#lila and marinette friendship

[nionom-art]

Miraculous Coccinella

Origins pt. 1, pt. 10

Origins pt. 1 (Episode 1), pt. 10

First - Previous - Next

Chapter 1 Index

Master Post

[fabseg-creator]

Chlobrilanette: Girls' Party

I think I have committed a sin: I've made a sketch about Marinette, Sabrina, Lila and Chloé hanging out together. A "polyship"/"fourfriendship" ? You can call that a CURSE.

The situation:

I imagine Marinette and Sabrina are supposed to have a bestie date each other. But Lila and Chloé, who are a "bestie couple" together too, interfere to the two other girls' date. They join them by hugging them. Marinette and Sabrina were hugging each other and dancing (under a slow). Lila hugs Marinette who is a bit of confused about and an uncomfortable Chloé hugs Sabrina (who is going to kiss Marinette).

Chloé didn't imagined to do that on her ex-"bestie". Sabrina leaved the blondie for joining the bluenette.

I suspect Lila to have the idea of do that.

Bonus:

Alya watches the oddly "foursome" group. She feels questionable about the four girls being together (and about Marinette being on the odd group). Her bestie with the formerly bully's bestie. And now the bully and her new "non-baddie" bestie join the first duo. A Reconciliation foursome ?

[miraculousystuff]

Corey Curse Aftermath Pt 9

Small time skip, like 3 days*

As the anti-bullying classes went on, everybody but Alya seemed to understand exactly what impact they had on Marinette. Almost all of them rebuilt tentative if not profound friendships with her once more, All except for Alya, who still doted on Lila. But that all changed at the parent teacher meeting Miss Fournier hosted. Everyone’s parents except Lila’s showed up. “Are we waiting on anyone?” Miss Fournier began, and noticed Lila’s mother was nowhere to be seen. Then, suddenly, a tall, green eyed brunette woman that looked to be in her 40s stormed through the door. “Lila Rossi. Why is this the first I’m hearing about bullying? You told me the court case was about all your vacation days?” the woman, who was presumably Lila’s mother, yelled. Lila’s eyes widened in response. “Mom? I made sure to throw that letter away_” she was cut off by her mother “Yes, and I found it in the trash. Imagine my surprise when I found out my daughter has been bullying a poor girl for this entire year!” she continued yelling, and Mr Damocles had to quite literally usher them out of the building. Needless to say, that was the last they saw of her. “For most of you, this meeting will be brief. As you know from the emails I have sent, most of your children have improved greatly due to the anti-bullying classes, especially Nino, Kim and Alix. Therefore, they are being dismissed from them early, and will no longer have to attend. Juleka, Rose and Nathaniel will also be dismissed from them once the week is over. For the rest of your children, keep working hard and they should hopefully be dismissed by the end of two weeks. You are free to go.” she stated, and everyone slowly began filing out, but Miss Fournier spoke up again. “Mrs and Miss Cesaire, do you mind waiting for a moment please?” They nodded as everyone left and the room was only with Alya, Alya’s mom and Nora. “I regret to inform  you that Alya is not doing well in these classes at all. She refuses to believe Marinette is innocent and blames it on her, as well as consistently torments the other students who have now built relationships with Marinette.” Alya turned pale as her sister and mother turned to her in anger. “Alya Cesaire, care to explain?” her mother thundered. “Mom, I can explain-” she was cut off by Nora. “Sis, there is no way you believe a liar over your best friend-” “She’s not my best friend.”

“Anyway, she sacrificed a lot for you. She babysat for you, helped you with the ladyblog, hell she got interviews from ladybug herself or you. How can you honestly say that she had done horrible things?”

Alya’s jaw dropped in shock as Nora’s words ran through her mind. Barely thinking, she ran out of the room, looking for those familiar blue pigtails- no, just blue hair. She spotted it and ran towards her, before stopping short as she stared. Marinette was laughing, with Adrien. Not stuttering, or falling, just having a good time. Her hair was out, her nose was scrunched up, her eyes twinkling. She looked so happy, so…free. She felt so scarily familiar but different at the same time, like she was a ghost of her past self. As Adrien walked away, she shook off her inhibitions and walked to her. “Marinette-” She was interrupted by her. “If you’ve come to insult me-” Alya flinched at the fact that now, as soon as she approached Marinette, the bluenette assumed it was to insult her. “N-no. I want to apologise. You don’t have to forgive me. Hell, the fact that you are listening to me is enough. But I need you to know that I’m sorry, for everything that I did to you.” Marinette gaped slightly. “Alya, you have no idea how much that means to me. I-I can’t accept your apology. Not yet. But, this is a start. To peace and maybe…” she trailed off. “Maybe a new friendship.” Alya filled in, and Marinette smiled, and it felt so nice, so normal that she smiled even wider. “You know what, let's restart this whole thing.” she said, then stuck out her hand. “Hi, I’m Marinette Dupain Cheng. I live down the street in the bakery and have a massive crush on Adrien but don’t know it yet.” Alya laughed before taking her hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Alya Cesaire, I run the Ladyblog and am one of the worst best friends ever.” she said, almost half sad, but Marinette pulled her into a hug. “Oh good. That’s what I like about you.” They laughed, just like old times, the achingly familiar feeling as if to forget what happened. And while it would never truly be forgotten, maybe, just maybe, it could be overlooked.

The end

[enemyoflactose]

Me: I'm going to become a better person 🤗

Also me when I see someone mischaracterize and then hate on my favorite character:

[emman1035]

Story 1 shows more promise, just because. Even if I'm tied writing my own fic, I wanna see how it plays out.

Lila, Chloe and Marinette friendship fanfic

Okay so…

I saw this Instagram post right and it was all like bro Chloe, Marinette and Lila friendship 🤩

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CWfsJXoAWxz/?utm_medium=copy_link

(Just look at the comments my guy)

And I agree

So I want to write a fic on it

Here’s my two ideas(they will both become fics eventually)

Brief Summaries

Story 1:

Chloe gets Marinette a show at New York Fashion Week through Style Queen. They meet Lila there as the newest up and coming teenage model in America. Audrey suggests they work together to launch the MDC brand (with style queen sponsorship) they all become really close friends and then Chloe and Marinette move to New York so Chloe can be closer with her Mother and Marinette’s Brand can develop. Lila, Chloe and Marinette attend the same school and their life is good.

Story 2:

Chloe and Lila meet at a government Christmas gala (since their parents are both politicians) Marinette’s parents are supplying food for the event and the three girls meet on the rooftop of the Le Grande Paris Hotel and instantly bond spending the entire holidays together before starting school. Lila is constantly moving around but they have a commitment to spend every holidays with each other. Eventually Lila is able to stay with Marinette’s family and join them in their first year at a new school. They heard that the students were spoiled and self entitled so they plotted to ruin them. (Cue show story) It ended with the students being caught in their lies and proving that they were cheating.

Both ideas need a bit of work but they’re the rough summaries and I have started writing them

See you soon guys x

[chocostrwberry]

If yall have noticed, I often mention “seasons” when describing the timeline of my AU.

“Choco?? What are these seasons you are talking about? Why are there only three when the show has five??”

Sit down, little one, and let me tell you a story…

AHDKWHSJ JK JK

But anyways-

I have split the events that happen in my AU into seasons because then it’s easier for me to keep my facts and timeline in order! All episodes are in exact order/sequence of events!

Season 1: Gabriel can create sentimonsters.

In this season, it’s establishing the world of Miraculous. Marinette and Adrien is learning how to be miraculous holders while navigating their own lives.

Origins: Marinette becomes Ladybug for the first time alongside Chat Noir to defeat Stormy Weather.

Ladybug and Chat Noir defeat an Akumatized Mylène, Animelle. Together, they visit Master Fu for more information on their new duties.

Marinette has a hard time balancing being Ladybug and her civilian self. Ladybug and Chat Noir have to team up to defeat a game-themed teenage akuma.

Sweetpea: Marinette enters a design challenge with Alix, and Adrien is her model! Rose is akumatized into Sweetpea after a health scare makes her unable to help her team with their design.

To Be or Not to Be: There is a school play, and Chloe will stop at nothing to get the main lead. Ladybug struggles to win over Chat Noir, who seems oblivious to her attempts at flirting.

Boy meets Girl: Marinette develops a crush on the class’s most popular boy after defending Juleka against Chloe. LB and CN battle Reflekta.

Princess Justice: Marinette is chosen to submit a dress design to high-fashion company represented by Chloe’s mother. Jealous of her success, Chloe destroys her project, causing Marinette to be Akumatized.

Fish Food: Ladybug and Chat Noir have to defeat an akuma who goes by the name of Captain Kraken. For the Winter Ball, Marinette makes plans to ask Luka to be her date.

Winter Formal: The winter formal is here, but Marinette is worried about an akuma attack that might ruin her chances with Luka.

Be My Lover: Now that Marinette is officially dating Luka, Adrien’s jealousy becomes more apparent. Chloe’s repetitive and harsh rejections of Kim turns him into Dark Cupid.

Road Rage: Adrien has a fight with Chloe about her behavior towards others, and she acts out once again and Nino is akumatized into a foul-mouthed biker with a vendetta against her.

New Girl: A transfer student is introduced to the class, but Marinette is suspicious of her two-faced behavior.

Prophetica: Marinette’s constant lying and lack of trust makes her and Alya have a fight after she fails to bring cupcakes to her sisters’ birthday party.

Primadonna: After Chloe’s mother decides to take her half-sister to her movie premiere debut instead of her last-minute, Chloe becomes Primadonna and turns Paris into her own personal black-and-white film.

Sabrina seeks Marinette’s help to expose Lila after she comes between Sabrina and Chloe’s friendship.

King of Music: Jagged Stone is akumatized and it is revealed that Luka and Juleka are his children. Marinette’s duties as Ladybug become more demanding and her relationship with Luka strains.

Winter Wonderland: After Chloe misses one of Sabrina’s recitals, she is Akumatized into Ice Queen and turns Paris into an eternal winter.

Marinette misses one of Luka’s concerts, where he was going to debut a song he wrote for her. They break up and he is Akumatized into Heartrocker.

Liar, Liar: Marinette finally tells the class who Lila really is, but they have a hard time believing her. Lila is Akumatized into Miss Miracle and offers her services to Hawkmoth in order to take down Ladybug.

Lila strikes a deal with Gabriel when Adrien invites her over to his home out of pity. Hawkmoth’s identity and motives are revealed. Chat Noir takes Ladybug to see Master Fu for help because of Plagg’s warning against Lila.

A New Guardian: Master Fu makes Ladybug the new Guardian before Lila can get to the Miracle Box.

Goldbug: The peacock miraculous is fixed. Hawkmoth unifies the miraculous to become Shadowmoth. He creates Miss Miracle’s first sentimonster: Goldbug. Marinette becomes Firefly to defeat them both.

The time span for this season is about 4 months, starting in the beginning of Junior year.

Season 2: Emelie wakes up.

This season focuses on the lore of the miraculous. Ladybug unifies miraculous every other episode to defeat both akumas and sentimonsters. Lots of kwami-swaps and unified ladybug happen in this season! (Scarabella, Queen Bee, Carapace, Ladybee, etc.) Marinette is also warming up to Adrien.

Chat Noir is skeptical she’s the right pick to be guardian, and she takes that personally. She decides to unify against Reflekta and her sentimonster, Reflekdoll.

Mr. Midas: After rejecting an expensive present, Chloe’s father is Akumatized into Mr. Midas and wants to turn everything into gold for his beloved daughter. Tigerbug and Chat Noir try and defeat him and his sentimonster.

Sweet Dreams: Ladybug becomes Hercula after a sleepy akuma discreetly puts Paris into an eternal slumber.

A Spider’s Web: Ladybug becomes Mantigirl to defeat Arachnia, a kindergarten teacher who is Akumatized at the Paris Zoo and trapped Adrien and others.

Marinette comes down with a mysterious illness, and so it’s up to Scarabella and Chat Noir to save Paris from an Akumatized grandmother and her gang of angry sentidogs!

The Wailing Lady: Firefly and CN battle against a grieving widow and her sentimonster, a giant willow tree in the middle of Paris who she believes is her deceased spouse.

Sugar and Spice: Marinette faints while working at the bakery. This makes Sabine anxious, and she is Akumatized into Mother Desserts. Marinette and Chat Noir work together to save her.

Tikki suggests giving others different miraculous to help her fight the akumas and sentimonsters. Adrien tells Chloe about his crush on Marinette thanks to Plagg. Chat Noir visits Marinette and takes her on a trip around Paris.

Operation Ladybug: Luka suspects Marinette is Ladybug, and he recruits Alya to help him figure out the truth. Chloe starts treating Marinette with less disdain, much to everyone’s surprise. Firefly and Chat Noir fight another akuma and sentimonster.

Bon Appétit!: Alya’s mother becomes akumatized while working at the hotel. Ladybug and Alya work together while Chat Noir tries to keep Chloe and Sabrina. Alya’s suspicions are confirmed, but she tells Luka to stop digging.

Kwami Captor: After some mischevious kwami escape the miracle box with their jewels, Marinette becomes Multimouse to hunt them all down.

Queen Bee: Chloe decides to use the Bee miraculous she found to try and help Mantigirl and Chat Noir. Her need for attention makes the mission not go according to plan. Chat Noir and Marinette have an argument about his secret identity.

Protector of All: Nino and Adrien are in charge of elitist children for a day while Marinette and the class set up a school sponsor event. When an akuma attacks, it’s up to Nino to protect the kids while Tigerbug and Chat Noir defends them. Luka finally gives up his suspicions.

Miracle Team: The Miracle Team meet up for the first time to take down an akuma. But they struggle to actually work together! Chat Noir breaks up with Marinette, leaving them both devastated.

Soulmates: Marinette and Adrien spend the day together to find a gift for Chloe’s birthday. Nathalie finds out about Gabriel and Lila’s dark deeds with Hawkmoth.

Happy Birthday Chloe!: Chloe’s birthday party goes awry, thanks to Lila’s sabotage, and Chloe is Akumatized.

Sick Day: Marinette is too sick to go to school most days and struggles with night terrors. She is worried about her health, and talks to Tikki about it. Alya, Nino, Luka, and Sabrina try to clear Marinette’s name. Adrien visits Marinette at the bakery.

Marinette vs The World: Marinette’s friends finally has what they need to prove Lila is terrible once and for all. But Adrien isn’t sure it’s the best idea.

Cheer up, Marinette: After unifying once again to defeat an akuma, Marinette’s condition is so bad she is bedridden and cannot celebrate Chinese New Year with her family. The kwamis try to cheer her up. Adrien is growing worried about his father’s health and seeks comfort in Nathalie.

Like Mother, Like Daughter: Chloe’s influencer half-sister, Zoe, comes to Paris. Chloe humiliates her out of hurt and anger, and Zoe is Akumatized into Delightfulee.

Reign of Bourgeois: Chloe’s mother arrives in Paris after hearing about her outburst against Zoe. She is then promptly akumatized into Stylix and takes over the city. What’s worse, she has put a bounty on Chloe’s head.

A Sunny Day: The Miracle Team accepts Vesperia as the new Bee miraculous holder. Her outgoing positivity is welcomed, but her hesitation puts them in danger.

Never Trust a Fox: Trixx abandons Alya and runs away with the fox miraculous, pledging his loyalty to Lila instead. Volpina tricks LB and Chat Noir into thinking she’s on their side. Ladybug has to unify once again in order to defeat her and the akuma once she betrays them.

The Wish, Pt. 1: Because Marinette is out of commission, Scarabella, Vesperia, Carapace, and Chat Noir have to fight against Volpina, The Wailing Lady, and her sentimonster.

The Wish, Pt 2: Gabriel now has the Ladybug and Cat miraculous. Marinette and Adrien follow Volpina to the Agreste mansion, and Adrien learns the hard truth about his father.

By the end of the season, Shadowmoth has completed his mission and trades his life for Emelie’s. A part of Lila’s backstory is revealed.

This season ends at the end of Junior year, breaching into summer.

Season 3: Marinette’s Sacrifice

This is the final season of my AU!

Summer Break: Adrien’s doppelgänger cousin Felix attends the school after visiting with his aunt and uncle over the summer to help Emelie readjust. Lila now has a new name, Cerise Blanc, a woman sent by The Order. Emelie decides to give Cerise the butterfly and peacock miraculous in exchange for her having The Order keep an eye on Adrien. Cerise unifies the Peacock and Butterfly miraculous to become The Empress.

Return of the Butterfly: Rose is akumatized into Sweetpea once again after receiving devastating news about her condition. The Miracle Team return to take it down.

The Emperor’s Daughter: Adrien’s mother surprises him with his fiancé, Kagami, who he hasn’t seen in years. Her social class proves difficult for her to make friends.

Paper Flowers: Because of his shy nature, Felix makes an origami flower with a romantic poem written inside of it for Kagami. However, Kagami believes it was Adrien and becomes determined to make their relationship work.

Felix becomes depressed over Adrien and Kagami’s relationship while going out with them for the upcoming winter formal. Emelie grows jealous of how close Nathalie is with Adrien and sends her on a business trip abroad.

Boys’ Night: Emelie’s hovering nature makes Nino worried for Adrien. He starts to encourage Adrien to rebel a bit, but Nino didn’t expect Adrien to become so out of control when he’s off a leash. Meanwhile, the girls on the Miracle Team are having a sleepover to buy exclusive Jagged Stone tickets.

The Star: Adrien is akumatized into The Star after Emelie tells him she will unenroll him from school and return to homeschooling because of his recent behavior. She also fires Nathalie.

Tales of Scarabella and Kitty Noire: Adrien is under house arrest and Marinette’s sickness is coming back, so Scarabella and Kitty Noire have to keep Paris safe!

Hanabira: Kagami witnesses Adrien and Marinette together while waiting for their date at the Louvre, and is Akumatized and takes over the museum.

The Masked Lady and Me: When Cerise catches Felix looking for the peacock miraculous, Cerise later introduces herself as Madame Morphosis and makes a deal with him to avoid unification sickness. Felix’s backstory is revealed.

Our Frozen Hearts: Felix and Marinette find an unexpected common ground when they are forced to watch Adrien and Kagami dance together as Winter King and Queen.

Sentimaggedon: Madame Morphosis tests Felix to see whether or not she should let him keep the peacock miraculous she gave to him. In a desperate attempt to prove himself, Felix as Argos creates multiple sentimonsters that accidentally bring about the apocalypse. It’s up to the Miracle Team, with Dragonbug, to save the city.

Cat and Mouse: Marinette uses the Mouse miraculous once again to be undercover while dealing with akuma-related disappearances. But Chat Noir won’t take any chances and hunts her down to bring her miraculous to Ladybug.

The End of Us: Kagami breaks off the engagement with Adrien. Adrien then asks out Marinette, who delightfully says yes.

Motherbird: Emelie willingly becomes Akumatized by Madame Morphosis in order to keep her son Adrien under her watchful eye.

Sing a Little Song: Clara Nightingale, an American popstar and a close friend to Zoe, comes to Paris to shoot a music video. But her overbearing manager and strict schedule causes her to become akumatized into Frightingale.

Birds of Prey: While hanging out with Marinette, Kagami is kidnapped by Argos. The Miracle Team have to defeat Argos’s sentimonsters in order to rescue her.

Frenemies: Adrien is trying to get Chloe to warm up more to the idea of Marinette and him being together. Marinette helps Felix overcome his fears and talk to Kagami.

Bonded by Our Sins: After getting closer to Kagami, Felix tries to back away from Madame Morphosis’s control. However, she scares him into submission by threatening to hurt Kagami.

Who is Lila Rossi?: Argos is sent by Madame Morphosis to take Marinette’s miracle box after being informed by Trixx. But him and Marinette devise a plan to trick her.

True Love: Felix confesses his feelings to Kagami at the fashion show and shares his secret with her. Volpina hunts Marinette’s classmates one by one for the scattered miraculous, using extreme measures to get what she wants.

Let’s Do This, Together: The miracle team, along with Argos, has to defend Paris against Lila, who has unified most of the miraculous and become a magical hybrid monster.

Always and Forever: Ladybug and Chat Noir decide to take one last stand against Lila.

Happily Ever After: Marion, a 12 year old girl, discovers small magical creatures who live in her favorite music box!

Quick explanation for episodes 22-24:

Lila collects and unifies most of the miraculous, becoming a monster-animal hybrid and losing herself and all sense of rational. Marinette exposes her identity to all of Paris because of her, and Marinette is aware in a few hours everyone she’s ever known will forget her. Chat Noir reveals himself as Adrien to her before she takes his and the Ladybug miraculous, and unifies them to become Gimmi Marinette and destroy her for good!

Marinette feels Senti-Queen’s mixed emotions of betrayal and hate and loneliness, and her kindness shines through. She uses the Lucky Charm to rebirth Ah Lam as a child, giving her the opportunity to live a normal and love-filled life, the one she never had.

The time span is towards the end of Senior Year, when they were suppose to graduate.

AFTERMATH

So Marinette no longer exists, no one remembers her, and there’s a child version of Lila now.

Now what??

Child Lila is adopted by Marinette’s parents, who have always wanted to have a child. They rename her Marion. It means “wished for child” :,) But also “sea of sorrows”, symbolizing Lila’s life and the pain she caused!

After reading Marinette’s diary, the city knows she was Ladybug. They create a new park called “Ladybug Park” in memory of Marinette.

The Order of the Guardians come to reclaim the jewels unified by Lila, but the kwami refuse to be captured again and flee with their jewels. They all go back to the miracle box for safety. Marion finds the miracle box in Marinette’s old room, and unknowingly becomes the next Guardian.

Adrien only remembers Ladybug, and believes she was the one to unify the miraculous. He has no real recollection of Marinette, but subconsciously feels the loss.

Congrats for making it to the end heheh!

Have some cake! 🍰

Eat it under this rainbow for a break! You deserve it!

🌈

“BUT CHOCO!!”

“You still haven’t explained why there are only three seasons!”

Oh yeah! Sorry!

It’s because I feel like it took 5 seasons in canon to explain what happened in 3. I imagine my AU to be a Disney-owned show that was about to cancelled.

How can I sum up the plot of Miraculous Ladybug in 3 seasons, 12-15 episodes each?

LMAOSJW-

But yup! That’s it! Hope you had fun reading!!

[cocosparkel]

Curiosity killed the cat (but satisfaction brought it back)

Chapter 2

Summary-

When Marinette finds out that she is adopted, she tracks down her Biological aunt. Who happens to live Gotham, the place she swore she wouldn't go. Well, Gotham just gained a new vigilante - Chaos.

<<previous next>>

Chapter 2: BURNING BRIDGES

Life just couldn't get worse for Marinette. Lila had been true to her promise and had left Marinette with no real friends except Chloe, Kagami, Luka, Juleka, Felix , Alix and Adrien.

Alya still talked to her, but they weren't really all that close anymore, and their recent argument ended their friendship.

After finding out that she was adopted, Marinette decided to step up her game as Ladybug. She made Luka, Kagami, Felix, Juleka and Chloe permanent holders, and she revealed her identity to them, and Chat Noir. To say they were shocked about who Chat Noir was under the mask, was a big understatement. But in the end, they were closer than ever before.

Now named the Miracle Court, they met up to find out the identity of Hawkmoth, and train.

During one of these meetings, Bunnyx showed up, and informed them that the Miracle box was no longer safe in Paris.

“What do you mean ?” Bumble Bee asked.

“I - I'm not sure how to explain, but the Miracle box is no longer safe here.” Bunnyx admitted.

Turning to Ladybug she said, “ Ladybug, you need to leave Paris, and take the box with you.”

Hesitant to know the answer, Ladybug asked “ Where would the box be safe then, if not Paris ?”

“You can't possibly be considering this !” Chat Noir exclaimed.

Smiling bittersweetly, Ladybug replied “You know I have to, Kitty. My duty as Guardian comes first, come what may.”

“How will you join us for fighting akumas, if you leave Paris ?” Viperion asked patiently.

"With the Horse Miraculous.” Ladybug replies immediately.

Bunnyx interrupted any further questions, and said “Guys you know I wouldn't be saying this if there was another option. Ladybug, believe me, Gotham is the best place for the Miracle box.”

With that, Bunnyx disappeared, just as quickly as she had appeared, leaving the Miracle Court in confusion.

______________________________________________________________

“This doesn't make sense. Why would the place my parents were killed be the safest place for us ?”

“I don't know Marinette, but I'm sure we can trust Bunnyx.”

Sighing, Marinette dropped her phone on her bed.

Her room had changed in the past few months.

Her designs replaced the posters of Adrien, the photos she had of her ‘Friends’ were replaced with photos with the miracle court, and her true friends.Her once bright pink room had been repainted, to a muted dark blue colour. Her furniture too had lost the bright pink they had, they were now maroon in color.

“Marinette, maybe… maybe going to Gotham is the best path for now.”

Marinette snapped her head up and looked at Tikki, shocked.

“Marinette, I'm your kwami, you don't have to lie to me. I know you want to know more about your biological parents,you want to find out just what happened to them.”

"Tikki I…”

“Marinette, it's OK. I'm sure Sabine and Tom won't mind that you want to know more about your biological parents.”

“I know Tikki but..”

“Look, staying in Gotham for a while will give you a break from your classmates. Anyway, you can spend your last two years of lyceé in Gotham."

Marinette looked at Tikki, understanding what the kwami wanted. Yet, she was still a bit reluctant.

"But what about Hawkmoth ?”

“Well.. isn't Gotham famous for that vigilante, Batman ? What if you ask him for help ?” Tikki suggested.

Marinette nodded, finally conceding to her kwamis plan “You're right Tikki. I need to stop thinking negatively.”

Taking a deep breath, she said “We are going to Gotham. ”

______________________________________________________________

“You want to do what ?” Tom shouted, making the customer who was leaving, jump and almost fall and look at Tom in terror.

Marinette smiled apologetically at them and the customer scurried out without looking back again.

Sabine went up to the boulangerie’s door and flipped the sign so that it said the bakery was closed. “Marinette, we support every decision you take but are you sure you want to go to Gotham ?” Sabine asked Marinette hesitantly.

"Maman I'm 100 percent sure that this is what I want.” Marinette reassured her mother.

Looking at her parents' hesitance, she said “Maman, Papa, despite the fact that you adopted me, you are always going to be my parents. I will always love you for everything you did for me. But now, all I want is for you to trust me.”

Tom and Sabine exchanged a look.

Sabine sighed “Marinette, you can go to Gotham, but we have some conditions.”

Smiling brightly, Marinette hugged her parents and thanked them.Her plan had been set to motion.

______________________________________________________________

As soon as Marinette entered the classroom the next day, she made her way to Lila and loudly said “Lila, I want to apologise for everything I have ever done tk you.”

Loud gasps filled the classroom.

Lila looked at her, shocked. “Marinette what do you mean ?”

“Omg girl this is so nice !” Alya squealed “Marinette I knew you would come around !”

Giving a fake smile Marinette turned to Lila and said “Lila I really am sorry. I hope we can put the past behind us and become good friends.”

"Of course Marinette!” Lila said gritting her teeth.

Before Marinette could say anything else, Lila started talking about another of her extravagant vacations, and she soon captivated her classmates, and watched with glee as Marinette faded into the background.Right where Marinette belonged.

Lila had no idea what Marinette's plan was, but she was not going to be fazed by a change in tactics.

______________________________________________________________

After school, Marinette explained her plan to the miracle court.

She explained how she saw no point in trying to expose lilas lies, now that she was leaving Dupont by the end of the week.

Now that Lila no longer had someone questioning her, she was sure to start lying on a larger scale, and she was bound to be caught in the acts by someone in such a scenario.

Meanwhile in her last week in France, Marinette intended to sow seeds of doubt in her classmates, disguised as concern.

Soon, Lila’s web would collapse, and Lila would have dug her own grave. Unfortunately, Marinette wouldn't be there to witness it.

However, Chloe pointed out that, once the class would learn of Lila's lies, they would realise that Marinette was right all along.

And once they notice that Marinette was longer there, they would miss her all the more.

It was safe to say that Marinette would get the last laugh.

______________________________________________________________

A.N.

Want to know when the next chapter is posted ? Let me know and I'll tag you in the next chapter :)

(if u liked this, go check out my other work, they're just not dreams )

<<previous

Next>>

[adrinoir]

I think it’s important to notice, sweet cinnamon roll Adrien who is usually not very confrontational constantly defends Marinette and harshly confronts anyone who tries to harm her in any sort of way.

It’s become even more obvious now that they’re dating. Like, he balled up his fist when he heard Kim telling the story about how he pranked Marinette. He was so quick to finally end his friendship with Chloe once he heard the entire story.

And truth be told, this isn’t something he just started doing. Let’s not forget how he threatened Lila and let her be his modeling partner just so he could get her to stop lying about Marinette.

Adrien is so in love with Marinette, enough to stand up for her and unleash some real boiling anger on anyone who tries to mess with her. He simply won’t tolerate it. It’s so character breaking for Adrien to be harsh, but he’s willing to be that way so long as he’s defending Marinette.

I also gotta admit, I love that Adrien keeps going against his father’s wishes to end his relationship with Marinette, and keeps having dates with her and keeps trying to convince Gabriel that she’s great.

Gabriel can stop Adrien from kissing her, but Adrien is never going to give up on Marinette and I love that. Adrien is slowly getting better at standing up to his father, which is some great character development, because it is never easy to stand up to someone who abuses you.

The only scary thing is that we’ve seen how much harm Adrien is capable of causing when he’s angry. He loses his temper the slightest bit when he’s Cat Noir, he has no issue cataclysming the villain. It’s rather terrifying to think of what could happen if someone pushes Adrien over the edge.

[nobodyfamousposts]

I remember reading a post by @critical-thinking-is-mandatory a while back about how Lila would realistically be disliked by people because of how self centered she is even if they don't think she's lying.

With this logic, Adrien's public friendship with Chloe (a school wide bully) should have a lot of people side eyeing him, if not outright avoiding him all together.

What do you think?

That's a valid point, and one that I and I think a number of others have considered.

Origins played with it but not nearly enough. By all counts, when a bully comes in with their "celebrity best friend" and parade him around the way Chloe does, there would be a mix of people being put off by him being her friend as much as there would be people impressed by Chloe being his friend.

Honestly, it would have been a more interesting setup and added extra layers to the love square dynamics if they started off going from enemies to friends to lovers. Or at least slow down and not dive headfirst right into over the top crushing.

But in that case, it would likely work better as a reverse love square. Ladybug loves Chat who is Adrien who loves Marinette who is Ladybug. Have Marinette be someon who gives Adrien a chance which builds a friendship and starts up his crushing on her.

Otherwise it would just lead us back into cringe with Marinette crushing on Adrien despite having valid reason to not trust him for being Chloe's friend or potential boyfriend.

I'm fairly certain I pointed this out in another essay/critique/salt post that they completely missed out on a potential character arc for Adrien in having him actually ADJUSTING to public school. Having him struggling to make friends with his stigma both as a celebrity and as "Chloe's friend". The effects would be two-fold.

First, it would help the Adrien salters better sympathize with him. Yes, I know there's his horrible HORRIBLE father, but storywise, the "Gabriel sucks" angle doesn't really matter if Adrien isn't having to be the one to face that. In addition, he seems to have no trouble with acclimating to a public school and making friends. Heck, he's not making friends, people are jumping over themselves to make friends with HIM. Part of what makes people sympathize with characters is seeing them try and fail and just generally make an EFFORT for what they want. Turn that around. In the hands of competent writers, this would be a setup that would do that more for Adrien. We see that in some aspects with the manga where it has Nathaniel mistake Adrien as a snob who looks down on comics and him as an artist. It would have been great to see more like that with Adrien getting to know his classmates or being the focus through which we get to learn about the classmates since he is supposed to be the new boy.

Second, it would be a stepping stone/building block to the eventual confrontation with Gabriel—which yes, should happen. Building relationships and forming HEALTHY bonds really helps to understand when other ones you have are not. (COUGHCOUGHScarletLadyCOUGHCOUGH) They can help you gain strength and courage and build a new identity for yourself. They also give you support in dealing with major conflicts. They can help him form attachments that make him NOT so willing to jump in to join his father's craziness. And they can help him become a better hero in his own right.

I'm not saying make Adrien suffer and be friendless. Far from it!

I'm saying to USE this as a plot point to develop Adrien and give him focus and room to grow. Or at least a point that ISN'T just him being half of the endgame pairing and desired by everyone in the city.

Show Adrien try to interact with each of the classmates. Show how Adrien becomes friends with others. Show how he comes to care about people who aren't there just to give him what he wants or tie him to the plot.

And yes, this would inevitably also lead in to some changes for Chloe as well...for good or bad.

[starsfic]

Hollow Wedding: Reactions and Aftermath

Summary: People react and figure out what to do next after Kagami runs from the wedding.

“I can’t believe this,” Alya said.

That was the third time she said it.

“I can,” Nino said, leaning on his elbows and staring at the table with wide eyes. “I mean, I didn’t think about it, but five cancellations isn’t a coincidence, it’s a pattern.”

“But Adrien’s not like that!” Alya burst, staring at Marinette and Nino with wide eyes. She looked lost. Marinette wished she could throw her a line, but she was just as lost. “Adrien’s your best friend! And there were akumas too-”

“Not all the time,” Marinette pointed out. She wished she had a journal to track it. “Only about half of those cancellations were because of akumas.”

Alya blinked. “But Adrien’s not like that!” she repeated. “I mean, sometimes, he can be clueless, like with Lila, but he’s a good guy!” She stood up as if preparing to drag Kagami out of the bathroom where she was washing off the wedding. During the entire time at the juice bar, she had been staring at her. “She’s probably lying. You shouldn’t-”

“What would have happened if they got hurt?”

Alya blinked again, her anger dying down. “What?”

"What would have happened if Adrien or Kagami got hurt?" Marinette felt her fingers clench into the material of her skirt. She barely knew Kagami and had very negative feelings about Adrien at the moment, even more at the memory of Lila, but the thought of either one getting hurt made her feel sick. "Not even from an akuma, Paris is still a big busy city." She looked up and stared Alya down. "What would have happened?"

Nino spoke for her, his eyes horrified. "Gabriel would have blamed us."

"He would have ruined us, Alya," Marinette said with a nod. "And Adrien didn't care, if he even thought of us. He didn't think about us when Lila was around, so tell me, WHY ARE YOU STILL HUNG UP ON HIM?!" She didn't expect the scream her voice became, and based on Alya's wide eyes, neither did she.

"...I..." Alya closed her mouth, covering it as she thought. "I just..." She closed it again, sitting in silence. Marinette stayed silent as well. She could wait for years for Alya’s answer.

"I don't know," she finally admitted. "I honestly don't know. I should have moved on by now, you're right." She closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and held it. When she released, she opened her eyes. "I'm sorry, Marinette. You're right. I should have gotten over the idea of you guys dating a long time ago."

Marinette was tempted to forgive her, but she refused. This would be like a lot of other issues in their friendship, like the embarrassing Instagram pictures or Alya’s constantly going through Marinette’s things. It would take time.

“Yeah,” she said. She stood up then, brushing her hands on her skirt. And that suddenly reminded her that she was still wearing her fancy dress. “I’m going to go get changed and check on Kagami. Nino, I think you should tell Nathalie at least that Kagami’s staying the weekend.” She wouldn’t be surprised if Kagami left tomorrow morning, but saying “the weekend” would give her time to collect and consider her options.

Nino gave her finger guns. “Got it, dudette. Do you mind if I raid your fridge too?” He winced. “The food wasn’t great, and I’m still hungry.”

“Yeah,” Marinette said. “I have some frozen stuff, so if you guys want to do an appetizer spread, go ahead.”

She headed out of the kitchen, heading to her bedroom. The shower was silent, but she didn’t think about it as she opened the door.

Then her brain processed what she was looking at.

“SORRY-!” Marinette screeched as she slammed the door.

She stared at the door, her mind scrambling. What she had seen was Kagami’s pale skin gleaming, her lithe figure in the middle of pulling the shirt Marinette had laid out for her. Her hair curled freely at the ends, reminding her of her childhood crush on Joan of Arc.

The door opened.

“Sorry!” Marinette repeated, staring at Kagami. “I should have knocked-” The shirt she wore was made for Marinette, who tended to be on the thicker side, meaning that on Kagami’s slender body, it hung off, revealing a freckled shoulder. “I- I’m sorry. How are the clothes?”

Kagami didn’t take the out, though. “You have no need to apologize, this is your apartment.” She looked down and plucked at the shirt, which had an adorable hamster on it. “The clothes are comfortable. Thank you for giving me an outfit.”

“It’s no problem,” Marinette said, stepping around Kagami to step in. There was a stack of neatly folded clothes on her bed. The Miraculous Box was left untouched, thankfully. “I just wanted to let you know that Nino’s making some food and he’s also texting Nathalie to tell her that you’re staying the weekend. You don’t have to stay the weekend, but I figured Gabriel would give you that time-”

“I don’t mind staying for the weekend,” Kagami interrupted. Her hands began to fuss with the edge of the shirt. “Unless you mind?”

Huh. “No, I don’t,” Marinette said, grabbing some pajamas. “I know some of the girls want to get to know you more, and so do I.”

Kagami blinked and, for a second, a pleased smile flitted across her face before she turned, giving her privacy to change. “So do I,” she said. “For example, have you ever fenced?”

That brought up an old memory. “I wanted to,” she said. “At first, because like a lot of teenage girls, I wanted to whack things with a sword.” A snort made her look back, realizing that Kagami’s shoulders were shaking. “Then I got my crush with Adrien and- this is so stupid,” Marinette felt her hands rise to her face at the memory. “But there was a place free in his fencing class and my friends and I did this whole stupid scheme to get in it so I could spend time with Adrien.” “Did it work?”

“Nope,” Marinette admitted. “But Nora, Alya’s sister, heard us groaning about it and she got me into kickboxing.” She finished pulling up her shorts. “Looking back, I’m really glad that it didn’t work out, because I would have stabbed myself or someone else.” She sighed. “But I’m bummed that I never got into it.”

There was a long pause. “I could teach you,” Kagami offered. “I help at Adrien’s old fencing class, sometimes.”

Marinette’s heart, for some reason, skipped a beat. “You would do that?”

Kagami turned, giving a polite nod. “You have been so kind,” she said. “Letting me stay on your couch-”

“You don’t have to stay on the couch, I don’t mind sleeping there this weekend-”

Kagami held out a hand. “You are a wonderful person, Marinette,” she said, her tone thick with sincerity. “Spending time teaching you how to fence is nothing.”

Marinette nodded. “We can see if we can buy any equipment tomorrow?” she offered.

“That sounds wonderful.”

-_-

Adrien was pretty sure he was going to die.

Kagami had just walked into the hall, walked up to him, and told him they were divorcing. While he had been processing that, she had walked up to her mother. Whatever she said, Ms. Tsurugi was furious.

And now they sat around the dining table, staring at him.

“...Care to explain why you have another woman?” his father asked. “You and Kagami have been in love for a long time.”

“Well, not really?” He needed to be honest. Surely, they would understand. This wouldn’t be a repeat of Lila’s reveal. “I mean, Kagami’s a great person, but I don’t love her. She looks like my crush, so I needed to be honest with her.” He tried for a smile.

There was a long silence as both Ms. Tsurugi and his father stared at him. Adrien felt beats of sweat prickle up as he realized that he had said something wrong. What it was, he wasn’t sure, otherwise he would’ve fixed it.

Tsurugi finally stood.

“The marriage is being annulled,” she said, her tone broiling with anger. “Furthermore, I am pulling from our agreement.”

Oh shit.

His father stood up, his eyes wide and frantic. “What- but- You can’t, simply because my son is an idiot!”

Adrien flinched at the insult and the sudden chill in the air. Ms. Tsurugi spoke then, her words cool and calculated. “I am not pulling out because your son is an idiot. I am pulling out because you are an idiot, Gabriel.” His father sat down, and Adrien nearly checked his pulse. “You and your wife have made your son an idiot, and it shows.” She leaned forward. “What would happen the moment your son took control of your business, Gabriel?” Her nails screeched against the table. “It would have sunk because your son has no idea of the real world. You have willingly doomed your company and you wanted to tie my daughter to your sinking ship.”

His father gaped, but before he could say anything, Nathalie walked in. “Sir, madam, I have news about Miss Kagami’s whereabouts.”

“That’s great!” Adrien said. “Where is she?”

“She is with Miss Dupain-Cheng, Mr. Lahiffe, and Miss Cesaire, and will be spending the weekend with them.”

…wait.

“Mr. Lahiffe also took the time to inform me that you have been repeatedly cancelling events with your friends and Miss Kagami,” Nathalie said, folding her hands. “I was not aware of this, considering to my knowledge that during those times, you were out of the house and with your friends.”

Oh fuck. Oh, fuck.

Adrien had always intended to introduce Kagami to his friends, but stuff had happened. Akumas, his restricted schedule, trying to convince Ladybug to date him…eventually, it got to the point where he was pretty sure he could never introduce her because of this.

Fuck.

"So," Tsurugi said, straightening up and paying no attention to his crisis. "She's safe?"

Nathalie nodded. "While we have our thoughts about Mr. Lahiffe, Marinette Dupain-Cheng is one of Adrien's most trustworthy friends. She will take good care of Miss Kagami, I assure you."

Tsurugi nodded. "That is good to know. My lawyer will be here by tomorrow to settle matters." She turned to the door and walked out without another word, leaving the dining room in silence.

Adrien's relief at her gone disappeared when his father and Nathalie turned towards him. His father's shock was still there, but it was being covered by a cold veneer of rage. "What..." he started, gripping the table. "Were you thinking?"

"I just-" Adrien started, trying to think of an excuse. At first, it had just been the akuma attacks. Then he got the idea for the romantic picnic, and it seemed like the best way out. Nino and his friends knew his crazy schedule and his father didn't exactly think highly of Nino. "I, look..."

"Let me see your phone," his father said, holding out a hand. "Whoever you kept lying for deserves to know."

"No!" Adrien said, placing his hand over his pocket where the burner phone he kept for Ladybug was.

"I refuse to indulge you in this idiocy," his father snarled. "You have lied to everyone for over seven years. What would have happened if you or Miss Tsurugi had gotten hurt during one of your little games?!"

Adrien felt a scoff come out. "The cure would have fixed us."

A fist slammed down and the table cracked. "THERE IS MORE DANGER THAN AKUMA ATTACKS!" his father roared, and Adrien felt himself shrink back. He had never seen his father so angry before. He had heard him throw things out of anger once, back when he stole that book, but seeing the fire in his eyes was different. "WHAT IF YOU HAD GOTTEN MUGGED?! KIDNAPPED?! MURDERED?!"

Nathalie stepped forward as his father panted. "You don't know this since I screened your mail, but there are quite a few of your fans who have spoken about stalking you and murdering you so nobody else could have you," she said. She wasn't serious, right? Adrien felt his doubt die as she stared him down. "I would have expected Lila Rossi's behavior to have made you understand."

That was a low blow.

"So," his father said, leaning back. "Give. Me. The Phone."

Adrien felt his hand move on his own, pulling the burner phone out. He could just send out a mental prayer that they never used their hero names. The moment it hit his father's palm, there was a soft chirpy ding!

Adrien immediately lunged for it, but his father was already opening it up. His eyes scanned the texts, and his anger grew more visible. “She…” Gabriel closed the phone and let out a hiss of air. “Are you sure you two are friends?”

“Ye- Yes?” Of course, he and Ladybug were friends.

Gabriel handed the phone over. “Friends don’t treat each other like that,” he said, his voice cooling. He slumped over, massaging his eyes. “I can’t believe…” Without finishing his sentence, he stood up and walked out of the room. Nathalie followed him out, giving Adrien a look that was hard to decipher.

Adrien looked at the text. Logically, he needed to talk to Nino and try to figure things out there, but it was Ladybug. His friends could wait, his lady couldn’t.

BugOut: I really hope you were joking about waiting for me to crash your wedding, because that is fucking unfair to your partner. I just found out my friend has been dragging his fiancee on for years now.

BugOut: If you’re really like that, I’m so disappointed in you.

The screen went dark.

-_-

Kagami settled into the couch with a sigh, drawing the soft red sheets around her.

The furniture at Adrien’s home had always been stiff and uncomfortable, like Gabriel Agreste. If there was anything she had loved about Adrien, it was that he tried to make it gentler sometimes.

Here, the couch was warm. It was a touch bumpy, with some stains here and there, but it felt alive. Earlier, Nino and Marinette had battled in a video game, jostling and teasing each other, Alya encouraging them as Kagami watched, filling the room with life. The pajamas she wore were unlike the red silk she wore usually, but if she focused, she was sure she could smell Marinette.

You’re really pretty.

Her face warmed at the memory, with Marinette’s cheeks pink and a little unsure smile on her face. Adrien had blushed before at her, yes, but now Kagami wondered if it was truly at her. She wondered if he was seeing his other girl then.

…did it matter?

Kagami shook her head. No, it didn’t. Right now, she was sitting in a place that was warmer than anything else. The windows glimmered with Paris’s lights. Tomorrow, she and Marinette would meet up with the rest of Adrien’s “friends”, giving Kagami the chance to make friends that Adrien had denied her, and buy fencing gear. By next week, hopefully, she and Marinette would have their first friendly match.

Her mind created the image of Marinette pulling a fencing mask off, smiling at her.

She couldn’t wait.

[sweetcloverheart]

Clover Rants Miraculously: Unearned Defeat

Maybe it's the bitter Chloe Stan in me, but I genuinely do hate how her (And Lila's, frankly) "Downfall" in S5 was never actually about her bullying victims coming together as a community/group to finally stand up for themselves, but about the writers taking every opportunity possible to mock her (and her fans indirectly) because they were that desperate to get the audience onboard with her constant on-screen ridicule. Marinette wasn't allowed to actually stand up for herself against her, to get others to stand up for themselves, to get the class and their teachers to put their feet down in face of her cruelty and commands and finally say "No. I don't care if you're going to call your dad down to have me fired/expelled/exiled. I'm noting doing what you asked. I refuse to buckle under your threats anymore. The answer is no."

Instead, it's 27 episodes (and two specials) of "Isn't Chloe so stupid and dumb? Look at how stupid and dumb she is! She's too dumb to tell Felix and Adrien apart despite being their friend for years. She's too dumb to hide the fact that she hasn't been doing her own homework since Primary. She's too dumb to know Gabriel's tricking her into taking over Paris. She can't even spell 'Democracy' or scheme without Lila needing to hold her hand! What a moron, am I right?". Her friendship with Adrien gets ended over a randomly inserted event from a year ago rather than her steadily growing toxicity that's clearly changed her from the girl he befriended years before, just so Chloe can rant and rave about how evil (and stupid) she is, too much so to even apologize. Sabrina gets downgraded from friend/lackey to punchingbag/slave with nearly zero explanation on how the transition happened, before suddenly being inserted with morals during a scheme (when the upset's clearly more about her being upstaged by Lila) when she barely showed any remorse/reluctance before now and throwing Chloe under the bus to save herself under the excuse of "redeeming herself" to prove further that Chloe is too dumb and stupid to appreciate her friends. Her father, who constantly indulged her whims and turned the whole city upsidedown in her name even when unasked, calls her "Selfish and heartless" to a close friend, and barely reflects on how he might of had a hand in how that came to be, before tossing her to her neglectful mother as a "they deserve each other" punishment for her stupidity and evil. An entirely new character is introduced specifically to talk about how evil and stupid Chloe is and blaming her for her expulsion before getting casually tossed aside. An evil version of Marinette's existence is all but directly blamed on Chloe's bullying rather than the post-apocalyptic villainous dictatorship she lives under that forbids helping people, and even then, nothing comes of the mention as it just exist to remind the audience that Chloe is evil and stupid - even in alternate universes. We dedicated a section of the London special on how Chloe's too evil and stupid to change just to have it there (instead of actual being in London so the episode name would make some sense). Her defeat doesn't come from a clever plan, or the power of cooperation, or even love in the face of difficulty - instead, it comes from spyware and the heroes deciding "Nuhuh" as their transformation timers run out and the narrative shrugging before giving them a freebie by claiming they've "Grown up" without explaining how.

Even when Marinette is finally given the chance to shut Chloe down, it just...rings hollow, because it more about making Chloe look foolish and letting us laugh at her tears than making Marinette seem strong for finally standing up to the girl who's apparently tormented her since they were in diapers and yet somehow she's been beating the blonde down for the past 2-4 seasons with minimum effort. And even, it feels unearned because not only has Marinette not been allowed to build up to her defeat of Chloe to this point, she isn't the one who took her down anyways - convenience did the job for her and she just showed up at the right time to reap the benefits.

Marinette and all the people Chloe hurt should have been given this chance to grow and finally get back their agency from her, to finally defeat Chloe on their own - but instead, they're made passive players and props to the writers personal hit pieces against the loud fan minority on twitter, because a group of adults decided their personal hateboner against the fictional child antagonist they created was far more important than the story they were supposed to tell

[ilikekidsshows]

I think for me at least the difference between Adrien’s problematic behavior (harassing Ladybug even after she’s rejected him several times and even something like telling Marinette to take the high road regarding Lila which I know got him a lot of flack with the fandom) and Marinette’s behavior is that we actually see Adrien growing past said behavior. He does eventually move on from Ladybug and come to be happy being just a good friend and partner to her. (Sure it’s partly because he ‘falls’ for Marinette but we’ll not get into that here). He also realizes he was wrong about the Lila thing and actually threatens her to get her to fix what she did to Marinette in that one episode and tries to tell Alya and Nino the truth about her.

Meanwhile Marinette not only gets worse over time but the show bends over backwards to try and justify said bad behavior nor does she ever receive any real consequences for it.

For me that’s a large part of why I’m okay with Adrien’s bad behavior and not Marinette’s and I don’t think the two can really be fairly compared due to such circumstances and the way the show handled both of them.

---

Yeah, like, the writers also eventually made Cat Noir take responsibility for all of Paris thinking he and Ladybug are a couple and they made Adrien take responsibility for everything done against Lila, be it not confronting her directly or confronting her directly, since he actually makes comments on both approaches that can be taken as apologies. Adrien doesn't just apologize and “clean up his act”, he takes full responsibility over others’ similar actions as well. Even before this, though, Adrien's faults weren't treated the same as Marinette's. Whenever Ladybug told him his flirting was too much, she was presented as the one whose feelings on the matter mattered the most and Cat Noir respected her no and backed down every time. He also valued her friendship even before he stopped loving her. Meanwhile, Marinette stopping her stalking of Adrien wasn't even fully stopping and she was shown as frustrated about it while making excuses over how she was totally justified. Her feelings over the stalking were given focus, but we never learn how Adrien feels about it. She also never valued Adrien’s friendship, calling it the “worst thing ever”. The Lila thing Adrien was right about, actually, I will die on that hill. The writers can’t even remember what Adrien said about Lila, since he makes contradictory statements about her.

As you said, Marinette's behavior keeps getting worse but she keeps getting validated. Even the abuse apologia has already been validated by both Tikki and Bunnix in the London special. They treat it as a morally equal option to not doing what she did and they also shrink what Marinette did (abuse apologia) into just “not telling the truth” (they don't even call it “lying”) to make it seem even more like she hasn't done anything too bad. Alix also frames the whole thing in a way where she's only focused on consequences, saying being truthful would have also have painful consequences. They're downplaying the heck out of what Marinette's done wrong, so, when that's combined with how her other flaws are viewed as 100% okay or nonexistent, I just can't see this as an arc where Marinette learns anything, instead of it ending with Marinette crying about what a terrible person she is again while being instantly forgiven, if she gets confronted with this being a mistake at all.

So, let's compare and contrast:

Adrien makes a mistake: takes full responsibility, doesn't make excuses, focuses on the feelings of the wronged party

Marinette makes a mistake: makes excuses, screams and cries about how bad she's feeling until she gets coddled, talks over the wronged party

The writers are so consistent about ignoring anything Marinette does wrong or having her get instantly validated for her mistakes that I have no faith in her villain arc actually being anything close to one instead of of it just being a way to make Marinette the one who suffers the most from Gabriel's death and her “not telling the truth”.

[flightfoot]

I saw someone refer to the fics that came out where Chat finds out about Ladybug telling Alya her identity in Gang of Secrets and gets upset about it as "saltfics" and... I guess? You could consider any of the "Adrien finds out that Ladybug lied about how Gabriel died and/or that he's a sentimonster and she didn't tell him and gets upset about it" fics to be saltfics as well, if you're defining saltfics to mean "any fic that criticizes a character's actions." Which WAS what it was taken to mean when it first started being used.

Thing is, when I use it, that's not what I mean? Just to be clear, criticizing and analyzing a character's actions, and even being negative towards them as a result, is generally okay in my book. When I say that I hate saltfics, I'm more talking about Ron the Death Eater stuff.

Like for me, what I have a problem with is more fics that

A. Criticize characters for shit they never did. Like having Alya ostracize Marinette, outright try to bully her, fics that make Adrien tell Marinette not to make a scene even when Lila's clearly maliciously, intentionally hurting Marinette right in front of him (as opposed to that possibly being just collateral damage of a non-malicious lie), stuff that didn't canonically happen, you know?

B. Inflict disproportionate retribution for things the characters did, whether it's canonical or not. A fic may only be criticizing Alya for asking for evidence that Lila's a liar or is at fault for something before jumping to conclusions, but if Marinette's response to that reasonable request is to cut off her friendship and revoke her miraculous, then that's still very salty.

But yeah. The vast majority of "Adrien gets upset with Ladybug for hiding things from him" fics don't qualify as saltfics by my own personal metric, because most of them are only faulting Ladybug for things she actually canonically did, and usually have a pretty proportionate response - especially for season 5 aftermath fics. Lying about to your boyfriend about how his father died, what kind of person he was, and not telling him he's a sentimonster IS fair reason to be angry.

I generally like fics to still have them make up, but I don't like putting those fics on the same level as the "Alya leads the class in beating up Marinette and yelling insults at her while Adrien just ignores her cries for help even while she's being physically hurt" fics, they're on such WILDLY different levels that it's comical.

[ijustliketoreadstuff]

Kagami couldn't break away.

Knowing now that Kagami was a senti all along, who's amok Felix could sense was also tied to her own family's ring, makes the conversation they had later on during the Diamonds dance all the more important about Kagami and how she had lived her life, unaware of the true level of control her mother had over her growing up. 

(As holder of the peacock miraculous, Felix can sense amoks in his civilian form, Nathalie experienced this as well back in "Feast" when she sensed the amok of the petrified Feast senti at the museum.)

Seeing as it took Felix years before he finally realized his life was tied to the ring his father wore and how that same ring was being used to control him, its no wonder Felix looked so troubled as he stared at Kagami's ring all the while he heard her talk about how people in her family choose to obey orders, he knew Kagami was not aware that her choice to obey, was never her choice to begin with.

In "Protection", Tomoe said she deemed Kagami so perfect, she didn't need to control her, basically revealing that she only gave Kagami the ring that contained her amok, because Kagami was conditioned to obey even without the ring in her mothers possession. This is of course saddening for Kagami, because for much of her life, she did not wield the ring containing her amok, Tomoe did. Tomoe had already made it very obvious throughout the series that she had ensured Kagami would not stray from the path in life that was already decided for her, she was conditioned to never do anything without her mothers permission even after being given the ring that could directly control her.

There was never any need for Tomoe to believe Kagami would stray away from her mothers expectations, because Kagami was well aware she needed to uphold her title as the perfect daughter and only heiress to the Tsurugi family, one her mother would approve of to carry on their family legacy.

( Tomoe is not afraid to show her immense disapproval over Kagami's sense of free will)

Kagami never questioned her willingness to obey the orders her mother gave her over the years, because her mother made it seem like she was entirely in control of deciding for herself if she wanted to abide by the orders given to her, because doing so meant she was just carrying on the traditions their ancestors expected their descendants to uphold, but such tradition only wound up pressuring Kagami to stray away from a life she wanted to choose for herself.

Although Kagami had gradually begun to realize that her family's way of life was making her miserable and that the beliefs she was expected to carry on were not very morally correct, she had yet to talk to her mother about her disapproval over much of what their family stood for. The few times Kagami had talked to her mother, only ever wound up leaving her too timid to directly question her mothers authority, but left her thinking nonetheless how much her mother's words felt wrong to abide by. Kagami is normally not afraid to speak her mind to others, but in her mothers presence, that courage falls silent the moment she is at risk of facing the consequence of her mothers disappointment.

(When Kagami tried to talk to Tomoe over the matters of making new friends in "Ikari Gozen", Kagami said nothing over her mothers final word that friendships would only prove to be disappointing later, words she held onto and even believed were true for a moment when she thought Marinette never actually consider her a friend in "Perfection")

( When Kagami tried to explain her reasoning for not getting back together with Adrien in "Protection", Kagami remained silent as her mother instructed her to end her friendship with Marinette in order to take Adrien back, words she was not willing to obey due to her love and respect for Marinette, but later became willing to consider when Lila convinced her Marinette manipulated her so as to steal Adrien from her.)

Kagami was not yet made aware that she was a senti who could be controlled through her family's ring, but seeing as Kagami is at times willing to take delight in disobeying her mother, so she could do the little things she wanted to do in secret, even showing delight over Felix's(disguised as Adrien) suggestion to leave the Diamonds dance, despite the possibility of it angering her mother and Gabriel, makes it obvious there has always been a part of Kagami that wanted to break away from everything her mother continued to use against her to keep her under control, she just didn't know how to do it without her mother enforcing the idea that she had brought shame onto their family name by choosing her own feelings.

Kagami would often times find herself lying to her mom to obtain brief moments of freedom, but it was that one conversation with Felix(disguised as Adrien) in "Emotion", that finally made her realize that as much as she talked about not letting others pull the strings of their lives, it was she who was not yet willing to accept that she was not as in control of her own life as she wanted to believe.

(Back in "Risk", Kagami was angered over Adrien continuing to let others control his life, doing everything others told him to do without question, like a puppet, and not taking the risk to put an end to it all by cutting his strings and taking back control of his own life, all the while not yet realizing that she was living the same struggle with her mother. Kagami wanted to cut her own strings, but couldn't.)

(Even without the ring, Tomoe is able to keep a strong level of control over Kagami by enforcing the traditions of their family.)

Despite having the free will to choose when and where she could pretend to be her mom's puppet, to be the perfectly obedient daughter her mom expected her to be, Tomoe's sense of control still loomed over Kagami no matter where she was or what she wanted to do.

(As excited as Kagami was over the idea of leaving the dance with Adrien(Felix), Kagami realizes that displeasing her mother was all she could prioritize, proving to Felix, as well as herself, that she was not as free to make her own choices as she claimed)

The only time Kagami felt some sense of freedom in making her own decisions, was when she knew her mother was not around. Of course this never meant she wanted her mother to quite literally disappear off the face of the earth as part of Felix's plan to free her and Adrien from their parents control, through the use of a red moon that would allow Felix to make anyone disappear, but she did have to face the reality that she needed to confront her mother if she ever wanted to break away from such control.

Kagami was already well aware of how disapproving her mom would be over hearing her daughter go against everything that was expected of her and was raised to believe, but if fulfilling her mothers expectations meant she had to give up the freedom of experiencing what little happiness she had in her life while living in Paris, then she had to try to take the risk of changing things.

(Kagami decides to follow Marinette and Adrien's choice to confront Gabriel, and decides to confront her mother about the level of control she has over her life, knowing fully well it would not be an easy task, but was something she had to try and do for herself if she was ever to regain some level of freedom in deciding her own future just like Felix said)

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Why do you think they don't show Marinette comforting other characters? It's always been a weird writing decision to me, and I sometimes wondered if I was legit just erasing all the times it happened out of my memory or smth. Like the first character trait established for her is she struggles to say no to people, she is a people-pleaser. And there isn't a better way to make ur mc lovable than showing how they effect the people around them. AND it would make her breakdowns genuinely heartbreaking, because she keeps giving and giving and it's a genuine flaw. Like, she rushed off to comfort Ivan in Origins, right? We should have had more of that. I'm reminded of that one Lady Wifi (i think?) scene where Ladybug is smiling at her adoring fans and the camera while Chat Noir is in the background actually comforting a child lmao. It just feels so weird, because I think Marinette IS actually supposed to be someone who does that, who provides that comfort to her loved ones all the time (even at the cost of her own mental health, boom, an actual thing she can work towards). But we just keep getting the reverse instead. She just kinda feels like a shit friend? Showing that emotional labor would also make her exhaustion work because like, what does the guardian even DO? Tell not show, but they ain't telling shit.

One of the things that drew me to Miraculous is the fact that the show tends to write the characters in non-standard gender roles, so I actually like the fact that Marinette tends to be more of a fixer than a comforter. She drives people to action and wants to solve problems and is very good at taking the weight of the world on her shoulders, but she kind of sucks at emotional vulnerability and comforting people. It's genuinely a good flaw for her character and a lovely thing to see in a show aimed at girls. No, we don't all need to be stereotypically maternal figures. Women can be just as bad as men stereotypically are when it comes to emotions!

The problem is that the show is obsessed with Marinette holding every important role in the story, meaning that we don't get a more emotionally aware character or characters to balance her out. Nor do we get to see her learn that this is a flaw of hers and either improve or just own that she's bad at this and learn to trust someone else with these types of issues. (This is one of the many things I think Adrien should have been allowed to do, btw. Ladybug is the brains, Chat Noir should be the heart.) We also don't get a true sense of Marinette's struggles because the show's formulaic nature rarely allows for those types of problems.

The Lila thing is a good example. Lila says that she's going to destroy Marinette's friendships, but she literally can't do that because that would mean changing the way the characters relate on a massive scale and formula shows can't do that. So instead of seeing Marinette struggle as Lila lies and manipulates everyone into hating Marinette, we get extremely annoying episodes where Lila lies and everyone believes her, but no one gets all that upset at Marinette's constant accusations. They just treat it as a minor quibble which is actually more aggravating than Lila changing the status quo in my opinion.

There's also the issue that you brought up: we don't see Marinette truly struggling to be the guardian, so her new role doesn't feel like a big deal. Not much changes for her save for the kwamis being around now. We don't even know what her relationship with Master Fu was really like because he was barely ever on screen so we really don't feel her loss.

All of this is just another problem to lay at the feat of our ever-present issue: Miraculous does not have the right conflicts and characters for a formula show. Formula shows thrive off of things being lighthearted and the heroes lacking major flaws. Miraculous chose to make things somewhat serious and give everyone flaws that are just begging to be address, but that can't be because this is the wrong format for that type of thing.

In a team show where character arcs were a thing or even just one where character dynamics were a thing and Marinette was allowed to share the screen in a more balanced manner, then everything about her would work fine. She's set up perfectly for that kind of show. She is not set up for a formula show where she's basically the only character that matters outside of the villains. If that's what they wanted to write, then Marinette needed to be limited to minor flaws that never last more than an episode or at least limited to flaws that are purely situational such as being stubborn or the classic sudo-flaw of being clumsy that the show already embraces.

[ninadove]

Hey. Hey you.

Watch this scene again — really watch it this time.

Did you catch it? It’s subtle but also not at all. This is a scene about manipulation, but the real culprit is not who you think it is.

Lila’s objective is to isolate Marinette, as she herself points out as soon as the call cuts off:

“Soon, you’ll have no one left, Marinette. Soon, you’ll have nothing.

Of course, that means hurting Kagami, which she has no problem with; but it’s not her goal. In fact, she’d much rather love-bomb her and keep her around to further her plans, like she later tries to do in Protection and Emotion:

“Someone as amazing as you deserves a more considerate friend, and… I’d be honoured to be that friend!”

But Kagami does not respond well to that offer: she hangs up on Lila and retreats into herself. Her decision to cut off ties is her own.

OR IS IT?

“If I couldn’t be a friend to Marinette, I can’t be a friend to you either. Someone as imperfect as me doesn’t deserve anyone. Forget about me, Lila — the only thing I’m worthy of is solitude.”

Pay attention to the language she uses here. Those are the same words we constantly find in her mother’s mouth! The same unbearable pressure and self-loathing Kagami has been shown to struggle with ever since her debut!

“What’s the point? You won. There’s no such thing as a second chance in my family. Goodbye.”

Notice how the animators zoomed in on her amok right before this line. Notice how she immediately retreats into that blasted car, the literal embodiment of her mother’s control, and discards not only the offer of a decisive match but a chance to connect with like-minded kids at the fencing club. Kagami has been rejected so many times due to her perceived “imperfections” that she isolates herself before she can be hurt again.

So instead of following her own advice and “changing targets” — moving on from Marinette to Lila — she deletes both of their contacts. Until only one person is left:

Tomoe lingers on her screen and on ours, because she has made it so. Her own teachings have ensured her daughter has no one to turn to but her.

This is a scene about manipulation. But it’s not about Lila.

PS: There is something to be said about:

“Someone as imperfect as me doesn’t deserve anyone.”

and how this wording would typically be used to refer to romantic partners — especially given Kagami’s practically canon crush on Mari. Despite gaining many new friends by the end of Perfection, our girl gets akumatised again in Protection, and continues to follow her mother’s orders until Pretension — driving the point home that friendship, while a huge step for her, is not what she truly craves.

It is only when someone shows romantic interest in her that she very literally cuts her mother’s strings and is granted genuine control over her life:

She is!!! Everything!!! THEY ARE!!!!! EVERYTHING!!!!!