#and that everyone was shown with someone except for Luka because he believes the act of being alive is to be forever alone

[aritsukemo]

I do nothing but cry in this damn fandom omgosh pls yall just let me be delulu and happy for once 💔

I swear everytime I see a post about Wiege an angel sheds tears like can't I just have a thirst edit of Luka and Hyuna instead??? ☹️

AND KEEP YOUR DAMN FUN FACTS TO YOURSELF PLEASE AND THANK YOU SHARING IS NOT CARING!!!!

[flightfoot]

Divergent Points - ML Salt Ch. 4

So here’s the chapter that one anon described as “bone-chilling”. I can understand why.

AO3/FFN

“You’re just jealous! Seriously Marinette, I thought you were a decent person, but my new best friend Lila’s shown me the TRUTH.”

Nino blinked, looking around.

His classmates were all ringed around Lila. Not too unusual, though that had gone down after the first week Lila’d been back – the novelty of having her around wore off, and while his classmates found her stories interesting (though they thought they were real rather than fictional), they drifted away from her after that. She just never really connected with them, though everyone was still friendly with her (except for their own little group of course, and Chloe, because she barely got along with anyone).

Then Nino processed Alya’s words.

What the hell?

Was this some new plan to take down Lila? They’d discussed some ideas, but none had been very realistic (as satisfying as just posting a list of every lie she’d told and documentation on the truth would be, it’d be unlikely to actually get her in much trouble, and she could cry crocodile tears and claim they were out to get her – which wasn’t totally a lie.)

Alya tended to be rather impulsive and liked to improvise, but something like this? He’d expect at least a hint of a plan!

Was she seriously expecting anyone to buy this?! That she’d just turn around and throw Marinette to the curb in favor of LILA?

“You’re such a BULLY Marinette!”

“Going after poor, poor Lila? How much do you need to hurt her before you’re satisfied?”

“She only asked that you do a few little things for her! That’s what friends do! But you’re not a very good friend, are you?”

Nino reared back, staring at his “friends”. All of them glared at Marinette.

This… something didn’t seem right. Lila’d ensnared some of them before, sure, but to the extent that she’d convinced them that Marinette’s a bully? That she was a bad, malicious person?

They’d been afraid of Lila trying something since she’d made her threat, but if anything, she’d just… faded away into the background.

Maybe she’d been doing something behind the scenes? Some sort of long con that’d slowly eroded their trust in Marinette in ways they hadn’t even noticed?

But that didn’t explain Alya. Or…

He looked at Adrien. Normally he’d at least be trying to defuse the situation, calm everyone down,  restore rationality.

But he was glaring along with the others, looking vaguely disappointed. “I expected better from you, Marinette. I thought you were one of the kindest, most selfless people I know. I guess I was wrong.”

Wait, WHAT?

Ok, no.

This wasn’t just some people being tricked and manipulated, or going along with a plan. His bro was an ok actor, but NOT when it came to his feelings towards Marinette. The only reason their classmates hadn’t caught on that he and Marinette were dating was that he’d been giving Marinette those lovesick kitty eyes for awhile, long before he found out she was Ladybug. Though Nino had a feeling that at least a few of them heavily suspected – notably, they’d mostly stopped pushing Marinette to confess to Adrien, or steering her towards Luka.

(At least according to Alya. He wasn’t privy to most of the girl squad meetings, but it’s not like they were these big secrets.)

Adrien couldn’t fake anger and disappointment THAT well – not towards Marinette. Especially not with her looking so upset and withdrawn.

Which meant he was serious.

But… HOW?

It almost sounded like a sick parody of his initial advice to Alya when she tried to confront Lila for the second time, if someone had plugged their ears and only saw “Adrien says something” and “Alya backs down”.

He hadn’t wanted her to confront Lila straight-up because even if exposing her lie WORKED – and that was a big if – Lila would still probably be in their class, since simply telling a few lies to make herself sound better wasn’t exactly enough to expel her over, and while her threats to Marinette and Alya MIGHT be enough to get her suspended at least, they didn’t have any proof of those threats, so it was just their word against Lila’s. Not good enough on its own. Especially with Marinette and Alya being close friends. It would be easy to believe that they’d lie for each other.

And if they couldn’t actually get rid of her, or make her powerless to the point that she wasn’t a threat anymore… well, cornered animals tended to bite hardest, plus they’d already experienced that Lila could hold one HELL of a grudge.

Maybe if he didn’t know that Lila’d threatened Marinette and Alya, maybe if he just thought that Lila was a liar, but had no outright malicious intentions and hadn’t deliberately caused harm, maybe then he could see Adrien disapproving of Marinette going after Lila for her lies, if he didn’t know that it wasn’t JUST her not liking Lila being a liar.

But even then, Adrien mostly just tried to defuse situations, keep them from escalating out of control, tried to minimize people getting hurt. Considering the environment he’d grown up in, where conflict escalation often meant Gabriel yelling at Adrien and cutting him off from social contact and the things he enjoyed, where any wrong move could lead to the loss of everything and everyone he valued, he’d had to get good at defusing conflict.

He wouldn’t join in on dogpiling Marinette. He didn’t even approve of that with CHLOE and LILA. He might try to redirect everyone somewhere else and then try to find a more long-term way of defusing the conflict behind the scenes with as little damage to anyone as possible, but THIS? Nuh uh.

Something was very, very wrong here.

Marinette walked away, ignoring the jeers from the rest of the class, her face impassive.

Nino hurried after her. Maybe she knew what was going on. Maybe she had a plan.

At the very least, she was the only one who hadn’t been proven to be caught up in whatever this… this messed up THING was.

She ducked into an empty classroom and closed the door, giving him an appraising look.

“So. You wised up?”

He frowned. “Wised up to what? I know everyone’s acting really weird, especially around Lila. You know what’s going on?”

“Oh, I know what’s going on.”

He didn’t like the glint in Marinette’s eyes, the ire in her voice.

“’What’s going on’ is I finally realized that it’s not worth being friends with these people. For what that ‘friendship’ is worth. That I slave away for them, make object after object at their request, pouring hours and hours of my life, my money, my very SOUL into these ‘commissions’, and for what? To be ignored, to be mocked? For them to EXPECT me to do their bidding, to give them ‘gifts’, and expect to not have the barest glimmer of loyalty? They just take. And take. And TAKE.”

….What?

(Nino was getting very tired of that thought).

(He had a feeling this wasn’t going to be the last time he’d have that reaction though.)

Marinette made things for others sometimes – that was true. But it wasn’t that common!

She’d made a banner for that race Kim and Alix had a few months ago, and he’d heard that she’d fixed up Mylene’s dad’s hat for him which he’d apparently been quite thrilled with when he picked it up from her. But that was months ago as well.

But aside from that?

She’d done some commissions for Jagged Stone. Those tended to be pretty stressful, with him being such a big name. She’d worried about not making something up to his standards before and poured hours into trying to produce the perfect design. He could see that maybe getting overwhelming, but she didn’t seem to be talking about that. She specifically singled out their classmates.

Hmm… the only other thing he’d heard about recently…

“Has Kitty Section been putting you under that much pressure? I know designing and creating those costumes for them must be a lot of work, but I’m sure that everyone-“

Oh yeah, the entire class seemed to be under a mass delusion of some sort, or maybe flat-out mind control that made them think Marinette was worse than even CHLOE.

“Ok, so LUKA at least would probably back off. He’s seemed pretty nice and chill from what I’ve seen, I doubt he wants you to be under any sort of stress. Just tell him how you feel and I’m sure he’ll back off.”

She stared at him like he was insane. “Kitty Section…? Kitty Section’s fine! Luka would never do anything to put me through the slightest bit of distress! He soothes the wounds my so-called ‘friends’ have inflicted on me! In fact… he seemed up to helping me with some of my plans.”

Nino slowly backed away.

Whatever this… THING was, Marinette seemed to be affected too.

But he needed more info first.

“Then what’re you talking about?”

How deep did this rabbit hole go?

“The endless outfits I’ve created for everyone! Tailoring everything to their specifications! Repairing bags and purses and hats and stuffed animals! And do they show me any gratitude? None! They just take it and shame me if I try to say I’m too busy! And they expect me to do it for free!”

Yeah, he was pretty sure that hadn’t happened.

Well… not like that at least.

He vaguely remembered Sabrina nicely requesting Marinette to stitch together a teddy bear she’d assumed was Chloe’s, but people constantly ragging on her to make or repair or modify things for them? Not so much.

Just… stuff that’d actually happened being exaggerated and distorted with some flat-out made-up stuff being thrown in, until it became something else. Something malevolent. Something toxic.

It was a lot like with Adrien’s chastising Marinette earlier.

And… even that bit with Alya, actually.

Alya’d fallen for Lila’s lies when she first came to the school, and continued thinking she was generally truthful until she’d had the same evidence Marinette had that Lila was a liar – that she’d lied about being Ladybug’s best friend. She’d even thought that Marinette might have it out for Lila in particular because she was jealous of her getting close to Adrien.

But this being had distorted and exaggerated those actions and beliefs into her kicking Marinette to the curb entirely and practically worshipping Lila.

“Oh… but they’ll see. They’ll learn what happens when you push Marinette Dupain-Cheng too far!”

Nino quickly scanned for exits. Unfortunately Marinette was blocking the door… maybe the windows? They were on the second story though, and he’d have to break the glass. He’d have to transform into Carapace to escape that way.

…Maybe as a last resort.

He tried to fiddle with the Turtle bracelet.

And met bare skin.

IT WASN’T THERE.

Ooooooh crap.

“All those school trips? The HOURS I spent organizing them, setting up accommodations, arranging funding? Well they’d better hope that Lila’s as competent as they think she is, because she can be in charge of aaaaaaall of that. I’ll just cancel everything I’d planned and let HER handle it from scratch! Oh, and she can be the one who appeals to the school board for funding, gets everyone the best equipment in the school, gets them to approve grants! Let’s see whether the awesome and stupendously amazing Lila Rossi is anywhere near as competent as I am.”

Ok, so none of that was remotely feasible. Marinette was Class Representative, not a member of the school board or a teacher. Also, she was FREAKING FOURTEEN. He was pretty sure there’d be liability issues with her making arrangements for field trips. And she didn’t have much of a say in school funding; she could let the teacher know of any problems she’d encountered that Ms. Bustier could then try to fix, or ask a higher authority for help fixing, but appealing to the school board directly? Not so much.

“Oh, they’ll pay… they’ll PAY.”

Her eyes took on a crazed look as an insane smile spread across her face.

“Alya? She wants me to CHECK MY SOURCES? I’ll show her checking sources . She didn’t bother verifying that interview with Lila months ago, and I’m sure she’s posted more gossip from her wonderful and amazing friend Lila since then. I’ll just let slip to Nadja that the Ladyblog isn’t a completely reliable source, and she can turn the spotlight so the rest of the media and all of Paris can EAT HER ALIVE. She wants to be an investigative journalist? TOUGH LUCK. No one’ll be willing to hire her or train her, not when she posted some unsubstantiated statements when she was fourteen! This’ll follow her for the rest of her life, and she’ll DESERVE IT.”

Nino was pretty sure that wasn’t true, but reality had pretty clearly left the building awhile ago.

“Oh, and then there’s Adrien. Sweet, naïve little Adrien. Adrien who knows Lila’s a liar, but isn’t willing to out her for me! Who has the nerve – THE NERVE! – to advise on NOT trying to publicly humiliate and tear Lila down like the piece of garbage she is. To be willing to just let her lie, and not yell at her and do everything in his power to defend me against her vicious attack… I can’t believe I was so much of an IDIOT as to ever care for him.

He wants to take the high road? To sit passively by and not interfere? Let’s see how he likes it when Lila’s constantly around him, touching him and hanging off him. He wants to be passive? I’ll just suggest another seating rearrangement before I resign as class representative to place them next to each other! I know how much difficulty he has making himself shove her off. Oooh… but I can do MORE. Wonder how he’d like a rumor that he’s dating Lila? I’m sure she’d be all over it. And if that spineless pussy BITCH can’t stand up for me, and he can’t stand up for himself either… she might even get to kiss him and date him without him being able to say no! He wants to not make waves? He can just stand still and TAKE IT like a good little toy .”

“WHAT?!”

This… this being wearing Marinette’s skin (this was not Marinette, this was very much not Marinette ) took a step towards him.

He reared back, putting as much space as possible between him and the entity.

He really, REALLY wished he had Wayzz right now.

She breathed harder, her eyes bugging out. “You on my side? Are you going to grovel for forgiveness? Maybe I’ll spare you if you get down on your knees and repent for ever believing that BITCH Lila and for not doing more to stop her. Or… maybe I won’t. Depends on how I feel, and if you’re willing to help me drag everyone else into a pit of torment for all the PAIN AND SUFFERING they’ve put me through. It’s too late for Adrien – he’s known for awhile and hasn’t fought her or the rest of the class tooth and nail to defend me – but I might, just possibly, give you a shot at redemption.”

“What have you done with Marinette?!”

Because this being wasn’t just some deluded or brain-washed Marinette. Her destruction of everything Marinette was, every semblance of her self was too warped beyond recognition. At most, some other being might be puppeting her body around.

He hoped not. He already wanted to throw up just from her description of what she wanted to do with Adrien. And if she was aware of what this being was making her say…

GOD he hoped she wasn’t conscious in there.

“Oh, I’m still Marinette. I’m just not the sweet little SLAVE you were so fond of. And I can go very, very low. I wonder… all those ‘gifts’ I gave out over the years? How much do you think they were worth? Because I’ll bet it was hundreds of dollars. Time for everyone to PAY UP! Ooh, or those bake sales my parents held to raise funds for the school? What if they suddenly started demanding payment for them? Maybe then you and the others would appreciate how much I’ve done for you, how I’ve carried this school on my back when everything I’ve graciously given out of the goodness of my heart is RIPPED AWAY from you all!”

Most of that had never happened and he was pretty sure that demanding repayment for gifts already given wasn’t remotely feasible, but logic had clearly looked around, seen this insanity, and went back to sleep for six more weeks, so he wasn’t going to expect a little thing like THAT to stop this being.

He set his jaw. “You aren’t Marinette. Not really. And those people out there weren’t my friends. Not in their right minds anyway. This isn’t right. This isn’t true. This doesn’t even make sense!”

The being glared at him. He shuddered, but didn’t break eye contact.

She lunged.

He dodged.

The world shattered.

[5-of-spades]

IkeRev Cradlesona

Here it is finally, it’s lacking pictures for now, only until I am back home and can doodle something out; this will be updated;;; thanks for everyone who posted their Cradlesonas before and gave me a boost to do it too 😭😭😭 and for @lovingsiriusoswald for starting the craze and to @msquercusalba for listening to my rambles over her before I actually made this

Maybe this is more of an OC than a Cradlesona??

Sample pictures before I’m able to produce some myself ; made using picrew makers [2] [2] [2]

Cradlesona: Elise Marlowe

Basic Info:

Nicknames: Elí (family only; Edgar Bright is an exception to the rule)

Birthday: 27th of August

Age: 27

Height: 177 cm | 5’ 9’’

Blood Type: 0-

Physical:

Eyes: Greyish-blue

Hair: Silver

Accessories: Long hanging earrings, family ring on her left hand with family crest

Features: Fair skin tone, long silver hair reaching slightly over her shoulders, almond shaped eyes

Illnesses: None

Social:

Affiliation: Red Army / Red territory

Occupations: Youngest daughter of the family, in line to take over family’s pharmacy

Relationships:

Lancelot Kingsley - can’t call him a friend, can’t call his an acquaintance either, had known and met his since childhood (as well as other army officers); has only recently realised her feelings for him and tries to suppress them from surfacing and being obvious

Jonah Clemence - old school colleague, has a great deal of respect for him and his opinions but does think he can be overwhelming to deal with at times

Edgar Bright - finds him a bit eccentric but charming and amusing, had tutored him with chemicals under Claudius Bright’s request, considers him somewhat a friend and meets occasionally for a cup of tea

Kyle Ash - highly agrees with him on his morals and admires his dedication for his profession, has collaborated with him on formations of new medicines

Zero - unsure what she feels about him, he’s the only officer she hadn’t met during childhood and doesn’t feel he wants to meet her, get a change of heart after her ‘brother’ tells her what Zero is really like

Blanc Lapin - as an old family fiend, can remember him from childhood visits to her home, holds him in high regards

Oliver Knight - only heard about the man and his renowned inventions from Blanc and social circle talk but had never met him in person

Ray Blackwell - no opinion so far, knows he’s the opposing side’s King

Sirius Oswald - no opinion so far, only knows little what she had seen of hi during school and what Lancelot and Jonah had told her about him, and it’s hard to figure out what’s the truth and what’s a lie

Luka Clemence - despite his betrayal she isn’t hostile towards him, mainly because Edgar’s reports when he manages to get in touch with Luka, can’t understand why he left

Seth Hyde - knows nothing about him, only his position in the army thanks to Edgar’s intel, no opinion so far

Fenrir Godspeed - knows him due to family name and Edgar’s reports, had seen him around Civic Center but has never interacted with him, no opinion so far

Harr Silver - knows of him because she had seen him around Lancelot and Sirius but he’s a mystery to her, ever since he was pronounced an outlaw she is afraid to run into him, not a positive opinion

Loki Genetta - has only heard rumours about him and isn’t sure he is real, no opinion so far

Personality: Gentle and caring would be the best words to describe Elise Marlowe. The traits very unusual in her family, yet the soft spoken and sweet girl is always with a smile on her face and a forever optimist. Raised in a family of high expectations and a legacy to bear, Elise is very goal-oriented and will find the way to achieve her goals. But unlike the rest of her family, she would never use someone for her own gain. It’s against her morals and she can’t bring herself to harm anyone, no matter their deeds.

Elise is the baby of the family and had always been spoiled but instead of making her into a brat, it further enhanced her inner feeling of needing to give back to the less fortunate than her. Having shown a talent for chemistry and alchemy early on and seeing the possibilities she can use it to help others. She is a very curious woman that could get lost in books or whatever subject she finds interesting.

Aside her good and caring side, she can be stubborn and easily scared of situations she can’t understand. She is not used to not know what’s happening and when something strays from her norm it scares her. She can be too hard-pressed on something to give up, even knowing it’s in vain. Sometimes she can get overly sensitive and let her emotions make decisions rather than her mind. She believes in “actions speak more than words”

In short, Elise is a selfless and caring person that wants to help but sometimes acts before she thinks.

Family and History: Youngest of three children of family, Elise had a childhood many would be envy of. Her family had held the position of 10 of Hearts for generations and had strict rules about which child will inherit the prestigious title of future 10. Marlowes have been among the first families to be established as part of the Red Army in Cradle’s beginnings and have further secured their position by handling pharmaceuticals and providing alchemy services to the citizens. The founder of the family, Augustus Marlowe, established first ever pharmacy in Cradle and his books are used in education of future alchemists and pharmacists. As a founder, he had set rules his descendants were obligated to follow. One of them were to marry people from strickly choosen families to avoid diluting the bloodline. Thanks to this, Marlowe family is also renowned for all family members having eye-catching silver hair and each generation has to provide 3 offspring, of which one has to be a male. These and many more were the rigorous rules that have to be followed.

As the youngest, Elise was utterly spoiled by both her parents and her brother and sister. She got everything she set her eyes on and pointed at with her finger. Despite the overwhelming spoils, she was raised with proper manners and her sister insisted that she should hold herself with dignity and not let her desires get a better or her. Her brother, who is expected to inherit the position of 10 of Hearts, has often read to her and greatly influenced her fashion sense. All three of them used to be close until the fallout between the older siblings. Now, she only remains close with her brother.

As a rule, 3 children are an obligation for Marlowe family. One for the army, one for the alchemy and one for the pharmacy. All children are free to choose which profession they’ll follow, provided that the oldest male heir is sent to the army. At the young age, Elise showed a remarkable talent for chemistry. She was a much quicker learner than the older siblings and her family was overjoyed to have decided on her future so early on. It was a good thing she enjoyed what her future role will ask of her. It only came to finding her a perfect husband down the road.

As a child of nobility and high officer, she had the opportunity to meet with higher and lower ranked officers and through that had met Lancelot, Jonah and Edgar and Luka and later on, Kyle. Same age as Jonah, she attended the same school and same class he had and developed a friendship with the future Queen of Hearts and held his little brother in high regard all up until his betrayal. Due to how her family took a stance against the Clemence family, their friendship took a hit and now, they are slowly trying to bridge that gap. Future Jack had her be his tutor with chemistry outside the school on Claudius Bright’s request for Edgar’s future missions. Through that, she bonded with Edgar and they remained good friends.

Having graduated and set to inherit her family’s pharmacy when her aunt retires, Elise had been put to immense studying for her future job. She found joy in her studies and gladly took everything she was given and looked for some more afterwards. Elise is still very much lives a life she wants and already decided for her, and even if she likes it it, she can’t help feel it’s suffocating to live it.

Skills and Special Abilities:

Extensive knowledge of chemistry and alchemy

Quick reader

Can play the viola

Paired with: Lancelot Kingsley (one-sided ?)*

Life in Cradle: During the day, Elise is tasked with overlooking the family internary and accounting for everything that is lacking. Afterwards she is scheduled for studying for her future employment until lunch. Afterwards she’s usually helping her aunt in the pharmacy. After closing time she is always making sure she visits her ‘brother’ in the barracks. Secretly she sends small medicines or gifts over him to the King, Queen and Jack. She hopes it finds them well. Recently she found that her feelings for the young King of Hearts have resurfaced after seeing him more and more after her ‘brother’s’ enrolment into the army and her heart undeniably skipping a beat. Alas, she knows he is not her intended groom in the future, and if Marlowe puts something above themselves, it’s the family tradition.

* On Elise’s feelings towards Lancelot

Elise had known Lancelot since they were kids throughout various social events her family was invited to along with other families from the red territory. She had considered him a friend but she has never outright called him that, since he was raised to respect him above everything else. As children both were happy to see each other and just have a playmate they could play with before knowing their duty will take over their lives.

That continued through the school years up until they both respectfully graduated. Elise has helped Lancelot with a few tutoring sessions with some of his subjects and had gotten close to him again, just as there were as kids, but has always been more content as his silent supporter from behind. She had also enjoyed making small gifts in form of healthy snacks for him and Jonah when they were all still close back then. At 17, it was the first time she realised she had feelings for him. She didn’t know how it happened but she knew her feelings were strong enough for her to call it live. She fell in love with him due to Lancelot’s selfless actions and kindness, that wasn’t always so obvious at first, but mainly due to what a strong person he was. She admired him for managing to not let his emotions sway him upon his dad’s death, that he carefully considered the best way he could go about things without inconveniencing or causing harm to anybody. And above all, for making a tough decisions when he absolutely had to. Elise knew she never could do that were she in his place, she was far too emotional to be able to think rationality in a situation like so. For most part she idolised him, wanted to be more than friends but she knew she could never. Not only was there a hierarchical difference, she had already been bethroed to someone else.

And yet, she wrote him a letter, detailing her feelings for him in it and left it for him to find. Unsigned of course and let her feelings subside and dull over time, all the while convincing herself that it she had ever told him how she felt it would just end up in rejection. She had wondered if he maybe felt the same way when she had caugh his glace to her over the hallways and during their tutoring. She hoped his small acts of kindness to her meant more than just that. But she didn’t want to be selfish, her sister taught her better than that. She should be happy just being his friend and living to see him rise to the throne to rule. And she was. She convinced herself that she was happy being able to support Lancelot during his reign as a new King of Hearts.

She truly had tired to love her choosen husband. He wasn’t a bad guy, he didn’t do anything to hurt her or make her feel awful for having feelings for another man. He was too good for her and Elise pitied the man. She was still going to go through the wedding when the time comes and tried to erase all feelings about Lancelot from her heart. After all, she is a Marlowe, and a Marlowe always follows the family duty. She had almost done it until her ‘brother’ joined the army and asked for her to visit on a daily basis under the pretense of ‘using her knowledge to help Red Army advance.’ Even if it was just a ploy, she was still happy and eager to help. That’s when she met Kyle through her ‘brother’ and had all the more reasons to visit the barracks. That’s when she had encountered Lancelot again one night in the hallway after having discussed with Kyle about new possible medical solutions. Seeing him again after years and exchanging just a few words had lit a flame inside her once again. Visiting barracks for work bacame the perfect excuse to see him again and have just a greeting between them. Now older and more mature, Elise knows she could never stand by his side as his choosen one but she still hasn’t given up on supporting him till the end. It’s was she has to do.

But so far, she hasn’t received any complains on sending him gifts again after all those years.