#For Alix I can't think about any name for them

[theytistic]

You said that you will do some representation, It's only for the apparency or for genders/sexuality too? I mean, any trans character?

Both, and probably yes.

Like, Marc is a non-binary character in au, although he should be canon, but…

We have two characters that I'm in doubt about making them trans or gender fluid, Alix being trans and Max gender fluid, or vice versa, or maybe both trans. And like, Maximus/Maxine is an idea I saw here on tumblr and it might suit the character, even for a certain arc I have planned (also for akumatization), as well as Alix, but if I make them both trans or gender fluid, I still have to see if it would be semi-canon (in which case consider the gender of the canon characters, but instead of cis, be trans, ftm!Max and mtf!Alix) or "invert" (mtf!Max and ftm!Alix).

But of all the ideas, what attracts me the most is Genderfluid!Max and Bigender!Alix, everything will depend more on my planning and how I would manage to make a design that passes both ideas (the original character + my headcanons/redesigns) without losing his identity (being able to know who he is).

[maddascanbe-blog]

I can't believe they cheated us so hard on Sabrina here (and Rooster Bold, and Caprikid, and Minot-). They didn't give her a transformation sequence, and they even gave her miraculous to 2 other people! It's one thing if it was Ladybug and Chat Noir using them, but no. Both Alix and "Adrien" got to use Barkk's miraculous!

I don't think anything about any of the designs really scream Dog to me, but I think Sabrina's was the best in concept out of all of them. I think part of it is the colors, Plagg has the distinction of being specifically a Black Cat which combined with the green eyes makes it hard to mistake what animal the miraculous is based on. But Barkk has very similar colors to the Fox miraculous, and that definitely makes it harder to tell.

Personally I think basing the dog miraculous on a Dalmation, Cocker Spaniel, or Basset Hound.

But anyway onto the dog miraculous, I think I will also be changing the power. Instead my idea was that once the ball connects to something it can lead the dog user to the object via a trail only the user can sense. But the condition is, they have to know what object they hit. If they intend to track a person, they need to know that person's identity. So if Hawkmoth appears they would need to hit his cane or his miraculous in order to track them. But the trace on the cane would wear off as soon as he de-transforms. The one on the butterfly miraculous would last longer, but would wear off over time meaning he would just have to keep moving until then.

Gabriel is aware of this power, and knows it would be very useful if he could get his hands on it. But the risk is pretty high for him as well, since if they manage to trace his miraculous he'd be in trouble. So Hawkmoth is hesitant to appear in person.

As for Vanisher, I based on design on the Invisible Man. Specifically the 2005 french cartoon of the same name. I recommend it, I love Alan so much. She can appear as just the hat, glasses, gloves, and coat. Or she can turn completely invisible The akuma is hidden in the pin on her hat.

I like Sabrina's preppy style, so when I saw a pinafore dress in this dark orange shade I knew I wanted to use it for her Miss Hound design. I also love the beret, I wish they didn't steal it for Cani-girl. I did tie her hair back and altered the shade of orange to a more auburn shade. Her ball is attached to her bow, and I decided to keep the thigh high socks since they were cute.

[cillianate]

JUNE GLOOM

pairing— warren rojas x fem!reader

content warnings— drugs, alcohol, language, mentions of cheating and abuse, reader is a songwriter, slight hints towards reader being caucasian, band member reader, any spanish I use may not be accurate, as I don't speak it fluently, if you catch any mistakes let me know!

genre— just a small fluffy drabble!

word count— 566 words, 2976 characters.

"I sat down, made a list of all the things I care about," sounded your voice from somewhere in the house. Warren, who had just woken up from his nap on the couch, had figured it may have been from a record. But he'd burnt through every song in the house, and he'd never heard this before.

"Think I mentioned 'Scott Street' and Springsteen," nobody else besides his girlfriend, you, was in the house. As he started to walk towards your shared room, which he believed was the source of the noise, he started to realize that it was, in fact, your voice he'd been hearing.

"And I wrote your name twice," finally, he knocked on the door of your room. A quiet fumbling and then a small voice could be heard, "It's open," it said.

There you were, in all your glory, sitting on your well made bed covered in colorful quilts and pillows, with a guitar in your hands.

"Mi vida, don't stop on my account. Is it alright if I stay? Listen for a while?" He said.

"Sure, honey. I don't mind," you said as you stood up and grabbed his soft yet calloused hands and dragged him closer to the bed.

He flopped down next to you, the bed shaking with him. His feet reached the ground and he rested his palms behind his head as if to cushion himself.

"Keep playing, woman! You're amazing," he spoke with the biggest smile on his face, "I've only ever heard you singing backup vocals, but damn, darlin'! You should be our frontman!" You blushed and giggled a small bit at his endless compliments. He had always been the funny type, you even thought he was joking when he confessed his feelings for you a few months back.

So, with your white cotton tank-top and shorts, you continued to sing and strum on your wooden guitar.

"I hate it, nothings changed at all since we were seventeen,

You could never keep your money, or hands off me,

And I still want you like that,

But I can't make a lover out of you unless you ask me to."

Of course, this song was not about Warren. You'd written it a year or so ago about a man you had been seeing for a while, but inevitably broke things off with. Warren had quite literally been your saving grace. You two were twin flames, two sides of the same coin.

You'd known him since you were young children, and of course, you had written your fair share of songs about him. You'd only play those when he was out of the house, though. You weren't sure you wanted him to hear your entire sappiness yet.

He watched you in awe, his eyes sometimes drifting from your face to your soft, slightly tanned arms. How he loved when you'd wrap them around his torso at all times of the day. He didn't need to be high to genuinely enjoy your company like he did with most people nowadays.

He sat up, resting his chin on his hand while his elbow rested on his criss-crossed knee, looking like an attentive kindergartener.

And as you strummed the last chord of the song on your guitar, he leaned forward to kiss your lips and said, "Play me another one, mi corazón."

SONG—JUNE GLOOM. alix page

[proosh]

do you have any ocs for frapru lovechildren, and can you tell us about them? i can't stop thinking about pregnant Gil, that's it, you've successfully converted me

welcome to the club, comrade! the secret is that any oc can be a frapru lovechild with enough abstraction and alternate universes :D eternal shout-out to @grapeshxt for being my partner in crime for cooking up a stupid number of kids for them. it should be noted that I'm very flexible with these ocs and both Grape and I are prone to swapping their parents around according to what the plot/scene/idea demands, so there's not really a strict 'canon' for them, I hope that makes sense <3 Anyway, in no particular order:

Honourable mention: Ludwig's father is an intentional unknown, but Francis believes he is the boy's sire on some kind of metaphysical level. Don't worry about it!

Petra: Saarland. Born somewhere around the Versailles Treaty after WW1. Small and industrious. Speaks a dialect of Rhine Franconian that gives Gil a headache to try and understand. At the centre of one of the most catastrophic custody battles of the 20th century.

Honourable mention: Ilya, Kaliningrad, was born in 1946. I will let you do the math on the implications of that. Fran is not the father but he is the father who stepped up. Cute kid, likes his sciences. In AUs where he's sired by Fran his name is Élie.

Isabella ("Isa") and Martin: Lorraine Moselle and Alsace, twins. Isa's got dark hair and green eyes which confuses everyone until Gilbert reminds them that Tolys is her uncle/it's the Baltic blood, lmao. Isa is a baby goth and Martin is, to their parents' despair, Catholic.

Alix: She doesn't really represent anything because she exists to be a Gaulish throwback with red hair and to be a little spitfire, bless her soul.

There are a few others that exist in various forms but these ones tend to be the most fleshed out <3

[pigeonwhumps]

Sarita

Bug and Company masterlist

Taglist: @littlespacecastle @flowersarefreetherapy @whumplr-reader @whumpinggrounds @painful-pooch @i-eat-worlds @a-funeral-romance @rainydaywhump

Introducing Sarita, a very mistrustful new rescue who's just woken up at Alix's safehouse.

Sarita appears very briefly in The vet.

1.8k

CWs: BBU, pet whump, dehumanisation, derogatory language about sex workers and sex, past rape, religious mentions (in a bad way), victim-blaming, discrimination against Romantics, self-loathing, stabbing (brief, with a fork), past betrayal, caretaker new whumper, multiple whumpees

When Sarita wakes, she's nowhere she recognises.

So she's not back at WRU. That's good, the handler didn't catch up to her. She's not on the streets, which is odd, that's where she last remembers being. Not back at the safehouse that betrayed her either. So it's somewhere new.

Who the hell's decided they own her or 'rescued' her or whatever this time?

It's an old-fashioned kind of a room, decorated with sickly green and purple like some weird 70s nostalgia trip. The curtains, mostly shut, are heavy and dark red with patterns.

It's really weird and she doesn't like it.

"Yeah, I know. Not the nicest room to wake up in. But at least you did wake up."

Sarita looks sharply to the side to see a dark-skinned woman watching her intently. She has Bantu knots (at least that's what Sarita thinks they're called) and a braid on either side of her face, beaded at the ends. There's also beads of some sort in the knots themselves.

"Adalia, or Bug. They/them. Do you want some soup?"

Sarita sits up abruptly. Adalia doesn't seem surprised to have an injured woman in their house, and she has a bad feeling about this.

"Where am I?"

"Alix's safehouse. You collapsed on the street in front of me, and I brought you here once I found your barcode. You should really cover that up, by the way."

Sarita snorts under her breath. "Safehouse". Yeah, right. Maybe to someone who's not a dumb slut like her, who didn't give up their life to lie on their back all day. Never mind that she was a receptionist later, never mind that she cared for children and took care of the house and is taught and educated and was trained as a multi-purpose pet. All that ever matters is that she was trained for sex and had sex and so apparently she wants to open her legs for every damn bastard who so much as glances her way.

She doesn't listen to the rules (Adalia just assuming she'll stay for longer than it takes for her to get out of bed, apparently). She knows what they'll be. Don't get too close to people, don't try and have sex, don't lead people on, you can use the common areas but only when the other pets are gone and clean up after yourself (she rolls her eyes at that. It's not like she's going to contaminate anyone), make sure to pray for your soul because apparently being raped every night for years means she's going to hell, and oh yeah, don't even think of getting comfortable because we'll sell you out to WRU at the first opportunity.

She never chose that. She never chose this. She still hurts from the handler. And she wouldn't have even come here if she'd had any sort of a choice. Stupid body, betraying her like that.

She's not surprised. Everyone else has.

"And that's everything. What's your name?"

Instead of answering, Sarita shoots out of bed and dashes for the open door.

"Wait! Calm down!"

Sarita ignores them, running downstairs. It's taking too long, someone will catch her, but she couldn't have jumped out of the window. Not on the first floor at least, not when she doesn't know if there's a flat roof or what the ground's like. Not unless she was absolutely desperate.

She spins around in the hallway. The front door will be locked, safehouses don't like pets leaving without permission, especially her, but the back. The back. There must be a back door.

Where?

Where's the back of the house?

Front door's that way, back door must be the other way. This can't be too different a layout to the other safehouse, it can't be far away. She runs in that direction, ignoring Adalia calling after her.

She enters the kitchen and skids to a halt. It's a nicer room, she recognises vaguely, clearly redecorated recently, but that's not what she's really focusing on.

There's a woman blocking the door.

She shifts to the side and takes a step towards Sarita.

Sarita panics. She picks up the nearest thing she can find – a fork, four prongs, silver steel, gleaming in the sunlight – and stabs it into the back of the woman's hand.

The woman screams, stumbling, and Sarita bolts past her into the small garden. There's got to be– no– fuck, fuck, fuck. There's no exits from the garden.

There's no exits from the garden.

The majority of it is scrubby grass, although there is a shed at the end. It's green, metal, small, old. There only seems to be one exit. That's good and bad. It means she'll be able to see what's coming. There might even be tools in there she can use to defend herself. But she won't be able to escape easily.

She runs into the shed. It's mostly empty, but she dives into the corner, crouching, eyeing the door closely. It hurts it hurts she hurts so much from earlier, it burns, she wants to curl up around herself but it's too dangerous, she needs to be able to see what's coming.

She crouches there for a while, listening to the sparrows and moving leaves outside. It's nice and quiet, and she's not currently being hurt.

Then she hears uneven footsteps outside and scrambles to her feet, legs shaking, grabbing a pair of secateurs and holding them out in front of her.

A young woman limps inside. She has a colourful cane in the opposite hand to what seems to be her bad leg, and is wearing a choker and a knee-length black dress with a long sweater over it, the sleeves rolled up to uncover her hands.

"Hi. I'm Maria. Will you drop the garden shears?"

"Fuck you," Sarita replies vehemently. She's not going to leave herself undefended for this woman and all the rest to betray her.

Maria shrugs. "Okay." And she doesn't move.

Sarita doesn't really want to talk to her but she apparently can't help it. "Why are you still here? I stabbed your stupid safehouse owner. You going to hand me back to the reacquisitions team personally?"

"We're a safehouse. Emphasis on the word 'safe'."

Sarita snorts. "Yeah, right. And you're also safe for dumb sluts like me who chose to be a pampered whore because I couldn't be bothered to do any real work. Pull the other one."

Maria's face is strangely blank. "Do not. Don't say things like that. Please." There's a hardness in her voice that wasn't there before.

"Why? That's what everyone says about me. Why shouldn't I say it?"

"Because you shouldn't talk about yourself like that. And–"

She hesitates. Sarita is listening more closely now. No-one's ever told her that before. They're usually too busy insulting her.

"And I don't want to be insulted like that either."

Sarita blinks. Wait, what?

"Alix – the woman you stabbed – she specialises in Romantics. Those with Romantic training. The non-WRU equivalent. So don't talk about us like that."

That stops Sarita dead in her tracks. She finds herself unconsciously lowering the secateurs before catching herself.

"You're all slu- Romantics?"

"Yes. Well, some of us are joint. O's both Object and Romantic. Max isn't Romantic. But he came with me from the same owner and we weren't being separated."

"How long have you been here?"

"Three years, give or take. O's been here longer and Bug came with Alix."

That seems a bit long if Alix was going to betray them all. But still.

"Are you sure it's not just because it's easier to hand you over if you're all in one place?"

"Yes." Her voice is tight. "I know you don't trust Alix, but can you give us a chance? Or at least stop being so insulting."

Oh, fuck all of this. It's not just Alix, it's everything. She can't trust anyone. How does she know Maria is telling the truth? Sure she doesn't act like an owned pet but that doesn't mean she's not lying. Sarita stabbed Alix, who Maria seems to like (and from Sarita's experience, safehouse owners are not to be liked or trusted). Everyone she's ever met has betrayed her. Safehouses are just another type of trap. Why the fuck would she trust anyone? Trusting people just leads to betrayal. And letting herself get close just makes it hurt more.

"Of course I don't trust you. Why the fuck should I give you a chance?"

"You won't be trapped. There's a loose fence panel behind this shed in case of a raid. Just talk to Alix, that's all I'm asking. Then you can leave if you still want to. Please? At least leave with supplies."

Sarita narrows her eyes, trying to work out if Maria is telling the truth. She supposes she doesn't have to go very far into the house. And the kitchen has plenty of knives she can take. Because she doesn't fucking trust them even if Maria seems determined to persuade her otherwise.

"Fine."

Maria smiles tightly. "Good. Will you drop the garden shears now and come with me?"

Sarita drops them (she can't exactly bring them inside, after all) and edges around the walls of the shed, coming to stand near Maria, just out of arms reach. Maria nods to her and Sarita follows cautiously back to the house.

Alix is sitting on the flaking white step, Adalia wrapping her hand. Maybe the wound isn't too bad then, if they've dealt with it with a first aid kit.

Not that she'd feel guilty if it was. Fucking safehouses.

Alix looks up and smiles as they approach. Adalia tucks in the end of the bandage and looks up too, glaring at Sarita. Alix nudges them.

"Fine. I'll leave you two alone. If you hurt her deliberately again I'll kill you."

That last is directed at Sarita, and she nods. Not that she's planning to, but if she does hurt Alix it'll be because she has to run, so Adalia won't get her anyway. But seeing someone be so protective makes her insides ache.

Maria and Adalia disappear inside.

Alix moves her hand out, winces, and nods at the seat beside her instead. Sarita stays where she is, just out of reach, every muscle tensed, ready to run when she needs to. Alix shrugs.

"Sorry, Bug can be a bit overprotective at times. I'm Alix, she/her. Leader of this safehouse. What's your name?"

"Sarita. She/her." She thinks she uses those pronouns anyway. She doesn't really care. But other people do.

"Nice to meet you, Sarita. I think it's time we talked."

[jennrypan]

ML London Special live reaction pt.4

...Maybe..if you can't touch her..MAKE NOISE??? MOVE THE DHDHA FUCKING. GOD- Marinette.

Anyways.. Marinette you are soo..why not..idk..go a little further back so you can..move the fucking rings-- I'm so..OK.

There's a reason you lost them to begin with 😶 I'm being mean--

The ghost is an akumatized villain..REALLY?? Gosh wow! Anyways..

WHY IS NO ONE CALLING MARINETTE OUT FOR THIS HERO GABRIEL THING?? Like..yeah sure it's difficult for her but..ya know who deserves the truth? ADRIEN!! But whatever poor Marinette struggles with the issue she caused again. Moving on..

It looked like he was about to punch her and that's so funny to me like-- he's grown why 😭

Also..God that Akuma design goes hard tbh.

Also..Gabriel did not care about Adrien being happy..be so fucking fr. Also..why did she??- why WHY DID SHE JUST. REVEAL HERSELF?? Marinette..use your brain. THE THING IN YOUR HEAD!!! God. It's fascinating to me that she'd give Gabriel (a grown adult) a million chances for terrorizing Paris but God forbid girls her own age are rude to her to an annoying level..mkay..

"Marinette don't trust him!" Right then..Plagg should've immediately been against her ass, cuz why would she..trust Gabriel..he's done nothing trustworthy at all??? They haven't even had any good interactions ?? God.

...Wait does Lila or whatever had Adriens amok or-- did she live it?

"The times I've tried to be a good father" still gets me..CUZ WHEN????

Also..I think it'd be less work..to kill himself-- like if I'm being so honest that's all he had to do lol 💀 what a bitch. Also "I'm not like him" ..hm..sure..sure totally not..

GIRL ADRIEN NEVER HAD A FATHER!! ADRIEN WAS ALONE WAY BEFORE YOU HAPPENED. God- also..Adrien has .his friends but ig he has YOUR friends since are they really adriens friend?? Hm..

"He has you" ..thats not a good thing lmaoo..omg save Adrien PLEASE--

Also ohhh I wanna see Lilas hawkmoth form ahhhh- and hm, that's not that hard of a thing to do. And uh..can she just..give herself whatever power?? God. That's so op and dumb.

Oh her names Bugnoir..damn I'm dumb lol--

She's got little claws! Cute anyways..

Why is Lila so..op..its irking me. Fucking Alix can't just..open a portal to yank the book?? Open two?? Am I missing something..

Why the fuck does she..have that ability..like she has..3 time watches?? Why?? Ok

"Adrien will have no one left" THEN WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU, NINO AND ALYA AND THE CLASS FOR??? God..omg..shut up.

[whiskey-bumblebee]

I'm On Fire (Chapter 8)

Pairing: DBF!Aaron Hotchner/Fem!Reader

Word Count: 3.5k

A/N: the final chapter! finally! thank you everybody for encouraging me to lead the story to an ending I'm more satisfied with.

Warnings: Age gap relationship (older Hotch, younger reader), arguments, deaths of Haley and Jack, breaking and entering

Taglist: @littlepeanut03 @rosaline-black @moonmark98 @yuly @jazzymariexoxoc @frogoko @morgthemagpie @laisy @whoreforhondo @ssamorganhotchner @lex13cm @mrs-ssa-hotch @violetlilites @fairy-alix @mercurysrhapsody @art-and-thoughts @rousethemouse

Five years later

You trace your fingers over the spines of the books.

340.2, 340.54, 340.57... There it is. 340.570942 D07. You slot 340.570942 S04 into the gap to the right of D07. Considering you were surrounded by millions of words, it was incredible how much time you spent counting.

One of your colleagues knocks on the shelf to attract your attention, and offers you a smile.

"You're finished for the day. Have a good weekend."

You sigh with relief. "The weekend... What a wonderful word."

"Do you have any plans?"

You shake your head. "Do you?"

"I'm working," She replies. "Someone has to help the grad students find their books on the history of the cultivation of garlic."

"Really?" You laugh, careful to keep your voice low. Although the library isn't crowded, there are always at least a few students studying down in the stacks.

"Yeah. History of the cultivation of garlic. We did have something on it, but damn, I don't know how you can write a thesis on growing garlic."

You smile and shake your head. "I was seeing someone for a while, a PhD candidate from NYU. His research focus was feminist machinima and the phenomenology of the cyborg body. He was just stringing words together, and I think he didn't like that I could see that."

"God. It sounds like you dodged a bullet."

The word bullet takes you out of it for a second. You stare into space, trying to consider the word from each of its angles. Dodged a bullet. Your father hadn't. Had you?

"You okay?"

You nod. "Yeah. Just thinking about him." You're careful not to specify exactly which him you're talking about.

"Forget about him. Go home. Have fun."

"Okay," You breathe, running your hands over your jeans. "I'll see you Monday."

She nods, patting your shoulder.

After a quick stint on the M and the L, you're home. Your keys clink as you drop them into the bowl by the door, and the smooth wooden floor is cool under your socks.

There's soup on the stove, and to your delight, it's still hot.

____________________________________

Aaron is fucking horrified. He doesn't know what he's doing. He can hardly breathe, but then again, that's becoming normal for him. For the first time since the trial, he feels like a criminal. He feels like the kind of person he's usually trying to catch.

"What the fuck," He breathes, and his words leave a fog that hangs in the air for a second, as if reprimanding his language.

He presses the buzzer before he can change his mind. Number five. How long should he hold the button? He releases it quickly, not wanting to generate a buzz any longer than necessary. He notices that there's no camera in the buzzer.

"Hello?"

It's a man's voice, and Aaron thinks he must have the wrong apartment.

"Hello, sorry, is this number five-" He rattles off the address, pressing his hands deeper into the pockets of his coat.

"Yeah, that's us."

Us?

Aaron says your name into the buzzer, and tries to ignore that it's the first time he's ever said the whole thing out loud. "I'm trying to find her?"

There's some rustling, and an exchange Aaron can't quite make out.

"Who are you?" The man on the other end of the line says.

_____________________________________

You've moved to stand next to the phone so you can hear. Andrew holds the phone tenderly between your two heads.

"My name is Aaron Hotchner-"

You shake your head quickly. No. No, no, no. You've just started your new life. You're happy. You're stable. You have a therapist who's walked you through this possibility, although she told you it was incredibly unlikely.

You walk backwards until your back hits a wall, and you slide to the floor.

"No," You whisper.

"Sorry, man. She's not at this address."

__________________________________________

Aaron knows that's not true. Penelope had found water bills paid in your name for this apartment, just three weeks ago. There was no record of you moving.

"Look, I really need to get ahold of her, if there's any chance- Could I just, could you let me talk to her?"

He's pleading now, and it leaves a pit in his stomach. He's no better than a stalker.

"Aaron," You breathe.

All of the tension drops from his shoulders at that. He says your name back to you.

"Please leave. I don't know how you got this address, but-"

"Please, I need to tell you something. Haley's dead, and-"

"I'm sorry, Aaron, but that has nothing to do with me."

Your reply comes without hesitation.

No, Aaron thinks. He didn't take the time off work, fly all the way to New York in a snowstorm, just to get blown off at your doorway.

Aaron is so caught up in staring at the buzzer, this tiny box containing you, that his heart leaps when he hears the door click open, and he turns quickly on his heel, ready to pour his heart out. The words dry up on his tongue when he sees it's not you, but a man. Long-haired, shorter than Aaron. He looks like someone Sean would be friends with. Aaron thinks he probably shouldn't ask about that.

"Hey, man. Get outta here. She doesn't wanna see you."

"Who are you?"

The words pass Aaron's lips before he can catch them.

"I'm Andrew. Now fuck off before I call the cops."

"I need to see her."

"She's currently sitting on the floor crying just from hearing your name. If you'd seen her reaction, you wouldn't let yourself up there either."

Aaron notices that Andrew has left the front door open, just a crack. If he makes a break for it, he might make it through the door, up the stairs, before Andrew can catch him.

"Alright," Aaron sighs, letting his body slump. "I tried."

Andrew softens slightly. "Alright, man. Get-"

Before Hotch hears the end of Andrew's sentence, he slams the man up against the wall and pushes the main door open. He doesn't immediately see an elevator, so he sprints up the stairs, two at a time.

He yells your name when he sees the number five, and pounds his fists on the door. If he had to break all of the bones in his hands in order to get to you, he'd do it. He can hear Andrew coming up behind him, slow, disoriented.

There's no reply. An elderly woman steps out of number six and frowns at Aaron disapprovingly, then sees Andrew coming up behind him.

"Sorry, Elena," Andrew says.

"Andrew," Elena scolds, walking over to him in her slippers. "What's this?" She tilts her head to the side as she looks at his split eyebrow.

Andrew sighs as the older woman gently runs her hands over his face.

"Hotchner, get the fuck out of here," He breathes. "Elena, I'm fine. But if this guy lays his hands on me again, I want you to call the cops."

Elena's eyes widen. "Okay."

Hotch kicks the door down.

You jump at the sudden intrusion, and Andrew was telling the truth, you are sitting on the floor, your eyes glistening.

"Elena, call the police," Andrew hisses, before grabbing Aaron by the collar. "What the fuck are you doing, man? Have you lost your mind?"

Aaron easily brushes him off and squats down beside you.

"Aaron, please go. It's over. You can't just barge back into my life like this."

"Please, let's just talk. If I ever meant anything to you, please just hear me out."

You look over at Andrew. Elena has gone back into her apartment, but you can hear her on the phone.

"Fine," You breathe. "Just for a minute, and then I never want to see you again."

Andrew starts to argue, but you shake your head and get to your feet. You know that once Aaron makes his mind up about something, there's no swaying him. Your stomach twists, thinking about yourself as a mission objective.

You take a seat on the couch, and Aaron stands. It's a small apartment, and he doesn't think sitting next to you would be the right move: too intimate, too familiar. Andrew takes the spot beside you while Aaron's still thinking about it.

You pick up a paper towel from the small coffee table, and dab at Andrew's eyebrow. It doesn't look that bad. You remember one of the anatomy manuals that you'd read while the library wasn't busy, how it said that facial wounds bleed a lot because the skin is thin.

"Does it hurt?" You ask, quietly.

Andrew nods. Aaron rolls his eyes.

"Say your piece," You say, still focused on Andrew. You tip his chin from side to side, checking for any other injuries. His eyes are sharp, focused. Good.

Now that he's here, Aaron doesn't know what to say. He can't even imagine where to start.

"Haley..."

"How did she die?"

"There was an unsub, he broke into my house, he killed them."

Them? Your heart drops.

"Jack?"

Aaron nods.

Your frown deepens.

"Who's Jack?" Andrew asks.

"Long story," You sigh. "I'll tell you later."

"I'm sorry, Hotch, but what does this have to do with me?"

"She was the reason... She was the reason we couldn't stay together. I was scared, fucking terrified, that she had some evidence, something that would get me locked in prison forever-"

Andrew gently tucks your hands back at your sides so he can look at Aaron.

"I think that we have more than enough to get you locked in prison, pal. Assault, breaking and entering?"

You nod, agreeing. "I don't know what you're trying to do here, Aaron. I've moved on. I've spent years trying to forget you."

Andrew looks at you, clearly needing more information than what you've provided. Aaron's curious what you'll say first. This is my ex-lover? I defended him in court and saved him from a lifetime in prison? This is the love of my life? This is the guy I told you about?

"He killed my father."

That's not what Aaron was expecting.

"What the fuck," Andrew breathes. "Dude, you've gotta get out of here, seriously-"

You shake your head. "He was acquitted."

Andrew looks at you, confused.

Aaron is so quick to jump to your defence that he doesn't take a second to think of the implications.

"I did it," He says quickly. "She's right."

Andrew stands up and takes a deep breath, preparing to tear into Aaron. He's puffing up his chest like some kind of exotic bird, and you know that if it came down to it, he couldn't take Aaron in a fight. You're not sure how exactly Andrew came to be injured, but you don't doubt that Aaron had a hand in it.

"Andrew," You say quietly. "Calm down."

He looks at you with sympathy, but there's an uneasiness in his eyes like that of an unbroken horse.

"Respectfully, you just told me that the man who just broke into our apartment murdered your father. This is all the calm I can give you."

"Valid," You reply. "Okay, so, Aaron? What are you doing here?"

Aaron realizes his grand plan is starting to come apart at the seams. He had a speech, he had a plan, he has a second flight back to D.C. booked and ready, but he hadn't anticipated Andrew. How had Penelope missed that detail?

"NYPD, open-"

A police officer raises his hand to knock, and seeing there's no door, steps into your apartment, careful not to trip over the doorknob.

"What's going on here? We had a call from a concerned neighbor."

You look at Aaron, and then at Andrew, and then at the police officer.

"We had a break in-"

"Everything's fine-"

"I'm an FBI agent-"

The officer holds up a hand. "One at a time. Let's start with, why is your door on the ground?"

Andrew shoots a look at Aaron. The officer notices, and when Andrew turns back to the police officer, he takes in the cut on Andrew's face for the first time.

"Did someone hit you?"

"He did." Andrew points at Hotch.

"And who kicked the door in?"

"He did," Andrew repeats, repeating his gesture for good measure.

"So what's the problem?"

Andrew looks at you, encouraging you to tell the story of the last ten minutes.

"Um," You say, looking around.

"Look, if everything's fine here, there are more important things I could be doing."

You nod and apologize quickly, then see the officer out. Elena comes out of her apartment and pokes her head through your doorway.

"Everything fine, Andrew?"

"Fine, Elena, thank you."

She doesn't look convinced, but she leaves anyway.

"Will one of you please tell me what the hell is going on here?" Andrew sighs, running a hand through his long hair.

"Aaron and I used to..." You trail off, unsure how to categorize it. The case is still recent enough that Andrew could easily find news coverage online, and if you say something that contradicts your sworn statements, you don't doubt that Andrew would do anything to get Aaron in trouble.

"Date," Aaron finishes.

You shake your head, offended by his choice of words. "Not 'date'. We never went out anywhere."

"We went out for coffee-" Aaron argues.

"A fast food drive through doesn't count," You rebut.

"You wore a wedding ring for me."

"It was the ring from your marriage to your wife."

"Ex-wife," Aaron hisses.

"Widow."

Aaron looks taken aback at that. A piece of information you'd only learned a few minutes ago, and already you'd hafted it into a weapon.

Andrew holds up a hand and looks at Hotch.

"Wait, you were married?"

You nod. "Haley was his wife." You turn to Aaron. "I'm sorry. She was a lovely person."

"She wasn't," Aaron says quickly.

"Your wife died, so you came to New York to take back your old mistress?"

"She wasn't-" Aaron starts, but he's quickly interrupted.

"Mistress!" You say, louder than you meant to, astounded at his choice of words.

Andrew shakes his head, then stands up. He walks over to the spot where you keep your house keys and plucks them out of the bowl.

"I'm going for a walk. You guys, talk."

You're a moment too slow in covering your mouth and Andrew hears you laugh.

"What?"

You gesture at the keys, then at the broken-down door.

"You don't need the keys."

Andrew puts the keys back down and walks out, shaking his head.

"I'm sorry. I'll pay for the door," Aaron says.

You rest your head in your hands, and like your shadow, Aaron follows your movement. He's beside you instantly, a large hand smoothing over your back.

"You know how fucked up it is that I don't even know how to explain you to Andrew?"

"How about you explain Andrew to me?"

That makes you slip Aaron's hand off your back and look at him, confounded.

"What makes you think you have the right to come literally barging back into my life, and then question me about why there's a man in it?"

"You're right, I'm sorry," Aaron breathes, leaning back.

You take a deep breath, fighting all of your instincts not to confess to Aaron that Andrew was great, but he wasn't Aaron, that nobody could ever be him.

"So why did you come here?"

"I thought maybe you'd be waiting for me."

"There's no way we could have worked out. You work with the FBI, for god's sake, you think none of your agents would figure out that you are actually dating the person that you testified under oath, that you had never really met?"

"I don't know. I wasn't thinking. The whole time that we were together, we were always thinking, planning, strategizing. For once, I just wanted to do something without having to have a battle plan behind it."

"I'm happy here," You say, quietly. "I have a stable job, and I like my coworkers, and we have a great apartment in a great location. I'm starting to make friends. I have a partner who loves me and treats me like an equal, not like..."

"A mistress."

You bite your lip. Aaron looks at you.

"What happened?"

"There was an unsub who was stalking me. He killed Haley and Jack while I was away working on a different case. It was about a year ago."

A deep frown pulls at your mouth.

"Jack was only..."

"He was about to turn four."

"Oh my god," You breathe. "Aaron, I'm so sorry."

Aaron shakes his head. "It was terrible, and I miss him so much. But while I was doing everything, going to grief counselling, planning the funerals... I just kept thinking maybe this was meant to be our second chance."

"You got a second chance. That doesn't mean I have to be a part of it."

"There's nobody else who I'd want to be a part of it."

You turn to face Aaron and take his face in your hand. He turns his face in towards your palm, closing his eyes. His eyelashes are as long and dark as ever, even now that his temples are beginning to grey.

"We could move to Rehoboth Beach. Just you and me. I could work as a lawyer, and you could..."

You shake your head. "You don't even know me. You don't know what I do for work. You don't know what I want."

"That's not fair," Aaron says, his voice taking on a darker tone. "We both know what you want."

You look into his eyes for a long moment.

"So you're trying to tell me that you chose wrong? After I gave you every opportunity to leave her?"

Aaron takes your hand from his face and places it gently back in your lap.

"If you tell me that you don't want me, I'll go. I'll go back to Washington and I'll never contact you again. I'll ask that you do the same. But if there's any part of you that wants me, that's thinking about it... Leave him. He deserves better than being your second choice for the rest of his life."

You glance at the clock on the microwave. Andrew's only been gone for five minutes, and Aaron's been back in your life for less than an hour. You shouldn't be thinking about this. You definitely shouldn't be thinking about the fact that when Andrew goes out for walks, he usually walks past Tompkins Square Park, down to the East River, and it takes him at least twenty-five minutes, which means that if you wanted to, hypothetically, you'd have enough time to-

You kiss Aaron.

He's surprised, but he wraps an arm around you, slowly, like he's not sure if he has the right to.

You press your tongue into his mouth first, flicking the tip of it over his tongue, inviting him to do the same. He takes a deep breath through his nose and pulls you closer. You fall into his lap easily, and his hand slips under your the back of your shirt.

He pulls back slightly and breathes heavily. You do too, but you don't let him stop kissing you. His lips move against yours, and then he bites your lower lip. He still knows you like it. You press down against him.

Aaron breaks the kiss first, and looks around for the door to your bedroom. You can see the moment he realizes that he's in another man's apartment. If he were to take you to the bedroom, he'd be laying you down in another man's bed.

He withdraws completely, pulling his hands from your skin carefully, like he's testing if he'll stick to you.

You look over at the front door, and see Andrew standing there. He only went as far as Tompkins.

Aaron doesn't realize that you're staring at something, someone, that you're frozen in place. He kisses your neck. You don't try to stop him, realizing that Andrew has seen more than enough already. You can't lie your way out of this one.

"Wow. Okay."

Aaron's head whips to the left so quickly that you're worried for his neck. He looks at you, lost for words.

You were going to use the kiss to make up your mind, but now that you're looking at Andrew, the soft press of Aaron's lips seems completely irrelevant. You can't do this to him. You like Andrew. He's nice. You have a good thing with him.

It's with a sudden dread that you realize, now that Andrew's seen you, he has a decision to make too, one that will make your choice for you. Just like that, you've lost all of your agency because of Aaron. Again.

You wipe your mouth with the back of your hand.

"Andrew..."

He shakes his head. "I'm not going to compete. If you want me, want me. I'm just saying it's got to count for something that you were alone with him for a second and-" He gestures to you and Aaron.

Aaron bristles at that, and sensing something like a competition, Andrew holds up his hands. "That's it, then."

You frown at Aaron. This is not how you anticipated tonight going.

"Aaron, get out."

Aaron looks shocked, but when you move from his lap, he stands up and walks out without arguing.

"Andrew," You sigh.

He wraps his arms around you.

"Sucks about our door, huh?"

You huff a laugh. "He'll pay for it."

_______________________________

I love you, and I'll always love the memories we have together, but it just wouldn't have worked out. Thank you for understanding. Please give me privacy and let me move on with my life.

You hesitate, and hesitate, and hesitate, then finally press send and relax into the shoulder of the man beside you. His scent is warm and familiar. He wraps an arm around you casually. When you look up into his eyes, you know that you couldn't have made any other choice. This is Aaron. Your Aaron. He smiles.

THE END

[notebookmusical]

Hi Cossette! I've been spending the last few days gathering some 2024 media releases that I hope to check out this year and I'm looking forward to (to name a few!):

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal

The Mars House by Natasha Pulley

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

and ooh! I'm also very intrigued about Allison Saft's upcoming adult debut!! I hope it will be good 🙏

I also prefer standalones! While there are times where I'd love to revisit my favourite worlduilding + characters, I tend to find the storytelling & character development more properly fleshed out within a standalone (comparing to books within a long series).

That's totally valid! It certainly took me some time to get into Alix E Harrow's writing - not that's it's poorly written (it's very artfully written), but it's pretty dense and the story pacing is on the slow side. Also as much as I enjoy taking notes / annotating beautifully written prose, I feel you effort required to analyse the writing 😅

Speaking of The Starless Sea, the aesthetic / vibes of the book reminds me of Taylor Swift's Midnights - very atmospheric and with a strong focus on storytelling. I've been meaning to make something showcasing parallels between songs from Midnights & sections of The Starless Sea since late 2022 (this was pushed back for various reasons), so I was very happy to post the edit today :D

If you could assign your favourite books as music albums (based on thematic / aesthetic similarities), how would you pair them up?

P.S. Yes!! I love the album & vinyl artwork for Kali Uchis' new album and I hope you have the chance to listen to Orquideas later this year! (and I hope you all the best with the 365 albums challenge 💖)

hi jennifer!!! i have an arc of a tempest of tea, but i don't know if i'll get around to it before publication date 😭 i'm really intrigued by the premise, but struggled a bit with the fantasy in we hunt the flame (i struggle a lot with fantasy/have to be in a very specific mood for it)! i haven't read any of katherine arden's stuff, but have seen a lot of it on the internet over the years; maybe i'll check it out!

i feel like a common question i see on bookstagram is "what's your favorite series" and i always struggle to answer this because i am just not a series girlie! i think the few favorite series that i love (that aren't duologies) are probably either the raven cycle, or series of romance books that are set in the same universe but follow different characters so they essentially operate as standalones! i wish i was a series girlie, but i just ... am not one. i actually just put alix harrow's ten thousand doors of january on hold on libby — it might work better for me as an audiobook! sometimes i do better with fantasy via audiobook than physically reading it, for some reason.

i saw your starless sea/midnights gifset and am obsessed. i know i've told you this before but i loveeeee your gifsets so much, especially the ones where you find parallels between things!

oh this is so hard! i feel like it's easier to assign specific songs for me, rather than entire albums to books, but here goes:

beach read: honorable mention to emails i can't send by sabrina carpenter (title track) for january's relationship with her father, but unsure of what album would fit january/gus best!

normal people: i think either sam fender's seventeen going under, or noah kahan's stick season? i think both albums have a similar theme of being homesick and also home sick, which i feel like plays a big role in the plot of normal people!

honey girl: i feel like paint my bedroom black by holly humberstone? like the themes of growing up / moving away / being lonely / figuring out your life?

the starless sea: maybeeeee evermore but this does not feel like a good fit to me still!

les miserables: ... going to cheat here and say the les mis cast recording

i'm still stuck on portrait of a thief, and book lovers though! what about you? what book/album pairings do you have in mind?

[a-chlolix-blog]

Scarabée and Kitty Claws AU

Lady WiFi. The eager & determined Blogger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After Marinette's victory in the derby hat competition, Alya invites her, Alix, Mylène, Juleka, and Rose to her place for a sleepover that weekend.

❤️Best Blogger📱: We gotta celebrate, Marinette! You're all coming over to my place Friday night for a slumber party!

👑Princess Rose🌹: YAY!! I'll bring stuff animals for all of you! Alix, do you still have Harry Hare?

💥Alix the Awesome🥇: Of course I do!

💙Mari-Caroon🥐: I got snacks covered!

📽Mylegend♻️ : I'll bring the bracelet materials and hair accessories!

💜Priceless Jule💎: Guess that leaves me with the movies.

The five of them thought the weekend couldn't come fast enough.

But when it did, the five of them had so much fun!

Only the best moments were posted to Alya's Instagram.

- Marinette putting cute outfits on everyone's stuffed animals.

- Alix and Mylène doing each other's hair.

- Rose putting glittery lip gloss on and kissing Juleka's face.

- Alix, Alya, and Juleka watching a horror movie while Mylène, Marinette, and Rose hide their faces with pillows.

- A quick macaroons fight that ended with them cleaning it all up.

- Alix beating Marinette in a pillow fight.

- And the girls posing in their pajamas in many pictures.

And all this was just the first night.

Chloé was in her room that night looking at the Instagram posts while Sabrina was trying to pick a movie for them to watch for their own slumber party.

Chloé, internally: I remember when me and Alix used to have slumber parties like these...

The more Chloé looked through the photos, the sadder she got.

Which Sabrina noticed quickly.

Sabrina, taking her phone: Enough of that! *gives her a box of chocolates* There will be none of that sadness while I'm here!

Chloé, giggles: Thanks Sabrina...

Sabrina: I'm sure Alix misses you just as much as you miss her.

Chloé, muttering: I doubt it...

Sabrina: I'm serious! With how much you've changed, there's no way she hasn't noticed you doing WAY better.

After Sabrina says this, Chloé immediately remembers the talk Alix had with her after she let Marinette have her seat back.

"Well, whatever you're trying to do, keep it up. Sooner or later, you'll probably be more fun to be around again."

Chloé's face erupts into a deep blush when she remembers that Alix winked at her.

Which she quickly covered with a pillow.

Sabrina: Wait... HAVE YOU TWO TALKED ABOUT THIS ALREADY?!

Chloé, slowly removing the pillow from her face: ... you remember the day I let Dupain-Cheng have the seat back?

While Chloé told Sabrina about what happened after school that day, Alya was about to tell the girls her first ScaraBlog theory.

Alya: What if Scarabée knows someone or many others from our school?!

Alix: *chokes on her soda*

Alya: I know! I was shocked when I put the dots together too!

Rose: We gotta hear more!

Alix, internally: Do we though!?

Alya: Scarabée was the first one on the scene when kids from our school were akumatized.

Mylène: Ivan DID tell me that Scarabée knew his name... do you think she goes to our school?!

Alix, internally: Shit! Shit! Shit!

Marinette: If she did, I doubt she'd want us civilians to know this.

Alix: YEAH! I mean... it's also very unlikely that she could know ANYONE from our school anyway.

Juleka: Come to think of it... Chloé hasn't been up to ANY bullying since Scarabée and Kitty Claws showed up.

Rose: *gasps excitedly* Do you think they inspired her to change for the better?!

Alya: Or... she could be who Scarabée knows personally!

Rose: Do you think they're dating?!

Alix, blushing lightly: Now that's abit of a stretch, isn't it? I doubt the first thing on Scarabée's mind is a lover...

Alya: You're right. I can't see Scarabée going for the "Damsel in Distress" type. Kitty Claws maybe...

Marinette: Alix, are you okay? Your face is flushed.

Alix: Yeah... I just need another soda.

Alix, internally: They think it's just a theory. Gotta keep it that way.

Despite Alya's "theory" being in her head, the weekend went by pretty fast for Alix.

It was now Monday morning and Chloé had to try her hardest to hide how excited she was as she walked closer to the school's entrance.

Chloé: I had to wait for Sabrina to go to sleep, but it was worth it. *pulls three photos out of her purse* Scarabée snapshots!

Plagg: As long as there's room for me and my cheese in here, simp all you want.

Chloé: If Adrien saw me with these, he'd NEVER let me live it down.

Adrien, walking up next to her: You're right!

Chloé, jump away from him: SHIT! Were you just WAITING to startle me?!

Adrien: Yep, the Scarabée snapshots were a fun surprise though.

Chloé, blushing furiously: SHUT UP!!

Adrien: Where did you even get snapshots of Scarabée?

Chloé, muttering: I... actually edited action shots of her from the ScaraBlog and printed them onto these.

Adrien: Wow! You're down HORRENDOUS!

Chloé, blushes while shoving the photos into her purse: SHUT IT!!!

Plagg, whispering: Ow!

Sabrina, from a distance: CHLOÉ!!!

Sabrina runs up to both Chloé and Adrien with bottles of water.

Sabrina: We gotta stay hydrated!

Chloé: You went abit too hard during Aikido training with your dad again, didn't you?

Sabrina: He let me take extra bottles of water as a reward.

Adrien: With how thirsty Chloé is, she’s gonna need all the water she can get- *gets elbowed by Chloé* OW!

When Chloé Adrien and Sabrina got to the locker room, there weren't many people in there, which made Chloé let out a relieved sigh.

Chloé, internally: I can't take the photos back home with me and I won't risk them smelling like camembert. My locker's the safest option.

Once Adrien and Sabrina go to their own lockers, Chloé quickly opens her and snatches the snapshots out of her purse, only to hit her hand on the locker door and drop them onto the floor.

Chloé: Ow! *whispers* Shit! *quickly picks up the photos, shoves them into the locker, and closes it*

Chloé thought she heard a clicking sound.

But before she could think about it abit more, Adrien and Sabrina walk up to her.

Sabrina: You okay? It sounded like you hit your hand pretty hard.

Chloé: I'm fine. Let's get to class!

Not far from Chloé's locker, Alya hid behind her own with her phone in hand.

Alya of course then decides to text the other girls and send them the picture she took.

❤️Best Blogger📱: YOU GUYS GOTTA SEE THIS! *view image here*

When they all saw the photo of the snapshots next to Chloé, they were quite surprised.

Specifically Alix.

💙Mari-Caroon🥐: Why does Chloé have snapshots of Scarabée?

👑Princess Rose🌹: ARE THEY DATING?!

📽Mylegend♻️: How are we gonna find out? It's not like Chloé's gonna tell us her business.

❤️Best Blogger📱: I'll get the truth outta her!

💙Mari-Caroon🥐: Sabrina knows aikido. If you make Chloé uncomfortable in any way, she will fight.

❤️Best Blogger📱: Then you guys distract her. This could blow up the ScaraBlog!

💜Priceless Jule💎: Alix, you've been quiet. Are you okay?

💥Alix the Awesome🥇: YEAH I'M FINE! I gotta run errands for my dad after school. So I won't be able to help you guys out with the plan. Sorry!

❤️Best Blogger📱: It's okay! We'll tell you all about it later.

🎥Mylegend♻️: I have a REALLY bad feeling about this.

Alix was in an empty girl's bathroom when she got the message.

Alix, whispering: Me too, Mylène. *puts her phone away*

Tikki, flying out of Alix's bag: How do you think Chloé got those pictures.

Alix: I don't know. Hopefully we'll find out after school.

After school, Alya Marinette Mylène Juleka and Rose watched as Chloé and Sabrina said their goodbyes to Adrien before walking toward the locker room to collect their own things.

Alya, whispering: You four are up!

Marinette, Mylène, Juleka, and Rose walk up to Sabrina, separating her from Chloé as she walked into the locker while Alya walked discreetly behind her.

Marinette: Hey Sabrina, are you still working on your aikido?

Sabrina: Yeah?

Mylène: I'd love if you taught me abit some time!

Sabrina, shocked: Really?

Rose: Yeah! It's so cool!

Juleka: Awesome.

While the four of them distracted Sabrina and led her away from the locker room, Alya walks up to Chloé as she closes her locker.

Alya: Chloé, can I have a word with you?

Chloé: Shouldn't you be hanging out with Kubdel and the others, Césaire?

Alya: I'd much rather talk to the girl who managed to get snapshots of Scarabée! *shows her the image on her phone*

Chloé, shocked: You took a picture of me?!

Alya, starts recording her: I'll be asking the questions here. Where did you get the snapshots? Did Scarabée give you the photos herself? How close are you two?

Chloé was beginning to internally panic.

Chloé, internally: This is bad! Scarabée most likely watches the ScaraBlog videos. If she sees this, she'll think I'm some clingy stalker!

Alya: Come on, Chloé! Give me answers!

Chloé, out loud: The only thing I'm gonna give you is a warning.

Alya: What-

Chloé: You took a photo of me without my consent and now you're also recording me without my consent.

Alya: Wait I-

Chloé: If you post that picture or this video to your ScaraBlog, I WILL have my father have Principle Damocles suspend you from school for the rest of the week or longer!

Alya, stomping off: FINE!

Once Alya is out of sight, Chloé let's out a loud sigh as she falls to her knees.

Plagg: That Blogger girl's quite the Journalist. She was all over you!

Chloé: We gotta be more careful around her and at school... I can't believe she got a photo of the snapshots!

Alya runs passed the five girls, which lead four of them following her and leaving a confused Sabrina behind.

Chloé, walking up next to Sabrina: I'm gonna put our plans on hold.

Sabrina: What happened?

Chloé: I'll tell you tomorrow.

While Chloé had herself and Sabrina driven to their respective homes, Alya was quite silent as she left the school, not even stopping to talk to the others.

While Alya went home, Alix actually went to the store to buy what Alim needed for dinner.

Tikki: So you weren't lying when you said you were running errands for your dad after school.

Alix: Well, they don't need to know that I run errands fast. And.... *quickly texts Alim* my dad now knows I'm getting the ingredients, so he doesn't have to. I'm gonna drop all of this off at home and Scarabée's gonna pay Chloé a visit.

As she said, Alix quickly bought all the ingredients Alim needed for dinner and went home.

Although Alim was grateful, he couldn't help but think something was on Alix's mind.

Alix: I'm gonna go out for abit. I'll make sure to be back before dinner's done!

Alim: Alix, is everything okay?

Alix: Of course I'm okay! Why wouldn't I be?

Alim: I can tell when there's something on your mind. Did something happen at school today? Did Chloé-

Alix, quickly cuts him off: Nothing's wrong dad, really! I'm just gonna skate around for abit.

Alim: Okay Sweetheart. Have fun!

Alix: Thanks dad! *quickly leaves*

Alim, internally: I shouldn't have brought up Chloé...

At the Césaire home, Alya locked herself in her room, which concerned Marlena, Otis, and the twins.

Otis: *knocks on her door* Alya, are you okay?

Alya: I'm fine!

Ella: Did something happen at school?

Etta: Do you want us to call Nora?

Alya: I just wanna be left alone!

Marlena: Okay Honey, we'll tell you when dinner's ready. Just take all the time you need.

Alya was trying her absolute hardest to figure out what Chloé's relationship with Scarabée was and why she would want to hide it, considering that news like this would make the rich blonde insanely popular.

"This doesn't make any sense! Why would she wanna hide something like this?!"

"Out of all people, you'd think she'd love to talk about being close with a superhero!"

"Even if I do find out the truth, I can't tell anyone or else she'll get me suspended. DAMNIT!"

In his lair, Hawkmoth senses Alya's anger and sends an akuma her way.

The akuma enters through her opened window and goes into her phone as she pastes back and forth.

Hawkmoth: Lady WiFi. I am Hawkmoth. I am giving you the ability to become a Seeker of Truth. All I want from you in return are Scarabée and Kitty Claws' Miraculous.

Alya: Yes Hawkmoth.

She transforms into Lady WiFi, Alya walks out of her room and towards her shocked family.

Otis: Alya! What's happening to you?!

Lady WiFi: I go by Lady WiFi now.

Etta: Told you we should've called Nora!

Ella: *nods in agreement*

Marlena: I won't forgive that Hawkmoth for putting my sweet girl through this!

Lady WiFi: I knew you'd all react this way.

Lady WiFi then quickly uses her powers to freeze her family.

Lady WiFi: Seeking the truth can be dangerous. I need to be sure that you all won't follow me. Now for my questions...

And thus Lady WiFi begins coming up with the many questions she'd ask Chloé.

After quickly jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Scarabée stops on top of the building across the street from Le Grand Paris.

She then uses her yo-yo to zoom in on the blonde's room.

Scarabée: Knowing Chloé, she probably upset Alya quite abit. This could lead to her getting akumatized. I'll stay here for half an hour. If an akumatized Alya doesn't show up, then I'll ask Chloé about the pictures. If KC is out and about, I should tell her what I'm up to.

Scarabée then turns the yo-yo away from Chloé's window and begins to send messages to Kitty Claws.

After ordering a snack for herself (and camembert cheese for Plagg), Chloé changes into her pajamas and lays down on her bed.

Plagg: Can't believe you were almost caught simping.

Chloé: Don't remind me. As long as Césaire doesn't post about it on her blog or try to interview me again, it'll be fine. I would die of embarrassment if Itty-Bitty found out that I had snapshots of her!

Plagg: It'd probably by WAY easier if you two knew more about each other.

Chloé: Like our identities? It would be amazing if me and Scarabée knew who each other are, but it's probably for the best that she doesn't know that her reliable partner is the most spoiled girl in Paris.

Plagg: I was referring to your tastes in women- *gets hit by Chloé's pillow*

Chloé then picks up her phone and sees that in the short amount of time she was in the bathroom, she got messages from Adrien and Sabrina.

🌟Princely Sunshine☀️: Hey Chloé. Sabrina told me something happened before you left school upset. Are you okay?

👓BrainyBrina📕: I sorry Chloé, I can't wait til tomorrow! Are you okay?! What happened between in the locker room?!

Plagg: *flies through the pillow* You're clearly not THAT bad! You at least got two friends who know you're great.

Chloé: Yeah... *whispers* hopefully it'll be three again soon.

While Chloé looked at the text messages, her phones rings.

When she answers, Lady WiFi uses the phone to teleport into the room.

Before he could be noticed, Plagg quickly hides.

Chloé let's out a loud scream which got Scarabée's attention from outside.

Scarabée, getting ready to go in: Guess I can't wait for KC for too long.

Lady WiFi: I will interview you, Chloé!

Chloé: Césaire?! Of course it's you!

Lady WiFi then pulls a chair out of her phone  and opens a video recording icon to broadcast the would be interview.

Everyone in Paris is surprised as Lady WiFi appears on their TVs and phones.

Lady WiFi: People of Paris! I'm coming to you live with an exclusive interview with the girl who somehow managed to get close to Scarabée. Chloé Bourgeois!

~~~~~At the Raincomprix Home~~~~~

Sabrina, watching on her TV: HOLY SHIT, CHLOÉ!! DAD, WE GOTTA GET TO LE GRAND PARIS NOW!

~~~~~At the Agreste Mansion~~~~~

Adrien, watching on his computer: I'm both worried about her AND shocked that she didn't tell me she was actually close to Scarabée!

When Chloé starts to run, Lady WiFi uses her phone to shoot a pink rewind symbol onto Chloé's back and rewinds her until she's back on her bed.

Lady WiFi: Thanks to Hawkmoth, I am Lady WiFi now and you won't be dodging the interview this time, Chloé!

Before Lady WiFi could get any closer to Chloé, Scarabée swings through the balcony door.

Scarabée: Alya, stop this now!

Lady WiFi: Now she's personally coming to your rescue? I can't wait to find out more about your relationship!

Chloé, blushing furiously: IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!

Scarabée then wraps her yo-yo around Lady WiFi and flings her into the closet.

Scarabée: You get to safety now!

Chloé then quickly runs out of the room with Plagg (making Scarabée doesn't see him).

Lady WiFi: NO! And for that, you're gonna help me test the fast forward feature!

Scarabée manages to dodge the pink fast forward sign and throws the chair at Lady WiFi.

Lady WiFi gets up ready to use her powers again, but Scarabée already left the room.

Scarabée stares at the only contact in her yo-yo as she ran down the hall.

Scarabée, internally: This one's tough! Where are you KC?

Chloé with Plagg flying next to her takes an elevator up by floor and transforms into Kitty Claws.

Kitty Claws: I'm coming, Itty-Bitty!

~~~~~The Floor below her~~~~~

Lady WiFi, still live streaming: People of Paris! This is your lucky night! Not only will I be getting you the scoop on Scarabée and Chloé's relationship, but I will be unmasking THE Scarabée!

Scarabée, whispering while hiding under a service cart: There's only one person who would enjoy watching something that would inconvenience us heroines this much....

Hawkmoth, watching the live stream on a table from his lair: These teens and their live streams are getting better and better.

Before Lady WiFi could walk any closer to the service cart Scarabée was under, Kitty Claws comes out of the hotel room door next to her and hits her with the baton, which causes her to fall onto the floor.

As Lady WiFi gets back up, Scarabée gets up from under the service cart and kicks it into her before Kitty Claws runs up to the shorter heroine.

Scarabée: I take it you got my texts?

Kitty Claws: I could never ignore you, Itty-Bitty~

Lady WiFi, getting up: This night just gets better and better! I will be unmasking BOTH Scarabée and Kitty Claws!

When Lady WiFi tries to freeze them, they escape into the stairwell.

Kitty Claws, running down the stairs with Scarabée: You got a plan, Itty-Bitty?

Scarabée: Given her name and powers, WiFi is obviously her source of power. All we have to do is lure her towards the basement of the building where there's no signal.

The two heroines dodged lots of pink fast forwards, rewinds, and pauses as they went further down.

When Lady WiFi catches onto their plan, she leaves to set a trap.

Scarabée: Prepare yourself, KC...

Kitty Claws, internally: Come on Chloé! It wouldn't hurt to ask... *speaks out loud* So, what do you do on your free time... when you're not Scarabée?

Scarabée: *chuckles* Now's not the time or place, Kitty.

Lady WiFi: *goes back into the hotel*

Scarabée: Damnit, she went back into the hotel! *runs up the stairs with Kitty Claws right behind her*

Kitty Claws: Shit, she locked all the doors! *turns to Scarabée while still running* You know, we could actually know each other in our personal lives. Would you happen to be interested in tall hot blonde girls?

Scarabée: I doubt it and if I can't tell you my identity, why would I give you a hint of my personal tastes in a lover?

Kitty Claws: *pouts* You know the Mayor's daughter?

Scarabée: We are currently trying to save her, yes.

Kitty Claws, blushing: I was just wondering what you think of her?

Scarabée: Given that we're here because Lady WiFi thinks we're close, I gotta get answers from her. Now get ready for an ambush when we get to an unlocked door!

They finally reach an unlocked floor and kick the door open, finding themselves in the hotel's dining area, which was seemingly empty.

Kitty Claws: She's not here. So much for an ambush.

Scarabée: Follow me and don't let your guard down.

All the tables have a phone on them.

Scarabée, looking at all the phones: I got a bad feeling about these phones.

Kitty Claws: I'll say! These were new last year!

They soon learn that Lady WiFi can use them to teleport around the room.

Lady WiFi immediately shows herself and tries to pause the heroines multiple times, only for the two to obviously dodge.

She manages to get the drop on Kitty Claws when she tries to shield herself with a table only to be blasted into the nearest wall before she falls to the floor.

Scarabée tries to trap Lady WiFi with her yo-yo, but she teleports through multiple phones.

Lady WiFi: You can't catch me, Scarabée!

Scarabée: Wanna bet?

Scarabée starts smashing the phones with her yo-yo and Lady WiFi flees into the kitchen with Scarabée behind her, where she locks the door, trapping Scarabée in the kitchen with her.

Kitty, banging on the doors: Nonono!!! I'm coming, Scarabée! Think Kitty think.... the service elevator!

While Kitty Claws uses the service elevator in the dining area to get into the kitchen, Lady WiFi was dodging pots and pans Scarabée threw at her.

Scarabée tries to jump at Lady WiFi, but she dodges, which sends her back front against the wall.

Lady WiFi manages to corner Scarabée against the wall and locks her hands down.

She then re-opens the video recording icon.

Lady WiFi: Who is Scarabée? The heroine Paris needs? A spoiled blonde's secret fling? Or someone just as bad as Chloé? How can we trust her when we have no idea who she is?! We have a right to know!

She then proceeds to try and take off Scarabée's mask. It appears to be glued on and won't come off. 

Lady WiFi: WHY WON'T THIS THING COME OFF!

Scarabée: Did you really think I was just some normal girl in a costume I bought?! It's obviously magic!

Kitty Claws, coming out of the service elevator: You're running out of bars, Lady WiFi. Step away from my Itty-Bitty!

Lady WiFi: First Chloé and now Kitty Claws?! *turns back to Scarabée* You sure do attract the most annoying blondes!

Scarabée, with a slight blush: There is no attracting going on here!

Kitty Claws: You know what they say about blondes. We have the most fun~ *winks*

Lady WiFi then begins to shot her pink pauses at Kitty Claws who manages to dodge most of them, but Lady Wifi traps her in the freezer and locks the door.

The impact knocks the ring off her finger, and he transforms back into Chloé and is unable to find the ring. 

Chloé, shivering: S-shit! My ring! *begins looking around* A little help here?!

Plagg, also shivering: T-toooo cold.

~~~~~Outside The Freezer~~~~~

Scarabée, struggling against the locks: KITTY!!

Lady WiFi: What am I gonna do with you two?

Hawkmoth, communicating with Lady WiFi: Get her to use her lucky charm. It'll force her to watch back and her true identity will be revealed and her Miraculous will be mine!

Lady WiFi, to Scarabée: If you don't get her out soon, your Kitty will be too cold to cuddle. *frees Scarabée while laughing* Have fun with your Clawsicle, I've got other News to cover! *teleports away*

Sabrina was waiting outside for Chloé with André, Roger, and the many other cops.

When her phone rings, she answers, and Lady WiFi teleports from the phone onto the hotel's roof, forcing Paris to watch as Scarabée tries to save Scarabée.

Lady WiFi, continuing to live stream: Listen everyone! I present you with the award winning news story you've all been waiting for!

Scarabée, angrily kicking the locked door: Damnit! Don't worry, KC! I'll get you outta there!

Chloé, shivering while still looking for her ring: T-take your time, Itty-Bitty. I-i'll be fine!

Lady WiFi: Don't blink! Cause Scarabée's about reveal her true identity to all of us!

Trying to kick the door down doesn't work, so she uses Lucky Charm, and a frozen meal appears.

Scarabée: This better be one hell of a snack.

Using her lucky vision, she spots the non-microwaveable icon on the box, the lock icon on the freezer door, and a nearby microwave oven.

Scarabée: Time to do some serious damage!

She puts the non-microwaveable dinner in the microwave and blows it up to diffuse the signal.

The door unlocks just as Chloé, nearly frozen to death, finds her ring and transforms back into Kitty Claws.

When Scarabée opens the door at last, she passes out and falls on top of her, worn from the cold.

Scarabée, holding Kitty Claws close to her: Come on KC, stay with me... please.

Kitty Claws, noticing her beeping earrings: You used your Lucky Charm. You don't have much time left!

Lady WiFi: Exactly!

Kitty Claws: Can you zap open the door again?

Scarabée: No, that was the only microwave in this kitchen. *notices the pink camera icon and starts whispering in Kitty Claws' ear*

Kitty Claws, after Scarabée leans away from her ear: Got it, Itty-Bitty.

Kitty Claws covers the camera icon with a pot, which kept Lady WiFi, Hawkmoth, and all of Paris from seeing them.

Lady WiFi: What are they up to?!

Hawkmoth: I want my Miraculous!

Lady WiFi: Right!

~~~~~Back in the kitchen~~~~~

Kitty Claws, going into the service elevator: I'll go jam the WiFi antenna.

Scarabée: Good Luck, KC.

Kitty Claws: You're all the luck I need, Smoochie-Bug~ *blows her a kiss*

Scarabée, blushing lightly: Bye Kitty! *pushes the elevator button*

Growing suspicious, Lady Wifi returns and chases Kitty Claws onto the roof.

She start up her Cataclysm, but quickly realized that Lady WiFi put a shield around the antenna.

Lady WiFi, teleporting from inside the antenna: This is surprisingly clever of you, Kitty Claws, but I won't let you win! *shots fast forwards at her only to miss*

Scarabée, earrings down to two dots: Come on, KC... you got this!

She distracts her by throwing her staff at her and then uses her Cataclysm to destroy the signal receiver.

Lady WiFi loses her powers, the recording and lock icons in the kitchen downstairs dissolving as Scarabée's earrings beep down to two spots.

Kitty Claws: Give up the phone, Césaire!

Lady WiFi: Never!

Kitty Claws and Lady WiFi immediately start fighting over the phone.

Scarabée escaped the kitchen and shows up on the roof soon after.

Kitty Claws, being pinned down by Lady WiFi: Sorry WiFi, there's only one girl I want to pin me down. Right, Itty-Bitty?

Lady WiFi, pinning her down with one hand while the other holds the phone up: What?! *turns to see Scarabée*

Scarabée then uses her yo-yo to yank the phone out of Lady WiFi's hand, smashing in on the ground.

She captures the akuma and returns everything back to normal with Miraculous Scarabée.

Lady WiFi turns back into Alya, who is thrilled to see Scarabée and Kitty Claws.

Kitty Claw: Selfie time, Itty-Bitty! *pulls Scarabée closes and takes the selfie*

Alya, walking up to the two: Scarabée and Kitty Claws?! No way! Can I get a quick interview? Wait, where's my phone?

Kitty Claws, hearing Scarabée's earrings beeping: Let's go Itty-Bitty. You only got a minute left!

They escape from the roof before Alya can get an interview.

They run into the hotel lobby and Scarabée ducks inside a closet.

Kitty Claws tries to stop her.

Kitty Claws, grabbing Scarabée's wrist: Please stay? I promise I won't tell anyone...

Scarabée, pulling her wrist out of Kitty Claws' hand and caresses the side of her face: No can do, Kitty! This secret is for our protection, as well as our loved ones and everyone else in Paris.

The closet door swings between them just as her transformation wears off and Kitty Claws is tempted to open the door.

Conflicted, she ultimately decides not to betray her trust and leaves, closing the door for her.

Chloé runs outside of the hotel and opens up her jacket. Plagg flies out and questions her.

Plagg: Why did you do that?! Your dream girl was RIGHT THERE!! What were you thinking?

Chloé: It's too dangerous for now Plagg and besides, Itty-Bitty will tell me when she's ready.

Plagg: I will never get you humans and your personal relationships. *flies back in her jacket*

Sabrina, running up to her: CHLOÉ!!! YOU'RE OKAY!!! *tackles her to the ground in a tight hug*

Alix peaks out the closet to see Chloé and Sabrina walking into the hotel and Alya walking pass them to leave the hotel.

Alix: Guess I'll have to ask Chloé about the selfies tomorrow night.

Tikki: Good call. Now let's go home! Your dad should be done with dinner by now!

When Alya got home, she was immediately hugged by her family. Including Nora who made a surprise visit.

Nora: ARE YOU OKAY?! I HEARD ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AND CAME AS FAST AS I COULD!! MA AND POPS CALLED ME AS SOON AS THEY WERE UNFROZEN!

Alya: Nora, I'll be ok-

Marlena, crying: If you're ever feeling upset enough to get akumatized, please talk to us!

Alya: I will Mama, please don't cry-

Otis: That Hawkmoth has got some nerve taking advantage of my girl's feelings!

Alya: Dad-

Ella and Etta, crying: ALYA!!!!

Alya was so busy with her family that night, she could remember what she had to do.

It wasn't until the next day at school when everyone was talking about it is when she remembered.

Marinette: Alya! You're Akuma Fight is ALL OVER the ScaraBlog!

Rose: Everyone in Paris has seen it!

Juleka: Your Lady WiFi costume does look cool though!

Nathaniel: Love the colors for the outfit!

Nino: It's getting so many views too!

Mylène: Are you okay after all that?

Alya: HOLY SHIT! I GOTTA DELETE IT!

Alix: That's gonna have to wait. We got class!

As the five of them walked to class, Alya couldn't help but feel someone glaring daggers at the back of her head.

Chloé was trying her very best to calm down the very angry Sabrina, but barely anything was working.

Chloé: It's okay Bri-

Sabrina: No it's not! Not only does she go after you while akumatized, but thanks to that Live Stream on the ScaraBlog, everyone thinks you're dating Scarabée! Which is incredibly dangerous I might add!

Adrien, walking up to them: Aside from the constant danger, I doubt Chloé would mind such a rumor going around, right Chlo?

Chloé, hiding her blushing face: *mutters* Shut it, Adrien!

Later that night, Chloé was looking at her Scarabée snapshots while laying on her Scarabée doll when the real deal comes swinging through her balcony doors.

Chloé: SCARABÉE?! *sweeps the doll and pictures off of her bed* What are you doing here?

Scarabée: I'm here to talk. I've been hearing about you having some snapshots of me?

Chloé, erupting into a fiery blush: H-how did you-

Scarabée: Don't worry, the ScaraBlogger didn't tell me anything. I'm just here to ask a few questions.

Chloé, internally screaming: THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING! I CAN'T TELL IF THIS IS A DREAM OR A NIGHTMARE! Wait... I CAN'T TELL HER THAT I LOVE HER!!

Scarabée: Chloé?

Chloé: Right! I'm... a huge fan. I edited some photos from the ScaraBlog onto the snapshots. For cosplay purposes!

Scarabée: Impressive. Can I see the snapshots?

Chloé, caught off guard: Sure! *quickl picks the snapshots off the floor and gives them to Scarabée* Here you go!

Scarabée then pulls a pen out of her yo-yo, quickly writes on all the snapshots, and gives them back to Chloé.

When Chloé sees that Scarabée signed all three snapshots, she manages to blush even harder.

Chloé: T-thank you, Scarabée!

Scarabée: Anything for a fan. Make sure you clear all this up with the ScaraBlogger. Wouldn't want her getting the wrong idea, now would we? *winks at her*

Chloé, with a crimson face: N-no Ma'am.

Scarabée: Good! Try to avoid danger and negative emotions, Princess~ *blows her a kiss before leaving*

Plagg, flies out of his doll house and up to Chloé: I didn't expect her to drop by, did you?

Chloé: *faints*

Plagg: I'll take that as a no.

Inspired by: @emdoddles @princess-of-the-corner @muggle-born-princess @dcschart @justanotherpersonsuniverse @symphonic-scream

[kari-go]

Uh... I like your template😍🤩 (also, I'm a sucker for these😅😁) could you show more, I'm intrested and care about concept art/trashed versions😁🙂

Of course!!!

Chris's and Mairnette's templates

This is the seating chart, at the start of the au. Lila will sit with Alix, probably, to be close to Chris...

I actually have the first chapter almost finished, it's around 7k words, but I'm rethinking a lot of stuff so I'm gonna rewrite it.

Hero names!

Good luck reading that xd I feel really proud about some of these (like Drone? that was a stroke of genius xd /hj)

Now, time for some old art~

The first group shot! Lion's colors were very wacky but Ladybug and Gato stayed the same.

The first time I drew Chris and Stephan. This is from 2022, it was done on my old laptop

I think this is the first time I drew their suits. Lion looks good, Gato and Ladybug kinda naked.

I think this is when they change their suits. I don't really like any of these. Ladybug's yellow lines are kind of random. I'm pretty sure the lines were supposed to glow

Yep! This looks cool but impractical. Also, why are Gato's freckles like that.

My attempt at drawing Chris in the show's style. I also made Stephan but I can't find it...

The plot used to be so... weird and confusing... This is the only thing I wrote down about it. It's nothing like this right now. None of this applies to the au. Take this with a grain of salt.

Adrien becomes Chat Noir and Marinette Ladybug, later on Chris gets the White Lion miraculous. However after a while Adrien gets his miraculous taken away because he doesn’t take hero job seriously, is entitled etc... He doesn’t get his memories earased. Then Marinette gets Ladybug taken away and Master Fu earases her memories. Chris know that Adrien was Cat Noir, he saw him get his ring taken away and then he saw Chris. Adrien knew that Chris knows but doesn’t know that he's Lion Blanc. Lion Blanc doesn’t know that Adrien was Cat Noir. None of them know who Ladybug was.

Then Plagg took the ring, because Fu told him to pick a new holder, and ran away with it planing on find a new holder on his own. Plagg finds Stephan and leaves the ring on his table. Stephan actually disliked Chat Noir. Then he became Gato Noir.

Later, after Lila comes to their class, Stephan comes to their class. The class tries to befriend him but he refuses/is quite cold to them. After a few attempts he starts hanging with Chrsi and Marinette a little. Stephan is in denial. After Chris learns that his mom is Guardian Chat Noir knows his identity, but Chris doesn’t know that he knows. Blanche tells him to watch over Chris. He doesn’t tell Chris. He hangs out with Marinette and Chris, especially with Chris, more. Chris starts to develop a crush on him.

When Chris has a mental breakdown in front of Marinette he reveals his identity to her. After that he tells Gato Noir that one person knows his identity, and that he can tell someone his. He tells Chris, then they have a big fight(not physical, it’s after an akuma attack on a rooftop). 3 days after, Chris gives the Ladybug miraculous to Marinette.

Antonio arrives and is horrified at what happened to Chris. He and Henri have a talk.

Stephan apologizes and Chris starts forgiving him.

Blanche is Chris's mom, Antonio and Henri are his older brothers. Antonio doesn't exist anymore.

This was when I was reading a lot of salt. I don't like this.

Also, Blanche used to have two 'siblings' who used to be miraculous holders, they also don't exist.

I think that's it...

[novelmonger]

Book Review: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

Quote that should have been on the back of the book: "Perhaps I simply need to leave some record, however wandering and unsubstantiated, so that another living soul can learn the truths I have worked so hard to unearth. So that someone else might read it and believe: there are ten thousand doors between ten thousand worlds, and someone is closing them. And I am helping them do it."

Premise: January Scaller is an "in-between girl," as she describes it. Her mother was white and her father is black, in Victorian-era U.S.A. She never knew her mother, and her father is always away from home, so she is raised by a wealthy white man named Mr. Locke. January's father travels the world, finding curios and artifacts from other countries and sending them back to be put in Mr. Locke's collection, while Mr. Locke provides a home and an education for January. No one quite knows what to do with her, because her appearance doesn't fit into any one neat category. She lives in the lap of luxury, but it's not really hers, it's Mr. Locke's. She's provided for, but the strictures of society mean that she's more or less trapped in this world, unable to fend for herself without Mr. Locke's protection. She's considered almost more like a pet or a plaything for an eccentric rich man, rather than a person in her own right.

Then January finds a book called The Ten Thousand Doors, which tells the story of Doors that open into other worlds, and something resonates inside her. She wants to open those Doors. She wants to explore those other worlds. She wants to learn the truth about where her parents came from and what happened to them. And she's not going to take no for an answer.

Thoughts: I don't think I've ever read a book quite like this, but I loved it. It's definitely going on my list of "stories about stories," because besides the story being about traveling to different worlds through Doors, it's also very much about traveling to different worlds through books. Long before January discovers her first Door, she has learned that books provide a means of escape from her sometimes stifling and unbearable life. And, even though I can't say I know what it's like to be biracial or grow up in a lavish mansion in Vermont in the late nineteenth century, I can definitely relate to escaping into the world of a book. And then, when writing new stories comes into the mix? Yes, definitely relatable.

The writing style, the narrative voice, is so engaging. It draws you right in, and I could always picture everything so vividly. The characters leapt off the page--not just January and Mr. Locke, but also her friends Jane and Samuel, and of course her loyal dog Bad. (Ohhh, there was one scene involving him that had me ugly-crying at work T^T) Her parents and their stories! The different worlds! And just…the magic of it all. Harrow never shied away from describing the uglier side of an oft-romanticized historical period, but that made the wondrously supernatural elements shine and glitter even more.

And…just…can I scream about how perfectly she wove in the motif of locks and keys and doors? I was halfway through the book before I realized, "Wait…Mr. Locke…the Key…the Door opens for her…." a;ldkfj;alsdgj;sdljkg;dkslf UTTER PERFECTION. I can't say too much more without spoiling huge chunks of the story, but…if you know, you know.

I also have to admire Harrow for the restraint of not showing more worlds than she did. This is the kind of setup that makes you want to fling open as many Doors as you possibly can, to see just how varied and different these worlds all are. But because we don't get to see more than a small handful of worlds with our own eyes, it awakens in the reader the desire to keep going, keep exploring, maybe find some Doors of their own. And isn't that an absolutely perfect takeaway from this story?

[its-maemain]

So this morning as I struggled to want to get up an AU came to me. I've been struggling on how to word some of this so bare with me.

This got longer than I thought it would but here:

Lois Lane and Clark Kent find out they're having a child later on they find out it's a girl, they're overjoyed and shit. But their relationship is on the down low, and everyone in Metropolis is convinced that Lois and Superman not only have a thing for each other but are together(which they aren't wrong). So when Lex Luthor finds out Lois is pregnant he comes up with a plan(cause his blad ass thinks he's so smart). And he does succeed.

Clark has to go off planet for [intergalactic problem here] and so he's gone for a few months during Lois’s pregnancy. So while Superman is away Lex is like ‘yes my plan will go so much easier now’ and so Lois gives birth, after she(the baby) is put in the baby ward thing, Lex steals their daughter. He gives her this serum that (in theory) blocks her powers till something triggers them. It does work but he doesn't know what will trigger it or how well it works.

He decides to put her as far away from them as possible on Earth tho. So she's in France getting adopted by the lovely couple who own a bakery and want a child. They can't due to biological complications, and Lex can watch them easily ( he knows French ig for this ). And they get to name her cause she doesn't have name.

So enter Marinette Dupain-Cheng the adoptive daughter Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng. There are some things they just can't explain about their daughter, they love her very much. Shenanigans my beloved, shall ensue.

But she's so small and doesn't have a lot of muscle how is she carrying this bag of flower at the age of 10? OH NO BOILING WATER GOT ON HER SHES GONNA GET BURN MAR- oh, she's okay...? MARINETTE DONT STARE AT THE SUN! They go to the doctor to check her eyesight, she has perfect vision. Marinette the fastest kid in her class, faster than Kim and Alix, they're playing hide and seek? Oh Mari is up a tree!

Back with Clark and Lois, Superman threatens Lex or talks to Bruce or something idk. Jon is made or born 2 years later(idk his story sometimes he's a clone sometimes he's not???!) when Mari is 2, then two more years later Con is born(I know for a fact he is born) so Mari is like 4. Bruce is doing the blood thing, but Lex has that shit under strict supervenience. And while raising the boys they learn what they should look for.

Tom and Sabine conclude that Mari is a Meta, talk to her about this when she is like 12, than when she is almost 14 she searches this stuff up and she's like “okay, no powers” well that gets thrown in her face when she was left with being Ladybug. Lex can't watch her anymore cause Paris closed itself off!

How being Ladybug affects Marinette:

She is still really strong even with that serum not letting her be at full strength so now that she has the Miraculous it enhances her already enhanced strength so she has to pull her punches, and this is one of the main reasons why she uses her yo-yo and her brain in battles rather than brute force, cause she could kill the akuma. At least she thinks so, who knows, depends on the writer!

Post [What-ever-the-fuck version of Gabriel we're dealing with]:

There are two ways this can go! 1) Mari during her time as Ladybug and Guardian activated the trigger so she could use all her half-Kryptonian-ness or 2) somehow it wasn't triggered yet but it was at some point while being around JL. Probably from being around Superman and her body went “FATHERRRRR”

And why Clark hasn't figured out this is his daughter after meeting her? Magic suit y'all! Prevents him from using x-ray vision on her, so he doesn't see her hybrid organs. One thing is for certain Bruce wants to adopt her! He can't of course cause she has already been adopted, so instead, he offers her a place to stay in Gotham, all paid, and any school of her choosing in Gotham. She says she’ll think about it, and when she researched she was surprised, and decided why not! She can fight villains, build her career, see what she can do with her new activated power, *cough* get all that pent-up rage out *COUGH*!

One big problem tho, the Meta and Magic users ban, so she talks to him again, he's like I'm willing to adjust my ban, then he does a double take cause “meta?” cause guess what Brucie, you wanna take in a meta-magic user! So he adjusts his rules.

Time passes, a long time depends, but Clark and Lois go to this gala being reporters and friends with Bruce. This gala is also Mari’s first. She's been doing great, other than almost burning her room in the middle of the night a few weeks ago. But it's fiiiiine, they're all learning, and Damian has his suspensions.

Clark was area of Bruce having another kid in his wings, and he does his x-ray things like he does all the batfam, and that's when he sees it! She wasn't human, she was part human. So he takes her Bruce, and is like “you can't have this child” “why tf can't I!” “this is our missing daughter!!”

So after the gala they all sit down and talk this out, they call Jon and Kon to get their asses here to see their sister! They talk to Tom and Sabine and they’re willing to share custody especially cause of how this happened! Anyway big family in the end.

This has probably been done somewhere but I needed to get this written out. I really want to write this, but if anyone does tag me please! PLEASE!

Bonus points for any salt or angst. Just sayin

Edit: it really shows how I didn't know about Kon and it pains me everytime I get a notification for this. Excuse my dumbassery.

Jon is born two years after Mari, Kon is made whenever the fuck he’s made, so Kon is like twoish year's older than Mari growth wise?? Cause Damian and Tim are like five/six years apart? (supposed to be anyway but who gives a shit, apparently not the DC writers, cause like aren't they supposed to be idk 7-9 years apart?? I don't care really it gives better annoying the shit out each other I'm specific ways while in the same household prevogligous)

They call Kon cause, “you're family regardless and we found our daughter we want you to meet her, get yo ass over here”

[miraculous-trinity-leo]

Whacky Gotham, Goofy New York, and Chaotic Paris.

(part 1) (part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7)

Chapter 1: Genius Little Ladybug

★—–—–†–—–—★

It all started when Sabine Cheng and her parents moved from China to America, where she met a rich boy named Tony, they weren't the best of friends at first, but they would always get into crazy shenanigans because of Tony. Sabine always finding a way to get them out of it. After a while they were practically inseparable, they had each others backs, both in the good times, and the bad.

So when Tony lost both his mother and father in a tragic car accident, and had to take over his parents company, she was there to try and ease the pain. It helped a little, but the boy changed and blocked out many people, only keeping a select few close to him. His personality changed, and he started to act differently, it saddened Sabine, but she knew it was his way of coping with his lose.

She would oftentimes find him crying silently in his office. When Tony opened a branch in Paris France, he was paranoid something would go wrong when he wasn't there, so he had Sabine become a sort of co-CEO for the Paris branch. Over the many years of her being a sibling-in-everything-but-blood to Tony, her intelligence was much higher than everyone in the company, other than said boy.

She moved to Paris not long after, always keeping an eye on both the Paris branch and Tony ( because god knows what would happen if she didn't do so). She even met a baker named Tom Dupain. Eventually dating, and marrying him. Tony wasn't the most eager when he heard of Tom, but he accepted him as family (not because if he didn't Sabine would knock some sense into him). He practically exploded with excitement when he heard we would be an uncle a few years after Sabine's wedding.

Tony was there in the waiting room with Tom, when Sabine was having the child ( Tony denies not having a mini heart attack when the nurse came in). Both men looked at the beautiful child through the glass. Tony was put to tears when he read her name "Maria Dupain-Cheng" and was comforted by a teary Tom.

When Maria was 9 months old, her Uncle Tony came to spend time with her, and talk business with Sabine. None of them expected Maria to crawl her way into their conversation and say "Uncle Tony" in the sweetest most adorable laugh both adults had ever heard. Tony had a massive grin on his face, and gave Maria a big hug and lots of kisses saying " I knew i was your favorite hahaha, and you're only 9 months old. Sabine I think we got a little genius on our hands." Sabine was just as happy and told Tom to hurry and grab the camera.

"Come on say it one more time my dear Maria, show your papa who your favorite adult is" Tony said with a very wide grin.

Maria giggled at her uncle's happiness, clapping her hands. "Uncle Tony, Uncle Tony" Tom just smiled giving his baby girl a kiss and handing Tony 10 Euros.

Tony continued to visit his little genius niece over the years. Maria ended up getting the best education a kid could get, becuase his logic was " If she is a genius (which she is) then she is going to have the best education money can buy, for nothing is to much for my Little Genius Maria!" and with that she could officially be called the smartest kid in all of Paris... heck probably in all of Europe even! So when she gained a passion for fashion at 4, Tony didn't hesitate to get her, her very first (kid friendly) sewing set. By the time Maria was 5 she already knew how to speak and write in French, English, Spanish, Russian, and is learning Mandarin.

Maria had met Chloé when they were both 6, although they weren't really friends, they were polite to each other, which surprised a lot of the other kids their age. She had met Alix a few months later. She spent a lot of the time she wasn't studying with her friends, Alix would get in trouble with another kid on the playground, Chloé would criticise the other kid, and Maria would talk to Alix and then apologize to the other kid. Overall, they had a good dynamic going on, and they (as 7 year olds) promised to always have each others backs to the very end.

When Maria was 3½ months away from her 9th birthday, Tony was kidnapped. Maria just broke down, she wanted to help her Uncle, but she didn't know where he was or how she could help if she did. For three months Maria would only speak to Chloé and Alix (they were kinda shocked to find out she was related to THE Tony Stark). A few days before her birthday, Tony came to their home, with rolls of fabric, flowers, and 'I'm sorry cards'. Maria jumped into his arms crying asking what happened, and "If you're the smartest man on the Earth, why the Heck did it take you so long? How did you get out? Are any of your vital organs hurts? Do you need to go to the Hospital? An-"

"Hey slow down My Little Genius Maria, I'm ok. 1, They didn't really give me much to work with at first, and there is only so much a genius like myself can do with so little resources, and time before your Birthday. 2, I made an anime mecha suit and flew out guns a blazing. 3, Nothing I can't live without. and 4, No because I'm spending the week with you lot before a conference I have in about 10 days." He said while holding his small little genius  in his arms.

Wiping away the tears she looked her Uncle in the eyes "Wait, you 'made an anime mecha suit and flew out guns a blazing?' How does it work? what's its power source? And why do you have a weird glowing device in your chest?!" He had a lot of explaining to do.

That week, in her words was 'The best week of her life.' She was really happy for the first time since the Tony-napping happened, although she was sad he had to go, she knew  he was safe, and that she didn't have to worry (as much) now.

When Maria was 13, both Tony and Sabine decided to have her go to public school with her friends. After hearing this Maria called for a meeting, her two commanders (Alix and Chloé) came for the meeting, and had a talk on how she should go about her first day of public school, asking questions like 'How do non-homeschooled kids act? What are their personalities like? What interests do they have? Are some barbaric like Alix is sometimes? Will they like me? Am I allowed to talk to Chloé in or only out of class? What are the seating arrangements? Who do I sit next to?' the list goes on. They were all excited to finally all be in the same study environment, now all they had to do was wait for their first day.

•~—~—~—~—~—~—~•

The night before her first day Maria may or may not have slept well due to her excitement, she woke up a little later than she ever would have preferred, getting breakfast, her clothes, the 'greeting sweets' (as Alix called them) and heading out in a slight panic.

On her way out she noticed an elderly man with a cain crossing the street, and a car coming a little faster than what was allowed, she pulled the man out of the cars way without losing any of the sweets, after making sure the man was ok, she gave him a sweet before saying good day and heading over to school. She never noticed the man walking away without the use of his cain.

She still got to class on time, when her teacher walked in she greeted everyone in the class "Bonjour, je m'appelle Maria Dupain-Cheng, c'est un plaisir de vous rencontrer! (Hello, my name in Maria Dupain-Cheng, it is a pleasure to meet you!)" after the introductions she sat down in the empty seat next to Alix, both giving a fist bump, and a smile to Chloé, who looked away as if she didn't care (the girl had an image to keep after all). When class was over she handed out the sweets and went with her friends to lunch. During lunch, one of the other students from a different class was mocking one of their classmates that Maria remembered as Ivan, for having a crush on Mylène and not saying how he really feels to her. Ivan ran off into one of the locker rooms, and Maria decided to go and comfort him, she explained that she overheard what happened and that he should try and tell Mylène about his feelings, listing many different things he could do or say, and that he should stay positive.

Ivan thanked Maria afterwards and went off to write a song for Mylène. Ivan later showed Mylène the song he wrote for her, but was teased by other students near them, Ivan ran away not wanting to be embarrassed more.

Back in the classroom Alix and Maria are sitting and talking when everyone hears crashing and screams outside, the class looked out to see a giant rock thing destroying everything  on its way to the school. The teachers sent the kids home in an attempt to keep them safe.

When Maria got home she noticed a small box with writing she didn't recognize, she carefully opened it, instantly releasing a glow of bright red-ish pink light.

"Greetings Maria Dupain-Cheng, I am Tikki, the Ladybug Kwami of creation and good Luck, it is a pleasure to meet you." Maria couldn't believe her eyes "Mon dieu..." was all she could say, before going full interrogation mode "You're a Kwami? What is that? How are you floating like that? How am I able to understand you? Do you have some sort of ability to communicate in any language?How did you fit in this box? w-"

"There is no time, Paris needs you! I can only explain the powers I grant and how to use them, so please listen carefully."

•~—~—~—~—~—~—~•

Soon Maria was running in a red suit with black spots and amor. She ended up facing the 'akuma' as Tikki called it in a stadium, meeting her partner (a blonde furry she decided) for the first time.

"Bonjour m'lady, so what's the plan to take this thing down?"

Without hesitation she explained her plan " The plan is for you to have your Cataclysm ready, I'll give you a signal when it's your-"

"Cataclysm!"  The boy proceeded to use his ONE attack on a GOAL POST!

"I said to wait for a SIGNAL! Now you only have five minutes before you power-off."

"Oops" The blonde was really wasting her more useful braincells. After the boy was thrown out of the stadium, Maria was left to fend for herself, and she did really well, considering this was her first non(but sort of) official villain fight, up until she lost her footing and was knocked into the side of the stadium. The akuma was gone before she could get back, more and more people were turned to stone, but it showed just where Stoneheart was heading.

She arrived at the Eiffel Tower, where blonde was fighting stone people, he just managed to get away and actually listened to the plan this time.

They defeated Stoneheart, Maria gave her speech to the villain, and did a fist bump (though at this point Maria just wanted to get some sleep), when a reporter came to interview them.

"What are your names, and where did you come from?"

"My name's Chat Noir an-"

"Ladybug, and we're hear to protect Paris from Moth-Man, as much as we would love to give you a bit more details, we don't have much time at the moment" right on que their Miraculous' beeped signalling they had 2 minutes left " Stay safe, and positive, Bug-Out. "

•~—~—~—~—~—~—~•

"Well done Maria!"

"Thanks Tikki." and with that Maria went downstairs to get something to eat, when she saw her parents watching the news.

"Earlier today Paris gained a villain and two heroes: Ladybug, and Chat Noir. Many of our viewers submitted pictures and videos, but only one of Ladybug came out clear."

"Thank you Ladybug and Chat Noir for protecting us, bonne journée à Paris."

.................

"Maria you're taking self-defense classes starting tomorrow" Sabine spoke, though Maria didn't have any complaints, plus it'll help when fighting akumas so it's a win win.

"Yes maman."

•~~~~~later in Maria's room~~~~~•

"Ok, so you're basically goddess of creation personified into a cute little Ladybug creature?"

"Kwami, but yes."

"And you've existed since basically the Big Bang?"

"Correct."

"... how are you able to float like that? How are we able to talk without any ancient god language in the way? And what other kinds of um kwamis are there?"

"I float with magic. Yes their is a language only for the Kwami, but we've learned every other language in existence, so there would never be an issue with communication. And to your last question, there are many different kinds of Miraculi all over the world, some even across the universe, so I am unable to list every single one in existence, but there are just as many Miraculi out there as there are starts in the sky."

"Impressive... does that mean I could learn magic?"

"As a human you are limited to what you can do with magic, but you have a strong creation soul. So yes it is possible for you to learn basic magic, I can teach you some life magic to help you heal quicker if you get hurt outside the suit. You can also learn other types of basic magic based on what Miraculous you are most aligned to. Surprisingly you have a close affinity to most of my brothers and sisters that are here in Paris."

"Are they in the hands of other Miraculous users?"

"... aside from Chat Noir, only two: one belongs to the Guardian, and the other to Hawkmoth."

"What are their names?"

"...Wayzz is Kwami of Protection, and is the partner of the Guardian. The other is Nooroo Kwami of Transmission, Hawkmoths Kwami.

"Ok, so then I assume the 'Guardian' is who you were with until now, right?"

"That is correct."

"And how was I chosen exactly?"

"The Guardian chose you because he saw your kindness in action, and sensed your strong Creation Soul, he has only ever been wrong once, but I can tell you will be a great Ladybug, maybe even one of the few who achieved a higher sence of life."

"... I feel like you kind of described a Sage, also how would he have seen an act of kindness, I mean, I got my things, went out helped an older man with a cain, wait."Maria squinted her eyes at Tikki as if looking for something.

"The elderly man's the Guardian isn't he?"

"..."

"I get it, you don't have to tell me, it's all apart of the 'plot' like some show, I get it. Welp, good night Tikki, have to get up early tomorrow."

"Good night Maria." Tikki never messed up so badly before, then again she never had a user with such a strong Creation Soul before either... Maria is something special.

•~—~—~—~—~—~—~•

And Tikki was right, she excelled at Life Magic, learning a fair bit of healing, luck and slight plant manipulation and communication magic. Tikki wasn't sure if she should be proud of her Bug, or scared at her fast learning skills.

A few weeks passed and Maria was thankful for the self-defense classes, she even started doing her own training routine with Tikki guiding her. She didn't like that her partner was a flirt, it got distracting and almost got Chat killed a few times. She often wondered 'what the hell did I do in my past life to get a partner like this?'

•~—~—~—~—~—~—~•

Tony Stark was called by Sabine to meet her earlier than they had planned, she informed him that Paris now has a villain and two heroes.

"Ok, so what's the problem? We agreed to put Maria in self-defense classes so she would be safe... is it a boy?! Don't tell me it's a boy, she's to young to be dating!"

"It's not about a boy."

"Then what is this about?"

"She's Ladybug, *sigh* I swear she gets it from you Tony. She learned it from your dumb@ss, and it didn't help the need to protect people she loves when you got kidnapped. I need you to teach her how to be a good hero, good combat strategist, and to give her your support. She already has a tactical mind, I'm proud in a way that she shares your bravery."

"Ffffffffudge... ok, where is she?"

"Upstairs."

•~—~—~—~—~—~—~•

After a slightly awkward conversation Maria started to get even more training, and became a pretty much badass on the field, she incorporated the known fighting styles of: Black Widow (her favorite hero), Captain America, Deadpool (favorite hero to some degree), Daredevil, Wolverine, and some moves from famous villains like, Kraven The Hunter, Red Skull, Doctor Doom, Scorpion, Shocker, and Taskmaster ( her favorite villain). And she used ALL of those skills in battle, it was damn impressive to watch, and then Sabine had a talk with Tony.

〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜Bonus〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜

"Ok Tony wtf? I asked you to teach her how to fight for protection when she's out there, But you turned her into a complete badass, I mean none of the akumas have lasted more than 10 minutes with her! I want to hug you and kick your @ss at the same time."

" Sorry not sorry Sabine, but she is our Genius Little Ladybug after all."

•—–—–†–—–—•

First fic, wahoo (mario stile), hope you're all having an Absolutely wonderful day, stay safe, and stay positive, BUG-OUT!🐞💮🐞

〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜 Tag List 〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜

1st place★: @animegirlweeb ☕

2nd place★: @jumpingjoy82

3rd place★: @zalladane

4th place★: @jayjayspixiepop

5th place★: @arty-shadow-morningstar

6th place★: @smol-book-nerd

7th place★: @irontimetravelflower

8th place★: @fandom-trapped-03

9th place★: @meme991001

10th place★: @buginetye

11th place★: @blackroserelina

12th place★: @jessigurl-design

13th place★: @adrestar

14th place★: @moon5608

15th place★: @little-bluestar

16th place★: @batgirljr72

17th place★: @myazael

18th place★: @our-preciousss

19th place★: @wolf2118

20th place★: @nyx-in-line

21st place★: @kking13

22nd place★: @lunerlover2024

23rd place★: @moonlightstar64

24th place★: @corporeal-terrestrial

25th place★: @kashlyn

26th place★: @tbehartoo

27th place★: @heart-charming

28th place★: @solangelo252

29th place★: @t1dwarrior-of-earth

30th Place★: @lady-phoenix-of-tardis

@lupagrimm

[provider-of-pronoun-checks]

Hi. I'm Ashtyn. I was hoping for gender neutral name recommendations.

I was hoping for emo names or just names that fit a dark aesthetic and are gender neutral.

I'm still kinda vibing with Ashtyn but I feel like this is something I wanna do. If you aren't able to answer this that'll be fine.

Yep! Just a warning, bc I don't know much about being emo, I got these from name lists that I searched for, and just kinda yoinked the ones I thought would fit.

Crow

Cosmo

Sytx

Bronx

Asher

Arrow

Blaze

Blade

Ember

Asra

Alix

Quill

Raven

Adrienne

Griffin

Pheonix

Obsidian

Rain

Whisper

Storm

I can't think of any more, but if anyone has some I would appreciate them to add to the list!

[chicoriii]

Season 4, Episode 4 - Mr Pigeon 72

I have no idea where to start. This episode has some good things and some extremely stupid.

Marinette isn't still completely fine, but I prefer when she deals with it through being hyperactive than being a whining crybaby.

I know people don't agree with me, but personally I don't buy the whole revealing identity to Alya. It's not a problem with Alya herself, I would say the same about every single character who is not named Alix Kubdel at this point of the story. I haven't written anything in my post about Gang of Secrets, because I thought it would be undone in some way at the start of the next episode. The creators did nothing to explain why revealing identity of Ladybug to anyone was super dangerous and would result in a catastrophe in seasons 1-3 and the first two episodes of S4, but it's magically fine in episode 3. Only Alix made sense to me, as she will be the rabbit Miraculous holder, so she is destined to discover identities of everyone sooner or later and Marinette is aware of that. While it's not necessary to learn identity of anyone to other temporary Miraculous wielders, including Alya. Also that reveal hasn't been foreshadowed in season 3, while the show usually does it, especially if it's about something as important as that! More, in late S3, it's been shown that Alya still can't resist to not talking about Marinette's love life with Nino, despite she asked her to not do it. Now the girl, who is overly excited about superhero stuff, has no problems with even accidental revealing anything to Nino or someone else. She's even "stealing" Bunnix line that she's great at keeping secrets (sorry but you, the creators, haven't shown us that she's indeed is before!). This is why I think that reveal hasn't been planned before they started writing season 4.

But okay, I can deal with it, even if I don't buy it, but things these happened in Mr. Pigeon 72 are even more inconsistent with previous seasons. I have been worried about it, so it doesn't surprised me. For some reason Guardian related-things that have been kept in a secret before from everyone minus current Guardian and the future Guardian, are now fine being done in front of Kwamis (remember, they haven't been allowed to learn about making potions before!) and a civilian who is just a temporal Miraculous holder, not someone who is supposed to be trained to be a new Guardian. You can say - new Guardian, new rules, but why? Marinette has been portrayed as someone who respect authorities, she has never questioned any Fu's rules. It wasn't even said in the episode that she's going to change the rules. I hate that the writers don't even bother to explain us what's going on. Probably they don't bother about consistency, they think the audience is going to be too excited about Alya knowing Ladybug's identity and helping Marinette to question anything about it? How Alya could be allowed to learn the Guardian secrets? She is just best friend of the protagonist, she is not one of the main characters to get that special treatment. I makes zero sense to me. Especially since Su-Han will be introduced in episode 6 and he should help Marinette with understanding the Grimoire, Alya isn't necessary here for any other reason than fanservice.

In my opinion the way how they discovering how to make charms that protects from akumasitation was the most stupid thing that happened this season and one of the most in the whole show. Marinette who is the new Guardiand and portrayed as someone extreme intelligent and creative couldn't find the solution for days, but Alya with zero training magically discovered it in a few hours at worst. And when she told her the solution in not even very clear way, Ladybug did it immediately with no effort. That was so anticlimactic. At least the animation was fine, but other aspects of it was just a big disappointment, and I was looking forward for it. Thank goodness it's just the beginning of the season, I hope later important events of the season will be better written and portrayed.

Also I find it absurd that Rena Rough is walking with a page from the Grimoire like it's just an ordinary book and she's talking about it in front of a random civilian, like things that are written there are nothing special. She or Ladybug are not careful about Miraculous lore anymore. Not to mention that they are giving hints that Rena is very close to Ladybug in public, suspiciously close. And now with them being too careless, that's not hard to suspect that Rena Rouge is someone very close to Ladybug, maybe even as a civilian. Shadow Moth knows Rena Rouge's identity, and it's easy to him to learn who is Alya Cesaire's best friend if he doesn't know it yet, after all his son is in the class with her. Marinette has always been super careful and serious about her duties before, why that sudden change with zero explanation? It's just very out of character to her in my opinion.

I didn't like the akuma battle either, it's now the worst fight of the season in my opinion. It was so short and felt very lazy. I only liked that Plagg got some action and interaction with Ladybug (though it should be suspicious for her that he managed to reach to her that fast). He should be aware now that Alya knows Ladybug's identity but he acts like nothing happened. Not a word about it being unfair towards his kid or something, weird.

Thankfully the rest of the episode is generally more or less fun to me. It was nice to see Marinette and Kagami interacting again. I loved Kagami in the episode, although it was a bit weird to me that she isn't seemed to be affected by her breaking up with Adrien. Like her crush was very shallow, so she managed to recover herself from it very quickly. While it's been shown that Luka is hurt, despite Lukanette always seemed to be much more shallow than Adrigami in my opinion. But maybe it's because she's so down to earth, so being less emotional makes sense for her character. I liked how her attitude was opposite to Marinette's hyperactive: "No, I don't want to be in a relationship with Adrien again, he disappointed me, just let me live!!!". And she's another character who said that Marinette and Adrien are made for each other. I'm not surprised that Kagami sees it now when she tried to be with him and that didn't work. She's observant, sees more than many other characters. It seems she's an Adrienette shipper now. It's also good that her issue with Adrien wasn't resolved that easily and too fast. They need more time, but I'm sure they will be friends again.

So, we've gotten shirtless Adrien. I remember seeing a tweet of Thomas in which he answered to a question if there will be a beach episode and he said we will get something similar. I wonder if he meant this episode. Oh, they just remembered that Adrien is supposed to be allergic to feathers. It seems Adrien has allergic reactions only when it's somewhat related to the plot. When it's not, he's completely fine.

The reference to the famous Umbrella Scene™ out of nowhere in a random episode? It probably means something. I can see "reverse crush" supporters interpreting it as a proof to their theory, especially since this time Adrien did something clumsy and Marinette is laughing because of it (actually both of them). Or maybe because it's the first episode of season 4 with Marinette and Adrien interactions, they decided to be that much gracious for Adrienette fans, to compensate lack of it in the first three episodes. Oh wow, Marinette managed to propose spending more time together to Adrien without stuttering. Probably because she has done it spontaneously. Marinette is the most nervous when she's planning and thinking what could go wrong too much. This time she had no time to it, so it went more smoothly. It's like they building development of their relationship, but it didn't seem in Guiltrip (that's episode 11 chronologically) that something changed.

Seeing screenshot above, you can easily imagine how great friends they could be, being very comfortable around each other and laughing together, if not Marinette's anxiety. We need Adrienette development so much to get more moments like this.

Oh and I just realized that it's also one of the veeeeery few episodes with no real Ladynoir at all (the only other one I remember is Style Queen). So if there was no Adrienette it would be an episode without interactions of two main characters at all (although we almost got Ladrien). It could be another reason why this episode is that nice for Adrien and Marinette ship.

After seeing overly excited Marinette dancing in the rain, I can't believe she can manage completely give up on Adrien. It doesn't look like this at all.

Also we've seen three photos of Adrien wearing THAT scarf. It could not mean nothing different that foreshadowing that he's going to discover the truth about it somewhere this season. But I have no idea what Ladybug's mask with shining eyes could mean.

I don't know what to think about the episode. Despite absurd Guardian-related things, I still liked it much more than Gang of Secrets, but I have no idea if I generally enjoyed it more than other episodes of this season or not. At least it's an episode without stupid drama, which is amazing.

---------

I'm currently less active on social media, because my internet connection is very unstable, it often works very slowly to the point I'm not patient enough to visit Tumblr. Also I block spoiler tags again, because I don't want to see spoilers from the episodes those are going to be released very soon, as I feel that they reveal too much to me once more. We're currently in a marathon of the new episodes and since watching them is the more more enjoyable, the less I know about them, I decided to try avoid spoilers as much as I can. The only bad thing is that I can't be read discussions about the new episodes, reblog them and adding something from me until Optigami will be aired.

[cloudshapedpatch]

Alyadrien + "I can't believe we are doing this"

hello anon! thank you so much for this prompt, i love alyadrien! 💚🌸✨

Late Night Escapades

If there was one sure way to cheer up a chipper, it was raisin bread. And no, not just because Kronk said so, but Alya had found the best way to make someone’s day was to cook for them. So cinnamon-raisin bread in hand, she stood outside Adrien’s apartment building, hidden by the shadows.

As usual, at exactly midnight, Chat Noir jumped out a third story window to Alya’s side, already reaching for the foil-wrapped treat.

“Hey now, not even a greeting?”

“Nope. Only food.”

“You’re ridiculous. Hurry up, the bread’ll get cold.”

Chat slung her over his shoulder (much to her dismay) and leapt away from the scene.

“Wow, I sure do like the view from behind. It certainly isn’t nicer than seeing where we’re going.” Alya mumbled, knowing well he could hear her just fine.

“Well, okay then!”

The last thing Alya expected was for him to toss her in the air like pizza dough. A small scream forced its way from her lungs as she twirled in the air, almost letting go of the bread. And then she was in his arms, the way one would carry a bride.

“I hate you.” She rasped as soon as she caught her breath. The smug look on his face was all the answer she needed.

Soon enough he stopped on a slanted rooftop and set her down, letting her get settled before he transformed lest she fall.

“I will never get used to that.” Alya said with a grin while the magic light faded and left plain Adrien in its absence.

“Then get over it! What’s in the foil?”

“Really? Not even a ‘please’?”

Adrien pouted and made a grabby gesture. “Gimme.”

Alya laughed and unwrapped the bread, giving a pre-sliced piece to him. He promptly shoved it in his mouth eagerly.

“Pig.”

“I owe you one.”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full!”

Adrien quietly laughed, the shoulder-shaking kind that made everyone else laugh too.

“Great weather we’re having.”

Alya scoffed. “That the best you can do?”

“If you can do so much better, than be my guest!”

“How… how was work today?”

“Terrible. You’re an awful conversationalist.”

“Oh, surely Mister Model Man didn’t have any issues at all, did he?” Alya leaned back on her palms, having finished her slice of bread and placed the rest of the loaf beside her.

He sighed, and Alya knew instantly it was going to be one of those nights. “Well, been kind of distracted lately. You know how it is.”

“Do I ever.”

An awkward silence fell over them. Pleading with herself to please, say something didn’t help, so she just sat next to him, looking at the lights, and honestly, feeling quite pitiful.

“Do you ever wonder what it would have been like if Nino and Marinette had finished their date that day?”

The question slapped Alya across the face. “What?”

“That day at the zoo, the first year I went to school. I don’t know if you knew this, but I was hiding in the bushes, talking to Nino through an earpiece trying to give him pointers.”

“No way. I was doing the same for Marinette!”

“You’re kidding.”

“I wish I was. That’s hilarious. Crazy the way things turned out.”

“Yeah.”

Alya took his silence to think about his question. Would things have been different? Possibly, but there was no way to know for sure.

“Sometimes,” she started, trying to find the right words to say, “Sometimes I think about what it would have been like if Nino and Marinette had gotten together. What would have changed. What would have stayed the same. You think we would have still been friends?”

“Of course. Nino dating you didn’t take away from our friendship, and you and Mariette stayed friends. I think it wouldn’t have affected us.”

Yes. When Nino was hers. Another silence fell over them, but this time, it almost caused her physical pain. They were not ending the night off like this. They needed a happy ending, even just a small one.

“Let’s go do something stupid.”

Adrien choked a little over his bread. “Like what?”

“I dunno. Go spraypaint an abandoned building or something.”

“Sure.”

“Wait really? That’s it? Mister Hero doesn’t have anything to say?”

“Nah. I played the good guy for far too many years. A little vandalism won’t hurt.”

He stood and called for his transformation, holding his hand out for her to take. The glint in his too-green eyes hinted at something that Alya couldn’t name.

“Alright, antihero. Let’s get to it.” Her smile didn’t fade even as he hoisted her onto his back and jumped off the roof, waiting until the last second to extend his staff.

This is what she lived for. Nights out with Adrien, the wind carrying away all her worries.

After the spray paint was retrieved (half-used art supplies always littered the alley behind Alix’s art studio) and the location chosen, Alya was ready.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

“Don’t get cold feet now, kitten. C’mon, lift me up. I’ve got a great idea.”

Once he had secured his arms around her knees, she started to paint. She called out colors and he tossed them up to her, helping her create her masterpiece.

“There. Be honest, am I the next Van Gogh?”

“I’m thinking more like Picasso.”

The art was awful. A poorly drawn Hawkmoth with comically thick eyebrows mutely shouted at them as they took a step back.

“Oh, the longer I look, the worse it gets.”

Alya laughed, shoving the black paint can into his hands. “Here, go add something.”

He spoke aloud as he sprayed the words to the right of the picture. “Fuck. You. Hawk. Daddy.”

A large swell of pride filled her chest, thinking of all his accomplishments and tribulations. The reveal and defeat of Hawkmoth took a lot of courage. “Nice play on words.”

“You're the only person who would get the joke.”

“It’s our public inside joke.”

“I love it!”

Chat picked her up in a hug and spun her around, eliciting the first real laugh Alya had in a while. And when he joined in her glee, a small but prominent tingle went up her spine, rousing the hairs on the back of her neck.

She would ignore that for now. What mattered at the moment was her precious time spent with Adrien, and the vain hope that she’d get to hear him laugh again soon.