#I may or may not be putting off Alya and Nino just cuz I can’t figure out their designs

[nionom-art]

Got more miraculous + danganronpa stuff done

Drawing some of these characters has made me realize how weird some of their color schemes are.

Previous: here

Next: here

[legends-live-in-memories]

I Have Too Many Opinions. ep. 1

lmao. i got encouragement to post my opinions on fandom things and now i want to make a miniseries doing just that. so here i am. doing just that.

im putting it under the cut cuz this was 4 whole pages including the disclaimer. yes i put a disclaimer and i explain why.

Anyways, here is the first piece in what inevitably will become fandom info dump, this time on thomas astruc’s writing on miraculous ladybug. but only some of my opinions cuz we would be here all day otherwise.

So… a disclaimer before I begin… 

I do not hate Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir (yes i'm using their government name). I am quite a fan of the show actually despite its faults. I am also older than the intended audience but was obviously younger when the show first aired which is how my interest was piqued (the fact that its been 6 years and only 3 seasons says more about the show than me being a fan for that amount of time but also i never want to rush content creators cuz they're doing their best) and due to my age, there will be inherent bias in my approach of what i'm about to say as there is in EVERY opinion. The fact that it is an opinion should imply the presence of bias but most people tend to lack the critical thinking skills required to draw that conclusion ANYWAYS…

If I did hate the show I would not have this blog nor would I be even writing this because i tend to not give more than 2 seconds of thought to things i actively dislike (some of yall should give this a try) and i'm allowed to like things that are designed for an audience that i was originally a part of but grew out of. (I don't suddenly stop liking things because I'm older despite what many younger fans seem to believe about older audiences. I also don't need to be ‘allowed’ to do anything cuz i wasn't asking for permission anyways.)

This will not be character bashing, astruc bashing nor fandom bashing cuz, again, that would imply i hate any of those elements and if i did, i would not dedicate brainpower to them. Analyses and criticisms of media are fun and engaging and required if you wish to produce good enjoyable content. Now most of this should be already assumed and self-explanatory but people on the internet like to play morality roulette roll dice on purity culture and I rather have documentation that I am in fact not bullying fictional 14 year olds or a grown man. But alas, people get trigger happy whenever someone has less than 1000000% positive opinions on something they like and will throw out words they can't define (gaslight, baiting, toxic, problematic, gatekeep etc) in an attempt to defend their blind devotion, 

which is not needed, if you like something you never have to defend it, even if i don't like it. If you respond to anything I post saying you disagree with me, I will not argue with you. I won't debate back and forth and try to convince you that the things you like are wrong. Unless you are being absolutely tone deaf to what i'm saying, you wont get a negative reaction from me. So don't try to fish for a fight. Please. I got metaphorical hands for days and I'm mean, you don't want me hurting your feelings on the internet. Do yourself the favour. Difference of opinion is how we get diversification in media and is inherently a good thing. Now that that's out of the way, please don't ever let me have to say that again. I beg.

Now onto the fun stuff

I didn't know what I wanted as a first topic so my trusty internet friend @moonlitceleste suggested astruc’s writing… 

AND BOI do i got some opinions on ole tommy boi. Again I don't hate the dude. In fact, he has worked on a few shows that had defined my childhood, including but not limited to W.I.T.C.H. (all eps available on youtube for those interested, 2 seasons, general fun time all around).

So I don't think he’s scum of the earth but I do think his approach to writing mlb specifically has more misses than hits.

The first big miss is that he has no idea how to write 14 year old girls. At all. Almost every girl he has ever written feels like some terrible archetype built entirely for marketability and childish projection and pubescent self-insert (kind of). He has never been a 14 year old girl. I have. In fact when the show first aired, I WAS around the (assumed) age of the mlb characters. The behaviour he passes off as quirky or awkward or just the character’s genuine personality tend to perpetuate harmful stereotypes of teen girls found in the media and are never actually addressed as harmful. they just get swept under the rug. Marinette’s exuberant collage of teen heart throb model boi Adrien Agreste and her very painful almost fan worship she has of him (which flip flops like a paper sandal in the rain) being portrayed as a cute school girl crush uwu, Chloe being the y7 Regina George, Alya being the token best friend of colour with her ‘sassy’ personality (i want y'all to imagine me eyerolling so hard i bust a vessel in my eye), Kagami being the very damaging Perfect Asian Child stereotype. And before y'all get on your dusty soap box and defend going on about “BUT IT'S FOR CHILDREN”,,,, know this.

 i don’t give a solid fuck. 

Not one. 

Children arent stupid. Children are always going to remember the richy bitchy blonde who bullies the art kid, and the big kid, and the shy kid, and the non white kids, and was only nice to her equally rich white friend who she probably had a crush on or was only ever civil to her equally white lapdog. They're going to remember the half asian girl who was never allowed to actually be asian or the only black girl who existed solely as a soundboard for enabling bad habits or chastising the main character for the same habits she enables in the first place (boi aint THAT a topic for later). Like do i really need to explain that alya chastising marinette for taking max’s spot in gamer just to play with adrien rings absolutely hollow when she actively encourages her to sabotage the contest she’s in just so Kagami doesn't win?? Like I don't have to explain that right?? Again kids arent stupid and its quite something that Mari gets chastised for proving herself the best video game player regardless of her intentions just cuz it comes at the expense of max’s feelings/ego but is actively encouraged to sabotage not only kagami but herself by extension cuz kagami is ‘competition.’ Adrien is not a trophy to be won. And no I don't expect 14 yrs old to be perfect and to always make good decisions but these decisions are never addressed as being bad decisions. they get swept under the rug cuz those decisions were necessary for the ‘plot’ but astruc can barely keep characterization consistent and his characters suffer for it and it's the same children you preach are watching it that suffer as well. Cuz guess what? I KNOW 14 yr olds aren't like that cuz i've been there done that (this is the last time i'm saying that i promise) so I know astruc is just metaphorically throwing darts to figure out who says and does what without consideration for pre established personalities to drive the stalemate plot along. The same kids you say are watching this don't know that that's not how preteens work and will absorb and internalize those dynamics like baking soda and vinegar. Cata-fucking-strophically. 

And I haven't even gotten to the boys yet. Which honestly doesn't require much explanation anyways cuz they suffer the same fate as the girls. Tired archetypes with nothing to give them life. Nino falls into Adrien’s person of colour token best friend who dates the female lead’s person of colour token best friend so they can have cute double dates uwu. Except the plot goes nowhere and we have no inclination of romantic development beyond moments that only act to actively convince me to anti ship the lovesquare (i don't want to do that so i self indulge in fanon that actually cares about the characters and plot. may i interest you in True Sight on AO3?). Max is the residential nerd but it doesn't matter (cuz he and everyone are dumbed down for the sake of ‘plot’), kim is the sports jock (which interestingly subverts the asian comedic relief stereotype but only barely) and luka is cute older guy ™ that wears black nail polish and is in a band. The point of all this is to say there is no depth in the characters. It's especially blatantly obvious with the characters astruc doesn't like (chloe). Again, it being a show for kids is not an excuse to be absolved of putting effort into the characters you make.

This is one of the biggest misses astruc has. I haven't even gone into all the nuances of this particular miss. And i havent gone into how that works against him in the plot either. Mostly because the plot itself hasn't gone anywhere and partially because I wanted to go into the plot (or lack thereof) separately as its own miss. 

AND BOI is it a miss. 

SO home boy astruc wanted to reap the benefits of a serial show with ‘engaging’ plot without putting in any of the work to make a linear storyline and relying on the episodic format for, again, marketability. You can't have the best of both worlds, you are not Avatar: The Last Airbender. Which btw has a lot less episodes and a desired end goal that didn't involve top dollar. Legend of Korra did but that's not the point and it had its failings with that too. I challenge you, tell me how many episodes actually contribute towards a plot point or introduce new thematic elements to the show? Can you name them? I can and I'm going to include the plot points that moved the story in some direction if only temporarily. Yes only temporarily for some of these and i will explain later. (if you're in the server you already saw this list *wink*)

25/26. Origins- self explanatory, the beginning of the story, 

24. Volpina- introduction of the grimoire and Master Fu (kind of) and no, Lila is not a plot point,

28. The Collector- proper introduction of Master Fu,

37. Sapotis- introduction of Rena Rouge,

41. Syren- introduction of new aquatic power ups,

44. Anansi- introduction of Carapace,

47. Frozer- introduction of new ice power ups,

48/49. Style Queen- introduction of Queen Bee,

51/52. Heroes’ Day- introduction of Mayura and mass akumatization,

66. Startrain- introduction of Pegasus,

67. Kwami Buster- Marinette wears multiple miraculouses,

68. Feast- backstory as to how the miraculouses were lost,

69. Ikari Gozen- introduction of Ryuko,

70. Timetagger- introduction of Bunnyx,

71. Party Crasher- introduction of Roi Singe and Viperion,

73. Chat Blanc- alternate timeline that essentially means nothing but got a reaction out of fans anyways (myself included)

 77/78. Love Eater/Battle of Miraculous- Marinette becomes guardian and other heroes lose their miraculous,

New York Special- other heroes exist and there is an American miraculous box,

That's 21 episodes. 21 out of a heaping 78 plus 2 specials. Everything else was just your typical akuma of the day episode and everything that happened outside that had no lasting consequences on the plot thanks to the miraculous status quo. Was it entertaining to watch Lila stir the plot of the class dynamic? Hell yeah. Too bad it meant nothing by the end of the episode cuz we were struck with miraculous status quo. She literally doesn't appear again until Heroes Day. that is from episodes 25 all the way to 51, she means nothing and yet she is treated with the severity of a b-villain/rival thing. She means nothing by the end of Volpina if I'm being honest. She is only relevant for 20 mins of episode time she’s in then it's back to magic status quo that undoes any shift in dynamics and relationships. It's like Spongebob who can't get his driver’s license. The worst part is I actually like Lila and I wish the story treated her with the seriousness we as an audience are expected to treat her with. Despite being painfully inconsequential by the end of each of the 3?? 4?? episodes she’s in, it's entertaining to watch a character create drama just because. 

Too bad it means nothing.

Astruc is constantly building up suspense to something ‘important’ only for it to not deliver and fans are constantly having the rug pulled out from under us. Oblivio teased us with a reveal only that gets undone cuz memory akuma. Chat Blanc teased us with romantic development but that gets undone cuz time travel bullshit. Feast introduced more miraculous lore and the history of the guardians but that means nothing by the next episode or ever (i'm not including any reference to the season 4 trailer cuz i've been around the block a few times and im familiar with this lil dancy dance). Heroes Day teased us with a possible future team of heroes but that gets undone in Battle of Miraculous cuz ????? why?? (here's why; astruc was having a jolly ole time letting us know how irredeemable Chloe is at the expense of shooting his own stagnant plot in the foot. Again, discussion for later.)

Too bad anything that slightly swerves off course from the akuma of the day gets undone or ignored. Too bad nothing has any lasting consequence. I mean, if anything did, the episodes would have had a consistent order and release schedule so im not scrambling to watch the leaked ep in Portuguese or something while the french dub is two episodes behind while the english version hasnt even been dubbed. I really wonder how he plans to conclude the show when he’s so afraid to step out of the corner he painted himself in.

Again, not going into nuances. If you want you can ask for more specifics (i doubt anyone would) but this is really just a slightly detailed general overview of my opinions on astruc’s writing. 

I was going to include another miss in his approach to this show but imma save that for another time. 

How’s that for a ‘first’ post?

[anime-writing-everything]

Okay, so I know that for some reason Miraculous and DC are frequently like put together. And in these Marinette somehow either knows the Batman already or will go seek them out. There was one that I read (which is amazing) where Chloe brings Marinette to find Batman). But I think there’s a better way to have Chloe meet the batfamily and get their assistance. Hear me out on this story idea

First you have to know that in this Chloe was manipulated by hawk moth a while before she was miracle queen, that she did it primarily to help her parents, and that soon after the incident she regrets everything about it.

So the story takes place a few weeks or so after miracle queen, where Chloe would go with her parents to America for a business conference/gala, where the Wayne family is as well. One of the Wayne kids for some reason goes to get her attention by putting their hand on her should (probably Damien or Tim), and since she is a prime target for Akumas, kidnappings, or both plus she has super heroine insticts she judo flips them (they are taken by surprise). The family comes over asking if the son is okay and what the hell did she do that for. She apologizes and says it’s instincts since akumas happen all the time where she lives.

When they ask what that is she gets kind of confused and explains it. She tells them (I’m thinking it’s all the family, and probably other guests at the party at this point) about how Paris has a supervillain who makes a victim out of anyone feeling extremely negative emotions and how there are superheroes that stop him and restore everything so that’s probably why no one outside of Paris knows. She would also show them videos from the ladyblog.

That night at the hotel she’s staying at, she gets a visit from the bat family who “heard from the Wayne’s, very concerned donors of theirs”. Chloe can either believe them or call them out on the lie cuz she isn’t stupid and there are a lot of odd similarities between the Batfamily and the Wayne’s. Either way she tells them all about the miraculouses, what their powers are (that she knows about), and how she was the super heroine queen been (they know they did some research on her before she came; including in her first outing and some rumors about miracle queen). She’ll explain that she didn’t really know what she was doing on her first outing she just wanted to prove her worth and that miracle queen was her biggest regret because she hates the fact that she was manipulated into a villain when all she wanted to do was help people.

The batfamily off their help and the justice league’s for the capture of hawk moth, and ask her to get them in contact with ladybug discretely.

They all go back to Paris together where she goes up to Marinette, Alya, nino, and adrien at school. She tells alya she needs her to get her in contact with ladybug because she has information that is crucial in stopping hawkmoth. Obviously alya is still mad about miracle queen because now she probably can’t be Rena rouge ever again and denies her saying it’s probably a trap, etc. Thankfully, adrien and Marinette (who may or may not know each other’s identities) are both curious enough about the information to go to chloes after school where they meet the batfamily and justice league.

The justice league explains why they are there and offer their help, which obviously the two except wholeheartedly.

Somewhere in the story I would think Chloe gets her miraculous back because she’ll and ladybug talk and actually manage to understand each other’s sides. She becomes a permenant miraculous holder (supervised) because until they can catch hawkmoth he will still try and come for her first as she’s defenseless, plus pollen would like to help her on her path of redemption, plus it’s easier to fight when they have a full time ally.

Im not sure fully how it would end. Either they defeat hawkmoth and get the miraculouses and a new enemy appears (because obviously there is a reason for the miraculous). Or they defeat him and the butterfly miraculous goes missing (probably lila).

Also I would say stick with Marinette and Adrian together, so like if Damian was their age maybe him with Chloe or Jon. And then if Chloe isn’t with Damian, have her with Luka.

[whatisthiscontentyouspeakof]

The One Where They Know (Rough)

Next

Chapter One: Can’t The First Day of School Every End Well?

Marinette left her house that morning with a full box of Macaroons and the hope that this year wouldn’t be as bad nor as Chloé filled as the year before. Then she just missed the light to cross the school, dashing her hopes of making it to school early. Then she helped an older man across the street, which she was happy to do since she didn’t want him being hit by a car, but she ended up dumping her box of Macaroons all over the ground. On the plus side some of them made it through the fall. She offered the older man one before running towards the school, determined not to be late on the first day of school.

She bolted up the stairs of the building to get to her classroom just in time to see Mrs. Bustier asking Nino Lahiffe, a boy who’d she had shared classed with since before she even knew the name Chloé Bourgeois.

A well manicured hand smacked down on her desk. Speak of the devil, good bye to a relaxing quatrième. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Chloé said, emphasizing each part of her name.

“Ugh, here we go again.” Marinette couldn’t help but say as she slumped her shoulders. God, it was bad enough that she had to deal with Chloé all the time as Ladybug but she couldn’t have just one year without the entitled bratty blond.

“That’s my seat.” Chloé said, sounding just as bratty as she did every other year. 

Marinette was too tired to deal with this bull. Even so she tried to reason with the blond. “But Chloé, this has always been my seat.”

“Not anymore,” Chloé’s minions, she meant Sabrina, said sledding onto the bench beside her. “New school, new year, new seats.”

“So why don’t you just go and sit beside that new girl over there,” Chloé said, pointing to were a dark-skinned girl was sitting, the same spot Chloé and Sabrina usually sat. 

“But-“ Marinette started to say, trying to pull together enough energy to protest. 

“Listen,” Chloé said, speaking over her. “Adrien is arriving today, and since that’s” she pointed to the spot in front of Marinette, “going to be his seat, this is going to be my my seat. Got it.”

“Who’s Adrien?” she couldn’t help but ask. The only Adrien she knew was her Adrien, and no way he’d be friends with someone like Chloé.

The didn’t seem like the right thing to say as Chloe burst out laughing, Sabrina just half a second behind her. 

“Can you believe she doesn’t know who Adrien is,” Chloe said to Sabrina. She turned back to Marinette. “What rock have you been living under?

“He’s only a famous model,” Sabina said, adding her two cents to the conversations.

“And I am his best friend.” Chloe said, putting a hand to her chest. “He adores me.”

Was anyone even sure this Adrien guy even existed, Marinette couldn’t help but wonder to herself. She didn’t know anyone who’d be friends with Chloe, not even Sabrina, since she was more of a lackey then anything.

“Go on, more!” Chloe ordered.

“Hey!” The new girl was not standing behind Chloe. “Who elected you queen of seats?”

“Oh, look Sabrina,” Chloe said in a mocking tone as she leaned against Marinette’s desk. She then got up in the girls face. “We got a little do-gooder in the class this year. What are you going to super newbie, shoot beams at me with your glasses.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” the girl said before reaching down and grabbing Marinette’s arm. “Come on.”

Marinette tried to keep up with the confident girl, grabbing her macaroons and bag. Unfortunately in the scramble to get her stuff she forgot about the step between the two seat levels and, in classic Marinette fashion, face planted. Marinette started apologizing under her breath out of habit, picking up the macaroons that had fallen as Chloe and Sabrina laughed in the background.  

“Alright, has every found a seat?” Mrs. Bustier asked. Sometimes Marinette wished her teacher would help out instead of just sitting back and watching, but then again, most the staff here wouldn’t dare say a thing against Chloe since her dad is the mayor. 

Marinette just looked how at her macaroon box which was now essentially empty of any eatable cookies from the two falls. So much for having a treat to share with her classmates. 

“Chillax girl, no biggie,” the new girl said to her. 

“I so wish I could handle Chloe the way you do,” Marinette said. A part of her felt like she recognized the girl sitting beside her. Maybe she’d seen her at the bakery.

“You mean the way Majestia does it. She says ‘all that is necessarily for the triumph of evil is that good people to do nothing’.” The girl said. She spun Marinette around to point to Chloe. “Well that girl over there is evil and we are the good people, we can’t let her get away with it. Do you think Ladybug or Chat Noir let anyone get away with acting like that?”

Yes. Not that Marinette could say that. Akuma’s seemed so much easier to face then Chloe, even when she wasn’t sleep deprived. At least Akuma victims weren’t in control of their actions. 

“Well that’s easier said then done.” Marinette said instead. “She likes to make my life miserable.”

“That’s cuz you let her girl, you just need more confidence.” The new girl said.

Marinette couldn’t help but smile. Chat Noir had said the same thing, and if this girl was giving her the same kind of advice that her partner did, then she was someone that Marinette wanted to get to know. She reached down and pulled out the only macaroon left that wasn’t destroyed. She broke it in half and reached one out to the girl. “Marinette.”

“Alya,” the new girl said, taking the macaroon half.

Marinette’s eyes widened. “As in the Ladyblogger!” she said finally realizing why the girl had seemed familiar. “I knew I recognized your face but my parents own a bakery and I just thought I must of seen you during one of my shifts.”

Alya covered her mouth her hand so she didn’t spew out any cookie remnants as she spoke. “I think you may be one of the first people who’ve recognized me outside of  an Akuma attack.” she said. 

“I think you may have to get used to it,” Marinette said, remembering how many views she’d seen on the page visit counter the last time she’d looked. “You’re blog has really hit a spike in views this past week. saw one comment say you’re the only news source out there that doesn't overshadow Ladybug and Chat Noirs achieves with political BS. I doubt I’m going to be the last person to recognize you.”

“Oh girl, your too nice. I’m still a far way off from being internet famous.” Alya said, a slight blush covering her cheeks. She was obvious proud of her blog, even if she didn’t seem to realize how close she was going to her blog being a household name, at least in Paris. 

“For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Ms. Bustier,” The red headed teacher continued from at the front of the classroom. “I’ll be your teacher this year.”

Marinette stop listening as Ms. Bustier went through the stuff she said every year, instead focusing on getting her stuff sorted out on her desk, even though she knew they probably wouldn’t be doing much actually work today. Ms. Bustier wasn’t the type of teacher to just jump into things, like Ms. Mendeleiev.

“Now some things are going to be a bit different this year compared to last year.” Ms. Bustier said and Marinette decided to pay attention again, just in case it was important. “Now as I’m sure you’re all aware, just before the end of last year a super villain, Hawkmoth appeared. Now, we as a school, didn’t have much planned for how to deal with the situation or how we could help, but over the summer a few of us got together and brained stormed. Starting at the beginning of every class of the day, I’m going to run you through a short meditation before each one of us is going to say something nice about another classmate. Now I know that some of you are new to the class and don’t know anyone yet do today I just want everyone to say something they want to accomplish this year. That way each and every one of you have something to look forward to.”

Not the worse idea all things considered, Marinette thought. Though a part of her thought they’d run less of chance of being Akumatized if the teachers did something about Chloe and her behaviour. But who knows, maybe the meditation was just a start, maybe the staff would try a new approach with Chloe this year. 

After they went through their meditations, which had involved a lot of giggling at first before the class settled down for the last minute. Marinette hoped that, after awhile, they’d be able to settle down quickly and have everyone take mediation serious. There hadn’t been a lot of youth Akumas but school had also been out for a majority of the time Hawkmoth had been around, but school was open again and that meant bullies had all their targets in one place. If her fellow kids learned how to calm down and keep a cool head, maybe she wouldn’t have to worry about fighting any of her classmates.

Ms.Bustier clapped her hands together. “Now that we’ve all found our centres and are calm, why don’t we go through and each say what we want to accomplish this year. Chloe, why don’t you start?”

Chloe, who had just started to file her nails, sighed. “I guess. Obvious my goal for the year is to have a sit down with Ladybug since she’s the best and I’m obviously the best.”

“What about you Ivan?” Ms. Bustier asked.

Ivan kind of glowered, muttering something under his breath about being more social outside of school.

“That’s great Ivan. What about you Alya? Is there anything as a new student that you want to accomplish?” Ms. Bustier asked.

“Not really. School’s school, you know.” Alya said with a shrug. “I’d love to have an interview with Ladybug for my blog however. That would be so awesome.”

“Look at that, you and Chloe both have a goal involving Ladybug. Maybe the two of you could sit down and see if you have anything else in common. Maybe you’ll end up becoming friends.” Ms. Bustier suggested.

“Doubt it,” both Alya and Chloe scoffed. 

Ms. Bustier frowned but moved on. “Juleka, what do you want to accomplish this year?”

Much like Ivan, most of what Jukela said wasn’t heard by the rest of the class because of her mumbling but Marinette heard something about curses, photos and modelling. 

“That’s great Juleka, maybe you can also see about speaking up more in class,” Ms. Bustier offered, most likely haven’t had heard anything the goth had said. “What about you Marinette?”

Marinette smiled at her teacher. “I think I just want to get as good of a grade in science as I did last year.” she said. “And focus more on my designing in my spare time, maybe even sell some things.”

“I’m sure you’ll be able accomplish that,” Ms. Bustier said. “Mylène, what about you?”

“I’d love to do more environmental volunteer work,” Mylène said.

“That’s amazing Mylène, I’m sure you’ll make a great impact on Paris,” Ms. Bustier said smiling. “Max, what do you want to accomplish?”

“I plan on taking back my title of top of the year,” Max said, pushing his glasses up. Marinette just shrugged, he was welcomed to the title, no way was she going to have enough time to try and get that title again this year, nor did she need that kind of stress in her life on top of saving Paris on a weekly basis. 

“Well if previous years are anything to go by, I’m sure you’ll be able to reclaim your title.” Ms. Bustier said. “Alix, what about you?”

“I so plan on winning this years Rollerblade Marathon,” Alix said. “No one’s going to get in my way this year. Not with all the practice I’ve been putting in.”

“I’m sure you’ll succeed.” Ms. Bustier said. “Nathaniel what about you?”

Nathaniel shrunk under the attention, but his voice was clear when he spoke. “I’ve, ah, been working on doing some sketches for a comic. I’d love to find a writer to work with.”

“Maybe if you get a writer to work with, you’d be able to publish your work in the school news paper,” Ms. Bustier suggested. “Nino, what about you?”

Nino shrugged. “i don’t know. Work on my music, maybe make some short films. Enter a competition or two.”

“That sounds like great fun,” Ms. Bustier said. “Rose, what about you?”

“Oh there’s so much I want to do but if I have to pick just one….” Rose said. “I think I’d agree with Mylène, I want to do more volunteer work and help out the people of Paris and others less fortunate.”

“Maybe you and Mylène can do some environmental work together, maybe even put together a club for all the other kids at school who want to help out Paris.” Ms. Bustier said. “Kim, what do you want to do?”

“There’s some vacancies on the swim team this year, and since I am going to make the team, I’d like to get gold at Nationals,” Kim said confidently. 

“Well you’ve always been good at sports so I’m sure you’ll make the team.” Ms. Bustier agreed. “And finally, Sabrina, what do you want to accomplish this year.”

Sabrina smiled up at the teacher. “I’m obviously going to help Chloe reach her goal of having a sit down with Ladybug. Maybe once she sees how awesome Chloe is she’ll make Chloe a hero as well.”

“Not likely,” Alya muttered.

“Tell me about it,” Marinette agreed.

“Well…that’s great Sabrina. Though maybe you should think of a goal that’s more personal, that doesn’t involve anyone else,” Ms. Bustier suggested. “Now onto the lesson. This year the school has provided iPads for each of you to use. Starting tomorrow you’ll each be given an iPad to use for class before giving it back to me at the end of the day so I can charge it for the next day. Until then we’re going to continue doing this old school. If everyone could come up and get a textbook from the front we can start.”

The bell rang, signalling the end to their class. 

“Those of you who have PE, Mr. D’Argencourt is expecting you at the stadium.” Ms. Bustier said. “The rest of you can head over to the library.”

“KIIIMMMM!” A yell interrupted Ms. Bustier. Marinette glanced back to see Ivan preparing to deck Kim who looked was looking back at him with a smug grin, as if his reaction was what Kim had been going for.

“Ivan!” Ms. Bustier called out to him sharply. “What is going on?”

“It’s Kim,” Ivan said, as it explained anything, before forcing on Kim again as he brought his fist back to punch the athlete. “You’re do gonna get it.”

“Ivan!” Ms. Bustier said, once again stopping him from punching Kim. “Go to the principles office!”

Ivan grumbled in anger but didn’t protest. He crunched up the piece of paper he’d been holding in his hand and stocked out of the room.

Marinette watched him go, hoping he’d cool off by the time he got to the principles office. She really didn’t need an Akuma on her first day of school, especially not one of her classmates. Normally she would try and go after him but she had promised her parents she’d try not to be so late all the time, and she at least wanted to keep true to that for a bit before being a superhero destroyed her time management skills. Anyways, Ivan was really a big softy under all the exterior. She was sure he’d stop be angry before Hawkmoth could try and Akumatize him. 

Since there really wasn’t anything for them to work on in the library quite yet, Marinette allowed Alya to gush about her favourite superheroes, both from comics (Majestia) and from real life (toss up between Ladybug and Wonder Woman). She had even shown Marinette some footage she had edited out from Akuma battles, of Ladybug and Chat Noir throwing jokes at each other. She was waiting to collect more so she could make a video just of them and all the silly names they call each other. 

BOOM!

The group shook violently enough to throw Marinette and Alya from the seats they were sitting and onto the floor.

What were the chances that came from something other then an Akuma? And if it were an Akuma, that it wasn’t Ivan.

Alya got up to her feet before Marinette, grabbing her arm with a ‘Come on’ and dragging her towards the screen that displayed the schools security cameras. A bunch of concern students were already crowding around them, trying to get visual on the Akuma so they could know if they were safe or not.

The one camera showed a stone Akuma standing in a crater just outside the school steps. 

“KIIIMMM!” The Akuma, who sounded just like Ivan, yelled. 

“Isn’t that the kid from class?” Alya asked her, sounding excited. 

“Ivan, yeah.” Marinette said, trying to think of a way to get somewhere safe to transform. 

“This is the first time I’ve actually been in the same building as someone who’d been Akumatized. I got to go follow him! My first chance of filming an Akuma, essentially from the beginning.” Alya, in her excitement, didn’t wait for Marinette to say anything, instead rushing out of the library.

Marinette just sighed, surely coming to the realization that her new friend may give her a heart attack, or at least a few grey hairs. She didn’t go after her though, instead heading out to find somewhere to transform, making a note to herself to keep an eye out for the blogger so she didn’t get in trouble. 

Marinette slipped into her homeroom, which was empty and had window access, always a bonus, and opened up her purse. Tikki flew up to face level.

“Ready to go Tikki?” Marinette asked. Her Kwami let out a cute ‘uh-huh’, and Marinette smiled. “Alright then, Tikki, spots on!”

Marinette leaned her head back feeling her transformation taking over. She had found it weird in the beginning that the magic that overtook her as she transformed, also made her do a stereotypical Magical Girl transformation, but now she had come to accept it, just relaxing and allowing the magic to flow through her. At least her little transformation dance didn’t seem to be visible to anyone, nor did it seem to take anytime since the same thing that was happening when she called for the transformation, was still happening when she transformed as if no one had moved. 

The pink light faded leaving Marinette in her same old Ladybug outfit. Not that it really mattered right now but, during an Akuma dry spell, Marinette had decided that she didn’t overly care for her hero outfit. After she let something slip to Chat, who’d mention that Plagg had told him that he could change his outfit, he just needed to visualize it, she had been wanting to design something a little less basic and childish. Of course, she just needed to find the time and inspiration to do just that. Oh well, until then, her original Ladybug outfit would work just fine, after all, you can’t go wrong with classics. 

Ladybug swung away from the school, keeping an ear out for both her partner and for this Akuma. At least she knew Ivan was after Kim, who’d be at the stadium today, so she at least knew what way to head. 

“Milady!” Chat Noirs voice called out to her. Ladybug landed on a rooftop before turning and looking for her partner. She found him a few roof tops away; one baton ride later and he joined her on the roof. “So much for a first day of school. How many do you think are going to close down?”

“Defiantly Collège Françoise Dupont,” Ladybug said. “The Akuma originale there. It’s a student who’s going after another student who is currently at Parc des Princes. The this news blogger who apparently just started there so she’s been sharing footage of the entire thing.”

“The Ladyblogger?” Chat Noir asked. Ladybug nodded, looking a little surprised. “I may of obsessively research anything to do with us. Her content is good, though it’d be better if she wasn’t trying to figure out our identities. Should we look at the footage to see where they are?”

Ladybug just looked as him. “I’m pretty sure a giant stone being is going to be hard to miss.” she said dryly. 

Chat Noir just smiled at her. “Bet I could find him before you.”

Ladybug just smirked at him before tossing her yo-yo and flying through the air.

“Hey! That’s cheating!” She could hear Chat Noir yelling behind her. She just laughed. 

It took another three swings through the air, and Chat Noir catching up with her, before either of them could hear the stone Akuma walking. Surprisingly he was almost to the stadium. Apparently being made of stone hadn’t slowed Ivan down at all. Ladybug was about ready to swing down and distract the akuma when a few police cars pulled up.

“Great,” Chat Noir said sarcastically. Akuma battles always went better when law enforcement didn’t get involved. Sure, some police officers, like Sabrina’s dad, were helpful and tried to stay out of the way as soon as the two got on the scene but others had quickly decided that they knew better then the young heroes and the two of them often had to waste time trying to get a majority of them to safety. 

Chat Noir made a more to head down to ground level but Ladybug held an arm out. “Let’s just wait a moment. See if we can figure anything out while the police distract him.”

Chat Noir nodded, resting against his baton as Ladybug crouched down to get a better view. 

“Akuma, I order you to stand down! If you do not then my officers will be forced to shoot!” Lieutenant Léon Roux yelled through a megaphone as if that would actually do anything. Ladybug and Chat Noir met each others gazes and rolled their eyes. 

The stone Akuma just continued to head towards the stadium, not even pausing to give the police the time of day. 

“Ready!” Lieutenant Roux yelled. “FIRE!”

The police officers around him started to open fire on the Akuma much to the annoyance of Ladybug and Chat Noir. The two of them weren’t worried about the Akuma. They had quickly figured out that when an Akuma ignored the police, it generally meant that they didn’t view them as a threat, that nothing they could do could harm them.

Sure enough the stone Akuma just seemed more annoyed then anything as a yellow light encased him causing him to double, if not triple, in size. Well that was interesting. Ladybug really hoped that the rumours the other police officers, the ones who let the two heroes actually do their job, had told her, were true. That Lieutenant Roux was moving out of Paris to another department within France and that an officer was being promoted. Especially if it was office Raincomprix like a majority of rumours said. 

“We’ll have to try and avoid hitting the akuma directly,” Ladybug said aloud even though her partner had probably realized this himself. They had learned early on that communication was key in this line of work. “Any idea where the Akuma is?”

“Not yet milady.” Chat Noir said. He looked at the surrounding area. “News on scene.” 

Ladybug looked around and sure enough, she could see not just Alya, who was crouched behind one of the police cars filming, but Nadja with her camera crew just across the street. The two of them would have to make sure when the engaged the Akuma that they didn’t end up putting any civilians in danger. 

“Come on,” Ladybug said to Chat Noir as the Akuma was nearing the entrance. The two of them stealthily made their way to the top of the stadium and then down to the field below. 

“Do you see the students?” Ladybug asked. Even if her partner couldn’t, he had way better hearing and lets face it, kids sucked at keeping quiet. At least they had realized the Akuma was heading their way and had hid. 

“Ladybug!” A voice called out to her. She turned and saw Rose who had popped up from behind one of the chairs. Slowly she saw Max, Alix, Nino, Kim, Jean, Aurore, Mirellie, Allegra, Claude poke their heads up from behind seats. Well that was easy.

“An Akuma is about two seconds away from busting in here,” Chat Noir said. 

“Everyone head towards the change rooms and take the emergency exit out. Chat Noir and I will take care of the Akuma,” Ladybug ordered. Her fellow students were quick to escape, having seen enough Akuma battles on the news to known things ended up going the best when people listened to the local heroes. The last kid ran down the tunnel where the change rooms were right as the Akuma burst through the stadium doors.

“KIIIMMM!” He yelled. “So who’s the wuss now?!” 

The Akuma looked around to see only her and Chat Noir standing there. “Where’s KIIMMM!” he demanded.

“Not here. Sorry. Maybe try again tomorrow.” Chat Noir said, his tone light. 

That seemed to anger the stone being, who swatted at Chat Noir. The two heroes jumped apart to avoid the giant stone fist. 

“Ivan, do you really think squishing Kim is going to make anything better?” Ladybug asked, trying to see if she could spot the Akuma. She had an idea but wanted to see if she was right before calling for her Lucky Charm.

“I’m not Ivan anymore. I’m Stoneheart.” The Akuma yelled, smacking his hand down to try and flatten her. She dived to the side and rolled back to her feet. 

Stoneheart headed towards the tunnel he’d seen a student run through when he had first came in.

“Chat Noir! I know where the akuma is!” Ladybug yelled pointing to the tunnel. Chat Noir got what she meant.

“Cataclysm!” He yelled rushing the tunnel. He ran his hadn't along the tunnel entrance, causing it to collapse. If Stoneheart wanted to get through, he’d have to bulldoze his way through and that would take time. Chat Noir propelled himself into the air, landing beside her. “What’s the plan?”

“Every time Stoneheart has gone to smack us or the police he’s being using his left hand.” Ladybug explained.

“You think he’s holding the Akumatized object in his right hand.” Chat Noir finished.

“Yep. So all we need to do is get him to open it. Lucky Charm!”

She flung her yoyo up into the air. As if flew back down to her so did a red and black wetsuit.

“It is a lovely day to go swimming but I don’t believe that now is the time,” Chat Noir said. 

Why couldn’t she ever get a Lucky Charm that made sense. She knew it was part of being a ladybug holder to figure things out and be creative but her life would be so much easier if her Lucky Charms were straight to the point. 

Ladybug glanced around trying to see how she could make this work. She needed Stoneheart to open his fist. The wetsuit had closed off hands and feet. A hose was by her feet and Alya had snuck in behind Stoneheart and had crouched down right by where the hose tap was. Ladybug smiled as she looked at her partner. 

She wrapped the neck of the wetsuit around the hose so that it was secure and leak proof.  She spun her yoyo around Chat Noirs legs, just above his ankles where his ‘boots’ ended. “Don’t resist, just trust me, okay?”

“Always miiiiiilaaaady!” Chat Noir yelled, his normal nickname for her get starched out as she pulled on her yoyo, yanking his feel from under him and swinging him through the air and right in Stonehearts fist. 

For the first time Ladybug realized that, with how big Stonehearts hands were, he wouldn’t be able to take their miraculous’ even if he had gotten them in a position to do so. With a wide smile she jumped through the air. “Catch me if you can!” she taunted.

The orders of getting them beat out over Stonehearts need to protect his akumatized object, just like she had planned. With a grunt Stoneheart trapped her in his other fist, a black crumpled piece of paper, that was vaguely rock shaped, falling to the ground. 

“And now, Alya the tap!” Thank her lucky stars that Alya instantly knew what she meant, rushing to the hose tap. The hose started filling up the wetsuit, expanding it. Within seconds the suit was so big it forced Stonehearts hand open, releasing her. 

Ladybug quickly dashed towards the akumatized object on the ground and stomped on it releasing the Akuma butterfly. She went to take her yoyo out and catch it to purify it only to hear a shout behind her.

“Aim!” She heard Lieutenant Roux say. She turned and saw a handful of police officers in the doorway aiming their guns at Stoneheart, who she knew was seconds away from transforming back into Ivan.

“Wait!” She yelled jumping in the way. 

“Little missy, we’ve had enough of your little games. It’s time we dealt with these Akumas ourselves.” Lieutenant Roux said. He turned back to the officers that had followed him in. “Get ready boys.”

“We already got the Akuma!” Ladybug said firmly. As if to confirm it she saw a yellow light behind her and could hear Chat Noir yelp as he dropped to the ground now that Stoneheart was a normal human size. “If you had fired, you would have hit an innocent child.”

“Innocent my ass. Paris is sick of being terrorized! Sick of these monsters. They should be charged as terrorists!” Lieutenant Roux said. A few of his officers looked like they agreed but a couple looked uncomfortable. 

“Be careful,” Chat Noir said, coming to stand by her side, “or you might be Hawkmoths next victim if you get any more worked up.”

Lieutenant Roux just growled at him.

“Meouch,” Chat Noir said, unfazed. 

“Do you really think Paris will stand by your view point?” Alya called out to the officer, her phone still up.

Lieutenant Roux glared at her. “Hand over your phone right this instant young lady!” he ordered. “It’s evidence of terrorism.”

“Go ahead,” Alya said, unfazed much like Chat Noir had been. “It’s been live streaming to my blog this entire time so if  you really want the video you can just go there.”

Lieutenant Roux was close to turning completely red with anger but before he could do anything his phone rang. He looked at his phone before paling and heading towards the exit, signalling for his officers to follow him.

Ladybug turned to Alya. “Be careful and keep an eye out. If he does get akumatized he may go after you.” she warned Alya before beeping filled the air.

“We need to go,” Chat Noir said. The two waved goodbye before heading up over the stadium wall, with Ladybug grabbing the wetsuit on the way, and to a nearby roof. 

Chat Noir smiled at her. The two of them reached hands out with a ‘Pound it’ that was quickly becoming common for them. Ladybug reached down to grab the wetsuit and throw it into the air when a thought hit her, causing her to gasp in horror.

“Milady are you okay?” Chat Noir asked.

“The Akuma.” She whispered. “I didn’t catch the Akuma.”

Next

[thewritewolf]

Nino’s Quest Chapter 6: Out of the Woods

The true struggle of DnD - getting the party together for a session. Not at all helped by magic terrorism attacks.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 (Final)

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3.  My ko-fi.

--- October 15th ---

Lord DM: Hey dudes, we still on for today? Since its been like two hours I’ll guess that was a no then

Adrien Regreste: sorry dude. Got roped into a last minute photoshoot :(

Marinoodles: same Wait no I mean- last minute bakery stuff Sorry to bail like this! D:

Alya’ll Beware: Don’t worry about it girl I was chasing that akuma that was running around It kept giving lb n cn the slip Got some good footage tho

Lord DM: Bummer dudes Guess thats one of the perks of living in paris We can try again next week, k?

--- October 18 ---

Direct Message From Alya

Alya: These akumas have been crazy, babe. Rain check on dates? At least until hawkbutt tires himself out

Nino: :( Can’t you take a break or two? You don’t have to be on the frontlines of EVERY akuma attack

Alya: …

Nino: [crying emojis, broken hearts, butterflies with red X’s over them]

Alya: alright, alright But just two, okay? People count on me for the latest news

Nino: totally, babe Just hope lb+cn won’t need rr+cara Cuz… you know That’d be rough

Alya: [eye rolling emoji] Yeah yeah I feel bad for them tho Their social life must be wack at this point

---October 22nd---

Lord DM: Hey, bro, we still meeting at your place or what? ??? Come on, dude! Not again! :(

Adrien Regreste: Sorry dude [sobbing emoji]

Alya’ll Beware: Akuma, babe. Can’t miss three in one week!

Lord DM: Yeah… guess so. Let’s just not miss the next sess, okay? I dont want this campaign to end

Alya’ll Beware: We’ve only missed two weeks so far. That’s not too bad We got pretty lucky with getting five in a row Esp considering how busy we usually are

Lord DM: Fair enough Next week sound good?

Alya’ll Beware: Should for me

---October 31st---

Lord DM: Im scared to ask but… DnD today?

Adrien Regreste: [thumbs up] I’ll be going on 4 hours of sleep But I can do it!

Marinoodles: Same here Lack of sleep and all

Alya’ll Beware: Yeah We good

Adrien Regreste: !!! Wait its actually happening Awesome! ...I should probably clean my room.

Marinoodles: XD Probably! :P

Adrien Regreste: :3

------------

An hour later and Nino had made the trip over to Adrien’s house, Alya and Marinette in tow. Their chatting had been less energetic than usual, no doubt because there wasn’t a single person among them who didn’t feel exhausted. A fact that wasn’t at all helped by the late hours that they were arriving at. It may have only been nineteen hundred hours, but when you’d only had a few hours of sleep each night for the past week, it made all the difference in the world.

Despite all that, they were determined. The very thought that they were willing to go through all this just to go further in his campaign was thrilling for Nino, and he didn’t want to let them down.

A wicked grin, looking out of place on him, stretched across his face. With the events he had planned for tonight’s session, he was sure they’d be awake in no time.

They entered Adrien’s room and saw the bounty of sugary treats and caffeine that their host had prepared. After some brief chit-chat, Nino got set up quickly and rolled right into the session. The longer he delayed the more likely it was that his players would fall asleep.

“The forest at last thins as you crest the top of a hill. From your vantage point, you can see the capital city on the horizon.” There were sighs of relief around the room.

“Finally! My character could definitely go for a proper bed after a week of roughing it,” Marinette said after taking a drink of pop.

“You’ll have to hurry, then. The sun is going to start sinking below the horizon. Unless you want to be stuck outside the city until morning, you’d better get moving.”

“My bard starts one last travel song as we rush over.” Adrien opened his phone, no doubt to a lyrics site and cleared his throat.

Alya quickly covered his mouth. “I do not have the time or patience to listen to another of your renditions of Take Me Home, Country Roads, Sunshine. Let’s just get to the city, alright?” Adrien’s eyes darted to Nino in a silent plea, but he simply shrugged.

“Sorry, dude. Babe has a point.”

Pouting, he closed his phone. Beside him, Marinette giggled and patted his back consolingly.

“You reach the city gates without any issue - no bandit or monster is stupid enough to get within stones throw of the capital, not with all the guards on patrol. They were a little suspicious to see you guys so late at night, but… two noble sigils, a bardic license, and my holy symbol put those dudes right at ease. There are still a few rooms open at the inn - how are you guys going to divvy up?”

A trio of blank stares looked back at him. He sighed.

“Each room costs money to rent. You don’t have a lot, so while you could get a private room for each of you, it’s probably better to room with someone else. So who is spending the night with who?”

“Dibs on the cleric!” Alya cried. She tapped her chin theatrically, “I guess that leaves you two together, right?”

“I- I guess so?” Adrien blinked, surprised at Alya’s sudden outburst. Marinette paled a little but nodded.

“Since you guys arrived so late, most of the rooms were already filled up and you had to make do with what you can get. When you finally find your rooms, they are across the inn from each other… and there is only one bed in each room.”

A slight blush, but neither Adrien nor Marinette were freaked out. Alya slumped in defeat - there wasn’t any roleplaying involved in sleeping after all. Unless they decided to do some method acting and have a sleepover.

“The four of us drift off to sleep, which was a totally great change of pace from the creepy woods that you’ve been sleeping in for a week now.” Nino punctuated his words with a yawn that proved contagious. “It was way late at night when suddenly… M, Adrien. Roll for perception.”

Adrien, naturally, rolled a one. Just when Nino was scared he’d accidentally killed them off, Marinette pulled through with a high roll. He breathed a sigh of relief.

“With your keen elven hearing, the creaking of the wooden floor boards was enough to jolt you from sleep. There is a glint of metal above you, and you feel a presence in the darkness. You have just a few seconds to react - what do you do?”

“I roll over!” Marinette blurts out, her eyes wide.

Nino nods. “Right, that puts you right on top of Adrien, who is now totally awake too. It was a good move, though - a knife plunges into the mattress, right where your neck had just been.”

All business now, Marinette asks, “What can I see?”

“Not much. Loose cloaks with hoods pulled up. Knives. Two people. The other person has stumbled back, probs spooked by your sudden movement.”

She taps her chin before her eyes widen again. “Wait, what about the others?! We have to go get them! Or at least get their help.” She shuffles through her character sheet. “Okay, um… I whisper to Adrien in Elvish ‘close your eyes’ and then I toss a flash flare thing at the guy.”

Nino rolls some saves - without the warnings, neither of them stood a chance. He looks up to see Marinette watching him with hopeful eyes. “You got ‘em, M. Now what?”

“I roll off the bed and try to take the guy’s knife.”

“You’ve got it and your turn ends there. The dudes are blinded, but it won’t be long before they’ve recovered. Adrien?”

“Can I cast a spell?”

“Not without your lyre, bro.”

“Fine, fine. I grab it off the bedside table.”

“And why do you think it’d be there?”

“...I’m a bard. Gotta be ready to play, first thing in the morning.” Adrien smirked.

Chuckling, Nino replied. “Alright, fair. What do you cast?”

Adrien stuck out a tongue as he thumbed through his spell list. His eyes lit up as he looked at Nino. “I cast summon monster one, and I summon the Good Boy.”

“Right,” Nino said as the others giggled. “So you’ve got your celestial dog next to you. I figure you want it to attack one of the dudes?”

To his surprise, Adrien shook his head. “No, I command him to go wake up the other two. Probably to go sit by their door and bark in a commanding angelic voice.”

The fight didn’t last long from there - the two of them probably would have been enough to deal with the assassins after they lost the element of surprise. But four against two made it a landslide victory.

“Even though you try your hardest, you weren’t able to catch either alive. One got stabbed and bled out and the other, well… hopefully the innkeeper will understand that it wasn’t your fault that the window got broken.”

“Do they have anything on them?” Alya crossed her arms. “I get the feeling someone is after us.”

“You’re immediately proven right when you find a note in the dead guy’s pocket that reads, ‘Information about the Necromancer cannot reach the king. Dispose of the adventurers before they get their audience.’”

The party exchanged looks.

“Spooky,” Adrien said flatly. The others nodded in agreement.

“Do I recognize the handwriting or anything?” Marinette leaned forward, the gears in her head turning. “Remember, I am a court brat.”

“Nope. Looks like it was written deliberately poorly. You don’t know if you’d recognize it normally.”

“Time for the king?” Adrien perked up.

“Yup, it’s time for-” Nino was interrupted by a sharp knock at the door.

Adrien gulped. “Um… hello?”

Nathalie stepped into the room and narrowed her eyes at the dice and character sheets. Belatedly Nino remembered that Adrien usually claimed they were working on a project or homework during these sessions. “It is late. Your friends need to leave.”

Without a choice in the matter, they packed up and had the door shut behind them.

-------------

Nino’s fears were confirmed later that night during a discord chat.

Adrien Regreste: Sorry guys. Looks like we won’t be able to play at my house again Not for a while at least. :(

Lord DM: Don’t worry about it bro Had to happen eventually

Marinoodles: I’m so sorry! :( I hope you didn’t get in trouble because of us

Adrien Regreste: Nothing more than usual They aren’t threatening to keep me locked up at home So, you know Better than usual

Alya’ll Beware: That’s something at least R they going to let u hang out again?

Adrien Regreste: *shrugs* Probably. Anyway… Sorry to be a bummer. Night, everybody!

Marinoodles: Sweet dreams!

Alya’ll Beware: Night, kiddos.

Lord DM: Don’t let the assassins bite! ;) [Three thumbs down, one angry emoji]

[whenimgoodandready]

(grabs the speaker hanging above) Attention everyone! This your conductor/reviewer speaking, for today’s review, we’ll be goin’ for a ride from Point A to Point B and as we journey in this state of the art revolutionary industrialistic mechanism, we’ll be seeing some oh so interesting sights along the way such as an adorable shipping moment, a view from our own Milky Way galaxy and a new superhero in combat! So please fasten your seatbelts, sit back, relax and do enjoy the ride, All aboard! (pulls the trains caboose and it sounds):

*Startrain-Ms.Bustiers class is taking a field trip to London, WHOA! London!? Damn! Wish my field trips were fun! They’re taking the Startrain! (not the villain) You know, that fancy modern looking bullet train that goes from the city of love to the Queen in seconds from “Bakerix”!? Yeah, that Startrain! Foreshadowing! Unfortunately, poor Marinette can’t go cuz if she does, Hawk Moth will have an advantage on akumatizing someone and they’ll be no Ladybug there to purify the akuma. On occasion, this is one of those eps where she acts responsible and not impulsive (depending on the writer), but Master Fu allows her to go cuz she needs a break! She works harder than anyone in Paris, France! She deserves a vacation! But! she’s still responsible, so Fu gives her the horse miraculous (power of teleportation) in case there’s any danger. Smart! As for Adrien, he sneaks off to his field trip cuz Gabe barely lets him go anywhere. Hey! Let the kid go eat a crumpet! Besides, it’s not the first time he’s run off to go do something against his fathers wishes. Nice guys can rebel! Elsewhere, Sabrina’s father, Lieutenant Roger, is bald-I mean! Running late on getting his daughter onboard cuz he’s too distracted by his code of honor on the force to focus which has the akuma go after him. Oh great! We’re gonna have Robocop again, okay, let’s see how this-wait what!? He calmed down? Oh cool. Sorry little akuma, run along! Nice try there Hawk Moth. Looks like Rogers hair isn’t the only thing receding over here! (Badum-tish🥁).

The class genius, Max Kanté, is excited cuz his mother, Dr.Claudie Kanté, is the conductor for the Startrain. Hey! Look at that! We’re expanding even more on Marinettes classmates and their families! Yea! We need to know more about these kids. As cool as it is to operate a train, Dr.Kantés real dream is to be an astronaut! She had to put that aside to support her son, but now that he’s all grown up and is a genius who can pretty much take care of himself, she’s free to follow her true passion. All she needs to do now is just wait for her results in her e-mail if she passed her exam to go into space. So she waits.......and waits......and waits.......and waits.......and waits.......and-Hey! Let’s see what’s goin’ in the train!

The Startrains futuristically fun! Service droids roaming around asking the passengers for drinks and automatically handing it to them! Are these things real! I’d love for them to be real! Chloe was in First Class (why bother, it’s still a cool train?) while the other kids were just being kids playing video games, drawing, browsing on their iPhones, yawning!? Oops! That’s Marinette. She’s exhausted from her earlier crime fighting and is just taking a nap. Good-night girl! Alya asks Adrien to switch seats with her to be with her boyfriend, Nino (😉), and he says yes. Here’s the part where everyone goes, “Awwwww”. I’ve seen fan art of this particular moment, the moment that’s so precious and so soft, there’s a word for it. Sleep Cute! The ✨Adrienette Sleep Cute!✨It’s now canon! Awwwwwww. The girl squad and everyone else think it’s the cutest thing in the world and they just-(record scratch) Wait! What’s Lila doing there!? Hey! Lila! No! Bad Lila! SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING! Alya! Thank God! Thank you girl! The leader of the squad saved the moment! Take that! Lila! The people may believe every word you say, but when it comes to the girl squads Adrienette ship, don’t.rock.the.boat!*snap**snap* Mmmhmm.

Wait! We’re not on a boat! We’re on a train! Lol! Forgot where I was for a moment there! Dr.Kanté grows impatient with her e-mail wait and thinks she probably failed her exam and that’s when the akuma comes (was it just fluttering around aimlessly?) in making her into Startrain. She’s a sci fi looking villainess who’s right arm is attached to the “dead mans switch” (or else it’s a dead stop) and makes the whole train, containing its passenger, her own rocket ship! Going all Magic Schhol Bus on them. 10.....9.....8.....7.....6.....5.....4.....3.....2.....1! BLAST OFF! 💥🚀💥And we have lift off! It’s a space case adventure and I had no idea how this was gonna go! Our heroes were in space with zero gravity! Where no one can hear them scream! Don! Don! Don!

Hmmmm, so another parent from Marinettes classmates has been akumatized and Ladybug and Cat Noir need extra help......I think we all know who that is. Ladies and gentleman, the holder of the horse miraculous, Max Kanté! A.k.a. Pegasus! (trumpets sound). Well, we all knew from “Party Crasher” anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . His Kwamie is a British accented uppity pony like being named Kaalki, the miraculous: a pair of glasses, the weapon: two horse shoes and it’s power:(we already know) teleportation by saying, “Voyage” that opens up a huge portal to wherever they want.

(grabs the speaker hanging above) Thank you for riding the Startrain, please unbuckle your seatbelts, take your belongings and exit in an orderly fashion as we come to our destination. We apologize for the inconvenience of our unexpected space odyssey as that was not planned in our schedule, but we thank you for staying calm throughout the journey. Have a nice day! It’s interesting how Marinette managed to get the highest score in “Ladybug” for her quiz (really? Even more so than Max!?) despite having to juggle her school work along with her superhero duties and social life and yet she felt drowsy here after another unseen supervillain fight. Well, since this ep took place before “Ladybug” she must’ve handled it better later. As for Adrien, let us count the ways he’s rebelled against Gabe: 1. Ditching his bodyguard to sneak off to the movies (“The Puppeteer”), 2. Running away to go to school (“Origins Part:1-2”), 3. Running away to blow off some steam (“A Christmas Special”), 4. Stealing the miraculous book (“The Collector”), 5. Sneaking off to see his moms movie (“Gorizilla”), 6. Lying about going to fencing practice to instead go on a date with Kagami (“Frozer”), 7. Having a party with Gabe gone (“Party Crasher”) and 8. Ditching fencing practice again with Kagami to hang out with their friends (“Desperada”). It’s all very reasonable cuz he has an overprotective (evil) father, lives in a mansion full of mostly stone cold people and is VERY lonely and miserable! Who wouldn’t wanna get away from all that!? Lieutenant Roger is blind to his daughters slavitude towards Chloe and just thinks she’s “serving and protecting” by being a “good friend”. Ironic that he’s a cop and doesn’t notice the injustice in this. Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! A little thing we learned about the akumas, Hawk Moth can’t control ‘em if they’re a distance away! Like space! He also reluctantly had to see his plan fail cuz Adrien was on the Startrain in space and was forced to let the good guys win for his sons sake. Was this the first time it happened? Cuz I think so. No Queen Bee in this ep cuz Chloe dear, you’re retired! I’m sensing her distraught over this is the reason for her third akumatization in the finale *cough*BattleoftheMiraculousPart2:MiracleQueen*cough* Yeah, wait for it. Another thing is Alya has a second blog for astronomy, so she’s not limited to her Ladyblog. That’s good! Give her a new hobby so she won’t look one-dimensional. So this was the space episode and sadly, there were no space related power-ups :P. Damn it! I wanted to see Ladybug and Cat Noir in space outfits! We see a member of Maxes family and we find out he has a mother who operates the Startrain, but really wants to be an astronaut. Hey, we’ve all been there. Stuck at a dead end job you had to take to support a family instead of following your dreams on what you really wanted to do. I can relate! I wanted to be a writer! I love books and reading, so I wanted to create some myself. Unfortunately, I wasn’t motivated much and didn’t get any support, so now I’m just a medical assistant to put bread on the table. That’s it! The closest I get to my writing career is writing in these reviews on my blog! It’s fine, just cuz I can’t do my real passion, doesn’t mean I have to stop. Right? Least Claudies dream came true. Congratulations girl! Boldly go where (no) man has gone before! (salutes). What everyone was really talking about was the Sleep Cute Adrienette moment :). When Marinette fell asleep on Adrien, he allowed it and even fell asleep as well. Wether you see it as either him being a gentlemen and not disturbing her or him just subconsciously being in love with her is up to you (I’m mixed on both, but mostly on the former). Lila was almost a c*ckblocker in that moment, but thanks to Shipper On Deck Alya, it was thwarted! Yea-ah! Really Lila, another “illness” you have? First it was tinnitus and arthritis (“Chameleon”), then it was “a lying problem” (“Ladybug”) and now you’re saying “motion sickness”! It’s amazing she’s able to walk! Isn’t anyone concerned!? Well, people almost saw her ruin the Adrienette moment which would make everyone start being suspicious of Lila as they all vouched for Marinette (“Ladybug”). Max is Pegasus! And his transformation had a techno beat! Cool! However, his powers were the same as Bunnyx. Teleportation! Why is that!? Viperion has a similar power to Bunnyx too, time travel! Why are all three of these the same!? I prefer each miraculous power to be individually different to stand out! This better not happen again with the other miraculouses! The miraculous for the horse miraculous was a pair of glasses.........glasses?........and it went to Max......how convenient 😒. As someone who’s born in the Year of the Horse, this was most disappointing. Guess I’m just like Kaalki who has high expectations and wants to be representative of my Chinese sign with “grace, beauty, nobility and freedom”.

[karma-jinx]

ML Time Tagger Babbles

*Spoilers*

Buckle up everyone, this one’s a long one.

So that was a fun lil episode huh?

We got to see another Miraculous user. And I think it’s awesome that it was someone who already had a miraculous. It wasn’t given to her.

But does this mean her family has been the bunny miraculous the whole time? Was her dad one? I need answers!!! Because I thought Fluff was still in the miracle box? We have seen that it is possible for a kwami to get separated from its miraculous and still exists. So maybe that’s what happened? There’s just so many questions left unanswered.

I’d seen theories that Alix was going to get the bunny miraculous. So it was cool to see it come true. Man Alix gets TALL, like? Present Alix is so tiny when standing by Ladybug and Chat Noir. But future Alix looks to be about average height. It was cool to see a message on Alix’s watch; I thought that was pretty neat.

I like how they portrayed Future Alix. Still pretty laidback and chill. Calling her she mini me. And Chat Noir Kitten. All around I LOVE her. She so cool. Especially when fighting. I can’t imagine it being easy to jump from portal to portal while fighting an opponent like that. Even more so when your jumping from hundreds of years in the past. That’s gotta get tiring in a mental aspect. I also like how her miraculous is in her pocket. It isn’t necessarily an accessory that’s easily seen. So I though that was cool.

Both Ladybug and Chat Noir in awe of Bunnix cuz she’s from the future. Chat Noir not missing a chance to ask if they end up together, followed by an upset Ladybug. Bunnix played it off well too. Saying they were pretty “whhooo wah.” Which I interpret as, “you guys are pretty all over the place.” Some question if she’s aware of the Love Square. And to me a least, I think she does. Only because she’d have to understand that the love square exists for her to know they’re all over the place. Because if not, I don’t think she’d really answer his question. He asked if they end up together, and if she wasn’t aware of the love square then she’d answer differently. She might shake her head no, or say something along the lines of being just as stubborn/determine in the past as he is in the future. To hint that they still aren’t a thing in the future (yet).

ALSO!!!

Really?! They aren’t together years later?! Come onnnn why?! Why play me like this?! I mean, does that mean they end up with their alt love interest for some time? Cuz ok fine, I know the Love Square is end game but still. Not sure I want to go through the reality of watching our idiot kids go through the thought of thinking the one they love doesn’t love them back and all that good stuff. But hey, who knows, maybe they’ll each grow by going through this.

(I’m just a pouty butt about it I guess)

Hawkmoth got playeeeedddd lol. He really thought Time Tagger was gonna give him the Miraculous. I loved that Time Tagger went along until the very end when he tells HawkMoth that he’s going to take the miraculous back to the future, to give it to future Hawkmoth, who apparently isn’t the same person. So what does that mean? Who’s the next HawkMoth? I’ve seen some say it may be Lila. Ugh as much as I dislike her, she’d be my guess too. She’s just as manipulative as Gabriel.

Gabriel being shocked he wasn’t HawkMoth any more was good because we see him actually fear something. I can’t recall if he’s ever really expression that emotion genuinely. I know there was that time Adrien turned into a gold statue. But it was very short lived. Her we see him shocked by this news. Then Natalie comes to comfort him by saying that perhaps they succeed instead of failed.

Which I don’t think is very likely because Ladybug and Chat Noir still exist in the future. And we know it’s the same Ladybug and Chat Noir of the past. If HawkMoth succeed then o doubt he’d give back the miraculous. But that’s just my thought.

Some random things I also liked in this episode was Chat Noir and Ladybug unamused with the Pigeon villain again. Easily taking him down, even the crowd seems pretty “Eh” about the fight.

Chat Noir bouncing as he had to stay and watch Bunnix fight, even Ladybug had for tell him to stay. Which was silly and cute.

But of course he couldn’t and tried to help, good think Bunnix has fast reflexes and avoided a cataclysm. Also scolding him right after too heh, Chat Noir got in trouble~

I like how she was going to leave the first but noticed that something was off. Something simple to! A pencil. She noticed a pencil wasn’t there and stopped from leaving. But I guess it’s easy to catch when you’re memory of the events happening clearly show what’s being held in your head at that time. But still, I think it’s an impressive catch cuz I know I’d probably over looks a minor detail like that.

LB and CN of the future casually sticking there yo-yo and staff into the past. Like, “we’re here to help but not so physically.” Idk silly. Loved how Future LB reassured Bunnix she didn’t fail.

Other random thoughts, we were PLAYED!

We were told we’d see future LB and CN. And yes technically we did see them, but y’all did us dirty ZAG!!! You threw us a little treat when we wanted a bone! That’s hilarious! I know some others may disagree, and that’s totally cool. But I appreciate this lil prank. Sad we didn’t get to see a full view of them with good lighting and all. But oh well. Wished they’d update their outfits but again, oh well.

Someone take future Noel’s shades away please. Other than that I think his design was pretty cool. But can I ask WHY?! Alya and Nino trust her to watch their younger siblings?! Like ok I know they still don’t know she’s a liar but really?! We saw how she was in Adrien’s home, was she snooping around for juice and secret stuff in Alya’s home? I hope not.

The fact she was willing to watch them surprises me more. She doesn’t seem like the type to like kids. Just stay away from the wee babies please. Their heads don’t need to be filled up with your lies!

(Noel please don’t crush on her.)

Finally Chat Noir landing on top of Ladybug after getting knocked over but not doing something cheesy like always; subtle but interesting to see him doing less small gestures like that. Not saying this for shipping purpose, I’m pointing it out because I personally wished we say a cheeky winked followed by Ladybug putting her hand on his face and pushing him off. Silliness like that ya know. I’m a bit of a sucker for moments like that.

Overall I am quite pleased with this episode. It was fun and built a bit more of the plot.

[3laxx]

Nino Appreciation Week: Nino at Night (Day 7)

A night at a club ends completely different than Nino imagined.

Ao3 / FF.net

Sweat rolled down Nino’s back as he jumped, ripping one of his hands into the air while the other stayed on his mixing board. He quickly turned the bass down completely and the tremble to medium so that the crowd could sing the refrain along with him, then he let the bass drop hit them with full force, causing a few shrieks but mostly let the people explode in cheers.

He grinned as he stopped jumping again and brought his hand down to his headphones which loosely hung around his neck, bringing one of the earpieces up to his ear to adjust the music accordingly again.

When he had done that he selected the next song, nodding at his choice. The crowd would love him for that. Hopefully the cute girl on the bar as well…

He eyed over to her, his shoulders lightly slumping as she merely nodded along with the beat, the drink in her hand looking forgotten and her eyes far away. He just couldn’t get her to do more, no matter what he put on.

With a few quick swipes and the knowledge of when to lower the volume on tremble so that the other song could overtake the stage without a problem he managed a smooth transition, immediately getting the crowd to cheer again as soon as they recognized the song.

The bass woofers let the ground tremble and Nino grinned widely, quickly shrugging off his stylish college jacket since it was so hot in here, around all the sweating people and the technology. He pulled his shirt down and got back to adjusting the volume of the various heights and bass lines, creating a mix for the crowd to dance to.

He chuckled and turned down completely for the familiar refrain, singing along with the crowd before letting the tremble set in again, still singing before the bass joined again, making the people cheer again.

Nino showed them a thumb up before selecting his next song, setting it to play after that one to continue his lucky streak.

Once in a while allowing himself to glance over to the girl on the bar, wishing she’d at least look back at him.

After his performance he stumbled from the podium, high-fiving a few people and even getting kisses on the cheek from a few girls but his eyes were fixed on the girl at the bar, leaning against the counter.

He casually stepped next to her, ordering a simple coke which the bartender scrambled to bring him. DJ Sickbeatz was, after all, the best DJ the club had.

Nino glanced over to her, his heart hitching at his luck when her drink almost slipped from her hand. He quickly reached out, cupping her hand with hers and smiled when her gaze snapped out of the worlds where she had been stuck the entire evening already, meeting his. His smile turned sincere and chaste after realizing she looked genuinely surprised.

“You almost dropped your drink.”, he helpfully (not) prompted, guiding her hand to set her glass down on the counter, causing her to turn towards him.

“Uh-… Yeah… Thanks…”, she nodded at him before fixing her gaze on the bottles behind the bar, obviously not reading the names.

He softly nudged her shoulder with his, not wanting to surprise her but wanting to earn her attention again.

“You seem absent, you okay?”, he asked which brought him a brief shrug.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”, she said, apparently not wanting to talk to him. But now he had gotten curious, giving her a minute or two before trying to speak up again.

“Uuuh… You here alone? Or-… Well, why are you here if you’re not enjoying the evening?”

She rolled her eyes, downing her drink with a gulp and turning to him again.

“Listen, DJ, you’re not getting to know me. I wanted to clear my head but obviously I can’t even do that at a place with literally ever possible distraction. Now leave me alone, idiot.”

With that she turned, heading for the exit. He quickly shouldered his jacket, taking a sip from his freshly arrived coke before flinging two euros to the bartender and following the girl.

It wasn’t that he still wanted to try and talk to her. Or to follow her, no, he wasn’t a stalker or some creep. He didn’t even want something from her, even if she was rather beautiful. He just wanted to make sure she was safe since the streets of Paris weren’t the nicest place, especially not at night.

She pushed open the door, and stepped out into the night, Nino quickly following her.

“Hey, wait!”

She jumped and turned to him, her brown-reddish locks swirling around her head as she turned.

“You again?! Are you-…”, she suddenly shivered, her eyes turning searching. For accomplices?

“Are you trying to rob me? O-Or rape me?”, she quickly reached in her purse and pulled out something that suspiciously looked like pepper spray, “’Cuz I’m warning you, I’ll use this and call the police!”

“U-Uh-…”, he gulped, unsure of her sudden stance of defense, “No! Of course not, I just-… I wanted to check if you were taking a cab. Or, well, if you had someone to walk you home?”

She lowered her arms, still skeptical but becoming irritated at his sincere tone and the fact that he didn’t try to take another step towards her even when she still retreated.

“Don’t you dare think you could do that.”, she snapped and lifted her arms higher again as he reached back. He pulled out his phone and she narrowed her eyes, “What’re you doing?”

“You’re obviously alone.”, he shrugged, typing in the number he knew very well from transporting off drunks, “I’m calling you a cab, ride’s on me.”

“Wh-What?!”

He rolled his eyes, slowly getting a little annoyed at her overcautious antics. Not every human was a rapist, after all.

“I’m paying you a ride home. You were planning on walking alone. There’s a reason you packed the pepper spray.”, he got back his laid-back attitude with a smirk, even feeling like teasing her a bit, “Not with me, beautiful, you’re gonna get home in a car.”

She pressed her lips together and furrowed her eyebrows but packed away her pepper spray. However, Nino noticed her hand stayed inside her purse, probably still clenched around the little can.

“What did you just call me?”, she asked, one eyebrow shooting up.

“Uh, beautiful. ‘Cuz you are.”, it may have sounded chilled out and suave but he was beginning to blush. Before she could reply the call got accepted and he talked with the call center before hanging up again.

“The cab’s gonna be here in ten minutes. If you want I can give you the money and stay back I gotta return into the club anyway. Gotta work late.”

She pulled her hand out of her purse and even gave him a small smile.

“Thanks-… I guess… Sorry for my outburst.”

He shrugged it off, shaking his head.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. Though I am curious, how come you’re so easily scared?”

She huffed, stepping closer to him again not to have to yell too much.

“Not scared. Just cautious.”

He silently studied her face and nodded, smiling.

“Cautious, then.”

They remained in silence for a few minutes until she spoke up again, wrapping her arms around herself.

“My-… My ex was-… Not the nicest man. We broke up a month ago but he’s been following me so I went to court and got the judge to forbid him that for a big fine. I-… I guess I’m still a bit-… Jumpy when it gets to men following me.”

Nino looked down and nodded, burying his hands in his jeans.

“Oh, okay… Sorry, I didn’t know…”, she shivered and he pulled his jacket off his shoulder, opening it and offering it to her, “Here, you must feel cold.”

She furrowed her eyebrows but stepped closer regardless, already reaching for it but he lifted it higher, motioning it to let him place it around her shoulders.

She only gave him a little turn so he had to step closer but in the end she smiled as he pulled his hands back. Suddenly he realized what kind of a man her boyfriend must’ve been so he took another step back, biting his lip.

“Thanks…”, her soft voice finally sounded through the night air and he sent her a quick smile. After a few more moments he faced her again, tilting his head.

“Though-… If it’s been like that, why are you out? And in a club, of all places?”

She sighed, fiddling with the sleeves of the jacket that hung off her shoulders like a tent.

“Well, I can’t live in fear forever. Especially with that fine for him. And-… I kinda tried getting distracted. You know, loud music, alcohol, et cetera. Didn’t really work, huh?”

He snorted and shook his head.

“Nah, not really.”

She breathed through as the cab pulled up, already reaching for her purse underneath the jacket but he stepped to the passenger’s door of the car and opened it, pulling out his own wallet.

“I’ll pay for you. C’mon, get in.”

She gasped, quickly trying to interject but he waved for her to get in and smiled.

“It’s cool. I never paid to get a girl home, wanna do that at least once.”

She lifted her eyebrow as she sat down on the car seat, smirking a little.

“So now I’m an opportunity for you to check something off your to-do-list?”

He chuckled and closed the door behind her, shaking his head and propping himself up on the frame of the opened window.

“No, I wouldn’t have done it for someone else.”

“Listen, about the cab, you really don’t have t-”

He quickly interrupted her, a grin playing around his lips.

“A ride for a name. Gotta get that jacket back, after all.”

She giggled and accepted his twenty euros that he handed her, taking a moment to let her gaze wander over his face before replying.

“Alya.”, she said and he melted, “Alya Césaire. Nice to meet you, DJ.”

He jokingly pouted as he took her offered hand through the open car window.

“Don’t you wanna know my name?”

She winked and shook her head as she let go of his hand again.

“I’m not paying you a ride. Thanks for the jacket!”

He blushed and stepped away from the car as the cab driver started driving again but he congratulated himself for slipping a note with his name and number into the pocket of his jacket even before the evening had begun, as a precaution.

Alya buried her hand in the pockets of the college jacket with a smile as she suddenly felt something crumble underneath her fingers. She pulled it out and smiled at the name that was illuminated by passing street lanterns once and again.

Nino, then.

The DJ’s name is Nino.

She grinned and put the paper back, having a good feeling about him. He seemed nice. Even if it would take a while for her to open up to him.

She pulled the jacket tighter around herself and breathed in his scent, closing her eyes.

Well, she had the chance to do so when she’d give him back the jacket.

[lapzoli]

history repeats itself: I

//screams because I finally finished chapter one

Summary: In which some people end up with an unwanted roommate.

ao3

.

It had been a perfect trip planned in the spur of the moment.

Or perhaps on the whims of a teenager’s obsessive fanatics.

Either way, upon hearing there was a museum dedicated solely to Ladybug (and Chat Noir), Chloé had instantly demanded her father fund a trip for her to go.

The mayor, however, saw it as an opportunity to gain favor with the voters and the heroes as their third anniversary approached. The way he saw it, if the heroes saw how much he appreciated them, they would help his campaign, and once the people saw the heroes favoring him, they would too.

Simple.

So he compromised with his daughter; an exclusive, all-expenses-paid field trip for her class to see the museum in London, where they would roam the city and be able to learn the history of the two heroes before returning to Paris in time for the anniversary banquet he would hold on Ladybug and Chat Noir’s actual anniversary (since becoming heroes, that is).

It was perfect, and it certainly got the rest of the class up in a frenzy.

Alya, in particular, was bouncing with joy. She was almost excited enough to copy Marinette’s infamous butt wiggle.

Almost.

“Girl, can you believe this?” Alya gripped her phone, grinning ear-to-ear. “We’re going to learn all about Ladybug and Chat Noir! Where they came from, what they did...agh, I can hardly wait!”

Nino turned in his seat, unable to not hear his girlfriend’s excited squeals, and leaned close to remark, “Yeah, I’m pumped too. And, not that I’d ever tell her, but I’m glad Chloe’s dad is funding this trip. No way my family would have been able to afford it.”

Alya sighed at that. “Yeah, same here. I hate the idea of having to thank her though.”

“Don’t worry. She’s gloating enough to let us know she knows we’re thankful,”remarked Marinette, rolling her eyes. “It’s a miracle she hasn’t shoved in directly in our faces yet.”

“Well, I think the real miracle is that Adrien’s old man let him go,” said Nino, playfully nudging the blond next to him. “How did you do it?”

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly. It was amazing how at seventeen, he still had the same innocent smile he did three years ago.

“Well, Chloe can be pretty persuasive when she wants to be,” he said as an explanation. “And...I had a good argument myself to go.”

Alya leaned in. “Really? And you won?” She grimaced. “Not to sound...impressed or anything, but your dad’s one hard nut to crack.”

Adrien sighed. “Believe me, I know. But yeah...I had a pretty solid argument for why I should be able to go. Aside from it being paid for and all that. Nathalie already rearranged my schedule and everything, so he can’t change his mind at the last minute.”

He sunk down in his seat a bit.

“And I happen to know he’s pretty good at backing out at the last minute.”

Marinette clicked her tongue, reaching across to rub his shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting manner. While it was true she still had feelings for him, she was proud of herself for reeling in her emotions. If she hadn’t done that, she wouldn’t have been able to grow closer to him the last three years.

(Though not all of the posters had come down off her wall yet…most! But not all.)

“Hey, if your argument is as solid as you say, no way he’d have a reason to suddenly back out,” she reasoned.

Adrien smiled a bit and put his hand over hers, squeezing her fingers lightly.

“Thanks, Marinette,” he said. “So everyone in the class is going?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” said Nino. “Who’d turn down a free trip? My parents are thrilled about it. But maybe that's cuz my mom is probably planning to deep clean my room while I'm gone.”

Alya rolled her eyes. “I've been in your room; I don't blame her.”

The aspiring DJ grinned as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Hey, not all of us can magically keep our room clean - despite having two tiny tornadoes you call sisters,” he said. “How do you even do it?”

“Easy. I tell them there's a giant octopus monster in my closet that tickles little girls all day long, so unless they want to be tickled, they have to stay out of my room,” explained Alya. “It's...pretty effective.”

“Would work on me,” said Adrien, grinning at the two. “You think they won’t go in your room while you’re gone though?”

“Who’s gonna save them from the giant octopus monster if I’m not there?” Alya remarked, snorting. “They won’t be going in there, trust me.”

“But they may try to convince your dad to let loose one of the animals at the zoo and eat the octopus monster,” pointed out Marinette. “Wait, why are we even discussing an imaginary octopus monster?”

Nino shrugged. “Why not?”

Adrien chuckled and looked at the aspiring fashion designer.

“He’s got you there,” he said.

Marinette rolled her eyes, slumping her shoulders. “He does, doesn’t he? So is your mom really going to deep clean your room while you’re gone, Nino?”

He laughed. “Probably, but it’s all good. Nothing really worrying for her to find that she doesn’t already know about.”

“That poor woman,” said Alya, her voice oozing with sympathy. “What horrors has she seen?”

“Er, an empty turtle tank I use to store random stuff?” Nino remarked. “That’s about the oddest thing in my room.”

“And why do you have an empty turtle tank in the first place?” Adrien had to ask. “You don’t have a turtle.”

“That’s why it’s empty, duh,” teased Nino. “Eh, I wanted one when I was a kid. My neighbor had a tank he didn’t need anymore so he gave it to me, and I just never got a turtle.” He laughed. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll get one later. It’s a good tank, huge and full of space, so it’d be a shame that a little turtle dude didn’t get to use it.”

“It’d be like having a bunch of catnip and no cat to play with it,” remarked Marinette, thinking of the plants on her balcony.

“A shame,” said Adrien, shaking his head gravely. “No catnip should be neglected.”

“Well, it’s gonna be, unless you have a cat you’d love to lend for a few hours,” replied Marinette, resting her chin on her hands. “Maybe I’ll just ask a stray cat I know…” She chuckled suddenly, as if remembering an old joke. “Mm, maybe I’ll do that.”

“Okay…” Alya shrugged off her best friend’s kookiness; she was used to it at this point. Though she was never any closer to figuring out what Marinette was so amused by. “Well, back to the trip, at least we know we’ll be comfortable. Chloe would never forgive her father for putting her in a cheap hotel, and since he can’t show favoritism - more than he already does, clearly - he’d put us in pretty decent rooms.”

“That’s true...hey,” said Nino. “You think we’ll get to choose who we room with?”

“Mm, I don’t know.” Adrien furrowed his eyebrows. “We should, right? As long as we’re not inappropriate,” he said as if scandalized by the word alone.

“Can’t be any worse than what some people do in the hallways,” said Alya. “Then again…”

Marinette snorted. “Not everyone has, as Adrien said, inappropriate intentions.”

“Not everyone,” agreed Alya. “But a bunch of teenagers? Wouldn’t be surprised. But I hope they don’t randomly assign us rooms. Ugh, imagine getting roomed with Chloe.”

“She’s not that bad, really,” said Adrien, quick to defend his childhood friend despite their faults.

“Yeah, you saying you want to room with her for two weeks?” Marinette cocked an eyebrow at him. “I’ll go tell her now.”

“Don’t, please,” said Adrien, making a face. “I...alright, fine. But I mean, aside from Chloe - and Lila - everyone gets along with each other fine; what’s the worst that could happen?”

.

“Can...Can you repeat that, Madame Bustier?” Rose squeaked as she and her classmates stared at their English teacher in shock. “I don’t think we heard you right…”

The red-haired woman hummed, mindful of the bright screens above their heads, each one depicting the flight times.

“Ladybug and Chat Noir were presumingly thrown into a new situation and forced to adjust, despite - we assume - being strangers,” she said. “You all will face a similar situation, by your room partners. This was decided by a random generator, and this means anyone can be your partner. Now, there’s an uneven number of you so one of you will have a room to yourself. And no trading is allowed.”

“Is this even...allowed? The school allowed this?” Mylene asked quietly, blinking up to see if anyone would answer her.

Madame Bustier didn’t hear her as she pulled out a sheet of paper.

“Since there are chaperones waiting for you in London, I will not be attending this trip with you. Therefore, I’ll be reading you your partners’ names now,” she said, a hint of tiredness - and, was that amusement? - in her voice. “I do not want to hear any of you complaining - or trading. Your chaperones have already been told of this, so they will know if you switched.”

She cleared her throat.

“First, Rose.” The blonde-haired girl squeaked a little. “You’ll be sharing a room with Juleka.”

“Wicked,” said Juleka, smiling at her best friend. She nudged Rose a little, allowing the smaller girl to sigh in relief.

Everyone else shifted anxiously. Even Chloe was eyeing their teacher, silently hoping to be paired with at least Sabrina if not Adrien. She wouldn’t be able to stand anyone else.

“Ivan, you’ll be rooming with Max,” continued Madame Bustier.

Ivan and Max glanced at each other, both clearly skeptical but also fairly relieved. This was good; the random pairing wasn’t that bad. And no one had been paired with a member of the other-

“Kim and Alix.”

Spoke too soon.

Alix stared openly at her teacher before she gaped at her rival, who did the same. 

“Oh, no,” she muttered.

“Please don’t kill each other,” said Madame Bustier simply before she looked back down at her list. “Next, Mylene and Sabrina.”

The two girls eyed each other suspiciously; they weren’t exactly friends, after all. Not enemies either, but not friends. Nowhere near friends. That was fine; there were plenty of roommates who weren’t friends but managed anyways, right?

Madame Bustier eyed Nino and Alya for a moment before she said, “Nino, Alya. I know you two are dating, but no funny business, please.”

The two of them had the decency to look abashed, though didn’t hide their excitement at being paired together.

Chloe had moved closer to Adrien at this point; since Sabrina was taken, she was confident she’d be paired off with him. It’d be better than being forced to share with Marinette Dupain-Cheng, of all people! Hell, she’d even take that lying fox or the lovesick artist-

“Nathanael, you’ll be with Chloe.”

“Wha-?” The redhead looked as if she had just told him his death date as his eyes darted between the teacher and Chloe, who was gaping at Madame Bustier just the same.

“What? No,” shrieked Chloe. She looked between Adrien, Marinette, and Lila, the latter of which looked all too smug. Just like she had before she was assigned with the boy who couldn’t even accessorize properly!

“No trading,” said Madame Bustier firmly. “Now, to the three of you left.” She stopped as an announcement came on, telling them it was time to board the flight. “Alright, alright. Hurry, hurry. We don’t want you to miss your flight, do you?”

She ushered the kids towards the boarding area, ignoring their surprised cries as they picked up their suitcases.

“Wait, Madame Bustier,” protested Marinette before her teacher could push her into the plane, mindful of the poor flight attendant nearby. “Who are we-”

“You’re with Adrien,” said Madame Bustier quickly. “Lila, you have your own room. Now go and find your seats.”

She smiled at the teenagers, waving them goodbye.

“And have fun!”

Marinette gaped at her teacher even as Alya dragged her along.

“What?!”