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talltoontales · 6 months

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// Kung Fu Panda 4 Rewrite \\

PROMPT: Kung Fu Panda 4 felt a little lacking, wanted to try my hand at maybe making it better.

PROMPT BY: Me (ToonMan)

STARTED WRITING: 03/29/2024

Alright, Ground Rules:

Jack Black’s cover of “One More Time” by Britany Spears is amazing, and I will not argue otherwise.

This rewrite is coming from my enjoyment of the series, not just bashing a “bad movie” for the sake of bashing. So, if you’re just here to hate, you’re in the wrong place.

I’m not a professional writer. I only started writing semi-consistently this year. So, take this rewrite with a massive grain of salt.

To make this whole process easier on me, no world-shattering changes.

Zhen’s still gonna be chosen to be Po’s successor

No Furious Five for most of the movie

No killing or reviving characters that don’t originally die or return.

We good? Good. Now, let’s get this party started!

/////

So, the opening fight doesn’t need to change much, save for one thing. Tigress fights alongside Po. Seeing that she’s the only member of the Furious Five to get any development in these movies and has the most chemistry with Po, it makes sense. The two beat…whoever Po fought in the intro (I think it was a stingray that could fly) and have a short dialog after explaining that Tigress, along with the rest of The Five, have moved on from being warriors and transitioned into being teachers/masters of their respective styles.

SIDE NOTE #1: I know that Po and The Five are already masters, but in my head, master sounds like a better term for “teacher” than sensei.

I like this better than having The Five be “on a mission” or whatever excuse was used to keep them from helping Po in this movie. Also, seeing that the main lesson Po needs to learn by the end is to move on from being a warrior, having The Five, his long-time heroes, retire around him helps get that ball rolling.

Po is honestly excited for Tigress and offers to support her however she needs it, just like he does with the rest of The Five. However, Tigress uses this moment to, not so subtly, ask if Po has any plans on doing the same. Po gives a vague, jokey answer before the two walk off into the title screen.

\\\\\

Back in the Valley of Peace, everybody’s celebrating Po at his dads’ noodle shop, but the celebration is interrupted by Shifu summoning Po to the Jade Place.

SIDE NOTE #2: Let me just take this moment to say that while their scenes in the movie do basically nothing for the plot, Ping and Li deserve a short or web series or something. They were seriously a joy to watch every time they were on screen together. #CoParentingGoals

First major change is why Po needs to become a master:

“As the world moves on, so must we. As to stand still is to be left and lost to time.”

Right now, Po is at the top of his game. He’s mastered Kung Fu, led and kinda trained The Five, found inner peace, beaten General Kai, and mastered Ki. However, there will come a day when Po faces a foe he cannot beat, a foe that can challenge Po in a way that he can’t adapt to, as Tai Lung did to Shifu or Kai to Master Ooguay.

Those who become Masters don’t do so because they’re past their prime; they do so because they know the world in which they thrived is coming to an end, and in the new world that follows, their wisdom becomes more needed than their fists. To lose such wisdom could be detrimental to the next generation of heroes. Of course, Po denies that he has any real wisdom to give (aside from food), only seeing his value as the Dragon Warrior. However, Shifu has never been a patient man.

The next day, Po is just messing around the palace when four warriors (No Mr. Beast Pig) attack him. During the fight, Po mocks his would-be assassins by pointing out all their errors. Shifu then stops the fight, explaining that this was a test to prove that Po is more than ready to be a master and to introduce Shifu’s candidates for the new Dragon Warrior.

Still firmly in denial, Po and Shifu go through the Peach Tree Scene the exact same way. The only difference being that when Po notices Zhen breaking in, he thinks she’s another candidate who was late or something.

A broad change I’d make that I can’t really put in writing is just to put a pinch more focus on the fight scene. KFP4 had the most out of the series at seven, but they all felt like an afterthought.

To make Zhen a bit more unique, she’s more of a “fight your surroundings” kind of fighter. She’s never standing still, never uses the same weapon more than twice, and never really fights head-on. Po can claim that she’s not fighting fair, which she’ll laugh at before he locks in and captures her. This fight being short is expected because Po is a Kung Fu legend and should have no problem taking down a random thief.

SIDE NOTE #3: Totally a personal opinion, but did bother anyone else that they named the fox Zhen? Not that the name was bad or anything, but we already have Lord Shen and those names are waaaay too similar…You know what, here’s another change. Zhen is now Vox.

Fast-forward a bit, and the two are now traveling together. Po explains how the Staff of Wisdom can’t be stolen; it must be given, and Po shows Vox genuine kindness and generosity. Vox thinks it’s some kind of long con but accepts it anyway.

The Friendly Bunny goes about the same as it did with Vox being the loot goblin she is, but I don’t want this to be an actual fight. It’s more like Po trying to keep the situation under control. Keep Vox from stealing, protect Vox, protect the helmsman, protect the bunnies, and keep the entire restaurant from falling over.

Instead of getting knocked out of the restaurant like a fool, Po uses his weight to force the patrons away from the exit, and with a mighty leap, Po exits the Friendly Bunny with Vox, the Helmsman, and the bunnies and lands on the boat like a boss. While sailing to Juniper City, Po talks about his dads, but Vox doesn’t share her backstory. Instead, mentioning how the Bunnies were safer at the restaurant.

Introducing the Chameleon and Entering Juniper City goes about the same except that Po and Vox get caught because Vox keeps casually stealing, which she does undetected, but the police only notice when Po is trying to return the stolen goods.

In the Thieves’ Den, Vox isn’t hated, but the vibe is still the same. Everyone casually messing with/ stealing from/ hurting everyone else. They find Han, who says something to the effect of “never thought I’d be seeing you again,” gives them a map of the chameleon’s temple and the scene goes on as usual from there.

/////

Alright, time for a BIG change: The Chameleon’s Motivation/ Plan/ New Name

Every other villain in the Kung Fu Panda movies has an actual name, and if I had the power, Chameleon would be named Tai Zhi for reasons that are probably obvious now but will be explained later.

Tai Zhi’s new backstory is that she was bullied, and all she could do was hide, just camouflage, no shapeshifting yet. Until one day, she learned about Kung Fu. Tai Zhi would find a master, they’d train her for a little bit, then they’d sense how evil she was and kick her out before she could learn anything actually dangerous. She then found a dark master in hopes their similar moral alignment would convince him to train her. Instead, he was the first master who refused her outright, verbally destroying her before threatening her to leave.

Tai Zhi then turned to sorcery for her claim to power but could never let go of Kung Fu. So, she found a way to open a door to the spirit realm, but there was a catch. Equivalent exchange, she’d kidnap citizens of Juniper City and sacrifice them to the spirit realm and get a D+ spirit at best in return. To get around this, she’d need the Staff of Wisdom, and she could get anyone she wanted, no matter how strong.

SIDE NOTE #4: Tai Zhi isn’t collecting the money from the mob bosses for any particular reason. It’s just a power flex. I assume she needed the gold and stuff for her cages, but they never made that clear in the original move. Plus, why would she buy the metal when she can just steal it.

\\\\\

Vox finds Po practicing Kung Fu, and Po offers to teach her. Vox doesn’t believe him, but Po reassures her he’s being 100% honest. He teaches her some basic stuff, and she picks it up pretty fast, and when she doesn’t, Po incorporates what he’s seen Vox do into his lesson. This all leads to a short spar where Vox almost beats Po but gets cocky and loses to a good ole’ fashion belly gong.

Vox questions why Po does what he does: He offers a thief a cookie, saves those who want to kill him, and teaches a thief his own moves. Po opens up about how Oogway chosing him to be the Dragon Warrior changed his life for the better. He’s made friends across all of China, found his biological dad and his people, and saved China at least three times—all just because of one moment.

Because of that, Po believes everyone deserves the same chance, no matter who they are. Those words visibly touch Vox as she almost reveals her big secret before the two are kicked out of the Thieves Den. Po and Vox sneak into Tai Zhi’s lair, and things go about the same. Now for how Tai Zhi met Vox…

Vox had been a thief well into her adult years, and a really good one, but she was tired of stealing, tired of watching over her back every second, tired of not being able to walk the city streets without seeing her face on a wanted poster. Vox wanted a new start where no one would know who she was. The problem was that most people in Juniper City were pretty poor, even the mob bosses, and Vox didn’t feel comfortable forcing someone else into poverty. So, the choice was simple: steal from Tai Zhi. Even one gemstone from her temple would set her up for life.

At the same time, Tai Zhi needed to steal the Staff of Wisdom from the Dragon Warrior, but due to all the stories she’d heard during her research, she didn’t want to risk taking him head-on. She needed a thief, and it just so happens that she knows about the best thief in the city. Tai Zhi sets up a fancy trap to bait Vox, who sees it, knows it’s a trap, but falls for it anyway. However, Vox manages to escape without a scratch until the artifact she stole is revealed to be Tai Zhi in disguise.

Tai Zhi marks Vox with a tracking spell, and while Tai Zhi could care less about Vox, there’s a pretty big bounty on her head. Not to mention, she’s stolen from some pretty powerful people who don’t really care about the reward. All Vox had to do was bring the Dragon Warrior to Tai Zhi, and she’d not only lift the curse but also let Vox take whatever she needed to disappear.

SIDE NOTE #5: I’d have Vox always scratching her neck because that’s where Tai Zhi marked her. She’d just play it off as if she had a flea problem.

Now, I don’t hate the “Villain raises a child to betray the hero” thing. It just doesn’t hit the same in the movie. We’re not given enough time to feel Vox and Po bond in the original movie. Also, if you’re like me and are unable to not analyze movies while watching them, you noticed almost immediately the aztech-esq earring Vox wore and figured out the twist.

Plus, I feel like having Vox be a reluctant thief just trying to get out of the game makes it a little easier to explain how she can betray the Tai Zhi in the end.

Now, I obviously cut the amazing Ping and Li scenes so how does Po not fall to his Death? The answer is simple: watch the Po vs Tai Lung fight again.

Seriously, go watch it. I’ll wait.

…

Done? Pretty awesome, right?!

Anyway, we can have Po swing from tree branches while fighting the lizard soldiers until he hits solid ground, or we can re-do KFP2 and have him fall into a river or large body of water. Back at the temple, Tai Zhi and Vox go through with the ceremony, and we’re keeping the bit about the blood moon—it’s honestly the funniest joke in the entire movie! Now, for the big reveal I set up a while back.

/////

Tai Zhi summons Tai Lung from the spirit realm and calls him “Master.” Before he was freed in KFP1, Zhi broke into Chorn-Gom Prison to free Tai Lung in exchange for training. Instead, Tai Lung verbally destroys her, insulted that Zhi would ever believe he needed her help. Maybe even have him almost brute force his way through his restraints just to scare her.

After Tai Lung’s death, Zhi took the “Tai” part of his name to never forget how weak and powerless Tai Lung made her feel. She steals Tai Lung’s skills and proceeds to wail on the guy, maybe even paying homage to the end of the Tai Lung vs Shifu fight, before throwing him into a cage.

Tai Zhi then releases Vox from the tracking spell and gives her a choice:

“Stay by my side and witness my rule or help yourself to however much treasure you can hold, find the farthest, darkest corner of the planet, and pray I overlook you.”

Then we cut back to Po at the bottom of the temple for the Po vs Vox scene. The only change I’d make here is just making the fight longer, showing off how much Vox has learned on this journey as well as how outclassed she is compared to Po.

Vox reveals that she is gonna to run away, and wants Po to come with her to help save as many people as they can. Po refuses but is proud of Vox and her mission, saying that if he can’t beat Tai Zhi, he’ll buy as much time as he can for Vox to escape with her people.

While Po goes Assassin’s Creed on the temple guards, Vox returns to the thieves' den and tries to convince the criminals to do the right thing because “it’s the right thing to do.” When that fails, she reminds them that if Tai Zhi is taken down, they can loot all the treasure stored in her temple.

\\\\\

As the army of thieves goes to war with the temple guards, Vox sneaks in after Po. Inside, Po sneaks around as Tai Zhi fights General Kai, noticing other warriors and Lord Shen. He’s then stopped by Tai Lung, who’s disappointed in Po and remarks how Oogway may have been wrong in the end.

Kai loses and is thrown in a cage as Po makes his dramatic entrance. Tai Zhi gives the staff back and does her “you and I aren’t so different” monolog, which Po acknowledges. There’s a possibility he could have ended up like Tai Zhi if he never became the dragon warrior (Throw in one of his villains laughing in disbelief), so he offers Tai Zhi a chance to be better than the villain she is now, to learn from him.

Tai Zhi then proceeds to mock Lord Shen, General Kai, and Tai Lung about how Po stopped all of them from achieving their goals. The mocks Po, claiming that for all the good he did, for all his adventures, no one in Juniper City and beyond has ever heard about him and that once she’s done with him, Po will become what he was always meant to be, nothing.

-OR-

Have Tai Zhi call Po weak because he needed a master to make him the Dragon Warrior. Just to have the line, “Alone I mastered magic, took over the entire criminal empire of Juniper City, defeated all of your greatest enemy and treasured masters, I am my own master!”

Now, something about the original Po vs Tai Zhi fight bothered me. Across three movies, over and over again, there’s always a moment where Po gets to nerd out over Kung Fu legends and flex his knowledge. He even figured out the Wuxi Finger Hold on his own. Yet, he’s going one on one with the ultimate echo fighter of those same warriors and his knowledge does nothing to help him. Let’s fix that.

Here’s how this fight could have gone: Tai Zhi changes into a warrior, Po does his nerd bit while caught off guard, but he then picks up on the fighting style and proceeds to body Tai Zhi in record time. Rinse and repeat that a few times and then Tai Zhi tries to use Po’s old villains which backfires horribly. Eventually, she runs out of warriors and must repeat, and with transformations getting predictable, Po starts winning the fight. Until…

Tai Zhi's frustrated that she has the forms and skills of at least one hundred kung fu legends, but she can’t beat one dorky panda. In that frustration, she loses control of her shapeshifting and mixes two forms together, catching Po off guard. Tai Zhi then starts using chimera forms to gain the advantage, but before she can deal the finishing blow, Vox swoops in and saves Po.

The two hatch a plan to make Tai Zhi so mad that she loses control long enough for Po to use the Staff of Wisdom to return the stolen skills. The plan starts to work as Tai Zhi turns into that chimera dragon form, but before Po can use his staff, Tai Zhi grabs Vox, forcing Po to save her by making Tai Zhi crash.

In the aftermath, Vox finds Tai Zhi transformed into Po, and we could have a short chase before the real Po saves Vox. Po has Vox find and bring him the staff while he fights himself, which does not go well at all. Tai Zhi traps Po in a cage before Vox can get the staff back to him.

Vox is now the only one who can stop Tai Zhi. Vox tries to fight Tai Zhi head-on like Po but fails miserably. However, Vox notices that the entire temple is fit to collapse. So, Vox sticks to the shadows, taking potshots at Tai Zhi, and every time she transforms, whoever she transforms into tells her their weakness/ tell from their cage. This continues until the temple starts to collapse, and as Tai Zhi tries to escape, Vox fights her head-on again to keep her inside (this is where she’d scream, “You fool! You’ll kill us both!”).

As the dust settles, Po stands up from under the rubble and helps Vox up, noting that he could have escaped earlier but she was doing such a good job and didn’t want to interrupt. The other spirit warriors get from under the rubble and thank Po for freeing them. As Po prepares to open a portal to the spirit realm, let’s say Master Wolf tries to sneak attack Po from behind but gets decked by Tai Lung, transforming back into Tai Zhi.

Tai Lung mocks his wannabe successor by saying; “first lesson, know when to quit.” Tai Lung then steps out of the way, and Po returns all of the skills to the spirit warriors. As they return to the spirit realm, Tai Lung acknowledges Po and what he’s become and also recognizes his “pupil,” referring to Vox. Not wanting to be outshined, though, he takes Tai Zhi with him into the spirit world, finally taking her on as his student, whether she likes it or not.

And the story ends basically the same: Vox and Po return to the Valley of Peace, Po offers to train Vox at the Jade Palace to Shifu’s frustration, and credits.

/////

Wait! One more change…

Shifu meditates under the peach tree with Po joining him shortly after that. Po can’t meditate to save his life, so Shifu questions why he’s here. Po admits that Shifu was right, that it’s time for Po to pass the torch, but also thanks Shifu. Po knows it wasn’t easy for Shifu to train someone like him, but he did, and because of Shifu, Po has never been happier with his life.

I don’t know if this will be the last Kung Fu Panda movie, but if it is, I’d like a nice moment between Shifu and Po and maybe ghost Oogway. Just wrap a nice bow on it.

///// The End \\\\\

And that’s it—that’s the rewrite. Wow! That’s a lot of words (3,573, to be exact). Like I said, I’m not a scriptwriter. I’m just a guy with a little too much time on his hands. Kung Fu Panda 4 was, and still is, a solid movie that I’ll definitely watch again, along with the other three, and so should you.

I had a total blast writing this, and I hope you enjoyed reading it.

#kung fu panda #kung fu panda 4 #rewrite #writeblr #writing #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity #writing blog #jack black #still an amazing movie #aaaaaand that's MARCH

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writerofcrazydreams · 1 year

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Butterfly effect of the Reversal Salt AU

First thing first, I'm not bashing Adrien, Marinette, or anyone. However, the narrative is mostly from Lila's POV so, of course, she'd throw insults like candy, undermine everyone's worth (such as calling them by a superficial attribute instead of their names), and exaggerate their flaws.

On a related note. ML's characters are flawed. Marinette has creepy stalker tendencies, Chat Noir is a dogged nice guy, the class takes advantage of Marinette (even if unwittingly), and Mme. Bustier is an enabler for bullying. I'm not willing to overlook those flaws but seeing most of the characters are teenagers, I think they have room to grow and all of them deserve a chance for redemption. Yes, even Lila, loath as I am to say it. Most of the kids have also virtues worth of notice.

Secondly, this is a writing prompt. After reading too many Lila Salt Fics and a Lilanette one I stumbled upon by accident, my brain decided to wonder how would a Salt Fic be if Marinette and Adrien's roles were reversed.

For want of a nail (i.e., transferring six months later in the year), Lila has set her sights on budding fashion designer Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Because Marinette is infatuated by Adrien Agreste, Lila needs to get him out of the way. As a result, she plans on ostracizing him from the class and demonizing him so Marinette would lose interest. Lila's actions have some unexpected positive side effects. She's possessive, so everything Marinette does has to be to Lila's benefit which leads Lila to shame the classmates on how much they take Marinette for granted. Whether Lila successfully traps Marinette in an abusive romantic relationship it's up to whoever wants to continue this thing. More impactful is the fact Lila was never akumatized into Volpina or Chameleon, thus preventing Heroes' Day from happening. This means that Hawk Moth achieved the mass akumatization and discovered the temporary heroes' identities in another way or didn't do it at all. Another ripple effect is Lila getting a Miraculous by virtue of being on Ladybug's good side. I don't think Rena Rouge will be replaced, so no Volpina, but I'm betting she gets one of the Zodiac Miraculous or the Peacock if the heroes manage to retrieve it from Mayura.

In spite of a nail, Lila still eventually associates with Gabriel Agreste to manipulate his son into doing her bidding. And I can assure you she's still the cause of several akumas (the shaming part). She will still wrap Damoclès and Bustier around her little finger by claiming she's being bullied by a fellow student. Furthermore, it's still well in the realm of possibility Lila gets akumatized at some point. The girl' still has a penchant for holding petty grudges, so it's bound to happen. Maybe she does get turned into Volpina or Chameleon, but it will be later and in different circumstances. "The Collector" still happens more or less the same as Gabriel will akumatize himself to retrieve the Grimoire and get the heroes off of his trail, though there's the chance the middlewoman (Ladybug) is cut and Chat Noir gives the book directly to Master Fu, causing him to meet the guardian. Will that make Adrien a more responsible hero and prevent his tantrums from being locked out of the loop? It depends. If somehow Ladybug and Chat Noir go together, Ladybug will still be Fu's successor but Chat Noir will know more things from the get-go. If it's only him, either the guardian contacts Marinette later or starts training Adrien. Keep in mind, though, that his packed schedule won't allow him to visit Fu as frequently as Canon!Marinette could.

Whether she starts working for Hawk Moth is uncertain, though. It depends on your take on this prompt so nails don't have a say in this matter. Or not an obvious one, at least.

In the third place, this is a writing prompt and, as such, people have utter freedom to make of it what they want. Wanna bash the hell out of Adrien? Of Alya? Mme. Bustier? Chloé? Even Marinette? Go on. I think the kids can grow into better people, but if other writers disagree, have different stories in mind, or are simply salty over someone, I won't be the one to put limits to their creativity and desires. The same applies to whomever you choose to redeem. That's why I left it very ambiguous throughout the prompt on whether Chloé is working towards her Redemption or following her canonical Damnation. She defends Ladybug because she loves the heroine, she snickers when Alya has to change seats because she feels vindicated ("Origins" episode), and she stands for Adrien because he's her childhood friend. In the former case, both the vindication and the insults are little steps backward, especially considering Chloé knows how much Adrien fears conflict (he won't and doesn't defend himself that much).

Having said that, for all I respect freedom of speech, that doesn't mean I'll condone or agree with everything people write inspired on this prompt. Have fun, but it's not my responsibility if we end up with a "Dead Dove: Don't Eat" kind of fic, okay?

Fourth, here are some of my ideas about this Reversal Salt AU.

Lila's mother, here dubbed as Signora Rossi (Signora means Mrs. in Italian), is not an abusive parent but possibly a slightly neglectful one. That doesn't mean she's a bad person or that she loves her daughter any less. It just means she's caught up in a very demanding job either because she's ambitious and wants to succeed in her work field (which is fine) or because she's a single mother and thus is stretching herself thin to fulfill her daughter's physical and emotional needs. Or maybe she just wants to believe the best of her daughter and turns a blind eye to Lila's misdeeds. Despite that, she's caring and loving. I'm not keen on demonizing Signora Rossi because of these reasons but it is clear she ought to pay a little bit more attention to what her daughter is up to and is likely she for some reason failed to instill integrity in kid!Lila. An excellent take on this matter can be found in this fanfic: "A mother's love".

On the other hand, it's also entirely possible Lila was born a psychopath. I've been researching and some psychologists hold that a sociopath is made through trauma and a psychopath is born, but the result is the same anti-social tendencies. Though if you want to make her a sociopath and give her a traumatic past, go on. Canon!Lila not only scores high in psychopathy but also Machiavellism and Narcissism.

In regards to her other parent, I left their gender ambiguous because there are some fan theories that Lila has two mothers. Or it's maybe just an animation error, but I don't like to throw the chance out of the window. Now, in the case it wasn't a mistake, both mothers are what I described a paragraph ago but fanfiction exists to explore different scenarios anyway, so... Maybe this other parent influenced Lila to become who she is now.

About Adrien. As I said above, the kid does have some nasty flaws. What he does to Ladybug at the very least verges on sexual harassment and he's proven to be manipulative (throwing tantrums when rejected). In this AU, said flaws are at play as much as Marinette's flaws were in canon. She partially misused her powers out of jealousy (partially because she had a point in that Lila was making herself a target) and her reasons to eavesdrop on Lila and Adrien are definitely not pure. Here, it's her tendency to obsess over and idealize her crush what is going to be her downfall. I'm not victim-blaming, but abusers prey on their victim's weaknesses and those just happen to be Marinette's. And that's not counting how Marinette's yearn for control was aggravated since the "Chat Blanc" incident (it happens later, but the base is already there). Nonetheless, I'm of the idea that Lila opened Marinette's eyes a little when she attacked her crush on Adrien (like pointing out being a stalker is not healthy) and that's going to bite her in the ass later on. Marinette being a doormat to her friends is more tricky since Lila made it as to ensure Marinette will remain a doormat to her but not anyone else. It's workable when the time to heal comes.

By contrast, Adrien's doormat policies, pushiness, obliviousness, and social ineptitude are still going to be rocks in his path. He's now crossed at Lila for several reasons. The obvious is her "bad-mouthing" Chat Noir, but there's more. Up to this point, Lila has consistently stirred trouble in the classroom, menacing the peace he values so much. It's Lila's fault (or that's how he sees it) Marinette is "abandoning" her friends and being "mean" to them. His upbringing has left him rather unable to understand that kindness is not a synonym of "absolutely catering to someone's wishes" (as he often does with Chloé and always with his father) and that this behavior is not healthy. His obliviousness comes into play in regards to just how much Marinette means to him (platonically or romantically). Lila has been monopolizing Marinette all to herself even when the class hangs out as a group, which severely cuts the already scarce time the two interact. He's jealous without being aware of it. It doesn't help how touchy-feely Lila and Marinette are because it sometimes causes discomfort to the latter, which Adrien picks up and not only notices Lila's hypocrisy but also rubs him in the wrong way as it mirrors his behavior as Chat Noir. Now, don't get me wrong, the least he wanted was to cause a scene but couldn't help but glare and Lila capitalized on that.

What does Lila think of Ladybug? "Volpina" never happened and this Lila only intended on pursuing Adrien before discovering Marinette's promising career, so neither hates the other one nor harbors a grudge. In fact, I doubt this AU would last much if that were the case. I left open the possibility of Lila being the anti-Chloé (hates Ladybug, loves Marinette) with that part of suspecting Marinette is crushing on Ladybug (*laughs in Plagg*), but I have to note that the hatred cannot be mutual for this to work. Canon!Lila loathes Chat Noir and it's likely that will remain the same, just less vocal (Marinette admires Ladybug and has a way of contacting the heroine, so Lila won't bad-mouth Chat Noir in front of Ladybug).

What roles would Luka and Kagami play in this AU? Obviously, the love-dodecaedron has shifted. There are at least three people after Marinette/Ladybug's affections: Chat Noir, Luka, and Lila. And whoever you ship Marinette with. And, now, there are only two girls wanting to date Adrien/Chat Noir: Kagami and Marinette. Chloé is uncertain because it was stated at some point she wasn't in love with Adrien, she was just possessive for some reason (fanon says it was to protect him from fangirls and fanboys). One possible scenario in this AU is that Marinette's feelings towards Adrien fade for the most part (maybe they will resurge later or shift to return Chat Noir's), depending on how efficient you want to portray Lila. Getting back to the point, Luka still has a crush on Marinette as revealed in "Silencer" and Kagami on Adrien but the events of "Oni-chan" developed differently and it's as equally possible that she confessed her crush on him/was akumatized than it hasn't happened yet. If Lila somehow catches wind of Kagami's crush, she will set the two up to force Marinette to move on. She might even encourage Marinette and Kagami's friendship to bind Marinette to obey the girl code and support Kagami. If she learns of Luka's crush, then she'll either play the card that "he's too old for Marinette" (if we disregard the retcon) or try to exclude him from the class' activities. Taking more extreme measures will tip Marinette off of Lila's true nature. As I side note: I like this more than canon because I'm TIRED of watching four girls fighting over a guy.

How will Alya and Nino react? Without the jealousy component, what are the grounds to dismiss his warnings? Well, Adrien still takes the high road so he won't publicly confront Lila on her manipulations. He dreads conflict too much and if he finally does it, it will be too late — either Lilanette is official or everyone else believes so, therefore the class will be prone to believe Adrien is jealous. The lack of public accusations also rob Lila of one of her primary strategies: turn on the waterworks. Consequently, everything will be much more underhanded. Lila's association with Gabriel will result in Adrien spending far less time with his friends and maybe even pulling the same stunt of threatening them in the hopes of creating powerful akumas (again, "Chat Blanc" episode). But I digress, Lila will relentlessly target Alya and Adrien for supporting LadyNoir. Maybe Alya will learn her lesson but as Adrien already sees Lila in a bad light, he will take longer to budge or won't do it at all. Nino will try to change Adrien's opinion and that'll cause a gap between the two. Nino is very laidback, so he won't push as much but will be vulnerable to Lila's poisoning. Alya will remain Marinette's friend but butt heads with Lila as the latter tries to correct her occasional forcefulness. Marinette will intervene and either Alya regards Lila in a positive light because she did help Marinette (in a sense) or by holding onto her stubbornness will have a fallout with Lila and seek flaws on her. All in all, Alya and Nino's behavior are wildly variable. The only secure thing is that Lila is as capable as in canon of swaying them to her favor and making them unwittingly throw a friend under the bus, just in a different way.

I don't know if you've noticed but there's a theme about how holding onto flaws can sometimes yield positive results, often aided by virtues. In canon, it was how holding onto virtues can sometimes yield negative results, often exacerbated by flaws. Marinette's hatred of liars and loyalty to her friends are virtues but landed her on a bully's bad side and got isolated. Her jealousy and stalker tendencies (both flaws) didn't help matters at all. Meanwhile, Adrien's desire to see the best in everyone and give second chances are virtues but they made him act in the wrong way and fail to support a friend. His learned fear of conflict and submissiveness only made things worse. Lila has the virtue of being charming (for the wrong reasons, but still) and knowing her way with people which would turn her into a fine leader. Yet, she causes mayhem and destroys people's lives by using those virtues along with her fatal flaws — narcissism and vindictiveness.

In the Reversal Salt AU, however, most of the positive results stem from holding onto one's flaws. If Alya remains stubborn, she eventually learns Lila's nature aided by her reporter abilities and determination. If Marinette refuses to let go of her obsessiveness and refuses to think the worse of her friends, she forces Lila to ditch subtlety and thus expose herself. If Adrien continues walking the high road and keeps being nice, he provides Lila with far less ammunition against him. Nino has proved to be distrustful (dismissing Marinette in the Lila ordeal and believing Alya is two-timing him in "Rocketear") and if he does that here, he'll catch on to Lila's manipulations and even call her out given his outgoing nature.

This brief interpretation is merely a suggestion and, again, you are not obliged to use it as the central theme of your story. Personally, I'd use the whole "holding onto flaws gets better results" as a temptation in the characters' arcs whereas the "working on my flaws unwittingly aids the villain" as an angst-fuel when the characters learn of Lila's manipulations. One of the traits of an abusive relationship (romantic or otherwise) is how much the victim struggles to stop believing their abuser's words. Nobody is always wrong, so if my abuser was right about/helped me with this thing, would they be right about/had helped with this other one? Often, it comes down to finding a balance: you keep whatever good things you got from the relationship while discarding the harmful ones. Naturally, this is a lengthy, stressful process that Lila can very well exploit to blackmail her victims, make them second-guess themselves, or just make them miserable.

Last but not least, I want to comment on two Lila Salt Fics that depict similar ideas, although I only found them after crafting this AU. Little spoilers warning about them. The first is "Liar's New BFF" and delves into the idea of Lila being the anti-Chloé. After having her lies exposed at the end of "Volpina", she starts regarding the classmates as vermin and genuinely falls in love with Marinette because of her kindness. She then proceeds to create a riff between Marinette and them by pointing out how much they take advantage of her. In this case, Lila is partially redeemed and doesn't seem to hold a particular grudge against Adrien. The Reversal Salt AU can follow a similar path if you want to, but the idea is to not shy away from Lila's many shortcomings as a human being and how that would affect Marinette and Adrien in an alternate scenario.

The other is "Jerk in Sheep's Clothing", where Lila's spear counterpart, called Henri, acts pretty much as I described Reversal Salt!Lila. He gets infatuated by Marinette and after threatening Lila, makes a deal with her so it's easier for both to accomplish their goals (Lila: get Adrien and be popular, Henri: get Marinette all for himself). He exploits Marinette's broken trust in the classmates to bully them and get away with it, collaborates with Hawk Moth at some point, and even gets a Miraculous. The difference between them is that Reversal Salt!Lila doesn't have the benefit of Marinette being emotionally vulnerable due to Canon!Lila's bullying, nor her faith in her friends is weakened. This means this AU's Lila must resource to more deceptive tactics to get what she wants (she can't blatantly lie).

#reversal salt au #miraculous ladybug #lila rossi salt #canon divergent au

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mlwritingprompts · 3 years

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How to avoid a terrorist?

edited slightly, and stuff added to the end to make it not misogynistic. (Killing off women to make men sad is misogyny.)

Au inspired by the prompt “should have done this for the very beggining”.

Astruc really should stop creating overpowered secondary jewels if he doesn’t want the characters getting smarter.

Like, despite being the main strategist, Ladybug is never allowed to make an option to actually help move the plot and Chat Noir is such a plot advice, that he only really exists to enforce the idea that Hawkmoth is an idiot.

So, let’s work around someone else idiocy, shall we?

Coming to Master Fu to require for help, Marinette found herself staring at a certain pocket watch. Why should she attempt to only asks for help on this situation instead of doing something more productive?

As far as she knows, there’s a lot of Miraculouses out there and Hawkmoth is only active here.

Who knows how many people found those lost jewels and are using them for evil somewhere else as well?

Master Fu might be old, but even he must know this, right?

It doesn’t take a genius to understand Ladybug’s process of thoughts, but unfortunately Fu underestimated Marinette wish to “help” him, so he got pale when she forcefully grabbed the pocket watch when he tried to move it away from her.

“M-Marinette, what are you doing?”

Huh.

That wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear.

“Fluff, time flow!” (not canon) To his horror, Fu was too late to catch the bunny themed hero before she jumped at that portal.

If in the next couple of hours, if someone asked who Chat Noir and Ladybug were, nobody would know, but a certain bluenette and her former partner incessant obsession with rings might.

–

So how far did “Rabbit foot” (Marinette) go?

Avoiding the birth of a terrorist of course!

In other words, she stopped the monks for being the cause of their temple got destroyed (she got surprised that was the reason when she asked Fluff on the burrow) and explained to them her (canon) timeline.

Neddles to say, they made sure to properly watch Fu this time and tried to create meassures for the kwamis to be more equal to them.

Thus, the only reason Marinette still remembers the paradox of events, is because she didn’t let go of her transformation until she came back to Paris.

With Adrien?

Mostly karma given by the kwamis, both of Adrien's parents die, and in a strange occurrence, all their fortune is not left to Adrien, or his Aunt Aumilie or any other relative--

No. It’s left to his bodyguard.

And Henri wastes no time in buying a modest house for himself and Adrien, tearing down the mansion, and building an “apartment building” in its place, except the apartments are all the size of houses, and there is no rent. Twenty formerly-homeless families move in as soon as construction is done, and Henri immediately turns his attention to the other Agreste mansions and homes around the city and beyond, converting them into ‘apartment’ buildings the same as the first, and allowing peole to move in for free, and going so far as to pay the utility bills for them, and telling them that if there are ever any problems, to let him know, and they will be fixed ASAP.

Henri doesn’t just spend the money on housing, he sets up community centers where food, showers, bunk beds, and medical attention are free. And then he just staright up gives away more money, to as many people renting or paying mortgage on homes in the city as he can find, so that their homes are paid off in full, with their utilise paid off for several years. They don’t have to worry about running out of money or going hungry. They’re finally able to start saving money, and everyone in the city is happier and healthier because of it. He sets up community gardens every few blocks, where all the produce is free, and people are encourages to come in and harvest or plant, with flowers and foods intersperced together to attract butterflies, birds, and other pollinators.

It turns out that if you give a poor person money, they use it to help other poor people. Who would have guessed?

Marinette, the only human who remembers the original timeline, watches all these changes flowing through the city like the Miraculous Cure, knows that she will never regret her decision to alter time.

Rules for the blog - send a prompt

#ml salt #ml salt prompts #miraculous ladybug #ml writing prompts #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Ladybug #Master Fu salt prompts #master fu salt #Henri Kennith #adrien's bodyguard #submission #Show!Miraculous #Show!Adrien #Show!Marinette

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adriensaltprompts · 3 years

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Submitted Prompt: “Not the kind of ‘Special Treatment’ he wanted…”

AU diverging from 'Syren’ wherein Master Fu, driven by the guilt he supposedly feels for keeping Adrien out of the loop before, decides to give him Guardian training as well, using his 'tutoring lessons’ for Adrien as a natural cover.

However, he very quickly discovers that for all his whining about wanting to be treated like an equal and be more involved, Adrien has no real interest or investment in anything resembling – ugh – responsibilities. His desire to be included does not include him having to make any extra effort or doing anything to earn his place alongside his partner.

No, Adrien’s all about that 'All take and no give’ lifestyle. Expecting to have everything he wants handed to him… and when that doesn’t happen, he whines and pouts and fusses over it, making sad faces and demanding to be coddled and comforted over how hard it is to actually work for something he desires.

Spending time dealing with Adrien as a student forces Master Fu to realize that he seriously misjudged the boy’s character when he first met and 'tested’ him. And that he misjudged him again when he thought that bringing him into the loop more would solve his problems of feeling overlooked and overshadowed.

Instead, he finds himself with an even bigger problem on his hands. For how does he deal with this situation…? Adrien clearly can’t be trusted, not with the Black Cat or any other Miraculous secrets; does that mean he’ll have to erase his memories in order to remove him as a threat…? Can he bring himself to take that step, or other measures…?

#Adrien salt #adrien salt prompts #ml salt #ml salt prompts #miraculous ladybug #ml writing prompts #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Ladybug #Chat Noir #Chat Noir Salt #Chat salt #Syren AU #Master Fu #Show!Miraculous #Show!Marinette #Show!Adrien

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natedogx15 · 3 years

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Anti-Hero Butterfly Wielder

I’m really proud of this prompt and think it’s my favorite one so far out of all the prompts I’ve made.

So the events in Origins are full of a lot of questions. Miraculous Ladybug was already full of these questions.

Questions like, why didn’t Gabriel use an Akuma to heal his sick wife or go back in time to prevent it? How did he know the Miraculous were around?

Also, Master Fu sent out the Miraculous before even seeing what this Butterfly Wielder would do. Now, Wayzz did say that a negative aura had the Miraculous. However, negative is an extremely broad term, in my opinion. You can be a person with negative traits/aura but still, be a good person in different ways.

Examples

Someone who is often dishonest, however, they usually use this on people who are jerks to others.

Someone who hates most people but loves their family and friends more than anything.

So, here is my idea for a different Butterfly User to replace Gabriel.

The person is someone whose family was wronged by the rich and powerful. Whether it’s Andre doing something to their family business because Chloe wanted something, Bob Ross ruining their parents' musical career, Audrey firing them for a petty thing. It’s your choice on why.

Because of this wrong, their family went into poverty and causes one of the parents to start abusing the other parent and our future Butterfly wielder.

Now, this all depends on the level of angst you want for your character. You can either have the parents both die eventually sending the future wielder to the orphanage or allow them to keep living and get better over time. It all depends on you.

Years go by and the new wielder now worked in an antique/trade/pawn shop to try and help their family. The age of this character is also up to you. They could be an adult, high schooler, or middle schooler like the main characters of the show.

While cleaning up the store they somehow accidentally break an item of Chinese descent. Whether it’s a vase, statue, plate, etc. After they do they find the Butterfly Brooch inside/a part of said object.

Once they meet and Nooroo explains to them what the Miraculous can do. The Butterfly wielder sees this as an opportunity.

Again this path is up to you. You can have it so the family got back up from their disaster legally or illegally. This can affect their personality since kids learn from their parents.

If you go with the legal path then your wielder may have a stricter honor code and choose not to use cheap tricks for anything and prefer to do everything fairly.

If you go down an illegal path then they could be a more heroic and clever version of Lila willing to use manipulation to their advantage.

Either way, because of their past they develop a type of this philosophy about the world.

The weak will be prey for the strong until they get stronger. If the weak stay weak forever then they will be trampled on.

Because of that, they become the Butterfly hero to give the weak the opportunity to be strong against their abusers and stand up for themselves.

Here are a couple of name ideas for your Butterfly Hero

Dream Catcher, Baron Orchid, Duke Mauve

Unlike Gabriel, this Butterfly wielder targets these types of scenarios.

A hostage stuck in the middle of a robbery wanting to help people, a person getting mugged wanting help, someone getting their work stolen by higher-ups, an investigator wanting to expose corruption (i.e. Andre Bourgeois and Francoise Dupont). A student getting bullied wanting to expose their bully.

Now on to Master Fu and Miraculous Ladybug’s plot and how this could work.

Like canon, Master Fu would send out the Ladybug and Black Cat. Now, this is where you can also diverge down two different scenarios.

1) They (probably Adrien) attack the new Butterfly wielder’s Champion when that Champion was trying to save someone. Because of this, the public sees the Ladybug and Black Cat wielders as the villains. Maybe your Butterfly wielder does as well.

This can lead down a Reverse Miraculous Ladybug AU path based on one big misunderstanding caused by Master Fu himself. The Butterfly Wielder would hunt down the Ladybug and Black Cat wielder seeing them as abusers of their power. They’d use Champions with a lower area of effect type of power to avoid civilian casualties.

However, should civilian casualties happen, that’s the chance for the Ladybug wielder to show that this was a big misunderstanding by using the Miraculous Cure. That may lead to a conversation between the three about the entire situation and possibly meeting Master Fu.

2)The Ladybug, Black Cat, and Butterfly are all on the heroic side. No misunderstanding happens but there is tension because neither Marinette nor Adrien nor your own characters enjoy the way the Butterfly Wielder does justice.

Now, in this path, you could have Master Fu be the villain in an anti-villain sense. He wants the Butterfly retrieved and sees that the Ladybug and Black Cat wielder refuse to do anything. This causes him to choose others while counseling them into believing that the heroes Miraculous needed to be taken to keep the world safe.

However, with both paths, there is one important thing to keep in mind. The way the Miraculous are set up makes the Kwami slaves. They have no free will of their own despite having the power of the universe at their disposal. If the Butterfly Wielder finds this out they could want to free the Kwami. Seeing the Miraculous and the Order of Guardians as another form of abusers.

Gabriel in all of this

Now, taking away the Butterfly doesn’t necessarily take Gabriel away from the plot. Gabriel may have still had the Peacock and Emilie could still be comatose.

However, unlike in canon, he’d have a limited number of chances to do anything so he has to play his cards right. The Peacock could end up killing him and Nathalie and whoever else he gets to help him try and claim the Miraculous.

I’ll be going over what he can do with my two options to the Miraculous Ladybug plot part of the prompt.

1) In the misunderstanding path, he could be a wild card or fan the flames of the misunderstanding. Using a Sentimonster based around the Butterfly’s Champions, the Ladybug, and/or Black Cat to try to get them to weaken each other so he can snatch the Ladybug and Black Cat.

Or he could use the Peacock to follow my Artificial Miraculous idea so he has a continuous source of power to try and capture the Miraculous.

Either way, he would try to manipulate the Butterfly wielder or both sides to help him in his ultimate goal of claiming the Ladybug and Black Cat.

2) In the idea where the Ladybug, Black Cat, and Butterfly wielders are all heroes and there is no misunderstanding. Gabriel could be one of the antagonists or prime antagonist with or instead of Master Fu depending on your choices.

If it’s being an antagonist with Master Fu then both sides are separate from the other. Master Fu and Gabriel could be allies later on but in the beginning, they aren’t allies.

If you make him the only antagonist then he will be on a limited number of uses and would have to use manipulation a lot more to have people be willing to use the Peacock Miraculous for him and take the side effects.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug prompts #miraculous ladybug au #miraculous au #ml au #ml au idea #ml au prompt #ml prompt #butterfly miraculous #Nooroo #ml salt #master fu salt #gabriel agreste salt

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thebigpapilio · 3 years

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New Lila Gets Exposed Prompt Idea:

Fu had the ability to find Marinette and Adrien's addresses quickly and easily. Adrien may be famous, but how did he know where Marinette lived?

My suggestion is he has Guardian magic that helped him decipher their homes.

Now that Marinette is Guardian, she either has the same abilities or can gain them relatively easily.

This could lead to her finding Lila's house and exposing Lila to Mme. Rossi.

And wait until she and Chat Noir start looking for Hawkmoth's house... oh, boy.

You're more than welcome to use this, but please let me know when and where you upload it!

Thanks for listening, and leave a comment,

TheBigPapilio

#thebigpapilio #lila gets exposed #lila salt prompt #miraculous ladybug #ml prompt #guardian of the miraculous #marinette dupain-cheng #master fu #wang fu #adrien agreste #lila rossi #lila rossi's mom #happy pride 🌈#pride month

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trickstermiraculous · 4 years

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Karma’s Sting Operation: Aftermath

WARNING IF YOU'RE ARE AN ADRIEN STAN YOU MOST LIKELY WILL NOT ENJOY THIS ONE SHOT

Summary: Chat Noir, Adrien, Sting whatever name he was going by went way too far this time and now he has to face the consequences.

Notes: Inspired by this Tumblr Post

Answer

“You….you….YOU FUCKING BASTARD” scream Ladybug as she decked ‘sting’ or should she say Chat Noir in the face, “You lied to me, constantly berated me for an accident and held it above my head when you have done far FAR worse things”.

Adrien just stared at his lady as she screamed and ranted at him, this was not how things were supposed to go. She was supposed to be the one begging him and the Master to forgive her, she was supposed to understand, she was supposed to be grateful that he found it instead of someone else. SHE was supposed to finally accept her obvious feelings for him that everyone in Paris could see already.

“You better not take his side master or so help me kwami-” the master cut Marinette off by raising his hand,

“I would have taken his side if he had given me the miraculous as soon as he found it” Fu admitted getting an angry glare from Plagg, “but he chose to play this ridiculous catch and mouse game causing both of us unnecessary stress on top of the stress already from being no closer to finding Hawkmoth”.

“M’lady shouldn't have lost the miraculous then” spoke Adrien, “I was just showing the consequences of her failure since she seems to hold my minor mistakes above my head”,

“Minor” Ladybug scoffed, “MINOR, yeah that’s definitely how I would describe leaving Paris to drown because I told you that I wasn’t allowed to reveal stuff about the master to you or refusing to work with me properly because I didn’t go to a date even though I said I was busy or how you just lay there flirting with me while I battled a mind-wiping Akuma or how you left Paris defenseless to go to New York without informing me even though I had already told I was leaving Paris at that time”.

Marinette let out a small growl of frustration while pinching her nose, “I make mistakes sure but I apologize straight after, like Lila and Chloe for example, even then those don’t compare to the level of your mistakes” Ladybug sighed heavily before continuing, “this may be the first time this mistake was on those level but what did I do? Oh right own up to my mistakes and tell the Master so he knew what was going on even if I lost any trust he had in my abilities in the progress”.

“Chat Noir or should I say Adrien Agreste, you are herby not only stripped of the Bee Miraculous for misuse but also the Black Cat Miraculous for endangering many lives and the mental health of your own partner with this little puppet show of yours” Master Fu announced in a stone ice-cold tone unlike any of the teens had heard before.

“But Master you can’t” exclaimed Adrien while his lady stood by Fu with a look of pure disgust and hatred, “it’s my only freedom from my father, my only chance to be me”,

“If that’s your true self Agreste, you in no way deserve a miraculous” snapped Ladybug,

“Says the one who held the truth of the miraculous above my head since you met the Master” Adrien snapped back jumping to his feet and pointed his finger towards her angrily.

“You may believe that little delusion of yours but it’s quite clear to everyone including to the Kwami that I told you I had no choice” Ladybug stated as she stalked closer to him,

“From where I’m standing right now, Sting, you are quite frankly a villain, no, a spoiled little rich boy that needs to be taken down peg” Ladybug sneer grabbing his jaw and dragging him in front of the Master.

To which Fu held his hand above Adrien as he chanted something in a lost language neither were familiar with, “what did you just do to me?” growled Adrien ripping free from his Lady hold,

“I put on a safety precaution" the old man replied, “I have made sure that you are unable to tell anyone the truth of the miraculous or your role as Chat Noir and Sting,

“You can’t just-” Adrien was cut off by Plagg surprisingly,

“He can kid since I for one wouldn’t put it past you to go to Hawkmoth for revenge at this point,” the tiny god said,

“I wouldn’t Plagg” replied Adrien in surprise at his beloved Kwami, “I wouldn’t betray M’lady like that”,

“I’m not your lady," yelled Ladybug as Plagg continued,

“Call it, experience with other selfish holders in the past” the tiny god stated, “many are saying the exact word you just said but as soon as past Ladybugs left them alone, they go straight to betrayal”.

Adrien snapped his mouth shut after that, knowing just from the Kwami eyes that his old friend was not going to help him, neither was the Master who just looked at him with pity. So he tried to appeal to Ladybug romantic feelings for him specifically Adrien Agreste if the reaction to his civilian identity was anything to go by.

“Ladybug you know me, Adrien, I would never hurt you,” he said in a sickly sweet tone “without good reason” adding that last bit quietly but everyone heard,

“Yes because holding one mistake of mine over my head due to some delusion that I was constantly holding every ‘minor’ mistake of yours over your own head” his lover replied,

“IT’S NOT A DELUSION” he yelled which just caused Ladybug to raise an eyebrow,

“Fine, believe what you want to believe Chat Noir at this point I don’t care” Ladybug sighed tiredly, “I think we are done for tonight and forever”.

Master Fu hummed in agreement as he handed her the black cat ring to which both look at her with surprise, “I believe you should choose the next black cat since I was wrong about my choice last time” Fu said to which Ladybug and Plagg nodded while Adrien looked offended,

“Thank you, Master, I will find a partner who I can trust and respect their partner unlike this disgrace” Ladybug replied, sneering at the last part,

“I’m sure you will” responded Fu “you can leave, I’ll make sure to get Agreste home",

Ladybug nodded and left quickly as it was clear that she didn’t want to be anywhere near her former partner.

Master Fu over to the boy he believed would be a great hero, “Master Fu, come you agreed that I did something that needed to be done” Adrien Pleaded taking no notice of the man’s face, “she needed to be taken down a peg”,

“No she did not, Ladybug has always been humble and owns up to her mistakes quickly even to mistakes that weren’t her fault” snapped Fu, “I’m glad that I at least made one good choice for a holder”,

“I am a good-” Adrien's further protests were cut off by Fu pressing a pressure point on the back of Adrien’s neck and threw the young boy over his shoulder as he made his way to the Agreste mansion.

Notes: Welp, I must say this is the harshest I've ever been with Adrien and like I said in the beginning to Adrien Stans, I was not kind to the sunshine boy.

I know I have criticized Adrien quite a bit more than Marinette and that's because in my eyes the show punishes Marinette enough for her mistakes, unlike Adrien who doesn't seem to face any even though he has put Paris in danger plenty of times.

I may write another chapter for the public aftermath but I'm not sure, comment if you want that.

Tagged: @adriensaltprompts

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themaribatpit · 3 years

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Jasonette July Day 19: Mistakes

Written by: The Maribat Pit Prompt: Mistakes Rating: T

Soulmate AU - red string of fate around the ankles, references to other versions of the myth

A/N: This might become a mult-chap, we’re not entirely sure. Comment on this post if you want to see this story continue. There will be some Adrien/Chat Noir salt.

Marinette often heard stories about the ‘red string of fate’, the idea that there was a soulmate out there who was chosen just for her. No one believed her when she told them she could see a red thread looped around her ankle. No one really explained what it meant, they would just tell her that she would grow out of that silly superstition. She would look down at the floor, towards her ankle, where she could clearly see the red string tied around it. Maybe they couldn’t see it, but she could, clear as day. When she became Ladybug and fought alongside Chat Noir, he would go on and on about how they were soulmates and destined for each other. When she became Master Fu’s pupil, she asked him if he knew anything about it. “What brought this on?” he asked curiously. “I see this red string around my ankle, I’ve known about it ever since I was little. Everyone says it’s just a legend or a silly superstition.” she explained. “Around the ankle is a new one, but it’s also the oldest version of the legend,” Master Fu explained, “most prefer the version where it’s around the little finger, or a woman’s little finger and a man’s thumb.” “What does it mean?” she asked, “no one will tell me.” “It means the string will lead you to the person you are destined to be with,” he explained, “it may stretch and tangle, but it will never break.” For many years, she brushed aside other boys and their advances, much to the chagrin of anyone who knew the real reason why. Whenever Chat Noir rambled on about them being soulmates, she knew it wasn’t true. It was infuriating, really, as she would look down at the red string leading away from him. She would tell him that she was in love with someone else, because someone else was out there waiting for her. Not that he would listen to her, but still she always kept him at arm’s length. Some might say that her standards were too high, never mind that some boys just could not take “no” for an answer. She thought about using Kaalki to find her soulmate, opening a portal directly to them. The only problem was she only knew which direction the string was pointing, and not having a clear idea of where she was going could lead to complications. Marinette kept her head held high through Lila and Chloe bullying her, and the teachers doing very little to stop them. She didn’t hate Adrien as much as she did on that first day of school, but he had done very little to stop his childhood friend from bullying people. Marinette had been humiliated, insulted, and almost kicked out of school on multiple occasions. Chat Noir, on the other hand, was only in love with the idea of her. He had absolutely no clue who she was under the mask, and vice versa. There were times when Marinette felt like she couldn’t step one toe out of line without someone breathing down her neck about being the bigger person. She felt like she was the only one bearing the heavy burden of carrying the Ladybug mantle. She took being a heroine seriously, but she knew that she couldn’t do everything perfectly. Sometimes Chat Noir was more of a hindrance than a help, and this continued for many years. When days felt tough for Marinette, she only needed to look down at the string around her ankle and remind herself of what it meant. It meant that someone out there was waiting for her, destined to love her with all their heart and she would love them in turn. So Marinette kept her head down by day, and as Ladybug she would fight to bring an end to Hawk Moth’s reign of terror. Whoever her soulmate was, they would know the truth about her, they would love and accept her. Sometimes she would wonder if Master Fu had chosen wrong when he decided that she should be the next Guardian of the Miraculous. The red string on the other hand would stretch or tangle, but never break. She could be certain that her soulmate was one choice that couldn’t be a mistake. Most of Jason’s earliest living memories were spent in hiding. He would hide under the table with the family dog in his arms, while the adults around him argued. When he got older, he would scurry back to the crevices in Gotham’s streets, hiding from whoever he just stole from. All the time he’d worry they could see the glowing red thread wrapped around his ankle. He could never understand what it meant, he assumed everyone had one at the time. When his questions were met with mockery or indifference, he stopped sharing his curiosity about it. It would always be glowing in the corner of his eye, like a bright light on a summer’s day. One day he wandered into a bakery inside Gotham’s Chinatown. He was waiting for the shopkeeper to look away so that he could grab a pastry without them noticing. Their topic of conversation turned to a ‘red string of fate’ and Jason was intrigued. Supposedly, the thread around his ankle bound him to someone. That someone was the person he was destined to be with forever, his soulmate. He left the shop empty handed, hoping to try his luck finding food elsewhere. If his soulmate was out there, whoever they were, they were going to be sorely disappointed. He remembered thinking, whoever decided to pair him up with someone had made a terrible mistake. If his soulmate could see him now, they would probably think so too. When he encountered Batman that fateful night in Crime Alley, his whole world had drastically changed from that night forth. As Bruce Wayne took him under his wing and as he took on the Robin mantle, a secret part of him had hoped that he was becoming someone his soulmate could be proud of. Still he kept it to himself, Alfred would occasionally find him staring off into space whenever he was alone. If Jason asked Bruce about it, he would probably tell him that he needed to focus on other things. The glowing red string was the last thing he would see at night before letting sleep take him, this time, he wasn’t afraid. When she was 15, Marinette woke up one morning to find the string no longer glowed bright red. Instead it was grey and limp, and she was desperate to know what this meant. At the first opportunity, she ran to Master Fu, he was the only one she could confide in about this. He lowered his head, almost unwilling to tell Marinette what it meant for fear of how she would react. He told her solemnly, it meant that her soulmate had died… Elsewhere, a bomb was counting down the seconds until it could go off. Jason had been battered, bruised and broken, but as long as his heart was still beating he still had a chance. Ten… He pushed against the locked door. That damned clown had locked him in, probably for the sheer delight of it. Nine… He had only just noticed the bomb, he had to find a way out of the building and fast. Bruce, Alfred, Barbara, Dick and...he looked down at his ankle, his soulmate...they were all waiting for him. Eight… This was all a mistake, he had been led into a trap. He hoped that Batman would arrive just in time to save him. He would probably slap him upside the head after he had recovered, and lecture him about being far too reckless, but at least he’d be alive. Seven… Strength was leaving his body, most of which was probably beaten out of him moments earlier. The fighting spirit that always burned like a raging inferno inside of him was dimming. Six… In those last few seconds, all he had left in him was a silent apology. Wherever his soulmate was, he wished them nothing but happiness. He was sorry that he couldn’t meet them for the first time. He wanted to tell them that the mere idea of them gave him hope. Hope that quite literally hung by a very thin thread, but it was what kept him going all these years. It kept him going through living on the street, through pushing himself to meet Bruce’s expectations, even through the ordeal he had just endured. All he needed to do was look down and remind himself that whoever chose him to be someone’s soulmate hadn’t made a mistake. The reason he wouldn’t get to meet them was because of his mistake. Five...four...three..two...one. Marinette didn’t know how to mourn someone she had never seen, met, or even spoken to. All she knew was that for the next three years, the string around her ankle was limp and grey. The legend said that it would tangle, it would stretch, but it would never break. Sometimes she would lay awake at night and wonder what could have possibly happened to her soulmate. Had they even noticed the red string around their ankle? Did they even care about what it meant? How did they die? Was it an accident or did someone kill them? These were questions that kept Marinette up at night as she gazed up at her bedroom ceiling. She didn’t notice that the string was slowly starting to regain it’s glow, though it remained very dim. She barely paid any attention to it anymore, and thought the faint red glow was just a trick of the eye. It was a cruel reminder of what that thread meant and what she looked forward to. By the time she was 18, Marinette decided she needed to get out of Paris. She wanted to be a designer, but she also thought a change of scenery would be good for her. She kept the Miracle Box with her when she moved to Gotham City, to keep the rest of the Miraculous from falling into the wrong hands. Around this time, the thread around her ankle began to glow bright red, just as it had done a few years ago. She was honestly curious to follow the thread and see where it led, but Plagg and Tikki were unsure about it. They could sense that something was amiss with the thread reignighting, and they had a bad feeling that the forces of creation and destruction were involved. That’s how Marinette found herself pacing around her dorm room, trying to think of an explanation. “How can you tell?” she asked them, “Maybe whoever did this chose someone else to be my soulmate? Someone who wasn’t dead.” “That’s not really how this works, Marinette.” Tikki told her. “Well, not according to Master Fu anyway,” said Plagg, “if the string is turning red again, that means whoever it is was brought back to life.” “But that’s impossible...is it?” Marinette looked at them, not that long ago she had fought a man who wanted to use them to bring his comatose wife back. Was it really so impossible? “Long ago, we were forced to grant such a wish.” Plagg confessed. “Plagg!” Tikki hissed, “you’re not suggesting that maybe…” “I am,” Plagg told her, “and she needs to know if she’s going to go herring off looking for someone who might be dead.” Plagg turned his attention back to Marinette, “long ago, someone did acquire the Miraculous and they did use it to grant one wish…to make them young and strong forever.” “How did they do it?” Marinette asked, a little afraid of their answer. “We created what humans call ‘The Lazarus Pits’. Anyone who bathed in its waters would be healed, rejuvenated, even snatched from the jaws of death.” he explained “Tikki’s healing magic is infused in the waters, that’s the healing part.” Marinette looked over at Tikki, “So what’s the catch? It can’t be that easy, can it?” “Well, the more they bathe in them, the more it destroys their mind,” she explains before giving Plagg a pointed look. “It heals them on the outside, while their mind is slowly destroyed.” Marinette is slightly horrified by the thought. “Can it bring someone back to life?” She asked, they exchanged worried glances. “Yes, but...Marinette, the person they were could have easily eroded away.” Tikki explained, but Marinette was growing tired of imagining and daydreaming. She had to see for herself the person that her soulmate had become, so that’s how Ladybug set off to see where the red string led.

#jasonettejuly2021 #jasonette #adrien salt #maribat #maribat adrien salt #ml x dc

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immaturityofthomasastruc · 4 years

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IOTA Reviews: Miraculous World: New York - United HeroeZ

So... with the recent announcement that Seasons 4 and 5 of Miraculous Ladybug will air on Disney+, with one episode set to air around March 27th (and it's out of order because of course it is), I figured I would try something new with this blog.

While I'm sure Astruc will be more active while the new season is airing, I figured I'd take a stab at reviewing new episodes of Miraculous Ladybug when they come out, as I already have a Disney+ account that I only really use to watch Star Wars and other Disney Channel cartoons I've never seen before. Well, that and the gloriousness that is Mech-X4.

And I was thinking that since a certain special is already available on Disney+, I'll review it now. Consider it my, uh...

279 Follower Special. Yeah, that’s it.

Miraculous World: New York – United Heroez is the first in a series of Miraculous Ladybug specials with the premise of having our heroes travel around the world. Because I guess that's what you do with your show when you run out of ideas for things your characters can do. Just ask Ash Ketchum and Thomas the Tank Engine.

The special is somewhat polarizing among the fandom, with some loving it, and some hating it. If you've seen some of my earlier posts, you probably already know how I feel about this.

Anyway, let's take a look at Miraculous World: New York – United Heroez

We start off with a logo letting us know this is going to be the start of a series of specials called Miraculous World.

Yeah, I'm sure that'll be remembered among other great cinematic universes like the Dark Universe and Ghost Corps.

In all seriousness, this is actually a pretty decent opening. It has some nice visuals that inform the audience of the globetrotting gimmick seen in the special, and the orchestral cover of the Miraculous Ladybug theme sounds pretty badass.

The special truly starts off in the middle of an Akuma fight, where we see that Mr. Pigeon is taking inspiration from Startrain's plan to escape to the one place that hasn't been corrupted by capitalism... SPACE! Apparently, this is the 51st time that Ladybug and Cat Noir have fought him, which makes you wonder if Hawkmoth is either running out of ideas, or if he just wants to see how insane Mr. Pigeon's plans can get for the hell of it.

Ladybug and Cat Noir transform into their new space forms that they've obviously had for a while, given Alya's familiarity with their names... even though those forms probably would have been useful when they were fighting Startrain. And this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of things this special retcons.

We get a few interactions between Ladybug and Cat Noir to give new viewers an idea of what the Love Square dynamic is like, with Cat Noir fawning over Ladybug after she leaves, and Marinette gushing over a new poster Adrien is in. I'll get back to this later,

After that, we see a brief clip from a student film teaching the audience about the real life friendship between George Washington and Marquis de Lafayette (the latter actually becoming one of Washington's close advisors during the Revolutionary War), and how it lead to the completely made up, “French American Friendship week”, which is basically an excuse for Marinette and Adrien's class to go to New York for a week.

Their teacher, Ms. Bustier isn't going with them because she's having a baby (God help us if the writers resort to pregnancy jokes next season), so the only other teacher in the school, Ms. Mendeleiev, will be supervising the class instead.

Adrien isn't able to go to New York because his father won't let him, and even he lampshades how predictable this is. But as soon as Lila suggests spending time with Adrien, Marinette immediately declares she will try to get Adrien to come on the trip with everyone, because he's her friend... and then Alya mocks her for saying that in the very next scene.

And here is the first problem with this special: The way Marinette's crush on Adrien is portrayed.

We're supposed to see Marinette as being in denial about her feelings for Adrien, but when you think about how Season 3 ended with Marinette realizing Adrien and Kagami (who will make an appearance in this special later on) are happy together, it makes sense that she wants to do this. She wants to move on from her crush on Adrien and try to be friends with him.

Unfortunately, her “best friend” Alya isn't willing to let her move on, which is extremely hypocritical when you remember how often she teased her for her behavior around Adrien, to the point where her other “friends” made bets about Marinette's hesitance to confess to him (Cat Blanc). Does she even know about Adrien and Kagami?

And throughout this special, rather than acknowledge Marinette's decision to move on, she constantly teases Marinette about how she still has feelings for Adrien, instead of simply leaving her alone. She reaches salt fic levels of unlikable in this special.

It doesn't help that Marinette's anxiety around Adrien is cranked up to twelve in this special, with her constantly stammering, or fidgeting around to the point where she struggles to get through a door. Twice. And as always, this behavior is only going to be played for laughs, because the showrunners are running out of ways to make Marinette suffer for comedy. And it only gets worse from here.

While watching a news report about a necklace and sabre George Washington had given to him by Lafyette, Nathalie, bedridden from the events of the season finale, tells Gabriel that the necklace in question is actually a lost Miraculous.

And as soon as Marinette arrives, Gabriel tells her that he's going to let Adrien go on the trip. His reason?

Gabriel: Letting Adrien go to New York will be simpler than hiding my absence here from him. Besides, this will allow me to continue keeping an eye on him.

Yeah, he seriously thinks it's a good idea to send his son to the same place he's planning to attack as part of one of his plans. At least you could make the argument that whenever Adrien is endangered during an Akuma attack, he's simply caught in the crossfire because he's in the wrong place at the wrong time, like with “Style Queen”. Here, Gabriel is intentionally letting Adrien go to New York, while claiming that he will be able to monitor him while he plots to attack the city. This is like if Grand Moff Tarkin let his son go to Alderaan for vacation. And again, it only gets worse from here.

Though Gabriel waits a day to tell Adrien he's going to New York, because of he did, we wouldn't get any scenes of Adrien moping around about how much his life sucks. Well, that and a scene of him and Kagami, where the latter kisses him. This is Kagami's only scene in the special, and she isn't mentioned again after this.

As Ladybug, Marinette tells Cat Noir she's going away for a few days and trusts him to guard Paris as long as he alerts her of an Akuma or Sentimonster. What will happen to the Miracle Box Marinette inherited from Former Master In Name Only Fu is never explained.

To Adrien's credit, it's Plagg that convinces him to go on the trip even though Ladybug trusted him, and even then, it takes a little bit to convince Adrien, showing he still takes his job seriously, with him coming up with a plan in case an Akuma attacks. It's not perfect, but it's something. That all goes to hell later on, though.

We then see Gabriel once again talking to Emilie's corpse about his plan.

Gabriel: Blah, blah, blah, Emilie. Blah, blah, blah, blah, I'll get Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous this time for sure. Blah, blah, blah, blah, I'm such a good father and sympathetic villain.

Oh, sorry. That's how I hear most of his monologues to Emilie these days. My bad.

The next scene features something I bet you've never seen before, Marinette being late for something. Thankfully, Luka gives her a ride to help her catch up, hoping that the trip will “give her some clarity”, most likely referring to her conflicting emotions. Marinette then kisses Luka goodbye and gets on the bus. This is Luka's only scene in the special, and he isn't mentioned again after this.

On the plane, it turns out that Adrien is conveniently sitting next to Marinette, prompting Alya to tease Marinette yet again while making this face.

Alya: (smirking and talking in a very smug tone of voice) Awesome, Marinette! Go and sit next to your “friend”! So you two can enjoy a nice flight together! A very long flight.

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Alya continues to relentlessly tease Marinette and makes fun of her crush for no real reason, suggesting Marinette get off the plane because “New York is the most romantic city in the world after Paris”. And this gives her a goddamn panic attack where she frantically tries to run off the plane. Remember kids, if someone has some kind of anxiety or social awkwardness, it's perfectly fine to tease and make fun of their behavior, and even exploit it for your own amusement.

And after some unfunny hilarious slapstick involving Marinette on the plane, Alya continues her streak of treating Marinette like her plaything.

Nino: If only this trip could help Adrien finally come out of his shell.

Alya: And if only it could help Marinette be more honest with herself and clearer about her feelings!

Nino: Operation New York?

Alya: Operation New York!

Nino: Let's help them loosen up!

Alya: After all, isn't the United States the land of the free?

Well, the only thing you actually got right about America is forcing others to do things they don't want to do. Just ask the Native Americans.

It's scenes like this why Alya is portrayed so negatively in salt fics. And this happens throughout the special. Now, while I'm not really a drinker, I'm guessing there's at least one person reading this post right now who is. So I have a little idea for a game. Every time Alya acts like a terrible friend to Marinette, take a shot. I'd just have a donor ready in case one of your kidneys gives up on you.

After an admittedly nice scene of Adrien thanking Marinette for convincing his father to let him come (undercut by Marinette creepily commenting on Adrien's cologne as they hug), another problem with this special rears its ugly head, as a man with oddly-colored skin arrives on one of the plane's wings.

Alya: Oh, no! That's Techno-Pirate, the supervillain who steals technology!

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Yeah. This is happening. The special is just casually introducing this new supervillain, Techno-Pirate as well as some other superheroes, neither of which had any buildup before, not even a throwaway line They're just here now.

So some of the American superheroes are to save the day, now, I guess. Majestia, the Superman knockoff, helps steer the plane back into position, her robotic daughter, Uncanny Valley, helps fix the plane's broken wing, while Knightowl and Sparrow, the Batman and Robin knockoffs, deal with Techno-Pirate. And everyone just treats this like a regular occurrence.

Marinette: Wow! That all happened so fast! I didn't have time to transform or help out!

Adrien: Good thing the American superheroes were here. I couldn't have transformed here. I'm supposed to be in Paris!

Plagg: Relax, Adrien! Let the local superheroes handle their own problems.

I have so many problems with this plot development. Just how common is the knowledge that there are other superheroes besides Ladybug and Cat Noir in other countries? How have they never been mentioned until now? Why is everyone just accepting the fact that there are other superheroes?

I get that these characters weren't conceived around the time the show started, but the way they're just thrown into the story is just so confusing and does so many things to hurt the narrative instead of helping it. In other episodes, Majestia and Knightowl were only seen in comic books, and Ladybug and Cat Noir were seen as the only heroes in the world because the world itself was fairly down to earth, barring some more advanced technology (the police's weapons in “Origins”, Hawkmoth's lair, Max's robot, Markov, the space dumpsters in “Reverser”, and the AI in Startrain).

The fact that New York is apparently filled with all kinds of superheroes for very mundane things like directing traffic and selling hot dogs just makes the Miraculous seem less important. If there was more work done to better integrate them into the story, like maybe making them an American secret or something, it could have worked. To quote a character voiced by Jason Lee...

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And the sad thing was that Power Rangers was able to pull something like this off far better in 1995. During the third season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Master Vile had successfully reversed the Earth's rotation, turning the Power Rangers into children (yes, it runs on Superman logic, just go with it). Because of this, the Rangers are unable to morph, with the villains free to attack the city. In response, Zordon sends out a distress call to another team of Power Rangers from the planet Aquitar.

Now I know what you're thinking. If Zordon had the ability to contact another team of Power Rangers for help, why did it take him so long to do so? The episode immediately answers the question by pointing out that Aquitar is a planet made entirely of water, so it's incredibly dangerous for them to head to a planet like Earth, making their intervention a last resort. And even after they come, a major plot thread is finding ways to keep the Alien Rangers hydrated, which only gets worse when the Alien Rangers' enemy, Hydro Hog, arrives to drain Earth's water while teaming up with the main villains.

The integration of the Alien Rangers into the story generally feels natural, and there is a clear explanation as to why they haven't joined the battle until now, and even then, still place some hurdles for them to overcome. Here, the special just wants the audience to immediately accept the fact that there are hundreds of superheroes in New York.

So as Marinette and Adrien's class arrives in New York, we see Sparrow watching over them, referring to them as “the little croissants”. That's another thing the special gets right about America: casually making racist comments.

Uncanny Valley's civilian form, Aeon, sees Marinette and Adrien, and, of course, she says that they're “made for each other”. If only the writers actually bothered to give us evidence of that fact that everyone loves to say for some reason. Though we do get the only instance of sanity regarding the Love Square in this special, where Sparrow's civilian form, Jess, calls out Aeon for thinking of getting them together.

Aeon: Those two are made for each other.

Jess: Seriously, Aeon? Not again!

Aeon: But I am programmed to help people, Jess!

Jess: Just stop meddling with people's private lives!

Also, I had already mentioned the unfortunate implications of Aeon being programmed to “help people” in an earlier post, but I still want to reiterate that I don't think any of that was intentional at all, and I definitely don't think a single writer on this show is actually racist. Everyone got that? Okay, moving on.

Jess and Aeon are assigned to watch over the Parisian students while they sneak out to a party on the rooftop of the hotel they're staying at, where they meet another superhero, Hot Dog Dan. He gives random people magical hot dogs that give them temporary superpowers. Marinette and Adrien share one, and they both start flying before Adrien offers to slow dance with Marinette.

Okay... It's clear they they're trying to reference an earlier episode, “Despair Bear”, by having Marinette and Adrien dance to the same song they danced to in that episode. The problem is that the context isn't right.

Adrien is dating Kagami, and he's offering to do this... why? What makes him so interested in Marinette all of a sudden? I get that he doesn't realize Marinette has feelings for him, but if someone says they only see you as a friend, do you offer to slow dance with them? Especially if their reaction to your offer is recoiling in fear?

I'm sorry, writers, but you can't try to recreate some of the magic you had in earlier episodes with Adrienette when you have clearly established Lukanette and Adrigami as official relationships at the moment. And don't give me any of that “that's not the point of the special” crap. The season finale showed Marinette and Adrien getting together with Luka and Kagami respectively, so it's natural that a lot of people were looking forward to seeing how they worked as couples. I'll get back to this point later on.

Meanwhile, Gabriel has made his way to New York, and decides to akumatize the arrested Techno-Pirate into Technolizer, asking him to steal Lafyette's sabre from the museum instead of the necklace.

Back to the museum, Alya and Nino decide to send Marinette and Adrien into a room alone where they're locked in and attacked by the supervillain Solutide...'s hologram, which was all part of Jess and Aeon's plan. In a city where there is a superhero and supervillain on every street. They seriously planned on giving Marinette and Adrien a near-death experience to get them to realize their love for each other.

That's... pretty fucking demented.

What if Marinette and Adrien did something reckless in their attempt to escape? They could have seriously gotten hurt. Hell, what if the scare gave either of them a heart attack? And let's say either of them found out what the plan was (which would be pretty easy, given “Solitude” is a hologram). Do you think either of them would be happy with Alya and Nino, even if they confessed their love for each other? And none of them even think to apologize for what they did, and this scene is never mentioned again. To quote a certain internet reviewer. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!?

Though to be fair, the scene before was the only scene where Alya gets to use a brain cell in this special by pointing how wrong that plan is... for a second before she goes along with it. So close, Alya. So close...

So after Adrien gets a news report revealing that Robustus is attacking Paris (even though Markov is with them in New York), while Marinette isn't contacted by Cat Noir. The situation only gets worse when Technolizer attacks, getting the sabre in the process.

Sparrow and Uncanny Valley try to fight him off, but are quickly overwhelmed, with some of the latter's technology getting stolen by Technolizer. Marinette and Adrien transform and help out the two heroes, naturally being confused by the other's presence.

But while the four heroes chase after Technolizer, Hawkmoth shows competence for once and steals the necklace in the process, while revealing that the Robustus attacking Paris was actually a Sentimonster created by Mayura.

During the fight, rather than focusing on stopping the already dangerous supervillain powered up by Hawkmoth, Ladybug decides to trash talk Cat Noir instead. I get that she's angry at him for not following through on his promise, but can't she wait until after the fight?

Ladybug: (mockigly) “Just go and rest easy! Yeah, leave Paris with me!”

Cat Noir: I-I didn't know I was going to leave! It was a last-minute decision, that's all!

Ladybug: Do you realize that because of you, there's no one in Paris to protect the city?! Why didn't you tell me that you were leaving?!

Cat Noir: I was afraid you'd get angry!

Ladybug: And you were right, because as you can see, I AM angry!

To quote our recently inaugurated president, will you shut up, man? People say I'm too harsh on Cat Noir for the way he acted during episodes like “Syren”, but this is basically the same thing. Ladybug is prioritizing her own feelings over stopping Technolizer. Yes, she has a right to be angry at Cat Noir, but all she has to do is wait until after the battle to chew him out.

And during the battle, Ladybug outright says she can't trust Cat Noir anymore, making the latter flinch, so Technolizer throws him into Uncanny Valley with his Cataclysm activated, killing her.

In her anger, Majestia punches Technolizer through several buildings before Hawkmoth recalls the Akuma inside him before helping the villain get away. Ladybug casts her Miraculous Ladybug, fixing Uncanny Valley, but that's not enough. Knightowl is pissed, and orders Ladybug and Cat Noir to hand over their Miraculous, not listening to why they're so important, so the two run away.

To make things worse, the two find out about Hawkmoth's plan, and Ladybug explains she can only use Miraculous Ladybug to fix damage caused by a specific villain, and since the Sentimonster is gone, she can't do anything.

In his grief, Cat Noir admits that everything that happened is his fault, so he renounces Plagg and hands over his Miraculous to Ladybug before running away.

So... this scene.

This. Scene.

Where. Do I. Begin?

First of all, this is what causes Ladybug to lose trust in Cat Noir? Not the multiple times he disobeyed her orders because of his own personal feelings? Not the constant flirting and unwanted advances even though she's made it clear she doesn't see him that way? Not the time he trusted an evil doppelganger of Ladybug over the real one? It's this? Cat Noir leaving Paris alone while a Sentimonster attacked?

Okay, let's say that Cat Noir decided to stay in Paris after all. What was he supposed to do when Robustus attacked around the same time as Technolizer? What was Ladybug supposed to do when she found out about Robustus in Paris? Was she supposed to abandon New York and head back there or focus on helping the American heroes?

Second, who does Knightowl think she (yeah, she's a woman, I'll get to that in a bit) is ordering Ladybug and Cat Noir to hand over their Miraculous? What authority does she hold over them? Why should they listen to her? Why can't they simply explain why their Miraculous are so important, and that they can't give them up? Why doesn't Ladybug just explain that she's now the Guardian of the Miraculous? In fact, why does Majestia go along with the order? Ladybug still saved her daughter's life! If anything, she should be sticking up for the two.

There's actually a Superman comic where Captain Marvel storms a police station to interrogate a criminal who killed his best friend so he can find out who hired him. Though he comes close to doing it, Captain Marvel ultimately doesn't kill the criminal's boss, but still flies over to Mount Everest to grieve his friend's death.

Enter Superman, planning to call out Captain Marvel, but instead, he sees him crying. He explains that the boy killed was his best friend before revealing his identity as Billy Batson. Superman's response?

He goes to the wizard Shazam and demands to know why he did this to Billy, furious that a child was forced to go through stuff like that. While Shazam can't take back the powers he gave Billy, he encourages Superman to reach out to Billy, leading to him revealing his identity as Clark Kent to the kid.

I'm not saying that Majestia or Knightowl should have called out Master Fu or ask who made Ladybug the Guardian (as awesome as that would have been), but the point I am trying to make is in that comic, Superman made the effort to understand what Billy had been through, and understood what happened. Majestia and Knightowl made no effort to do anything like that. In fact, they never even knew Hawkmoth existed, which I call bullcrap on, given that he once MOVED THE PLANET AWAY FROM ITS ORBIT. Were you all asleep that day? Why didn't you do anything to help Ladybug and Cat Noir fight Hawkmoth? Were you expecting them to just fight this magical terrorist on their own? They don't have the same support system the American heroes have, and they could really use the help.

And third, Cat Noir. Yeah, just because I'm calling out Ladybug doesn't mean Cat Noir isn't taking any heat either. Again, I have to ask, this is what makes him give up? Keep in mind, when he was Aspik in “Desperada” and saw Ladybug get captured by an Akuma, he reversed time 25,913 times to try and save her before he threw in the towel. At the same time, he was willing to quit in “Syren” because he claimed Ladybug didn't trust him. The level of Adrien's willingness to keep going is incredibly inconsistent, and this doesn't really help his reputation as a character.

And then there's the fact that he's bailing on Ladybug when things are at their absolute worst. Yes, Marinette also briefly gave up in “Origins”, but that was after her first battle, and she was overwhelmed by her screw-up endangering countless lives in Paris in addition to being a nervous wreck even before she got her Miraculous. But here's the difference: She took responsibility. She realized people were in danger, so she jumped into action to save Alya and Cat Noir. Even then, she acknowledged her failure and felt unsure of herself, with Cat Noir helping to reassure her, showing the emotional support their partnership has.

Adrien, who has been a superhero for months, and has faced some pretty stressful situations, as soon as things head south, he immediately gives up and leaves Ladybug to fend for herself while two separate cities are in danger. And he knows that she has no other allies, because Master Fu ran away at the end of the last season, and Miracle Queen exposed the identities of the other temporary heroes. She has nobody to go to for help. He doesn't even show Ladybug her civilian form to apologize, just so he can't get any flak in his regular life. He just gives Ladybug his ring, and literally runs away.

A wise man once said “With great power, there must also come great responsibility.” Adrien has shown no responsibility at ALL in this special, barring the one moment I mentioned earlier.

It's nothing more than a forced emotional moment that has no buildup. This is basically the same with basically every time Miraculous Ladybug tries to be emotional. The writers think that despite never really having any tension or character arcs in their story, they can just have their characters cry out of nowhere, and suddenly, it's a deep moment? That's not how writing works, idiots!

Back at the hotel, Jess and Aeon are getting chewed out by their mothers (Who are the civilian identities of Majestia and Knightowl), and have a conversation about being superheroes... less than a few feet away from the French students. Though at least Barbara, the civilian form of Knightowl (again, I'll get to that later) calls out Aeon and Jess for their stupid “fake supervillain plan”, so there's that I guess.

So we cut to a press conference where the President of the United States, Camilla Hombee (An anagram of Michelle Obama's name, because Astruc has made it clear what his political views are) advises everyone to stay inside while Techno-Pirate is still an active threat. Why does this seem so familiar? And then she... transforms into a superhero too.

Oh, for the love of-- THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IS A SUPERHERO?! The person in charge of the country and relations with foreign nations is a superhero too?! If she's the president, why didn't she do anything to stop Hawkmoth?! I get that America doesn't really care about news from other countries outside of America, but you would think that the frickin president, WHO IS A SUPERHERO, would at least acknowledge the existence of a supervillain in Paris as a threat!

GOD, this is stupid! And it only gets worse...

Gabriel sends a car to pick up Adrien, realizing the city was too dangerous (I still don't get the point of sending him here in the first place), causing him to tearfully say that he “wouldn't have minded being stuck here a little longer with a friend like her” before leaving. And then Alya...

Alya: What is wrong with you, Marinette?! Couldn't you see that he was just waiting for you to tell him to stay?!

Marinette: What-? But I...? He...? He made his choice. What did you expect me to do?

Alya: It doesn't matter what I expected you to do! Who's Adrien to you?! A friend or more than a friend?! There will never be a better time to be clear with yourself, Marinette! Do you want him to leave or do you want him to stay?!

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NO. You do not have the right to say ANY of that! It doesn't matter what YOU expected Marinette to do? This whole special, you've been teasing her about her feelings for Adrien, and forcing her into uncomfortable situations with him all because you want your OTP to be a thing. And now you're saying Marinette had a choice the whole time? Marinette expected herself to get over Adrien and start to see him as a friend, AND YOU WOULDN'T LET HER DO THAT! For three seasons, Alya has made fun of Marinette's crush on Adrien, while at the same time, has constantly pushed her into situations where she was clearly uncomfortable around him to the point where she discouraged Marinette for trying to move on in a previous episode (Frozer). And then in this special, she trapped them in a room with a fake supervillain (which is this world's equivalent to pretending to be a terrorist) just to get them to confess their feelings for each other. AND THE WHOLE TIME, IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE MARINETTE'S CHOICE???

If Obilvio didn't make me stop caring about Alya, this was the moment that actually me despise her.

And the worst part? The narrative frames her as being right. This is somehow enough for Marinette to run out in the pouring rain while a supervillain is lose in New York, with nobody even trying to stop her, to chase after Adrien's car, where she tearfully confesses that she still loves him after the car gets away.

What is the point of this exactly? We already knew Marinette liked Adrien last season, her nonexistent character arc was learning to get over him, and now she's supposed to learn she's still interested in him? What about Luka? Are we just going to ignore Luka? What about the fact that Kagami is already in a relationship with Adrien? None of these questions are never explained.

Gabriel finds the lost Miraculous, the Eagle Miraculous, which represents Freedom, and gives it to Techno-Pirate, turning him into Miraclonizer. Using the Eagle Miraculous' power, Liberation, he can undo any mental boundaries someone has, but since he's using it for evil, it basically drives several heroes crazy without their own moral codes. And while I claimed it was an original power in one of my earlier posts, the more I think about it, Liberation is really just a different version of Reverser's airplanes. All they did was just phrase the explanation a different way.

So despite being a city full of superheroes, Miraclonizer manages to drive every hero crazy in a matter of minutes, with the exception of Jess and Aeon. So do none of the other heroes have sidekicks? Is there not even a Young Justice or Teen Titans-esque team in this city? I'm just saying, if they have a hot dog superhero, there should be at least more than two sidekicks in New York.

Aeon goes to search out Ladybug and Cat Noir, and because of some technobabble stuff, Aeon can easily figure out their identities. Again, this was something I already talked about in an earlier post, so I won't harp on this scene. It's a dumb retcon in a special full of dumb retcons, what else can I say?

So Aeon goes to find Adrien on his private plane to give him back his Miraculous... even though wouldn't it make more sense for Aeon to use it instead to save time? I didn't mention this, but right before this scene, Majestia was pushing the moon towards the Earth. Time is kind of the essence here. It also would have saved us more of Adrien's whining.

Uncanny Valley: Cat Noir, New York and Ladybug need you!

Adrien: (looks at where his ring used to be) I'm no longer Cat Noir.

Uncanny Valley: To err is human, apparently!

Adrien: My mistakes are unforgivable. I couldn't bear to see the disappointment in her eyes.

“i'M sO tOrTuReD. fEeL bAd FoR mE, dAmNiT!”

Cut it out with Angstdrien Depreste already, writers. It's gotten old.

And despite making a big deal about how much he failed Ladybug, he immediately jumps back into action as soon as he hears a recording of Ladybug saying she needs him. I know it's supposed to be a heartwarming thing by showing him wanting to support his lady, but to me, it just comes off more like he needed an ego boost. He was fulling willing to let Ladybug save the day on her own, but as soon as he heard how important he is to Ladybug, he's more than willing to become Cat Noir again. Because it's not like he could regret his decision to abandon his partner, and realize it isn't too late to make up for his mistake, right? That would imply Adrien is motivated by anything other than his feelings for Ladybug. Then there's the fact that as soon as Cat Noir returns, Ladybug instantly forgives him, despite saying earlier that she didn't trust him. It's almost like that whole debacle was only there to eat up about fifteen minutes of the special's runtime.

Hawkmoth issues an ultimatum to Ladybug and Cat Noir. Miraclonizer is ready to fire a nuclear missile (though the dub calls it a rocket, let's be honest, it's not), fully intending to start World War III unless Ladybug and Cat Noir give up. He's seriously willing to risk making The Day After a reality all for his wife. But remember, you're still supposed to feel bad for this literal war criminal.

Ladybug, Cat Noir, Aeon, and Sparrow manage to get to Miraclonizer's hideout, the Statue of Liberty, and take back the Eagle Miraculous, with Sparrow taking it and transforming into Eagle.

And then there's the design of the new hero's suit. While I'm glad it isn't another skintight jumpsuit, and the wings are a nice touch, people have raised some questions regarding Eagle's design, and how it feels like the animators really want to remind the audience that Jess is Native American. I mean, it looks like what Zack Morris wore in that one episode of Saved by the Bell barring the headdress.

And this might be because I'm a history major, and I just brushed up on this subject in class last semester, but I'm a little uncomfortable with the fact that someone actually thought it was a good idea to give the Native American girl the Miraculous of the Eagle, the symbol of America which represents Freedom. I don't want to go too into detail about this, but, uh... let's just say if you know about the history of the relationship between the Native Americans and the colonists, you'll get why this raises a couple of red flags.

Does this mean I think the showrunners are racist? No, it was an honest, albeit questionable mistake. Do I think this is the worst Native American representation on TV. Oh, hell no. Chakotay from Star Trek: Voyager was a walking amalgam of every Native American stereotype in the book, and was featured in an episode that said, with a straight face, mind you, that Native Americans used to be backwards savages, so a group of white aliens genetically altered them so not only could they survive the Earth's harsh weather, but so they would become more creative, leading to the birth of Native American culture. I apologize to any Native American human being who had the misfortune of learning about that for the first time. But over all, Jess is far from the bottom of the barrel of poor Native American representation.

So Jess uses her powers to calm every superhero down, while Ladybug and Cat Noir de-evilize Technolizer. And of course, Hawkmoth assumes that since there are other lost Miraculous, “they will be his”. Maybe focus on getting the two Miraculous you originally set out to get first, buddy.

So Knightowl and Majestia apologize for their behavior, and we learn that apparently Knightowl and Sparrow have been around for at least since the Wild West, and that the Knighowl and Majestia we've been following have been keeping up the illusion that the original duo are still alive for several generations.

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Was this special written in the 1950's? Why make a big deal out of this? Why is it so important that Knightowl and Sparrow both have a Y chromosome? The president is a woman and a superhero, the strongest superhero on Earth is a woman, and you were just saved by a female superhero all the way from Paris. I don't think people will be afraid of getting cooties from this Knightowl. Hell, we live in a world where if you don't like a female superhero, people automatically hate you. Just ask the people who didn't like Captain Marvel.

We see that Alya still learned nothing, as she continues to tease Marinete for daring to call Adrien her “friend”, as our special mercifully ends with the class sending a picture of a banner to Adrien to show their support... but not before a brief scene where a Guardian tries to take Eagle's Miraculous, before she makes him instantly pull a 180 as soon as she suggests he help to “create a new generation of heroes together”.

I'm guessing this is meant to be yet another tie-in to yet another Miraculous side project that will go absolutely nowhere. You might as well have had Nick Fury, oh, I'm sorry, Mick Flurry, recruit Eagle and Uncanny Valley for the ZAG Initiative.

But it doesn't matter, because the special's over, and once again, I never have to think about it ever again.

So... what else can I say that I haven't already said. This special sucks.

While the animation is honestly some of the best to come out of ZAG, and the action can get pretty good at times, it honestly doesn't really mean much when the story surrounding it is just so abysmal. Basically the only thing I liked about the Season 3 finale was the idea that the status quo was shifting in terms of Marinette's feelings for Adrien, and this special just ruined this interesting idea by the end faster than you can say “the series finale of Quantum Leap”.

Alya is at her most unlikable here with everything she does in this special. Almost everything she says to Marinette is either some catty comment or making fun of her trying to get over Adrien. Because God forbid she actually try to grow as a person and not let her life revolve around a cute boy. It's stuff like this that I genuinely wonder why Marinette even bothers to stay friends with her when all she does is tease her and force her out of her comfort zone. And according to co-director Wilfried “Winny” Pain, Alya is meant to be like Jiminy Cricket to Marinette's Pinocchio. I don't know which version of Pinocchio he read as a kid, but clearly, it's not the version we're mostly familiar with.

I'm still glad they didn't have Cat Noir revert back into his Ladybug-simping self we all knew and loathed in Season 3, but that doesn't mean he's still enjoyable in this special. The angsting about how sad Adrien's life is stopped being interesting years ago, and it's only done as a way to get the audience to care about him, but it comes off more like the writers are holding the audience at gunpoint and demanding they sympathize with him for bailing on the world when they need him the most.

I thought Aeon was a pretty likable character. Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for socially awkward robot characters like Data or Penny. I just wish we got to know her more, and why exactly her mother felt the need to play God by create her instead of just adopting like what Olympia and Barbara presumably did with Jess.

As a matter of fact, despite being played up as a big deal, there's still a lot about the American heroes that we don't really know about. How were the “United Heroes” formed in the first place? How did Majestia get her powers? What exactly is the origin of Knightowl and Sparrow? Why are all the American heroes so open about their identities to the point where the President's identity as a superhero is so well-known she can casually transform on TV? Hell, Ladybug and Cat Noir barely even interact with any of the heroes, and that includes Uncanny Valley and Sparrow/Eagle.

Generally, the special feels very rushed at times, with a lot of ideas not really being utilized. According to Astruc, there was actually a lot of things cut from the special, including a deleted subplot with Chloe and Ms. Mendeleiev. Although, given Astruc's track record, I don't think it would have been a good one given Chloe is involved.

This leads into a personal theory I have regarding this special, that I want everyone reading this to take it with a huge grain of salt. As much as he claims that he can't change anything he's already written, I personally believe that Thomas Astruc rewrote part of this special so Adrienette could get more focus to renew interest in the ship.

Hear me out on this. During Season 3, there were a lot more shipping debates between Adrienette shippers and Lukanette shippers, with the latter gaining more traction that season. It was also the season where other ships like Felinette, Kagaminette, and even Maribat became more prominent. And all of these ships were featured in post-Chameleon salt fics bashing Astruc's sunshine child, Adrien.

So, given how Astruc already dedicated an entire episode to bashing Felix fans, why wouldn't he use something like the New York special to convince the shippers to have more faith in the Love Square? After all, aren't Adrien and Marinette made for each other? Astruc has already said so on his Twitter.

Unfortunately, right now, I like to describe the Love Square as “Shrodinger's Relationship”. While the show can claim that Adrien and Marinette would make a great couple, they simultaneously show no real chemestry happening between the two in favor of Love Square shenanigans. And yes, I'm actually thinking of talking about the Love Square in a future analysis post.

And then there's the fact that Astruc himself said that everything that happened in this special is going to lead into the events of Season 4. What do I have to say about that?

Bring it.

I already talk about Miraculous Ladybug itself on this blog almost as much as I talk about its creator, and since I have a Disney+ account, I might as well subject myself to everything Season 4 has to offer. I've already seen one of my favorite shows go to hell, so why don't I chronicle another one of my favorite shows going to hell as well?

So yeah, as soon as a new episode is officially released on Disney+, expect a review from your boy IOTA.

I survived Season 3, so let's see if the number 4 is as unlucky as some countries say it is.

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sayuricorner · 4 years

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Miraculous Ladybug X Mo Dao Zu Shi crossover salt prompt

Warning: English is not my first language so sorry if it’s confusing!

Warning 2: This prompt content salt if you don’t like please don’t read it.

P.S: You can use this prompt if you want! just credit me in return please! ;)

Here’s a idea for a Miraculous Ladybug/Mo Dao Zu Shi crossover salt prompt! ^^

Miraculous ladybug belong to Thomas Astruc and Zag

Mo Dao Zu Shi belong to MXTX

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Before starting here some precisions:

-In this prompt the MDZS take place in the modern world, but cultivators sects have a “no technology” motto in their daily lives, disciples/members can have some technology in their bedrooms but outside of it no use of thechnology is allowed in cultivation.

-The MDZS plot happened but with one big difference: Wei Wuxian didn’t die during Burial mounds siege, instead he was found badly injured by a rogue cultivator and has been brought to the hospital of the nearest city to be healed. Wei Wuxian didn’t get had any permanent injury but lost his memory so once he recovered the rogue cultivator who found him took him as a disciple so during the 13 years before the MDZS plot Wei Wuxian became a rogue cultivator with the whole cultivation world believing him to be dead. He meet Mo Xuanyu when the latter was kicked out of Koi Tower and seeing the despair of the young man Wei Wuxian decided to take him as his disciple. He also get his memory back little by little.

-When Wei Wuxian took Mo Xuanyu as a disciple, both became close and see each other as brothers.

-Mo Xuanyu will not die.

-This prompt take place after the MDZS plot.

So in this prompt Sabine and Wei Wuxian are distant cousins but didn’t know about each other’s existence, Sabine found out about him when she, Tom and their baby daughter Marinette were visiting Sabine’s parents.

After some researches she finally meet him and the two get to bond, Wei Wuxian even invite Sabine, her husband and Marinette to his and Lan Zhan’s wedding.

Since then it became a tradition for the Dupain-Cheng family to come visiting Wei Wuxian and his family at Cloud Recess every summer when visiting Sabine’s parents.

Marinette through the years became very close with her extended family from China, she pick up the habit of having a routine similar to Cloud Recess’s and she even learn the Lan cultivation with her uncles and cousins teaching her.

When she became Ladybug at 13 she already got a bit of fighting technique experience which make her fights against akuma less complicated.

Unfortunatly Marinette’s life get a turn for the worst: Lila keep on her promise and turn her classmates against her, passing her as a jealous bully, master Fu made her the new gardian of the miracle box but lost his memory and leave Paris befor he can give her a proper training and the akumas became more and more difficult to fight.

The situation with her classmates became bad to the point they end up bullying her because of Lila’s influence, Marinette snap under the presure and end up akumatised, Tikki not having any other choices turn to Sabine to ask her to be a temporary Ladybug to save Marinette revealing to her that her daughter is Ladybug.

Sabine, as Ladybug, fought her akumatised daughter and saved her and after that her and Tom got a discussion and decided that their daughter’s school became a way too toxic environment for Marinette and with the discovery of Marinette’s hero identity they decided to send her in a more peacefull place for some times.

After having made some phone calls and talked with Marinette they withdraw her from Françoise-Dupont, regist her on online classes and send her to Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan at Gusu while her parents were taking care of her bullying problems.

At first Marinette wasn’t sure, Paris needed Ladybug after all, but after being convinced by Tikki she could use Kaalki if an Akuma attack, she accept and after everything is settled, Marinette is send to Cloud Recess.

At Cloud Recess Wei Wuxian and his family were happy to had Marinette but at the same time were pissed to learn whatMarinette has gone through and are all determined to help her.

Marinette got the surprise to learn that cultivation sects know about the existence of the miraculous, you see the sects got a very old alliance with the miraculous order and when the Lan sect learn Marinette was the ladybug holder and the new guardian of the miraculous box they decided to give her a serious combat training.

At Paris the class is pissed Marinette left, after some researches they found out where she is, they try to contact her but Marinette change her phone number.

Lila profit from the situation to lie about the cultivation sects telling they’re dangerous cults which members commit terorist acts and how it’s obvious now Marinette is a member which pissed off even more the class to the point Alya decide to “denounce” Marinette and the cultivation sects on the ladyblog and to go to the police.

But unfortunatly for her and the class people who read the article did checked the “information” and when they found out all this was a pile of BS the Ladyblog got a massive backclash and when Sabine and Tom find out they were furious Alya were accusing their family to be therorists and warned the Lan sect who then decided to take legal actions for slanderism and false therorism accusations.

With all this one thing was sure for Hawkmoth, Lila and the class, karma was coming to collect their debts.

Bonus details:

-Lila salt

-Class salt

-Adrien salt or Adrien sugar(It’s up to you)

-Bustier salt

-Permanent miraculous user Luka

-Permanent miraculous user Kagami

-Chloe Bourgeois redemption

-Permanent miraculous user Chloe

-Class redemption, a part having a redemption or none of them having a redemption(you choose)

-Protective uncles Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan

-Protective uncle Jiang Cheng

-Protective uncle Mo Xuanyu

-Protective Wen Ning

-Protective cousins Lan Sizhui and Jin ling

-In short: protective Lan clan and Yunmeng Jiang clan

-Marinette having a cultivator training

-Badass Marinette

-Marinette loving Wei Wuxian’s ultra spicy cooking

-Marinette loving being burried in rabbits piles

-Marinette learning to be more confident with her extended family

-Temporary miraculous fox user Wei Wuxian

-Temporary miraculous bunny user Lan Zhan

-Marinette speaking mandarin chinese fluently

-Ship: Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji, for the other ships you can make the ship you want just no Adrinette please!

#ml salt #miraculous ladybug #mo dao su zhi #mdzs #crossover #ml prompt #prompt idea #marinette dupain cheng #wei wuxain #lan wangji #class salt #lila salt #bustier salt #adrien salt #adrien sugar #marinette deserves better #marinette defense squad

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rosethornewrites · 5 years

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Fic: Breaking Point

Relationships: Caline Bustier & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug

Characters: Caline Bustier, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Alya Césaire, Max Kanté, Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Juleka Couffaine, Lila Rossi, Tikki

Tags: caline bustier salt, Reveal, Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste Knows, Protective Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Caline Bustier Knows, ml salt, Harassment, Lila Rossi Lies, Bad Classroom Environments, Gaslighting, enablers, Bullying ,Salt, Identity Reveal, Spitefic, Swearing, Adrien Sugar

Summary: '“For instance, being a superhero is not a viable career path,” was what made her tune in, her attention fully pulled to Mme. Bustier, who seemed to be looking right at her.'

Note: This was written based on a prompt by @norakwami.

AO3 link

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Marinette wasn’t really paying attention to Mme. Bustier’s lecture. To be fair, it was about career options and how to achieve them, something she had researched so completely she already had a list of universities she intended to apply to, along with possible companies to intern, all carefully tabbed in a binder at home that was also slowly filling with application and portfolio ideas.

Given that she was only fourteen and still had four more years before she reached the point of applying, she was ahead of the game. Perhaps she could be considering going to another lycée instead of the feeder for Collège Françoise Dupont, perhaps somewhere private that had a focus on fashion. But she didn’t want to put pressure on her parents, who would have to pay the tuition for such an institution, when she was already winning awards and making a name for herself through designing for Jagged Stone and the up-and-coming Kitty Section, among others.

“For instance, being a superhero is not a viable career path,” was what made her tune in, her attention fully pulled to Mme. Bustier, who seemed to be looking right at her.

What.

The.

Fuck.

Marinette felt frozen by that stare, pinned like a ladybug by an entomologist. How could she know? Did other people notice her stare?

“Ladybug is almost certainly harming her civilian future through these superhero antics, which prevent her from fulfilling all her obligations.”

Alya snorted. “That’s not Ladybug’s fault—it’s Hawkmoth’s. Ladybug protects the city. And maybe Paris should pay her for her services!”

“Ladybug is a teenager who should be concentrating on school,” Mme. Bustier declared, still staring holes into Marinette.

“Ladybug has never released her age,” Adrien murmured, his voice sounding strained. “So that’s conjecture, Mme. Bustier. How does this have to do with our future careers?”

To her horror, he turned and followed her gaze to Marinette.

She felt as though she might hyperventilate, panic rising in her gut. If she was compromised, that put her family and friends at risk, put the Miracle Box at risk, played right into Hawkmoth’s hands. She’d never been good at a poker face, and she wasn’t sure whether she was managing now.

Adrien’s eyes widened, and she knew she’d failed, at least with him. Kwami, she hoped she could trust him.

“I’m glad you asked, Adrien. For instance, Marinette, would you please share your current preparation for your future career.”

All eyes were on her, and she could feel the thoughts swirling around them as she was called out. She swallowed, trying to push it all down.

“I-I… I have a binder. At home. F-fifteen different universities with fashion p-programs. In order of where I want to go most. Also c-companies that offer internships.” She took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves—it helped a bit. “I’ve started my portfolio, including the b-bowler hat that won M. Agreste’s contest, and my work for Jagged Stone and Kitty Section, and p-pictures of clothing I’ve designed and made.”

She could hear murmurs around her, and Alya gave a low whistle beside her.

“Girl, no wonder you don’t sleep. You’re on top of this!”

Mme. Bustier’s mouth became a thin line, her lips pressed together as though she was irritated.

Marinette wished keenly that Master Fu was still around, could handle this situation. She’d come to realize Mme. Bustier was a terrible teacher, enabling bullying and shaming victims as though they were at fault for their treatment. But this was a whole new level of awful.

“Still, the way you run off during Akuma attacks interrupts your daily life and prevents you from—”

“We all run away during Akuma attacks! They disrupt all our daily lives.”

Adrien stood, his back rigid from tension.

“Marinette has been personally targeted multiple times during Akuma attacks. So have I! A lot of this has been documented on the LadyBlog. It’s traumatizing—and we keep our memories of that because we’re not the Akuma. I run and hide, personally. Why would you shame Marinette for that?”

The class fell silent, and glancing around Marinette could see the tension in their faces, their own memories of being chased by Akuma.

Adrien had moved this away from the idea of Marinette being Ladybug to her being shamed for her reaction to Akumas. He was protecting her. And she loved him all the more for it.

“There was Evillustrator,” Marinette murmured, jumping on the red herring.

She glanced at Nathanaël apologetically. He offered a sad smile.

“I had to help Chat Noir with that. It was scary. André Glacier became Glaciator and came looking for me, and Chat Noir saved me from getting frozen. And Gamer was looking for me. Chat Noir saved me again.”

She could see Max wince across the aisle.

“Reflekta turned me into her clone because she was mad at me. And it was my fault.”

Marinette turned and mouthed ‘sorry’ to Juleka.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Juleka whispered, then cringed as she realized her voice had carried far enough for everyone to hear.

She smiled, then turned back to the front.

“My own grandmother tried to turn me into coal when she was Akumatized because she was upset I wasn’t like eight years old anymore—Chat Noir saved me again there, too. And then my dad was Akumatized and Chat Noir and Ladybug had to save me again.”

Marinette hadn’t been able to transform, needing to be saved as a civilian before she could get back as Ladybug. Too many of them had been so public she’d had to trust Chat Noir would be able to hold his own until she got there—and she did, but she was afraid sometime that would be fatal.

“And I saw footage when Adrien was dropped from a building and then when Volpina pretended to drop him from the Eiffel Tower. That’s terrifying!”

She didn’t turn around to look at Lila. Instead she looked at Adrien, who was still standing, alternating between glaring at Mme. Bustier and glancing back at her with concern in his eyes.

“And then there’s mind control Akumas, like with Miracle Queen. I’m scared of Akumas, Mme. Bustier. Even when they’re across the city, they won’t always stay there, and I want to hide. And I refuse to be ashamed of that!”

It wasn’t a lie, either. Civilian her absolutely wanted to hide—and did, just behind a mask.

She turned her attention to the teacher, keeping her back straight, remembering she had Adrien on her side, even if she wished he didn’t know—damn Bustier for that. Marinette steeled herself.

“I don’t understand why you’ve singled me out to try to imply I alone am somehow failing to perform because of Akumas, but you always seem to do this. I’m at fault for being bullied. I need to be an example and not react when my belongings are destroyed and my locker is broken into. Or when someone gets me expelled by somehow putting test answers in my bag and a new Gabriel-brand necklace—supposedly an heirloom—in my locker that’s been broken into before. I’ve spent the last year feeling I’m not allowed to have emotions. But this is the last straw.”

Marinette stood, picking up her bag. When she glanced down Tikki was giving her the Kwami version of a thumbs up.

“Frankly, Mme. Bustier, you have been toxic for my mental health for quite some time. Time I’ve spent researching to discover what you’re doing isn’t appropriate for the classroom; it’s abusive and reportable. If you’ll excuse me, I need to speak to the M. Damocles, as well as my parents. And perhaps the Board of Governors, as I am no longer willing to tolerate this treatment and its continued harm to my education.”

With that, she marched down the stairs, past an open-mouthed Bustier, and out of the classroom, holding her head high.

Once in the open hallway, clear of the windows, she deflated.

“Well, fuck,” she whispered. “I guess I get to do research on a new collège, too.”

She supposed, at least, she’d been successful at diverting Bustier from the Ladybug accusations; the last thing she needed was for Ladybug-hater Lila to know and come after her.

“You and me both.”

Adrien’s voice behind her nearly made her jump out of her skin. She was relieved to see no one else had followed him. She could hear the hullaballoo of the classroom behind her, all control having been lost.

He quirked a grin. “We’re in it together, Bugaboo. As always.”

She stared, feeling like there was a hamster lolling on the wheel of her thoughts instead of running to turn it.

Adrien took her arm. “Come on. I’ll support you. Let’s go talk to M. Damocles.”

“Ch-Chat?” Marinette managed in a hiss as her brain finally caught up.

He gently guided her forward. “My Lady.”

She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to laugh, cry, scream, or some combination of the three. But as they approached M. Damocles’ office, Marinette pushed the issue aside.

After all, she had work to do, and Ladybug didn’t leave work unfinished.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous fanfiction #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #bustier salt #alya cesaire #max kante #juleka couffaine #nathaniel kurtzberg #caline bustier #lila rossi #lila 'the liar' rossi #ml salt #adrien sugar #identity reveal #my fanfiction #miraculous salt

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mlwritingprompts · 4 years

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Submitted Prompt: Poor Choice or Poor Teacher?

AU set before the events of Syren:

(Contains some Fu Salt, with Fu redemption)

During an akuma battle, Master Fu happens to be grocery shopping or running errands when the Akuma first shows up, and is caught up in the battle, swept up in the crowd as civilians flee, screaming and in terror, from the supervillain.

Fu is not as young as he used to be, and while he can ride a bike for miles with no issue, apparently running is a different matter entirely, and before he knows it his legs are aching and he is out of breath within two blocks of the attack as the crowd around him pushes and shoves, and it is all he can do to avoid being trampled as Wayzz is frantically worried for his safety from the pocket of his coat.

Chat Noir arrives on the scene first, bounding out of an alleyway nearby, and Fu is relieved that one of his chosen has arrived to protect the civilians and defeat the akuma.

After all, Adrien Agreste is a smart boy, he would know how to defeat an akuma by now so that Ladybug can purify the tainted item, right? Or, failing to fight the akuma, he would focus on getting the akuma contained to avoid harm to civilians, right?

Only, when Chat Noir lands on the scene, he… doesn’t fight. Not properly.

No, for some reason, Chat Noir seems content to mock and taunt the Akuma, dancing around the rooftops and occasionally batting at the akuma with his baton while quipping puns and jokes instead of moving in and dealing damage the way a heavy hitter like the Black Cat Holder is supposed to.

Fu watches Adrien Agreste spar with the akuma for a few minutes, huddled with the other defenseless civilians in a scorched shop as loud cat puns and flat jokes echo around the destroyed alleyway. Chat Noir’s fighting style seems to be exclusively focused on using his baton as a… sword? Instead of pairing it up with his claws for close range attacks.

Now, every wielder has their own unique style of fighting, but it seems like Chat Noir only uses his claws for his last-resort power of Cataclysm.

“This is all my fault, I never should have been a coward! I should have stepped up, been a proper instructor and teacher from the first day! This is all so wrong, this is my fault, no wonder they have not defeated Hawkmoth yet, it’s because I have failed as a teacher and left them on their own to flounder!”

Convinced that Chat Noir’s behavior is due to Fu’s lack of teaching, Master Fu is considering finding a place so that he can attempt the transformation to help out his floundering fledgling when–

Ladybug arrives on the scene.

Swinging in over the rooftops, Ladybug launches herself into battle, halting the Akuma in its tracks as it sends Chat Noir flying with a swat after the boy tried to bat at it with his baton once again.

Chat Noir goes flying through the air, and…

Instead of adjusting his angle to land cleanly, cries out for Ladybug, forcing her to release the Akuma and instead focus on ‘saving’ her partner from hitting the ground, slinging her weapon out to create a net for him to land 'safely’ in…

As though a tumble like that would have actually hurt him, even if he didn’t land on his feet?

Mystified and even more concerned, Fu wonders if perhaps the Black Cat Miraculous was damaged at some point since he granted it to the young Agreste, and that that is why Adrien does not fight at close quarters the way his suit is designed for, why Marinette Dupain-Cheng is constantly having to divert her attention away from the battle to engage with 'rescuing’ her partner– perhaps Adrien’s is not protected by his suit like he should be when he is transformed?

But even as Fu is fighting to extract himself from the crowd, even as he hobbles with aching knees to find a spot hidden enough that he can transform, he still keeps a concerned eye on the battle, and the pit in his stomach that is full of guilt begins to fill with a deeper dread.

He watches the way Chat Noir spends the battle flirting with Ladybug, and hears her ever-more adamant exclamations begging him to focus on the fight and leave her alone. He watches with wide eyes, taken aback, as Chat Noir is 'rescued’ once again and swoops in to kiss Ladybug on the cheek, only failing to do so when she pushes him away, even as the Akuma is rampaging down the street, all Adrien Agreste can focus on is asking Marinette Dupain-Cheng out on a date.

Stumbling into a house that is nothing but four barely-standing walls, Fu looks at Wayzz, nearly crying as he gasps out, “Oh Wayzz, I have made a terrible mistake, more than one. I should never have left them on their own, and I should never have given them only a single test. Even if there is something damaged with the Black Cat Miraculous, it would not effect Adrien’s behavior; my friend, I chose wrong. Please, let this work, so that I can correct my mistakes.”

"Wayzz, Shell on!“

In a burst of green light, the Jade Turtle appeared for the first time in decades; and Fu knew in his heart, as determination filled him, that he would be around as long as he could.

He owed it to the next generation of Miraculous Holders.

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adriensaltprompts · 3 years

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Submitted Prompt: Three times the writers had us fooled

Edited a little

I honestly have a lot of issues with Origins and wanted to see if this was a good way to point them out, because like… these three scenes made no sense to me (or rather sticked as the most ridiculous)

Edit: for some reason it’s saying this was submitted by me, obviously it was not, lol.

If the writters seriously wanted us to believe this portrayed a good format for the series I’m baffled. Like, how in the world they could make such a idiot choice for a terrorsit ascending?! And like why does Adrien test is shown as correct if it was basical decency?! The kid seriously turned back to Nathalie smiling and even asked for her to not inform his father!!

And don’t get me started in Marinette, because that crush during that long and developing into such a way is bizzare… how exactly Adrien talking with her like how many times? A full hand can turn her into a perfectly reasonable crush to a nearly full blown stalker?!

…

When Gabriel prepared himself to villany, he expected Nooroo to bow down to his whims without a single protest, however the kwami was much rather the opposite, looking at him with incredulousness.

A fire was lifted that Gabriel had no idea of.

“Hold on a second! Are you seriously telling me that you’re going to terrorize an entire city full of innocent people just hoping to be handed the Miraculous in a silver plate instead of doing the obvious ?!”

Gabriel blanched in shock, not expecting the outburst.

“H-Huh?”

Nooroo groaned loudly enough for Gabriel to get startled.

“You do realize you can just akumatize a nurse , right? No, better than that, if your goal is simply healing Ms. Emilie, you can just akumatize Nathalie or Adrien, you know people who are close to the miss or worse, yourself ,” Nooroo pointed out tiredly.

Gabriel needed a full minute to process what the akuma just said and once he did, he rushedly akumatized himself, using his new powers on Emilie and as she woke up, explained the situation.

The conflict was resolved in a single five minute span.

…

When Fu decided to apply the test for the Black Cat Miraculous, he didn’t account for two factors.

One such factor was a certain Nathalie Sancoeur. Certainly, while the woman had a strong fondness for the blond boy and greatly disliked the way her employer treated Adrien, such care came from him being said employer’s son.

And as such, despite her fondness, Nathalie was no fool, she was clearly aware that schools of this caliber asked for student ID to grant them an entrance had they not been matriculated previously, such a thing that Adrien apparently wasn’t aware of.

Another factor relied on Adrien’s sincere belief that she wouldn’t simply take him back home, in spite of absolutely nothing stopping her on that very same street.

The road was empty, no other human beings present. His bodyguard also didn’t move while it would be perfectly reasonable for her to not be able to counter his strength.

Fondness wasn’t even a factor in this calculation, while Adrien was indeed one of her priorities, he always came second to her loyalty to Gabriel. Specifically, the paycheck she got from him every other month. She wasn’t going to get fired and put out on the streets and never be able to find work in France again just so Adrien could walk himself into a brick wall.

Fu was shocked to see the boy he felt was a potential hero getting dragged back into a limo with no effort. He was shocked, he had believed such a lazy test would work.

And that was where the second factor came to be.

You see, while the street was undeniably empty for the moment, that didn’t mean that it would always be empty.

And the instant that Fu started to get back to his feet, one random civilian, who just happened to give a damn about basic human decency didn’t give a single thought before asking if he needed help getting up.

They didn’t just grab him and forcefully pick him up, either–they asked if he needed help, and when he, dumbfounded that someone was passing the world’s easiest test, said yes, they asked how he would like them to help. And when he said, “Just give me a hand to hold while I pull myself up” they did that, exactly as he asked. And then they asked if he needed more help.

They smiled at him, and Fu said, realizing with awe that they had passed the test, “Thank you, young man, but I’ll be okay now.”

The student seemed confused by the seriousness of his tone and the phrasing, much to their. uncertainty.

“It was nothing really, I just happened to pass by and see you fallen,” they said.

The bell rang Fu stared in disbelief, confounded by basic human decency.

“Crap!“ The student exclaimed, turning to look towards the school, “I’m late! Ah sorry, would you like help to get anywhere?”

“No, that isn’t necessary,” he said with gritted teeth.

The student hesitated for a second, then nodded, and smiled, before waving and turning to run towards the school.

Fu was further ashamed when said student apologized to someone for bumping into them as they ran inside the gate.

…

It was raining after school. Marinette stood in the entrance way, dreading having to head home in the downpour, even just the short distance. Her clothes would be soaked instantly, and she wasn’t looking forward to having to get through the bakery without creating puddles of water everywhere that customers could slip on.

Adrien approached her, umbrella in hand, and tried to greet her cheerfully like nothing was wrong, but she turned away, forcing him to talk to her back.

He didn’t say anything for a moment, apparently waiting for her to turn back to him, then when it became clear that wasn’t going to happen, he started, his voice low and quiet, “I just wanted you to know that I was only trying to take the chewing gum off your seat, I swear. I’ve never been to school before. I’ve never had friends. It’s all sort of… new to me.”

Adrien held out the umbrella to Marinette, holding it so she could see it even with her back to him. When she glanced back at him out of the corner of his eye, he was smiling. Marinette gave him a puzzled look despite his heartfelt admission, not taking the offered umbrella.

"Uhm, Marinette?” He asked, his arm starting to hurt.

“Ah sorry,” she said back, still looking lost for words, “Is just that, er, I’m trying to understand which one is the truth.” She said it so innocently that it didn’t help his confusion,

“Truth? What are you talking about? I never once li-”

“Adrien,” she started, “I literally sit behind you. I could hear every word of what you and Nino were talking about,”

For the first time, Adrien began to panic, not that she actually noticed, because she was continuing, “That’s what I’m trying to wrap my head here, trying to see you as better than Chloé, because anyone is a angel compared to her and because this whole atmosphere is just plainly manipulative and anyone that didn’t catch the words without context would probably have the same doubts as me.”

She breathed, still wanting to fuel some steam. The memory of finally standing up to Chloé is still deep rooted in her brain.

“I… I just want to process which one here is the truth. Because Adrien, no matter how ‘nice’ you want yourself to be seen, lying to my face about not being Chloé’s friend when you clearly told Nino that she was your only friend in a long time is very egotistical. And the one I want an apology for is you and Chloé. You’re still covering her as we speak, if you didn’t realize.”

Adrien had realized that, and sincerely hoped that that Marinette hadn’t noticed, for as he wanted to keep the facade, or at least stopping the one who currently held the class together to not be offended by him.

“Adrien, if you want friends, you need to be honest with them.”

Adrien was speechless, not daring to intervene, aware that absolutely nothing he said would change the fact that he was trapped. That single sentence basically confirmed it.

“Here, I’ll give you a better solution,” she cleared her throat, wanting to rephrase his words to suit the “mood” better, “I just wanted you to know that I was only trying to take the chewing gum off your seat, as I felt bad that Chloé was doing something so different than I expected. I swear. I’ve never been to school before. I’ve never had any real friends because the only one I got for a role model was Chloé, who’s just plainly awful. In spite of me being a model, who god knows how often I need to talk with other people. It’s all sort of… new and unique to me and I have no idea what to do or say.”

She finished with a warm smile. One that didn’t have any sign of malice, her gaze filled with an unfolded doubt, but still resolute.

Almost as if… actually trying to give him advice.

Adrien didn’t move at all, clearly frozen and stupefied. For politeness sake she took his umbrella, but she was pretty sure that someone who so blatantly lied to her face wasn’t worth her attention.

She praised honesty and only was dedicated to those who were worthy of her effort and reciprocated it.

Adrien may be new to real life, but she wasn’t.

Plus, being Ladybug was rather tiring and if her predictions were true, so would be dealing with him or her new partner.

It was off and unsettling, but the way Chat Noir referred to her and acted outside of his comforting words… made her worried, like legitimately indignant too.

Paris apparently needed her, but… she shakes her head, she could do it. She was chosen for it, after all.

#submission #Adrien salt #adrien salt prompts #ml salt #ml salt prompts #miraculous ladybug #ml writing prompts #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Ladybug #Chat Noir #Chat Noir salt #Master Fu salt #ML writers salt #Master Fu is an idiot #the ml writers are idiots #Show!Miraculous #Show!Marinette #Show!Adrien

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