#fixing lila rossi

[mlb-a-rewrite]

Fixing Lila Rossi

Oh boy, do I hate Lila. Not only is she a bad character, but she's a badly written character too which is a far worse crime imo.

At first, I was tempted to just write her out entirely but then I thought, "What the hell, might as well see if I could make her work" and I'm glad I did.

In the show, Lila is a conniving manipulator. She is constantly scheming, but why? Her reasons for what she does are never made very clear, but that's not her biggest crime.

Lila joins the class randomly and immediately begins lying and deceiving. When Marinette discovers this, Lila begins attacking her and when Marinette speaks up about this, everyone sides with Lila, including Marinette's best friend. For so many episodes, for so many seasons, Lila is a cruel manipulator, and that entire time Marinette and Adrien, two of the most well-liked people in the entire class, are ignored when they speak up against Lila.

I think this is all incredibly dumb and it makes me very angry to think about it so I reworked her character entirely.

The first thing I figured out was Lila's motivations. Why is she the way she is? What are her goals? How far is she willing to go to get what she wants?

The easy conclusion I came to was that Lila wants the luxurious glory of wealth. She comes from a poor family where she's been neglected and pushed to the side her whole life. She wants the power that comes from money. She wants people to look at her and envy her like she has done to others her whole life.

But the more I thought about Lila the more I realized her motivations are more than that.

Her whole life has been lived in uncertainty. She never knew if she would be getting dinner that day or if she'd be able to stay in her home. She never knew if her parents were in a caring mood or a cruel one. She never had any control over her life, and she is tired of it.

Lila wants money because it gives her control, but she also wants to control people. She befriends people to get what she wants or to gather information to force them to do what she wants. She never lets anyone have a leg up on her, because that is surrendering control.

Even if the person she is interacting with doesn't play a role in her master plan, she doesn't want to risk the chance that they might. Vulnerability and authenticity give people access to Lila, to the things that anger her and make her sad, and so she never lets anyone in.

Yes, Lila is driven by a desire to accumulate wealth and fame, but those are just pieces of the larger puzzle. Ultimately, Lila has lived a life where she is powerless and she decided years ago that she would rather be dead than continue to live at the whim of others.

[nionom-art]

Back at it again

[geekgirles]

Uhhhh, is the character we're supposed to hate Lila, or Alya? Because with the way the writers are handling that subplot—and by that I mean completely disregarding the fact that, as of season 4, Alya should in absolutely no way or form be that trusting of Lila over Marinette, especially when Adrien himself has finally told her and Nino point blank she's bad news— it's starting to feel as if the writers actually want us to salt on Alya and dislike her character.

[lilasbutterflygarden]

Lila: "I can fix her."

[plumsaffron]

Bruh… Lila was a real one.

Not even mad she raged and disabled Nooroo’s flight.

[starrynighttime]

Miraculous Concepts Cuz I Hate the Canon Powers: Butterfly Miraculous

Honestly, I’m more conflicted about the butterfly than anything else.

But, hey, I’m doing all of the other miraculouses that bother me so why not?

I understand that they needed a miraculous power to be the villain one that also allowed Hawk Moth to stay in one spot from episode to episode.

However, it makes very little sense for a miraculous power.

Like, the entire concept of the transmission power is to give a victim a more powerful version of a miraculous.

Hawkface legit did that in Volpina. He gave Lila infinite illusions.

And if he could akumatize himself that entire time, why couldn’t he have just given himself the power to bring back the dead if that was his end goal?

I’m thinking way too hard about this. It’s not like Hawky has ever been that smart except for that one time in Heroes’ Day.

Also, the weapon is weird. All I can think about is Hawk Moth shaking his cane and shouting, “Get off my lawn!” whenever I see it. It really hammers home how old he is.

Power Inspiration

Give more miraculous powers musical weapons, dang it. They’re so fun.

Bunny Miraculous

Pig Miraculous

Tiger Miraculous

Rooster Miraculous

Goat Miraculous

Peacock Miraculous

Monkey (Bonus)

[nothingtherefornow]

Which is why I was so infuriated with the rest of Marinette and Adrien's classmates during Revelation. I know they're kids but for Gimmi's sake could they try to put themselves in Marinette's shoes for once instead of taking her for granted and thinking badly of her everytime she has a negative opinion about somoene ?!!

You know that's remind me of something I've seen in a Manhwa :

And that's exactly what we often see in Miraculous :

As soon as Chloé does something nice, everyone conveniently forget all the awful things she did, or the fact that Chloé never once apologized or regretted those things.

And as soon as Marinette shows dislike toward somoene and doesn't bend all the way to help them, everyone quickly forget all the numerous good things Marinette for acquaintances, friends family and strangers without expecting anything in return, and start to think of her as a bad person.

It's really a "the wicked have an easy life and don't have to try hard to gain a good reputation, while the good samaritans must always answer to unfair expectations and be harsly judged and taken for granted" mentality.

That's why Marinette and Adrien's classmates are walking on very thin ice, and fall really low in my esteem.

About Evil teenagers antagonists in Miraculous

I currently wonder how can some fans still want a redemption for somoene like Chloé who willingly hurt people just because that's was her definition of "fun".

Why not accept Chloé as somoene evil ? Just because she's 14 years old ? Just because Gabriel was worst than her doesn't take away the fact that Chloé is a truly bad person who has the potential to become as evil, if not worse than Gabriel while growing up.

Even in real life, adults are not the only ones who are capable of cruelty and crimes. If only adults were capable of monstrosity, I wouldn't have 14-year-olds killing each other with callache nikoffs in the drug trafficking districts of my city. we wouldn't have young people beating up little ones and pushing others to suicide and absolutely not regretting their actions. And we wouldn't have stories to raise eyebrows about kids capable of committing murder and acts of torture without necessarily having been abused in their lives.

To me, anyone who loves to make others suffer for their own sick pleasure (and their victims are people who objectively don't deserve such cruelty) has serious mental issues and can be a danger to others.

Both Chloé and Lila love to make others people suffer or don't care about hurting innocents, and they certainly don't feel any empathy for anyone, or in Chloé's case, no longer feel any empathy (she may have felt sympathy and empathy for Adrien at some point, like during the episode Felix in season 3, but that's definitly no longer the case as soon as Adrien asked her to stop being a biatch). Maybe Lila may feel a form of attachment toward her mothers, yet that doesn't stop her from manipulating them and fooling them in a way that's pretty cruel if you dig deeper in Lila's scale of truancy and imposterization.

I know that technically when a 14 year old kid behaves like Lila and Chloé we could say to ourselves that it is unfair to give them no chance and to condemn them when they are only 14-15 years old and could change for the better if they could be guided on the right path.

But Miraculouse is a show in which the superheroes with the fate of the world in their hands are 14 year old kids. And as such in this fictitious reality, other 14 year olds are perfectly likely to become real cruel and threatening villains i without any scruples, especialy if they are influenced by the wickedness of an adult supervillain.

And I believe that Gabriel's evilness only made Chloé's and Lila's wickedness worse.

He put those two girls in positions of power where they could hurt others and act according to their darkest and Manichean impulses. And Lila and Chloé would only want more taste of that power to crush others. And you know how power easilly corrupt the most greedy hearts.

On several occasions, Gabriel even approved of Lila and Chloe's horrible plans and actions. He has encouraged Lila on numerous occasions to "get rid of" Marinette, thus giving the impression that he supports Lila's jealousy, and during collusion he will have the nerve to say that Chloé's ideas, which consist literally ruining the academic future of your classmates and putting your pregnant teacher in jail for no good reason are good ideas. Having a rich adult in a position to approve of their actions in this way will only have given Lila and Chloe the feeling that their acts of cruelty and malice are justified, and thus reinforced their evil nature.

On several occasions we have seen Chloe and Lila voluntarily let themselves be akumatized, and worse than that, we have seen them plan to be akumatized (Chloe in Penalteam, and Lila in Revelation) and not for understandable reasons like that of a desperate Jalil brainwashed by lies on social media. Because Lila and Chloe have only ever been motivated by their narcicism, their ego, and their desire to get revenge on people they hate for the most pettiest, vain and selfish reasons possible.

Lila and Chloé may be kids, but they are evil teenagers, because they would gladly become supervillain if that means getting what they want. And what they want is anything but noble. For their selfish goals, Lila and Chloé were willing to endanger the city they live in and all its inhabitants. I don't even know if I can still call Lila and Chloé kids or teenagers, with how far they're willing to go and hurt people for the sake of their ambitions.

Although there's still the possibility that Lila may be an adult with a youngfull appearance or a hormonal abnormality making her look like a teenager when she could be an adult. But that would risk making her a pedophile so I don't think the show will go that far ^^ At most they could give her the same as Théo Barbot

But an antagonist adult would be needed then to balance an antagonist teenager supervillain.

Good thing we still have Tomoe Tsurugi then

It's tragic that Chloé and Lila wickedness and evilness could be due to serious mental issues or Chloé's bad upbringing, and the show may have decided that it's more important to protect others from the harm Chloé and Lila can cause rather than to prioritize "helping" them with their issues. Both Marinette and Adrien proposed another path for Chloé to chose, one that could have helped her heal from the emotional and mental wounds her mother's abandonment and neglect. Chloé instead chose Hawkmoth's/Monarch

Ladybug offered Lila her friendship, and Adrien also offered Lila to be there for her as long as she didn't hurt those he loved. Yet both Lila and Chloe voluntarily chose to continue committing bad deeds and hurting others, regardless of the fact that someone reached out to them and offered them another path to get love, acknowledgement and recognition from people. Adrien and Marinette don't have to sacrifice their mental health for people who wish them harm, so I understand very well that it wasn't and won't be their priority to help Chloé and Lila find potential redemption. And especially when Lila and Chloe seem determined to refuse to change and continue to cling to their wickedness.

It should be the adults responsabilities to deal with Chloé and Lila issues, and unfortunatelly the adults in Miraculous are pretty lousy and incompetents. It's very tragic when we don't know that one kid is a psychopath, and if another has always gotten away with his narcissistic behavior disorder and nothing had ever been done to help them deal with that issue, that only leaves the opportunity for the seed of evil in these kids to germinate and flourish, and then reach the level of nastiness that is more often found in adults.

[harrumphingtons]

rough sketch of a Lila Rossi redesign… what do y’all think?

(the goal is eventually redesigning all the major characters — stay tuned!)

me yapping about decision choices (both mine and the original ones from the show) under the cut - and feel free to give feedback/criticism! I’m very undecided on a lot of things lol.

i completely changed her color palette from the show (image below for reference) because, well. I’m really not a huge fan of that combination of colors. I feel like the polka-dotted gray-blue romper with the bright red-orange jacket and the gray tights and the brown boots was just wayyy too much going on. it honestly looks like something a child would pick out to wear (no hate to kids, kids can pull off any crazy color and pattern combos solely by being cute and small), which isn’t really suitable for a character who ends up being a model for a major fashion brand. I’m also a big fan of color symbolism and considering her whole thing is her slyness and her foxiness I decided that orange-red-brown was the way to go (the green on there is solely for her eyes). That’s also the reason I want to add in some purple elements, to bring her transformation into the new Hawk Moth into her civilian design. Currently the only purple in there is the linings of the boots and the jacket, as well as the bracelet. I feel like there needs to be a little bit more but I’m not sure where. Any ideas?

The other thing I knew I had to fix was the hair, for obvious reasons. That’s the other detail that really undermines the whole “she had major model potential” thing. I know Gabriel picked her for other motives as well, but. Come on. When I look at that I do NOT see model and it’s not because she doesn’t have potential (she has a LOT of potential) but because the design choices are all wrong. The color scheme is bad and the hair is just… awful awful. I do like the bangs and the long hair, and I guess the goal with the sausages in front was to give her layers? And I don’t really know how the hair tie at the very bottom of the rest of her hair in the back ever got approved as a design decision. So I decided to keep the bangs and the long hair but leave it loose and make it a bit wavy-curly for the volume instead, but I’m still undecided on layers or not. Any thoughts? I think layers would look good but… do I want to draw that? Perhaps not.

I’m also still undecided on the boots. Still considering staying a bit more true to the original design and making it booties as well as tights, but I really like the look of the tall boots. If you have any opinions on that as well, I’d love to hear them!

[mcheang]

Reality

As Nino lays out his plan for targeting Gabriel, Alya points out one thing. “Sure I know Ladybug can fix the mess an akuma causes. But Gabriel will still be mad. He already doesn’t like you, Nino. Don’t push it. For all we know, Gabriel might threaten to transfer Adrien to a different school. Remember, he totally lost it when Adrien lost his book?”

Nino: oh…right. I didn’t think of that. Then, who do we target?

Marinette grins sneakily. “I know someone who can get upset very easily.”

Adrien: really, who?

Marinette: i don’t want to spoil the surprise.

Later, as the parent-teacher meeting commenced, Marinette bursts in, “Oh, I’m so sorry to barge in like this. But I forgot I needed Mrs Rossi’s signature for Lila’s trip to Achu.”

Caline: Marinette, can’t this wait?

Mrs Rossi: what trip to Achu?

Caline and Marinette look at her. “You know, the trip she’s taking to join Prince Ali in teaching children for free. It’s such a shame that she won’t be able to attend the school’s weeklong camping trip but it’s for a good cause.

Mrs Rossi stands up. “My daughter is doing what?”

Caline: why are you so surprised, Mrs Rossi? Lila went to Achu for months less than a week after she joined Dupont.

Mrs Rossi: she told me the school was shut down from akuma attacks!

Marinette pretended to look faint. “Oh no, was it because of her special lying disease?”

Mr Cesaire looked skeptical. “A lying disease…? Do you mean compulsive lying?”

Gabriel almost regretted not being able to akumatize Mrs Rossi, if only to make up for losing Lila Rossi as a spy since clearly Alliance can no longer use her. Oh well, there’s always the fallout when her sheep find out.

Alya and Nino were recording this with open mouths. Adrien wasn’t so bothered by this after seeing more of Lila’s hateful personality.

Needless to say, the parent-teacher conference was delayed as Sabine then angrily wanted justice for her daughter if she was indeed framed by a liar. Gabriel had to admit the teaching faculty here was lousy to fall for Lila’s reception, but that’s what makes this place so prime for his akumas! Why did he send Adrien here again? Oh right, it’s the most prestigious school and he’ll never hear the end of it from Andre because Chloe would never accept his perfect son being in another school away from her.

Later, after Marinette received an apology from Mrs Rossi, she agreed to bring Lila up. Alya and Nino looked apologetic. “We’re so sorry we didn’t believe you.”

Marinette looked behind her. “It’s ok. Keep recording. If Mrs Rossi isn’t angry enough to attract an akuma, her daughter will be. Nothing akumatizes Lila like being caught.”

Lila was immediately suspicious when Marinette of all people came to get her, however it was subdued by Marinette’s poorly hidden dislike and the fact that it was Gabriel who asked her to come.

Certain that Mr Agreste wanted her help against a stupid boy’s resistance team, she agreed.

Boy was Lila surprised to see Sabine and her mother standing in front of the classroom instead of Mr Agreste, who looked disappointed in her.

Uh oh. Now Lila could see Marinette’s triumphant face and could see what had happened. Her one consolation was that the team’s plan to anger a parent into akumatization had failed. Though she was also irked she couldn’t get akumatized and make that loser suffer for exposing her like this. This is worse than Ladybug’s exposing her in front of Adrien!

As Lila was dragged by her mother to the principal’s office, Caline tried to resume the parent-teacher conference though it was clear all now felt disheartened by her incompetence.

The resistance was confused. Angry Rossis and disappointed parents were around. Where was the akuma?

Eventually they had to give up. What a waste of free period.

Not entirely a waste though since Lila was now exposed. Alya sent the recording to the whole class as the parents left.

Outraged gasps were heard everywhere.

Nino: why didn’t you wait till class was about to start? Then we could prepare to record the akumatization.

Adrien: if Monarch didn’t come out for Mrs Rossi and Lila, I doubt he’ll come for-

Reverser promptly swooped by, ready to turn Lila nice and honest.

Adrien: never mind.

Marc was deakumatized and the class apologized to Marinette for not believing her.

Lila returned to class, sulky in her forced apology, not really bothered by their angry reactions now that she was expelled. Only Marinette’s smug attitude infuriated her. Having been forced honest by Reverser, she had confessed to having duped two other women into being her mothers and had initially planned on running away to join one of them. Her mother now has their numbers. It was a nightmare.

Alya: who else can we akumatize for the greater good? Mayor Bourgeois?

Marinette: I don’t think our plan works if we our expected target isn’t even akumatized. We’ll have to think of something else.

Monarch is disappointed he won’t get to akumatize the akuma class again for a while. Ah well, it can be a favor to Adrien.

[yolowritter]

Did anyone ask for some good Lilanette?

Hello there everyone, and welcome back to...well, my insanity! So, have you ever wondered what a Lila Rossi that doesn't suck looks like? Maybe you've seen all the salt fic Lilas that just like to do bad things like stealing candy from babies, setting Marinette's house on fire, and being terrible to poor Adrien? Well I have the solution for you! A 12k Lilanette fic written from @coldgoldlazarus' prompt, where Lila Rossi is...not half bad, actually.

Yes, I did indeed write a character study and worldbuilt an entire au out of literally one single idea. No, I am not okay. Lilanette has taken part of my soul. Fanon > Canon, especially when it comes to Lila as a character! I love this girl too much to bare how bland and one-dimentional she is in the show; why not give her a girlfriend as apology? Attached below you'll find my latest Lilanette fic, including things like:

Lila constantly reconsidering her life choices

Lila being extremely down bad for Marinette

Lila being Ladybug's #1 hater

Lila gaslighting, gatekeeping and girlbossing!

Lila throwing Gabriel in prison for tax evasion

and Lila falling in love with her arch-nemesis!

If any of that sounds like fun to you, here's the fic!

And some honorable mentions of more Lilanette works under my ao3 handle:

How to Crush on a Girl while Fueling her Caffeine Addiction

How to Fall in Love with a Girl while Fixing her Life

How to Fall in Love with a Girl while Ruining her Life

How exactly I started shipping Lilanette, you might ask? Ironically! And then toxic yuri sucked me in...happens to the best of us, really. If you guys are interested in my thoughts on Lilanette (whether as a romance or a relationship in general) feel free to send me an ask with questions; I'll be happy to answer all of them! But if you'll excuse me, I need to go and write a crack after so much character analysis!

[red-balloon12]

Everybody Hates Lila (And Why It’s Concerning Sometimes)

Lila Rossi is not a stranger in the Miraculous fandom. In fact I’d argue she’s more infamous than Gabriel in some cases. She’s despised by nearly everyone and while some reasons are more justifiable than others, she’s all around not a good person and a mid at best character.

But here’s my deal with it. The fandom hates this girl to I’d like to say an….unhealthy degree. Like the amount of salt this character gets is unmatched. And I feel like the causation of all of this salt doesn’t really live up to the response.

Lila is a liar who causes characters to act out of character very often. And not only that but she also is Marinette’s main rival now and is a jerk to her. She’s underutilized and her lies aren’t that convincing and yet the story wants to convince us she’s more important than she really is pre butterfly miraculous.

This is Lila’s character summed up. At the most I’d expect is frustration mixed in with mild dislike. Reasonable but not over the top. Instead though, I see SEVERAL people make so many salt fics and talk so much shit about her that I just have to sit down and say….y’all need to chill. You all seriously need to chill.

The fandom talks about this character like she’s the spawn of Satan, something we’ve been criticizing Astruc for doing with Chloe, all because she doesn’t have as many redeeming traits as her. Did we forget that they’re BOTH kids? Both of them still have room to improve on themselves.

And I’ll admit it, I was one of those people who kept on saying “Why demonize Chloe when we have Lila” but thinking on it now, neither of them deserves to have that fate. If we REALLY need a character to do the whole “people don’t change” thing, why not Gabriel?

It’s so much better to have this lesson taught to adults to not be like Gabriel, to accept change and loss and to be better. To teach how heavy the impact of a lost love can be and how old age isn’t an excuse to be “stuck in your ways”.

Plus the lesson works better for someone who’s older than for teenagers who’s literally at the stage of their lives where change is everything. And I’m not saying Lila needs to be redeemed or she isn’t allowed to be a villain. What I’m saying is that the over salting on her character, a character that can be easily fixed and patched up, is kinda dumb and kinda annoying to see…especially when some people do like Lila.

SPEAKING OF WHICH, don’t think I’ve forgotten what happened years ago with that one fan that claimed that they loved Lila. That’s what happens when you take salting on a character WAY too far. And I can say that it’s only gotten a little better.

I just don’t understand why people can’t spend their energy talking about how to make a character better instead of salting on them 24/7 and this goes for all of the characters in ML.

I’m gonna be in the minority when I say this but Lila doesn’t deserve to be salted in as much as she does. She deserves reevaluation and a true villain arc. The constant bashing and insulting her at any chance ain’t it.

But you wanna know the thing that frustrates me the most about the Lila salt? How she started getting salted on in the first place. Aka, her being another barrier to Adrienette.

If y’all don’t know already, I don’t like the lovesquare and even back then I didn’t like it. And when I started seeing people hate Lila for this reason, I got very annoyed. It’s the same reason as to why people hated Kagami and it’s a stupid reason (imo). At least the other reasons why she’s hated had some foundation and sense.

TLDR: Lila is a mess but she’s not a mess that’s beyond repair but the constant salting on her and her character isn’t going to do anything. (If you really wanna salt on someone, salt on the writers for making her writing so subpar)

[nobodyfamousposts]

Can we ask about the otome au? It’s one of my favorite au’s and I’ve been so curious about it but it’s been a while since anything was mentioned about it.

If we can, has anything changed and/or any new details kinda sprung up in the lull interval?

Certainly!

It's a little odd since Lila is pretty much the Lila as we know her from canon while Felix and Luka are not. I originally just thought of the transmigrated into an otome game setup as an explanation as to why Lila would say Ladybug "betrayed" her. Since originally, Ladybug never does anything with Lila except protect her from akumas and support her as a hero and eventual replacement for the Ladybug Hero.

A couple additions are in regards to Gabriel and Chloe.

With Chloe being the "villainess" of the otome game, she's got a pretty poor fate set up for her. Unless SHE ends up isekaied as well, the only way for her to really avoid this fate would be if someone else helped her change. In this case, it would either have to be a result of some machinations of Lila that end up making Chloe act against her in a way that would be a benefit to everyone else (aka: reveal she's a liar and manipulator) OR it would take Felix or Luka to have some influence on her. Alternatively, they could push Adrien to be a better influence on Chloe by holding her accountable. If Chloe would change for anyone, it would be for Adrien.

Lila never really bothered with any route of the game other than Adrien's. Both the Hero side and the Civilian side. But neither side actually revealed Gabriel was Hawk Moth. The DLC alluded to it, but again, Lila never bothered with it, so she's as lost on Hawk Moth's identity as she is on Ladybug's new "role" in the game. Of course, that's not going to stop her from trying to find out who he is and make an alliance if it means taking out Ladybug for "interfering".

Felix and Luka have a strange duality.

Luka knows only the bare basics about the game—monsters attack, heroes help, and people who are now his friends and family get targeted. The problem is that he doesn't know just HOW these incidents occur or turn out, just that it's all ultimately supposed to be up to this one girl to resolve the problems. So he is understandably concerned that the girl in question doesn't seem particularly inclined to help and thus takes it upon himself to try and fix things or protect his new friends and family.

Felix, on the other hand, HAS the information about the game. He just doesn't care.

They end up forming a partnership that eventually turns into friendship. Albeit mostly because Luka forces the matter and Felix is just dragged along for the ride.

Felix: Why not? It can't be worse than what the game would originally have had me do.

Luka has always wanted a little sister. And now he has one in the form of a little goth cutie. The especially hilarious thing is that there is really no difference between Luka pre or post isekai. Both versions of Luka adore Juleka.

Luka (First Morning He Wakes Up): (Hugs Juleka) OMG I have the cutest sister in the world!

Juleka: (Nonplussed) Do you have to do this every morning?

Luka is...less than pleased when he realizes he is one of the potential capture targets. Especially when he realizes the type of girl Lila is.

...although......

Hear me out: since Luka knows only the basics about the game, what if he doesn't know who the Heroine is?

What if he thinks it's Marinette?

Luka: Okay, to help protect my new family and resolve any potential issues, I just need to find the Heroine. But where do I even start looking for her?

Marinette: I'm Ma-Ma-Marinette.

Luka: ...there she is!

Of course, he's not happy when Felix corrects him.

Luka: But she's cute and huggable and so darn lovable! Who else could be the Heroine if she isn't?

Felix: Well...

...he's even LESS happy when he finds out who the Heroine IS.

Luka: I'm sorry, you're saying WHAT?

Felix: (Sigh) The Heroine of this game is Lila Rossi.

Luka: ...the sausage-haired girl?!

And it only snowballs from there.

[heqvenlymoons]

The Chronicles of Links & Connections [2]

I'm going to start a tag list for this fic! Comment if you want to be tagged when I post future chapters here onto Tumblr <3

Not a fan of the formatting here on Tumblr, it messed with the article and I'm not going to find a way to fix it 😭 I also can't figure out how to underline so~

Ch 1 | The Chronicles of Links & Connections Masterlist | AO3

Chapter 2: Clara Nightingale

──────────

From: claranightingale@email.com To: mdcdesigns@email.com Date: 28 March 2023, 9:32 A.M. Subject: Thank You

Marinette, 

Thank you so much for the dress! It’s beautiful and fits my album theme super well. As a thank you, I’ve sent over tickets for my concert happening on the 10th of April, they should be arriving in your mailbox in the next few days. There should be enough for your entire class to attend, as well as a few backstage passes for yourself and your trusted friends!

Xoxo, Clara

From: mdcdesigns@gmail.com To: claranightingale@gmail.com Date: 30 March 2023, 10:02 A.M. Subject: RE: Thank You

Clara,

Thank you so much for the tickets and backstages to your concert, I’ve just received them! You didn’t have to, but I appreciate it all the same! I’ll be sure to attend your concert along with the rest of my class.

Love, Marinette

From: claranightingale@gmail.com To: mdcdesigns@gmail.com Date: 30 March 2023, 4:47 P.M. Subject: RE: Thank You

Marinette,

It’s no problem! It’s the least I could do after all your hard work on the dress. You kept insisting on giving me a discount even after I refused. I can only pay you back in another way. You deserve it!

Xoxo,  Clara

──────────

April 10th, 2023— Collège Françoise Dupont, Paris, France. 

Marinette stumbled into the class just as the bell rang, her classmates giving her exasperated looks, used to her tardiness. She gave a tight smile before heading to the back where her seat was beside Felix, who looked up from his book to give her a look. 

“You live across the school. It is a wonder how you still arrive late to class every day,” he said, looking amused at her antics. 

She huffed, crossing her arms as she protested, “I don’t arrive late every day! It was my alarm! I turned my phone off yesterday and forgot to turn it back on before I went to sleep. My mom had to come and wake me up.” 

It wasn’t entirely the truth, Tikki had woke her up. There had been an Akuma in the middle of the night, she had to sneak out to deal with it as Ladybug and didn’t get any sleep until five. When her alarm rang, she had been too sleepy to get up. 

Felix tsked. “Today your alarm did not wake you up. What of yesterday? Or the day before? And the day before that?”

“Alright, alright. I get your point.” She grumbled, yawning as she closed her eyes and laid her head on their shared desk. 

She heard him sigh, and then he turned his attention back to his book, leaving her to catch up on the few minutes of sleep before class started. The familiar voice of Lila Rossi had Marinette muttering curses under her breath. 

“I’m really sorry for not attending our girl’s sleepover yesterday! There was a last-minute change of plans, Clara Night— Clara texted me about wanting to go shopping together and I just couldn’t refuse, it’s been a long time since our last hangout,” Lila said as she entered the class, making her way to Alya but still speaking loudly for the rest of the class to hear. 

Marinette sighed, muttering to Felix, “Here we go again.” 

He shook his head, scoffing. “She does this every day. How your classmates have not got tired of Miss Rossi’s voice is beyond me.”

The class raised to the bait, and in an instant, gathered around Lila in anticipation. 

Kim let out a gasp. “Clara Night? You mean Clara Nightingale? You’re close friends with Clara Nightingale? That’s so cool!” 

“Girl! You didn’t tell us you were besties with Clara Nightingale,” Alya said wide-eyed, bumping her shoulders with Lila’s. “And it’s alright, I get you. She must be busy a lot and it’s good that she still found the time to hang out with you.”

Lila gave a bashful shrug, smiling at them. “You’re my bestie, Alya. Clara and I are close, but not as close as me and the rest of you guys.” 

Rose let out a squeal, hugging her. “That’s so sweet, Lila!”

Marinette and Felix exchanged exasperated glances as Ms. Bustier arrived just as the bell rang, signalling the start of class. 

“Class, I have great news. Someone in the class dropped off tickets to the Clara Nightingale concert happening tonight—” Ms. Bustier had started to say when the class broke into excited chatters. 

“How much do you want to bet that Lila claims to be the one to drop off the tickets?” Marinette muttered, glaring at the girl in question. 

Felix shook his head. “Not taking the bet. Why fight a losing battle?” 

“Who could’ve sent the tickets to our class?” Sabrina asked, looking happy as she looked around the class, trying to figure out the mystery. 

Kim rolled his eyes. “Who cares? We have the tickets and we’re going to the concert— ow!” 

Alix had smacked him on the back of his head. “You gotta learn how to show your gratitude, man!” 

“Yeah dude, not cool,” Nino said, looking at Kim with disapproval as Kim looked chastened.

“Wow, whoever it is, it was nice of them to give the tickets to the class. It’s going to be my second concert after Jagged Stone!” Adrien said, his eyes shining with excitement as they flickered to the back of the class where Marinette was sitting. 

His bright smile dimmed as he saw her and Felix speaking in whispers to each other, envying their closeness. 

Lila, unhappy with the lack of attention she was getting, coughed. When everyone turned to her, she spoke in a shy voice, “I was actually the one who dropped off the tickets to Ms. Bustier.” 

Ms. Bustier blinked. She looked over to Marinette sitting at the back, who only shook her head. 

“Girl, why didn’t you say so then?” Alya asked, smiling as she linked elbows with Lila. 

Sabrina had stars in her eyes as she said, “Thank you, Lila!”

Lila soaked up all the attention as the class thanked her, no one paying attention to the two students at the back. 

Felix eyed the girl sitting beside him with a considerate look. “You were the one who dropped off the tickets.” It wasn’t a question and they both knew it. “They are taking advantage of your kindness. You don’t even get the recognition you deserve for your acts of kindness. Instead, the credit gets claimed by a lying snake.”

Marinette shrugged. “Clara Nightingale gave me the tickets specifically for the class. What else was I supposed to do with the 15 tickets?”

“Have you thought of selling them?” He said in a patronizing tone, making her faux glare at him. 

She shook her head. “It wouldn’t be right to. Besides, I don’t mind giving the tickets to the class.”

“They don’t deserve it,” He murmured, sending glares at their classmates who were surrounding Lila, Ms. Bustier having given up on trying to teach for today. 

Marinette smiled, it warmed her heart how Felix was always quick to defend her. “Anyway, enough about that.”

Felix watched with a curious gaze as she took out a lanyard pass from her purse. 

“A backstage pass, for you. Clara gave me three of them, including one for me. I’m going to give the other one to Chloe when I see her tonight as she’s currently not in class,” she said, placing the lanyard on their shared desk with a light clink and pushing it toward him. 

“Thank you,” He said, his lips quirking up into a slight smile and she took it as a win. 

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April 10th, 2023— Le Grand Paris, Paris, France.

Arriving at Le Grand Paris with Felix in his limo, Marinette sighed in relief when she didn’t see any signs of the paparazzi. After her accidental tweet on her MDC Twitter account from earlier, the paparazzi were sure to be on the lookout for her tonight. 

“Paparazzi are not allowed anywhere near the property of Le Grand Paris, remember?” Felix spoke as the limo came to a stop. 

Marinette still didn’t let her guard down, eyeing the entrance with a cautious look. “That didn’t stop Vincent Aza from stalking Jagged Stone, did it? There’s always a few people who think they can get away with the rule,” 

She fidgeted with the hem of her skirt, lost in thought. What if someone discovers she was MDC because she arrived with Felix? The world knows Felix and MDC are dating— even though they’re not— and everyone knows Felix is not the type of person to get close to just anyone. After her slip-up from earlier on social media, her arrival with Felix is a big giveaway. 

A light touch on her arm broke her out of her daze and she turned to see Felix looking at her with a frown, his eyes holding concern as he reassured her, “No paparazzi would be foolish enough to step foot onto Le Grand Paris after what happened last time with Vincent Aza. He was sued by both Jagged Stone and André Bourgeois.” 

When she still looked convinced, he added, “I am sure Miss Bourgeois took proper precautions and security has been doubled, especially with tonight’s event.”

Marinette gave a slow nod, taking a deep breath. 

Felix nodded at the chauffeur out the window, who promptly opened the door. As the door slid open, Felix stepped out, eyeing the guards at the hotel entrance and the area around it. He then extended his hand, assisting Marinette out of the limo. 

The two showed their backstage passes to the guards standing at the entrance and they were granted entry. 

Chloe greeted them as they crossed the threshold. “There you are, Dupain-Cheng, you’ve made it. You as well, Graham Cracker.” 

Marinette huffed out a laugh at Felix’s annoyed look at the nickname. 

“How many times do I have to tell you to refrain from using that name?” he said, scowling at the Bourgeois heiress. 

Chloe went to link arms with Marinette, then responded, “Your last name is too long. You can’t seriously think I’ll call you Graham de Vanily every time I have to address you?”

Felix sent her a flat look. “Graham de Vanily is too long, but Graham Cracker is not?”

As the trio made their way to the ballroom, Marinette took out a backstage pass by the lanyard from her purse and handed it to Chloe. “Not that you need it since you technically helped host the concert, but it would avoid misunderstandings,” 

Chloe smiled, taking it. “Thank you, Mari.”

The three flashed their passes to the man standing guard and he unlocked the red velvet rope for them to enter. The ballroom was spacious, with a bar at the side serving drinks and a large stage at the far end of the room. Groups of guests were already gathered around, speaking to each other in loud excited voices. 

At their entrance, heads were turned and many were staring at Felix. Being the famous actor he was, he was recognized in an instant. Marinette shifted on her feet, feeling self-conscious as their gazes drifted to her and the chatters grew louder. 

“They’re only antsy because it’s a high-profile celebrity making an entrance. It would soon die down when the concert starts. After all, they’re all here for Clara Nightingale,” Chloe said to her, grabbing her hand in comfort.

Marinette nodded, her gaze flickering to Felix who had a blank look on his face as he appraised the crowd. Without her permission, her eyes had wandered away from his face to appreciate the rest of his outfit. 

She blushed when he caught her eye and a nudge from Chloe had Marinette dragging her gaze away from Felix’s. 

“Let’s go backstage, it’s way too crowded and I feel stuffy,” Chloe muttered and Marinette murmured her agreement. 

Marinette looked to Felix who was already looking at her. “Come along, Graham Cracker.”

Ignoring his look of disbelief and betrayal, she followed Chloe to the front where the stage was. The trio had walked passed their classmates when Lila’s faux sweet voice crooned at them. “Oh, Marinette!” 

Marinette exchanged eye rolls with her two friends before she turned to Lila with a fake smile that could rival the Italian’s. 

Alya went to link arms with Marinette, pushing Chloe out of the way, who glared at the spectacled girl. “Hey, girl! Are you excited for the concert? It’s all thanks to Lila that we all get to enjoy it,” 

“Yes. It’s all because of Lila that we get to attend Clara Nightingale’s concert,” Marinette said, her voice sarcastic but Alya didn’t seem to have noticed. 

Marinette removed her arm from Alya’s and was on her way to go backstage with her real friends when Lila’s voice stopped them again. “Where are you going, Marinette? Shouldn’t we enjoy the concert together as a class? After all, I got the tickets so our class can spend time together!” 

Marinette gritted her teeth. Lila was not going to leave her alone. “I have a backstage pass.”

Lila’s eyes widened as the class exchanged excited glances. 

“Wow, girl! Since when did you and Clara Nightingale become besties? You would have to be quite close if you managed to have a backstage pass,” Alya asked, looking happy for Marinette. 

“So cool,” Juleka mumbled as Rose looked at the ravenette in admiration.

Alix beamed. “That’s awesome! I wished I had a backstage pass,” 

“I was wondering where my backstage pass went. Turns out, you’ve had it all along,” Lila said, her eyes gleaming with greed as she looked at the pass around Marinette’s neck. 

Alya frowned at the implication before her eyes cleared. “I see what’s going on. Thanks for being such a great friend to Lila! But Lila’s here now, you can return the backstage pass to her,” 

Marinette narrowed her eyes at Lila. “Ms. Bustier personally handed out the tickets to everyone. We all saw she handed you one. If you had a backstage pass, you wouldn’t have needed a ticket.” 

“You’re the one with the backstage pass right now. I was confused when Ms. Bustier handed me a ticket when I knew I was supposed to have a backstage pass. I didn’t want to bother anyone at the time because I thought maybe Clara just forgot that she had promised me she would give me a backstage pass,” Lila said, her eyes widening with tears as she ‘figured’ out what had happened. 

The happy smiles on her classmates' faces melted away as they processed what Lila had said. 

“I have a backstage pass as well. By your logic, does that mean I also stole your backstage pass?” Felix intervened, glaring at Lila. 

Chloe waved her pass in the air in front of her. “And me.”

Lila’s eyes widened even more if possible while the class wavered with uncertainty. 

“Well…” Max had started to say when Lila sniffled. 

“I’m sorry, it’s my lying disease acting up again,” Lila cried as the class gathered around her, offering their comfort and sympathies. 

“Pathetic,” Felix muttered, taking Marinette by the arm as they headed backstage. 

Showing their backstage passes when prompted, the trio was granted entry and they spotted Clara Nightingale being interviewed by Nadja Chamack. 

“Marinette! You made it!” Clara went to hug Marinette, then murmured a greeting to Chloe before turning her attention to Felix. “You are the famous Felix Graham de Vanily! I love your work in The Vengeance, your portrayal of Octavius Valdez captured your essence.” 

Felix nodded in acknowledgment. “Thank you, I am flattered.” 

Nadja Chamack seemed surprised at the interaction, but her surprised gaze was on Marinette. “Marinette, it’s good to see you again! Manon misses you.” 

“It’s good to see you as well, Aunt Nadja. How have you been? Tell Manon I said hi,” Marinette said, accompanied by a warm smile. 

“Of course! I’ve never been better. I was just asking Clara Nightingale here some questions for my news report,” Nadja said, looking at Clara with a smile. “What’s your relationship with Marinette? You two must be close if you gave her a backstage pass.”

Marinette tensed but kept on a bright smile as Nadja looked at her for a reaction. Nadja Chamack might be a family friend, but Marinette couldn’t know for sure if Aunt Nadja would report her identity if she knew. Especially if Nadja sees the news as newsworthy and MDC’s identity is bound to create a buzz in the public. 

Marinette wasn’t willing to risk it. 

Clara swung her arm around Marinette’s shoulder, silently assuring her that MDC’s identity wouldn’t be exposed. “Ever since I thought Marinette would make a great Ladybug for my Ladybug and Cat Noir music video, we’ve been close ever since.”

Marinette nodded in confirmation, subtly squeezing Clara’s hand in thanks for her quick thinking. 

Nadja nodded, moving to jot down the explanation in her notepad when Marinette spoke up, looking nervous as she chewed on her lip. “Do you mind not including that question in the article you’re writing? I would like to stay out of the spotlight. After what happened the last time when the media caught me with Adrien, I don’t want a repeat of what happened,”

The reporter looked up, her face softening at the nervous look Marinette was sporting. “Of course, I understand.”

Marinette nodded, looking relieved. “That’s good.”

Clara smiled, rubbing Marinette’s shoulder in comfort as she suggested, “Why don’t you go hang out with your friends for now? I’ll come talk to you again before the concert starts.”

“Okay,” Marinette agreed, Clara gave her a gentle push towards her friends who had taken a seat on the couches as they lounged. 

“I was scared for you for a second, good thing for Clara’s quick thinking,” Chloe whispered to her friend as Nadja continued to interview Clara, their voices carrying over to the lounging area. 

Felix looked up from his book, adding his own two cents in a quiet voice, “You have to be more careful which accounts you are posting on, Marinette. I only hope Ms. Chamack does not put two and two together and figure out your identity as MDC from your earlier tweet.”

Marinette nodded, taking his advice to heart. She would make sure to double, triple and even quadruple-check to make sure she posts on the right account from now on. It had been a close call. 

The trio settled into quiet conversations and bantering during the intermission of the concert. It was going to be a fun night. 

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Trending

1 • Trending Worldwide #CherryVenom 4.1M Tweets

2 • Trending Worldwide #ClaraNightingale 2.5M Tweets

3 • Trending Worldwide #ThatAccidentalMDCTweet 2.1M Tweets

4 • Trending in Paris #ClaraNightingaleConcert 1.8M Tweets

5 • Trending in Paris #ClaraNightingaleConcertMDC 1.2M Tweets

What’s Happening

news • 58 minutes ago Clara Nightingale Concert At Le Grand Paris

news • 1 hour ago Felix Graham de Vanily Spotted At Le Grand Paris For Clara Nightingale’s Concert

news • 3 hours ago Theories & Conspiracies: MDC’s Identity

news • 5 hours ago MDC Accidentally Tweeted She’s Going To Be At Clara Nightingale’s Concert

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The Clara Nightingale Concert At Le Grand Paris Nadja Chamack

Don’t be bemused, it’s just the news! Tonight, Clara Nightingale shook the world with the concert held at Le Grand Paris in honour of her latest album, Cherry Venom. Parisians and people from all over the world who hadn’t attended the concert had to live vicariously through clips and footage of the concert posted on social media. 

Cherry Venom is Nightingale’s most successful album up to date, garnering over 1 million plays on Spotify since its release and hitting the top of the Billboard charts within a month. 

[Source: Promotional shots and concept photos from Clara Nightingale’s Instagram]

I had the honour of interviewing Nightingale for my news report article tonight before she went on stage to perform. The most outstanding question was: What are you wearing?

It comes as no surprise when Nightingale said “The outfit I’m wearing is designed by MDC”. The renowned MDC, the fashion designer taking the world by storm could rival Gabriel Agreste and the Style Queen, Aubrey Bourgeois herself. 

The beautiful dress Nightingale had worn in her concept and promotional shots were designed by MDC as well. 

In answer to my question, “Is MDC your go-to designer when you require a dress or outfit for your music videos or concerts?” 

Nightingale responded, “I would like to say MDC is my personal designer, but Jagged Stone would fight tooth and nail for that title. I could only say MDC and I are very close friends, I often go to her when I need something designed. Her works have never once disappointed me.” 

Readers may be wondering if MDC and Nightingale are as close as Nightingale says, does that mean Nightingale knows MDC’s identity? Well, Nightingale’s answer will certainly shock some readers:

“Yes, I do know MDC’s identity. I won’t disclose her identity because it’s not my place to. MDC is someone who doesn’t like to be in the spotlight and we all know how vicious the paparazzi and the media can be. It’s also one of the reasons why MDC doesn’t take commission requests from just anyone.” Nightingale said. 

The reason for MDC remaining as an anonymous designer explained by Nightingale is understandable. With that said Nightingale and Stone are the only known ones so far to know of MDC’s identity. 

[Source: Photos taken from the concert, posted on Clara Nightingale’s Instagram]

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Previous Ch 1 | Next Ch 3

[jasmine-the-fox]

The kwami's will make her happy

Alright! Here we go with a request from Gregreg over on ao3! This one... I don't know anymore if I like it. It's been a while since I wrote it and so... yeah whatever I'm still writing it so it's fine!

Now let's jump into this fic!

Tikki has been a very patient kwami... but she was on her last nerve about Lila Rossi. The liar has been hurting her holder since she has returned to school and her sweet holder was slowly losing her friends because they believe a liar over her holder... who is also the guardian of the miracle box. The other kwami's were also reaching the limit... including Plagg who was angry with Adrien for not protecting Marinette at all. When Mari comes home early covered in paint... they decided that Lila had to go now.

They decided to wait until Lila was going out somewhere at night to act out their plan... they knew that using their powers without a holder will cause something random to happen... but they hope that an akuma will happen soon enough to fix what they did without saving Lila. Soon they see her on her phone walking somewhere "It's time Tikki" Barkk says making the kwami nod and fly towards Lila, of course the liar was startled but after Tikki explained who she was... Lila changed her reaction and began to lie to the kwami about how horrible her holder was to her.

Tikki... to make her trust her... acted like she believed the liar...

Of course, Lila fell for it, she became happy and excited when Tikki told her how she would reclaim her miraculous and hand it to someone else... while secretly hinting it could be her... then it happened... Pollen used venom on Lila so she would be able to scream as they kill her. Plagg used cataclysm to slowly kill her while Tikki created a knife that they stabbed her with and finally Fluff used burrow on Lila and took her to a random time in the past to die in slowly without getting any help to save her life.

This left her stuff... of course they needed to be destroyed... but they first needed to reveal Lila. So, after getting into her phone, they messaged everyone they knew she lied to and confessed the truth about who she really was. Once done they destroyed the phone and then trashed the pieces while putting in a fire some of her stuff that could burn and the rest was left on the ground for someone to take with them and do whatever they want with it... happy with what they did they then left.

Plagg returned to Adrien while the other kwami's returned to Marinette. They kept this all a secret from her as they wanted to keep her safe from it until it dies down... but they also plan to help Mari be happy again. The next day, no one spoke about Lila not being in school, they all believed she was somewhere helping people in need or doing something good for the planet... but then a week went by and her mother came to school asking about Lila as she hasn't been home in a week and hasn't answered any of her calls.

Because of this, the class asked her about the famous people she and Lila have met and the places they have travelled to... only to be told that none of the things they were asking her about happened and that she was a secretary and not part of the Italian embassy... this resulted in the police getting called to start an investigation. Everyone was getting questioned but the class pointed fingers at Mari... only for the police to reveal that they found complaints filed by Marinette and her parents about Lila's lies towards her and the bullying they were putting her through.

They also revealed that the school staff and Lila's mom had received texts messages from Lila a week ago confessing her lies and crimes to them... they believe the class also got texts from her too since Marinette revealed the text, she received from Lila that she only saw two days after Lila stopped coming to school. This shocked them as they went to look and sure enough... Lila had sent them each a text with apologizes for each lie she told them and the money she scammed them into giving her... including the lies she tricked them into believing about Marinette.

It terrified them since this meant that this whole time... they hurt their best friend over a bunch of lies that the believed in. After they each finished getting questioned... they all met up to talk about what they discovered not only about Lila... but also about what they did to Marinette because of Lila "We need to apologize. We all believed Lila when Mari was trying to open out eyes to the truth" Alya explained making them all nod in agreement... they hoped that everything could go back to normal after that though.

Too bad it wasn't happening...

They stopped by the bakery in hopes to see Mari... but Sabine didn't let them inside, she instead went and got Mari to meet them outside "What do you want?" she asked in a slightly cold tone towards them. They were a little startled by her mood as they always knew her as smiling towards them, so the fact she was glaring at them... told them that it might take more than just an apology to fix things between them "We wanted to apologize for what we did to you... while not believing you about Lila" Nino explained as Mari raised a brow.

Max spoke next "That's right. Because we didn't listen to you and believed Lila, we ruined our lives at the moment and hurt you at the same time... which is why we’re hoping to mend things with you for the mistakes we all made to one another" he explained... which made Mari glare "What do you mean by saying 'we' exactly? What mistakes did i do to you exactly?" she asked making them all look at one another confused "It's obvious Mari. Because you didn't talk to us, we don't have any plans to save our dreams. We also missed a lot of things because of you" Alya explained and it was clear she said the wrong things.

Because Marinette didn't look at all happy about what she said...

"That's your faults for not having a plan B if Lila's promised fall through. It's also your fault for not setting reminders after blocking me and telling me we aren't friends anymore" she explained making their eyes widen to her words. They were all shocked by her words... and the fact she turned this all on them, this wasn't their fault but her's "Anyways... I don't forgive you. I'm already working to change schools because your all-toxic people and i don't need any of you in my life" she said before going back into the bakery without looking back at them as they were left in shock.

After she returned to her room. Mari sighed in relief before going back to her sketches with a smile on her face. The kwami's smiled towards her while also keeping an eye on her soon to be old classmates who soon left for some other place... they didn't care though since at the end of the day they were gone. A few days later, Mari left their class and the school and went to a prestigious school where she made amazing friends who care about her and listen to her side of things rather than listening to one person only.

She also began to date Luka who cared about her greatly... Meanwhile. Police ended up giving up on trying to find Lila a month later and declared her as dead... Mari's old classmates all suffered and lost everything since they hadn't planned anything to save their dreams after Lila never got back to them... they had hoped Mari was joking and had a big surprise for them but in the end, she never returned to school and never contacted them for anything. Last Alya heard, Mari had helped a friend of her's to have her art in a gallery and they were almost all bought within the first hour of the event starting.

It was then that they realized... that their pain was all their fault and not Mari's... since they did ignore her warnings...

[lordmartiya]

@mlbfemslashfebruary My (late) entry for day 14, dedicated to the weirdly fascinating pairing of Lila and Marinette. Set early in season 4, here's the first half of "Trust and Secrets Are to Be Treasured".

It was bad enough for Marinette that she had a cold, and had to skip school and the date with Luka. But to have Lila, of all people, bring her the homework? Get in her room while she couldn’t keep her away from her secrets?

“You do realize your mom will kill me if I try anything funny, right?” Lila said, almost as if she had read her mind. Or just her expression. “You say anything, and she demonstrates on me how a Monk’s Spade technique can be applied to a baker’s spatula.”

“How do you know about that?” Marinette asked, worried about how much her worst school enemy knew about her family.

“She did it on live television during the debacle with Jagged Stone, and then I looked up what Chinese weapon resembles a spatula the most. But let’s talk about sweeter things… Like these bugie I’ve brought you. They’re my favorite bakery good.”

For a moment, Marinette feared the food the other one was offering her was poisoned. Then her mind translated the food’s name, and she realized Lila Rossi was literally feeding her lies, and admitted she liked them.

“Seriously?” she asked as she involuntarily chuckled. “That was worse than Chat Noir’s puns.”

“Thank you. Though I suspect you’d like my truth better.” was Lila’s reply as she produced an envelope. “Here I have a handwritten list of all the false claims I’ve made and other bullshit I’ve pulled since I came to Paris, including a few things you would never suspect, and an USB drive with evidence, all to be used as needed.”

“What?! What are you trying to pull?”

“I’ve simply realized I fucked up. Deeply. Did you know I collaborated with the big bad butterfly man willingly, twice? All knowing I can easily take the idiot down and “save Paris”… And then that jackass’ stunt in New York nearly destroyed the world, twice. And I found out he got Shanghai destroyed by accident, though Ladybug fixed that. That’s when I realized the mess I’m getting myself into just to get back at the spotted near-nudist” once again Marinette cringed at her costume being practically painted on “and panicked. I was this close turning my hair in a wig and abusing embassy resources to create myself a few fake identities when I realized there was a better way, just give my leash to someone I can trust not to abuse it. That is, you.”

Marinette blinked as she processed the situation. To quote Chloé it was utterly ridiculous… But it made sense. It was even flattering that Lila trusted her so much. Still, she had to ask something.

“Why do you hate Ladybug so much?”

“Because she nearly destroyed me out of jealousy. I mean, remember my famous interview? I expected Alya to hold on it for a few days and then verify it with Ladybug, allowing me to reveal I had pranked the entire school… And then It was published on the same day. How many chances that Alya could be stupid enough to publish it without checking? And I even helped her getting some information I had stumbled upon and she was looking after on that day… Right as I was flirting with Adrien. Clearly she saw it and went to Alya to confirm it and then humiliate me, only for Adrien’s reaction not being what she expected and changing her plans.”

Marinette had almost no answer to that, not after what she had done with Kagami out of jealousy. Except that “Alya becomes an idiot whenever Ladybug is involved. Enough she thought Chloé was her even after she was saved by Ladybug on live television.”

“And how was she supposed to know it wasn’t a Lucky Charm decoy? At the time it was still plausible. But nevermind that. I hope I’m proven wrong… And trust you to keep the secret until it becomes necessary to stop me.”

“Ohhh…Kay. I’ll do it. What about Adrien?”

“There’s billions of people on this planet, I’m not going to obsess on one of them that already has a girlfriend. I think I already told you that once. And speaking of them… I’ve heard Andrè the Ice Cream Man let you choose your own magic ice cream, and it was orange and green like my favorite outfit?”

At that, Marinette blushed. She also swore to get even with whoever told Lila about that.

[plumsaffron]

My main device screen won’t display despite powered on.

Sigh, why does my important device screw with me now again?

Had a lot of important content and stuff and was getting close being finished with this 2nd scene (along with my other main plan and game mods).

I’m already running out of time due to the previous setback.