#i don’t know man I just want the show to do something with adrien and the dragon miraculous

[ct-multifandom]

El Toro de Piedra reactions

Papacorn more like plateofcorn. I’ve been telling you guys the Ivan lore is gonna go crazy

So is El Toro a real supervillain with super-strength powers or is he just like, some guy wearing a costume? In a world where Luka has magic empath abilities and the ice cream man has divine matchmaking powers I guess it’s not unheard of.

It’s nice to see there are actual criminals in Paris other than Hawkmoth though because before this point it was like “where are the cartoon bank robbers?”

Ok I NEED to know what’s up with Ivan’s mom. “Strong like me and intelligent like your mother” is she also a career criminal? Raul was in jail and Ivan canonically has a younger sister so I’m guessing they live with the mom? Either way his family lore isn’t complete yet

Totally unrelated to anything (the intro reminded me) but I noticed Argos’s eyes look normal in his render but in Revelator they were all purple like in s5. Is he slowly gonna start looking more human over the course of his development?

Gabriel had Adrien wearing that fuckass outfit from birth no wonder he doesn’t know how to dress himself

I like how we’re slowly building a timeline of when exactly Gabriel went insane, like in that plushy that was probably still the Gabi Harry Clown remembered. Somewhere between this and beginning his archeological adventures something happened to him

“You’re gonna know all the secrets of my childhood” [from reading the baby photo album] oh dramatic irony 🦚

Why do I like Luka’s Brazil design more than his default outfit

Ah Marinette you almost walked in on Nathalie’s deeply plot significant evil zoom call. She snapped her laptop shut so fast you’d think she was watching something else

Who thought Luka participating in a concert over FaceTime was a good idea. What kind of utopian sound quality and internet speed do they have in this world? Idk connection is still unreliable tho ig

What’s with him traveling btw because he was clearly back in the Revelator flashback. Do they just teleport him in when they need Viperion or is he traveling back and forth now? Is he gonna come home permanently later?

The conspiracy theorist in me wants to say Gabriel didn’t write that letter and it was planted by the organization but I doubt it. It’s suspicious though. Like when did he write this and what did he think was gonna happen after he died? What if poofing this letter into existence was part of his wish and he had to sacrifice a single sheet of blank printer paper in order to make it happen? Pretty good deal

Ladybug and that STUPID IDIOT chat noir

Ah Ivan’s breakdown censoring the sentimonster stuff just in time of course

I like the way they animated his hand shaking when he dropped the drumstick

So this is a regular thing and he refuses to talk to Mylene about it :(

Mylene literally has one of the best dads in this whole show so maybe Ivan is comparing Raul to Fred and that’s why he feels so weird for having a problematic father

The version of Lila (I assume) stalking Ivan is dressed in traditionally masculine clothes. Maybe she has cross-dress disguises as well.

It’s actually kind of insidious how Nathalie is pushing Marinette into being responsible for hiding things from Adrien. All this crazy shit went down with your villainous boss and somehow the blame for covering it up is going to end up on his son’s high school girlfriend (???)

And *she’s* the one really gunning to sweep it under the rug because if the truth gets out it will primarily have negative consequences for her. I’m not sure how much I believe hiding this is really “for Adrien”

What, you guys don’t know about the secret compartments in the Louvre bathrooms?

Oh hi Alim

Why is it always the Mona Lisa, why do they never go after a less well-guarded painting. Also that room is the French painting gallery and the Mona Lisa isn’t French and is displayed in other parts of the museum… lol I know they only have one gallery modeled and re-use it for everything but still

Ivan’s phone background is the Kitty Section logo

The letter,,, so this is what he was learning in poetry class

Was Raul gonna karate chop the letter in half wtf

I wonder where he’s from, like he’s a Spanish speaker but what country?

Did they ever confirm Ms Bustier was the French teacher before this? I kind of assumed she was but I don’t remember them explicitly saying it and it was more like each class had a main home room teacher than every single class being with different teachers

Nathaniel turn your head more i want to see your miraculous. I think it’s curved? Like it’s a thin and flat silver hair clip but it has a sickle shape that curves around the bunch of hair

Does he have freckles now? Also now we can tell that him having creases under his eyes is just part of what he looks like and not his character model being weird

Zoe what are you doing here you were never even in her class

Sabrina is once again standing directly between Zoe and Max in a group shot. This is maybe the fourth time this season. Incredibly suspicious what is going on here

Yay Mr Montalain looks like he’s in the same art style as everyone else now! And he’s one of the only characters who didn’t have their eyebrows utterly waxed in the redesign. If there’s anything that I have beef with in the redesigns it’s that no one’s allowed to have prominent or interesting eyebrows anymore.

Ondine brown hair animation error?

Even the patriotic People With Blue Eyes cocomelon baby is clapping

The girl with dark skin, a pink pixie cut, and sunglasses on her head is there. She was eating lunch with Adrien, Nino, and Sublime in ep 4 but we don’t know who she is yet

I just noticed Chris is in the crowd, baby why are you an unattended child at the tribute concert for the big kid schoolteacher

The dude in the background who looks like Milo from Atlantis with long curly hair seems like he’ll be one of the new teachers maybe

There’s also a guy who looks like he rides a penny farthing to work, he might also be a new teacher

Aw Ivan’s contact photo for Mylene is her leaning on him

Oh I guess the crime thing maybe is a family business? His grandma? I need the extended Ivan family lore where’s his family tree like those promotional graphics from a while ago

I’d say his dad is a toxic masculinity machismo guy, but him bringing up the grandma (and grandpa) feels like it’s “correcting” for that, like no he’s not patriarchal he was just raised in a hard ass crime family where everyone was like that regardless of gender

That re-contextualizes the Ivan little sister lore :( he probably doesn’t want her to have to deal with the stuff he did and end up like the rest of his family. He might be involved in raising her, too, if his parents are in and out of jail and that might be where his interest in childcare comes from

Off topic, I just finished watching a YouTuber play the game The Roottrees are Dead/Roottreemania which is a mystery puzzle game about piecing together a crazy family tree from nothing and I feel like I’m back in it. “You placed Ivan on the tree and found that Raul is his father. You found the line about his mom’s intelligence, allowing you to place Mrs. Bruel. You collected the clue about Raul being like his dad to fill in Ivan’s grandfather. The line about Ivan’s grandmother setting him straight allows you to add her to the tree. What you may have missed is that in one of the Germany-exclusive trading card game secret lore cards you can find information about Ivan’s younger sister, the last known piece of the tree.”

He looks at his dad like “god you’re pathetic” and then starts running and screaming

Manhole covers are really light in miraculous Paris

Oh so he was keeping the ox miraculous is his pocket. Last episode I thought it was an animation error. Or maybe against school dress code. But he just doesn’t fully accept it

Ivan you were given a free little magical girl animal companion to talk through your problems with and you just gave them away you aren’t utilizing your resources

I’m seeing the pattern here. In Penalteam they all rejected their miraculous for different reasons and now they’re doing it again but expanding on why each of them didn’t want it. Sabrina didn’t think she’d be a good choice because she used to be a bully, and Ivan was afraid of being aggressive because it turns out he doesn’t want to resemble his dad. I’m guessing Marc’s episode will be about overcoming impostor syndrome then, but I’m curious what Nathaniel’s deal is like wtf does “I’m not comfortable being on a team” mean.

Ok his dad being a supervillain is kind of out of nowhere and I do wish there was some sort of foreshadowing that this guy even exists but I gotta say they have been setting this up for a long time. To the point where fans did notice that Ivan probably has issues at home like a violent parent. I feel like the supervillain thing specifically was probably made up later on to make the topic less heavy

TRANSFORMATION the smoke exhale the hammer smash the kicking at the ground slay

My fav part is where he turns his back to the camera and flexes

“I’m not a real singer” lmao why are you the vocalist then what

Rose said star in English is that a thing in French? That the English word for star means rockstar or something because I thought the normal word for star meant that too

THEY 😲👉 THE. ONSCREEN THEY KISSED. After all these years holy moly omg THEY

It sort of pmo when people say “oh so they’re finally canon now” like where have you been. Why do they have to smooch on the lips in front of us for us to know that we already knew that. It’s like every season the show crosses the “oh they’re gay” threshold for more and more people by being more obvious

And when people complain that it was cowardly and not good enough, do you want to see tongue in this children’s cartoon? What more do you want (this is a rhetorical question btw guys don’t be in my replies and also gay marriage has only been legal in the us for ten years and is criminalized in many places let’s be fr). Ok salt over

Anyway they kissed, epic 👉 gay people

Adrien holding phone Luka like how Nathalie used to hold tablet Gabriel. Does it ever drive you crazy just how fast the night changes

The song is lowkey quite good what

Maybe the most insane fight sequence in the entire show I might be gagged

I am my fathers daughter

Minotaurox tanking that hit to protect Chat Noir oh if there’s gonna be a “civil war” between him and Ladybug we know whose side Ivan will be taking

From the side profile his hood really does look like an ox’s neck that’s pretty cool

Guys they made Ivan so gorg in the redesign. Character designer 1: ok so I guess Ondine needs normal clothes we could start with that Chatacter designer 2, slamming open the door, gasping out of breath from running up the stairs, a pile of papers flying everywhere: we need to make Ivan cunty

He’s so tuff, equally if not more so than Pegasus I would say which is a pretty high bar

Ladybug’s lucky charm cowboy hat is so unserious girl read the room. this is what happens when the main character is the only bitch on the show with no daddy issues in The Daddy Issues Episode

The visuals in the ep are so artsy. You got Juleka’s chrome neon concert lights vs Ivan’s breaking bad sepia filter western

How did a letter turn into a whip?

They were technically right, Raul didn’t do anything illegal. Yet. What is this new chance program even supposed to do though because I don’t think it’s working

“Your dad was a hero” Adrien: :/

Ah this part :) evil shadow government cult thing. This is how Tomoe’s connected to everything. Are they as an organization The Supreme?

Now that Gabriel’s dead is someone else taking over as The Diamond? They were the second to last one to log off and Nathalie didn’t move so is someone else behind that name now

Maybe Lila… like Kagami said she isn’t special enough to be a diamond so maybe she took that personally and decided to prove her wrong by filling that role ?? ?

Nathalie’s dad is wheat man nooo Marinette’s wheat-based dad is so much better. I wonder if she was raised to be some kind of fucked up secret agent child soldier from a young age and that’s why she has crazy assassin skills. She doesn’t want to be involved in this bs but lacks the courage to face her father. If only she was there to hear about Ivan’s valuable life lesson and how Adrien regrets that he missed the chance to apply it. If only Nathalie still had the chance right ahaha

Gabriel probably wasn’t aware Nathalie was a plant? Or maybe he was and she was more like a conscripted bodyguard idk

The theatre mask icon reminds me of Lila, like obv her metaphorical masks but there have been screenshots circulating about the black and white split mask hanging in her bedroom and how in Climatiqueen, the lighting of the first lightning strike makes Aglae’s face look exactly like that mask. Creepy. Maybe she’s that dude’s daughter and she was also raised to be some spy like Nathalie was.

I’m kinda hoping Lila is being manipulated by the powerful elite adults at some level because that’s more interesting to me than “girlboss teenage girl outsmarts everyone on earth”. Maybe she thinks she’s in charge or on equal terms with the rest of them but they’re using her

I wonder if the Bourgeois are any of these or Bob Roth. I hope they’re mostly new characters. It feels cheap if they’re all established antagonists who aren’t particularly threatening and play silly roles. Tomoe is nothing like that, and also is an industry titan from a totally different country. It seems like these people are the leading elites in certain categories from all around the world. Could this eventually be a setup for more miraculous world specials? Surprise one of these people lives in Rio and one lives in Dakar, see you there.

I’m not analyzing each logo in detail because other people already did it better than I would’ve

Ok that’s enough, maybe see you guys next week for The Ruler or maybe not. I’ll decide if I want to talk about it or not. I committed to post about this one last time because I felt in my balls that it was gonna be fire and it was.

[carpetbug]

guys. I kinda wish adrien had been akumatized in season 5 in the short periods he wore an alliance (or ephemeral type shit where Gabriel fuckin breaks him solely to akumatize him) and had been given the essence of the miraculous of the dragon. THE MIRACULOUS OF THE DRAGON. THE MIRACULOUS OF PERFECTION. AKUMATIZED ADRIEN WITH THE MIRACULOUS OF PERFECTION. and it’s not from Maribug! if it had been the ACTUAL miraculous from the actual guardian, it ties back to her, it almost functions as a connection between them two. but when it’s only the essence it leads back to Gabriel! It’s another way his father is holding him under his thumb, pulling all the strings of his life and just having complete control over Adrien. so yeah i need dragon!akumadrien content and i need it now

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

#23: “The Miraculous Ladybug Movie May Give You What You Want, but My Show Gives You What You Actually Need! You Don’t Work in Television, so You Wouldn’t Understand.”

I've been running this blog for almost three years at this point, and I've seen Astruc talk trash about various things while claiming his show is better, like Winx Club, Paw Patrol, Pokemon, and Pixar as a whole. I never thought I'd see Astruc act like his show was better than a movie based on his show though.

For those who don't know (and you'd be forgiven, seeing how Astruc has barely talked about it on his Twitter), there was recently a movie that hit theaters based on Miraculous Ladybug called Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie. Supposedly, it's meant to be a retelling of how Marinette and Adrien met as civilians and as heroes. While I haven't seen it, it seems to be getting good reception, with some saying it's better than the show it's based on.

Of course, Astruc had something to say about this.

Okay, I sort of get what he's trying to say here. It's hard to compare the experience of watching an hour and a half long movie and a TV show with five seasons under its belt, but at the same time, the way Astruc phrased it still made it seem like he was trying to say the show was the better option because it “gives you what you need”. Nobody was expecting the Love Square to be resolved in a few episodes. Most people at least wanted more stories about the two to be told that don't involve constant padding. Astruc also acts like the Love Square is the only draw for the series instead of, oh, I don't know, the superhero action? You're really telling me they couldn't have tried focusing more on that after resolving the Love Square? I'm just saying, if The Office can continue after Jim and Pam got together, you can at least try to actually write other stories after the Love Square becomes canon.

One user in particular had some things to say in response to Astruc's claims, and you can guess how well Astruc took that.

Again, nobody is saying that working in television is all sunshine and rainbows, Astruc, but just because someone isn't familiar with dealing with network constraints and test audiences, it doesn't mean that they're unable to provide any meaningful criticism.

Also, Astruc is once again using a psychology term, in this case, the Dunning-Kruger Effect, to act like he's smarter than the critics. This man took psychology as an elective in college, didn't he?

But then again, this is coming from someone who doesn't think constructive criticism is a real thing.

Funny how he once again acts like anything that isn't positive feedback of his show is delusional, isn't it?

Eventually, this devolved into Astruc posting a little tangent about how fandoms have only gotten more toxic, which would have been a decent point... it if didn't come after all the things he said about fans not being able to criticize his show.

Again, there's nothing wrong with what he's trying to say here, but it feels less like a critique of how fans have become more toxic with the advent of the internet, and more like he's complaining about how mean people have been to him lately.

And, of course, this led to the usual fare of people calling out Astruc for his close mindedness, and Astruc once again saying how people aren't allowed to criticize his show in any way that isn't blind praise.

And here's the thing. We're still not done yet. This little tangent only warranted more comments about how Astruc handles criticism, only this time, it's also about calling out the people who think they can do a better job handling the show.

First, do you mind giving us an example of what kind of constraints you have to deal with, Astruc? We all know that TV executives suck, but I think we'd have more of a reason to understand your struggles if you actually explained some things that needed to be changed because of executive meddling.

Second, nobody wants a beach episode, Astruc, especially after that one issue of the comic you're choosing to ignore. We just want a more consistent story that doesn't rely on endlessly padding out the Love Square.

And finally, did you just say you have to be French if you want to rewrite Miraculous Ladybug? What does being French have to do with any of this? I remember seeing a little tweet a few years ago suggesting you would be a good choice to write a Superman story, but last time I checked, you aren't American.

Let's review in case you got lost. Someone tweeted that they thought the Miraculous Ladybug movie did a better job at the story it set out to tell than the Miraculous Ladybug TV show, Astruc tried to explain how his show is still good in its own way while justifying how long it's been going on for, he ranted and raved at fans for daring to criticize his team's writing before going on a tangent about how the internet has made people more hostile over the years, and when people still weren't happy with him, he claimed that you could only criticize or rewrite the show if you're an experienced French TV writer like him.

So just keep that in mind, fanfic writers. Unless you're French and have experience writing for television, you don't have a chance in hell to successfully write your own version of Miraculous Ladybug.

[wellntruly]

[Krista Schlueter for Vanity Fair]

Eating leftover fancy snacks and going to go ahead and post a bunch of Oscar Thoughts™ I meanderingly typed out Kieran Culkin-style last night when I was going to bed, why not.

It’s getting funnier and funnier to me that Timothée Chalamet actually won last night, culturally. Some of my critics like to talk about the unofficial Mayor of the Oscars, the person the hosts like to throw lines out to and the camera likes to show, often Jack Nicholson, maybe a Meryl year, and this time, I really think it was Timmy. Like it was him, wasn’t it? So wild! The Oscars will never let a twink win Best Actor, he’s gonna have to wait it out just like Leo did, but they DID promote him to Mayor just before the age of 30, and that’s really interesting. Even Adam Sandler couldn’t resist shamboling up to him to reprise Nikki Glaser’s joke from the Golden Globes, in an award season throw-back the like of which I don’t know if we’ve ever dang seen before.

And then of course, the hilariously quick buyer's remorse that immediately filled the room upon giving Best Actor to Adrien Brody, who might still be dully talking for all we know. There but for fortune they could have instead been enjoying Chalamet up there in Laffy Taffy yellow saying something weird and dorkily earnest, and they all knew it!

Speaking of buyer's remorse, at least we can now say that Emilia Pérez lost 11 Oscars. Astonishing but of course very “Emilia Pérez” that no one from the two categories that managed to hang on to their winning spots mentioned the attacks in America on trans lives in their speeches, or even the word “trans” at all. Bleak! But a loony French person awkwardly warbling her theme’s tuneless refrain as the music plays her off possibly the funniest and most appropriate end to the most baffling thing that happened in film this year.

Anyway! Anora! I loved this movie, I’m so happy! An up-all-night Brighton Beach caper won so many Oscars, a COMEDY won Best Picture, with sneakily devastating undercurrents and just a hint of Real Romance that followed one of the most Old Hollywood narrative structures out there, and the whole thing was made on the back of like five dollars and Sean Baker’s one hundred daily vitamins. Even Mikey!! Her win would honestly be worth it to me just for another moment of getting to watch the way Yura Burisov tenderly hugs her close after she wins a surprising upset, while tousled toothpick Mark Eydelshteyn is exploding with joy somewhere behind them—one of my favorite tableaus of the late awards season.

And man, Sean, crushing it to the end. Hopped up on that stage four times, always suffused with gratitude and energy, each time with a different charming speech each so on message. And these are just the most recent four! He’s been doing this at the Indie Spirits, at the PGAs, at the DGAs, all with their own sincere and specific to the venue call to action within the film industry. His wins, and what he has done with his platform for all of them, is a net positive for contemporary American filmmaking for sure.

Another net positive for me this season, and unexpected: honestly, I would have given Supporting Actress to Ariana Grande out of this line-up, I would’ve! I’m not even that big on Wicked overall, but she made me laugh so much, with this specific daffy energy she was completely dialed into every moment she was on screen. But she’s also been so reliable at all these functions. Any time you want, you can cut to Ariana Grande in the crowd and know she’ll be arcing her little sky-high eyebrows, eyes aglow at whatever is happening, possibly mouthing “I love you!” or clutching whoever is next to her. So fun, so theatrically emotional. She’s a value add to the Hollywood scene I think, and I hope she achieves her dreams of getting cast in that Audrey Hepburn biopic and we get to do this all again with her as a brunette.

And so! Many! Musical performances! Wept at those two teeny tiny women belting out ‘Defying Gravity’, I’m only human! And I'm not familiar with any of these new pop (?) girlies but I think it’s fun to honor things like James Bond at things like the Academy Awards, even if the timing right after the franchise was sold off to Amazon felt more like a eulogy for Bond, sad trombone. I like Margaret Qualley getting up there to dance when she totally didn’t have to almost as much as her French makeup artist pronouncing her name.

Oh and loooooooved the Costume and Cinematography category presentations with an actor from each film delivering a personal tribute to the craft nominees they worked with, very sweet and deserved! Honoring craft, it’s what the Oscars should always be about! Next year I hope they do actors again on their makeup artists, and then directors on their editors, think that’d be neat.

Conan O’Brien really quite good by the way, crazy I’m just now mentioning him. It’s been too many years since we’ve had a host who feels like they even WATCH movies, much less like them. I think you can see it in how his renegade verve was rarely him taking shots at the actual films so many people in that room worked so hard on, more the actions of various people and institutions associated with the industry: Bezos, Netflix, Karla of course, and a Kendrick v. Drake bit that cracked us up with its straightforward brazenness. “Don’t worry, I’m lawyered up—anyway!” My most favorite though were his pleasantly absurdist callbacks: the sandworm from Dune’s musical stylings, “Your move, Estonia”—these killed.

Also killing it: June Squib. 95 years old and looking like a million bucks in a beautiful purple glittery 1960s sofa cover, LOVED IT, and one of the funniest presenter bits of the night. Ben Stiller close second, with honorable mention to Amy Poehler delivering that adapter joke so smoothly that most of the audience didn’t catch it at first.

The orchestra up on that platform on back of the stage was cool. On the other hand, Lacrimosa such a BIG CHOICE for the In Memoriam?? That song sounds like a crypt!

Oh speaking of: I alerted everyone to keep an eye out for the gently looming Edward Gorey ghost that is Daniel Blumberg, hugely deserving composer for The Brutalist, whom I first met at the BAFTAs, and he did NOT let me down, if anything it seemed like I undersold him. Thank you for that Daniel, and also for your three already legendary overtures.

[Alison Willmore on the Vulture live-blog, the best of the live-blogs]

I like that save Sean Baker’s record breaking four, the awards were mostly spread out pretty nicely. A few for The Brutalist, a couple for Wicked, a couple for Dune. The right single you-got-on-the-board wins for surprise hits of the season Conclave, Flow, and The Substance. A Complete Unknown completely blanked, which is kind of surprising to consider, and yet where would it have won instead? This is fine, they didn’t need it. Even my sweet girl Monica Barbaro got one of the funniest reaction shots of the night when Conan was having the firefighters deliver his burns for him.

In general, a really rather charming show. People were on the whole very earnest, very unembarrassed to be embracing art and each other. A friend idly joked at one point that maybe they were pulling out all the stops because perhaps there won’t be an Oscars anymore by this time next year. An outrageous but sobering thought! Given, well!! Curious but maybe valuable that it therefore gets the attention of being singled out, but really the only political moment in the night was the win for the documentary No Other Land and the Palestinian & Israeli filmmakers’ speeches, in which they even laid clear blame at the feet of US foreign policy to urgent applause.

Anyway! I watched I think 45 new releases this year and did like a lot of these wins, though my own nominee line-ups would've naturally been different. I may post those later!

Thank you to the Academy.

[ilikekidsshows]

Another thing with the rabid Marinette stans is the virtue signaling. It's incredibly annoying cause it's touted as a "kids show" and people want kids shows to genuinely showcase issues that might happen day to day, even in fantasy situations. And a lot of kids shows are great at it, but ML is not one of them and the MariStans only ever care about those things when it makes Marinette upsette while also ignoring her behavior and their own. Like it's been brought up about how shit their behavior is towards anyone who isn't rapidly downing copium while they also go on about how Marinette doesn't have to forgive her bullies or whatever. Marinette's done so much worse than whatever petty thing Chloe or Sabrina or the rest of those middle school bullies have done, and people always instantly forgive her. Same who people just love to claim Chloe caused the most akumatizations or whatever when Marinette's def caused more and has done worse things that didn't end in akumatizations (re: S5 finale and anything related to it + abusing her hero persona because she's been using it to deal with her petty civilian worries since the beginning cause she can't bring herself to face them head on as Marinette so she has to do it as Ladybug. Volpina anyone? Breaking into Adrien's room because she can't bring herself to talk to him face to face?).

That's not even getting into how they cry about the racism and ableism and whatnot Marinette supposedly faces while writing their Alya bashing fics and ignoring the blatant characitures of multiple Asian characters and complete disregard for disabled characters and the show's unwillingness to have any good, well thought out depictions of any regularly/historically oppressed group of people.

---

Yeah, like, I just saw a post where Marinette stans were claiming that just because the people calling out Marinette’s abuse apologia don’t do it as much for all the other characters keeping Adrien in the dark it's misogyny, when the group of people supposedly not being criticized includes another POC girl and two women. This just in: Marinette is the only female and POC character in Miraculous! No, what it actually means is that Marinette is the only character that registers as a fictional person to her stans, which explains why they hate basically every other character in the show. I mean, either that or they’re just parroting Astruc whining about misogyny whenever someone says they don’t like the main character he, a white man, wrote. How progressive of them.

Like, this has been discussed before, but Marinette stans have such strong opinions about bullying, but only when Marinette is the perceived victim. When Marinette bullies the new girls for liking the same boy, it’s crickets. And when they themselves see a take they don’t agree with, the worst of them don’t waste a second breaking out the cyberbullying tactics. Everyone in this fandom knows “salters” are free game for the worst Marinette stans, and, in fact, I’ve seen some Marinette stans go into pretty neutral blogs’ inboxes with messages like: “you sound like a salter” that sound downright threatening when you’re aware of how the Marinette stans that crawl in people’s inboxes act like.

I think the one thing Marinette has on any of the villains is that, uh, actually, I was gonna say she hasn’t gotten anyone expelled from school, but she did, her targets just had actually done something expulsion-worthy (ignore Marinette doing something expulsion-worthy herself to accomplish this). Also, like, people keep pointing out she hasn’t purposefully done a lot of the stuff she does, although, as I keep saying, when Marinette makes a pattern of humiliating, ignoring and insulting people without meaning to, it makes it actually worse than if she was just being a jerk on purpose, because her victims are constantly made to forgive her for “mistakes” that are just the way she treats other people by now.

Basically, there’s very little any villain in the show has done that Marinette also hasn’t, she just has more or less (more often less) convincing mitigating circumstances for when she does it and the stans cling to and make up these mitigating factors desperately.

But, sure, it’s not the show that’s sexist, racist and ableist with how it depicts its characters, the problem is obviously the fans who have a problem with the writing. It's not like Marinette stans themselves constantly cry bad writing in defense of Marinette and then ignore it when said bad writing includes blatant ignorance of the very topics they hold up as weapons against critics.

[mrs-stans]

The Actors Roundtable: The fear factor behind great art

By Elena Nelson Howe

Photography by Christina House

Once an actor finds his name popping up in Oscar conversations, he’s pretty much arrived in the industry, right? Actually, no, not necessarily, says Jeremy Strong, who plays unscrupulous lawyer and Donald Trump mentor Roy Cohn to much acclaim in “The Apprentice.”

“There’s a thing called ‘arrival fallacy,’ which is that the horizon is just always receding. You don’t arrive. I mean, I’ve never felt like I’ve arrived. It’s just a search, and you’re on the frontier of uncertainty and doubt, and taking risks.”

“And then the bottom falls out, and you keep looking,” adds Adrien Brody, who plays the Holocaust survivor and visionary architect at the heart of Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist.”

“That frontier just keeps moving,” Strong agrees.

Even now, with this season’s breakout performances and glowing reviews, a conversation among several actors shows they share the same fears and doubts as the rest of us.

Tune in to Spectrum News 1, where this conversation will air on Dec. 13 at 8 p.m. and will repeat throughout the month.

“I don’t think I ever looked at the next job and went, ‘All right, it’s coming and here we go.’ I think it’s always just the terror of, ‘OK, I got the job. Am I going to ruin it?’ The fear of, ‘I’m wrong for it,’” says Kieran Culkin, who stars in the affecting “A Real Pain” with the film’s writer-director, Jesse Eisenberg.

These three actors — along with Peter Sarsgaard, who stars in “September 5,” about the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics; Colman Domingo, who plays an incarcerated man who discovers the transformative power of art in “Sing Sing”; and Sebastian Stan, who not only plays the future president in “The Apprentice” with Strong but also stars in “A Different Man,” a cautionary story of inner discovery — got together last month for The Envelope Actors Roundtable moderated by Spectrum News 1 host Kelvin Washington. They shared their thoughts on auditioning, responding to fear and the hard truths of the world around us.

Actors Colman Domingo, from left, Peter Sarsgaard, Adrien Brody, seated, Kieran Culkin, Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong.

These excerpts from that conversation have been edited for length and clarity.

It’s a journey. It’s a process. So how do you approach auditions?

Sebastian Stan: The best advice I ever got was from Israel Hicks, who was the theater head at Rutgers, where I went to school. And he always said, “You’ve got to just bring the day with you to the audition.” Whatever’s happening up to walking in that door just ... like maybe you spilled coffee on you, or you got a bad phone call, or whatever. You just bring in the truth of that day.

Peter Sarsgaard: But for me, every day that I had an audition that I cared about was a day of high anxiety. And so I only did well in the auditions where it was extremely high stakes. I couldn’t deny what I was feeling. I would’ve looked like a psychopath. I had to let it out. And so the jobs ... I remember doing auditions sometimes where I would be bizarrely emotional in a scene that was not emotional. Because I f— wanted it.

Jeremy Strong: I had a manager once who told me, “You know, you seem desperate. That’s why you’re not getting it: You seem desperate.” And I said, “I am desperate.” This is like we’re fighting for our lives trying to do this thing.

Sarsgaard: It feels like that sometimes.

Strong: ... and you really want to work. It does feel miraculous when you get the chance to work.

Adrien Brody: I booked a movie when I was 14, which was one of the first things I went out for. And my dad took me to the audition, and he told me, “Go in there like you already have it. You’re just showing them how you’re going to do it. Don’t go in there asking for the job.”

Kieran Culkin: I think I was told in my first audition almost the opposite, which was like —

Brody: Go and beg them.

Culkin: — It was like, “You’re going into something that’s not yours so you don’t have to feel, so [acts stressed].” You said your first audition was something you booked?

Brody: And then it was 17 years of not getting work.

I knew I had to invite in tenderness and a grace that he maintained while he was on the inside.

— Colman Domingo

From auditions to current performances, Colman, you play John “Divine G” Whitfield, a man who was wrongfully incarcerated in “Sing Sing,” and the real guy is also executive producer. What’s that experience like, trying to showcase his journey while he’s there and a part of this film?

Colman Domingo: You have to honor the spirit of the person but also liberate yourself from a portrayal of them. I feel like even when I met him, I downloaded information. I didn’t ask him anything, because I’m not that person who wants to pry into someone’s life or say, “How was it for you in the inside?,” all that stuff. We just got to know each other like we get to know anyone, you know what I mean? The most banal, simple things.

And there were two things about him: when I found out that he considered himself sort of a jailhouse lawyer and how he was always in the law library, and he was advocating for others for good food, for his own liberation eventually, but also even — when he founded this theater company there — Rehabilitation Through the Arts. And all these inmates were finding that thing that was so sorely needed in this dangerous place: a place to unpack, to be tender, to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Grown men going to places that they may have never been allowed to experience or be, especially Black and brown men in particular. I knew I had to invite in tenderness and a grace that he maintained while he was on the inside.

“I can see how past suffering informs insight and informs a kind of creative fervor and the need to leave something indelible behind,” Adrien Brody says of “The Brutalist” and his own family history.

Kieran, you were working with Jesse Eisenberg, who’s also the screenwriter and director. Which version was easier to work with, Jesse the actor or Jesse the director?

Culkin: He was great at all of those things. I mean, going into it, he wrote a beautiful script. And I knew him to be a great actor. I didn’t know what he was going to be like as a director. But that was the first time I’ve worked with an actor that also directed. Have you guys done that yet? It’s tough. That is like, Day 1, him doing a scene with you as your partner, and then they go, “Cut,” and then go, “Here’s how you can do it better.” And I’m sitting here going like, “Oh, you’re going to judge me? Because I got f— notes for you too. I know how you can do it better too.” And then the defenses go up and all that. But he was fantastic. And it was only his second film [as writer-director].

“I felt like I understood him right away and understood this dynamic right away,” Kieran Culkin says of his “A Real Pain” character’s relationship to his cousin, played by Jesse Eisenberg. (Searchlight Pictures)

I think we can all relate to your character, Benji. It’s almost one of those, “I love him because he’s crazy. But he also drives me crazy because he’s crazy.” What part of that resonated with you?

Culkin: When I read it, I found the guy to be really surprising and really just ... I felt like I understood him right away and understood this dynamic right away. But then 20 pages in, he would say something completely surprising. And I went, “Oh, this guy, almost in spite of you, if you asked him a question, he’s going to give you something you’re not going to expect.”

And I loved it. So I just went, “I’m not going to prepare at all.” I didn’t read it again for a year. And then right before we did it, I read it once. I would not want to know what the scene we were doing was until I was walking to set that day, which would give Jesse a lot of anxiety. I’d be like, “What are we shooting today?” And he’s like, “You’re kidding. You have a whole speech.”

Brody: You should work with Ken Loach. I did a movie with him, and he would give us half the scene. And so you wouldn’t know what the end of that scene was because he was working with predominantly nonactors. And then so whoever the catalyst was in the scene got that section. And this person would fall down, and you didn’t know if that person just —

Culkin: Tripped or that was the scene? I want to do that. I want to work with that person.

Sarsgaard: I auditioned for him, and it was like, “All right, let’s just improvise.” And I’m like, “Well, give me a ... Where do I begin?” “Just do something.” And I found it incredibly difficult. For me, the reason I do it is the story. So I don’t need to know what I’m going to do in the scene, but I’m driving the story?

“It’s like game day. They’re just in it. They just went 22 straight hours of just doing it,” Peter Sarsgaard says of the team covering the terrorist attack at the Munich Olympics, the story of his film, “September 5.”

Strong: Peter and I had to do a thing yesterday called Fearless Performances. And we didn’t have time to say it, but I woke up this morning thinking it’s such a misnomer because there’s so much fear involved, at least for me. [To Culkin] I was thinking about a conversation we had when you were thinking about doing Jesse’s movie. You were on the precipice of it. It felt like a big risk and something you hadn’t done. And what I love about what we all get to do is attempt to do something that you don’t know that you can do. I’m working in sort of Bruce Springsteen world right now, and he said something in his autobiography, that “the experience that you have, the exhilaration of it and the depth of it is directly proportional to the void that you’re dancing over.” And so I find that that equation works.

Stan: I think all of it is fear now. For me, literally, if I’m thinking I can’t do it, [it] is maybe the biggest sign that I should be trying to do something. It’s so easy to fall into these little tricks, what’s worked before, and you just do it again. So, especially with these last two for me, it was so paralyzing at times that I was almost driven by it.

I think all of it is fear now. For me, literally, if I’m thinking I can’t do it, [it] is maybe the biggest sign that I should be trying to do something.

— Sebastian Stan

Playing Donald Trump, was that fear? He’s been the president, he’s going to be the president again. What were the challenges or your mind-set going into that?

Stan: Well, I mean, this is such a collaboration. It’s the director, it’s who are your partners. It’s this whole thing about trust and being able to go there with somebody. But then, there’s something about when you get older and you want to feel like you’re part of a meaningful work. You’re adding to a conversation, reflecting these times that we’re in no matter how uncomfortable they are.

“The movie is sort of about this relationship in a sense, a love story,” Jeremy Strong says of Roy Cohn and Donald Trump in “The Apprentice.” (Pief Weyman/Apprentice Productions)

Strong: The movie is sort of about this relationship in a sense, a love story. This sort of dark chrysalis that created the Donald Trump that we know today. What joined them together, I think, were kind of dark affinities. They were both these outsiders from the boroughs with tremendous life force and ambition with a shared, I think, lack of scruple or ethical core, for whom winning was the only moral measure.

It’s been strange to talk about this movie as a movie right now, because it’s about a very living danger, and I look at what’s happening in this country right now, and I think you can trace so much of it back to the influence of Roy Cohn and his ideology, and his nihilism, and his sort of gospel of hatred and divisiveness. That’s the political side. The creative side was really fulfilling. Roles like this are kind of a holy grail for an actor, where there’s a degree of difficulty, and you want to try to transform, and you want it also to be alive and not just mimetic and all those things.

“You have to honor the spirit of the person but also liberate yourself from a portrayal of them,” Colman Domingo says of playing a real person in “Sing Sing.”

Some of these films, there is a historical gravity to them. Adrien, with “The Brutalist,” your character comes to America after the genocide but then realizes it’s difficult to succeed here. Where did you go to channel this character?

Brody: Well, my mother is a Hungarian immigrant and an artist, a New York photographer. And she’s also someone who has kind of guided me in my understanding of art and the yearning to leave behind something that is meaningful and brings more light than darkness to this world. She and her parents fled war-torn Budapest in 1956 on the back of a truck, under a bed of corn, as they were shooting flares and trying to basically shoot down people fleeing the Soviet occupation.

I witnessed how hard it was for [my grandfather], because his English-language skills were not up to par, it prevented him from getting work. And so that’s a layer of connection, a feeling of knowing the journey and very different from [character László Tóth’s] journey, but there are very many parallels. And his journey of fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe and surviving concentration camps. I can see how past suffering informs insight and informs a kind of creative fervor and the need to leave something indelible behind.

Strong: There’s an intersectionality with these films as stories with real things in our world. I feel like the world is on fire. And there’s a role for storytelling that is so essential in our world right now. And I don’t think there’s another art form that has that connective power, arguably.

Stan: And the idea that in a system like Sing Sing, there’s a level of acceptance of self that’s happening on such a deeper, more profound level than it’s actually happening in the real world. Because I feel like “The Apprentice” and “A Different Man” are so much about identity and self-truth, and the loss of self, and the denial of reality, which is a very real thing that’s happening now. I don’t know if people are interested in the truth or confronting themselves, or wanting to accept themselves. People are more interested in inventing their own version of things.

Peter, talking about the gravity of world events: “September 5” does this in such detail, what was happening there in Munich. What it’s like having to deal with something of that magnitude?

Sarsgaard: Just by talking to the guys involved, I mean, they don’t think about the fact they’re involved in something of that magnitude, because it’s like game day. They’re just in it. They just went 22 straight hours of just doing it, and doing it, and doing it. They pointed a live camera at a balcony, and 700 million people watched that image. It’s a balcony, but it is the potential for violence that is really keeping them there. For some of them, their hearts are pounding because they’re hoping for the survival of the people that are in there. And I think that’s a good many people. But we have to acknowledge this other part of humanity that’s a kind of schadenfreude where we’re lusting for some violence.

The way that at any given moment in our lives, right now, we could pick up our phone, and the most horrendous thing imaginable is going on in the world, and then we can sit and joke with each other, and eat popcorn, and go watch a comedy. I mean, I don’t really have the answer. I think one of the lovely things that my movie does is ask a lot of questions about the way that we consume media, about, “Does a camera tell the truth anymore?” This idea that these guys had new technology, which was a live camera, and the minute the hostage crisis happened, they pointed it.

Well, now why do we have to watch a live crisis situation? Is that news? Is that going to help us understand our society better? Could we learn about it tomorrow? Is it going to help the hostages get freed? Now, obviously with police brutality, stuff like that, I would say wonderful. But to get our daily news, when everyone has a camera in their pocket — first of all, there’s point of view. This frame is not the

truth. The truth is all of it, right? And there’s also AI. There’s a million different reasons why we can’t trust an image anymore.

“It was a very powerless experience ... a terrifying experience. How people pretend you’re totally nonexistent,” Sebastian Stan says of walking in New York City wearing the makeup for the disfigured man he plays in “A Different Man.”

Sebastian, in “A Different Man,” there’s a self-reflection in your character, who has an opportunity to present himself differently. What did you learn about how we view ourselves versus how others view us? And talk about working with Adam Pearson, who has some of these same physical challenges in the film.

Stan: Adam Pearson, who’s a great actor from “Under the Skin,” and he’s got neurofibromatosis, which are these tumors that develop at around 3 or 4 years old. And the biggest gift I was able to receive working on that movie was his mother coming up to me and saying afterward, “I’ve always wished for someone to walk in his shoes. And you were able to do that.” And I was lucky. We had a great prosthetics artist, Mike Marino. And I was able to walk around the city in that, and no one recognized me. And it was a very powerless experience ... a terrifying experience. How people pretend you’re totally nonexistent.

Well, part of why the movie’s special, and I wanted so deeply to be involved with it, is that it talks about this curiosity that we all have. But we haven’t learned about the regular person out there. The regular person has to fight against these narratives that we’ve grown up with in terms of not knowing how to handle that moment. So two things happen: ignorance or judgment. And the filmmaker, who’s disfigured himself, really wanted to bring it out in the open. And for us to go on this journey and get more in touch with how can we approach that in a different way. But on a more relatable basis, it really is about lying to yourself. And once the lie happens, what you have to keep doing to maintain the lie and suppress the truth.

Brody: And they’re so hard to undo.

Stan: And how far we can go to not face that painful moment with ourselves. And that’s what the character endures. By the time [he sees it] it’s too late, his life’s been taken away from him.

Thanks for being here, gentlemen ...

Brody: This has been kind of special. I didn’t know what to anticipate. We’re all kind of really and thematically talking about what’s propelling each of us. And with the exception of you needing f— panic and —

Culkin: I was going to say, we’re all a little bit different.

Brody: But I love that too though. You know what it is? You’re super honest. You are honest with your work.

Culkin: Yeah, thanks.

Brody: Your comedic sensibilities.

Culkin: [To camera] You still rolling on this? Let’s get a nice sound bite.

[jadewolf22]

Agent Outcast Pt. 1

Fem!OC (Arania Northfire) x Larissa Weems 

Warnings: none for this part

Word Count: 999 

A/n: This is an old series I wrote over a year ago on my old account. Figured I'd repost what I have done so far and if people seem to like it I'll try to finish it.

Two weeks . . .  

That’s how long you had to choose a subject for Dr. Snow before Adrien gave him Larissa. Everyday you began to regret your decision more; your decision to agree to take this job, your decision to act upon your feelings for Larissa, your decision to join the Night Wolves those seventeen years ago, all of it. You didn’t know what to do. You couldn’t tell anyone; if Adrien had managed to find out what you were doing with Larissa he would certainly know if you told anyone. The only way to keep Adrien away from Larissa was to choose a student, but you couldn’t bring yourself to give a child to a sadistic man like Dr. Snow; You were stuck. Man, did karma love being a bitch to you.  

As the days grew fewer and fewer your stress was beginning to show. You were temperamental and jumpy, even violent at times, your magic doing nothing to help as it reacted with your emotions. Larissa knew something was wrong and Adrien knew you were stalling, neither of which was a good thing. If you told Larissa she would throw you out of the school and Adrien would kill you, if you ran Adrien would harm Larissa; to say that you were screwed would be an understatement.  

“Ari?” a soft, angelic voice called, pulling you from your thoughts. You turned from the window to find Larissa watching you from her spot on the couch, “Are you alright?” “I’m fine,” you said, shrugging your shoulders, “just a little tired.” “We both know this isn’t exhaustion, Ari,” Larissa said, standing, “You’ve been acting odd lately.” 

“I’m just stressed.” you said, looking out the window again as Larissa walked over to you. 

“Stressed about what?” Larissa pressed, gently grabbing your shoulder and turning you so that you could look at her. 

“Nothing.” you lied. Larissa narrowed her eyes, raising an eyebrow at you, indicating she didn’t believe you, so you added, “Nothing you need to worry about . . . Just some personal stuff. I can handle it.” 

This seemed to satisfy Larissa as she smiled, planting a gentle kiss on your forehead before returning to the couch and continuing her book. You silently released a breath you’d been holding, grabbing your jacket off of her desk.  

“I’m going into town. Have an errand to run.” you said, kissing the top of Larissa’s head as you walked towards the door, “Do you want anything?” “Just a coffee if you stop by the Weathervane.” Larissa smirked. 

“Double shot of espresso, two pumps of chocolate, right?” you asked, slipping your jacket on.  

Larissa nodded and you smiled, blowing her a kiss goodbye before stepping out of her office, walking down to tha main floor and out to your car.  

The ten minute drive to Jericho was, normally, very calming, but it seemed as if nothing could soothe the bundle of nerves forming in your stomach. Adrien and Dr. Snow were growing restless and, with only a week left, you were out of options. You drove straight through Jerico until you came to the abandoned warehouse just outside of town. You saw Adrien waiting for you so you parked, pocketing your switchblade before stepping out of your car.  

“I was beginning to wonder if you were going to show, Ari!” Adrien called as you walked up to him, “You had me worried!” 

“My bad.” you said flatly, your face void of emotion, “I don’t have a name, Adrien; I’m going to need this final week.” 

“The doc’s getting impatient,” Adrien warned in a soft tone, “He’s beginning to wonder if it would’ve been better for us to send Cassie . . . And I’m beginning to agree with him–” “I can do this job,” you insisted coldly, “There’s just too many options–” “More like, you don’t like any of the options.” Adrein growled, stepping forward so the two of you were nose to nose. Your body froze as he leaned forward, whispering in your ear, “Don’t forget . . . if you don’t give me a name by next Sunday the doc’ll be taking that pretty blonde of yours–” 

“Touch her and it’ll be the last thing you ever do!” you snarled, shoving Adrien away from you, “After this job, I’m out; you and the Night Wolves are out of my life.” “We’ll see,” Adrien hissed, rubbing his chest where you’d shoved him, “You’d best get going, Ari; you clock’s ticking.” 

“It’s Arania,” you growled, turning, slipping back into your car and driving off at an unsafe speed. 

You drove back into town and stopped at the Weathervane, deciding coffee would do you some good.  

“Evening, Miss. Northfire!” the barista shouted as you walked in, “Chie frappuccino, no whip, add caramel?” 

“Yes, please . . . As well as a double shot of espresso with two pumps of chocolate and two pumpkin spice muffins; to go, please.” you said, returning the barista's friendly smile. “$18.92, please.” 

You paid, stepping over to the pick up counter, talking with the barista as he worked.  

“So, what brought you into town? I saw you drive by earlier.” 

“ . . . Had to drop something off for a friend.” you lied as the barista handed you your coffee, “He lives just outside of town . . .” 

“So, how’s it going with the Nevermore Principal?” the barista asked with a snarky smile. 

You didn’t answer immediately, choking on your coffee as you processed what he’d just asked.  

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” you said dumbly as the barista handed you Larissa’s coffee. 

“Everyone in town knows the two of you are a thing,” the barista chuckled, “Plus, a double shot of espresso add two pumps of chocolate is her regular drink.”  

“Okay, okay, you got me–” you said, suddenly remembering the barista's first statement, “The whole town knows?! How?!” 

“People see you together all the time. The way you two act around each other makes it kinda obvious.” the barista said, handing you a small brown bag before turning to help the next customer.  

[gale-gentlepenguin]

So I have been seeing interesting discussion on the endings of Gabriel. The miraculous movie vs The season 5 finale ending.

-And the criticisms for the movie ending are valid, Marinette/Ladybug’s conflict is a lot less personal (cause time constraints)

-Gabriel technically defeated himself

-There wasn’t enough build up for the climax to feel satisfying unless you knew the show.

-Marinette’s personal involvement felt minimal to nonexistent. (She never met Gabriel)

-The powers are inconsistent

The wrap up was too quick

And these are legitimate criticism, especially because we never have Marinette interact with Gabriel once. Something that should have happened.

I can understand how that ending could feel unsatisfying.

Then we have the season 5 finale, which has the opposite problem

-It involves Marinette so much that Adrien is completely sidelined as a response.

-Gabriel ‘Wins’ but according to the writers he lost. (I saw the commentary. I vehemently disagree with there interpretation)

-Adrien never finds out about any of this

-Lila feels shoehorned in as the season 6 badguy

So I thought about both sides more, rewatched the S5 finale and the ending with these new perspectives and… I still prefer the movie ending more than the finale.

But why is that? Objectively speaking The movie is much more flawed and has very littler personal investment of Ladybug vs Hawkmoth. Something that movies don’t often do.

While The show has built up this personal conflict between Gabriel/monarch and Marinette/ladybug

By all logic I Should prefer the show ending.

But I don’t, and it’s precisely BECAUSE of the reasons I listed.

Movie! Marinette’s lack of personal connection to fighting Gabriel allowed me to focus on Gabriel’s motive and his interaction with his son. His genuine care of his son being his downfall MADE sense. Marinette was focused on saving her partner than fighting a villain, which the movie showed to be more of the core of the movie. Even foreshadowing the “Save one Life, save the world” line. And it even fits the fairy tale theme ML tries to go for.

Meanwhile the Show’s ending had a really good fight at the core with Marinette and Gabriel clashing. The fight between Monarch and Bug noire is one of the best in the series… BUT it’s because of this conflict that the ending feels so GUT WRENCHINGLY awful. Because it’s just another case of Marinette failing to stop Gabriel from doing what he wanted. Gabriel may have changed his initial wish, but he still basically did what he always did, cease power and leave Marinette to clean up the mess.

Even taking Adrien out of the equation doesn’t help fix the ending. Because Gabriel still did what he wanted. Gabriel gets a statue, he gets to die seen as a hero that he never was. He is seen as a good man. And it leaves Marinette having to let Paris think that. We don’t see Marinette doubting this, we don’t see opposition or even a question on it. It’s Marinette once again doing what she always does, taking on the burden.

Ah but the difference is that ML still has more seasons. This could all be subject to change. People could find out the truth. The wish has consequences.

And that is correct. There are consequences. And do you know who will face those consequences? Marinette. Because she always does. That’s what the show Always does.

The movie ending also has a potential sequel, but at least there, Marinette and Adrien don’t have secrets, Fu is still there, and the weight of reality doesn’t hang on Movie Marinette’s shoulders only.

And I think that’s what it comes down to.

It’s because I love Marinette that I hate how she has to fail after all her efforts and would rather have an ending that has less personal stakes for her if it means she can be better off as opposed to this drama bomb that basically left her back as the one with the weight of reality on her shoulders.

[darklydeliciousdesires]

Sky Full of Stars - An Adrien Brody/Jade Burton (OC) Story.

Lord help me, besties. We're starting this, and we're starting it now because I cannot wait to reveal it to you! I did say I wouldn't write RPF again as it feels too personal a line to cross, so please bear in mind that while I have tried to remain true to who Adrien appears to be, he is a little fictionalised, too. The same goes for his family and friends as well. I have created them as OC's because it feels much too intrusive to his life to write them otherwise.

Well, the first chapter is mammoth, so please do make sure you're sitting comfortably with a drink and some snacky snacks before you embark. I cannot wait to hear your thoughts!

A huge thank you again to my beautiful @jemmalynette for the lovely photo manip she created for me, and to Angelina Jolie for serving as Jade's face claim! If you want to know Jade's voice claim a little better, here. This is the scream she hit Adrien with upon first meeting him! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a98LI-arNS4

Tag list - In the comments

Words - 5,614

Warnings - 18+ content throughout. Minors DNI!

“Tell us something about your wife that people would find surprising.” 

He mulls it over for a few seconds, looking to his side at her, laughing as he takes in her raised eyebrows. “She’s actually quite introverted, unless she knows the people she’s with well. Then her volume and mischief amp up considerably,” he begins, which I must say is perhaps the last thing I expected him to reply with. “No, no. It’s completely true, she is. She’s often quiet, an extreme juxtapose for how she appears up on stage with a microphone in her hand, but yeah. The Jade you see performing live is a completely different entity to the woman she is away from it, and I found that out pretty quickly after we first met.”  

It is a stark contrast to the public persona of Jade Burton-Brody, a woman known for rarely shying away from being outspoken and controversial, whether it be her fiercely penned lyrics, or her opinions on the subject matters she holds dear. She was, after all, the woman who advised legions of young female rock fans to, and I quote, “Burn the patriarchy to the goddamned ground.” 

Before me today, though, I do see a much softer side to the screaming hurricane of a woman I familiarised myself with through the scouring of YouTube videos, a woman more than happy to let her husband lead in the questions, always looking to him to reply first. She has spoken in the past of him being her unequivocal strength and support, and I take her back to that, the moment she first met the man she would marry just six months after their first meeting. 

“Jade, you’ve spoken about your first meeting a couple of times in the past, but for the record, would you care to share it again?”  

She laughs loudly at my question, leaning into her husband a little, combing her fingers through her hair as she remembers fifteen years into the past. “I screamed in his face, he liked it, and the rest is history.” 

Indeed, such a meeting did seal itself into history, the moment the iconic pair met captured by a photographer pointing his camera in the right direction at exactly the right time, immortalising the moment where the formidable first lady of metal took to the barriers at the Rock and Iron festival, grabbed the hand of the Hollywood heavyweight, and proceeded to scream like a harpy about an inch from his face. “She blew my eardrums out,” Adrien speaks of the moment, “I had never heard anything that loud in the whole of my life!” 

Indeed, like it he did, the first stages of their fledgling relationship captured on film while a documentary team were following her and the band, shooting the footage for the 2010 documentary, “The Devil you Don’t Know.” As the footage shows, the actor found himself with a rare two week break between projects, one of those weeks spent living on a tour bus with the band, unwilling to be parted from the woman he’d struck up such an immediate connection with. 

“I called my manager and told her to shift all my interviews to telephone, rearranged everything for the following week before I flew out to Hawaii to begin shooting Predators, and yeah, lived on a bus with five insane, but adorable women for seven days.” He smiles a little shyly, his eyes warm as he views her. “Didn’t want to let her go.”  

When asked if it was love at first sight, he elaborates a little further. “I’ve never believed in that. Too many components have to fall into place for love to bloom, so I don’t think it can be so spontaneous as to simply view somebody and feel such a powerful emotion right off the bat. After that week I spent with her, though. Yeah. I departed from the tour knowing I’d left behind the girl I was going to marry someday.” 

And for Jade? “I knew. He was my person. Still is fifteen years on, too.”  

Just viewing the natural ease the couple have around one another cements that, after battling with so much over their years together. They both freely admit they rarely saw one another for the first two years of their marriage, their relationship plagued by media scrutiny, storms of paparazzi, accusations of their romance serving purely as a manufactured PR pairing for publicity, others stating that it was to give Jade greater leverage as she further embarked upon her acting career away from the world of music. One only has to watch the woman on screen to see that she carries enough weight from her own talents to not need the bolstering of her husband’s surname to snare her hard-earned successes.  

Indeed, the pair have weathered many storms and come through them stronger, standing as one of Hollywood’s most illimitable power couples, yet the term is somewhat lost on them both. “We’re complete dorks,” Jade laughs, “we really are. We set one another off all the time being absolutely ridiculous.” 

“It’s true,” her husband confirms, beginning to chuckle right on cue. “Nobody makes me laugh like her. It’s so corny, but truly, she’s my best friend. Deciding to get on that bus fifteen years ago was one of the greatest decisions I ever made.”  

It can be witnessed quite easily, too. It takes only a few glimpses into their respective social media accounts to see the humorous ease they tease one another with, but always with incredible affection. ‘Baby love! <3 Love you too, Morticia!’ Adrien commented on a heartfelt post his wife recently shared to Instagram, a throwback picture of the pair kissing at the 2016 Oscar’s ceremony, where his beloved won best supporting actress for her role across from Robert De Niro in the 2016 blockbuster, Five Marked Men. 

“It took him about a month to get over me with black hair instead of blonde, so I was Morticia for four straight weeks instead of Jade!” she laughs, obviously taking his teasing with good humour.  

“I was so damned proud of her, even though I couldn’t get used to the black hair,” he laughs taking her hand in his. “Always have been. She’s incredible.” 

And truly? Adrien wasn’t wrong in what he stated about boarding that tour bus in the interview for a very well-known media outlet, who had come to their home for a rare glimpse into their private life together. Yet for Jade, it began much earlier than that, at a time when perhaps she was least willing to hear what her future had in store for her. 

San Luis Obispo, CA, 2007. 

“Come on, Skippy. No dragging those feet.” 

Jade did nothing to conceal the force of her huff, pulling back from the beachfront steps of the home she was being dragged to by the enthusiastic, blonde whirlwind that was her closest friend and drummer in their band. Jen had always put a lot of faith in psychics, Jade not so much at all, living in a world of regret at agreeing from sheer relentless nagging only to go and have her tealeaves read.  

“You have to stop calling me Skippy. One day, this day, actually. Enough!”  

Jen grinned, a flash of bright white teeth widening her mouth. “Maybe when you don’t make clicking noises like the little kangaroo in your sleep, I might.” Skippy or Skip, it had been her much-begrudged nickname since they’d struck up a friendship as teenagers upon Jade’s arrival from the UK to America. 

Entering the home, they were greeted warmly by Cerise, the lady of the tealeaves, tarot cards and all things mystic, Jade politely giving her a little hug before they seated themselves at the large, round table. All around, large canvasses ode to the divine and spiritual covered the walls, candles flickering, incense burning, casting strong plumes of eastern fragrance into the air.  

“Her first!” Jen spoke enthusiastically as the tea was poured, drumming her hands rapidly off the table.  

Cerise jerked her head to the left, viewing Jade with a warm smile. “She’s always tapping, this one, isn’t she?” 

“Typical drummer,” she confirmed, winking at her as Cerise went about her tea preparation, the women making pleasant chit chat as the brew was drank. 

“Now, you don’t have to tell me anything, darling. I’m not one of those charlatans who cold reads situations to feed it back to you. What I see, I see it without being told anything from the person I’m reading from.” She truly doubted the validity of that, but nodded politely, passing her cup into Cerise’s outstretched hand. “I sometimes get extra information from my spirits as well, so if they have anything, they’ll pipe up. They usually do.” Staring into the cup, she began studying the pattern of the grainy tea, humming to herself. “The man you’re with right now? He isn’t the one. It’ll be the one after him.” 

Immediately, Jade found herself feeling prickled on the inside, mildly incensed that anyone would say that the man she’d spent three years with happily would not end up as the one she would stay so blissfully in love with. How dare she even suggest!  

She wouldn’t unleash that indignance, though. “How can you tell?”  

“Trust me, darling. I can tell. Oh, my spirits are in good voice, hold on.” Closing her eyes, she appeared as if she was listening, shaking her head and waving her hands. “One at a time, for the love of...” Jade’s face of utter disbelief earned her a soft foot to the shin beneath the table, Jen tightening her lips and widening her eyes. Cerise nodded, humming in confirmation before casting her eyes back to the cup. “Okay, I have more information. The man you’ll end up with, well you’ll know for sure when you meet him, sweetheart. You’ll scream at him. He also has the same name as your dog.”  

“I beg your pardon?” Jade coughed, her beloved Great Dane appearing in her mind’s eye. “I’m meeting someone called Brodie, who I’ll scream at? Right. Okay.”  

“He’ll spell it differently, darling. Oh, and his eyes. You’ll love his eyes, because you will never have seen green like them before. Yes, most certainly, he is the man who will come into your life and never leave it.”  

She had to bite her cheek to prevent herself from laughing. “Alright. Thank you.”  

While a much more willing Jen had her tealeaves read, Jade went outside for a cigarette, calling her boyfriend to relay the ridiculous message she’d just been given. 

“Um, she said what?” Ivan snorted, his laugh booming down the phone. “Uh-uh, no fucking way. Like I’d ever let you go.”  

The Russian born, but American raised Ivan Kuznetsov had been her absolute everything since meeting him three years previously, watching him win his bout at a UFC fight in Las Vegas. Because of their schedules, Jade and her seemingly endless long hauls of touring, also parlaying her talents into the acting world, and Ivan locked in rigorous training, they didn’t see as much of one another as they’d have liked, but they made it work.  

Until they didn’t. Until it broke, or rather, until he and his famously ferocious temper broke it completely, almost twelve months on from the tealeaves message she’d received, and quickly forgotten all about. She’d have been lying if she’d claimed she hadn’t seen the red flags, Ivan’s steroid use growing completely out of control, cheating urine tests in order to keep juicing, growing ever bigger through the use of the banned substance. It wasn’t just his muscles and performance that had dramatically grown. So had his temper.  

Roid rage, they called it. It was never something she thought she would bear witness to, until she found herself on his kitchen floor, being throttled and punched, her only saviour her dog, the Great Dane bitch jumping on his back and sinking her teeth into the meat of his trapezius at seeing her human being so viciously beaten.  

The combined effort of a valiant rescue dog and a woman determined not to die at her fiancé's hands got him off of her, Jade grabbing Brodie’s collar and her bag as she ran from the house, dived into her car and drove away as quickly as she could.  

She never returned.  

Ivan was arrested and subsequently charged for the sickening assault that disgraced his name in the sporting world, discharged from the UFC and sent away to serve a five-year prison sentence. It was a pitiful excuse for justice, especially when he’d probably be freed after three if he behaved himself. Jade knew the outcome likely wouldn’t see him put away for any longer, as she’d been advised by her legal team prior to giving evidence at the trial. Domestic violence victims rarely did receive the adequate recompense where the punishment of their abuser was concerned.  

A victim. It was a role she’d sworn never to play, speaking on the event many months afterwards. “I am not his victim. I’m the one who had the sense to get away as soon as he raised a hand to me. There’s nothing that correlates to victimhood there.”  

Some doubted her stance, thinking her to be in denial over it, claiming she needed to seek therapy to get herself through her ordeal. In Jade’s mind, her therapy was her music, one of the tracks from her band’s seventh album, entitled Nomad, serving as cathartic release over the attack. It also got her through the passing of her beloved Brodie, the dog dying at the grand old age of eleven six months after she’d parted ways with Ivan. It was almost unheard of for the breed to reach such an age, and if Jade was thankful for anything, it was having an extra three unexpected years with her faithful old girl. 

She felt lonely if she let herself sit still for long enough, so kept busy through the machine that was her life, driving her from movie set to stage to recording studio, long hours and hard work elevating her status in both worlds, her band, Seventh Gate releasing Nomad to a huge success and taking to the road in early two thousand and nine, complete with a stint moving from one summer festival to the next.  

One such date upon that stint was the Rock and Iron show, something all the girls in the band had been looking forward to playing. It had been a longstanding one-day festival held in California for the past eleven years, the band playing it a couple of times before on the smaller stage.  

This time, though, playing the prime afternoon spot of 3pm-4pm, they walked out on the main stage at the open-air show to eighty thousand screaming rock fans, Jade feeling sick with nerves, as usual. It didn’t matter an ounce that the rock press hailed her as the first lady of metal, who praised her huge vocal range and coined her as one of the first to combine both powerful, clean vocals and blistering, guttural roars. She still felt like her legs were about to give way every time she climbed the steps and walked across the stage, ready to view her kingdom.  

Or queendom, as it was. Because to the thousands of people who cheered at the sight of her, she was their monarch. Some viewed her a little differently. 

“Oh man, there she is!” Lewis piped up, clapping his hands above his head. “There’s god!”  

Adrien turned to view him with mild incredulity, shaking his head. “Man, you’re something else with this fanboy thing you have going on.” Whatever he might have followed that with was obliterated by the noise that came from the speakers, the roar of guitars, drums like canons, and a scream that sounded like something he could only liken to a creature being spat up from hell for being too aggressive. “Damn. She’s got some pipes.”  

Lewis didn’t reply, too busy getting into the first song of their set, Adrien feeling himself furtherly crushed right up against the barrier. He was trying to have a good time, he truly was, but metal wasn’t really where it was at for him. A die-hard hip-hop connoisseur, being dragged to an open-air rock and metal festival hadn’t been his idea, but Lewis’s girlfriend had bailed on him, quite literally, ending their relationship just one month prior. Conveniently, he had a rare two weeks off work, so had allowed his friend to talk him into it.  

As his chest was shunted hard against the barrier for what felt like the four hundredth time that afternoon, he once again sorely regretted it. However, looking up at the stage, he couldn’t help but view the women performing upon it with genuine curiosity. They were perhaps the tightest in sound of anyone he’d seen that day, their energy enigmatic, especially the swagger exuded from their front woman.  

She was like a supernova personified, commanding a crowd of thousands, her presence much larger than the tall, yet slight frame it inhabited. Although the music wasn’t to his taste, he had to admit she impressed him, having the vocal range that allowed her to sing powerfully delivered harmonies one minute, and roars that sounded not of his earth the next. Her talent completely blew him away. 

Also, her adoration for her fans was clear, sending the security into a frenzy when she jumped down off the stage between songs, embracing a few people reaching for her on the front row as the next song began to filter through the wall of speakers. The crowd screamed along with the opening lyrics, Adrien watching as suddenly, the blonde whirlwind strode in his direction at speed, jumping onto the barrier, grabbing his hand, and bellowing out a scream a mere inch from his face. He laughed, Lewis nearly fainted, and Jade winked at him before she was gone again in a blink, returning to the stage.  

“Do you know how goddamned lucky you are? Dude!” Lewis yelled, mouth hanging open. “Dude! God just screamed right in your face!” 

Adrien continued to chuckle, looking up at the stage. “Yeah,” he spoke, his heart fluttering, “guess she did.” While her music mightn't have been to his taste, seeing her so close up, he had to admit the way she looked definitely was. God, she was sexy. Very, very sexy “I think she blew my fucking eardrums out!” 

Lewis was in fits at his assertion, clapping him on the back before continuing to enjoy the show. At the next break between songs, Jade found herself beckoned for by Katie, their lead guitarist, her eyes wide as she jumped up and down with her usual zany energy. “Bro! You just screamed in Adrien Brody’s face!” 

“Who?” 

“Adrien fucking Brody! The actor!” 

Jade was still none the wiser. “The hot guy with the dark hair?” 

“Yes!” 

“What’s he been in?”  

Katie could have slapped her. “Um, only your mom’s favourite movie.” 

Finally, the penny dropped. “Oh shit, the guy from The Pianist?” 

“Yes!” 

“That’s him?” 

“Yes, you massively blind douche! God damnit, you never know who anybody is!” 

Her eyes almost came out on stalks for not actually recognising him. 

“Oh my god!” Having a very large crowd to entertain, she couldn’t say anything further on the subject, but she kept her eye on him for the rest of their set, calling over one of their roadies a couple of songs later as she ran to the side of the stage to grab her flask of herbal tea. “I take it you know who Adrien Brody is, right?” she asked, letting the herbal brew sink down her throat and coat it in an effort to not feel like she’d swallowed a chainsaw. 

Sunni smirked, stroking his beard. “Yeah, boss. The guy whose face you screamed in.” 

“Give him and whoever he’s with backstage passes. I wanna meet him.” She watched as Sunni scuttled off to go and locate a few of the prized lanyards that gave people access to the coveted backstage area, before launching into the next song. Out of the corner of her eye, she was able to see Adrien and the guy with the blonde hair he was with jump the barrier, being escorted stage right to watch the remainder of their set from the wings, along with the rest of the Seventh Gate road crew.  

While there, they were approached by a woman who introduced herself as Hazel Bernstein, the tour manager for the band, asking since they were currently being filmed for a documentary about Jade’s life and career if they minded being on camera. They confirmed that no, they didn’t mind at all, Hazel having them sign a couple of release forms before another member of the crew ushered them backstage.  

The area was made up of large tents dotted around for each band to reside in before and after their performances, the guys shown in and furnished with beers as they sat down on one of the couches provided.  

Adrien looked to his side, watching Lewis as his eyes darted around. “You look edgy, man.” 

“I’m about to meet one of my favourite bands, and I don’t even have a fucking clue what the hell to say to them!” he exclaimed, gulping back his beer. 

He couldn’t help himself. “Hello might be a good place to start.” 

“Noted, Captain Sarcastic.” Looking at him, he burst into a snorting fit of laughter, wishing he had a fraction of his very famous friend’s effortless cool. Alas, he did not. The first of the women through the tent made his mouth drop open, Katie going to the cooler and pulling herself out a bottle of bourbon, emptying an eye watering amount into an ice-filled red solo cup before she came right on over.  

“Hi guys! How you doing, you having a good time? Damn, it’s fucking hot, right?” She talked rapidly, like a machine gun going off, shaking their hands with the exact same enthusiasm she spoke with, Lewis looking like he was about to burst. 

“Katie Gilmore, just coming over, shaking my hand, asking how I am, like I’m fucking anyone at all,” he spoke in a daze of disbelief, Adrien shaking his head. 

“Ignore him, he’s a little... yeah.”  

She chuckled, lifting her cup to him. “And you’re one helluva actor, my guy. I could be obvious and praise you to hell for The Pianist, because damn, that movie was outstanding, but I fucking adored you in Summer of Sam! You make a cute punk, bro!” 

“Thank you,” he smiled graciously, “and in turn, you’re a hell of a guitarist. I don’t know much about rock or metal, but you make what I guess is real difficult look incredibly easy.”  

They were then joined by the force of nature that was Jen, the band’s drummer, the tall, rail thin blonde approaching, pointing at Adrien. “Can I sit on your lap and get a picture with you, dude?”  

He smiled, patting his black denim covered thighs. “Sure, hop on.”  

“Billy!” she roared, moving to throw herself down, “get over here and do the clicky, clicky!” A man holding a professional camera ambled over, Jen smiling as she wrapped her arms around him, and then promptly licked his cheek. “Man, you taste delicious!” she shouted, Adrien laughing, a little taken aback at her brash behaviour, but somehow quite charmed all the same. “What is that?” 

“Sweat and beer,” he confirmed, Jen throwing her head back and roaring before she got up.  

“My favourite things! See you guys later, I gotta go see some other people!” Sweat and beer, also cocaine, if her eyes were anything to go by. He knew high as hell when he saw it. 

“Hey, you boys like tequila? I got a load in the cooler, let’s get some shots in, huh?” Katie spoke, grabbing a hand a piece and hauling them up. There, they were introduced to rhythm guitarist Charlotte, who was much, much quieter than the other members of the band they’d met so far, very reserved and polite. Still, Lewis was firmly stuck in starstruck mode, trying hard to find some semblance of cool, but losing it completely. 

And then she walked on over. 

“Hi,” she chirped in a voice that sounded much too sweet ever be able to conjure the ferocious roars she was famous for, Lewis looking like he was about to pass out. Jade wasn’t looking at him for long, though. “How are you?” 

“A little deaf,” Adrien admitted. 

“Sorry about that,” she cringed, laughing softly. “One hearing test owed to Adrien Brody. Noted.” Oh, she was witty. He liked witty.  

“Yeah, that’s one hell of a set of lungs you have,” he complimented, Jade moving past where her girls stood, pulling herself a bottle of water from the cooler, sinking a shot Katie thrust in her direction. 

“Mm, yeah,” she hummed quietly, unscrewing the bottle cap, cocking her head as a confident smile shined through. “I like to think so.” God, the man had the most gorgeous green eyes she’d ever seen in her life, Jade feeling herself pulled in by them, trying not to feel awkward at the fact that she was standing there talking to a man whose fame eclipsed her own in shades. She could feel her internal monologue beginning to flounder at what to say to him next, relieved when Adrien pointed to her t shirt. 

“Rough Trade, that’s about my favourite record store in all of New York. Spent entirely too much time and money in there during my youth,” he noted, Jade gesturing to the couch. 

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” she spoke as they sat down, sipping her water. “I used to work there on a weekend before the band blew up and took off.” 

“Yeah? What part of New York did you live in? I take it from the accent that you moved over, right?” Of course, she did. Duh. He could have kicked himself, but she didn’t react in any way other than to politely answer. 

“I did. I’m from Tottenham, London, but moved over with my parents when I was thirteen. I lived in Harlem. What about you? You sound New York born and bred, and apologies if you think I might be one of those people who knows everything about you already, but I really don’t!”  

He watched the embarrassment crease her face as she cringed, reaching to gently squeeze her wrist. “No, you’re fine! God, it’s refreshing, actually, to talk to somebody who doesn’t know anything about me already!” he began, very much enjoying that she truly was a little clueless over him. It made weeding out those with a genuine interest in who he was away from his famous persona much easier. “And yeah, Queens born and bred.” 

“Do you still live there?” 

“In New York, yeah, but further north. I’ve a house in Oswego County, right out in the middle of nowhere. It’s a mess still, long term restoration project, but I like it. I like not being bothered while I’m not working. I have a place here, too, but only a rental. How about you?” 

“Couple of places,” she began, noticing the documentary guys hovering, pointing at them discreetly. “Don’t mind, do you?”  

“I don’t. Your tour manager already came and asked us.” 

She nodded, continuing. “So yeah, I have a house out in California and an apartment in the West Village. I just bought a property over in England as well, gorgeous estate in Buckinghamshire that the Laurel Canyon house is shortly being rented out to afford.” 

Rock music was lucrative, it seemed, for her to own three homes. “That’s smart, renting. You’ll get more for it long term, too. Especially with the association of living in a rock star’s house.”  

“Certain would-be renters’ll probably think I have cocaine stashed all over or something,” she snorted, “which is hilarious as I don’t do hard drugs. Used to, but it messed with my ability to perform, so I knocked it on the head.” 

He loved how candid she was, not hiding anything for appearances sake. She was also entirely too beautiful for her own good, with the prettiest, bluest eyes he’d ever seen in his life, eyes he couldn’t look away from for a second. A parade of naked women could have walked into the tent right at that moment, and he wouldn’t even have turned his head.  

They continued their talk, seemingly oblivious to the merriment going on around them, finding out tentative bits of information about one another, their families, their interests and passions. They had one in particular that surprised the hell out of him. 

“Get the fuck out of here! You’re into hip-hop?” 

“No, you get the fuck out,” she teased, gently pinching his arm as she laughed. “Yeah, I am! I’m into so much music, but growing up in the areas that I did, it was such an ingrained staple. I was the only white girl amongst all my friends and just absorbed the hip-hop culture like a sponge. I got to listen to so much in the store too. It had its perks, working at Rough Trade.  

“I still nearly died on the spot when Method Man came strolling in one day. Wu Tang had released thirty-six chambers the year before, and I couldn’t stop playing it, so yeah, I was completely dumbstruck. He walks up to the counter and I’m just like, “no way, you’re Method Man,” to which he smiled, looked at my name tag and said, “no way, you’re Jade. Whassup, girl?" We became friends, he’s such a cool guy. Comes by my place whenever he can when we’re both back in New York. I cook him pasta and he plays me new stuff he’s been working on. I got a lot of time for Clifford, he’s real straight up.” 

“Yeah, I know him a little, too. I’m more friends with RZA, though. I got into making beats in my teens and he’s acted as a mentor to me. Cool guy,” he replied casually, Jade grasping his arms and giving them a little shake. 

“You make beats?” she cried, her eyes widening, “play me something! Do you have anything on your phone?”  

He shook his head. “Nope, it’s all at home on my laptop. But I will one day, though.” She made a sad face, Adrien pulling his arms from her soft grip, linking his fingers through hers. Oh... too forward, he suddenly panicked. When her fingers squeezed his hands, he realised it wasn’t. Her lit-up face told him it wasn’t, too. God, it was like a thunderbolt had just cut through the tent and hit him square atop his head. “You’re too cute, you know that? I definitely will let you listen to some of it. I plan for us to meet up at the same time in the same place again, for sure.”  

“Not many people call me cute,” she admitted, stroking her thumbs in circles over his palms. “Lots of other things. Loud mouthed bitch, profane whore, evil cock tease, but rarely cute.” 

The way she looked at him, licking her lip, oh fuck. Yep. He sensed something quite predatory lurking beneath the surface of the quiet, charming woman he was enjoying the hell out of getting to know. What was more? He liked it. “I think the latter is probably fairly apt, isn’t it?”  

She leaned forward, her lips tickling the lobe of his ear. “Might show you one day.” His face must have said it all, betrayed the barrier he tried to rapidly build to conceal the fire she’d stoked, licking his insides in a blaze.  

Holding eye contact with her, he lifted his chin slightly, his smile growing. “Might let you.” They held each other’s gaze, almost defying the other to look away first, Jade playing with his hands, running her nails up and down his long fingers, licking her lips. Oh, she was so, so sexy. “Might just tease you back twice as bad.” 

He winked, and her stomach exploded with butterflies, dropping her gaze for a moment, her internal monologue stuck on excited screaming mode. “It’s so loud in here. Do you want to go someplace quieter?” 

“That’d be good. Is my boy gonna be alright, or are your girls gonna eat him alive?” he spoke, nodding over her shoulder, seeing Lewis looking very well settled, drinking and laughing with Katie and Charlotte. 

“Yeah, the lesbians will look after him well. They’re together, if you didn’t know. Most don’t unless you’re a fan of the band,” she spoke, Adrien only noticing it then, the understated way they had their pinky fingers linked together. Cute.   

“Ahh, he’ll know, then. Save himself the embarrassment of trying to give his usual awkward advances toward two girls who don’t bat for his team.” They got up, exiting the tent without being noticed, although Jade was called out to by a few peers and industry folks as they walked down towards where all the busses were parked a short way from the entrance to the backstage compound.  

As he walked, Adrien couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so excited to spend time with someone who wasn’t a friend or family member, the people much missed as his hectic life whirled around him. He had no idea how much time he’d have with this utterly charming woman who turned to smile at him, but god, he hoped the minutes began to tick backwards with every step he took. 

[slopapapa-dingdong]

Revelator thoughts, ramblings, and spoilers.

Hear me out… what if chat can’t just take away memories? What if he hypothetically with the help of miraculous ladybug can bring them back. Like a combo power they can do together? Or just something he can do??

They are yin and yang right? Well perfect harmony is when they are working together so ipso facto miraculous Ladybug & Chat Noir at the same time when??

We know miraculous ladybug can override cataclysm… can miraculous chat noir stay after the ladybugs? I’d assume so and that’s why they chose to do it after to not give that away.

Also what are the limitation to a power that can destroy anything “created” by a villain?? Like to what extent are we talking ? I saw those parallels with chat blanc.

Im just thinking about the angst potential of Marinette giving up guardian status and loosing all of her memories and chat being able to give them back somehow. Or him being the main reason she can. Idk there is so much rife writing material here. lol.

Also really hate narratively if we don’t get the big confrontation. Like imagine everyone who is supposed to know the secrets figures them out and oops well now Marinette is no longer guardian and doesn’t have memories. I don’t think it’ll go that way but I truly want to see poor Mari burdened and crash the F out. Like criticism is criticism sure but she’s 15 constantly saving the world. Give the girl some grace but Adri is also 15 and he’s allowed to be lost and depressed and confused.

That and Adrien needs someone. He absolutely needs to confide in Nino or something of that nature. I thought Bugga wrote a great piece with how a Felix and Kagami reveal to him would work. I loved it and I think that’s what we are missing in the show. It’s SOOOO very unbalanced right now and if Mari doesn’t crash out I’m going to be even more mad if Adri doesn’t either. And not a chat blanc part 2 either like I mean a full blown off his rocker but cognizant enough to be like no I’m just going to go f sh!t up not blow up the world. They can’t exist independently. They rely on each other so heavily now that the thought of Ladybug not having Chat would actually make her crash out. Maybe that’s what does it. It isn’t the secrets bubbling over it’s the fall out. Which honestly might justify it in her mind even more or actually make her think about what if she shared this sooner.

I just need everyone on the same page or at least have someone for Chat. This episode sealed it for me. He needs his own Alya. He needs his man in the chair. His right hand. His secret keeper.

[ringleaderscarletshadow]

Constene x Chloe=ConstBee

Prompt: is we give Chloe a decent perantal figure...and I do like forcing Constene into that roll ( Sorry for the spelling) maybe Added effect of Adrien/Chat threatening to go after kneecaps if Chloe gets hurt more ( Not die kinda hurt more emotional hurt) maybe an offer for murder Andrey

I finally finished this! If I can come up with a name and tags for it, I may cross post to Ao3. For now, enjoy the weird thought I got.

Characters: John Constantine, Chloe Bourgeois, Billy Batson, Hal Jordan

Words: 1242

~

“Bloody hell, why is there a child at my doorstep?”

John looks at the literal young teen sitting on his doorstep crying. Why did the universe always seem to send children his way? 

The blonde girl looks up to the man in his trenchcoat. She grimaces at the smell of smoke. John takes in the reaction, removing his coat, throwing it into the house.

“What are you crying at, love?” John sits himself down next to her.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” She swipes at her tears with her sleeve. “I just didn’t want to be at the hotel any longer.”

John’s eyes narrow at the words. He was all too familiar with how horrible a household can be. How much resentment parents can have toward their children.

“There has to be more to that. Do you want to talk about it?” He does his best to use as soft of a tone as he can.

“Sort of. It’s ridiculous though.” 

“Try me.”

“Mother came back to the hotel and I tried to tell her about the one thing I did today but she brushed me off. She doesn’t even know my name! 

Marinette, a new girl in my class, told me that I have been controlling Adriki-I mean, Adrien’s life. I haven’t been a good friend to him. She’s right. I don’t deserve his friendship.”

John stops himself from immediately getting up to go say some choice words to her mother. This Adrien must be a friend she has had for longer than this Marinette came into the picture. There was part of the story that bothers him specifically.

“What do you know about this Marinette? Did you do something to her?”

The girl rubs at her arm. The tears start to come back. 

“She’s the daughter of a couple bakers. I had tried to make friends with her but I accused her of trying to steal Adrien from me and everyone in the class backed her. I should have never done it.”

John sits in the muffled silence. The girl lets her tears come out again. In a moment that he can blame Billy for, he places his arm on her shoulder.

“Guilt will eat you up if you allow it. You did not want to lose your friend. Does he still talk with you?”

“Yes, only when Marinette is not around though. There is something to her that is so weird. She showed up in class and everyone flocks to her. How does one girl do so much!”

She lets out a growl of frustration. It was not anger though. John could sense this girl shared with him a common… problem. 

John was never one to have friends. The closest in the League is Hal and even he just tolerates the man. 

Speaking of the lantern…

“John!” Billy runs up the stairs, stopping when he sees the girl on the steps. 

“I brought the kid back. We got done touring the Watchtower and he wanted to help. Did you hear that the Butterfly miraculous is being used somewhere in Paris?”

Hal stops himself as she also sees the girl. Billy looks between the adults, waiting for one of them to acknowledge her.

“Paris? I am supposed to head back tomorrow. What is a miraculous anyway?”

Hal studies the girl. There was potential behind her that made him consider her as a lantern. Well, he would not admit to that in front of John. 

“A miraculous is a piece of jewelry that houses a creature called a kwami. Each kwami has a different concept they embody. They can give wielders their abilities as well as a suit.”

“Think of a lantern ring but much more reasonable.” John smirks as the words leave his mouth.

Hal throws his arms crossed. He was definitely not pouting over the remark. Billy shakes his head at the two. 

The girl reaches into her pocket, pulling out two boxes from her jacket. Only Billy notices right away. She offers one to him which he gladly accepts.

The two open their boxes to reveal a set of earrings and a ring. The two teens eye each other before placing on the jewelry. The energy that comes from both grabs the adults attention.

“There’s no way. How in the world would you even have those? The miraculous are supposed to be in the possession of a guardian.”

Hal waves away Plagg as he snickers at the lantern. John is still in silence at the ordeal. He stops himself from lighting a cigarette by summoning a glass. 

This was just John’s luck. A girl appears at this doorstep with a magic he had not seen in ages and the boy he had been training for years now has one as well.

“I got these off the ground when I was walking past the bakery. They were sitting behind a trash can.”

Both Hal and John blink at the words. The literal beings of creation and destruction were found behind a trash can. A trash can.

“The one who pronounced himself as guardian was going to give us to different users.” Tikki starts, before getting cut off.

“Yeah, until he decided to test them and lost us in the process. Almost like a strike of luck.” Plagg smirks to Tikki.

John rolls his eyes. It seems his time with the miraculous left an influence. Hal sees the start of a smile from John.

“Okay confess Mr Master of the Dark Arts. Which one did you wield?” Hal stares down the man. 

Billy and the girl both place their bets on Plagg. The energy from the black cat matched the man near perfect. Hal is more skeptical. Despite John’s appearance, there was this caring side that Hal would see peak through.

Before answers to their question can be given, both kwami share the same state of fear. An emotion Hal was too good at spotting. John makes note of it too.

“I think we need to get to Paris asap.”

“Bullocks, this is not going to be a show.”

Hal sighs with an uplifting smile. John mirrors it. 

“Wait, are we going to fight this butterfly? We know nothing about them.”

“Chloe is right, John. I have knowledge of magic but this is something new. Creation is a broad spectrum to control.” Billy eyes Hal’s ring.

John notices the line of sight. The lad had this theory for a while that there was once a black and white lantern power core. He thought that it is possible the anchors realized their powers were too powerful for multiple people to wield at the same time.

“It’s okay, Johnny and I can handle it if there is anything major. The butterfly is a powerful miraculous but this seems to be an inexperienced wielder. It may be easier than we think.”

Hal was right to be confident in their abilities. John was hesitantly in agreement. The two of them were a force to be reckoned with and the kiddos are being blessed by the gods of creation and destruction.

Green Lantern, The Hellblazer, Rouge, and Noire make quick work of the affected victim. The hidden adults get the villain to come out of the shadows which makes it easy to retrieve the Butterfly miraculous back.

It also the start of John illegally adopting two children. Hal beat him to the legal side of it. Who knows, maybe there is another blonde he can adopt soon… 

[drtwit]

Miraculous Ladybug - Miraculous Menaces AU: Something Miraculously Fishy

Miraculous Menaces AU

Chapter Summary:

Nathalie thinks back to the day she met Adrien, all while Ladybug and Volpina start their very first murder investigation.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/58557754/chapters/162121747

An AU where Chat becomes Hawkmoth's partner in crime. At first, Adrien thought that the day he found out that his father was the supervillain terrorizing the people of Paris was the worst day of his life, but in retrospect, it might have been the one change needed to save his family. Because it was also the day that both of them realized that, when they don't need to be Adrien and Gabriel Agreste, they're both fucking goobers. Follow the adventures of Hawkmoth, Chat Noir, and their reluctant assistant who doesn't get paid enough, Nathalie, as they try to navigate life as a supervillain family. And pray for Ladybug's sanity as she suffers their antics.

Preview:

Ladybug was hesitant to cross the threshold into the morgue, but Volpina showed no such hesitation. She bounded ahead like a kid in a candy store, marvelling at the selection of cadavers with rapt, but shortly lived, attention.

“You do realize that we’re surrounded by corpses, right?” Ladybug groaned, her nose fighting against the thick odour of sterilizing chemicals immortalized in the cold chill.

“Hey, we’re all gonna end up here eventually.” Volpina said way too casually, skipping over to the surgical table at the end of the room. Would it be called a display table? An observation room? Urg, why did she have to think about these things in the first place? “I, for one, think it’s perfectly natural to be curious about where they’re gonna cut you open before they package you for the underworld.”

“Please, don’t touch anything.” Roger pleaded, his hand over his face. “This is not a playground.”

“I wasn’t gonna touch.” Volpina pouted, ending up by the table where several other officers surrounded the main event. “Just taking a good look. I mean, you called us here because you wanted our observations, didn’t you?”

Ladybug finally built up the nerve, while clamping her fingers down on her nose, to press forward into the room. “That’s a good question. Why did you call us? I thought you only wanted us for miraculous matters.”

She cleared her throat awkwardly as she joined Volpina’s side. Thankfully, the body was covered by a modest sheet. However, just being able to make out the vague shape of what lay underneath, and knowing what it was; Ladybug couldn’t help but feel a lump form in her throat. “Not to sound too cold, but isn’t a murder a little mundane for us?”

“That’s the thing.” Roger nodded to his fellow officers, who proceeded to rip the sheet off the corpse, baring the bloody remains to the world.

Ladybug reeled back in disgust; her hand crammed over her mouth to stop the vomit from reaching the outside world. She thought she was prepared for it, but god did she hope for at least a little more warning. The lifeless face, the pale skin, the bloodstains; it was all too much.

However, before she’d ripped her gaze away, her eyes so easily caught a glimpse of an important detail about the corpse the police wanted her to note.

Namely, the hole, perfectly carved into the shape of a love heart, in the man’s chest.

“There’s no natural explanation for this.”

[miraculousladybugconfessionbox]

(Asker warns in advance for poor english, and also it being a long winded submission.)

Transcript: i’m going to explain how gabriel agreste’s character was purposefully dehumanized, contradicting, how it serves as plot armor, and, ultimately, how much potential he had and what i would change about him. (i love him)

things that don’t make sense in the show

i. dumbness as plot armor

let’s start by noticing how this grown man is beaten every single episode by a supposedly clumsy girl. no matter how much time he or them (with nathalie) planned their next attack, how much effort they put into getting the miraculous, he either fell into ladybug’s oh-so-wise trap or there was something stupidly obvious that he missed and she didn’t. it’s pretty enraging how he passed 5 seasons, which add up to 2~3.5 years approximately, akumatizing someone every single day, which adds up to ~600 times assuming the average was 5 days a week, he somehow screwed up no less than 600 times. in a row. catch me? and let’s not think about how félix also outsmarted him at every chance he got or how even knowing the holders’ identities he couldn’t make his wish, because that’d be plain sad.

ii. contradictions (very related to previous point)

how is it possible that this man, a celebrity, a famous, wealthy designer that built his company on his own from poverty, said to be brilliant and very smart, blunders the same (and very easy) thing over and over again up to 600 times in a row against a girl who is, also, said to be clumsy and dumb, but suddenly turns stupidly wise the moment she needs to? (this isn’t hate towards marinette, just an observation). the show contradicts itself: if we took everything he is from what we know (resilient, cold, calculating, clever, and more), he shouldn’t have to try more than, what? 5 times? until he got a literal pair of earrings and a ring. from his own son.

another contradiction aside from the supposedly-brilliant-but-stupid, is his relationship with adrien. given that he’s his miracle child (literally), not only should he have stopped around the third/fourth season (with also nathalie’s 💗influence💗), but he shouldn’t knowingly put his son at risk. i don’t mean gorizilla or the audrey one (he’d get adrien back either from the wish or the “miraculous ladybug!” at the end), but particularly chat blanc. that episode was a very forced try from the writers to depict gabriel as a monter, because, knowing what we know, is it really believable that he threw his son like a baseball across paris from the mansion to the eiffel tower with a petty grin, and not only that but gaslights (and traumatizes) him and his girlfriend into that he’s a piece of shit for not wanting to make his mom come back to life (also with a petty grin)? the expected outcome, in my opinion, would have been a forced realization that he couldn’t do that. like very dramatic and such. but being this evil? please tell me i’m not the only one who thinks it’s out of his character.

iii. dehumanization

this is the most obvious one. we just get that he’s evil, heartless, and downright insane. he talks to his dead wife, is up to sacrifice his own son and the only other person that loves and helps him (nathalie), and terrorizes the city without any guilt or anything. the problem, though, is that we don’t see his side of things. and before you get at me, i don’t mean that these things could be “justifiable”, we just don’t get the side of him that regrets, double takes, thinks twice or genuinely cares about his son. it’s almost implied that he doesn’t, which ultimately implies he’s a psychopath or lacks basic empathy, ethic and moral. it’s pretty dehumanizing, isn’t it? the thing that characterizes humans is that we’re social creatures, and that comes with empathy and feelings and a sense of good and bad. he doesn’t constantly appear to have so, it’s more like fleeting moments that last two minutes and then back to a monster. if we got shown that he regrets his actions, that he feels bad for something, or even just having a human quality (like marinette’s clumsiness or adrien’s cutesy and being loving), something that makes him relatable, his character would have been much more complex and nuanced rather than just the evil, heartless, mysantropist parent that hates his son and is abusive and neglectful. we could’ve gotten a father that does these bad things but also makes sure his son is always safe and sound. a father that does these bad things but cooks dinner with his son. it could’ve been an interesting arch that could’ve ultimately ended up in him getting together with nathalie and handing over the miraculous because he loves his son and wants the best for him. the fact that he chose to betray marinette and die is the most selfish thing he has ever done, a deal breaker, something i will not forgive the writers for. like, everything just for what? adrien is an orphan when he could have gotten a loving family again where gabriel survived and nathalie survived too and they married and happily ever after. damn.

things i’d change about him

i. his backstory

i will olympically ignore the backstory of punk gabi grassette, thank you very much. mainly because, what the fuck, and then because i don’t find correlation between that and his current self. what do i mean? i mean that it doesn’t look like his personality and character could have been forged from... that.....

SO, what do i propose? i propose a poor, strictly religious household with an unloving, abusive priest as a father that believes that by punishing gabriel for being unruly and sinful will correct him, a mother that loves him but is too scared of husband to act up, and like 4 siblings, so they’re 5 in total. gabriel was either the oldest or second oldest.

i won’t explain further because it’ll otherwise be too long, but i can make another post if you want to :)

ii. the way he expresses things

just what i said in section “dehumanization”: show vulnerable moments where he regrets his actions, is affectionate with adrien, etc.

iii. his arch’s ending, chat blanc, and other questionable episodes

can we get just him married to nathalie and my happily ever after :( that’s all i yearn for. please.

anyway thank you for coming to my ted talk. bye

[kittysuicoffee]

Being in the miraculous ladybug fandom for a long while makes me wonder why Chloe doesn’t get as much hate as Lila… I mean think I had seen people wanting Chloe to be redeemed while Chloe hadn’t done anything to get that redemption key. The few times she does something nice is when she wants something from others. Sabrina and Adrien are good examples of this Chloe did something mean to Sabrina which caused her to be akumatized in that same episode Sabrina forgave her because Chloe gave her something to show her “friendship” same thing with Adrien! Adrien ended the friendship Chloe not wanting to lose Adrien act being nice to show she being nice and when the friendship was reconnected she went back to the way she was! There a problem with that Chloe does something horrible and mean she never gets calls out for it when she doesn’t she does something to make the person forgave her and she back to what she’s doing before. I don’t think people in this fandom realize that they are being played like a fool Thomas had clearly no intention on redeeming Chloe if he did had that intention he’s doing it wrong. I don’t know or like the man but still Chloe was never made to be redeemed. This I am calling is a false redemption when you are a writer you have to show a character progressing or deprogressingin a show book comic or whatever Chloe character never went through development she stay as she is to beginning middle and end she never changed. (I had never written a show before but you get the point) also the writing is bad this is just my opinion it’s not an attack on Chloe fan girls and boys I am just saying it’s crazy Lila get a lot of hate while Chloe doesn’t get much of it… Gabriel is also shit too but his a villain so who’s cares he was made to be disliked. Mme. Bustier is a shit teacher that let Chloe get away with anything… this woman should had never been a teacher in the first place…

[celestiall0tus]

Calm Before the Storm - Chapter 5 - Deadly Sins

Beginning || Previous || Next

            Wayhem sighed as he scrolled through the latest from the Agreste brand. He smiled seeing Adrien as radiant and dazing as ever. Though a pang of sorrow hit him as he wished he could have seen Adrien outside of the lovely photos. He had been able to get peeks at Adrien whenever he saw Adrien around, but never had the chance to speak with him like before. It was like Adrien couldn’t see him anymore.

            “Do you want that to change?” Adrien’s voice asked.

            Wayhem gasped and looked around his room. Chills ran up his spine as the air chilled around him. He moved to stand when an imitation Adrien manifested in his room. He screamed and fell back.

            “Who are you?”

            “I’m a friend that can give you exactly what you desire most, and the power to achieve it.”

            “I… I don’t know what you mean.”

            “Oh, Wayhem, I can see right into your heart. You long for him. The boy with hair of sunshine gold, fair and beautiful skin, a voice of angels, all wrapped up nicely with those piercing, hypnotic eyes. But it doesn’t just stop there. Oh, no. You want to know his touch, his embrace, his everything. I can see it. I can feel it.”

            Wayhem blushed. “N-no. No! I don’t want all of that. Well, maybe a little, but… he’s just… just a friend.”

            “Aww, poor thing. Why deny yourself when you could have so much more? Especially when he needs your help.”

            “He… he needs me?”

            “Oh, yes. Adrien has lost his way as he chases that which is lost to him. Would you not want to help save him from himself? Would you not want to show him something better? Something newer?”

            “I… I suppose? And you could help me with that?”

            The imitation Adrien smirked and held out its hand. A belt chain materialized in its palm.

            “What’s that?”

            “A special jewel. With it, a covenant is forged, and a bargain made. Will you accept?”

            Wayhem considered, then took the belt chain and put it on.

            “Good. Shall we get started?”

            “Uh, how do we get started?”

            “Simple. You need only utter the phrase, ‘Libidine, lust.’ Only then will everything be sealed and I yours to use as you wish.”

            Wayhem hesitated. “I… are you sure this will help Adrien?”

            “Of course. I wouldn’t have any reason to lie to you.”

            Wayhem gulped. “Alright. Libidine, lust.”

~~

            Su-Han stopped to rest. He and the remaining Guardians were almost back to Paris. He hoped that they were not too late and they would be able to assist in stopping Hawkmoth. He lamented his missed opportunity when Hawkmoth, or rather Shadowmoth, seized all the miraculous from the temple while he was away. He would be sure to set things right this time. It was his duty as the Celestial Guardian.

            “Your guardianship means nothing anymore, old man,” a man’s voice hissed.

            Su-Han jumped to his feet. “Who’s there? Show yourself, coward!”

            A moment passed before a purple demon kwami materialized.

            “What the-? What kwami are you? Why are you roaming freely? Who was your Guardian?”

            Superbia laughed. “I belonged to no one. Your precious Mage felt it too dangerous to allow me and my fellow sins, and even loathsome virtues, to be created. At least, not without figuring out how to tamper with what we are.”

            “If that is all true, then how do you exist now?”

            “Why, because of Velze. Dear Daddy was brought back. He stripped all mortals of their dominion over us kwamis while giving all kwamis a physical form to inhabit.”

            “What? You lie!”

            “Lying is for the weak, and I am not weak. Everything I say is true. Anything that you once were is a mere memory. You are nothing. Even those teens could beat your sorry butts now. Granted, they all have our favored siblings. Shame. Daddy wasn’t supposed to have any favorites, but we know better.”

            “But… what about Hawkmoth?”

            “Oh, handled almost a year ago. See, you took too long and left everything to a bunch of teenagers that allowed your powers and rights to be stripped away. Now all kwamis are free to roam around and cause all sorts of mayhem as they please. Including little Plagg. My, I wonder what he’d get up to first now that he can use his powers without consequence.”

            Su-Han’s jaw dropped. “What? They didn’t! They wouldn’t!”

            “Oh, but they did. All kwamis are free and you have nothing. Now the world will fall to ruin and there’s nothing you can do about it. Unless.”

            “Unless what?”

            Superbia’s eyes lit up. “Let’s make a deal. You can become my holder, and you’d get access to the greatest of all powers.”

            “But… a Guardian is never meant to use a miraculous,” Su-Han argued.

            Superbia shrugged. “Suit yourself. I’m sure the others will understand.”

            “What others?”

            Superbia didn’t answer, but clapped their hands. Su-Han watched as the remaining four Guardians emerged from the shadow, transformed into demons.

            “What did you do to them?” Su-Han demanded.

            “I didn’t do anything. They made the choice. They choose power and a return to the true order. You can join them. You can gain the power of a kwami and return everything to how it is meant to be. That is, if you’re not scared.”

            Su-Han considered. “This is wrong.”

            “Oh, please. You mortals have such polarizing views. There is no true right or wrong. You allow such ideas to keep you from doing what you feel is good. So, what do you feel is good, Celestial Guardian?”

            “I… I want to keep Order. That is my job.”

            “Then what do you feel you should do?”

            Su-Han reconsidered. “Where is your jewel?”

            Superbia held out his hand as a pair of earrings materialized. Su-Han took a deep breath and put them on.

            “What is your phrase to transform?”

            “Utter the phrase, ‘Superbia, Pride,’ and this covenant will be sealed.”

            “Superbia, Pride.”

Patreon || Discord || Ko-Fi

[ilikekidsshows]

Do you think there's anything prior to s4 that foreshadowing Adrien status as senti?

---

To put it simply, Anon: fuck no. I think there are a couple of coincidences the people who liked the theory latched onto and that they used to retroactively justify the writers’ lies that it was the intention all along. All of this stuff has another explanation. Adrien is allergic to feathers? No other Sentimonster is. Adrien and Sentibug both get called “perfect”? “Perfect” is a perfectly common word that suits a lot of situations perfectly. Adrien ads use a lot of feathers? They’re fucking white, Adrien has a recurring angel motif and anyone claiming otherwise is blind to patterns. Adrien does what Gabriel tells him to even when he doesn’t want to? HE’S BEING ABUSED BY THAT MAN. Why else would Emilie use the Peacock Miraculous when it killed her? Because she's an entitled rich asshole who thought she was above consequences. If Miraculous wanted to make “eat the rich” commentary, that's what they should have done. SentiAdrien also required reworking the Sentimonster lore to make the heroes killing them en masse okay.

What is far more compelling than the defenses of SentiAdrien is the fact that, after the long hiatus between seasons 3 and 4, Gabriel's body language changed completely, just like if something about his character had been changed. Gabriel used to hold tightly clenched fists behind his back, symbolizing his tight grasp on things he wants to control, especially his emotions. From the first episode of season four onward, almost like the writers couldn't contain themselves from including a new, fresh idea they’d had, Gabriel is suddenly constantly toying with this wedding ring, twisting it around like he's a neurodivergent kid and that ring is his favorite fidget toy.

Look, I know Miraculous gets a lot of flack for inconsistencies, but, like, some stuff is consistent. All the main characters used to have their own ways of moving. Adrien would pat people's shoulders, Marinette would wave her arms around, Gabriel would very rarely sit if he could get away with standing and he would clench his fists. These were simple, easy to remember ticks that strengthened the characterization. Adrien longs for human connections, Marinette is anxious and hyperactive and Gabriel never lets down his guard. In season 4, Gabriel's body language is suddenly: “Is Adrien a Sentimonster controlled by this ring? Come on, theorists, post about the theory a lot and do our marketing for us!”

The only explanation for Gabriel’s sudden change in body language is one of the writers had a tumblr when the theory got popular and got super excited to include this new idea as quickly and obviously as possible.

There’s also the fact to consider that the Miraculous crew has a very particular way of writing mysteries: they don’t. A mystery is a compelling question and “is” is not a compelling question. Basically the same rules apply as when picking a driving question for your essay: who, what, how, why and when are all good questions that will give you plenty to chew over while building your thesis. Yes or no questions, on the other hand, should be avoided at all costs, because the act of asking a yes or no question often already reveals the answer and ignores anything actually interesting about the phenomenon being studied.

I’m gonna be honest: when I first watched Miraculous, I had no idea Hawk Moth’s identity was supposed to be a mystery. I thought the answer was obvious on purpose because we were meant to wonder about the how and why. But, no, the why gets revealed as soon as the show confirms Gabriel is, indeed, Hawk Moth, because there’s so much focus on Emilie. There is only one possible thing Gabriel could want with the Miraculous, with no other options being presented to keep things interesting. Similarly, the show never asks: “Who is Hawk Moth?” because only one option is ever seriously presented with no other options being presented to keep things interesting. The question is: “Is Gabriel Hawk Moth?” and the answer is: “Yes, of course, because it couldn’t be anyone else.”

When you look at it in hindsight, this is also how the “Sentipeople” mystery gets presented to us. The only question the show asks about Sentimonsters and it asks it instantly at the start of season 4 is: “Is Adrien a Sentimonster?” and, like, the only answer is yes, because otherwise it wouldn’t get asked. However, the question is presented in a way that's only grasped by people already thinking along those lines, like Gabriel playing with his ring because it's now all of a sudden an Amok, which is why many people who weren't already convinced by the fan theory dismissed it. There are also no red herrings in this “mystery”, because every character to get any hint at them being a Sentimonster is revealed to be one. The Miraculous crew can’t write mysteries, so the existence of human Sentimonsters became obvious for the people already thinking along those lines as soon as they decided to include it.

This means, that, if this plotline was written for people who already thought SentiAdrien was a thing, the writers knew there were people thinking SentiAdrien was a thing. I'm saying the idea totally got taken from the fandom. And it's not surprising that the idea is stolen; Astruc's main character is a poor man's copy of the protagonist of the Dork Diaries book series, after all.