#Master Fu Salt

[marinettesaltprompts]

Marinette Salt Prompt: Breaking the Norm and Breaking Fate

Since the Miraculouses were created, there has always been the idea of "True Holders". Those who were destined to have a defined connection to one specific Miraculous and could unlock far greater powers than any other user in their lifetime.

Unfortuately however, True Holders often brought more trouble for those part of the Order. Many a miraculous holder were chosen to wield a miraculous, only to be removed because a True Holder was found for their miraculous and were rightfully considered the better fit. Though some willingly gave up their miraculous, others were left in grief and denial, especially when the reveal of the True Holder meant that one or more holders were discarded, simply because they weren't enough.

In a few rare cases, a true holder meant that partners who held a miraculous were forcefully seperated once a True Holder came into the scene. These event usually resulted in heartbreak and revenge, as either the ex-wielder (or even their partner) went rouge against the Order and used their powers selfishly, often resulting in death and destruction.

Of course, that wasn't to say the Kwami's took it any better either. Some like Tikki just accepted it and moved on, while other Kwami's like Plagg hated the fact that many wielders were taken for them just because they weren't a "Perfect Fit"

Even when the Order fell, this dilema still remained in the latest chosen heroes:

Ladybug was a True Holder. Chat Noir ... wasn't. In fact, if Plagg was being serious, Adrien never felt like a fit for the Miraculous of Destruction at all. He was too soft, and too caring of others.

Fu knew this, having continued to search for the True Wielder as the heroes continued to take care of Hawkmoth, knowing of the eventual fate that Adrien would eventually be replaced, thus unwilling to confide in him the same way he did Ladybug.

Ladybug had begun to realize this as well, if only subconciously. As her power grew, the unknowing gap between them grew as well, as she began to see him as ... lesser. Less of a partner and more of a subordinate, someone who she felt only had to know about certain topics when it was needed (at least, according to her) rather than it being shared as partners. Even if Hawkmoth wasn't an issue, Plagg was sure she wouldn't be open to sharing her identity with Chat Noir, leaving herself vulnerable to someone unequal to her.

Hell, even the people of Paris seemed to notice the gap. Ladybug just seemed to glow and take all the focus when she appeared, and Chat ... was just there.

To anyone else, the fact that Adrien wasn't a True Holder was a sign he was always meant to be a temp, and that Plagg should just accept that.

Yet ... despite all that, Plagg refused. He thought Adrien was the best chosen he ever had. Though Adrien was emotionally a bad fit for destruction, he was a wonderful kid who took really good care of Plagg (and not just because of all the Camembert he could afford). Not to mention that the lack of a killing intent had meant his powers were held back, to the point where they were unlikely to hurt anyone if accidentally used on them (which was honestly a good thing, because Plagg's powers were beyond dangerous).

Yet, Plagg knew it wouldn't last long. If Fu and Ladybug had their way, Adrien would soon be gone, replaced by another holder. All while Adrien would be left oblivious to the situation until it was too late.

Plagg wasn't going to let that happen however.

And so... the little Cat Kwami began to plan as his wielder slept unawares.

If Adrien was not a True Holder, Plagg would go against fate and make him one. Fu and Ladybug be damned.

(Might add more later, but for now I thought I would share my initial idea. Let me know what you think!)

[theerurishipper]

So, as a child abuse survivor and someone who has been sexually assaulted by men who think they're entitled to take what they want Adrien is canonically a god damned dick.

He sexually harrasses Ladybug. When told NO he once let 2.161 million people drown because he was busy throwing a tantrum

Being a victim of abuse does not excuse the abuse of others.

He might not mean any harm but you know who else doesn't mean any harm? Gabriel. My goddamned mother.

Not meaning harm- lacking malice- does not mean harm is not caused.

People are going on about him being a rich white guy because anyone else acting like that in public would be considered an antagonist (in fiction), in jail, or have an active warrant for their arrest. And that's assuming they aren't killed for it.

First off, I am truly very sorry for your experience. No one should have to go through that.

But I still do disagree.

Adrien's pushiness when it comes to expressing his affections for Ladybug are in the same boat as Marinette being a stalker or Chloe being pushy with Adrien: it's a joke. You may find it to be a poor one, certainly, but it's a joke nonetheless. Miraculous relies on this kind of humor, it's not meant to be taken seriously. You can have issues with it, but imho acting like it's any kind of legitimate criticism of his character probably makes people like me less inclined to listen to any actual criticisms you may have.

I don't say this to trivialize your experiences, and if the joke is hurtful to you, you are well within your rights to dislike it or talk about how it's in poor taste to make jokes about these things, but that's all it is, a joke. It's absurdist humor. It's not meant to be taken at face value. It would be creepy if Marinette seriously had Adrien's schedule mapped out, tried to break into his house, or stole his personal items, but it's not supposed to be that way because it's a joke.

And as for your complaint about Adrien leaving people to drown, you can go ahead and blame Master Fu for that one. It's stated quite clearly in the show that the heroes couldn't do anything because everything is underwater. And he's staying there because he's waiting for Ladybug. Making up imaginary civilians who are drowning now isn't a good criticism. Ladybug spends a good amount of time underwater, but there's no-one there. There's no civilian begging for Chat Noir's help as they drown while he ignores them, so suffice to say that we're supposed to assume everyone is safe and sound. This is a kids show, so unless we're shown that people are in danger, we aren't supposed to assume they are.

And then let's talk about Adrien almost quitting.

I'll say it straight: he has every right to quit. He's a 14-year-old kid. This isn't his job. He's well within his rights to quit if he feels like this is detrimental to him. And it isn't about Ladybug not returning his feelings like you seem to be implying. This is about Ladybug keeping secrets from him and leaving him in the dark even though he's supposedly her partner. It took a situation like this for Master Fu to pull his head out of his ass and come give Adrien the tools he needed to do the damn job you're accusing him of not doing. How is he supposed to do anything if he isn't given then necessary tools and knowledge to do it? Should he just accept that he's being ignored and left in the dark? Accept his new role as Ladybug's unquestioning lapdog?

This is not Ladybug salt btw, this is Master Fu salt only, in this house we don't like Master Fu.

Anyway.

Literally look at why he tries to quit.

Adrien:(grimly) If you don't tell me what Ladybug is hiding from me, I'm done! Plagg: You can't do that! Adrien:(bitterly) Why not? No one'll know if I quit. No one'll care!

He doesn't think he's needed. He doesn't think anyone would care if he quits.

This isn't because of any entitlement. It's because he's being cast aside and left in the dark. It's because his partner (it's not her fault either, to be clear, it's Master Fu's fault) is keeping secrets from him even in this time, so he assumes he isn't needed and decides to quit because he feels like he's unnecessary and unwanted, and that no one will care if he quits. Adrien already has very low self-worth, and this is just adding onto all that already. If it is detrimental to his mental health, then he definitely has the right to step aside and quit.

So yeah. If this ask was to get me to change my mind, I'm sorry, but it didn't. You're entitled to your opinion, of course, but I think I've made my opinion on the matter clear.

[three-milkz]

Could there be a balance of powers between ladynoir in season six? I think so, but I know that the writers won't do it because they don't know how to do their job and the fandom does the job a thousand times better with fanfics.

Going back to balance. There was never a balance as such between them. On s1, Ladybug did most of the work and Chat rarely did anything noticeable.

With Fu making an appearance, the chances of Chat showing off a bit are totally diminished, because the writers decided to bring in the WORST teacher, well, mediocre attempt at teacher. They tried to make Fu look like he was wise or whatever, but he does a lousy job and the best thing he could do was get off the show.

A teacher must guide those he trains and give them the same treatment and importance, especially if he says that his two students have the same balance of power. Fu favors Marinette and doesn't get close to Adrien until he is forced. If this weren't bad, he is such a bad teacher, that he leaves a terrible legacy for Marintte, Fu literally made Marinette follow his terrible footsteps in s4.

But I still think there can be a balance if the writers remember that Chat is not just a punching bag.

And this is where Cerise comes in, but let's call it Lila.

As we know, the only limit that the miraculous have is the holder and as we also know, Lila is a thousand times more intelligent than Gabriel.

We also know that Ladybug is essential for battles, because she is the only one that can purify akumas. (Pretty dumb idea if you ask me. Why can only ONE miraculous clear the akumas? What if the ladybug's miraculous is missing while the butterfly's one is owned by someone bad? or the ladybug's is owned by the same person who the butterfly? It does NOT make sense. Even so, it has been shown in chat blanc that akumas can be destroyed with cataclysm, but only before the akuma gets its victim, although this is forgotten and will never be used again). And Chat can be replaced by ten temporary heroes without problems.

but what if we make both ladybug and chat so important that they are the only ones with the power to clear the akumas?

Maybe Lila can develop her powers so that the ONLY way to destroy the akumatized object is with the cataclysm. There is no cataclysm, the akuma is still there doing damage.

We have only one akuma from the future and timetagger's akumatized object is destroyed WITH THE CATACLYSM, I'm not going to rule out the idea that it could happen, but it probably won't.

Good, let's continue.

Chat has been a jester forever and is useless in most cases, but we know that he can do a VERY GOOD job when he wants to. Examples: sandboy, passion, kuro neko, etc. But I will also add this: during passion, Mari is VERY distracted because she is in love with Chat and well, she ruins it several times by being in the clouds and she had more in mind flirting than worrying about the akuma. Somehow, are they telling us that Chat was useless for that very reason? For being in love with Ladybug? If we follow that logic, then in s6 things will improve a lot for him.

(Although with so many mediocre heroes, even the baby Augustus would beat them and anyone can look perfectly)

As we know, Adrinette is canon and ladynoir is just a friendship, so with no romantic feelings involved, Chat can focus on doing effective work.

And, I think this is already asking a lot, that he wants to explore his powers more and improve in that aspect, even more knowing that he has infinite cataclysms. If they want to give Su-han a use, then they can make him a master of Adrien and Mari, not like Fu. Although between fu and suhan I don't know which one is worse in uselessness.

In s6, the akumas will be much stronger and it is necessary for everyone to take the job seriously, so I hope that they will finally give Chat the leading role and development that he deserves from s1.

(Last thing. If Chat's power is evolved as Ladybug being able to create talismans, they would do it with the cataclysm at a distance. Chat Blanc makes it clear that he can do it. When he is akumatized, Gabriel POWERS UP the abilities of Chat, there is a high chance that Chat could use cataclysm from a distance at some point.)

[nerd-chocolate]

1. 6, while I think the show would been better if it went for a more 2d art style, the current one we have now does make the show more unique compared to other shows, it just needs more work

2. 9, Yeah, Plagg would be enjoying himself but not Adrien especially if Plagg accidentally influenced Chat to eat some cheese as well especially if it’s Cambert.

3. 10, I agree and Master Fu has no reason for not even trying to get to know Adrien like he did with Marinette. Him not reaching out to Adrien was one of the reasons why it backfired on him.

4. 6, i don’t think anyone outside of Paris cares about their situation that much and before Mr.Pigeon 72, people found the guy annoying and I think there are other akumas who are more dangerous than Mr.Pigeon.

[starguardianniom]

The 1 lesson learned in the season 5 finale

One thing I remember seeing in the leaks of the finale of season 5, is that all the heroes are back and with their miraculous full time. Knowing that, I can only think this:

Only lesson Marinette learned was to not put all her eggs in one basket it seems, as she has been doing since she became the guardian, though I feel she got that lesson from Fu who was the first guilty party of doing it.

What I mean is, the show made Marinette too important.

SHE is the only one who can purify akumas.

SHE is the only one who can fix everything.

SHE is the only one who gets to choose new heroes and know their identities without them or Chat Noir knowing hers or each other.

SHE is the only one aware of Fu until Syren.

SHE is the only one trained to be a guardian.

SHE is the only one who gets to be the guardian.

SHE is the only one who keeps all the miraculouses and kwamis.

SHE is the only one who makes the rules now.

That's way too much for her alone.

Chat Noir is not in the knowing of Master Fu until he gets so fed up he almost renounces Plagg, and to be fair at first he didn't complain with Rena Rouge, but then Ladybug keeps not telling him anything when before it was just the 2 of them, and it's shifting their dynamic even more, and he can't help her if he knows nothing.

But then, Chat Noir gets to learn the identities of some holders anyway, with or without Ladybug's knowledge, Queen Bee and Ryuko he learns because they out themselves immediatly (to be fair to Kagami she was the only person in Ikari Gozen so even if she hadn't call Ikari Gozen "Mother", her identity was busted anyway).

Between Queen Bee and Ryuko, another holder he gets to learn about, Marinette being Multimouse, of course made so that he wouldn't guess that she was actually Ladybug and deceiving him with an illusion, but still him knowing Marinette is Multimouse is enough for Ladybug to tell them that Marinette can never be Multimouse again, showing unwittingly no trust at all for him in the situation that is entirely not his fault, and yes it's an illusion BUT HE DOESN'T KNOW THAT!!!! And yes it's to make sure Marinette isn't asked again because she's Ladybug and can't keep up 2 secret identities and have them meet all the time without running herself ragged so she needs to make sure that she can't be Multimouse again, it does put her partner in what seems an unfair choice and seriously I'm surprised this hasn't been brought up again since then.

Anyway.

Ladybug then becomes the Guardian. She knows has to be the one who fix everything, purify the akumas and keep the miracle box and the kwamis safe and also keeps choosing new heroes.

She doesn't accept Chat Noir's help when he offers to help her with her burdens, like maybe choosing holders or delivering miraculouses.

She confess her identity to Alya and tells her everything instead.

Chat Noir is not considered despite his offer and being there from the start.

Alya is a great support to Marinette and also a huge help, but Marinette then starts wanting to control what Alya can and can't do with her knowledge.

Of course she makes Alya lie to Nino.

Which from a certain point of view sounds stupid because Nino is a hero she chose and knows Alya's identity as Rena Rouge like Alya knows Nino is Carapace.

It does bring up some problems.

Oh and also, Ladybug never tells Chat Noir that she told someone her identity for a while now.

Instead, he finds out the day he has to work with her replacement, whom he (rightfully has every rights since past experiences with fake Ladybugs have happened before) mistakes for a fake and tries to Cataclysm. This of course strain the beginning of Scarabella and Chat Noir's working together, though they get better and I honestly prefered Scarabella working with Chat Noir than Ladybug, because one no romance, 2, so funny and refreshing and 3, Scarabella has a killer style that Ladybug could only dream of.

But Alya has to tell Marinette that she needs to have an urgent talk with Chat Noir about it. I love you for that Alya, the kitty deserves more respect than that.

I mean she nearly got cataclysmed because Marinette couldn't bother telling Chat Noir that she had left the city for a weekend and had a replacement because she seriously couldn't not not go.

She can be bothered to text hundreds of rules for Alya to follow while in the train, but not one message to Chat Noir telling him to not be surprised to see a new Ladybug for a little while in case something happens.

I'm honestly will never get over that one, seriously Marinette, you sucks at communication as much as you suck with empathy.

Let's not forget Rocketear where Adrien learns that Nino and Alya are Carapace and Rena Rouge and they knew from the start who the other was via Ladybug and shoving in his throat that the rules only apply when Ladybug see it fit to herself and she makes the rules and doesn't have to bend to them unlike him, to be fair Alya knew already because Nino gave himself away with his "dude" and Alya and Nino were together so Ladybug couldn't really think fast enough of an excuse to separate them to give them their miraculous alone so she had to do the reveal but Nino doesn't tell Adrien that. Also Nino was being in a foul mood that seriously was affecting his judgement and outting him and Alya can't be on Marinette's shoulders, but to Adrien who doesn't know all that just feels even more drowned by the rules and now feels it's only him.

Another thing I'll never get over, the Ephemeral episode.

The gal of Marinette hatching a plan to have 2 people know Chat Noir's identity in his back without his knowledge seriously pissed me off to no end. Sure she told off Su-Han in the end, but honestly she is a bigger hypocrite there. She outrights say that she believes Chat Noir will never reveal his identity to anyone else but her first, not bothering to consider that he would probably listen to Su-Han's idea (which frankly is kind of fair, as if something happens to Adrien, they would be in hot waters, sure Plagg can deliver the news and Kaalki knows where Adrien lives, but they can't tell Marinette and it is one of the 2 most powerful miraculouses around). Chat Noir is more understanding than her, if she would just explain herself, she could avoid deceiving Chat Noir, but nooooo, she will swear by what she thinks and it's final. It shows now that she already makes decisions for Chat Noir because she thinks she knows him best so naturally she can decide for him without problem, another right stripped from him apparently, by herself no less. But that timeline did stick for most of the episode, and it did show that yes, Marinette would be willing to go that far, and well she kinds of does in the season 5 finale by not telling Adrien the truth about his existance or his father's crimes.

There was also Strike Back where Chat Noir seems to get annoyed that Ladybug tells him he doesn't know what he's talking about, and outright tells her she never tells him anything, and her never relying on him when she should bites her hard as her trying to control everything makes her lose almost everything but her own miraculous and Chat Noir's. Of course, she also thought it was a good idea to go fetch her crush instead of calling Sabrina for the Dog, or just unify with it herself, and seriously not asking herself how could Adrien be the only person in the city to not be marked if it happened the day before. After an entire season of doing everything alone instead of relying on people, she learns the hard way that the villains just need to swipe the miraculouses from her to get them 98% of them all and win.

The one lesson she learned: not put all her eggs in one basket.

That one lesson Fu could have also learned.

Because seriously Marinette had so much power and control it wasn't even funny, it's scarier than Gabriel with the miraculouses I would say.

Imagine if she had been stopped before she told Alya anything, nobody could have helped her or save her, Plagg knows, but he can't bring back people unless he destroy the place where they're holded, or if the villain lets them leave, which is not always easy to do.

But seriously, she had way too much to do and learn to be completely efficient, because she wouldn't share the responsabilities.

If she had given at least some miraculouses to Chat Noir and maybe even Alya, it would have been better.

But even when Marinette is taken out and others needs to step up and take her place, you can be sure an event or something will make her still don her earrings or not to save the day. Apparently Scarabella and Chat Noir can't save the day by themselves without Marinette having to deliver the final blow to Robostus. Or Scarabella and Kitty Noire can't replace Marinette and Adrien permanently because Marinette never bothered to tell Alya and Chat Noir to not wear Alliance rings as they can track their superhumans movements, immediatly busting their identity if someone hacks them, as seen in Jubilation.

I must wonder if the writers gave her all the calls and powers only to show us the reality of why it's important to delegate some of your duties least if something happens to you not all is lost.

Hence why at the end of the season 5, Marinette gives all her teammates their miraculous permanently.

Hopefully Chat Noir will stay her number 2 and not Rena Rouge cause he's more experienced than her and it would only be fair after 2 seasons of being less important than Alya given he doesn't know Marinette is Ladybug but Alya does, immediatly changing the power dynamic, even if Alya can't be Rena for an entire season, she's still more privy to the secrets of Ladybug than Chat Noir ever was. No hate on Alya at all though, she was amazing. Just wish Marinette would trust Chat Noir just as much, as he is her first partner and the one she has been working with since day one and they came back alone for an entire season again so another different dynamic than with Alya but it shouldn't be given less importance for it.

Alya and Chat Noir are awesome, I just wish Marinette would trust them equally and communicate with them better. And delegates some of her duties to them dang it!

[chronicallylatetotheparty]

Me: *Watches RJ inspire more teamwork in his team in three episodes than other mentors do in three seasons. With far more effective metaphors.*

Me: *Watches Doctor K actually start to trust her team and open up about her trauma instead of just falling back on what she was already doing.*

Me: Master Fu could never. 😤

[goggles-mcgee]

Too Late: Tikki, Plagg, Fu & Marianne

Latest chapter in the story for @miner249er

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Summary:  The days passed by for Tikki as a blur, it was almost like being in the Box, sometimes she wished she had stayed in it.

The room was filled with silence though not a comfortable one, it was always like that nowadays. It was like the other three were walking on eggshells around her, waiting for her to snap or break. Tikki felt like she was breaking so maybe they were right to act that way, her heart hurt constantly and her mood shifted so fast it left her exhausted at the end of the day. There were days she just wanted to hide in the Miracle Box and never come out, she had had days like these before but it had been a long time since then. During those times she was always able to pick herself up, but now it felt like she would never be able to pull herself from the never-ending pit of hollowness, anger, sadness, and hope she found herself in. Plagg tried his best to raise her spirits but she still felt dim, and if she looked in the mirror she would find it was only too true. She was no longer the vibrant red she used to be, but a dull pale pink, looking almost gray. 

She was still eating cookies, but she simply couldn’t stomach Tom & Sabine’s cookies anymore, they brought back too many memories and when Marianne had brought her some she had burst into tears. She loved fresh baked cookies, and her favorite had been Tom & Sabine’s, especially if Marinette helped make them, but it was like she couldn’t stomach them anymore. No. She didn’t deserve them anymore, so she ate the store bought and tried to ignore the lack of warmth, but even then she hardly had an appetite. Her energy seemed to have been stolen from her because all she wanted to do was lay on the cushion Fu and Marianne had given her and there were days where that was all she could do. It was like she was glued to the cushion, but it was those days where she went from this incredible sadness that seemed to drown her to this stomach-clenching anxiety that shouted at her for doing nothing, that by laying there she would miss something important. 

It was never ending. 

It reminded her of her losing Jeanne. She had been like this back then too, loss never got easier. Even if it was something you had experienced before, you’re never ready for when it happens again. You think you will be, you delude yourself into believing it, but when it happens you are slapped with the cruel reality that loss can never be prepared for. She had lost many of her bugs to time, and even then it was hard to get over, but it was those lost to tragedy that hit her the hardest. She had vowed to never lose another Bug to tragedy, not again, and she thought she would be able to avoid it with Marinette. Things hadn’t seemed so bad, and when they got bad Marinette had this amazing ability to bounce back from whatever knocked her down so Tikki felt like she didn’t have to worry too much. Yet, she still worried, and she lectured and pushed in the hopes it would have made Marinette stronger. In the end it was just another thing that added to the hurt Marinette had been feeling, Tikki was sure of it. 

Fu and Plagg treated her with sympathy and pity while Marianne treated her with compassion and Tikki hated every second spent with any of them. She didn’t deserve their sympathy, their pity, nor their compassion. Tikki wanted them to be angry with her, she wanted them to yell at her and tell her what she already knew; it was her fault. Her words caused Marinette to become akumatized, her words were something that pushed her towards the edge, it was her words that caused Paris to lose the most wonderful girl. Kwami have often heard over their years of being active and those before, how humans spoke about the weight of words, how they could heal, how they could cut and how they could bring people together just as fast as they could push them away. Tikki had never really understood it at first and she knew her fellow Kwami felt the same, humans were tricky creatures and more complex than they could ever imagine. As they spent time with them it became clear that they were right, words had power with them and it was a terrifying realization. 

Working with humans had been an exciting new thing for them all, lending them their power for the first time was something that Tikki would never forget no matter how long ago it was. It was something so beautiful and magical, it was overall something hard to describe. Of course things weren’t all great, the Kwami were bound to the jewelry that became known as the Miraculous and though lending their power was still an amazing thing, it didn’t feel the same as it once did. It was still beautiful. It was still magical. Yet, it felt muted, but there were some, some rare chosens they got that felt like the old times, it felt brand new. Those moments made Tikki fall in love with her power and humanity all over again. She felt bad to say she had favorite chosens, but every Kwami was the same, it was those rare chosens that they connected to that were their favorites. Maybe that’s what made all this worse. Marinette had been one of those chosens, and the most worrisome thing to Tikki was how she had been the youngest. 

She was so young in human and Kwami years, a tiny thing too, though Tikki knew better than most that size did not equal power, maybe that was why Tikki was so hard on her. Humans were such fragile but stubborn creatures, Tikki had seen maybe humans fall, many rise to power and had seen them create. It was her favorite thing about them, how creative of a species they were. If they found something that seemed impossible, they created something that overcame the impossibility! If they were bored they created something new to entertain! It was something otherworldly to watch and experience, even if Tikki had to be hidden at times. Her chosens tended to be creative spirits and Tikki loved being in their presence, each just had a different creativity to them and it was fascinating to think about. Then they died and she would no longer be surrounded by that presence and it felt like she was adrift for years until she found another chosen. 

Marinette had been a light for her, one that pulled her from her drifting after the loss of Jeanne. She had felt that connection she had felt from past rare chosens and had wanted to ignore it, so Tikki did all she could not to get too attached. She took on the role of mentor and tried to keep a distance but it was all for naught. Souls like Marinette’s were too warm and bright to stay away from and Tikki fell all over again. Marinette was another Ladybug that she saw as her own, she became protective and that protectiveness corrupted into something ugly. She thought she was doing the right thing whenever she told Marinette to ignore the negative emotions that threatened to swallow the teen some days. Or when she lectured Marinette on behavior she thought could lead to trouble, trouble brought strife and strife brought the end of life. Tikki wanted Marinette to live a long life, even if she wasn’t in it, she hadn’t meant like this though. Anything but this situation would be better. Her connection with Marinette was completely severed, something that terrified her, she tried everyday to reach Marinette and was always met with nothing or with static. 

Honestly she didn’t know which was worse.

It gave her hope because the static meant that Marinette was alive and there was still a part of her that wasn’t fully accepting of the akuma. On the other hand the silence, the nothing meant the connection was weak and barely hanging on by a thread. Marinette, or whatever name she went by was embracing the akuma full heartedly and the more hours that passed and turned into days which led into weeks where Tikki got fewer and fewer static, she feared what it meant. No one had ever been akumatized as long as Marinette was currently going on and that knowledge made Tikki’s heart skip beats. Tikki needed sleep but she would talk herself into pushing the connection as much as she could only for her to end up with a killer headache, a migraine she believed it was called, and an overwhelming feeling of nausea. Plagg pleaded with her to take breaks, eat, rest but how could she rest when her child was out there somewhere? 

“Hello, Tikki. How are you doing today?” Fu asked as he walked in, she may not have been facing him but Tikki could hear his uneven steps that came from his cane and age.

She didn’t answer.

“We brought you some cookies from the store.” Marianne voiced, Tikki could identify her by the shuffle-like steps she made. 

Tikki merely pointed to the corner where many abandoned plates of cookies sat, she didn’t need to turn around to see their disappointed faces, she could feel the emotion hanging in the air like the lingering scent of Plagg’s precious Camembert. 

“C’mon Sugar Cube, you have to eat something.” She could always sense Plagg, they could always sense each other, no matter what. His presence always brought her comfort, even now when all she wanted to do was be alone. It was odd, it was like she wanted to yell at him to leave but at the same time hug him like he would vanish if she didn’t.

“Why?”

“Why? Tiks, C’mon you know why.” Plagg’s voice broke as he spoke. 

“Why does it matter Plagg? What? I eat, I get better, then what? Fu hands me off to another user? No. I’m done.” 

“Tikki. Tiks.” Plagg breathed out, each utterance of her name sounded like a plea. A plea for what she wasn’t sure, but she felt his hands take hers and she finally looked up, looked at him, her partner after what felt like a lifetime. The sight of him brought fresh tears to her eyes. “You’re breaking my heart here Sugar Cube.”

“Yeah well…mine’s been broken.” She stubbornly replied through her tears. “I can’t Plagg. I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep losing my Bugs to tragedy. Mar-Marinette was a child. A baby. And now my baby is gone because of me. Not greedy humans, not war, not old age, but me.” 

“It was not your fault Tikki.” When she shook her head his voice got more firm. “No, listen to me, it is not your fault. I know when we lose one of our users it feels like it is. The Universe only knows how many of my Kittens have fallen to tragedy and how many of those I blamed myself for. You didn’t let me be swallowed by guilt, guilt you told me was unfounded. This guilt you’re putting on yourself is unfounded, Tiks. You were doing what you thought was best.”

“Yeah well it is perfectly clear that my best isn’t enough. My ‘best’ pushed my Bug over the edge, Plagg.” Tikki hissed.

“Tikki. You couldn’t have known what she was feeling.” He insisted but Tikki knew different, or well felt different, but it might as well have been a known thing with all that transpired. 

“But I should have!” She shouted as she floated a bit above the cushion she had confined herself too. Her antennae and tail all ramrod straight as she glared at him. The anger was not directed at him, it was directed towards her but maybe that wasn’t entirely true. She was angry at herself but the more that Plagg, Fu and Marianne pestered her about her feelings, asked her how she was doing, told her it wasn’t her fault, the angrier she got. So maybe the anger was a little directed at him too. 

“We may be beings that humans once revered as Gods, we may actually be quasi-gods who knows, but we have never been all-knowing Tikki. Never. So there is no way you could have known how Marinette was truly feeling at all times, even if she was a rare chosen, you know that the connection doesn’t work that way.” Plagg shouted back, though his shout was more desperate. 

“Tikki.” Fu’s voice rang out and made Tikki snap her head in his direction.

“I don’t want to hear your voice Wang Fu. Hearing you putter around this place already makes me sick and full of rage.” She seethed. “You are as much to blame as I!”

“Now Tikki, the loss of Marinette is a tragic one but there is hope to get her back. It will do us no good to blame ourselves. There were many causes and Marinette is but a human, her fall was hard but we will find her and pick her up. I understand-” Fu began but was cut off by a growl from Tikki.

“You understand nothing!” Tikki felt like she was on fire, her rage felt all-consuming and then she spotted Plagg in the corner. Plagg who looked miserable and afraid and just like that her rage left her in a rush. With nothing to fuel her or give her energy, Tikki let herself float down onto her pillow once more. “You don’t understand so don’t you dare breathe those lies in my direction Fu. At least I take responsibility for my mistakes, I own up to them. I sit here and I admit I pushed Marinette to push aside her feelings of anger, of sadness, or anything negative because I was scared of losing her. When she was able to fend off an akuma for the first time… I became worse. I became worse because I was blinded, I thought she was stronger than any other human and that was my mistake. She is strong, but no one is strong enough to fend off their emotions. No human can just shove aside what they are truly feeling. I scolded her. I lectured her. All because I thought she was more, she was stronger, she was better and because I feared I would lose her.”

Tikki took a shaky breath in. “And I did lose her. I held her to impossible standards and I recognize that, but you. You knew…you knew how much was on her shoulders and yet you still added more and more. You, just as I disregarded her complaint, her worries. But at least I listened to them and tried to give advice, granted it was wrong advice but advice nonetheless. I wanted to pretend that Marinette was somehow something more than human but at least I tried! What did you do, Fu? What. Did. You. Do?” 

She watched as the older man’s eyes filled with tears, as his mouth opened and closed and as Marianne placed a hand on Fu’s shoulder to pull him into a hug. Tikki couldn’t look away even though she could feel Plagg’s eyes on her. She didn’t want to look at her longest and oldest friend and see the sadness and disappointment echoing in his eyes even if that is originally what she thought she wanted. She had wanted some reactions other than pity and comfort but not this way, but at the same time she couldn’t take the words back. She wouldn’t take them back. So she did the only thing she could think of and flew, flew out the open window which Marianne had cracked open when Fu had lit too many incense sticks to try and calm himself. Tikki flew and flew and flew till the world blurred around her, she didn’t have a destination in mind, she just wanted a place to clear her head. Funny how she ended up at Collège Françoise Dupont. There was no way she could enter Bustier’s classroom…she couldn’t even look at it, so she flew into Mendeleiev’s. 

Mendeleiev’s classroom had strangely been a comfort place for her and maybe Plagg too. They had met there many times just to get away from the noise, the chaos, the everything. So many that’s why it surprised her to see Mme Mendeleiev sitting at her desk staring out at her empty classroom. Maybe if this had been in the past Tikki would have gone somewhere else but she had always admired the teacher’s analytical mind and Tikki just wanted to talk to someone who wasn’t close to her. “Hello.”

Mendeleiev jumped at her voice and swiveled in her chair to stare at her in shock. Tikki waved at her and hoped it helped somehow calm the teacher’s shock. “Hell…Hello?”

“I don’t know if you remember me.”

“I remember.”

“Oh. Good…good.”

“I don’t mean to come across as rude by any means but, what are you doing here?” Mendeleiev questioned, her body tense.

“I…I just needed to clear my head and I found myself here. I couldn’t make myself go into B…Marinette’s other classroom, and if you recall, my partner and I used to wait in your room sometimes.” Tikki explained somewhat lamely as she flew over to Mendeleiev’s desk and sat on it. 

They sat in awkward silence for a good while before Mendeleiev cleared her throat. “So it is one hundred percent true? Marinette was Ladybug?”

Tikki searched the human woman’s face, she wasn’t excited at the prospect of having a superhero as a student, she wasn’t disgusted, she looked-Tikki didn’t know how to describe it-heartbroken yet proud at the same time. “Yes.”

She watched as Mendeleiev, the woman she and Marinette had always seen as strong and sensible, broke down in tears. “I…I wish I knew. I know it must have been against some sort of rules but she…she was just a kid…”

“I know…I…I wish things had been different as well. If it were up to us Kwami we wouldn’t have such restrictions like the identity thing but…”

“I’m sorry. Truly. You must have really liked her.”

“I love her…That’s why I’m so angry. I’m angry at myself. At her class. And also the Guardian. I see him, I hear him and I am so full of heartbreak and rage I don’t know what to do.” Tikki confessed. She couldn’t believe that she was being so forthcoming with a human but Mendeleiev’s energy sort of reminded her of Duusuu before they were corrupted at The Temple.

“This Guardian,” Mendeleiev held the ‘s’ a bit longer than normal before she continued, “he’s the one who hands out the Miraculous isn’t he? Not Ladybug like I had been led to believe.”

Tikki nodded.

Mendeleiev heaved out a sigh. “I mean…If I met the man who thought children were the perfect people to fight a terrorist I’d have some choice words too, but you also seem to have an emotional connection to the man.”

“We have a past, yes. It’s long and complicated but…I had never felt this rage toward him ever. I have been disappointed, maybe even frustrated but that was before Marinette disappeared and since then…Since then so many things have gone so horribly wrong. It’s like I can’t help but blame him.” Tikki said, she felt like she wanted to cry again but no tears fell. 

“You’re right about that. Horrible things have happened. And as much as I want to be reasonable, part of me believes Marinette’s disappearance was the catalyst. First she disappeared, the school turned against one class, then all of Paris turned against said class, then The Followers appeared along with their strings of petty crimes that escalated to…Caline didn’t deserve that. She made mistakes, I admit that, but she didn’t deserve murder.” Tikki nodded in agreement, yes she had been furious with the woman but she too thought she didn’t deserve to die. Nobody did.

Mendeleiev continued. “Then Lila Rossi was beaten within an inch of her life. She made many mistakes, she was an admittedly awful student but no child deserves that. She’s a child and they beat her. And now Damocles has disappeared! Fled I guess would be a better way to put it but no one knows where he went.”

Tikki gasped. “Disappeared? Why?” She hadn’t really been too focused on everything going on, only staying up to date because of the TV in Fu and Marianne’s place and from what she could overhear from Plagg, Fu and Marianne. 

“The school, as I mentioned before, turned on Caline’s class. Then outsiders started to partake, no matter how many security details we got. Things escalated, and Caline started to get harassed and well…we saw how that ended. Damocles started receiving the same sort of hate mail she had gotten. He had of course alerted the authorities but he had also told me. He became so paranoid. Then small things started happening, he’d trip but he’d trip almost into oncoming traffic if he hadn’t managed to roll in time. Things started to fall from buildings, nearly crushing him. One night he was mugged. Or so he claimed. I’m sure there were other instances but all of it just started to build and build on one another and…next thing I know he’s gone.” Mendeleiev stared out her window as she told Tikki about her former coworker, tears rolled down her face as she did so.

“The only thing he left behind was a note saying ‘I’m sorry. Please don’t look for me, I’ll never return to Paris.’ He sent the same thing to the police and asked for the notes to be burned so a Follower wouldn’t get their hands on it. I, of course, did so.”

They sat in silence once again until Tikki joined Mendeleiev in staring out her window before she whispered. “I wish I had been there for Marinette more…”

“I wish I had too.” Mendeleiev whispered back. “I wish we all had been.”

Next Chapter

[dreamwreaver]

One of the things that bothers me about miracle queen beyond how dirty they did Chloe starting in this episode and continuing in for 2 whole SEASONS, sigh, happy thoughts. Anyways one of the other things that bothers me about the episode is just how callous fu is.

When jade turtle is sitting inside shelter, just before Mayura calls forth hawkmoth's sentimonster, he watches her get dizzy and nearly faint. He watches hawkmoth catch her and worry over her and mayura's half hearted reassurances that she's fine when she clearly isn't. And he says nothing, he does nothing.

Remember, this is a man who has lived his entire life trying to fix the guilt that plagues him from a mistake he made as a child. Yes, since this occurs after feast most of that is gone because everything except the recovery of the peacock and butterfly miraculous has been resolved. But he also deeply cares about people and is demonstrated to be a healer. More than that, he knows that there is some enhanced strength and resilience when the miraculous are used. The fact that mayura is weak to the point of being unable to stand SHOULD bother him. But for being the wise mentor in a show about the importance of caring for others, he doesn't. For someone consumed by his mistakes, he still doesn't see how putting both the pressure of being the bearer of one of the two most powerful jewels in his miracle box and the guardian might affect a teenager.

The fact that he's only a rent a miraculous vending machine bothers me. He's not a mentor, what do we see him teaching Marinette? Or adrien? Aside from Syren we NEVER see him interacting with adrien.

Also also, here's my big issue with the show, fu says in the origins episodes how dangerous it is to have the ladybug and black cat out and active. But who said he needed to be there to save the day? Like chat can destroy any object that holds an akuma, aside from the yoyo being the only thing that can capture them (for some reason which is never explained) all the ladybug needs to do is summon an object to use the cure. Fu could do that from his hideout! Chat's staff can be plenty of other things, why not a magic butterfly net that can hold the akuma until fu as the ladybug can purify it?

Like for someone who seems to care about not repeating his mistakes... I mean... come on

[wernevergrowingup]

I'm sick of ever character in Miraculous being reduced to a love square shipper. Alya, Kagami, Luka, Marinette's ENTIRE class, the news lady EVEN THE FUCKEN ICE CREAM MAN! They all only exist to further the love square. Can anyone have a personality and storyline that doesn't involve forcing Marinette and Adrien together??

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

You know before the reveal of Feast, I actually had a fanfic-ish theory on what destroyed the order, the peacock and what had Fu so Scared

I initially had this theory of the guardians not only protecting the miraculous from the world but the world from the Kwamis, since there’s so many concepts (propulsion,destruction,action,etc) I thought that some concepts would be too dangerous with the Kwamis acting according their Concept (Plagg is a trouble maker, the tiger is loud, the bee is loyal, etc) so I thought of kwamis which acted on their concept way too much (regeneration regenerating too much which caused things like painful deformations, infection basically creating monster zombies, fortification being walking fortress of destruction, manipulation causing wars out of pure pleasure, etc) and I thought the thing that destroyed the order would be like the opposite of Plagg and Tikki, the two are a eternal loop of balance, of entropy and birth, of light and darkness, creation and destruction. So the bad guy would be the End of said valance

Like a villain similar to the Lich of adventure time which wanted nothing but the destruction of everything, the end of the cycle, the end of everything that is, was and will be. A villain that would mark himself has evil and would keep doing it because that’s he’s nature and doesn’t think he should go against it

I think Fu would have accidentally freed this Kwami of the end but the guardians sacrificed themselves and thousands of miraculouses (because we already have enough heroes) to trap it once again and the reason Fu ran away is because some of the leaking power of the End miraculous freed some minions of the kwami which want the miraculous of creation and Destruction so their master can destroy EVERYTHING

In a show about the miraculous (heck they even come before of ladybug’s and cat noir’s name) I think the most fitting villain would be a miraculous

That would explain why Fu was so scared of losing the Miraculous without pulling up the stupidity of the wish in default ending the world, since losing the miraculous could mean Literally the end of everything

Heck I even made a OC (the minion of the kwami chasing down Fu) which was just “hey what if I make a villain rival for ladybug that doesn’t have disgusting implications of being a minor (a rival that is a adult) so when she’s defeated the audience will cheer instead of being disgusted or sad for seeing a (technical) child being dragged into the depths of HELL” also to explain why the peacock was broken since the miraculous of the end (which rivals the power of creation and destruction together) could 100 break the miraculous, it would make the audience know how dangerous this powers are and would make it look important since the damage he caused started the whole show

Also it would rise the stakes better than Gabriel’s personality making a 180 and the wish having the most bullshit consequences, since the wish would be used to end the world

I even wrote a fanfic of the escaped minion being the reason the Timeline changes in cat blanc to make the world end, so the audience knows how corruptive, destructive, unnatural, evil this kwami is with its first plan including manipulating the minds of kids (Rossi slightly and heavily Lila) to start all the events, manipulate Gabriel to hurt he’s son, make cat Blanc fight ladybug and destroy the world. Lila and chloe are just kids, Gabriel is a broken man, but this thing? This thing and he’s minions are what people B.C. saw that inspired the Devil, Hell and demons

Seriously when I discovered a sentimonster (one the order had designed on their book) was the one who destroyed ALL of the guardians, I felt nothing but disappointment, specially when they don’t explain how the peacock was broken by a mere sentimonster

I expected something grand, something that would make Gabriel see the error of he’s ways with how insignificant he is compared to the forces he was trying to control, but instead I just got a sentimonster…

Am I the one in the wrong? Was I expecting too much? Because even till this day I still feel disappointed, specially by how pathetic and uninteresting Feast was. seriously if you changed Feast and that dragon giant from the Shanghai special, I would be pleased since at least I can see a threatening, smart and powerful monster which scales above Hawkmoth in every way (power, evilness, design, lore) being the one at fault of the destruction of this mighty guardians, but instead they died to a frog!

That was a pretty interesting and detailed backstory, anon. Do you have a link to the fanfic you wrote involving the minion?

You're not wrong to expect more from the backstory of one of this show's characters. I don't think anyone really expected the backstory that kicked off the plot to amount to "The monks who trained me were dicks, I got hungry, so I played God and accidentally wiped out the aforementioned monks with a blue frog."

[eggheadsguidetorunning]

HAD TO RE-UPLOAD This because of a YOUTUBE copyright shit.

I'm kinda of suspicious of later copyrights while trying to get this uploaded being dubious. But the first one

[miraculouscriticismshub]

Miraculous movie deleted scene - Awakening spoilers ahead.

Why did Jeremy Zag cut out the best scenes 😭😭😭

Link to the deleted scene on twitter : https://twitter.com/cocoshonen/status/1691128498042388481

Side note : Why did Marinette imagine Chloe saying words of encouragement if she is her rival ? Did Jeremy Zag want to portray her as an Anti-Hero ?

[miraculous-draconequus]

Butterfly! Fu. Doesn’t have a name in the fic cause well... he stays anonymous completely.

Butterfly! Lila. She'd personally go by the name of smt like Chrysalis but can't be bothered in the new reality and still goes by as Hawkmoth.

[jeankirsteind]

No I won’t be getting over this actually.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

When I first saw a Miraculous Ladybug salt post it was the usual Lila takes away all of Marinette's friends Adrien does nothing Marinette becomes super successful Lila gets exposed blah blah blah

When I see posts like the ones you post where people give actual constructive criticism about the characters and not favor one character over the other has made me realize that these are fictional characters and its not their fault they are the way they are. Also they're 14 what kind of 14 year old makes good choice's? Especially when they have the fate of the world/universe on their shoulders

If anything the character I really blame is Master Fu. He was obviously meant to be some sort of mentor figure for them or at least Marinette's mentor. He was the one to tell and encourage Marinette to keep everything a secret from Adrien. Comparing him to other mentor like figures in the world of superheros he isn't really all that helpful.

Compared to DC Ladybug and Chat Noir do not have any adult superheros to help them. In DC younger superheros have entire superhero families to help them out and if not that than they have other adult superheros to help them or they have an actual team. We know that other miraculous holders exist and the order is back I have a vague idea as to why they can't help but I still find it weird as to why they are around if not to help. Like phones and the internet exist do they not?

Sorry for they rant, I want to know what your thoughts are on this?

Your rant was fine! I don't think that I've talked in depth about mentors as a concept and I should both because I love mentors and because Miraculous has completely failed to give us any good ones. This is a writing failure not because good mentors are required, but because the show chose to have mentors characters and then not use them.

Before I get into the topic at large, I want to start with a brief discussion of mentors in shows aimed at young children as Miraculous' intended audience is young children and that fact is worth keeping in mind when discussing what Miraculous did wrong and some of the ways that you can fix it.

Shows aimed at kids generally avoid adult characters in major roles for the very obvious reason that the intended audience is kids, so you want the kid and teen characters to be the stars. This doesn't mean that adults aren't allowed to save the day or have important roles. It just means that they should be used sparingly. This is why mentors are a great addition to kids shows. They allow adult characters to be deeply involved with the plot without anyone expecting them to intervene because that's not their role in the story. They're not here to be the hero. They're here to guide the hero.

One of the powerful things about this setup is that it allows the writers to give the real kids watching at home real advice about real life problems. For example, if Marinette comes to Fu to talk about feeling alone and overwhelmed, then he can give her real, practical advice that would apply to anyone who is feeling alone and overwhelmed, but no one expects him to directly intervene because he's supposed to say hidden.

A lot of these elements apply to mentors in media aimed at older audiences, the rules just apply for different reasons, so I'm going to stop reminding you that Miraculous is for elementary school kids and focus on the failed mentor issue as it would be an issue no matter what Miraculous' intended audience was.

When it comes to bad mentoring, a lot of people focus on Fu and I get why. At first glance, he's the classic wise old Asian man who is supposed to be there to guide the protagonist on her mystical journey (not getting into the racism issue here, just know that I'm aware of it and that Miraculous dropped the ball on this in a lot of ways even though they absolutely could have made it work.) But Fu isn't the main focus of my ire because, while the writers seemed to have designed him around the mystic Asian trope, they never actually wrote him like a mentor.

He doesn't train Marinette and Adrien in the ways of the miraculous. He just sneakily gives them their miraculous and then disappears from their lives for quite some time. So he's not around to get them properly started on their hero journey. That's strike one for the mentor role.

Strike two is the fact that we never actually see him mentoring Marinette. I don't think that she ever went to him for advice? If she did, then it wasn't a big element of their relationship. When I think of Marinette and Fu, I picture her going to him to grab a miraculous or two before booking it back to the ongoing fight and that's about it. The guardian training she supposedly had was all off screen, so we have no idea how close they were or what he even taught her outside of potion making. Even that wasn't really him teaching her something. It was them working together to figure out a puzzle because Fu never completed his own training, making it impossible for him to properly train a successor.

Strike three is the fact that - outside of the King Monkey incident - Fu never gets directly involved in helping team miraculous. He's never gives them feedback on fights or works with Ladybug and Chat Noir to strengthen their bond. He doesn't even help them track down the two missing miraculous or hand out the temporary miraculous on Marinette's behalf, a choice I still find super weird. "This fight is super hard and we need help, so I'm going to leave Chat Noir to fight alone while I go get said help!" is absolutely nonsense logic and one of the many examples of the writers desperately needing to let Marinette hand her responsibilities off. Why wasn't this Fu's job?

This brings us to fix one: if you want the guardian to be a mentor - which is a role they arguably should have - then the guardian needs to be actively involved in Marinette and Adrien's lives in an on screen way. For this to work in the context of Miraculous - a show that really wants to focus on the teen characters - then the guardian probably needs a teenage apprentice who isn't Marinette and that apprentice will be the one doing the mentoring.

My pick for this is Luka for two big reasons. The first one is that his calm personality is perfectly suited to a mentor. The second one is that it seems insane to me to have the snake be a temp holder. The snake should be watching every fight, but staying out of the actual fight so that they can use their power whenever it's needed. That's the perfect role for a mentor character to fill. Someone who is active in the plot, but only ever as a support because their power stops them from getting more involved.

Moving on to the bigger issue.

As I said up above, Fu doesn't actually get my ire. While I wanted him to be a mentor, he never once filled that role and he didn't really need to because the show already had mentor figures that it was actively using and using poorly. Those figures are the ancient magical creatures that follow our heroes around, dispensing terrible advice whenever they feel like it. That's right, as much as it pains me, Miraculous' biggest mentor failures are Tikki and Plagg.

The miraculous did not need to have magical creatures associated with them. They could have just been magical jewelry that Fu handed out and explained. Instead, the writers chose to give us the Kwamis and I don't disagree with that choice. I like the Kwmais! The problem is that they're used in the most lackluster, asinine ways you possibly could.

The Kwamis are not presented as oblivious to the world and unable to give advice. They give lots of advice! The problem is that advice tends to suck! I can think of many examples of times where the Kwamis made everything worse, but let's look at the one that grinds my gears the most: Plagg's actions in season four.

In Rocketear - the episode where Nino gives Adrien an incredibly inaccurate picture of why he knows Alya's secret identity - we get this:

Adrien: I still can't believe Ladybug entrusted Alya and Nino with those Miraculous. Plagg: Of course she did. She's the Guardian. Adrien: But they're a couple and they know each other's secret identities. Plagg: So...? Adrien: So, why does she make it a rule that we can't know each other's identities but it's okay for them? Plagg: She's the Guardian, the Grandmaster Cheese Ripener, and you and I are just cheese on the platter. She decides what's on the menu.

Hey, Plagg, maybe don't tell your clearly upset and vulnerable teenage holder to just suck it up and deal with it when he's feeling alone and betrayed? Maybe encourage him to talk to Ladybug about his feelings so that he can get the full story? Knowing that they learned their identities during the Scarlet Moth incident would probably do a lot to smooth over Adrien's hurt feelings.

What's even more rich is that the episode Kuro Neko lets Plagg go off on Marinette for not appreciating Chat Noir:

Ladybug: What's gotten into him? I didn't do anything. Plagg: Didn't do anything? Well yeah, you did! You've been neglecting a very classy piece of camemebert on your plate for too long! And as a result it got runny, and moldy! Ladybug: What? Cat Noir never gave me any camembert. Plagg: Of course not, Cat Noir is the camembert! For a while now, you've been neglecting this camembert— I mean Cat Noir, and going on adventures with the all other cheeses! Ladybug: But he should be happy about it, it gives him more time off. Plagg: Cat Noir doesn't wanna have time off, Ladybug! He is in love with you! And your persistent calling on all the other heroes has broken his heart.

Dude, if you saw all of this going on, then why didn't you say something??? You and Tikki are in the same location for multiple hours five days a week. Go tell her how your holder is feeling and figure out how to fix the situation! Or be an actual mentor and encourage Adrien to talk to someone about his feelings! At the very least, cut up a wheel of cheese, sit down, and listen to your kid so that he feels less alone!

Also what exactly do you want Ladybug to do to fix the problem you presented? Let Paris burn until Chat Noir decides to show up to today's fight? Refuse to use the temp heroes even if it means losing a fight? None of those are valid solutions when the problem presented in the episode is Chat Noir missing fights. Especially when we know that he's doing it on purpose. Why are you yelling at her instead of working with her to come up with an actual solution? You are such a terrible mentor...

To be clear, I don't think any of this is intentional. I don't think the writers want Plagg and Tikki to come across as actively hurting their teenage charges via bad advice. I think Plagg and Tikki are supposed to be seen as good and helpful, but they can't fill that role because they're tools of the narrative and the narrative has really wacky views on what good advice is. Thus nonsense like the example I discussed above or Plagg and Tikki picking new holders instead of guiding their holders through an identity reveal.

I personally adore letting Plagg and Tikki be good mentors in my own stuff. It falls under the same category as Alya and Nino being terrible friends on screen. I acknowledge the problem and then delight in fixing it by writing the exact opposite setup because what is fanfiction for if not heavy self indulgence?