#Damocles Salt

[mochinek0]

Daminette December 2023: 29-Disappointment

Marinette watched in disappointment as everything about Françoise Dupont was revealed. She thought she would feel justified, feel happy. Instead, she felt nothing. Caline Bustier had been fired in the middle of class. Lila had been arrested. They didn't tell the class anything; they just told them their parents were there and they had to speak to them before they left. Even their parents seemed confused.

Adrien stood with Natalie in a line. Everyone was spaced out. They had all been told that the students weren't allowed to talk to each other and if a pone was seen, it would go straight into police custody. Adrien looked behind him to see Marinette leaning against her father's large frame and her mother stroking her hair.

Once they were led into a room, they were all let out through a different direction to make sure there wasn't anything yelled out. When it was Adrien's turn, they quickly learned this was mostly about Lila Rossi. Natalie began to ask questions of her own, as they had hired her. At the end of the session, they were told to head straight home. No one was allowed to stick around on campus. As they got in the car, Adrien asked if they could stick around.

"No. The officer said we should head straight home, Adrien." Natalie stated.

"Please. I just want to talk to one person." Adrien spoke, " They were behind us in line so they should be coming out soon."

"We will wait ten minutes and not a second more." she declared, "If an officer tells us to leave before the time is up, we will leave."

"Yes, Natalie. Thank you." the model, smiled.

Just before the time was up, Marinette and her parents walked out of the school. Adrien perked up and unbuckled his seatbelt. As he reached for the car door, another car showed up. A guy he had never seen before, quickly walked out of the car and hugged Marinette. He watched as the guy kissed her head before turning to Tom and Sabine. He could barely make out what was being said.

"Let's go, Angel." he said, "Tom and Sabine said I was to take you away for a few days. How are you feeling?"

"Disappointed. I feel nothing." she answered, causing her parents to tear up.

"Where will you go?" he asked her parents.

"We will be closing the bakery for a week." Tom replied, "We'll be with some family memebers."

"I've already gathered her things." he spoke.

"Thank you, Damian." Sabine smiled.

Damian took ahold of Marinette's hand and led her to his car. It didn't take long for them to drive away.

"Adrien." Natalie called out.

"Uh, we-we can go." he whispered, "I'm sorry for wasting your time. I can ask at a later date."

The school was declared closed for a week. No one still knew what was going on until Tvi did a special on their school. It was under investigation. Their principal couldn't show specific footage to the school board or police. He was arrested for money laundering, as he had never updated the school's equipment as he stated he had. Once he was arrested, they began to dig into the footage and found many inconsistencies, regarding some students. Tvi went onto explain there had been expulsions that were never approved of by the board. The board was now frantically expunging records and reaching out to families. During the special, it was announced that a student had been arrested for lying to not only the school, but also the staff. They announced that a few of the students' parents were now suing the young girl as she took money and items from their classmates, claiming to be well connected with celebrities. They had also claimed to put money towards charities of their choice or would help them get their dream job. Dupont was called a school of dreamers and nativity. The class couldn't help but think of Lila, Marinette, and Ms. Bustier. When they had been questioned about Lila, they instantly got defensive and threw Marinette under the bus as a bully. They were quickly finding out, they had made the wrong choice and Marinette was rigth about Lila all along.

Adrien had snuck out and was hoping to meet up with some of the class for answers. He had no idea his father was one of the people suing Lila, once he had learned she had lied on her resume and forged her mother's signature. The model hoped he could talk to Marinette, as well. He never expected to see her outside of a hotel.

"Hey, Marinette!" He called out, "Did you tip off the school board?"

"No." She answered.

"Then, how did they know?" he questioned.

"Because of you." Mari replied.

"Huh?" he asked, not understanding.

"This ended exactly they way you wanted it to." she continued, "You wanted me to let Lila lie and she would catch herself in her own web of lies. Her going to jail, being sued; this is all your fault. All I wanted to do was tell her lying could get her in trouble. I wanted to make sure everyone was cautious about what she said. They could have double checked, knew she lied, and then went along with her lie, for her sake."

Adrien looked at her, surprised.

"This isn't you, Marinette." he replied, full of disappointment.

Mari shrugged, "Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. I don't really know anymore."

"Wh-What do you mean?" Adrien questioned.

"I put up with Chloe, with the teachers looking past my harassment for year, with Lila defaming me." Marinette spoke, "I feel nothing, anymore, Adiren. I don't know how to be happy anymore."

Adrien wasn't sure how to reply, when Damian walked out of the building.

"Are you ready?" Damian asked Marinette.

She nodded her head.

"Wait! Mari-" the model began.

"Go inside." Ordered Damian.

Marinette nodded again and went inside, past the security out front.

"Leave her alone." Damian growled out.

"Who are you?" Questioned the model.

"Her boyfriend." Damian stated.

"No. She would have told Alya and Alya would have told Nino. Nino would have told me." Adrien babbled in shock, "She would have told her best friend-"

"The same 'best friend' that pours drinks on her head and her sketchbook?" Damian retorted, " The same one who trips her in the halls and steps on her hand until she had to wear a brace and couldn't design? The same one who would drop her sisters off without any notice because Lila needed her?"

"That girls isn't friend, Agreste. She is a bully." Damian stated, "My girlfriend is seeing a therapist because of your idiotic high road philosophy. Do you have any idea what it was like to come to Paris, to surprise her, and instead, I find she swallowed a whole bottle of pills! She was dying when I found her."

Adrien paled at the thought.

'Marinette tried to kill herself? I'm to blame for all of this?'

"You almost got her killed. Would you have done the same, seeing as how you were 'in this together' with her?" The Wayne heir continued, "I'd tell you to stay away from her, but her parents signed over guardianship to my father so that she can get out of Paris. She won't even be in the country by Friday. Marinette will get the help she deserves."

"You silenced her. You made her feel useless. You made her feel like trash. You are lucky you have nothing tying you to her harassment or I would be suing you; trust me, I looked." Damian concluded.

"Huh?" Adrien asked, still in disbelief.

Damian rolled his eyes, "I called the board when My Angel was in the hospital. Did you know that Lila isn't even her real name? It's Cerise Lerouch. She is signed up at another school, here in Paris. She was never a transfer student from Italy, just a girl who likes attention. All those 'trips out of the country' was just her going back to her other school because she wasn't 'sick' anymore. In fact, she wore a wig and contacts to your school, every day."

Adrien remained speechless.

The Wayne heiress sighed, "I do not understand what she saw in you."

"Who?" The model questioned.

"Marinette. She was in love with you. I believed I had competition and would have to strive hard to earn her favor. All I ha e seen is a boy who is completely and utterly disappointing. " Damian announced, "Be sure to tell your little friends that the only thing they have done is earn the wrath of the Waynes. Same for the supposed 'best friend'. My family owns her dream job and now she'll never have it. How disappointing for her."

The young Wayne turned away from the model and entered the hotel. After a moment, he tried to run in after him, only to be told 'only people with special clearance were allowed in'.

Unfortunately for Adrien, the entire Lila Disaster had only fueled his father's intentions of keeping him homeschooled. He still kept in contact with Nino, but the others were busy with their own things. Nino had told him Alya had hysterical after learning she was being sued by the Waynes. They were suing her for emotional distress, for all the babysitting she had forced on Marinette. Alya had to pay all the money she never gave Mari, once her parents found out. Marinette had kept a detailed planner listing what times and when Alya had dropped off the twins. She had even recorded the twins, asking what Alya had told them and why they were dropped off. Her parents were upset with her and grounded her for the rest of the year. They weren't going to be able to go out on dates and she was now the twins sole babysitter. Nino recanted how Alya said her family was disappointed in her. They were barely looking at her and the twins kept crying how they preferred Marinette. She had also learned that she was blacklisted from the Daily Planet. After that, she shut down and barely said a word.

Nino went on to explain that he was trying to get music files he had given Lila because she knew some DJs. Other classmates were learning that what she had promised them, wasn't true. Juleka had called her father, Jagged Stone, and asked him about knowing Lila and saving his kitten. She quickly filled him in about her tinnitus disability when he didn't remember her, but he claimed to never own a cat of any sort. Even Jagged Stone was looking to suing Lila. After Juleka told Rose, she quickly emailed Prince Ali and was anxiously waiting for a response back. Ivan and Mylene had given Lila money for charities, but were unlikely to see any of their money back. Nathaniel had given her some art to hold for when she went to America to give to her connections. Nino told Adrien they were signed in invisible ink so it was being looked into.

The class itself was slowly falling apart. Max was worried about his grades and how a new teacher would approach everything so he asked to transfer to a private school. There was no evidence he had participated in the bullying so he had been free to leave. Kim no longer had someone to help him focus so his grades fell and he was cut from the team. Kim no longer bet on anything and was even spending less time with Alix. His relationship with Odine was falling apart. There were whispers of the Mayor being tied with Damocles about the money laundering and hints of an investigation looming over his head. Chloe seemed upset and waas pouting, but never answered what was wrong. It wasn't until later he learned that Sabrina had transferred school to the other side of Paris. Adrien couldn’t believe all the chaos that was caused because one person had lied.

Adrien had finally broken down and cried. Natalie found him and once he had calmed down a bit, she asked him to explain.

"I messed up." he sobbed, "I knew Lila was lying, but I used Father's logic: lies don't hurt people. I didn't think any of this would happen. Marinette tried to commit suicide and is now moving out of Paris. Alya is depressed. Lots of our friends are trying to sue Lila and get their things back. Some changed schools. Others are flunking! I got blamed for Marinette and her boyfriend said ther was nothing to stick to me so he couldn't sue me."

Adrine cried himself to sleep. Natalie informed Gabriel and it was only then he saw how naïve he made his son, by keeping him home. He was grateful that ther was nothing holding Adrien accountable, but he knew he needed to do something fast. He called up his sister-in-law and pleaded with her for Adrien to attend school with his cousin. As much as he hated it, Felix would help beat the naivety out of his son.

Meanwhile, in Gotham, Marinette had moved into the Wayne Manor. All the Waynes had been very welcoming. Damian had even introduced her to Jon; Damian explained that Jon also helped him express his emotions. She had an appointment for a therapist next week.

TAGLIST: @maribat-calendar-events @animeweebgirl@a-star-with-a-human-name@meme991001@vixen-uchiha@abrx2002@alysrose-starchild@fandom-trapped-03@dood-space@moonlightstar64@saltymiraculer@marveldcedits20@09shell-sea09@icerosecrystal@animegirlweeb@insane-fangirl-of-everything@blueblossombliss@nickristus-dreamer@megawhitleycalderonpaganus@missmadwoman@meira-3919@princessdaisysolosyourfaves@blep-23@fangirlingfanatic@darkhinauniverse@ravenr22@im-a-satanic-ritual@ravennm84@bianca-hooks123@a-slytherinish-gryffindor@starling218

[trashyangelic]

New Fic Idea! Identity Reveal

Here's an idea!

What if Lila decided to lie about the Miraculous Team the original team members as in Chloe (Queen Bee), Alya (Rena Rogue), Nino (Carapace), Adrien (Chat Noir), and Marinette (Ladybug/Guardian) but also lies about many things targetting both Alya and Nino since they both got themselves knock into their senses by Chloe as she dragged them to her hotel and repeat the question to Jagged Stone towards them along with Clara who was there to stay for a few days.

While Felix (Agros), Juleka (Tigress), Kagami (Ryuko), and Luka (Viperion) decided to join in after Adrien told them with their planned since Juleka and Luka are currently spending time with their father Jagged Stone at the moment; as for Felix and Kagami decided to bring out the celebrities and the people Lila lied about. Hopefully to have lawsuit towards Lila Rossi.

Chloe and Kagami found out their sexuality and decided to work on it between them. Luka and Adrien also found out their sexuality that turns to be bisexual but they perfer males and started slow to date. Alya and Nino approve Adrien on his sexuality on finding out himself but also gave Felix a second chance since they did see Felix and Marinette all cuddling at the bakery which Alya find it cute.

[miraculouswolf99]

In your opinion how do you imagine Ms. Bustier, Alya, The Principal, and the rest of the class apology should've been like in Confrontation? Especially the fact they decided to let Chloe be class representative?

I think that Alya is actually the one who needs to apologize the least. I mean, she still needs to say that she is sorry, but not the same amount as others. Like, even though she did never believe Marinette about Lila being a liar, she also never believed any of the bad things Lila tried to set up against Marinette. Such as how Alya believed that Marinette was framed for all of the things that happened in the "Ladybug" episode, even if she didn't believe it was Lila.

The rest of the class would all definitely need to apologize, though. They should not only apologize for not believing her about Lila being a liar, but they also need to say they were sorry for ever thinking bad about her because of all the things Lila did to frame her. Especially for those who ended up akumatized in the "Ladybug" episode since that did mean they believed Marinette to be guilty.

As for Bustier and Damocles, I would love to see both of them on their knees while apologizing. After all, both of them were clearly very biased during every part of the "confrontations" between Lila & Chloe and anyone else. They always chose to side with Lila and Chloe. Especially since even when it was close to the end of the year, they still allowed the change in class president. Not only should they apologize, but they also need to promise to do better in the future.

[mcheang]

I have a prompt idea! So a rich kid transfers into DuPont who is the son of the prime minister or something. He can be bratty like Chloe and deceitful like Lila. The first thing he does is put Chloe in her place since her dad can’t do anything to him and exposes Lila as the liar she is with the help from his connections.But here’s the kicker, he has a massive crush on Marinette. But she has a massive crush on Adrien, someone he looks down on. Cue jealousy and retribution. Basically Adrien gaining an antagonist of his own because if he can have FOUR girls getting into a cat fight of her (two of whom are nasty bullies) then Marinette can have her own evil love interest. Bonus points if he is beginning to endear to Marinette after standing up to her bullies.

Remy Gusteau

Can you guess where I got his name? But I imagine him to look like Draco Malfoy if he has to keep saying “My father….” Lol

Your prompt is the first in a long while that has given my that old flair of imagination :D Thank you. Also, for anyone else who wants to send me a prompt, note I have not watched the latest season yet as I am waiting for all episodes to air first. So no spoilers please.

The only reason Remy even agreed to go to Paris after the rise of Hawkmoth was because it was the capital of gastronomy.

Even so, he refused to stay as a guest at the Le Grand Paris. There is no way he is staying in the same hotel as that bully Chloe. Honestly why Ladybug even let her remain a hero after she purposefully endangered a train full of Parisians is beyond him. And ever since he saw her purposefully sabotage a cooking show, he has been asking his father why her father was even still mayor if he could not even raise his daughter properly.

Even so, the mayor personally welcomed Remy at the airport.

Mayor: my daughter attends Dupont too, she can be your tour guide.

Remy: I certainly hope she learned to improve her personality. It doesn’t look good on France if the mayor of our capital has a bully for a daughter.

The mayor paled at the threat. “Of course she has improved. Why else would Ladybug give her a miraculous again?”

Remy: I guess we’ll see.

Later that night, Andre begged his daughter to be on her best behavior because otherwise, it might cost him his job.

Naturally Chloe was appalled. She started to protest when even her mother agreed with Andre. “It would never do for my darling to lose his job. All Chloe has to do is act nice in front of the prime minister’s boy, right? That’s easy to do. Chloe, if you can’t handle even this much, ask your sister for advice.”

The next day Chloe went out of her way to greet Remy and did not even give Sabrina orders…only to be ignored by Remy.

Ugh. Who did he think he is?

Sabrina: Um, the prime minister’s son?

The only seat left available was next to Ivan, right in front of Lila.

As Caline told Remy that Marinette would be his tour guide, Lila volunteered instead.

Lila: Oh, I can do it. As the ambassador’s daughter, I’m sure Marinette would has a lot to do anyway.

Marinette scowled at Lila. And she wasn’t the only one.

Remy himself was not happy. He recognised Marinette because of her parents and uncle. He had actually been looking forward to discuss recipes with her. Why did that nobody have to butt in?

Well that nobody was Lila, and clearly she never heard of personal space. For someone supposed to be giving a tour of the classrooms and teachers, she sure talked a lot about herself instead.

Don’t tell him that everybody actually indulged her like this?

Later that day, after class ended, he asked Caline why she does not try reining in Lila’s tall tales.

Caline: Lila has a special disease. She didn’t want her classmates to see her differently because of it.

Remy stared cooly at this dumb woman. “Hmm. Do you know something, I’ve heard the other students tell me I was in the akuma class. I thought perhaps it might be due to Chloe but perhaps you have something to do with it too. I wonder if I should ask my father to bring an inspector here.”

Caline: If you think it’s needed. I have only ever encouraged my students to forgive each other.

Remy: right, which is why you never told your class they were being lied to by Lila and denied them the chance to forgive her.

True to his word, Remy did bring an inspector around, and was he thorough! Marinette’s previous expulsion case was brought up and both Damocles and Caline were fired for mishandling the case. Remy even forced them to apologize to Marinette. Some, including Adrien, might protest this was harsh, but Remy drily pointed out that Caline’s method of forgiving bullies without punishing them was called enabling. Did she expect them to forgive Hawkmoth too? And Damocles is not supposed to turn school property into some cheap owl cave, nor punish the school for Chloe’s misdeeds. They were like children in the bodies of adults.

Oh, and Lila was exposed too. She had to confess her special ability to the whole school, outing her as someone who likes to tell tall tales.

Understandably, akumas appeared. Curiously though, they never got much chance to cause chaos. Mainly because the no-nonsense inspector and Remy struck them in the head once the transformation had finished, giving them no time to react, and proceeded to keep hitting them till they passed out.

Everyone stared at them.

Remy: What? The miraculous cure will fix everything.

And Remy finally got to discuss baking with Marinette! He just didn’t understand why she was so fixated on Adrien Agreste. The model reminded Remy of Caline, always about forgiving bullies. Spoken like someone who has never been bullied himself!

He just has to help Marinette see that Adrien isn’t worth her time. Some planned situations to show how useless the boy is. Good thing he has the mayor’s daughter at his beck and call. And he just knows she is dying to be mean again.

[soap-lady]

Tis a beautiful day to re-read some comfort salt fics. Feel free to sent suggestions

[vintage-retro-queen]

Chapter Three-Too Brutal? Yeah, Right (DodgeBrawl)

It was just another ordinary day like any other in Camp Wawanawkwa.

All of the campers are in the main lodge, enjoying their breakfast. However, there was a slight difference between the two sides of the campers. The Screaming Gophers are just smiling and laughing. Meanwhile, the Killer Bass are sleeping instead of eating the questionable breakfast.

"Duncan." Duncan looks up to see Chris walking to their table. "You look like death, dude," he said. "Stick it," Duncan said before heading back to sleep. "Harold snored all night," Courtney explained. Chris laughed, "Wow, four nights with no sleep. How much are you hurting, dude?" "Wanna find out?" Duncan asked, causing his team to duck and cover to avoid what would happen. "No, no. It's cool. It's cool." Chris says, raising his hands with a smile. Just then, Harold walks in with a markered mustache on his face, not aware of the Screaming Gophers and Chris starting to snicker. When he sat down, he noticed his team looking at him oddly and then laughing. "Okay, what?" asked Harold. "Someone messed with your face, dude," said Geoff. Harold grabbed a spoon, seeing what they were laughing about. "Hey, sweet stache," he said. Then, Chris gets their attention. "Hey, everyone, it's Lucy and Marinette!" the Screaming Gophers cheer as Lucy and Marinette walk in, looking more tired than they were four days ago. When they both sat down, Marinette crossed her arms on the table, resting her head and closing her eyes. And Lucy rests her head on her hands.

CONFESSIONAL: MARY-LOUKRITIA CORLEONE

"Boy, even for the first time in the past two years at the ages of five and six, I stood up, not only just nights but days too. Man, I wish my friends were here to see it. But I still didn't think I would stay up for that long."

Confessional: COURTNEY

"We are so stinking right now! Okay, yes, Eva was a psycho, but at least she wasn't athletic psycho."

As the two were resting, Heather started talking aloud to the Killer Bass, getting their attention, saying, "Hey, fish-heads, way to kick out your strongest player. Why don't you just give up now?" Heather then moved over, making Courtney miss her, and threw the questionable food at Lucy's face. "Missed me," Heather said, causing Courtney to glare at her. Lucy then raises her hand to Courtney, telling her tiredly, "Don't worry about it. I had worse things thrown at me anyway." she then finishes her sentence, yawning, "Such as...a chained....kunai." Lucy's head then plops down on the table and falls asleep, snoring loudly, not even aware of the campers, sans a sleeping Marinette, looking at her with shocked and disbelief looks on their faces.

Confessional: COURTNEY

"Did...did Lucy just say what I think she said?"

Confessional: D.J.

"A chained kunai was thrown directly at her?!"

Confessional: HAROLD

"Lucky. I wish a chained kunai was thrown at my face."

CONFESSIONAL: MARY-LOUKRITIA CORLEONE

"I know what I just said. And sadly, yes. It's true. It happened in the second week of my first year of high school. Most of my former schoolmates, who by the way, were rivals to each other. They were labeled what my old school calls them 'The Sides'." Lucy says, air quoting the words The Sides. "They were all fighting about something that I don't know what, but frankly, I don't even want to know what and why they were even fighting about in the first place. But anyway, at that time they were arguing, and it then started a fight and a food fight at the same time. One of them then threw their chained kunai at one of their rivals, but it missed, and instead, aimed at me. But not directly aiming at my face, the chained kunai only missed me by an inch, and instead slapped my face." Lucy rubs the left side of her face, remembering that. "It really smarted, and it got me so mad that it caused me to snap and make a scene in front of everyone, angrily screaming and scolding them to knock it off and tell them that someone could've been hurt or injured or worse. When I finished giving a harsh scolding lecture, I left the cafeteria and ended up having the rest of my lunch break at the school library. When lunch was over, and we were heading to our next class, I was at my locker getting what I needed and saw the same chained kunai in there with a note saying they were sorry for throwing it at me. Even though I accepted the apology and appreciated the peace offering gift, I'm still mad at the betapunks with their rivalry and the one who threw it while they were fighting." Lucy glared daggers, facing directly at the camera. "Yeah, that's right." She then points at the camera while looking even more tired than before, letting out a couple of sleepy yawns, "I'm talking to you, Han...zo Scor...Ha....sa....shi." Then, Lucy fell face first, pushing the outhouse-confessional door open while she was asleep again.

"Okay, campers, listen up." Chris announced, "Your next challenge begins in ten minutes, and be prepared to bring it."

Ten minutes later, they arrived at their location for their next challenge, which looked like a gym. Marinette and Lucy are now both fully awake, with cups of Starchild's Coffee in their hands. "I'm surprised your family sent us some coffee, Lucy," Marinette said, sipping her coffee. "Yeah, well, sometimes my three uncles, auntie, and pop-pop always worry about my well-being. It's been that way since I was six," said Lucy.

Confessional: MARY-LOUKRITIA CORLEONE

Lucy sips her cup of coffee. "Not gonna lie, I didn't think my family would be watching me. Even though we're a traditional family. But not like that. It's just that we don't do technology. Well, except my three uncles, auntie, and pop-pop, maybe, but still. My family doesn't use technology like everyone else, such as watching television or having cell phones. Although we only have a telephone that we use now and then, but that's all we have in our household. Heck, we even have two computers for school and work. Just school and work only and nothing more. I don't use the computers, honestly. Personally, I prefer doing my work by hand. The only people who use those computers are my mother and her sister, who is my aunt on her side of the family. They are the only ones in my whole family tree who use them for their work. And whenever we're not at home, you have to go out to London and find a phone booth just to make a phone call or two." After sipping her coffee again, she continued talking and said, "But it was still nice of them to send Nettie and me some coffee." Lucy then looks directly at the camera, smiling, looking grateful. "Thanks, guys. I owe you one," she said, thanking her three uncles, aunt, and pop-pop.

They then heard a loud thump and turned to see Duncan on the benches, sleeping. "Wake me up, and it'll be the last thing you'll do," he warns. "I don't think we're even going to," Lucy said, making the Screaming Gophers and the Killer Bass look at her odd. "What? I was like that once," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Some people who I rather have nameless tried to force me to get up and join them on something I don't want to explain what, and I may have accidentally given each of them a black eye to leave me alone." They looked at her surprised but understood.

Confessional: MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG

"I can understand that. My dad told me once that my mom was like that since this one time back when she was a teenager, someone was forcing her to get up and join them to train on something. I guess it's true what they say. Some people will get cranky when they don't get their sleep." Marinette sips her coffee and says, "And it might be best to let them sleep, or else you will face the consequences."

After that, Courtney then started to scold Harold. "This is all your fault, you know?" she said, "You and your snoring face." "It's called a medical condition. Gosh!" said Harold. Suddenly, Lucy grabbed Courtney and Harold by the ear, glaring daggers at the two. "Less arguing, more focusing on what the challenge is." she snarled, with venom in her tone. Hearing her scolding Courtney and Harold caused most campers to shudder in fear of seeing an angry Lucy. All but Marinette, who seems to be used to it.

CONFESSIONAL: MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG

"I don't like to talk down on others, but with all due respect and in all honesty, Courtney should've kept the accusation to herself. Including Harold with his excuse. Even if it is true or not. Then they won't have to deal with an angry scolding from Lucy."

After Lucy lets go of Courtney and Harold, they hear a whistle blow and see that it is Chef, dressed as a referee. Chris then explains the challenge to the campers. "Today's challenge is the classic game of dodgeball." Lucy smiles, looking impressed. "Ah, a basic sports game. Nice, " she says.

Chris continues to talk to the campers, "The first rule of dodgeball is-" "Do not talk about dodgeball?" Noah asks, cutting off Chris's sentence and making Owen laugh at that smartmouth question. Chris continues, "If you get hit with the dodgeball..." Chris then throws the dodgeball at Courtney, hitting her. "You're out." "You can't just do that!" Courtney said, throwing the dodgeball at him. He then catches the dodgeball and continues, "If you catch the ball, the thrower gets sent out, and the catcher gets to bring another member out on the court." "Throwing balls. Gee, another mentally challenging test," said Noah. "I know, right?" Lindsay asked, butting in a bit. Noah and Owen look confused about that. "Okay, now, Geoff, try to hit Lucy," Chris said, throwing the dodgeball to Geoff while Chef tossed another to Lucy. "If you're holding a ball, you can use it to deflect a ball. But if it knocks the ball out of your hands, you're out." Chris explains. "So what do I do again when the ball comes at me?" asked Lindsay. "You dodge," Chris said. As Geoff threw the ball at Lucy, she used the dodgeball to deflect it, which headed over to Lindsay, hitting her on the head and making the others gasp. Chris and Lucy wince from that. "Ooh, you were supposed to dodge," said Chris. "Ow.. right," Lindsay said, rubbing her forehead, which showed a big bruise. "You have one minute until game time." Chris said, then turning to the Screaming Gophers, "Gophers, you'll have to sit one person out each game." After some campers sat out, D.J., Courtney, Katie, Tyler, and Harold were on the Killer Bass team. Meanwhile, Heather, Lindsay, Owen, Leshawna, and Cody are on the Screaming Gophers team.

"Bring it on, fishies," Heather said. "Otherwise winning three in a row just won't be as satisfying." "Oh, you're going down!" said Tyler. "We're gonna bring the dinner on the table, and then we're gonna eat it!" Courtney facepalms when Tyler finishes making that not-making-any-sense sentence. "Both teams ready? Best of five games wins." Chris says, "Now let's dodge some ball!" When Chef blew his whistle, the game of dodgeball was on, and the sitting campers cheered their teams on. Cody then throws the dodgeball first, aiming at Tyler, but misses. This causes Tyler to throw his dodgeball at him, but instead, the dodgeball accidentally hits Sadie. "That'll smear the makeup," Chris commented. "You're doing your best, Tyler! That's all that matters!" Marinette yelled from the Screaming Gophers side. Tyler gives her a thumbs up as a thanks until Courtney gets his attention. "Nice job. Now let's see if you can hit someone on THEIR team!" she scolded. Just then, Owen ran, heading over to them, and threw the dodgeball straight to Tyler, hitting him so far up to the wall. "Ow. Darn it." Tyler said, in pain from the hit. Chef blows his whistle, signaling that Tyler is out, while the seated Screaming Gophers cheer on their team, and Cody and Owen high-fived. Meanwhile, Tyler sits out in pain.

After that, Harold holds his dodgeball, looking confident. "Time to unleash my wicked skills," he said. "Yeah?" said Leshawna. "Then bring it, string bean! Let's see what you got!" As Harold tries to throw the dodgeball his way, it backfires. Leshawna then smirked after picking up the dodgeball, which got Harold running away screaming. Until Leshawna threw the dodgeball at him, making him slide on the floor to the glass wall and making Chris and Marinette wince from witnessing it. Chef then blew his whistle, signaling that Harold was out. "And that's how we roll!" said Leshawna. Lindsay then walks to her team, asking, "Can someone remind me what I'm supposed to do with this again?" Suddenly, Katie threw the dodgeball at Lindsay, which became a direct hit. The Killer Bass cheered while Chef blew his whistle, signaling Lindsay was out.

The Killer Bass cheered for Katie while Tyler waved to Lindsay, making Lindsay smile and Heather mad, which got her to throw a dodgeball at him again. Lucy then turned to glare deadly daggers at Heather, signaling she was done for when she gets a chance. Heather shuddered in fear, seeing the furious look on Lucy's face. "I'm with Lucy. What the heck was that?" Courtney complained. "Ref, he's not even on the court." "Oops! He slipped." Getting more furious hearing that, Lucy grabs a dodgeball and throws it at Heather, hitting her in the face. Chef blows his whistle, signaling Heather is out. "I'm sorry, Heather, but you made me do that. Even though we are on this team, it doesn't matter to me anymore," she said. Marinette nods in agreement. She then turns to Chris, saying to him, "Chris, I'm sorry, but we're going to be switching to the Killer Bass team." Lucy then turns, telling the Screaming Gophers, "And please, don't push us on this. If anyone is to blame for that, it's Heather." The two walk to the Killer Bass team. The Killer Bass cheered about Lucy and Marinette being on their team while the Screaming Gophers glared at Heather since she was now out and sitting on the bench.

Courtney throws her dodgeball at one of the Screaming Gophers, but Owen catches it. This causes Chef to blow his whistle, signaling Courtney is out, and Gwen gets into the game. When she tiredly gets up and gets in the paint, Owen throws one at D.J., which misses, and D.J. then throws one at Gwen, which gets her. "Oh, sorry." he said. "Oh, it's cool." Gwen said while Owen helped her get up. "Trust me." Chef then blows his whistle again, signaling Gwen is out.

After a while, it was then Cody and Leshawna for the Screaming Gophers and D.J. and Katie for the Killer Bass. D.J. and Katie throw theirs. Leshawna deflects one until another one of them hits her in the gut. Chef then blows his whistle, signaling to her that she's out. It was now Cody against the two Killer Bass. "Easy out, guys. Easy out." Courtney said to D.J. and Katie. Cody tosses one dodgeball up in the air and then tosses it at D.J. Even though it missed, the dodgeball took a U-turn and hit D.J. behind him. "That is one tough ball to dodge." said Chris. Katie threw her dodgeball at Cody, but it missed. Cody then grabs another ball and rubs it on his shirt. He then throws it at Katie. Katie then tried to run from it, but it chased after her. Katie then slammed into the wall, and the dodgeball hit her on the back. The Screaming Gophers then cheered for Cody for winning the round.

Before they can start the next round, the Killer Bass huddled up. "We can do this. We just have to believe in ourselves." "Oh, I believe. I believe you stink!" scolded Courtney. "Yeah, you throw like a wimp," Tyler said, causing Geoff to laugh and Sadie to nod in agreement. "You should talk," Courtney said, scolding Tyler. "It was a warm-up throw," Tyler explained. Before he could keep talking, a dodgeball hit Tyler, Courtney, Geoff, and Sadie. They looked to see that it was an angry Lucy, looking at them as if she was ready to pop a vein and beat the life out of them. They all looked scared, seeing her looking furious.

Confessional: MARY-LOUKRITIA CORLEONE

"And that, folks, is another one of my triggers. People accuse others. Talking down on them, calling them a girl, chicken, or coward, and making up some lame-cottontail excuses." Lucy crosses her arms, looking completely serious. "Yeah, that's right. I'm not afraid to say words close to the cursed ones. And we all know what I'm talking about."

"Okay, you guys focus on the game. I'm going to take Lucy out and get her to calm down," Marinette said, taking Lucy's hand and leading her out of the room. The rest of the Killer Bass continued on while the two were out. "Look, I can dominate this game," Tyler said, continuing what he would say before Lucy interrupted him by throwing the dodgeball at them. "Just give all the balls to me."

Meanwhile, in the Screaming Gophers cabin, Lucy takes a couple of heavy whiffs on her stress and anger management essential oils. "You shouldn't let this get to you, Lucy," Marinette said, helping Lucy calm down. "I know, Nettie. I'm trying to. But when it comes to those punks doing all that and talking like that, it's too difficult for me to handle. Believe it or not, I got all that from both my father and one of my friends." Marinette looked surprised to hear that. "I have my father's stress in my genes, and the anger thing is both from myself and my friend. Well, sometimes me, it was also him too, actually." Lucy admits.

"And believe it or not, people often mistook us for twins." "Because of the anger?" asked Marinette. "Nope. We just both talk at the same time." Lucy and Marinette both laugh at that. After that, Lucy gets two more stress and anger management essential oils. She opens them, revealing that they are roll-on essential oils, and rubs them on two of her wrists and behind her left and right ears. "There, hopefully, this will help me finish up the dodgeball challenge. And hopefully, I don't go overboard on this like the last one I did." "What happened?" "Oh, trust me. You don't wanna know." after that, they head out of the cabin and back to the challenge.

They saw their teammates on the bench when they returned to the challenge. All but Tyler. "Hey, where did Tyler go?" asked Marinette. "Long story." said Bridgette. Courtney then starts to talk. "Okay, this is really bad." she said. "One more game, and we lose the whole challenge, again! We can't let that happen, people. We need someone strong, someone mean, someone who'll crush those lame-o gophers into the dirt." "I think I know who we can have help us," Marinette said, motioning to someone on her right. Most of the Killer Bass then looked at Duncan, who was still sleeping like a log. They know that Marinette is saying he's now the only one who can help them. However, some of the Killer Bass looked a bit scared. "Unh-unh, if we wake him up, he'll kill us." D.J. protested. "He won't kill us, guys." Courtney said, "He wants to win too." "Courtney's right," Harold said, agreeing with Courtney. "We need Duncan's fierceness to win this." "That's the spirit, Harold." said Courtney. But before she can tell him to wake Duncan up, Lucy beats her to the punch.

"Alright, stand back, folks. Leave the bear-awakening to the professionals." Lucy said as she walked up to Duncan. As the Killer Bass did so, Lucy grabbed an essential oil out of her pocket and let the scent go to Duncan's nose, waking him up entirely. After a couple of whiffs, he bolted up and looked up to see Marinette walking to him while Lucy put her essential oil back in her pocket. "Hey, Duncan. Sorry for waking you up like that." Marinette said, with a slight smile on her face, mentally scared of what he might do to her. Duncan smirked at her. "You better have a really good reason for waking me up, hot stuff," he said flirtatiously. Marinette was confused by that until Lucy walked up to him, saying, "Alright, Mister Juvenile, listen up. We're down two, nothing. As much as we respect that you need some well-deserved rest, but we could use some of your assistance on this." "Oh, and why should I help you, princess?" asked Duncan. "Because we can personally guarantee you that if we lose this game, you'll be the one going home, Sir Juvenile," Lucy said, with a renascence accent in the end. Courtney and Harold silently snicker at the funny nickname she gave Duncan.

Duncan lets out a sigh and then says, "Fine, I'll play...on one condition. You do what I say when I say it." Lucy nods. "Okay, here's a strategy I picked up during my first visit to Juvie. It's called Rush the New Guy."

After explaining the strategy, they were ready. And after trying it, they beat the Screaming Gophers. After using their Rush the New Guy trick, it became a success, and they won the round. After that, Courtney had a suggestion. "I think that we should do the same thing all over again. So Harold, sit this one out too." "But I sat the last one out." "We'll sit this one out with you, Harold." Marinette offered, with Lucy nodding in agreement. Before Courtney can protest, she shuts her mouth when Lucy stares at her with a death-threatening stare in her eyes. Harold nods to Lucy and Marinette as thanks and signals to them that he owes them one. Seeing that causes Duncan to feel jealous.

CONFESSIONAL: DUNCAN

"The next time we lose, he's the next one to go."

After the two sat out, they watched as their team used the Rush the New Guy strategy again, and they won the round. They cheered them on when they did win. After that, Tyler walked in and sat on the bench. "Tyler, where were you?" Marinette asked. "Nowhere," he said. "You were with Lindsay, were you?" Lucy teased, raising a brow, smiling. "No...maybe...so?" "Tyler, it's okay. There's nothing to be afraid or ashamed of." Marinette said. Lucy nodded, "Exactly. Just as long as you're calm and cool as a cucumber and don't expose your weaknesses to her." she said. Tyler smiles, happy to know that Lucy and Marinette are okay with him liking Lindsay.

Chris then announced to the campers, "Okay, this is it, the final tie-breaking game."

When they all huddle up, they start talking strategy. "Okay, who's going in?" Duncan asked. "I think it's either Marinette's turn, Lucy's turn, or my turn?" said Harold. "No way. we actually have a chance to win this." Courtney protested. Harold nodded and headed over to the bench to sit out.

"Gophers, Bass, let's send this sample to the lab and see what you're made of." said Chris. They started throwing and tagging in and out team members. Noah then cheers with full-on sarcasm in his tone of voice. "Knock 'em out. Throw 'em out. Rah, rah." then, a dodgeball was thrown and hit Noah straight in the face. "My bad. I meant to do that." Lucy called out with another dodgeball in her hands. Noah signals her it's fine since he knows that she deflected Marinette from the dodgeball almost thrown directly at her.

After a while, it was Owen against Marinette Harold. "Well, freak," Lucy said, while Marinette looked a bit scared. The Screaming Gophers cheered for Owen, while the Killer Bass looked shocked and worried for Harold and the girls. "Sorry, guys, but you gotta go down," said Owen. "Good night, Harold," said Duncan. Lucy elbowed him and cheered Harold and Marinette on. "You got this, guys!"

Seeing that it's a standoff between the two and Owen, Harold starts to get confident, getting into his stance. Marinette then swallows her pride and becomes confident as well. As the two motions for Owen to bring it, he does so, and the two dodge every single dodgeball Owen throws at him.

Courtney then tells them to time out, making Chef blow his whistle for it. "Man, those two got dodge," Duncan said. "Where'd you two learn to do that?" "Figure skating," Harold answers. Marinette looked a bit panicked but then thought of one excuse and said, "I've been training with my mom. I got the hang of it back then. I guess I still got it." "Harold, Marinette, that was awesome." Geoff said. "But dodging isn't enough." "He's right," said Courtney. "To win this, you two either have to throw him out--" "Which we all know Harold can't do--" Duncan added. "Or catch the ball." Lucy added as well. "Can you guys do it?" "Definitely," "I can try." "Awesome. Now go catch that ball." D.J. said, encouraging the two.

When they continued the standoff, the Screaming Gophers cheered for Owen while the Killer Bass cheered and chanted both Harold and Marinette's names. Owen then throws the two dodgeballs at the two, letting out a 'Cowabunga'. The dodgeballs then head to Harold and Marinette, slamming them both back at the wall. Duncan gasps, getting up, worried for Marinette. And the rest were worried for both her and Harold. But then, they see the two raise the dodgeballs up, signaling that they both caught them. The whistle was blown once again, signaling that Owen was out, and Harold and Marinette won the tie-breaker.

"The Killer Bass win!" Chris announced. The Killer Bass cheered for both winning, and Harold and Marinette won the challenge for them.

CONFESSIONAL: HAROLD

"I guess Marinette and I are kind of role models now that we won the dodgeball competition." he said, munching on a bag of chips. "People will probably all want my autograph when the show is over and stuff."

In the elimination ceremony, Chris started talking to the Screaming Gophers. "Campers, you've already placed your votes and made your decision. One of you will be going home and you can't come back...ever," he said. "When you hear me call out your name, come pick up a marshmallow. Owen. Gwen. Cody. Trent. Heather. Beth. Justin. Leshawna. Izzy. The final marshmallow goes to...Lindsay." 

Lindsay cheered and headed over to claim her marshmallow while Noah looked stunned. "What, are you kidding me? All right, see if I care. Good luck, because you just voted out the only one with any brains on this team." They then threw their marshmallows at him. "You need to learn a little thing called respect, turkey," Leshawna said. "Whatever, I'm out of here." With that, Noah headed over to the Dock of Shame. 

However, while he is walking to the Boat of Losers, he takes something out of his pocket and smiles, looking at the note that has Marinette's phone number. He is glad he has her contact information so he can talk to her. "At least there's one thing good that came out of all of this," he says to himself.

Desc Prologue Get to Know Her Chpt 1 Reactions Pt 1 Chpt 2 Reactions Pt 2 Reactions Pt 3 Chpt 4 Reactions Pt 4 Chpt 5 Reactions Pt 5

[comics-and-fanworks]

Are you still open for Lila Salt, Alya Salt, Bustier Salt, and Damocles Salt but also Adrigami, Lukadrien, Chlogami or Felinette (as in Felix & Marinette)? I rarely see some felinette here on tumblr then on AO3 and Wattpad though.

Hello! Thank you for asking!

I'm open to writing any kind of salt! My turnout is a little slow though cause I have a bunch of classes and as a result, a bunch of homework. Typically I try to work in order, so I'll try to complete the requests I have in my inbox now.

So yeah! Just send me what you want to see, and I'll add it to the list of stories to write!

[diamaker-moon]

Saving What's Left — Chapter Three

First | Previous | Next || Masterlist

The next morning came rather peacefully than normal. Hawkmoth still hasn't sent out an akuma which she is happy with, yet worried that the villain is planning something big once again like what happened with the Scarlet Moth incident especially since Lila Rossi is still parading near her.

School life is mundane for her at this moment. Since every day is like a repeat of the previous day, get to school, get accused by her once called 'best friend', get reprimanded by an incompetent teacher, and once again during the afternoon. In all honesty, she was tired of it. All she wanted to do now is finish her grade and stop Hawkmoth to put the miraculous at rest for a century. Hopefully.

Walking up to school in a rather new style of hers, she could feel every student's eyes on her. And despite the awkwardness that is starting to bubble in her stomach, she slightly tilted her head upwards and tried to walk in confidence not minding any of the lingering stares and mumbled whispers in her way. She entered the locker room only to see a crowd gathered around people who are screaming at the top of their lungs.

Marinette pushed her way through it and saw Chloé and Césaire going at it against each other. She moved her gaze and saw the door of her locker in ruins.

It looked as if someone used it as their punching bag and spray painted it with the word 'bitch' in bright red colour. Her gaze hardened before looking around and saw the slight smirk on someone's face and right there Marinette knew who was responsible for the destruction of it.

Before she could step forward Damocles, the disgrace of a principal, and Mendeleiev, one of the few staff in Dupont that knows about the ongoing b*llshit in the school, stepped out of the crowd.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Damocles shouted.

Alya Césaire looked at them and a sigh of relief came out of her mouth, "Look, Principal Damocles, Marinette destroyed her locker door and tried to frame it at Lila!"

Marinette saw the annoyed expression of her blonde friend, "Don't you ever accuse her, of your crimes!"

The moment the blonde spoke, they returned to their screaming match. It was the time that Marinette thought she put a stop to it, so she stepped out and all eyes are on her suddenly. Some were surprised by the blank expression on her face, knowing that she is the type of person that wears her heart on her sleeve and is easy to read like a book.

"Why don't we just open everyone's locker to see who did it, or we can just check the cameras that are pointing right at the view of the lockers." She said, at the corner of her eyes, she saw the person pale immensely and inside she is rejoicing at the sight of it.

As every student look up to see a security camera attached to the wall, she knew that the person will definitely be in a lot of trouble and she'll use every inch of this incident to make sure they know not to mess with her at this crucial moment of her life.

——— •• ◆ •• ———

In class, Marinette's thoughts wandered away to the thought of a different universe. Deep inside she knows she should not mess with fate. It is a type of taboo that someone that holds ancient powers should clear their head of any kind of destruction that fate will not approve of.

However, she, a guardian who has a whole box of ancient jewels sitting in her room, a pair of earrings in her earlobes and a ring hanging down on a chain hidden inside her clothing is a huge temptation for her. Mindlessly fidling the necklace she had created, her eyes moved to the direction of her friends that are now sporting a new type of accessory on their body.

Despite any warnings in her mind, she continued her drowning journey to the abyss of temptation, the temptation of making a wish and hoping all this never happened, or the temptation of going back in time where she can manage to give up the Ladybug Miraculous and continue her life without any link to the miraculouses and being ignorant to any information about it. The pit in her mind continues to create multiple scenarios of her being a normal girl with no powers. It was a dream for her.

"Mari, you okay? You've been silent for a while." Chloé asks in a whispered voice.

Marinette smiled at her and nodded at her that she is okay. Chloé now had a look of worry on her face but chose to ignore it for now and ask later before facing the front again.

The next thing she heard was the bell ringing indicating that it is already lunchtime and students are now standing up and clearing their tables before heading out.

"Hey, I might not join you guys today. I have to go somewhere first." She said.

Her friends nodded, and thus she left before them.

She arrived at her destination. A ruined building with a magnificent garden in the other direction away from her school. The neighbour agreed to let her sit around there and waste time in her own world for a few minutes.

Looking around the garden, she feels like she is in paradise. A world where she doesn't need to shoulder any world-threatening problems, that she doesn't need to police her own emotions in order to not fall victim to Hawkmoth. As her thoughts wander, she didn't feel the silent tears running down her face. She was staring ahead mindlessly.

Marinette knew that despite her best efforts in fighting this battle, she had a small feeling inside her that knew she wasn't fit for any of this. However, she didn't know that the feeling is mixed with regret, anger and sadness.

The anger of being chosen. The anger she had for her Master, that he had picked her, a young school girl who had big dreams in life, to be the heroine that she isn't. A heroine that is ready to give up and set aside her dreams to protect and save her people. Marinette knew she isn't that heroine.

The regret of going back. Upon meeting Tikki, she decided to give it up and chose to pass it on, her regret of going back to that very box she passed to someone and trying to be the heroine that the city needs. Every type of regret is gnawing at her. The regret of letting her dreams slip through her fingers. New York, is a city of high-end fashion. As the heroine of this forsaken city, her regret of declining a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity hangs in her mind.

And lastly, the sadness of losing everything one by one.

Her innocence to the horrors of the world, she lost it the moment she stepped up as Ladybug. In exchange for the heroic deeds she had done for the city, all she gets in return is betrayal from her previous friends, loneliness after losing the person she thought will be by her side at the time they defeat the villain, the thought of being alone in a city with knowledge of ancient magic that is used for goodwill. Everything in her life was a mess. She's only 14.

She's only fourteen.

——— •• ◆ •• ———

The sound of sobbing brought him out of his reading zone. Looking behind the tree he was hiding, he saw a girl silently tearing up with her eyes staring ahead blankly.

The sobs leaving her lips were loud yet silent.

In his eyes the girl was beautiful. Porcelain skin, midnight hair with blue reflections and those blue eyes that complements her. He couldn't understand the sudden feeling of walking up towards her and wiping away that sorrowful look on her face. But he chose to stop himself and stare only. His gaze pierced her form, but she was oblivious to it.

The sudden sound of an explosion shocked her and when she looked towards the direction of the sound, his eyes also moved and he saw a huge Akuma running rampant once again.

When his eyes moved back to the girl, she was already gone.

At one moment he thought that maybe the person is only a figment of his imagination, that the girl that captured his attention is only his own fantasy.

He resumed his position and went back to reading, ignoring the screams of destruction from the Akuma and screams of distress from its victims. He knows that the city's heroes will solve it, and he doesn't need to be involved as he doesn't have anything to help with it.

Maybe reading under the shade of this tree is a good thing, at least he got to see a weeping angel in a garden of paradise.

——— •• ◆ •• ———

continuing…

T A G L I S T:

@demonicbusiness @imtallerthanyou @vixen-uchiha @chocolatecatstheron @arcticfox847 @autisticamerican (you were listed before as american-fangirl-7) @lady-bee-fechin @trippingovermyfeet @dancinglifeboat @celestethegoddess @eventhedarkestlightshines @fandom-trapped-03 @hikari55ttva @lovelyautumnsunflower @iglowinggemma28 @ravennightingaleandavatempus @robyalix @kanamexzeroyaoifangirl @doglover82 @a-star-with-a-human-name @pasteile @celestial-slytherin-blog @mewwitch @kanamexzeroyaoifangirl @its-maemain @artisticarson (please lemme know which story you want to be tagged in) @fantasylover-92 @ravennightingaleandavatempus

p.s: Please let me know if you want to be tagged in the next chapter XD

[fandomsarebrainless]

I don't get why people think Denis and Andre have suddenly changed. They're still the same pathetic cowards they always were, nothing in these last two episodes have convinced me otherwise. But then they have to bring Olga into it? One of the few half decent teachers in this entire school and they completely took her character to the slaughterhouse by making her principal. Man, how stupid are these writers?

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Despite all the times Damocles folded in favor of the Bourgeois family, was he always someone whose departure was worth Bustier's tears, or was that something Astruc and the writers came up with LATE in Season 5, just to make Chloe look worse than she already is?

Hard to say, given how often the narrative flip-flopped on whether Damocles is supposed to be sympathetic or not.

[starsfic]

Punished

So I was re-reading LadyBugOut by @miraculouscontent and I had a thought that occurred to me when I was reading this chapter. In the very next chapter, it's mentioned that people could hear Miss Bustier and Marinette arguing and the class jumping to the latter's defense. It wouldn't surprise me if this got reported to Mr. Damocles, even if said reports didn't come from the class (which some probably did, let's be honest here, someone told their parents).

Caline had been what had been best described as a rough two days.

First had been her attempt at regaining peace in her classroom by asking Marinette, very politely, to delete BugOut, followed by the confrontation by her students. Second had been Ms. Mendeleiev’s rather harsh pointing out of her faults. After all that, Caline had tossed and turned all night, trying to decide what to do.

She wanted to deny that Mendeleiev was right. Her methods had worked for years, after all, at least from what she saw. She wanted to believe that she was wrong. Marinette was just lashing out, acting out, definitely not acting like the wonderful good example Caline knew she could be. But the thought of that brought up the memory of her students’ angry faces and Max’s cold words, and she felt sick to her stomach.

She still wasn’t sure what to do now that she was back in school. She still felt sick, although that might’ve been the lack of sleep in general. Caline glanced up and felt her stomach twist at the sight of her classroom door.

First, she needed coffee. Next, she needed to at least teach for the day and then figure out what to do.

However, her plans were stopped by a clearing of the throat.

Mr. Damocles hovered behind her, staring at her. “Ms. Bustier, can I have a word with you?” He sounded strange, almost angry.

“Oh,” She forced down the twist in her stomach and tried for a smile. “Of course, Mr. Damocles-”

“In private.”

Her stomach twisted even harder but she managed a nod. “Of course, sir.” Hopefully, this wasn’t what she thought it was. Maybe he just wanted her thoughts on something? The school dance was due to come soon and God knew how many emotions rose up during that time.

Damocles led her upstairs to his office. He opened the door for her and Caline stepped inside, sitting down. She faintly tasted bile at the back of her throat as the door shut, and he walked past her to his desk. There, he folded his hands, staring her down.

“May I help you with something?” she had to say then, praying that it wasn’t what she thought it was.

“No.” Mr. Damocles frowned, unfolded his hands, and then refolded them. “Ms. Bustier,” he finally said. “I recently received some reports from students’ parents.” Oh no. “I must note, none are from the parents of those in your class.” He pulled out a folder and set it down. It made a small thunk and Caline felt sweat start to bead up. “However, they are all concerning a fight-”

“I wouldn’t really say it was a fight,” Caline had to speak up then. “I was just trying to-”

“Make Ms. Dupain-Cheng delete a blog that has developed into an important resource?” Damocles flipped open the folder and turned it to her. Caline reached out, flipping through the pages. Through most of them were the words that had come from her:

“I advise that you take it down.”

“I’m positive you could take it down with one click if you had to.”

“The blog itself going down would have the best chance of fixing things. It will make it feel like this whole thing has been a mistake.”

“...I can explain-”

“I must advise you that, if it were more than a simple public blog, I would have to go to the police for this,” And that made her freeze. Mr. Damocles stared at her, his brows furrowed tight, and Caline realized that, no, he was actually angry. “However, as far as I know, BugOut does not have any special government protection. It is, however, an important resource.” His hands clenched tighter together. “That does not even mention that you crossed a line by telling a student what she can and cannot publish on her own social media.”

The sweat rolled down her skin. Was it just her or was it hot in here? “I felt like it was more important to protect my students,” she said, her claim sounding weak even as she said it. “Alya and Lila were being hurt by what it was saying.”

“Was Ms. Dupain-Cheng threatening them? Posting humiliating pictures of them? Doxxing them?” Damocles shook his head. “No. Ladybug was simply posting the truth, as she has the right to do. Her intention was not to harm, but to protect herself.” His brows furrowed tighter and tighter. “Next time, I would consider what it was actually doing before speaking up.”

Caline looked down at that, feeling her face grow hot. “So, am I being punished?” she said, gripping her knees and forcing back the bile in her throat.

“Yes. I want you to apologize to your class, especially Ms. Dupain-Cheng,” Well, that took the choice out of her hands. Something was pushed into her vision, and she looked up. It was a brochure for some kind of training. “This is for a training course on setting boundaries between educators and students,” Mr. Damocles said. “I would recommend you take it.”

Bustier was almost impressed. A few months ago, he would be trying his best to not make waves, at least with Chloe. She just wished it wasn’t aimed at her. “Thank you, Mr. Damocles,” She took the brochure and took in a deep breath. “I… apologize.”

He opened his mouth, probably to say that she didn’t need to apologize to him, but Caline was already up and moving. The sooner she moved, the sooner she got away from his anger.

The sooner she could forget the hot shame that welled up, deep inside.

[trashyangelic]

New Fic Idea! Lila Rossi Exposed!

What if there was a job for Class Representative in Francois Dupont for either Marinette or Aurore to use for proof since Damocles is too lazy to do it himself yet proclaimed that the CCTV isn't working which is not true.

As the two girls had enough with Bustier's enabler, Damocles' negligence, and Lila's lying. They found a footage of Lila Rossi grabbing an akuma but also with the exact words of that says, "Come here akuma," before grabbing the butterfly and shoving it into her earring, "yes, hawkmoth. I know you want to destroy ladybug and so do I."

Aurore thought of sending this to the authorities, School Board, Nadja Chamack, and a copy for Lila Rossi's mother for her crimes while Marinette send this footage to her classmates for them to realize that they sided Lila over Marinette for no reason minus Chloe since she skipped while dragging Adrien with her.

But Adrien and Chloe also recieved the message from Marinette on Lila Rossi Leaked Footage even though they skipped School while Adrien lied to Nathalie where he is going since he is still tired after the akuma battle last night he isn't in the mood to go to school, it made Chloe and Adrien frozed while Chloe grumbled after betting Marinet 50 euros about seeing if the CCTV is working and find a way to exposed Lila while Adrien looked at Chloe in surprised.

So they did anyway. Its not going good for the Akuma Class and Bustier after they watched the footage from Marinette but now they are angry towards Lila even though she isn't even in the class but lied to them that she went to see Prince Ali.

[miraculouswolf99]

Why do you think Ms Bustier enabled Chloe? Why do you think a lot of people enabled Chloe? I’m sure they all had their reasons.

I think the adults in Chloe's life all had different reasons for enabling her.

For Bustier, it was mostly because of her toxic view of teaching. Right from the start, we see her prioritizing the bully over the victim when she sends Ivan to the principal rather than Kim. As much as I do love Kim, he was in the wrong in that situation. While it was played off as Bustier trying to teach Chloe about love and forgiveness, she did it in an extremely toxic way. By constantly forcing Chloe's victims to forgive her while never giving Chloe any punishment no matter what she did. One of her worst offenses being when Chloe destroyed the makeup purse Marinette made for Bustier's birthday, and she had the gall to say that she would think of both Marinette and Chloe when she would look at it.

For Damocles, he enabled her out of fear. For someone who had tried to be his own version of a hero by being The Owl, he was really a big coward. He would bend to Chloe's will because she would always threaten to call her father. He never took into account that Andre doing anything to the school just to please his daughter would be an extreme abuse of his power as mayor. He simply was too much of a coward to think beyond the threat. His worst offense being when Chloe had called the fire department to get out of Marinette's father's cooking lesson, everyone knew she did it, and yet he punished the entire school EXCEPT for Chloe.

And for her father, it started off as coming from a place of love. He was trying to make up for how Audrey was not around. He was trying to show enough love that two parents would have rather than just one. But as Chloe grew up and got more demanding, it simply became him not having a backbone. Which only got worse when Audrey returned and the threat became Chloe leaving with her mother back to New York. So, he would do even more to please her so that she wouldn't leave him. There are almost too many things he did to say which would be his worst offense, but I would have to say it would be threatening Damocles to keep Chloe and Lila in school despite the proof given that Chloe sabotaged the dreams of her classmates while also denying Damocles's request to have the career forms returned so that the students could turn in the ones they actually filled out.

[mcheang]

Bully has got a point

As the students protest for the return of Principal Damocles and Miss Bustier, Lila feeds Chloe lines to make them look incompetent in front of the camera, her revenge against them for expelling her

Chloe: right, you want me to re-hire the man who leaves during school hours just to do community services, modified public property to become his own playground headquarters and didn’t even hear out your case Dupain-Cheng before expelling you when Lila framed you

Marinette: you framed me too!

Chloe: that was Vanisher remember? And as Ladybug said, akumas don’t deserved to be punished while being under Monarch’s thrall. Oh, and you want Miss Fairytale to return. Does no one find it odd how our studies are centered on fairy tales instead of actual literature? I may not like you Dupain-Cheng but surely even you notice how it is strange for a teacher to judge and sentence first before learning the real cause. Didn’t Miss Bustier scold you in private after you lashed out over my silly prank, but was all for accusing you of cheating in public? Isn’t that why Stoneheart was even in school in the first place? And to love our enemies instead of punishing them, I suppose if she had it her way, we would be trying to reach out to Monarch and Lila and welcoming them to a forgiveness party.

The reporters exchange glances.

Caline and Damocles ducked their heads under the public lashing.

Alya: and since when have you cared about Marinette, Chloe?

Chloe: since I heard that the rest of you actually tried to get Gabriel akumatized. The man was trying to be better and closer to Adrien, but thanks to you all, he’s decided to send Adri-traitor back to London where he can be free from all of your bad influence

Nadja: Marinette, is this true?

Marinette: it’s not true! I mean it is, but we were trying to find out how Monarch gave miraculous abilities to akumas.

Chloe: by antagonising a man still mourning his wife. What an excellent idea. Do you still think the school system was so perfect before?

Marinette belatedly realized what Chloe said and looked to Adrien in horror. “Adrien, is this true, you’re moving?”

Chloe: aw he didn’t tell you yet. You should have, Adri-traitor. We both know your dad might decide to bump your flight earlier at any time

Adrien: it’s true. I didn’t say anything because I’ve been trying to find a way to stop him

Chloe: and since his dad’s decision is based on all your ideas, that’s why he decided to go solo here

Adrien: no, it’s not

Nino: what have I done?

Chloe clapped her hands. “Anyway, that’s enough loitering. Security, escort the two fired people from my school or else they will be sent to detention for trespassing. Everyone else, back to class. You can strike if you want, but just remember your parents will be notified of your naughty behavior, both present and past. Oh, and you’ll all still get detention for disrupting other classes with your noise.”

[artzychic27]

We did one for Mme.Bustier and Marinette, so let’s do one for Mr.Damocles and what’s the worst thing he done to the science kids?

Marc

Did absolutely NOTHING when he was getting relentlessly bullied, despite the piles of evidence because the douchebag was rich

He only caved when Penny and Alyssa threatened him with some of Alyssa’s connections back in Greece

Aurore

Keeps dropping subtle hints to mention DuPont on the show, and it’s really starting to piss her off

He also cut funding for the journalism club,

Mireille

Usual celebrity kid treatment and keeps implying that she should have Alex make a generous donation to the school

Got on her case for beating some some guy for groping her, even when multiple students and teachers backed her up

Cosette

Compares them to their brother and sister any time they get called into his office, and asks only questions about Yvette and Jordyn whenever they cross paths

Told her to start covering up her vitiligo since it made some students “uncomfortable.”

Zoé

He keeps calling her Chloé, and it’s starting to piss her off

Hindering her learning experience by telling teachers not to give her homework and to mark all her tests as correct

Simon

Despite him having permission from Mme. Mendeleieve, Damocles listened to a bunch of rich kids who hated that Simon could be on his electronics during class, and confiscated him

Then the same same rich kids accused Simon of having a drug problem when he started fidgeting because he couldn’t use his phone or tablet, and police were called in to raid his locker in front of everyone

Denise

Used them as an example when a dress code was implemented after some douchbag lifted up a girl’s skirt. Basically said, “You young ladies could learn a thing or two from Mlle. Cabello.”

They were utterly humiliated. Not only were they singled out, but felt as though their gender identity was just invalidated in front of everyone

Ismael

Listened to some rich douchebag student about not letting him use the men’s bathroom anymore, so naturally, Ismael threw coffee in his face and called him a “Money-loving bitch.”

Everyone who protested on Ismael’s behalf was immediately suspended

Reshma

Keeps implying that it would benefit the school if her parents made a hefty donation. Every. Damn. Time.

He’s started bribing her with all sorts of gifts, and now her parents are very concerned

Lacey

Confiscated her climbing equipment from her locker (Which she uses in the event of an Akuma in the school, by the way) and accused her of breaking into the school multiple times despite a lack of evidence

Harassed her as The Owl for breaking into DuPont, which she never did, and she cringed so hard, her face broke in several places

Jean:

Damocles cut funding for the drama department to fund his Owl shit, and he shut down any student protests

When Jean went online about it, he was immediately suspended for two weeks

[vintage-retro-queen]

Paris Reacts to Too Brutal? Yeah, Right

Akuma Class

Another weekend was among the students in Caline Bustier's class.

However, they were outside instead of being indoors watching the show. Ever since they started watching the show and started talking about it nonstop. When their families heard that, they believed that they were watching too much TV and being on their devices too much, and told them that they needed to lay off from the shows and do something else. As a result, the parents confiscated their electronic devices and unplugged every single device's plugs, and Max's mother even confiscated Markov, even though Markov surprisingly and shockingly (to Max) didn't mind and offered to help her with her studies to become an astronaut, they were sent to the great outdoors, and were told to avoid all screens of any kind.

The class was already feeling down about their stuff being taken away, and they couldn't watch the show; they were all now at the park, sulking and feeling the void of boredom. "Man dude, I can't believe we're stuck out." Nino complained. "Think of what next challenge Marinette is doing that we're missing." Alix complained.

They tried to fill the void of their boredom by going to their usual hang-out places to try and forget about what they were missing out on. At the zoo, at the shopping district, and some restaurants.

When school resumed, they all arrived at their temporary school, which they were told to attend while their school was still under investigation. They noticed many students talking about the same show they were supposed to watch: Total Drama Island.

"Did you see how Harold dodged them? He's already got me interested in taking figure skating myself."

"Yeah, and I didn't know that she learned all of those moves with her mom. That was awesome!"

"Who knew that a chained-kunai was almost thrown at her. Talk about a shocker."

"I wonder who will win that girl's heart in the show?"

"What?! They watched the show, too?!" Kim said in disbelief, feeling jealous. "I'm already hating my dad for this. My brother even said that it was "For my own good." Yeah, right, like he would know. They don't understand how it feels to have a friend who's in a reality TV show and is probably already getting famous overnight!" Alix complained.

As the Akuma Class sulked, whined, groaned, and complained about how it was unfair for them not to watch the show to see Marinette, Adrien feels more upset that his father has not been talking to him after that demand to get in contact with Marinette last week. After his father found out that he told Marinette to take the "high road" and tell her that lies were not hurting anybody, the two were on their separate ways ever since then, his father had no other choice but to try and get in contact with the girl himself. Since then, he shuts out Adrien until he learns of his mistakes.

Adrien swallows his pride and tries to be the lovable "sunshine boy," taking his high-road advice and trying to flow past it. He still hopes that Marinette will see the error of her ways, come home, and be the "everyday Ladybug" she was supposed to be.

However, he started to feel a harsh chill down his spine from a pair of furious and death/venging-looking eyes, glaring holes behind his head.

Celebrities + Friends and Family (+ ??? & ???)

It was the weekend once again for the friends, families, and celebrities of Paris, France.

After Jagged got his order from the bakery, he talked to Tom and Sabine about how Marinette was doing amazing in the show. They told him they agreed and knew since they had watched the show as well. After learning that, Jagged invited them to watch the show with him and the other celebrities, and they accepted the invitation. And when they brought along the other families, Jagged was glad. As the saying goes, the more, the merrier.

Where they all got together in the hotel, ready to watch the newest episode of Total Drama Island. When they called her on WhatsAppening, Luka, Jagged, Penny, Clara, Ali, Tom, Sabine, and the rest of Marinette's friends were happy to know that Marinette was up and better than ever.

After their talk, they hear one of the wunderkind celebrities telling everyone that the show is on. They turn on the TV, and the show starts.

"Last time, on Total Drama Island, the Screaming Gophers kicked butt in the Awake-a-thon, when Duncan took a snooze on the can, and the Killer Bass took their second loss in a row...harsh. Heather orchestrated the first Total Drama Island Alliance by convincing Lindsay and Beth to join forces with her, then pocketed Eva's MP3 player and sat back to watch the fireworks. Nicely played, Heather, nicely played." "Honestly, that was just low, even for her," Aurore said, with Mireille nodding in agreement. "Even though Eva could've pretty much kicked anyone's butt here, in the end, it was her temper that got her kicked off. She became the second camper to rock the Boat of Losers." "But at least Marinette and Lucy made her day better." Zoe pointed out, with everyone nodding and talking in agreement. "Who will break the rules of their new alliance? Will Lucy and Marinette be able to stay awake until the end of the episode? And who will take the next humiliating walk down the Dock of Shame? Stay tuned for the most dramatic campfire ceremony yet on Total Drama Island."

After watching the usual theme, they watched the Screaming Gophers looking happy and full of energy, enjoying their morning meal, while the Killer Bass looked like they didn't get a brink of sleep, which, of course, they obviously didn't get. That was until they watched as the camera cut to a sleeping Duncan. "Duncan." Duncan looks up to see Chris walking to their table. "You look like death, dude," he said. "Stick it," Duncan said before heading back to sleep. "Harold snored all night," Courtney explained. Chris laughed, "Wow, four nights with no sleep. How much are you hurting, dude?" "Wanna find out?" Duncan asked, causing his team to duck and cover to avoid what would happen. "No, no. It's cool. It's cool." "Man, four nights? That's crazy." one of the wunderkind celebrities said.

"Yeah, well, they were doing the Awake-a-thon for a while." another one said. That was until they saw Harold walking into the main lodge with a markered mustache drawn on his face. As they watched him sit down, they watched as the rest of the Killer Bass looked at him oddly and then started laughing. "Okay, what?" Harold asked. Geoff then said to him, "Someone messed with your face, dude." Harold then grabbed a spoon to see his reflection and then saw what Geoff was talking about. "Hey, sweet stache," he said. Chris then gets everyone's attention. "Hey, everyone, it's Lucy and Marinette!" the Screaming Gophers, celebrities, friends, and families cheered as they watched as Lucy and Marinette both walked into the main lodge, looking more exhausted than from the last challenge. When the two sat down, Marinette crossed her arms on the table, resting her head and closing her eyes while Lucy rested her head on her hands. They all then watch Lucy's confessional.

"Boy, even for the first time in the past two years at the ages of five and six, I stood up, not only just nights but days too. Man, I wish my friends were here to see it. But I still didn't think I would stay up for that long." "I'm sure they're very proud of you, Lucy." one of the actresses said happily. "I always wonder what friends she had back when she was young?" one of the musicians said, feeling curious about what kind of friends Lucy had that helped her gain the ability to stay up longer than ever. "Who knows? Whoever they are, they must've been very good friends." another actor said, proudly crossing his arms, feeling proud of Lucy. Everyone else agreed, not paying attention to Courtney's confessional or Heather explaining the rules to Beth and Lindsay. After agreeing, they hear Heather talking aloud to the Killer Bass, getting both their and the watchers' attention.

"Hey, fish-heads, way to kick out your strongest player. Why don't you just give up now?" Heather then moved over, making Courtney miss, and threw the oatmeal at Lucy's face. "Missed me," she said, causing Courtney to glare at her. They then watched as Lucy raised her hand to Courtney, telling her tiredly, "Don't worry about it. I had worse things thrown at me anyway." she then finished her sentence yawning, "Such as... a chained...kunai." Lucy's head then plops down on the table and falls asleep, snoring loudly, not even aware of the campers, sans a sleeping Marinette, looking at her with shocked and disbelief looks on their faces. Additionally, the shocked and disbelief looks on the faces of all the celebrities, friends, and families.

"D-did-did Lucy just say what I think she said?" one of the celebrities stuttered. "I think she did." another one muttered. Just then, Lucy's confessional got their attention. "I know what I just said. And sadly, yes, it's true." They all became shocked to hear that Lucy said that it was true. "It happened in the second week of my first year of high school. Most of my former schoolmates, who, by the way, were rivals to each other. They were labeled what my old school calls them 'The Sides'." Lucy says, air quoting the words The Sides. "Well, that's an odd name for a group of rivals." one of the celebrities commented. "They were all fighting about something that I don't know what, but frankly, I don't even want to know why and what they were even fighting about in the first place. But anyway, at the time they were arguing, and it then started a fight and a food fight at the same time. One of them then threw the chained kunai at one of the rivals, but it missed, and instead, aimed at me." They became even more shocked and worried than ever hearing that. But Lucy continued before they could say anything. "But not directly aiming at my face," hearing that made them relieved and confused at the same time. "The chained kunai only missed me by an inch and instead slapped my face." Lucy rubs the left side of her face, remembering that. "Ouch. That must've stung." another one of the actors said. "It really smarted, and it got me so mad that it caused me to snap and make a scene in front of everyone, angrily screaming and scolding them to knock it off and tell them that's someone could've been hurt or injured or worse." 

"I can understand that," Tom said. "Sabine explained to me that she was in the same complicated issue once when she was in school." "It's true. The school I was in was through the same issue as Lucy's." Sabine admits. "They were rivals too, they even fight a lot as well, and this one girl snapped and gave everyone a harsh lecture. And I do mean very harsh. So harsh that it made everyone realize that they could've hurt a friend or relative, and they could've been written up again like they always do. But thanks to her, they stopped, and the teachers came. They got written up again, were given detention, and one of them was told to apologize for slapping the girl in the face." Everyone understood that the Dupain-Chengs knew how Lucy felt when it came to lecturing kids to knock off whatever was happening on school grounds and continued watching the confessional. "When I finished giving a harsh scolding lecture, I left the cafeteria and ended up having the rest of my lunch break at the school library." "Bummer," one of the wunderkind singers said, feeling pity for Lucy having lunch in the library. "Well, you can't blame her for trying to cool off from giving a harsh lecture." Sabine said, with Tom nodding in agreement.

"When lunch was over, and we were heading to our next class, I was at my locker, getting what I needed and saw the same chained kunai in there with a note saying they were sorry for throwing it at me." "Ah, a peace offering. Although, I don't think giving her the same chained kunai that was thrown at her would count." "Oh, I'm sure she was fine with it. The girl that was at my school had a chained kunai as a peace offering too. It was the same chained kunai that was thrown at her. I guess the one who threw it must've wanted to give it to her as an apology." "Well, you can't blame them for wanting to make it up to her after accidentally throwing it at her." Nadja says with a shrug.

"Even though I accepted the apology and appreciated the peace offering gift, I'm still mad at the betapunks with their rivalry and the one who threw it while they were fighting." "Told ya that would catch on," Jagged said to Penny, looking at her with a smug look. "Know-it-all," she says, smiling and rolling her eyes playfully. They all then watch as Lucy starts to glare daggers, looking directly at the camera. "Yeah, that's right." She then points at the camera while looking more tired than before, letting out a couple of yawns, "I'm talking to you, Han...zo Scor...Ha....sa....shi." Lucy then fell face first, pushing the outhouse-confessional door open while she was asleep again. "You know, normally, most celebrities always never say a person's name on live T.V., but I believe I can understand why she would say the name of the person who threw the chained kunai at her." Nadja explained. Everyone started to agree with her on why Lucy said the name of the person on T.V. "You know, it is kinda odd that the girl in your school and Lucy have the same experience." one of the journalists said to Sabine, sipping on his coffee. "Yeah, talk about deja vu." said one of the interns. "I'm sure it's just a coincidence," said Tom. They then continued to watch the show. "Okay, campers, listen up." Chris announced, "Your next challenge begins in ten minutes, and be prepared to bring it."

They then watched as the scene cuts to the location of the campers' next challenge, which looks like a gym. They then noticed as they saw Marinette and Lucy, now fully awake, with cups of Starchild's Coffee in their hands. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Where the heck did those two get coffee from Starchild's?!" one of the wunderkind celebrities asked, looking surprised. They then hear Marinette talk to Lucy. "I'm surprised your family sent us some coffee, Lucy," Marinette said, sipping her coffee. "Yeah, well, sometimes my three uncles, auntie, and pop-pop always worry about my well-being. It's been that way since I was six," said Lucy. "Oh, that's where they got them from." another wunderkind celebrity said, understanding. "Wait, three uncles, auntie, and pop-pop...Oh! She's talking about her honorary family members. Okay, that makes sense." another one says, knowing who Lucy was talking about. They then watched another confessional from Lucy's while she was sipping on her coffee.

"Not gonna lie, I didn't think my family would be watching me. Even though we're a traditional family." "Traditional family?" "You don't think she means by..." "But not like that. It's just that we don't do technology." "Oh, okay. I was almost gonna say something else, but that's different, yet it makes perfect sense." "Well, except my three uncles, auntie, and pop-pop, maybe, but still. My family doesn't use technology like everyone else, such as watching television or having cell phones." "No wonder why Lucy doesn't have a social media account." Jagged said, now understanding why Lucy never had a social media account or two in the beginning. They all watch as Lucy continues on with her confessional.

"Although we only have a telephone that we use now and then, but that's all we have in our household." "Well, that explains how they take our phone calls from time to time." "Yeah, but I wonder if they ever have an answering machine is the question." "Heck, we even have two computers for school and work. Just school and work only and nothing more. I don't use the computers, honestly. Personally, I prefer doing my work by hand. The only people who use those computers are my mother and her sister, who is my aunt on her side of the family. They are the only ones in my whole family tree who use them for their work." "Well, that's Lucy being Lucy." "Yeah, she even does a great job on every handwriting the world has these days. Print, pre-cursive, cursive, heck, she even does a lot of the fonts the document writing sites ever have." "And it's surprising to know that it is only her mother and aunt who use the computers the most." "And whenever we're not at home, you have to go out to London and find a phone booth just to make a phone call or two." "Well, that certainly explains why I keep hearing a busy crowd in the background sometimes." after Lucy sipped on her coffee again, she continued talking and said, "But it was still nice of them to send Nettie and me some coffee." Lucy then looks directly at the camera, smiling, looking grateful. "Thanks, guys. I owe you one," she said, thanking her three uncles, aunt, and pop-pop. "It's nice to know that her family helps her whenever there is something needed." "Yes, and it was very nice of them to send her and Marinette some coffee." Sabine said, with Tom, Gina, and Roland nodding in agreement.

They continued watching as they saw Duncan planking on the benches. "Wake me up, and it'll be the last thing you'll do," he warns. "I don't think we're even going to," Lucy said, making the Screaming Gophers and the Killer Bass look at her odd. "What? I was like that once," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Some people who I rather have nameless tried to force me to get up and join them on something I don't want to explain what, and I may have accidentally given each of them a black eye to leave me alone." the campers looked at her surprised, but understood since she did it in self-defense. All of the celebrities, families, and Marinette's friends were surprised that Lucy did that when some students were trying to wake her up for something that she didn't want to do. That was until they watched Marinette's confessional.

"I can understand that. My dad told me once that my mom was like that since this one time back when she was a teenager, someone was forcing her to get up and join them to train on something." "It's true. I was there. After that, they all looked like they just escaped from a serious crime scene," Tom admitted, with Sabine shrugging her shoulders and nodding, meaning that she admitted that it was true. "I guess it's true what they say. Some people will get cranky when they don't get their sleep." Marinette sips her coffee and says, "And it might be best to let them sleep, or else you will face the consequences." "You said it, Marinette," said Aurore.

After that, they watch as Courtney starts to scold Harold. "This is all your fault, you know?" she said, "You and your snoring face." "It's called a medical condition. Gosh!" said Harold. Suddenly, the celebrities all looked not so surprised when they saw Lucy grabbing Courtney and Harold by the ear, glaring at the two. "Less arguing, more focusing on what the challenge is." she snarled, with a hint of venom in her tone. Hearing Lucy scold Courtney and Harold caused more campers to shudder in fear of seeing an angry Lucy. All but Marinette, who seems to be used to it. They all then watch another one of Marinette's confessionals.

"I don't like to talk down on others, but with all due respect and in all honesty, Courtney should've kept the accusation to herself. Including Harold with his excuse. Even if it is true or not. Then they won't have to deal with an angry scolding from Lucy." "Hm, harsh, but true," Tomoe commented. "Yeah, but I still feel like someone was the one who manipulated her into learning that before heading over to Muskoka," Aren said, causing people to look at her, shocked and surprised. "How can you tell?" asked Socqueline. "No, she's right. It does feel like she was told to keep her mouth shut against her will." "Well, whoever it is told her, they're so dead when I find out who it was!" Jagged said, with fury filled in his eyes. "I'd save that for the lawsuits, Mr. Stone." Socqueline looks at Marinette with worry and pity, feeling like she failed to protect her more.

After seeing Lucy let go of both Courtney and Harold, they all hear a whistle blow and see that it was Chef, dressed as a referee. Chris then explains the challenge to the campers. "Today's challenge is the classic game of dodgeball." they see Lucy smile, looking impressed. "Ah, a basic sports game. Nice," she said. Chris continues. "The first rule of dodgeball is-" "Do not talk about dodgeball?" Noah asks, cutting off Chris's sentence and making Owen laugh at the smartmouth question. Chris then continues again, "If you get hit with the dodgeball..." Chris then throws the dodgeball at Courtney, hitting her. 

"You're out." "You can't just do that!" Courtney said, throwing the dodgeball at him. He then catches the dodgeball and continues, "If you catch the ball, the thrower gets sent out, and the catcher gets to bring another member out on the court." "Throwing balls. Gee, another mentally challenging test," said Noah. "I know, right?" Lindsay asked, butting in a bit. "Okay, now, Geoff, try to hit Lucy," Chris said, throwing a dodgeball to Geoff while Chef tossed another one to Lucy. "If you're holding a ball, you can use it to deflect a ball. But if it knocks the ball out of your hands, you're out." Chris explains. "So what do I do again when the ball comes at me?" asked Lindsay. "You dodge," Chris said. As Geoff threw the ball at Lucy, she used the dodgeball to deflect it, which headed over to Lindsay, hitting her on the head and making the others gasp. Chris and Lucy wince from that. Even the celebrities, families, and Marinette's friends winced from seeing that on television. "Ooh, you were supposed to dodge," said Chris. "Ow.. right," Lindsay said, rubbing her forehead, which showed a big bruise. "Ouch," one of the wunderkind celebrities said, as the rest of them looked shocked and surprised. "You have one minute until game time." Chris said, then turning to the Screaming Gophers, "Gophers, you'll have to sit one person out each game."

After some campers sat out, D.J., Courtney, Katie, Tyler, and Harold were on the Killer Bass team. Meanwhile, Heather, Lindsay, Owen, Leshawna, and Cody are on the Screaming Gophers team. "Bring it on, fishies," Heather said. "Otherwise winning three in a row just won't be as satisfying." "Oh, you're going down!" said Tyler. "We're gonna bring the dinner on the table, and then we're gonna eat it!" Courtney facepalms when Tyler finishes making that not-making-any-sense sentence. "That doesn't even make any sense." one of the famous writers complimented. "Both teams ready? Best of five games wins." Chris says, "Now let's dodge some ball!" When Chef blew his whistle, the game of dodgeball was on, and the sitting campers cheered their teams on. Cody then throws the dodgeball first, aiming at Tyler, but misses. This causes Tyler to throw his dodgeball at him, but instead, the dodgeball accidentally hits Sadie.

All of the celebrities, families, and friends winced and cringed from seeing that. "That'll smear the makeup," Chris commented. "You're doing your best, Tyler! That's all that matters!" Marinette yelled from the Screaming Gophers side. Luka, Tom, and Sabine smiled, knowing that Marinette was trying to cheer Tyler up from his accidental throw. Tyler gives her a thumbs up as a thanks until Courtney gets his attention. "Nice job. Now let's see if you can hit someone on THEIR team!" she scolded. Just then, Owen ran, heading over to them, and threw the dodgeball straight to Tyler, hitting him so far up to the wall. "Ow. Darn it." Tyler said, in pain from the hit. Chef blows his whistle, signaling that Tyler is out, while the seated Screaming Gophers cheer on their team, and Cody and Owen high-fived. Meanwhile, Tyler sits out in pain.

After that, Harold holds his dodgeball, looking confident. "Time to unleash my wicked skills," he said. "Yeah?" said Leshawna. "Then bring it, string bean! Let's see what you got!" As Harold tries to throw the dodgeball his way, it backfires. Leshawna then smirked after picking up the dodgeball, which got Harold running away screaming. Until Leshawna threw the dodgeball at him, making him slide on the floor to the glass wall and making Chris and Marinette wince from witnessing it. Chef then blew his whistle, signaling that Harold was out. "And that's how we roll!" said Leshawna. "Probably needs to work on his "wicked skills" more." one of the wunderkinder said, air-quoting wicked skills. Everyone nodded and agreed with them and continued watching the show.

Lindsay then walks to her team, asking, "Can someone remind me what I'm supposed to do with this again?" Suddenly, Katie threw the dodgeball at Lindsay, which became a direct hit. The Killer Bass cheered while Chef blew his whistle, signaling Lindsay was out. The Killer Bass cheered for Katie while Tyler waved to Lindsay, making Lindsay smile and Heather mad, which got her to throw a dodgeball at him again. Lucy then turned to glare deadly daggers at Heather, signaling she was done for when she gets the chance. Heather shuddered in fear, seeing the furious look on Lucy's face. "Ooh, Heather is making Lucy mad." one kid of one of the celebrities said. "If Heather keeps this up, she'll end up on Lucy's despise list." one of the novelists said, crossing his arms. "I'm with Lucy. What the heck was that?" Courtney complained. "Ref, he's not even on the court." "Oops! He slipped." "Now she's gonna get it." the wunderkind rapper said, laying back and watching to enjoy the small show. Hearing that, Lucy gets more furious and grabs a dodgeball. She throws it at Heather, hitting her in the face. Chef blows his whistle, signaling Heather is out.

"I'm sorry, Heather, but you made me do that. Even though we are on this team, it doesn't matter to me anymore," she said. Marinette nods in agreement. "You tell her, Lucy!" one of the female idols said, cheering Lucy on. Marinette then turns to Chris, saying to him, "Chris, I'm sorry, but we're going to be switching to the Killer Bass team." Lucy then turns, telling the Screaming Gophers, "And please, don't push us on this. If anyone is to blame for that, it's Heather." The two walk to the Killer Bass team. The Killer Bass cheered about Lucy and Marinette being on their team while the Screaming Gophers glared at Heather since she was now out and sitting on the bench. "Either when the Killer Bass win or lose. Those two are doing the right thing." "Yeah, what Heather did is just beyond low."

After a while, they watch that it was now Cody and Leshawna for the Screaming Gophers and D.J. and Katie for the Killer Bass. D.J. and Katie throw theirs. Leshawna deflects one until another one of them hits her in the gut. Chef then blows his whistle, signaling to her that she's out. It was now Cody against the two Killer Bass. "Easy out, guys. Easy out." Courtney said to D.J. and Katie. Cody tosses one dodgeball up in the air and then tosses it at D.J. Even though it missed, the dodgeball took a U-turn and hit D.J. behind him. "That is one tough ball to dodge." said Chris. Katie threw her dodgeball at Cody, but it missed. Cody then grabs another ball and rubs it on his shirt. He then throws it at Katie. Katie then tried to run from it, but it chased after her. Katie then slammed into the wall, and the dodgeball hit her on the back. The Screaming Gophers then cheered for Cody for winning the round.

Before the campers could start the next round, they all watched as the Killer Bass huddled up. "We can do this. We just have to believe in ourselves." "Oh, I believe. I believe you stink!" scolded Courtney. "Yeah, you throw like a wimp," Tyler said, causing Geoff to laugh and Sadie to nod in agreement. "You should talk," Courtney said, scolding Tyler. "It was a warm-up throw," Tyler explained. Before he could keep talking, a dodgeball hit Tyler, Courtney, Geoff, and Sadie. They looked to see that it was an angry Lucy, looking at them as if she was ready to pop a vein and beat the life out of them. They all looked scared, seeing her looking furious. The celebrities, the families, and Marinette's friends, on the other hand, looked unamused, now getting used to Lucy's anger. They then watch Lucy's confessional.

"And that, folks, is another one of my triggers. People accuse others. Talking down on them, calling them a girl, chicken, or coward, and making up some lame-cottontail excuses." Lucy crosses her arms, looking completely serious. "Yeah, that's right. I'm not afraid to say words close to the cursed ones. And we all know what I'm talking about." "What does she mean?" one of the kids asked. "Uh, it's probably for the best that you kids don't want to know." one of the journalists said, making all of the celebrities, families, and teens nod in agreement to the little ones.

They continue to watch the show. They then watch Marinette take Lucy's hand, leading her out of the room. "Okay, you guys focus on the game. I'm going to take Lucy out and get her to calm down," she said. The rest of the Killer Bass continued on while the two were out. "Look, I can dominate this game," Tyler said, continuing what he would say before Lucy interrupted him by throwing the dodgeball at them. "Just give all the balls to me." After watching the team fail again, they watch as the scene cuts to the cabin, where Lucy is taking whiffs of her stress and anger management essential oils. "You shouldn't let this get to you, Lucy," Marinette said, helping Lucy calm down. "I know, Nettie. I'm trying to. But when it comes to those punks doing all that and talking like that, it's too difficult for me to handle." "I can hardly imagine living in the same room as them." "Yeah, I can see where Lucy's getting at." "Believe it or not, I got all that from both my father and one of my friends." Marinette looked surprised to hear that. However, she was not as surprised as all of the celebrities, families, and Marinette's friends.

"Oh, that would explain why her expressions and tones look and sound so familiar." one of the dubstep wunderkinder said, now understanding their point of view. "I have my father's stress in my genes, and the anger thing is both from myself and my friend. Well, sometimes me, it was also him too, actually." Lucy admits. "See? What did I tell you?" "Who knew that she got the anger from her friend too?" "And believe it or not, people often mistook us for twins." "Because of the anger?" asked Marinette. "Nope. We just both talk at the same time." Lucy and Marinette both laugh at that.

"I wonder if it was also they look alike or not?" "Who knows?" After that, they see Lucy get two more stress and anger management essential oils. She opens them, revealing that they are roll-on essential oils, and rubs them on two of her wrists and behind her left and right ears. "There, hopefully, this will help me finish up the dodgeball challenge. And hopefully, I don't go overboard on this like the last one I did." "What happened?" "Oh, trust me. You don't wanna know." "I can't imagine what happened." after that, Lucy and Marinette head out of the cabin and back to the challenge.

When the girls returned to the challenge, they saw their teammates on the bench- all but Tyler. "Hey, where did Tyler go?" asked Marinette. "Long story," said Bridgette. Courtney then started talking. "Okay, this is really bad," she said. "One more game, and we lose the whole challenge, again! We can't let that happen, people. We need someone strong, someone mean, someone who'll crush those lame-o gophers into the dirt." They then see Marinette look at someone. "I think I know who we can have help us," she said, motioning to someone on her right. Most of the Killer Bass then looked at Duncan, who was still sleeping like a log. They all know that Marinette is saying he's now the only one who can help them. However, some of the Killer Bass looked a bit scared. "Unh-unh, if we wake him up, he'll kill us." D.J. protested. "He won't kill us, guys." Courtney said, "He wants to win too." "Courtney's right," Harold said, agreeing with Courtney. "We need Duncan's fierceness to win this." "That's the spirit, Harold." said Courtney. But before she can tell him to wake Duncan up, Lucy beats her to the punch.

"Alright, stand back, folks. Leave the bear-awakening to the professionals," Lucy said as she approached Duncan. As the Killer Bass did so, Lucy grabbed an essential oil out of her pocket and let the scent reach Duncan's nose. The oil woke Duncan up completely. After a couple of whiffs, he bolted up. They all laughed, seeing the look on his face after he bolted up. They were laughing so much that they never paid attention to him hitting on Marinette after she apologized to him for waking him up. After the laughter died down, they continued watching the show, seeing Lucy walk up to Duncan. "Alright, Mister Juvenile, listen up. We're down two, nothing. As much as we respect that you need some well-deserved rest, but we could use some of your assistance on this." "Oh, and why should I help you, princess?" asked Duncan. "Because we can personally guarantee you that if we lose this game, you'll be the one going home, Sir Juvenile," Lucy said, with a renascence accent in the end. Most of the celebrities and Marinette's friends quietly laugh at the nickname Lucy gave him. Duncan lets out a sigh and then says, "Fine, I'll play...on one condition. You do what I say when I say it." Lucy nods. "Okay, here's a strategy I picked up during my first visit to Juvie. It's called Rush the New Guy."

They watched as Marinette and the Killer Bass used the new Rush the New Guy technique. When they did, they won a round of dodgeball. They all cheered for that. After that, Courtney had a suggestion. "I think that we should do the same thing all over again. So Harold, sit this one out too." "But I sat the last one out." "We'll sit this one out with you, Harold." Marinette offered, with Lucy nodding in agreement. They all smiled for Marinette's kind, golden heart. And are happily used to Lucy's ticked-off moments as they watch her stare at Courtney with a death-threatening stare in her eyes before Courtney could protest about the two sitting it out with Harold. Harold nods to Lucy and Marinette as thanks and signals to them that he owes them one. "That was very nice of Marinette and Lucy sitting out with Harold." "Yeah, that's our Marinette." "Our favorite little lady,"

They then watched as their team used the Rush the New Guy strategy again, and they won the round. They all cheered, and the seated Killer Bass cheered them on when they did win. After that, they see Tyler finally walk in and sit on the bench with the rest of the Killer Bass. "Tyler, where were you?" Marinette asked. "Nowhere," he said. "You were with Lindsay, were you?" Lucy teased, raising a brow, smiling. "No...maybe...so?" "Tyler, it's okay. There's nothing to be afraid or ashamed of." Marinette said. Lucy nodded, "Exactly. Just as long as you're calm and cool as a cucumber and don't expose your weaknesses to her." she said. Tyler smiles, happy to know that Lucy and Marinette are okay with him liking Lindsay. The celebrities, families, and friends smiled as well after seeing that.

Chris then announced to the campers, "Okay, this is it, the final tie-breaking game." "Go team, Go." Noah cheered with sarcasm in his tone.

When the Killer Bass huddle, they start discussing strategy. "Okay, who's going in?" Duncan asks. "I think it's either Marinette's turn, Lucy's turn, or my turn?" Harold says. "No way. We actually have a chance to win this, " Courtney protests. Harold nods and heads to the bench to sit out. Luka shakes his head at that. "Gophers, Bass, let's send this sample to the lab and see what you're made of," said Chris. They all then watched as the teams started throwing and tagging in and out team members. Noah then cheers with full-on sarcasm in his tone of voice again. "Knock 'em out. Throw 'em out. Rah, rah." then, a dodgeball was thrown and hit Noah straight in the face. "My bad. I meant to do that." Lucy called out with another dodgeball in her hands. Noah signals her it's fine since he knows that she deflected Marinette from the dodgeball almost thrown directly at her. "You're right. Sports aren't your forte." said Heather.

After a while, it was Owen against Marinette Harold. "Oh, boy." Zoe and Socqueline gulped as they and the rest of the people around them looked at Marinette with worry in their eyes. The Screaming Gophers cheered for Owen, while the Killer Bass looked shocked and worried for Harold and the girls. "Sorry, guys, but you gotta go down," said Owen. "Good night, Harold," said Duncan. Lucy elbowed him and cheered Harold and Marinette on. "You got this, guys!"

Then, they all watch Harold become confident as he gets into his stance. Marinette then breathes in and out and becomes confident as well. As the two motion for Owen to bring it, he does so, and the two dodge every single dodgeball Owen throws at them. Everyone, including the Screaming Gophers and the Killer Bass, was surprised to see how the two dodged all the dodgeballs Owen threw at them. Courtney then tells them to time out, making Chef blow his whistle for it. "Man, those two got dodge," Duncan said. "Where'd you two learn to do that?" "Figure skating," Harold answers. And Marinette then said, "I've been training with my mom. I got the hang of it back then. I guess I still got it." "Oh, that's right. I almost forgot about that." Sabine said, now remembering how Marinette learned to dodge. Everyone looked at Sabine, surprised yet impressed and amazed, and then turned back to the TV. "Harold, Marinette, that was awesome." Geoff said. "But dodging isn't enough." "He's right," said Courtney. "To win this, you two either have to throw him out--" "Which we all know Harold can't do--" Duncan added. "Well, you can't blame them on that." "Yeah, and surprised they haven't said anything about Marinette though." "Well, she and Lucy did sit out through the whole challenge." "Yeah, surprised they're now letting her do this." "Tell me about it," "Or catch the ball." Lucy added as well. "Can you guys do it?" "Definitely," "I can try." "Awesome. Now go catch that ball." D.J. said, encouraging the two.

Then, they continued with the standoff. The Screaming Gophers cheered for Owen while the Killer Bass cheered and chanted Harold and Marinette's names. All the celebrities, families, and Marinette's friends cheered along with them. Owen then throws the two dodgeballs at the two, letting out a 'Cowabunga'. The dodgeballs then head to Harold and Marinette, slamming them both back at the wall. Everyone looked shocked, seeing that. But then, they see the two raise the dodgeballs up, signaling that they both caught them. Socqueline gasped, surprised, with a smile now plastered on her face. The whistle was blown once again, signaling that Owen was out, and Harold and Marinette won the tie-breaker.

"The Killer Bass win!" Chris announced. The Killer Bass cheered for both winning, and Harold and Marinette won the challenge for them. Every one of the celebrities, families, and Marinette's friends all cheered and jumped for joy for the two winning the challenge for the Killer Bass. "She won!" "That's my favorite little lady! Rock and Roll!" "That is my Marinetta!" "Alright, Marinette!" "Way to go!" Even though they never got the time to watch the end of the show since it was already starting to get late, they all agreed to meet and watch the show again next weekend to see what would happen. They were all looking forward to seeing what Marinette and her friends would do in the next episode.

Meanwhile, in another location, there is nowhere that no one is even aware of.

After watching the episode, they both were still shocked from watching and hearing Lucy confess about a chained kunai thrown at her. "She still remembers that. And even said his name." one of them said, holding the clipboard tightly again. "And since there is no other way to get into her connections and good graces after knowing she is now in a traditional family is not helpful. It's bad enough that Adrien's disrespecting and good-for-nothing high-road system to Marinette is shocking and unacceptable. See if there is any other way to connect with the girl. There has to be a way to get Lucy's trust again." "Of course.

"All right, so it wasn't the most dramatic campfire ceremony ever. But I still get paid," Chris says, laughing. "Bonus!"

Desc Prologue Get to Know My OC Chapt 1 Reactions Pt 1 Chpt 2 Reactions Pt 2 Chpt 3 Chpt 4 Reactions Pt 4 Chpt 5 Reactions Pt 5