#i was thinking she could be a rival for luka maybe. possibly

[mikunology]

For the doodle requests maybe Fuiro or Ruby?

she's got such sinister energy. love that about her

[mistyfarm]

My wishlist & ideas for a hypothetical Rune Factory 2 Special:

- Option to choose between a male or female protagonist in first generation. FEMC’s name can be something lame like Kylie or Kyla or Kira idk LMAO

- All the rivals will therefore become bachelors! Yayyy the barrett girls will finally win

- The non-chosen protagonist will show up in the game as an NPC (think, like, pokemon.) They will stay at the Eagle Inn, their gimmick being some sort of mysterious, wandering vagrant who gives the player the ability to change their name (Basically a combination of Lukas and Ivan from RF1, and Mistress Trupin from RF4.) They are non-marriageable but, if befriended, the player can get a few hints about their past.

- ALTERNATIVELY: They could be the bartender of a hypothetical bar in town? Multiple characters in game are referred to as drinking buddies and there’s a whole event (the flower festival) that’s seen as an opportunity for people to get drunk, so it honestly kind of confused me there was no bar in Alvarna. I know these are E10+ games but honestly if RF1 had a bar there’s no reason RF2 can’t have one as well lol. It could be like the bar in stardew valley too! have everyone gather there on friday nights for easy gift-giving access, it’s perfect

- Additionally, if Kyle is the non-chosen protagonist, he will marry a bachelorette if her intended husband is already married to the player.

- Not really sure how rival heart events would function in RF2’s system but fuck it, any candidate with a rival will have heart events with said rival. For the drama

- We don’t need to lock EVERYTHING behind the second gen wall. At least let us forge weapons or brew medicine in the first gen. Maybe have these be something that the player can unlock if they befriend tanya or natalie? I always make kyle befriend those two so maybe I’m biased LOL

- Alternatively: give the gen 1 player access to a small kitchen, at the very least. Herman is nearly impossible to befriend in the first generation because all of his gifts are cooked dishes and it sucks because if you are ME (insane) you try to befriend everyone in every single playthrough

- Updated gen 2 portraits for most, if not all, of the cast. It’s understandable if older characters like Byron or Gordon look relatively unchanged after the timeskip, but the younger characters should have updated portraits! I think it would be cute if Dorothy’s portrait changed to show her eyes since she’s now a confident nurse, or if Mana and Barrett dressed differently after becoming teachers, or if Roy and Cammy had visibly grown into their awkward teen years. There’s possibilities!!

- Have more characters acknowledge your child as their relative if you marry a member of their family. It’s very cute that Max acknowledges this but I want all characters to express it because its very fun for character building

- I think it should be harder for your child to access the dungeons in the 2nd gen. every character is like “dont go into the dungeons!!!” and then you can just turn around and walk in. i want aaron and aria to do some solid snake shit to get into these dungeons. i need to see cardboard boxes. sunglasses and trenchcoats. perhaps even false identities. lets get silly with it (i fully acknowledge this would be a terrible design decision) (i dont care)

- remove the marriage events from the second generation, they feel so arbitrary compared to gen 1! The themes of second gen are family ties and the solidarity the kids build with each other, so i think friendship and story events should be prioritized instead

- Bring social services to Alvarna because honestly your child is so neglected by both of their parents its tragic (this is a joke) (kind of)

[plumsaffron]

rewatching chameleon made me realize that Marinette was being a bit too extra with her coping and seething. someone changes her seat to sit next to her crush. seething. she could literally sit next to lila if she want to convince her to stop lying. she fucking refuses because "she's a liar!!! I don't befriend them!!!" despite being one of them hersELF. lila is doing absolutely nothing to marinette. "guyz she's a manipulative bitch guys did you know she lied about being ladybug's best friend. guys you have to believe me she is evil". what did lila do to you? use the names of famous personalities YOU know personally. use that so that she can get closer to your crush. and that shit completely backfired.

did you know. you are a liar. alya is a liar. even adrien had lied. literally everyone at some point has.

and I noticed something at the end of the episode. ladybug had locked Lila in a shell and told her "we should be friends, not enemies". This could possibly be how Marinette had felt when she said that to her. Lila probably wanted her to not be a problem or something, but Mari was literally silenced, and muffled, like the shell. this shit is ride or die. Marinette was legitimately asking for the War to happen, thinking it would be a revolution

this is why lilanette canon. both hate each other so much. both see the other as a rival in a personal way. also lukadrien canon because both of them them were pushover rebounds

also thomas wants us to hate lila as much as possible, so he puts us at marinette's position in later episodes, making lila do evil shit such as framing, theft, harrassment, to the point it kinda actually warped the tone of the series. which also means lilanette canon. i rest my case

dang. You hit Adrien and Luka with the pushover rebounds. AHAHAHAHAHA.

But yeah Marinette is really bizarre.

You expect her to be above minuscule common things due to her saving Paris from Hawkmoth or think like hey maybe I shouldn't cause something Hawkmoth can feed off. Once she feels inferior to a person that has a liking to her lust, she's out to do whatever it takes by any means to end what she views as an interloper (oh how this makes season 5 age well in this case).

Volpina pretty much explains I fear Lila is better than me in every way and will take Adrien. Heck she even goes out her way to find a flaw of Volpina. It's in her face that she just wanted to see a fault (just like earlier to be HAH). And then you're later like I was wrong please accept my apology after being all that. Bruh she couldn't even handle Volpina taking charge, all I MUST LEAD YOU ALL. I don't get why some find it hard to understand why Lila should not be forgiving to Ladybug. Now on with Lila in heroes day Catalyst of S2 video chat, you already have Marinette going out her way to try to expose Lila. Oh and it's the second video chat to the class (the first was never shown but still...). Again Marinette's thirst of being a Lila Flaw finder.

Then in season 2-3 is I fell below Kagami need to find something wrong with her or she'll ruin my dream with Adrien. 3 also is just I must stop Lila despite Adrien Alya and Tikki's words because I don't believe in Adrien and my friends or I think everything Lila says is false. Adrien likes you more bruh. But to Her it's her duty to expose Lila, I can't leave Rossi alone. I think you're a joke Lila but I'm still gonna snoop upon you. Heck Nino told her snooping ain't cool in Chameleon. And nearing the end of Chameleon lecture Ladybug gave to Lila made my chuckle.

"You don't have to lie and pretend to be something you're not. People will like you for just being yourself."

Like What? Does Ladybug even remember herself or listen to herself? I guess I can only say you must be a super hero to ignore my speech to you but still. Marinette still just doesn't know she should stop talking about her lying. She knows darn well Lila doesn't like being labeled or referred as such from earlier and as Marinette lives a double life should be extra award but yet she'll proceed labeling her or being a nuisance.

*Breaks to S4 briefly*

Anytime Lila could just do the same to Marinette. Oh Marinette you're such a klutz LOL. Marinette please stop slipping and falling. Marinette why are you staggering and fumbling around Adrien. Heh she could have called out Marinette in Guilt Trip as she can see that Marinette is mad distracted fawning for Adrien. Oh Marinette why are you lying. Shame on you (Marinette explodes in anger ahahahaha).

*Back to S3 and to S4*.

Then she's like I give up cause Kagami actually did nothing wrong. Oh and I realized I was the issue and was so wrong. And it's best for Adrien. I'm gonna be with Luka now. Kagami can be with Adrien and should be together even if they broke up. She can't handle seeing Lila winning or being in control. She loathes it (oof puts a smile on my face after season 3 still).

Doesn't Marinette have better things todo that obsess over Lila? Gets angry or offended at retaliation. Retaliation = you are on the same field as Hawkmoth.

Marinette and a lot of the miraculous fandom hold hands hating Lila but mostly that only stems really from a generic common trait they almost to all share that Lila does. They probably upset because they put a fanfiction of why they expected Volpina to be like of probably a goodie two shoes to bond between Ladybug and Chat Noir but things weren't as they framed at first sight when released.

I'll end this with the funny

Reminder that there's like 2 weeks left of school and she won't have to see those 2 scrubs again for awhile (unless they decide to visit her home nearby or park to troll). And next episode, Marinette (with Sabrina) finally takes her down in a horrible plan set up fashion (It's all kinds of wrong. It really is and a lot are weirdly happy over it like over a million). What makes it worse is that speech she gave to Hoaxer for the previous episode. Also reinforcing she learned nothing of previouses and thus put Sabrina in possible danger. Ladybug/Marinette can't see anything. She doesn't get it.

She basically just asking for her life to be Cataclysmed.

Flairmidable swiping the miraculousesto do an exchange with Gabriel pales in comparision to Marinette/Ladybug's boundless disgust at Lila's existence.

I wonder if she'll surpass Lila Rossi and Gabriel Agreste. Maybe she did lol.

It's so romantic ahahha.

All because

is too hard for Marinette.

[loominggaia]

Is Skel's mom alive and, how would he react if he met her? And who is his dad?

Interesting scenario! Supposedly, Skel's mother Rye is dead. She was a slave to the Atlas family until she broke her back, then she says she will most likely be returned Kelvingyard for a partial refund and executed. This is backed up in "Lost and Found", when an elven slave girl twists her ankle and begs Lukas not to tell Sofia Atlas, fearing Sofia will send her back to Kelvingyard. It seems this is the standard protocol for crippled slaves in Evangeline Kingdom.

However, I don't think there was any confirmation that Rye met this fate. It is possible that she escaped on her way back to Kelvingyard. It would be hard to escape with a broken back, but maybe she had some "help"...After all, vampires are known to attack slaver caravans and steal the slaves, and even rival slaving companies may do the same. Theoretically, Rye could be anywhere, and it's not impossible that Skel may encounter her in the future.

As for Skel's father, the narrative doesn't mention him at all. It's unknown whether Rye was already pregnant with Skel when she was enslaved at Kelvingyard, or if she was impregnated by another slave after she arrived. His father could be anyone, we just don't know enough information yet.

But we do know a little about his mother, and based on her interactions with Evan, she was a tough, no-nonsense type of person. We know she lived at Kelvingyard with Skel until he was 5 years old, then he was bought by Jasenia's family and separated from her. That separation must have been brutal for poor Rye. Her son was all she had in that horrible place, and he was ripped away from her just like that. Skel went on to live the rest of his childhood in luxury, while Rye was sold to the Atlas family and subjected to hard, grueling labor on a farm.

I imagine this experience hardened her heart quite a lot. But if she were to reunite with Skel now, I think her heart would not only soften, but melt into goo! She would be overjoyed to see him again, and she'd probably want to make up for lost time by babying him.

Skel, however, would feel differently. Goblins have perfect memories--they remember every little thing that happens to them in their lives. Skel remembers the day he was separated from his mother like it was yesterday, and the memory chills him to the bone. So far, he's coped with the pain by telling himself his mother was just a worthless peasant, she couldn't provide for him, she had nothing to offer, etc...and convincing himself that their separation was for the best.

He has told himself that he doesn't miss her for so long, he started to really believe it. But if she actually stood before him, I think his walls would break down pretty quickly. He would be emotional and conflicted, wanting to be close to her as much as he wants to push her away. He would protect his wounded heart by yelling at her, telling her she's not good enough to be his mother, and how dare she think her peasant self worthy of his love now?

Rye would be crushed. But on some level, she understands, and feels guilty for birthing him in a slaveyard to begin with. She agrees that she can't give him all that he deserves, but tells him that his love was what kept her clinging on for all those miserable years in Kelvingyard. All she wanted for him was freedom, and though she failed to give him that, she must have done something right, because he grew up strong, smart, and self-respecting enough to secure that freedom for himself.

This realization hits Skel hard, and I think he would give in to her love then. He apologizes for rejecting her at first, and decides to accept her as his mother after all. Sure, he's a little embarrassed to be out in public with her...the way she dresses and speaks, it's obvious she's from a poor background, and this brings him shame. But he learns to get over it, and the whole experience makes him more accepting of other people in general.

Of course that's just one possible scenario. I think there are a lot of different ways this could go! We'll see if this event comes to pass in the series one day. ;)

*

Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

Read the Series

[loregoddess]

@danganronpa-21 I saw the reply about the rest of the Echoes supports ideas I though would be neat, and so here are the cross-route supports as well, with no specific order or organization...

Alm should have supports w/ Celica, obviously, and I could see him having supports with Nomah (more of a learning from an older generation kind of supports), and Conrad bc they're going to be in-laws.

Likewise Celica and Mycen should have supports. Mycen should also be able to support Nomah since they apparently go back as old friends. I think Mycen and Conrad could have interesting supports as well.

I think it'd be neat for Celica to have supports with Clair, Clive, and Mathilda, since they're all prominent members of Zofian nobility. She should also get supports with all the other Ram kids.

Hear me out, but it would be really interesting if Tobin had supports with Catria, since they both have lower self-esteem

I want Kliff, Lutheir, and Delthea to have supports with both Mae and Boey bc of the shared magical interests thing, but I could see it playing out in a rival sort of way.

I think Silque should be able to support with all the Novis kids since she was originally from Novis. Also supports between Silque and Jesse bc of their shared memory scene.

Sonya and her "I live for myself" philosophy would be an interesting clash to Faye, and I'd love to see supports between the two.

I could see Lukas having interesting supports w/ Deen due to the whole "noble raised to be a soldier" thing

Supports with Forsyth and either Valbar or Leon could be interesting, if not somewhat comedic.

I think Saber and Python would get along in a really weird way, but possibly only after being sort of catty with each other first.

Tatiana and Genny could have cute supports over their shared idealized romances (maybe Genny's thinking of using Tatiana and Zeke as inspiration for one of her novels). This type of support could play out for Genny and Mathilda as well.

[sweetcloverheart]

Unpopular Opinion Time (Yes, I’m back at it again)

Note: For the sake of keeping my #Unpopular Opinion tag uncluttered, I’m considering maybe creating a separate tag for my MLB brain vomit. Would that be a good idea/helpful? Anyhow, let’s get rant- I mean “talking”.

I have always wanted to say this - the Adrigami breakup in “Lies” was forced as hell. There was no buildup/set up at all for it. While I can 100% believe Adrien and Kagami would have broken up eventually (from falling out of the honeymoon phase of the romance to just coming to the conclusion they might just be better off as friends/rivals than romantic partners due to points of conflict with their personalities), I just can’t see them doing it for the reasons the episode presented. Things seemed to at least be going well from last we saw of them in “Miracle Queen” - but now all of a sudden, Kagami being ultra-controlling and apparently hates when Adrien tries to act like Chat Noir out of costume, saying it’s “not the real him” (As if Kagami would not have loved the stupid cat puns with what a little goober she’s shown herself to be in the show.), and Adrien’s purposely skipping dates for patrol not to protect the city from possible akumas and reluctantly sacrificing his relationship to do this, but because he’s apparently still harboring a crush on Ladybug (even though we spent an entire season talking about how he was getting over her actually) and eagerly awaiting Akumatizations because it means he and “m’lady” can spend more time together. It just feels like the show made it happen so they could force that parallel with “Truth” and because, well, Marinette’s single now - might as well reward her for having to give up her relationship with Luka (because she realized she couldn’t really give him the transparency he wanted and he respected that enough to agree to remain friends) by making her old crush available again by destroying his (admittedly) stable relationship with his girlfriend (by having Adrien come off as untrustworthy and dishonest and Kagami resenting him for that for several episodes). I mean, not like we could actually play out the relationship for the season and make it an interesting point of conflict for our main characters “Miracle Romance” here - that’d be crazy!

Also, I find it absolutely weird that Gabriel, who is established as totally willing to purposely aggravate the feelings of his son’s friends and in “Chat Blanc” tried to engineer a breakup between Marinette and Adrien just so he could akumatize the former over her heartbreak...didn’t do similar to Kagami (And don’t say “Well, he’d lose Tomoe as a potential business partner if he did that!” because by that logic, “Style Queen” should have been 10 mins instead of a two-parter). You’d think “Lies” would have had him gaslighting Kagami into thinking Adrien was avoiding her because he considered her “unworthy” of the Agreste name and brand so he could use those feelings for a Akuma/Sentimonster killer combo (all while highlighting just how damaging his controlfreak tendencies are being to his son in civilian life and how he’s now crossing more lines than before with actively sabotaging his son’s relationships himself), then end with her confronting Adrien with the idea and him dismissing (and maybe defending) it because it’s his dad and then having that whole “I can’t trust you” speech before having them break up - but instead, it’s just Hawkmoth doing business as usual and seeing yet another emotionally vulnerable teen just conveniently available to exploit, with said teen just happening to be his son’s girlfriend (speaking of, did Gabriel not worry this might result in another “Style Queen” situation where the Akuma ends up targeting his son and getting him put in danger?)

[alternativemiraculous]

Tbh I'd love it if Miraculous did something similar to the Tales of Ba Sing Se episode in ATLA (or even something like Zuko alone), which was an episode containing various short stories of every character. This could let us see more bonding or characters alone.

Idk, imagine seeing Alya's regular life; dealing with the twins, talking to her big sister, cooking (I mean, her mom is a cook so I bet Alya knows something too). Or just a glimpse of her inmer thoughts —what she thinks about the world, her current life, etc. Maybe we can see her think about her current status as Rena. She's aware of the danger. What does she think? Is she sometimes afraid anything can go wrong? Maybe this motivates her to train. Or we could see her chill writing for her blog and answering fans, or explaining her routine and ways of documenting Ladybug and Chat Noir's adventures.

Maybe we could have Adrien and Nino hanging out as real friends and have Adrien help Nino similar to how Nino helps him a lot. Them just having fun as teenagers. But we could also have Carapace adventures too. He's not that used as a hero so I'd love to see him more. Maybe have him interact with the duo, with just LB, with just CN or even have him alone doing some mission. This guy is the perfect balance between those two and he's very wise so I'm sure we'd see very good conversations.

Kagami doing something that isn't Adrien or fencing would be nice too. Like, imagine her going on a walk home and thinking. Maybe she's listening to music and she suddenly finds someone, probably Marinette. Anyone but Adrien. And we get to see her process social interactions again, which I found very relatable in Ikari Gozen. Oh and I'd love to see her be conflicted because she wants to obey her mother but at the same time she has this rebellious wishes.

Alix and Chloé should be a must ahsjjdksmsmw. I'd LOVE seeing them interact. Maybe one day Chloé goes to the Art Club alone because Sabrina is busy and surprisingly, she only finds Alix, because the others went to search for something. And we just have this moment of them silently dissing each other until one starts talking about the past. It's been slightly hinted Chloé and Alix may have been friends at slme point, and they probably fell out. So I'd love some kind of comfrontation.

Maybe we could see something of Mylène? The daily things she does. Maybe her sending important things to her friends, organising manifestations, posting resources, researching... And she practising her speech abilities because she wants to inform people and be helpful. This show is only politically affiliated with ecologism so we'd probably see her daily routine caring for the planet and getting her friends into it too.

You know what I'd love? A heart-to-heart between Luka and Ivan. They must be close, and we know Ivan isn't the best at expressing his feelings with music but Luka is the total opposite. Maybe them writing music together and talking about their days or their instruments or their hobbies. Maybe Luka has some problem and Ivan is one of the only people he trusts to put down his chill, mature, front (I headcanon he tries to appear as having not many problems to better support Juleka and the people around him), and we could see Ivan advising him. What kind of adviser is Ivan?

Sabrina alone. Let's see her hobbies! Maybe she's secretly an Art Kid? We know she likes roleplaying. Maybe she likes writing too? Does she have pets? Is she a cat person? Maybe we could see her researching. She's an amazing researcher in my headcanon. What if we see she's actually investigating about Hawk Moth and secretly collaborating anonymously with Alya thru the LadyBlog? Oh and I bet Sabrina loves creating outfits, not really designing, just combining clothes. Idk she just gives me that vibe.

Max! What does Max do in his free time? He's surely gaming. Does he have gamer friends, online friends? Oh, better. Imagine him programming his own game as a personal project because he wants to test his own abilities. He going out to get inspired and walking down the streets. We could see him appreciating the world in a fun way —he probably knows a shit ton of random facts. And when he finishes his game, after testing a lot, he probably uses it to spend a fun evening with his friends too. Idk he seems like a very fun person to he around.

A short story on Kim going to a competition is something I'd love to see. He's been training a lot and he is super confident but his rivals are amazing too. Maybe he has some rival we're yet to meet? Maybe Ondine herself is not only his friend but his rival too? We could see Kim getting second and see how he reacts. Is he a bad loser, disappointed on himself or is he the supportive type who goes all "omg look at how fast you were!!!! Are you a merfolk???? Do you breath underwater???? You were so fast ahwjwkdjw"?

Juleka and Nath moments? Some time ago people loved the thought of them together but I think a friendship between them is better. They're both kind of shy (I'm thinking of Evillustrator!Nath, not Reverser!Nath tbh). What if they were each other's first friend? Maybe Nath got Juleka into modeling because he practised with her? "Jules please let me draw you I need a human" and Juleka answering y an ominous way "I'm not a human but ok", and eventually trying new clothes. Oh and we can see them talk about how they're kind of distanced right now but they still trust each other a lot and have this special connection.

Rose writing her songs. Where does she get the inspiration? Maybe we could see her in her room, a very pink room where she has an unicorn collection. Maybe she loves writing lyrical things. Does she write poemas? Rose gifting poemas to her friends would be so in character. Maybe see her writing a song about herself and her life? She is happy but we could hear her sing about her struggles (her disease, trying to help people but being unable, maybe she sometimes doubts her positivity thing and needs to give it some thought, etc but in the end she's sure she wants to make the day as bright as possible).

LILA'S DAY. WE NEED TO SEE LILA'S DAY. She's probably alone most of the day, as we've been hinted her mother is so busy. What does she do? Maybe she posts some happy, bright foto to Instagram and then we see her irl being bored as fuck. She just eats a bit and stays in her room. Does she keep track of her lies? She has to have a diary, for that I'm sure. Maybe we can see her writing in her diary? Her future plans or just her opinions on the people of her class. Does she like someone or is everyone boring to her? Maybe she sometimes feels bad about what she's doing? Please let us have sympathetic moments with Lila. Fucking Gabriel has them!!!!!

So yeah I think I covered everyone in the class + Luka and Kagami – Adrien and Marinette because they're the protagonists. I just want to see the secondary characters develop a little!!! We need to see more of them. Season 1 was fun because it showed us their individual personalities a lot.

[imthepunchlord]

so I recently read through your "Always a hero"-works. And now I am hooked on LfM. And while Adrien Seems so much different from canon, he really isn't? Marinette not being in his "friends-folder" means he sees no reason believing her over Chloe. (I cannot recall situations like that in canon but when does canon explore sidecharas much other than to akumatize them)

It essentially is canon Adrien, though been focusing on his worst aspects as we’re going into 4 seasons, and those issues have yet to be addressed and I’m a tad salty and LfM is a salt fic response fic. And Adrien for a while will have that salty focus. Largely because

And yeah, canon won’t put focus on side characters (or even truly focus on our lead herself) as those characters have to circle around the love square, their akumas, or 

Actually the most we got is Chloe. 

She got focus outside Adrien and the love square. Unfortunately, all her focus was a big waste of our time and essentially another tease of “is she going to be redeemed or not”. Ultimately not and its like, why even bother spending two seasons focusing on will she won’t she be better. That could’ve been shortened down to one. Now she’s a very irritating character and canon wise, I don’t want to see her with another miraculous ever again. 

Which is a shame as I was one of many up to see Chloe redeemed, especially since I’m fed up with the idea that 14 yos girls are irredeemable but Gabriel will probably be redeemed. It shouldn’t be like that for Chloe or Lila. But they want to push that these girls are absolutely evil, more so than the active terrorist who is a neglectful father and by Chat Blanc abusive so... 

It’s also a big shame cause there was so much potential in the side characters outside love square and Adrien. 

Putting this under cut cause I just go off and it gets lenthy. 

Alya could’ve had an amazing arc if she was a full time hero. Could’ve had a struggle of balancing her hero and civilian lives, as one she is essentially living her dream. Another option is learning, hey, being a hero isn’t all glory and glamour. And depending on the miraculous, there was more to learn, especially since I myself am not big on her having Fox anymore and there are better alternatives, both in matching her but also teaching her things she needs to learn. She could learn to be more of a team player and to be more conscious of her friends as when she gets going in her goals, she can be quite inconsiderate. She can also learn to be more self conscious of her own security as she can rival Adrien in reckless behavior around akumas. And in truth, any miraculous can teach her the importance of secrecy, not Fox exclusively. 

Honestly, Alya and Nino should’ve had their miraculous swapped (most characters actually don’t have a miraculous that suits them in terms of kwami,  powers, or/and symbolism).  Alya at the core is meant to be a supportive friend that is supposed to have her friends’ back, but also prefers to be on the front lines. Turtle would allow this, and teach her to be more aware of the danger she and her friends are in. It won’t essentially stop her reactive behavior, but she can learn to be more smart about it. 

And with Nino, it was always weird to me how popular it was for him to get Turtle. And then it happened in canon and I’m just put off by the assignment. Nino at the core isn’t a character that wants to be on the front lines, but Turtle is a miraculous that is meant to be on the front lines as a protector. Nino is a support role, but not in that sense. Fox would’ve been better as its more designed to help from the shadows. It won’t be as aesthetically pleasing still as Nino is so color coded for Peafowl, but would fit better as it allows Nino to be a background support. It would also help him learn to be more observant and aware of others, and wanting to be a director, you need to learn to put on a good show that draws your audience in. Mirage can give him a chance to truly practice this. Mindful, Fox still isn’t my top pick for Nino (I think Fox would be more fitting with Marinette or Felix), Peafowl still is as that’s what he is coded for, and even canon wise, it would be a more fitting miraculous for him than Turtle. But of what Fu has, Fox would’ve been the better pick for Nino. 

And speaking of Nino, it’s revealed from a tweet from Thomas that Nino had lost an older brother and that his hat belonged to him. That actually gives Nino an emotional tie in to the plot as, while he wants his brother back, he wouldn’t go to the extent that Gabriel is. 

Classmate wise, there’s potential too. 

Origins shows that everyone was afraid of Ivan and assumed the worst of him, he could’ve had an arc of changing those views. Go from being feared to being seen as a hero to trust. A source of protection and security. 

Juleka wants to shine out more. But she struggles in that spotlight and to even be heard. She could have an arc about being heard, and building her confidence. 

Rose is a girl ruled by her heart and is full of love and trust for others. It could be interesting seeing her have a miraculous and struggling with the factor that fighting is involved, but she herself is a pacifist (at least I get that impression). And that can be an interesting thing to explore, as she’s not wrong, but sometimes fighting is the only way. She can also learn to be more conscious that there are those who will take advantage of her and will have active malicious intents to her and others. 

Kim actually states that he wants to be a hero. Not only could him as a hero be fun, it could help him mature as a character and be more serious, as akumas demand focus and be treated as serious. Copycat shows that he can be an observant character, I’d be intrigue to see ML’s residential himbo be surprisingly observant and offer up advise to his friends. 

And of alternative love interests... 

Well, this is more Kagami than Luka, at least in terms of character potential and an arc to see. Though, as of now, if all the predictions are correct SPOILER ALERT, Lies will break up Adrien and Kagami, to me its going to make them another Chloe. More specifically, why did we spend two seasons building up and teasing these alternative love interests only to immediately break them up at the start of s4. 

To me, that sets them up as pointless inclusions who ultimately didn’t bring anything to the narrative. 

Either way, this is about character potentials and I see more potential to explore with Kagami than Luka, and that’s more on the writers and how they handle Luka as most Luka episodes wound up more about Adrien than him. So he is largely a character I just don’t know what to do with. 

Kagami though, she’s an aggressive character that could learn to cool it, she wants to branch out/rebel from her mother, she wants to make friends but struggles with it, and can learn to be more conscious of others and step up into the hero role, of helping others. 

Honestly, working solely off Riptose, she would’ve been a better rival for Adrien than Marinette. Not just as a love rival, which he truly has yet to have, but a rival in general. While she wants to branch out from her mother’s influence, fencing is still her passion and her goal, something Adrien himself lacks. Outside being romantically involved with LB, he has no passion or goal for himself. Kagami can challenge this, why is he here when he doesn’t truly care about fencing? 

And as a romantic rival, she’s one of the few who doesn’t need a miraculous to join fights, she can vigilante to assist LB and pay her back for her helping in cleansing her, but could end showing that she’s a better partner to LB as she takes things more seriously and is more battle smart in fights. Which ultimately would force Adrien to step up his game, take things more seriously, and wise up for throwing a tantrum will only take you so far. Especially when there’s a 3rd party member that’s judging you for your immaturity and shows LB she doesn’t have to bow to his whims just because he’s having a tantrum. 

...You know, maybe Luka then would’ve been better as Marinette’s rival. Not a love rival, Marinette has enough between Chloe, Lila, and Adrien’s fanclub. But more of a rival for Ladybug. Though, it won’t so much be an arc for Luka himself but one for Marinette. If Kagami and Luka are supposed to help Adrien and Marinette grow, then this at least keeps in that theme. 

With the show taking a turn that Marinette is feeling overwhelmed and stressed with her role as a hero and now Guardian, and slightly playing off Origins and her doubts of whether she’s a good hero; Luka could’ve been an interesting character for her to come across and consider. Ultimately, he is set up to be a very solid hero: he is calm, mature, shown to be a planner, and considerate and aware of others. Only thing he has against him is that he’s a removed character and is mostly seen sitting on that boat. 

Romance between them I’d leave as optional, but it could be intriguing to see Marinette considering the possibility of retiring as Ladybug and passing it on to Luka so she can fully embrace her Guardian duties and not be so overwhelmed. And in general, it is a big wonder, who would take over as the Ladybug if Marinette has to leave and not come back, or that she can’t balance between being a hero and being the Guardian (and in truth, Tikki is no longer a good kwami for Marinette to have as she’s developing an Atlas complex through her and she hasn’t been helpful as a guide and adviser in a long time). 

Now the show writers would butcher this, but it could’ve been interesting to see. Maybe Luka could’ve been a means to help her learn to manage things better if she has to stay LB and Guardian. 

But yeah, it’s a shame that this show won’t delve past the LS which has long since gotten stale and quite toxic. There’s a lot of potential, but they won’t touch it. Won’t care to. 

[ilikekidsshows]

Do you think we're headed for a reverse love square? I'm curiuos coz while I can kinda see it happening, it doesn't aline with what I thought they were going for with the whole moving on stuff in the S3 finale? I thought they were supposed to grow past their own issues separately before they could come together for real. Or maybe it's like "you first need to learn to love both sides before you can appriciate the whole"? Any thoughts?

Outside of thinking there’s more storytelling potential in other avenues, my issue with the idea of a Reverse Love Square is that I don't personally believe that Adrien and Marinette aren't already in love with the other sides of the mask. Never mind how reversing the Love Square doesn't solve the issue of loving only one side, it reverses it, since the idea is that they'd move on from the first halves they loved to do so. Never mind that both Adrien and Marinette believe something about these potential suitors that would make it impossible to progress with the Love Square by reversing it.

1) Adrien has been personally told by Marinette repeatedly that she kinda likes him as a friend but would in no way be be interested in him romantically. He also voices a belief in 'Stormy Weather 2' that Marinette is with Luka or very much interested in him. Adrien would never pursue a girl who's actually dating someone else.

2) Marinette believes her and Cat Noir getting together would destroy the world, because Cat Blanc told her that.

It is true that Adrien and Marinette are too focused on Ladybug and Adrien respectively to consider anyone else properly. This is why the idea of "self love" is the only way for the Love Square to actually progress: Adrien and Marinette need to stop thinking about everything they feel in terms of the people they’re in love with.

Adrien is too blinded by his love for Ladybug to realize he's in love with Marinette too. And he is blinded, since the fact that he does love Marinette is clear as day to Kagami, who's been convinced since day one that Marinette is her main love rival. And, as we've seen with her succinct summation of Marinette's issue of "hesitating", Kagami sees things the other characters don't. The reason Adrien needs to move on from thinking he must love Ladybug just because he loved her first is that it blinds him to other options and limits him.

My brother and I made jokes during the liveblog about how Adrien never gives up on anyone because every other relationship he has goes back on the one he has with his father. "I can't give up on X, otherwise I'll have to give up on my father." However, considering how much Adrien's relationship with his father gets projected onto his other relationships, Adrien really does need to learn to let go of his father because he's gone beyond Adrien's reach a long time ago. However, accepting this fact would be very hard for someone who doesn't know how to let go.

Adrien's mother is dead, for all he knows, so he can let her go enough to accept Nathalie. However, letting go of Ladybug is harder because she's still there. But letting go of his pursuit of her doesn't mean losing her, since they'd still have their friendship and partnership. This relationship isn't like the one he has with his father, where accepting that Gabriel can't be reached anymore means a lack of relationship because then the burden of expressing affection would be on Gabriel, who even Adrien isn't hopeful to be able to carry that burden. The threat of getting only apathy from the people he loves if he stops hounding them for gestures of affection is a real thing that can happen to Adrien, so letting go of Ladybug means overcoming the fear that it would happen in every relationship he has.

The reasons Adrien can't move on from Ladybug with Marinette specifically have a lot to do with the reasons he has for not even considering her a romantic option that I covered earlier. However, from a storytelling perspective, Adrien getting with Marinette, while trying to get over Ladybug and trying to grow past thinking he has to be with her, could be very damaging to his growth. Once he found out Marinette was Ladybug all along, he'd go right back to thinking they were soulmates and meant to be and that he has to be with Ladybug instead of him thinking of the relationship as him being with the girl he wants to be with.

Marinette, on the other hand, needs to move on from Adrien for different reasons. Marinette's problem is a refusal to self-reflect. Marinette needs to learn to consider her own wants and needs and then make a decision based on those. This is why the idea of liking two (or more) boys at once has her stuck in such a rut; making a decision and reflecting on what that decision should be is a great challenge to her. I used to wonder what the hold up was with the Luka-Adrien conundrum, but with the theme of self love hinted on at the end of season three, it makes sense. Marinette needs to learn to love herself so that she can give herself what she wants. Marinette needs to be confident that she's a nice person who deserves nice things.

We only give ourselves what we deserve. If we don't think we deserve something we tend to self-sabotage our attempts at getting it. Marinette sabotages herself in various ways in the show when it comes to her pursuit of Adrien. She flubs her words to the degree she tells Adrien things like "You're not exactly a good friend", and her plans to win him over are so complicated Adrien could never decipher the romantic intention behind them. When you pair this with the way many characters, Marinette included, repeat how "perfect" Adrien is, it's not difficult to consider that Marinette might think she doesn’t deserve Adrien. This is why, in 'Félix', Marinette is actually afraid of every possibility for Adrien's answer to her confession "What if he tells me that he loves me? Or that he doesn't love me? Or that he likes me but not in that way?" Marinette is scared of succeeding, even if not as scared as she is of failing.

Tim Kreider once wrote: "If we want the rewards of being loved we have to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known," and Marinette seems scared of being known. She's so in love with Adrien, but she started the series incredibly scared of anyone finding out. The fear of being mocked is common in people with strong feelings about anything, and Marinette is also a former bully victim, who used to get mocked by Chloé often. However, by the time Chloé does find out about Marinette's feelings in 'Animaestro', Marinette is no longer as worried about her reaction as she is about Adrien's. And this makes sense, Marinette almost burst into tears in season one when she thought Alya had told Nino about her feelings for Adrien in ‘Animan’ but, by ‘Gigantitan’, she was ready to bring in Alix, Myléne, Rose and Juleka into the secret and she's been getting even more relaxed about letting people know.

Despite all this progress, however, Marinette still fears Adrien's reaction. She's incredibly invested in Adrien's opinion of her and that translates into a fear him and her emotions when she's around him. Marinette is basically afraid of love itself. This is why moving on to a more casual relationship with Luka, where she isn't as invested so that she can relax around Luka, would help Marinette get used to the idea of being in a relationship, of caring for someone and being cared for in such a way. She couldn't do that with Cat Noir, considering how strong their emotional bond is. Of course, the downside of this is that Luka would still keep mainly being a vehicle for Marinette’s character development, which I’m not too keen on.

[etirabys]

Downbelow Station, a fanfic summary

I’ve been writing fic for this tiny book fandom and have at least a few fandom acquaintances who want to read my fic but don’t want to read the book. This is a summary of what happens in the novel, whose heart, to me, is the relationship between a mindwiped ex-slave and a cross-cultural married couple who take him in under their protection.

The premise

People are in space, since the Earth Company started establishing space stations around increasingly distant stars for manufacturing/trade. There are several types of people:

Stationers stay on one station – stations were originally established by the Earth Company but have since gained de facto independence because Earth is so far away

Merchanters live on ships and trade – family very important to them, so is family name, regularly deal with Stationers as part of their life but find settling down very foreign. More sexually opportunistic than Stationers, possibly less monogamous.

Earth Company Fleet soldiers live on ships; originally under the control of Earth Company, as of novel start have gone kind of rogue, will continue to go even more rogue over the course of the novel

Citizens of Union, a... nation in space that grew in the deepest reaches, furthest away from Earth's influence. Union is currently trying to annex everyone else. Earth Company is trying to resist this through their Fleet. However, Earth Company is not very enthusiastic about this war and have been drawing out; the Fleet thinks it's important to keep fighting and keep doing dipshit moves like impressing Merchanter ships and ?? maybe looting stations a little bit to keep going.

Azi of Union – a genetically engineered underclass specific to Union. Basically designer subs. I believe the word azi is never brought up in Downbelow Station, but it's very clear a character is an azi, and what that means is explained in Cyteen, which takes place in the same universe. Union citizens use 'tapes' casually and at-will for fast learning and entertainment and conditioning, but starting later in life. Azi grow up on tape – their psyches are designed to be good at whatever they were designed to do, whether that's soldiering or psychologizing or childcare. Azi require varyingly regular check-ins with a Supervisor, who is an assigned person who tells the azi they are Very Good and On Course With Their Lives and give them tapes to keep them aligned with their values and mentally stable. Azi have normal human names but also an ID that looks like AO-1234, where the first alphabet character indicates what ‘class’ you are – an Alpha-class azi is probably far smarter than your average citizen and is more capable of functioning independently. Azi can win citizenship, but so far the only people onscreen who’ve done so are Alpha-class azi.

The cast

Damon Konstantin is a head of Legal Affairs on Pell Station, and the son of the Stationmaster, which is apparently a hereditary position. Despite the hereditariness Pell seems to have the most familiar culture to me, a 21st century American expecting democracy and rule of law. Pell Station is special – it orbits a human-livable planet called Downbelow, and there are only three such planets under human control. This means the planet can be used as a base for ‘bioform production’ (a vague category encompassing everything you can grow on a planet but not a space station) and makes Pell strategically valuable. The other two livable planets are Earth, under the control of the Earth Company Fleet’s nominal masters, and Cyteen, the base of Union operations. Pell is neutral, as many star stations try to be.

Elene Quen is a Merchanter who stepped off her ship to marry Damon. They’ve been married for four months at novel start. Her formal role is liaison with Merchanters.

Joshua Talley is a soldier of Union who was captured when Union forces sabotaged (blew up) a station called Mariner Station. He was tortured for information on another station – Russell’s – whose inhabitants feared the same fate for themselves. He had nothing to give them – he was a medium-level technician/soldier, an ‘armscomper’, which I think means he was the person pressing buttons to fire on targets or programming the weapons to fire on targets. During his interrogation Russell’s station was also sabotaged, ensuing in a mass evacuation.

Signy Mallory is one of the ~10 captains of the Earth Company Fleet. She is commanding and very deadly, commands fanatical loyalty from her soldiers. She’s also a sexual sadist. When she comes to evacuate Russell’s Stationers from a failing space station she finds that they have a Union POW who is very pretty, and takes him into her personal quarters for their journey to Pell. It is not said how she rapes him but it was a lot. Joshua thinks of this part as worse than the previous interrogation.

The events from there

When the Fleet arrives at Pell Station, they are convoying huge ships full of thousands of refugees from stations sabotaged / fallen to Union. It has been weeks or months since they started out. The ships were overpacked, many inside are dead, the culture of the ships has quickly turned anarchic/violent.

Angelo Konstantin, master of Pell, says "wtf, we can't take all these people, we don't have space. We literally cannot do this." The Fleet says, “You better,” unloads the highly upset and sick refugees, and leaves. Pell Station clears out two sectors of their station and makes it the 'quarantine zone', later shortened to Q. Conditions are very bad in Q and what to do with the violent, desperate people inside, many of whom cannot prove who they were in their past lives, when Pell doesn’t have the capacity to relocate them, is an ongoing problem throughout the novel.

Before leaving, Signy Mallory also said, "in addition to the refugee crises we unloaded on you, here is a Union prisoner of war we transported separately because the refugees would have killed him", and dumps Joshua on Pell leadership.

Around this time, Elene Quen finds out that her ship was destroyed when Mariner Station blew up. She now has no blood family, and Merchanters put great cultural emphasis on having clan and name. She decides to have a kid, talking Damon into it.

Joshua Talley is extremely depressed and keeps asking for a mindwipe so he can live as a normal citizen on Pell rather than being indefinitely detained. Mindwipes are used on stations as a consensual way of rehabilitating criminals. His captors are reluctant – it’s tantamount to execution. Damon Konstantin is the final permission-giver on the issue and gives it in the end. The process of mindwipe (or Adjustment) necessarily causes the person to regurgitate their whole life. This is recorded. Due to this, he discovers only after the mindwipe is complete that Josh was tortured on Russell’s with mindwipe drugs (presumably for the same regurgitating-your-whole-life property) and then raped on Signy Mallory’s ship on the way to Pell, and that wanting to wipe out the trauma was the real reason he wanted a mindwipe.

Damon feels really bad about this. He checks up on Josh Talley a lot when he's recovering from the mindwipe. He and his wife Elene decide to 'sponsor' him when he's rejoining normal society on the ship. Elene does so through some personal resistance – Josh once belonged to the military force that wiped out her family. They check in with a guy who doesn’t remember much of anything but definitely has abandonment issues and is afraid of emotional entanglement with people.

Josh Talley quietly converts much of his internal body mass into gooey loyalty.

Plot chaos. The station comes to be formally occupied by the Fleet, who wants to use it as their new base of operations, and a Union saboteur named Gabriel who talks to Stationmaster Angelo Konstantin’s main rival and conspires to bring him to power instead...

There’s a part I really really want to summarize here where Josh tries to fall on  grenade for the Quen-Konstantins – literally, trying to take an action that would end in his death but keep them safe from the Fleet – and they show up and say “you idiot, never do that again” and bring him back to their apartment and say “while the Fleet is suspicious of you, you are living HERE, so everyone knows you are under our protection. Forget your old job, we’ll find you something working closely with Damon every day – while you’re in sight they can’t get at you.” But I can’t find a non-confusing way to relay it, sorry.

Soon after that, the Union saboteur succeeds. Angelo Konstantin is assassinated. His rival, Jon Lukas, takes his place, and starts enacting subtly Union-friendly policies. I think this somehow happens concurrently with the Fleet still using Pell as a base of operations. It’s highly chaotic. Elene flees the chaos on a Merchanter ship whose family she knows. Damon and Josh, fearing whoever assassinated Angelo, hide within the more bad and chaotic parts of the station (I honestly don’t believe the author when she says they managed this for months – Pell has tens of thousands of people, that’s not a lot! You could close each sector at a time and sweep everyone!). This part feels like big missed opportunity to me – they spend their time moving from hiding place to hiding place, coming up with hopeless schemes that they know they’ll never enact. One infers they got much closer, but the author doesn’t go into that either. The one delight that comes out of this sequence is that Josh becomes more assertive and competent than we’ve ever seen him – being in hiding, under danger, brings out submerged training. He’s not a dependent anymore – arguably in some places he’s in lead.

In the middle of this, Josh makes contact with the Union saboteur, Gabriel, who hails him as a colleague and informs him that they’re of the same kind. They have the same training. The story Josh gave Russell’s interrogators, and Pell, that he was a mid-tier technician, is an implanted set of memories that automatically flushes his real ones when he was under duress. 

This means, although the author never explores it, that Josh was probably integral to destroying Mariner Station, and concomitantly responsible for Elene’s family’s deaths.

Josh asks Gabriel for safe passage to the planet Downbelow for both himself and a companion. Gabriel acquiesces, but is shocked when the companion Josh brings to the meeting is the Konstantin heir. He starts to say, “Well, well, what a useful person you have brought me –” and then gets shot by a Fleet soldier who’s following reports of a suspicious person. (My fic Half-Silvered Mirror diverges from canon at this point, and asks what would have happened if Gabriel had his way.)

Now in the hands of the Fleet, Josh and Damon meet with Signy Mallory again. Josh isn’t what Mallory remembers – as a rape victim he was passive, inward-turned. This Josh is articulate and emotional and loyal. Damon isn’t what she expects, either – he manages to jab at her conscience about what the Fleet has become, lawless and unmoored from any democratic interest. She plans to execute both of them the next day.

Due to convoluted plot reasons, she doesn’t. She turns against the rest of the Fleet, which for their own reasons is headed back towards Earth – to conquer. Her ship, Norway, enters a standoff against Union warships over Pell. Which isn’t on course to go well for her, until someone broadcasts at both of them that Pell is now under Merchanter claim. Elene, while out in space, has been convincing Merchanters to form an unprecedented coordination bloc. She demands Pell for the Merchanter Alliance and informs the Union military leader, Azov, that if he doesn’t acquiesce all Merchanter ships in her fleet will refuse to trade in Union space.

She wins. The scene when she docks at Pell and walks in, pregnant and victorious, to kiss her husband, is one of the most visually !!! scenes.

In the aftermath, Azov tries to take Josh back for Union. Damon says nope, he’s ours. Josh, what do you want? Josh says nothing. Looks at nothing. But when Azov and the other Union soldiers leave, he stays.

And afterwards, he goes to Signy Mallory – whose ships now constitute Pell’s militia – and asks, sincerely, to work as crew on her ship for a while. He says he can’t live on a station comfortably. That the stationers know him, and his past. (Not sure how true this is.) Mallory says it’s nothing another mindwipe can’t cure, and he says he doesn’t want to forget. “I’ve got something. The only real thing. All that I value.”

“So you go off and leave it?”

“For a while.”

Comments

There’s... so much I want to write about and explore.

Did Elene know when Josh left that he was probably responsible for her family’s death? (My fic Awarding Damages is about one way they could resolve this)

What did Signy Mallory do to Josh? Can he handle working under her?

Damon and Elene are so parental to Josh, and they're also embarking on having a family in a dynastic way where having a clan is their way of asserting that they exist and are rooted in the world. And of course Josh is going to feel really weird about how he fits into that – he's only watching it happen because he's a charity case, of course he's going to have no involvement in that project – what place is left for him anyway, he has no one and is nothing. I want this man to have feelings about family and how he doesn't have one and then HAVE A FAMILY I want him to hold the baby and go "OH. You are a biological composite of the two greatest people in the world. I cannot hold it against you that you are now going to push me out of my current living situation with the two greatest people in the world"

Due to the amount of mindfuckery Josh has gone through, it’s unclear to both him and the reader how many his memories are real. What does that do to a person?

From what I know of azi from Cyteen, Josh has psychological needs – again, he’s like a bred sub – that non-Unioners aren’t going to understand. Can he get them met? How does he negotiate that?

[thesaltyoceanwaves]

(Salty) Predictions for S4: Felix

We all know that this trickster is bound for a return (mostly because they’ve confirmed it, and mostly because the episode itself gives off that tone), but what can we expect from him? Again, these aren’t all salty takes, but it’s not salt-free either. Consume at your own discretion.

What I Would Like to See: Literally, Felix interacting with anyone outside his family. A face-to-face with Marinette is inevitable, and I can definitely see him throwing her confession to Adrien back in her face (and maybe Luka and Kagami’s as well). However, Felix ultimately decides to keep this information to himself, and instead help Marinette confess on her own terms. Bonus points if he becomes matchmaking rivals with Alya.

I would like to see Felix specifically interact with Nino or Luka, and for Felix to open up a bit about his feelings toward Adrien and abandonment. Double points if this prevents either party from being akumatized. 

Not to piggyback off my own work, but I would really like to see Felix doing his own thing, and not just siding with Hawkmoth because he’s “”””bad”””. Maybe the akuma attacks are useful to Felix in achieving his goals, or he has his own wish that he would want the miraculous for. Or maybe he really just doesn’t care and wants to mess with his Uncle Gabriel.

If we have to give more focus to Agreste family drama, then I’d like to see a feud between the Agrestes and Graham de Vanilys. Given what happens in his debut episode, it’s a logical step in the right direction. I would like to see this story conclude with Felix challenging Adrien to call out his father for his actions (speaking generally, but also specifically depending on what Gabriel did that day).

Oh, and calling Chloe out. She needs to be challenged and since Adrien won’t do it or forces Marinette to reconcile with her, Felix is the only one that stands a chance at this point of verbally sparring with her. 

Potential Miraculous?: Using only the miraculouses we are familiar with post-S3, I could potentially see Felix taking over as the snake, if Luka isn’t allowed to have it. He knows how to play his cards right and get what he wants. While he’s not selfless in the same way that Luka is, he did get the one of the twin rings for his mother. He didn’t even know she wanted it back to give it to him as a family heirloom. 

The other miraculous I could see him trying out is the Monkey. While Xuppu’s nature is much sillier than Felix’s, I could see Felix liking the power to obfuscate his opponent, and perhaps embrace silliness (at least if he was disguised, and certainly not to the same degree as King Monkey or Chat Noir).

Going off the Track Record: Not only will Felix throw Marinette’s confession back in her face, but he would actually use it to embarrass her in front of Adrien. I wouldn’t even be surprised if he was the one to break the news to Adrien in the most soul-crushing way possible. And I don’t mean in a way to create excitement or a potential plot point for the show. I mean in Puppeteer 2 cringe-esque levels of pettiness, bad writing, and drama for the sake of it. Bonus points if this nearly gets Marinette akumatized.

The other thing I think they’re most likely to do is to underutilize Felix, the same way they did with Lila in S3. They might set him up in the first episode to be an important player... and then have him show up very little, and not even allow him to be a main player in the season finale. Hell, to add on to that, they’ll do what they did with Lila and Chloe in S3 (Lila hinted to be an important player in the opener, but over time, other plot points, including Chloe’s “arc” overtake the season, with Chloe getting the focus in the finale and Lila nowhere in sight), only to put Felix in Lila’s position, and Lila in Chloe’s.

Something Bad They COULD Do, But I Don’t Think is Likely Given the Track Records: The future Hawkmoth turns out to be him. With no real lead-up to this reveal. The showrunners tend to foreshadow things to the point of obviousness (was anyone really surprised that Gabriel was Hawkmoth? Can we even count that as a spoiler at this point?). But if they really wanted to make Felix look bad, they could reveal that it was him with no real foreshadowing to make it a logical reveal or step for his character.

[haymaker-mva]

A different choice, a different chance

Part 1/2: Desperada

So I've fucking given up on my “mental health break.” No sleep for the wicked!

This fic’s pretty much, “What if Marinette picked Luka for the snake miraculous first, and what would happen if that led to her realizing that what she was pretty much a stalker?”

Enjoy the fic that my brain spawned and would not let me leave alone!

1 - 2

“W-wow…” Alya stuttered in surprise. “It never hit me that the plans we did messed with others… It just seemed so harmless at the time…”

“That’s the same thought I had. It seemed like just being a schoolgirl with a crush, but I really have gone too far, haven’t I?”

-

Ladybug looked between Adrien Agreste and Luka Couffine. She had one snake miraculous, and two guys to choose from. After casting her luck charm, Ladybug had gone to get backup, telling Adrien and Luka to go hide. She set up Luka’s guitar with the pigeons and escaped. She quickly retrieved the snake miraculous from Master Fu, and went on her way. As she flew back through the city, Ladybug’s mind drifted.

For some strange reason that seemed specifically like a crush, Mainette had chosen Adrien to play with Jagged instead of Luka, who was much more suited for the job. The guilt ate at Marinette, but Ladybug had to get her head in the game.

Ladybug slid into the sewers again, and began calling out to Luka and Adrien. She had to make sure they were safe, and perhaps give one of them the miraculous she currently held if her instincts were leading her the right way.

She heard Luka answer her, and she made her way towards his voice and quickly found them in a normal tunnel. Adrien and Luka were both there, though they seemed quite a bit worried.

Now back to where we were. Ladybug looked between Adrien and Luka. Her heart ached for her to choose Adrien, but her instincts pulled her towards Luka. She was so close to giving Adrien the snake… but then the guilt from Marinette’s earlier mistake smacked her in the brain. Ladybug shook her head to clear her thoughts, and grabbed Adrien’s wrist.

“Luka, go hide around that corner. I have to hide Adrien somewhere else, I’ll be back to make sure you’re safe.”

-

Adrien ran through the sewers with Luka, just trying to get away from the akuma. Every time Adrien tried to lag behind or get lost around a corner, Luka would find him and make sure they weren’t separated. It was nice to have a friend that cared so much, but Adrien needed to become Chat Noir, and Luka was making it ten times harder!

After Kwami knows how long of this, Ladybug found them again thanks to Luka’s loud voice. Adrien could tell what this was; Ladybug went to get backup. He knew his partner. A tiny war waged in his head. On one hand, being chosen by Ladybug would be great. But on the other hand, Adrien was Chat Noir, and being chosen would not be so great.

So when Ladybug pulled him aside, his heart both sank and soared. His Lady truste him outside of the mask too…! But he needed to be Chat Noir…

Ladybug pulled them into a locker room, and paused to catch her breath. She opened a locker, and motioned for him to get inside.

What?

Ladybug wasn’t choosing him? So what was she doing? Noticing the confusion on Adrien’s face, Ladybug elaborated.

“I needed to spit you two up to make it harder for Desperada to get you both in one go. I also need to find that dang cat, and find some backup,” Ladybug griped. She collected herself and let out a breath. “Anyway, go hide and only come out when you see the ladybugs.” Ladybug waved and ran out of the locker room, shutting the door behind her and leaving Adrien conflicted.

Was it good or bad that Ladybug didn’t give his alter ego another miraculous?

-

Soon the fight was over and the miraculous ladybug was cast, and everything was back to normal. Well, not exactly. Seeds of doubt had been planted in Marinette’s head…

-

As Marinette sat on her bed after the fight, she replayed a lot of scenes in her head. All of them about Adrien. All the times she messed something up, hurt someone, or sacrificed something because of him,in one way or another. There were too many times. Heck, it happened just that day with Luka and playing with Jagged!

Marinette’s mind flashed back to the day that Manon got akumatized into Puppeteer the second time. Adrien had specifically mentioned loving another girl, as well as indirectly and almost actually rejecting her.

All of a sudden, she felt stupid.

He never loved her, and she didn’t want to hurt yet another person, especially him, trying to obtain Adrien’s affections. Marinette frowned sadly. She really had hurt so many people. Granted, she always apologized and fixed things. Take Kagami for example! They got orange juice together pretty much every week. But that didn’t change the fact that she had still hurt people with her stalkerish schemes.

And looking at her wall, she followed the thought that she had also crossed over into stalker territory. Not just her wall, Marinette had even stolen his phone at one point! Gotten his bodyguard in trouble! Invaded his room as Ladybug, and took full advantage of his trust in her. She wasn’t even properly friends with him; she could barely speak a word in his presence!

Marinette facepalmed. How could she ever have dreamed of dating a guy that she couldn’t talk to? She remembered something her mother told her a long time ago, when she had started liking guys.

“Remember, Marinette. Don’t choose the better guy, choose the guy that makes you the better girl. Never go for the one that brings the worst out in you. It’ll only lead to disaster if you can’t control yourself.”

Marinette had never really taken that advice into consideration, because of her short list of crushes. But now it was all she could think of. Why did she even like Adrien? She could barely recall. She told herself it was his personality, the kindness he displayed, the trust he had in others… But that was just his naivety, wasn’t it? She liked him because he was afraid of losing his friends by being anything but polite. Adrien only went after her so that she wouldn’t hate him. Their class was small, of course he wouldn’t want to have any enemies.

Marinette slapped her cheeks. She wouldn’t think bad of Adrien. Even if he was her crush, and she was a bad one herself, he was still her friend.

I think I need to call Alya.

-

“I think I’ve gone too far with Adrien.” Was the first words that rushed out of her mouth. Cringing at the implication, she rephrased. “As in, my crush has gone too far.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where is this coming from?” Alya responded.

“I chose Adrien today. To play guitar. Over Luka, who is literally in a popular band, and would you look at that! Plays a guitar.” Marinette deadpanned, sitting down in her desk chair. “I’ve also conspired with Chloe to ruin Kagami’s dress, stolen his phone, gotten his bodyguard in trouble with a police officer, literally have his schedule mapped out and memorized, and my walls are covered in his face. And that’s just to start.” The words tumbled out of her, and though she knew it was bad, seeing it all out on the table was unsettling. Knowing she had done all that.

She really was a stalker at this point.

“W-wow…” Alya stuttered in surprise. “It never hit me that the plans we did messed with others… It just seemed so harmless at the time…”

“That’s the same thought I had. It seemed like just being a schoolgirl with a crush, but I really have gone too far, haven’t I?” Marinette said, placing the phone in front of her computer, which was displaying Adrien’s face.

She put her face in her hands, elbows resting on the desk.

“I think we’ve all gone too far.” Alya stated, surprising Marinette. “My job as your bestie is to even you out and tell you when it’s time to calm down. But I didn’t even notice.”

“Nonono, Alya it’s not your fault I went crazy.” Marinette told her best friend. It really wasn’t any of her friends' fault. “Let’s move past that though. What now?”

“Huh?”

“What do I do now? I can’t let this keep happening. Something needs to change.”

“Maybe tone down your advances? Get rid of the schedule? This doesn’t mean you have to give up, it just tells us that we need to rethink our strategy” Alya suggested.

“I… I think I have to move on.”

“What?! Why?” Alya exclaimed. Marinette could imagine her face, Alya’s eyes wide and her glasses slightly slipping.

“Face it Al’s, I can’t even talk to him. He loves another girl, and that girl is most likely Kagami. And she and him are possibly dating. I’m still friends with her, I can’t ruin their relationship.” Marinette sighed, her mind conjuring up Kagami and hers’ orange juice meetups. Marinette couldn’t do that to someone she considered a friend. A rival in love would be okay, but Kagami had clearly won over Adrien. So, Marinette had to move on.

“I… It’s just strange to think about you not being in love with Adrien.” Alya puzzled.

“Honestly, I understand the feeling.” Marinette took a deep breath and leaned back in her chair. She snapped forward, “But we’re gonna have to get used to it!” She declared, standing up and bringing her arms up determinately.

From that point forward, she really did.

1 - 2

[lycorogue]

Some Passing Thoughts on the New Miraculous Episodes

Finally got around to watching the fansubs of the Shanghai special and “Truth” (I’m still waiting for the other episodes to come out before watching Furious Fu).

Miraculous World: Shanghai – The Legend of Ladydragon

I have to say, I might change my mind later if the Prodigious proves to be more crucial to the overall lore of the series, but right now? Yeah. This special is a major skip for me. 

I did not connect with Fei the way I fell in love with Jess and Aeon. I am so pissed at the set-up the writers came up with to GET Marinette to Shanghai; her reasoning is the most selfish thing we have ever seen her do and it is such an injustice to her character. Plus, it is like neither Ladybug nor Chat Noir learned anything from the New York trip as they both show up in Shanghai kind of spur of the moment (i.e. didn’t tell the other they were leaving Paris). In fact, Marinette - again, going back to my hatred for the setup to get her to China - didn’t even CONSIDER the fact that Paris would be left unprotected; that Ladybug would be MIA. Granted, it was stated that Hawk Moth was surprisingly inactive, but shouldn’t that put her on hyper-alert; waiting for the other shoe to drop and Hawky to release something big that he was building up to? Instead she just lowers her guard and doesn’t even consider her superhero duties when planning on following Adrien. 

Another annoying thing is that the writers didn’t seem to learn anything from backlash against the episode “Kung Fu.” They just once again have Adrien be the one offering to teach Marinette Mandarin; not her mother (whose Chinese name Marinette never even knew), nor her great-uncle. Another writers flub was in the battle against Roi Argent. Ladybug questions Mei Shi’s suggestion that revenge does not equal justice (if that was translated properly), and... I’m pretty sure Marinette already showcased in previous episodes such as “Silencer” that she very much knows that revenge doesn’t equal justice??? She’s the one who corrected Chat Noir that Silencer coercing Bob Roth to admit he stole from Kitty Section and Marinette isn’t justice; it’s revenge. So???? HUH? NOW she magically feels like Fei’s revenge on Cash is justice for what he did to her? 

If all of that wasn’t bad enough, the pacing of this special was in complete overdrive as well. You didn’t have any of those emotional moments - both heart breaking and fluff-bombs - that you had in the NY special. The focus was largely on Fei, and I didn’t even really like her. She didn’t have the heart and the fully-fleshed characterization that Jess or Aeon had.

I’m also confused about Gabriel spending the past 15 years planning this whole thing. HOW!? WHY!? This is before Adrien was even born, or VEEERY shortly after if we skipped over his 15th birthday in the series. This was LOOOOOOONG before Emilie’s illness, which is presumably why Gabriel started using the butterfly miraculous in the first place (as showcased by Gabe in Origins asking Nooroo to remind him how the powers even work before using them for the first time in a corrupted state on Adrien’s first day of public school). So, if getting the Great Power of the Prodigious was something he was planning on doing literally all of Adrien’s life, why present it as “I found something that can finally give me an edge against Ladybug and Chat Noir”? I mean, what was his original endgame going to be? He couldn’t have possibly known that he’d be in dire need for the cat and ladybug jewels but struggled to take them from two teenage superheroes. It’s like the writers are trying to set him up as some mastermind akin to David Xanatos from Disney’s Gargoyles, but they are failing miserably. The whole Hawk Moth plot just doesn’t make sense to me.

Honestly? The only things that made this special worth it for me were: 1) Finding out a bit more about Sabine and her family (I love that she probably picked the name Sabine because it sounded like the pronunciation of her Chinese name) 2) Seeing Gorilla be his action figure nerd self a bit more (and the action figures of Uncanny Valley and Eagle) 3) Mei Shi in Renling (?) form, who was hella adorable! I need him as a plushie STAT 4) Adrien being the precious bean that he is. Just every moment he’s on screen was adorable (complete with him STILL having the picture of Marinette that was sent to him in “Evillustrator” saved to his baton and using that to try to find her) 5) Seeing the world through the eyes of a kwami for the first time and learning a touch more non-crucial lore 6) Mei Shi in statue form reminding me of the Dragon costume on The Masked Singer.

(I know, seeing them side-by-side now, they really aren’t that similar after all, but it’s been about a year since Dragon was on The Masked Singer, and he’s still what I kept thinking of as I watched Mei Shi on screen)

While I obsessively watched the New York special at least a dozen times, I’m really only seeing myself re-watch this special once more when it’s in English, and maybe whenever I do a full-series binge (which is super rare that I take the time for that).

Not impressed. Sorry.

Truth

“Truth”, on the other hand? Hhhhhnnnnnngggg. My heart! It breaks! Poor Marinette. Poor poor Luka. I mean, silver linings at the end there, but also BIG OOF. (Also, why wasn’t Adrien around at all whenever Truth made people confess that Marinette’s secret was her love for Adrien? xDDD)

I’m also a bit confused about the Adrien pictures. She had them taken down pretty much since “Troublemaker”, and yet her walls are once more papered with Adrien’s likeness now that Marinette is trying to get over him and date Luka? How does THAT make any sense outside of the writers going “we need an awkward phone call between Marinette and Luka. Oh! I know! A picture of her Adrien-covered bedroom walls is accidentally sent to Luka!” >3> Also.... what is UP with Luka’s animation again!? The kid was so pale it’s like they forgot to add any color to his model in this episode. WHY CAN’T THEY JUST ANIMATE MY PRECIOUS SON LOOKING HANDSOME EVER!? FIRST NO EYELASHES, AND NOW NO SKIN TONE!? WHYYYYYYYYY!? Personally, I prefer “Silencer” to “Truth” both in overall story and in Luka’s akumatized form design. Also, side note, did anyone else notice that Ladybug was hit by Luka’s attack and couldn’t speak for most of the battle both times? And that she needed Chat Noir to help her set up her Lucky Charm both times? And that Luka’s drive both times was to get to the truth?

I did still enjoy this episode very much. It showcases the new stresses Marinette has to face (totally unfair; I agree. However, it’s a standard trope in most teenage superhero stories such as Teen Titans and Spider-Man, so I was expecting it). It showcases how hard it is for her to figure out a balance between life and superheroing (again, re: standard teen-superhero trope). The fans get confirmation on a fantheory that’s been circling pretty much since Luka was introduced (ESPECIALLY after the episode “Desperada”). The Ladynoir shippers are well fed, and it’s great to see LB and CN praise each other - including Ladybug’s love of Chat Noir’s humor. 

I hope this isn’t the end of us seeing Luka in the show (that would break my heart even more) and it feels lame to build up the Lukanette “love rival” arc only for it to die off before it really goes anywhere. There was so much story potential there where Marinette could grow to learn what it truly means to be in love, and not just idolize and romanticize someone you’re infatuated with. Instead, all she learned is that she is alone aside from Chat Noir, and I feel like that’s SUUUUPER railroading the Ladynoir ship. And, frankly, I’d much prefer to see the Ladynoir side grow naturally, as it has been, instead of forcing Marinette’s hand because Chat Noir is the only one she can be MOSTLY honest with (secret identities notwithstanding).

It’s been a long hiatus. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to dodge fandom salt, but still get a larger dose than I intended to have in my fandom diet, so maybe my views are a bit tainted from that. However, this special and season premiere feel a bit like the writers are stumbling. I don’t know if the pandemic somehow affected their writing flow, or if they feel pressured by the fans to tell the series’ story a certain way and are scrambling to do so, or if they are rushing to an ending instead of taking their time and letting it naturally unfold as they had with the first few seasons. But, regardless of their reason, I hope they re-find themselves; the ones who told great stories in seasons 1 and 2 and (poor writing for Marinette notwithstanding) really good stories in season 3. I hope they can step up their game for the remainder of season 4. 

It’s been a long break, and we all deserve something good to feed us. We don’t need another GoT or HIMYM final season. Especially when this isn’t even supposed to BE the final season of the series.

Guess it’s time to wait for “Lies” to come out, and hope for the best.

[mcheang]

Exchange student

This is inspired by an episode from The Nanny where the female lead got her school rival to substitute her. Let’s just say with her around, the male lead didn’t even notice other girls. It also reminds me of a Kim Possible episode where Ron got to be an exchange student to a Japanese school, and a really hot exchange student drove Kim and Monique crazy. Warning, this draft has oblivious Adrien.

Meet Sandra Breeze

She was the exchange student from America, changing places with Marinette, who would be going to China to a monk school (aka Guardian training)

When boys look at Sandra, they immediately think, “Knockout!” When girls look Sandra, they feel a hit on their self-esteem and immediately look at their own images.

The thing was, Sandra was not conservative in her dressing either. She didn’t show too much skin though. She just liked to dress in a way to show off her assets. Like her model-long legs and tiny waist.

And wherever she walked in school, boys tended to follow her around as guides. It’s like she radiates pheromones.

This was irritating to Chloe and Lila, who hated any popular rival.

But unsurprisingly, she spent a lot of time with Adrien because she sat in Marinette’s old seat.

Alya definitely wasn’t receptive to the new girl and wanted to keep Nino away. That left Adrien alone.

So imagine Chloe’s irritation when she gives Adrien his daily hug, then Sandra comes by and gives Adrien a cheek kiss, because isn’t that how the French greet each other?

And Adrien actually reciprocated that cheek kiss!

Chloe’s face was red and steaming.

And then Adrien even brought Sandra to his photoshoot, mostly because he didn’t want to be alone with Lila.

When Adrien brought Sandra over, the photographer raved over how photogenic she looked. Adrien smiled good-naturedly.

“Maybe she could model for us since Lila’s a no-show?”

Lila interrupted, pissed, “Actually I’m right here.” How could Adrien not notice her presence? Was he that blinded by Miss Exchange Student? She’s foreign too!

Photographer: But they look so much better than Adrien and Lila. I’m sorry, Miss Rossi but you are like an octopus whenever i pair you with Adrien. With Miss Sandra, they are like kindred souls. You can wait for your solo shoot, Miss Rossi.

Lila looked to Nathalie in complaint but Nathalie shrugged. Gabriel never promised joint photo shoots, just exposure.

The real kicker came whenever Lila tried to spin some grand tale. No one wanted to listen to her. They all wanted to hear Sandra’s foreign life because she was only here for a semester, while Lila would be around much longer.

At least all the girls were on Lila’s side, even if all they did was moan about how they wished Marinette would come back.

Because Lila was just not participative in their girl bonding activities of planting trees or listening to band music (Luka had privately asked Juleka not to invite Lila again because her music was like wailing violins), she could never take Marinette’s place.

All these were minor irritations to Chloe and Lila, not enough to attract akumas.

So for a whole semester, while Marinette was maturing and gaining wisdom in monk school, Lila and Chloe were going crazy over how little attention they were receiving ever since the exchange student came by. Sandra was constantly around Adrien, which irritated all his admirers and Adrienette fans.

The end of semester could not come too soon.

Sandra bid everyone a friendly farewell and thanked Adrien personally for being such a good Friend.

Alya: Omg, Adrien is contagious.

When Marinette returned, all her friends welcomed her back with open arms.

Marinette: aw, did everyone miss me?

Adrien: very much so. 2 girls in particular.

Marinette turned, expecting to find Alya and Kagami.

Imagine her surprise to be given a fierce hug by lying Lila. “Don’t you ever leave me again!” she sobbed.

Then Marinette’s hand was grabbed in a firm grip by cruel Chloe. “Come on, Dupain-Cheng, the limo is waiting for us.”

Marinette, confused: Wait, I’m riding home with you?

Adrien was beaming, oblivious to the true reason behind their friendly welcoming and choosing to see the good in them. “They finally realized how much you mean to them only when you were gone. Absence makes the heart fonder after all.”

And his face took on a wistful look. Chloe and Lila believed it was for Sandra and tugged Marinette on faster, as if by restoring her to her bakery or classroom, the world as they knew it would return to normal.

Marinette had learned to let Adrien and Kagami be happy and focus on the joys of life.

Adrien was just hoping his Lady had finally come home. She had told him she would be late in coming to the rescue because she would be in China for a while. How coincidental that Marinette would be headed there too!

[salthaven]

Make A Change P13

Part Thirteen

The moment Gorilla stops the car, Adrien is racing out, barely remembering to grab his bag and let out a hasty, “Bye, see you soon!” to his bodyguard. He darts up the steps with a speed that could rival his secret persona’s, slamming the door open in his excitement.

When he steps into class, Marinette is already there. She’s chatting with Félix as the two pull out their things. Adrien is quick to slide into his seat beside her, ignoring his racing heart. (It must be from the run, of course.) 

“Salut, Marinette,” Adrien greets, “Félix. How are you guys?” 

“I’m good, Adrien,” Marinette responds happily, smiling like usual.

“We were just talking about yesterday,” Félix informs him with a smirk. “Someone has been all too happy to talk about the handsome hero who saved her from yesterday’s Akuma.”

Adrien blinks, surprised (and somewhat excited?) to see how Marinette blushes. Huh. Is she a fan of Chat Noir?

“It wasn’t just Envision!” Marinette protests, and for some reason Adrien’s heart twists when she says the Fox’s name instead of his. Maybe he shouldn’t have sprinted to class?

“They were all amazing,” Marinette continues, unaware of Adrien’s brightening eyes. “And besides...it’s what they do. It’s practically their job to save people.” And yet Marinette is still blushing, her smile never leaving her face.

Adrien hums, pulling out the homework from the night before. “I don’t know,” Adrien replies. “I heard that Chat Noir carried you all the way back here, I doubt he does that for everyone.” He winks, as if he’s just guessing, and Marinette’s blush grows. (Flustered is a good look on her, in his opinion at least.)

Félix laughs at Marinette’s reaction. “Marinette, if I didn’t know any better, I’d assume that you have a crush on the three heroes.”

Adrien snorts at that, because why on Earth would Marinette have a crush on-

Oh. 

Oh. 

Adrien feels his face heat up as Marinette sputters, trying to deny her crush on his hero persona.

‘And Félix’s and Luka’s,’ Adrien reminds himself bitterly. Wait. Bitterly? Why would he be bitter? It’s not like he’s jealous, right? Because wouldn’t he need a reason to be jealous? Like having a crush on her? Pffft, as if! Adrien likes Ladybug, his partner, his soulmate, his one true love! Sure, Marinette is a great friend, and sure he may have transferred schools just to spend more time with her, and sure his day might get better when he sees her smile, and he might think that she’s the greatest, sweetest, cutest girl in the world, an everyday Ladybug who is equal to the spotted heroine herself in terms of wonder-

Oh.

Oh no.

Adrien blinks, then looks at Félix. His cousin smirks at Marinette, satisfied with the girl’s sputtering.

Happy to see how much Marinette likes Envision. 

Oh Hell no.

Adrien does his best not to snarl as he realizes that he’s accidentally given himself competition, then looks away as the bell rings.

It’ll be a long day, that’s for sure.

-----

Félix isn’t a fool. He sees Marinette fully, sees exactly who she is- and he’s not blind to how he feels, either.

She’s amazing. She’s kind, she’s passionate, she’s willing to speak up against what’s wrong-

And she likes him, too...and yet she doesn’t, in an odd sort of way. Because she seems to have fallen for his hero identity.

It’s amusing, seeing how she practically sings praises for her savior, how she unknowingly blushes and gushes to him about himself to his face.

Félix, sadly, isn’t blind to the fact that Marinette likes Chat Noir and Viperion as well. But he’s sure that he has the advantage, and that he will be the victor in the race for her heart. Because while Viperion and Chat Noir both seem to be interested in her, they both have setbacks. Viperion doesn’t have a chance, he’s too new and doesn’t hold the same awe that Ladybug or Chat Noir might inspire in a Parisian citizen. Sure, he’s a little exciting, but when the newness factor dies down, Envision will be the one taking Marinette’s heart. And as for that hero glamour that Chat Noir has? Well, that’s all he has. The oddly possessive cat can never be as close to Marinette as Félix is, nor will he ever get the chance to be as close as Félix will be one day. Because there’s no way Chat Noir could possibly be in the same school as Marinette, right? 

Right. And that’s why Félix has the supreme advantage, why he has so much confidence that he will be able to woo Marinette, the girl who is quickly becoming the light of his life, a ray of sunshine in his days. Because there’s no way Viperion or Chat Noir could be in this school, so Félix is fine. 

He does have one issue, though. His cousin is oddly red faced...but Félix doubts that Adrien will be an issue, either. After all, Marinette has her heart taken by the three heroes. There’s no room for Adrien. Because, let’s face it, Adrien isn’t exactly Chat Noir.

(Poor Félix, he really doesn’t know what he’s getting into…)

-----

Luka’s always been in tune with matters of the heart. It’s easy to pick out the rhythms, the beats that emanate from each person to make their own, personalized song. Melodies spring out of everyone around him, some painful and sour, some pleasant and soothing. 

And some that get stuck in his head from the moment he first hears them.

Luka didn’t expect to see Marinette at his school, why would he? She was with Juleka in Bustier’s class, that’s how it had been since, well, since Luka first met the girl.

And then she stumbled into him, her song as clear as ever. And she smiled at him, and spoke with a tone of surprise and excitement. Excitement over seeing him.

Luka’s beat might’ve been racing after that, but his joy quickly disappeared when his sister arrived, Akumatized, and stole her away. She was gone, whisked away without a moment’s notice, and Luka had done nothing, could do nothing, and-

And Chat Noir showed up, the Snake Miraculous in hand. And Luka had a Second Chance.

And he had a Second Chance with Marinette. Marinette, who had calmed down around him, was suddenly raving about Viperion, bright eyed and pink cheeked. She was adorable, flustered as she spoke highly of him.

Luka isn’t blind to emotions. He’s always loved her, from the moment he heard her heart’s song. He knew that her heart belonged to another, belonged to Adrien, but a piece of it belonged to him. But something changed as time passed, and Marinette moved on from both…

Only to fall for Luka again, but this time with a mask to hide his identity.

Luka isn’t blind. He knows when he’s given a good hand, when he’s been given an opportunity.

He can only hope that his heart’s call is enough to sway Marinette’s song away from Envision and Chat Noir. 

Maybe, this time, everything will work out just fine.

Maybe. ~~~ Sorry for the long wait, I finally had a bit of inspiration on what to write next! If there’s anything you’d like to see, leave a comment or drop into my Ask box, I’m always happy to hear what you guys think!! Until next time <3

[ovvnwords]

WANTED  CONNECTIONS  ....  hi  here  is  a  list  of  connections  i  would  really  really  want  for  my  gremlins.  inspo  from  all  places  ;  music,  movies,  pins,  etc.  i’ll  post  this  in  the  server  /  put  it  linked  in  my  pinned  post  but  for  best  results  send  me  a  dm  on  d/scord  bc  i  suck  at  things!  thank.

AVIVA  ROUX  .  podcaster  /  content  creator (  meg  t.  stallion )  !

GIRL  GANG  !  not  necessarily  ‘girls’  but  yk  what  i  mean.  very  close  knit,  always  hanging  out,  never  one  w/o  the  other,  etc.  i  like  the  idea  of  them  all  bein’  kind  of  different  ----  breakfast  club  style?  (  aviva  cld  be  the  *jughead  vc*  i’m  a  weirdo  for  example  ).  idk  i  think  it’d  be  neat  n  interesting  cld  even  have  group  chat  edits  n  things  on  the  dash  frankly  i  wld  just  like  for  her  to  have  some  friends!  inspo  ( one  ,  two )  .

PODCAST  PARTNER  ! the  shane  to  her  ryan,  so  to  speak.  the  show  talks  about  mysteries  and  internet  oddities  and  different  spooky  things ( they  borderline  on  true  crime,  but  they  don’t  necessarily  go  into  detail  about  cases  if  that  makes  sense  )  .  i  think  the  dynamic  of  a  outrageous  thinker  to  her  pessimistic  ideals.  inspo  ( one  ,  two ,  three  ,  this  tag  ) .

YOUNGER  SIBLING  !  i  like  to  imagine  they’re  pretty  close,  maybe  close  in  age?  i  don’t  rlly  have  much  to  say  about  this  one,  should  probably  put  it  on  the  main,  but  i  love  sibling  connects  so  !

HATEHSHIP  !  someone  she  jus  can’t  stand  yet  can’t  stay  away  from.  maybe  they’re  an  asshole  but  damn  cute,  or  another  reason.  inspo (  one  )  .

ROOMMATES  ! like  to  imagine  it’s  a  bunch  of  them  living  friends-style,  either  in  the  same  apartment  or  even  building  (  or  wld  that  be  jersey  shore  style.  idk  ) but  it  cld  be  fun  especially  if  they  don’t  get  along  all  that  well  but  the  rent  is  nice  and  they  make  it  work.

FIRST  CRUSH  ! eeeeeeeeeeeee  they  cld’ve  met  when  they  were  children  and  had  one  of  those  one  day  long  things  in  elementary  school  where  they  broke  up  bc  they  didn’t  share  crayons  or  something  JSDVKJDFVKJV  they  could’ve  remained  friends,  been  neighbors,  had  crushes  or  a  fling  in  high  school  .

EX  SQUAD  !  i  like  the  idea  of  aviva  having  a  solid  friend  group  in  high  school  that  all  aren’t  good  terms  with  each  other  for  whatever  reason  ..  don’t  have  to  figure  it  out  asap  i  just  love  the  tension  thts  all.

BEST  FRIEND  /  RIDE  OR  DIE  ! someone  who  has  her  back  and  vice  versa.  supports  each  other  thru  thick  and  thin,  gives  each  other  the  whack  on  the  head  they  need  every  once  in  a  while.  inspo  (  one,  two )  .

FLING  /  FWB  /  HOOK  UPS  ! kind  of  self  explanatory.  aviva  doesn’t  really  have  a  preference,  if  she’s  attracted  to  u  she’s  attracted  to  you,  has  her  fun  but  s*x  isn’t  really  her  idea  of  a  fun  thing  to  do  24  /  7  .  like  to  imagine  she  mostly  goes  for  women  ( hey  ladies  .... )  !

EX  PARTNER  ! i  like  the  idea  of  them  being  super  cute  n  lovey  dovey  in  hs  but  then  maybe  one  of  them  went  off  to  college?  they  had  a  falling  out?  ended  on  not  so  great  terms?  the  possibilities  are  endless  to  be  frank!

RIVAL  /  ENEMY  /  SOMEONE  SHE  JUST  CAN’T  STAND  !  ig  this  could  be  more  chemsitry  based  but  they  just  avidly  dislike  each  other  for  one  reason  or  another?  can’t  stand  each  other?  petty  tweets  /  subtweets  etc  etc  .  could  be  fun  n  juicy.

FRIENDS  !  self  explanatory.

DAWSON  ELLIS .  unemployed  /  formal  journalist ( chris  pine  )  !

FRIENDS  !  self  explanatory.    he’s  40,  so  rlly  he  just  kinda  vibing.

RIVALS  /  ENEMIES  !  i  like  the  idea  of  just  hating  each  other  since  high  school  and  just  have  this  burning  hatred  for  each  other  even  after  all  this  time  …  chuckles.  inspo  (  one  )  .

PEOPLE  HE  TAKES  UNDER  HIS  WING  !  idk  what  this  could  entail  maybe  he  jus  likes  one  of  u  youngins  …  doesn’t  want  to  see  u  in  the  same  path  he  went  down,  tries  to  steer  u  straight  a  little  bit.  stuff  like  that.  very  dad  like  as  if  he  has  a  maternal  bone  in  his  body.

EX FIANCE ! heheh .. i plan on making this a wc possibly, but i like the idea of someone who he dated for a long period of time after he graduated and left irving, eventually who he proposed two. maybe his addiction could have caused a strain, maybe it was because he was traveling so much, or some other reason but then they broke it off. they came back to irving for one reason or another, he came back bc he’s sober now, there’s tension. kind of based on exile by taylor swift + bon iver .

EMPLOYER  !  this  man  needs  a  job.  so  ........    hands  on  hips  who  is  hiring.

FRIENDS  FROM  HIGH  SCHOOL  !  if  anyone  grew  up  in  irving  /  or  was  in  hs  around  the  time  he  was,  it  could  be  quite  fun  to  reconnect.  old  friends  yadda  yadda  yadda.  

SOMEONE  WHO  KNOWS  HIM  ONLY  FROM  HIS  SISTER  !  smiles  at  jean  so  wide  .....  yes  dawson  is  leonora’s  annoying  lil  brother.  he’s  very  elusive  (  or  so  he  thinks  …  )  so  .  we  cld  do  something  with  that  perhaps.

ELIJAH  PALERMO .  little  league  coach  /  student  (  lukas  gage  )  !

THE  LAST  PALERMO  SIBLING  !  yes  …  this  is  on  the  main  but  i  imagine  elijah  and  them  to  be  very  close  and  it’d  be  fun!  sorry  for  the  grey  hairs  though.

BEST  FRIEND  !  this  is  someone  elijah  trusts  more  than  jus  abt  anybody  ..  including  his  siblings  maybe.  they’re  always  together,  never  apart,  besties  forever.  causing  chaos  and  mayhem.  probably  co-parent  georgia.  knows  each  others  fast  food  orders,  encouraging  their  bad  behaviors  …  

EXES  !  i  like  to  imagine  elijah  is  the  type  to  rush  into  a  relationship  then  have  it  all  turn  to  shit.  could  be  on  good  terms,  bad  term,  neutral.  

EX  FRIENDS  !  along  the  same  vein,  maybe  they  had  a  falling  out?  one  of  them  just  didn’t  want  to  be  friends  anymore?  they  just  stopped  talking?  give  me  angst  thank  u.

FRIENDS  !  hes  so  talkative  and  annoying  please  give  him  more  friends  …  my  personal  favorites  are  old  couple  bickering  /  complete  opposites  /  good  or  bad  influences  /  new  age  “thembo  summit”  where  there’s  no  got  damn  thought  in  anyones  head  just  vibes.

FLIRTATIONSHIP  !  they  flirt  …  they  give  each  other  eyes.  and  yet?  nothing.  wtf.

HOOK  UPS  /  FWBS  !  they’re  hot.  and  he  has  eyes.  it’s  basic  math.  

RIVAL  /  ENEMY  !  i  like  to  imagine  elijah  didn’t  mean  to  be  rude  /  or  did  something  bad  to  this  person  but  he  did,  even  accidentally,  but  now  they  hate  him.  or  even  mutual  hatred  <3  constant  subtweets  n  petty  comments  in  public  …

PARTY  BUDDIES  !  theyre  always  together  at  parties  …  self  explanatory.  

PARENT  OF  KIDS  HE  COACHES  !  self-explanatory.

CLASSMATES  !  must  go  to  community  college,  but  otherwise  self-explanatory.  

WILL  THEY  /  WON’T  THEY  !  i  love  this  kinda  shit  ..  theyre  constantly  acting  like  a  couple  but  also  aren’t  one.  everyone  is  dying  to  know  like  …...  so  isn’t  eli  <3

HATEHSHIP  !  they  hate  each  other  .  but  also  f*ck.  then  hate  each  other  again.

ROOMMATES  !  pls  give  him  a  roommate  this  fucker  can’t  function  by  himself.

KALANI  MADDEN  .  student  (  auli’i  cravalho  )  !

PEOPLE  SHE  TEACHES  ASL  !  this  is  my  favorite.  pls  pls  pls.  she  uses  asl  as  her  primary  source  of  communication,  she’s  most  comfortable  with  it  due  to  her  hearing,  but  many  people  don’t  know  it  so  pls  let  her  teach  ur  muse  i’d  love  it  so  much.

FRIENDS  /  BEST  FRIENDS  !  i’d  love  to  have  a  lil  squad  ..  lil  baby  squad  or  even  just  a  best  friend  who  they’re  always  sharing  tiktoks  over  videos  and  having  sleepovers  and  going  to  wendys  at  1  am  bc  they’re  bored.  

RIVALS  /  ENEMIES  !  people  who  just  don’t  fuckin  like  her  bc  she’s  annoying  like  i  understand.

PEOPLE  WHO  DON’T  TAKE  HER  SHIT  /  HATE  HER  DRAMATICS  !  pls  hate  her.  punt  her  to  the  moon.  

PEOPLE  SHE  SPOILS  WITH  HER  PARENTS  MONEY  !  pls  let  her  sugar  mama  u.  she  will  buy  u  legit  anything  if  ur  nice  to  her.  

FLIRTATIONSHIP  !  this  wld  be  a  bit  cute  ..  almost  a  will  they  won’t  they  vibe.  they  flirt.  they  smile.  they  make  googley  eyes.  they  subtweet  each  other.  it’s  messy  and  cute.  

BAD  INFLUENCES  /  GOOD  INFLUENCES  !  people  who  lead  her  either  down  a  really  good  or  really  bad  path.  

PEOPLE  SHE  KNOWS  BC  OF  HER  BROTHER  !  self-explanatory  but  also  kind  of  need  him  for  this  so  .  hehe  .

HER  BROTHER  !  on  the  main,  but  pls  bring  this  kid  her  parent  (  almost  )  .

PEOPLE  SHE  KNEW  BACK  IN  NYC  !  self-explanatory.  her  family  is  very  wealthy,  famous  in  the  social  scene.