#ml karma chameleon

[sparklyaxolotlstudent]

First Miraculous Ladybug fic I write... Chameleon still doesn’t sit right with me, and Weredad and Chrismaster aren’t much better in how they treat Marinette, so I wrote a bit, trying to keep Marinette as much in character as I could, ‘cuz she deserves better. Still Untitles ‘cuz I suck at that.

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“A good reporter always verifies her sources. Can you prove she doesn't actually know Ladybug?”

Marinette looked at her best friend in disbelief. She pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling the rage and frustration build up. And then she felt like a bulb had lighted up.

“Oh… So when are you going to upload your new exclusive interview with Ladybug?”

Alya was confused. “What? What new interview?”

“Oh, was it something informal then? I mean, I wouldn’t expect you to interview Jagged Stone or Prince Ali, but Ladybug is approachable. I’m pretty sure you already checked Lie-la’s story about being Ladybug’s best friend” Marinette said in the most sickeningly sweet tone available to her.

Alya blinked and tried to answer, but just stammered.

“I thought so. You know, I can believe the others, after all, they never gave me any support against Chloe…” She eyed Nino, who avoided eye contact. “But it’s okay, I’m not the same as back then, if I can survive against Chloe Bourgeois on my own, I can survive against Lie-la Rossi… if that’s her real name, I mean”.

Marinette left them then, with all her resolve being used to prevent a freak out. She saw Nathaniel staring at her and Marc looking at her… approvingly? She rushed to the bathroom to have a proper freak out, and in the privacy of a stall, Tikki came out of her hidden spot.

“I know, I know, I was too harsh with them, they’re my friends and…”

“What? No no no! If anything, you went too soft Marinette! I’m proud of how you handled yourself, but being nice doesn’t mean you have to be a doormat.”

Marinette looked at Tikki in disbelief, but was glad she wasn’t going to be lectured, and at least one of her friends still supported her.

“I mean, I understand people not being thankful for the nice things you do, after all, you shouldn’t do them for recognition, but because you want to help… but not only being ungrateful, but betraying you? They’re lucky I’m a benevolent Kwami, but even I have a limit”

Marinette had to think about the implication of Tikki’s subtle threat, but now was not the time to ask. She might do it once they were calmer.

“Thanks Tikki, you’re a real friend.”

“No problem! But then again, as much as I hate to admit, Alya is kind of right… you have been trying to expose Lila, but she always knows what to say… I know you hate lies, but I think it will help your sanity if you just play along… at least until you have irrefutable proof that she’s lying. Otherwise she will turn it against you… AGAIN.”

Marinette pondered on her little friend words and realized she was right. If she wanted to expose Lie-la for the lying liar that she was, she had to play smarter.

Someone opened the door and Tikki gave Marinette a tiny hug before returning to Marinette’s purse.

“ Marinette? Oh, are you crying? ”

Lila. Marinette went out of the stall after flushing, and washed her hands, acting the most nonchalant she could.

“Oh. Hi Lila” She didn’t even bothered to answer her question.

“I can sense that you don't like me, but I don't understand why. We barely know each other.”

‘And yet you worked so hard to send me to the back of the class’ Marinette couldn’t believe the gall of this girl. Her ‘I’m sweet and innocent UwU’ act could fool her… classmates, but not her. Marinette opened her mouth, and then felt a tug from her purse. She breathed as deep as she could.

“Nothing personal, I’m just not used being in the back” If Lila could lie, so could she. And technically speaking, Marinette was not lying.

“Oh.” Before Lila could keep talking, Marinette went out the bathroom.  She now understood when characters said ‘I need a freaking drink’.

“Marinette, are you okay?” It was Nathaniel, and Marc wasn’t far behind him. Marinette wasn’t sure how to react. Nathaniel hasn’t been among Lila’s... ‘admirers’, but he still did nothing… and Marc was Marc.

“Yeah, I’m fine” ‘Except for the part where the whole class turned on me’

An awkward silence followed, until Marc nudged Nathaniel.

“Uhm… I… I wanted to apologize for my part in sending you to the back of the classroom”

“… what”

“I honestly didn’t think it was a big deal, I am used to be in the back on my own, but Marc made me realize that you’re not me, and actually like people around so… I’m sorry.”

“It’s… okay? Thanks for apologizing. And thanks to you too Marc!”

“Nathaniel just needed a bit of an outside perspective to stop being an idiot.” Marc smiled to Marinette, while Nathaniel just looked sheepishly at her.

“I also have my doubts about Lila’s stories… but… well; I’m not courageous enough to confront her… like you. I’m sorry I didn’t have your back, even though you have done so much for me.”

Marinette smiled genuinely at that. At least she wouldn’t be all alone against Lie-la.

[broadwaycutie16]

Lila Rossi always knew that she deserved a better life than the one she got. She deserved a glamorous and thrilling existence filled with riches, VIP treatment, and adoring lemmings who worshipped her like a queen.

Now, with the Miraculous in her hand and the heroes beaten at her feet, Lila finally has the power to set the world as she always knew it was supposed to be.

But in trading away her life for that of another, she will find herself also trading in more than what she gained.

Based on Chloe’s Lament by @nobodyfamousposts and Your Wish Is My Command by DemiGoddess28 on AO3.

[mcheang]

Nice to type back here Lila salt idea based on (if u saw) Zoey 101 anger management Lila sees a therapy about her lying and anger issues and jealousy of Mari and possesivness of Adrien and irrational hatred of LB after lashing out at Mari and Alya records live exposing herself. Search and watch the episode on dailymotion to get ideas then write

Lying management

When Alya demanded proof that Marinette could not provide, Tikki had been present. Then when Lila had started threatening Marinette...Tikki may have hit the record button and got the whole thing on the phone.

She was about to send it to Alya when Marinette got upset. She accidentally sent it to everyone on Marinette’s contact list, including Jagged, Nadja and Ms Busier (ok, she’s a lousy teacher and won’t do much), on her way out of the purse.

As a result, while Lila got upset by Adrien and Tiki was comforting Marinette, the akuma was confused as to where to go because there was so much rage and hurt everywhere.

Once Marinette’s class got the text; they were shocked by Lila’s admission and began to do real fact checking.

Hawkmoth decided to settle for Alya, the reporter whose pride was injured and angered on behalf of her Best Friend and blog’s reputation.

Ladybug and Chat Noir did manage to defeat Lady Wifi, but not before Lady Wifi made sure everyone could see the list of lies Lila made about celebrities.

And yes; Lady Wifi finally asked Ladybug it she and Lila were friends. Ladybug said no before telling Alya to release Lila.

As an afterthought, Lady Wifi had an epiphany on live tv. “Hey, since you obviously weren’t in Achu helping Prince Ali, where were you all this time while we were attending school?”

Since this matter was blown up, the school board has no choice but to get involved. Dupont has ruined its reputation for blindly believing Lila’s falsified documents and excuses.

Mrs Rossi is embarrassed and agrees that she had failed to keep her Daughter in check.

Lila should have been expelled for her actions but since she was already receiving tons of hate mail and lawsuits (Jagged made sure the liar who threatened his favourite designer would not get away with this), that seems excessive.

As a result, Lila will repeat the year, serve detention, and attend lying management therapy classes.

Considering Lila’s infamy, everybody in that class hates her and bullies her.

Lila tries to get herself out of there by claiming she is being bullied.

Miss Bustier is not around to plea leniency on her behalf. She had been fired for bias treatment.

The new principal agreed to give Lila a trial. If she can make it 2 whole weeks without lying, she will no longer attend lying management classes.

Hired to be her constant supervisor is Mrs Verity.

Marinette complains that Lila will get off more easily now because she is good at acting the innocent lamb.

Adrien is also torn about how to feel about this. On one hand, he dislikes Lila for threatening Marinette. On the other hand, he feels sorry for her pariah status.

Alya suggests they test to see if Lila really will keep to her promise to be truthful and good from now on.

1. Alya gets tough looking fans of Jagged Stone to ask Lila if she is the one their idol warned about. (Lila changed her appearance so those outside of class won’t recognise her). Lila reluctantly says yes in front of Mrs Vertity. The fans do NOT beat her up but call her a horrible being. Lila just gritted her teeth through it all.

2. Marinette trips, splattering food all over Lila. As people start to gather, Lila knows they are not on her side and Marinette is obviously lying on the floor. There is no way they will believe Marinette did that on purpose. So Lila forcedly offers to help Marinette stand up. People wonder if Lila tripped Marinette. But as Lila starts to suggest that Marinette was the petty one, she sees Mrs Verity and just simply states she didn’t do anything.

3. Lila is preparing for a history presentation. She was supposed to do research on one of the French kings, but since she actually had to do the work instead of plagarising it, she relied on Wikipedia, as confirmed by Markov. Alya edited that page to have history on some other king. When Lila made her presentation, the teacher called her out for not doing proper research and asked where she got the information from. Lila truthfully says Wikipedia. (Mrs Verity had seen the site logo and while disapproving of it as a research source, she didn’t think it was the only source and had said nothing before). The professor asked if that was it and Lila sulkily agrees. This causes investigation to be done about Lila’s previous papers and they are discovered to have been done with her classmates help. Lila’s grades dropped. Lila wants to lighten her classmates’ accusations but Mrs Verity again makes her stop

Worried Lila will get away with no lying therapy, Marinette comes up with a plan.

On the last day, Lila is forced to give a seemingly sincere public apology to Marinette. Mrs Verity congratulates her and leaves to tell the principal.

Marinette: I honestly didn’t think you could be truthful. See; this is how you are supposed to make friends.

Lila: oh shut up! You may have won the battle this time around, but I will get even with you. I’ll smear your reputation so bad you’ll have to change your name!

Lila stills at the sight of Marinette’s unconcerned expression...and the sound of clicking heels returning.

Mrs Verity: sigh; you were right Marinette, she was just waiting for me to leave.

Lila’s punishment is extended, she is forced to be an outcast everywhere as her classmates keep posting what her new appearance look like so nobody will be deceived by her. Everywhere Lila goes, people call her names and avoid her. Some shops even refuse to serve her because they are worried about what she will do.

Akumas do come but Lila is no longer a suitable target because she has been exposed and people are keeping a close watch on her (even in the bathroom!)

It gets to the point where Mrs Rossi has no choice but to send Lila to a rural boarding school in the middle of nowhere for naughty children.

[sweetmeatdale]

The class turning their backs on Lila in the resolution of Chameleon: Karma Karma Karma Karma Karma Chameleon

[flightfoot]

Holy fuck, it’s a good thing I’ve found you and more level-headed fans combating against the salt. I used to be one of those dumbasses reading that trash until reading some deconstruction fics, realizing how OOC everyone is. I’m even reblogging some of them to mine as an anti-salter. I swear even just seeing the first summary sentence of salt fics on TVTropes makes me lose my sanity and faith in the fandom, and even wanting to remove all my social media accounts just to get away from the tsunami of toxicity. I think it’s also great that I realized the salt is even killing my mental health, so I filtered that toxic shit out wherever I am. Not even joking, when I tried to read a Danny Phantom/Fenton x Marinette fanfic on FanFiction.net, Adrien is automatically a jealous yandere!

Jeez, not even amino is safe from the salt, the apps that’s usually chill compared to most sites! It’s literally been a few years since Chameleon! The salty “fans” better get over it! It’s just fiction! I’ve never seen a toxic fandom side this bad before! Hell, even I’ve seen way better revenge fics of other fandoms doing a better job because at least those fans keep the characters in character! For some reason those other fandoms seem more rational than miraculous fans when it comes to protagonists getting revenge or am I the only one noticing this?

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Eh, I read some of the saltfics too for awhile, mostly for Lila karma. Then my tolerance for the bashing and twisting of Adrien, Alya, the class, etc got lower and lower and the salt got further and further away from anything rational and... yeah at this point just seeing the tags for a saltfic or summary for one massively pisses me off.

I filter it out whenever I can as well. I’ve got over a dozen tags filtered on AO3 to cut down on it, and the people I follow aren’t into it, which helps.

Trust me, you’re not gonna surprise me with the revelation that some crossover ship with Marinette involves bashing Adrien. That is very normal, sadly. I’ve been reading the ML AO3 page daily for two years now, I’ve seen it.

With how the revenge fics are still going on and how much they rely on twisting the characters in specific ways that were only barely hinted at in Chameleon and didn’t come up past that, I get the feeling a lot of it is of a “well I want to write a revenge plot and this is already built into the ML fandom” than actually having anything to do with canon. Usually saltfics resemble Mean Girls more than they do ML. Which makes me think that something like “Gossip Girls” (which no I haven’t read or watched, I’ve only heard of it) or some other teen drama series would be more suitable for whatever the salters are trying to get out of ML.

Eh... I’d say the Harry Potter fandom has worse, more OOC popular revenge fics, but outside of that? Yeah I haven’t seen any that top the ML fandom.

I’m hoping that with season 4 airing those saltfics die down. I’m certainly sick enough of the entire plotline.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Miraculous Ladybug x ARMS au

(Imagine ML characters but with ARMs from the game arms)

Nino: DJ Shell shock

Alya: Fox Box

Marinette: Lucky girl

Adrien: Nya Noir

Hawkmoth: Mr.Butterfly

Mayura: Fowl Queen

Chloé: Queen Bee (Yea, she thinks she REGAL)

Max: Bot and Boy

Lila: Karma Chameleon

[suakkomarigamichibitarulumity]

Random-ass Unpopular ML Opinion Post

Season 3 was great. And yes, it had more good episodes than bad ones. And whilst my opinions on which episodes were good do line up with everyone else's, my opinion in the more controversial - not objectively bad, just salt-inducing - episodes... Not so much.

In fact, there is only ONE truly bad - not simply flawed, but outright badly done - episode, that episode being Puppeteer 2, mostly due to the statue scene, the premise being a VERY obvious excuse for asset reuse, and due to Manon being an annoying little brat. That episode was THE dud of Season 3, like Gigantitan was THE dud of Season 2 and Copycat was THE dud of Season 1.

As for the other "salty" episodes? Okay, here we effing go.

Chameleon? Surprisingly well-done, set up the Lila subplot well, and the message at the end... Well, you guys certainly got all the mixed messages. What I got from it wasn't "Just let the bitch do whatever she damn pleases", but instead a "Lie-la is just going to lie herself into a corner eventually, so better play it defensively for the time being."

Animaestro? Honestly, with all the salt in this fandom, I see this episode as not an "ego stroke" or some shit, but rather venting. Some other person already summed it up best, so I'll just leave it at that. Though the Chloe subplot really bogged it down, that much I just HAVE to admit.

Onichan? Right, because Kagami is never allowed to experience feelings of jealousy, anger, or sadness, apparently. No emotions whatsoever, because Kagami's a goddamn paragon of stoicism, not just a normal teenage girl. /s

(Seriously though, you're acting like Kagami overreacting to Lila basically sticking all over Adrien is basically the end of the fucking world. I mean, I'd be pretty pissed off too if I saw some lying bitch sticking to my sorta-crush and they were VERY OBVIOUSLY UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THIS.)

As for Kagami's yandere tendencies as the titular villain? Blame Hawky's influence for that. With that all out of the way, the episode was otherwise stellar, if only for how it pretty much made Lila, as her usual civilian self, the real villain of the episode. Sorry, fanon!Lila lovers, but I like my liar gal as a magnificent villainous bitch rather than a walking "not evil just misunderstood" clichè, thank you very much. And the titular villain was fucking awesome both in terms of design AND powers, you have to admit at least that. Huge step-up from "generic armored superhuman with a sword fused to her hand", huh?

Battle of the Miraculous? It wasn't rushed or badly written, it merely had it's pacing all over the place and too much happening over the course of a single two-parter, but was otherwise decent, though it kinda did fail to top Heroes' Day (then again, that two-parter WAS a bit of a Tough Act to Follow, so...) . And as for Chloe's rather reprehensible act and going as far as to expose the identities of the "side heroes"... Well, I do hope she gets some karma for it, and I still have mixed feelings about Thomas' "we couldn't reseem Chloe" tweet, yet hearing everyone cry "muh character development" kinda makes me wonder if people just missed all the hints in "Miraculer" and "Startrain" that she's kinda sorta hit a roadblock with the words "Entitlement issues" plastered over it in bright red paint. Characters don't completely change after a single three-parter, people. Just remember that already.

Conclusion:

Stop saying that Season 3 was the worst solely because of a relatively small bunch of controversial episodes and a season finale that couldn't top the untoppable, for crying out loud.

[codeoil]

on machine learning and data

i’ve been thinking a lot about data and machine learning. how can i make an interactive sketch that uses data? could i incorporate an element of machine learning in this sketch that uses a dataset? whilst in some instances this is possible, in other instances i have found it so overwhelming! it normally goes something like this:

1. i find an existing machine learning/AI model that i think is excellent

2. i play with it and slowly learn about how the model works

3. the code for the model may be open-source and i think great! i can train it on my own data! or learn how to build my own!

4. the code is indeed open-source, i d/l it and open the files and .. have no idea how to begin to use it (or know any python) to make my own model, let alone learn how to ‘train’ it on a dataset of my choice, eep!

this sort of thing has happened a number of times. i’m going to link to these fabulous projects anyhow:

Recipes written by an AI: an AI that swallowed a whole bunch of recipes and produces absolutely, ahem, cooked results. the original code to train your own on whatever data can be found here (OG model train on shakespeare plays!).

yeah, open to me but not quite accessible to me! (yet). i think this is where p5 machine learning may come in, as a good place to start in a friendly kind of way.

this may or may not be a tech hurdle i jump over this semester, but with all this mind, i do want to make something inspired by a similar process of using a dataset to produce unexpected/generative results, and combine this in an interactive sketch!

so far: i’ve had a play with existing machine learning models from Runway ML, particularly text-generative ones. GPT-2 is one i have been playing with lately: in my studio work this semester, i wanted to find something that i could put text into to generate responses to engage with/reply to followers/chatters when I’m streaming on Twitch.

the GPT-2 it has been trained on webpage text. it seems every time i try to write about what the GPT-2 is doing, it escapes me! so here’s some bits and bobs from their about:

GPT-2 is a large transformer-based language model with 1.5 billion parameters, trained on a dataset of 8 million web pages. GPT-2 is trained with a simple objective: predict the next word, given all of the previous words within some text. The diversity of the dataset causes this simple goal to contain naturally occurring demonstrations of many tasks across diverse domains. GPT-2 is a direct scale-up of GPT, with more than 10X the parameters and trained on more than 10X the amount of data.

wow! the GPT-2 has text input and text output, the amount of data it has been trained on gives the sense that it can anticipate what text could come after you type in some text.

GPT-2 generates synthetic text samples in response to the model being primed with an arbitrary input. The model is chameleon-like—it adapts to the style and content of the conditioning text. This allows the user to generate realistic and coherent continuations about a topic of their choosing.

this realism that the model is able to achieve is likely due to the type of webpages that the model is trained on:

We created a new dataset which emphasizes diversity of content, by scraping content from the Internet. In order to preserve document quality, we used only pages which have been curated/filtered by humans—specifically, we used outbound links from Reddit which received at least 3 karma. This can be thought of as a heuristic indicator for whether other users found the link interesting (whether educational or funny), leading to higher data quality than other similar datasets, such as CommonCrawl.

i’ve so far used to to ask questions, like a magic 8-ball, with various results:

trying again:

how are you? a kind of complex question Given The Times but i like the GPT-2′s way of realistically responding, and how that complex response could be used to interact when asked the question. 

so! i obviously didn’t make this model, but as getting to know it a little but i wonder if i can use a similar idea to build a simple text generator in p5 or similar? at least to begin with while i’m learning about the possibilities of training something on my own data ala the model that was trained on recipe data.

[sparklyaxolotlstudent]

Karma Chameleon? I dunno... 

First Part:

https://sparklyaxolotlstudent.tumblr.com/post/182697194270/first-miraculous-ladybug-fic-i-write-chameleon

Next part, still in the Chameleon episode. I suck writing action scenes, so I’m going to be lazy and say that the fight scenes and Lila’s akumatization happened pretty much the same way, with the only exception being that I’m going to try to keep this from Marinette’s POV, so she doesn’t know Adrien did confront Lila, and technically her akumatization was his fault I still blame Lila, but still)

Also, I’m sorry to use Marc as my mouthpiece, but he’s a) a school friend of Marinette, b) the only character that wasn’t directly involved in the whole “banish Marinette to the back” and c) we don’t have a good gauge of what his personality could be.  I headcanon him as being similar to Marinette, so while he is still shy and unassuming with his crushes, he is comfortable around friends he trusts, he probably wouldn’t try to defend himself if he were in Marinette’s position, but he also won’t hesitate to cut a bitch if someone mistreats his friends.

SO!

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After the akuma attack of the week™, Marinette felt a bit better, especially after learning that Lie-la had been the “victim”. And to be completely honest, if she had learned Lie-la was the victim before, she probably would have left her as a clam… at least for a few days… but Tikki would have gone ballistic… and Lie-la would be playing the victim even harder with their classmates. At least she wouldn’t be lying this time... heh.  

Lie-la had accepted her attempt to befriend Ladybug and stop lying, but Marinette was 99% sure she hadn’t been sincere, and she was pretty sure this wouldn’t be the last time she got akumatized. She also couldn’t help but wonder if Chloe or Lie-la would get a third Akuma form first.

Arriving at the school, of course Lie-la was playing the victim card to all their class. She was 100% sure now of her lying to Ladybug’s face. Marinette was a bit surprised the class hadn’t built a palanquin to transport Lila. At least not yet. She had to admit it was a bit admirable how she managed to convince them to pity and admire her at the same time, despite everyone in there having experienced akumatization first hand already. And being saved by Ladybug. And most of them knowing Jagged Stone AND Clara Nightingale. And a couple of them knowing Prince Ali.

“Of course Ladybug saved my life. She never misses an opportunity to rescue her best friends!” Marinette rolled her eyes so hard it was practically audible. Marc grinned at Marinette’s reaction, and they both chuckled. Marinette felt much better having Marc and Nathaniel at her side, even though Nathaniel was currently doing something else.

“Ladybug saves everyone” Alya said to the group. Lila nodded in agreement, but it was clear she had been annoyed by that comment.

“Didn’t your tinnitus give you vertigo when you went up the Tower Eiffel?” … Was Max trying to catch Lie-la too? Maybe Marinette should give her friends the benefit of doubt.

“Oh no. Ladybug knows me so well she brought me an earplug to stick in my right ear”

“Wasn’t her left ear this morning?” Wondered Marinette out loud. Marc looked at her and just shrugged. Adrien appeared out of nowhere.

“Are you going to tell everyone?”

“uh?”

“That Lila is a liar. Exposing her will only humiliate her and she’ll just be hurt more. Making a bad guy suffer has never turned them into a good guy.”

“But… Ladybug called out Queen Bee on her BS and it actually made her reconsider and turn into an actual hero? I mean, as heroic as Chloe can be, but still a step in the right direction.”

Marinette blinked in surprise, and she realized that Chloe hadn’t done anything with Lila the whole morning, even though she was all touchy feely with ‘Adrikins’ and was stealing her spotlight. Maybe Chloe *was* changing for the better?

“And are you seriously implying that Lila’s feelings are more important than Marinette’s?”

“What” Both Marinette and Adrien had said in unison, surprised.

“Adrien, in case you didn’t notice, Marinette had a miserable morning because your whole class, you included, shunned her to the back. It wouldn’t be so bad if Lila had an actual disability, that’s life, but she doesn’t, so Marinette suffered for NOTHING and now you come here and say …”

Marinette was quick to hug Marc before he reached a meltdown… or attracted another Akuma. She didn’t want for him to go super villain on her behalf.

“Dude, relax. I’m pretty sure Adrien wasn’t trying to say that. Lila is the one in the wrong.”

“Fine!” Marc returned the hug and calmed down. “But you’re still in thin ice Agreste.”

The school bell rang and everyone walked to their classrooms.

Marinette and Adrien arrived at their classroom. She went to her place at the back, and couldn’t help but notice that Alya was avoiding eye contact, as was Nino. She was surprised to find Nathaniel already sitting in her bench.

“Uh… Not that I mind but…”

“I tried to convince Alix that you should sit with us. We three are small, after all, and I doubt Miss Bustier would object to that…”

“… but?”

“Alix and the others are still mad at you for earlier, and want you to apologize, which, to steal a  quote from Chloe, is ‘utterly ridiculous’… and long story short, now they’re kind of mad at me too.”

“I’m sorry”

“You don’t mind me sitting me here, do you?”

Marinette smiled at Nathaniel and took a seat at his side.

“Of course not! Don’t be silly”

Adrien was looking at them, but resigned himself to sit with Lila. What Marc had said had made him think. Was he being a bad friend? Exposing Lila would solve anything? He couldn’t finish thinking when Lila clung to his arm like a leech.

Class finished normally after that, with Miss Bustier agreeing to Nathaniel switching seats. A couple of the others had given them the stink eye, but Marinette couldn’t care less. She had actually had a fun time sitting with Nathaniel, and they almost got in trouble when Nathaniel laughed when Marinette told her about Marc’s outburst, and Marinette also laughed when he told how he called him out in a similar manner. “He said a couple of words I won’t dare to repeat.”

They found Marc out of his classroom and the three of them walked to the entrance of the school, where Alya and Nino were waiting for Marinette.

“Hey girl… can we talk?”

“Yeah?”

Alya and Nino eyed Marc and Nathaniel, clearly intending them to go away. Marinette shook her head ‘no’. “Anything you want to say to me you can say in front of them.”

Alya sighed. Nino reached for his neck, clearly nervous.

“We’re sorry on how we acted today” said Alya finally. “What we did… what I did… that’s not how friends should treat each other. And you are completely right about me not checking my sources, I took Lila’s videos down until I check with Ladybug, but even if she’s telling the truth, it doesn’t mean I was right in posting them. We didn’t do it in front of the class because we didn’t want to put you in an awkward position again in case you don’t want to forgive us, which we totally understand, but we *will* apologize in front of everyone if you want us to.”

“And it was unfair to send you to the back to accommodate Lila, when only I was the one that needed to move. In fact, if you want we can switch tomorrow.”

“Thank you Nino, but no. Nathaniel got in a fight with Alix because of me. I don’t abandon friends just because someone else appears.”

Alya and Nino looked at Marinette awkwardly. Marc and Nathaniel were expectant witnesses. Marinette seemed unsure herself, but a flush of emotions rushed through her. Alya was her first real friend, and Alya had supported Marinette a LOT of times, including that time with the giant baby and their crazy scheme to get a date with Adrien… and time she stole Adrien phone… and that time she deleted Alya’s video and her phone ended up in a trash can too… Alya had forgiven Marinette instantly that time, she wasn’t even mad. Alya and Nino had apologized, after all, and it she really didn’t want to throw away their friendship just like that.

“Of course I forgive you both, don’t be silly. It would take more than that to break our friendship.”

“I promise to be a better friend from now on”

“Yeah, me too dude”

Alya and Marinette hugged each other, while Nino bumped fists with her. Marinette was glad to have her best friend back.

--------

I know people want to see Alya punished, but honestly? I don’t think Marinette is a person that hold grudges(for long anyway) She seems pretty chill wtih Chloe(who made her life a living hell for four years prior the series) and doesn’t seem to hold any ill will to the classmates who never had her back before. Alya was the first to had her back in that sense, and she has screwed up a couple of times too, which is also important to note, she’s not perfect, but she’s far from the demon I have seen some people make of her. And Adrien... most salty fics I have seen for some reason give Adrien a pass on his passivity.. not me! Boy has to suffer so he can change for the better!

[sparklyaxolotlstudent]

Karma Chameleon Part 5

In which Marc keeps being awesome. Because he is. 

And Adrien... doesn’t come up too well in this... Sorry to his fans!

------------------

Marinette was exhausted. Hawkmoth had attacked Friday night –debut of Cocorico- and now Monday morning – Guest Starring Rena Rouge-. Did he not know weekends were sacred for a teenage girl? And now she had to deal with Lie-la and her lies. And the cold shoulder everyone else was giving her… except Nathaniel, Alya and Nino… and sort of Adrien. She was glad to have them (and Marc) on her side; otherwise, she was sure she would have been akumatized since the day Lie-la showed her sausage hair in class.

She remembered how she felt the first few days, how furious she was at how Lie-la had been all clingy and possessive of  Adrien, even with him being clearly uncomfortable… but she had found herself less and less furious each day, especially after remembering that Adrien knew Lie-la was a lying liar who only lies… and kept quiet about it. She had tried talking to him about that, but he only kept saying some nonsense about taking the high road and how no one was being affected by her lies, which really didn’t sit well with Marinette. She was at least thankful that Marc hadn’t been present that time, or he would have kicked Adrien’s shapely butt into next Friday. Adrien’s passivity was a huge turn off, and while she still had her crush, it was harder to justify his actions –or rather, inactions- even if he was being affected personally.

She also missed talking with Alya all day, but had to admit that having Nathaniel as a bench mate wasn’t so bad. He was funny, and although he wasn’t very talkative, they communicated through silly doodles. They also had bet on how long would take Lie-la to claim to be Rena Rouge (she lasted a week, and see how that turned out), and they were counting her lies. Her record was 20 in a single day, including starting a rumor about Marinette and Nathaniel dating now. Marinette had been slightly amused, Nathaniel was a bit annoyed, but surprisingly, this particular lie had made the others more talkative.

Juleka approached their table at lunch. Marinette, Nathaniel, Marc, Alya and Nino were eating together.  She asked them about the rumor (No doubt inquiring for her brother), just as Marc was drinking from his soda. The soda made a return trip through Marc’s nostrils and couldn’t stop laughing for a few minutes. After that, he was very overly dramatic, saying he wanted to be Marinette’s Dude of honor at her wedding with Nathaniel and other even more ridiculous stuff. Nathaniel was as red as his hair, and no one could contain their laughter.

Juleka got the joke, and after a phone call (which they were very sure was to Luka) she apologized to Marinette and Nathaniel for believing that rumor.

And then she got to school and the Lilakuma happened. By the time Marinette had returned from the locker rooms, the adults had done some damage control and had taken Lila to Mr. Damocles office, while giving them a little more of time to eat, since the Akuma attack had interrupted them, and they had to deal with Lila. Marinette was still amused that Lila’s name was technically “Lila Lola”, and even more amused that Chloe had used her bitch powers for good. Chaotic Good, but coming from Chloe, it was still something to comment about.

Marinette reached the cafeteria with Nathaniel (Alya was uploading the fight to the blog, and Nino was getting food for the both of them). To their surprise, Marc and Chloe were sitting together and talking in a civil manner. Marc waved to them.

“Hey guys! That fight was awesome! A shame Miss Mendeliev didn’t allow us to join you… But we were able to see everything from the windows!”

Marc was very excited and wasn’t even trying to hide it. Chloe looked amused at this over stimulated puppy she found herself with.

“Oh, I thought Chloe was awesome enough to sit with us, so I invited her” Marc said with a smirk. “Especially after taking out the Queen of Lies”

“Pfft, her lies weren’t all that good; a five year old could have come with better stuff.”

“Ah well, at most she was a duchess, I guess.”

“Whatever, I’m only having lunch with you guys because Sabrina is still grounded from siding with that Lie-la before” It was hard to tell, but Marinette couldn’t help but notice a hint of joy in Chloe’s words. Was she happy that Marc had invited her?

“What you did to Lila was wrong” said Marc in a deadpan tone. “You could have been meaner, Lila deserved it. ” He added with the biggest smile he could. If Chloe had been a closer friend, she probably would have been glomped into oblivion by the over excited puppy she found herself with.

“Thanks?” Chloe was clearly uncomfortable, but grateful. It was obvious she was struggling interacting with people in a normal way instead of her usual haughty self, but Marc seemed to be going extra friendly for her. It really helped that he had never been personally bullied by her. Marinette could even swear she heard Chloe actually laughing at one of Marc’s jokes, about Lila, but still.

By the end of lunch break, Chloe and Marinette had relaxed enough thanks to Marc, while Nathaniel was still his silent self –although he smiled and laughed a lot too. – The others saw the table with some wariness, as the sight of Marinette hanging out with Chloe was a bit disturbing, not to mention they still hadn’t recovered from the Lilakuma.

They returned to the classroom when Miss Bustier went for them to the cafeteria. Marinette looked around, and noticed some of her classmates were looking at them, trying to be inconspicuous of it. OF COURSE they were now realizing what kind of asses they had been. And probably were in awe of Chloe’s destructive powers. Not even a Cataclysm could have created such havoc.

Lila was of course nowhere to be seen, not even her things were in her seat. Adrien asked about her.

“Due to… her behavior… and the consequences it might carry, her mother decided that she will be attending another school… And grounded for a long time.”

“Is it true… that all she said were lies?”

“Unfortunately, yes. She never had tinnitus or a sprained wrist” Miss Bustier looked disappointed in Lila more than anything. The others understood the implications. Not only they had vanquished Marinette to the back for nothing, they had placed their trust on someone who didn’t deserve it, and had just played with them. Alya felt lucky that she had taken down Lila’s videos, Nino was glad he never got the time to make a demo for her. The whole class felt gloomy the rest of the day.

As the bell rang, the class went to the lockers to retrieve what they would need for the afternoon, and it was there that Adrien decided to approach Chloe.

“Chloe?”

“Yes Adrikins?”

“I can’t believe what you did to Lila! That was mean even for you!”

Marinette couldn’t help but turn to see them. The rest of the class that was still in the locker room also paid attention, even Alix, who seemed to be making amends to Nathaniel.

“What”

“I know she was lying, but her lies weren’t hurting anyone. It was wrong of you to call her out like that! And you even involved her mom and the teachers! I barely recognize you anymore.” The last part was said with a sad tone to it. Chloe was shocked to hear this. “I don’t think I can be your friend anymore”

“She just did what you didn’t have the guts to do” Marinette had never seen Marc as serious. “And for the record, she did threatened Chloe, so don’t even dare go with your ‘high road’ nonsense again”

“Again?” Chloe was confused. She seemed to have warmed a bit to Marc since lunch break.

“Adrien here has knew about Lila from the beginning, but unlike us, he didn’t deemed necessary to expose her”

“YOU KNEW?” Alya and Chloe reacted at the same time. Nino seemed shocked by this.

“Well… yes. When she claimed she was Ladybug’s friend, Ladybug herself appeared in front of us and yelled to her to stop lying.”

To everyone surprise, Chloe slapped Adrien. Not hard, but still it shocked everyone. Chloe’s eyes were watering, clearly trying to hold tears. She stared at Adrien’s shocked expression for a few second and then left, angry and confused. Marc and Sabrina went behind her.

“Be glad I’m more worried about Chloe than mad at you, Agreste!”

Adrien was about to protest, but found himself facing Alya and Nino.

“Adrien, you let Alya post Lila’s lies on her blog, potentially ruining her credibility, you let Rose write letters to Prince Ali, you let me get excited about meeting a famous director, and you say Chloe went too far? NOT COOL DUDE!”

“And just to be clear we are not blaming you for Lila ‘s lies, that was on her, and on us for believing them, but, seriously? We didn’t believe Marinette because we thought she was jealous. We didn’t believe Nathaniel because we thought he was acting on his crush on Marinette”

“I’m not crushing on her anymore” Protested Nathaniel weakly.

“Yeah, sorry about that… But Adrien, we wouldn’t have any reason to doubt you!”

“I just… Making a bad guy suffer has never turned them into a good guy.”

“Adrien, dude, I consider you my best friend, but that’s completely BS. By that logic, Ladybug should just stop fighting Hawkmoth!”

“That’s completely different! Lila’s lies were harming no one, and exposing her only made her become an akuma.”

“For the THIRD TIME. Even Ladybug said it was bound to happen sooner or later!”

“Yeah, it wouldn’t surprise me if they have to face her yet again sooner than later”

“Yeah, Adrien, I’m sorry, but I’m going to leave right now before I say something about you I MIGHT regret later or attract an akuma over that damn liar.”

The rest of the class agreed and left before anyone did anything else. Some shooting dirty looks to Adrien. Marinette looked sadly at Adrien, but before she could said anything, Adrien left, clearly annoyed.

----------------

Hopefully only one part left. Will Adrien change his ways? Will he be akumatized? Will people stop teasing Nathaniel over his crush on Marinette?

[sparklyaxolotlstudent]

Karma Chameleon Part 4.

OF COURSE Lila would end up akumatized again.

--------------

Not much happened in class after the “fight” of Lila and Chloe. Some people doubted Lila, while some seemed to doubt Chloe. Defending either felt weird for Marinette, Nathaniel, Alya and Nino, but for now, Chloe seemed like the lesser of two evils. Adrien still was trying to be a neutral party… and failing miserably. The only good thing that had happened was that once Chloe had calmed down, she had apologized to Marinette for being a “pain in the butt” all those years. To her credit, she had tried to be more accurate to her behavior, but Miss Bustier was present and she was one of the few people Chloe sincerely respected.

Their break came, and Marinette and Nathaniel were going to get lunch with Marc, but something caught their eye. Chloe had gone on her own to the locker room, probably to recover about the apology, and Lila had gone after her. They looked at each other and decided to follow them, in case she was up to no good.

They were as sneaky as possible, and by the time they arrived, the other girls were already in the middle of something. Lila looked… or was trying to look menacing, but Chloe seemed to be ignoring her, playing on her phone.

“We could have ruled the school together Chloe. I thought you were smart, and I can see your pathetic attempt to make friends by ‘apologizing’ to them. I know you’re just as false as me, but soon you won’t have any friends left at all, and trust me, I’ll make sure you never get close to ‘Adrikins’ in class or anywhere. I will say I was joking about being Volpina, and everyone will be at my beck and call by the end of class again. But I’m feeling magnanimous, so I will give you one last chance to be my ally.”

Chloe seemed wholly uninterested in Lila’s monologue. “Are you finished?” she said in her most bored tone. “You’re pretty, and you’re smart, the old me would have no problem letting you be Sabrina’s assistant.” Chloe sighed. “But I have changed now. OR rather, I’m trying to. It’s not easy being nice, and I know I’m not a saint like Marinette, and I doubt I’ll ever be as good as her. For now, at least I’ll be nice to people who deserve it. But even Ladybug wouldn’t complain if I act in self defense to basic bitches like you.” Marinette didn’t know how to feel about that. Chloe was changing, but still being her old self. Baby steps, she guessed, at least Lila did deserve to be trated like that. Her phone suddenly rang with a message, and noticed Nathaniel’s had too. “You should see that message” Said Chloe to Lila with a smirk, pointing at Lila’s phone.

Lila was angry and confused. She reached for her phone and opened the message. It was obviously from Chloe, it had been sent to everyone in the class, and had a video attached. She dreaded it, but decided to open and see what Chloe was babbling about.

It was her. A crude edit said “The True about Lila Dolores Rossi” in red lettering, and it was her latest interview with the Ladyblog. After each question she answered, there was video spliced with proof, and the people she had been lying about. Prince Ali saying she had never heard of her. Jagged Stone stating he had never had a cat, and certainly never wrote a song about a girl called Lila. Clara Nightingale saying she would never steal her moves from Lila. Austin Moon saying he was not a childhood friend of Lila. Several other famous people Lila had name dropped were in the video saying they had no idea about who she was.

It was obvious Chloe had planned this for a long time; Lila just never took into account that someone would have the actual influences and the motive to call her out in a very definitive way. At least not until today, when she was stupid enough to cross the daughter of the mayor of Paris. She was FURIOUS that that damn Chloe had DARED to do something like this. So furious that she didn’t noticed the black butterfly going inside her phone.

It happened in an instant. Nathaniel had patted Marinette on the shoulder telling her to “bring Ladybug” before doing a mad dash, grabbing Chloe by the wrist and yanking Lila’s phone from her hands. After she had finished transforming into an Akuma, she was confused for a few seconds as to where the heck her phone was, but she soon ran in the direction Nathaniel and Chloe had gone.

Marinette was equally confused for a bit, but quickly transformed herself and went after the new akumatized form of Lila. She was sure she didn’t even cared what her name or powers were at this point.

She reached the main courtyard of the school, and she was pleasantly surprised to see the whole class fighting against the Akuma. Someone had organized them in an effective way to neutralize the Akuma in a efficient manner while Ladybug and Chat Noir arrived.

Juleka, Sabrina, Rose, and Mylene where in different parts of the courtyard, showing some phones, taunting her that they all had ‘the real one’ as she never saw the transformed phone. Ivan, Kim, and Nino were actually getting physical with her. It was amusing when she tried to gloat and say her name, only to receive a soccer ball on the face courtesy of Alix and Max. Alya was of course recording the whole thing for her Ladyblog. Chloe and Nathaniel were out of the sight of Lilakuma, trying to destroy the phone.

“They seem to have everything under control” It was Chat Noir who appeared out of nowhere. “We should help them though”

Ladybug smiled. “Lucky Charm!” A hammer. A really heavy one too. As Lucky charms went, this one was pretty straightforward. She just asked Chat Noir to run interference while she got to where Nathaniel and Chloe were. She broke the phone with her hammer and freed the akuma almost immediately. It was one of the shortest akuma fights ever, all thanks to her friends. Her Miraculous Ladybug had barely any restoration to do.

“A shame I didn’t get to be Queen Bee again” Ladybug looked at her, about to say something, but Chloe continued. “I screwed up… again, sorry. She threatened me but that’s no excuse, I still can’t get the ‘nice’ thing right and paid evil unto evil, I shouldn’t, but I did and I’m sorry” Chloe said practically without taking a breath, obviously expecting to be scolded by her hero.

Ladybug looked at Chat Noir and then to Lila, who was in the usual confused state an Akuma victim is after being purified. Ladybug couldn’t help but notice no one was event trying to comfort her.

“Well… It is hard to be nice, and I understand that you can’t do a 180° on your personality overnight. I am glad and kind of proud that you are at least trying to become a better person.”

Chloe was practically glowing. Ladybug herself was praising her! Her old self wouldn’t hesitate to gloat about it, and she almost did it, but looking around, she realized she had still screwed up, and decided to keep quiet.

“Normally I would scold you for provoking another person into an akumatization… but honestly speaking? This is her fourth time being an akuma, and for the same reason! I hate to be a snitch, but at this point, her mother needs to know she has issues that aren’t just ‘a bad day’ like most akuma victims have had. Yes?” Chloe had raised her hand like a schoolchild. To Ladybug’s and everyone’s surprise, she looked actually bashful.

“I kind of send her mom a video of Lila exposing her lies. And to Miss Bustier. And Mister Damocles too.” Ladybug’s was surprised. Chloe didn’t hold any punches with Lila. The part of her that hated Lila really wanted to hug Chloe, but the Responsible Defender of Paris knew that it had been wrong to out her like that.

“YOU DID WHAT?” Lila had apparently recovered her senses and charged like a mad bull towards Chloe. Kim was quick to react and tried to catch her, but all he managed was to make her lost her balance and she landed flat on her face.

“LILA DOLORES ROSSI!” It was her mother, entering the school. Miss Bustier and Mister Damocles were coming to the courtyard too. “Can you explain me what’s the meaning of this video?”

Lila put on her act of looking as pitiful as she could. With blood coming out of her nose, it wasn’t that hard. Her mother was having none of it.

“Mom, I…”

“You told me the school was closed for the akuma attacks, and it turns out it has been open all this time?”

“And you excused your absences as a medical emergency” Added Mister Damocles.

“And you’re still not up to all the homework you missed!”

Ladybug’s earrings beeped. She dammed the time limit, as she would miss important and juicy gossip. She would ask Nathaniel later. After telling Chat Noir to watch for any butterfly approaching Lila, she excused herself and went to a safe place to detransform.

[sparklyaxolotlstudent]

Karma Chameleon: The Finale.

AKA I can’t write drama to save my life. I’m sorry.

ENJOY!

-------------------------

“Ugh!” Adrien threw his bag at his bed, ignoring the protest coming from inside.

“Hey, watch it kid, I was taking a nap!” protested Plagg, floating out of the bag.

“I can’t believe them! Chloe provokes Lila into akumatization and somehow I’m the bad guy?”

Adrien kept ranting, pacing around his room. Plagg only occasionally nodded, while he ate his cheese. “Are you done?” He asked once Adrien had made a pause. Adrien glared at him.

“I really don’t need your sarcasm right now, you lazy cat.”

Adrien’s words felt icy, something Plagg was definitively not used to. But he knew this boy, and he also knew that he should have said something earlier. Uncharacteristically for Plagg, he placed his cheese in the plate, which surprised Adrien, and then floated directly to his face.”

“I’m sorry ” It was a simple statement, and Plagg had said it while putting his hands on what would be his hips, trying to look all business like.

“What?” Adrien was confused. He was expecting a scolding from Plagg, not an apology.

“I’m sorry I have let your attitude go unchecked for so long Adrien Agreste. I should know better than to let a human teenager become this entitled.”

“What? What are you talking about? Entitled? I’m not entitled.”

Plagg sighed. He really really didn’t like to play the stern father. Or any other figure of authority. He was destruction, for Tikki’s sake!

“Remember when you tried to manipulate me into introducing you to Master Fu?”

“Manipulate? I deserve to know the same things that Ladybug knows!”

“That might be true, but you did it while an Akuma was flooding the city. While people were drowning”

Adrien opened his mouth, but really couldn’t refute what Plagg had said. He hadn’t stopped to think in the implications when he had done that day; after all, he still got to meet Master Fu.

“Ladybug’s power fixed that” said Adrien weakly. Even he knew it was a lame excuse.

“They came back to life, yes, but the trauma of drowning didn’t magically go away.”

“But…”

“Adrien, for once, listen to me. I’m not finished, and I don’t know how much I can maintain being this serious”

Adrien closed his mouth. Plagg being serious was a bit scary.  

“Being the Holder of the Miraculous of the Black Cat is a duty, yes, nothing says you can’t enjoy its perks, but what you have to do come before what you want to do. No whats, no buts, no ifs. You duty is to stop Hawk Moth first and foremost, to protect people, not to throw a temper tantrum because you didn’t got what you wanted.”

“But Ladybug…”

“Ladybug was told not to tell. It wasn’t her secret. Would you like if your friend… glasses boy told everyone stuff you have told him in private? She got to know him because very special circumstances forced her kwami to do it.”

“But…”

“And I understand your frustration, I really do, but there’s the other times you have acted like a brat while an Akuma was attacking and wreaking havoc on the city”

“What? I never”

“That Ice Cream Akuma? When you were acting all pissy at Ladybug because she didn’t go to a date she said she wasn’t going because she already had plans? Not to mention you also ditched your friends to make that dinner”

Adrien was silent. Plagg’s words were stinging him in the worst ways. He had acted like that and he didn’t even notice it at the time. “She would love me if she gave me the chance”

Plagg had to use all his will to not facepalm in the wall. That would surely destroy the whole manor.

“Adrien. While that might be true, and I’m not saying it is, that’s not your decision to make. Ladybug doesn’t owe you anything more than collaborate to defeat the Akumas, and maybe a bit of friendship, but that is all. I have had cats that weren’t even on friendly terms with their ladybugs and they still got the job done.”

“Oh, so now I’m the worst Black Cat ever!”

Plagg noted the bitter tone. He really hated being the serious one, and he would make Adrien pay for this in camembert.

“Adrien” Plagg sighed, and then forced himself into Adrien’s field of vision. “I love you with all my heart, and if you make me repeat this, I will deny it and make you suffer with 700 years of bad luck. You are one of the most unique Black Cats I have had in my care, you’re brave, nice and always put Ladybug’s safety before yours… not always a virtue, but we’ll work on that. That’s why you acting like you have been, is so… odd. You’re a good kid, PLEASE keep that.”

“Thanks” Adrien was barely audible. Having Plagg acting like this was freaking him out, but in a good way.

“Now now, no need to get all mushy… but I do have to ask. Why side with Lila of all people?”

Adrien wiped a tear. “I wasn’t siding with Lila”

“You basically disowned Chloe.”

“I just want everyone to get along! What Chloe did seriously messed Lila”

“Lila was trapped in her own web of lies. And Chloe has done much worse than what she did today”

“But she wasn’t doing anyone any harm!”

“Except for Marinette and the tomato kid. And the ladyblog’s credibility would have been destroyed.”

“People don’t change just because you confront them.” Said Adrien defensively. “I tried. I told Chloe a lot of times, way before I met you. She just kept being Chloe. I tried again and only managed to get her butler akumatized. And my father. He was like that way before mom… He never changed. I know people don’t change”

“Still, Lila might not have changed, but people would have stopped believing her lies. She would have been akumatized sooner, but still, you should have said something”

“If I had confronted Lila, everyone would have shunned me too!” yelled Adrien, a little too loud. Fortunately, everyone in the manor was busy with their own stuff.

“Oh… Oh!” Plagg’s face went from stern to a sad realization. He approached Adrien, tentatively. He was really bad at this mushy stuff and really wished that that pony kwami of friendship or the bear of love were here instead of him. He would even settle for the kwami of fluffiness. He wasn’t sure one existed, but with the internet the way it was, it was entirely possible for humans to have come with that one. “Adrien, it’s okay. You can’t control how people feel about you, and you shouldn’t worry about that.”

“You don’t get it. I have been lonely all my life. I only had Chloe as a friend!”

“I’m the anthropomorphic representation of destruction. I know how it feels for people to hate you. Every time sometimes decays, runs down, every house that falls, every thing that explodes? They blame it on me instead of what caused it. They love Tikki, even if she created Hydras, and Chimeras and all manners of monster, but then they blamed the destruction those monsters created on me.”

Adrien looked up to Plagg. He was still unsure at how to feel about having an open talk with him.

“I know you just see me as a lazy freeloader, and I don’t blame you. I do enjoy the easy life, but should know better than that. At the very least, I should be able to hear you out. I’m bad at this stuff, but I will try my best””

“People… people who matter will NOT abandon you. At least not voluntarily. So maybe your class mates would have turned on you like they turned on Marinette due to that Mop girl lies, but you know Chloe would have jumped at your defense. Marinette too. And that Tomato boy would have been on your side. And you honestly believe Glasses dude would have abandoned you?”

Adrien was speechless. He was barely able to shook his head “no, they wouldn’t”

“Friendship is about trusting, about support and supporting. Glass… Nino even got akumatized because your dad didn’t let you have a birthday party. How many people have been akumatized for someone else?”

Adrien wanted so badly to reply with ‘Miss Bustier’ but that was not the point that Plagg was trying to make.

“I know your schedule is really packed, but you should still make time for your friends to get some stress relief. And talk to Master Fu. He’s 180 years old, he will be able to listen! And probably be better than this silly dumb cat”

“You’re not dumb” Adrien approached Plagg and hugged him as best as he could.

“Just let’s not make this a periodical thing; you’re ruining my style.”

Adrien wiped a tear from his face and gave Plagg a small smile.

“That being said, you still should apologize to them… And to Ladybug too, for how you’ve been acting.”

Adrien was about to protest but knew Plagg was right. He did need the stress relief, but also needed to work on his attitude, especially his one sided crush on Ladybug. Maybe Kagami was right after all and he should change targets. Not Kagami herself, but maybe someone else. Maybe a good friend.

---------------

THE END

I won’t write Adrien apologizing because, again, I can’t write angst, and it would just be rehash of the apology that Alya and Nino gave to Marinette. Adrien might slip in future fics, but at least Plagg will be quick to call him out. 

Chloe too. She’s still a sassy bitch, but she will try to use her bitchiness for the Greater Good. And Marc is a good influence on her. Speaking of Marc, I want to write him with some friends of his own class, even if I have to make a ton of OCs to achieve this. And the Trials of Marinette will continue until I make a chapter for each kwami or I run out of ideas, whichever happens first.

I’m also playing with the idea of Nathaniel knowing Marinette is Ladybug(His “get Ladybug” dialogue was ambigous like that)

And I really really REALLY want to write some dialogue for Juleka and Luka calling each other names like “buttface”, “purple booger” “Lezzy McGuire”, “Jonas Brother Reject” and other such things.

[sparklyaxolotlstudent]

Karma Chameleon Part 3.5 I think

In which we discover the identity of Cocorico, even though nobody asked. And it was kind of obvious. This is mostly a “ML Sugar” thing that occured to me. It is silly as heck, but I still tried to keep people as much as in-character as I could. 

I also tagged the other posts with “ML Karma Chameleon” in case I AGAIN forget to link last parts. 

Part 1: https://sparklyaxolotlstudent.tumblr.com/post/182697194270/first-miraculous-ladybug-fic-i-write-chameleon

Part 2: https://sparklyaxolotlstudent.tumblr.com/post/182773725275/karma-chameleon-i-dunno-first-part

 Part 3: https://sparklyaxolotlstudent.tumblr.com/post/182905300020/karma-chameleon-part-3-i-cant-really-write

Also, I still can’t write Fight Scenes to save my life. 

Nathaniel arrived early to class that morning. He was happy and wanted to draw a bit before class started, lest it happen again the incident when he was akumatized.

Nathaniel had been glad that the drawings that were spilled were those he had of Marinette. Glad he didn’t draw Juleka that day. Or Kim. THAT would have been embarrassing. He still had no idea how he managed to convince Kim to pose for him in his tiny swimsuit. Ah, good times. Wish he had had a camera, but oh well, the memories will prevail. And his drawings. Kim had been impressed, which made him proud of himself.

He looked at Marinette’s still empty seat. She had never complained about his drawings, although he still had apologized to her. Marinette obviously like Adrien… Ladybug liked Chat Noir… Juleka was already with Rose... Kim liked Chloe… What was with all his crushes liking blondes? Sure, they were all gorgeous AF, but still the coincidence amused him a bit. Good thing he was past all those crushes. For the most part, he was still a teenager with a healthy libido, thank you very much.

And then Marc had appeared in his life. He was very glad he had forgiven him after ripping his bookand Miraculous Ladybug had fixed it; Marc was awesome. And SO cute. He didn’t want to get his hopes up; Marc probably will end up liking Aurore or some other blonde. Still, hanging out with him was a blast, and now that Marinette had joined their party it was the most fun he had had in years. It almost made up for the times he had been almost killed by an akuma attack.  

It was something that he hadn’t told anyone, in part because he was a reserved person, and in part because that would only make Mylene feel worse about her time as Horrificator. Bad times. Maybe he could talk to Marinette or Marc about it?

As he started drawing, he reminisced about his Friday night.

He was getting ready for bed when he had heard a tap in his window. Alix sometimes did that, but it was way too late for their chats… and Alix was still giving him the cold shoulder for siding with Marinette instead of helping the rest of the class building Lila a palanquin.

To his surprise, it was Ladybug.

“Hey, I really hate to bother you at this hour, but I really need your help.”

Nathaniel nodded, it wasn’t the first time he had helped Ladybug. Maybe this time he would be the one blindfolded and tied up in leather straps. He opened the window to allow Ladybug inside. Once there, she took out a box from… somewhere. She presented it to him.

“Nathaniel Kurtzberg, here is the Miraculous of the Rooster, which grants the power of enlightenment. You will use it for the greater good. Once the job is done, you will return the Miraculous to me. Can I trust you?”

“Of course you can!” Nathaniel took the box and opened it. Inside the box where a pair of crest-shaped cufflinks, a ball of light emerged from them, transforming into a small creature that vaguely resembled a small rooster.

“Hello, I’m Orikko and I’ll be your kwami”

“My what?... OH! You will lend me your power to be able to transform”

“That is right! To transform, you have to wear my Miraculous and say ‘Orikko, let’s cluck’”

Nathaniel put on the cufflinks, and then looked at Ladybug, dubious. “Really?” Orikko giggled. Ladybug rolled her eyes.

“Sorry, couldn’t resist!” said the small creature with a giggle. “It’s Orikko, Crest up!”

Side eyeing his new friend, Nathaniel did as told. “Orikko, Crest up!”

As the little creature went inside one of the cufflinks, Nathaniel felt the sudden urge to do some movements that could easily be called a dance. He also heard music in his head as his pajamas were transforming into a yellow, orange and white suit. He felt the power rushing through him the more his suit formed.

Once finished, he looked at a mirror. He was a bit taller and more muscular than usual (He really didn’t want to make the comparison, but he had seen some videos of his time as Evillustrator, and his build was pretty similar), and his red hair now looked like a faux Mohawk, resembling a rooster’s crest.

Ladybug smiled at him and prompted him to go where the Akuma was fighting Chat Noir. In their way, she explained how his power worked and what she needed him for. He had to admit he was only half paying attention. Jumping from roof to roof felt GREAT and like nothing he had felt before.

After reaching their destination and fighting for a bit against the night akuma (Amusingly named “Nightmare Moon” whose goal was to make an Eternal Night) He used his special power: He carried his weapon, a ball, with both hands and called “Cock-a-doodle-doo” which made the small ball resemble a mini sun, which blinded the Akuma, giving the chance for Ladybug and Chat Noir to defeat the Akuma with a very unorthodox use of a singing fish. He pounded it with Ladybug and Chat Noir (Who teased him about his bird-themed suit), and after hearing a couple of “beeps” coming from his miraculous, they parted ways with Chat Noir.In a safe place, he detransformed in front of Ladybug and returned his Miraculous.

In hindsight, he should have asked Ladybug to return him to his home, but still it had been a fun night.

Chloe shouting woke him up of his daydream, and he watched the most epic fight in his classroom to date: Lie-la Vs. Chloe. He honestly wasn’t sure who he should root for, but for all matters and purposes, Chloe had curb-stomped Lila.

-----

BONUS!:

Crappy sketch of Cocorico’s suit... I might change it when I actually draw it, but I’m sorta satisfied for now. 

[sparklyaxolotlstudent]

I finally got the energy (And time and inspiration) to continue with La Catrina

https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparklyAxolotl

(I also changed a bit of the ending of Karma Chameleon and added an epilogue)

(Shameless plug in yay!)

[mcheang]

Listen to your kwamis

Post-Chameleon

Having lived through Millennia and watching kingdoms rise and fall, Tikki and Plagg knew what to say about Adrien’s advice.

It’s rotten.

Granted they could not talk about this during school, and had to wait afterwards.

Tikki warned Marinette that she has to expose Lila now because eventually the truth will be revealed and her friends will only be more hurt.

When Marinette protests that Adrien disagrees, Tikki reminds Marinette that Adrien is new to the social scene, has mostly dealt with bad media for experience, and tolerates Chloe’s bullying.

Marinette fears that exposing Lila will make Adrien hate her.

Tikki points out that she stands up to Chloe all the time and he doesn’t hate her. And Adrien has to learn that exposing Lila is the better option.

Tikki: Trust me Marinette. I’ve seen these situations before. Truth is always the right choice.

Marinette takes a moment before agreeing to stand by Tikki. But nobody believes her now.

Tikki points out Ladybug could always visit Alya and tell her the truth... say Chameleon’s reappearance reminded her she needed to tell Alya that interview was false.

Meanwhile, Plagg was warning Adrien that if he let Lila continue lying, people will still get hurt.

Adrien doesn’t see how that could happen.

Plagg: gee, pigtails getting sent to the back over a false disability? Some friends you all turned out to be.

Adrien flushed furiously.

Plagg: Lila hating Ladybug but having everyone believe everything she says about Ladybug is true because they think they are BFFs? Oh super safe?

Adrien’s face was as pale as a bone.

Plagg: Lila pretty much following you around like a stalker and sexual harasser should also be reported by the way.

Adrien: I’m used to it.

Plagg turned upside down midair. His eyes looked sympathetic. “Look, kid, I get that your old man is rough on you and you have to be good and quiet. But you have started to break free and go to school. And I am telling you now that if you want to continue that freedom, as well as your personal space, your lady’s honor, and your friendships, you need to stand up for what is right.”

Adrien: I just feel so bad for Lila if we expose her. She got so mad when i called her out on it earlier.

Plagg: if exposing her calls an akuma, it’s going to happen anyway. I say we get it over with as soon as possible. Afterwards we can call a therapist for the girl, how does that sound to your conscience.

Adrien: ok, I’m in. But how do I do it? Nobody believes Marinette, and she personally knows Jagged Stone!

Plagg: yeah; you kids are gullible as sheep. But that’s why you have your lady’s phone number!

Adrien: oh right.

That night, Chat was surprised to learn that Ladybug was already going to expose Lila and felt guilty again when she said she doesn’t tolerate people lying about her.

Anyway; Alya was shocked Marinette was telling the truth and agreed to expose Lila. Interviews were made. Overnight, Alya deleted the interview she made about Lila and replaced it with an apology. She also apologized to Marinette over the phone.

The next morning, Paris was abuzz about the interview Ladybug made about her so called BFF.

Lila was present at the classroom to try to frame Alya and Marinette of making a fake interview with Ladybug but Adrien defends his friends.

Chloe loves to take people down and joins in on the fun. She sets Sabrina to dig up more dirt on Lila Rossi.

Together they and Alya expose Lila’s other lies. Soon Chloe points out her truancy. But Lila snaps she may not have been with Prince Ali but she was definitely at Achu.

Her Mother disagrees, her arrival shocking everyone.

Imagine Mrs Rossi’s shock when the general buzz over the Ladyblog interview was spread even to the embassy and people started questioning her about her daughter.

Mrs Rossi: I have never been more humiliated in my life. You are a disgrace, Lila Rossi

Needless to say, an akuma for the liar appears.

Thankfully, Marinette and Adrien were expecting this and had set their kwamis on the classroom early this morning (Alya agreed to let Lila confront her in the classroom). While Tikki watched the doorway, Plagg watched the windows.

Luckily, Tikki spotted the butterfly first and purified it.

Lila is expelled for her actions.

Mrs Rossi decides perhaps she should send Lila to live with her strict father and his busybody new Wife. There were no hard feelings between them after all.

(Wrong. Lila hated her Stepmother.)

[mcheang]

Perceptive Manon

Even she knew about Marinette’s crush...

Ever since Lila came into the scene, Marinette stresses the importance of identifying liars to Manon. For example, if someone keeps telling unbelievably tall tales without proof, chances are she’s a liar.

Ever since her time as Prime Queen, Nadja teaches her Daughter that evidence is not what it seems.

So when Manon plays with the twins and they tell her about Lila, Manon thinks Lila is a liar.

The twins are shocked and try to defend their babysitter. When they have no proof for it, they ask Lila for proof. Lila doesn’t have anything but photoshopped images.

Manon easily identifies them as photoshopped because of Marinette’s lessons. Manon doesn’t read fashion magazines but she and Marinette had fun making clothes and art projects out of old issues. When Manon had commented on the models’ beauty and had gotten disheartened, Marinette encouraged her by telling Manon she was a beautiful girl already and that some magazines photoshop their models. Manon then became interested in identifying photoshopped pictures.

Manon’s claim causes some discord between the children, and Marinette and Alya agree that they should babysit the kids separately. In a way this is a good thing as Marinette has more free time and only does work she gets paid for.

Finally, when Lila claims she knows some celebrity that Manon herself is acquainted with (Lois Lane), Manon makes a video call in front of Alya and the twins to disprove Lila’s claim.

When that is over, Manon actually lectures Lila not to tell lies before Marinette calls her over.

The Césaire sisters are disillusioned and Lila makes a hasty exit.

Alya decides to make further inquiries.

She gets Rose to check with Prince Ali.

Alya promises to do a feature of Queen Bee if Chloe checks with Jagged and gets video/audio proof.

When Lila arrives at school with a ready excuse (she makes up tall tales to amaze kids so they will be more likely to listen to her and stop making a ruckus), the class immediately frowns at her. Chloe especially is out for blood after the events of Miraculer.

When Adrien tries to settle for peace, (he doesn’t like Lila but he doesn’t want akumas either) the class turns on him too because had he known all along?

Marinette is the one to put a stop to it. She reminds them that they do have a right to be angry with Lila but it’s not worth getting akumatized over.

They listen to her because they feel guilty. Everyone settles back into their seat.

Nino gives Adrien the silent treatment and Alya stops Marinette from talking to her crush.

Marinette manages to convince the pair to listen to Adrien and he admits he didn’t want to expose Lila because she always gets akumatized over it.

Alya reminds Adrien that those Lila lied to can get akumatized also. But seriously...Lila needs a therapist or counselling if even a gentle lecture gets her worked up.

Marinette then timidly reveals that Lila’s irritation with Adrien didn’t attract the akuma. It was originally after her. She had been feeling abandoned and betrayed that day. And...Lila threatened her too.

Her friends are horrified and guilt-ridden. Adrien now realized more than ever that Lila’s lies needed to be exposed. First Kagami, then Marinette. All his dear friends hurt because of Lila’s deception. He apologizes to Marinette for his role and promises to make it up to her (and Kagami)

The akuma did indeed turn up from the class’ mass outrage and waited around like last time.

Lila was on the prowl for it but her sullen irritation didn’t attract it. Neither did the class’ muted disgust, betrayal and anger.

No, the akuma was attracted to Chloe’s burning feelings of rage, revenge, and humiliation. Lila had humiliated her and toyed with her. And in the end, Ladybug had told her she wouldn’t be receiving the miraculous anymore. Chloe blames it all on Lila.

The akuma reaches her and transforms her into Antibug.

Antibug goes after Lila.

Marinette and Adrien go transform and reluctantly rescue the liar.

During the fight, Antibug cries out to Ladybug about why didn’t she expose Lila earlier. Ladybug admits she already exposed her and thought Lila’s lies would be uncovered. But then no one spread word about the incident, Lila went into hiding, and Ladybug decided to let the matter go.

This only reminds Chloe she has a score to settle with Adrien too. If he had exposed her earlier on, Chloe would never have listened to Lila and humiliated herself.

Chat is feeling guiltier by the minute. He never meant for his friends to get hurt. It was a mistake, a lapse in judgment.

Ladybug reminds Chloe that everyone makes mistakes. What is important is that you learn from them.

Chloe retorts that Lila hasn’t learned from it at all.

Ladybug can’t deny that. But she tries to reason with Chloe that she wants to be a hero, not a villain or vigilante.

Chloe then cries again that she can’t be a hero again, not according to Ladybug.

Ladybug says you don’t need powers to be a hero.

But Chloe wants powers!

Anyway, the heroes win the fight. Ladybug consoles Chloe and reminds her that people can be heroes by doing good deeds. Remember Despair Bear? (Chloe even mentioned then she didn’t need a costume)

Adrien apologizes to Chloe afterwards and she forgives him.

But Chloe isn’t done with Lila. She sets Sabrina to uncover all her lies, and ta da, Mrs Rossi and the faculty are informed of her truancy, feigned documents, and fake disabilities.

Lila is expelled. The harsh punishment may have been caused by Chloe’s temper tantrum and the principal’s fear.

To thank Chloe, Marinette convinces Master Fu to let her wear the Bee Miraculous so she can send Pollen to express Ladybug’s thanks to Chloe and for them to share a final farewell.

Chloe tearfully hugs Pollen goodbye and Pollen expresses how proud she is of how far her queen as matured.

Meanwhile, Adrien begins making amends to his friends.

To the class, he makes a public apology. They forgive him once they understand his reasoning.

To Kagami, he gives her a Polaroid camera so she can take selfies with her Mother and their fencing team.

To Chloe, he throws another party celebrating her heroic exposure of Lila. It focuses more on Chloe rather than Lila because Adrien isn’t spiteful.

To Marinette, Adrien has decided to become her personal alarm clock. Making detours on the way to school, he drops by to wake her up. He is surprisingly more efficient than her actual alarm clock. They then walk to school together. It doesn’t hurt that free pastries are involved.

And to think, they owe it all to Manon. Seriously, the twins make her a queen during a pretend game, Marinette gives her a whole cake to eat, Alya credits her on her blog when apologising to her followers for the interview with Lila, and Adrien takes a selfie with her and commends her journalist efficiency on his Instagram.

Nadja is so proud of her Daughter. Manon doesn’t understand what the big deal is but she isn’t complaining when there’s free cake.