#blue revision post-canon

[catspores]

My favorite thing is drawing him like the world's most fucked up cat

[boiledprawn99]

revised my design 4 sebastian ^_^ pls click on the image to see it in higher quality!

design notes under the cut!!!!!!! vv

dna changes: -mantis shrimp: gills, lil details on tail, physical strength -spinyfin: fins (pectoral, pelvic + ventral), tail fin, scales -great white shark: fins (1st+2nd dorsal, ventral), nostrils, teeth/mouth, bite strength -sea snake: tail length, manoeuverability/speed on land/ in sea, venomous bite (?) -blue whale: fins (dorsal), size, tougher skin/scales -angler (mutated): eyes, angler lure, darker colouring + colouring suited to living in the Let-Vand Zone (darker underbelly), third eye -[redacted]: fuck if i know. third arm mibbie.

other: -webbed fingers -gills deformed around third arm -vivisection scar from surgeries post-mutation -slight scars from restraints during said surgeries -scars around third arm from accidents when first using it -his top surgery scars are gone :( -has four fingers, but five on his smaller arm

changes from canon: -changed tail fin shape from whale to spinyfin for faster swim speed -underbelly scales don't go down all the way -added more fins/fishy bits :3 -tongue isn't blue (bfr why would it be blue)

[selfindulgentpixies]

Part three is here and so begins the hidden inventory arc! This is extremely spoiler heavy and also jumps around a lot. Being caught up on the episodes or having read Gojo's past arc are a must for this to all make sense because while I will be covering some of what’s been shown just with reader now being there some stuff will get glossed over since I value my sanity.  Contains canon typical violence.

Satoru x Reader x Suguru

(GN!reader Be warned that reader is referred to as pretty and adorable at different points, as well as being notably short. I know for some that can cause dyphoria though it applies well to my own experiences and this at it's heart is very heavily self insert. Reader's CT is also talked about and used based upon what I imagine what mine would be and is part of the plot. I hope people are still able to enjoy this though since i've worked hard on it and it's the biggest project I've posted on here. Links to other parts are at the end.) Edit: Liek parts 1 & 2 some small revisions have been made but nothing major

Chapter 3: And so it begins

You’re flat on your back staring up at a clear blue sky, your chest heaving. “Tell me again why I can’t even use practice weapons when we train? Cause you know using weapons is kind of a big part of my cursed technique, Suguru-senpai.”

He chuckles at you and reaches for your hand to help you back up. You take it and he pulls you to your feet. “Because you might have to fight someone at some point who’s able to disarm you like I am, or who doesn’t give you a chance to summon your weapons, among the many reasons I could give you.” 

You puff out your cheeks and pout. “Not everyone is as good at hand to hand combat as you are, you’re one of the strongest-” 

He shakes his head. “There are plenty of strong opponents who will be able to put you on the back foot. I just want you to be prepared for that.” 

The look he’s giving you is a serious one and it makes you want to squirm so you rock back on your heels and shove your hands in your pockets. “That makes sense, I guess,” you relent and he gives you a small smile. Reaching out he gives your shoulder a small squeeze.  

“Suguru, you comin’? There still hasn’t been any word from Mei Mei and Utahime so we’re gonna go check it out.” Gojo’s voice calls down from the stairs leading down to the training field. Shoko is with him and she gives you a wave which you return. 

Smile widening just a bit, Suguru lets go of your shoulder. “Sounds like I’m needed elsewhere. Think about what I said and keep training alright?” And with that he’s walking away. 

You watch him go, and your eyes linger just a touch too long.

An arm rests on your shoulder. “You’re sure spending a lot of time training with Geto-senpai aren’t you,” Haibara says with an almost conspiratorial tone. 

Your face heats up. “He’s just helping me out. Like you said, it's training.”

Haibara hums and you hear another pair of footsteps approaching that you assume are Nanami’s. “I also heard you got invited to a movie night by him and Gojo-senpai.” He glances down at you with a knowing look that you don’t like. “Annnd that they were awfully touchy with you.” 

You wish the training field would swallow you whole or that a curse would appear and just end this conversation. “And who told you that exactly?” 

“We were out in the hall when Shoko-senpai came grumbling past us. We asked what was wrong and she said something about it.” Nanami says from behind you. 

Betrayal complete and utter betrayal. Your face burns with embarrassment. “So it’s true!” Haibara cheers. 

“Oh shut it, Haibara!”  

“Aww come on I want to hear about it from you! What happened after Shoko-Senpai left?’

“Personally I’d rather not hear about it.” You can practically hear Nanami’s eyeroll. 

Haibara turns to him with a pout. “Aww come on it-” he pauses and looks all around but doesn’t see you anywhere. Somehow you’d pulled a vanishing act. “Did you see where they went?” 

Nanami makes a noise in the affirmative but doesn’t say where you went. “Neither of you are being fun today,” Haibara says with a pout and puppy dog eyes that fail to sway the blonde boy. 

___

It’s a couple hours later you find yourself with a textbook balanced on your knees and scribbling notes on a notebook off to the side. You’d been doing your best to not to think too hard about that night. You probably were just reading too much into some teasing. The two older boys were together, you were sure of that much. What would they want to do with you as anything other than a friend? You’re grumbling to yourself with your chin tucked to your chest when you hear approaching footsteps and then your textbook is being lifted from your legs. Your head snaps up in time to watch Gojo snap the book closed. 

“Gojo-senpai, what are you-” You start to protest but he interjects “How’d you like to go for a lil trip with us?” Suguru is standing a little ways off behind him smiling and shaking his head.

__

Thus you found yourself trailing after your two senpai having the mission explained to you. Your brow furrows not really liking the sound of it. “She’s not that much younger than us.. I can’t imagine being told I have to just.. Cease existing and be okay with it.” 

“We talked about it a bit already. If she doesn’t want to, we won't make her.” You blink up at Suguru in surprise.  

“Bu-”

“Don’t worry, we’re the strongest so if she doesn’t want to we’ll make sure she doesn’t have to.” Gojo says ever confident. 

You truely hope they’re right. 

“Oh by the way… Does Yaga Sensei know I'm with you?”

A beat of silence. 

“Suguru-senpai, does he know?” You figure he’s more likely to tell you the truth. 

“Wait, you're calling him Suguru now?” Gojo’s voice sounds indignant, maybe even a little hurt. “You never call me by my first name.” He stops walking and fully faces you.

“Oh.. well uh he told me to, the other night.” 

Gojo looks back at Suguru who’s giving him a smug smile like he won something. Gojo whips his head back toward you, giving you a serious look and you stand a little straighter. “From now on you should call me Satoru,” he declares, thumb pointing at his chest before turning and beginning to walk again. 

You stand there in confusion for a moment watching the older boys walk away before it occurs to you. “Hey neither of you answered my question!” you yell and run to catch up with their long strides.

___

It turns out that no, they hadn’t asked permission to bring you along and Yaga hadn’t known you’d gone with them. How’d you find this out? Given how you’d been sticking to Suguru like velcro lately, which Yaga was partially to blame for, he’d had a hunch and had called when you hadn’t shown up with the other first years for a lesson. When you’d answered your cellphone and the two older boys heard you greet Yaga they both froze. 

“Ah yes i’m with them. Is something wrong?” A pause. You blink and pull your phone away from your ear to look at the screen. You tilt your head to the side. “He hung up on me?” 

Then Satoru’s phone begins to ring. He definitely looks like he doesn’t want to answer but does so reluctantly. Before he can even say anything he has to pull the phone away from his ear because Yaga starts yelling on the other end.  In the end he wants to tell them to immediately bring you back since he thinks they’re out of their depth already without having a first year with them but this mission is too time sensitive for that. You’ll just have to listen to them and be careful. Really they knew Yaga was going to find out and get mad at them for taking you along, they'd just kind of hoped he wouldn’t find out until after the fact since now he got to stew on it. They didn’t know what led to it but he’d become your guardian at some point before you enrolled at jujutsu tech and was particularly protective of you. You were always evasive about it when asked though.

___

You pout as you walk away from the sweets shop. “Is sending me on errands while we’re on a mission part of keeping me safe or was this why they brought me along in the first place,” You grumble to yourself as you put the nicely wrapped package of mochi and other goodies in your bag without stopping. Satoru should be right around here you think to yourself, tossing the bag back over your shoulder just in time for a large explosion. Your head whips toward the source of the noise and panic grips your chest when you see a girl flying through the air, that panic soon turns to relief though when through the smoke and falling debris you see Suguru catch her while riding one of his curses. You let out a little cheer but then suddenly someone is gripping your shoulder. 

“You’re another one of those jujutsu high brats, aren’t you?” A voice rumbles behind you.

You glance over your shoulder with narrowed eyes, not dignifying him with a response. He was dressed strangely like the men in the pictures you’d been shown of Q members.

He’s about to say something else when you grab the hand on your shoulder and bend back and break several of the man’s fingers. He pulls back with a howl of pain and surprise clutching at his broken fingers. ”You fuckin lil shit-” Before he’s even able to finish speaking you summon a lance that looks like a series of small linked hands and smack the blunt end across his head before swiping it under his feet on the back swing making him crash to the ground.

“Oi, __-chan you okay over there?” Satoru’s voice calls over to you. You look over and he’s leaning against a railing surveying you and the little scrap you’d just had. 

“Ah yeah I’m fine, Gojo-senpai.”

“I said to call me Satoru,” he whines in a way unbecoming of his age.

As you’re about to respond the man on the ground begins to get up only for you to bonk him on the head without looking. “Right.. sorry, Satoru-senpai.” You hop over the now dazed and prone man and make your way to Satoru who immediately ruffles your hair looking between you and the guy on the ground. 

“Don’t see why Yaga was so worried about you. You hold your own well enough,” he says with a grin. You swat his hand away and try to fix your hair though you can see from your reflection in his dark glasses that you’re only partially successful.Then you look around him and see another strangely dressed man, though this one has long hair. He’s already sprawled out on the ground along with dozens of twisted knives scattered about.  Satoru follows your gaze and grins. “If they’re all this weak we won’t have any problems.” He jerks his head toward the smoking building. “Let’s catch up with Suguru.”

Perhaps foolishly you thought he meant walking to the building and taking an elevator like a normal person. But no, suddenly you’re airborne, tucked under his arm. When you reach the smoldering hole in the building it’s with you flailing and telling him to warn you next time. 

“What're you scared of heights?” he looks down at you with a raised eyebrow.

A beat of silence is all the answer he needs before a big grin splits his face. “Oh you so are! That’s adorable. Don’t worry I’d never drop you-” You kick him in the shin which results in the two of you bickering until Suguru reminds you both of the situation at hand.

From that point on the mission feels like a bit of whirlwind, meeting Amanai, the attack at the school, Kuroi’s kidnapping. Things don’t seem to settle into a lull until now with you lightly dozing against Suguru’s shoulder on the beach. Truthfully you hadn’t meant to fall asleep but Suguru didn’t mind, he found it cute how you’d curled up against him in an oversized hoodie and bathing suit you weren’t even putting to use. He brushes a bit of hair off your face as he speaks to Kuroi. The world is all a muffle to you as you drift somewhere between wakefulness and sleep, at least until Suguru calls out to Satoru about it being time to go followed by him gently nudging you awake. Then softly in your ear, “You need to get up now, time for us to get on with the mission.”  You blink groggily and then as it occurs to you just where you’d been napping you sit up straight about to apologize, his smile tells you that you don’t need to and so the words never reach the air. As he stands he reaches for your hand and helps you to your feet. He looks toward your companions in the water as he releases your hand after giving it a gentle squeeze. “Satoru, it’s time.”

“Oh, it’s that time already?” He replies, stopping whatever game he and Riko had been playing. Even from where you’re standing you can tell she’s disappointed. Satoru is quiet for a moment as he looks her over. “Let’s head back tomorrow morning instead.” And just like Riko’s disappointment you can also see her elation. 

Suguru frowns. “But…”

 Satoru makes his way toward the two of you. “The weather’s holding steady, right? Besides… there are fewer curse users in Okinawa than there are in Tokyo!”He turns with dramatic flair. 

Both you and Suguru give him an unimpressed look and in unison admonish him. “Let’s keep it a little more serious, Satoru.” “Please take this seriously, Gojo-senpai.” Your use of his family name earns you Satoru’s hand on your head vigorously messing up your hair. 

“It’s better if the time limit on the bounty runs out while we’re still mid-flight, right?” His hand is still on your head while you try to swat him away.

“Satoruuuu-senpai!” Those seem to be the magic words and he lifts his hand off your head. 

Ignoring the antics going on between the two of you, Suguru leans in close to Satoru so only the two of you can hear him. “Satoru. You haven’t released your technique since yesterday, have you? You haven’t slept either. And you don’t plan on sleeping tonight, do you?”

This gets your attention and suddenly guilt curls in your gut for not having realized. He must already be tired.

“Are you sure we don’t need to go back to jujutsu high?”

Satoru’s fist lightly smacks into Suguru’s chest before he starts to walk away from the two of you.“It’s not a problem. Playing through 99 years of momotetsu was far more draining and besides, you’re here too.” 

You watch the small smile play across Suguru’s lips and sense how he seems to be reassured. For you as much as you have faith in the two upperclassmen you still worry. Particularly now that you know Satoru hasn’t taken any time to rest. 

All the same the only way you can describe the rest of the day is blissful. Not just spending it with the older boys but also seeing the wonder and joy on Riko’s face. It makes you wonder what her life before was actually like. 

Even for you who deals with what can only be called magic, the aquarium is otherworldly. It makes your chest swell with wonder and you take both Satoru and Suguru by the hand when they hang too far back and get them to hurry along with you. You chatter excitedly as you pull them along. With them behind you you don’t see the look they share or the look they send your way, a look full of fondness. Truly they both think that getting chewed out by Yaga later will be worth having brought you along.

Edit: Link to master list

I could have probably stretched this out further but I really didn't feel like writing out hidden inventory scene by scene when a lot of people will have probably just watched it. I hope it's still enjoyable. I Admit I was super tempted to combine part 3 and 4 together but I'm gonna work on part 4 a bit more and will probably release it this friday. I'm really excited for it. Hopefully this part stands well on its own.

@strawberrystepmom @nanamikentoseyebags @gojoest

@icy-spicy @porridgesblog

[bluedalahorse]

Blue’s self-absorbed YRS3 “revisions”

I’m someone who liked many parts of Young Royals season 3 and enjoyed it overall, but didn’t like other parts of it. As someone who enjoys breaking down story structure and character arcs and such, I’ve thought a lot since the season aired about what I would have done if the season had been in my hands and I’d been allowed to make revisions.

I decided to finally organize some of these ideas into a post. This post will be a bit broad, as I haven’t done a rewatch in a while, but I can see myself getting more specific after I do my annual Christmas-season rewatch of the entire series. (Soon!) So maybe that will show up later, in a future post. Or maybe it won’t and I’ll spend all my time writing fanfic.

These are, of course, solely based in my opinions, and my personal likes and dislikes as a writer. I’m sure there’s other ways the series could have gone. You might have different ideas of how to “fix” things for your own personal preferences, and that’s ok! This is a post that might appeal to some fans and have the opposite effect on others. But I figured I’d post anyway, because isn’t that what tumblr fandom is for?

Anyway, here are my unsolicited suggestions…

Part I. Return Felice to her investigatory roots

At the end of season 1, Felice got to be a detective and figured out it was August who leaked the video.

In season 2, Felice acts as Wilhelm’s sympathetic ear. (Wilhelm owes her compensation imo.)

I wonder about a version of season 3 where Felice could have been the gatherer of stories from her fellow Hillerska students. Not in a way where she’s solely doing emotional labor, but in a way where she’s trying to uncover the truth about the school and give the school inspectors the information they need to make their decision. Maybe she starts out thinking things at Hillerska aren’t too bad for most people, and her own negative experiences are a fluke. But the more Felice digs, the more she realizes the system has problems. This would integrate nicely with Felice coming to realize her friends are kinda fake, and rebuilding her relationship with Sara.

(I also would really love to see a conversation between Felice and Nils about what it’s like being two of the only students of color at the school, and in a “model minority” sort of way. Even an awkward, halting conversation. Ever since I read it in a fic snippet, I want MORE.)

I don’t love that they cut away from Felice’s interview in canon. I wish we’d actually gotten to see it, so we could feel the impact her testimony had. And maybe in a storyline where Felice is a more deliberate gatherer of stories, we can see her impact multiplied. I want her to feel like a key part of the decision to close Hillerska down!

Part II. Let Sara navigate an abortion storyline

I’m actually shocked this didn’t happen in canon. There were so many little moments that felt like foreshadowing for a plot where Sara is pregnant. On so many levels the show is about the line of succession to the monarchy, and also the question of whether or not we become our parents. What better way to make this question feel urgent and relevant than a storyline where Sara could be pregnant?

Obviously Sara’s feelings are the most important here, and I think it would encourage Sara to think about her own parents a lot and what she inherits them, the way she already is thinking about them in season 3. She’d also be processing her own shame and loneliness, and I think her potentially being pregnant might add to her reasons for self-isolating.

At the same time, this kind of plot would also add increased depth and stakes to Sara’s relationships. Sara and Simon? Both of them are becoming adults, and both experienced rather tumultuous first loves with some intense risk associated with them. Sara and Felice? Time to explore the role that women play in the class hierarchy, and how much emphasis is placed on reproduction in the Hillerska culture. Sara and August? August is still grieving his dad, so the notion of him potentially becoming a parent could throw him through an emotional loop. Pretty much all of these are grounds for rich storytelling! Again, I am shocked the writers didn’t choose this as a plot because it ties so many things together.

Of course there’s one relationship the show could choose to develop further…

Part III. Give Wilhelm and Sara a tie to one another

One of my biggest disappointments in season 3 is that Sara and Wilhelm didn’t get to build a relationship with one another in season 3. After all the time paralleling one another in seasons 1 and 2, it really felt like a letdown. They only exchanged one line!

Building on the idea that Sara could have started the season pregnant, I wonder what could have happened if—somehow, in episode 1 or 2–Wille walked in on Sara holding a positive pregnancy test. We’d have to somehow maneuver them into the same space, and that might be challenging, but I don’t think it’d be impossible. We can be creative!

What I was hoping for was a situation where Sara and Wille have a conversation about this, and Sara’s freaking out a bit, as she would be. And Wille actually manages to calm her down, and talks her through getting abortion pills and finds a way to stay with her on the day when she takes them. They see that day as a temporary truce between them, at first, though of course it allows them to open up to one another a little bit, and they begin texting even just a little bit, when they can. They agree to keep the abortion a secret, and promise to not even tell Simon about it. Of course, Sara opens up to the other main three over the course of the season, by her own choice.

If Wille helping Sara through an abortion storyline is too much, him helping her navigate a pregnancy scare could potentially hold similar emotional weight. I’d also like to see Wille meaningfully interact with a female character where it isn’t him and his mom in conflict, or him over-relying on Felice for emotional support without giving much in return. Like can we just have unexpected reproductive rights ally Wilhelm? As a treat?

Part IV. Give August and Simon a tie to one another

As I envisioned this Sara-Wilhelm scenario in my head, I realized it could be balanced out by a parallel storyline where Simon and August have to interact with one another in new ways. The season opens with the legal settlement between them, but it’s clear that the legal settlement doesn’t create catharsis. I actually like this decision. I wish we had gotten a chance to see Simon and August interact around their conflict, though, because the Simon-August conflict and the Wilhelm-August conflict were set up as two very different conflicts in season 1. By season 3 this had somehow become “Simon and Wilhelm together against August” which… I didn’t love. I’ve written about that before, so I won’t rehash it too much here.

So I asked myself what would happen if Simon and August were the ones who got into a fistfight in the library, instead of Wilhelm and August, and then it’s Simon and August who are thrown into mediation together with Boris. I get why Wilhelm and August were the ones fighting canonically, and it wasn’t a decision I hated. But in the universe in my head where Sara-Wilhelm interaction is happening, I like the idea of Simon-August-Boris interaction happening alongside it.

What follows is an opportunity for August to make real restitution to Simon, and for Simon to have a real chance to articulate how everything with the video on down affected him, and tell the truth to August. I’m basing this not in my own silly little thoughts, but in what I’ve read about restorative practice and how it can be used to work through these kinds of incidents. Simon and August don’t have to forgive and love one another and suddenly be besties, but it would be interesting to see them come to understand one another, especially given the things they have in common, and maybe talk more authentically. The scene where Simon notices August’s disordered eating tendencies during the sit-in would also have a lot more resonance if they’ve been in these mediation sessions together.

And then it could lead to my next idea…

Part V. Keep the Erik reveal, but change how it’s delivered

I know a lot of people didn’t like the Erik reveal. It was one of my favorite parts of the season, and built on a lot of what I imagined to be true about the characters. I cried when Malte delivered his monologue.

What if August doesn’t tell Wille it was Erik who oversaw the homophobic initiation? What if he tells Simon instead?

And then Simon is sitting on this piece of information knowing that Wille is grieving Erik, but that the truth could come out at any time, and it would hurt Wilhelm more. Simon is agonizing over whether to tell Wille the truth. Then, sometime during Wille’s birthday celebration, as the family tension escalates and Simon feels increasingly uncomfortable with the family’s verbal hagiography of Erik, he tells Wille.

Wilhelm is furious and breaks up with Simon in response. Simon leaves the palace. I feel like this would be an interesting twist on how their relationship has played out in the past—usually we have Wilhelm pursuing Simon and Simon setting boundaries, but now we have Wille shutting Simon out when Simon confronts him with something he needs to hear but doesn’t want to.

And over the next few days, Wille seeks out August and asks him, why would Simon say this? to meYou know this wasn’t true, that Erik wouldn’t do this, you were there. And August corroborates what Simon says, which leads him and Wilhelm into a difficult—but ultimately cathartic conversation—about what it means to grieve highly flawed people. Maybe there’s even a callback to their conversation from 1.4, where August talks to Wilhelm about grieving his dad. As a coda, August encourages Wilhelm to go and make an effort to win Simon back. August has lost his romance with an Eriksson sibling, so he knows how much the heartbreak hurts. He thinks Wille still has a chance with Simon, so he pushes him to do that. And thus the endgame endgames the way fandom wants it to.

In my mind this still leads to Wilhelm leaving the monarchy. It could even end in Wilhelm and August leaving behind the monarchy together, in solidarity. I’m leaving that open for now, but I like thinking about this as a storyline that could have been.

Thanks for reading if you read this far! I enjoy filling up my brain with these thoughts.

[nahualnextdoor]

Dark Wood Circus AU WIP (you know the drill, long post)

I was like halfway trough the digital sketch but then my pen died lol

Also, very early sketch:

Ok so this is the (very basic) idea this is based around. (tw suicide mentions)

Jamie (the girl from the Wail of the Banshee story) is the red girl that finds the Circus, and that ends up "joining" (aka being kidnapped by the chairman) at the end. I originally thought on having Six fill this role, as she also serves the purpose of the new girl in town, however I think Jamie fits better, as she's also a kid who got kidnapped by GHOUL. Part of the tragedy of the DWC is that she was a kid with a life and a family, whereas Six's story is that she never had one (in the show she finds them, in this case, not so much), so I think it works best for her to be one of the "Freaks."

Then, there's Luke, as the Blue Beast (Kaito). I'm not very knowledgeble on the revised DWC canon, but according to what I've found, Kaito is a werewolf, and his story is connected to the Moonlight and Black song (one might say that I actually came up with this idea after researching the revised DWC canon, listening to the songs the wiki listed as part of the saga, and going "omg this is so luke watson coded" when I heard MAB, wich inspired my previous Luke drawning and then led me here).

Uhhh, where was I? Oh, right, Luke. In this AU, instead of being kidnapped with his whole family, he's taken away from them alone (also GHOUL is the DWC, and instead of putting the monsters in communities, it puts them in freak shows, kinda like how Otto did in the books, or how Karla Black wanted to with her zoo on the show). I'm undecisive on whether I want it to happen during the Steven Black fight or during his birthday attack; on one hand, the fight is what originally got him to ScSt, and it would be pretty angsty for him to just never go home on a random day after school, his parents never figuring out what happened to him. On the other, it'd also be pretty traumatic for him to be taken away right after he attacked his dad, during his first transformation, and while still uncuncious, his parents watching the whole thing (kind of like what happened with Sue during Invasion of the Normals.)

There's also a thirds possibility that's been spinning around in my head of him running away on his own and then getting in the circus, but I'm also undecisive on this.

Now, the two headed twins, wich are cousins in this case. Resus and Kian would be filling the role of Len and Rin, respectivelly. Resus is the most grounded one, who understand the suffering of the circus, and who sees the pain of those around him, while Kian is blissfully unaware, just like Rin. But are they? It's kind of implied (and even if not, it's my personal headcanon) that Rin only says that the circus is fun and that she enjoys it to avoid punishment, and to convince herself that it's not as painful as it actually is. She has to, otherwise it'd drive her mad and suicidal like Miku. I think something similar can be applied to Kian, specially with the implication that the's sort of aware of what happened to his parents, but never puts 2 and 2 together. I think it's to protect himself, and I think that this behaviour makes him fit perfectly as the Rin head of two.

Next is Luella as the Deformed Diva (Miku). Again, I'm still not really sure of how the revised canon works, but back in my days (aka before Vocaloid Amino in spanish even knew there was a revised canon and novel, even tho it came out in like 2012), Miku was a prisoner her whole life, never knowing happiness or love or compassion, just cruelty as she remained behind metal bars, including those of the Circus. This kind of sounds like Luella to me, as she was born in ScSt and doesn't know the normal world (unlike Jamie or Luke). She's neglected by her mom, doesn't have friends and her relationship with Eeafa is rocky at best (until s2 at least). I think it fits her to be someone who never knew the freedom she longs, to the point where to her, that freedom may as well be death.

Finally, Frankenheart would take on the role of Haku and Neru(?) (or the tall lovers, as I call them). Since they were only created for the MV of the song they literally have no canon story, but that doesn't stop me from making shit up for my AU. As I said before, I think Six, despite also being a new girl in town, is better suited to fill a roll of a Freak, as, like Luella, she was "born" in ScSt and thus doesn't know what the outside is like, wich is the case for Miku, but not for the red girl. Cleo did know what freedom was, but that was so long ago, it as well never have happened. Ever since she became a mummy, she's been handed from GHOUL community to GHOUL community, so for this AU, that means from circus to circus. This would also maker her connect with Luella/Miku, as she was also handed from one prison to another, wich is how they can bond from their pain together.

I don't know the exact circumstances on how or why Six would be created, as I don't think she was built as a weapon to save another dimension here. Maybe she was just built to be a freak? I mean, there's a girl with the body of a goat and some guys who had their heads chopped and stichted together on one body, I don't think it's far fetched that a frankenstein monster exists on this circus. Would Dr. F be doing this on porpuse tho? Maybe. Again, Six's story is that she finds a family and friends when she originally wasn't created to do so, but in this version, that never happens. Maybe she wasn't built as a weapon, but neither as a daughter. If Dr. F. is working on the circus, then their relationship is more similar to how it was at the beggining of S2, and probably darker and/or colder.

Now, for the other parents: I think it'd be way too fucked up if the entire families were here (tho that's kind of what almost happens in the books), so i'd rather just leave the kids parentless. Maybe their parents live in the normal world in this timeline, just living in shadows, avoiding GHOUL for the risk of being put on the circus. At least, this would be true for Resus and Kian (heck, maybe his parents are alive in this timeline, so they loose him instead of him loosing them, wouldn't that be fun?). For Luella, I think Dhalia probably abandoned her, wich is how she ends up with Miku's life situation, going from the prison to the "hospital" where she gets deformed and then to the circus. Finally, for Cleo, she probably hasn't seen either of her parents in ages. Her mom since her toomb was scavanged, and her dad since she got taken to a GHOUL circus. Maybe they were taken together but were separated at one point, who knows. But for the last ten years, she's been on this one Circus.

Finally, for the chairman: Idk. But I do have four candidates, those either being Otto, Karla, Blechard (or whatever that bog fuck was called). and Greystock. First, Greystock and the bog one are the CEOs of GHOUL in the show and the books respectively, so it kind of makes sense? But then again, just how there are many GHOUL communities, each one with a mayor who isn't the CEO, they probably don't run this specific circus. As for Otto, he is the mayor of Scream Street and literally makes it his own freak show in the books, and Karla runs her Zoo of the Weird, so maybe they run the circus together, or he runs it and she's in charge of hunting down more attractions. It could also fit here for Dr. F. to also be working, being in charge of the weird-ening of the freaks. Or maybe she runs the "hospital" separetely, who knows. I think it's interesting to explore the idea of the characters who would run the ccircus, but also part of the creepiness of the DWC is just how mysteryous it is, and how little we know about it, only being implied but never explicitly shown or told (the chairman is literally only shown as a shadow), so I'd also like it to remain a bit vague, and not really get into the logistic of it.

In that case tho, GHOUL probably still needs multiple trackers to search for attractions, so besides Karla, I think Zeal Chillchase may also be here. And maybe, just maybe, he helps the kids escape and change things around like the books, assuming there's a happy ending for them (or fuck it, maybe he's a cold blooded bad boy who blindly follows the system and is doomed by the narrative to commit and suffer attrocities like everyone else lol).

And, uh... Dixon is the bus driver I suposse.

Thank you for listening to my autistic ramblings.

[softie-rain]

Like or Like Like

Pairing: Coriolanus Snow/Sejanus Plinth

Tags: possibly ooc - takes place two years before canon - coryo is weirdly nice - idk guys this is so lovesick and fluffy I'm not used to it

Summary: Having a crush on the handsome boy you share classes with has got to be the most embarrassing thing to happen to someone. Like, seriously: how do you hide it without failing? Or, Sejanus Plinth is caught staring at Coriolanus Snow during class.

Notes: inspired by the headcanon @incorrect-pipravi sent, which you can find here. Was supposed to be a small drabble and instead ended up 2k words (which is shorter than what I usually write anyway.)

Also damn I haven't posted my writing on tumblr since FOREVER it's been ages fr. So this is your reminder that other than bitching about coryo and sej I also write

you can read it on ao3 here

Sejanus kept staring at his reflection in the mirror, fixing his hair. He wasn’t one to usually care about his looks, as long as he looked decent enough to go out in public. But lately he felt like had to be at his best, even going as far as thinking of wearing his favorite sweatshirt (the blue one Coriolanus gave him for his fourteen birthday, he had been the only one to show up at the party he had organized), but the weather was definitely too hot for that one. Besides, the uniform was mandatory at the Academy.

“Sejanus, why are you still here? You have to hurry if you don’t want to be late!” His mother entered the room, looking at him with worry. Sejanus turned with an apologetic look.

“Don’t worry ma’. I’ll be fine.” He said. Mrs. Plinth nodded and walked over to him, patting him on his back.

“You look perfect, darling. I’m sure this secret girl you seem to like so much will adore you!”

“Ma’!” Sejanus heavily blushed, gently pushing his mother away in embarrassment. The old woman chuckled, smiling at her son.

“There’s no need to be ashamed of it. Everyone has their first crush at some point.” She said, trying to reassure her son. Sejanus wanted to laugh. Of course his mother didn’t know. There was no way she could have found out on her own, and he never said anything. She was convinced Sejanus was in love with a girl from the Academy, and he surely wasn’t going to be the one to break the news to her that said girl was actually Coriolanus Snow.

He wasn’t sure his ma’ would have minded actually. She thought Coriolanus was a good boy, and even his father appreciated him. Yet Sejanus had never told them the truth, and he wasn’t going to. Whether out of shame, or fear, it didn’t matter.

Sejanus shook his head, ignoring his mother’s comment. “I better get going now or, as you said, I’m going to be late. See you later ma’.” He said, waving at her as he walked out of the apartment.

After the short drive to the Academy he ran up the stairs rushing to get to class, even if there was no need to. They had assigned seats, he knew he'd end up sitting next to Coriolanus either way. But he also wanted to chat before class started, and Coryo always seemed to arrive awfully early, for some unknown reason.

When he finally got in the room he smiled upon noticing the curly haired boy with his head down in the textbook, probably revising for the lecture of the day. Coriolanus was a perfectionist like that, always studying, making sure everything he did was excellent, especially when it came to the Academy and his studies. Sejanus was pretty sure he had never failed one single class.

Clemensia Dovecote hadn't either, but she didn't put in half the effort Coriolanus did. Coriolanus Snow always worked much more than what was required, sometimes Sejanus wondered if it was because he wanted to be better than everyone else. Or maybe he just craved academic validation.

Either way, Sejanus thought it was extremely attractive. When he was always so carefully focused in class, and Sejanus so carefully focused on him. The way he'd bite his lip when he tried to get a particularly difficult subject, his small frown when he didn't understand something. A barely perceptible one, that he tried to hide to not show that he was confused but that Sejanus could see anyway. If he paid as much attention to the lesson as he did to Coriolanus he'd probably ace every class he took.

But Coriolanus was much more interesting than whatever Mrs. Click could ever blather about, right?

“Morning Coryo.” He greeted him, sitting next to him.

“Morning.” Coriolanus replied, without looking up from his book.

Sejanus bit his lip, trying to think of something to say to keep the conversation going. “What are you reading?”

“History of Panem.”

“You don't need to revise, I'm sure you'll do great as always.” Sejanus told him, smiling, thinking he'd complimented him. But Coriolanus sighed.

“That doesn't mean I'll stop studying for the exam.” He replied coldly, probably annoyed Sejanus interrupted him. So he nodded and left him to read, at least until Professor Demigloss arrived and started his lesson.

Sejanus tried to pay attention, he really did, but his eyes were drawn in as if by magnets to Coriolanus’ beautiful blonde curls that so gracefully fell on his face. Sejanus observed as he moved them away, his blue eyes focused on the board in front of him. He also noticed as Coriolanus started chewing on his pen while listening to Demigloss’ - rather boring - explanation.

Sejanus found himself wondering what it would have been like to kiss him, to have those lips on his. Would he have bit down on Sejanus’ lips the same way he was biting down the pen? Would he have been rough, or sweet and soft?

He always assumed Coriolanus was a rough lover, but he couldn't know for sure, maybe he would-

“Mr. Plinth, I believe the board is here and not where Mr. Snow is sitting.”

The professor's voice made him snap out of his lovefool trance, and Sejanus’ head immediately turned to face Professor Demigloss, who looked rather annoyed. He felt his cheeks grow warm, and he knew he was probably the same color as his Ma’ tomatoes when they were mature. He muttered an apology and looked down at his notes-less book, too embarrassed to meet anyone's eyes.

He could hear his classmates snicker, and he knew they wouldn't easily make him forget this. But, gosh, the worst were Coriolanus’ eyes on him.

Sejanus could basically feel his gaze, burning like his stare alone was setting him on fire, and he wanted nothing more than to get up and leave the room.

The rest of the class went on painfully slowly, Sejanus could have sworn it lasted hours. As soon as Demigloss dismissed them he instantly got up, packed his bag and left, ignoring Festus calling for him and rushing out before anyone else could make fun of him. Especially Coriolanus.

Truthfully he didn't think Coriolanus would. He never joined in with the others - especially Festus and Arachne - when they talked about him behind his back or made fun of him, ever since they were kids, so he didn't see why he'd start now. Either way, Sejanus couldn't stand the confrontation to test his assumption.

He tried to ignore Coriolanus the best he could the rest of the day, and he thought he managed. But then Coryo stopped him at the Academy entrance, right when he was about to leave once all of his classes were over.

“Sejanus? Can we talk?”

Sejanus shrugged, trying to play it dumb. Maybe if he pretended nothing happened Coriolanus would forget about it. “S-sure. About what?” He said, praying his voice didn't sound as high pitched to Coriolanus as it did to him.

“Uh, the history project we have to do? I thought maybe we could work on it together.”

Sejanus sighed in relief, covering it with a cough. He cleared his throat before raising his eyebrow. “History project?”

Coriolanus nodded. “Yes. Professor Demigloss talked about it today in class. Or were you too busy staring at me to pay attention to him?” He asked, grinning.

Sejanus started blushing, his eyes widening as his mind tried to come up with some excuse or at least a way to get out of that situation. His palms were getting sweaty and he could feel the panic rising up in his chest. “Oh, uhm, no. Obviously, I was listening. I was-”

“Sej relax. I'm just teasing.” Coriolanus interrupted him, his grin only growing wider. “So? What do you say about the project?”

Sejanus thought it was weird how Coriolanus didn't seem to mind it, but definitely didn't complain. If his friend was cool about it, then he was going to be as well. He nodded, avoiding eye contact. “Of course.”

“Great. It's due tomorrow so the sooner we start working on it the better.” Sejanus gave him a short smile, agreeing with him.

“I'd suggest going over at my place, but the cleaners are around today. They’re usually very invasive, I don’t want them scooping around while we study.” He explained, sounding annoyed. Sejanus nodded, understanding his problem. He had the same struggles with his own cleaners, though usually they left him alone when he asked.

“It’s okay, I get that. Maybe we could study at my place then?” He suggested, trying not to blush again at the thought of him and Coriolanus alone in his bedroom. Coriolanus didn’t seem to notice his struggles at keeping his cool and nodded, mumbling a ‘sure’ before following Sejanus outside where his driver was waiting for him.

Sejanus spent the drive to his house in silence, hoping his mother had gone through with her plan for the day and was out shopping. He wanted to avoid any awkward meeting between her and Coryo. But of course, when they got into his apartment, there she stood in the kitchen waiting for her beloved son. “Sejanus? Is that you?” She asked, walking over to them. Her eyes slightly widened in surprise when she noticed Coriolanus with him. “Oh! I didn’t know you were going to have friends over. Hi, Coriolanus.”

Coriolanus smiled at the woman. “Hello Mrs. Plinth. Sorry for intruding.” He said, giving Sejanus’ mother an apologetic look.

“Oh nonsense. I was about to leave anyway, I need to buy some new clothes for little Sej here.” She said smiling. Sejanus felt as if his skin was on fire at his ma’ words, and he could see in the corner of his eyes Coriolanus trying not to laugh.

“Okay well me and Coryo will be studying in my bedroom, see you later ma’.” He said quickly, wanting to get out of that situation as soon as possible. Once they got to his room they immediately started working on the project, neither of them wanting to waste any more time. Coriolanus shared his notes with Sejanus since he had taken none during class, too busy staring at Coryo.

The evening went on uneventfully, they spent most of it on the books with one snack break where Sejanus offered Coriolanus the cookies he had baked the day before, which the blonde boy seemed to most definitely appreciate considering the eager way he was eating them.

Sejanus was sitting on his bed while Coriolanus was at his desk, leaning on the chair. They were almost done with the school work when Coriolanus spoke. “Why were you staring at me?” Sejanus blushed and dropped his pen on the floor, immediately picking it up as if the falling object could have been a new source of embarrassment for him. “Earlier, in class.” He added, as if he needed a reminder of what Coriolanus was talking about.

“Uhm…” Sejanus didn't know what to say. He avoided the subject all day. He knew it was impossible for Coryo to forget about it so quickly but he wasn't expecting him to bring it up now either. Especially since he had sounded fine with the situation that morning.

Coriolanus must have noticed Sejanus was rather uncomfortable, because he immediately specified, “I'm not making fun of you for it. I'm just curious. Did I have something on my face?”

He was smiling, but Sejanus wasn’t sure it was meant to be a joke. More of a light comment to put him at ease. Though he didn't work he appreciated the effort, so much he thought Coriolanus deserved the truth, or at least half of it. Sejanus had never been good at lying anyway.

“No, nothing like that. Honestly? I was looking at your hair. And your eyes.” He confessed, avoiding the other's gaze.

Coriolanus frowned. “My eyes?”

“Yeah. They're very… blue. And pretty. It's like staring at the ocean, or the clear sky. Sorry, I know it's dumb. Just got caught up in my thoughts I guess.” Sejanus mumbled, drawing doodles on his hands as he tried to fight the urge to ramble out dumb excuses that would have led Coriolanus to realize he had a crush on him.

He had just admitted he thought his eyes were pretty, could it get worse than that?

Fortunately he didn't have to find out because Coriolanus simply nodded and dropped the subject. Sejanus didn't say anything either, but when he raised his eyes again and saw Coriolanus bouncing his leg nervously under the desk he could have sworn he saw his cheeks growing red, though he was clearly trying to hide it.

Sejanus smiled and looked down, going back to check his notes, when Coriolanus spoke again. “I like your eyes too.” He said, catching Sejanus by surprise.

“They're this dark brown color that gets lighter if you observe them under the sunlight. They look like milk chocolate chips.” Coriolanus commented, never once switching his position or raising his head to look at Sejanus as she talked. “I love chocolate.” He said, and it was clearly the end of their conversation on the matter.

He loves chocolate. He loves my eyes.

The thought kept playing loud in Sejanus’ head as he tried hard to stop his blushing, failing miserably. Maybe that day hadn't been so terrible after all.

[the-nosy-neighbor]

Phones (reformatted and revised)

I am working on converting a few early theory posts from a clunky format to a better format for Tumblr.  Today’s post is about phones.

Early Phone Concept Art

This is a non-canon design; however, I do believe that the image informs the development of the phone motif in the project.

The phone is primarily red, so we assume this is Wally’s phone.  At this point, we have the original 6 characters, (Wally, Barnaby, Julie, Frank, Poppy, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say Sunny.  I don’t have an exact date for the image or the change in characters from the original line up.  If it is the part of the development with Sunny, the Poppy has red feathers fully, but I can’t establish for sure which person is assigned what color at this point. But, assuming most of them are the same…)

1. Red:  Wally

2. Blue:  Barnaby

3. Pink:  Julie

4. Yellow:  Frank

5. Green:  Poppy

This sticker set confirms the colors:

Then we have three dots taped over, and two dots that are only black.  We can see in the sticker sheet that Sunny is orange, which is not included in the phone.  However, Sunny is not 6 as the sticker sheet appears, his name is upside down.  I posted about this during a discussion of Sunny himself.  Sunny’s name is upside down, so if you follow that to the conclusion, then Sunny is 9, not 6.  As we can see in the graphic above, the numbers 9 and 0 are crossed out.  Does that mean they moved?  Are they dead? Who else have we lost besides Sunny? Of course, I could be wrong about the 6/9 thing, which would make the taped over numbers be for people no longer with us. 

Black is a recurring theme, and I wonder if that spread and infection is telling us that people are becoming infected and then their color becomes black.  This would be for 9 and 0, not the taped over numbers. 

Also an early artwork with phones, and definitely at the point where those original 6 are the only characters.  The phones (red for Sunny, though his character is usually orange,=blue for frank.  If it were colors that were more considered opposites, aka compliments on the color wheel, this would make more sense, but I digress) presumably have a dot for each neighbor, for a total of 5, because their own color is not on the phone.  They go in the same order, but not in an established color order like rainbow.

Color assignments on phones based on theory pulled from the signatures, names, and updated phone list from the website:

1. Red:  Wally

2. Blue:  Barnaby

3. Yellow:  Frank

4. Pink:  Julie

5. Green:  Poppy

6. Orange:  Sunny

The arrangement of buttons on these phones are interesting, skipping over the number/color on the owner’s phone.  Sunny’s phone doesn’t have orange, and Frank’s doesn’t have Yellow.   They also have emoticons in the middle, but those could just be for the purposes of the opposites game.

More phone concept art:

The first image here is concept art for the phones that each of the neighbors have.  It emphasizes that each person has a phone, and that phones are very important to the neighborhood.  Whether that is connection, or we are thinking that they require this method of communication because they can’t leave the house after dark, it remains that phones are designed specifically for their owners.

Phone 1:  Barnaby, polka dots and fur color

Phone 2:  Julie, pink with scalloped edges

Phone 3:  Sally, celestial

Phone 4:  Wally, red, but also very plain

Phone 5:  Frank, yellow with his check circles

Phone 6:  Poppy, rainbow like her neck

Phone 7:  Eddie, post office hat and mail symbol

Phone 8:  Howdy, Caterpillar ears

At this point, the colors/phone connections seem verified:

In the text, it verifies that this phone is Wally’s:  “The packaging suggests that many versions of these phones were sold, each themed around one of the neighbors, but as of writing we have only been able to recover the Wally Darling themed phone.”

None of the phones show the dial colors with the exception of the business phones in the concept image.  As you can see, they have each color, and following the tradition in the opposite cards, instead of being left off, these phones have the phone’s owner blacked out.

In the canon images, the color of the dial is standard and in rainbow order with the exception of red, which has been moved to the last position.

The concept images are used on the back of the merchandise box, but only have some of the neighbors.  The front of the box has a red phone, and the exhibition has a red phone, so we can assume the box held the red phone/Wally’s phone.  The merchandise website also gives us clips for each neighbor, including the ones left out of this picture:  Home, Howdy, and Eddie.  Is it because they have work phones like above? I suppose we could assume Wally’s phone would serve as home’s phone as well. 

These two phones are canon.  One is from the merchandise page (left) and one is from the error 404 page (with the message:  You’ve strayed too far from home.)

One the left phone, the order goes:  Julie, Sally, Frank, Howdy, Poppy, Barnaby, Eddie, Wally.  There are two blank dots.

On the right phone, the order goes Julie, Sally, Frank, Howdy, Poppy, Barnaby, Eddie.  No Wally.  But this is Wally’s phone, so it is going back to that idea that the phone’s owner isn’t on the dial and is represented by a black dot.

[stepswordsen]

【KagePro】 KuroEne Chibi Commission by Hika 🖤💙🐍🐇

Kuroha (Saeru) and Ene Chibi Icon Commission by Hika (@/onigiwi2namayo)

Hika's Twitter: (X)

Hika's VGen: (X)

In accordance with Hika's Terms of Service (TOS), editing, using, or reposting these arts, in any way, is prohibited without explicit permission from Hika, and me, the commissioner.

Intro

Thank you to Hika for the lovely commission of my beloved KuroEne 🖤💙🐍🐇

I also commissioned Hika before to draw my KHR Yume (Canon/OC) ship of Xanxus and Selena ❤️💜 That will be posted soon, too 🥰

I don't mind giving permission if my mutuals want to use them. I'll most likely grant it, but you also need to receive Hika's permission if you do.

I commissioned Hika to draw Kuroha and Ene for my chibi icon commission! Hika initially drew the unhinged expression for Kuroha >:D And then changed to the version with the smug smile :]

I asked Hika to keep both expressions for the finalized versions since I loooove both 💞💘

Hika sent me the high-res files for the KuroEne commission 🖤💛💙 THEY'RE SO CUTE AHHH I'M SO HAPPY!!! MY CHILDHOOD OTP OF 10+ YEARS!!!

I LOVE THE COLOURS AND THEIR EXPRESSIONS... MY KAGEPRO OTP FOREVER!!! THE BELOVEDS

KUROENE WORLD DOMINATION 💥💥💥

Hika's chibi style is SO cute. I love how Hika draws eyes and expressions sm… Kuroha's new expression is SO cute OMGGG. I also LOVE the insane one very much <3 I love both! And Ene my wife is just the CUTEST AAAAA 😭💙💘💞

The thick round lines and simple blush and highlights works so well. God they look SO precious!!! And Hika's colour choices are fantastic.

I love the blue~ish tones Hika used for Kuroha's hair and how Hika used yellow and blue for the backgrounds to make the colours pop.

The dark blue BG works well against Ene's more muted blue hair. And I love the ice blue colour Hika chose for Ene's eyes ahhh…

Also ty to Hika for including both expressions~ The cute Kuroha and the insane expression are so nice ahhh. AND MY WIFE ENE'S ADORABLE EXPRESSION AHDSHDSHDSHDS

I put the Saeru twice for the sake of formatting

My Message

This was the message I left for Hika!

I love how the commission turned out... You drew their eyes and expressions so well~ 😭🥺

Your chibi style is very adorable! You draw such expressive chibis! They look so precious~ I also love the colours you chose and how well they pair with the BG colours. The thick round lines, simple blush and highlights are so nice in your style!

The colour choices are amazing ✨ I love the blue~ish tones used for Kuroha's hair, and how the yellow and blue background colours makes their colours stand out!

The dark blue BG works well against Ene's blue hair~ And I love the ice blue colour chosen for Ene's eyes! 💙

I'm so glad you were so accomodating with minor changes and revisions like colour changes and small details! I really appreciate it 🥰💘💞

Misc Rambles

WHEN HIKA SENT ME THE KUROENE CHIBI COMM OH MY GODDDD THEY'RE SO CUTEEEEEEEEEEEEEE 😭🖤💙

MY HEART RATE SPIKED WHEN I SAW THESE...

THEIR EXPRESSIONS PLEASEEEEEEEEE

ENE MY WIFE IS SO CUTE I COULD CRY

12 YEAR OLD ME WOULD BE SO PROUD OF ME RIGHT NOW… BE THE CHANGE YOU WANNA SEE IN THE WORLD 🤸

I KNEW HIKA WOULD DO THEM JUSTICE CRYING SCREAMING SHAKING ADKLSKLSDKLDSKLKLSDKLSDKL

Commission Rambles

KuroEne have some official art refs (official art, merch arts) that can be inconsistent in colours (ex. their headphones) so I also gave some notes and quick edits of official arts.

I sent these arts of Kuroha and Ene as my main refs 🖤💙

I sent more too, but I felt that since I'm commissioning chibis of them, that these arts simplify their designs nicely.

Kuroha and Ene Rubber Strap Charms by 1st PLACE

Kuroha and Ene from Cospa's Tsumamare Series (Pinched Series)

Concept Arts by Sidu from .dsd –Sidu illustration Works 2011-2015–

Scans by @/ayara-resara

Edit by me

Ene, Konoha, and Kuroha from Mekakucity V's

I did a little edit of their concept arts for fun. I mainly did it to get a clearer full body ref of Saeru to make it easier for the artists I'm commissioning

Takane/Ene and her bfs. All 3 of them /lh 🖤💛💙

My main focus is on 9/6 and XX/6, basically all related ships (KuroEne, HaruTaka, KonoEne)

Depending on the arts (including merch arts), Kuroha's clothes either get coloured with the same black colour, or with the inner clothes as a darker black.

I prefer when his inner clothes and boots, etc., are a darker black cuz it has more visual contrast against his design. It also differentiates the clothes more to have the outer shirt be a lighter gray black vs. the darker blacks in his hair and inner clothes.

His entire design is in dark colours (black, gray), and the gold in his eyes and facial markings cuts away from that. Yellow is a bright vivid colour.

Though it makes sense in MVs like Outer Science and some official arts/merch why his outer and inner shirts are the same colour to not distract from the mood/atmosphere, and also in pieces/merch that use a limited colour palette

For the FIRST time, I finally get to see that Kuroha art in full and not in crusty quality for once. It's a happy day for me

She is TINY compared to them... Haruka/Konoha/Kuroha is 182 cm (6'0") and Ene is 157 cm (5'2") or 640 px tall... Portable gf. They could put her in their pocket

Interesting that Ene's thigh highs were originally asymmetrical in the concept arts. The finalized design definitely fits her more.

Simplifying Ene's headphones is completely fine with me cuz of the rectangular part on it...

The rest of my rambles are under the cut as usual! ✨

Commissions

Whenever I commission artists, I send a detailed description of the characters' relevant design details, poses and expressions, etc., in the form itself.

Then I attach all necessary art refs in a Google Drive Folder and then send the link to the artist.

Because I know that sending a lot of art refs and a detailed description, just makes things easier for the artists you're commissioning.

My commission request forms tend to look like this

Commission Request

Characters

Series/OC (if applicable)

Design Details (for each character)

Poses and Expressions (Artists can ask for these to help guide their art process, but otherwise I just leave it up to the artist)

Other Notes (Simplifying details, especially for chibis, is perfectly fine with me)

VGen Rambles

VGen's site layout and format are honestly better than Ko-fi's imo

VGen has a REALLY nice UI for commissioning artists... I prefer it over Ko-fi when it comes to commissioning artists.

It shows all your commission requests in an organized format, and it has a really good commission request form, where the artist can send invoices.

VGen lets you upload more files and links as art refs. It's better than Ko-fi's in that it allows you to upload more files and add links. Iirc, I think Ko-fi's has a limit of 5

The artists can DM with their clients on VGen directly, and also leave files in high quality directly on the commission form after completion

There's also a review section, typically the artist leaves a review for the client and the client can give one. I always leave a message for the artist after the commission is done to show my gratitude 🥰

[catspores]

Happy Fat Fuck Friday to the HLVRAI yuri people put there, here's some Butchrey

(Titty out version under the cut)

I need him so bad

[prismsassortmentofocs]

(OOC: @prismaticstarshch here again lol

this is more or less a "master blog" for all of my OCs, any of the ones with hyperlinks attached to their names already have separate RP blogs

anyways, rules:

Respect basic DNI

No NSFW, suggestive is fine though

Shipping/romantic asks will be approached with discretion as some of my OCs who will appear here are either already being shipped with other characters or are siblings

Notes on in-character stuff:

Characters will have names appear before their in-character text if there are multiple who share the same text color present

Actions will be written in third-person if multiple characters are present

In-character posts will be tagged with the name(s) of the character(s) who appear in them

OCs available for asks (sorted by fandoms):

Arcane Odyssey (some info can be found here)

Abigail Quill (protagonist stand-in, she's the one to ask about canon stuff!) (she/her)

Aisha Sectonia (she/her)

Zoey Yagami (she/her)

Aura Moonsilver (she/her)

Amber Winchester (she/her)

Elvira Rivers (she/her)

Cleo Tempest (she/her)

Sirena Corvus (she/her)

Novalie Archon (she/her)

Phighting (some info can be found here)

Bow, Phoenix, and Heartsong (all she/her) (Thieves' Den, Lost Temple, and Playground, respectively)

Pickaxe (she/her) (Lost Temple)

Hex (he/him) (Blackrock)

Gatling Blaster (she/her) (Blackrock)

Crimson (she/her) (Blackrock)

Candy Bomb (she/her) (Playground)

Mallet (he/him) (Playground)

Flamethrower (he/him) (Playground)

Terra (she/her) (Thieves' Den)

Revolver (he/him) (Lost Temple)

Obsidian Pickaxe (she/her) (Lost Temple)

Emerald Pickaxe (she/her) (neutral)

Ghostsong (she/her) (neutral)

Seasong (she/her) (AU ver. of Playground)

Stormbow & Captain Pickaxe (both she/her) (nameless small faction)

Starry Sky AU Collective (pronouns provided in pinned) (varying factions)

Regretevator

Starla (she/her) (info) (appearance)

Pressure

Angelle Grant (she/her) [ARCHIVED]

Terraria Calamity

Dianna Whitlock (she/her)

World of Magic (A Rewritten Ver.)

Adrista Grey (she/her)

Aiza Drake (she/her)

Emma Dove (she/her)

Murder Drones

Prismas Dueller (she/her)

Serial Designation Iota (he/him)

Serial Designation Sigma (she/her)

Cave Story

Ellipsis (she/her)

Blue Heater 2

Penny Ainsworth, Azura, Amery, and Claricia (she/her for Penny, Azura, and Claricia; he/him for Amery)

Roblox RP Game Characters

Alicia "Alice" Mallory West (Lunar Will) (she/her)

Chance Dalton Porter (Lunar Will) (he/him)

Adrienne Cade (Globelore 2) (she/her)

Asthenia (Globelore 2) (she/her)

Yumeko Kato (Zaibatsu) (she/her)

Kara Sakura (Zaibatsu) (she/her)

Juniper Browning (Zaibatsu) (she/her)

Mari Jones (Zaibatsu) (she/her)

Lapis Cabochon 6, "Nia" (Gem Galaxies) (she/her)

Peridot 5XR, "Arbor" (Gem Galaxies) (they/them)

Amazonite 6AJ, "Sage" (Nia & Arbor's fusion) (Gem Galaxies) (she/them)

Rhodochrosite 2CR, "Flora" (Gem Galaxies) (she/her)

Angelite Cabochon 12, "Celesta" (Gem Galaxies) (she/her)

Bumblebee Jasper 6XB, "Bee" (Gem Galaxies) (he/they)

Non-Fandom

Red (Sparks of Dissent) (she/her)

Demetria "Demi" Walker (Sparks of Dissent) (she/her)

Marcelyn "Marcy" Byrne (Sparks of Dissent) (she/her)

Soleil (The Aether Project) (she/her)

Aletheia (The Aether Project (she/her)

Sariel (The Aether Project) (she/her)

Uriel (The Aether Project) (he/him)

Gabrielle (The Aether Project) (she/her)

Raphael (The Aether Project) (he/him)

Michelle (The Aether Project) (she/her)

Nadira, High Lady of the Aetheran Corruption (The Aether Project) (she/her)

Nihilida, the Tainted General (The Aether Project) (she/her)

Mackenzie Ambrose, High Lady of the White Court (The Aether Project) (she/her)

Johannes Dragonhardt, High Lord of the White Court (The Aether Project) (he/him)

Rosa Ardenti, High Lady of the Lucidus Order (The Aether Project) (she/her)

Mae Meadows (The Elysium Academy) (she/her)

Raven Quincy (The Elysium Academy) (she/her)

Astaroth Caelus (The Elysium Academy) (she/her)

Suzuko Tanaka (The Elysium Academy) (she/her)

Korina "Kori" Johnson & Angelle Grant (revised ver.) (Sparks of Dissent) (both she/her)

Starfarer Lyra (Project: Celestial Apotheosia) (she/her)

Starfarer Lucia (Project: Celestial Apothesia) (she/her)

Huntress Avalon (Project: Celestial Apothesia) (she/her)

Luna Harper (Project: Celestial Apothesia) (she/her)

Lenora (Cosmic Convergence) (she/her)

PD!Red/"Ignia" (Parasitic Dreams AU) (she/her)

Science Fantasy AU Red (Nameless science fantasy aftermath timeline) (she/her)

Komasa & Reviela (The Aether Project) (both she/her)

Lunae Lumen!Red (Lunae Lumen) (she/her)

Some important dynamics info and other notes:

Abigail is in a canon x OC ship with Edward Kenton

Abigail is enemies with Aisha

Cleo is Aisha's quartermaster

Zoey, Aura, Amber, and Elvira are part of the same crew, of which Zoey is the captain

Aura is Zoey's quartermaster and girlfriend

Elvira is apothisexual (sex-repulsed ace)

Prismas and Iota are dating

Sigma is aroace

Sariel, Uriel, Gabrielle, Raphael, and Michelle are siblings (Sariel and Uriel are twins, with Sariel being slightly older and Uriel being slightly younger, Gabrielle is the second-oldest, Raphael is the oldest, and Michelle is the youngest)

Alice and Chance are dating

Nia and Arbor are lovers

More will be added at some point, this is just what I'm starting off with lol

oh and btw- OC lore will be provided on an "as we go" basis, there is way too much for me to just write out and summarize without getting burnt out)

[jotatetsuken]

Shyna’s Summer Commissions

When I was planning this, it was supposed to be spring commissions, looks like procrastination has kept me busy af xD /hj /lh

Slots: 1/10 (OPEN, will roll out again once I am done writing, and this will go until 31st August, 2023)

Anyway, so, as much as I don’t want to admit it, here’s what’s happening: I have an educational loan to pay; two in fact, and while my father and I have been paying them diligently, he’s just turned 64... and I want him to not work anymore, and enjoy his retirement, y’know? The problem: my IT job does not pay enough per month and we’re currently on talks on reworking the appraisal (as I received minimal increment this year). So, this is something I want to do to help alleviate financially.

I know I can’t work on a lot with a ton of WIPs that I have, so I will have 10 openings for now so that I don’t overwork myself, and I will keep doing so throughout this summer, which means this will get over by 31st August, 2023. I also have a goal on Ko-Fi incase you want to donate to that as well. In case you can’t pay, but still want to spread the word by reblogging, you are more than welcome to do so <3

Now for the rules:

Only available for those who are 18 and above. (which means if you are a minor, please DNI with this post, please)

Payments will have to be made through Ko-Fi and Paypal only. For those based in India, we can discuss other alternatives (Paytm, PhonePe, etc, else the usual.)

If you’d like a Canon x OC fic, I will need every info about the OC, the background, traits, backstory, abilities, etc. If it’s a reader insert, I will need the same, so that it will help me write better. Picrew/art references are also appreciated. I can also write selfship fics too.

For reader inserts, I will only write female readers, afab readers, and gn!readers (only for sfw commissions).

I am available to talk via Tumblr DM or Discord (the latter, if you are a mutual)

Only two revisions allowed.

The teen characters (Itadori, Megumi, Nobara, Asta, Yuno, Noelle, all the Blue Lock and KNB characters, Josuke, Okuyasu, etc) will be aged up or post timeskip (like Haikyuu).

Details under the cut (Minors DNI with the post):

Pricings: Because I am just starting out, I checked a couple of my mutuals who are commissioning too, and pricing will be based on word count: $1 for 100 words, and I will start out at a minimum of 500 words and a maximum of 2500 words (will increase my limit when I feel more comfortable writing longer fics).

$5 - 500 words, $10 - 1000 words, $15 - 1500 words, $20 - 2000 words, $25 - 2500 words.

Fandoms: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (current fixation haha), Haikyuu, Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on Titan, Black Clover, Blue Lock (only the anime, haven’t read the manga yet), Kuroko no Basket

What can I write?: canon x oc, selfship, canon x f!reader/afab!reader/gn!reader (gn! only for sfw commissions), AUs (please specify the AU because I may not be familiar with everything), nsfw, dubcon, polyamory

What can I not write?: Stroheim (JJBA), Pucci in NSFW scenarios, certain kinks, characters other than the ones that I mentioned I will write

Tagging to spread awareness: @sugardaddyreo @chronic-claire-universe @cyberparadis @romiyaro @strawberrystepmom @bizarrebankai @jctaro @ilyluffy @litepowee @jellyluchi @mapesandoval @magthemage @papersirens @amberswords @uminozerol @thoughtfullyrainynightmare @arcanestage @spookysinner45 @scary-monsters @peachsayshi @theschneckenhouse @aeons-domain @mrsgiovanna @fuwushiguro @aizenhours @i4sgwr @sookisaurus @millionsknive @gojoest @amidalashandmaidens @tsutsumies @jojolovenotes @shaylistic @flowers-n-felines

[deke-rivers-1957]

Masterlist

Plenty of content to read!

Film Reviews - Will be updated as I go.

Love Me Tender - The first film review and something I might revise one day. GI Blues - Elvis' first film post Army. Loving You - My personal favorite film that I reviewed so far. Girl Happy - The first film reflecting the decline in production quality. Jailhouse Rock - The most iconic Elvis film. Paradise, Hawaiian Style - Drums of the Islands alone makes it worth the watch. Clambake - I still have no idea if this movie is good or bad. Roustabout - This movie had one of the best soundtracks with the worst story which is mind boggling. Wild In The Country - This is the first movie so far that I just had no inspiration when reviewing after watching. Kissin’ Cousins - Somehow the most balanced movie of good and bad elements. Kid Galahad - An underrated Elvis movie that deserves a lot more attention. It Happened at the World's Fair - A great concept that's a nightmare to execute well. Change Of Habit - The final Elvis movie that's very inconsistent in tone and poorly attempts to take on the 1969 political climate. Girls! Girls! Girls! - A very refreshing story even though it's overloaded with poorly spaced songs. Charro! - Very good scenery and character acting brought down by easily avoidable plot holes. Fun In Acapulco - Good premise but just doesn't do enough to stand out at this stage of the game. Blue Hawaii - "They had us in the first half not gonna lie" but as a positive. Tickle Me - Awful title but a quite humorous low budget film that falls short in the romance department. Flaming Star - A tragically flawed story that ends as suddenly as Pacer's life. Harum Scarum - For a movie that has a lot going on, not even Elvis can find it in himself to care about anything.

ECU Bio Cards/ Fighting Tier List - Canon to the movies only

Clinton Reno Bio Card - The first bio card and has been revised to look cleaner. Deke Rivers Bio Card - Half of this is my profile pic. Vince Everett Bio Card - The hardest one to make a head canon for. Kung Fu Elvis Part 1 - Tier list covers LMT through Girl Happy. Vince Everett's Rank - An individual breakdown of where Vince would rank in a fight. Danny Fisher Bio Card - Experimented with adding color gradients. Rick Richards' Rank - An individual breakdown of where Rick would rank in a fight. Tulsa McLean's Bio Card - The entire background was colored with a trackpad. Pacer Burton's Bio Card - The background was edited using Canva's ai editor. Glenn Tyler's Bio Card - The entire background was edited using Canva's ai editor. Scott Heyward's Rank - An individual breakdown of where Scott would rank in a fight. Chadwick (Chad) Gates' Bio Card - Experimented with layering. Toby Kwimper's Bio Card - My favorite one. Walter Gulick's Bio Card - Stylized like a boxing poster. Charlie Rogers' Rank - An individual breakdown of where Charlie would rank in a fight. Kung Fu Elvis Part 2 - Covers JR through Roustabout. Ross Carpenter’s Bio Card - An attempt to have a nautical theme. Glenn Tyler's Rank - An individual breakdown of where Glenn would rank in a fight. Josh Morgan and Jodie Tatum's Rank - An individual breakdown of where the cousins would rank in a fight. Walter Gulick's Rank - An individual breakdown of where Walter G. would rank in a fight. Mike Edwards' Rank - An individual breakdown of where Mike E. would rank in a fight. Kung Fu Elvis Part 3 - Covers WITC through IHATWF. Dr. John Carpenter's Rank - An individual breakdown of where Dr. Carpenter would rank in a fight. Mike Edwards' Bio Card - Experimented with filling in the empty spaces based on Sue-Lin having a flower on her hat. Ross Carpenter's Rank - An individual breakdown of where Ross Carpenter would rank in a fight. Jess Wade's Rank - An individual breakdown of where Jess Wade would rank in a fight. Mike Windgren's Rank - An individual breakdown of where Mike Windgren would rank in a fight. Kung Fu Elvis Part 4 - Covers COH through FIA. Mike Windgren’s Bio Card - I experimented with the formatting and color corrected the sky using a trackpad. Chadwick (Chad) Gates’ Rank - An individual breakdown of where Chad Gates would rank in a fight. Lonnie Beale's Rank - An individual breakdown of where Lonnie Beale would rank in a fight. Pacer Burton's Rank - An individual breakdown of where Pacer Burton would rank in a fight. Johnny Tyrone's Rank - An individual breakdown of where Johnny Tyrone would rank in a fight. Kung Fu Elvis Part 5 - Covers BH through HS. Jodie Tatum's Bio Card - I really wanted to make it monochromatic so his red shirt pops.

ECU High - An installment series that absolutely must be read in order

ECU High School AU Part 1 - Discusses Clint through Jodie. ECU High School AU Part 2 - Discusses Lucky through Dr. Carpenter. ECU High - Clint's Arrival - It's the first day of Clint's freshman year. ECU High - Deke's Adventure - Deke realizes that it's not always rainbows and butterflies in high school. ECU High - Vince's Attitude - Vince is a jerk and no one can stand him. ECU High - Danny's Ambition - Danny just wants to get out of poverty like the rest of the seniors. ECU High - Tulsa's Badge - Tulsa loves authority a little too much. ECU High - Pacer's Bereavement - Pacer and Clint become best friends. ECU High - Glenn’s Books - Glenn goes to therapy. ECU High - Chad's Business - Chad wants to open a Marina but doesn't know what he's doing. ECU High - Toby's Cool - Toby has a natural skill of dealing with highly emotional people. ECU High - Walter's Captaincy - Walter reflects on what makes a good quarterback and whether he's deserving such a position. ECU High - Ross' Challenge - Ross struggles to survive but things are starting to look up for him. ECU High - Mike's Circumstances - Mike Edwards feels wary about babysitting Sue-Lin when he has plans. ECU High - Mikey's Dare - Mike Windgren really needs his glasses no matter what he says. ECU High - Jodie's Deal - Jodie makes a deal with Coach Wade and Toby.

Fanfics and One Shots - Includes AI Chats and non-canon stories

Everything that I've written so far can be seen here:

Also if you would like to be tagged on a future movie review and have not yet down so this is the tag list I use as a guaranteed starting point.

[goldenlaurelleaveswrites]

Juleka vs. the Forces of the Universe ch 15

Juleka vs. the Forces of Chat Noir 

Juleka vs. the Forces of the Universe (AO3) 

Hi everyone!!!

I wanted to start out by thanking you all so much for your patience and ongoing support. 💖💖💖💖 I honestly thought I would get this chapter posted ages ago because it was 90% written before I started my spring semester. But then, (to absolutely no one's surprise) I ended up being very ambitious with the central project of my entire semester. That ate up pretty much all of my time and mental energy, which was why this ended up getting so delayed. But, I am now finished the semester on Friday and I spent yesterday finishing writing, and today revising. And now, here it is!!!

This chapter has been a long time coming (parts of it have been written for over a year 😂) and I'm so excited to finally share it with all of you. It ended up being way longer than expected, so make sure to settle in because it is a very long one.

A last bit of housekeeping. My eternal love and thanks to the my LBSC friends for cheering me on. Also a bug thanks to Min and Rierse for helping me remember what happened with some of the canon akumas and saving me from having to rewatch episodes. Finally, a huge thank you to Ver for talking me through all of my spirals and self-doubt I had with this chapter. Y'all are the best and I love you 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

With all that being said, again, thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoy the chapter!!! 💖💖💖💖💖

_______________________________________________________________________

The air was warm, but there was a soft, cool breeze slipping through the city, ruffling her hair and carrying with it the sounds of the city at night. The sun had just dipped below the horizon, and the warm light of the golden hour had been replaced by the dusky blues and violets of twilight. In the approaching darkness, the skyline twinkled with the lights of the city, now come to life. It was a gorgeous evening. A perfect June evening. Except… 

Where was he? 

When Ladybug had shown up on the Liberty, it hadn’t come as a complete shock—though she hadn’t been expecting her quite so soon— what with her and Marinette’s little talk in the shoe store. Honestly, she had been flattered when she had realized Ladybug had been thinking about entrusting her with more responsibilities. And she was only too happy to fill in for Ladybug for patrol for the next couple of weeks. She was just glad Marinette was taking the time to work on something for herself. And patrolling with Chat Noir would be… fine. 

Probably. 

Maybe. 

Hopefully…

And where was he anyway? 

He was fifteen minutes late now and she couldn’t exactly start patrol without him. Well, she probably shouldn’t start without him, given this was her first patrol. But if he wasn’t there in another five minutes, she was going to start without him anyway. She wasn’t about to let Ladybug down. Not when she had come to her for help. 

And not when she had looked so relieved when she had agreed to the favour. 

She leaned back on her hands and looked up at the sky, painted with the promise of the oncoming night. The breeze ruffled her hair again, and she sighed.  

She could definitely get used to evenings like this. 

It was such gorgeous evening, she could just sit forever. But she had a job to do. And if relaxing on a rooftop on an evening like this was this wonderful, racing across the rooftops had to be even better… 

She was just pushing herself to her feet when the soft thud of boots hitting the roof flicked at her ears. As she rose fully to her feet she turned to find Chat standing behind her, staring at her. 

“Oh. It’s you,” he said flatly. 

“Excuse me?”  

Instead of answering, her tapped on his baton and a section of it slid open to reveal his communicator. He started tapping on the screen; she watched as his eyes scanned back and forth as if he were reading something. “I thought she was trying to make a joke,” he mumbled, a frown creasing his face.

“About…?” 

He didn’t look up from his communicator. “About her calling in someone else to patrol.” 

“And why would she joke about that?” she asked, crossing her arms as she watched him type out what she assumed was a message to Ladybug. 

Finally, he looked up from his screen to meet her eyes. “Because it’s our thing.” He had left the word ‘just’ unsaid, but it was plenty clear in his voice. 

“Well, I’m standing in for her,” she said tartly. He hadn’t even been here five minutes and already, her patience was waning thin. Maybe she should have just started patrol without him…  

“You can go home,” he said brusquely, “I can easily handle patrol myself,” he grumbled. “I don’t need your help.” 

“I’m here, like she asked me to be” she snapped. “Now come on, we’re already starting late enough as it is.” 

Petty? Yes. 

Did she care? No. 

Chat shot her a sour look, and then without waiting, he launched himself into the air and toward the next roof over with his baton. 

But it didn’t matter. 

She would have no problem keeping up. 

                                                               ***

The night air whipped at her face as she raced across the rooftops and sailed through the air. Her feet barely touched the shingles as she tore across the rooftops. And she swore she flew just a little bit higher with every leap into the air. The speed with which they were racing was… exhilarating. 

Even if it was so plainly obvious that he was trying to show her up. Or leave her behind. 

Knowing him… it was probably both. 

He glanced over his shoulder at her, his mouth settling into a tight line at the sight of her keeping pace with him. As soon as he landed, he used his baton to launch himself into the air in an attempt to pull ahead. 

Like it was some sort of race. 

But she wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction. 

And if he wanted to play stupid games? 

She pulled her bolas from her waist and spun them, not missing a single step as she whipped them out to latch onto some scaffolding ahead of Chat. The air whistled past her as she swung through the air, pulling ahead of Chat. 

He would have to live with winning stupid prizes. 

                                                          ***

Ladybug was already waiting for her in amongst the pile of stuff in the shadows of the stage’s scaffolding by the time she made it home from patrol. She dropped down onto the deck and ducked into the cover of the chaos of the the junk her ma refused to part with. 

“How did it go?” Ladybug asked in a low voice. 

“Good,” she murmured as she dropped her transformation. It had been good. Other than all the business with Chat…

Ladybug must has seen her thoughts reflected in her face, because her brows furrowed and her eyes were suddenly glimmering with concern. “If you don’t have the time, or if it’s stressing you out you don’t have to-“

“It really was fine,” she promised, grasping Ladybug’s hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze as she haded her the panjas bracelet. “Chat just… he wasn’t thrilled I was the one he was patrolling with.” 

Something akin to the beginning of a grimace crossed Ladybug’s face. “I’m sorry about him. I told him… but I guess I should have given him more warning or something.” 

“You told him. That should have been enough.” 

“Yeah, well…” Ladybug said noncommittally. “Other than that, things were ok?” 

“More than ok. It was actually pretty nice. Good way to blow off some steam.” 

Ladybug laughed quietly, nodding her head. “Yeah, it is.” The laughter faded from her face, replaced by hesitancy. “I know I asked you to cover my patrols with Chat for me, but I was wondering… would you- would you be comfortable covering my solo patrols as well? It’s just, I- I’m working on a really tight deadline with this project and it’s really important to me,” she explained, her words tumbling out in an ever increasing tempo as she wrung her hands. “The first one isn’t until the end of the week so you would have some time to adjust. And if you needed anything I would just be a message away! My kwami can received messages even when I’m not transformed so if there were any issues or you felt overwhelmed I could-“

“It’s no problem.”

Ladybug’s whole body heaved with her sigh of relief. “Thank you, Juleka. You have no idea what this means to me.” Oh, she had a pretty good idea… “And I’m sorry to ask you in the first place. I would just get Chat to do solo patrols until I’m done but-“ Ladybug hesitated, obviously debating with herself. But then she sighed again. “I would feel better if I had someone I trust patrolling with him…”  

“I won’t let you down.” 

Ladybug’s eyes darted down to the panjas bracelet before returning to meet her own, a smile curling across her face. “I know.” 

                                                            ***

Chat was already waiting on the rooftop by the time she got there. He was perched on the edge of the roof, one leg dangling over the edge of the roof, with the other propped up so his hand could rest easily on his knee. He was leaning back on his other hand, and his face was tilted towards the sky so that his features perfectly caught the last of the golden rays. 

He was the picture of casual elegance and charm. 

Easy. 

Effortless. 

And totally practiced. 

She recognized the pose from one of the ads that had been plastered across the city a while back. 

After the her first few outings as Purple Tigress, she had gotten the hang of landing silently, no matter the force with which she had jumped or fallen. But she let herself land with a soft, but still audible thud. 

“M’lady-“ he began so say as he turned, his face already breaking into a suave smile before his gaze landed on her. His smile immediately fell. “Oh. It’s you again.” 

“It’s me again,” she agreed as she made her way towards him. But he ignored her in favour of turning back to look over the city as he pulled up the communicator in his baton. He began typing furiously, and a second later, she heard the familiar sound of an outgoing message. Followed by another. And another. 

“So…” she said slowly, drawing the word out, “are we going to patrol or…” 

“I’m waiting for Ladybug.” 

“She isn’t coming,” she sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “That’s why I’m here, remember?” 

“That was last time,” he said, still typing on his communicator. And still pointedly not looking at her. 

“And this time. And all her patrols for the next couple of weeks.”

Another chime of an outgoing message rang from his phone, and his fingers stilled over the communicator. Then he snapped it shut and stowed it on his belt before standing. Finally, he turned to look at her with pursed lips and an exaggerated sigh. “Look, you’re a temp,” she raised her brow, and crossed her arms for good measure, but he continued on, completely undeterred. “And you’re still pretty new at all of this. But there’s something you need to understand.” 

“And that is?” 

“Ladybug and I… we’re in this together.” 

“And now I’m in it too.” 

“No,” he said, a hint of laughter in his voice. Like he was correcting a silly thing a child had said. “She and I are in this together. It’s been us from the start. And no offence, but you’re no replacement for her.” 

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not trying to replace her. I’m just filling in for a bit.” He looked like he had more he wanted to say. Before he could begin to say anything else,  she turned, glancing back over her shoulder as she loosened her bolas from her waist. “Now are we going to patrol, or what?’ Without waiting for a response, she snapped her bolas and swung herself into the air.  

                                                             ***

The wind whipped through her hair as she flew across the rooftops. They were going so fast, her feet barely touched the ground. It seemed Chat still had a point to prove. 

Though what he was hoping to accomplish—what he was thinking he would accomplish if he proved his point—was frankly, beyond her. Did he actually think she would stop showing up for patrol? 

Her bolas cracked like a whip, the sound cutting through to city noise as she latched onto a chimney and swung herself to land on the next roof. 

“You know,” Chat grunted as he landed on the roof a step behind her, “I can handle this on my own.” 

It was a funny thing for him to say, given he had been petulant about Ladybug not being there in the first place. “Like I said,” she said as she vaulted over a retaining wall, “Ladybug asked me to fill in.” 

“You could go home early.” 

“I’m not going to go back on a promise.” It took her a few seconds to realize Chat wasn’t running beside—behind—her anymore. She slid to a stop and turned to look back at him. He was standing a few feet back, frowning at her with his arms crossed. “Why did she need you to cover for her anyway?” 

“Didn’t she tell you?” 

“She said she had something she needed to work on, but she wouldn’t tell me what.” 

“There’s your answer then,” she sighed. 

That, apparently, was the wrong thing to say. 

“And why did she ask you to fill in for her?” he demanded, crossing his arms even tighter across his chest as he stalked a few steps toward her. 

She couldn’t exactly tell him Ladybug had asked her to cover for her because she—as a civilian—had encouraged Ladybug—also as a civilian—to take time to do something for herself. Like make herself a nice dress for the dance she was going to with the guy she liked… 

“I guess the same reason she’s asked me to help out in battles,” she said, feigning blithe ignorance and biting down hard on her sharper words. She was already getting a headache from his petulance, and she wasn’t in the mood to pick a fight. 

Finishing one on the other hand… 

“We don’t need you for patrols,” he said acidly. The ‘for patrols’ sentiment sounded like an afterthought. “Ladybug and I are perfectly capable-“ 

“She’s busy.” 

“Well, I’m fully capable of handling it on my own. We never asked the other part-timers to help out with them.” 

She shrugged. “Well, Ladybug asked me to. Now are we going to continue?” 

Chat said nothing, but he sniffed as he brushed past her to continue along the roof. She bit back a sigh, but indulged in rolling her eyes as she turned to follow him. 

                                                             ***

The bright, late-morning sun filtered through the porthole into her room, filling the room with warm light from the way it reflected off of her dressing table mirror. Which was directing the light right into her eyes. 

Squinting with disgust, she burrowed back into the somewhat dark depths of her sheets to shelter herself from the sun that had no right being so bright this early. Well, early was a relative statement. Couaffaines were not morning people. 

And she especially, was not a morning person on the best of days. 

The late night patrol from the night before—which had resulted in a Chat-induced headache—hadn’t exactly helped. That and… 

In the relative safety of the shadows of her bedding, she frowned at her phone screen 

Alya 🦊?! unsent a message

It wasn’t like Alya to unsend messages. There was the odd occasion where Alya sent a message to the girl’s chat instead of the class—minus Chloe and Sabrina—chat. But that only happened once in a blue moon. And she never bothered to unsend the messages. 

The only reason Alya would unsend a message would be if she didn’t want someone to see it. 

But she had sent it to the Adrienette chat… not the girl squad one… 

 None of the other girls had acknowledged the unsent message, and she hadn’t had a chance to see it before Alya had retracted it. She had been a little busy trying to will the sun to shine somewhere else so she could go back to sleep. 

The little dots indicating Alya was typing again appeared on the screen. She watched as they appeared and disappeared before, after what felt like an eternity, she sent her message. 

Alya 🦊?!: so r we still on for meeting at 11? 

She frowned. 

There was no acknowledgement of the unsent message. No indication of why she had retracted it. 

Nothing. 

It was… weird.

Rose 🌹💗: Yes!! I just have to let my nails dry

Alix 🛼 : gonna be late

Alix 🛼 : still at the park with Kim and Max

Alix 🛼 : Kim actually thinks he can win this race 🙄🙄🙄

Mylène 🌼 : I’m just finishing up some gardening

Mylène 🌼 : I’ll need a quick shower but I’ll be there 

Rose 🌹💗: @Queen of Darkness are you alive yet, bijou?? 

Queen of Darkness 🦇: barely 

Queen of Darkness 🦇: but I’ll be there 

Like she would miss this meeting. 

Rose 🌹💗: 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

Alya 🦊?!: cool

She frowned again as she stared at Alya’s response, which felt entirely too short for a confirmation they would all be attending a scheming session. Alya was being… weird was the only word she could really use to describe it. And it wasn’t just the message that was weird. 

Alya was always a bit weird, especially with all the Adrien stuff looking back on it now. But ever since the shopping trip, she had been especially weird. When she had, as offhandedly and casually as she could, mentioned it to Rose, Rose had simply brushed it off as Alya just being focused on getting Adrien and Marinette together before the school year ended. 

But she couldn’t shake the way Alya had looked to her for agreement in the shoe store, or the look she had given her when Luka had shown up and derailed Alya’s scheme. And then there had been the text… the short, curt, and abrupt text that still had her on edge. 

Alya hadn’t said anything since. And Alya was not afraid of confrontation. It was the little things. The little looks Alya shot her when she thought she wasn’t looking. And now… 

That unsent message was giving her vibes. 

She couldn’t put her finger on it, but it was… it was weird. 

She shook her head. Maybe it was something. But maybe it was nothing. She had been counter-scheming for so long, maybe she was seeing things where there weren’t any? Either way, it was obvious she needed a bit of a break. 

Tapping on her screen, she pulled up her text chat with just Rose.  

Queen of Darkness 🦇: do you want to go our for lunch after the meeting?

Queen of Darkness 🦇: maybe grab some frozen yogurt after and go for a walk in the park?

They were long overdue for a real date. And it would be nice to get off the boat and spend some time with just Rose. And hopefully, it would help her unwind and relax a bit. 

Rose 🌹💗: I already have plans!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Rose 🌹💗: I’m sorry bijou 😭😭😭😭😭😭

She sighed. She had been hoping for a nice day out, but it would have to wait. She started to type out a reply when Rose, in typical fashion, continued her barrage of messages. 

Rose 🌹💗: I would reschedule them if I could but they’re important

Rose 🌹💗: and time sensitive

Rose’s messages made her pause. It wasn’t unusual for Rose to have important plans she couldn’t reschedule. After all, when she was video chatting with Prince Ali, they were at the whims of his often erratic schedule. But Rose always told her if she was chatting with Ali, or what her plans were for that matter. 

Rose wasn’t obligated to tell her what her plans were. And she never expected her to. But Rose always told her. Unprompted too. And Rose knew she didn’t have to, and that she wouldn’t ask if she didn’t offer the reason herself because she wanted to respect Rose’s privacy. 

So it wasn’t a problem that Rose hadn’t said what her plans were. But it was… well, she couldn’t help but feel it was weird. 

Rose 🌹💗: can I take you out tomorrow? 💖💖💖💖💖💖

Queen of Darkness 🦇: of course 💜 and don’t worry about it  💜

She let her phone drop from her hand to bounce against the mattress as she stared up at the ceiling, partially obscured by the sheets she still had shielding her from the light. Maybe she was reading too much into things. After all, people unsent messages. And Rose knew she didn’t have to share every detail of her life. But she just couldn’t ignore that niggling feeling in the back of her head. 

And she doubted she would be able to get rid of it any time soon. 

Before she could dwell on it further, or drag herself from her bed to start getting ready like she probably should have fifteen minutes ago given the time, the sound of footsteps against stairs caught her attention.  

“Morning little miss sunshine,” Luka chuckled as their door squeaked out. 

Groaning, she sat up, her bedding still bundled around her, and gave him the evilest glare she could muster. He was in an entirely too good of a mood considering it was still technically morning. 

He was even humming as he made his way over to his side of the room. And smiling stupidly down at the bags he was carrying…   

Her eyes zeroed in on the shopping bags he was carrying. They were all from thrift stores Marinette had, at this point, dragged everyone to. He had mentioned that he would be looking for something to wear to the dance this weekend. After she had pestered him repeatedly that he couldn’t show up looking like a dork. Well, as much of a dork as he usually looked. 

“So, what did you get?” she asked as she emerged from her bed to take a couple steps across the room. 

“Nothing that will interest you,” he started to say, trailing off as an even dopier grin spread across his face as he glanced down at the contents of his bags. 

Interesting… 

She moved to peer into the closest bag, but with lightning quick reflexes—that would have caught her off guard if she didn’t know he moonlighted as Viperion—he snatched the bag away. “You know I’m going to see what you’re wearing eventually, right?” she grumbled. “It’s my school’s dance, remember?”

“Yeah, well…” Luka mumbled as his face and ears turned a particularly interesting shade of pink. “Don’t forget, we’re moving up dye night because of the dance.”

“Like I would forget,” she said, scoffing at his blatant change in topic. 

“And what happened to you last night?” 

“Hmm?” 

“That miniseries you love, you know, the one  that adapts all those creepy short stories-” 

“Yeah, what about it?” 

“It was on last night, and I was going to tell you but I couldn’t find you.” 

She shrugged. “I was around.” Technically, it was true. Her patrol had ended about the same time the show usually started. But Ladybug had been late picking up the miraculous, which was unsurprising given Marinette’s tendency to get lost in the process when she had a project to work on. And rather than going out for an extra run and making Ladybug wait for her, it had made more sense to just hang around the Liberty. Sure, she had been hiding, but she had been around.

“Doing what?” 

“It was the witching hour, do you really want to know?” With that, she  threw on her robe, and hastily made her way to the kitchen—and some much needed coffee—before Luka could ask any more questions. 

                                                                ***

“Everything go ok tonight?” 

“Yeah. It was nice to stretch my legs.” 

“Great!” Ladybug beamed, her eyes vivid and sparkling. “And you’re all set for tomorrow?” 

She nodded. Tomorrow would be her first solo patrol, and honestly, she was excited for the chance to patrol the city without having to drag along an irritable cat. 

“Ok, then I can meet you at your place at nine-” Ladybug’s words cut off at her cringe. 

“Sorry, I forgot, I might be a little late tomorrow.”

“Oh?” 

“I’ve got plans that probably won’t wrap up until half past eight at the earliest.” Knowing Alya, the meeting would definitely go overtime, meaning she would be cutting it pretty close. “I can find a way to bail…” But given the way Alya had been acting lately… it would probably be best not to leave early… Alya had been a little too pushy about her involvement and support of the Adrien schemes. To say nothing of all the… the vibes she had been getting from Alya… 

“Hang onto it until the end of patrol tomorrow then,” Ladybug said, pressing the miraculous back into her hands. 

“What? But…” Ladybug always took back the miraculous after battles and patrols. As far as she knew, none of the temp heroes had ever gotten to hold onto their miraculous outside of active use. 

Ladybug closed her fingers around the miraculous. “I trust you with it.” 

                                                          ***

She had been looking forward to her first solo patrol. She had been looking forward to taking in the city at night in peace. Or at least, as much peace as could be found in Paris at night. 

The point being, she had been looking forward to it. 

And then Shadowmoth had just had to go and ruin her evening. 

What was worse, he was interrupting Marinette. 

And given how tight Marinette’s deadline was… she had no interest in letting this fight drag out. 

“Taste my wrath!” Jets of molten cheese burst from the prongs of Fondoom’s oversized fondue fork and streaked through the air toward Ladybug. Ladybug dove to the side, ducking behind the cover of an abandoned car. The stench of sour milk, compost, something akin to Kim’s gym socks, and a general funk hit her like a wall with such force it almost knocked her over. From behind the car Ladybug had rolled behind she could hear gagging. 

“That is revolting,” she gasped as she stumbled back a few steps, narrowing missing a puddle of gooey cheese. The last thing she wanted to do was get stuck in the stuff. 

“Artisanal cheeses are wasted on the likes of you,” Fondoom snarled before lunging at her with his fork. She danced out of the way, nimbly—but narrowly—avoiding being speared by the fork. Just like the odour he and his attacks were emitting, Fondoom was relentless. His fork was a silver blur as he swung and stabbed at her, all while trying to douse her in molten cheese. She was too fast for him, but she was getting nauseous. 

She unfurled her bolas from her waist and snapped them at Fondoom, throwing him off balance. He had to catch himself against the ground using his fork. But what he had failed to notice was how close he had gotten to some of the pungent puddles he had left all over the place. 

“No. One. Appreciates,” he growled as he struggled to pull his fork from the cheese, “Fine. Cheeses. Anymore.” He wrenched his fork free with a roar.

“Not when they smell like that,” she quipped, snapping her bolas as he raised his fork, sending him skittering back to plant his feet directly in the cheese he had just freed himself from. 

“Lucky charm!” She looked in the direction of Ladybug’s nasally shout, being careful to keep an eye on the akuma as he struggled against his own cheese. Ladybug’s yoyo shot up into the air as she pinched her nose shut with her other hand. 

A pair of red and black spotted nose plugs appeared in a rain of sparkling light before dropping into Ladybug’s outstretched hand. She slipped one over her nose, and then turned to her. “Tigress!” 

She easily caught the nose plug, and slipped it into place. 

“Sweet relief,” she sighed, and Ladybug immediately burst into giggles. “What?” 

“You- you sound funny,” Ladybug laughed, “And you’ve got cheese in your hair.” 

“Yeah, well,” she said, having to hold back her own laughter at how oddly nasal and high her voice sounded, “so do you.” 

Ladybug blinked at her, and then her giggles descended into howls of laughter as she picked her way through the cheese covered street. By the time Ladybug had made her way over, she was almost doubled over; they had to lean on each other as they tried to control their laughter. 

“If- if my hair stinks of cheese after your miraculous cure-” she gasped between peals of laughter, “you owe me a bottle of shampoo. Make that three,” she added, playfully shoving Ladybug’s shoulder.” 

At some point in their hysterics, Fondoom had managed to fall flat onto his back into the cheese and was well and truly stuck. And it seemed the civilians who had been cowering in the shops and cars lining the street had caught on that the danger had passed, as they were beginning to emerge. Vaguely, she was aware of some pointing their phones at her and Ladybug as they both fought to keep it together. 

But it was hard. 

Between how ridiculous they sounded and must have looked with cheese in their hair, and with how outright ridiculous this akuma had been—seriously, what had Shadowmoth been thinking?—and how tired they both were, how could they not laugh? 

“We should- we should…” Ladybug wheezed as she wiped a stray tear and gestured uselessly at Fondoom, who had seemingly given up struggling against the cheese and was just staring forlornly at the sky, muttering about how ‘no one appreciated traditional cheese anymore.’ 

“I’m- ready when you are,” she gasped as she tried to push herself up from leaning on her friend. 

“M’lady! I’m-” Chat’s breathless gasp snapped her out of the worst of her laughter. She turned just in time to see Chat staring at her and Ladybug, still leaning against each other and stifling the odd giggle. “here…” he finished, his voice trailing off as his eyes darted between the two of them. “What’s so funny?” 

“Nothing,” Ladybug said, forcing back her laughter as she straightened up. “It was stupid.” There was still a ring of laughter in her voice as she tried to put on her professional smile. “We should deal with the akuma.” 

“Right-” her grip tightened on her bolas, ready to strike them against the fork and release the akuma when Chat cried out. 

“Cataclysm!” A streak of black whizzed in front of her, and the next thing she knew, the fork had crumbled and a dark butterfly had fluttered out of it’s remains. 

Chat smiled smugly at her, before letting his gaze land on Ladybug as she purified the akuma. Once the silvery white butterfly had been released from her yoyo, Ladybug turned to her ruefully and slipped off her nose plug. With a grimace, she slipped her own off handed it to Ladybug, who promptly cast them into the air with a hurried cry of “Miraculous Ladybug!” 

The swarm of Ladybugs rushed over and past her—hopefully removing the cheese and stench from her hair as they went—before swarming out over the street. By the time they had disappeared, the worst of the smell was gone. But a fainter—though still strong—aroma remained, emanating from the rather ruffled looking man lying in the street, clutching a fondue fork—now normal sized—and a box of Epoisse de Bourgogne. 

“I just wanted to introduce her to the world of fine cheeses” the man mumbled dolefully as he sat up. 

“Hey,” she said quietly, making her way over to crouch beside him. Gently, she rested her hand on his shoulder, ignoring the beep coming from her miraculous. She still had two minutes. “Maybe… maybe next time start with something a little less-” she stopped herself before she could say rank. “Odiferous. Work your…” 

“Girlfriend.”

“Work your girlfriend’s way up to it.” The man offered her a shaky smile. Satisfied, she stood and offered him her hand. Once she had pulled the man to his feet, she turned. 

“It’s been fur-ever, M’lady,” Chat said as leaned against his staff. “What say you and I have a moonlight picnic? All that cheese made me hungry.” 

How? How could anyone be hungry after smelling that? 

“I can’t, I keep telling you, I’m busy.” 

Chat pouted as he pushed himself off his staff to stand up straight. “Too busy for me?” 

“Chat…” Ladybug sighed, reaching up to massage her temples. But before she could say anything else, her earring beeped. And her bracelet was quick to follow. 

“That’s one minute for me.” 

Even if it hadn’t been, she would have said it was. She knew he kept sending Ladybug messages about patrols, and the last couple of battles, he had complained about it. Multiple times. 

And he seemed completely unaware that Ladybug’s patience was waning. 

Ladybug nodded at her, then turned back to Chat. “Can you help him home?” she asked, nodding to the man. 

“But-”

“Chat.” 

“Fine,” Chat grumbled. 

Ladybug nodded at him, the turned to her. “C’mon. I think we can call it a night for your patrol.“Nodding, she followed after Ladybug. “Be honest,” Ladybug said quietly as they turned, “does my hair still stink of cheese?” 

A bark of laughter escaped her as she shook her head. “No, you’re good.” 

Ladybug giggled. “You too.” And then she cast her yoyo, and let it pull her up to the rooftops. 

She was about to follow when she froze, feeling the invisible weight of eyes on her.. Quickly, she glanced over her shoulder; Chat was still standing there, watching her. 

Shaking her head, she turned, swung herself toward the roofline. 

                                                          ***

“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Bustier said with another of her syrupy smiles as she hovered by the open door to the classroom, “M. Damocles only needs to see me for a few minutes, so take this time to review the stages of the Hero’s Journey, and then we’ll discuss when I return.” With that, their teacher left the room and headed towards the principals office, seemingly blithely ignorant of the fact that no one in the class was even remotely engaging in the lesson. 

“And…” Alix said, dragging out the word as she craned her neck to look out the windows into the hallway, “she’s gone.” 

“Did you guys see the pictures from the battle last night?” Rose squealed as soon as the coast had been declared clear. 

“I missed it,” Alya moaned before flopping dramatically onto her desk. “I didn’t get any pictures,” Alya continued, her voice muffled by the desk.

“But babe, you told me you were heading there-”

“I got stuck in cheese!” Alya cried, sitting back up. “I was only a block away! And all those people- they were right there. The pictures were amazing! And it smelled disgusting!” 

Marinette patted Alya’s shoulder comfortingly. But the motion seemed a little more awkward than usual. A little more reserved. 

“They are pretty amazing,” Alix said as she glanced at her phone. She craned her neck to get a better look at Alix’s screen. 

One of the many pictures taken the previous night was pulled up on the phone. It was one of the ones that had been taken when she and Ladybug were in the midst of their fit of laughter. 

“I wish I had been there…” Kim sighed longingly. “What?” he asked, when met with incredulous looks. “Have you seen the way Tigress throws those weight thingies of hers?” 

“Bolas,” Max corrected. 

“Boas,” Kim repeated—sort of—“I would love to challenge her to a discus throw.” 

“My money’s on Tigress,” Alix snorted. 

“Mine too! She’s so cool!” Rose chirped. 

“Yeah, Marc and I are writing her into the next issue of the comic.”

She bit the inside of her keep to keep her grin in check. It would look weird if she just started randomly grinning—of course, it was hardly random given she was the one they were heaping praise upon—but try as she might, the heat in her cheeks wasn’t subsiding. Under the ruse of doodling, she dropped her gaze to try and hide her flaming cheeks. But through her curtain of hair, she caught sight of Adrien. 

Like everyone else seated in the front rows—excluding Chloe and Sabrina who seemed to be skipping class entirely—he was turned towards the back to be more part of the conversation. But unlike everyone else, he looked less than thrilled by the topic of conversation. Sure, he had his usual, bland, model smile pasted on his face. But his smile was tight, and his eyes were hard. 

There was that green-eyed monster again…

“Yeah?” Mylène asked. 

“Yeah, she’s been around so much lately, and she and Ladybug are obviously friends, so it seemed like a good choice to bring her in. Plus she adds a really cool dynamic.” 

Adrien’s smile slipped at that. 

Marinette’s on the other hand… “I think that’s a great idea, Nathanial! I think it’s high time Ladybug had a friend.” 

“What about Chat Noir?” 

Everyone turned to blink at Adrien. It hadn’t been an… outburst per se, but it had been… unexpected. Based on the pink tinge that was quickly rising in his face, it seemed he hadn’t meant to say that quite so loud. If at all… 

Ivan cocked his head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“Well, Chat Noir and Ladybug have been together since the beginning.”

The others nodded in agreement. But she saw Marinette’s smile slip from her face. 

“But it’s different with him,” Alya said. She wasn’t sure who was more surprised. Her, Marinette, or Adrien. 

“What do you mean?” Adrien somehow meekly demanded. 

Alya shrugged. “Sure, they’re best friends. But they’re also meant to be, so that makes their dynamic a little different. Tigress is a girl, so it’s only natural they’re going to talk about stuff Ladybug wouldn’t normally talk to Chat Noir about.” She didn’t miss the jealous edge in Alya’s voice. If Alya had been who she thought she had been, she was betting Alya had been hoping she would be filling the role of Ladybug’s friend. 

It was more than a little ironic… 

“That makes sense,” Kim mused before brightening. “It’s like how you girls talk about who you have crushes o- ow!” Kim turned in his seat to glare at Rose. “What was that for?” 

Rose smiled sweetly at him, still kicking her legs. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said innocently with a dangerous glint in her eyes. 

“Right…” Kim said, shrinking back a little and warily eying Rose’s swinging legs. He had obviously received the message loud and clear. 

“They seem like the kind of friends who would tell each other everything,” Rose sighed happily. “It’s so cute seeing that side of Ladybug.”

Maybe not everything… 

But pretty close… 

“Ladybug would never tell someone her identity,” Adrien mumbled.

She snapped her head to look at Adrien, but before her gaze settled on blond hair and green eyes, brown eyes behind glasses caught her attention. Nino’s eyes widened as his previously thought-furrowed brows rose to disappear under the brim of his cap as her eyes met his. He ducked his head to look down at his desk before—very obviously—turning his attention to Adrien. 

That was… weird- 

“I concur, Ladybug has always been very protective regarding her identity. However,” Max said, the light glinting off his glasses as he looked up from his phone, “they do appear to be very close friends.” 

“Yes!” Markov added, “we have recently been analyzing resources on body language to update my database, and Tigress and Ladybug regularly display body language that communicates a deep sense of trust and friendship!”

“And even if they don’t share their identities, they totally seem like share everything else!” 

“Maybe…” Adrien said, though it sounded more like he was talking to himself. Disgruntlement was no longer showing through the cracks in his model facade. His brows furrowed as if he were deep in thought. There was a spark in his eye that reminded her of-

“I wonder what they talk about,” Ivan mused. 

Her own brows furrowed as she watched Adrien. Why was he suddenly so-

“Bustier’s coming!” 

                                                        ***

For the second time since she had started patrolling for Ladybug, Chat Noir was waiting for her at the meeting place. In fact, he was early. It was… weird. 

The first time, he had obviously been expecting Ladybug despite being told multiple times Ladybug wouldn’t be patrolling for the last two weeks of June. Every other night, he had shown up after her, all but dragging his feet.  

She held back a groan. She was still a few rooftops away, but with her enhanced vision and her night vision—one of the many perks of the tiger miraculous—she had a clear view of him. He was sitting in another clearly practiced pose that was meant to look casual. Ladybug had told him—again—she wouldn’t be patrolling… but based on the way he was waiting… apparently that didn’t mean anything. 

She was not in the mood for an argument tonight; all she wanted was to blow off some steam, make sure there were no signs of any akumas or sentimonsters, and then go home and curl up in bed with a book.  

While she had successfully held back her groan before, she couldn’t stop a sigh from escaping her now. 

There was no point in putting off the inevitable any further. 

With the effortless grace her miraculous granted her, she crossed the rest of the rooftops and landed behind Chat. His cat ears twitched at the sound of her landing—it had seemed like a good idea to clue him in to her arrival before he saw her—and he pushed himself off the chimney he had been leaning against as if posing for a campaign. 

He turned to her with a suave smile.

That didn’t drop the moment he saw it was her… 

What-

“Tigress,” he greeted her, seemingly channeling every drop of charisma he had in his body into his voice. “How are you?” 

Ok…

She had thought it was weird he was early, but she didn’t even know how to begin to describe… this… 

“Fine…” she said carefully, watching him warily as he grinned and sauntered toward her. 

“Good… good,” he murmured, almost to himself. 

What was going on? 

Had she missed something? 

Had he been zapped by an akuma?

He tilted his head back to take in the lights of the city, and let out a wistful sigh. “Isn’t the city beautiful at night?” 

“Sure…” 

Where was he going with this? 

As if finally noticing she wasn’t charmed, he turned to grin at her. “Look,” he said as he leaned on his staff and offered her what she was sure would be a charming grin, if not for the fact that she was utterly un-charmed by it. And wasn’t that a sudden change in tune… “I think you and I maybe got off on the wrong foot.” 

And whose fault was that?

“I mean, we are practically cousins, after all.” That line? Again? “And shouldn’t family stick together?” 

She would stick by Luka and her ma through anything. 

Chat, on the other hand, was not family, no matter what miraculous she had. 

But she would be lying if she wasn’t curious to see where he was trying to steer this conversation. And agreeing with him seemed like the most direct path to his intended destination. “Sure.” It was technically a sentiment she agreed with, just not in the context he had given. “Should we get going?” As much as she wanted to figure out the sudden attitude change, it was starting to feel awkward just standing around with him being so… yeah. 

And she could just as easily get to the bottom of this while blowing off some of this awkward energy. 

“After you,” he said with a bow that wasn’t the least bit mocking. But was plenty thick with obvious attempts at flattery. 

Ok… 

Casting another wary glance at him, she loosened her bolas and swung them to latch onto some scaffolding on the next building over. 

Chat insisted on making small talk as they scoured the city for any signs of Shadowmoth. It was… she wanted to say it was a nice break from the open hostility and the pointed, green-eyed glances he usually shot her way. But in some ways, his sudden friendliness was worse. At least she hand known what to expect the last few patrols. 

But this? 

He obviously had some kind of angle. 

He obviously wanted something. 

“Tigress?” 

She shook her head to try and clear her thoughts, and turned to Chat. “Sorry, what?” 

“I’m ready for a break, want to take a rest up there?” he asked, pointing with his staff toward the Palais Garnier in the distance. 

“Uh, yeah. Sure.” 

He nodded, and shot her what many would consider a winning grin. Then he took a running start and used his staff to launch himself into the air in the direction of the Palais Garnier. She watched him through narrowed eyes as he bounded across the rooftops, her frown returning. 

So far, he had not been very forthcoming on what it was he wanted. It seemed he was more interested in laying on the flattery. 

Thickly. 

She had a feeling she wouldn’t like it—whatever it was he wanted—when she did find out…   

Before she could psych herself out, she ran toward the edge of the roof and leapt into the air. 

 By the time she made it to the roof, he was waiting in yet another perfectly practiced pose. She recognized it as another pose from one of his previous campaigns. Sure, in the magazine he had been leaning against a bookshelf in the library whereas now, he was leaning against the base of one of the Lequesne Pagasi. But the offhand grace and winsome smile that were obviously meant to make him look approachable were the same. 

She had barely taken two steps onto the roof when he turned the full force of his smile on her. Not that it had any effect. “You hungry?” Before she could so much as reply, he was already busying himself with opening a compartment in his baton. Carefully, he extracted a box and opened its lid before holding it out to her. 

They were chocolates. 

Expensive chocolates. 

Expensive, chocolatey bribes if his sudden change in tune was anything to go by. 

But sure. She would bite. 

Carefully, she selected a chocolate from the box. 

Just because she took the chocolate didn’t mean she had to take the bribe. 

She popped the chocolate into her mouth. It was rich and decadent and tasted as expensive as she imagined it had been. Though she didn’t dwell too long on how expensive; some things were better left unknown. It was amazing. But-

“They’re good, right?” 

She nodded. “They are, thanks.” 

He smiled like the cat that had just caught the canary. He was obviously pleased with himself. “Have another,” he coaxed, holding the box out to her. 

She complied. It wasn’t like she was about to turn down free chocolate. 

And they were amazing. But as amazing as they were, she swore she could taste the strings attached to them. 

She watched as he popped a chocolate into his own mouth and hummed in bliss. They finished the rest of the chocolates in relative silence. With every bite she took, the less she tasted chocolate and the more she tasted the bitterness of the bribe. 

“So Tigress…” he turned to her, raking a hand through his golden hair and offering her a charming yet abashed smile that reeked of being rehearsed. “Can I ask you something.” 

Struggling to chew the last of her chocolate, she nodded. 

“You and Ladybug are friends, right?” 

So that was what this was all about? What they had been talking about in class earlier?

Typical. 

Thickly, she swallowed the last bite of her chocolate. “Yeah, she and I are friends,” she said carefully.

“And you two are close, right?

Technically, she and Marinette were close. “I guess you could say that-”

“So you tell each other stuff then.” It wasn’t so much a question as a statement. His eyes were fixed on her firmly now, and if she weren’t a tigress, she imaged she would have felt like prey. 

But as she was a tigress… “A little bit, but not much.” She and Marinette on the other hand…

“What are her favourite flowers?” 

“What-“ 

“I’ve always gone with red roses because they’re classic.” His attention was suddenly off her as he gazed thoughtfully out at the skyline. But just as suddenly, his eyes snapped back to her. “But maybe that’s the problem; so what other kinds of flowers does she like?” 

Cherry blossoms. Peonies. Lilacs. 

To name a few. 

Luka could probably recite all of Marinette’s favourites in reverse order in his sleep. 

“You don’t know?” 

“Obviously,” he chuckled, though there was a tinge of bitter annoyance, “that’s why I asked.”

“And you’re asking me because…” she let her voice trail off as she turned to raise a brow at him.

“The two of you are friends.” He said it like it was supposed to explain all the intricacies of the Universe. 

“Yeah. But why not ask her? And why wait this long to ask?” 

“I thought roses were the right direction. They symbolize love, you know. True love, to be exact.” He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair again, and shot her a a charming yet hopeless smile that she was sure was meant to elicit pity. “But I guess they weren’t the right choice after all…”

Because it was the flowers that were the issue… 

“And girls like picnics, right?” 

“What-”

“I thought they did. And they always do romantic, moonlight picnics in the movies. But every time I try one, it never seems to work. But maybe a picnic isn’t the right direction? Maybe I need to do something bolder?”

She bit back a groan. “Some girls like picnics, sure. But not all girls.” Of course, Marinette did like picnics. But it was always more about the company… “And I don’t think-”

“Ok, so no picnics,” Chat said as he stood abruptly. He turned, and began to pace, completely ignoring what she had been about to say. “But then what? Maybe a boat ride along the Seine? No… Too many tourists. The cinema might be fun… I could take her to see the new Ladybug and Chat Noir movie!” He paused in his pacing, then frowned before muttering, “But all our fans would probably be watching us if we did something so public, and that wouldn’t be very romantic. Maybe I could- no, that would be no good. A rooftop picnic is the best option for privacy but those haven’t worked before-” he whirled to face her, and she swore she saw the lightbulb go off over his head. “I’ve got it!” 

Oh no. 

“It’s perfect!” 

Here we go… 

“If you put in a good word for me to Ladybug, apparently girl friends talk to each other about stuff they don’t talk about with their guy friends,” he added for her benefit, as if it was something she didn’t already know, “then she’ll have to agree! And I can bring takeout from her favourite restaurant- do you know what it is, by the way?” he was pacing with renewed vigour and energy. But it wasn’t the aimless pacing of before. It seemed he was set on his plan. “And her favourite flowers? You never told me what they were. If I have her favourites of everything ready for her at the picnic then it will be perfect and she’ll realize-”

“It isn’t going to work.”  

He froze misstep and turned to look at her. The mask of cheery camaraderie slipped. Just for a second. The it was back. But much more forced than before. 

“Of course it will,” he said, trying to laugh lightheartedly. But it sounded just as forced as his smile. “It’s easy! You put in a good word for me, since she listens to you,” despite his obvious attempts, he wasn’t able to mask the bitterness in his voice. “And you tell me what she would want for a first date-” 

“You can’t use my friendship with her to try and date her.” 

“But nothing I’ve done has worked!” 

She shrugged. “That’s life.” 

He glowered at her. “So you’re just going to stand in the way of true love? Of destiny?” 

Fate… destiny… the Universe… 

Whatever he wanted to call it, it wasn’t like she hadn’t been standing in its way for the past few months. 

She refused to shrink under his glower. He seemed to realize pretty quick that she wasn’t going to balk under his glare. “You just don’t get it,” he snapped, his face shifting into a petulant pout. “She and I are meant to be. She’s the only one who doesn’t see it. But she never even gives me a chance!” He stalked back toward the statue and leaned against it sullenly, kicking the stone of the roof for good measure. ”I’m just so tired of her turning me down. I wish she would just stop rejecting me and realize what’s been obvious to everyone else since the start.”

His words hung heavy in the air. With his tantrum over and done with—she hoped—he seemed set on moping. And frankly, she was long past tired of it. Of his jealousy-fuelled hostility. Of his whining and complaining. Of his sulking. What she was going to say would probably make him mad. But she was over it. 

She just hoped it would be worth it. 

“You know,” she said slowly, watching him out of the corner of her eye, “there is a way for you to get her to stop rejecting you.”

He perked up immediately, turning to look at her with the delight of someone what had just been told they were going to be told the secrets of the Universe. “Really? How?” 

“It’ll be hard-“

“I’ll do anything to get her to stop rejecting me-“

“Stop asking her out.” 

His face went blank. He stared at her silently, looking as if he was trying to puzzle out one of Mendeleiev’s homework assignments. “How will that-“

“You’re tired of her saying no?” He nodded. “Then stop asking. She’s already given you her answer-“

“But-“

“And she’s been way nicer about it than she needs to. And she’s given way more reasons than she needs to. No is reason enough.” 

“You just don’t get it- you’re a temp. She and I have been in it since the beginning. Me and her against the world,” he sighed wistfully, “we were chosen to be partners. It was destiny-“

“And what if I had been chosen instead?”  She wasn’t sure which of them was more surprised she had asked that. 

“What-“

But it was still a relevant question. 

“What if I  had been the one chosen to be Ladybug? Would you and I be destined for each other?” That felt wrong to say on so many levels. She sent a silent apology to Rose. 

She could practically see the gears turning in his head as he spluttered out nonsense. “What- but- you- she- no. No. It’s different-“

“I don’t see how.” 

He laughed, but it was strained. “Look, I’m flattered and all but you know I love-“

“Don’t be.” The beginnings of the casually charming smile that had been making its way onto his face fell back to blank confusion. “I’m seeing someone. And you’re not my type. Not even close. All I’m saying is, magical jewelry seems like a pretty flimsy foundation for true love. Much less destiny.”  She stood and made a show of stretching. “Now I’m going to go finish patrol-“

“You’re wrong!” Before she could say anything else, he pushed himself off of the statue and vaulted himself off into the darkness, disappearing into the shadows. 

She groaned. It was like arguing with a brick wall. 

                                                          ***

To say patrolling solo was a relief after the previous night was an understatement. She needed the peace and quiet of solitude to clear her head after all of that. And sure, maybe intervening in an armed robbery wasn’t exactly what she would call quiet or peaceful… 

But at least it wasn’t headache inducing the way arguing with a certain cat was… 

One of the masked robbers ran at her, viciously swinging the knife he was holding. 

Really, he should have known better.

Easily and with grace, she stepped aside, using her arm to block the knife as she caught his wrist. Using his own momentum against him, she disarmed and flipped him to the ground in one fluid motion. His blade clattered against the ground, far out of his reach as she pinned him with a knee to his back. 

The man grunted, trying to hit her and throw her off of him, but it was futile. He couldn’t reach her with his free hand and with her miraculous, she was too strong for him. 

“Hey!” 

Her attention snapped to two of the other robbers. They were—rather stupidly—running towards her, brandishing their crowbars. Without relinquishing her grip on the man she had subdued, she loosened her bolas from her waist. 

Before the robbers rushing to attack her could even begin to rethink their idiotic plan, she had her bolas free and swinging. Their brash confidence turned to panic as she smirked at them, right before she loosed the bolas. 

They streaked through the air in a blur; their whizzing melding with the squeaks of sneakers against tiles as the robbers tried to skid to a stop. The sound of distant sirens joined the mix. The two cried out as the bolas tangled around them both, knocking the crowbars from their hands and binding them together in a mishmash of limbs. They immediately tripped over each other and toppled to the ground where they continued to struggle uselessly against her weapon. 

A sharp inhale that sounded an awful lot like a whimper came from the back of the shop.  

She snapped her gaze to the fourth and last robber. His eyes were wide and wild with panic as he looked at her. What she could see off his face was stark pale next to the black of his ski mask.  His gaze darted around the shop and landed on the window the robbers had originally broken through. 

“You really want to do that?” she asked. 

His gaze snapped back to her. He looked like he would rather do anything but try and go up against her, but he also looked like he didn’t want to stick around. Especially with the sirens drawing so close. The hand he was brandishing his knife with was shaking, but his feet were—albeit hesitantly—shifting. 

Keeping a careful and tight grip on the man she was pinning, she feigned lunging toward the last robber. With a yelp, he skittered backward, tripping and stumbling over his feet to land on his behind. His knife clattered to the ground, and was promptly kicked out of his reach by his own flailing feet as he scrambled back and away from her. Directly into the back corner of the jewelry display he had been in the middle of emptying into his forgotten sack. 

“That’s what I thought.” 

Barely minutes later, police officers burst into the room with Officer Roger—he and her ma had had enough run ins that he and her family were on a first name basis now—leading the charge, only to find the robbers subdued. Or, in the case of the last one, cowering. After that, the arrest was quick with the only real delay being untangling the robbers from her bolas. 

As the last of the robbers was led out in handcuffs, she turned to Officer Roger, who had coughed quietly in a clear attempt to get her attention. With an air of formality and admiration, he stuck his hand out toward her. 

“Thank you for your service, Purple Tigress.”

As she shook his hand, she couldn’t help but wonder how he would react if he knew he was shaking the hand of Anarka Couffaine’s daughter. 

Spontaneous combustion didn’t seem entirely unrealistic…  

“It was no problem, I’m just doing my job.”

                                                           ***

“So, how did it go tonight?” Ladybug asked as soon as she ducked under the tarps her ma had hung over the stage to cover it from the rain they had gotten earlier in the day. “Any trouble?” 

“Everything was fine. Well- there was a bit of a robbery, but it wasn’t any trouble-” 

“A robbery? What happened? Are you ok? I didn’t get any messages I’m so sorry I should have been there to-”

“Hey, hey,” she said, quickly placing a gentle hand on Ladybug’s shoulder to interrupt her spiralling. “I was fine. I’m sorry, I should have let you know sooner. There just wasn’t time to alert you and stop them so I just… went for it. And then I got caught up in giving my statement to the police and well… yeah, it isn’t really an excuse. I’m sorry-”

“Don’t be.” 

She blinked in surprise at the force in Ladybug’s voice. She hadn’t realized it, but her gaze had drifted down to her feet; the last thing she had wanted was to disappoint Marinette or cause her any stress. She forced herself to look back up at Ladybug; she was staring at her intently, her blue eyes burning. 

“You’re ok?” Wordlessly, she nodded. “You aren’t hurt?” She shook her head. 

Ladybug nodded. And then she smiled… 

And it suddenly dawned on her what it was that was fueling the flames in Ladybug’s eyes. 

It was pride… 

“You have nothing to apologize for. I’m just glad you’re ok.” 

“It was really no big deal…” she mumbled, her cheeks suddenly flaming. 

“Hey, none of that,” Ladybug said gently. “Remember what Roarr said?” 

She nodded, though she still couldn’t fight the flush in her face. Speaking of Roarr… 

Quickly, she dropped her transformation. And once she had given Roarr a quick cuddle and one of the candies she had taken to keeping in her pockets incase of emergencies, she slipped the miraculous off and handed it back to Ladybug. 

Ladybug popped it into the box she had waiting. But instead of closing the lid and slipping it into her yoyo, she stared thoughtfully down at the miraculous. 

Awkwardly, she shifted her weight between her feet.” Ladybug…?” 

“Hmm?” Ladybug glanced up at her. 

“Is everything… ok?” she asked hesitantly.

“Oh! Yeah! I’m just…” Ladybug’s gaze flickered back down to the tiger miraculous. Her spotted hand closed around the box, snapping the lid shut before slipping it into her yoyo. When she met her gaze again, Ladybug was smiling. It was a small smile, still tinged with thoughtfulness, but it was genuine. “I’m just thinking about something a friend told me a while ago.”

“Oh.” 

Ladybug’s eyes, still burning, were also full of warmth. “Thank you again. For everything.” 

“It’s nothing…” 

Ladybug let out a quiet chuckle. “Trust me, it’s everything.” 

                                                          ***

“And… boom! He’s down!” Alix crowed, pumping her fist in the air, nearly punching Ivan in the face as she whooped at the video playing on Max’s laptop. 

“I want to learn how to do that-”

“No,” Nathaniel said, emphatically shaking his head, “you do not need to know how to do that, Kim.” 

“Dudes, how is her aim that good?” 

She watched silently as she—well, Tigress—threw her bolas, ensnaring the two robbers. The security camera footage from the jewelry shop had been pulled, and had ended up on the late night news last night. And the early morning news… 

“She didn’t even have to do anything to take out that last guy,” Mylène murmured in awe, her eyes glued to the screen. 

“She’s pretty tough,” Ivan agreed. 

“She’s a total badass is what she is!” Alix corrected. 

She tipped her head forward, letting her curtain of hair conceal the grin she couldn’t wipe from her face and her cheeks, which given how warm they were had to been tinged pink. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Adrien roll his eyes. He looked like he had just swallowed a lemon. 

“Yeah,” Marinette said as she watched the footage play for the umpteenth time, a wide grin on her face. “She’s incredible!” 

Before she could completely combust from compliment overload, Rose hummed thoughtfully. She turned to look at her girlfriend just in time to see Rose tilt her head to the side, her brows furrowed, as she watched to footage. 

“I wonder if Ladybug will make her a permanent hero?” 

“There’s no way!” 

Everyone turned to stare at Adrien. His hands were splayed on the table—he hadn’t quite slammed the table but he looked like he had come pretty close—and his mouth was a tight, twisted line. But as he seemed to realize everyone was suddenly looking at him, his face shifted, his cheeks turning pink. But the sourness in his eyes hadn’t fully vanished, even as embarrassment seemed to overtake him.   

“Why not, dude?” 

“Well, because…” Adrien began to flounder. 

“She has been at almost all of the most recent battles,” Nathaniel said absently. 

“And her presence during those battles has improved the efficiency with which akumas and sentimonsters are dealt with,” Max added. 

“It is true! We did the calculations ourselves!” 

Max nodded. “Additionally, it seems she has been added to the patrol roster.” 

“Yeah, well…” 

“But none of the other heroes were ever made permanent,” Alya noted, a tinge of jealousy creeping into her voice. 

It seemed Adrien had found the life line he needed, and he latched on. “Exactly. It’s always been Ladybug and Chat Noir! The black cat and ladybug from the start. Creation and destruction. Yin and yang. ”

“So?” 

She wasn’t sure who out the class was most shocked by Marinette’s question, but for his part, Adrien looked at her like she had grown a second head. 

 “Adding another full time hero would throw off the balance,” he replied with the utmost confidence and assuredness. 

And yet…

“It’s always been the two of them. Why mess with destiny?”   

It seemed Adrien wasn’t so much clinging to a life line as he was grasping at straws. 

                                                          ***

Chat glared at her as soon as he landed on the roof. 

It seemed they were back to that… 

“You’re here again,” he muttered. 

She stood, and took a breath. “I am.” Already, she could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on. 

“Look,” he said, crossing his arms as he stalked across the roof towards her, “I don’t know what game you’re playing, but it isn’t going to work.” 

Game? 

He thought this was a game? 

Why did that not surprise her?

“There is no game-” 

“Then whatever this is,” he hissed,  gesturing to her, “this ‘trying to replace Ladybug’ thing-” 

“I’m not trying to replace Ladybug!” she all but shouted. 

“I never see her anymore! Except for during akuma attacks.” It was almost impressive how he was able to hiss and whine at the same time. “It’s always you.” 

“I told you, she’s busy.” 

“She’s always too busy for me these days-“

Something she deeply admired about her brother was his ability to stay cool. Especially with a ma like theirs. He was slow to anger, and even slower to act on that anger. And his patience at times seemed near infinite. Sometimes to his detriment. 

But is was still something she admired about Luka. And something she tried to emulate. 

And she had tried. 

She really had. 

The last thing she wanted to do was make things awkward or more difficult for Ladybug in any way. 

But there was only so much she could take. 

And she was at her limits. 

Past them, actually. 

“It isn’t about you!” she snapped. “She’s busy. She has things she needs to do.”

“So she goes to you instead of me?”

“She asked. And if she hadn’t, I would have offered.” Chat snorted. “It’s not fair that she has to do so much on her own.”

“She isn’t on her own! She has me! That should be enough.” Chat threw his arms in the air, turned, stalked a few steps away, and then whirled back to face her as he gestured to himself. “If she wanted more help, she should have asked me!”

“You’re her partner?”

“Her only partner,” he said coldly. 

“Then she shouldn’t have to ask you to step up.”

“She and I have kissed! Multiple times!” 

“What does that have to do with anything?”  

“She and I are partners. Soul mates. How is that not destiny?”

“Let me count the ways.” She held up a single finger. “If you have to have all your memories erased in order for someone to kiss you, your ‘destiny’ is looking pretty grim.”

“The Oblivio thing happened one time! We didn’t have amnesia the other-“

“Yeah,” she held up a second finger, “Nothing says romance like having to kiss someone because they’re brainwashed and trying to bash your brains out.”

“You’re just jealous,” Chat spat. 

“Of who? Of what?”

“I-“

“I’m seeing someone. She and I are-”

“She?” 

“Yes, she. And no, I’m not dating Ladybug, nor do I want to. She and I are friends. Good friends. But that’s it. Or do you think I’m jealous that you’re her ‘partner?’” He opened his mouth to retort, but she was done listening to his ludicrous accusations. “I’m here to do a job. A job she asked me to do. And I’m going to do my job to the best of my abilities, and have her back because that’s what she needs of me. And I am not going to let her down.” 

He planted his staff against the roof hard enough for the sound to cut her off. Momentarily. Before he could open his mouth again, she she drew herself up to her full height and stepped forward with the force of the words flowing out of her mouth. 

“You don’t own her. And she doesn’t owe you her love. So stop acting like it and step up and do your job.” 

Her chest was heaving; she hadn’t expected to get so into it with him. 

She hadn’t necessarily meant to. 

But she couldn’t bring herself to regret it. 

Not even a little bit. 

She had meant every word she had said. 

He glowered at her. 

And then he turned tail and disappeared into the darkness. 

                                                      ***

She grit her teeth as she flexed her claws. 

Why? 

Why tonight?  

Why couldn’t Shadowmoth just chill? 

Marinette didn’t have much time left to work on her dress. The dance was the day after tomorrow. She had said she would be done her dress on time, but that had been earlier in the day. When the girls had been pestering her for a sneak peek—because Marinette had been very tightlipped about her dress—when she had thought she would have the entire evening. 

Except now, they were dealing with a category five akuma. 

And it was not going well. 

With a furious cry, she slashed at the net the akuma had trapped her in, shredding it to pieces and freeing herself and the civilians she had been trying to evacuate. The tattered remains of the net floated down to the ground around her as she scowled at her surroundings. 

Chat was supposed to be covering her.

And she would hardly call his half-hearted shout of warning as the net was already twisting itself around her and the civilians sufficient. 

At least Exterminator’s attention was wholly focused on Chat now. Snapping her attention back to the civilians, she ushered them into the closest alleyway. “Get as far away as possible, and stay out of sight. I don’t know how long this is going to take,” she said before turning tail and sprinting back into the street. 

Already, this akuma fight was taking longer than it should have, with the multitude of traps the akuma kept setting. And she was not feeling optimistic about it wrapping up anytime soon. 

“Don’t you know cats were the original pest control?” Chat laughed from where he was perched on his staff in the middle of the street, laughing as he watched Exterminator struggle back to his feet. “You really think you can catch me?” Chat smirked in her direction as she ran past the shredded net, his eyes flashing. 

Rude. 

She skidded to a halt just in time to see Exterminator’s smirk, and the quick flick of his wrist that sent a roll of oversized white paper unfurling along the street under Chat’s perch. 

Her eyes widened. 

“Chat! Look out!” 

Whether he was too busy gloating or just didn’t bother to heed her warning was unclear. She was already in motion, rushing toward him, but she was too late. She watched as Exterminator pulled out what would have been a comically enormous fly swatter if the circumstances weren’t so dire, and hit Chat’s staff out from under him. 

Chat’s laugh cut off in a yelp  as he fell toward the street. 

Somehow, he managed to land on his feet. 

Directly on the trap Exterminator had laid. 

Chat laughed as he straightened to his full height. “That’s the best you can do?” he asked before trying to move to retrieve his baton. He yelped as his upper body moved while his feet stayed stuck, firmly in place. He had to frantically windmill his arms to keep himself from overbalancing and getting even more stuck on the giant roll of fly paper he had landed on. 

“This city’s had a problem with alley cats for a while now,” Exterminator spat, “but this’ll show everyone that I’m the best Paris has to offer for pest control! Now it’s time to skin two cats with one stone…” Exterminator started to turn, and she dropped to the ground  and slid behind the cover of an overturned bus. “…and then I can move onto the bug-  where is she?” 

She took a deep breath as the akuma’s roars echoed through the street.

This was good. 

If he was busy looking for her, that would keep him busy while she freed Chat and waited for Ladybug to return. 

“Camouflage.” 

On silent feet, she skirted around Exterminator, giving him a wide berth as he scoured the street. By the time she made it over the Chat, he was still grunting and griping to himself as he tried to tug his feet free. 

“Give me your hand,” she whispered so as not to alert Exterminator to her whereabouts. 

Chat snapped his attention up to her—well, a bit to the left of her— and blinked. “What?” 

“Quiet,” she shushed him, casting a glance over her shoulder. Exterminator thankfully hadn’t heard Chat over the sounds of his search. “Give me your hand.” 

“I don’t need your help.” 

“You’re a sitting duck right now.” 

“I can handle myself just fine.” 

“That’s not the point right now. Now take my hand so we can keep him busy-” 

“Ladybug and I were fine before you showed up, I don’t need your help,” Chat spat. “Cataclysm!” The flypaper turned to dust under his touch as he smiled smugly in her general direction. “See?” 

“Found you.” 

She glanced up just in time to see Exterminator glaring at Chat- or rather, what would look like the empty air Chat was apparently talking to. She could see the akuma’s finger already squeezing around the trigger of his net-gun. Wordlessly, she shoved Chat to the side and then threw herself to the ground. 

The net whizzed harmlessly over her head. 

But it had been close. 

Too close. 

And now they were both on a timer… 

“Get out of here,” she hissed to Chat, “we need to regroup.” 

“You’re not the one in charge here,” Chat snapped as he sprang to his feet to dodge another net. 

“Sorry, that took longer than I thought.” Ladybug’s voice crackled to life over their com pieces. “I’ll be there in a minute-”

“We’re both on timers now,” she replied as she threw her bolas. Exterminator ducked out of the way as they whizzed past, visible the moment they left her hand. But that was fine, all she needed was to buy time for-

“Get out of there and recharge. Meet me on the roof of the Musée Yves Saint Laurent. I think I have a plan.”

                                                               ***

“At the very least, it will give me a chance to get up close and figure out where the akuma is hiding before- ” 

“I break it with my Cataclysm, and we save the day, bugaboo.” 

“How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that? And no, it’s not going to be that simple. This akuma is tricky.” 

That was an understatement. It was honestly surprising Shadowmoth hadn’t ever tried to akumatize an exterminator before. An akuma based around dealing with pests like bugs? That had Shadowmoth written all over it. 

“We need to get him out in the open, were he can’t lay any more traps for us.” Exterminator had proven himself to be a much better strategist that most akumas, and his proficiency with setting magically enhanced traps was a testament to the danger he posed. “We can’t let him catch us off guard again, we’ve had too many close calls,” Ladybug continued before turning to her. “Tigress, you’re going to be taking point on this. You have the best chance of leading him out into the open without getting caught. If we can get him to the Trocadero…” 

As Ladybug continued with the plan, the back of her neck prickled with the feeling of eyes on her. She glanced up from the holographic map Ladybug had pulled up on her yoyo to find bitter and venomous green eyes trained on her. 

                                                            *** 

Her lungs were still burning as she tried to catch her breath while Roarr scarfed down the last of her emergency candy. They has a couple minutes at most before they had to get back out there and rejoin the fight. 

She had managed to lead Exterminator to the Trocadéro, but she had had to burn through her invisibility. Ladybug and Chat were keeping the akuma busy and trying to identify the akumatized object while she recharged, but she didn’t want to be away from the fighting any longer than she had to.. Especially given it wasn’t just the fight with the akuma… the way Chat had kept interrupting and calling her nicknames she had told him not to while she tried to strategize… the tension had been so thick, she could have sliced it with her claws. 

The less time she left the two alone, the better.

“Just about ready?” 

“Almost,” Roarr said through a mouthful of gummies that were sticky and partially melted from the heat. Hopefully kwamis didn’t get cavities… 

As Roarr finished the last few bites of her snack, she rolled her shoulders to try and loosen up the joints and release some of the tension that had made its way into her muscles during the strategy meeting. Somehow, being chased through the streets by the akuma as she acted as live bait had been less uncomfortable that bearing witness to the brink of another spat between the two-

“Ready!” 

“Roarr, stripes on.” 

The magic of her transformation had barely washed over her before she was leaping up into the air, digging her claws into the brick of the back of the buildings lining the alley she had hidden in. Chips of masonry scattered and fell as she effortlessly clawed her way up to the roof. 

In a matter of minutes, she was back at the Trocadéro. 

Ladybug was a blur of red around the akuma as she swung and dove and rolled, never getting particularly close to the akuma. But she was certainly keeping him busy. A blur of black whizzed by the akuma, spouting more puns and flirtatious remarks in the same breath. Ladybug didn’t respond, but it was impossible to tell if that was because she was trying to concentrate or was just trying to ignore him. Or both. 

Either way, it didn’t matter. It was time for her to join the fray. 

She landed lightly, and then sped toward the akuma. She slide to a stop a few steps from Ladybug, swinging her bolas to deflect a net that had been heading towards her. Ladybug shot her a quick, grateful smile before springing back and out of the way and swinging up toward the top of the Palais de Challiot. A moment later, a shimmer of red and pink light burst out from the roof of the building. 

“I need you two to try and buy me some time while I figure out this Lucky Charm,” Ladybug’s voice crackled to life over the com links, “Chat, you’re going to keep him busy. Tigress, he can’t catch what he can’t see. You’re going to get the akuma, it’s in his dust-sprayer.” 

Of course it was. 

He had used it to try and douse them all in a foul smelling powder that had made her feel woozy when they first confronted him. Thankfully, Ladybug had been able to jam it with one of her previous Lucky Charms. But it was still intact. 

As she ducked under a net swung in her direction, she caught Chat glaring at her, bitter venom in his eyes.   

It was the same venomous look he had given her when Ladybug had given her the job of luring Exterminator to the Trocadéro.

She shook her head. There wasn’t time to think about that now. Now when there was an akuma standing right in front of her, aiming that stupid net gun at her again. 

She took off running towards the akuma, and at the last second, dropped to slide as he launched a net directly at her. The net flew harmlessly overhead as she slid past him, murmuring to activate her powers as she went past him. The second she was hidden right in front of him, she dug her claws into the stone to stop herself from sliding further and launched herself to her feet. 

Exterminator howled in pain, and she turned just in time to see him clutching his nose as Chat’s staff retracted. 

At least he was keeping the akuma busy. She wished he hadn’t gone straight to making the akuma angrier… but at least he was distracted. 

Now all she had to do was get in close and swipe the dust-sprayer. 

Moving as light as a feather, and as quietly as a tiger stalking through the forest, she crept towards the akuma. The akuma howled in frustration and then pulled his snare trap from his back before swinging it wildly. She hissed as she dropped to the ground, just managing to avoid getting beaned in the head by the erratically swinging weapon. 

“Don’t you know that cat always wins the game of cat and mouse?”” Chat called as he scraped his claws along the stone, loosening dust from the ground.  With a smirk, he flung it at the akuma. 

And her. 

She froze, a glare directed at Chat fixed on her face even though he couldn’t see it. What was he doing? Was he trying to derail the plan? But maybe the dust hadn’t settled on her. And even if it had, maybe the akuma wouldn’t see it-“ 

“There you are.” 

The akuma’s voice made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Without looking back to see how close the akuma was, she leapt straight up in the air with all her might. Something rushed through the space she had been occupying mere seconds ago before. 

She managed to twist in midair and kick off of the akuma, who had rushed forward and unwittingly placed himself right under her. With a little less grace than usual, she landed a few feet behind the akuma. Immediately, she sprang back up and darted away from where she had landed. The akuma was looking around wildly, even with his snare trap locked with Chat’s staff. As she darted to the side to look for an opening, she caught sight of Ladybug perched on top of the roof, a small red object in her hands and a look of horror on her face. 

Ladybug’s voice crackled to life in the coms. “Chat! What are you doing?” 

She glanced at Chat in time to see him grit his teeth and shove against his staff, breaking the lock he had been in with Exterminator and forcing the akuma back. 

Exterminator stumbled back, his free arm out to the side as he planted his snare trap to try and stop himself from overbalancing.  

She had a clear path to his belt, and the dust-sprayer on it. 

This was it. 

On near silent feet, she sprinted forward.

She reached out for the akuma. 

She was so close. 

“See, M’lady, it’s you and me against the world!” 

What?

“Cataclysm!”

Her eyes widened in horror as Chat’s hand erupted in a dark miasma as he lunged towards the dust-sprayer. 

Towards her. 

She dug her feet into the ground to try and stop herself. But she had been going so fast, it wasn’t enough to stop the momentum. 

Seeing Chat hurtle towards him, Exterminator dove to the side. Out of her reach. 

Out of Chat’s path. 

Leaving him hurtling directly toward-

She managed to throw herself into a clumsy roll at the very last second. It wasn’t enough to avoid the collision entirely though. 

Time felt like it was moving through syrup. 

Heavy boots knocked against her shoulders. Claws grazed across her back. 

Her heart stopped. 

And then beat again as she inched through the air, no searing pain running along her back. 

At least it hadn’t been his Cataclysm hand as far as she could tell.

But as she and Chat tumbled over and against each other, she felt her bolas swing up with her momentum. And then suddenly they were changing direction. Like they had hit something. 

Or been pushed by-

And just as suddenly, their weight was gone. 

And time doubled to catch up with itself. 

The impact of Chat hitting her threw her off kilter enough so that she landed heavily on her shoulder with a thud and a very uncontrolled roll before she skidded to a stop against the pavement. The impact was enough to knock the air from her lungs. 

But it could have been worse. 

Gingerly, she picked herself back up and turned. Just in time to see Chat dragging himself up from the ground. 

And Exterminator rushing right towards him, holding what looked like an oversized can of pesticide foam at the ready.  

Despite her protesting muscles, she rushed forward and shoved Chat—maybe a little harder than was necessary—out of the way of the foul smelling stream of toxic green foam.  

Exterminator barrelled past them. He started to skid to a stop, but then a familiar zip of a yoyo cut the air and the akuma was suddenly windmilling his arms. And then he fell flat on his face, just short of the pile of foam. 

Ladybug was a red blur as she dove off of the roof; she was beside the Exterminator in an instant, ripping the dust-sprayer from his belt brusquely. Even with her back to her, she could see the tension in every inch of Ladybug’s body. And- her hands were shaking as she clutched the dust-sprayer in one and the unused Lucky Charm in the other. 

Wordlessly, in one swift and sharp movement, Ladybug slammed the dust-sprayer down as she drover her knee up, snapping it with a loud and decisive crack that split the suddenly too-quiet air. 

The next thing she knew, Ladybug’s yoyo was capturing the akuma. 

But she was silent as she purified it. 

She dropped her invisibility as the white butterfly fluttered away. 

She watched as Ladybug pulled the akuma victim to his feet and offered him some quiet words. He nodded, and then, with an apologetic look cast in her and Chat’s direct, he hastily walked off. When she turned back to look at Ladybug, she had her Lucky Charm in her hands again. And she was staring at it. 

It was hard to tell from where she was standing, but it looked like an egg-timer. 

Ladybug stared at it silently. Until finally, she sighed. The moment Ladybug sighed, the timer began to ring, its sound shrill against the quiet. 

She watched as Ladybug took a breath, and then hurled it into the air as she cast her purification spell. 

The second the ladybugs disappeared, Ladybug turned sharply to face her and Chat. Her blue eyes were burning like ice as she approached. The burning ice flickered out of Ladybug’s eyes as they darted to her. “You ok?” she asked quietly.

She nodded. 

With a short nod of her own, the icy flames returned to Ladybug’s eyes as she drew level with her and Chat. 

“What,” Ladybug asked, her voice so quiet it would have been impossible to hear if not for the fact that the streets were still eerily empty in the aftermath of the akuma battle, “was that?” 

Ladybug wasn’t looking at her. Not even remotely. Her eyes were fixed directly on Chat. But she still took a half a step back form the weight of her voice. 

Chat audibly swallowed. 

“Well, I… I was only-” 

“What were you thinking? Throwing that dust?” 

“I was trying to blind him!” 

“And risk Tigress getting caught?”

“How was I supposed to know she would be there? She was invisible!” 

Awkwardly, she shifted her weight between her feet. Should she jump in? Should she say something? 

She had seen plenty of their spats firsthand, from the ones that were little more than bickering, to the ones that were full on arguments, which had become more and more frequent ever since she first received the tiger miraculous. But none of them had been…  

“It was the entire plan! I told you she would be in close range. You knew she would be trying to get the akuma! You knew she could have been caught in the crossfire!”

“I’m not her babysitter,” Chat spat. “Besides, she’s a big girl, she can take care of herself. You certainly seem to think so.” 

It was one thing to tell Chat how she really felt. But getting involved in a fight between the two of them… 

It was like watching a tennis match, the way they volleyed back and forth. Her gaze followed the trajectory of the fight with every spoken strike. 

“That isn’t the point. We’re a team.” 

“We’re partners!”

“And the way you just ignored the plan and jumped in the first chance you got? That’s what partners do?”  

“I was taking initiative. I was doing my job.”

“You were supposed to distract him!” 

“What? So she could do my job?” He flung his arm to gesture at her, almost hitting her given the proximity. 

Maybe she wouldn’t have a choice on getting involved… as appealing as standing and watching them argue was-

Before she could even so much as open her mouth, Chat continued. “I’m your partner. It’s been us from the start! And then suddenly you’re bringing in other people-”

“We need the help!”

“And you changed when you became the Guardian-”

“I never asked to be-” 

“You gave out another miraculous without asking me and you’re letting her keep one!” He gestured at her again. 

“We- I needed help!” 

“No you didn’t! You have me!” 

“No, I didn’t!” 

Chat stumbled back at Ladybugs words. Both of their chests were heaving, and their faces were the same scarlet as Ladybug’s suit. Tears glimmered at the corners of Ladybug’s eyes. She stepped forward, but before she could place herself between the two, before she could reach out to comfort Ladybug, Ladybug broke the silence. 

“I didn’t have you.” 

Ladybug’s quiet, broken voice took her back to her room on the Liberty. Back to her friend, sitting beside her on her bed, spilling tears over too many responsibilities for one person to handle. 

“Oh, Bugaboo,” Chat crooned, his furious face instantly softening, “of course you did. I’ll always be by your side, M’lady.” 

Ladybug’s eyes darted back up from the ground to Chat. 

“Frozer.” 

Chat’s brows furrowed. “What-”

“Glaciator.” 

With each name, Ladybug took a step forward. 

“Oblivio. Dark Cupid-”

“M’lady, what are you talking about?” 

“All the akumas where you’ve been more interested in goofing off or flirting. That, or having a snit because you were mad I don’t feel the same way.” 

“I don’t-”

“I needed help.”

“We beat all of those akumas!”

“Barely! And always by the seat of our pants, because you never listen to me.” 

“I listen!”

Ladybug let out an incredulous half-laugh before she drew herself up to her full height. She was still more that half a head shorter than Chat, but somehow, she didn’t seem to be. 

“Like you listened tonight?” Ladybug’s voice was quiet steel. 

“I- I- I…” she could see Chat floundering for something to say. Some way out of the grave he had dug for himself. “I did follow the plan!” She had to hold back a snort. Ladybug’s face morphed to pure incredulity. “I let her get the akuma to the Trocadéro! I was distracting it!” 

“And then you jumped in anyways when Tigress had an opening!” 

“I was being a hero!” 

“You could have hurt her.” Technically, he had. The suit protected her, but the fall had still hurt. “You could have Cataclysmed her!” 

“If she hadn’t been there to begin with this wouldn’t have happened!” Wildly, he turned to glare at her.  “This was your fault! You told me to step up! If you hadn’t-” 

“Chat! Stop. It.” 

“But Bugaboo, she told me to- if she hadn’t interfered-”

“Don’t ever talk to her that way.” Ladybug’s voice was quiet and even. And deadly. “Don’t ever talk about her like that.”

“Bugaboo-”

“Don’t. Call. Me. That.”

“But-” 

“You knew the plan.” Ladybug took a step toward Chat, the sheer weight of her voice was enough to silence him. “You chose to do your own thing.” Chat shrank back as Ladybug took another step. His face was stark white against the black of his mask, and it looked like the carpet had just been ripped out from under him. “You chose not to be part of the team.” She hissed, jabbing a finger into his chest. 

Ladybug looked like she wanted to say more, but she was interrupted by another beep from her earrings. 

“I’ll find you later Tigress,” she said, turning away from Chat curtly. Her voice was still still sharp, but it obviously wasn’t directed at her. And then with a flick of her wrist and the familiar zip of her yoyo, she was gone in a red and black blur. 

Heavy silence hung in the air. Everything was still; there was no breeze, no rush of traffics or people going about their evening. There wasn’t even the sound of any pigeons. 

It was like the world was holding its breath. 

Chat cast her an icy glare. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, she turned on her heel and darted into the shadows of the Palais de Challiot. 

[lone-pylon]

Hi, I think your ocs are super duper cool, having looked at them, and I’d be really interested in knowing their lore n stuff 👁️👁️

I know how it is with being an oc artist, I mainly only post art of my little guys, and I barely get any notes, with tags being a rarity that I will genuinely get overexcited about, haha

So, yeah, feel free to yap all you want 👁️👁️

Also, Matrix in particular is super duper cool

Aww thank you so much!! I appreciate the reblogs! ^v^ I want to make dedicated Yap Posts about them eventually once I make a bit more art, but uhhh yeah these guys are all from a series of books I've been writing since 2014 (which is currently in its 4th revision):

The story takes place on a fictional planet that, generations prior, was invaded by Earth's 1% as they attempted to escape to a world that they could dominate and, in turn, create their "perfect utopia" of other one-percenters (this ofc backfired very badly).

The MC, Aami (buzz cut), is a native extraterrestrial of this planet, who was imprisoned for killing several mafia grunts (she's unaware that the prison is owned by a tech company using her for free labor and product testing, and the CEO is a high-ranking member of that same mafia). The secondary MC, Greg (white-haired cyborg), is a part-time warden at the prison she's held in. He's employed by the tech company, and wants out. He's got a few secrets of his own.

After escaping from the prison with help from an outside vigilante group, Aami reluctantly agrees to travel with Greg as they work together to survive now that there are targets on their backs.

During their travels, new information starts coming to light about the tech company, their involvement with the mafia, and the classified project happening behind closed doors. Matrix (blue eyes) is the company's hired gun. He's my favorite to draw, if it wasn't obvious already lol. He also has some of the best dialogue in the books because he's smarmy and full of rude quips, and I love exploring his interactions with the other characters who hate his guts. Everybody Hates Matrix. Dr. Roark (glasses) I think is my favorite character in the narrative. He's the guy who nobody has beef with ever. Even Aami, who has beef with everyone. Everybody Loves Roark.

Overall it's meant to be very sweet with Aami learning how to better herself through vulnerability and finding support in others despite the circumstances, while also harrowing as the crew tries to grapple with this unfathomably powerful scheme. A lot of the story focuses on character relationships. Particularly fleeting kindnesses, the kind that remind you that the world is not all a terrible place. It's a story I've worked very, very hard on. I spent many an hour between classes at the university library writing this series while also working on my degree (which involved a LOT of writing too). I'm really hoping I can get it out there soon because my imposter syndrome really do be having me in a choke hold ;v;

You can find some more info about them on my Toyhouse! I update their bios every so often to fit better with the current canon (which is changing slightly with the new revision)

[triscribe]

WIP Tag Game

Tagged by @crystalshard, which may prove to be a miscalculation, 'cause boy-howdy do I have a lot of works in progress...

Rules: In a new post, list the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

/cracks knuckles

Star Wars: -Fulcrum & Family, the new Tano & Twins re-write -Dreamwalkers Luke and Leia -History Reversed with sequel trilogy Ahsoka, Luke, Ezra and students dropped back in the Clone Wars -Birds Fly sequel Can We Start Over, Bly's pov -Something Big is Happening (Misc/Understudies crossover) -Clone Wars Cass (DC/Batman crossover)

Marvel -The Big One (5+1 Spidey saves Morgan, Pepper meets Doc Strange, Another Chance conclusion with Wanda) -Kids Club, post-Civil War kidnapping fixit -MCU Miles Morales, title tbd -Spider Assassins AU, multi-continuity-combination -X-Fire, Laura/Wolverine, Gabby/Honeybadger, and Rachel/Phoenix -Heroes of Tomorrow re-write with way more kids from different superhero groups/families

DC -Pantheon AU -the revised Alf-verse (22 Bat-grandkids and counting) -Rotten Luck re-vamp (Young Justice season one Team in the Justice League Unlimited universe) -Continuations: The Batman "seasons six and seven" if I ever get around to re-writing the early stuff (my very first fan fic ever, I've improved a lot since those high school days) -Teen Titans meet Robin's horde of younger siblings (original cartoon) -Battorian AU (Diana is human, Clark's a demigod, Bruce came from another planet) -Mandalorian/Star Wars AU (Mando Alfred adopts orphaned Bruce. This is the Way.)

HP -Pair of Potters sequel, year two for Heather, official year one for Harry, the beginning of a long headache for Dumbledore -Founder Foundlings, reincarnation fic -Cheers to the Wish, more Guardian Ghosts Lily and James -Philosopher's Mirror, canon-divergence of the unintended resurrection variety -the third effing chapter of Muggle is as Muggle Does -Thief!Harry AU, my all-out middle finger to the Author Who Shall Not Be Named

Transformers -Terratron AU (Bee meets Dragonfly, Elita makes Artemis, Bee and Fly stumble across Megatron and Rion, Prowl and Beats, Beats finds Jazz, accidental babysitter Serrate, Hornet and her big race, etc etc) -Hard Facts and Simple Truths, humanformers AU -TFAnimated swapped 'verse, with Elita Prime and her team of spacebridge technicians: Arcee, Ironhide, Wasp, and Jazz -G1 sparkling-Starlane AU -TFPrime crossover with Hot Wheels: Battle Force Five

Atla -follow-up to A Small Condition, aka the "Monk Gyatso goes into the iceberg with Aang and Zuko assumes *he* is the Avatar" AU -continuation of Ursa leaving royal life and stumbling across a dying dragon who entrusts her with a baby and two unhatched eggs -Avatar!Yue learns airbending from Aang's grandkids and that whole big mess of world-altering changes

My Hero Academia -Doubles AU (finishing Brand New Day and getting a move on with Double Take as a canon re-write with Pro Hero Shimura Tenko) -continuation for Great Beasts of the Mountain -third chapter of Instinct, my first A/B/O attempt -more next generation fluff, the Archive and Guardian saga

Misc -Sea Beast fic where Crow gets injured, suffers total amnesia, the doctor who patches him up sends for Jacob, and there's a very awkward dance between them and Maisie and Blue as the old man slowly gets his memories back -The Faceless Wolf, a mildly (make that incredibly) ambitious Game of Thrones canon-divergence attempt -Jamie Reagan and the Terrible Horrible No-Good Very Bad Day, a Blue Bloods whump idea I've had rattling around for a while -Milo and Claggor Survived AU from LoL Arcane -Grandboss Gibbs, a bittersweet NCIS fic that would, in my opinion, have been a better end to the series than trying to go on without the main character of the show -Storm Hawks past-and-present-collide idea with some previous generation OCs -Edge Chronicles TWIG GETS TO MEET HIS MOTHER DAGNABIT -may as well throw in what will be my second self-published book, Trials of Youth, because the current draft is definitely a work in progress

Aaand we'll call that good. Now to see if I get any nibbles...

(I know the game says tag a person for each WIP but I don't think I've got that many writing acquaintances on here, so instead I've got one person per fandom grouping)

@wafflesrisa @eirianerisdar @jinxquickfoot @theredscreech @resamille @tarisilmarwen @icarussmicarus @gallusrostromegalus

[nevarran-hahren]

hey, hi there, I changed my username

@whispering-depths » » » @nevarran-hahren

still me! just reflecting the ebb and flow of my monomanic hyperfixation from bg3 to dragon age

also feel like I should do an intro post since it's been awhile, soooo

I'm mik! 29 yo, librarian, cross-stitcher, hobby artist, she/they is cool. this is my fandom blog, non-fandomy things will be over at my personal blog (@queenofcarrotflowers-s). my likes and follows will come from there as well. I like to post about my ocs sometimes, usually art or screencaps. but mostly i reblog things.

I'm usually super inconsistent with remembering to tag things, but I am diligently using both the "#veilguard spoilers" and "#datv spoilers" tags on *anything* related to da4 for the foreseeable future. please blacklist those tags if you wish to avoid spoilers.

» non-exhaustive list of fandoms/interests you may see here:

dragon age

baldur's gate 3

disco elysium

stardew valley

dungeon meshi

dropout tv

the sims

beastars

blue eye samurai

» my ocs (general oc tag):

Dragon Age (canon world state)

warden shira tabris (dao): city elf duelist/assassin rogue, romanced alistair (prev zevran). (she/they)

hedy mae hawke (da2): human apostate force mage/spirit healer, purple hawke, romanced anders (prev isabela). (she/her)

inquisitor janne lavellan (dai): dalish hunter/champion warrior, romanced solas. (she/her)

lorna "rook" ingellvar (datv): dwarven reaper warrior of the mourn watch, romanced lucanis (prev taash). (they/them)

Baldur's Gate 3

sorcha agaric: foundling, raised by myconids. half-drow circle of spores druid (they/she) - completed my first playthough with sorcha as a dark urge romancing astarion, but in my revised version of their story she is not exactly that. if i ever replay with them, she will romance both shadowheart and halsin.

juno: "drow" dark urge way of shadows monk (redeemed), romanced astarion (prev lae'zel). (they/them) - playthrough complete (twice lol)

tiresia allseer: urchin/orphan, tiefling wild magic sorcerer, fears her own power after a traumatic childhood experience, romanced gale (prev astarion). (she/her) - playthrough in progress

artemisia silvershield: disgraced noble, human-turned-tiefling fiendish warlock, romanced minthara. (she/her) - multiplayer playthrough abandoned, plans to revisit for future evil run

DnD/TTRPGs

gwinnera "gwin" strongbrow - gen z hill dwarf wood sculptor and art school dropout, college of creation bard with a glorious pink beard and space buns. travels the country performing live chainsaw woodcarving routines with their girlfriend, a fire-eating tiefling bard. (she/they) - created for a modern-day setting "oops! all bards" DnD campaign

hazel hawkins - 89 yo wandering occultist/researcher/folk magic practitioner, increasingly batty, cool lesbian grandma to the party. was selectively mute as a child, now never shuts up. will try to play matchmaker. got yeeted by a giant eyeball monster in the campaign finale. (she/her) - created for a call of cthulhu campaign

» other links:

my art

etsy shop (I sell digital cross stitch patterns that I create!)

ao3

feel free to say hi or reach out to chit chat about any of the things i've mentioned! i don't bite, but i *am* bad at starting conversations myself

x