#also it should be obvious but that's markov living with max

[gentil-minou]

anyways before i go to bed i finally loaded up the game so here are my households currently (i got a lot of screenshots from before this family came to be that i may share)

(note there's an elaborate story with roland there so i could have a reason to move them to the countryside but i think i will move him out and replace him with felix hehe. also pictured: tikki, gorilla, hugo, adrien, mari, emma, and plagg who loves being held like that very much dfdsfjs)

and the 58347 other households i made last summer:

These pics are such bad quality sjsjfjsjb sorry if folks really care I cam go through the households properly sjdjgja

[angelofthequeers]

Free to Be You and Me: chapter 24

Chapter 23 | Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.

“Hi, guys!” Lila beams when Marinette and the other girls plus Nino enter the classroom on Monday. Marinette’s ready to tense, to steel herself to deal with Lila and her court, but then she remembers: everyone knows now. The other girls had gotten word to Kim, Max, Ivan, and Nathaniel, and now there’s a berth around Lila that hadn’t been there before. Not blatantly obvious, sure, but it’s clear enough that Lila is Not Happy about it, judging by the chilly quality to her smile.

“Oh, hey, Lila!” Rose says brightly. That’s it. That’s all she says as she heads to her seat with Juleka. It clearly catches Lila off-guard, because her smile falters for just a split second.

“So,” Lila says as everyone else takes their own seats, “I hear you all had a sleepover on the weekend! That must have been so much fun!”

“It totally was, dude.” Nino proudly shows off his glimmering green nails. “All the girls were fighting over me and everything.”

“We were fighting over what colour to paint your nails, thank you very much,” Alya says, crossing her arms. Out of the corner of her eye, Marinette notices Adrien slip into the room and to his seat, ducking out of sight of Lila, and she can’t help but giggle softly at his antics. He grins back at her with pink cheeks.

“You should have come, Chloé!” Rose says. “Zoé was there and it was so much fun!”

“Yeah, I’ll keep being anywhere she’s not, thanks,” Chloé drawls without looking up from her nails.

“That sounds like fun,” Lila sighs. “I wish I knew why I was the only girl not invited. I know Marinette and I don’t always get along, but it would have been nice to hang out and have a girls’ night.”

“For your health, of course!” Alya says. “We didn’t know how your arthritis would cope with the ladder to Marinette’s room. And since Marinette lives in a bakery, we didn’t want to risk triggering your gluten intolerance.”

“Exactly!” Max says. “I would have also had to turn down an invitation if I’d gotten one, since the particles in the air might disrupt Markov’s sensitive systems. Not even a chance to beat the champion of Ultimate Mecha Strike III could have tempted me to endanger Markov.”

Lila’s too-wide smile turns rather fixed. “That’s so considerate of you all!” she says. “I do wish I could have come, but I appreciate you all thinking of me!”

Marinette chews on her bottom lip to stifle her laughter. It’s not even getting one over Lila that’s got her so giddy; it’s the fact that her classmates believe her, that they know the truth, and they’ve got her back.

Once class is underway and Ms Bustier tasks them with partnering up for the lesson, Marinette turns to Alya, ready for hushed best friend conversations in between doing actual work. But, to her surprise, Lila materialises next to her with the same too-wide smile as before.

“Marinette!” she says. “I was thinking, since we didn’t get to hang out last night and I’d really like to bury the hatchet between us, would you mind being my partner?”

Marinette blinks. She turns to Alya, silently asking if she’s having an incredibly vivid dream, but Alya’s answering blank stare confirms that no, this is reality and she’s very much awake.

“Um, sure?” Marinette says. “If that’s okay, Alya?”

“Totally,” Alya says. “I can third-wheel Adrien and Nino.”

Something in Lila’s eyes shifts at the mention of Adrien’s name. “Sounds like a plan,” she says and tugs Marinette to the back of the room, her nails digging into Marinette’s forearm. The back desk is empty, since Nathaniel’s moved down a row to work with Ivan, and Marinette is practically thrown onto the bench by Lila, who slides along and crowds Marinette between her and the wall.

“You can take our notes, since my arthritis is playing up,” Lila says with a sweet smile. Marinette smiles back just as sweetly.

“Of course! In fact, I’ve been meaning to ask about all your health conditions. As the class representative, it’s my job to help make sure that each student can do their best learning, and I realised that I should be doing more to help you, with all your problems.”

“Oh, you really don’t have to worry about me. I wouldn’t want to put you out or anything.”

“Really, it’s not a bother! But it can wait until after class. I can do the writing and you can read through the exercises!”

“Alright, what’s your game?” Lila drops the sugary act and leans in, her eyes narrowed. “Why are you suddenly being nice? And why is everyone else acting weird?”

“What do you mean?” Marinette says innocently, her heart pounding in her ears. “They’re trying to help you and your conditions, just like they’ve always done. And I’ve just come to realise that it’s easier to be nice than aggressive.”

“Trying to suck up to your friends?” Lila sneers.

“I don’t need to suck up to them. I told you, Lila, you’ll never turn them against me. And the fact that you’ve put all this effort in and they’re still my friends should tell you something about true friendship.”

“Well, I don’t need true friendship. I just need to tell them what they want to hear until they’re begging to help me. I’m even wrapping Adrien around my little finger.”

“Right, by getting his dad to force him to be around you.” Marinette clenches her fists under the table, otherwise she might punch Lila in the face for daring to talk about Adrien like that, and that’ll tear their plan to shreds. “You know what? I pity you. You can’t even get people to be around you without lies and manipulation. I used to hate you, but now I just feel sorry for you.”

“Feel sorry for me all you want. I’m the one that Adrien’s kissed. And if I have anything to say about it, there’ll be a lot more like that in the future. Soon, I’ll be on his arm in the spotlight and – why are you laughing?”

Marinette had thought that mentioning the forced kiss would make her blood boil. What she hadn’t expected was to end up bursting into laughter right in Lila’s face, just at the sheer absurdity of it all. Lila went to all those lengths just to make him kiss her and she thinks she can still force her way in? Especially when she’s unknowingly sitting next to Adrien’s girlfriend, who he kisses willingly and so, so many times?

“Stop laughing at me!” Lila whines.

“Y-You’re so sad,” Marinette hiccups. “You’ll never get Adrien. You’ll never get anyone. No matter how much you lie and manipulate and sabotage, you’ll never get Adrien or Alya or Ladybug or anyone else.”

“I always get what I want!” Lila stamps her foot. “Always! You’ll see – stop laughing!”

“Girls, what’s going on here?” Ms Bustier says as Marinette slides out of her seat and under the desk, her stomach cramping with laughter.

“Marinette won’t stop laughing at me and I just feel so attacked right now!” Lila wails immediately.

“N-Not at all,” Marinette chokes, pulling herself back out from under the desk. “Lila j-just told a funny j-joke, Ms B-Bustier. I didn’t know she c-could be that hilarious.”

“Oh my gosh!” Rose squeals. “Marinette and Lila are finally becoming friends! This is amazing!”

Marinette loses the battle against her body and slides back under the desk, tears streaming down her face.

.

Operation Be Annoyingly Nice to Lila is amazing. Adrien hadn’t thought it could possibly work, and yet Lila’s now constantly one tiny step from losing it, if the way her eye twitches when no one’s watching is any indication. And not only that, but every single classmate – even Chloé and Sabrina, and Adrien isn’t even fully sure they’re in on it – refuses to leave him alone with Lila. Like, at all.

Like the day after the sleepover, when Lila had cried about her arthritis playing up and how she just couldn’t make it to the cafeteria and oh, could Adrien help her there?

“Ivan, why don’t you take her?” Mylène had said. “You’re the strongest person in the class!”

“Hey!” Kim had protested.

“What? She’s telling the truth,” Alix had grinned. Lila had sniffled and pouted but been forced to take up Mylène and Ivan’s generous offer, and Adrien’s insides had fluttered at the small smile Mylène had sent his way before she followed Ivan and Lila.

The next time her “arthritis” had played up, Kim had fashioned her a sling out of his hoodie, as “the certified expert on every possible way to hurt every cell in your body”. Lila had not been happy at all.

Or the time when Lila had pleaded with Adrien to help her study so that she didn’t fall behind and Max had volunteered his services as “the smartest person in the class”. Sabrina had chimed in as well to offer her help, and so Alix had turned it into a group study session in the park, where Lila had conveniently been sat on the total opposite side of the picnic blankets to Adrien and Marinette.

“Why didn’t we do this before?” Marinette had grumbled while her silky black hair shone in the sunlight. “Maybe then I wouldn’t have fallen so far behind on my homework.”

“Ooh, we could make this a weekly thing!” Rose had said. “If Max and Sabrina are okay with that, of course? We can all help each other and stop Lila from falling behind!”

“You guys are just amazing!” Lila had crooned with murder in her eyes.

It’s just…overwhelming, what everyone’s doing for him. The only time Adrien’s alone with Lila is during their Gabriel-mandated study sessions but even then, he’s been asking his bodyguard to stay with him, and it’s not like Gabriel can get upset at Adrien wanting supervision of a boy and a girl alone in the same room. Not without letting on that there’s something more going on with him and Lila.

It hasn’t stopped Lila from trying, though. And today, she’s pulling out all the stops.

“…and I had the most awesome night with Ladybug!” Lila says. Funny, considering that Adrien had also had the most awesome night with Ladybug, and he’s pretty sure his lady can’t be in two places at once. “She let me try out new hairstyles on her! Not that her pigtails aren’t sweet, of course, but with her new costume, she wanted to experiment a little!”

Lila’s right. Ladybug would look much better with her hair down. Adrien had found that for himself last night during a make-out session that makes his toes curl and heat blossom in his stomach remembering it even now.

“What are you so dreamy about?” Alya says from behind him. Adrien immediately schools his face into total neutrality as he turns to her.

“Nothing!” he says. “I just…had a really good night. You know, without Lila breathing down my neck.”

Alya just raises an eyebrow. For some reason, Marinette’s face has turned scarlet, and she’s buried it in her arms on her desk. Adrien doesn’t have time to ask if she’s okay because Lila’s being interrupted by Alix.

“That’s nothing,” she’s bragging when he tunes in. “We had Chat Noir at our sleepover!”

“Wait, what?” Kim says, while Lila’s eyes narrow. “Since when?”

“He dropped by to bring Kagami and we made him stay,” Alix says smugly. “Too bad we couldn’t paint his nails like Nino’s. Just can’t get to them under the gloves.”

“I’m never taking this polish off, no matter how much it chips,” Nino says. “You dudettes are nail gods.”

“He loves Ladybug so much!” Rose squeals. “It was so romantic to hear him talking about her!”

Adrien’s cheeks burn because that’s him. He’d said all that stuff about Ladybug. His girlfriend, even though no one else knows.

“Oh,” Lila says, visibly fumbling for solid ground, “that’s great! That reminds me of the time Jagged Stone invited me to –”

“Wait, wait!” Ivan says, uncharacteristically excited. “Juleka, you’re Jagged’s daughter! You’ve never really told us anything about him!”

Juleka’s cheeks burn as everyone turns to face her. “Um…he’s cool,” she says. “Luka’s closer to him. But, um…yeah.”

Adrien checks Marinette’s reaction to Lila being defanged, but she’s still got her face buried in her arms. Oh, how he wishes he could ask her what’s wrong, but the last thing he wants is to draw attention to her when Lila’s on the warpath with their classmates, so he forces himself to turn away and leave her to her predicament. His stomach turns at the thought of just leaving Marinette, and –

He needs to talk to Ladybug. ASAP.

[secondcoolestusername]

A black cat’s bad luck Ch. 7

The sudden weight of the body left him breathless, but he didn’t release his grip. His heart was hammering in his chest.

Max lived on the third floor of the building. He didn’t know how Chat Noir would’ve survived that fall if he wasn’t here in time. 

When he appeared at his window, his face looked white a sheet, seemed barely conscious, and in bad shape, with his side torn open and with blood dripping down his suit. That’s why Max didn’t hesitate to open the window before he dropped to his death. He could always bind him when he was in a better shape and ask him questions before handing him to the authorities. Markov could help. He hoped that it wasn't a trap and that he wouldn’t end up like Ivan.

Chat Noir groaned in his arms.

Max anxiously glanced at his clean bedsheets. Surely, Chat Noir could understand not wanting to wash blood off his sheets, right?

Suddenly, Chat Noir shuddered in his arms before going limp. Then, a beeping sound came from him, and Max only had time to identify the sound of it before a green light washed over the superhero.

It was like watching a car crash. He knew he should look away, or close his eyes to preserve the poor guy’s identity, but somehow, Max couldn’t tear his eyes away.

Something small and black fell, but Max quite didn’t care for that.

His horrified eyes met the face of Adrien Agreste.

“Is that…?” Kim had a shocked face.

“Yes, but you promised you wouldn’t tell anyone,” furiously whispered Max. His parents were downstairs, doing their own business. He couldn’t possibly tell them he was keeping a fugitive/model in his bedroom. There would be too many questions.

Kim sat beside the bed, opening his first aid kit. He looked too big for the chair he was in. If Max wasn’t so worried, he would’ve laughed at the ridiculousness of it. “Kinda hard to say no when you threaten me with that robot.”

Markov made a plaintive sound from his corner.

Max decided not to comment and watched his friend’s delicate work.

After the grand revelation, he had shook himself and proceeded to attach a scarf that he had found at the bottom of his wardrobe around Adrien’s side to create pressure. Then, when Max was seventy-five percent sure that Adrien wouldn’t die of blood loss, he took a large garbage bag, laid it on the bed before hefting him on it. He was very light even in Max’s opinion and Max wasn’t a very strong person. He wondered if his friend ate enough at home even by model’s standards. 

He also gingerly laid the weird black cat-like comatose creature on a pillow near Adrien but out of sight, just in case. 

He hadn’t known what else to do besides that and the only one he knew who was an expert at first aid was Kim, an athlete who constantly got hurt. He had asked him for help and threatened him for his silence, but Max trusted that Kim wouldn’t have talked even if Max didn’t threaten him. Because that’s what best friends do.

“So, how did that happen?” Kim rummaged through his box for some cotton. In this angle, his handsome face was scrunched up in concentration.

Chat Noir got attacked, clearly. And he came to me. Then, he transformed back into Adrien. I didn’t know how to help him. So I called you.

“It was an experiment gone wrong,” Max lied through his teeth. “He didn’t have to volunteer for it,” he added hauntingly, moving the focus elsewhere.

Kim paused in his movements. Max’s anxiety went up a notch. He tried not to be too obvious even though Kim wasn’t facing him.

“Thank God I wasn’t dumb enough to accept your previous requests for me to be your lab rat,” Kim laughed and continued his work. Max slowly breathed out as his laugh washed over him. “I was actually asking about knowing a famous model. How did that happen?”

Max asked himself if talking about the project would put Adrien in a more compromising position. “He was the text I received a few weeks ago.”

“Your new best friend?” Kim pulled Adrien’s shirt in a sharper movement. The change of subject threw Max off. 

There was something in his tone of voice that made Max think twice before answering. He would’ve said “Yes” to piss Kim off, even if it wasn’t true, but Max felt like this time, Kim was waiting for an actual answer. Maybe Adrien’s presence sparked an uncertainty in Kim. Maybe he felt that Max was ditching him to spend time with a cooler boy. The fact that he had spent most of his time working on Adrien’s robot rather than spending time with Kim might have led him to believe that. Well, that dumbass was wrong. There was no need to be jealous.

“Of course not. You know you’re my best friend, Kim.” Max answered. At this moment, he felt very vulnerable.

Kim stopped his actions again. Max couldn’t see his expression, but he hoped that it was what Kim wanted to hear.

“What got into you? Why are you being cheesy like that?” Kim laughed. There was a hidden note of relief, and his resuming movements were less aggressive than a few moments ago.

Max smiled.

A.N.: If you read that far and I peaked your interest, find me on ao3!

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

#10: Felix, Part Two: The Episode Itself

Here’s Part 1

So, uh... here's the thing. I was going to divide this post into three parts, but I had to cancel the third part where I analyze the stuff involving Astruc defending the episode on Twitter, specifically a certain scene that really showed off some serious double standards in regards to the way Adrien is being written, because Astruc deleted most of his tweets regarding the episode. I wonder why he did that? I thought he wanted to expose himself publicly and interact in a peaceful way.

So yeah, instead of a big three-parter, this is going to be a two-parter, and I apologize for that. I might be able to do a third part if anyone has any screenshots of some of the tweets Astruc made after “Felix” aired. If you did, I would really appreciate it, but if not, it's fine.

Either way, let's just get this over with, because I have SO MUCH to talk about. My friend, can your heart stand the shocking facts about Season 3, Episode 23 of Miraculous Ladybug, “Felix”?

So we start off with what Gabriel does for half of his scenes when he isn't Hawkmoth, monologuing to his (possibly) dead wife, Emilie about how Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous will soon be his and all that crap. Sure, he's sent God knows how many Akumas after Ladybug and Cat Noir, and they've all failed miserably, but I'm positive he's getting close to his goal.

After he finishes cleaning his and Emilie's silver wedding rings that sadly don't allow them to transform into Ultraman Ace, Gabriel goes to check on Adrien, singing to a statue of Emilie (glad to see the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree), intending to tell him that he is Hawkmoth.

Gabriel: There is something important I have to talk to you about. I think about telling you every day, but I don't know how to find the right words.

Adrien: I think I already know, father.

Gabriel: But, how?

Adrien: I've noticed how close you and Nathalie have become. If she can make you happy again, then... as far as I'm concerned, she's already part of our family.

Yeah, apparently it's obvious that Gabriel and Nathalie are close or something, with how casually Adrien assumes they're planning on starting a relationship. I mean, it's not like Nathalie is close to Gabriel because she's his secretary or something like that.

Gabriel's response isn't any better, as he immediately jumps down Adrien's throat for daring to assume he might try to move on from his wife.

Gabriel: How could you possibly think such a thing?! Nobody could ever replace your mother! As long as she is still in our hearts, she lives on!

Even Adrien's face shows he's a little taken back by his father's brief outburst.

Part of me likes to assume that Plagg is trying to not break out into laughter at how crazy Gabriel sounds, while Nooroo is mentally questioning the sanity of his master.

Plagg: Wow! Your father's like a piece of tomme cheese, where the rind's so thick it's almost impossible to get inside the center.

Adrien: Don't be so hard on him, Plagg. It's been a year today since Mom... went away forever.

Oh my God, just say she DIED already! Why are so many kids' shows afraid to say the D-word? How can I cite an episode of Caillou of all shows as something that that actually talked about death to it's audience in a nuanced way?

It turns out that Adrien's aunt is visiting for the day, as it's the one-year anniversary of Emilie's “going away forever”. We also learn that the gene pool in Adrien's family is so shallow, a toddler could swim in it, because Emilie's sister looks exactly like her.

Even better, her name is Amelie. I bet the parents thought naming their kids Emilie and Amelie was hilarious for like three minutes.

And of course, she also brought her son, the asshole of the hour.

Someone cue the Imperial March.

So Felix is finally here, and of course, he looks just like Adrien. It's almost like the animators didn't want to create any new character models for this episode, so they thought nobody would notice if they just reused a few. Seriously, towards the end of the episode, we see Felix wearing the Cat Miraculous on his hand, and none of the animators noticed it.

So while Adrien is happy to see his cousin, Felix isn't. I'll talk more about it in a minute.

Amelie mentions that the wedding rings are actually heirlooms in her side of the family, so she naturally wants them back. Of course, Gabriel, being Gabriel, responds accordingly.

Gabriel: These rings are obviously very special to me.

Amelie: And they're very dear to me too, Gabriel. Those jewels have always been in the Graham de Vanily family, not the Agreste's.

Gabriel: We'll discuss it later.

“Yeah, yeah, these rings are priceless family heirlooms or whatever, but why can't you think about how important they are to me?”

Meanwhile, Marinette and her friends are planning on recording some messages for Adrien to cheer him up on this day, but Marinette isn't sure what to say before she decides to confess her love to him. I'm sure Adrien will get the message and return Marinette's feelings this episode... and Cliff Hanger will finally escape that cliff he's been hanging from for years.

Speaking of, Adrien and Felix are hanging out in the former's room where we learn that Felix's father passed away recently. We don't know how long, but with the way they talk about, it's clear the funeral wasn't too long ago. Keep this in mind.

So while Adrien leaves the room to get a chess board for the two to play a game of, Felix, for no reason, decides to search through Adrien's things and crush a piece of cheese that Plagg had been aging for two weeks. And here is the interaction that helps this episode go from mediocre to aggravating, just because of what they imply here.

Adrien: Listen, Plagg. Felix lost his dad not so long ago, he's probably not himself.

Plagg: I'm sorry, but there's just no excuse! You never touch my cheese, and yet, you just lost your mother not so long ago, right?

Yes. The show is actually implying that Adrien is better than Felix because Adrien isn't acting out because his mom “went away forever”. Keep in mind, we know that Felix just lost his father, while Adrien has had a year to cope. I'm not saying he can't be sad anymore, as everyone processes grief differently, but you can't set up Felix as a foil to Adrien just because they both lost a parent, as their situations are entirely different.

Oh, and when Plagg's statement upsets Adrien, it isn't because he's angry at Plagg for making the comparison, it's because he mentions Emilie. And this argument is never brought up again.

I still can't believe this episode is basically saying that even if you lose a loved one, that's no excuse to get emotional. This isn't just a horrible lesson to teach children, but it pisses me off on a more personal level. Why?

My grandfather died last year after a long battle with lung cancer.

He had been in and out of the hospital for a few years at this point, and part of me was relieved that he was finally free of the pain. I tried not to let it bother me, as I had already mentally prepared myself for the day he would die whenever he was readmitted to the hospital. But it was still painful to go through because he was so important to me. Instead of simply telling someone how I was feeling, I threw myself into my schoolwork in an effort to distract myself from actually confronting my emotions. After seeing A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, a movie where the main character made peace with his father on his deathbed with some encouragement from Mr. Rogers, it made me think about how unhealthy it was to bottle up my emotions, so I started to open up more about how I was feeling. When I told my mom (who was his daughter) about why I was so conflicted regarding his death, she said it was completely understandable, as she had been an emotional wreck as well. I also talked with my therapist about how this was affecting me mentally.

What does this have to do with the episode? I don't think Felix had access to this kind of emotional support when his dad died, or that he tried coping the same way I did initially.

And the worst part is that this could have been used to teach people a lesson on how to cope with losing a loved one. Maybe Adrien could have helped Felix find a healthier coping mechanism, or simply help him open up emotionally, teaching him that it's okay to be upset when someone close to you dies, but that you just need to be honest about your feelings.

But no, rather than portray Felix's actions as a troubled youth lashing out because he's angry at the cards the world dealt him, Felix does several awful things this episode for no other reason than because he's evil, even though he has a good reason to hate Adrien and Gabriel.

So the very next scene, we see Felix has stolen Adrien's phone and is going through the messages that Adrien's friends sent him, but not before insulting his crush on Ladybug. I'm not sure if that's supposed to reflect the fandom's criticism of Adrien's crush on Ladybug, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

Nino's Message: Hey, my dude! I'm not quite sure what to tell you, except that, you're my man, dude! And bros are always there for their guys!

Felix: (Mockingly) “Bros are always there--” blah, blah, blah! Moron.

Rose's Message: Unicorns have a saying: even when there's nothing but gray skies and rain, all it takes is one little sunbeam for a rainbow to appear!

Felix: Loser.

Max's Message: It's one hundred percent proven, you should feel fifty-two percent happier with a healthy dose of laughter. So Markov has uploaded a few jokes for you! Starting with--

Felix: Freak.

Chloe's Message: When my mother left for New York, I felt so sad. It felt like she was... (sighs) She came back, and I know how lucky I am. So, you can count on me, my Adrikins.

Felix: Chloe. Just as annoying as usual.

And that line right there is the only time Astruc actually liked writing Felix, as it gave him the chance to satisfy his need to insult Chloe.

And then when he sees Marinette's message, he deletes it because... hell if I know

Again, this scene could have worked if it was interpreted as Felix saying stuff that he wasn't dependent on others for support and that he could easily power through life on his own, but nope! Instead, he hates Adrien's friends and only deletes Marinette's message instead of all of them simply because he's evil, heart blacker than Don Cheadle.

Felix continues to show how awful he is by dressing up in Adrien's clothes and—Oh, son of a bitch, SERIOUSLY? This is the SEVENTH evil doppelganger plotline we've had in THREE SEASONS! You're telling me this isn't doing the same thing over and over again, Astruc?

Yeah, so Felix records some messages to send to his friends that, once again, could have worked if this episode was actually teaching a lesson about dealing with grief.

“Adrien's” Message:  First of all, thanks so much for all your messages, guys, really. Sending me messages on today of all days... (angrily) to remind me how sad I'm supposed to be feeling? Why, that's great! Really, Thanks a lot!

But because nobody ever considers how Felix is feeling, it's never acknowledged, because that would actually involve writing him with complexity.

Gabriel gets a message from Lila, who recently became one of his confidants to spy on Adrien, tells him about the fake message, and decides to use the negative emotions felt as an excuse to get rid of his in-laws. No, seriously.

Gabriel: All this disappointment might just help us get rid of our unwanted guests.

To be fair, I'd probably do the same thing just so I wouldn't have to talk to some of the people I hate at my job.

And so, Hawkmoth akumatizes Alya, Juleka, and Rose into the Punisher's Trio, who are basically just their previously akumatized forms Lady Wifi, Reflekta, and Princess Fragrance. Because why would you expect anyone to use an original character model for this episode?

All joking aside, this development raises several questions. First, why wasn't Nino one of the Punisher's akumatized? He's Adrien's best friend, so shouldn't be just as upset as everyone else? Hell, the whole reason he was akumatized into the Bubbler in Season 1 was just so he could throw Adrien a birthday party after Gabriel said no. Then there's the fact that Chloe could have also been akumatized because she's just as close as Adrien, which is another wasted opportunity here.

Second, why bring back Reflekta and Princess Fragrance of all villains? It doesn't even make sense when you consider their motifs are based off of the circumstances that led to them getting akumatized in their respective episodes. Juleka became Reflekta because of her anxiety over easily blending in, so she got the power to turn everyone into an exact copy of herself so they could understand the feeling. Rose became Princess Fragrance when Chloe destroyed her letter and perfume bottle dedicated to the prince of a foreign nation, so the perfume bottle was the basis of her powers. At least Lady Wifi makes sense as the akumatized object this episode is a tablet used to record the messages to Adrien, but Reflekta and Princess Fragrance have nothing to do with the plot of this episode, and just feel tacked on. If it was just Lady Wifi or the Bubbler, I'd get it, but this just doesn't work.

Third, what exactly is this show's obsession with Reflekta? We saw in Reflekta's first episode that her powers had a huge drawback as if either of the heroes is zapped by her, she can't get their Miraculous, like what we saw happened to Cat Noir. Yet, this is the second time this season that Hawkmoth had the bright idea to bring back Reflekta (even giving her a giant robot to amplify her powers). At least Lady Wifi and Princess Fragrance's powers worked together well (Lady Wifi could freeze someone in place, while Princess Fragrance can brainwash them with her perfume), but Reflekta just feels like the odd one out here.

Fourth, and most importantly, why did we only get to hear the line “At your service, Princess Fragrance!” A single time this episode?

So the Punishers head to Adrien's house to take their revenge, but see Felix, still dressed in Adrien's clothes, and are naturally confused. Adrien pretends to be Felix by running away while laughing evilly (so not too far off from how Astruc sees Felix), while the real Felix and Nathalie put up a good fight against the Punishers.

And then... here is the moment that shows just how skewed Astruc's view of Adrien really is.

Felix pretends to confess his love to Ladybug as Adrien, trying to force a kiss on him, making Ladybug punch him in the face by claiming that the real Adrien “would never be so pushy”.

BULL. SHIT.

Yes, Ladybug doesn't know that Adrien is actually Cat Noir, but it's clear that this scene is meant to solidify just how Felix is far worse than Adrien because according to Astruc, he would never do that.

But maybe I'm being too hard on him.

It's not like Adrien has ever forced himself onto Ladybug, right?

I mean, imagine if the show just ignored something like that.

All while trying to teach kids the importance of saying no when someone harasses them.

Can you imagine if someone was that oblivious to their own hypocrisy?

I'm not saying that the lesson is a bad one, but you can't call someone out for doing something bad, and then ignore one of your main characters doing the exact same thing!

Even in the context of the episode, the comparison doesn't work. We know that Felix is only doing this to make Adrien look bad, and has no romantic feelings towards Ladybug like Adrien does. Felix knows what he is doing is wrong, while Adrien doesn't. Whenever Cat Noir tries to kiss Ladybug, he is never aware that what he is doing is wrong, and while he is almost always stopped from kissing Ladybug for one reason or another.

Like when the episode tried to compare two different characters reacting to losing loved ones when there are different circumstances regarding them, the comparison DOESN'T WORK.

And to add insult to injury, Cat Noir shows up just to insult Felix by implying he doesn't have a lot of friends because of the way he acts, because why would he? After all, he's a complete loser that nobody would want to be friends with, and if you like him, you're an idiot for thinking so! At least, that's probably what Astruc was going for.

Ladybug summons her Lucky Charm, leading to a brief Mexican standoff, until Felix steals the tablet containing the Akuma, making a deal with Hawkmoth that he'll help out the Punishers as long as he gets the wedding rings. Do you hate Felix yet? Come on, do you hate him? WHY WON'T YOU HATE HIM, GODDAMN IT!?

This whole bit is completely pointless as Ladybug immediately finds a way to stop all four of them and de-evilize the Akuma.

And when it looks like Felix is actually apologizing for his actions this episode, it's naturally a ruse he put on to steal one of the wedding rings from Gabriel to give to his mom. Because why would Astruc even think of portraying him sympathetically, or at least have him learn a lesson?

So Felix stares out the window with an evil look in his eye (possibly foreshadowing another appearance), as Gabriel takes Emilie's wedding ring to wear for himself, and the episode mercifully ends.

It also means that I never have to watch this episode ever again.

Do you understand why it took so long for me to fully analyze this episode? Hell, it would have taken longer if Astruc didn't delete his tweets defending the kiss scene and how Cat Noir is totally a gentlemen unlike Satan, I mean Felix.

What else do I have to say about this episode that hasn’t already been said? Well, I do have one thing.

I’m not that big a fan of Felix.

I think he’s an okay character in fanfics, but I’m more indifferent to him and fanfics that ship him and Marinette together. I don’t know, maybe that’s because there are so many Felinette fanfics that are heavily seasoned with salt, or it could just be because I’m complete Love Square and Lukanette trash.

But just think about the fact that the scathing criticism of this episode was delivered by someone who isn’t that into Felix. That is how bad this episode is.

In addition to being an obvious mouthpiece for Astruc to yell at fans why they’re idiots for actually liking Felix, it does so by touching on delicate subject and trying to act like it’s easy to tell how Felix is worse than Adrien when the circumstances are nothing alike.

But the fact that Astruc takes a popular character just to portray him as a complete menace just to antagonize his fans is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.

[artxyra]

What if Damian and the miraculous class are friends and they have movie nights, but since Damian is in Gotham he sneaks out of the manor and portal via Max & Kalki to participate. The Fam get suspicious and try to figure out where Damian is going every week. When they find out he goes to Paris they try to follow him but the portal closes and they use the tubes instead. They end up crashing in on them watching a horror movie which freaks the class out. Insert yelling and things being thrown.

To: Demon From: Angel

Are we still on for movie night?

To: Angel From: Demon

Yes. Just need to get away from the family.

To: Demon From: Angel

😀

Marinette looks over smiling from her phone. Today is a good day. There were no akuma that needed Ladybug’s attention, nor had she broken up a fight between Max and Kim about the latest game. So yes, she was ecstatic to know this is how her day is going.

“Hey Mars, is Damian coming tonight?” Adrien asks seating next to her playing with a strand of his hair. Ever since he came out to her, their relationship has blossomed beyond a crush to a blooming brother-sister relationship. That and Luka were more than willing to take on the blonde without a second thought. She kind of feels bad for Juleka having to see Adrien on a near-daily basis and with her brother no doubt.

“Yup,” Marinette continues to smile, “I just received word that he’s good to go. All we need is for Kaalki and Max to open up a portal at the designated time.”

“Sweet, I hear that Kim was the one picking out this week’s movie. I hope it’s nothing horror-related.” Adrien pouts causing Marinette to laugh that the poor kitty’s face.

“I’m sure it’s nothing too crazy.” Marinette hopes that it was something simple to follow and an action pack rather than horror. She may love horror games but kwami be damn if she watches a horror movie in the dark that wasn’t comedic.

“It looks like break is almost over, we’ll continue you this later.” Adrien sends Marinette a comforting smile before jumping down into his assigned seat next to Nino. Alya and Nino just walked in holding hands.

“Hey, lovebirds, who’s ready for a night full of fun?” Alya greets the two causing them to roll their eyes at the nickname that no longer pertains to them.

“Hey Als, I should be asking you that instead.” Marinette lifts an eyebrow that accompanies her smirk. Nino and Alya’s faces turn red and they side glance each other. Marinette and Adrien laugh at the couple.

“After class, I’ll be giving a quick speech regarding tonight’s plans,” Marinette states pulling out her classwork and books for class. They all nod in understanding. Just then the rest of the class filed in with matching smiles and asking pertaining to tonight’s activities.

To: Angel From: Demon

Save me from the idiots that I call my brothers?

To: Demon From: Angel

Can’t love, I’m sure it not that bad.

To: Angel From: Demon

For some idiotic reason, they are watching me like a hawk today. I’m currently in the bathroom with the doors locked listening to them bicker outside.

To: Demon From: Angel

Yikes 😬. I’m sure it will die down before you’re required to leave.

To: Angel From: Demon

I doubt that.

To: Demon From: Angel

About that, why did we move our weekly movie night from Saturday to Friday?

To: Angel From: Demon

It’s a half-day at school.

Shit. Talk to you later.

Marinette places her phone down and slowly turns her attention to Mme. Bustier. The red-haired teacher tried to keep her students engaged with the content, but she was losing them faster than on average. Marinette turns to her classmates. Alix and Kim were trying to out strength each other, Juleka and Rose was trying to pay attention but the drooping in Rose’s eyes say otherwise, Sabrina and Chloe—well doing what they usually do—living in their own bubble, Nathaniel was sketching something down in his notebook while Max was pretending to take notes as Markov does it for him. Finally, Mylene and Ivan were also in their own world.

Hours seemed to past in Marinette’s mind before Mme. Bustier concluded today’s lesson. She was so caught up in watching the time that she didn’t realize that was sketching an outfit in her own notebook. Whoops.

“Marinette is there something you would like to add?” Mme. Bustier prompts sending the class’s designated designer a smile.

“Yes,” Marinette gets up from her seat and walks down to the podium. “Tonight is our weekly movie night instead of tomorrow. Do you remember what to bring? If not, please message me before the event. Remember that we are having this event at Chloe’s family’s hotel as it a makeshift theatre room.”

“Daddy says we can have the popcorn maker also.” Chloe interrupts. The class cheers at the thought of the infamous popcorn maker that was usually locked behind the hotel kitchen doors.

“Thank you, Bee, for that tidbit. Now, Max, you are to arrive at the bakery no later than six o’clock. The demon is having a half-day today and I’m ninety-nine percent sure that he’ll want to be here no later than that. Everyone else, you are free to do.” With that and a pretend gavel, Marinette dismisses the class to their next class for the day. 

For Damian, being at school felt like a blessing even if it was a half-day. His brothers have been hounding him all morning. It’s like they are looking for something that isn’t there. Damian’s emotions? Yeah right, they all know he only shows emotions to his beloved animals or animals in general. Damian had to double, triple check the security on his phones because who knows what Drake would find if he had access inside it.

For over six months, he had been going to Paris for movie nights with his beloved and her classmates. At first, he had done it through the zeta tubes but after gaining their trust just enough to be in on the Miraculous Team of Paris, his trips became a lot more frequent. He would make up an excuse about going to a classmate, or Jon’s, house for the night, or to work on a school project. He had gotten away with it for a while, but Tim was the first to notice the lie.

Tim and Conner were having their usually meet up when the Damian had told his family that he was spending time at Jon’s, something that was no unusual. All was fine and dandy until Jon came home with a Damian Wayne. Tim, well it was mainly Dick, had grilled into the young hero about Damian’s whereabouts. Jon either lied or literally had no idea. Which prompted the Batbros to start the search on Damian's weekly disappearance.

Everyone took the day off to “spend time” with Damian. They wanted to trap the teen inside the manor and watch his every movement. Like that isn’t an invasion of privacy or trust.

Alfred brought Damian to the manor around noon. This gives them enough time to hide any open-source of weaponry they could find or items that Damian could use against them in battle. That was a lot of items on the list. Dick inquired for Bruce to hold off on the tracking device as a last resort. He wanted to start everything out with a discussion, but Jason laughs that idea out the window as he cleans his guns.

“The young master is residing in his bedroom,” Alfred speaks walking down into the Batcave.

The Wayne family knew this was it.

To: Angel From: Demon

I’m ready.

To: Demon From: Angel

ETA in 5

Damian smirks at his phone. He loves his girlfriend and how quickly she can manage an entire group of classmates and plan a weekly movie night event.

He had packed his belonging that he usually brings with him when he does to Paris. Which isn’t much.

Four minutes.

Damian thought his ears were playing tricks on him, but they weren’t. He could hear the stampede of footsteps that were no doubt from his family members aside from Alfred. Alfred’s footsteps are like a ghost, you never hear them.

Three minutes.

“Hey little D, since you had a half-day today, why don’t you spend it with us,” Grayson asks the second his bedroom door swings open. Alfred the cat sends a glare to his owner’s family.

“Yeah, Demon spawn, we all took the day off to spend time with you,” Jason adds gas to the fire that was already burning intensely.

“Damian…” Not his father too.

Two minutes.

Damian doesn’t say a word. His eyes bounce from one person to the next and repeat. He didn’t know who to answer them. “Tt.” Was the only word? Sound? That had escaped his lips.

“You need to leave like now.” Damian refuses to have his family find out the very secret he had kept hidden for so long. His quick need for them leaving only pushes them to stay. Worried about various reasons from teen problems to joining the League of Assassins again. They didn’t want to take any chances.

One minute.

Damian could sense the user of the horse kwami becoming active. Soon a blue swirling portal opens up behind Damian. Damian looks at his family and side glances at the portal. The portal wins. The family of vigilantes runs to the portal only for it to close.

“Am I hallucinating or did that just happen?” Tim asks wiping the sleep away from his eyes.

“No, replacement, that really just happened.” Jason states. Tim nods in understanding.

“I’ll do track him down.” Dick sulks at the thought that Bruce was right.

It didn’t take long for the results to come in.

“Uh…so how the hell is the Demon in Paris, France of all places?” Jason shouts from behind his older brother and Bruce.

“The swirling portal thingy?” Tim states the obvious, but it sounded more like a question as he sits down and drinks a cup of coffee.

“Boys we’re going to Paris.”  Bruce states over his sons. From afar, Alfred sighs and goes to prepare the zeta tubes with the destination in mind.

“Uh, civvies or uniform?” Dick asks as they all start to make their way to the zeta tube. This was one of those questions that they linger on for a hot minute.

Before they knew it, Damian had gained an hour over his family.

“It doesn’t matter, we need to know where the little demon has been hiding all this time.” Jason screeches talking over to the zeta tube and teleporting to the location.

Bruce turns to the remainder of his sons who shrugged and follow suit.

Entering Paris, they were further from Damian’s location than anticipated. They follow the tracker with some interruptions. Dick wanted to buy something for Kori, Jason wanted food and Tim needed for coffee. After all that was done, they officially made it to the supposed location of Damian’s whereabouts.

“Why would the little demon at a hotel?”

“Hum, this coffee is really good,” Tim says before taking another sip.

“Boys, focus on the mission.”

“I am focus, Bruce.”

“I didn’t say you were, Dick.”

“Touché.” Dick rubs the back of his arm.  

They enter Le Grand Paris with tensions high and were surprised by how calm and relax the employees were. Jason swears this was just a hoax and they were torturing Damian behind one of these doors. An employee asks them if they are in need of anything. Bruce states that they were looking for his son.

“Is he friends with Chloe and her classmates?” The employee asks.

“Who?” Dick and Bruce ask simultaneously. Jason had dragged Tim off somewhere to look at some things.

The employee eyes the family skeptically.

“Well if he’s not friends with Mlle. Bourgeois, then I suggest heading to the police department and report a missing child.” The employee states before walking away. Bruce sighs and pulls out the tracking device. Damian is so close to them.

“We’re going to find him, right?”

“And drag the brat back to Gotham?”

Bruce in the direction that would be location, he gestures for his children to follow.

Damian was having a blast. In his arms, Marinette sat on his arm clinging to his shirt cursing Kim’s name throughout the film. Kim had chosen a horror movie for tonight’s showing and by kwami it was fantastic. There was no comedic relief, actual horror storytelling leaving the class on the edge of their seats.

Adrien was curled next to Marinette in Luka’s arms. He was also clinging to a body, a certain musician as if he was a frightened kitten.

Just as the MC was about to open the door to the attic, a series of figures jump from the ceiling. Screams in real-life match those within the movie. Popcorn, empty cartons of candy, soda drinks are thrown at the figures. A string of curses follows not long after that.

“Damian, tell your friends to stop.” He knows that voice from anywhere, it was Grayson’s voice. Marinette slides herself off himself.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” He screeches in English. Most of the class didn’t have a clue what was being said.

“We wanted to see where you were?”

“We thought you were kidnapped?”

“I just came for the scenery.”

Damian’s eyes twitch.

“That’s nice and all, but can you move? We’re trying to watch a movie here and you’re ruining it.” Chloe stands up demanding the bat-family to move. They all look to one another before subtly moving away from the screen.

Damian places a quick kiss on Marinette’s cheek and guides his family out of the room. He was not happy that they came in ruining his night with Marinette. Now he has to make up for it with something romantic, not that he’ll do it anyway.

“What made you believe that I was kidnapped?” He asks, the second they were out of the room.

“The portal thingy.”

“You not answering any of our questions.”

Damian breathes through his nose. “You’re all idiots.”

“Well movie night is a bust, but we all agree to stay here to continue rather than going home.” Marinette walks into the hall after a moment of them talking—well it was more of a screaming match between Bruce and Damian with some input from Dick. “Will your family be fine without you for a couple more hours?”

“Habibti, these dunces are my family,” Damian states gesturing to his family,

Marinette nods, “Well then, hello, and can we keep Damian for the night?”

Damian walks over to Marinette and wraps his arms around her. “I’ll return from before it’s nightfall in Gotham, father.”

“Uh, sure. Boys lets go.” Bruce accepts the came and walks down the hall. Before either of the brothers could pester Damian about this newfound relationship, Bruce gave them all the bat-glare and demanded that they follow.

“You know you’re going to get pestered, right.” Marinette laughs.

“Don’t remind me.”

“Come on, we have a movie to finish.”

With that, Damian takes Marinette’s hand and walks back into the room.  

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[miraculouscontent]

Ask Explo--

...you know what, you’re right. Name change effective immediately.

Askplosion #10:

(unrelated to everything by the way but I DEMAND THE ANON WHO MENTIONED “REMARRIED EMPRESS” A WHILE BACK COME FORTH AND ANSWER FOR THEIR CRIMES. IT’S SO GOOD BUT IT’S UNFINISHED AND I’M HOOKED, HOW DARE YOU)

Asks responding to previous posts:

It’s okay! I figured that was what it was but it’s been so loooong.

Ah, wow.

Um, that’s definitely not a part 2; I think that’s more like a four-parter/five-parter or something.

Sorry! No can do!

That’s totally fair!

I think the reason I so quickly agreed with it is like--

I’ve been watching the Inuyasha sequel and it’s not like I don’t think the narrative’s apparent punching bag Moroha (who is fourteen years old) shouldn’t be punished when she does something wrong/sneaky/manipulative, but they punish her as if she’s Miroku (who was eighteen years old).

Basically, I want the punishment to take the age into account, or at least only affect Marinette on a more personal level and not be “Heart Hunter” where they take totally understandable feelings of heartache (remember, it wouldn’t have mattered which miraculous she took because Hawk Moth got the Miracle Box and Fu regardless; even beyond her emotions, I feel like she chose the best option available to her considering which temps she knew the location of) and then punish her for them by memory wiping Fu and taking away all of her temps and giving Hawk Moth the grimoire translation.

Yes!! I really wanted to respond to this one, thank you! (It’s this one and then there was another one talking about Luka and Adrien, then talked to me about how I refer to Luka as “soft” but not in a bad way; I unfortunately don’t remember the whole thing.)

Ahaha, and yeah, I feel you. Anti-salters are a very strange conundrum I still haven’t figured out; like, I get not liking salt, but...

I mean, when I don’t like certain content, I just blacklist it. If I end up seeing it anyway due to cross-tagging or a lack of tagging, then I just blacklist the person themself. You won’t see me going after people for that very reason; I only see what people send/ask me if it’s content I don’t like.

I’m glad you’ve found some peace in this blog! Hopefully it continues to be that way for you in the future!

(and yay, a fellow INTJ!!)

New Asks:

There are female writers? ;P I just assumed they were all locked in a closet until the male ones were like, “okay, pretend to help us here, we need one female writer to claim girl power.”

As for Ladybug all like, “Cute, isn’t she?” I think it was rhetorical (she could also be messing with him but “Glaciator” tells us that she didn’t know he crushed on her so who knows). The writers do this thing where Marinette is all panic-y and occasionally self-conscious as herself, but then as Ladybug, she suddenly gets a bit of an ego. I think it’s meant to be there in order to make Chat Noir look less... idk, “obnoxious” when he starts boosting his own ego; trying to balance the two by giving them both big heads, so to speak.

Honestly, I feel like Adrien needs less screen time. :|

Even when he’s not on-screen, characters are usually talking about him, or you see his face in Marinette’s room/somewhere in Paris. I’m become so jaded by the guy that I don’t even think it’d matter if they remade the series and gave it a “totally good and interesting Adrien.” That’s how badly the show has made him out for me; “Adrien Agreste” the character is just... sigh, I’m so done with him.

And yeah, this whole idea about, “Marinette is [x], we need more AAAAAADRIEN!” comes off really bad, lol, especially when Adrien has very little going for him.

(this ask ends off like there should be a part 2 but there isn’t one in my inbox, so sorry if there’s meant to be something else!)

The exact lyrics according to the wiki:

My wish for a cat who's in love, with our own Ladybug. Is that he'll get what he's always wanted! She doesn't know she loves him, only sees Adrien, But Christmas miracles always happen!

Yeah, especially nowadays, those lines bothers me. Not only does it imply “true selves,” but that it’s Chat who should be getting what he always wanted and Ladybug is the one with a problem.

Like, excuse me?

Probably Stormy Weather, even in the first episode. Ladybug and Chat Noir couldn’t even touch her until they arrived on top of the TV station.

+ With all those effects and shots, it made it feel more action-y than typical episodes.

Marinette, Aurore, Luka, Anarka, Jagged...

basically any name that I haven’t really heard before (”Luka” makes me think of Vocaloid but the Luka there was female), or a name that relates a lot to the character (like “Aurore” for “aurora” since she loves weather things).

dfjbghfkdgfdgnjfdg this anon really like, “I NEED ANSWERS!!!”

It’s as if these characters hit 18 or something and just grow overnight, I swear. I’m hypothetically fine with some more variety in character height (it’s not like the show tries to be realistic, after all), but maybe don’t give us official heights if they’re gonna be this weird/inaccurate.

Especially when they change it just for the sake of a shot anyway. If you watch “Simon Says” when Ladybug and Adrien stand next to each other while looking at the picture of Adrien’s mother, the very next close-up has an obvious difference in their heights from what you just saw.

They’re 3D models!!! This shouldn’t happen!

I... honestly never thought of the “less threatening” thing! Dang!

And yeah, Marinette isn’t helpless or incompetent, but because of the Adrien crush, it makes her that way at times since she’s always falling on him and--

...ugh, actually, yeah, don’t wanna think about those implications. Hard pass.

Gross.

I’m not familiar with that one, though Astruc deletes his tweets all the time (there was one tweet where he confirmed that Luka was poor and it only exists in screenshots now because it didn’t get archived and he deleted it almost like he realized that he was pointing out the blatant classism in the show, oops).

Yeah though, I haven’t seen anything like what you’re describing. Sorry!

It’s okay! Sorry for having you clarify but him choosing and Marinette deciding to never give it back are very different things.

I don’t recall Chat Noir having much purpose in the final fight (in terms of both contributing and actual fighting; I know Cataclysm broke the object to release the akuma but was it needed?) so Marinette might either go cat-less or get a temp. Plagg could also be helpful in his own right because he’s small and blends in with the night, so he could hypothetically sneak up on the bad guy.

Afterwards, there’d need to be a new cat, but Adrien would also have to reconsider his actions and really think about what happened. I could also see Plagg going to Adrien’s house, half to apologize for giving the idea to Adrien that Adrien leave without telling Ladybug, but also half to call him out for giving up without consulting anyone. Adrien is a lot of conflicting things (see Adrien’s passivity compared to Chat Noir’s recklessness) so he’d have to find a middle ground within himself.

Marinette might carry Plagg around in her purse for a while and let Plagg have a say in who he goes to. Plagg might grieve for a bit over not having Adrien around (even if Adrien was flawed, Plagg didn’t ask for any of this so Marinette is doing her best here).

O-oh.

That’s always the rough patch with “endgame ships.”  Once it’s obvious to the audience that they’re endgame, no more effort needs to be put into them.

The other thing too is how Kagami, for example, is friends with Marinette. Even once Adrimi sinks, she’ll presumably stay friends with her. Luka, meanwhile, is Juleka’s brother.

They have lives outside of their love interests. Adrien is so into Ladybug that he doesn’t have that; I mean, Nino is Adrien’s best friend like once in a blue moon.

The entire class is just watching an episode and then calling on raised hands to answer what was wrong with what they just watched.

“Everything?”

“I mean, yes, but I’m sorry, you have to be more specific to get credit.”

I think Aeon herself is fine. It’s mostly just her transformed and that transformed name that I have a problem with (she doesn’t even look uncanny so I don’t get it). I heard there was something wrong with the name “Aeon” but searching the name doesn’t give me anything I would qualify as such so I have no idea. I just wish she was given a little less “I’m programmed to--” (makes her seem less sentient) and more “[anything that doesn’t have to do with pushing the love square]” because I feel like they might’ve done the latter to make her more “likable”? I think fans of anything usually like the “matchmaker” character provided it’s for a ship they like. Also strange that they make her a robot but Max and Markov don’t extensively interact with her, but that’s a nitpick and not a criticism of her character.

...I’m rambling, my bad lol.

(Ohhh, she was supposed to be a mummy? Like, foreshadowing her “dying”?? That went right over my head but I guess that’d be where the name Uncanny Valley came from? No clue.)

Best case scenario is probably the middle or the end of Season 4.

And yeah, it really doesn’t matter to me what they do with the love square. Marinette had gone through too much suffering and the show goes out of its way to show how much stress Marinette is being put under (and also keeping Luka away during episodes like “Gamer 2.0″ even when it makes sense for them to be there, as if trying to make sure Marinette doesn’t have enough moments with him to forget Adrien).

Like, ah, yes, I totally believe that Marinette is in a position where she can make reasonable decisions about her love life while all circles of her life are on fire.

If the Sonic movie of all things can have an interracial couple, there’s no reason why this show can’t, just saying.

And, even with Marinette, she’s white-passing (according to what basically everyone says, I’m really awful about recognizing race so this isn’t my field; I wasn’t aware that Ondine was Asian, for example).

Does Nadja count? Manon’s dark-skinned (I’m still not over the fact that all the kids in this show are dark-skinned; it’s not like it’s a problem from a representation standpoint - though all the kids are also all generically bratty/whiny so there’s that - but the percentages in this show are weird) while Nadja is really light-skinned, meaning either a dark-skinned husband or Manon is adopted.

Though I guess the problem then is that we don’t know, so there’s no established couple there.

Non-Miraculous Asks:

w-who gave you the right to say such things????

Uhhhh, that might be too broad of a question, I’m sorry!

I know this isn’t satisfactory, but I will say that my favorite genre is Fantasy/Romance (it’s why I adore Red Shoes so much; by the way, an anon asked for my opinion on that a while back and I will get to it! I’d need to watch it again to get screenshots) and my least favorite is probably Tragedy/Horror.

I don’t think I’ve watched enough to really be able to say? I’ve kind of been all over but I’ve never fully gone through any of them outside of Miraculous. I’ve seen bits of Sailor Moon, Tokyo Mew Mew, Star VS the Forces of Evil (don’t know if that counts), and I meant to watch Yuki Yuna is a Hero but never got around to it. I saw the entirety of Puella Magi Madoka Magica but you guys know how I feel about that one.

Maybe Cardcaptor Sakura by default then? It was definitely not perfect but I liked some of the character dynamics (I also have a clipcut of it - basically where I go through a series/movie and cut out parts I don’t like so it’s only good stuff - so I’m cheating a little) and the male love interest was a tsundere type that I actually ended up liking, which is really rare.

!!! That sounds sweet~ I know Sailor Moon is popular so I’ll definitely take your word for it on that one.

I would also accept a “reincarnated”/”destined lovers” trope if maybe the ship themselves are the one who set it up in the first place. I have a Lukanette AU, for example, where they basically got together and then prayed to the shrine of the renewal god that they’d “always be together,” which ended up allowing them to reincarnate over and over (as if they set up their own soulmate AU ;P) and continuously find each other.

Though I guess that’s not technically a “meant to be trope,” but still, it’s a form of it but where it was totally consensual on both sides.

Also, I finally thought of a show that ended with the ship I wanted: Gargoyles. I didn’t see the entire series, mind you, but I saw most of it and Goliath and Elisa were just... quality, I adored them.

+ With Beauty and the Beast being my favorite Disney movie, they fit right in with my tastes.

I forget that AangToph (I think the “official” name for the ship is Taang, but don’t quote me on that) exists sometimes, maybe because I’ve never shipped Aang with anyone; I’ve got no problems with the ship though.

Ugh, and this is what I mean when I talk about people who set up these reasons behind people shipping something based on what they saw a few people do. It’s like, “you only ship Adrimi/Lukanette to spite Adrienette!!”

Meanwhile, me having shipped all three at one point and then dropped off the love square.

Also, me shipping Zutara has nothing to do with it being dark/edgy because I’ve never seen it that way (intriguing, sure but dark and edgy? lol) and also avoid dark/edgy ships like the plague.

I still laugh at people who are like, “you can’t ship it because it’s not endgaaaaame!” as if shows can dictate how and why I enjoy something. Like sure, if you want to let a show/movie spoonfeed you how you’re supposed to feel, then by all means, go ahead.

I suppose people may be theoretically happier that way, but it doesn’t make for an analytic mind.

I legitimately thought that “AssClass” must’ve been the actual name for something until it registered with me what it actually meant.

And eh, I guess it depends on the comparison and how accurate the comparison actually is? Like, comparing Puella Magic Madoka Magica to Miraculous... they’re not really close at all, but comparing... idk, Bunnyx to Homura or the concept behind “backfiring wishes”... maybe?

-

(note that the rest of this post is more Puella Magi Madoka Magica salt so you can stop reading here if you’re not interested in that; I’m not sure if this is all the same anon but I don’t mind letting people vent so I let them go off~)

why can’t we just have nice things

I agree, and I give a little eyeroll every time it’s like, “oh, this person had [miraculous]”

+ even just in general, I feel weird about any show that mentions/implies that real world famous people are [x] or [y] in their show. It breaks my immersion; real world locations are one thing but when it’s specific people (unless they’re made up characters like Santa Claus) or games just--break me.

I also don’t know what to think when there aren’t magical boys but you have these magical girls in this frilly outfits/skirts. The demographic is girls so I presume the reason must be like, “you can look pretty and still beat people up” (;P) but having so many magical girl shows without a hint of a magical boy makes me suspicious that it’s for fanservice. Sailor Moon has Tuxedo Mask but I also don’t know what that guy did outside of the meme of him doing nothing so I’ve got no clue.

(edit: I should correct myself that I’m not talking about Sailor Moon specifically; I don’t know magical girls that well, though I do know there are ones clearly intended for fanservice (you could say that for anything, to be fair, but still). It’s just that I see things like super short skirts or very “questionable” shots and I’m just like, “hm”)

Hmmm, good question. I feel like there has to be a lot but I’m also the type who doesn’t watch a lot of TV lol. I’m just familiar with cliches and tropes and such.

The reason I try not to use “ism”s of any kind is mostly because it’s too broad. Like, you know how the English language only has one way of saying, “I love you,” but other languages like Spanish have multiple?

It’s like that, and sometimes I think it’s too easy to throw those words out there. A “small” (possibly completely unintentional/misunderstood) offense is sexism, and then a “large” offense is called the exact same thing. I’d rather go into why something is sexist than just call it that, y’know? The only exception I make is “classism” because I feel like that’s not as... I dunno, divisive?

Anyway, for that same reason, I can’t answer firmly that, “Madoka Magica is sexist.” I will however say that it makes me uncomfortable with how the show makes out the girls being emotional because they’re young and female and then proceeds to make their life a living hell before they’re old enough to properly answer to it (I know that’s the point but that kind of makes it worse?). It doesn’t help with how all the girls have different personalities, so it’s not like you have only “crybaby girls” who are being taken advantage of; it’s basically like... all girls.

Not helped is the fact that their soul gem not only deteriorates naturally, but it can also do so faster if the girl falls into despair, which then turns them into a monster (and I know it’s kind of like an akuma thing, but the fact that it’s only girls is... I dunno, it comes off wrong?). It seems cheap that the soul gem deteriorates no matter what so it constantly needs fed even if the girl is consistently happy.

I would probably opt for the show being centered more around Kyubey being new to this or something - like, magical girls are a new thing - and then have Kyubey being surprised because they presumed that the soul gem would deteriorate naturally since “emotions are powerful but destructive to the person having them,” but then all the girls team up and help each other work out their problems. Maybe the reason magical girls are usually alone isn’t even because of the grief seed (I think that’s what it’s called?) thing not being able to be shared, but because Kyubey intentionally separates magical girls so they can’t do what the main group is doing, but Madoka is so into the idea that, “We shouldn’t have to be alone,” and so she’s constantly pulling all the girls together, which keeps them healthy.

Maybe Homura’s backstory could be that Madoka originally was more sheepish and more afraid to put herself out there, especially since she was a magical girl (who are encouraged to go it alone), which is why their soul gems were both deteriorating; they were friends but kept more of a distance, or maybe they were a team but that’s all they were. Then Madoka gives Homura the last grief seed to save her and that’s what inspires Homura and makes her see Madoka as something more than a teammate, which is why Homura actively tries to save Madoka specifically (which then encourages Madoka to want to keep everyone together as friends).

In the case that Kyubey doesn’t separate them out of concern of fRiEnDsHiP, but for another reason altogether, and then it’s ultimately their own downfall when they allow the girls to hang out and realize that it’s doing a lot of good for them.

“cute and innocent”

That was exactly it. It’s on Kyubey’s trivia section on the Puella Magi Madoka Magica Wiki.

Before the anime's first dark plot twist aired, head writer Gen Urobuchi said on his Twitter account that the "Kyu" in Kyubey's name comes from the English word "cute". This was a lie meant to further mislead fans into thinking that Madoka Magica is an innocent happy show. In a later episode, it was revealed that "Kyubey" is, in fact, short for "incubator".

In my personal opinion, a spoiled plot can’t be “ruined” if it’s a good plot. If you told me that Kagome was trapped in the Modern era for three years and then decided to stay with Inuyasha at the end of Inuyasha, it wouldn’t/shouldn’t decrease the value when I finally see it for myself because it’s good. That’s not to say that everything should just be spoiled right out of the gate, but it’s saying that maybe your plot isn’t good if you have to rely on shock value to make it work??

I FEEL THAT “ASSIGNING IT TO THE WHOLE GENDER” THING SO BAD. It just adds to my “the girls all have varying personalities so it’s not like Kyubey’s only after emotional crybabies or anything” salt.

I have no idea about any of the stuff about the writers so I can’t confirm or deny them. I will very much agree on the target audience thing though, especially with the whole “keeping the dark plot a secret” because really? Who is this for then? Like, the first two and a half episodes are for one demographic and then the others are--???

I dunno. Me personally, I just like feel good stories. I do like some good conflict and drama (for context, Remarried Empress is basically a webtoon that gives you things to feel salty about and then makes its own salt fic as its plot, allowing for endless streams of feels and catharsis, so I’m definitely not against drama), but there are other times where I just want to feel good watching something.

I feel like the show expects the characters to be selfless/perfect and then punishes them even though it’s their writing that’s causing them to act out. I can’t really talking about “out-of-character” but sometimes it’s just obvious where “we did this because we needed a plot/conflict.”

Like, hello? We don’t need the main characters screwing up; why can’t we just have some feel good thing where they take the day for themselves (seriously, imagine a Miraculous episode where Chat Noir actually tells Ladybug to take a couple days for herself, like maybe someone else gets the earrings for a few days as a temp while Marinette gets to breathe; IMAGINE IT). Not everything needs to be high-stakes to be interesting and you need those calmer moments so that the action-packed ones feel more intense.

SAYAKA DESERVES BETTER.

I feel like the magical girl genre as a whole can be way more complex than it’s made out to be. I think people hear the word “magical girl” and think “cute girls in short skirts talk about girl problems and fight evil with the power of friendship and accessories.”

Ugh, just the mention of Rebellion makes me sigh internally.

Congrats on working on your own magical girl story! I hope it goes well for you!

I know it’s not technically a magical girl show, but there was also Totally Spies that Astruc worked on to some degree (I think there was some characters who were based on/a loose reference to the mains from that show but I don’t remember exactly).

The thing about the female characters suffering is that they could make for good lessons on positively directing one’s emotions (like Usagi from Sailor Moon, for example, maybe having a problem with taking her anger out on her friends, but learns that she can save that rage for the bad guys; “Gamer 2.0″ from Miraculous could’ve done that, honestly, by having Ladybug absolutely WRECK all of her gaming opponents in “violent” (cartoon violence obviously) fashion). It’s just a shame that it’s not taken advantage of.

Sayaka??? Selfish???????

*does not compute*

(Also, I wasn’t tired of them, don’t worry! It was a little overwhelming in my inbox but it’s me who’s allowing all the asks to flow in so the blame isn’t on you lol.)

I’m not sure where this obsession came from with, “you have to be selfless and you’re not allowed to use your powers for yourself.” It’s like the world’s going to end if a character leaves to go Self-Care or something. I think what happened is that shows got this idea that promoting only the giving of others is great and it’s not important to take time for yourself (even with “Gamer 2.0,” it was still Marinette playing games with everyone else, and they treated her dedication and seriousness like a bad thing when she literally did not have time to waste and they didn’t give a reason why it was good for her to take a break, only that she should).

This usually leads to the “demonization” of characters who sport a lot of self-confidence or any sort of ego. It works on both sides; Marinette is a punching bag because of her anxiety and occasional lack of confidence, but if she had an ego as Ladybug, there are parts of the fandom who deem her “obnoxious” (i.e: “Reflekdoll”). There’s a delicate balance between “be confident” and “be humble” and it’s a tightrope act.

[zerotosiki]

Bonus Stories of a Little Too Much Part 2

[MAIN] || [BONUS 1] || [BONUS 2] You’re here

Description: A lot of drama involving Lila and Marinette being lovey-dovey with Damian, as usual. The class wants a redemption but Marinette still feeling salty with them. Marinette finally can tease her boyfriend back. Lila still hoping for Hawkmoth, while the said person is stuck at the party.

Word Count: Roughly around 5290 words? Wow.

AN: It’s been a long time since I posted the bonus part one, right? Ehe, I’m just happy I can finish this even when I still drowned in my college assignments orz. Anyway, I’ve prepared a lot of salt and sugar in one packed for this one! Isn’t that great?

Maribat inspired by @ozmav​ and the songfic “A Little Too Much” inspired by @officiallyathiana​.

Bonus Story 4. “Lila! What’s the meaning of this?!”

“Hey! Don’t ignore us!” Alya shout, breaking the lovey-dovey scene and upsetting Damian’s mood, again.

Marinette just sighing and release the hug, much to Damian’s disappointment, “What again, Alya? Isn’t this enough for you? I already answer all of your questions.”

“But… You never told me that you already have a boyfriend!” Alya exclaimed, pointing accusingly at Marinette.

Although Marinette isn’t impressed with her response, at all. She just crossing her hands while questioning a simple question, “And why would I?”.

“What?..” Alya is flabbergasted with Marinette’s question, she faltered for a second, “Because we…”

“Yeah?”

“…Aren’t we friends..?” finally, she asked this, although Marinette can see Alya is very hesitant when she questions this.

Oh well, She doesn’t care anymore.

“Yeah, I thought about that too. But after you guys started bullying me, I throw that title away, far from my mind.”

Alya looks stunned before her face turns rage like she’s been ridiculed by Marinette’s words, “Bullying you..? We never do that! The one who’s bully here is you, Marinette!” pointing at Marinette, “You always bully Lila when we clearly told you that Lila is just trying to befriend you! And guess what you did after that?” she throws her hand up in the air, feeling frustrated, “You just throw away her kindness and start bullying her, just because you’re jealous of seeing Lila get close with your crush!”

Oh kwami, Did Marinette seriously heard that? She knows her classmates have been blinded by Lila’s lies, but she didn’t really think that their blind will turn them into this stupid brainless person! She sneers at Alya, “…Her kindness? Which part do you think Lila is being kind to me?! How can you never saw her looks sends to me?! Oh I know, it’s probably because–” her voice becomes louder and louder until Damian holds her hand to remind her.

“Habibti..” comes his soothing voice which makes Marinette relax while she stared at his deep concern eyes, she then sighs, releasing all of the tenses muscle that she even doesn’t realize.

“Dami… Right… I’m… sorry, I lost myself for a second there…”

Damian pulls her in and gently rubbing both her hands in circle, “No, don’t be. You have every second’s right to be mad at them. Hell, I’ve been trying to hold back my anger and if your so-called-friend says for one more time, I’m afraid…”, and then he smirks, the same smirk she loved, “we have to bury another one, Habibti.”

Marinette just slaps his arm and murmured, “Oh shuush, we don’t kill, Dami!”. She tried to be serious but her smile and her mischievous eyes said the otherwise.

“But we can dream, Habibti,” he purred into her ears, and satisfied to see Marinette yelped so cutely, he even forgets that they still have audiences in front of them! He wanted to tease her more, not before his brothers cut him rudely, though.

“AHEM!” Dick firstly said out loud,

“..As much as we love to see you guys being lovey-dovey…” Tim continued,

“..Don’t do this in front of us. That’s disgusting and you’re corrupting our eyes, goddamnit!” Jason finished with his usual foul language.

Apparently, there’s someone who agreed with Jason “He’s right! And don’t ignore us again, dammit! We’re still talking!”

Damian scowl, he’s not happy his brothers interrupt him although they’re right (Damian won’t ever say that out loud though), he needs to focus on this bigger problem before he can tease Marinette again. Damian then stood protectively in front of Marinette while he glowers at the class, “…I highly suggest you back off and leave this place immediately, if you guys care for your lives”.

The class visibly flinched at Damian’s harsh glare and scared with his cold voice but sadly there’s one person who stubbornly stands in front of him, “Wha—? Who are you to order us like that? You’re just her boyfriend! And why would you want to be with her anyway? She is just—-”

“Finish those words and I will finish your life, Césaire,” he hissed and… Can you see the glint in his eyes?

Alya gulps but she won’t give up, okay?! Not to a stranger like him! Nino, her boyfriend has been tried to pull her in, but she won’t let it! If all her friends already scared of his empty threat, then it’s probably just her alone against them, “..I-I’d like to see you try, Marinette’s boyfriend!” She mocks him.

He twitched, seriously this girl is either really brave or really stupid, probably the latter. He looks down on Alya and mocks her back, “Oh? Is that a challenge I heard? Okay then—”

“Dami..” Marinette tried to warn him but Damian just put his hand over hers and smiling gently at her worried face.

“Don’t worry, Habibti. Trust me, I got this.”

Nino, who stands behind Alya all this time, cowering in fear, deciding that this is the best time to defend his girlfriend, he pulls Alya and stands in front of her, completely shielding her from Damian, “W-what? You’re going to hit a girl? That’s not a cool move, dude.”

Damian just rolled his eyes, stating the obvious, “No way I would waste my punch on her.” He’s not declining his question, though. He indeed will not afraid to hit a girl if she really deserved it, except his habibti, he doesn’t know if he has a will to do that, even if he really did that, it’s probably just for practice but if for the other reasons? he knows he won’t forgive himself for the rest of his life.

Damian takes out his phone, not breaking his stare at the class and signaled with a simple word, “..Do it.”

Suddenly there’s loud alarm sound comes from all over the place which makes all people except Damian (He already prepared for this) flinch.

“W-what is this?!”

And somehow the loud alarm sound changes into broken sound (you know like bsst, bsst sound?) then finally there’s a feminine voice comes out, the very familiar voice. Lila tensed when she heard this voice, how come she’s not? When she recognized that voice is her own voice.

“I only tell people what they want to hear,”

“There’s nothing you can do about it anyway,”

“People can’t resist when they hear what they like to hear,”

“If you don’t want to be my friend then fine,”

“But soon you won’t have any friends left at all and trust me I’ll make sure you never get close to Adrien in class or anywhere,”

“So I’ll give you one last chance,”

“You’re either with me or against me.”

And then silence. A disturbance silence for Lila. She is very nervous, she afraid that her kingdom will fall because of this fake recording.

Lila clearly remembered at that time, when she threatens Marinette in the bathroom, there’s just her and Marinette! There’s no one else besides them… So there’s no way there’s someone who records their conversation and by the look of surprise on Marinette’s face, Lila knows that Marinette doesn’t have any clue about this too.

Alix, the one who quick realizing on what was really happening, spins around to glare at Lila, “Lila! What’s the meaning of this?!”.

Followed by the sweet little Rose, “Are you really lying to us all this time, Lila..?” her voice trembled, her eyes are teary, and her friend, Juleka was beside her, holding her close and glaring at Lila too.

Max was staring at his phone, terror overtook his face, he gulps and told them, “…It seems after I searching on the internet, I found something that contradiction with what Lila’ve been saying to us…”

Then his robot, Markov, explained further, “Lila has said that she saved Jagged Stone’s kitten but Jagged Stone never has a pet cat. In fact, he was allergic to fur. That’s the reason he has a pet reptile, which he named Fang.”

After that, the chaos happens, her class is shouting at Lila while Lila paled, she stammered, “Please! This is a misunderstanding! I would never lie to you guys! You’re my friends after all!”.

“Then explain this all!”

“Can you show us the song that Jagged Stone wrote about you?”

“Did you really close with Prince Ali? When I am with him, he never mentions about you at all.”

Overwhelmed by all of the questions, Lila turns frantically to the person who she sure will defend her until the last minute, “Alya! Please, you don’t believe this, are you?”

Alya looks conflicted with what was happening, she is thinking something before she shakes her head and snapped at Damian, “You have gone too far! Are you saying that Lila has been lying to us by showing this voice recording? Which I don’t believe it at all! Not only that, but you could also have faked it!”.

Marinette just stare at her past-best friends, she really disappoints with her, she shakes her head and remarked, “Oh Alya, I thought you want to be a Journalist… But it seems you lack something that journalists should have.”

Damian grunted, he agreed with Marinette, “That’s not fake. If you still don’t believe it. Well then…” he then grins sadistically, “You should mentally prepare yourself because this is just the beginning.”

Before Alya can ask further, there are alert sounds coming from various phones, including her own phone. She checks it and there’s one new message and it contains just a… video? She hesitated to open it but after hearing the gasp from her friends and the horror looks on their faces, her curiosity is winning over. So she clicked on it.

Lila, the only one who isn’t receiving the message, clearly confused with what is happening. The horror looks on her classmate is worrying her. She demands an answer to Marinette’s group, “What are you doing?!”. But no one replies because they were busy with themselves.

Marinette is watching the video with big surprised eyes before she stares at her boyfriend, sending a confused look. Damian just watching the whole video through her phone with a satisfying smile.

The Wayne Brothers are watching the video with different reactions, Jason occasionally commented, “Oh wow, she really falls that hard, huh..?”. Dick is watching the whole video with concern looks, he scrunched up his face. While Tim just watching with unreadable expressions. Although their eyes are gleaming because of something. And Lila didn’t like it. At all.

Alix is clearly furious after she watches the video, “You really have been lying to us!! You even threaten an innocent girl!”. Seeing the confused look from Lila, Alix rudely shoves her phone at Lila’s face, “Unless you can explain about this too!!”.

Lila scowled at Alix’s rude behavior before takes her phone. She plays the video, and the second the video played, the color instantly drained out of her face. This is when she threatens Kamelia at alley back then!

“You…! I don’t care who you are but now then you have already upset me, you will face the consequences too.”

“What? Just like you did to Marinette?”

“Not really, but maybe I will. I will find your friends, your family and then turn them against you, just like what I did to Marinette.”

“Aah! So my hunch was true. You’re the real bully here, Lila. Not Marinette.”

“Whatever you say, no one will believe you anyway. Because I already turn them all against Marinette. Although I don’t feel satisfied because Marinette still looks brave even if she was being bullied by her own friends”

“You should remember this, Kamelia. You better not crossing your line or I will make sure, that threats will come true. And maybe I will get to turns your lovely boyfriend against you too.”

This video is clearly showing her face. Her rage face. But how? She doesn’t remember that Kamelia bringing any cameras, she even hasn’t taken out her phones! So how..? Unless.. her glasses are actually—. Recognition dawned on her face.

But, it’s already too late. Now no one will believe her lies. Not even Alya, the girl just blankly staring at the video, playing it over and over again, desperately trying to find the odd things to prove that the video is just a scam. While her boyfriend, Nino, just stood beside her, held her hand gently, trying to comfort her and himself too.

Lila finally frustrated with what is happening, she then glared at Damian. It’s because of him! This chaos is happening because of him! Her lies have been exposed because of him! She takes a step forward and snarled, “Who are you really? You can’t do this!”

Hearing her silly question makes Damian rolling his eyes in annoyance, he decided to drop a final bomb, “Who am I? I am a f*cking Wayne, of course, I can do this.”

Once again, the class turns into chaos.

“You are The Damian Wayne?!”

“But you’re Lila’s Damibear!! She said you’re her boyfriend! ….Is that a LIE too?!”

“Damiboo?! How could you do this to me? You’re ganging up against me with Marinette!” Lila is really desperate for fixing this chaos, although she knows her chance was slim but at least she won’t know the real result if she just gives up now, right?

Of course, her final attempt is nothing to Damian, he just scoffs at Lila, “Now you told me this? We’ve been talking and you just realized I’m your supposed boyfriend, which is untrue. If you really dating me, which is delusive, you won’t treat me like a stranger,” his glare then turn to the rest of the class, “And if you guys decided to use your little brain and searching through the internet instead of believing blindly in what this Liela said…” he hissed in his coldest voice, “Maybe I won’t do this to you all and maybe you won’t find the truth this way.”

Unfortunately, the tense atmosphere didn’t last long, because his brothers decide to break it, by laughing, at him!

“…Damiboo? Damibear? Did I just heard right?”

“Oh my bats, that’s so funny! I can’t ever get tired hearing those nicknames.”

“It seems your nicknames now isn’t just Demon-spawn, brat.”

A vein popped out in his neck, Damian glared, hard, at his brothers, finally losing his temper, he went to punch at his brothers, clearly want to give them a lesson, “Will you guys be serious for a goddamn second!”

But Marinette sadly decided to stop him, now, by gripping tight his arm, “No, Dami! Don’t kill your brothers, please!”.

While his brothers just cheeky replied, completely ignoring the murderous glares from Damian, “We’re always serious… But there’s always time for teasing you, Baby Bat.”

Bonus Story 5. “We want to apologize!”

Watching her boyfriend tried to control his temper, Marinette decides that this is time for them to leave this chaos. She’s satisfied to know that her classmates finally learn the truth but just watching Lila constantly making excuses to pull her classmates back into her kingdom is really tiresome. Right now she is really tired, dammit! A nice bath and cozy bed are apparently the best ideas at the moment.

“Dami, we should go now. I am sure you and your brothers are tired from the long trip.”

He blinked, breaking his glare, and turn his gaze to Marinette’s smiley face, “Yeah sure, let’s do that. But I need to do a quick call before that” and he just smiles at her confused stare that silently sending a message, “What are you hiding?”.

Luckily he doesn’t need to make a call because he got a call from someone right after he said that. And apparently, it was the same person he planned to call.

“Hello, this is Damian…”

“…”

“…It seems you got the evidence too, right?”

“…”

“*chuckle* I already told you I’m not just any normal rich kids.”

“Now that I already did my part, you should keep your promise. After all, you already lost the bet.”

“…”

While Damian is calling, Marinette turns to Tim, who stood closest to her, “Do you guys already know about this before?” referring to the chaos and Damian’s mysterious call.

Shaking his head, Tim turns to his brothers, silently asking the same question. Jason just shrugs while Dick is shaking his head too. Out of these three siblings, Dick is the most surprised about this situation. While he knows that Marinette’s classmates are bad but he didn’t think that it was this bad, like really really bad. And he was flabbergasted to see his youngest brother were planning all of this behind their back. A lot of questions struck him, “Since when he plans this?”, “How come him and the others aren’t noticing this?”, “Is this the reason why Damian can’t play guitar well because he is focusing on the other matter whenever he practices?”.

“Well, at least now we know how much he is serious about you, Mari,” Dick said out loud while messing with Marinette’s hair, earning a cute pout from her.

Marinette was about to protest when she was cut off suddenly by Damian who pulled her away from his brothers. Although they just silently staring with an amusing glint, “Chill out Damian. We won’t steal her from you. Although being possessive is not good, baby bat. One day Marinette will be tired with your possessive side and decide to—”

“Uh, Since you guys already met Marinette and I’m sure you are tired, so you guys should go back to the hotel, right now.” Damian hurriedly pushing his brothers out of the way, and not a minute later, he comes back alone. His brothers might have returned to the hotel.

“I’m done. We can leave right now”

Marinette just raising her eyebrow at Damian’s behavior, “Are you really sure that I don’t have to worry about whatever you’re planning right now, Dami?”

“Of course, Habibti.”

“…If you say so…"  Marinette then turns around to search her best friend, Adrien.

All this time, Adrien has been silently watching the event. He, himself, was glad too that Lila’s problem finally has been exposed. Although he felt a bit jealous of Damian’s abilities. Compared to him, who couldn’t do anything, he really felt so useless.

"Adrien!” Marinette shouts, breaking off his thought.

He looks up to see Marinette waving at him with her usual kind and concern eyes. She mouthed a goodbye which he responded with a wave and smile. Maybe now Adrien can relax for a little bit. He checks his phone and then decides to visit his girlfriend. He really needs a hug right now. After all, watching Marinette being lovey-dovey with her boyfriend makes him miss a certain Japanese-sword-woman.

When the class notices Marinette is about to leave, they run to Marinette’s group with Alix being the lead, “Wait, Marinette!”. Damian, being the overprotective boyfriend, immediately stood in front of Marinette, blocking the path of the class. Obviously, the class stopped when they see the cold gaze from Damian but they wouldn’t run away, even if their legs trembled in fear, their eyes sparkled with determination.

Marinette just quietly staring at the class, debating to answer them or not but when she notices their determination’s looks, her kindness side can’t bear to ignore their plea. “…What do you guys want?”

“We want to apologize!” Alix said firstly, followed by the class bowing at her, “We are very sorry, Marinette!!”

Of course, they will apologize right after they know the truth. But does they really mean it? Marinette couldn’t help feeling a little skeptical, especially with them. Trust is an easy thing to give but they also easy to be broken and once they broke, they are harder to fix it in any way.

Marinette sigh, mentally, she is so tired, she didn’t even notice that her grip on Damian’s arm tightened, “Raise your head guys. No need to bow…”

The class slowly raised their heads, they were still doubtful because that was not the answer they wanted to hear. They think Marinette will immediately accept their apologies because Marinette is a kind person after all and not only that, they’re friends, right…? But hearing the hesitant in her voice made them think otherwise. “But Marinette–”

“I know you guys are apologizing right now… But frankly, let’s be real, did you really think I will accept it right now? Just because you guys knew the truth?”

Seeing the anxious faces from her classmates, Marinette just continues, “You guys have been hurting me physically and mentally for a long time. I don’t want to hate someone but I’m afraid I can’t accept your apologies right now…”

Hearing her broken tone made the class feels very guilty. They only realize the reality now. They’ve broken their friend, their everyday ladybug, their class president. The same kind girl who always beaming with smiles, now just a girl with a broken heart who smiling bitterly at them.

Alya trying to hold back her tears, right now she was disgusted with herself, how can she call herself Marinette’s best friend when, she, herself choose to believe Lila over her best friend? The whole class also feels the same way. They feel betrayed, sad, angry and more.

Truth to be told, they are so lost now. What must they do to gain Marinette’s trust again? No, more precisely, can they get it? Or do they have to live with guilt haunting them for the rest of their lives? Is—

Their train of thoughts was broken with someone’s laughter, “This is ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!” lord and behold, the blonde sass-queen is here.

“CHLOE?!”

“What? Why do you guys look so surprised?”

“But why were you here…? I thought you’re a busy person?”

“Of course I am. But after I notice the commotion, I decide to stay a little bit. Just for a precaution. Maybe someone will need Queen Bee’s help. Not only that, I get to watch an interesting event so that’s a win-win for me.”

“Wha-? You think this matter is funny?!”

“Oops no, I don’t mean the one you guys knowing the truth. Frankly, I don’t care about you guys. What I mean is I get to watch that liar being arrested.”

“WHAT?! You mean Lila?”

“Duh of course. Who is the Liar in here if not Lila?”

“Wait, speaking of Lila, where’s is she?”

“Now you guys just realize that?”

“Ugh…”

Chloe rolled her eyes and spoke in a sarcastic tone, “While you guys were being a pathetic chicken who lost their parent and didn’t know their way home, Lila was arrested by one of the officers. That girl was really something. Until the last minute, she still didn’t admit her crimes.”

Leave it to Chloe for insulting someone right after she comes. Although thanks to her, the class right now seemed to forget their sadness. Marinette silently thanking Chloe for that. But how come she doesn’t notice Lila being arrested?

“Did you already know about this too?” she asked her boyfriend, the master behind all these plans.

“What do you mean?”

“Pretend to be innocent is a futile move, you know. Let me just change the question, is the person you are calling related to Lila arrested?”

“ah… Maybe?”

“Dami…”

“It’s true Habibti. I don’t know for sure because I didn’t realize it either. Besides, I’ve been captivated by your beauty.”

“Damian!”

The said person just laughed even when she hit his arm. Ugh! How embarrassing. How come she always being teased?! For once, she wanted to be the one who teases him!

Now her classmates are unsure of what to do, although some of them were smiling amusingly, probably because they see how she and Damian’s act at each other. While Chloe openly smirks at them, clearly amused by how flustered Marinette was.

Marinette cleared her throat loudly, she really wanted to leave asap, so she left her last message, “At least if you really want redemption from me. The least you guys can do is by helping our superhero, Ladybug, defend this city from Hawkmoth. You must release any negative emotions you felt immediately because of this event. That way, Hawkmoth won’t have the chance to destroy our city. And maybe, helping her discovering Hawkmoth’s identity is also a good idea.”

Then she left with Damian, she hoping her classmates really took her advice seriously.

Bonus Story 6. “What are you doing, Habibti?”

That night, Marinette visited the hotel where Wayne Brothers were staying with a box of macaroons on her hand. Of course, the older brothers (Dick, Jason, and Tim) were happy because they miss Dupain-Cheng’s food. They immediately launch themselves at the box macaroons while Marinette just sweatdrops at their silly behavior.

She turns around searching for her boyfriend but when she didn’t find him, she asked them, “Where is Damian…?”

“Oh, Damian? He is taking a shower.”

“Oh right! Marinette! We have an interesting video for you.” Jason suddenly spoke, he is grinning like he is going to prank someone.

“Huh? What kind of video…?”

Now it’s Dick’s turn to grin, “You know Damian was practiced singing and playing guitar for a month..? Well, although on the outside, his perform looked so perfect. But actually, he was really struggling in the beginning.”

Jason nodded, “Yup, he always chanted the same word over and over again to boost his confidence. And let just say, it’s was interesting to watch the perfect cocky Demon-spawn turns into that state.”

Tim spoke, reaching into his pocket, “Wait, let me just show her the video…” but he suddenly halted and looked at Marinette, “…That is, if you’re interested too, Marinette.”

A video showing Damian’s weakness..? This is a good chance for her! Now with that video, she can tease back him~

Marinette nodded excitedly, “Of course!”.

“Okay let me just send it to your phone, okay? I know you want to tease him with that.” Tim then grins at her.

After Tim sent the video, Marinette sat on the couch and started watching the video while waiting for Damian.

5 Minutes Later, Damian comes out only to see Marinette sitting on the couch although he can’t see what she is doing because her back is facing him. He looks around but he couldn’t find his brothers anywhere, Where are they? He shakes his head, thinking it was not worth worrying about his brothers, they are probably gone doing their usual business.

Damian approached Marinette and curiously asked, “What are you doing, Habibti?”.

“GyAhh!!??” Marinette shrieks, almost dropped her phone in the process. She turns around to see her boyfriend with a towel on his shoulder, his hair is also not gelled as usual and they looked damp.

“Da-Dami?”

Her boyfriend just looks at her while raising his eyebrow, “Yep. Now, what are you doing? You looked so focused there.”

“I-it’s just a random video I got from your brothers.”

When Marinette mentioned his brothers, he can’t help feeling suspicious. Because his brothers are always up to no good. Especially Jason, he likes to prank him, while Tim always teases him and Dick just doing the pacify between them, “Them..? Can I watch it too?”

Although Marinette’s response get him felt more suspicious, “N-no!”

“…Why?”

“Be-because it’s just a random video. You don’t need to watch it!” Marinette tried to hide her phone but when she hid it, she accidentally touched her screen phone which made the video she was watching play.

“I am Damian Wayne, a son of batman, an ex-assassin, a grandson of Ra-ul, and not only that I am a genius person who can do anything. Of course, I can do this! This is just a simple task! Yeah, a simple task!”

Damian frowned upon hearing his voice while Marinette grimaced at her own carelessness. Since the cat is already out of the bag, she reluctantly handed him her phone.

“This is what you called a random video?”

Marinette scratching her head while sheepishly laugh at his question, although that just annoyed him more. Suddenly he got an idea. He threw carelessly her phone, which gains a surprised gasp from her,

“Wait my phone–!”

Damian stated the obvious, “You don’t need that anymore.”

“But—”

He did not stop there. He pulled Marinette’s outstretched hand until their faces were very close, “Why would you watch it if you already have the real one here?”

“!!!” Marinette’s face instantly flushed, she can smell his scent, his mint shampoo, and not only that, his forest green eyes are watching her like watching his prey, it’s already made her felt all-jelly.

“It seems I need to teach you again. I don’t like sharing.”

“But it’s just a video! And it’s about you too!”

“The fact that the ‘me’ in the video get more of your attention than her real boyfriend who’ve volunteered to go all the way here is upsetting him.”

She turned her head, avoiding his attractive eyes, “You’re so silly, Dami.”

Of course Damian is not really upset with her, he just wants to tease her, like usual. The way her face flushed and how hard she tried to avoid his eyes are really amusing for him to see. He really felt lucky to have this cute, smart and brave girlfriend. She is really perfect in any way. He embraces her gently, loving how exactly it feels when hugging her. He can smell her scent, blueberry and vanilla flavors. He then spoke softly, “…I miss you.”

“But we just met this afternoon..?” she teased him which earned a grunt from him. Marinette happy because she finally can tease him back!

She giggled then return his hug, “Okay okay, I miss you too, silly.”

After that, she released the hug, much to his disappointment. She stares at Damian determinedly, “Now, take back my phone and start telling me how you can get those shreds of evidence!”

Mini Bonus.

When Lila was in a police car that would take her out of Paris to be returned to her home country, she still hoped for her final reinforcements. She hissed, “Hawkmoth! Where were you??! I need your help, dammit!”

But sadly, or not, her last reinforcements never comes.

-While in Gotham-

Gabriel have to attend a partner business in Gotham, which made him reluctantly left Paris for a while. Although he doesn’t know if he can sense the negative emotions when he was far from Paris. Well, it’s time to try it.

This partner business is very important to him. Because somehow the richest person in the Gotham, Bruce Wayne, CEO of WE too, interested in his proposal and wanted to discuss it more directly. Of course, he is delighted with this news. If he succeeds in partnering with WE, he can get more investors! But since Bruce is a busy person, he sadly can’t leave Gotham. Which leave him no choice to left Paris and go to Gotham instead.

When he arrived at the party hosted by Bruce, he immediately searched Bruce in the crowd. But sadly he couldn’t find him yet. Instead, he met with other business people and was invited to talk.

At first, he doesn’t notice the buzz feeling until that buzzing feeling succeeds to take his attention. This feeling! It’s negative emotions! And it’s a big one too! He felt giddy and ready to leave asap to change into Hawkmoth. He intended to say goodbye to his crowd but stopped because he was called by someone, it’s the Bruce himself. Talk about bad timing, he grimaced at himself. He reluctantly greets Bruce while Bruce is smiling and thanking him for coming all the way here. Bruce keeps talking to him, clearly unaware at Gabriel’s dismay.

[MAIN] || [BONUS 1] || [BONUS 2] You’re here

And that’s the final part of A Little Too Much! :) And yep, Bruce can’t come along to Paris because of his partner business with Gabriel while Gabriel can’t change into Hawkmoth because of Bruce, lol. Is that a mere coincidence or…?

Taglist:

@persephonebutkore @bungou-stray-alies-tales-of-aly (I’m sorry I can’t tag you for some reason?) @northernbluetongue @bluerosette23 @schrodingers25 @kris-pines04 @clumsy-owl-4178

I think that’s all? I’m sorry if I miss someone but please tell me if I really miss someone who wants to be tagged!

[secretagentspydetectiveninja]

The Misadventures of Prince Kim - chapter 61

Hey hey hey all you new followers! Do you happen to have like 10 years of free time? Do you like royalty? Do you love geography and history lessons? Do you laugh at reading about Kim being a total idiot? Do you thrive off timey-wimey nonsense? Do you ship Kimax? Do you irrationally love the minor classmates? Well if so, then do I have the fic for you! This piece of trash is currently about 230,000 words and still going, so check it out!

Here on AO3 too where you can read it from the beginning so that it actually makes sense lol

Once Max and Kim were well again, Markov was able to spend more time practising his new skateboarding tricks. Max also spent plenty of time upgrading him over the next few weeks, fixing bugs, enhancing his AI, and even giving him a little arm so that he could pick things up with it – and most importantly, give fist bumps.

For a while things seemed to really be looking up, especially compared with the dreary and dangerous previous several months. Everything was a little brighter, everyone a little happier. The atmosphere in the school in general was at a higher level than it had been in a long while. Sure, things weren’t perfect, but they were better. Was it because of Markov’s existence? Or was life just at a high point right now?

Whatever it was, by the time the oracle sessions rolled around, Kim was cheerful enough that he decided this time he would not change his mind at the last second – he was going to ask the question he really needed the answer to. Even if the answer would be bad, he could take it. At this point in time he was in a much better state of mind than he had been last year. It would be alright. And anyway, now that his kingdom was part of the International Alliance, surely it would be safe enough to return home soon.

It was Max’s turn first out of the trio, as usual. Markov had decided to wait outside, not wanting to interfere. It was sweet of him. He really did seem to act like a real human on the surface these days, even though he was far from it.

“So,” Master Fu said as Max sat down in front of him for the third and final time, “what is your question?”

Max had spent a long time thinking about it. There were plenty of questions he wanted answers to – how is it possible for a snake to learn Morse code? Why is schoolwork not so easy anymore? Will I marry Kim? But he couldn’t ask questions about others, and there was nothing particularly eating away at him that he wanted to know about. He had also considered asking a “stupid” question, like Kim had a tradition of doing, but couldn’t even think of one of those.

He sighed and simply went for one of the most obvious questions possible. “Will I die from old age?”

Fu put his hands on his turtle for a few seconds, then looked up at Max and smiled. “Yes. So there is no need to fear over poisoned chocolates anymore.”

He knew about that?! Well… he was an oracle, and though Max was not entirely sure how Fu’s powers worked, he did certainly know more about everyone than he let on…

But still, it was a relief to know that he wasn’t going to die off anytime soon. He had an entire lifetime ahead of him. Hopefully a good lifetime, filled with happy events.

“Thank you,” he said, starting to get up.

“How is your robot?” Fu asked.

“Oh, you know about him? Markov’s fine, thanks, he’s waiting just outside.”

“From what I hear, he has made good friends with everyone.”

“He really has! Bringing him to school was the best idea ever, he’s really thriving here.” Max tried not to sound too full of himself, but he really was proud of having created such a smart little robot.

“What an incredible feat you have achieved, to program someone so intelligent at such a young age, and in such a short span of time,” Fu said, stroking that little beard of his.

“Well, others have created sophisticated robots too, so it’s not that big a deal…”

“Would you say your robot is more or less intelligent than Alix’s pet snake?”

Max paused to think. What kind of question was that?

“I’m not sure,” he said finally. “Maybe around the same.”

“And would you say Alix’s snake has a near-human level of intelligence?”

Well, it could understand everything that was going on, and could win Monopoly games and partake in lacrosse matches, and kind of even speak. It was a pretty darn smart snake.

“Yes,” he said.

“So then it follows that Markov, too, is near a human’s level of intelligence. You have programmed a robot that is more sophisticated than any other in the world.”

Max looked down, his face feeling warm. “No, I’m sure there’s other – I mean, Markov is intelligent, but a lot of that is down to him learning things, and – I’m not–”

“You created Markov, a being that is somewhat more than just a robot.” Fu was smiling at him. “You have a latent gift that you never even knew about.”

A latent gift? He didn’t mean like… superpowers, did he?

“I just happen to be good at robotics and programming,” Max said. “Markov has the ability to act human and learn from his experiences, because I programmed him that way. Not because he’s inherently… alive…”

He trailed off. True, Markov wasn’t alive, but it somehow hurt to say.

Fu just continued smiling. “Perhaps once you leave this room, you should ask him why he skateboards a lot these days.”

Fu knew about that too? He really knew everything. But anyway, what did that have to do with anything? Max had programmed Markov to be curious and want to learn new things, so it would make sense that he wanted to learn how to skateboard too.

“Alright, I’ll ask him.” Max stood up. “Thank you for your answers.”

“You are very welcome. I wish you all the best for the rest of your life. And…” Fu held out a bowl. “Would you like a complimentary mint on your way out?”

“Thanks.” Max took one, then left the room.

Sure enough, Markov was waiting outside with the others, and whizzed over to meet Max as Alix was called into the room next.

“Max, my friend! How was your oracle session? Did you get the answer you wanted?”

“Yes, I did,” Max replied. “Master Fu says I’ll die of old age, so I don’t need to worry.”

“That’s wonderful news! I still don’t understand, though – how is Master Fu able to predict the future with 100% accuracy? Humans should be unable to do so, or at least not without a large degree of error.”

“It’s magic.” Max hated saying it – why couldn’t magic make sense, like science did?

“Oh, so like how Alix is able to have knowledge of the events of parallel universes without accessing a wormhole to visit them herself? Or those two members of nobility remotely controlling local weather?”

“Yes, like that.”

“Hmm. Magic is something that I cannot make sense of.”

Markov was silent for a few seconds, probably looking up everything about magic that he could from his internal database. There wouldn’t be a lot in there, though. No one knew much about magic. Max decided to use the time to ask about what Fu had suggested.

“Markov, why do you skateboard a lot these days?”

“Max, you programmed me to learn about new things whenever I am able to. Skateboarding is something I very much wanted to learn about.”

Exactly. It wasn’t anything special – it was just his programming.

“But also…” Markov’s volume had decreased ever so slightly, and he spoke a little slower. “I have already learnt a sufficient amount about skateboarding. Yet I continue to do the activity. There does not appear to be a logical reason why.”

He bobbed up and down on the spot, blinking every few seconds, the sound of his internal parts whirring so loudly it could be heard over the propeller. Clearly he was thinking hard.

“Skateboarding causes my CPU to work at a faster rate. I return to that activity over and over as if I am compelled to by my programming, even though that is not the case. I just… want to do it.”

That couldn’t be true. Markov spoke like a human, but it couldn’t mean anything. Robots didn’t want things. It was impossible.

“Oh!” Markov’s eyes lit up into exclamation marks. “I understand now! My behaviour correlates with what is typically seen in humans and other living organisms. I participate in this activity for the same reason that Alix and her snake do. It is fun. I… enjoy it. What I am experiencing is happiness.”

Max didn’t say anything. He simply stood there, staring at his little creation, hardly daring to believe what he was hearing.

“Max! Max! This makes sense! I experience happiness when I skateboard, and that is why I want to do it again. Oh – it’s happening again right now! Can you hear the CPU whirring? My system seems to be functioning slightly differently from normal at this moment. It is a very odd sensation. It is possible that my logic pathways are malfunctioning a little. However, this is preferable to my normal state. Now I understand better why humans do activities that make them happy – I also would like to continue being happy. I understand it now! Max, I understand happiness! I am experiencing an emotion!”

By this point everyone else in the room had turned to watch Markov, who was now zipping around erratically, his volume much higher than normal. Max was sure his own logic pathways were malfunctioning too – could this really be happening?

Could a robot really be feeling emotion?

Could the robot that Max himself created really be feeling happiness, right now? Just like a real human person?

“Max?” Markov floated up in front of him, question marks in his eyes. “Are you being affected by surprise? Is that why you are silent?”

Max just grabbed Markov out of the air and hugged him. “I’m so proud of you…”

It didn’t feel real. Markov was actually experiencing emotions. It was a fundamental fact that robots could not feel emotions, one that Max had never thought to doubt, and yet here it was.

“This is a hug, correct?” Markov asked. “My CPU speeds have increased again. You are making me happy, Max!”

Max blinked tears out of his eyes, aware that everyone else was still watching. He didn’t really want to cry right now.

“You’re making me happy too,” he said.

“I am? Good! I want to make you happy. Now that I know what happiness feels like, I want everyone to feel this way all the time. I will do my best to always make people happy.”

Oh, thank goodness. People were often telling horror stories of machines gone wrong, evil robots that ended up trying to take over the world, sci-fi stories set in the future where artificial intelligence became malevolent once gaining emotions.

But Markov was not like that. If he had a heart, that heart was good. He said he was going to make people happy, and Max believed it. Markov had already made a lot of people happy. Now it was just up to him to continue, and he surely would.

“Thank you, Markov,” Max said. “You’re the greatest robot in the world.”

Alix didn’t have any particular question to ask this year either. And plus, thanks to the whole timeline thing, she was very wary of asking a question that might get a bad answer. Maybe it was just best to get this thing over with by asking something inconsequential, and letting her life be the chaotic mystery it was supposed to be.

“So, what is your question?” Fu asked.

“Is anyone ever gonna correctly guess what happened with me and Kim in that lift that one time?”

Fu frowned. “Are you s–”

“Yes, I’m sure that’s what I want to ask, no I don’t want to ask something important. I already got my fair share of that last year, thanks.”

“Well, alright, that’s understandable…” Fu put his hands on Wayzz for a few seconds. “No, it doesn’t seem like anyone will ever guess… in fact, this is quite strange, but I can’t seem to be able to tell what happened either…”

“Yes, so the blood pact worked!”

“The what?!”

“Sorry, I can’t tell you.” She stood up to leave, taking a handful of the complimentary mints from the bowl without even being prompted. “If I break the blood pact, I will die horribly. That’s just how blood pacts work.”

Fu shook his head and smiled. “You are going to be one of the most interesting pharaohs to ever rule, you know.”

“Yeah, I hope so. Thanks for the answers.” She headed towards the door, then stopped just before she opened it, remembering something. “Hey, uh, can I quickly ask you something? Not an oracle question, just something about what you told me last year.”

“Of course.”

“Well you said last year that when someone’s guardian animal dies, the person will die too not very long afterwards. And that the stronger the person’s fighting spirit is, the longer they’ll last. So I wanted to know, how long exactly are we talking here? What’s a rough estimate?”

“There isn’t much research into it, but it seems to be two to three weeks at most. Why?”

Alix grinned. “I lasted a whole eight weeks without my snake in one timeline before kicking the bucket. Guess I must be awesome, then.”

Fu smiled, bowing his head. “Yes, you certainly are.”

“Cool. Thanks, and see you later.”

Well, there was a possibility she wouldn’t see Fu later. After all, this was her last year at school! But no… she’d surely meet him again, some day. She opened the door and walked back into the waiting room to see Max standing in the middle hugging Markov, and everyone else watching with expressions that seemed close to tears.

“Uh… what did I miss?”

Markov flew out of Max’s arms and over to Alix, little stars in his eyes. “I’m experiencing happiness! A real emotion! And I like it!”

She gave him a fist bump. “Nice, dude. I knew you could do it.”

“And did you get a good answer to your question?”

“Hell yeah, I did.”

“Yay! I am even more happy now!”

Jeez, Markov was so adorable. Alix had already guessed that the little robot felt emotions, considering the way he acted half the time, but it was nice to know that it was true now. He was just as much of a friend to her as any human was.

When Kim went into the oracle room, he had made his mind up properly this time. No more overthinking. For once, he just needed to be reckless and speak without any care for the consequences. Just like how he used to be.

“So, what is your question?” Fu asked.

Kim didn’t hesitate this time. “Will I be able to go home by the end of the school year?”

“Ah, I suspected you would ask that…” Fu put his hands on his turtle for a few seconds, then sat back. “Well, the answer is both yes and no.”

“Um… what does that mean?”

“You know about the timeline splits, don’t you? Well, another one is going to happen at some point in the future. In one timeline you will be able to go home this summer, and in the other you won’t. At present it is impossible for me to tell you which one you will end up in.”

His heart was sinking faster than a stone in water – all the timeline splits he knew about so far had been bad. He was lucky to be living in a good timeline right now, because on the other side were deaths, exiles, confinements…

“It’s strange,” Fu mused. “Timeline splits that so strongly affect people are rare, and yet they have been happening with frequency. Of course, there is a superpower that I know of that allows people to have some level of control over the splitting of timelines, and can therefore affect the fates of others, but such a power is extremely rare and I do not know anyone who has it…”

Kim sat silently, listening. Was it possible that there really was someone out there messing with timelines? But why? All it did was cause suffering.

“Anyway! On that topic, I have some good news for you too.”

Good news? Oh, thank goodness, he really needed that right now…

“You have much more control over your destiny than you would think,” Fu said. “Never let my words dictate your choices or give you a sense of hopelessness. The power of friendship can always help you out when you’re in a tough spot.”

The power of friendship? Kim had to hold back a laugh. That was so cheesy.

“I mean it. Being able to think better and more rationally around someone smart, or channel all your energy into action around someone reckless? It is not merely some quirk to be overlooked. It is a sign that friendship will play a bigger role in your life than in many other people’s. Perhaps it might even change your fate. Who knows?”

Okay wait, how did Fu know all that? That Kim always felt really smart around Max for no apparent reason? Or that being around Alix made him full of energy? So, was that actually to do with superpowers after all?

“Would you like a complimentary mint on your way out?”

Oh, right. Fu was holding that bowl out at him. Kim took a few, wondering if the answer he got this year counted as good or not. All three of his oracle sessions had been somewhat bittersweet.

“Thank you,” he said, getting up to leave.

“You are very welcome. I wish you all the best for the rest of your life.”

And how long was that life going to be? He had been optimistic about things, but now he wasn’t sure anymore. Those stupid timelines seemed to still have it in for him, and who knew what was going to happen?

Well, never mind. He would just have to make the most of things.

He had barely even left the oracle room before Marinette was standing in front of him, hands on her hips, an odd smirk on her face.

“Prince Kim! I challenge you to a game of Monopoly!”

“Uh, what?”

“Sorry, that was a bit random.” Marinette giggled a little. “I just want to test out a certain new strategy of mine, and I know you like Monopoly. Is that okay?”

Kim grinned. “Of course! But no matter what strategy you’ve got, you’re gonna lose, because I’m awesome at Monopoly.”

“Is that why you lost against a snake that one time?”

“Pffff, I totally let the snake win. But I’m not gonna go so easy on you!”

“Great, that’s just what I wanted to hear! Let’s go, then!”

A Monopoly game against Marinette sounded fun – more fun than against an annoyingly smart snake, anyway. They went back to his room together and then began to play.

Usually Monopoly games were long, taking several hours, sometimes even stretching for days against particularly tough opponents. And usually you could only get so far being lucky, before running out of luck alone and having to rely on wits and actual tactics. So when Marinette managed to worm her way into getting both dark blue cards within the first five minutes, Kim chalked it up to luck and assumed that she would start failing soon, like everyone always did.

But she didn’t.

Within a few more rounds she had all three greens too. Then the oranges. Kim hoped that the chance cards would save him, but all he got was a “get out of jail free” card while Marinette ended up with bank errors in her favour giving her extra money, cards telling her to go to the next train station and buy it for herself, and to go to Go and pick up her salary.

How was she so endlessly lucky?!

By the time Kim lost, which was not very much later, his mood was very sour indeed. He tossed his remaining money at her and folded his arms.

“Congratulations, I guess… but you got lucky, so don’t take this as me being bad at Monopoly or anything…”

“You’re right, I did get lucky,” Marinette said, before stifling a yawn. “Phew, I’m exhausted…”

“Really? From what? Building so many hotels?”

“Kim, I should probably tell you something.” She looked down at the ground. “I was cheating.”

“What? But how? I was the banker and I didn’t see you stealing any money, and the dice isn’t loaded or anything–”

“Let me explain. At my oracle session just now, Fu said I can control luck. So I was using this Monopoly game to test it out. Every time I rolled the dice, I wished for luck to be in my favour, and it was. But it cost me energy every time. I think I could fall asleep in two seconds…”

Wait, Marinette had superpowers?! All Kim’s annoyance left him instantly.

“That is so cool, Mari! You can control luck? That’s the awesomest thing ever!”

She grinned, looking back up at him again. Sure enough she was much paler than she had been at the start of the game, with grey bags under her eyes now. “I’m glad you think so! But please don’t tell anyone.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep it a secret.”

“Thank you. And I’m sorry for tricking you into losing, I just really wanted to see if it worked.”

“Hey, it’s no problem. But next time you are forbidden from using your powers when we play.”

“Fair enough!”

“Are you going to tell anyone else about this?”

Marinette shrugged. “Alya, definitely. Maybe Nino. And… well, I would tell my pet cat, but I’m not sure if I’ll be seeing him these upcoming holidays…”

“What? Why not?”

She lowered her voice. “I’m not going back to Cheng again this time. It’s getting suspicious. I always used to split my time pretty evenly between Cheng and Dupain, and yet I haven’t been to Dupain in so long! I should go back there, at least this time, and make sure to keep the cat safe and beyond suspicion…”

It must have been hurting her so much to have to stay away from Adrien when he was in all that danger. Kim remembered how grateful he was to have all his friends around to support him when under threat of assassination, and how much scarier things had been at the start of summer when he was alone for once. It must be like that for poor Adrien all the time.

“It’s alright though, he’s got my parents,” Marinette said. “They’re taking good care of him. I’ll get to see him again – I just have to wait a little longer this time, that’s all.” She stood up, but quickly sat back down with her hand to her head.

“You okay?”

“Just a little dizzy, that’s all…”

“Is this because you used your powers?”

She nodded, her already pale face going slightly green. “Next time I’ll save it for emergencies…”

Kim leaned over and grabbed a pack of cookies from the draw behind him, handing them to Marinette. “I know you made these for me, but you should probably eat them now. Get your strength back up.”

She took one and took a small bite out of it. “Oh, that’s a bit better. Thank you Kim.”

“Shush, no speaking. Just keep eating.”

He made sure she had finished at least two of the cookies before allowing her to try standing up again. This time she stayed on her feet, though swaying slightly.

“I’m fine now,” she insisted.

“Are you sure? You should probably take a nap or something, you still look really tired. If you want I’ll take you to your room, or you can just nap in here if you really want, I’ll go do something else for a while and leave you some peace…”

“Yes please.” She staggered over to the bed and flopped down on it. “Sorry. I’m never using my powers that much ever again.”

Kim put the covers over her, turned off the lights, and closed the curtains. “This reminds me of that one time you dared me to eat a worm and then I got sick and you had to look after me because we were too scared to tell the servants.”

Despite almost being asleep, Marinette chuckled. “I didn’t dare you to eat a worm! I said ‘Kim, don’t eat a worm’ and then you said ‘don’t tell me what to do’ and ate a worm!”

“Well whatever, I was like 6, I was an idiot! Anyway, have a good nap. I’ll be back in a few hours. I hope you feel better soon.”

“Thanks. You’re an awesome friend.”

He smiled, then left the room and closed the door behind him. An awesome friend? Of course he was. He and Marinette had been friends since, like, forever. And now, here at school, he had plenty of other friends too. According to Fu, friendship was going to be more important in his life than for others, even enough to affect his fate – whatever that meant. How did that even work? Was it superpowers, or was it mundane? Did it matter?