miraculouscontent

[miraculouscontent]

Anonymous asked:

Hi, it's me again. I have got to tell you... That Lukanette fic you wrote for me? IT'S GODLY. After finding out what happened in Multiplication, I was soooo angry. I already didn't like Alya much but she has officially became horrid. But your fic scratches all the itches! I LOVE the parallel between the loss of the album and her realisation she had no choice. Or if she did, everyone overrides her without caring about rather she's comfortable or unhappy.

I particularly like how you added the Multiplication event as one of the examples because it led to Luka understanding more in depth about Marinette's situation. I also love that Luka is just so understanding and calm. Like he will listen to you and hold you even if he had no idea what to say or how to help. But he won't give vague promises that everything will work out. That infuriates me a lot, I hate the overall consolation of 'Everything will be fine'. It doesn't give a solution. 

It doesn't give a goal or step to work towards either. Which is essential for feeling stability/in control I like how they are just chilling at a music store and Marinette is branching out. And I love how Luka tells her self care is important. Lots of people forget that, especially when they have a terrible support system that keeps taking from you. Luka offering a different place cause she's still pale and the resulting kiss? PERFECTION! You truly are a goddess! Thank you very much! 

hbjGKJFJGFDG THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I’m glad that you liked it after all~!

I always feels so blessed and at peace writing Lukanette content and the fact that people enjoy it makes it even better. >u<

Anonymous asked:

AAH LUKANETTE LUKANETTE MY LOVE AND COMFORT the only reason i'm still watching this cursed show - your recent oneshot really pointed out just how little (read: none) agency marinette has in her life no matter what. luka is s gOOD for her i can't - your lukanette stories always make me feel so safe and loved and warm, they're so cute and full of fluff and hope, thank you thank you a million times, this blog is like a respite admist the storm -

ujfhgkfdg noooo I’m blushing, sTAHP. >///<

Thank you!! I assure you, Luka will continue being good for her and making her the happiest girl in the word.

[miraculouscontent]

Go to sleep Clarity. Staying up too long is bad for your health

jgnkjfdjgfdg don't worry, I've slept now.

In my defense, I had a headache that was preventing me from sleeping earlier. I swear I wasn't neglecting my health on purpose, I know how upset you guys would be if I was.

[miraculouscontent]

If you're doing Lukanette requests, perhaps something with Luka pampering/dating a (post-Guardian, memoryless) Marinette, while also subtly deflecting Su-Han/Alya/whoever else tries to come by and demand that Marinette be Ladybug again since Alya (or whoever the replacement is) can't handle things? Perhaps even Luka subtly pointing out to them that they kept pressuring Ladybug and indicating she wasn't up to standards so they can't really complain about her agreeing and quitting?

I’ve done that.

But thank you!

[miraculouscontent]

Well god damn, just pulled out the hammer and went to town on em’ didn’t ya

I’m not satisfied until my enemy has been trapped within the confines of the avatar size limit, starved of any respect, marinated in the blood of my past foes that I’ve kept carefully preserved in the cellar, then skewered with facts and roasted under the white hot flames of catharsis.

The salt shaker isn’t for seasoning because I’m not a coward. I take it as if it’s a fine wine.

[miraculouscontent]

Okay, first thing’s first, babe, and I’ll get to your problem-infested ask in a second, but this thing you did? That giant wall of text?

Don’t.

Here’s a little piece of advice: if you’re going to send me something that you clearly haven’t read through all my points on (quite frankly, I don’t even know where you came from), at least make it palatable to the eyes. No one’s going to see that and want to read it because paragraphs exist to make information more easily digestible.

Now, with that said, let’s get into all of the issues with your ask (you best sit down for this one too because there are a lot).

if your friend is attacking someone you and her barely know, with little solid evidence to back up her position, and that person she’s attacking is able to produce some pretty solid evidence that your friend is purposely hurting her 

I’ll ignore that “pretty solid evidence” is a laughable phrase to use here for the sake of humoring you, but just know that I would’ve stopped there otherwise.

The first problem in your ask is that this is clearly referring to the episode “Ladybug” with Lila setting Marinette up. Already, you’ve skipped previous episodes, which is a problem in its own right and I’ll address it momentarily.

I have very rarely - if at all - blamed the class for what happens in “Ladybug.” That’s not my issue with this episode and honestly I get more irritated with them for “Chameleon.” I do, however, note things like Marinette being very blatantly set up in “Ladybug.”

There’s no reason for the test answers to still be in Marinette’s backpack after the test is over, as there had been more than enough time to discard it (an investigation that Alya had done properly would also show that Marinette got a mystery call from an unknown person at the time she was at her locker; either that call can be traced back to Lila or Lila used a burner phone, but regardless, that was never mentioned by Alya despite its relevancy). It was also contrived for Bustier (who has previously taken Marinette out of the room to speak with her in “Zombizou” even when she wasn’t in trouble so as to not cause a fuss) just to embarrass Marinette and leave her in the same room so Marinette can blame Lila. The lockers in the school are easily able to be opened by anyone, and Lila was the only one around to “witness” Marinette shoving her down the stairs with no visible injury present and the fact that you would not walk away with barely a leg injury if you were shoved down a flight of stairs. Remember that last one too because it’s going to be important.

then continue disbelieving the girl you don’t know

You keep saying that they don’t know Lila as if it furthers your point. It doesn’t, because presuming that Marinette’s friends know her at all, they would know that Marinette hates liars and lying, which is a commonly known piece of information about her. Marinette has lied and been blinded by the Adrien crush before, yes, and yet she has not gone to such levels of ruining an innocent’s reputation at the time of “Catalyst”(she tries to fact check Lila more than accuse her of lying)+”Chameleon,” the former of which is where Alya accuses her of only hating Lila because of Adrien.

In fact, most of Marinette Adrien-related “crimes” involve Chloe, who is Marinette’s bully and someone that the show has basically described as pure evil, so Marinette being against her makes perfect sense even disregarding Adrien.

Pardon me if I expect Marinette’s friends to believe her over this new girl.

The class do not know that Lila is malicious. She’s a con artist, and she’s good at it.

Remember what I said before about Marinette supposedly shoving Lila down the stairs? Because it’s coming back to bite you right now.

I do not want to hear about Lila being “a good con artist” when the show is constantly and consistently covering for her.

Think back to all of Lila’s lies in “Volpina” that she has yet to own up to, specifically the one where she states that she knows Prince Ali (who Rose knows personally and could’ve asked him about; we see that they have met again in “Guiltrip” and don’t try to tell me that Rose wouldn’t use the opportunity to bond over a supposed shared friend) and that Jagged (who Marinette knows personally and is in repeated contact with, shown by “Troublemaker” and “Gamer 2.0″) wrote a song about her. These two things could’ve come back at any time but the writers explicitly ignore them to protect Lila from being outed.

Next, look at “Chameleon” where Marinette is prevented from outing Lila by Adrien. The fact that this happens heavily implies that Marinette would’ve caught Lila in a proper trap had she not been stopped, which is why the writers had Adrien intervene in the first place. If Lila could’ve been outed so easily had feather boy not stepped in, then no, she’s not a good con artist at all.

Also in “Chameleon,” Marinette would’ve had an easy continuation to go at with her story by saying that she saw Ladybug show up when Lila and Adrien were talking, which is part of the actual truth and even has the bonus of her casually claiming that she’s not Ladybug. Alya or Nino could’ve then asked Adrien if that’s what he saw, leading to Adrien either outright lying to protect Lila or telling the truth and outing himself as someone who’s protecting a liar by not saying anything before, but I guess that would make him out to be a bad person and we know how the writers feel about that. This is a very obvious way of going about it but the writers swerve around it like they’re drifting in a racing game, all so Lila can continue lying with no repercussions.

Also also in “Chameleon,” there are conveniently no cameras around to capture Ladybug supposedly carrying Lila back, despite reporters and regular people whipping out their phones to take pictures of Ladybug normally (like Ladybug carrying Adrien in “Queen Wasp”). The newsreporters just magically disappear even though they’d been recording Ladybug previously at the Eiffel Tower and Ladybug literally circles all the way back to the Eiffel Tower when finishing the fight with Chameleon.

Then there’s the little leg injury in “Ladybug.” Conveniently enough, Lila had a similar fake injury during “Oni-Chan” (which, fun fact, takes place before “Ladybug”) only the firefighter actually, properly looked at her leg and confirmed that she wasn’t hurt at all. Also conveniently, this happened only in front of Chat Noir, who already knew that Lila was full of lies.

They did such a shoddy job in “Ladybug” of actually checking her leg injury that they bandaged her leg over her tights, which shows an obvious negligence. They didn’t even have her remove her tights to properly inspect the wound that doesn’t exist. Had Lila actually hurt herself like a true con artist would (showing real injuries that she’d react to even if you prodded them when she wasn’t paying attention), we wouldn’t be having this discussion. She didn’t even purposefully scuff up her clothes/rip her tights to make it look like she fell (this is a simple and basic texture edit; if they can put a bandage on her, they can edit a texture). Lila also has a motive at this point to go against Marinette even if she hadn’t put the test answers in Marinette’s backpack because Marinette is accusing her of setting her up.

To imply that Marinette would be dumb enough to shove Lila down the stairs in a rage when they were literally on their way to the principal’s office to see which of them was right is dumb in and of itself. To further imply that Marinette (one of the loudest, most emotion-filled people in the school) wouldn’t have yelled or screamed when shoving Lila and no one (neither the staff member nearby and Mr. Damocles in his office) would’ve heard Lila tumbling and screaming while falling down the stairs is even dumber.

Did you ever notice in “Ladybug” that Alya is seen directly interviewing Lila about the expelling situation, but nothing comes out of it? Do you honestly think that Lila would claim anything except “there was no one else around and Marinette definitely pushed me, there’s no other possibility” (y’know, after getting her expelled and having her entire goal be to turn everyone against Marinette)? This is a genuine question, because if not, then it does in fact become a situation of “either Lila is lying after all - because she can’t be this certain if it didn’t happen otherwise - or my best friend actually shoved her,” but Alya’s faith is never challenged. Hell, despite Marinette and Sabine getting akumatized to find “the truth,” Alya not being akumatized is used as a sign that she believes in Marinette rather than she can’t pick a side/wasn’t upset enough about the accusations to get akumatized herself (I refuse to believe that Alya has better control of her emotions than Sabine).

And speaking of Alya’s pathetic investigation, forget about getting fingerprints off the locker. How about getting fingerprints from the test answer sheet?? That thing that wouldn’t have Marinette’s fingerprints, would have Bustier’s, and would also have the culprit’s. Paper is easily susceptible to the oil from fingerprints, so maybe the episode shouldn’t act as if Alya is doing “professional investigative work” to clear Marinette’s name if she’s not going to actually think about what the culprit’s prints could be on?

Oh, and you may not recall this, so allow me to jog your memory: one of Lila’s biggest lies is that she’s friends with Ladybug, and Alya got handed Ladybug’s identity on a silver platter in “Gang of Secrets.” She also becomes aware (“Multiplication”) that Marinette was correct in “Risk” about Adrien not wanting to model (so she clearly wasn’t just lying for the sake of countering Lila), but what comes out of it? Nothing, not even an apology.

What’s happening here is that the writing is telling you that Lila’s great at what she does and you are falling for it, hook, line, and sinker.

You’ve got to be willing to look at this situation from the perspective of the people Lila’s trying to trick

I’m going to stop you there because that is your assumption of me based on nothing. When I talk about Lila and her issues, I’m bringing up example left and right of things that should’ve been noted but aren’t. I’m not seeing people who are being cleverly tricked by Lila, I am seeing people who are letting themselves be tricked just to bask in the awe of Lila Rossi’s fake accomplishments.

What Lila does in “Chameleon” is play the victim to get the class to turn on Marinette for the first time, but none of what Marinette did before that was anything but casually questioning Lila (confirming that she has a hearing problem, pointing out Jagged’s current pet, and asking Miss Bustier why she has to sit in the back). She doesn’t attack her by that point and literally anyone could’ve pointed out how valid Marinette’s feelings are for being forced to sit by herself without being asked, or even stood up for her by saying “oh, I’m sure Marinette doesn’t mean it that way, Lila!”

They did nothing of the sort. They turned on Marinette instantly. Do note also that part of Lila’s victim card is going, “if Marinette has an issue too, then--” with the obvious message being that the class gets upset because they believe that Marinette supposedly has no issue. However, by the end of the episode, Bustier “confirms” that Marinette must have a hearing issue when Marinette doesn’t hear her calling for her, yet no one apologizes to Marinette about it. Lila made it out like Marinette was targeting her specifically when all Marinette asked to prompt the comment was why she had to sit in the back.

This isn’t a mastermind at work. Everyone got played like the cheap kazoos that they are.

And sometimes, you may genuinely not know your friend as well as you think you do.

Let’s flip this around; how about you look at it from the class’s perspective? Virtually everyone is friends with Marinette, and they’re seeing her “attack” this “completely innocent, pure-hearted soul.” Would you be friends with someone like that? No, actually, go even further than that; if you suspected that the cause of this behavior was Marinette’s crush on a boy and nothing else, would you support it?

I can forgive Marinette’s friends being unsure (not convinced, mind you) about Marinette’s motives and wanting to find the truth. What I can’t forgive is the sheer wishy-washiness of their behavior. They’ll discourage her supposed Adrien-based attacks on Lila, even complaining at times when Marinette is talking about Adrien things, and yet when it comes down to it, they support her in her crush anyway. Sorry not sorry, but if they refuse to pick a side (either “your crush is negatively affecting your personality and we won’t support it” or “hey, she might go far with her crush but I believe that she must have a deeper reason if she’s doing this much against Lila”), then I will pick a side for them and say that they are bad friends who avoid any and all personal responsibility relating to Marinette’s behavior.

“this other person they’re attacking is obviously wrong despite all evidence to the contrary”

I would like to hear about this so-called “evidence” you mention, because Lila’s “thing” when is comes to lying is covering up her lies with more lies. Very rarely does she actually have any evidence to prove her case, and accusing Marinette of having no evidence is ridiculous when Alya shows blatant hypocrisy in how she deals with the two situations between Marinette and Lila.

Alya believes that Lila is friends with Ladybug without a word, but when Marinette puts that into question, Alya lets the burden of proof fall on Marinette when proving a negative is virtually impossible. Without digging up footage of every moment of Ladybug’s existence, she can’t prove that Lila doesn’t know Ladybug, but likewise, Lila herself has no evidence that she knows Ladybug. The burden of proof should fall on her because she is making the claim without evidence and Marinette is putting all of it into question. Therefore, Alya is being pro-Lila and anti-Marinette by demanding proof from Marinette but not Lila.

I’d also direct your attention to “Catalyst” where - as I’ve stated before - Alya accuses Marinette of only hating Lila because of Adrien. What you have failed to explain, however, is why Alya believes that when she has direct evidence to the contrary. Kagami is rich, pretty, and talented, and Marinette’s only interaction with her (pre-”Catalyst”) is “Frozer” where she literally says that she’s not jealous and wants to let Adrien and Kagami have their date. It’s Alya who starts shouting about Marinette not giving up on Adrien, not Marinette herself. Therefore, Alya has a comparison between Kagami (who Adrien even specifically expressed interest in, so Kagami is more of a rival than anyone else would be) and Lila, yet fails to connect the dots and realize that something must be wrong with Lila if Marinette is okay with Kagami.

And even if Adrien tell's everyone about Lila's true nature, that still would’ve been a ‘he said, she said’ situation, though with both Adrien and Marinette saying the same thing, I GUESS it would’ve lent more weight to it, but it still wouldn’t prove they were right, and she could’ve said they misunderstood. 

You fail to point out the fact that Adrien is lacking one thing that Marinette isn’t: a motive. It’s not a “he said, she said” situation because whenever Marinette is accused of going after Lila, they claim it to be because of Adrien. Adrien himself, however, has no reason nor motive for going after Lila, and being the “sunshine boy who can do no wrong” that the show hails him as 95% of the time, the class has no adequate reason to suspect him of foul play when accusing this “innocent” person. Lila could accuse Adrien of taking Marinette’s side, certainly, but the class has to start splitting at some point and at least Marinette wouldn’t be alone anymore like Adrien seems content with leaving her in the eyes of everyone else.

If I make three promises to you that I can’t prove were kept, tell twenty tales that I talk my way around instead of proving are true, and give you only a few things that I can actually base in some form of reality, you would have every right to be skeptical of those last few things because I have failed to back everything else up.

Everyone asks Marinette to take responsibility and blame when no one else wants to be even the slightest bit skeptical. Alya never asked Ladybug if she knows Lila, everyone believes Lila without even a thought, and Adrien sits idly by without saying a word to the rest of the class so he can play superhero in the background and not risk any backlash from others.

I’m not even asking for everyone to turn on Lila, nor for them to blindly believe Marinette. What I am asking is that they either pick a side and drop Marinette for being “a terrible person who is trying to ruin an innocent girl’s life over a boy,” or at least believe Marinette enough to go, “That’s nice, Lila, and I won’t even accuse you of being a liar, but if you don’t have proof then I'm afraid I can’t believe you. I’d rather hear about stories that you have evidence for to prove that they happened.”

I would also expect Mr. Damocles to inform the school of Lila’s little “lying disease” (which sounds extremely dangerous to leave people uninformed about) thus proving Marinette correct, or at least for the class to apologize for not believing in her, but I have absolutely zero expectations of them honestly.

Literally this would all be over if the class went, “we’ll prove that all of Lila’s stories are true and that’ll show Marinette not to be suspicious!” at which point everything would fall apart like a Jenga tower.

But they won’t, because the class systematically searching for proof of Lila’s tall tales would mean that the writers would have to actually think to figure out how to have Lila “prove” all of these as much as possible.

They will avoid obvious solutions, literally hand characters the answers just so they can ignore them, and have Adrien actively tell Marinette to do nothing so Lila can continue her power trip (ignoring the “Origins” lesson of “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing”).

I could not care less about the class being “victims” when they’re little more than a mob sharing a single brain cell for no other reason than to make Marinette suffer.

[miraculouscontent]

Do you have any fics - or could point me towards other people's fics - where Marinette just straight up quits being Ladybug and/or the Guardian? The whole show just feels like a boot stamping down on her face over and over again, so I really want to see her get out of this terrible situation. Have tried looking myself, but haven't found much.

Hello!

And hmm, it really depends on what you mean by “quits,” because if we’re just talking about Marinette no longer being Ladybug/getting out of the situation, I have a few (keep in mind that all of these are Lukanette, though Luckier Without specifically can be read as just the first chapter if you don’t want Lukanette content; it works as a oneshot).

Quit

Breaking the Cycle (starts after Marinette has already quit; leans on crack-ish side in terms of concept since it’s mostly just for catharsis and for the thing people always say of “Marinette should just leave Paris/everyone”)

Luckier Without (chapter one is a callout fic at Chat Noir specifically where she decides to quit, then chapter two is a Lukanette continuation where Marinette decides how she’s going to deal with the memory loss)

“Fired”

Memory Serves (”Furious Fu” alternative where she goes through with the memory wipe and thus stops being both guardian and Ladybug; has a fluffy bonus)

Ambiguous (not explicitly stated whether she quit or was “fired”)

Memari Loss (the story starts when Marinette having already lost her memory, and it’s never stated how or why she lost it, especially since it’s from Luka’s perspective)

All of these have a happy/hopeful ending, for the record. Luckier Without is probably the saddest but I would still consider it a hopeful enough ending.

I also don’t know if this one counts, but I just wrote this fic here just yesterday, which features Marinette being presented with the idea of quitting and it’s heavily implied that she accepts (though her actually doing so isn’t shown).

[miraculouscontent]

Are you thinking of doing a two shot instead of a one shot for that last snippet you just posted???

gkjdfkgjfdg

A two-shot for what reason, exactly?

[miraculouscontent]

Hey, I'm the anon that originally asked for a Lukanette story. (wasn't expecting to be answered so quickly so thank you for that!) I didn't actually have something specific in mind and was planning to let you captain'ed the whole thing (you are one of the major contributors to the Lukanette ship afterall) but I guess something related to Adrien's 180, concerning all the bad Mari events now that he's 'in love' or Marinette started to note Chat Noir's sudden cooperation after losing? Thank you!

Hello again! I’m not sure if this is exactly what you wanted (I ended up squeezing in the Adrien/Chat shift into a larger/more broad issue since I thought it might be more interesting that way), but I hope you like it regardless!

~~~~~

"They really have everything here," Marinette commented, her eyes almost overwhelmed as she took in the music store's interior. It almost felt too elaborate of a place to be in when her purchase was going to be so simple, to the point where the shop even had background music just calm enough to not be distracting.

Luka, walking beside her, hummed his agreement. "Have you decided which one you want yet?"

"Mm, not yet," she admitted, then joked, "Maybe I could just pick the one with the prettier cover?"

Luka chuckled, joking back, "You could. That might work."

Having been looking for new music to keep her motivated, she'd gotten two different albums recommended to her. They were artists she didn't know, but from what she could tell, they both played music that she'd like.

Naturally, that made choosing all the more difficult.

"What about you, Luka?" she asked, partly to change the subject but she was genuinely curious too. "What are you going to buy?"

"I don't know yet." He shrugged. "Maybe I'll just grab something new from someone I've never heard of before."

"I could never," she gasped, horrified by the idea. "What if you accidentally stumble across the next XY?"

She knew what sort of disgusted face Luka was making even before she looked over at him, but laughed anyway when she actually saw it.

They continued traversing the store, partly idling while they looked for the particular section that would have what she wanted. Marinette saw so many patterns and designs strewn all over various instruments and musical merchandise that she already felt herself getting inspiration.

It was almost strange, really. It was just her and Luka in a store together, not doing anything particularly noteworthy, and yet it was that very simplicity and peace that she longed for.

After a few minutes of walking about, Marinette found the section of the store that she'd been looking for. Luka trailed behind her and she could already see his eyes scanning the shelves, searching for the albums that she'd been planning to look at.

"Here's one of them." He pointed, Marinette recognizing the fancy cover art before the name.

"Oh, thank you!" She held out her hand and he settled it gently in her palm. Then, eyes focused, she raised her free hand, trailing a pointed finger across the rows of albums as she tried to find the remaining one she'd been looking for. The albums were all in alphabetical order and she knew what color the cover art should be, so it was trivial to pass by albums that definitely weren't like the one she wanted.

"I think... it should be... right here—!"

However, the spot she wound up at was empty, the album apparently having been sold out. Only the label below indicated that the album in question should be there at all, and Marinette's heart dropped like it had directly mocked her.

She straightened, going silent as she looked down at the other album in her hands. It wasn't like she'd been leaning in any sort of direction between the two albums, so it really shouldn't have mattered. Technically speaking, she didn't have to bother debating with herself.

But that also meant the decision was made for her, a twisting in her gut at the familiarity of the feeling.

"Marinette?" Luka called out, leaning down into her peripheral vision. His eyes searched her face and she was certain that she must've been making a bizarrely upset expression for such a minor situation. "Are you okay? We could go to another store if you want."

"...Luka," she spoke up, though it took her a few seconds to actually think about what she wanted to say. "Did you ever feel like your life was set in stone? That nothing really matters and you don't have a choice in it?"

She expected Luka to ask her where such an idea had come from, or perhaps be completely thrown off by the question and ask what had brought it about, but he said nothing. He straightened, frowning contemplatively as he put his hands on his hips.

"Not as much as I'm sure you have," he replied sympathetically, "but yeah, sometimes. Do you want to talk about it?"

Her lips pressed together. Truthfully, she didn't know, and she'd already dragged the mood down unnecessarily by speaking up. They'd just come down to the store to have a nice time, but now she was making things heavy.

Yet, Luka stood there patiently, just as he always did when she needed to talk. She blushed in embarrassment, feeling vaguely like she didn't deserve him. Where could she even begin to talk about it?

"It's—" She paused, looking around to make sure no one else was around. The area they were in felt somehow private, perhaps pronounced by Luka's tall form blocking out some of the store from her sight. He was closer than he was before and she couldn't remember stepping closer despite him blatantly standing in the same spot as before. "...I think it started on the first day of school. I got pulled into, um... a part-time job? At the bakery?"

It was the weakest excuse she could've given to try and make a comparison to Ladybug without outright saying it, but Luka nodded as if it were acceptable.

"I—I didn't want it at all. It was so much pressure, so I tried to get someone who I thought was more qualified to do it instead." Her grip tightened around the album, the corners poking into her palms. "But all of a sudden, she... couldn't take it, so I had to, I didn't have a choice. I never even know when I'm going to be needed either, so I always have to drop everything to go do it."

"And you can't do anything about it." It wasn't a question.

"No, I can't."

She tugged on her earlobe as she told her story to him, part of her hoping not to feel the earring there; that everything would just be a nightmare and she'd wake up to a call from Luka telling her how successful her updated designs were for the band.

But she knew it would never happen. She never truly woke up from her nightmares.

"I guess I started losing control from there. It was so slow that I didn't really notice it at first."

She counted off with her hand as she explained, each instance sounding innocent on their own and a pattern when put with the others; a pattern she'd had yet to make note of until recently.

Making plans to return to the bakery for an order, only for the client to come early. Being forced into leaving an embarrassing message after she'd already insisted that she wasn't ready. Running against her bully for class representative because no one else would, which nearly got her diary read aloud in the process. Defending her great uncle and having the following akumatization be a result of it. Following people's advice and having everything blow up in her face anyway (she had multiple examples for that one).

She raised her other hand to continue counting.

Getting the bakery promoted on TV and being publicly humiliated as if it were some sort of punishment. Trying to help a friend get his work seen without putting him out of his comfort zone, only for a misunderstanding she couldn't have predicted ruining everything. Cutting people off when they prove to be a problem just for them to cause her even more problems. Throwing herself into her work due to deadlines and being shamed for it. Refusing to go somewhere, do something, say something, just for her to be overridden anyway.

Realizing that she was officially out of fingers, she threw her arms out in exasperation. "There's more, but nothing...nothing matters. It's like I'll be wrong no matter what I do, so I shouldn't try, but if I do nothing then it could just end up worse than before. I—" She shook her head. "I don't know what to do. I never know what choice to make, or even if it matters. Maybe—maybe I'm cursed?"

"...I—" Luka finally spoke. "Marinette, I...I'm..."

Marinette looked up, noting how strange it was for Luka of all people to be at a loss for words. His head darted around, eyes looking at everything by her, and his hand raked through his hair in what seemed like frustration.

"I can't imagine," he settled on saying. "I knew you were going through a lot, but not like this."

Her shoulders dropped. "S-sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?" Luka asked, his tone suddenly sharp. "Marinette, none of that was your fault."

"Sorry."

"Marinette." His voice sounded tired, yet full of reassurance. She ducked her head, embarrassed by all of this, at which point he extended his arms out and gently held her shoulders.

"I don't know what to do, Luka," she admitted. "I... even Adrien, I—I can't do anything!"

He seemed hesitant to ask. "What do you mean?"

"I—I did confess on video that day on the Liberty, but it got deleted. That wasn't my fault either. I've been in this loop of trying to confess and trying to move on, but I'm always wrong. Something always happens to try and turn me the other way or ruin my chances. Crushing on Adrien hasn't brought me anything good, Luka, so I'm really trying my best..." She sighed. "And now, suddenly Adrien sounds like he's interested in me. Alya even held my wrists down when he tried to kiss my cheek."

Luka's grip on her shoulders tightened. He realized exactly what she was already thinking. It was even more disheartening for her thinking about the events that led up to Adrien finally looking her way; by now, she was certain that he'd been affected by Risk, meaning that the only reason they'd interacted in any meaningful way was because of an akuma.

A forced conversation for a forced relationship, and it wasn't lost on her how Chat was suddenly less interested in her at the same time.

"It's the pattern, right? Like clockwork." She laughed bitterly, trying to imagine it as a funny joke at her expense, but the pain in her voice was undeniable. "I'm miserable, Luka. I'm always... working, and I keep thinking that I just want to go home - I want to relax - but I can't." The mental image of an empty Miracle Box lingered in her mind. "It just reminds me of how bad things are."

In an instant, she was wrapped in Luka's arms, her face hidden against his shoulder. She hugged him back, desperate to find comfort in her awful situation yet finding it distressing all at the same time.

Luka always knew just what to say, but his hands shook as if in helplessness. Even the one everyone went to for advice seemed at a loss for how to help her.

"What do I do...?" she asked anyway, fidgeting anxiously with the album still in her hand.

"I don't know," he admitted, "but I believe you. This isn't normal, and I'll do whatever I can to help."

"B-but what? What can we do?"

She waited for a second 'I don't know,' but it didn't happen. Instead, Luka hummed to himself in deep thought, his arms still around her and his thumb tapping a gentle beat against her back.

"...We'll take it one note at a time," he decided. When she looked up at him, confused, he asked, "What would you have done differently? If you could go back; if you had a choice in everything."

The answers came to her almost too easily. Ever since she'd become Ladybug, she'd been living a life full of regrets, and every day she'd wondered what if.

"I'd never have started working in the first place," she told him. "I don't know if I'm not good enough or too stressed, but it doesn't matter. I can't do it. There has to be someone else who can do it better."

He nodded, silently encouraging her to go on.

"I'd want to get out of whatever I have with Adrien; maybe even the whole class. Having to deal with Lila is bad enough, but no one really supports me where it counts." She paused, considering everything she'd said so far, then wondered, "What good is saying it?"

"Getting it off your chest, for one," he replied.

"And two?"

He didn't respond at first, but released her and took a step back. He looked as though he were having an internal debate with himself.

"Luka?"

"Marinette," he began slowly, "...could you quit?"

"Uh—" She blanked. "Quit?"

"Your work," he clarified, and she realized that she'd dropped the album in surprise when he bent down to pick it up. "Is there any way?"

The question - the idea - seemed so bizarre, and yet she was suddenly brought back to when she first met Su-Han. She had been prepared to quit, both heroing and being guardian, in the hopes that someone better would take her place.

But Chat intervened. It was yet another choice she'd made that was put into question and fought against.

Now though, she wondered if it could really be that easy. Giving up on her guardian duties would be more difficult - what with the potential memory problems - but the earrings? Could she really just hand them over to someone else, pass them off onto Su-Han, or even have Tikki go off and choose a holder herself?

"That—" She blinked, still in a state of shock. "...Maybe."

"And that'd be one less thing you'd have to worry about," Luka pointed out with a smile, returning the album to the shelf. "If we talk to my dad, maybe he could even throw his money around and get you transferred."

"T-transferred?"

"Out of your class, or to a new school if you really want to." He frowned, noting, "If you don't have any other way out, then you can leave."

"N...no!" She shook her head. "I-I can't leave them. They're my friends!"

"Do you think your friends would want you to stay in a place that doesn't make you happy...?"

He didn't voice his concern with his words, but it was implied. Having not known all of her friends very well, it was natural for him to worry about them if they had any role to play in her "curse."

"I...I guess not."

"You can't play guitar with rusted strings," Luka told her. "You have to cut them away to replace them with something new; something you can work with."

"Something I can work with..." she echoed.

"I'd never ask you to cut everyone off if that wasn't what you wanted," he assures. "You can always keep in contact with them; it'll just be your choice to do it instead of meeting them because you have to."

Her choice.

Marinette almost felt ashamed, a pleasant shiver going up on her spine at those words. The more Luka talked, the better this all sounded, and it wasn't just because of Luka's voice.

"I-it's really okay?"

"What is?"

She gestured at nothing in particular. "Um, doing all this."

Luka tilted his head, squinting at her in deep concern. "You mean... making sure you're happy?"

She blushed in embarrassment, knowing that the question was ridiculous. "N-not dealing with work, not worrying about bullies at school... it all sounds too good to be true? Besides, isn't it selfish?"

"Selfish to look after yourself?" Luka challenged. "To know when you've hit your limit and can't take anymore?"

When he said it like that, it really did sound easy. To feel like she was abandoning others who hadn't listened to her anyway, or to think that taking care of herself was some sort of self-interest that she wasn't permitted...

it was silly, to put it mildly.

Luka smiled when he saw that she understood. "Are you feeling any better now?"

"I...I think so."

He stared at her for a moment, probably gauging how much she meant that, then stepped forward. Marinette opened her mouth to ask if he sensed something wrong after all, then felt the back of his fingers against her cheek.

She sucked in a breath.

"You're still a little pale." His brows furrowed in worry. "Should we stop somewhere on the way back?"

Seeing the warm gaze staring back at her, Marinette may not've believed that Luka was really existing there in front of her if not for the gentle fingers against her cheek. She remembered their moment together at the TV studio, their short time dating, and beyond, then noted that there had been no moment where she'd realized that she didn't have feelings for him. She certainly recalled insisting as much, but there hadn't been anything that made her think it.

Suddenly, something clicked. Luka, much like so many other things in her life, had been a choice that'd been taken away from her. It'd been easier to numbly go along with the world's whims after having been beaten down for so long.

But not anymore.

As Luka went to pull his hand away, Marinette grabbed his wrist and pulled him back to where he was before, holding his hand in place.

He blinked at her change in demeanor. "Marinette?"

"I...I wasn't finished," she replied. "I wasn't finished telling you what I would've changed."

His lips parted in surprise, but he remained still and listened. She released his hand, the words flowing out easier than with anyone else.

"I would've stayed with you," she confessed. "I would've told you everything instead of telling Alya. If work hadn't kept interrupting us - if I'd had a choice with Adrien and been allowed to give up on him - we'd still be together. I—I want to be together." She shook, almost scaring herself with her own conviction on the matter; she wanted this choice so badly. "And I would've kissed you back at the movies like we wanted to."

Luka had frozen in place at the confession, his arms completely slack at his sides. Only his eyes moved, searching her face just as he'd done before. She waited patiently, just as he always did when she needed time to put his thoughts into place.

Finally, he reacted, taking in a sudden breath like he'd forgotten how to breathe. He shook himself back to reality, bringing a hand up to cover the lower half of his face, and she only just realized that his cheeks were turning pink.

"...It's not too late," he said, so quietly that it almost seemed like he was talking to himself. "You can still have that."

She stepped closer, crossing nearly all remaining distance between them. Reaching out, the tips of her fingers brushed the flap of his jacket pocket, slipping inside to get a light grip. "Do you mean it?"

"Yeah," he answered without missing a beat. "You've always had me, Marinette. Friendship, love, whatever you want."

Whatever I want...

Her body practically moved on its own, pulling Luka down with the hand in his pocket while the other held his shoulder. Despite the sudden movement, Luka moved in sync with her as if they were dancing to a rhythm, his arms slipping around her back to pull her in. It was absurdly attractive, just the way he loved her so purely that rejection had never been his concern; he only wanted the opportunity to be there for her and help in every way she deserved.

Had she not already realized it herself, the way he kissed her showed as much. He moved in response to the slightest change in angle, reacted to the slightest bit of sound. He was aware of everything, not simply because he was observant but because it was her.

Whether she'd been given a choice in the albums or not, it turned out that she'd already found the musical motivation she'd been looking for.

She loved the sound of him.

[miraculouscontent]

Anonymous asked:

I don't know about you, but selling the main pairing giving a greeting kiss by having Alya physically stopping Mari from pushing Adrien away is very uncomfortable.

It's like we've traded away AdriChat forcing boundaries in private with nobody to stop him to now making it a group effort to steamroll over every boundary MariBug ever makes. I wish Alya cared more about Marinette's comfort than the ship. It's gonna get to a point where she'll never be able to maintain any boundaries.

Anonymous asked:

So... Multiplication.

I have to say, I was horrified that they went straight from Marinette telling Alya that she did not want to focus on her crush with Adrien, and very clearly, so it couldn't be misinterpreted, to Alya PHYSICALLY PREVENTING Marinette from avoiding an unwanted kiss from Adrien, and not just once, THREE TIMES. Thankfully Ikari Gozen came just before he was about to succeed, because Alya was literally holding both of Marinette's hands down so she couldn't stop him as she had the previous two times.

Anonymous asked:

Don't you just love how casually Adrien is trying to smooch Marinette after realizing he loves her?

I hate that we have to sit here and talk about why it’s wrong for grown white men to write “jokes” about a white boy who can’t take a damn hint and a best friend who will physically hold the female protagonist in place even after she’s made clear that she doesn’t want this.

And naturally the fandom will eat it up and praise Alya for being “a representation of the fandom just wanting Adrien to kiss Marinette already” because Marinette’s agency doesn’t matter as long as The Ship is happening.

Also, just throwing this out there--

- Alya bringing up Marinette’s past attempts of giving up on Adrien (as if Alya wasn’t involved at all in forcing Marinette back in Adrien’s direction) is beyond insulting.

- “It’s just a friendly kiss!” No, it’s not. If Adrien had purely friendly intentions, then not only would Alya/Nino be getting one, but Adrien would’ve been giving them to Marinette before (remember back in “Ephemeral” where we all mocked Adrien for calling Marinette one of his closest friends? yeah).

- If Adrien supposedly loves Marinette so much, then maybe he should be able to use his eyes and see that her rejecting his cheek kiss the first time means that he shouldn’t try it again. This is Season 5, there’s no excuse for this behavior anymore and there hasn’t been for a long time.

- Even if Marinette genuinely wanted to be kissed or whatever, it doesn’t excuse her being physically held in place. At the end of the day, she was rejecting the kiss and had already stated her feelings on how troublesome the Adrien crush had been. Hell, even if she was already in a relationship with him, she should be allowed to not want to be kissed and those feelings should be respected. Even people in real life relationships have moments where they’re just not in the mood for physical contact, which is completely valid.

[miraculouscontent]

Anonymous asked:

(Multiplication spoilers) I made the comment about the writers having a knack for treating Luka’s character well…but after seeing how they instantly turned Su-Han into a worthless gag character, I’mma just not hold my breath for when they inevitably ruin our blueberry boy

That urge to just say “this season isn’t canon” just increases with every passing season, doesn’t it?

Anonymous asked:

How do you feel about the new episode "Multiplication"? (Or is it too soon?) Minor Spoilers: Su-Han actually apologizes for having accomplished nothing for one entire season. (I think it is quite rare for someone to apologize to Marienette) While I like the apology this adresses an issue in the show: A lot of side characters are brought into the equation that ultimately accomplish nothing. They don't get actually any closer to Hawkmoth. It's like they are only there to distract Marienette.

The fandom really be our here acting like Marinette gets all the free passes and all this special attention as if “Multiplication” isn’t the admittance from the writers that Su-Han was just invented so he could yell at Marinette, get his mini-development from “Furious Fu” retcon’d so he could yell at her again for Chat’s absence that isn’t her fault, and not actually help her in anything because he’s incompetent.

He was there to make Marinette’s life harder and that’s it.

[miraculouscontent]

“Ladybug is young Chloé. With so much responsibility and power she had to make some mistakes. We have to have the strength to forgive. She fights against Monarch and it shouldn’t be a child’s mission.”

They really gave these lines to Lila of all people without any sense of irony. Given Marinette’s annoyance at it they clearly intended for her to come across as condescending to Ladybug, but…. She’s Right???

Like…yes, she does have a ton of responsibilities and has made mistakes, and fighting a magical terrorist shouldn’t be put on the shoulders of a literal child.

The lack of self awareness with these writers really shouldn’t shock me at this point, but they keep digging the hole deeper.

I’d also like to remind everyone that this is the same girl who also said that it’s not worth it fighting over Adrien.

Just saying.

They refuse to acknowledge how cruel it is to put this responsibility on a barely-teenager’s shoulders so they just have Lila make a comment like that and leave it there.

[miraculouscontent]

I know the show would never do this cuz based on what the show has become they would never do this. But could you imagine from the Bible (sorry for those who might be spoiled) Su-Han training Luka to take over guardianship? I know it’s far fetched but the idea that we could have Luka being trained to take guardianship to take that burden from Ladybug/Marinette would be absolutely amazing. I know Su-Han is not around as much as a character, but taking a moment to believe even he sees the stress from Ladybug/Marinette and wants to do something about it for her safety gives me a bit of life. What are your thoughts? What is your opinion of Luka and fics about Luka being the/a guardian?

I’m conflicted, I suppose, but I will say that - in concept - I think it actually would be an interesting idea to see Luka (who Marinette wanted to be her best friend just last season) actually get trained by Su-Han, especially for Su-Han trying to make up for basically doing nothing for Marinette in Season 4. It would give him some value and allow Luka to actually be properly trained in a way no one else is, and you would suspect him of already being at least partially prepared since he already meditates and such.

I also really liked the idea in fanfiction of Guardian Luka because I feel like he and Marinette are largely the best for it. I used to come up with all sorts of headcanons for what being guardian would/should be like, such as guardians being teachers to the kwami to educate them on the current world and its technology, but also them being sociable enough to where they can pick heroes whenever needed. Luka is basically an empath and Marinette has lots of friends (the quality of said friends debatable but still) so they both qualify as good choices in my opinion.

I suppose the roadblock then comes with the wrench Season 3 (and 4 by extension) threw in with the memory loss. It took a lot of the fun out of assigning “guardian” to someone because you’re basically condemning them to forget huge chunks of their memory. Even if the memory loss is only tied to miraculous things, you basically can’t have a confidant either or you’ll forget about them. Season 4 also showed that the kwami are basically children, so not only do you have a garbage job that will leave you with severe gaps in your memory, but you’re a babysitter whenever you get home.

I still enjoy fanfics about guardian Luka when I see them (because it’s fanon so we can do whatever), but for canon, the thought is a little stressful because I don’t know if it’ll just be handing the box off to Luka (while possibly sidestepping Marinette’s memory loss somehow, or worse if they actively take advantage of her memory loss) as a sort of “well we created this plot point about guardians losing their memory so we have to give this to you so we can guarantee our love square their happy ending; what happens to you isn’t our concern.” He might only do one cool thing in the finale to “make way” for Ladybug and Chat Noir to do something and that’s all.

I suppose the TL;DR of it all is that I like the idea of Luka getting cool stuff to do because I feel he deserves it (and he’s the only temp who’s “met” Su-Han in any capacity), but after the realization that he’s getting sent away because of Adrien’s screw up, I don’t really trust the writers to be kind to him.

[miraculouscontent]

Anonymous asked:

(ML Bible spoilers) Having failed in their efforts to show that Luka isn't right for Marinette, I guess they're just shipping him off to Brazil to make sure Marinette can't keep having sweet moments with him which get in the way of Love Square.

All I’m hearing is many off-screen phone calls and long distance “absence makes the heart grow fonder” pining.

Anonymous asked:

I'm going to go out on the limb and take a wild guess that Luka is going to become the next guardian and either Marinette will have her memories erased or they're going to come up with some bullshit excuse for her not to lose all of her memories so she can continue being Ladybug

bold of you to assume that they wouldn’t manipulate an amnesiac Marinette into being Ladybug again.

Though I don’t imagine that’s likely, since her losing her memory would mean forgetting about one of her traumas (I hate that I have to specify that now).

Anonymous asked:

Marinette should just cut her losses with Paris and join Luka in getting the heck out of there.

kjfhgjhfkdgdfgf

The irony of them sending Luka away in another attempt to kill the ship, when in reality he and Jagged would just be a stress-free permanent vacation for Marinette.

[miraculouscontent]

Anonymous asked:

“He’s content with playing background if he has to because his goal is never to ‘earn Marinette’s love.’” SO true and I am once again thrown violently back to Chat Blanc during the scene where we’re shown Marinette and Adrien couple dancing along with Alya and Nino while Kitty Section is playing a song for them in the background with LUKA LOOKING TOTALLY CALM AND CONTENT THE WHOLE TIME.

This is a boy who’s just happy to have Marinette in his life and honestly that’s more beautiful than whatever contrived cliche nonsense the love square comes up with.

Anonymous asked:

Considering the bible, I guess Lukanette mysterious writer was fired… well, at least they won’t have to suffer from the show anymore.

We appreciated their service, but alas, their scheme must’ve been figured out. ;P

emikogale asked:

I really don't see the point of adding MariKim along with Zoenette and Kagaminette.

Astruc hated the idea of people liking Lukanette and Adrigami over the LS...If people jump ship again for MariKim or Zoenette then I don't think he should be throwing a temper tantrum that people are losing interest in the LS.

the writers: *so sensitive over their endgame ship that they’ll (attempt to) sabotage the side ships that they themselves created to try and stop people from shipping them*

also the writers: *creating more alternative ships*

[miraculouscontent]

Anonymous asked:

What the writers probably wanted: Adrien ending his friendship with Chloe to stick up for the girl he loves.

What the writers accidentally did instead: Adrien ending his friendship with Chloe only because it's good for his relationship with Marinette, and not because of all the horrible things Chloe has done for the past four seasons.

^^^^^

It’s like--we get what you were trying to do, but also you didn’t do it successfully.

Anonymous asked:

What makes me feel uncomfortable with Adrien never finding out about Gabriel is that they are basically saying that Marinette can get traumatized (Chat Blanc, Strikeback, the rest of the entire series), meanwhile Adrien can’t receive the minimal impulse to get a character development.

Marinette: *gets blamed for destroying the entire planet by confessing to her crush*

Writers: Meh. She can handle it.

Adrien: *Discovers his father is a villain*

Writers: IT’S TOO MUCH FOR POOR SUNSHINE BOY! Also, let’s blame Marinette for no reason.

So the usual then.

It’s not even like I’m surprised, really, I’m just baffled by the sheer lengths they go through to make sure that Adrien doesn’t really change or experience hardships.

Granted, the entire villain’s scheme revolves around getting Adrien his mom back so she’s not dead forever, so--

[miraculouscontent]

zorua-adorable asked:

Totally not going through the “bible”, but…

"Whenever  something new appears in the Universe, like Love, Beauty, Sadness or  even Mathematics, a kwami is born."

Does this mean there’s a kwami of mental health? Can we have Marinette meet them?

Honestly, it’d be one of the kwami’s hardest cases.

Would probably come down to an “““environment”““ issue. Basically--”you need a vacation, sweetie, but also don’t come back either.”

Anonymous asked:

honestly with ml's everything i'm just thinking one of the show runners saw your dnb for s4 and decided that the best way to undercut it would be to release s5 leaks

lololol, the funny part is that we still got some predictions right.

Alya still getting to wear a miraculous, reverse love square, and Luka being shipped away were the biggest “*pretends to be surprised*” moments I’d say.

[miraculouscontent]

Anonymous asked:

So, apparently, according to what I heard from other people that read the "bible", Julerose isn't canon or something, they're just FRIENDS, but Caline is lesbian. CALINE, the trashy irresponsible adult teacher that constantly allowed Chloe to do whatever she wanted and had Marinette act like it was her duty to be Chloe's therapist and doesn't help her students in any way. My faith in Humanity is dying, and my soul as well, really. At least other writers take their lgbtq representation seriously.

Anonymous asked:

Can we add Bustier to the useless lesbian list? Because she's pretty useless and the The Old Testament confirms she's sapphic (or did I read that wrong?)

I refuse to add her to anything unless we see this “Gisele” person on-screen and called as her wife.

Watch them pull a Voltron and do it right in the series finale instead.

Anonymous asked:

If Bustier becomes mayor and Mendeleive becomes principal but a puppet...does that mean we're in the Darkest Timeline

It seems like it honestly.

Anonymous asked:

Why is that I want to believe that when Busiter becomes mayor that's the reason that Gabriel is getting off scott free of the mess that he did? Meanwhile Lilia I can't pick a family or name Rossi is going around as with the butterfly miraculous so now it's back to zero on for the very reason Marinette was even forced into be LB.

Bustier being the reason that Gabriel isn’t arrested (presumably)?

...Honestly, yeah.