerine gidiyor. Ve umduğu gibi Marinette orda oluyor. Burdaki sahne hakkında daha sonra bi çizgi roman yapmayı düşünüyorum şimdilik dialog kafamda tam değil ama basitçe Marinette’den özür diliyor, artık eskisi gibi olmadığını ama yine de Sabrina gibi affetmek zorunda olmadığını sadece farklı biri olduğunu bilmesini istediğini söylüyor. Burda Marinette’in ona sarılacağını düşündüm bu da yaşlarını zor tutan Chloe’yi ağlatacak.
Biliyorum biliyorum anlatımım aşırı düz ama yazmakta iyi değilim. Sadece kafamdaki fikirleri aktarıyorum. Bu son değil. Devamını yazacağım ama önce diğer Mucize kullanıcıları hakkında ve güç sistemi üzerine postlar yapmak istiyorum. Neleri değiştirdiğimi bilmeden hikayeyi anlamak zor olabilir. Yazım şeklimi de daha akıcı ve güzel hale getirmeye çalışacağım.
Zoe’yi sorarsanız onun hakkında ne yapacağımı henüz bilmiyorum. Onu hikayeye ekler miyim emin bile değilim. Açıkçası dizide hiç bir kişiliği olmayan bom boş bir karakter. O yüzden emin değilim.
Okuduğun için teşekkür ederim. 🪐🌟
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ggomos-maribat · 10 months
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Secrets, Masks, and Family Gatherings
Cross posted from AO3
It had been nearly a year since she moved to Gotham City, but the skyline seemed new each time she went out for night patrol. Ladybug zipped to another building with Red Hood to gain a higher vantage point. Her wings fluttered slightly with the breeze behind her.
"All clear here." Red Hood pressed on his comms.
"Okay. We'll wait for an update from Robin and Spoiler then we're finished for tonight if there aren't any problems," Batman replied.
"Yeah, it's a miracle we get to finish up early." The vigilante rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms. "So LB . . ."
"This small talk again?" Ladybug groaned.
Red Hood put his arms up. "Hey, I'm just curious."
"What is it now?"
"I was just wondering what made you transfer to Gotham." He perched on the ledge right beside her. "You defeated your city's villain, right? You had nothing to do anymore."
He's not wrong. She often thought about it herself. Her past and responsibilities clung to her like unshakeable nightmares. Ladybug knew the moment she gained guardianship that her life had no chance of reverting back to 'normal'.
"I think you know how it feels," she said.
"How what feels?"
Ladybug sighed, slumping. "When we defeated Hawkmoth, I thought we could finally rest easy. But I couldn't. I was restless, and between that and taking care of the aftermath, I realized I was missing the superhero life." She shrugged. "That's why I'm here now---it's inescapable. As the guardian, I decided it was better for the Miraculi to be used for good instead of sitting unused."
"Ah, classic PTSD like all the Bats." Red Hood nodded.
She snorted. "But that doesn't mean I still live a restless life. In fact, I've gotten used to life in Gotham."
"But why Gotham of all places?"
"The Miracle Box told me something. I can't divulge anything more."
"Just like you don't divulge anything about your civvy life."
She rolled her eyes, elbowing him on the side, which caused him to flinch dramatically. Bats and their nosiness. "Hey, we're not that close yet for me to reveal my identity. And it's a fair game. I don't know any of you either."
"I'm surprised B hasn't dug up anything on you. And he has contingency plans for all the JL members."
"I told you, the glamor protects us."
At first, she'd been hesitant to work with the vigilantes and at the same time, Batman had been wary around her especially when she was entering their territory. But she had gotten to know them well over time, despite not knowing who were behind the masks. She could also tell they'd grown to trust her like one of theirs.
"All clear near Crime Alley," Spoiler reported over the line.
"Good. Thank you for your help tonight, Ladybug. Everyone else, back to the cave."
Ladybug stood up abruptly. "Thank you too. I'll join the Signal during the weekend. He mentioned he might need some help."
"Oooh, you seem in a hurry to get back home." Red Hood tilted his head.
"No, I'm not spilling anything about my plans for the night," she huffed. "And I need to go because I'm hungry and my timer's running because you forced me to use my Lucky Charm to win that bet with Red Robin."
"The look on his face was priceless."
Ladybug threw her yoyo. "Good night, Hood."
After double checking that none of the others had followed or tracked her, Ladybug detransformed and walked back to her apartment building. She could practically hear the coffee calling to her; she'd drown in it endlessly whenever patrol nights ran late and she needed commissions to finish afterwards.
In the empty elevator, Tikki hovered up to her shoulder. "It's a good thing patrol ended early, Marinette."
"It's not a good sign, Tikki." She smiled grimly. "I think something big's going to happen. A massive breakout or a big plan by the Rogues."
The kwami hummed. "You can try to get plenty of rest before that happens."
"No promises. I have twelve designs I have to submit to Audrey by next week."
Just as she headed to her apartment door, her phone rang a familiar customized ringtone. Tikki also gasped in excitement upon seeing the caller's name.
Marinette tucked her phone between her ear and shoulder while jamming her keys through the doorknob. "Hey, Adrien. What's up?"
"Hey Nette. Done with patrol?"
"We finished early tonight. The Rogues are suspiciously silent. How are you? How's Plagg?" Marinette stepped into the room and Tikki turned on the lights.
"Currently pigging out on cheese. As always." She could almost see her best friend's eye-roll. "Anyway, I called to tell you that I'll be visiting Gotham on Friday. Wayne Tech is partnering up with our brand and Chloe and Kagami are coming with me."
"That's great news, Adrien! I'll bake something special---or should I take you out to a restaurant? I know some good ones near my place."
Adrien chuckled. "Pick anything you want. I'll tell Chloe to send you our schedule so we can reserve lunch or dinner with you and----no, Plagg! I'm not telling her to buy extra cheese!" He heaved out a breath. "At night we can have a short . . . run. You can introduce me to your new partners."
"They're not my partners. It's just you, kitty cat," Marinette said pointedly. "We're just allies."
"You gush about winning prank wars against them."
"It's fun being around them but that's it!"
He laughed. "It's okay. I'm glad you're enjoying your time over there. Send my regards to Damian."
A knock suddenly sounded on the door.
"Speaking of Damian, I think he's here. Gotta go, and say hi to Plagg and the others for me!"
"Pfft, you keep stroking his ego."
With one last goodbye, Marinette threw her phone on the couch and ran to the door. She hadn't expected her boyfriend to drop by, but she was glad he could make time for her. She knew Damian was as busy as her and she was worried he'd end up not taking care of himself like she always did.
"Dames, I thought you had work at the company for the whole night." She gave him a tight hug and a light kiss as soon as she opened the door.
Damian pecked her cheek, winding his arms around her waist. "They let us go early and I thought I should surprise you."
"Good, because I'm surprised," she beamed. "Are you staying the night?"
"Of course, habibti."
Damian Wayne had been an unexpected addition to her Gotham life. They had met in the park while they were working on their sketches---him, a portrait drawing and her, an inspired dress design. Before she knew it, she was with someone who she believed she could spend the rest of her life with. Damian was her support, her confidant in all aspects except her secret identity (though the thought of finally telling him had crossed her mind too many times).
"Are you hungry? I haven't had dinner yet and I was just thinking of cooking instant ramen . . ."
"We can have dinner together, but . . . there is something I need to talk to you about." Damian rubbed her arms, gazing at her intently.
Marinette's heart quickened as she subconsciously thought about all types of bad news. Did he get hurt? Did I do something? Is he going to break up with me?
"Habibti, love, I can already read your thoughts." He kissed the tip of her nose. "It's not anything terrible."
"What is it?"
Damian took a deep breath. "I think it's time for you to meet my family."
Marinette felt her jaw drop. "Your . . . your family? Are you sure about this?"
For the longest time, Damian had expressed his distaste at the thought of her meeting the Waynes. At first, she'd thought that it was the status difference, but he seemed more worried about his father and brothers doing something crazy.
On the other hand, they had both flown to Paris four months ago for Damian to officially meet her parents and friends. It had gone smoothly, and Damian was convinced that the opposite would happen if she met his family.
"Yes. I've thought about it." He sat down with her as she ran her thumb over the back of his hand. "They're already asking about you and if I stall for any longer, I know they will start prying into your life."
"Oh . . ."
Damian had talked about his brothers before, and Marinette saw them sometimes in news and tabloids. In her impression, they didn't seem too bad.
"But don't worry," he assured her, "I will be with you the whole time. We'll have lunch at the manor tomorrow---"
"Wait, tomorrow?"
"Is it too sudden? I worked with your free schedule and---"
"No, no, I'm definitely free tomorrow." Her eyes widened. "Let's meet them tomorrow. It just caught me off guard. I have to prepare my outfit and buy a gift and----oh no, what would your brothers like? What about your father and Alfred?"
Damian smiled gently. "You don't have to concern yourself with that. You’ll make a wonderful first impression."
"But---"
"I have to warn you about my brothers instead." His lip curled. "They will be a handful."
She laughed a little. "You already warned me a million times."
"Because I can't overstate how troublesome they'll be."
Instead of her reply, Marinette's growling stomach echoed in the room. She blushed as Damian pulled her from her seat, kissing her cheek. "It seems that we have an emergency to take care of first. I'll help you cook."
---
Marinette smoothed down the remnant wrinkles on her skirt. She'd chosen a simple pleated dress to wear to her first family lunch with the Waynes. At the same time, the car pulled up in front of the Wayne Manor. It was just as intimidating as she remembered---she'd only ever been to the manor once, to wait for Damian.
"Nervous?" Damian touched her hand.
"Should I be?"
"Never," he replied firmly. "If anything, I should apologize ahead of time. Also, there is no reason to be nervous. If they aren't busy acting insufferable, they'll be impressed by you."
Though the words were warm, they did little to calm her heart. These were the Waynes, royalty of Gotham. She even found it hard to believe that she was with Damian in the first place.
"Come on." Damian helped her out of the car and guided her to the front steps. He pushed through the large wooden doors and they were both met with a broad-shouldered man rushing down the main hallway.
"Todd," Damian called out. "Where on earth are you going?"
The man---Jason, she assumed---stopped, glanced at them, and gave her a quick once-over. Marinette noticed the motorcycle helmet he held on one hand.
"Demon brat." Jason tilted his head. "I have work to do."
"But lunch---"
"I promised to drop by. I didn't say I'll stay." He gave Marinette a single nod and went off.
"I bet he had another fight with Father," Damian muttered under his breath. Marinette squeezed his hand.
"I'm sorry," he murmured.
"Don't apologize. Let's go," she told him softly.
Damian led her to the dining hall where the others were already sat around the table. Curious stares burned through Marinette, making her duck her head away. Damian himself was unfazed, wearing a half-scowl as he helped her to her seat.
"Master Damian, Miss Marinette, welcome." Just in time, Alfred strolled in with the food. She gave the butler a meek smile.
Then, she took a look at the Waynes one by one. The poised Bruce Wayne was at the head of the table, his presence the most prominent  in the room. Across from her was Dick Grayson, who looked like he was studying her. Positioned beside him were Tim and Stephanie, both whispering to each other. Finally, Barbara was at her other side, offering her a small smile of comfort.
"I'm glad to finally meet you, Marinette," Bruce greeted. "Damian talks a lot about you."
Marinette momentarily eyed the array of silverware near her plate which she did not know how to use. "The pleasure is all mine . . . sir."
"Please call me Bruce." He gestured to the food at the center. "Go ahead and help yourself. Alfred cooked a feast for us."
She cleared her throat. "Thank you, Bruce."
"How did you both meet?" Tim questioned.
"In the park, Drake. We were both drawing. I already told you," Damian butted in.
Tim waved him off. "I want to hear it from her, not you."
"I---"
"It's okay, Damian." Marinette nudged him a little. "I was sketching in the park when Titus came to me. Damian was drawing a picture of me while I was absorbed in my designs and accidentally let go of his leash. Titus led me to him and it all started there."
"You design?" Barbara asked.
Warmth crept to her cheeks. "It's my dream to become a fashion designer. I just do a few commission pieces here and there. I'm trying to take small steps to reach my goal."
A quick glimpse at her boyfriend told her that he was radiating all the pride in the world.
"Little D mentioned you came from Paris?" Dick sipped on his drink. "Why did you decide to leave?"
"Oh, please don't get it all wrong. I know Paris earned a bad rep after the Hawkmoth fiasco but that was years ago. I just decided to move here to find more opportunities for myself," Marinette answered smoothly.
"Why Gotham of all places, if I may ask?" Bruce chimed in. "Admittedly, this isn't the friendliest city in the country."
"Father, stop with the interrogation," said Damian.
"It's okay, Dames, I don't mind. Promise." She squeezed his hand under the table.
"Fine. But do not answer anything if you're not comfortable."
Marinette looked at Bruce. "One of my friend's parents who works in fashion suggested Gotham. There's a low competition among the designers here so it might be easier for me to make a name for myself."
"That's not a bad move actually," Tim remarked.
"So back in Paris, did you get to meet any of the heroes?" Dick leaned in.
"Grayson," Damian warned.
"That's---"
A sharp ring blasted out, cutting off her statement. Bruce fished out his phone, a muscle on his face twitched, and he abruptly stood up. "There's an emergency at WE."
"Emergency?" Tim peered at his phone as well.
"Yes, Tim. You're needed. Also Stephanie." The eldest Wayne looked around the table and uttered monotonously. "I apologize for cutting this short. We have an urgent matter at the company---"
"Father."
Bruce shook his head. "This absolutely cannot wait, Damian."
The three filed out of the room in a flash. Marinette, stunned at the sudden interruption, saw Dick also checking the emergency.
"Sorry, Babs and I need to go." He stood up and picked up his coat, going around the table to help Barbara. "It's nice to meet you, Marinette."
"Let's go out for drinks sometime, okay?" Barbara reached over and patted her shoulder before they left.
The disappearance of the Waynes left her fidgeting with her fingers and wondering what the big emergency could be. She peeked at Damian hesitantly. "Do you need to go too?"
His jaw clenched. "I think so."
"You can go." She cupped his cheek, pecking the other.
"I can't tell you---"
"I know. I won't ask, I promise," she assured softly. He didn't have to explain anything to her; she'd gladly wait for him to open up. "Go."
"I'm sorry."
"Damian."
He pressed a firm kiss on her forehead. "Alfred will drive you to your apartment. I'll come to you later, alright?"
"Okay."
She could hear Alfred offering her food to take home and guiding her to the car, but it was all a blur. Marinette knew she had nothing to do with what happened yet she was afraid that it would sour Damian's relationship with his family. Her fists clenched around her skirt as she looked down, feeling Alfred's keen eyes checking on her through the rearview mirror.
"Please do not take it personally, Miss," Alfred said softly.
"Yes. Thank you," she whispered.
Finding nothing better to do than to check her phone, Marinette noticed the numerous alerts plastered all over her screen. Arkham breakout. Fuck. No wonder it was so quiet last night. There were a number of messages from Red Hood (which was directed from her burner phone), asking her if she could help.
Marinette looked out the window. Sure enough, there seemed to be a racket coming from the other streets.
"Umm, excuse me Alfred?" She searched for a safe alley to transform. "Can---can you drop me off at the cafe over there?"
"Are you certain? There are Rogues running around the city at this time."
"I'll stay inside. Don't worry."
Fortunately, the butler did what she asked and she made a beeline to the cafe as soon as she stepped foot out the car. Transform. Connect comms. Head to the upper east side. The same words ran through her head.
Her phone rang suddenly right before she could say her transformation words.
"Adrien! Can't talk right now. Arkham breakout. Big emergency," she said hurriedly into the phone.
"Oops. Need backup?" He asked.
"Maybe not. I don't know." She massaged her temple. "Can I ask you guys to standby? You can take your power-ups just in case."
"That's fine. Stay safe," Adrien said, "How did lunch go by the way?"
"Gah! Not now, kitty!"
"Right, right, right. Emergency in Gotham. I'll hang up now."
Marinette sighed. "It was a disaster, by the way. I'll text the details later."
"Aaaand Chloe's yelling at me to spill right now. You should go."
---
Ladybug swiftly landed beside Nightwing when she arrived and the Bats had just finished capturing Penguin and his men. On the next rooftop over, she could see Robin with Batman---they were loud enough for her to deduce that they were having an argument but she couldn't make out the exact words.
"What's up with them?" Ladybug frowned. She had always known Robin as the cold, closed-off one in the group but it was her first time encountering a complete outburst.
"Personal stuff. Happened earlier," Nightwing replied briefly. "I'm surprised you came. I thought you had an appointment today."
She bit her tongue. "Uhh, it got cancelled."
Batman told Robin something which had him storming off, grappling away to another direction. Their comms buzzed to life.
"Ladybug, team up with Robin. The Riddler's in the next avenue," Batman ordered curtly.
Ladybug turned to Nightwing with wide eyes. The stress was obvious in the sag of his shoulders and tight grip on his escrima sticks.
"He's mad at all of us," he explained. "It's better if it's you who joins him."
Ladybug only nodded, throwing her yoyo to follow Robin. Her curiosity was growing by the minute, but she focused on thinking of ways to calm down her fellow vigilante. If he became too riled up, he could lose focus and get injured.
She followed him close enough for him to hear her. "Robin, you have to slow down."
"No, I have to get back as soon as possible."
"Get back to where?"
She only received silence.
Frustrated Robin equals not a good Robin. Ladybug leapt to match his pace and blocked his way. He glared at her. "Move."
"Look, this is the Riddler we're facing. He's still dangerous and if we're not careful, we'll get caught in his traps."
"I don't care. I just need to get this over with. Stay out of my way."
When he pushed past her, she had half the mind to wrap him in her yoyo and deliver him back to Batman for a time-out. She huffed as she followed him. You're not the only one having a bad day, grumpy boy. Robin anchored his grappling gun to a faraway building and at the second he jumped off, he careened to the side, swept away by an elaborate trap by the Riddler.
Before she knew it, Ladybug was after him. Her teeth gritted and her legs ran a mile as she groaned out loud. "This is exactly what I was just talking about!"
They were trapped in an empty little box with a puzzle lock on its door.
Ladybug released a shaky breath.
The worst argument I've had with one of the Gotham vigilantes was when I interfered with Red Hood's mission and he got overprotective. She stared at Robin, who was relentlessly kicking the metal walls. But that might change today.
"Robin," she called out. "I understand that you're mad at the others but it doesn't mean you can act reckless while you're in that suit."
"No. You don't understand." He raked a hand through his hair. "I told them. I already told them and they still . . .Do you know what they did?"
She opened her mouth to reason with him again but he beat her to it. "I only wanted at least an hour. No interruptions." Robin clicked his tongue. "For them, there is nothing more important than capturing these criminals even if there are other heroes who will help. And Father had to be the first to run out."
Ladybug gaped. She knew the Bats were somewhat of a family but it was Robin's first time referring to Batman as a father. "Are you sure you should be telling me---"
"Yes, so you know how unfair they acted earlier." He twirled his katanas, looking for a simple way out. "I only wanted them to meet my girlfriend. I brought her home. And they all left for this. Father didn't give a sincere apology and my brothers either don't care or are suspicious of her."
Wait . . .
She thought she'd stumble back, but her feet were surprisingly still planted on the ground. Lunch. Earlier. Girlfriend. Shit. Her breath was knocked out of her lungs as she processed Robin's words.
Damian's words.
She wanted to laugh. All this time, she'd been anxious about telling him the truth when he was already living the same life as her. The Waynes, the sudden emergencies, staying out late. Merde, it all makes sense now. It was ridiculous how she didn't recognize her own boyfriend.
"It was a mistake after all. I shouldn't have invited her to come," Robin sighed. "They're wary because she's a civilian---she'll be my weakness if anyone finds out about our connection. They know that, which is why they don't approve."
Her first instinct was to tell him that it wasn't true, but an identity reveal would be too much given their current situation. Ladybug pieced her words with care. "I'm sure they'll listen if you tell them how you feel. Your girlfriend will understand too."
"We don't communicate healthily, in case you haven't figured that out."
Her heart was still drumming against her ribcage. Damn it. Marinette would work better in consoling him. Ladybug's just a colleague. "I know. But a few words can go a long way. Tell them you'll be careful. Ask them to help protect your girlfriend if anything ever goes wrong."
As Robin lowered his gaze, an urge to come up to him and hold his hands washed over her. She counted the seconds of silence that passed. It looked like he was thinking deeply about it.
"I apologize for getting you involved," he said. "And for mindlessly telling you about my personal life."
She laughed nervously. "Ah . . . it's okay to vent out sometimes."
Yeah, and your story definitely did not reveal your whole identity.
Robin turned towards the puzzle lock. "Should we attempt to crack the code in his puzzle?"
It wasn't a simple coded lock---it was a six-wheeled puzzle that was embedded onto the door. "By the looks of it, it will take us hours if we go through that route. I think I have a better idea. Are there any cameras here?"
He surveyed the small enclosure. "I see two by the corners."
"Good. Break them and cover the lens." Ladybug touched her earrings while he did what she said. I have spare cookies in my purse. That should do. "We can't unlock the door by ourselves, but Tikki can phase through and let us out."
"The tiny god-being in your Miraculous."
"Yeah, that's Tikki." She smiled. I'll have to introduce them sometime. "Close your eyes?"
After making sure that the cameras weren't functioning and he couldn't see her, she detransformed, motioned to the puzzle lock and sent Tikki out.
"Before we were trapped, I saw other civilians captured in similar boxes," said Robin. "Riddler should be camped east."
Marinette crossed the gap between them and tapped on the back of his hand. GOOD. RIDDLER FIRST THEN FREE OTHERS.
"Morse?" Robin scrunched his nose. "Are you also cautious about revealing your voice?"
YES.
"Tt. That is too much. Most of us don't even use a modulator." He shifted. "I doubt that I will be able to recognize your voice."
She pursed her lips. We'll see about that.
---
Ladybug was lounging on the top of Wayne Tower as the vigilantes finished up catching the remaining inmates. She used the time to fully wrap her head around her discovery. Damian. Robin. One by one, she also pieced together the identities of the others. It was so stupidly obvious all this time.
She heard a familiar zip of the grappling gun. It wasn't Red Hood who she expected to check on her but it was Robin.
"The Rogues are secured. There are rumors that the Joker orchestrated the entire thing but he wasn't around during the attacks," Robin reported. "The injured civilians are being rushed to the hospitals. No deaths."
Ladybug didn't break her gaze at the horizon. "That's good."
". . . Ladybug?"
"Yeah?"
He sat next to her. "The people in Paris . . . did they get used to these kinds of incidents as well? When Hawkmoth was active?"
"With an akuma attack nearly every week, yes you can say we had no choice but to get used to it."
"Was there a lot of animosity towards Parisians after the truth got out?"
"Only a little." She looked down at her hands. "Mostly we receive pity. The press made it clear how the akumas affected everyone's lives."
"My girlfriend . . . came from Paris too. I always wonder what it was like but I never wanted to pry."
Damian . . . She bit her lip. She had been dodgy about the topic, but she should know better than to withhold her feelings about it. Damn it, this will be so awkward when he finally finds out.
"You're worried about her safety," she said.
Robin nodded. "I wonder if she feels afraid during Rogue attacks. Or just living in Gotham. I never want to find out that she was in a dangerous situation and I wasn't there to . . ."
"You don't have to worry. If she's from Paris, then she's strong. Everyone in my city had been on the edge of death one way or another. Our instincts were sharpened. We can block out our fears and emotions." Ladybug looked up at him. "I'm sure she can handle danger."
"But it's different here. There's no magic to bring things back to normal. It's permanent." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I won't know what to do if something happens to her because of me."
"I think . . . you should ask her first---"
"I should break it off with her."
"What?!"
Ladybug nearly slapped a hand over her mouth. I said that too quickly. Thankfully, Robin didn't seem to notice anything.
"I've been thinking a lot," he continued. "I can't bring myself to tell her about this. About me. The mere fact of her knowing puts a target on her back."
Dear kwamis, please keep me from pushing my boyfriend off this rooftop before gets the chance to find out about me.
"Wait." She began slowly. "Don't you think she deserves to know before you try to make that decision for her?"
"What am I supposed to do?" His eyebrows furrowed. "I . . . I expect her to react badly. I've learned from today that I should keep her from getting involved any further. It's either I drag her into this dangerous life or I keep hurting her with my lies."
"You shouldn't start assuming things without trying first. I'm sure she trusts you and she'll come to understand everything in time. There's always a compromise." Her lips spoke the words before she could think. "You're not doing any good by cutting yourself off all of a sudden."
"If I end it now, she can eventually move on and stay safe. Nevermind how I feel," he argued, "I can let her go and she'll be safe."
"When I told you about how Parisians are strong, that's not what I meant." Tears pricked the back of her eyes as she raised her voice. "She can stay in a relationship with you and keep herself safe because she's strong. Can't you trust her as much as she trusts you?"
"I can't risk it. She's important to me."
"If she is, then talk to her. If you don't give her a chance to decide, you're not any better than your father or brothers."
"How would you even know how she feels?"
Ladybug's face contorted into a sharp glare. "I just know. I know better than anyone, Damian."
Anger morphed into shock as he stared at her. ". . . What did you just call me?"
She made a quick sweep of the area to make sure that they were in a blind spot. Then, she wasted no time standing up on the ledge, shuffling until the balls of her foot touched the edge. Then,  "I'm not defenseless, merde. And I really wanted to wait until the end of the day but . . . Tikki, détransformation."
Marinette watched Robin's face go through a storm of emotions. His jaw hung slack and his fists uncurled while he stood up to look at her.
". . . Marinette?" he breathed out.
She gently touched his cheeks with both hands, peeling off his mask to reveal his glistening eyes. "I can't believe you wanted to break up with me."
"Marinette . . ." He pulled them both away from the ledge and held her, mumbling 'I'm sorry' over and over again. His head was buried on her neck, with his hands pressed against her back.
"You. It's you," said Damian. "Of course it's you."
"It's me." She rubbed down his back. "For record, I only found out because---"
"Because I told you what happened."
She chuckled. "Yeah."
"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, habibti." He pulled away a little to touch her cheek. "I was going to make a stupid decision."
"Are you upset that I kept this from you?"
He shook his head, kissing her head. "I can't and I don't have the right to be. I was keeping my secret from you as well."
"Come on, let's go home first. Then we can talk about . . . everything."
---
Ladybug swung into the night with a weight lifted off her chest. She and Damian had a long talk about their identities and relationship. They'd both agreed not to tell the other heroes until they were ready to. For her, it was better that they kept their secrets between themselves first and slowly ease into revealing the truth to her friends and his family.
She breathed in the breeze. Robin wasn't anywhere to be seen, but a group of vigilantes were. Nightwing. Hood. RR. What are they doing there?
The three immediately fell into a hush when she landed next to them.
"Hey, LB," Red Robin greeted.
She put her hands on her hips. "What are you doing?"
The brothers shared a look before Red Hood spoke. "Robin told you about his girlfriend, right?"
"Yeah . . ." she trailed off, dragging the syllable.
"We think something's up with her," said Nightwing.
"I'm sorry?"
"Sketchy stuff," Red Robin explained, shifting on his feet. "Well, we can't tell you who she is---secret identities and all---but she's from Paris. She's friends with Hawkmoth's kid."
Ladybug scoffed. "Adrien? He's not like Hawkmoth. I know him personally and he had nothing to do with that man's crimes. Trust me."
"Hmm, yeah but she's also close with the mayor's daughter. That one who also sided with Hawkmoth."
"You mean Chloe Bourgeois? She's proven that she's changed." And unbeknownst to the public, she was a hero again, this time under another alias.
"But she's so secretive. There's definitely something going on with her." Nightwing rubbed his chin. Ladybug wanted to bang her head in the nearest wall or groan to the heavens.
"What's wrong with being secretive? Aren't you guys the same?" she narrowed her eyes.
"That's not the main cause of our suspicion," said Red Hood.
"We weren't convinced about her reason for moving to Gotham, so we dug around," Red Robin continued, "She said something about more career opportunities but that's just a cover. We found classified files on superheroes in her apartment, including info on Justice League members. I bet she already knows about Robin's identity."
"You snooped in her apartment?!"
"It was an investigation," Nightwing snorted.
Her eye twitched. A secret had never felt so difficult to conceal. "I can't believe you'd break the privacy of a civilian just because you had baseless assumptions."
Red Robin winced. "Uhh . . . if you put it that way . . ."
She crossed her arms. "No, I know what this is really about. You're being overprotective of Robin; you can't accept that he now has a significant other and you think he's being naive about his choices. You think he's going to get hurt badly." She paused for effect. "Because you don't want him to repeat the same mistakes as you all did."
The look on their masked faces told her that she had hit the target better than any therapist they might have encountered.
Red Hood was first to deny. "We're not protective of the brat. We're trying to eliminate a potential danger."
"His harmless civilian girlfriend?"
"Think about it, LB. Why would she have sensitive files on the heroes?" Red Robin asked. "You can't deny that that's suspicious."
I don't know, maybe because she's a hero herself?!
Ladybug sighed heavily. Damian is really going to kill them when he finds out. "Does Batman know about this?"
"Nope, but we'll tell him when we gather enough evidence," Nightwing answered. "We're just trying to get Oracle to crack into her laptop. The security on it  is so heavy, it's insane."
Why is it a curse that I asked Max to protect my laptop? There are files on the Miraculi in there!
She discreetly took her yoyo and put it on the recording function. "Let me get this straight. So you're all investigating and prying into the life of Robin's girlfriend without the knowledge of Batman even at the cost of your identities and everyone's safety?"
"We're not risking anyone's safety---"
"It's more of research but---"
She pursed her lips. "And you broke into her apartment, went through her things and currently you're trying to hack into her personal computer?"
"Regular vigilante work---"
"Good, we're on the same page then." She smiled widely. Sinisterly. "Tikki, détransformation."
Pale. Pale faces were all she could see as the three vigilantes were engulfed in utter shock. Marinette held her smile, clasping her hands together behind her back. I can't wait to see how they try to make it up to me. Mon dieu! I'm going to mess with them. 
And as a cherry on top, Robin arrived at the scene, immediately putting her behind him when he saw that she was in civilian form. He directed an accusatory glare at his brothers. "What is going on here?!"
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