#Plagg Salt

[theerurishipper]

Maybe you just like those characters better but it’s not that OOC for Kagami or Plagg not to tell Adrien. Kagami lies when it suits her like she lied to her mother to be with Adrien. Right now she’s infatuated with Felix so his influence is a huge factor in not telling Adrien. Kagami also falls into the camp of people who believe Adrien is softer than them, especially after comparing him to Felix. I wouldn’t put it past her to omit information about his father to protect him. The most OOC thing is not telling him he’s a sentimonster but I consider this OOC for Marinette too because it’s a matter of safety. Those characters are usually far more wary about letting people wonder around with the remote control to themselves on their fingers without knowing. I’d actually consider it more in character for Marinette to take the ring herself and hide it away than to just… let him wander around like that in danger all the time…

As for Plagg, where’s the surprise? He’s always omitted info from Adrien and lied about things as Master Fu deigned, even before Marinette was guardian. There have been plenty of times when Plagg didn’t trust Adrien with things. Tikki trusted Marinette more in Sandboy. Plagg cares about Adrien. He won’t let anything immediate hurt him. He doesn’t want to lose him but he has largely been an observer in the affairs of Adrien’s life- a more detached one than Tikki even. This, even more than for Kagami, is in character for him.

This also isn’t wholly in character for Marinette. Besides letting him wander around without knowing his control switch is on his fingers without having a full on anxious meltdown 24/7, I really don’t understand why she wouldn’t tell Chat Noir. Unlike the Rena Furtive secret in Season 4, her partner knowing who Gabriel Agreste was isn’t really a liability anymore. She’s let up on her control. She’s giving out all the miraculous permanently now and she trusted Chat Noir to wield one of the most powerful of them and take the lead with the rabbit. She was about to tell him easily before she was distracted in the Agreste mansion. So why keep it from him now? That seems just as forced imo.

The thing is, this is a different kind of secret. Plagg kept secrets about the Guardians and the Miraculous, things that weren't really about Adrien per se, even if Adrien deserved to know about it. This, this is about Adrien. This is about his life. Plagg would never keep this secret from Adrien. Plagg, the one person (?) who is always on Adrien's side, who encourages him to fight for what he wants. That Plagg, who has always cared about Adrien's freedom, who is heavily implied to have been abused that way himself, he would keep this a secret from Adrien? Really?

Even in Sandboy, the secret wasn't about Adrien. It was about Plagg and the Kwamis. And Sandboy isn't a great example to use now, because that episode was when Adrien and Plagg's relationship began to change. Sandboy was a turning point. Plagg trusted Adrien after Sandboy. One of the points of that episode was for Plagg to start trusting Adrien like Tikki trusts Marinette because he realizes how much Adrien cares for him, and since that episode, Plagg has taken a more active role in encouraging Adrien and supporting him. This feels like a step back.

Plagg has spent Season 5 chiding Adrien and pushing him to stand up for himself and gain more agency in his life. So keeping something like this a secret... doesn't it run counter to everything Plagg has been saying and doing to help Adrien throughout the show? In Representation, Plagg was getting on Adrien's case for not standing up to his father. But now he knows why Adrien wasn't doing what Plagg wanted him to do, and instead of continuing to help, he just decides to hide it? Why?? Plagg has never been afraid of being blunt with Adrien and delivering the harsh truth. The only secrets he kept were those that weren't his to tell.

And the same with Kagami. Kagami only ever lied to one person, her mother. And that too was only to spend time with Adrien. She's always been blunt and honest with everyone else. She was encouraging Adrien to stand up to Gabriel in Risk. She wants Adrien to take charge of his life and be more assertive. Then why on earth would she keep this secret from him when it runs counter to that? It goes against everything she's said to him or told him or encouraged him to do. Kagami, like Plagg, has never concerned herself with protecting Adrien. She's always pushed him. She's never shied away from the truth. She has a very strong personality, and I do not believe that a romance with Felix would cause her to throw away all her values and morals in a heartbeat and lie to her friend this way. Kagami only ever lied to one person about an entirely different kind of situation, and based on how she's acted before, this is completely OOC for her.

And I will have to disagree with this being OOC for Marinette. I think it's completely in character. Thing is, Marinette doesn't think about these things. Marinette has consistently kept every important thing a secret from Chat Noir. This has been a thing since Season 4. Marinette doesn't think long term about consequences and implications. It's 100% in character for her to want to protect Adrien, which means lying to him and keeping him in a happy lie about who he is, because she fears that realizing he's a Sentimonster would break him. I highly doubt Marinette considered how Adrien himself might feel about it, or even what could happen. This is one of Marinette's flaws, that she can't put herself in others' shoes, and therefore makes decisions for them that they may not like.

Marinette didn't consciously push Chat Noir away, she just did it because. And she never fixed it. She was going to send the message to Chat Noir in the finale, but she actively chose not to. Her trusting Chat Noir with the Rabbit was an exception, and she never did anything of the sort again. It's completely in character for Marinette to not tell Chat Noir, just like it is for her to not tell Adrien. Truth of the matter is, Gabriel asked Marinette not to tell Adrien anything that would make him seem like a bad father under the guise of it being for Adrien's happiness, and Marinette carried out his request. It's very much in character for her, at least according to the characterization established in Seasons 4 and 5. But that's just me.

Thank you for your ask!

[imthepunchlord]

Do you think Marinette getting the ladybug miraculous and Adrien getting the cat miraculous could have worked?

Oh yes, they could've.

As Marinette is set power wise in how she uses the Ladybug, the biggest issue that needs to be addressed is Tikki. Tikki doesn't bring anything new to Marinette, she teaches to be responsible, be considerate of others, step up as a leader, be dedicated and productive and stay on top of things; and guess what, Marinette is already a lot of those. Tikki is just hammering those nails even deeper. And while Tikki can be supportive and affectionate, she doesn't truly back her humans, she wants them to handle things themselves. So paired with this, it's easy to get why Marinette is developing and Atlas complex with Tikki.

It's a big reason Plagg I think would've been the best kwami to pair with her, for he's her best foil. He's the best set up to have Marinette grow, learn to adjust herself. He's lazy to her being overly dedicated and productive, and he's selfish to her selflessness. I don't see Marinette flipping a coin and becoming like Plagg, but I can see her learning that she needs to draw a line somewhere, to not pile so much on her plate, that sometimes she needs to prioritize herself and her own needs and wants before others. It's also a big plus that Plagg will be in Marinette's court and have her back and get upset for her, something she really doesn't have in canon (at most she had Luka but they moved him to Brazil so... yeah she doesn't really have anyone in her corner).

But to make Tikki work, there are a few options.

1 is to have Marinette realize that Tikki doesn't always know what's best, and she shouldn't listen to everything Tikki says, calls out, or advises. That she should probably challenge Tikki and her stances sometimes.

2 is to make use of Master Fu, he could be the one to advise Marinette to not have full faith in Tikki and her stances, or you can make use of him being someone Tikki works for and have him tell Tikki that she needs to adjust herself and how she's handling Marinette.

3 is having a different kwami to work with Marinette and Tikki, having someone counter Tikki's words with their own, and Marinette has someone else to listen to and consider than Tikki. Ideally, I do think it needs to be a kwami who's going to recommend prioritizing Marinette's needs since Tikki is there to guide her humans to be a humanitarian.

Adrien with the Cat is good, but he can be better. I do think he needs to learn some self control and self restraint with the power of destructive, given he can be quite reckless and emotional with it (destroying things out of anger is not great, accidentally murdering Aeon is not great, moving to kill Scarabella is not great...). I do also think the Cat is meant to be more stealthy in combat, so Adrien could work at being a better planner and sneak attacker.

Plagg ideally should've helped with Adrien's rebellion, help him gain independence, to stand his ground against his father and play by his own rules. These are what Adrien needs, and plays into his wants. He wants to be more independent, and he does need to rebel against his father and his unreasonable rules. And Adrien can be a pleaser so he does need to learn to do things his way and not just go with the flow like his father/Chloe want him to.

Only drawback is that Adrien himself is pretty selfish and entitled (especially with Ladybug), and Plagg can feed into that. Plagg is also the sort to let consequences be a teacher than actually be involved in guiding humans to grow, but Adrien isn't the sort to take up blame or faults on his part, he'd pass it onto others and deny his own faults. And it especially doesn't help having Plagg deep in Adrien's corner that he'll get upset for him, like Kuro Neko, technically he needs to get Adrien off his butt and get moving instead of getting upset at Marinette. Like, good for Adrien to have that, he needs it in his household, but this isn't what he needs either.

So for Adrien to work with Cat, ultimately, Plagg needs to adjust and step up his game. Likewise, can make use of Master Fu to stress to Adrien that he needs to adjust how he uses the Cat if nothing can be done about Plagg. Honestly, Master Fu should've been very put off and wary in Syren when he came upon Adrien threatening to quit instead of being a hero and helping those in need.

Honestly, between the two, Adrien is the dicey choice. And given that quitting as come up three times with him, and he still hasn't changed much with how he is as a hero, he probably shouldn't have been a full time hero.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

As a follow up to you post about mentors, just to make things fair, what are examples of Tikki being a bad mentor to Marinette?

Post in question for context.

Tikki often acts as the voice of the author. She's there to explain why Marinette is in the wrong. Since Miraculous has some wacky morals, that means we get a mix of good advice and wacky nonsense advice.

Two examples of bad advice that come to mind are Gamer and Strikeback. Gamer is the episode where Marinette stumbles upon an Ultimate Mecha Strike tournament, realizes that Adrien is taking part, and decides to compete so they can be on a team together. Marinette wins a spot through her own hard won skills and then this happens:

Tikki: All you wanted to do is spend time with Adrien, there are other ways to do that! Marinette: What are you getting at? Tikki: You know how much Max wanted to be in that tournament. Kim said he'd been training for it all year. Marinette: You're right. All I could think about was Adrien. 

This is how tournaments work, right? They're not tests of skill, but tests of who put in the most work or who wants to compete the most! That's why we had that scene with Marinette writing out her training schedule and motivations for evaluation, but she lied and that was wrong and...

Okay, I was the one lying here. There was no written evaluation because that's not how tournaments work. All anyone cares about is your skills. They don't care if you're doing this for personal glory or to get closer to a boy or whatever Adrien's motivation was because - notably - his motivation didn't matter in this episode about needing pure motives to be allowed to do things.

What if he didn't care about the competition and only did it to get closer to his classmates? That's not even a random guess. It's a valid read because Adrien ultimately gives his spot to Max while claiming that Max is the better player even though Adrien very clearly beat Max at the start of the episode. Ignoring that weird nonsense dialogue, why was it fine for Adrien to compete when he didn't care but wrong for Marinette to do the same? And Max wanting to compete to show off his skills is also a totally selfish motivation, so why does it matter that he wanted it more? Everything about this episode was nonsense and uncomfortably sexist. If Max wants to compete, then he needs to get better at the game. That's how competitions work.

Strikeback is the second part of the season four final and it starts with Marinette mourning the fact that "Adrien" has left Paris, leading to this:

Marinette: (crestfallen) It's all over, Tikki. Tikki: He'll be back, Marinette. He's just going on a voyage!

Which would be lovely advice if Adrien was a normal boy, but he's Chat Noir and Tikki knows that. She should be freaking out and trying to find a way to get him back to Paris, but then Tikki would have to support Marinette's actions and we can't have that, so instead Tikki gives this nonsense advice because she has to be against whatever "wrong" thing Marinette is doing today.

I could come up with a few more examples, but I think those two paint a pretty good picture of issue one re Tikki. However, when it comes to Tikki, my main issue with her is less a wealth of bad advice - unlike Plagg*, I think she's right more often than not - and more a lack of support. It feels like she's just here to judge Marinette and point out when she's doing something wrong, but a good mentor should be so much more than that.

Kuro Neko is a great example of this. When Chat Noir quits, Tikki just sits back and does nothing while her young charge is freaking out. She doesn't even try to defend Marinette when Plagg is going off about Chat Noir's "ill treatment". For all Plagg's faults in that episode, at least he's doing something about the situation. Meanwhile Tikki literally has two lines in the entire episode! A similar thing happens in Kwami's Choice where Plagg is the one driving them to act while Tikki just wrings her hands in despair.

Tikki: (sighs heavily) What can we do? Plagg: We must free them of that impossible choice. We must… free them of us.

These are not the actions of a mentor. Mentors aren't supposed to just offer judgement about things that their mentee has already done or is considering doing. They're supposed to be a source of support and guidance in hard times, but we never really see Tikki stepping in to give Marinette that kind of advice. If memory serves, she never offers solutions or acts as a sounding board. That role is mainly filled by Alya and I love Alya! It's good for Marinette to have support from a friend, but Alya is also a teenager while Tikki is an ancient being who has seen many Ladybugs go through the kind of struggles that Marinette is going through. I expect her to use that knowledge to help her charge, but she never does. This exchange from Passion perfectly highlights this problem:

Tikki: Don't worry, Plagg... my holder has decided to run away from her real feelings to pursue an impossible love with Cat Noir instead. Plagg: Uh, just to be sure, sugarcube, you do know that Cat Noir and my holder are one and the same person, right? Tikki: I do, but my holder doesn't. Plagg: If she declares her love to Cat Noir, something tells me she'll find out soon enough. Tikki: You have nothing to fear. When my holder is in love, she never gets anywhere. She'll just knit hats and make very complicated plans that will never come to fruition. Plagg: Hmm... ah, then everything's fine.

Tikki, I love you, but by the gods! With a mentor like you, Marinette doesn't need enemies to be miserable! Do you care about her at all??? What kind of mentor delights at their mentee's suffering? Not a good one, that's for sure.

*Quick note: I think that Plagg and Tikki are probably neck and neck for who has given the most bad advice, Plagg just feels like the bigger problem because we don't see him as much as we see Tikki. Since she's tied to the main character, Tikki gives advice in almost every episode and most episodes have decent morals.

Adrien's need for good advice can also feel more glaring because he's so isolated and passive. That makes Plagg's lack of good advice feel more harmful, but Marinette is just as isolated from real advice. Her mentor figures - Su Han, Fu, and Tikki - mostly give orders and judgement instead of support and guidance. It's just harder to spot that fact because Marinette is actively trying to do the right thing, meaning that she's more likely to make mistakes, and it's easy to see why she comes across as a lot less pathetic and a lot easier to judge.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Ladybug and Cat Noir: The Movie

Once again, I'd just like to apologize for the lack of activity the past few months. The holidays have kept me busy, especially at work, and I've officially decided to go back to school next month. Don't get me wrong, one of my new year's resolutions is to at least try getting back to consistently working on this blog, which is one of the reasons why I'm going to tackle She-Ra in the future. Either way, I'd like to thank you for supporting me this past year even though I haven't been as active as I should be.

When I heard Miraculous Ladybug was getting a movie, I didn't really pay too much attention to the news due to all of the side projects that have been canceled left and right, but then I saw the trailer. It looked decent, and while I had issues with the animation, I was willing to give it a shot since Astruc wasn't on the writing team. Then the movie came out, and while it got mixed reviews, this was how a lot of people in the fandom saw it after suffering through Season 5.

Yeah, a lot of fans hold this movie in high regard. It's nothing as groundbreaking as other animated films that came out the same year like Across the Spider-Verse and Nimona, but for a Miraculous Ladybug project, it turned out pretty well. That is, except for the brief schism it caused in the fandom. While it's mostly subsided, when the movie came out, there was a debate on which handled the story better, the movie or the show. As always, fandom arguments tend to get complicated, and things only got worse when Thomas Astruc himself decided to throw his hat in the ring by claiming that the show he worked on was better.

Yes, even though fans enjoy a movie based on his characters, because he isn't the one who made it, Astruc thinks his version is better. Just remember, he tweeted this about a month after “Derision” premiered. I feel like that speaks for itself.

Thankfully, the argument has died down for the most part, though there's still discussions on which is the better version. Before I really get into the movie, I just want to remind everyone reading this that my opinion shouldn't be taken as fact. I am not the authority on what people should like, and I don't want anyone to use my review as an excuse to bully other people online for having a different opinion on the movie. While I've made jokes about the show's decline in quality, the show and movie both have their own strengths and weaknesses, and we should be able to discuss them.

With all that out of the way, let's get into Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie

Just to be clear, I'm not going to tackle this like my usual reviews. Instead, I'm going to break this review into three sections: what I liked, what I didn't like, and what I'm mixed on.

Things I liked

For one thing, the characterization is pulled off very well. None of the characters are really as annoying or incompetent like they were in the show's later seasons. Part of what I think makes it work is that there's more focus on character arcs that have to be completed by the end of the film. Marinette has to learn to step up as a hero, Adrien has to learn humility while dealing with the loss of his mother, and Gabriel struggles to resist the allure of villainy.

Marinette's anxiety is more pronounced in this movie, especially since in this continuity, Chloe is just starting to harass her, so she's not used to this kind of treatment. While Chloe is a minor antagonist in the civilian plotline, the biggest threat to Marinette when she's not Ladybug is her own self-doubt. Her status as an outcast is used to add to Marinette's lack of confidence in herself. The whole reason she even meets Adrien here is because she tried to hide from Chloe in the library, and she was too nervous to really speak up to Adrien. Hell, the first time she transforms into Ladybug, it's only because Tikki forced her to transform.

I like how Marinette's insecurities transition into her origin as Ladybug, where she's put in a situation where she has to take charge and be more confident. She still gets frustrated with her situation and her new partner's ego (more on that in a minute), but she struggles to really get her head in the game at first compared to how things were in “Origins”. It makes her development into the confident hero we're all familiar with feel more natural, as the climax of the movie shows her fully asserting herself as the protector of Paris and a beacon of hope for those to look up to.

Adrien is also handled very well here. As much as I liked “Origins”, I have to admit it didn't really do much with him as a character. With the exception of wasting his first Cataclysm, he just goes about the two-parter like it's another day at the office for him. That's why I'm a huge fan of the movie actually giving him stuff to do. Unlike the show, his arrogance is shown in a more negative light and is shown to be a major character flaw he needs to overcome. Nobody tries to excuse or deny his actions, and he learns how to become a better person.

This is what makes his dynamic with Ladybug so interesting. For their first battle together, he's overconfident and assumes that he's the leader, even though he's just as new at this as Ladybug is. The two trade insults and bicker while fighting their Akuma and even when they meet Master Fu afterwards. While Cat Noir does fall for Ladybug, Marinette still isn't open to it, not because she loves someone else, but more because she finds him to be unbelievably annoying. She doesn't really hate him the same way she does Chloe. It's more like that one coworker you can't stand but have to tolerate regardless.

Both Ladybug and Cat Noir help the other improve as they gain each other's respect. Ladybug gains more confidence in order to keep Cat Noir from bossing her around, while Cat Noir becomes more humble to become a better hero. Eventually, Cat Noir reverses his position and assumes he's the sidekick, only for Ladybug to deny that claim and declare that the two are partners. This statement also reflects how both of them are responsible for saving the day in the end. While Adrien ultimately reaches through to his father, Ladybug saves Adrien and repairs the damage caused by Hawkmoth. Both played a role that was instrumental in the climax, and neither one feels ignored by the narrative.

Another character who really got a much needed revamp is Chloe. Yes, she's still Marinette's primary bully, but it's more downplayed than in later seasons. She stays a challenge exclusive to Marinette's civilian life instead of trying to be a challenge to Ladybug. The closest thing she does to opposing the heroes is kick Cat Noir off a runaway Ferris wheel out of fear, and even then, she gets her comeuppance through Ladybug throwing her in a dumpster while saving her. Chloe is also much smarter than in canon, being able to read the room to mask her emotions and maintain her image or to prey on someone's insecurities if they get in her way. Don't get me wrong, she's still a source of comic relief, but the movie treats her slightly more seriously than canon does.

Speaking of comic relief, here's something that I think made this Chloe better than the one seen in the show: The jokes were actually funny. Yeah, it's not laugh out loud, but I like how rather than make jokes about how immature and stupid Chloe is, her jokes are focused more on her own ego and self-image. Well, that, and wanting to kick Marinette's ass. I'm not making this up. Chloe in this movie threatens Marinette several times, and it's honestly amazing.

She unironically put the fear of God in Marinette's eyes in her first scene alone.

I also like how they handle her role as a love rival to Marinette. Unlike the show, Chloe and Adrien never interact, and it's implied that this continuity won't use the childhood friends element introduced in Season 2. It's a good way to show the difference between her and Marinette, how for all her boasting, Chloe doesn't know Adrien the way Marinette gets to know him.

Gabriel is easily the best part of the movie. This version is more fleshed out compared to the show. Rather than flip-flop between sympathetic and pure evil, the movie leans more on the sympathetic side for Gabriel's character. His very first scene shows the grief he's going through while thinking about Emilie, and Keith Silverstein gets to show off more emotions than just over the top sociopathy. You understand why he chooses to become a supervillain, but you want to see him get better, making for a very somber character. I especially love the delivery of the line where he finally gives in and transforms for the first time.

Gabriel: If chaos is the way, I will burn the world and lose myself in the flames to do so!

That line has no right to go as hard as it does.

We see him descend more into villainy as his appearance becomes more disheveled. Despite claiming to care for his son, the Gabriel and Adrien don't interact until the 70-minute mark. By the time the two do talk, Gabriel looks like a mess compared to how he looked at the beginning.

I really like this writing decision, as it highlights the distant relationship between the two, and how being Hawkmoth has only made things worse for Gabriel. Seeing Gabriel finally realize how unhealthy his coping mechanisms have been when he learns Adrien is Cat Noir is a satisfying scene, as it feels like a natural way to put an end to his arc. Compared to canon where he wins and never really feels bad for what he did, this version of Gabriel is far more remorseful at the sight of his son battered and bruised and breaks down sobbing. Remember, this was the version Astruc said we “wanted” and not the one we “needed”.

As for the Miraculous, things were changed to better fit the story, and I like most of what they did. I like how there's more focus on the teamwork between Ladybug and Cat Noir. Their Miraculous don't just grant a wish when used together. They literally become stronger when the two work together, and it makes a lot of sense. I like how the teamwork aspect is rewarded in-universe, because it shows how the heroes can do more than create and destroy stuff. I also think the addition of a call function on their Miraculous makes perfect sense, and clears up a ton of potential communication errors.

The fight scenes are also pretty creative. There's a lot of focus on using the environment to fight the Akumas. The very first fight has Ladybug and Cat Noir defeat the Akuma by letting a train hit it, and the second major fight involves a Ferris wheel going out of control. This leads to more varied action and well choreographed fight scenes. I especially like how with the exception of the Mime (and a brief reference to the Bubbler and Guitar Villain), all of the Akumas are brand-new, so older fans don't know what to expect with these guys.

This level of action also extends to the climax. Hawkmoth uses an Akuma on himself, sending out a massive flock of butterflies. You'd think it'd be like this movie's take on “Heroes' Day”, right? Nope! Instead, the Akumas become tiny attack drones that swarm over Paris like the eight plague of Egypt. I don't know how the animators managed to make an army of purple butterflies menacing, but by God, they did it.

Speaking of animators, my thoughts on the animation have changed drastically. While I still have minor gripes with the character design, I still love how the city of Paris is brought to life, making it seem more populated than in the show. I never really held the limited amount of civilians against the animators in the show, but I'm so happy we can see this show's environment on a cinematic budget. The animation is another reason why I think the action works so well in this movie.

Things I didn't like

When it comes to the changes to the Miraculous, one thing I'm not a fan of is Ladybug not getting her Lucky Charm. It misses the point of her having the power of creation. Yeah, she still has the spotted vision thing she had in the show, but it takes away what made the way she defeats Akumas interesting. She doesn't just beat them into submission. Sometimes, she outsmarts them or reasons with them, and part of the fun with the Lucky Charm is seeing just how she'll use something like a coat hanger or an old football trophy to defeat them.

I also don't like this movie's take on the Butterfly Miraculous. The very first scene has Master Fu build it up as an evil artifact capable of turning people into monsters. Remember, “Origins” established the Butterfly as something capable of creating superheroes, a power Gabriel twisted to create villains instead. Hell, I hate this rule, but the Paris Special made it clear that Miraculous can be used for good or evil, and it all depends on how the power is used. In other words, Miraculous don't kill people, people kill people. Bottom line, I prefer the idea of the Butterfly being the same as the other Miraculous, with the user and intent making it evil.

The one character who I felt the movie absolutely misrepresented was Plagg. This version of the character has none of the heart he had in the show. Yes, Plagg was crass there too, but he had just as many scenes showing how he cared for Adrien like a little brother or a nephew. He was Adrien's primary confidant and wanted to help him however he could. Even bad Plagg-centric episodes like “Kuro Neko” or “The Kwamis' Choice” made it clear he wants what's best for Adrien and is capable of coming up with plans if they'll help him.

Here, Plagg is mostly just there to make snide comments and fart a lot. Say what you will about the show, but at least it didn't make Plagg farting into a running gag. Plagg only gets a handful of lines in the entire movie, to the point where even Tom has more lines than he does. Tikki gets plenty of scenes with Marinette and an entire song, while Plagg feels like an afterthought.

Things I'm mixed on

This might be a little controversial, but I have mixed feelings on the portrayal of the Love Square as a whole in this movie. Don't get me wrong, the Ladynoir scenes are great, but there's not as many Adrienette, Ladrien, or Marichat scenes. In fact, I don't think there were any Ladrien or Marichat scenes in this movie, which is weird. I can at least excuse those, but it's weird how little Adrienette scenes there are. Not counting the masks, they only have four major scenes together before the end, and one of those is a deleted scene that had the dialogue cut over a montage.

While I'm glad the entire movie wasn't about the Love Square drama, the romance between Marinette and Adrien specifically feels a little rushed. I think it would have benefited the movie to have ten or fifteen more minutes to flesh out this subplot a little instead of only focusing on Ladynoir.

I'm also unsure what to say about the songs. Most of them are pretty catchy and have great visuals, but the dissonance between the singing voices of Marinette and Adrien throws me off. I don't get why neither actor for the French or English dub was asked to sing. For some reason, Tikki and Gabriel's voice actors got to sing, but not Marinette and Adrien. At the very least, Drew Ryan Scott's singing voice sort of sounds like Adrien, but Lou's singing voice makes Marinette sound twice her age. Don't get me wrong, I still liked the songs, but this choice was very jarring to me.

And now, because literally nobody asked for it, here's every song in the movie ranked.

8. If I Believed in Me

A very dull “I want” song that's just Marinette wandering around Paris on the way to school. Compared to “Little Town” from Beauty and the Beast, where you can easily follow Belle and understand how she goes about her day, it's not clear what kind of route Marinette is taking. Even the lyrics are pretty bland, just talking about wanting to follow her dreams and be more confident. The issue is that her dreams of being a fashion designer barely factor into the plot, and she only becomes more confident thanks to being a superhero, something she didn't dream of. The only real dud in the soundtrack.

7. Opening Remix

Not much to say here. It's a remix of the opening theme with the new singers. It sounds nice.

6. Reaching Out

This is a much better song than “If I Believed in Me”. It does a great job expressing Marinette's doubt and how she feels pressured to be somebody she's not. Great way to follow up on her heart getting broken by Adrien.

5. My Lady

This one's a quickie, but it's still fun. I love the visuals in this one and how it gradually crescendos, reflecting the new feelings Cat Noir has for Ladybug developing.

4. Stronger Together

Surprisingly, Ladybug and Cat Noir's only duet in the movie, but it's still really good. I love the use of the set in the theater Cat Noir took Ladybug to at the beginning before they run around Paris. The lyrics do a great job showing how far the two's relationship has come, making it clear how close they are, only for reality to metaphorically kick them out of the sky.

3. You Are Ladybug

Another duet, this time between Marinette and Tikki. While I still think Cristina Vee should have gotten to sing this one song given her chemistry with Mela Lee, Lou still does a great job expressing her anxiety. The back and forth between Tikki and Marinette makes this a blast to watch, especially with it using the same music as the theme song. Even the rap part with Tikki was fun to watch. I especially love the part where Tikki excitedly tells Marinette about how dangerous the job is and how close she'll come to getting killed.

2. Chaos Will Reign Today

The villain song in this movie had no right to be as good as it is. The visuals are eerie and fit the more menacing tone of the song. Keith Silverstein gives his all to make up for his crime of singing the Hawkmoth Rap. It's also a hell of a lot better than the villain song Disney had to offer that year.

1. Courage in Me

Easily my favorite song in the movie. The visuals of Marinette struggling to hop across these black spots symbolizing her yo-yo before her transformation into Ladybug is awe-inspiring. The lyrics are a great way to solidify Marinette embracing her role as Ladybug, and it's such a triumphant song to listen to.

Other things I noticed

During the first Akuma fight, Ladybug and Cat Noir pass by some guys with stereotypical French accents while almost every other character speaks like they're in America.

Careless Whisper plays one time in Cat Noir's mind as he develops feelings for Ladybug. The fact that he listens to it after getting his heart broken has to be one of the most subtle jokes I've ever seen in this franchise. Of course, it's clear what the best superhero cover of Careless Whisper really is.

Cat Noir says he has the power of destruction in his introduction while being impressed when Master Fu says the same thing.

There's a Volkswagon tie-in that actually features the two heroes promoting some cars in-universe. This is a real shot from the movie.

I think Chloe ships Alyanette, judging from this exchange:

Marinette: Seriously, Alya, you think Adrien would say yes?

Alya: Of course! I'm gonna ask Nino.

Chloe: I think you should go together, 'cause Adrien is coming with me, not with some baker girl.

I don't think Ladybug ever learned Cat Noir could play the piano, so seeing Cat Noir try to woo her with a little piano number is a nice inclusion.

When Cat Noir's mask is destroyed in the final battle, his exposed eye is still green. Was this where the chibi shorts got the idea from?

Other people have pointed this out, but the picture of Adrien as a kid is traced from a character from The Boss Baby. That's an automatic ten point deduction for making me remember that movie exists.

The post-credits scene with Nathalie was weird.

Did Master Fu not know he lost the Peacock Miraculous too?

Why isn't Emilie in any form of suspended animation?

Is the Peacock still damaged?

Did the Peacock still kill her/send her into a coma?

Was Adrien still created by the Peacock?

Why didn't Gabriel use the Peacock or at least consider it?

Did Gabriel forget to tell anyone about the other Miraculous he has after turning himself in?

Why did Gabriel choose to tell Nathalie when she didn't seem to help him while he was still Hawkmoth?

Final Thoughts

Overall, this was a really good movie, and a fresh take on the show's universe. I had issues with it, but I still think this movie series has promise. The animation was great, the songs were catchy, and the characterization was on point for the most part. It even manages to be a better musical than the ones big names like Disney and Warner Bros have made in the past two years. It's one of the best things to come out of the franchise, no question. I wouldn't mind future installments set in this continuity over whatever Season 6 churns out.

[buggachat]

i do just have to say though.................... i feel like people who really really loved the movie's portrayals of the characters are adding aspects of the show characters onto them? you know what i mean? like i see people say that adrien and marinette were more likeable in the movie than the show, when movie adrien didn't perform a single act of kindness in the entire 2 hours despite kindness being a core trait of adrien in the show? marinette was normal and not particularly weird at all and just kind of a generic protagonist? were adrien and marinette actually more interesting in the movie than the show, or are you just cherrypicking the aspects of them you like the from the show and putting them on the movie characters to make your favorite amalgamation?

marinette fell for adrien not because he showed vulnerability and forgiveness and kindness and opened his heart up to her.... but because he awkwardly tried to help her up after being kind of weirded out by her? so like i guess she thought he was hot and that was basically it? chat noir fell for ladybug not because she was strong and confident and showed determination in the face of fear... but because she begrudgingly helped him up in the middle of a battle? so like i guess he thought she was hot and that was basically it? they fell for each other over just the bare minimum interactions? most of their relationship was a montage? like, did the movie do the work to convince you of lovesquare's romantic potential, or did you go into the movie already shipping them because the show had already convinced you?

thats totally a valid way to enjoy the movie ftr! i'm just saying.... idk it's weird to see people praising the movie for being "better" when i feel like a lot of the enjoyment of the movie actually hinges on watching the show as context for their characters. and i guess im just a cringe slow-burn enjoyer but i find it weird that people are using "faster" as a synonym for "better"

[jennrypan]

Adrien finding out that everyone in his immediate circle knew about Gabriel and knew about him being a senti-being and STILL chose to withhold that information to 'protect' him would devast him but in a way thats not surprising- hes devasted because hes not surprised..hes been experiencing this type of coddling all his life.

Hes not allowed to go to school cuz what if something happens? Hes not allowed to know any of the miraculous crap that Ladybug does cuz..what if something happens? He cant know Ladybugs identity cuz what if he gets akumatized (Not Ladybug, never Ladybug shes perfect..she knows everything, he doesn't.) And now?

Why is it easier for people who claim to love him, to lie to him so easily in the fake pretense of protecting him..as if they dont trust him to control his own emotions as if he hasnt been dealing with Akumas as long as Ladybug, has if he hasnt been taught to school his emotions since he was young! The people closest to him dont care about him- not entirely, because they like him better if hes blissfully unaware.

Natalie, Kagami, Felix, Marinette and Plagg have FAILED Adrien and he needs to be angry about it. He deserves to be angry about it cuz these people have claimed to care about him more than Gabriel and they are doing exactly what hes done all his life.

(Plagg has no reason to keep this from Adrien his HOLDER. He shouldnt have this stupid little loyalty to Ladybug. He shouldve called her out the minute she let her guard down cuz Gabriel seemed slightly apologetic, this isnt fair to Adrien.)

[gameguy20100]

Plagg in the show: Chaotic and snarky little shit constantly encouraging Adrien to be who he wants to be. Also he loves cheese so much and often uses cheese metaphors in failed attempts at wisdom. Also he's the most loyal Kwami you will ever meet and gets attached quickly, as seen in his interactions with Zoe.

Plagg in Awakening: Fart jokes.

[cardiac-agreste]

I suppose today was the straw that broke the camel's back, where I once again saw someone (recently!) say Zoë is just a "nice Chloe," and friends, I am befuddled. Bewildered and baffled, even! DYEL (Do You Even Ladybug), bro?

I am here today to tell you that not only is Zoë Lee her own, unique character related to Chloe only by blood (unless she's a sentibeing!), but Zoe Lee is also the third or fourth most worthy holder in the entire bouquet of Miraculous characters (Marinette, Adrien, and Alix are the other three).

First let's talk about whether Zoë is a Chlone (did the Chloe/clone pun work?).

What do we know about Chloe?

French

entitled

bully

handsy

quick to anger

wants to please a mother who abandoned her

father wants to please her

can't remember names

has a "friend" do homework for her

makes the best pun in the entire show

willing to be akumatized

probably wants to make out with Marinette Dupain-Cheng (okay fine, this isn't strictly canon)

when she gets a Miraculous, she brags about it and shares her identity publicly because for her it's all about the glory

racist

behavior all seems to arise out of the expectation that everyone exists to please her (because she's modeling herself after her mother) twinned by a need to be acknowledged by her mother

What do we know about Zoe?

American

shy

unperturbed by rejection

used to be fake

decided to be her authentic self even though she'd be rejected by her peers, which leads us to

LGBTAF

had no parents in her life because she was at boarding school

tender

brave

humble

definitely wants to make out with Marinette Dupain-Cheng

maybe a sentibeing (otherwise her mother got pregnant, like, a couple months after giving birth to Chloe, and where is her dad in all this?! did he died!)

does NOT think wealth and power are all that and a bag of potato chips (blows off that Diamond Ball thing, refers to that type of person as a "zombie")

has held two different Miraculous and both of them she took because fate required it

artsy!!!!

I can kind of understand right after her debut feeling like this: she is in Paris (like Chloe), shows up with blonde hair (like Chloe) and the body of a girl (like Chloe) and uses a girl's voice (like Chloe) to speak to Marinette (like Chloe) nicely (not so much like Chloe), and we see her trying to gain family acceptance in Soul Crusher.

But then she rapidly diverges from Chloeness.

Finally, we get to season five, which finished airing over a year ago (thank goodness we get S6 soon!), and Plagg ghosts Adrien to find a new holder.

Let's consider Adrien getting Plagg the first time: he's sad, lonely, stuck in his room all day, has no friends, and has no idea that he's going to suffer by becoming a superhero. And he becomes Chat Noir, gets to chill with this beautiful lady he crushes on, and his enemy is an inexperienced villain who fumblefucks through his powers being an idiot of himself as the two of them and Ladybug gradually all gain skill and experience wielding their powers.

So you're Zoe Lee, you see all kinds of crazy shit in America, and these French heroes come to your city (New York) and fight a dude who pops off with a dozen NUKES all over the place ready to do some damage, and WHEW they save the day with the United Heroez of America.

You move to France, and your first day there, a gross old man slithers into your brain, emotionally manipulating you until you give in and allow him to use your body to hurt people and destroy property. And then, when you're finally rescued, you're publicly humiliated as the "villain" despite not remembering anything you did. And then you probably watch videos of yourself doing horrible things later, in your room by yourself, maybe as your half-sister yells at you for being a monster or something.

The person who manipulated you is a villain in your new city (did I mention you're living in the house of someone who isn't even your real dad?? without your mother present??), regularly causes billions of dollars in damage and mass casualties, and currently has control over almost all the Miraculous. He's SCARY, VICIOUS, and his power level is INSANE. He's got the heroes on the ropes. He's had a long time to get stronger. There are news articles about how he's a very. bad. dude.

And then the heroes DISAPPEAR. Paris is FUCKED.

And a tiny little cat shows up and is like "hey, kid, you are needed."

Any normal person would be like NO. NO NO NO.

But Zoë?

"Claws out."

Who cares that she's probably gonna die? Who cares that she's probably going to fight alone? Who cares that her enemy is terrifying and has already very specifically victimized you once before?

NOT ZOË LEE.

And that is why Zoë is not a "nice version of Chloe" and also is one of the most worthy holders in the universe. Alix is the only one who gives her a run for her money, and IME that's an essay for another day (but tl;dr being the Rabbit Holder would mentally break any normal person).

🚀

UPDATE: I welcome reasoned disagreement. But if you're going to insult me, I will delete your comment and block you.

[familyagrestefanblog]

Sorry, I just need to get this off my chest.

You know what's shit?

That I always come back to work on my explanation posts on why Alya, Plagg, and Emonette being treated unfairly and being disregarded by Maribug's writing is by now pissing me off to similar degrees as her bad treatment of Chat Noir

But that always ends in a domino effect of me putting together more of the overall narrative that ticks me off so much cause my ADD brain can't NOT look for the continuous string of the writing pattern I follow once I'm at it.

You probably can imagine that this isn't very good for my mental health and the only reason why I'm still doing it is because I have a strong suspicion on what the new story arc will do with Cerise after this agonizing hiatus, and only once the actual new story arc proves me wrong can my ADD brain let this emotional investment of 7+ years in my "comfort show" since I was a 16 rest in peace.

Being neurodivergent is exhausting of FUCK...

So I always stop writing any of the posts about the other topics and come back to my Adrichat corner because that's the "safe space" my brain is the most familiar and comfortable with by now since season 4 to make a post AT ALL that isn't running the risk of leading me down 7 new rabbit holes I can't unsee anymore afterwards...

I MISS looking into several narrative threads in this show and voicing my opinions on them. In hindsight, I regret not having done it more when it was still possible, but I feel like it should have been alright in any other normally written show to have a fan blog dedicated to a specific part of the story. I feel like I shouldn't be the one in the WRONG for having done that.

Anyway, I honestly MISS the time where I knew that Maribug's benefit and comfort weren't the only things accepted as "valid" readings of the story. From both sides. Supporters and critics/salters.

Where saying anything that isn't immediately connected to Marinette's benefit and comfort didn't need a full-blown 20 page essay post going into any detail possible to fight for the right to even be taken seriously as a realistic reading of the story at all.

I know I'm not the only one upset at this, but I wonder how many people really realized by now how batshit insane this is right now. That only the most vanilla and vague-ass posts that do their best to not in anyway say something that would be "mean" and "non-validating" to Marinette can be posted now without it automatically being categorized as at least "critical" or running the risk of getting perceived as salt or wishful-thinking.

You can't point ANYTHING out anymore without at least one person running in and either saying "You just HATE Marinette and want to see her punished! You people never care about HERRRRRRRRRR (regarding a topic that isn't about her or is her fucking JOB as a narrative tool to DO)" or "Yeah, nah, the show would never let that happen because of the Marinette bias lol"

You can't even say anything anymore about Adrien's abuse without it being either undermined to all hell because of Marinette having been bullied and needing to be a girlboss who does to others what she's declared "tortured" for, or Félix "hypocrite and victim-blamer" Fathom. Gabriel being abusive was once the most basic ass thing to talk about, what the fuck happened?? (don't answer that, I know the answer...)

The whole analysis' side of this fandom that isn't catering to Marinette was either killed or basically exiled into the "critical" or outright "salt" tag because you can't even be interested in world-building anymore without having to fight for the post's right to be taken seriously under the crushing weight of Marinette's narrative benefits and comfort.

Because mademoiselle ain't fucking interested in ANYTHING lore wise beyond what's convenient for her (not to mention the retcons), so talking about the Guardian and Kwami lore for example counts as SALT now because it automatically implies for people that Marinette isn't all that matters and her flaws of not being interest in ANYTHING might actually COUNT as flaws she should work on. I know, the fucking HORROR! 😱

I MISS writing theories, analysis posts, and speculating about this shows future plots in even the most basic "set up and pay off" manner but I know I can't because my default approach is always complementary to the main character - meaning what challenges them and the narrative the most to grow, expand, and develop. This isn't a Marinette specific thing, I ALWAYS do this.

And contrary to popular belief in this fandom, I get by perfectly fine doing that for the majority of other pieces of media I consume. It is MIRACULOUS and this damn Fandom that now genuinely did it's best to convince themselves that this level of main character centric morality and revenge porn level writing is NORMAL when it's seriously NOT.

There is a REASON why this show hardly ever gets recommended on social media the way one would think despite its success. Or why the Fan backlash is so enormous despite a solid part of the Fandom already having left long ago and the young target demographic not uniformly having a voice in the social media discourse.

Or why people actively advise others AGAINST watching the show, AGAINST forming an emotional investment, and AGAINST going anywhere near the Fandom.

Cause no fucking shit, this isn't normal.

[liquid-luck-00]

Red Binding 1

Maribat March Day 1: Origins

@maribat-calendar-events @maribatserver

Next

Trigger for implied neglect, blood, and violence towards a minor

~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette was, what most would consider a normal, happy, child. But that was far from the truth.

She was ten when she finally noticed something was off.

Her parents as much as she loved them and they said that they loved her. Never made time for her. Never asked more than how was her day, so she would ramble about anything and everything. She never had a curfew and her parents never seemed to worry. That's when the bullying began.

She was eleven when she recognized that the bakery was the top priority and not her.

Her school life was in shambles. Her friendships were strung by a thread, with even a whisper from Chloé, they would abandon her.

So when a small box appeared in her room, at the age of twelve, and from it a small red creature asked her to leave with them she agreed. They talked for hours, extending for days (a bit over a week in total), before she was truly good and ready to leave Paris. They spoke about their lives (existence in Tikki’s case), the powers and responsibilities that would be placed upon Marinette, but most of that time they enjoyed one another’s presence.

The creature listened to her, actually listened to what she had to say, gave her a choice, so she agreed to follow the creature.

In the middle of the night she packed a small bag and stood in the center of her room. "Are you ready, Marinette?" The creature, Tikki they called themselves, chirped. "As much as I can be." She looked the creature in the eyes and everything spun. It felt as if she was floating, or not, as she slammed onto the stone floor.

When she stood up, she dusted herself off and looked around. She was in a well kept garden, the air was thin, but the moon was bright over head.

"ལགས་སོ། ཁྱེད་རང་ཕེབས་བྱུང་།" A voice startled her as she jumped from the sound.

"Who are you?" She questioned. "Where am I?"

The man was still, he didn't seem to hear her, or maybe he didn't understand.

"ང་དང་མཉམ་དུ་ཤོག" The man turned and walked into a building that looked like some sort of temple. She stood there staring where the man used to be before he turned back. His even strides carried him right to her. "ངས་རང་ཉིད་ལ་བསྐྱར་ཟློས་མི་བྱེད།" The man's tone surprised her, she jumped to her feet, following him at a brisk pace.

Lanterns lit the walls of the hall, no doors or even windows could be seen. The two of them walked in silence for what seemed a half hour, but she couldn't tell. She tried to remember the path, but there were too many turns and steps to remember.

They stopped at an ornate circular red door, that was roughly twelve meters in diameter. Golden knots were carved expertly into the wood.

He stepped aside as if she was supposed to do something, but she didn't know what. So Marinette stepped forward and placed a hand on a golden vein.

A flash of golden light erupted from where her hand touched the wood, as it swung open on silent hinges.

She had turned away, in an attempt to shield her eyes.

"Welcome, child." A voice from inside was warm and she stepped forward.

She wanted to say something but thought better. Yes she understood this new voice, but the man before she still has no idea what he said. She just followed him and he led her here.

"Do not fear to speak child." The voice came from everywhere, echoing through the large cavern. What looked like an island garden sat in the middle. A giant oak tree with flowers blooming in complete darkness sat at this center. Chimes rang thought the branches without any wind.

"Who are you?" She finally asked, voice small, as she looked around. "Where am I?"

Chimes rang almost resembling laughter. "I am known as the supreme. As to where you are, you are with the Order of Miraculii, my child of creation."

"Order? Creation? Where is Tikki?" She started rambling questions in the hopes of at least one being answered.

"All will be answered in time." Chimes once again filled the cavern.

"སུའུ་晗་ང་ཚོའི་ན་གཞོན་སྲུང་མཁན་ལ་བཀའ་སློབ་གནང་རོགས།"

"ཁྱོད་ཀྱིས་བཀའ་གསུང་གནང་བ་བཞིན་དུ་ངའི་བླ་ན་མེད་" The man spoke with a bow, before placing a hand on her shoulder and leading her out of the cavern.

He led her to a room that was somewhere deep in the temple, at least she assumes it is. The room was simple, a four poster bed sat against the far wall. A desk was set next to it with a bookshelf that was carved into the wall above it. A dresser was next to the door, and a thick rug was spread underfoot.

"Tikki."

"Yes." The little god appeared in front of her with a poof.

"What’s going to happen now?"

"There is a lot for you to learn, but for now rest. The morning will come soon."

•••

Jason didn’t know why he left that night.

Scratch that he knew exactly why.

Bruce and Dick were arguing again, and no matter where he was at the manor he still heard them. But it wasn’t them it was Cathrine and Willis fighting for the uptenth time. So he did what he always did, he snuck out.

He was running roof tops trying and failing to get the voices out of his head. The weather was starting to change and a sludge of rain and snow fell around him. If only…

He shot out to grapple to the next building but with the semi frozen and slick exteriors the hook slipped. He began to free fall, as the line retracted, and everything was quiet. He heard his heart flutter then a sharp click. The line was back and he shot it again, this time it landed. He was yanked and thrown into a graceful arc before landing on another roof.

He stood in the middle of the high rise roof. Completely soaked but he didn’t care, he just wanted to stay in this quiet for a little while longer. He sneezed, breaking him from his stupor, sure the suit helped keep him relatively dry, but it didn’t do much for the cold, less still for his head that was completely out to the elements.

He kicked a few rocks that were strewn in the roof in an attempt to warm up, but stopped when some sort of metal glinted underfoot.

He reached down and found a ring, and when his fingers wrapped around the metal a flash of green illuminated the rooftop.

"Finally!" A nasally voice echoed around him. "I thought you were never going to notice it."

"Who are you?" He half whispered half yelped. "Show yourself." He reached for a batarang.

"No need kitten." A tiny cat like creature floated up to his eye level. "Names Plagg, and you are?"

He didn’t answer, he’ll he didn’t know if this was real or if he might actually be asleep. He gripped the batarang, feeling as it sliced through his glove straight to his hand.

"Not asleep." He whispered to himself. "So what are you?" He attempted to poke the creature with his finger, but it easily evaded him. It took hold of the ring and dropped it on to his finger.

"I am a kwamii, specifically of chaos and destruction." They puffed their chest, watching as the ring emanated a soft glow before it stopped. "And you are my kitten."

"I’m not your anything." He didn’t want to be involved with magic, it only seemed to cause problems, if the reports Bruce had was anything. "It started with that ring, right?"

"Yes an…" He didn’t let him finish speaking, he tried to pull the ring off, but it was gone.

"What did you do?" His attention snapped to the supposed god, or whatever it was.

It was about to say something when his vision started to blur. Something heavy slammed into his head. He felt himself starting to crumple forward, laughter ringing behind him.

When he woke up, Jason was tied and laying face first in a dingy old storeroom or maybe a warehouse. There wasn’t much light except for three industrial lights towards the center of the room. And under the furthest one was the silhouette of a person.

"Is the birdie awake?" The voice was tinged with laughter, it sent chills down his spine. He knows who that voice belongs to.

I’m sorry.

"Let’s have some fun now!" Joker came into his view and then he noticed the item in his hand, but he couldn’t stop him. The crowbar swung down and it connected with his upper arm. He was thrown into a box to his right. The next hit was to his stomach, as he coughed up blood.

I’m sorry. He heard again, but Joker didn’t react to it. So he knows Plagg is in his mind.

Stop apologizing and talk. He thought, and he did.

Plagg told him a story. He tuned out best he could, but it was difficult whenever he would be thrown around. It even felt like Plagg was holding his breath at times, waiting for his attention to continue.

"Well it’s been fun, Boy Blunder, but you should go to bed. Don’t forget to brush your teeth and say hello to the Big Bad Bat." He left him there in a heap on the floor, a ringing his ears silenced everything except for Plagg.

"Come on, get up! Please!" He saw Plagg flying in frantic circles over a box.

"There is a bomb, and…" Plagg placed two paws on his forehead before flying back, to where the bomb must be. "You will live, Kitten, I swear it."

A flash of green and black rolled over him, yet the blast of air did however destroy the building they were in. But he saw Plagg fly back to him. He felt him curl into his hair, his purring rhythmic, as he began to loose consciousness.

"What a waste." He felt someone turn him over. Changing the path of the blood on his face to stream into his mouth. It tasted like iron, and dirt, and it burned his throat. "I will see you when you awaken."

His world went black, Plagg’s put was a constant rumble. The next time he opened his eyes it was dark, Plagg was on his chest staring at him, his green eyes glowing in the dark.

Steady breaths kitten. Plagg’s voice echoed in his mind, as he tried to explain what was happening. You’re in a coffin.

"How!?" He began to panic, but Plagg began purring which calmed him.

You need to stay calm, you can get out. Focus my power.

I don’t know how. He thought, not risking wasting the little air he had.

The ring on your finger is a focus for power. Do you feel the space my presence takes up within your mind?

He searched concentrating on Plagg’s voice and presence in his mind. Yes.

Good. Now pull that towards the ring. He pulled at it but there was a resistance, like a rubber band being stretched too far.

Slowly. He made the connection and his palm glowed with a faint black and green light. Now touch the area in front of you.

He did and as soon as he did the rubber band snapped back. But a hole big enough for him to pass though was above him, along with a foot of dirt above it. He was tired but he tried again. It was harder this time, but he managed. He touched the top of the dome, but only a few inches disappeared this time. He was about to try again when Plagg stopped him.

Don’t kid! You’re exhausted. Channeling magic requires energy along with training it, like any other muscle. We have to dig the rest of the way.

Fine. He huffed.

The ground was wet and soft from all the rain. But he knew if he didn’t hurry that would be an obstacle. It was starting to freeze. That’s how he knew he was getting close to the surface. Plagg had been moving the dirt into the casket, allowing him to stand. Yet he flew up to him this time with a broken piece of wood, and he knew just what he needed it for. He finally broke through the surface and pulled himself up. He laid back, legs still in the hole, but he stared at the cloudy sky, taking giant gulps of air.

"I knew you could do it, Kitten." Plagg stiffened and his hackles rose before disappearing. Guard yourself.

What do you mean?

"You were quicker than I thought." A feminine voice carried through the cemetery. He stiffened, knowing what Plagg was warning him of. "Now let us be off."

Someone grabbed him and he tried to fight them, but he was exhausted and they weren’t.

Next

~~~~~~~~~~

Permanent Taglist:

@jennifer-rose123 @toodaloo-kangaroo @joydone07 @mizzy-pop @starling218 @crystalqueertea

[charlietheepicwriter7]

A very merry Christmas to you, @2-depressed-4-u . It is I, your secret santa from @mlsecretsanta . I have had a wonderful time talking to you this year (even if I wasn't supposed to, oops), and hope you have a wonderful holiday.

And now, without further ado, your present.

I Don't Need Sleep, I Need Answers

If his father could see his room at that moment, Adrien was sure the man would faint with shock. Fortunately, Gabriel Agreste was needed in China to investigate one of his companies’ main manufacturers, so Adrien was in the clear… for now.

His room looked like his couch was almost pushed up against one wall, but he’d left a foot of space between it and the wall so he had full access to his masterpiece. Along the north-facing wall was a chaotic conspiracy board, with red string threading from picture to picture. Some of his pieces of evidence were printed out from his computer, like the article about Marinette designing for Jagged Stone or the picture of Ladybug kissing him from back during the Oblivo incident. Others were hand drawn to the best of his ability if he couldn’t find an appropriate image online.

But in the end, all the pictures led back to a center image: his limited edition poster of Ladybug.

Plagg hovered near one of the most important pieces of evidence, the feathered bolo hat Marinette had made. “Hey, kid… when’s the last time you got any sleep?” he asked, his eyes flickering between Adrien and his evidence wall.

“I don’t need any sleep,” Adrien spat, climbing over and onto the back of the couch so he could connect some string between a picture of Marinette and badly-drawn recreation of Multimouse. On the hand drawn page, he wrote no earrings????, with multiple question marks going off the page and onto the wall. “I need answers.”

“I thought you’d decided that you weren’t going to look for Ladybug’s identity anymore?”

The boy scoffed. “I thought so too, but you didn’t see what I saw! During that last akuma battle, Ladybug left, and then… Marinette was there! She always hides during akuma battles, she wouldn’t just run around during one, unless…” He pinned another picture to the wall, wrinkling the paper with his force. “She was Ladybug.”

Plagg sighed. “Or she was trapped in the area and took it as her chance to run. Or she was hiding but someone was in danger, so she rushed out to help. Or some other reason why she’d risk her life. Why don’t you just ask her, kid?”

“Because if she’s Ladybug, she’d just lie!” Adrien explained. “I know how this works, Plagg; we’re not supposed to know each other’s identities. Ladybug sticks to that rule better than me… and no matter how good of a person she is, or how much Marinette hates liars, she’d still be willing to lie to protect herself.”

“If she’s lying to protect herself, then wouldn’t she be safer if you didn’t discover who she is? If you stopped your investigation now, before someone gets hurt?”

Adrien shook his head, picking up another picture of Ladybug. “You don’t understand, Plagg. She shouldn’t have to look out for herself. I should be the one to do it for her.”

I Don't Need Sleep, I Need Answers

Adrien’s plan started the next day at school.

Keeping an eye on Marinette proved impossible when she sat directly behind him, but he kept a keen ear on her and Alya’s conversation. While he didn’t think his Lady would be so blasé to discuss her superheroine life where anyone could hear her, he was expecting at least some reference. Alya was her best friend after all; he’d certainly let things slip to Nino throughout his months as Chat Noir.

But no. There was nothing. When not distracted by classwork, all they talked about was the Ladyblog, and Marinette’s new commissions for Kitty Selection. So, it was onto plan B.

When Plagg was trying to talk him out of this—and really, wasn’t that evidence unto itself, that Plagg was trying to talk him out of investigating—he’d said that Adrien reminded him of Alya. Reminded him that Alya had once done the same thing to Chloe, and gotten akumatized for it. But Adrien wouldn’t get akumatized! For one thing, Marinette was in no way like Chloe. For another, Adrien, and Alya back then, had direct evidence that Chloe wasn’t Ladybug, since Chloe was often seen with or around Ladybug.

Outside of the Multimouse incident, had Adrien ever seen Ladybug save or even talk to Marinette?

No.

But Plagg’s words had reminded him that he wasn’t the only person who’d ever searched for Ladybug’s identity. And his best ally sat behind him and to the left.

Adrien pulled Alya to the side during lunch, with Marinette watching curiously and Nino shaking his head in amusement before engaging Marinette in a conversation. Adrien knew he could count on him. And when he found an abandoned classroom to talk to Alya, he swallowed and began to explain.

She’d looked nervous, when he began, but as he kept explaining all his evidence as to why Marinette could be Ladybug, a thoughtful expression bloomed on her face. But that didn’t mean she automatically believed him. And then she asked a damnable question. “What about Lila?”

Ah. He’d forgotten about Lila.

He preferred to forget about her rather than think about—

Alya continued. “Because she and Ladybug are best friends, you know? But I’m pretty sure Marinette hates Lila. Not that she’d ever say she hates Lila, but she refuses to go to girl’s day when Lila is invited, and she leaves sleep-overs early when she’s there, but Lila has no idea why—”

Oh, Adrien had a good idea why. And it was the same reason why Adrien had convinced his father to only allow single or boys-only shoots for him this spring, that it was more fashionable that way.

“Maybe it’s a ruse?” He offered instead. “Maybe Marinette’s only pretending to dislike Lila so she doesn’t find out her identity? It’s not like Lila has ever said she knew Ladybug’s identity.”

“Well, she did imply it once…” When did that happen!? Adrien might be mostly ignoring Lila at this point, but how did he miss that? “But she backtracked when I asked some more questions, so I think she only suspects she knows who Ladybug is. But if Marinette is Ladybug, then we could talk to her and she doesn’t have to pretend to hate Lila anymore!”

Alya gave a blinding smile. Adrien didn’t have the heart to tell her that Marinette definitely would not change her opinion of Lila if they discovered her identity.

In fact, she might yell at them both.

I Don't Need Sleep, I Need Answers

With Alya on board to stalk Marinette for all the wrong reasons, Adrien had started to feel a little more secure in his plan to discover Ladybug’s identity. For the rest of lunch and the remainder of class, Alya used some leading questions on Marinette to try and get any information, but she was like a steel wall. Alya had even thought up a cool audience participation event where Ladyblog would post everyone’s fan heroes that sounded really interesting.

(Marinette said she’d want to be a black cat hero! She was so cute—)

But there was nothing that pointed towards Marinette being Ladybug. After school, once Alya had begged off girl squad duties and Adrien had lied about an extra long fencing meeting, the two met up to stalk Marinette.

First, she spent a few hours at Eiffel Tower, designing. Then, she spent an hour in a fabric store, picking out a few yards of champagne fabric, all of which looked the same to Adrien’s discerning eye, but were clearly different to her. And finally, she met her parents at a local Italian bistro for dinner. And despite spending their entire afternoon stalking her, they’d learned nothing.

Nothing except the fact that Marinette had an adorable habit of talking to herself when she was alone, but that wasn’t strictly evidence.

Alya sat back on the bench, pulling her disguise hat down to cover her eyes. Marinette and her family were clearly visible from the restaurant window. “Maybe she isn’t Ladybug?” Alya asked. “I mean, Ladybug usually patrols in the afternoon, and she hasn’t left our sight all day!”

That was more because Adrien had offered to talk Ladybug’s afternoon patrol that day, but Alya didn’t need to know that. He hiked the newspaper with holes cut out for eyes higher onto his face. “She could be having an off day?”

“No. Adrien, what was your real reason for—”

Suddenly, the ground shook and people screamed as an akuma, eye-screaming pink and cackling at the top of his lungs, whipped past. They shot to their feet. Alya begged off to chase after the akuma and Adrien let her, his eyes glued to the window. Her family was still there, but Marinette was gone. Was she in the restroom? Or…

“Adrien, what are you doing?”

“I’m just going to check,” he told his kwami, running to the backside of the bistro. If Marinette was Ladybug, she’d have to escape out the back, right?

“There’s an akuma! Come on, you have to—”

“I just need to check!” He scolded. He was almost there!”

“Damn it, kid!” Adrien froze. Was Plagg… mad at him? Plagg was never mad at him! “This has gone on long enough! Is your love life really worth other people’s lives!?”

No. No it wasn’t. And Ladybug would hate him if he even considered for a second skipping out on a battle just to look for her identity.

Really, there was only one choice left.

“Plagg, claws out.”

“Finally!”

He’d have to try again another day. Think of a new plan of attack. But for now, he was Chat Noir. And Chat Noir had a fight to win.

I Don't Need Sleep, I Need Answers

The next day, Plagg immediately wriggled his way into Marinette’s purse, where Tikki sat, contently eating a chocolate-chip cookie.

“Sugar Cube, you’ve got to make sure your user is more careful,” he said, rubbing his head with his paws. “Adrien almost found out her identity!”

“What!?”

[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?

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Honestly, are we really surprised Zoe didn't have any moral or ethical objections towards Plagg threating(and tried) to Cataclysming Chloe in Kwami's choice?

I mean, this is the same show that excuses, stalking, breaking & entering(Marinette), corrupt politicians(Andre), abusive parents (Gabriel, Audrey, and Andre once again), a Grown ass man harassing minors(Andre the ice cream man), a literal terrorist (Gabriel, again), Deadbeat dads(Jagged) and a guy that planned out and willingly committed an actually fucking GENOCIDE(Felix)

I could go on, but you get the picture.

So what you're saying is that the moral compass in this show amounts to "Not my problem"?

[lostuntothisworld]

Not to be pedantic, but Sass was very much the leader of the Kwamis since his introduction in season 2's Sandboy.

The only reason people think he was retconned to be leader in season 4 is because Wayzz was Master Fu's personal Kwami, and thus the one most seen by the audience other than Tikki and Plagg.

Wayzz being his Kwami makes the most sense, because of the rule that without a holder, a Kwami cannot leave the Miracle Box (until Marinette becomes guardian, but I digress). So, Sass stays in the box and is the leader of the remaining dozen+ kwamis within.

Also, a Kwami whose power is to create a forcefield is much more useful to an old man who can hardly muster up the strength to transform, and is also burdened by the weight of his decisions as a young boy. Remember, Sass has the power of enacting change via decision.

It's a simple narrative choice.

Besides, I was under the impression they were going for a bit of a play on the trinity in oldest religion in the world, you know:

Tikki is inspired by Brahma

Plagg is inspired by Shiva

And Sass is inspired by Vishnu

[jennrypan]

Also..sorry Natalie doesnt get to play Adriens mom after she agreed to lie to him about everything since SEASON 1/2? She actively worked with Gabriel. Even claimed she admired him cuz he would "Do anything for his family" like..ok. And then after she started dying and realizing Gabriels lost his damn mind she FINALLY decided to give a shit about how itll affect Adrien..and when it was all done..she still decided "Yeah lets act like Gabriel cared about Adrien and he was actually GOOD" Also lets not tell him hes a senti being and not tell him how important the rings are.

Like..no..everyone in that mansion, around Adrien cant say they love him if theyre alright with lying to him for who knows how long. (Yeah they feel bad but not bad enough to not do it so. Its all abt how this lie makes THEM feel, it doesnt actually matter how it affects Adrien.) I hope Adrien finds out and cuts them off for who knows how long, cuz this has been going on since season 1 and I doubt this show will be able to write Adriens reaction properly without making him feel bad for Marinette. (Happened at the end of season 4..then season 5..he had to comfort HER cuz she fucked up 😒)

[nullsleepy]

Infection 2.0

Chapter 1: Betrayal

Chapter 1(HERE), Chapter 2(TBA)

Summary:

Marinette has had enough. Enough of all their jeers, their bullying, their outright assault on her entire being. After piling up all her emotions, she can barely find it in her to breathe anymore. When Chat Noir gives up his ring for selfish reasons, she loses it. She and Plagg are going to bring a ruin to Paris, one infection at a time.

The cold breeze stung against the warmth of her flushed skin, her eyes unfocused as she gazed at the streets below. She leaned her bare forearms on the smooth marble of her balcony, shivering at how cool the material was. Marinette’s light pink nightgown pressed against her body, flapping as the wind got harsher. She did her best to ignore the chill of the outdoors, wanting to take a break from it all. As she continued to stare down at the streets, looking at nothing in particular, the memory of the other night began to taunt her.

“Chat…” Marinette whispered, her warm breath materializing from the freezing temperature. Her heart ached, her mind ached. How could he do that to her? After everything they had been through? Marinette couldn’t believe it, wouldn’t believe it. She denied it even as she stared down at the metal ring on her finger. The Chat Noir she knew would never do something like this, would never give up on her, on them.

“Think happy thoughts, Marinette, think happy thoughts,” she bit the inside of her mouth, trying to stay calm. She focused on the sounds of busy streets, of the people laughing down below. She thought of her own family, when they were playing games and baking. She thought of her friends and when they would plan surprise parties for each other. But then… then she started remembering how her life is currently. Of how her parents barely talked to each other or to her. Of how her friends had begun sticking gum to her seat and stealing her sketchbooks. Of how Lila Rossi tipped her entire life out of balance. Of how Chat Noir-

NO!

Marinette stood up from where she was leaning, clutching her head. Bad Marinette, bad! She had gotten too lost in her mind again, had taken off her rose tinted glasses for too long. She gripped her pigtails, strands of midnight blue hair sticking out of clenched hands. Marinette rushed forward into her room, slamming the glass door behind her closed. She drew the curtains, trying to hide in the dense darkness of her room.

“…Marinette” A low voice whispered next to her from where she sat in the middle of the room. She glanced over, noticing the glowing neon green eyes. The eyes of her chat, her kitty, her-

“Marinette, look at me.” Plagg stared at her, her chat nowhere to be seen. She saw the pity in those beautiful green eyes, saw the way they wavered as they looked at her.

“…Plagg…” Marinette’s voice was soft, like a scared little girl’s. “Why are you here? Where’s Chat Noir?”

“….” The pity in his eyes intensified. He flew up and onto her head, curling on top of it.

“Plagg? I asked you where Chat was! It’s dangerous if he doesn’t have his miraculous!” Marinette tried to look up at him, but it was impossible. He was on her head and wasn’t moving. “Don’t just ignore me, Plagg! Tell me where Chat Noir is!”

“…” No movement.

“Plagg! You have to go back to Adrien! He- no… I…” Marinette stopped, her eyes wide. She couldn’t know who he was, not unless- “NO! Chat wouldn’t do that to me! He wouldn’t!”

Marinette’s tears stained her flushed cheeks as she curled in on herself, shaking. “He wouldn’t! He wouldn’t! Chat Noir would never! He…”

Marinette felt a warm touch on her cheek. She took in the green glowing eyes of a creature that wasn’t her kitty, almost making her sob harshly once again.

“Plagg…” She reached over, hugging the small creature. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”

Her kitty hadn’t left just her but his kwami as well.

“Chat! I got your message, what do you need?” Ladybug swung in, landing on the rooftop her kitty was standing on. “Don’t tell me you have to miss patrol again! You know as well as I do that-”

“I quit.” The low hum of her partner’s voice startled her, causing her to look him in the eyes.

“What?” She couldn’t believe it, she had to have heard him wrong. There was no way-

“I quit.” Her cat stood there, his tail softly swinging below him. “I just can’t do this anymore, Ladybug. This isn’t a joke. I can’t take it anymore. It’s too much- too much on me and my life. I had a lot of fun with you, Ladybug, but I can’t force myself to be someone I’m not. I’m just… It’s better if I show you- Plagg, Claws out!”

There he was. There was the boy- the man who had worked beside her and made her day for years. He was…

“I'm just Adrien. I'm not a hero.” He stood there, swaying slightly. His stance was awkward with his hand on his neck.

“Adrien? No, no! Chat, please, turn back! I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything so-”

“No, Ladybug,” he held out the now purely silver ring to her. “I’m just Adrien now. Chat Noir is a nobody. He doesn’t exist.”

He looked at everything that wasn’t her as he grabbed her hand and shoved the ring into it. He turned and walked away before she could say anything.

“…idiot.” A voice beside her mumbled, causing her to almost fall over. She turned towards the voice with tears in her eyes. A small creature with cat-like features was floating beside her, looking at Adrien's back. “You idiot! If you do this- you can’t go back!”

“I’m sorry Plagg, but you know how this is. I’m not cut out for this anymore. There’s nothing keeping me from quitting anymore.” Adrien kept walking, reaching the door that would lead him into the building. “It’s too much responsibility on me. And.. It's not fun. It’s not something I can mess around doing. I’ve realized this now. Goodbye, Plagg, Ladybug.”

Marinette and Plagg stared at the closed door with wide, shaky eyes. The image of Adrien’s back was clear in their eyes, as if the door hadn’t separated them. As if he hadn’t cut off their connection forever…

Chat Noir wasn’t spotted after that night, ever again.

Plagg said nothing to the girl, his presence could only be felt by the warmth on a small spot on her head.

“I’m sorry.” She mumbled for what must have been the hundredth time this evening. She still denied what happened days ago at this very same hour. She couldn’t believe it. Her companion in this ordeal, in life, had abandoned her. She both understood and didn’t. So she denied what happened with everything she had.

Plagg continued to warm that spot on her head, almost calming Marinette down.

“It… It didn’t happen, okay, Plagg? It didn’t happen and you’re still with Adr- Chat. You’re still with Chat and we are going to meet up tomorrow night since tonight he’s busy. Yes, he’s just busy.” Marinette tried her best to convince herself, insanity almost leaking out of her voice.

Not a single sound could be heard above her head.

“Yes, yes- that’s exactly it! He’s just a little busy right now! He’ll be back for you soon. Yes, yes!” Marinette smiled, her eyes bloodshot from her hours of crying. Her smile felt forced, too large to be normal. She looked every bit insane as she sounded, with only one pigtail still left half-tied.

“Hehehehe, yes! My chat is just a litttttttttle busy right now! He’ll be back soon!” Marinette started giggling, smiling even bigger.

“Marinette.”

“Hmmmmmm…? What is Plagg…?” Marinette tilted her head up, forgetting he was on her. She looked up, seeing him peak out a bit on top of her forehead.

“…I’m sorry.”

“…For what Plagg? For what?” Marinette continued to smile inhumanly large, eyes wide.

“….”

“….You’re weird, Plagg! You don’t even finish your sentences.” Marinette giggled again, and again, and endless continued to giggle the night away.

Marinette’s eyes lazily left the board as she fiddled with her fingernails. Her eyes narrowed in on Adrien’s sunny blonde hair as he laughed at whatever Nino said. She couldn’t hear it from where she sat all the way from the back of the class, but she imagined his laugh sounded like angels singing. She reached into her jean pockets and pulled out the silver ring, playing with it under her desk.

“Dude, what happened to your silver ring?” She could make out Nino’s voice as she leaned over her desk, obviously staring at him.

“Uh, I just gave it away to a fan. I’m sure they needed it more than me.” Adrien smiled brightly, as if he was the sun himself. But his words hit Marinette hard. She physically flinched back, ring in hand.

“Oh, alright. Dude, you should get Lila to get you a new one! She knows a cool up and coming artisan who was like the great, great grandson to Da Vinci.”

“Maybe I’ll ask her later, I don’t want to bother her too much.” His smile strained just as Marinette’s eyes became shooting glares at the mentioned girl.

..Lila…

“Marinette…?” Her darling Adrien’s voice called out to her, making Marinette sit up from where she dozed.

“…Adrien? Adrien! Hi! What’s up?” She scrambled to sit up, a paper sticking to her face. She beamed at him as she took in his gaze.

“Could I talk to you outside?” His large green eyes overwhelmed her, entrancing her like a magical forest. His hair was the sun beaming down on the plants of life and his smile was the very air that life needed to breathe.

“Y-yeah! Sure! Let me just clean up, I’ll meet you outside!” Marinette crammed her papers into her bag, blushing brightly as she ripped a paper off her face. She shoved all the rest of her belongings in after it, rushing after Adrien who had just smiled and walked away.

“So! What’s up? Whatcha need, my good old pal-io?” Marinette internally cringed at herself, but continued to smile at him.

“I just… I know you have a way to contact Ladybug and…” HE’S GONNA ASK FOR THE RING BACK! HE’S GOING TO BE MY PARTNER AGAIN! “I just want you to tell her that I haven’t changed my mind. I’m never going back. I like my life now, and I’m just going to forget everything.”

He’s going to forget everything? Everything they’ve been through?

“Could you tell her that for me?”

“S-sure…” Marinette stared past him, not really sure what she had just heard.

He… he’s abandoning her. He’s abandoning everything they ever did together… them.

He’s abandoning them.

“Plagg…” Marinette slid her earrings into their case, ignoring Tikki’s call. Her eyes were even more bloodshot than before, but now she lacked any type of expression. “…I can’t do this anymore.”

The cold metal of the ring in her hand stung, as if it was trying to burn a hole in the middle of her palm. She stared down at it, the light from the window reflecting off of it. Her entire room was pitch dark aside from a peak in the window and the glare on the ring.

“I’m sorry…” She mumbled, a hand reaching down to fiddle with the lab coat she stole from her Chemistry class. She clenched the ring tightly with the other, the feeling of burning getting worse.

Her hair was still tied into a messy bun, with random pieces of hair sticking out. The circles under her eyes seemed to get worse every second as she continued to stare down at her closed hand.

Tears began to leak out from her swollen eyes, forcing her to close them. Her eyes ached painfully, the tear ducts abused from her hours of nonstop crying. The feeling was even worse than the time she got her wisdom teeth taken out without the use of anesthesia. She still continued to stand there, though, despite her pain. She didn’t even notice it, really. All she could feel was how the ring kept burning her hand.

A sudden warmth on her nose caused her to break out of the trance, making her look up with mostly unfocused eyes. A black blur stood floating in front of her, green eyes staring down at her.

“Plagg?” She stared at the green eyes as they changed to a bright yellow and the pitch black fur became green tinted. So confused by the image in front of her, she didn’t even notice as a certain black-purple butterfly flapped its wings and entered her lab coat.

Notes: Rewriting a fic I wrote in the past(still continuing that one, but I’m redoing things in this fic) anyways I’m obsessed with doing polls so poll time!

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