#maybe Marinette will for once actually learn something again

[mamayura]

One of the most frustrating things about the London special for me is that the way Marinette defeated the new Butterfly didn't actually solve anything. Like, at all.

Not only did Marinette for literally no reason only care about taking her own name out of the notebook, meaning all the other dozens of crucial informations the Butterfly gathered are still in there

But also that neither Marinette nor Alix gave a damn to even try and make sure that the Butterfly won't do something like this again just in an improved and even smarter way.

The reason why Alix was alarmed in the first place was because Cerise defeated Marinette at her first attempt and had to be stopped in the nick of time by a time travel hero from going through with the wish. Marinette's identity being found was NOT the event that alarmed Alix. It was the WISH. Marinette herself barely held any relevance beyond having been the one to conveniently wear both the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous in that night for Cerise to steal.

So all Marinette and Alix accomplished is that the Butterfly won't immediately go for the wish and Ladybug's identity again without an even better clever plan. That's it.

Cerise can still have used the rest of the summer break as prep time to find out every heros identity, especially Chat Noir's, every secret in all this, and even Marinette's identity again.

Cause again, what Cerise did "wrong" was immediately going all out. Not that she found out major information at all.

It is so unbelievably stupid to have Marinette and Alix act so brainless. At least don't praise them as the greatest and smartest heros of all time if you have them be this fucking incompetent.

Marinette doesn't even consider Chat Noir worthy of the information that a new Butterfly already exists, how smart they are, and that they would have already won at day 1 if it hadn't been for ALIX.

Every second that passes is Marinette now being willing to sacrifice Chat Noir's safety and life because she doesn't wanna have a conversation that isn't about her comfort.

Marinette herself would have been royally fucked if it hadn't been for BUNNIX and the Butterfly having made the wish, but she herself was utterly helpless.

Not to mention that Cerise barely even bothered with Maribug.

She didn't say a word. Didn't make a show out of her plan, didn't wake her up to rub it in. Nothing. She was already gone and making the wish before Marinette even woke up.

Maribug canonically has no reason to believe that the new Butterfly won't just adjust the plan and go for Chat Noir and the entire rest of the team first (that Marinette now made into targets again, lets hope her modifications of the Miraculous were safety precautions). Marinette was even explicitly written to be AWARE that whoever is underneath the Akuma mask won't remember shit about any of their interactions, so its not like Marinette has any reason to delude herself into believing the Butterfly is only after HER bc they formed this "life-altering rivalry" in battle.

The Butterfly literally barely paid Maribug any fucking mind. From Marinettes perspective, new Butterfly was on a mission and that was all the way through all they cared about. What excuse is there for Marinette to abandon everyone at the Butterfly's mercy now just because Alix is HER safety net? Especially Chat Noir who Marinette has no reason to not believe wont be the Butterfly's new target number one since they are after the wish?

Non of this adds up whatsoever. It is probably one of the worst displays of leadership and self-centeredness Marinette was ever written to act on on everyone's expense. And that says alot.

Marinette just completely abandons Chat Noir in particularly to get targeted by the new Butterfly however they please. There is no logical reason for why Marinette shouldn't expect the new Butterfly to do that beyond Marinette at this point being pretty much incapable of thinking about anyone or anything but primarily herself in her plans which makes her the worst possible person in her role, no matter how well she hits people.

They literally found HER identity at day fucking 1 and that situation being saved was entirely thanks to ALIX. Marinette herself was helpless and fucked. And now Marinette just leaves Chat Noir, Alya, and the entire rest of the team at fate's mercy for approximately 3 months of summer break because... well, I guess Madame "Ladybug will decide for the world what the truth is" hasn't authorized yet that reality is real, so she's for less than 0 reasons just being writing to think that the Butterfly must ask for her permission first to do exactly the same extremely clever and effective planning Marinette already witnessed, just that Marinette is the only one who has Bunnix privilege so everyone else will be doomed.

Well, that sure doesn't sound familiar at all. Doesn't remind me one bit of how Marinette in Kuro Neko just ignored Chat Noir's absence for who knows how long, telling herself "she selflessly allowed him vacation" instead of caring for 2 seconds about his safety, because I guess there too Marinette just decided that ShadowMoth has to ask for her permission first to have done something to Chat Noir behind her back...

... right after Ephemeral, the episode where ShadowMoth in fact did NOT ask for Maribug's girlboss permission first to have found and done something to Chat Noir behind her back.

Looks like History is predictably repeating itself in the worst way possible and Marinette continues proofing that she never learned anything. How wonderful.

I actually hope that Cerise used the summer break to just already find out about everything beforehand, besides Ladybug's identity, and just didn't act on the grand open plan yet because she did all the prepping first. Since those were the only two aspects that she would have learned to tackle last.

Sure would suck for everyone involved, especially ADRICHAT, but it might be the only way Marinette could actually start learning from her mistakes and be able to be a good hero again. With a villain that just does the obvious and smart moves instead of the writing continuing to dumb the villains down to pathetic degrees because somebody having a brain cell would be "mean" to Marinette who apparently can't consider anyone in anything anymore, no matter how obvious it should be.

[marinettesaltprompts]

True Holder Implications

Prompt by @ironicreality

Another Salt Prompt, this time inspired by the oh-so-fun concept of “True Holders” and how its used. Just now with a bit of logic applied to the whole thing.

After all, if Adrien isn’t Plagg True Holder, then it makes all those scenes where Plagg tries to convince him to stay as Chat Noir and go along with Fu and Ladybug’s questionable leadership choices a lot more questionable. And with Adrien having some similarities to Damian (a custom-made heir to parents who trained him in athletics, fighting and academics from an early age), the implications actually become far worse.

Especially if Adrien has to find out right when he learns everything else about Gabriel and the Sentimonster business.

Not too much Marinette salt really, but a massive **block** of it for Fu and Plagg thanks to Fridge Logic kicking in full force.

It starts with the usual Maribat plot outline.

“Damien” arrives in Paris to help defeat Hawkmoth. In the process of teaming up with Ladybug he effortlessly proves his worth as a hero and Marinette can just feel that she’s found her True Partner. He’s protective of both her identities. Proactive in hunting down Lila and is clearly the better hero between him and Chat Noir.

Best of all any reluctance she might have in replacing her first Partner is done away with her inner Guardian sense/magical knowledge/Miraculous informing her that Damian is indeed the True Black Cat. So its a matter of destiny and now that she’s found her soulmate (forget about that spineless Adrien!) it’s the right thing for Chat Noir to step aside for Plagg’s real holder.

With Gabriel unmasked and the other Miraculous now in her box the time has come. And when Chat Noir arrives for what will be their last meeting even he doesn’t seem surprised to see Damien standing in their spot.

Ladybug is surprised herself however when Chat Noir, having been sullen towards Damien ever since the brusque boy had arrived in Paris, wordlessly destransforms in front of them without hesitation. She’s twice surprised to find that her old crush, Adrien, had been Chat Noir all along. And she’s thrice surprised to find him already pulling the ring off his finger without her even having brought up the fact he’d need to give up the ring.

But apparently *he* already knew, because he almost casually throws the thing at Robin, who catches it equally as wordlessly before sliding it on. Plagg appears, and looks towards Adrien for a moment, but Adrien is pointedly not looking at the Cat Kwami- and instead at Ladybug for a moment.

Then he turns and starts to make his way away from the spot, apparently intending to use his natural agility to make his way down.

Surprised, Ladybug finds herself next to him and grabbing his arm before she knows it- and the non-powered boy is easily halted in place. “Aren’t you going to say anything?” She finds herself demanding.

Adrien turns back to her for a moment, and Ladybug was struck by how cold and stone-faced her former partner was. His green eyes were empty of anything she could discern. He looks down at her grip, “… goodbye?”

“That’s it?” She splutters, “after *everything*? You’re just going to leave just like that?”

In hindsight she shouldn’t have been surprised, he’d already left once with barely a word. But somehow this time got to her. This was the end of the Ladybug and Chat Noir for good- there wasn’t going to be another time he took up the ring and became her partner again: but this was how he ended things?

“What else is there to say?” His voice is as empty as his eyes were. “What do you *want* me to say?”

“I-I don’t know, *anything*?” She felt a bit of bitterness rise up; “something about our partnership maybe? ‘Good job!’ 'We did it!’ ‘It was an honour to fight alongside you’, since you know: we’ve only been *fighting for years* against…”

“My Father.” Adrien coolly reminds her.

“Oh,” her anger unfurled in her chest; “is that what this is about-”

“No. No it isn’t.” Adrien tugs his arm, and she loosens her grip to let him free. He steadies himself on the ledge and turns back to face her properly, ignoring the other boy the and the Kwami. “You know what a True Holder is?”

Ladybug almost scoffs, but simply nods.

“Well, *I didn’t*.” There’s a bite to his voice now. “Not until a few nights ago when Plagg let something slip.” His eyes flicker over her shoulder for a moment before returning to her. “But you did didn’t you? That’s why he’s here.”

Okay, things made sense now. Clearly Adrien was bitter about being replaced, but he’d let the ring go before so why-

“… and so did Plagg.” Adrien continues, a hardness in his face now. A genuine edge.

“So?” Ladybug can’t help but ask. “Why does that matter? All Kwamis can feel their True Holders but-”

“It matters because Plagg *always knew* I wasn’t his holder,” Adrien sharply interjects. “And so did Fu.” He looks her over with resignation. “They both knew I wasn’t your actual Partner.

You don’t get it do you? This entire time, I was just a stand-in for *him*,” Adrien pointed towards Robin. “Fu picked me because I was closest thing he could get in Paris to him. The closest thing that could be *controlled* anyway,” more bitterness. “All this time, Plagg was encouraging me to stay close to you, to go along with whatever you and Fu wanted- because they needed a *disposable temp* until the real thing could arrive.”

“I…” Ladybug finds herself taken aback. She’d had problems with Chat Noir and had long since become disillusioned with Adrien, but this…

“I tried to leave a few times.” Adrien’s voice cuts into her thoughts. “Before this, but Plagg always brought me back. He always convinced me to stay, because of…” he trailed off and his voice went cool again. “Because *Robin wasn’t here yet*, so he told me whatever he needed so he and Fu could keep using me instead of someone less controllable.”

Plagg’s voice cuts in, “Adrien-”

“But they were all lies.” Adrien ignores him and keeps his eyes on Ladybug. “Just like everything else. Until I noticed how he reacted to Robin, and started asking questions and *making* him tell the truth a few days ago.” His lips twitch up for a moment, “but it’s all right. Robin’s here now, so there’s no need for me anymore.”

“You…” she finds herslef tailing off. “You didn’t want to keep the ring?”

She doesn’t know why she says it, but it’s an obvious question. She didn’t know his identity, maybe she could have gotten it from Uncanny Valley but surely he could have tried to escape away someplace in the last week…

“Why?” Adrien snorts. “What would it have given me? Plagg was never actually my friend. You were never actually my partner.

Chat Noir was *never* freedom, just another *puppet*.” The brief moment of good humour had passed, and the resigned bitterness had returned.

“You could have asked for another Miraculous,” She offers up. She’d been expecting Chat to at least ask to stay on the team. “Be a hero again-”

“I wasn’t a ‘hero’, I was a *puppet*.” Adrien snapped back. “A patsy, a *meatshield* and a joke most of the time- and I refuse to be that *ever again*.” His voice calmed again, but the underlying sour disillusionment remained; “especially not for The Order, some Kwami, or *you*-”

“And if you’re a True Holder after all?” She demands. “You could be leaving the Kwami you’re meant for alone!””

It really wasn’t something she expected was true. But Chat Noir had had moments when he’d shined, and she’d wanted to at least test him for whatever Fu had seen in him.

“So what?” He bluntly askes. “It’s not like you *have* to be a True Holder to use a Miraculous and you’ll have plenty of volunteers. You’ll be just fine.

As for me?” He lets out a tired breath, “I… I don’t know why I came in person. I just… I’m not part of this anymore. I don’t *want* to be part of this anymore.

Good luck Ladybug.” He turns to leave, but stops as he reaches down to his first handold. “And maybe check with Tikki to make sure you’re *actually* her True Holder. You’d be surprised how well Kwamis can deceive you.”

Blog Note: While not really focusing on Marinette salt, its a really good angsty prompt and does salt on one of the most annoying Maribat tropes, so it gets a full pass.

[ilikekidsshows]

With Adrien now having lost both his parents (and couldn't even bury them), lost his uncle (yes, that counts), and having gone through Emilie's, Gabriel's, and Nathalie's health going south in front of his eyes, I just... I lost a couple of family members in the last 2 years (two very recently) and our home situation was always very... complicated to say the least on top of our family having quite alot of health issues.

I don't know how sympathetic I can stay with Miraculous and Marinette when they will now clearly make light of being an abused and guilt ridden orphan because Marinette is gonna continue crying whenever she feels the slightest discomfort about everything that isn't about her.

If the show has Marinette now complain about her parents bc of some set up drama to Adrien and he'll be given shit for being "unsupportive" because he tells her that her parents aren't the worst and instead she should talk to them (which was her (awful) advice to him in Risk but it's correct here). I just don't know how I can watch that without going off. No way is Marinette gonna be respectful about Adrien being an orphan the second her parents aren't perfect. She probably won't even remember or simply be dismissive the way she always is when something opposes her opinion.

Marinette is never written to be truly respectful to any kind abuse in the show besides her own and bully victims. She's even written to be a solid bit ableist because once it's not Marinette's problem it ain't real and people "need to be put in place". Marinette not being a raging dick doesn't mean she's respectful. I noticed that her dialogue very rarely actually empathizes with the victims. She just tells them they can try again and change their feelings and situations to what she decided is the correct way to be and think. Marinette doesn't truly help people, she tells them how to best suit herself so they can then help her after they corrected their existence to her liking. That's literally all Marinette did to Shadybug omfg. I hate it here.

If Lila causes trouble in Marinette's family, no way will Marinette be tolerant of Adrien's situation. And I don't know if I can watch that.

And I don't think this is me being too sensitive at all. Just like there are abused children who are constantly getting shit on by Marinette's story, orphans very obviously exist. But Marinette isn't an orphan so now there is a new group of children who need to "learn their lesson" that their problems aren't real because Marinette is upsette.

Sorry for being pessimistic, but it makes me so unbelievably angry that Miraculous has turned into nothing but a kids show that's just for the pretty and privilege Girls who were bullied (or maybe not even that) and now want a power fantasy that validates all their worst emotional cravings of revenge on literally everyone else's expense because SOMETHING didn't went their way and now that's the worst thing ever.

I hate that Miraculous became a show that I don't want children to watch because of how awful the Marinette centric morality is. Every bad message possible is send to children as long as it validates Marinette and her kinnies and it's a prime example of the type of privileged western feminism that gives feminism such a bad name. So forgive me for not believing that Marinette will suddenly be written differently the moment Lila has her parents disagree with her about something (like wanting her to take over the bakery) and Marinette will inevitably be written to stomp her foot, scream, cry, and throw up about how abused, oppressed, and unprivileged she is until she entirely gets her way.

No I don't think Marinette will be understanding of Adrien in that case. She will start crying and pouting about not being validated and Adrien taking her parents side, and say that Adrien's experiences don't count and he just "doesn't get it" until he agrees that his way worse experience isn't worth anything (the way she always makes him as Cat Noir believe taht his feelings, perspective and experiences aren't real. He just "doesn't get" how correct and benevolent she is, until he gives in and accepts that he's irrelevant and worthy of abuse the way she likes it apparently. Or the class not being allowed to have their own opinions on Chloe because Marinette thinks their experiences of being bullied by Chloe aren't "valid" enough to make a judgement call whenever it doesn't validate her, only SHE can have the right opinion)

When has Marinette ever been written to actually respect other victims? The most she does is stop being a dick about it and instead "kindly" wait for the victims to understand taht they are wrong and she's right. They don't have real problems, only HER, so its HER who needs all the effort and support. The others just need to stop and get over it.

I've yet to see anything in Miraculous that gives me a real reason to believe Marinette is not gonna be a shit girlfriend now the moment she isn't getting whatever she wants and Adrien isn't 24/7 validating her. Marinette has become such a privileged character who walks over all kinds of victims but would never take accountability for it because "it's not her fault" and "her feelings are valid, everyone is just so awful and mean to her!"

I pitty every child growing up with Miraculous who doesn't have the privilege of being a Marinette. And now they are gonna drag orphans into that too...

---

They don’t even need to give Marinette family problems to make her be insensitive to Adrien, in my opinion. Her most minor grievances are the most important problem for her, no matter what anyone else has going on. Adrien could be going to his father's funeral and Marinette would stalk him there unless he invites her along like it’s a date and she would treat the situation like she was the one facing the hardship of Adrien not inviting her everywhere he goes.

Marinette has been treating Adrien’s worries as unimportant since day one. Adrien being locked up was only bad because he couldn’t come to the trick dates Marinette tried to set up. Adrien has a “perfect life” because he’s rich and famous, because nothing else about his life has worked out for him in any way. But Marinette will only acknowledge something is wrong when he’s being forced to hang out with girls who aren’t Marinette herself, meaning it’s once again about her and how her dream boy/boyfriend is being pushed off on other girls when he should be with her.

So, yeah, I totally don't see the writers allowing Adrien to grieve his parents for more than a second. I can just see it, Adrien with a photo of the family he no longer has, and we instantly cut to Marinette whining about how Adrien has been so distant with her and the fandom instantly cries: "How dare Adrien grieve his supervillain dad (that he doesn't know was a supervillain)! He should be with Marinette because she's upsette!"

[yubellia]

Lila/Cerise/Iris/Daphne(?) Style analysis

Hi! Now we all calmed down after the miraculous London special (that didn’t really took place in London most of the time), I thought about something. Our favorite local liar and chameleon had a lot of outfits so far.

So why not try to analyze them and maybe come to a conclusion for her future in the series? Also, I won‘t talk about the waitress because that was kind of a spying mission and a one time thing. We focus on the civilian ones ok? Also remember that English isn’t my first language ok?

Enjoy!

Lila Rossi

Ok let’s start at the beginning. „Lila Rossi“ is introduced as the new girl in school. And she is not wasting time. She starts to spread lies instantly.

But we are here for her outfit.

- She has long red-brown hair that reaches her hips, tied together at the ends and bangs that cover her forehead (we later learn that it’s a wig)

- she has greenish eyes (contact lenses)

- probably uses fake tan or makeup

- she has a gray- black romper with white polka dots.

- gray tights

- brown ankle boots

- an orange-red leather jacket

- these three wristbands

- (apparently she wears earrings) only relevant in one episode.

To be honest, Lila is one of the characters with style. Her romper could be better and they could have changed her hair a little bit. But overall, she is pretty.

Her outfit isn’t all that spectacular but her red leather jacket is an eye catcher.

Red is a loud color if you get what I mean. It demands attention. Just like Lila herself. So this aspect is reflected in her outfit.

Since we thought that she is just a background villain, there isn’t that much to say just yet.

Cerise Bianca

this is where things get a bit more interesting.

Cerise didn’t change too much, talking about her outfit. It looks like her Lila disguise with different colors.

- her leather jacket is light brown now

- her romper is a solid purple/pink (can we talk about this one? I know purple is a ‚royal and regal‘ color but this looks so tacky and…. No! Just no!)

- she keeps her wristbands

- her tights and boots stay the same.

Now things get interesting.

- without her wig, Cerise has a short pixie cut.

- her tan is fake

- and she has light brown/ hazel eyes.

Her eyes are also special for a different reason.

What about the eyes? Well, look at the characters. Many of them have these round big eyes. Cerises eyes are more fox like, especially when she smirks. It actually takes focus to keep your eyes „normal“ when smiling. Otherwise your eyes turn to slits once your smile or ‚smirk‘ reaches your eyes.

But back to the Cerise!

The purple romper, as ugly as it is, is another attention seeking color. Like the red jacket before in her Lila outfit. Red and purple are also colors that royals wore in the past.

This is pretty fitting considering that she told her other classmates that she is an actress and a star. This outfit is just as attention grabbing as the last. The purple can also be a foreshadowing for when she becomes the new Hawk Moth.

Unfortunately, Cerise becomes a character in the background. She isn’t interacting with many characters. Instead she pulls the strings in the background. There isn’t much to say about it here.

Maybe we see this disguise in season 6 again. Marinette didn’t see her like this yet after all.

Iris Verdi

I think that this is the disguise she used to infiltrate the Agreste Mansion at the end of season 5.

We see something interesting here. This outfit is different than the others. It’s a full-body-disguise, just like ‚Lila‘ was. However. This outfit is much less attention grabbing.

Her black wig has bangs again that cover her forehead. She also wears glasses this time. Combining those two things isn’t easy. Let me tell you as someone who wears glasses. Why? Because it ‚hides‘ your face.

This is very interesting because that’s exactly what she wants with this disguise. Get in, get the miraculous and get out without being seen.

If you look at it, this is also were her outfits get more… ‚basic‘. No power colors or special statement pieces. Maybe her black leather jacket.

However, black is one of the more basic colors for leather jackets. It’s almost like she is trying to dress up as a background character.

She has a light blue jeans and her normal brown boots.

Daphne Azuri (London special)

Now, last but not least, we have her new disguise in the London special. We didn’t see too much but we at least got a full body view.

This disguise was leaked by the way. The name Daphne (Azuri? Azure?) was also flowing around.

I think this new persona is either Iris or Daphne. Not sure yet.

-She wears a blond wig that is tied into a bun. Her forehead is fully visible. There is not a single loose hair. It looks pretty strict.

-she has blue/purple ish contacts. (Sorry the lighting makes ist a bit unclear.)

-it seems like her fake tan is back.

-her 3 wristbands are gone….

Now her outfit:

She wears a black skirt, black tights and her boots are black too. But it looks like she uses the same shoe model. (Probably because she knows she can walk and run in them. A practical decision perhaps.)

She wears a black sweater. The arms end shortly unter her elbows. Under that, she wears a white blouse.

This outfit ist interesting because it seems very strict and business like. Like she comes from a school with a school uniform perhaps….? It’s also very bland. No color at all.

However, as someone who also almost always wears black, let me tell you that you stick out like a sore thumb with that. I mean remember how….. colorful the characters from miraculous are. She will stand out with that.

Also black is a basic villain color. Unless your character is a secret agent and has to blend in at night. So there is that.

The leaks claim that in this outfit, she will have a red blazer and a hat matching it. So perhaps there is color involved after all.

However, this outfit, again, isn’t attention seeking at all really.

Also, if the leaks are true and she is disguised as an exchange student, than she will be able to ‚disappear‘ very easily if things get tough.

——————————————————

Now, what else can we take away from this little style analysis? If you look at it from a story perspective, than it’s easy.

The more important she became for the story. The less attention grabbing are her outfits. We know that Cerise/Lila whatever, can be sneaky. She has no trouble getting somewhere and getting out without being seen. But now she really has a reason to look harmless and bland.

Now that I think about it, maybe she will stop lying for the same reason. It’s too dangerous to draw attention to yourself. So stuff like ‚I am ladybugs friend‘ are a no-go now.

I think season 6 will be interesting. I hope you liked it. Bye!

[liquid-luck-00]

Marks of Magic

Day 2 Vampire

Maribat Spooktober 2023

Previous *** Next

I didn’t mean for this to become a song fic but that’s where it ended up (Vampire by Olivia Rodrigo)

Language and cursing is used

1790 words

~~~~~~~~~~

She woke up the next morning, and it was so peaceful. She didn’t have to worry about Hawkmoth, she didn’t have to worry what her classmates thought of her. That just gave her so much freedom in fact she smiled, taking a breath of air for the first time in what seemed like years.

She bounced downstairs, earlier than her normal on a Saturday morning.

"some one is in good spirits today." Her Maman smiled as she came into the kitchen.

"Of course I am!" She tackled her mom in a hug.

"Did something happen at school?" Her Maman hugged her back. A second later her face turned somber, knowingly she asked. "Did Lila do something?... Alya?"

"Yes and no. I'll tell you and Papa at dinner."

"Okay Baio Bai." She flicked her on the nose. "For now help me get your father to eat something." She held a tray of berries, yogurt, granola, and coffee up for her to take down.

"Well isn’t this a surprise." Her papa smiled as she walked in to the bakery kitchen.

"Well it’s too nice to be crammed in my room." She offered.

"So what did your mother send?" He clapped his hands as flour clouded in the kitchen.

"A few staples." She started mixing granola into the yogurt, and tossing in a few of her papa’s favorite berries, before handing him the bowl.

"Any plans princess?"

"Don’t know." She shrugged. "Maybe walk around and sketch. I was also thinking about dropping by the Couffaine’s."

"Does he treat you right?"

"Papa!!" She blushed, covering her face with her hands. "He’s a good friend, nothing else."

She finally muttered when she found her voice again.

"He is a good kid Mari. Besides if he doesn’t he has to go through me."

She could only laugh before excusing herself.

She never thought of it before, never let herself truly think she could be in a relationship, but…

Luka knows who she is, was, damn that punched her in the gut. But he knows, and she made sure he was the only one that actually remembered that particular secret of hers. Sass had even been with him until a week ago, but could she actually let herself say it to him.

Without realizing she was coming up on the dock.

"How are ya lassie, come aboard." She heard Mdm. Couffaine call out to her.

"Thank you. How have you been?" She asked easily to the sweet pirate of a woman.

"All is good. He’s down in his cabin."

"Thank you." She walked down and approached the door, strums of a guitar floated through the hall. She lifted a hand up to knock, but the door swung open. She hadn’t noticed it had stopped.

"Marinette."

"Luka…" The words died in her throat, her eyes began to sting.

"It’s okay, my melody."

Yes she was relieved that everything was over but that couldn’t last. She lost her best friend, Tikki had become such a huge piece of her and now she was gone. She guarded the kwamii, learned what made each one special. Barkk's loyalty and obsession with the knight's order. Wayzz's fondness of the other's antics and his calmness. She finally let her emotions rage through her without fearing repercussions.

"Marinette!" Luka’s usual calm melted into panic as she broke down.

"It's..." She choked on her words, everything from the night before crashed against her closed eyes.

Luka started to hum, pulling her into a hug. His steady heartbeat combined with his peaceful humming calmed some small part of her. "He's gone." He leaned back, a silent question in his gaze, 'who'. "Hawkmoth." She whispered before emotion overtook her once again.

They stayed like that for a while. Luka didn't pry, didn't try to stop her from feeling everything. At some point they ended up sitting on the bed, Luka started playing his guitar.

"You know you don't have to tell me." Luka finally spoke, not missing a note. "But if you want to I'll listen."

"I..." She pursed her lips, she was about to say more when the door swung open.

"Oh!" Juleka stood in the door, surprised to see the two of them. Her emotions then schooled themselves, ignoring Marinette, and turned towards Luka. "Everyone's here." The quiet girl turned and left.

"Come on." Luka extended his hand. "You need a distraction."

She took it and let him pull her through the house boat. There on the deck was almost half the class. Kitty Section (which included Rose, Ivan, and Juleka), Mylene, Adrien, Alix, Alya and Nino who were sitting next to Lila. Everyone turned and once they saw her scowled.

"Why are you here?" Alex voiced what everyone must have been thinking,

"Well... I..." she didn't know why, just that it felt right, even as Luka dragged her on the stage.

"Come on, just try." Luka placed the microphone in her hand as he plugged his guitar into the amp.

"But I don't..." She bit her lip unsure. Luka started strumming the song only he could hear. She just had to put lyrics to it. "Okay."

She let every thing pour int her words. Her sadness, joy, anger, everything she attempted and failed to tell Luka. Her eyes steeled as she became more confident with every note. Her first target was Alya.

'Hate to give the satisfaction, asking how you're doing now

How's the castle built off people you pretend to care about?

Just what you wanted

Look at you, cool guy, you got it'

Her eyes turned and caught Adrien's as the words formed in her mind mere moments before they crossed her lips.

'I see the parties and the diamonds sometimes when I close my eyes

Six months of torture you sold as some forbidden paradise

I loved you truly

Gotta laugh at the stupidity'

Without hesitating she stared at Lila.

'Cause I've made some real big mistakes

But you make the worst one look fine

I should've known it was strange

You only come out at night

I used to think I was smart

But you made me look so naive

The way you sold me for parts

As you sunk your teeth into me, oh

Bloodsucker, famefucker

Bleedin' me dry, like a goddamn vampire'

She took a short breath before continuing.. now catching Nino's attention.

'And every girl I ever talked to told me you were bad, bad news

You called them crazy, God, I hate the way I called them crazy too

You're so convincing

How do you lie without flinching?

(How do you lie, how do you lie, how do you lie?)'

Her eyes swept her 'friends' before landing on Alix.

'Ooh, what a mesmerizing, paralyzing, fucked-up little thrill

Can't figure out just how you do it, and God knows I never will

Went for me, and not her

'Cause girls your age know better'

As she began the chorus again she closed her eyes and stepped back, furthering herself from those on the deck.

'I've made some real big mistakes

But you make the worst one look fine

I should've known it was strange

You only come out at night

I used to think I was smart

But you've made me look so naive

The way you sold me for parts

As you sunk your teeth into me, oh

Bloodsucker, famefucker

Bleedin' me dry, like a goddamn vampire'

She picked up the pace and tried to catch everyone's eyes, but they seemed to be avoiding her gaze.

'You said it was true love, but wouldn't that be hard?

You can't love anyone, 'cause that would mean you had a heart

I tried you help you out, now I know that I can't

'Cause how you think's the kind of thing I'll never understand

I've made some real big mistakes

But you make the worst one look fine

I should've known it was strange

You only come out at night

I used to think I was smart

But you made me look so naive

The way you sold me for parts

As you sunk your teeth into me, oh

Bloodsucker, famefucker

Bleedin' me dry, like a goddamn vampire'

She took a gulp of air, now standing next to Luka. His, and everyone's, attention on her as he continued before cutting abruptly. "Better?"

she never thought it would actually be so releiving, but it was. she giggled at thats, a light smile entwined in the laughter. Such a contrast to what had come out of her heart seconds ago. "Yeah. So much fucking better."

He smiled at her, a small grin, but his eyes were bright, knowing. Her heart skipped as she felt her cheeks heat up.

"Gurl! You can't just show up and diss us like nothing!" Alya shouted nearly jumping up at her.

"Good thing I didn't plan it." she grumbled at the bespekled girl.

"Bull!" Alix jumped in. "We all heard that."

"Then consider it my good bye." She replaced the microphone and started down the steps. Luka catching up to her, he took her hand and their fingers intertwined, almost like second nature.

"Don't." Juleka grabbed Luka's shoulder turning him, and her in turn. "Please." She pleaded.

"I'm dissapointed." He took a step back and

squeezed her hand. "In all of you."

He pulled her and they walked off the boat.

"They're gone." she breathed after they walked a mile or two through the city,

"Hawkmoth?" He asked.

"Yes. But..." she finally stopped. "I released them."

"Who?"

"The kwamii." Her gaze was solely on her shoes and the pavement below.

"Oh." He lifted her chin. "Are you okay with that?"

She spilled. Everything that happend the night before. Everything that led up to her outburst yesterday and earlier. All the things she avoided telling him before. Once she finished she watched his reaction, hoping he wouldn't hate her, hoping that he could forgive her. Because she is why he will never see Sass again, never getting to be a hero again.

"Are they happy?"

The question caught her off guard. "I think so."

"Then you did the right thing."

she rose up on her toes and placed a small kiss on his cheek. "Thank you,"

A flash of teal exploded in front of her, but it lasted only a second when it was gone she was about to ask what happened, but the questioned died on her lips. There on Luka's wrist sat the miraculous of the snake.

"I guess they are still watching out for us."

"They said as much." She smiled, before adding. "They also said if I needed their power they'd lend it."

"Let's not test it so soon." He pressed a kiss to her forehead before they started walking again. "So Gotham."

Next

[sweetcloverheart]

Clover Rants Miraculously: Party Of One

After learning that Adrien and Alix were going to be friends in the precanon bibles, I’ve come to a startling realization

Adrien has no friends.

Like, any. The show kind of never gave him a chance to really expand his circle past Marinette - or rather, once he made the connections necessary for his “arc”, the show seems to have reduced it to Marinette (and Plagg) as of Season 5 and it keeps shrinking.

“That’s not true! The entire class loves him.”

Yeah, but they really aren’t friends with him - or at least as of recent. Most of his interactions with them (especially in this latest season) have been more about facilitating Adrienette schemes than them hanging out together; Kitty Section helped make him an entire romance ballad to woo Marinette with and invite him to play when the group want him and her to spend time together, but I can only count the episodes where he’s played with them for the fun of it as few. The entire class threw a party when it seemed like they were finally getting together, but couldn’t be bothered to check on their classmates to see if they where alright when they skipped class for several days (especially when one of them apparently did this back when she was being horribly bullied). Almost all their class events or interactions always end with everyone getting convinced to leave/ditch/“go elsewhere” so he and Marinette can bond. Outside of maybe “Partycrasher”, I can’t really think of anytime Adrien’s been allowed to hang out with the Miraclass without Marinette not being involved or them suddenly being regulated to his personal cupids trying to shove the two together. It’s actually kind of sad the group seems to see no purpose in inviting him to things outside of helping him hook up with a classmate now.

“Well, what about Nino? He’s his best friend and bro!”

Correct, but the show has been shoving him away a lot, especially when he’s with Alya. Much as adore DJWiFi, every single one of their outings/dates always seems to involve tricking Adrien into coming to places with Marinette/where Marinette is and then abandoning them for “alone time” - And if Nino is hanging with Adrien, Alya will immediately drag him off under the guise of a random excuse so Marinette can take her shot. Otherwise, most of their dedicated brotime is in the far background just so something can be happening while Marinette talks plot or whatever’s happening in the foreground. They don’t talk, or hang out for fun like they used to in the previous seasons. Their last one-on-one interaction was Nino indirectly accusing Adrien (as his superhero ID) of stealing his girlfriend. Adrien’s first friend after Marinette, reduced to a footnote and then swept out of the way.

“Okay, fair, but what about Chloe?”

Oh, you mean his childhood friend who’s been reduced to a gold-digging sycophant who only cared about his wealth, good looks, and the status he can bring her despite displaying none of these traits towards him in the introductory season? The one we’re constantly told in-canon and is claimed to by TA to only see Adrien as an accessory and future additional creditcard? The one that, despite being introduced to us as his childhood friend, is rarely shown to hang out with him, and when she does, not only is it because she barged/forced herself into an event he happened to be at (and mostly because Marinette’s trying to hook up with him), but he shows clear discomfort in her presence when she does? That Chloe? What about her indeed.

“Then Zoe! They have to be friends since Chloe doesn’t matter now!”

...Have the two of them interacted outside of her debut and hero episode? Because I don’t think they have. Heck, I’d be shocked he even knew/remembered her name.

“Um...Kagami?”

Was his friend, then they dated and she became his embittered ex, then they became sort of friends but I can’t remember the last time we got to see them hang out like normal again. Plus frankly, she’s more Marinette friend than his now. All of her interactions/interests regarding him are now mostly about how Adrienette is the one true perfect pair and how she needs to bow out for her good friend Mari (and then about how awful she is for falling in love with her exe-boyfriend again when he’s dating her friend before hooking up with his identical cousin for being exactly like she wanted him). She has more scenes with Marinette than him actually.

“Luka! He’s friends with Luka!”

Have only interacted twice (I think), with both times being about Marinette. I’m honestly shocked they haven’t spoken more.

“...Felix?”

Only interacts with him a super small handful of times, with those being either Felix being an ass to him, mocking him for being trapped under Gabriel’s thumb, doing a twin switch to either ruin his friendships or pursue his own agenda, and the whole “genocide all humanity so we can have a perfect world of just you and me” before proceeding to interact exclusively with Marinette (and Kagami).

“...”

...

“...Wow”

Precisely

(And just so we’re clear - this isn’t me salting on Marinette/claiming she’s taking all Adrien’s importance and friends (She’s hardly at fault for the show suddenly making Adrienette so hyperfocused on in S5). I’m just noting how the show seems to have developed a habit of having Adrien make the bare minimum of character interactions with the cast before shoving him into the back somewhere and then only bringing him out for Adrienette scenes)

[goggles-mcgee]

Ashes of Rage: Act 1 - It Would Take A Miracle

Chapter 4 of the story for @miner249er

AO3 Last Chapter

Summary: Luka's heart had never felt so broken, his world so dark and his music so static. He hasn't had any motivation to do anything besides stay in bed. It would take a miracle to make him do so...or a sympathetic and determined kwami.

It Would Take A Miracle:

Static. 

All he could hear was static. 

There were no melodies, there were no solos, there were no symphonies. All it was was disheartening static and Luka didn’t know what to do. His life three days ago had been so loud and comforting but now it was silent, muddled and so dark. He felt listless and refused to get out of bed. It was a good thing that he and Juleka got their own rooms finally, it had taken a lot of convincing for his mom to let them clean out one of the storage rooms and turn it into his new bedroom. It had actually been Marinette who had convinced his stubborn mom and it had made Marinette all the more wonderful. She was always incredible, but seeing her out stubborn the most stubborn person in Luka’s life had only made him love and value her more. A fresh wave of tears washed over the forlorn teen at the thought of his crush and friend. His heart twinged with a twisted pain he was slowly getting used to. Pain. He was in so much pain. He wanted it gone. He wanted her back. But like every time before, his pleas and wishes were ignored and just led to more heartbreak. 

His appetite was all but gone and he barely ate what his mom made or bought him, he still drank though and maybe that was why she wasn’t pushing. He hadn’t showered in three days but with the way he was feeling he knew it would be longer. It was hard to get out of bed even if it was to use the restroom, taking a shower just felt like too much work. He would see the shower and a barrage of thoughts would crash into him, reminding him all he would have to do to feel clean again and it was like he was tranquilized or something because he would just feel this bone-deep tiredness that wouldn’t go away no matter what he did so it would just lead to him laying in his bed and starting the twisted routine all over again. It was like he was in one of those groundhog day movies or like his own power Second Chance, was glitching and not letting him out of the situation.

Luka’s emotions felt too big for his body, his skin itched with his frustration and the days passed without a shower, his teeth ached in his longing, his muscles screamed in his sadness, his heart clenched in its breaking and his lungs drowned in his guilt. As much as he craved to do something, anything he also couldn’t help the thoughts of ‘why?’ Why do anything at all when his world had crashed and burned around him? Why plead for things to be different when his prayers fell on deaf ears? Why get up when nothing he did would bring back Marinette? It was a lot and there was never a break form the never-ending torture. Not even his dreams were safe. Dreaming of Marinette led to more heartache even if the dream was normal to past ones he had had that had previously brought him endless joy. The nightmares were the worst but he would take them over the bittersweet ones that just made his longing deeper and his hope stronger. But reality would hit him once his eyes opened and he would cry for many minutes, maybe even hours. Time didn’t register to him really. 

The only reason he knew how long it had been since he had showered was because of his mom and Juleka. He knew they were trying to help but he had been angrier than he honestly expected after Paris learned of Team Miraculous’ Finale Fight, he hated it but that was what everyone had now dubbed it. It hadn’t been a fight, at least not from his and the rest of the team’s point of view. No one knew what exactly happened in the underground chamber since the only ones who could tell them were two comatose Kwamis and three villains who would probably twist the events. It was hard to come to the realization that Chat Noir was Adrien Agreste, even for Luka who had the unique skill of ‘reading someone’s heart.’ That’s what others referred to it as but according to his long talks with Sass, Luka seemed to be someone who could read a person’s aura which mixed with his Synesthesia. He had Chromesthesia, specifically, but his was more along the lines of seeing color and the color had a sound. He saw colors in a lot of things but it was constantly people, their auras and tones of voice would bring color and the color would bring the music. 

It did get overwhelming sometimes and it had been a big factor in him doing his schooling online for a while which turned into permanently. He just enjoyed it more than when he did go to school and his former teachers told him they saw remarkable improvement in his grades. He still met up with his friends, they still hung out and had study sessions, so he was still a social teen but he didn’t have to worry about migraines or coming across weird to other people who weren’t his friends. His former bandmates in Kitty Section had also been really understanding and never treated him differently and helped him when some days were just too much. But they changed, their music’s changed and it had been jarring, when he eventually left the band he knew it had been inevitable. There was no doubt in Luka’s mind that if he hadn’t quit he would have been ‘politely’ fired and he had strong feelings about that. The one constant had been Marinette, when the others changed she didn’t. She remained strong and melodious. 

Even if she was going through something her melody was still recognizable. He was still coming to terms with the fact he would never hear her song any time soon or ever. She had been there when he left the band, she had been there when he begun fighting with Juleka more than normal and she had been there when he decided to get to know his dad more. She had been such a strong light guiding him through some of the roughest seas he had ever experienced. Kagami had also been a constant presence before everything happened. She was a calming presence and often kept him and Marinette from getting lost in their projects. Both he and Marinette tended to get distracted easily and they both fed off each other’s energy and Kagami would be the one to keep them grounded and focused. Kagami’s music was a new sound he had gotten used to hearing and it was easily in his list of top ten songs from people he heard. When Marinette, Kagami and he would get together he would hear such wonderful melodies. 

Marinette had often joked that they were the Three Musketeers with how often they would hang out together when they could. Without Marinette it felt like a knife to the heart to use the group chat between the three that was titled as such so he and Kagami never touched it when they spoke. Phone calls were still too much for Luka at the moment so the two just texted each other but it still brought him comfort all the same. That was probably another reason why his mother wasn’t pushing too much, it probably would have been a different story if he had cut off all his friends but especially Kagami since his mom knew how close they along with Marinette were. But he still overheard his mom talking on the phone over how worried she was and how she didn’t know what to do. Luka always felt like telling her she was doing all she could and just comfort her but he didn’t have the energy. He suspected she was talking to his dad or Penny, most likely both. He knew from the sounds of it his dad wasn’t doing so well either with the news. 

“Snakelet…” 

The voice of his Kwami cut through the current haze Luka found himself in but he couldn’t bring himself to look at his friend but he did manage to hum as a response. 

“I have thought about what I could say that would make you feel better for ages. I came to the conclusion that no words I could offer would make you happy. Nor satisfied. But I don’t want to leave you with no words from me. I…I am lost. I have been through this situation more times than I’d like to admit and yet all those instances have left me with no answers.” Sass admitted in his soft voice as he flew to sit in front of Luka’s face on his pillow. Luka couldn’t look away, he wouldn’t look away, he knew it would hurt his small friend if he did so. 

“Though there are few words I can give you that express my condolences and support, I simply will say, I am here for you.” Sass said and did his best to give Luka a hug, though it was more like he laid himself on Luka’s nose. “I am here for you and I will continue to be here if ever you need me.”

Luka felt himself begin to cry again, which astounded him as he felt like he was all out of tears. “Sass…” He choked out, he tried his best not to sound like he was going to sob but he knew he failed when he felt Sass try to hug him harder. 

“What do I do?” He asked in a small voice once his small cry ended. Sass was no longer on his nose but instead sat in his hands as he finally sat up after what felt like ages. 

“ We do our best to move forward.”

“We?”

“I did say I will be with you. I mean it, every step of the way, I will be here.” Sass didn’t say he promised but Luka could hear it in his tone of voice. It was a promise but it felt like more. It felt like a lifeline. 

Luka couldn’t really think of an appropriate response without risk of crying again and he already had a cry-headache settling in. “What…What do we do?”

“We need to go to…Ladybug’s house, her room specifically.” Luka was about to protest that suggestion, because he was absolutely not ready to do that. He didn’t think he would ever be ready. “I know that is probably the last thing you want to do Snakelet, but I can’t communicate with the other Kwami to see if one of their holders can do it. The Miracle Box is sitting in…Ladybug’s room unknown and unprotected. If someone with ill intentions were to find it there would be great difficulties and more tragedy.”

“More?” Luka felt his anger rise at an alarming speed. “Hasn’t there been enough?”

“Luka…I understand you are in pain and worried. I…I am also going through the same. My friends  are unconscious and unresponsive…I…I can barely feel them even if they are in the same room.” At Sass’s words Luka’s anger all but left him in an instant. “Besides obtaining the Miracle Box and keeping it safe, I feel something telling me that Tikki and Plagg need the Miracle Box. I can’t explain and I know you are hurting, but-”

“Okay.”

“-it is…Wait. Okay? You…You will do it?” Sass asked and the wide-eyed hopeful look on his face broke Luka’s heart a little bit more. Sometimes it was hard to remember that he wasn’t the only one hurting even if it felt like it at times. 

“You and me, Sass, you…you said you were here for me and I’ll be here for you. We’re friends.” Luka said softly as he brought the Kwami to his chest in the best hug he could give, it was somewhat like the hug Sass gave Luka earlier. He wanted to make Sass feel as safe and loved as the Kwami had made him feel despite their size difference. After their hug Luka forced himself to get out of bed and ignored how weak his legs felt and softly said his transformation phrase. It felt weird being Viperion even though it really hadn’t been that long since he had last transformed but there was this odd feeling like being in his hero form was wrong without…Ladybug there to lead. Ladybug, it was easier to think of her as Ladybug, it didn’t lessen the pain but it made it just a bit more bearable. But now he was going to her house, to her room and he knew what it looked like, smelled like and there would be no way to think of her as Ladybug when he was in there.

He had to do this though. For Sass and for Ladybug, he would rather die than let the rest of the Miraculi fall into the wrong hands. He'd be damned if he didn’t protect the city that Ladybug loved with her whole heart and soul. So he made his way to her home, to her tower. He and Kagami often joked about Marinette being the princess in the tower and Mari-Ladybug only laughed. She loved her tower. Kagami once joked when it was the two of them that Kagami was M-Ladybug’s knight while he was her minstrel. He had laughed and agreed but later he would think about it and decided he would be a knight if she needed him to be. Though she had needed him and he hadn’t been there. Nope! No! He would not fall down that line of thinking as he was jumping across rooftops and using his lyre to help him along the way. It was a weird day when they found out his lyre could turn into a crossbow, the end of his “arrows” could also change into a grappling gun. 

Apparently he and Sass had been bonding pretty well and slowly harmonizing which is why his lyre upgraded to one of its forms. The arrows of the crossbow themselves were weird as he didn’t carry a quiver or anything but an arrow would be equipped if he needed it. Some had no arrowheads, some had normal arrowheads, others had barbed arrowheads, and sometimes the arrows had string attached to them. Whatever kind of arrow he needed, it would show up on the crossbow already loaded. Sass had told him that that showed just how in tune the two were becoming and that soon they would probably be able to communicate with one another while Luka was transformed. It was something he had been looking forward to. He was sure it would come in handy and besides, he already talked out loud when transformed, it may have looked weird but he had been talking to his kwami even if he didn’t think he could hear him at the time. He hadn’t but now he would, hopefully soon. 

Finally, Luka touched down on the roof of Ma-Ladybug’s tower and looked around in sadness as he noticed the plants up there had wilted. Before he could talk himself out of it he opened the hatch of the roof and jumped through and onto the floor of the bedroom. Some dust had begun to settle and it broke Luka’s heart more but he willed himself to take deep breaths before he dropped his transformation. He and Sass needed to be able to talk and they weren’t quite at that stage of being able to communicate with one another. As the transformation dropped he looked down at the dirty pink bag that he had taken to looking after and opened it to look at the kwamis who slept inside. Tikki and Plagg, as he had learned from Sass, were normally darker in their colors but looking at them they seemed shades or tones paler, well according to Sass.

“So what are we looking for?” Luka asked as he refused to look anywhere else but his kwami. 

Sass had opened his mouth, probably to respond but both of them froze when they heard thumps coming from the roof and the unmistakable murmur of voices. Luka scooped his kwami out of the air and quickly hid behind M- Ladybug’s .( Ladybug. Goddammit .) chaise. The light in the room was off and he himself had been wearing some of his darker clothes…er well, pajamas. Both kwami and teen held their breath as the hatch to the roof was opened and down came two? No, three, actually make it four, people. It took a minute for Luka to recognize them as his teammates. He didn’t know whether or not to greet them but that choice disappeared when a purple kwami and blue kwami flew out from somewhere and floated in the middle of the room. 

“Please don’t be scared!” The purple one pleaded. “I am Nooroo and this is Duusuu. I am the kwami of the Butterfly Miraculous while Duusuu is the kwami for the Peacock. I know that alarms you but please listen. I called my friends here and they probably don’t know why or just had a feeling they had to come here so you followed.”

Barely after speaking, the kwami - Nooroo, was sped into by Sass who flew so fast the two kwami shot off into the air. Luka figured there was no point in hiding anymore and stepped out from his hiding place and awkwardly waved at his teammates. They seemed to be in shock before Noc-Turtle mumbled something and their transformation dropped revealing Marc Anciel. Fox-Tail’s jaw dropped before he hastily said his detransformation phrase and there stood Nathaniel Kurtzberg who hurried over Marc and hugged him. Donryu had been looking at Luka the whole time and quietly made her way over to him, once she was in front of him she too dropped her transformation and there was Kagami. It shouldn’t have shocked him as much as it did but the two just stood there staring at each other before they heard an odd wheeze come from Bee-Witch who was staring at everyone with wide eyes. She too dropped her transformation and only to the shock of Marc and Nathaniel, she turned out to be Chloe Bourgeois. 

“I don’t know how to handle all these revelations at the moment but I can work through them later with my cat.” Marc said, clearly still in some shock. “Er-Nooroo right? Can you explain more?”

Nooroo who was in the middle of a kwami group hug along with Duusuu nodded and reluctantly left the hug. “Like I said, I was able to call you all here to meet, I had to borrow power from the other kwami in the Miracle Box though. I’m not at full power and even then my messages would have been more feeling than anything. Sorry, I’m rambling. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to talk so freely.”

“You are fine, Our Friend.” Pollen reassured while glaring at everyone else like she was daring them to argue. 

“Take your time.” Sass murmured from his spot next to his friend. Luka wanted to comfort the little kwami but he didn’t think it would help given how Luka could imagine he was treated by his former user. If Luka were him, he would be wary of humans no matter how well intentioned. 

Nooroo took a deep breath and nodded. “I…I don’t really know where to start. What I have to say is…shocking to say the least. I know all of us here have been through a lot…have lost a lot…but I felt like if I stayed quiet I would be betraying Ladybug just…just like Chat Noir did.”

It was quiet. So quiet. Until Nathaniel choked out a small, “What?”

Duusuu merely nodded in response along with Nooroo. “It was awful. Chat Noir and his father planned the entire thing. Chat Noir planned to be suspicious of Gabriel Agreste once more and had you guys purposefully find out he was guilty of being Hawkmoth. Ladybug was the big target and you guys would have been just…collateral. So when Ladybug proposed the ambush…”

“Uncle Gabe already knew.” Chloe stated in a voice full of disgust even if her eyes were filled with tears. 

“He did.” Nooroo confirmed. “Chat Noir played his role well and the ambush was happening so fast. Ladybug could barely try and fight back before she was secured to the chair. She was so angry…so heartbroken…she did all she could to fight against Gabriel and his son…”

There were some gasps among the humans at the information but Luka merely took a much needed breath in. He had guessed as much since the only ones in the house after the explosion had been Adrien, Gabriel, Nathalie and the body of Emilie Agreste. It just clicked. Sure Chat Noir could have disappeared like Marin-Ladybug did but that didn’t feel right. Chat had already been acting off before the ambush and confirming he was in fact Adrien was like the final nail in the coffin. Luka had had suspicions of who the Chat was and just whose side he was on but after everything, the confirmation was bitter. According to Sass, Luka had known who he and Ladybug were but the memories of their identities faded as a safety measure to keep the team’s identities safe. Luka would only have kept the memories if both heroes had accepted he knew and trusted him. It was weird but Luka just chalked it up to Miraculous Magic. 

He wished he had been able to remember, if he had then maybe all of this wouldn’t have happened. He wouldn’t be standing in M-Lady…no. He had to stop. It didn't matter how much he told himself, Ladybug was Marinette. Marinette was Ladybug. They were one and the same and denying it to himself was more likely to hurt him than bring him healing. He couldn’t delude himself anymore. It hurt, it hurt so much, but he had to acknowledge the truth because that was the only way he’d be able to move forward and help protect the city that Marinette adored. He missed her. He missed her so much, but he had to do the healthy thing and not try and separate her from herself. It would be like he wasn’t giving her, her due credit and Marinette deserved so much credit. “If Adrien and his dad got the earrings…then why did the mansion explode like it did?” Luka asked so they could continue. They could all mourn and scream and cry after, but right now they needed information.

“I’m not sure.” Nooroo admitted. “Everything was happening so fast. Gabriel was so close to making his wish and magic was everywhere in preparation. But I felt it, it was this enormous feeling of betrayal and anger that washed over all of us. Tikki looked so scared and worried and Plagg looked shocked. I had turned to where I felt the emotions and it was no surprise they were coming from Ladybug…but just as I looked at her, there was this awful cracking and whistling. Like something was breaking through the roof and flooring at high speed. I panicked as did the other kwami but Tikki looked…she looked like she recognized what was happening.”

“She looked like her heart broke.” Duusuu mumbled, their voice was soft and scratchy. They seemed to be in pain. 

“The room filled with this bright, bright red light and then next thing I know…the mansion exploded. Ladybug was nowhere to be seen.” Nooroo flew over to Luka and pointed at the open pink bag in his hands. “Tikki and Plagg know what happened, but because of all the ambient magic, plus the overwhelming emotions swirling in the air, and their own merging being interrupted, they were hurt.”

“Something like this hasn’t happened in a long time.” Wayzz admitted. 

“So there is a way to help them?” Kagami asked. 

Wayzz nodded. “Yes. But it will take time…a lot of time. I’ve never seen them so bad. The best we can do is return them to the Miracle Box. It will heal them, but the damage is great and as I said, it will take time. Nooroo, I imagine you called us here, not only to tell us the truth but also because of the Miracle Box.”

“That’s right. The Miracle Box will be vulnerable if there is no one to watch over it as it heals our friends. I sensed the box here and that’s only because Duusuu and I are both still being affected by the interrupted magic. We’re more sensitive right now.”

“One of our holders will definitely protect the box.” Pollen declared. “They are all brave heroes.”

All the humans looked at one another in disbelief. Marinette had been guarding this box all while being Ladybug? They knew she was amazing but this was something else entirely. Luka sadly guessed that this is why she was always so stressed. If they had to watch this box and protect it then so be it. He’d do it for Marinette, no matter the cost. Now all that they needed to decide was who to send the box with.

Next Chapter

[kasienda]

Adrino Mixtape - Kwamis

Thanks to @bbutterflies for organizing Adrino week! I'm loving all the adrino artwork and stories!! Feeling absolutely spoiled and well fed!

Read on Ao3

Day 4 - Kwamis

One of the perks of holding his miraculous full was Wayzz became a constant companion. He had always wanted to spend more time with Wayzz, but he was terrified of being responsible for him because Nino had no idea how to take care of a kwami. But the first few days had been awesome. Turned out that as long as Nino had some leafy greens on hand, Wayzz was a chill little dude. 

If he didn’t, the kwami turned into a literal snapping turtle. Nino had only been bitten once, but since then Nino had convinced his maman that he was going through a new health-minded phase where he wanted salads with every meal, which he probably didn’t, but he also didn’t mind. 

In any case, it was worth it. Because Wayzz was a really good listener and he always had a bit of advice to offer.

Nino was learning he had a surprising amount to share. 

“Adrien’s been really distant lately,” Nino confided. 

Wayzz nodded sagely. “He has lost a lot.” 

Nino could argue with that. Gabriel had died just two months prior. Nino didn’t claim to know what they felt like. And if Adrien was distant with everyone, maybe Nino could just shrug it off. 

“Yeah, maybe. But he’s still all smiles around Marinette, and yeah, she’s his girlfriend or whatever, but with me, he’s like, polite . Painfully so. I feel like he’s mad at me, or at least putting up a wall.”

Not to mention, it felt like the distance had started sooner, weeks before Gabriel had died. 

“Have you ever asked him about it?” Wayzz asked. 

Nino shook his head. “Like you said, he’s been through a lot. I don’t want to add anything to his stress.” 

“But maybe you could support him more if you healed whatever the issue was between you.” 

Nino’s head snapped up. “So you agree that something is up! He’s mad at me?! What did I do?” 

Wayzz waved his little arms like windmills. “I didn’t say that! I just meant that if you clear the air, maybe you’ll feel close again.”

Nino slumped. “How do I even start that conversation?” 

Wayzz’s mouth pressed closed into a thin line. 

Nino groaned. If he had stumped even Wayzz he was doomed. 

“Don’t lose heart, Master Nino! I’m not the most proficient at human interactions, but you know who is?”

Nino lifted his head.

“Chat Noir.” 

“What.” Chat Noir was not who Nino would label the expert in interpersonal relationships. He was definitely good in a fight. Amazing, really! If he bothered to show up, anyway. He could be really pouty and salty when he didn’t get his way, he really was never enthusiastic about working with the larger team, and Nino still had never forgiven him for flirting with Rena Rouge her first day on the job. 

“I’m serious! If you need advice about Adrien, you should talk to Chat Noir,” Wayzz insisted. “Have I ever led you astray?” 

And that was thing, Nino trusted Wayzz. 

He groaned again. “I’m pretty sure Chat Noir doesn’t like me.” 

Wayzz grinned. “Are you willing to fix things between you and Chat Noir in order to fix things between you and Adrien?” 

Nino sighed. Wayzz had him there. He still didn’t see how talking to Chat Noir would help, but he would do anything for Adrien. 

…

Ladybug had been frustratingly reluctant to swap patrol partners with him. “It’s just for one day,” he insisted. 

“Fine,” she had eventually relented, “but you had better be nice!” 

“Promise.” 

Carapace approached the scheduled patrol fifteen minutes early. Chat Noir still beat him there. He stood waiting on the edge of the rooftop. 

“Carapace,” Chat Noir greeted cooly, barely glancing at him. “Did you want to take point? Or shall I?” 

Nino took a breath and pushed it back out in a puff, trying to shove down his nerves. “Actually, I was hoping that we could talk?”

Chat’s eyebrows rose under his mask. “What can I do for you?” 

And just like Adrien, Chat Noir was polite to a fault. Nino didn’t know why that put him more on edge than hostility would have. 

“I need advice.” 

Chat shot him a baffled expression. “You want advice from me ? About what?” 

“I need personal advice about my best friend.” 

Chat froze, as stiff as Gabriel Agreste’s statue. “W-why do you think I can help you with that?”

Nino dropped all pretense of being calm. “Look! I know it’s far-fetched. I don’t exactly know how you specifically can help, but my kwami insisted that you were the one to talk to.” 

Did Nino imagine it, or did Chat relax at that? 

“And I know– I know that I’m not your favorite person in the world, but whatever I can do to make it up to you, I will because he’s worth it!”

Chat seemed genuinely surprised. “I– You don’t have anything to make up for. I’ve never disliked you.” 

Carapace snorted at that.

“It’s true. I always thought you didn’t like me.”

Carapace winced. That hadn’t always been true. He remembered standing back to back with Chat Noir on Heroes Day. It felt like they were brothers. 

He’s not sure when that changed. 

Chat Noir sat down on the edge of the building. Carapace followed suit. 

“So umm… What's up with your friend?” Chat asked.  

“That’s just it! I don’t know! But I think he’s mad at me. He’s just been acting– well, like you.” 

Chat’s feline eyes blinked at him. “What do you mean?” 

“Like, he’s been stupidly polite.” 

“You think your friend is mad at you because he’s polite?” 

Nino shook his head. Chat Noir didn’t understand. “It means he’s not being real. He used to laugh and vent. He used to tell me things.” His shoulders slumped. “Maybe I’m imagining things–” 

“You’re not imagining things.” 

Chat Noir sounded so sure, and it was nice to have his fears confirmed even if Chat Noir really had no way of knowing for sure. 

“You think?” Nino asked. 

Chat nodded. 

“He’s gone through so much recently, so maybe he’s just putting up a front. But he shouldn’t have to. Not with me. I miss him.” 

“I’m sorry,” Chat said. 

Nino shook his head again. “It’s not your fault.”

“He’s really lucky to have a friend like you so worried about him.” 

“I feel like he’d be luckier if he had a friend that knew how to support him.”

“Do you know when things shifted between you?” 

Carapace frowned in thought. When Felix had impersonated Adrien the first time, Nino had known it wasn’t Adrien without any doubt. He and Adrien had been solid then. Things had shifted sometime after that. The week Adrien had been supposed to go on his world tour with Lila, Adrien had seemed off. But he had never gone on that trip, and Nino had forgotten all about it. “I don’t know exactly. A few weeks before all the miraculouses were stolen?” 

Chat nodded. “That seems about right,” he mumbled. 

Carapace frowned. “What do you mean?” 

“Nothing! Maybe all you need to do is talk to him? Tell him how you’ve been feeling? I’m sure he misses you, too and want things to be better.”

That was it? That was Chat Noir’s magic advice? 

But maybe that was unfair. Maybe there wasn’t a magic solution. 

“Hey Carapace?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Can you thank Wayzz for me?” 

“For what?” 

“He’ll know.” 

After the actual patrol, Nino went back home, dropped his transformation, and collapsed into bed. 

“How did it go?” Wayzz asked brightly, already munching on a piece of kale.

Nino shrugged. He hadn’t really solved anything. Not that he could complain. Chat Noir actually seemed like a pretty decent guy, and maybe the conversation had been worth it for that reason alone. 

Maybe that was what he needed to do with Adrien as well.

"He said to thank you," Nino said. "He said you would know what it was for."

Wayzz grinned. "Good. I'm glad it went well."

Nino shook his head. That's not what he had said, but whatever.

He pulled up Adrien’s text thread, but before he could type anything his phone buzzed with a message from Adrien. 

Adrien:

Can you come over? I think we need to talk.

Nino:

Mec! It’s like you can read my mind.

[flightfoot]

I know a lot of the fandom are angry at Marinette for not telling Adrien about his father/the rings at the end of season 5 and I get it. She should tell him eventually. But people say it proves she hasn't learned anything from Season 4 and... I feel like what happened in Season 4 and what happened in Season 5 are two very different scenarios?

Like... in season 4, she's keeping technical secrets from Chat Noir- that Rena Furtive is active and several gameplans including her Ephemeral plan, Hack-san and the Sentibubbler one. She's holding her cards too close to her chest out of fear of losing control and not delegating enough. Once Alya is in the know, she has a new, closer partner in her and unintentionally neglects Chat, forgetting to include him in technical aspects that he should be savvy on. She needs to relinquish control and trust more, needs to keep her team in the loop on necessary knowledge. Chat Noir may have still been upset that it wasn't just the two of them anymore, but he'd feel better if he at least felt included as a partner.

The biggest indicator that she actually did learn something from this is her decision to no longer keep each miraculous at the end of Season 5. She relinquishes them to each holder. There are also small examples like her entrusting Chat with the rabbit miraculous early on, going along with his plan without a good explanation in the switcheroo episode and accepting Nino's lead without boggarting, being overbearing or trying to shut it down when he starts The Resistance. As in real life, character flaws will always pop up every now and again and while it's true that she is pretty much forced to work with Chat alone in Season 5, the evidence of her change is there. Chat is a bit of an afterthought in Season 5, but that's more a crappy narrative decision than Ladybug avoiding him.

Some have said she hasn't changed because Chat still doesn't know the other holders' identities, but that always confuses me because since when has that been a problem, for him or otherwise? There was a popular misconception of his line in Strikeback that he was demanding to know other identities when he was actually asking why she couldn't know HIS identity. Maybe that's where it comes from, but Chat has always been primarily concerned with the two of them sharing their identities.

My point is that Marinette learned a lesson about not holding her cards too close and trusting her partners. The climactic discussion was lacking but it's dishonest to say she learned nothing. She's changed her approach accordingly.

What's happening with Adrien at the end of Season 6 is different. This isn't some gameplan aspect that she needs to communicate to keep her trusted partner in the loop. This is a series of soul crushing truths that she has been saddled with communicating to her new boyfriend who just lost his mother and father within a year of each other. Like hey I know you're an orphan now and you're still dealing with that, but you should also know your dad was evil and victimized you and your friends continuously to bring back your coma mom. Not to mention, they were both controlling you from birth with their wedding rings. Because you're a sentimonster. You're not a real boy! Nathalie, your only trusted remaining guardian, was in on it before making a sharp heel faced turn at the tail end. Felix knew too and he told Kagami, but not you. Your dad asked me not to tell you right before he died so not sure if I should be betraying an evil dying man's wishes like this.

Not defending this choice. There's info in there that Adrien needs to know to protect himself. He needs to process his trauma- much of which she has no idea about. Just from a narrative standpoint, it's almost criminally disappointing and a failure to his character to keep it from him.

I also get why it's not at all easy. I get why the lessons learned in Season 4 finale do not help with this. Season 4 secrets were about controlling or withholding all the variables and information to avoid a technical failure and learning to trust others judgement. Season 5 secrets are about the moral dilemma of lying to spare someone emotionally. This is "I'm going to withhold this logical info for logical reasons without considering the emotional damage of keeping my partner out of the loop." VS "I'm going to withhold this emotionally charged info for emotional reasons without considering the logistical problems of not telling a sentimonster they're a sentimonster wearing their life on their ring finger." Sharing something that you know will crush someone inside out, that irrevocably changes all they know about their existence, that you cannot take back... is not the same as letting someone in on your gameplan.

It's a bad call and if this show has any wits, it will examine that. But it's easier said than done and not as "OMG DUH!" as people make it out to be. I can't even completely consider the urge to want to "protect" him insulting to Adrien because honestly, this would fuck anyone up. A secret like this is liable to land any kid in a facility for a bit for an existential meltdown. People have cracked over less. She doesn't even know how strong Adrien is. She doesn't know he's Chat Noir, who she's been through thick and thin with. The idea that what she's doing is a kindness, while flawed, is not unfounded.

Her lesson here should be 'Brutal truths are better than pretty lies' or 'Lies are not a kindness, they're a disrespect." Imo, very different from the motivations and the lessons learned in Season 4, even if the core of them both were withholding information. It's like...if you learn that a type of vodka makes you sick, you're probably not going to stop drinking it altogether. Lessons are complex. It's not going to be "I'll never keep a secret again." It's "I'll never keep a secret in this type of situation again."

Marinette hasn't learned the brutal truth lesson yet. Yeah, she did this small scale with the scarf in Season 1. That worked out for her, right? Even if you count Chat Blanc as a comparable secret (I've never really understood people who are mad about this. It's not like she knew what specific events led to it and it has no bearing on events in their current, future or past timeline. I mean I'd love if she mentioned it for drama. I just don't think she's obligated to?), sparing him the knowledge of it also has worked out in keeping him ignorantly content? Most of the more damning Season 4 secrets were oversights, technical planning and things that he was going to discover anyway that she just neglected to tell him. Emotionally inconsequential things that he wasn't made blissful by not knowing- quite the opposite- and were not lies told on his behalf.

So yeah. 2 different situations, 2 different motivations, 2 different lessons. One improved on, hopefully another to be considered and not swept under the rug.

The real question is: Will she tell Chat Noir? If she doesn't tell Chat Noir because she doesn't trust HIM with this information then I take back this entire ask. I admit defeat. Miraculous has made a clown of me once again. But I can't judge her on that considering she and Chat have not interacted since before it happened? We actually don't know how the writers are going to spin that yet.

So just some housekeeping to start off with, the situation in Ephemeral is very different from the ones in Sentibubbler and Hack-san. In Sentibubbler and Hack-san the plans were very last-minute, and Marinette was unable to communicate or even MAKE a plan in Sentibubbler, and for Hack-san, she didn't have an opportunity to talk to Chat before giving the earrings to Alya, and didn't seem to think of what his reaction would be to seeing a new Ladybug Holder out of nowhere.

Ephemeral, by contrast, had Ladybug deliberately lying to Chat Noir, saying that she wanted an identity reveal because it would make them stronger, in order to manipulate him into unknowingly revealing his identity to a third party, because she didn't want to risk him potentially not agreeing to reveal his identity to someone else. Very different situation.

I do agree that Marinette seems to have learned something from season 4 at least, in terms of relinquishing control and telling people need-to-know things about gameplans, with giving the Miraculous out to their wielders permanently helping to show that.

And the truths she's keeping from Adrien ARE more of the soul-crushing variety (or well, at least of the "likely to severely mess you up" variety). I do see why this would hit Marinette as a different sort of thing to keep from Adrien, since she's not telling him everything because she doesn't want him to get hurt, and he's dealing with a lot as it is.

The main issue is... why wouldn't she tell CHAT NOIR about this stuff? I mean, I could maybe see not telling him the Senti stuff under the premise that that's a private matter, but there's no reason not to tell him that Gabriel was Monarch.

I'd love if Season 6 ended up conveying to Marinette more of the "she needs to be open and honest" message, with brutal truths being better than pretty lies, though I'm kinda doubting it'll happen.

[miraculouslybroadway]

Tales of Multibug & Vipercat:

Chloe’s Internship (But Really, Chloe’s Character Arc)

At first, she did not like it when Ladybug said she didn’t get the bee miraculous anymore.

Then, slowly, she began realizing why she didn’t get the miraculous anymore. She was no better than Lila, who she despised. Sure she never lied to make herself look better, but she lied to get what she wanted and to hurt others. It didn’t matter how good she was as Queen Bee (well, it mattered a little), if she wasn’t as good as Chloe how good was she?

So that’s when she found Marinette and apologized. Actually, she apologized to all of them. The ones who didn’t follow Lie-la anyways. She even tried apologizing to Sabrina, but Sabrina wouldn’t listen. 

She was the one who came up with the idea for the Superhero PR department. It regulated anything public about the heroes, issued public statements from Multibug and Vipercat, and as the icing on the cake, could override any social media or blog posts (or even whole blogs) and erase them from the internet. 

So yes, maybe she did enjoy getting to click the button to take down the LadyBlog. 

But beyond that there was a whole world of legal things she was learning, and it was actually really interesting. She advocated for herself to get an internship, and even went through an interview process. (That was when Marinette realized she was serious about making a change.)

At first it was hard balancing that with school (who knew actually applying yourself meant working harder), but she got the hang of it. Surprisingly it was Alix who helped her the most. Because Chloe struggled the most in history (and Alix literally lived in a museum), Alix offered to be her tutor.

All it had taken was one gay joke from Kim for Chloe to realize that she didn’t like Alix like that. Actually, she didn’t like anyone like that. She liked the attention, but even with Adrien she never felt like that before. 

Alix was the one who supported her through this discovery, and when she was ready Alix was the one who sat next to her when she told their friends. They were all gathered in Marinette’s room hanging out when she decided it was time. 

She had to go to work soon, but she took a breath and spit it out. 

Marinette was thrilled. She immediately tackled Chloe in a hug. 

“Chill out Nette, it’s not that big.” She scoffed (but was secretly relieved). “Luka get your girlfriend.”

Once Marinette was settled again she smiled and exclaimed, “Chloe it is a big deal! You trust us enough to share with this with us!”

Rose was beaming. “Yeah Chlo! And of course we’re happy! You’re our friend and we love you!!!” Beside her bubbly girlfriend, Juleka nodded in agreement.

That was the first time Chloe felt unconditional love.

The second time was when Marinette invited her over one evening for “no reason.”

“I’m dyeing my hair.” She announced proudly when Chloe entered her room.

Beside her was Juleka, holding an armful of tools. Kagami was there too, and so was Marc and they were painting each others nails.

She raised an eyebrow. “Nette, I could’ve called a stylist.” 

Marinette beamed. “Juleka needs practice, she’s trying to get her certificate, and I volunteered to be a practice model.”

“Same!” Marc added from off to the side.

“Don’t look at me I am leaving with my hair the same color as it was when I arrived. I don’t feel like getting on my mom’s nerves right now, I’m in a good mood.” Kagami blew on her wet nail polish.

“Well…Juleka if you need practice I want some blue in my hair. Or black. Or something.”

From behind her bangs Juleka was beaming.

So that they in between putting foils in each others hair that little group had a lot of fun. By the next morning Marinette was doting pink hair at her tips fading out of her already brilliant blue. Marc’s hair had a rainbow peekaboo (Juleka was very proud of her work). True to her word, Kagami’s hair was the same color, but her nails sported an assortment of glitters, chrome powder, and various reds. As for Chloe, her hair…well it was certainly different. Her natural blonde faded into blue, fading into black. She now sported bangs with some pretty well done added layers. 

It was a bit of a surprise when she first woke up and hasn’t processed that she had gone through with it, but once she realized she had it was worth it. Juleka had really done a great job.

She got picked up by her driver, but as she headed to work she couldn’t help but smile to herself. Chloe knew she was a work in progress, but she knew she had found the right people to help her on the way.

[logically-asexual]

OKAY IT HAPPENED

i saw a spoiler that i SHOULD NOT have seen. but its a funny story so im going to scream about it under the read more and once im done im going to go pirate those 7 episodes i have left even if i have to watch them in french im losing my absolute mind.

dont click on this if you havent finished the show dont make my mistake aksjdhasjdh

SO i keep acting without thought and snooping some miraculous posts that appear under the recommended thing that sometimes shows below my own posts. and a while ago i saw a post that said something about gabriel not being technically adrien's father and i thought that was stupid and i chose not to believe that as a spoiler. also because i had just read a fanfic posterd years ago that decided emilie had been a villain who cheated on gabriel and that's how she had adrien and i just do not like the idea of emilie having been secretely a bad person. and i just didn't like the idea of adrien having some other father. but it wouldn't leave my mind. the only thought i had was that maybe felix and adrien shared the same father and it was the guy who died? but i didn't care much for that.

THEN i watched the episodes i posted live reactions to these past days, which include these two episodes where we finally learn felix's intentions with the peacock miraculous. and okay. i got it when he said the thing to kagami about having a responsibility towards the "beings you create" i got that it was a thing about "our parents shouldn't control us". i just found it cute and interesting and it hasn't left myh mind because i really didn't expect to see this soft side of felix ever.

I ALSO haven't been able to stop thinking about WHAT the hell did Emilie want with the peacock miraculous. because again, i don't want her to be evil. i want her to have mysterious secrets, yes, but i want to know what non evil purpose she could have with the miraculous.

so THIS VERY MORNING. A FEW hours ago my mind randomly put these three dots together while i was having breakfast and watching QuintonReviews talk about crazy theories for nickelodeon sitcoms and said "WHAT IF.... Emilie couldn't have children for some reason and adrien is a sentimonster?"

and i thought.. haha... that's INSANE. im going to remember i had this thought because its SO silly and i want to laugh about it when i have finished the show and have all my answers... how funny LOL.

and just. forgot about it. until A COUPLE MINUTES AGO I ONCE AGAIN GO SNOOPING. and i skim over a post that's like "marinette in season 1: juggles babysitting, being ladybug, idk what else, felix in season 4" and mi think its alright to read this because it said SEASON 4. but then it said that he finds that adrien and him are actually not kasjdh i dont know how they phrased it because i ran away as fast as i could but nowmy WORLD is crashing donw.

because . i did think it was silly. but now EVERYTHING makes sense????? when adrien was going to kiss marinette and he hear gabriels voice in his head saying no and he stopped and i thought he definitely had dont something to him but then maybe it was just a way to represent how adrien's mind works under the abuse of his father but no that wasn't it.. it was GABRIEL FUCKING CONTROLLING ADRIEN BECAUSE HES A SENTIMONSTER IKM ADKFJASHKDJHASKJFHASDKJFHKJFHKASHGFLasd

im losing my mind

is Kagami one too?????? do they control them with their rings?????

so i told my friend that i would wait for her to watch up to episode 20 like i just did before w both together would find the last episodes online and watch them but no. IM watching those fuckers right now because every minute that passes is another minute im pacing around the room and having these revelations in the style of Rapunzel when she figured out that she was the lost princess and she just crashes into a mirror adn breaks it with the force of her shock. im like that. i needthe episodes to tell me this stuff i can't keep going like this.

WHAT THE FUCK GYUS

[verfound]

MINIFIC: Oct. 23: Day 21: Ghost Animal (MLB, Lukanette, DLM AU)

This started as wanting to play with Pet Reapers.  When I first saw “ghost animal”, that was the direction I wanted to go.  The rest was an accident, but Quick okayed it.  TW for potential loss of pets/close calls, the punching of children, and beloved ficcers ending up on my hit list.  😂

(Pet reapers are, canonically, children. The one in the show looks like he might be around ten?)

For @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers October Minific Challenge 2023.

Read on Ao3

To Feel Alive Again: Ch20: Drowned

Luka was…not having the best of days.

He wasn’t having the best couple of days, actually.

That was…kind of to be expected.  What with yesterday being his Death Day.  Most reapers got…Moody on their Death Day.  It had been pretty par for the course, actually – he’d had ten of them by this point; he should know – but then…well.

Most reapers knew to leave each other alone on those days.  Most reapers knew the traditions.  The customs.

Most reapers weren’t Marinette.

He hadn’t expected Marinette to show up at his door with a smile and a bottle of booze.  He…should have expected to be grateful when she did.  He was finding more and more he was…grateful for Marinette’s presence in his life.

Because he didn’t…care for her.  He couldn’t.  Whatever feelings he might have thought he’d been catching were clearly not mutual, so.  They were…friends.  Coworkers.  Buddies, at best.

But when she had shown up, eager to offer the comfort he’d so desperately been craving…for one minute he had let himself believe…had fooled himself into thinking…

It was too easy to give in to how the night could have – should have – gone.  Marinette, so warm and real and alive, holding him together as he fell apart.  Finally giving in to the curiosity that had been plaguing him for months now and learning what her kiss tasted like.  Finally giving in and taking what she had been so innocently offering.  Letting himself be happy for once.  Finally forgetting he was dead as he made her fall apart, finally loving her like he had been telling himself he couldn’t all this time.  Waking up in his bed – or on the couch, he wasn’t picky – with the sunlight illuminating her hair like it had that first morning, making her glow.  The smile that would still be on her face, and the lazy kisses they’d exchange as they put off getting up.  Maybe even sharing a shower.  Showing up to breakfast late with her hand in his.  Pissing Théo the hell off when he helped her into the booth and stole a kiss in front of all of them.

The way she would blush and smile and how it would be all for him, and how he would smile back because…

Because…

But it didn’t matter.  That was clearly not what she’d wanted.  He had clearly misread the signs, misread her intentions, her desires – had clearly confused them with his own, and he…he wasn’t about to force himself on her.  He wasn’t her choice – her romantic choice, at least.  He was just…he was a friend.  And he was fine with that.  He had to be.  Because it wasn’t her problem he’d gotten stupid on her, and he wasn’t about to make it her problem, so if he had stupidly misread everything and kissed her like a fucking idiot when she clearly didn’t want him to…

…he’d let her go.  He had to.  He wasn’t Théo.

She didn’t love…she wasn’t interested in him.  Not like that.

So he wouldn’t be interested in her.

And he hadn’t slept the rest of the goddamned night, because who the fuck would be able to after that?  He’d left his flat earlier than usual – certainly earlier than Marinette usually arrived, on those mornings she showed up to walk to breakfast with him – and had just…shambled around for a bit.  Walked around the city trying to clear his head and dispel that anxious energy or…something.  He was at the café as they were opening, and when Mendeleiev showed up an hour and a half later he was already nursing his third cup of coffee.

“…can I just have my post-it and go?” he’d asked, his voice low.  She had looked him over critically, taking in his disheveled appearance, before slapping his post-it by his coffee.

“Are we going to have a problem?” she’d asked, and for a moment Luka had thought she’d meant his reap.  It had taken a moment to remember Mendeleiev didn’t really know about his side job.  Well.  She knew he had a job – knew what the job was – but she didn’t exactly know his clients.

She didn’t know he knew B.M. Quick personally.  That Brenda May Quick was one of the nicest people you’d ever meet, or that she owned the stupidest, fluffiest beast Luka had ever met.  Bach was a special dog, an absolute sweetheart, but he had needs.  He was deaf, and caring for the brute could be…difficult.  Luka was one of the only people Quick trusted with Bach’s care.

And he had to go kill her.

It really wasn’t turning out to be his day.

“…of course not,” he’d sighed, his voice heavy and full of his usual disdain.  Mendeleiev had reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder.  He had looked up at her and found she was looking at him, and if he hadn’t known any better he would almost say she’d looked…concerned.  “What?”

“Fred gave me a call last night,” she’d said.  His fist had tightened on the post-it, crumpling it.  He had shrugged her off and stood, tossing a few bills down on the table.

“I’m fine,” he’d said, glaring at her.  “Mind your own fucking business.  Please.”

“It is my own fucking business when it affects my group,” she had said.  He’d scoffed, and she’d snatched at his wrist before he could turn away.  “Luka.”

He had watched her for a long moment, caught in some sort of stare down.  He’d finally sighed and turned away.

“…we’re fine, Philece,” he’d said, tugging his hand away.  “I just…had a bad night.  We all do now and then.  She’ll have her own in a few months.”

…and he would be there for her, too, when she did.  However she needed him.  Because he was fucking stupid.

Jules had always liked to remind him of that.  She’d be having a field day with it now, if she could only see them.  The brat.

Mendeleiev hadn’t looked like she’d believed him, but she had let him go all the same.  So he had left the café before the others had arrived, stopped by a pet store on the way to his reap, and surprised Quick by showing up a day early for Bach’s walk.

“…the past day’s kinda sucked,” he’d said, his hands stuffed in his pockets.  “You can say no – I know I didn’t really confirm this with you before showing up – but…I could use some Bach time.  If that’s all right.  I could take him for a short walk?  No charge.”

“That’s really sweet of you, Luka, and I’d love to,” she’d said, closing the door a bit more behind her when Bach’s nose tried to snuffle his way through, “but Bach actually has a vet appointment in about an hour.  He’s fine – he’s ok, don’t give me that look – just a standard checkup.  We were just getting ready to go.  Maybe come a little early tomorrow?  He can have an extra long walk then.”

“…yeah,” he’d said, nodding with a bittersweet smile.  “That would be great.  Um.  Here, can you give him this for me?  I saw it earlier, and…I don’t know.  He likes chasing the squirrels at the park, and I thought…”

“He’ll love it,” she’d said, taking the stuffed toy from him with a smile.  His fingers had brushed along her hand when she grasped the toy, and the feeling of a soul popping along his arm had never felt so slimy before.  Not even when he’d popped his own father.  “Thank you, Luka.  You’re too sweet.”

He hadn’t feel sweet.

He’d felt like an asshole.

“I think the world hasn’t been very kind to you, and I think it’s made you hard.  I don’t think you were meant to be hard, though,” he remembered Marinette saying, but he wasn’t so sure about that.  Being hard was…easy.  It was every time he let his guard down and tried to open up to people that he ended up getting hurt.

He was pretty sure today was going to hurt.

He’d said goodbye to Quick, and when Bach tried to push his way through the door again – when he’d let out a low woof and snuffled in Luka’s direction, he had laughed and, after letting Bach sniff his hand, gave the big goof some scritches.  He’d left after that, but he hadn’t gone far.

Because he was a day early for Bach’s walk, but he was only twelve minutes early for B. Quick’s appointment.

He had grabbed a to go coffee at a cart somewhere between the pet store and Quick’s house, and he sipped on it as he sat on a bench on the other side of the street, waiting.  It really was turning out to be a shitty day.  Ten years dead, the undead girl he had thought he’d been falling in love with just wanted to be friends, and now his favorite client was about to become an orphan.  He…

…dropped his coffee as some punk ass kid zipping past on a skateboard attempted a trick, stumbled off his board, and knocked into the back of the bench.  He turned, ready to snap at the brat, and froze.

“…sorry,” the reaper mumbled, ducking his head as he tugged his gray beanie lower on his head.  A mop of brown hair poked out at the edges, and he watched Luka with steely brown eyes older than his face had any right to be.  It was easy for reapers to spot other reapers, once you’d been dead long enough.

And Luka had been dead a long time.

“Ok, Bach!  Let’s go, buddy!”

He looked up at Quick’s voice, Bach’s low woof carrying across the street as their door opened and she led the fluffy beast outside.  The reaper glanced over at them, and Luka felt his stomach drop to his feet.

There was only one reason a child reaper would be here.

“…no,” Luka breathed, his hand gripping the back of the bench so tightly his knuckles blanched.  The kid looked back at him, his expression a mixture of bored and annoyed that Luka was well acquainted with.  “No.”

“Fuck off, old man,” he said, dropping his board back on the pavement and hopping on.  He turned towards Quick – towards Bach – and started to kick off.

Luka acted on instinct.

His fist was connecting with the little shit’s face before his wheels could start rolling.  He toppled back off his board, tumbling towards the sidewalk, and it all happened so fast after that.

It all happened because of a fucking squirrel.

“Bach, no!” he heard Quick shout, and he looked up just in time to see the squirrel dash in front of her car.  It might have been fine, if Bach hadn’t seen the damned thing.  But Bach loved squirrels, and Bach would always chase after a squirrel, and Bach was over forty five kilos of deaf dumbass who couldn’t hear his maman shouting at him to stop, wait, come back as he ripped his leash from her hands and bounded after the rodent and straight into the street.

“Shit,” Luka hissed as he shoved the kid’s face back into the pavement and ran after him.  Quick was chasing him, too, but he was closer.  Faster.  And he didn’t have an old foot injury slowing him down.

He saw the car coming.

Saw the distracted teenager fiddling with the dash behind the wheel.

He ran faster.

Quick saw him a second too late.  She saw him grab Bach’s leash and tug him out of the way, spinning to shield the oaf, and slowed down just a second too soon.

…it was his fault, in the end.

Because the car slammed on its brakes and smacked into his hip, and that would definitely leave a mark in the morning, but it hit Quick head-on.  It crashed into her with a sickening crunch of bone and the heavy thud of a body hitting pavement, of a skull smacking into asphalt and life leaving a body.

He would walk it off.

Quick wouldn’t be walking anywhere anymore.

“It’s ok, boy,” he murmured into Bach’s fluff, scratching his chest as he whined and tried to turn towards his maman.  He looked up to see Quick’s soul standing beside them, a bittersweet smile on her face.

“Take care of my boy for me?” she asked, and he nodded.  Of course he would.  He adored Bach, and he was so sick of losing things he loved.  Quick gave him one last smile and turned, walking off towards the lights Luka was too preoccupied to look at.  Bach gave a low whine, and Luka looked up to see the kid glaring at him.

“Monsieur!  Monsieur!  Christ, are you…oh my God, mademoiselle!” the driver cried as he stumbled out of the car and saw Quick’s body on the ground.  Luka wasn’t paying any attention to him, though.

“You can’t have him,” he spat at the kid.  “Not today.  Not to-fucking-day.”

“You know what happens if I don’t,” the kid said.  “You’re old.  You can’t stop this.”

“…not today,” Luka said.  “Reschedule the fucker.  You can’t have him.  You can’t.”

The kid watched him for a long moment, his eyes hard.  He tutted after a moment and kicked up his board, stepping onto it.

“Suit yourself, old man,” he said, rolling his board back and forth a few times.  He looked back at Luka and smirked.  “I’ll get him eventually.  Or someone will.  Watch out for gravelings…”

The kid kicked off and started rolling down the street.  Bach barked, and Luka almost didn’t hear the kid calling after him as the driver shouted for him to call 1-1-2.

“…asshole.”

[milarqui]

Scarlet Lady: Riposte

Directory | Vanisher

Ever since he learned that Tikki was riding the rich girl's bag, Plagg now would spend most of the time Adrien was in class with his oldest friend.

And today, they were checking a video on the new heroine.

“Her name is Marigold,” Tikki said, as Marigold showed off her spinning top to the journalists, while wearing a very forced smile.

“The Bee Miraculous, huh? Bold choice using Pollen,” Plagg replied. “She's not exactly discrete. And that's coming from me.”

Tikki crossed her arms and closed her eyes.

“I, for one, have total faith in Pollen to keep a low profile!”

“Greetings, noble kwami of Creation and Destruction!”

“AH!” both Plagg and Tikki exclaimed at the sudden appearance of the one they were speaking about. However, as soon as they recovered, Tikki flew to the newcomer, all worried.

“Pollen! Now that you're out permanently, you need to hid yourself to protect Marigold's identity!” she warned Pollen.

“Well, it's not like we can rat out our holders since we can't even say their names,” Plagg contested. “It's probably fine.”

Then Pollen turned to the open part of the bag and pointed at Marinette.

“So I shouldn't tell you that she's my Queen?”

Pollen blinked as Tikki hugged Plagg, crying so much the tears felt more like a waterfall coming from the kwami of Creation's eyes.

“What is wrong?” she innocently asked, confused about Tikki's reaction.

“I'll tell you later,” Plagg replied, giving Tikki a few pats in the back as she bawled.

SO UNFAIR!

As she recovered from her little stint with yet again losing on her fated partner, Tikki decided to sit with Pollen and explain the rules, so something like this wouldn't happen again.

She also decided to ignore how Pollen had managed to find a loophole around the prohibition of telling someone else about their partner.

“Rule 1: no outing other holders, even to other heroes. Hawkmoth is not above mind control.”

“Oooh.”

“Rule 2: no taking holders to meet the Guardian unless it's absolutely necessary. The less people who know where he lives, the better.”

“Oooooh!”

“Rule 3: no going to the Guardian yourself unless your holder is unable to transform. It's dangerous to be away in case of emergencies.”

“You're so thorough.”

----

Back at school, people were still getting used to the surprise event of the year: Sabrina had finally ditched Chloé. Despite how badly the Mayor's daughter treated her 'friend', she had kept coming for more, so finding Sabrina actually had a limit was a bit of a shock.

However, for most of her classmates, it was simply a moment to help Sabrina enter in a healthier relationship – and the one person that had already connected with her and helped someone else do the same was ready to get on her case.

“Yo, Sabrina!” Alix greeted the bespectacled girl. “How's the 'single' life treating you?”

“Oh, Alix!” Sabrina replied. “I'm still getting used to it...”

“If you want to do someone's homework, I volunteer!” Lila said, half-joking, only to get a deep jab in the ribs from Alix.

“Lila, no,” she admonished the Italian, before turning back to Sabrina. “You ever been to roller derby? I'll introduce you to my team.”

“Um, maybe I should...” Sabrina replied. She had never been into sports, mostly because Chloé wasn't interested in anything that made her sweat, but perhaps this was a good way to show how thorough her splitting was.

“Ew, all that sweating?” was Lila's honest answer.

Not that Alix minded. She was certain she would get hooked once she tried it.

----

“Looks like Sabrina's doing okay,” Marinette happily noted, before she turned to the other side of the split, who was murderously glaring at the school bulletin board. “Chloé, however...”

The girl roughly slapped the board, right under a paper that said 'Chloé Bourgeois' BFF Tryouts!' with way too many hearts, and which had several lines for signups – all of them completely empty.

“HEY! Why hasn't anyone signed up for my BFF tryouts?!”

“You threw my watch into the street?” Alix fired.

“You locked me in the bathroom?” Juleka pointed out.

“You made Mylène cry,” Ivan reminded her.

“You suck,” Nathaniel sentenced.

“Oh, who asked you?!” Chloé yelled.

You did, everyone else thought, before someone else slapped another paper on top of Chloé's.

“Hey!” Chloé yelled once more. “Who do you think you–?”

“The school bulletin is for school news only, Mlle. Bourgeois,” M. D'Argencourt stated, glaring down at the girl, who realized that this was an adult she couldn't browbeat into submission – so she left, huffing all the way like a train, shortly before the fencing teacher did the same.

Curious, Marinette approached the new poster, which Adrien was looking at with interest.

“'Argencourt School of Fencing tryouts'?” she asked Adrien, who smiled at her.

“Yes, we have a spot open. Are you interested?”

“Yeah, actually! It could be useful!”

I could actually learn to wield Venom with that!

“Useful for what?” Adrien asked, a bit surprised, and she looked aside.

“N-Not for any... you know, particular reason,” she replied bashfully. Much to her surprise, Adrien actually accepted the answer, and began to tell her about what she should expect in the tryouts.

----

The day of the tryouts, Marinette felt ready. She had read on fencing rules since the poster came up, and she had also practiced some moves she had seen on YouTube, so she was as prepared as one could be. After putting on the fencing suit and picking up a fleuret, she came into the gym, where she found an unexpected visitor.

“Oh! Marc! What are you doing here?”

Marc Anciel was one of Aurore and Mireille's classmates, and he was a kind, gentle soul that liked to write both poetry and prose. He tended to keep to himself a bit, but she knew he was trying to come out of his shell and become more sociable.

“Oh, Marinette!” he said, standing up, his book in his hands. “I'm getting references for writing fight scenes. M. D'Argencourt says it's fine as long as I'm not disruptive.”

“Hello, everyone! The darling of Paris has arrived!”

Ugh, Marinette thought. It's like Marc summoned her, or something.

“Mlle. Bourgeois, if you are only here to serve as a distraction, then you may leave,” M. D'Argencourt warned her, while Adrien gave her a half-glare as she turned to the stands with a groan.

“Then why does he get to be here?!” Chloé shouted, pointing at Marc. She jumped in between them.

“Hey! He has permission!” she defended him.

“Marinette,” Marc whispered.

“Huh?”

“I'm non-binary.”

“Oh.” That explained a lot. And it also made her feel bad, because she kept using the wrong pronouns to speak of Marc. She turned back to Chloé. “They have permission!”

----

With Chloé finally out of the way, the tryouts began, and M. D'Argencourt bid Marinette forward, as her name had been the first in the list.

“To earn the only spot on the team, the neophytes will execute a succession of assault against the elders,” the teacher explained. “Take place!”

“Well, Marinette, are you okay with me?” Adrien asked, smiling, as he prepared for their bout.

“Only if you promise not to go easy on me!” she replied, returning the smile in challenge before lowering her mask.

“ALLEZ!”

Quickly, Marinette lunged forward with her foil and aimed straight at Adrien's chest. As she did so, she was also aware of Adrien's weapon attacking her, but she deflected it.

And the tip of her weapon touched.

“HA!” she said.

“WHOA!” Adrien replied, shocked.

“WHOO! Get her, Adrichéri!” Chloé cheered.

Both of them rose their masks, and Adrien gave Chloé a disappointed look.

“Chloé, loud cheering is very disrespectful during bouts. And Marinette got the point.”

“HMPH!”

Clearly, Chloé hadn't wanted her to win. Was there a way to rub her victory into Chloé's face without looking like a jerk?

“Fencing Master D'Argencourt, I want to get into your school!”

Everyone turned to look at the sudden appearance. She was already wearing the fencing uniform, along with the mask, so it was impossible to see what she looked like, but Marinette thought she was probably Japanese, based on her accent. The way she held herself, though, it was clear that she was practiced in the sport of fencing.

“Looks like another disrespectful person has shown up,” M. D'Argencourt noted.

“Wow, what a noisy show off,” Chloé commented. Marinette didn't comment on how much of a hypocrite Chloé was, so she settled for giving her a withering look.

“Very well!” M. D'Argencourt said. “Defeat one of my students and I'll consider your admission.”

“Very well!” the mysterious girl replied. “Then I shall challenge your best combatant!”

The fencers looked at the girl as if she had grown a second head.

“Uh, you... you don't have to...” one of them said, but M. D'Argencourt silenced everyone.

“Adrien, please give a lesson of modesty to our visitor,” he ordered, and Adrien nodded.

“Yes, Master,” he replied, lowering his mask. Alright, Agreste, don't screw up. Marinette is watching!

----

The bout began, and quickly Adrien realized that this girl was very good at fencing. She had probably trained for years, like he had, to reach this level of skill. He couldn't afford to hold back!

The first time he was able to touch her, he felt the tip of her foil hit him on the chest.

Both machines blared at the same time.

“Simultaneous! No touch!” M. D'Argencourt stated.

Returning to their positions, the bout continued. When he lunged, the girl did so at the same time, and as he twisted to dodge the foil, he noticed she was doing the same.

“Abstain!” M. D'Argencourt ruled.

“Grr!” the girl growled. “I propose we do this the traditional way! No machines! We'll have more freedom!”

Marinette ignored Chloé yawning beside her, clenching her fists as she silently supported Adrien.

“She just gave up an impartial judge!” Marc pointed out, as Adrien accepted the additional challenge and unhooked his suit.

“ALLEZ!”

Immediately, the challenger tackled Adrien off the mat.

“HA!” she shouted.

“OOF!” Adrien complained, stepping back as he avoided the challenger's wild slashing.

“Whoa, where are they going?!” Marc wondered.

“HA!”

“AH!”

“She shoved Adrien off the mat!” Marinette called out. “That's a corps-a-corps, halt the bout!”

“This is real fencing!” M. D'Argencourt exclaimed. Marinette turned to look at the man.

Are you sure you are a fencing instructor?

“I can't see a thing!” Chloé complained.

“Me neither,” Marc agreed. Marinette quickly ran for the stairs.

“THIS WAY!” she said, following the dueling fencers towards the sound of clashing foils.

“Is that all you got?!” she heard Adrien exclaim, and she finally found them at the library.

“They're really going at it!” Marc exclaimed, and suddenly it ended.

“THERE!” both of the fencers shouted as their foils hit their rival's chest.

At the same time.

Or, at least, that was what it looked like.

“The librarian's gonna kill them,” Marc said, as M. D'Argencourt ran into them.

“Anciel! Who struck first?!” the instructor shouted, pointing at Marc with his finger. “I need to know!”

Marc covered himself with his book.

“Eek! Abstain!”

“Mlle. Dupain-Cheng!” He did the same with Marinette.

“Well, Adrien left the mat which is a penalty but she made physical contact so–”

“Not what I asked!” M. D'Argencourt interrupted before turning to the third witness. “Mlle. Bourgeois!”

“Adrihoney, obviously!”

“Excellent! A clear victory in honor of the D'Argencourt School!” the instructor said, proudly.

Marinette just gave him another look.

“Seriously?!” That's all that it takes for you to proclaim victory?

“Chloé, are you sure that's what happened?” Adrien asked in an exhausted voice.

“It's fine,” the challenger said, offering her hand to Adrien. “The referee made his decision.”

“See? Even she knows to listen to her superiors,” Chloé crowd, ignoring as the challenger approached her.

She sure paid more attention to her as the foil in her hand got stabbed into the concrete floor just a couple of centimeters away from her foot.

Marinette quickly got rid of her fencing uniform and ran after the mysterious girl, along with Adrien. Both of them had the same thing in mind, as she began to take off her mask.

“Wait!”

“Let's have a rematch! I think you touched first!” Adrien said.

“And even if you didn't, you're the most skilled person who tried out!” Marinette reasoned.

“No need,” the girl said, finally taking off her mask and turning around – to reveal that she was a beautiful Japanese girl with dark bluish hair just a few shades away from Marinette's, brown eyes and even a smattering of freckles across her cheeks, which gave her a more juvenile appearance. Marinette and Adrien felt their cheeks blushing. “You won. In my family, there's no such thing as second chances. Sayonara.”

And she got into the car.

Shit, she's cute, both of them thought.

Until they realized that the girl was getting away. They had to act quickly!

Adrien dragged Marinette to his car and opened the door so she could enter first, before getting in as well.

“Follow that car!” he ordered his bodyguard, who silently nodded as he started the vehicle.

----

“HEY!” Chloé shouted as the car with her Adrikins and Dupain-Cheng sped away after that peasant's own. “Why are they so obsessed with this nobody?!”

“I don't think obsessed is the right word...” Tikki noted, already fearing what was likely to happen.

“An Akuma!” Chloé cheerfully shouted.

“Oh no...”

“Oh YES! It's Scarlet Lady time!”

Tikki moaned.

“I don't get enough cookies for this.”

----

She tried to call her mother. Even if she would only berate her for failing to join the fencing school, at least it would mean she worried.

But, just as expected...

“Of course, she doesn't answer...” she said, huffing as she hung up the phone. And then she noticed something else.

An ugly black butterfly somehow squeezing into the car through the door.

“... more importantly, what the hell is that?!” she wondered, as the butterfly flew towards her sword and somehow fused with it.

“Riposte, I am Hawkmoth.”

----

“She's the only child of a prestigious fencers' family...” Adrien noted as he checked his phone: while the girl hadn't mentioned her name, the markings on her car had allowed him to learn that she was Kagami Tsurugi, the daughter of Tomoe Tsurugi, whom he had heard something about.

“That explains why she took it so hard,” Marinette answered -

SLICE

– as something suddenly split the car they were riding in half.

“AH!”

“WHA–?!”

Both of them were thrown off their seats as the bottom of their half fell and began to skid off the blacktop. They quickly worked to cover their heads to avoid injury, but they were still sure they were going to get bruises from rolling about.

And then someone landed atop the car.

“You offered me a rematch! I've come to accept!” a familiar voice said. It belonged to someone who was entirely covered in silver, from the helmet to the shoes, in armor that resembled that of ancient samurais. The only splashes of different colors were the eyes and a circular crest in the center of the forehead and the guard of her sword, both of them red.

It was clear that Kagami had undergone the same thing as so many Parisians in the past months.

“Oh no, she's an Akuma!” both of them exclaimed.

“Not so fast, Chrome-Dome!”

Both of them sighed.

“Scarlet Lady!”

“Even worse!”

The Akuma attacked with her sword, slicing at Adrien even though he and Marinette were standing close.

“Look out!” he shouted, pushing Marinette away as he jumped as well.

“Ah!”

When Adrien was able to look, he realized Marinette was gone.

“Marinette?! Where are you?!” he screamed, scared for her. He knew he had made her promise not to get involved in Akuma fights, but... he couldn't help it.

He couldn't see that Marinette had snuck into a nearby alley.

“I'm sorry, Adrien,” she whispered, “but this is Marigold's chance!”

“At your command!” Pollen cheered.

“Pollen, BUZZ ON!”

----

“This won't take long!” The Akuma announced as she sliced off the ad tower Scar was standing on, forcing her to jump off.

“RUDE!”

“Geez,” he said. Unfortunately, he had to agree with the Akuma in this instance.

“Um, Adrien Agreste?”

He turned to see it was the new heroine.

“Marigold! Have you seen–”

“Don't worry, I got your friend to safety,” Marigold quickly replied. “But now it's your turn sinc she's after you!”

Marigold was so distracted that she hadn't noticed the approaching danger.

But he did.

“Look out!” he said, hugging Marigold and tackling her out of the way of the Akuma's sword, attached to its owner as it slammed into the ground. He felt a sharp pain in his ankle as he moved so fast, but he thought it was worth it.

“Ah!” Marigold yelled in shock, before regaining her composure and throwing her spinning top to the top of the building, taking advantage of the Akuma being distracted by her sword being stuck to get away.

“Hey, wait for me!” he heard Scar yell as Marigold carefully let him on the ground, and he grabbed his ankle, feeling for the source of pain.

“Are you okay?” Marigold asked, clearly worried.

“I rolled my ankle...” he replied. Nothing that wouldn't go away without some repose.

“You got my Prince hurt?! I should fire you, you wanna-bee!” Scar shouted. He was about to turn to her and yell to stop calling him 'her Prince', but Marigold's utterly distraught face distracted him.

“I can't believe you got hurt protecting me when I should be protecting you!” she said, covering the sides of her face. “I am so sorry, Adrien! But I promise we'll keep you safe and save that girl!”

“Mhmm,” he said, noncommittally.

But on the inside, he realized something.

If Scar had been the one he saved and got injured for, she would have probably been making excuses about why she hadn't done anything – and that was if she just didn't go and become even more of an abhorrent admirer.

But Marigold... she had just admitted fault and strove to do better.

His respect of the new heroine rose.

----

As she hugged her Adrikins and put his hand on her head – he could be a bit less enthusiastic about how hard he was doing that – she heard an unwelcome sound.

“Apparently, I need to explain the rules,” the akumatized chrome-dome said, angry. “You're not allowed to run away.”

She couldn't allow this peasant to harm her Adrikins beyond what the wanna-bee had done!

“Come, my Prince, I'll take you far away from this dangerous girl!” she declared.

When there was no following comment from Adrien about him wanting her to get him away, she turned – and saw that the new-bee had not only bailed out on her, but she had also stolen Adrien from her.

“HEY!”

“What did I just say about running?!” the Akuma shouted, but she didn't care.

She had to find her Prince!

----

Marigold, as it turned out, chose to bring him to the Louvre Museum – particularly, the Tutankhamun exposition that was still running (and he had yet to see an inkling of whether Plagg was right about the statue!).

And, unfortunately, she picked a rather distressing hiding place for him.

“Sorry, this might be uncomfortable for a while, but you'll be safe,” Marigold apologized as he held the empty sarcophagus open. “It'll be okay. Chat Noir will be here soon.”

“Chat Noir?” he asked. He had expected her to say she'd solve the problem soon, or something like that.

“Yeah, don't you know?” She winked at him. “He's the real hero of Paris.”

And she carefully closed the sarcophagus.

Alone and in darkness, he felt his fear grip him, but as Plagg silently came out of his hidey hole, he managed to control himself.

Okay, just for that, I'll forgive you for locking me up in here, he thought, his respect for Marigold growing.

“Claws Out!”

----

Armed with a foil she had finagled somewhere in an exposition on sixteenth century France, Marigold began to make her way to leave the museum and find Riposte –

“Hey, Bumbling Bee!”

“Scarlet Lady?!”

“Where'd you hide my beloved?!”

Ignoring the fact that Adrien seemed to dislike Scarlet Lady just as much as Chat Noir did, she realized something.

“But if you're here, that means–”

“WHERE IS HE?!” the Akuma shouted, landing into the corridor.

Yeah, Scarlet Lady was oblivious enough to forget the Akuma could follow her.

She covered her face, because right now, she really, really didn't want to look at the idiot.

“Oh my gawd, you're so stupid,” she complained.

The Akuma wasn't up for any bantering, and chose to attack Scarlet Lady, who tripped and crawled back as fast as she could.

“Ah, help! Not the hair!” she shouted, covering her face to avoid seeing the sword coming closer.

“Scarlet Lady! Chat Noir!” Marigold said, and Scarlet Lady uncovered her face to see Chat Noir parrying the Akuma's weapon with his own.

“About time!”

Chat Noir ignored the heroine: he was used to her 'style' of thanking people for helping her (which meant not thanking people at all). So he turned to his other partner.

“There's a fencing tournament at the Louvre and I wasn't invited?”

“Well, don't take so long at the vet!”

“Pft!” he snorted. Finally, he had someone willing to trade banter with him!

“No matter how many you call, I'll vanquish you and become the best fencer!” the Akuma declared, clearly uncaring about those who faced her.

“I think we left fencing behind a long time ago...” Marigold noted, remembering the Akuma's attempts at making lethal attacks.

The two of them promptly moved away, not eager to test the lethality of being hit by such a sharp weapon.

“I think getting close to her might be impossible. And suicidal,” Marigold said as she walked down the stairs.

“I think so, too,” Chat Noir agreed. “Looks like a good time for a Lucky Charm, Scar!”

“AH!”

Scarlet Lady promptly landed on the ground, face up, between the two of them. At the top of the stairs stood the Akuma, who had clearly thrown the former down with a swing of her sword.

“I'm doing this because I want to and not because you told me to,” Scarlet Lady claimed, groggy from the pain of hitting the cold, hard marble floor. “Lucky Charm...”

This time, the Lucky Charm was larger than the norm, which they instantly recognized.

“A radiator?” Chat Noir asked, standing to defend Scar and Marigold from the approaching Akuma.

“I've got it!” Marigold exclaimed. “But I need your belt!”

“My belt?” he said, shocked. He was surprised by the request... but he had promised Marinette he'd give her a try. “Okay, I'm trusting you!”

Turning to hand her the belt that acted as his tail, she answered by giving him the radiator. It was sturdy, but light, with a large space running through the middle –

He understood what Marigold had planned.

“En garde!” he said, as the Akuma stabbed with her sword – only for him to catch the sword with the radiator as Marigold jumped over him, belt in hand.

“PRET...”

Marigold ran the belt around the sword's guard, preventing the Akuma from trying to pull away, while Chat Noir began to twist the radiator around –

“ALLEZ!”

And with a mighty pull, the sword blade snapped, freeing the butterfly.

----

With Kagami now recovered from her Akumatization, Marigold took it upon herself to calm the girl down.

“Everything is okay, it's over,” she told her, smiling.

Kagami lightly blushed, although she wasn't sure of the reason.

Behind her, a more acrimonious encounter took place.

“Great, she's dealt with, now where's Adrien?!” Scar shouted, ignoring her earrings beeping as the countdown got closer to an end.

Chat Noir gave her the look he would give to someone he considered an idiot.

“Do you really want the cameras to catch you detransforming?”

“STOP TRYING TO DISTRACT ME!”

The obvious didn't work. Appealing to her flaw would, though.

“So you don't care if they catch you with that messed up hair, then?”

“NOOOOO! Don't look!” Scar screamed, shouting all the way to an empty corridor, while he looked at her in satisfaction.

Although he was reminded that he also needed to show up, before Marigold tried to find him in the sarcophagus. He said his goodbyes to the girls and ran towards another corridor, going a way around as he detransformed and returned through the corridor for Egyptology, finding Kagami and Marigold.

“Marinette should arrive soon, please wait for her,” Marigold said, and he felt like cheering up.

“Ah, sure,” Kagami replied, clearly a bit insecure over the entire thing, and he took that moment to call her.

“Pst, Marigold,” he whispered. She had sharp ears, as she was able to hear him, and she approached him quickly.

“Oh, there you are! Thank goodness, are you okay?!”

“Yes, thank you,” he said, scratching the back of his head. The Cure had even healed his ankle. Not that he'd want to tell Scar that – who knew what else she'd try to pull over it.

“So, what'd I tell you? Chat Noir really saved the day, huh?”

Yeah, she was nothing like Scar. He smiled at her.

“Just Chat Noir? You should give yourself more credit. I saw how helpful you were.”

“Helpful?! Really?!” she said, blushing.

Cute.

It reminded him of Marinette, in fact, which added to the cuteness factor.

----

Marigold had to leave, unfortunately, but promised to return whenever there was another Akuma, and he was left with his rival, who was holding her phone while her foil that had been the focus for her Akumatization laid on the ground, repaired by the Cure.

He grabbed it and offered it back to its owner.

“I'm sorry–” both of them said at the same time, but before they could do anything else, something interrupted.

“GUYS!” Marinette said, hugging both him and Kagami at the same time. “I was so worried! I'm so glad you're safe!”

Adrien just enjoyed the feeling of being hugged by Marinette.

Kagami... well, she wasn't sure of what to think of the cute pigtailed girl suddenly hugging her out of nowhere.

“Sorry, sorry! It's okay now!” Adrien said to calm his friend down, prompting her to realize she had acted too fast, so she let them go and presented herself to the other girl.

“Oh, right, I'm Marinette!” she said, offering her hand, which was awkwardly shaken.

“K-Kagami...” the Japanese girl returned.

----

The best things about Chloé's hair being a mess were two.

The first, that it made for a better, more comfortable hidey hole.

The second, that it kept Chloé from interrupting Marinette and her friends.

Chloé's vanity may have been an irritant, but times like these, it proved to be useful.

----

Seeing that she had managed to make a connection with Kagami, Adrien let her do the talking.

She was much better at this than him, at least.

“Please don't quit fencing! M. D'Argencourt would be crazy not to take you after how much he was drooling over that match!”

Kagami looked aside, sad.

“And yet, this isn't what your friend saw.”

Marinette felt disgusted and made a face.

“Ew, gross, she's not my friend.”

Kagami let out a little snort, which broke through the image of stoicness she was trying to express, which somehow made her shine.

“Alright, alright,” she said, turning to Adrien. “Prepare yourself for a rematch.”

“Yes!” he cheered.

“And I hope to see you there, Marinette,” she added.

“Yeah!”

----

As they returned to the school, Marinette decided to ask.

“So, are you going to go to Françoise Dupont?”

Kagami shook her head.

“Actually, I've started at Collège blah blah blah.”

“Oh!” She had heard of that place. “Our friend Ondine goes there! They have a sporty focus, right?”

“Correct.”

Marinette could actually imagine Kagami wearing that school's uniform. It would look good on her.

----

As Plagg munched on his delicious cheese, he had something to ask of Adrien.

“Hey, you realize, by giving the spot to the sword lady, that you gave up a chance to be on a team with Pigtails, right?”

He silently laughed at his kit's face. Of course, he didn't know he was already on a team with Pigtails, but it was funnier this way! The reaction when he learned that Marigold was also Pigtails would be hilarious.

For the moment, he would settle for his expression when he realized he had lost the chance to spend more time with the girl.

“Hngn!”

And there you go.

----

Captain Hardrock

@zoe-oneesama Kagami debuts! Let's hope the next sword thrust goes for Hawkmoth!

Well, this was the other girl's beginning in the story, ready to make an impact as Adrien and Marinette's friend instead of the former's love interest and latter's rival!

Sorry for the lateness, I've had a long week, between my family visiting and me moving to a new home, which was a mess and a half that was fortunately solved soon.

Next time, Captain Hardrock and the debut of Marinette's other potential love interest, Luka!

[friendfromdsmp]

What would you think if an evilized villain(maybe a wishmaker-like villain or maybe even a villain that's unrelated to the butterfly miraculous) caused Chloe and Zoe to switch bodies somehow, and nobody fully understands what's going on, so Zoe(in Chloe's body) is taken by Audrey back to New York, despite Zoe desperately trying to explain things. But Chloe enters a fugue state(heavily due to trauma caused by the neglect of her parents) and genuinely thinks she's Zoe, and is even able to recall many of the things Zoe did due to being in Zoe's body. The class thinks "Zoe's" change in behavior is due to the psychological effects of method acting, since "Zoe" is playing Chloe in Astruc's new movie, but they gradually convince "Zoe" to let them help her relearn how to be "herself" again. Meanwhile, in New York, Zoe is trying to get back to Paris, but when she gets there, “Zoe” thinks she’s there to try to hurt Marinette.

Ooh my first ask!

Well that’s certainly a very specific scenario, and one that raises further concerns; firstly, why was the villain’s power not reversed?

That would mean that the akuma was never purified, at least not by Ladybug, if we’re to believe everything else is still completely normal. Or maybe Ladybug never knew about the akuma at all? Could they have served a purpose similar to Volpina in Heroes’ Day, where they were akumatised for a purpose outside of going after the Miraculous?

I’d imagine that Hawkmoth would have wanted to keep Chloé in Paris after learning she was leaving. And then he realised; he didn’t need Chloé, he just needed someone with the *mind* of Chloé. And so he found a target he would be able to make use of to swap the bodies of the two siblings. Zoé was an obvious host for Chloé’s mind, of course; it wouldn’t be *as* big of a shock for people to see Zoé acting the same way as Chloé used to after the pair effectively traded lives, especially when they could claim the loss of her sister and mother to be a ‘traumatic incident’. What? If those kids would believe Lila Rossi’s lies, they’ll believe that!

And at first, everyone *does* believe it; they try to support ‘Zoé’ at first, but quickly figure the best way to support her is to give her space after she snapped at them in a particularly Chloé-esque manner when they made the attempt. Sure, there were *jokes* about ‘hey, maybe they actually sent Zoé to New York and Chloé stole her life or something’ or similar humorous comments that were scarily close to hitting the mark. But ‘Zoé’ retained all her memories, and aside from the attitude shift she wasn’t acting too much out of the ordinary. Besides, most of the class could agree that, if Chloé were really in Zoé’s body, she wouldn’t settle for being considered her ‘half-of-a-sister’, as she’d always put it

Mylene is the one to craft up the first serious theory; that ‘Zoé’ was simply method acting as her sister in order to play a role. She explained that ‘Zoé’ had gotten a big role in a play the pair were involved in, and she was playing a stereotypical mean girl with a rich and doting father. “That must be it!” Mylene assured everyone. “I’m sure she’ll be just fine once the play ends! She’s been absolutely incredible in rehearsals; it’s like she just *becomes* her character, like she’s a goddess of self-confidence!”

And of course the class needs to show their support to their friend, so they all stop by to watch ‘Zoé’ rehearse. ‘Zoé’s’ performances in her scenes always stand out as her being completely and utterly in her element, able to dish out every line with an extra serving of self-righteousness and a haughty air. Even the minute movements that wouldn’t be visible to an audience from on the stage - the way she turned up her nose at her fellow cast, the way she side-eyed the other actors when they took over the spotlight, the way such malice could be seen burning behind those blue eyes so vividly that the class would have been convinced it were real if they hadn’t been aware they were watching an act - all of it was just so immersive and well-crafted and *perfect*!

“Zoé, that was amazing!”

“You’re really talented!”

“How did you get so good?”

The class was enthralled and couldn’t help but shower ‘Zoé’ with compliments and praise after rehearsals, which appeared to surprise the girl for a minute, but then she smirked and flipped her hair in a dramatic, smug manner

“Well of *course* I’m great and talented! I’m flawless, utterly flawless~!”

The class all laughed at this, finding her ‘Chloé impression’ to be spot on. “I’m so glad you could take those tough experiences with Chloé and put them towards something you love and are really good at!” Marinette grinned warmly at ‘Zoé’. “I’m so proud of you, Zoé! We all are!”

Now, of course, this wouldn’t normally be anything of note to Chloé. Perhaps Marinette’s sincerity would have surprised her, possibly even made her a little suspicious of her, but it wouldn’t have left any notable impact on Chloé. But the thing is, this wasn’t just Chloé; it was Chloé with Zoé’s memories. Memories of friendship and fun, of kindness and laughter and forgiveness

A genuine smile came to ‘Zoé’s’ face

“Thank you, Marinette. That means a lot coming from you.”

She still had a bit of a way to go before the Chloé personality had been softened by the Zoé memories, but it was the start of a monumental change for her, albeit the class simply saw it as their friend using her ‘method acting’ to keep prepared. The switches between kindness and corruption were viewed as her reactions to stress about the performance, and so they encouraged ‘Zoé’ on her good days and did their best to steer clear but offer gentle support on her bad days. And by the time the final performance was given, ‘Zoé’ was back to her normal self, completely charmed by her classmates and their kindness

And when ‘Chloé’ stopped by Paris for a visit during her summer break from her new school in New York, she was astonished to find that ‘Zoé’ was still just as beloved and accepted as ever. Not only that - she looked *happy*

Her first instinct was to storm over, but Marinette, who had been naturally on-guard the moment ‘Chloé’ had made her presence in the building known, stepped between the two sisters, as if forming a human shield for ‘Zoé’

“Marinette! I need to speak with my sister quickly.”

“Oh no you don’t!” Marinette glared at ‘Chloé’. “Not after all you’ve put her through! Not after all you’ve put *any* of us through! You can’t just walk back in and hurt anyone here ever again, Chloé!”

‘Chloé’ was hit hard by this, her face displaying her pain. She had been so looking forward to seeing her best friend and brief crush once again, after so long apart by such a cruel and unlikely turn of fate, and to see Marinette yelling at her, treating her like a threat, stung bitterly. She bit her lip, having to remind herself that she was in Chloé’s body. She’d gotten used to the fact by now, of course, but coming back here, the last place where anything had felt truly *right* to her, helped her to momentarily forget her troubles

But now, staring into Marinette’s hate-filled eyes, a look reserved for so few people, she could feel her heart shatter into two pieces

“Marinette…”

“What is it, Chloé? What do you want?”

‘Chloé’ found herself struggling to answer for a moment, the shock of the situation jumbling the words in her brain every time she attempted to settle them into a coherent order

“I… it’s nothing… I just… it’s nothing…”

Now Marinette’s expression softened a little, a touch of concern passing over her features. She had always been too altruistic and empathetic for her own good, and she assumed this was one of those times, but she couldn’t stop herself from worrying over this completely different side of ‘Chloé’

“Chloé, is… everything okay? You seem a lot… different… since we last saw you…”

Chloé could only chuckle humourlessly, shaking her head. There was the Marinette she knew. Kind and compassionate to everyone she met, even to those who probably didn’t deserve it, least of all from her. But unlike the real Chloé, she would never take advantage of such kindness

“You have no idea, Marinette… I’m… I’m not the person you all once knew. That’s not the person I am, and that’s not the person I want to be. I know Chlo- I know *I* have done some horrible - uh, utterly horrible! - things in the past, to all of you. And I’m *so* sorry for that. I know I don’t deserve your trust, or your forgiveness, but… I’d like the chance to prove that I mean what I say. If you’ll give me that chance, of course…”

It was the class’ turn to be shocked. ‘Chloé’ was *apologising* to them? It seemed out of the question! And yet here she was, in the flesh!

I’m sure we all know that the class are an incredibly forgiving group of people, even at times when their kindness may have been wasted on someone, and so of *course* they’re willing to give this new ‘Chloé’ a chance. And does she prove herself? Well, of course she does! This is Miraculous, after all, and with good intentions and the power of friendship comes success! (If you’re not Marinette, at least)

So now we have ‘Chloé’ and ‘Zoé’, who grow closer as time passes on. ‘Chloé’ is suspicious of ‘Zoé’ at first, but when she realised that her sister genuinely had no memories of her past self, and she truly wanted the best for others, she was quick to warm to this new sister. As for ‘Zoé’, she was looking upon ‘Chloé’ with Zoé’s memories, and was equally cautious and ready to put ‘Chloé’ in her place, if necessary. But as one warmed up to the other, the other sister reciprocated until all their suspicions and doubts were gone

‘Chloé’ was still vastly unpopular in Paris due to Chloé’s past, and as such she could only stay briefly over the summer break. She was dreading returning to New York. She’d been back with her old friends again at last, she finally had a sister who truly loved and cared for her, she was happy for the first time in a long time. She couldn’t possibly give that up to serve out Chloé’s sentence and not her own, could she? But how could she get out of it?

But the morning when she had to go leave for New York, she was shocked to discover a familiar pink streak in her hair, like an old friend welcoming her back home the moment her eyes fluttered open in response to the weak sunlight slipping through the crack in the curtains. And as she looked in the mirror, it was as though the sun had been shining out of her face with how much it brightened

She was herself again, after all this time

If you asked her how, she wouldn’t have been able to tell you. Perhaps the magic had worn off? Perhaps something happened to the akuma that caused this? Perhaps there was some test she and Chloé had fulfilled?

Her blue eyes widened

“Chloé…”

She rushed to Chloé’s room, knocking on the door frantically. “Chloé?! Chloé?!”

The door opened, and there Chloé stood, her own eyes wide with a similar realisation

“A-are you…?” Zoé could hardly bring herself to ask. “Are you… still the new you? Or… or the old you…?”

Chloé opened her mouth to speak, but at first no sound came out. She tried again, still in shock

“… I… I had *friends*… real friends…”

Zoé nodded slowly at this, trying to gauge where this was going. “Yeah, you did. You *do*. What… what do you remember…?”

“Everything. I remember *everything*.”

Chloé hesitated for a few moments, unable to meet Zoé’s eyes

“I, um… guess I’ll be the one going to New York now, then…”

“… You’ll… be able to make friend there,” Zoé assured gently. “I couldn’t; I don’t quite fit in there. But you… you have so much more in common with them than I do. It’s not a good school for me, but I think you’ll get along better than I ever could there. And if you ever need any help with adjusting, you know I’m only a phone call away. Always.”

Chloé remained silent for a long moment, contemplating her next words

“… Okay… thanks…”

The door closed, and Zoé couldn’t help but smile slightly. She was back in her own body, she was free of that horrid school, and maybe, just maybe, her relationship with her sister could be made all the better from this event?

They may not be far along now, but they were at least polite and civil, and that was certainly a grand start

[notesofarichlycolorednight]

s2ep7 riposte

i actually don't have much to say for this episode. it was actually better paced (tho, i am tired and had a long day, so my perception of time may be off).

i will say, while the convention of introducing a rival is not uncommon in a show like this, i don't think the writers pull it off well. and i know i say this about a lot of conventions they use, but i think it's just a fact that the writers aren't skilled enough--at the very least, they're not skilled enough when working on this show--to execute it in a satisfying way. especially if they have to work off the rule that marinette must be punished by the narrative to "balance" her luck as ladybug.

bc then, rather than ending up with marinette as a main character learning things and making mistakes bc she's a teenager in high school, and just trying to navigate her world as a teenager in high school and a superhero, it can be boiled down to just, "she's just cosmically unlucky." and that's kinda like using the "it was all a dream" cop-out (unless, in rare instances, it actually works/serves the narrative and lines up with the overall themes). a rule that marinette must be punished by the narrative is not a theme. nor is it something you should hinge every episode on.

i know i bring this up a lot too, but it doesn't help that, once again, the writers treat the show like it's serialized but write it like it's episodic. what's the point of teaching marinette lessons if she's just going to reset at the beginning of the next episode? and i know she does, bc i distinctly remember her getting jealous again over adrien and kagami bonding over shared histories.

but mostly, before i started this episode, i was thinking about how bad a decision it was for the creator to make his superheroes teens and not examine what the meant further. like, obvi there's nothing wrong with a kids show heavily featuring kids as the protagonist(s). kids deserve media where they can see themselves go on fun and wacky adventures.

but what i mean by the creator not really thinking through what that actually meant is the fact that, to use as an example, a grown man would get so angry, he'd turn into an evil version of himself, and attack a teenager. (as much as i agree that chloe should be soup.) like okay maybe most of these can get a pass, but something about it just seems,,,off.

put another way, i don't think using the convention of the bad guy being an adult in bad on its own. like any other trope or writing convention, it's value neutral when being discussed separately from any one piece of media. i think it's very cathartic for kids to see a child protagonist overcome adversity and save the day, especially when part of that adversity is the adults in their lives not listening to them, bc they deal with that every day. and i'm sure it's very vindicating for them to see the kid stick it to the adults in the show. and i love that for them!

ml is not that.

it's not a show that's trying to have a discussion about how sometimes adults will not listen to you, and so you have to be brave and figure it out, find allies (both in peers and other adults who will listen to you, if that's something you want to include), and save the day.

it's a show about a grown-ass man continually trying to steal jewelry off two teenagers. and it's just unfortunate optics that the adults he akumatizes 1) sometimes go after children, and 2) fight children outright. it's like that meme, nearly threw hands with a 12 year old (derogatory)

like again, it's not a bad convention when done right and with purpose. but again, ml does not have that purpose. the akumatized adults are simply there to be akumatized, and there's not really a lot more thought put into it than that.

and it's not impossible to feature adults in a show like this, either! it's not wholly similar, but similar in the genre i think ml was going for, but ned's declassified had adults--namely teachers, and they served a very important purpose! they were the bad guys when they needed to be, and more importantly, were there for the kids as mentors and guides when they needed to be. and there was nothing wrong with the premise. the kids were allowed to be upset at being treated unfairly or harshly by these adults, while still maintaining a positive rapport. not to mention, these adults were often balanced out with adults who wouldn't listen to the kids, as a juxtaposition. every adult introduced served a narrative purpose.

so like, it's possible. i just don't think the writers were equipped to handle it.

final comment: the creator is really trying to rekindle the race war between chinese and japanese people by introducing kagami as a rival fr

[elina-sakura]

Yeah, this is not to bash on Marinette or anything, but narratively it does end up making her look bad considering the two bonding would discourage Chloé to become a better person. After all, if being mean is what finally gets her mom’s attention like she always wanted, why would Chloé change?

Granted, like some people had said, this could have been a flaw that Marinette could have learned from, like she made a misjudgment and believed Audrey was just no-nonsense and strict while coming across as mean, but she could possibly teach Chloé to not be so necessarily mean all the time (while also hoping that Ladybug and being Queen Bee would further help her to become a nicer person). But then Chloé chooses to side with Hawk Moth, and that hope is crushed to dust.

Something to remember is one of Marinette’s main traits is she is sympathetic. That means while she can offer helpful advice or look at someone with pity, she can struggle to truly understand their situations and look at it from her own perspective. And someone has mentioned that Marinette never really encountered bad parents like Audrey and Gabriel. She probably believed at worse, they were just strict, distant, and not emotionally well-depth. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t love her daughter. Plus, this is the girl who bullied her for years, torments her friends, and caused akumatizations that she had to clean up. It can be hard to see that she is more than just a bully.

Although once Marinette realized Gabriel was actually horrible and learned Zoé was really Chloé’s half-sister should have been enough clues for Marinette to think, oh wait, maybe my advice back then wasn’t right? But then again, a lot of stuff we’re going on, so it might be hard to come up in Marinette’s brain, so…

The point is, this scene just makes the whole Chloé damnation arc off because this bonding moment only encouraged Chloé keep being mean because it’s what bonds to her mother like she always wanted, and Marinette is the one who set that up by stating that similarity. Either the writers should have rethought that scene and how this would look on Marinette, or they should have called back to that scene and have Marinette realized her mistake and grow from her mistake and encourage her to become more empathetic.

Just had someone tell me that Marinette telling Chloe and Audrey that they should bond over being toxic and entitled was okay because she was being sarcastic, and I just gotta say..... no? that doesn't make it better??

Thankfully this person was pretty civil, and open to having an actual conversation about that scene, and by the end of it we came to agree on some things.

But I still wanna blog about it, because I have a lot of feelings.

Even if Marinette was saying it to be ironic, which still isn't an interpretation that I'm fully on board with, but for the sake of argument, even if she was, that's still a horrible thing to say given the circumstances!

Marinette doesn't have to like Chloe, but if her first reaction to seeing a girl her age on the verge of tears while she asks her mother "Why don't you love me?" is to have a laugh and say "Well, you both suck, so you should be glad to be stuck together!" then that is terrible, and petty, and vicious!

If for some reason you wanna have Marinette banter with Chloe about it, at least wait until she isn't in the most vulnerable position possible, baring her deepest trauma while confronting her abuser.

Either way you slice it, Marinette had no right to say what she did! She was either giving harmful advice that she wasn't qualified to give, or she was being downright cruel.