#let��s as a society think more about why adrien wanted to go to school

[purrincesskittens]

Bustier Salt with Lila and Chloe redemption maybe with Caline's former students just ripping into Caline?

Lila had been exposed and it was something she wasn't happy with. She didn't get expelled but she did end up getting inhouse suspension so she couldnt miss anymore school then she already had. Ms. Bustier wasn't in charge of the suspension so Lila actually got the help she needed to get caught up to pace for her grade level. She's smart and it wasn't that difficult for her to get caught up it was more of a matter of getting her to focus and do the work. Trained professionals worked with her in and out of school to help her be able to be integrated back into society. Her mother spent time with her more often and gave her the attention she wanted so she was improving. Test groups where Lila was introduced to peers her own age showed they would take what she said with a grain of salt and were cautious but willing to be civil and friendly towards her. Unfortunately when she was to be placed back into a class Ms. Bustier somehow manipulated it so that she had Lila back in her class.

Chloe was improving separated from Sabrina who was placed in a different class Chloe was actually doing her own work. Well when she bothered turning it in anyway. Her father was no longer Mayor anymore removing the influence and power that backed her. Election time had come and gone and new term limits prevented her father from running again. Ladybug entrusting her with a different miraculous during a incredibly difficult akuma where she was running out of options worked wonders surprisingly. What Chloe didn't tell anyone was Wayzz had been willing to work with her into improving herself to be a better person. Having the miraculous of protection which did far less damage than the bee did also helped. She was improving slowly. She apologized to everyone she had ever bullied and had been forgiven by Marinette at least who was willing to try to be her friend in class. Ms. Bustier still babied her though and left it up to Marinette to chastise her when she acted up and left it up to Marinette to be a good role model for her. Unfortunately her transfer request to a different class was rejected after Ms. Bustier convinced the principal it was a better idea to keep her with her friend and role model Marinette who she said didn't want to leave her other friends in the class and had only put in her own transfer request to make Chloe feel better.

Lila shifted uncomfortably in her seat in the back Chloe and Marinette sat across from her but she could still feel the occasional glare from the others as one turned in their seat to look at her. She really wished she had been put in a different class. One that would give her a chance to show she has improved. Marinette sent her a sympathetic look. Marinette and Chloe had been the only two willing to give her a chance. Adrien had been but he was moved to a different class along with Sabrina. Ms. Bustier kept a tight grip on her students determined not to let any of the others slip through her grasp and escape to a different class.

"Okay class today we will be having some of the older students from this school and a few former students post graduates of my class come in to speak to you about your last few years of school and entering the work force. We will start with the current students and move onto my former students. Shall we begin?" Ms. Bustiers smiled as she clapped her hands gesturing to one of the older students to start. An older brunette girl stepped forward to talk about the increased workload and more difficult assignments and how to manage your time and priorities to ensure you complete everything on time and accurately. Another older boy stepped forward to talk about balancing social life with school work and making sure you don't fall into the wrong crowd which sparked a comment from Alya who still hadn't forgiven Lila and blamed her for her ruined blog. "We already know about the wrong crowd and we refuse to be a part of it. If Marinette wants to hang out with bullies so be it."

This caused both the older students and Ms. Bustiers former students to frown as Ms. Bustier completely ignored the interruption and moved them on to the next student. A familiar dark haired older boy stepped forward next causing Marinette to perk up and wave at Itsuki who gave her a small smile in return. "I'll be talking about exclusion and how it can be just as bad as physical bullying." He announces. Ms. Bustier frowns at this as a murmur runs through her class. "Now now I don't think we need to talk about that no one is being excluded in my class or bullied so there is no need to be talking about that." She says gently trying to guide the conversation back to what she wanted and moved onto her former students who would be sure to talk about the message she had taught them during their time as her students.

"Excuse me Ms. Bustier but bullying is an important topic to talk about because it doesn't just end in lower secondary or collège as its called here. It can happen up through lycée and in the workplace as well." Another older boy in jeans and a loose band tee with long dirty blonde hair stepped up next to Itsuki. "Your students comment just now can be taken as verbal bullying. Bullying is serious and needs to be addressed so your students understand the difference between exclusion for the purpose of being mean and just being excluded because your not friends with a certain group. Take Itsuki and me for example we both know Marinette and a few others in this class and sometimes hang out with them but not everyone in this class do we hang out with. Those we don't hang out with may be excluded from a group activity we are doing but not for the purpose of being mean but simple because they aren't a part of our friend group. Excluding one particular person or a small group of them from a class activity such as a field trip or dance is bullying. " JJ explains trying to get their message across only to be brushed off by the teacher much to his frustration.

"My students aren't doing that Marinette is just being difficult is all. If she hadn't made trouble in the first place she wouldn't feel like she is being excluded which she isn't all she has to do is apologize and be a good role model and everything will go back to the way it was." Ms. Bustier waved the two older boys off giving her star pupil a bright beaming smile. "Let's move on shall we my former students still haven't had a chance to talk and we are running out of time." They still had plenty of time for Itsuki and JJ to talk as well as the post graduates but Ms. Bustier wasn't going to listen to anything she didn't want to hear. "Now Delphine and Adam it's your turn to speak and I know you guys will set a wonderful example for my current students after all you two were some of my best students and now look at how successful you are." With a wave the teacher gestured for the two adults to step forward completely oblivious to the deep frowns on their faces or the scowl she was receiving from JJ behind her.

"You're still going on about being a role model to other students? I would have thought you would have given up on that after what happened with Eve." Adam commented arms crossed. "Now Adam I know you and Eve were close but..." Adam interrupted his former teacher before she could continue. "We were cousins. Family of course we were close. We were not dating like many thought something you never bothered to correct. You knew we were related to each other but you stood there and did nothing while our classmates spread it around the school that we were dating. Eve was bullied for supposedly dating her cousin by others in the school." Ms. Bustier interrupted him with a gasp and a hurt expression unable to belive her own former student her shining example for his graduating class would speak to her like this. "I didn't know you two were related why didn't you say something?"

Adam growled glaring, "We did say something we said numerous times we weren't dating and all it would have taken was a look into our files to see that our mothers were twin sisters not that you ever did so. You never checked anyones records for anything. You saw Eve being bullied but did nothing to stop it simply told her to set a good example and show those bullying her how to behave. And you know how that ended don't you? Eve didn't even make it to graduation. She committed suicide halfway through our Première year because she was being bullied so bad she couldn't take it anymore. "

A silence fell across the classroom as the current students took in what was just said. JJ couldn't help but rub at the tattoos that covered his wrists and inside of his forearms feeling the raised marks the art hide. Delphine was the one to break the silence next. "You seemed to think I was successful but let me tell you something. I only just became successful within the past year. You want to know why it took me so long when I was on the fast track to success while still in school? It's because I dropped out of University and ended up in a mental hospital for over a year after I had a nervous breakdown and couldn't pull myself together. All thanks to your teachings on being a good example, being a role model and let's not forget all the pressure and expectations you placed on me."

The woman scoffed giving her former teacher a cold look before continuing."I couldn't say no to anyone and took on more than I could handle. You pressured me into a career choice that I didn't even want to do all because I wasn't sure what exactly I did want to do so you pushed me into being a surgeon just because I was fascinated by human biology. You pushed me into that. You were the one who pushed me into the path of the breakdown and you know something? You really shouldn't be a teacher."

Bonus: "I didn't even have anything to do with Lila being exposed. That was all Uncle Jagged. It's not like I told him to come to my school. I can't control what he does. He's Jagged he does what he wants." Marinette mutters from her seat in the back. Chloe snorts holding back a laugh. "Yeah and what he wanted was for you to design him a jacket like the one you made Luka and he just couldn't wait till you got home and just had to come marching into the school while it was in session to commission you. And then Alya couldn't keep her big mouth shut and thrust her phone in his face wanting to know all about how Lila saved his kitten."

[justafanwarrior]

** Prompt : Marinette has a snow dragon soulmark and no idea who it could be. Toshiro Hitsugaya has a ladybug soulmark and knows about Marinette, but she can’t see him until something happens to her.**

As long as she could remember Marinette always had four soulmarks, a blue snake around her left ankle, a red dragon around the right ear, a red bug with  a chinese symbol behind on her left wrist and finally a snow dragon around her waist with its head resting on her heart. She new it wasn’t commune but she loved each of them deeply. She grew up wondering about their identities, creating clothes inspired by them.

However her soulmarks were also different, when she felt happy the wings of the ladybug would start flapping, when she was nervous the snake would feel like if it was trying to be wrapped around her even more to comfort her, when she was upset she could hear the tiny dragon around her ear hissing in anger. Finally, when she was scared, the snow dragon would move, he moved around her in a protective embrace. Her soulmarks were different, but it wasn’t bad, it was all she could ever hope for.

She never had a lot of friends beside Kim who she grew up with because their mothers were close friends. He was her big brother always protecting her even when she didn’t need it. She was ecstatic when he met his soulmate, a very smart boy named Max, it didn't stop her from threatening the boy if hé ever dared hurting her brother. Though she was also sad when he stopped hanging out with her, but she decided to smile because her brother had met his other half.

Time had passed, she became LadyBug and met her first soulmate, her kwami. Tikki explained that sometimes miraculous wielder were soulmates with their kwami, proving that they are a perfect match, and often their others soulmates were other miraculous wielder. She was sad during a moment that neither Adrien nor Chat Noir were her soulmate.

She never been as happy than the day she met Kagami. Her protective red dragon. It was hard at first, Kagami didn’t liked her at all. But they tried, and they grew closer. They even been in a relationship during a moment, a pretty long moment, but they broke up after three wonderful years. They would be best friends instead maybe sister as time would pass.

It’s not long after meeting her fierce dragon that she met her calm snake. He was the brother of a classmate, Luka was a very talented musician. They seemed to link immediatly, they loved each other too, soon he joined her relationship with Kagami. When they broke up he ended with the japonese, Marinette was the only one leaving this relationship. She loved them but was searching for something else, though when they hang out it usually ends on a date.

Marinette loved her soulmates, they always been there for her. They were here when she needed backup and Chat was missing, they were here to comfort her after the loss of her mentor, they were here when Lila turned her whole class against her, they saved her when Lila made Alya ‘accidentally’ triped her in the stairs. The dark-haired girl didn’t know what happened exactly, only that she woke up at Kagami crying on her chest and Luka screaming at the class with tears in his eyes.

Since that day, she was able to see ghosts. She freaked out when she woke up in the morning to see a girl in a spotted armor, black hair and a scar on her mouth behind her. Turned out she was Joan of Arc, a former LadyBug, each day a different former wielder would be there. And boy, wasn’t she trilled to see THE Hua Mulan behind her girlfriend, she was her hero her whole life !

She was 17 when she finally met her fourth and last soulmate. They were in a schooltrip in the town of Karakura in Japon, she was happy to be fluent thanks to Kagami whose mother refused to be in a relationship with someone who won’t at least learn their culture and language. Beside Kagami herself leaded the trip no matter how much Lila would complain because  ‘She was not even part of the school’.

They visited ‘Karakura High School’ with Orihime Inoue, who presented them to her class. Marinette particulary liked her friends Sado ‘Chad’ Yasutora and Ichigo Kurosaki, though Uryu Ishida and Tatsuki Arisawa  were also nice. Even if she had to nearly break the arm of a girl named Chizuru Honsho who tried to touch her, she ran really fast once she saw the anger on the Tsurugi girl whose reputation followed her.

Everything was going well until Lila started talking, like always. She started to insult their culture while just faking not knowing that it was an insult. She was driving the spotted hero crazy and her ghost of the day, an amazon named Hippolytia, wouldn’t stop giving her means to kill the girl.

Sadly, for the italian girl, the class they were meeting weren’t fools and stopped listening to her once they understood the only thing that came from her mouth were lies.

The designer was happy, she was having a great time, and then the door opened pretty violently. She prepared herself for an attack but then forced herself to calm, it was not Paris, she was not a hero here. It was just another girl, black short hair, pretty small, not as small as she was herself but still, there was a few people behind her, a boy with red hair, a woman with orange hair and a really big chest, and finally a short boy with white hair and beautiful turquoise eyes. She hold her breath a moment at the sight, for some reason her heart missed a beat and decided that he would take his time to recover.

Marinette couldn’t help but notice that he was not wearing the uniform as were the people with him except the black-haired girl, no, he was wearing what Kagami called a Haori, he also had a katana on his back, now that she paid attention, so were the others.

She stared at them during a moment until Lila made fun of her.

‘‘What are you looking at Marinette there’s nothing here but if you are searching for intellect you should look after me.’’ The italian girl snorted, making the half chinese girl realizing that they were ghosts.

Some of the others laughed as well, Kim looked utterly uncomfortable but said nothing. The blue-eyed girl sent him a hurt and disppointed look, which he looked away. Coward. The liar thought she was smart to talk in french then the japonese class wouldn’t understand. Too bad for her once again, this class has been chose specifically because they studied french as well. And from the anger in the faces of the friends she made, they DID understood.

Kagami and Ichigo stepped up to defend me, but it was my turn, there wasn’t any Hawkmoth to akumatised her in case of reveal here, Adrien couldn’t make me stop with his ‘kicked-puppy look’. A bloodthirsty grin grew on me, and my dear storm dragon understood my intention since she took out her phone to record the showdown.

‘‘Aww, poor Lila she hadn’t realized yet that without her very dear boss to save her by akumatisation, I will not let her step on me. Now where shall I start ?’’ She said in a voice as sweet as poison. ‘‘How will I destroy this little kingdom of yours ?’’

The sausage girl took a step back in fear, ah, finally understanding comes at her. Marinette was not someone you wanted as an enemy. Said girl’s smirk grew when she felt Tikki trying to hide a laugh in her purse, nice she might be, but she also spent milleniums with Plagg, she knew how to make a great revenge, she knew how to cause Chaos. And for now, the anger she kept in her during years was all concentrated on one Rossi girl who dared hurt HER chosen, HER soulmate, She won’t let this go easily and will enjoy each second of her fall.

Plagg hide a smile from Adrien's bag, the boy could be an idiot but he was a good Chat, the only reason why he kept his miraculous, but at this moment, the god of destruction had to keep ears open, a revenge from his sugarcube and her chosen was always worth it, after all last time it happened, it caused more destruction than when he destroyed Atlantis.

In the corner of her eyes, the wielder of the miraculous of ladybug could see the white-haired boy looking at her with interest.

‘‘So this is my soulmate, she finally let her rage showing her the way to follow.’’ He let a chuckle escape his lips before smirking, he will enjoy this ‘‘A true avenging angel.’’.

The only thing he was not expecting was when she turned her head to look at him in the eyes, like if she could see him, but she couldn’t, only the dead could see each others, shinigami, quincy, hollows or simply ghost, Kurosaki was just an exception. Even a wielder of the miraculous couldn’t, this fact being proved by the confuse look on the other soulmate of LadyBug.

The girl only smiled at her, before turning back to the girl who dared insulting her. He knew what was happening in her life, he just had to wait for her as long as he needed to. He could be patient after all how couldn’t he be with Matsumoto as his second.

Toshiro Hitsugaya, captain of the tenth division of the soul society, watched amused as his soulmate destroyed each lie, each word that ever came form the mouth of her bully. But it wasn’t enough and soon after she turned her hurtful but no less truthful words to her other classmates, leaving them in the verge of tears. Oh, but she hadn’t finish, finally she turned to her childhood friends. The wielder of Hyorinmaru raised an hairbrow, sincerly curious, knowing that the girl was truly fond of the half asian boy.

‘’You know Kim, I always been happy that you found your soulmate in Max, he always been  able to bring you back on earth when you were too far. I was hurt when you refused to hang out with me, but I understood that he was more important, I really did. But I was dumb to think that despite the fact that we stopped being like we used to, you would still think of me like you did. Because you never stopped to be my dear big brother in my eyes but I can see that it was not shared. After all didn’t you promised that you would always protect me from those who want to hurt me.’’ She started talking louder when he tried to interrupt her. ‘‘Didn’t you promised to be there for me when i met my soulmates like I was for you when you met yours ?’’

He opened his mouth to defend himself but was interrupt by a loud snort from the girl wearing glasses.

‘‘You hadn’t met your soulmate Mari you would have told me beside stop using plurial, nobody can have more than one soulmate, and if you did you would have told me as your bestie.’’ Alya if he remembered correctly spit.

The blond girl with the sunglasses started laughing when the other finished talking.

‘‘ Oh you’ve got to be kidding me Cesaire ! Why would Dupain-Cheng tell you ? You’ve been worst to her than I ever been and I tried to steal her design and put it on her what could’ve ruin her whole career and bullied her during years. And you know why I started bullying her ? It was because she had four soulmates everybody at school knew that. How far did you fallen to think that she thinks about you as a friend after all you have done ? The only ones she supports in this class is the tomatoe boy and myself, because we apologized long ago.’’ Mocked the former wielder of the bee.

The day ended well for Marinette, she had a weight off her shoulders now that she said  what she thought to the class and could even enjoy the rest of the time with her new friends. That didn’t stop her either to notice that nobody saw the people in haori except for the orange head and the short girl that she learned was named Rukia Kuchiki. Or to notice that the boy with turquoise eyes looked at her the whole time. The reminder made her blush slightly what Hippolytia saw and then started to tease the newest ladybug about.

The evening came and Kagami brought her to a date for the ‘good old time’ she said. But really Mari was too fond of her to say no, and she also needed a good time with her fierce dragon before they leaved High School.

In the way back to the hotel she felt like she had somewhere else to be and leaved Kagami after a kiss on her cheek. She walked down the alley following her instinct. Finally she fell on a sight that highly reminded her of some of the worse akumas back in Paris. Once again she wanted to transform but this was not her work, beside, there was already a group of people taking care of it and she heard it.

‘‘Daiguren Hyorinmaru !’’ Screamed the boy with white hair from earlier.

Her eyes widened at the sight of a dragon made of ice, she realized then the reason why her own snow dragon started getting warmer this morning. She had met her last soulmate and didn’t even aknowledged it, though he seemed to know who she was. Finally she took the decision to wait the end of the fight to talk to him, that wouldn’t end well if he was the kind ‘stab first, ask later’.

She watched mesmerized by the way he and the people she recognized as his fellows fought. That was nothing like Kagami fought with her own katana but at the same time, it was oddly familiar.

Finally the fight ended, and she made them aknowledged her presence by a cough. And finally she spoke her first words to her fourth soulmate.

‘‘To be honest I never thought you would be some ghost but I’m still very happy to meet you, Just in case you don’t already know, my name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Merry met dear soulmate.’’

So this was my try for a prompt adressed to @musicfeedsmysoul12  I hope the one who asked will be happy, it was not what wanted to do at start but I like it. English is not my native language so i won’t say no to constructive criticism ! Plus, it’s been a very long time since the last time I saw/read Bleach.

I forgot I did this tbh...

[angelofthequeers]

Frozer thoughts

Hoo boy, I’m glad we got a two for one because this episode was soooo much more satisfying for me than ‘Malediktator’. Time for out-of-order bullet points and then my longer thoughts!

• We all knew that reveal was just a fantasy of Adrien’s but it was the Marinette fantasy at the end that got me 😂

• PLAGG’S SAD FACE BROKE ME HE DOES CARE ABOUT ADRIEN D:

• UM EXCUSE ME DO NOT THINK I DIDN’T NOTICE HOW YOU SPECIFICALLY SHOWED ROSE AND JULEKA TOGETHER WHEN PANNING AROUND THE COUPLES IN THE SCHOOL

• No but Rose and Juleka are a happy lesbian couple and I refuse to believe otherwise now T H I S I S P R O O F

• And Rose is totally bi because Prince Ali 💗💜💙

• “And I might have a brand new song to write.” AND IT IS HERE THAT I DIED

• The Gorilla is absolutely fantastic. If I had any doubts before that he truly loves Adrien, they’re now gone.

• “You’re supposed to be in love with Ladybug and now you’re ditching Kagami to go after Marinette?” Plagg you troll don’t act like you don’t know

• “She’s just a friend!” NO JOKE I SCREECHED LIKE A PTERODACTYL AND MY FAMILY IGNORED ME NOT LIKE IT’S NOT MY NORMAL PERSONALITY ANYWAY

• Don’t think I didn’t notice your jealousy Adrien even if you don’t know it yet

• “I don’t know a thing about human girls but whenever I meet a beautiful Camembert, I introduce myself! “Hello Camembert, I’m Plagg! So very nice to EAT you!” P L A G G 😂

• The ice costumes were gooorrrgeous

• Marinette having to choose between Luka and Adrien and then having Kagami sweep in and pull her up and whisper to her is a total lesbian power move and I refuse to believe otherwise thank you very much

• I really do love how Marinette’s friend group has expanded to include Rose, Juleka, Mylène and Alix because it feels like a subversion of the trope where the hero only gets one or two friends (“Tell him you’d already promised to hang with your bfs” I love you Alix you are Officially one of Marinette’s bfs)

And now for my long ass speech!

This episode was one of my favourites purely because of the emotional growth in it. We were already TOLD that Kagami and Luka were introduced to push Adrien and Marinette to grow, but being told that and actually seeing it are two very different things. There was a LOT of growth from Marinette, especially when she admitted in a roundabout way that she WAS jealous (which is never an easy thing to admit bby ❤️) and I LOVED it.

“Adrien really needs me and if he wants my advice then why not?”

“I always stumble my words around him. So how could I even manage going out on a date? I think we’re actually just meant to be friends. Whenever I talk to him as a friend, I hardly stammer at all.”

Oh, Marinette ❤️ THIS was the Marinette arc I’ve wanted all season. See what happens when y’all let her grow, writers?

No but seriously, Marinette did a lot of growing up in this episode and I ended up loving her even more. This more than anything cemented that she’s not just an Adrien fangirl, but that she’s legitimately in love with him. If she was just a crushing fangirl, there’s NO way she would’ve even voiced the idea of them just being friends. But Marinette voicing OUT LOUD that the platonic dynamic between her and Adrien works and she genuinely does value him as a friend is, like, exactly the evidence we needed that she really does love him and is willing to try and push her feelings aside to be there for him as his friend. (I said TRY, she still stumbled and slipped and got upset but she IS a 14 y.o. who’s navigating her first crush).

This level of maturity is something I don’t think I’ve seen in most other TV shows or books or any other media. So much of contemporary society is fixated with romantic love and your soulmate and pushing two people together, and seeing Marinette say ‘hey, no, platonic love and my friendship with Adrien is just as important’ is just...y’all have no idea how happy it makes my aromantic heart. I still hugely ship Adrinette and overall I’m glad that they’ll eventually end up together, but seeing someone validate the importance of friendship is utterly invaluable in today’s romance-obsessed age. So I better not see any more ‘stalker Marinette is obsessed with her crush’ because that’s NOT the case. She deeply loves him and she concludes that even if they remain platonic, her love for him isn’t lessened. The closest I’ve come to seeing this is Ginny Weasley choosing not to wait for Harry, but the impact there is lessened because there was barely any interaction between her and Harry until Harry started crushing on her. Here? It’s two main characters and I really do hope the writers don’t go back on this and that they allow the romance to bloom organically, because now I really CAN see Adrinette growing from this established close friendship. They’ve sown the seeds, now they just need to let them grow. Watching Marinette in S1 as opposed to S2 is just an absolute treat and I really hope they top S2 because it can only go up.

PLUS they also kept it real by having Marinette be upset at the ice rink even though she swore to be Adrien’s friend, because it would’ve been completely unrealistic for her to just shrug (“You have to let her fall!” Oh Marinette 😂😂😂). She really felt like a 14 y.o. struggling with jealousy and crushes, but in a completely non-toxic way. See writers I knew you could be amazing if you put your mind to it!

I also really enjoyed Kagami and Luka independent of their intended purposes. So much media these days introduces characters purely for the sake of drama and these characters are never more than cardboard cut-outs with no personality and no purpose outside of the love drama. But Kagami and Luka? I could quite easily grasp their personalities. I could feel Kagami’s ambition and hard sympathy manifesting in the attitude of ‘get your ass up and just do the thing and stop hesitating’. I could feel how emotional Luka was through his music, putting Marinette’s emotions into notes to help her realise them, and how he genuinely DID believe that Marinette deserved the best and he wasn’t just saying that line for drama. And he didn’t say that he was better than Adrien or insult Adrien outside of saying that Marinette deserved better, which I really did appreciate. He was a thoroughly non-toxic representation of what to do when your crush isn’t into you, and I am LIVING for this.

Kagami and Luka really ARE necessary to push Marinette and Adrien to grow. Kagami understands Adrien in a way that no one else can. She’s also the one person who’ll actually speak bluntly to him and call him out on shit, whereas Chloé fawns over him and Marinette stumbles and Adrien’s other friends can’t come at him from the same angle due to their barrier of rich loneliness. Sure, Nino’s his best friend, but Nino’s not rich and doesn’t have those expectations of perfection on him, whereas Kagami does and so she can GET Adrien.

And as for Luka? Marinette struggles with her emotions. She finally put them into words this episode, but it’s taken her THIS long to do so. I strongly believe that Marinette is autistic like me, because we both struggle to properly articulate our feelings in words and it can take legit ages to really sort out how we’re feeling and then process it. Sure, Marinette knew she had a crush, but it’s taken her this long to see the nuance and depth of it and organise how she would feel and react if Adrien rejected her outright, and Luka coming in to help her sort through these feelings without pushing her to talk about them was just...perfect. And the way he put her emotions into music is exactly how I feel a lot of the time - I can’t do words, but I can do more abstract things to get them across. Luka was needed to help Marinette grow into her self-confidence and help her sort out her feelings without being under pressure (like how Alya and the other girls immediately dogpiled her), and I really do hope they stay good friends and plus I kinda ship Lukanette now as well whooooops

So in conclusion? This episode was absolutely amazing and I very much enjoyed picking it apart. This isn’t even everything I could’ve talked about but it’s what stuck out to me most and proved that this show can really be great ❤️

[ladylynse]

Hey, look, more of my DPxML crossover....

I promised an age ago to finish writing one of these two scenes from  Le Fantôme, and when I asked which one people would prefer to see, this one won. So, enjoy!

Paris – The Previous Evening (relative to this scene)

Marinette pursed her lips as she surveyed the City of Lights from her perch on the Eiffel Tower. She had arranged this meeting with Chat Noir yesterday, but she wasn’t upset that he was late. Even under the cover of darkness, it could be difficult to get away from the responsibilities and people that filled your other life. She didn’t expect him to always be prompt, and he didn’t expect it of her.

She just wished she had more to tell him.

They had no idea how long Le Fantôme had been active. Alya had started digging up ghost sightings and posting them on the Ladyblog when she’d caught wind of it, but Marinette had first heard of it from Alya, and she wasn’t convinced Chat Noir had known earlier, either; he would have told her. Ghost stories weren’t something anyone dismissed, not anymore.

It didn’t seem like the work of another Vanisher. They weren’t sure exactly how many things were connected—no one knew—but the things attributed to Le Fantôme were not always the sort of thing merely an invisible person could accomplish. There had been robberies from places locked up tight, with no evidence anywhere of tampering, let alone a break-in. There had been things said in private that had been leaked to the news, to the detriment of both parties, most often those heading up wealthy companies. (She was waiting for Adrien’s father to be targeted, but he seemed to have evaded Le Fantôme’s scrutiny so far.) But then there were all the little things that kept happening, the reason the media had begun calling this latest victim of Hawk Moth’s Le Fantôme.

There were cold spots—colder than expected, anyway, for the end of October. There was talk of floating objects, carried by invisible hands, and of other things vanishing before someone’s very eyes. There were strange lights, inexplicable power outages, horrible sounds, and…and sightings.

Nothing consistent. Not really. Not enough to go on, what was consistent. No photographs. Conflicting eyewitness accounts. Was Le Fantôme a teenager, someone around her own age, or an older gentleman who might be closer to her father’s age? Was Le Fantôme the girl who had reportedly been seen crying for help by the abandoned rail line or the woman who had purportedly taken to haunting the Venus de Milo, sketching it for hours before vanishing without a trace to enact whatever she had been planning? Was Le Fantôme someone who had fallen on hard times and found themselves ignored by the rest of society or were they someone who had the appearance of everything but had come to the sudden realization that they had nothing that truly mattered and felt that they couldn’t regain what they had lost?

She didn’t know. It was starting to feel like no one did. Moreover, it seemed to Marinette that Le Fantôme had awakened every ghost legend in Paris. At least, it felt that way when she looked at Alya’s blog. Paris, a city that was filled with ghost stories, was now filled with ghosts. And she and Chat Noir had to find the right one in order to stop them.

It was an impossible task.

She heard Chat Noir alight beside her and waited for some light-hearted pun to follow. When it didn’t, she turned her head and realized he looked grim. “You can’t be tired of chasing ghosts already,” she teased.

“No,” he said quietly as he looked over the city, “but I think I’ve seen one.”

“Le Fantôme?”

“No. The mayor’s daughter.”

What? “Chloé Bourgeois? We’re chasing ghosts, kitty, not banshees. Even if she can screech like one.”

That didn’t even get her a smile. “Something happened before I passed the Grand Paris; I’m still not sure what. The mayor is convinced she’s been kidnapped, but the staff….” He took a slow breath. “She’s been missing since yesterday. Her father has been busy, and everyone thought she was at her friend’s.” Sabrina’s, that meant, since Chloé couldn’t count many friends. “Except her friend came by today to ask after her, claiming she hadn’t seen her and had thought she was sick because she hadn’t been in school.”

“That doesn’t make Chloé a ghost.”

Chat Noir turned to face her. “Sabrina—Chloé’s friend, the Vanisher—she says she heard Chloé screaming at her as if she were in the room, but no one else heard anything. I went up with the butler to check her suite. It was empty at first, but…then she was there, right in front of me, begging me to make this stop, to fix this.”

“Begging?”

That got her a smile, albeit a small one. “Well, demanding. But no one else seemed to notice anything, and when I looked away, she vanished.”

Marinette might not like Chloé, but even she didn’t deserve this, whatever this was. “So you think Le Fantôme is creating ghosts from living people? On top of everything else? What would that gain them?”

“An even better way to hide in plain sight. We still don’t know who we’re fighting, but if there are suddenly other people who fit what we know of Le Fantôme, the public can’t even help us narrow it down.”

“So they’re even more like a ghost.” She’d rather fight someone like the Puppeteer again, even with the risk of being controlled, because at least then they had a clear target. “So who are they really after? They don’t want to show themselves. They haven’t even made a bid for our Miraculous.”

“Not that we know of,” Chat Noir agreed, “but they could be watching us. They wouldn’t be the first villain to act quietly for a while before we caught wind of them. I’ve asked the police to take a look back over all their missing persons reports; if we can figure out where most of the people were last seen and when they disappeared, we’ll have a better idea of where Le Fantôme’s been operating, and it might give us a clue about what they want.”

It hardly seemed like it would be enough, but it was far more than she could offer. “Good thinking, kitty.” It would still be looking for a needle in a haystack, but at least it would be a smaller haystack. “But what are we supposed to do once we find them? We can’t catch a ghost.”

To her surprise, Chat Noir actually grinned. “Says who? I’ve been looking into the lore. Something’s bound to work.”

She didn’t like the idea of going into a situation like this blind, armed with multiple attempts that could very well blow up in their faces. “I’d rather we test it out. If other people are turning into     ghosts, they might be willing to help us.”

“If we can communicate with them,” Chat Noir agreed. “And find them. And assuming they aren’t more limited than Le Fantôme.”

She wished he didn’t make so much sense. “We have to try.” They needed to; they were desperate. “I wasn’t able to dig anything up, so your information is all we have to go on.” She bit her lip, but there was no way around it. “Besides, we don’t need to find them. Not really. Not if you already know where one of them is and she’s trying to communicate with us.”

Chat Noir surveyed her for a moment. “You want to try to talk to her. You think she actually saw Le Fantôme? She never said anything.”

“Did you ask? Chloé—at least, what I know of her—isn’t one to volunteer information like that when she’s more concerned with being returned to normal.” Corporeal form, her mind whispered, but saying it like that…. It was another reminder of how much they didn’t know. Le Fantôme might not even be a ghost. Maybe they just had the ability to turn other people into ghosts, and that’s why there was such a spike in ghost sightings.

Still, she didn’t know what that power would gain them.

And she didn’t know why there had been no attempt to seize their Miraculous if that were the case. Could the ghosts touch each other? Would it be easier for Le Fantôme to take their Miraculous if they were caught, or did Le Fantôme have to try to take their Miraculous without changing them? What kind of fight did they need to be prepared for?

“I never had the chance to ask anything,” admitted Chat Noir. “I didn’t see or hear her for long, and after I lost track of her, I didn’t stick around to try to talk to her again. I wanted to drop by the police station and pull the only string we have before our friend’s shift was over.”

Lieutenant Raincomprix tried to help them as much as he could within the realms of the law—as much as repayment for the time he’d been akumatized into Rogercop as recognition that they were all trying to keep Paris safe—but she and Chat Noir tried not to take advantage of him as a resource. He would not break the law for them, of course, but he would answer their questions as best he could, and it could be a lengthy process. This time—researching all those missing persons reports—would certainly take a while.

“That was a good thought.”

“But I should have questioned Chloé first. Or tried to, anyway. Because she’s the more concrete lead.”

Marinette smirked. “I’m not sure concrete can apply to her any longer, kitty cat.” He grinned, and she knew his word choice had been deliberate. She climbed to her feet and unlashed her yo-yo as he followed suit. “Come on. Let’s see what we can find out.”